MONDEGREEN

MONDEGREEN  - is a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that shares homophony (sounds like) another word or phrase that has been heard.
For example, the word euthanasia (mercy killing) was misinterpreted as youth in Asia. It happens when you depend on the sound and attempt to write it. mondegreen is also a neologism.
The origin of mondegreen is interesting. In a couplet the last line says ' and they laid him on the green. Somebody heard it as 'and lady mondegreen'. Mondergreen shouldn't be confused with spoonerism. It may be used for rhyming slang or a parody.

Here a list of mondegreens for your reading pleasure.

'Another one bites the dust' becomes 'Another one bites the doctor. Pl consider the following mondegreens.

My aim is true        -  My name is Drew.
A truly sorted end   -  A truly sordid end.
You better spin that pitch - You better spin that bitch
Catches thieves like fleas-Catches thieves like flies. (The story of Batman).
Rain drops keep falling - train tracks keep falling.         A sharp dressed man - A sharp assed man.
Are you the seed of the kingdom brother?  -  Are you the seed of the king dumb brother?
True, chaste, benevolent  - true chased by an elephant.
Cross eyed bear - cross I would bear.
Nobody does it like Hari  - Nobody doesn't like Hari. Take a back right turn - Take a paper back writer.     (*A popular song by Beatles in 1960.)
Free country - freaking tree.

Here is my concoction of some Telugu mondegreens. 

పదహారేళ్ళ వయసు  - పదహారు రీళ్ల వయసు
చెల్లి కాపుర౦ అక్క పెత్తన౦  - పిల్లి కాపుర౦ కుక్క పెత్తన౦
గజారోహణ౦  -  గధారోహణ౦
లోక౦ చుట్టిన వీరుడు  - పాక౦ పట్టిన వీరుడు.

HARI KRISHNA

March - Some interesting facts

Here comes the month of March, which was treated as the first month of a calendar by Romans in good olden days. This month synchronizes with the onset of spring a logical point for the beginning of the year as well as the military season.

As per Julian and Gregorian calendars, March is the third month of the year. It is one of the seven month having 31 days.

March is named after Mars the Roman God of war.

March starts on the same day as November every year. Except in leap year, March starts with the same day as February, as February has 28 days only in ordinary years.

March starts on the same day as September and December of the previous year. This is a regular feature if you observe any calendar.

March, as a verb has the following meanings:

To move along, in or as if in military formation.

To walk in a direct, purposeful manner; also to progress, advance and traverse. Eg. The regiments march te sackhrough the town with the band playing.

There are so many phrases formed and framed with the word ‘march’. Please consider the following:

1. Mad as a March har e: freakish, erratic, in allusion to the actions of the hare in the breeding season.

2. Slang for dismissal, the sack: When he arrived late for work yet again, he was given his marching orders.

3. A type of musical composition suitable for marching to: John Philip Souza wrote so many stirring marches that he was called the March King.

4. To advance towards a military objective: Napoleon decided to march on Russia.

5. To gain an advantage over some one, especially by acting first, or in a deceitful cunning way: He tried to steal a march on his competitors by bribing the wholesalers to supply him first.

6. 15^th March in the Roman calendar now used as a warning of disaster: Julius Caesar ignored a warning from a soothsayer to beware the ides of March and was assassinated on the same day.*

*If you’ve heard the warning, "Beware the Ides of March," then it’s probably due to the works of William Shakespeare. The Roman ruler, Julius Caesar, was assassinated on the Ides of March - March 15, 44 B.C.E. In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, (I, ii, 33), a soothsayer tells Caesar who is already on his way to the Senate (and his death), "Beware the Ides of March."

Hyderabad Literary Festival 2012.

HLF2012: A first-timer’s impressions On 18th January, 2012 – the third and last day, I had the fortune in attending Hyderabad Literary Festival – at the instance of my good friend U Atreya Sarma, a member of the Muse India team. Sessions went on concurrently in three halls - Golconda Auditorium, Kohinoor Hall and Taramati Premamati Rooms. It was a tough choice for me to chose the venue among the three. It was such a memorable experience that made me to put it in black and white and share my impressions through my maiden piece for Muse India e-journal. The first item I witnessed was a panel discussion on the “Art of the Matter”, the participants being Alekhya Punjala (famous Kuchipudi dancer), Vidya Rao (eminent Hindustani vocalist), and Pritam Chakravarthy, (leading theatre activist). They deliberated on the nuances of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi and other forms of art, vis-à-vis their aspect of performance. Pritam Chakravarthy explained the emotional and sensory intelligence of an artist during their endeavours. Alekhya Punjala in her elegant presentation dwelt on the comparative intricacies of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi, stating that art is a product of observation, a blend of what we see and what we perceive. Consciousness helps us to be more technical; she observed and concluded that ‘women performers are not monolithic’. Vidya Rao discussed the synchronization of voice and lip movement of dancers, while performing mudras. The next session I attended was “Readings (English)” where Navkirat Sodhi (Delhi), Kazim Ali (USA), Prageeta Sharma (USA), and Meena Alexander (USA) read out their poetry. Navkirat Sodhi’s ‘My pen is alert’, and ‘Shake your telescopes to watch the twinkling stars’ were fluent, and her ebullient voice enthralled the audience. Kazim Ali’s poems - “Rocks crumbled,” “You made a promise you never kept,” and ‘Feathers fluttering, wings are small things’ were engaging. His presentation on the scenic beauty of Kerala was really captivating. He said in his ode to Kerala that ‘music and sunlight arouse me.’ There were impressive images like ‘horizon is lit’, ‘sacred idiot’, and ‘ocean retreats across the wind, sound, sound deep in the mind’. Prageeta Sharma won the hearts of her audience with her mellowed voice and unique style. She touched upon exploring poetic imagination and its strange ways. ‘Careless valentines’, ‘abstract recasting’ and ‘insight into the landscapes’ confront the poet, in her view. Her poetry is endearing with expressions like ‘human throb’. In the post lunch ‘Readings by The Little Theatre,’ Shankar Melkote and his team read out the dialogues from some plays – with effective enunciation. To me, however, it appeared that expressions like the ‘highest pinnacle’ were avoidable pleonasms. This performance was followed by another reading session of English poetry, and the poets were Kumarendra Mallick, MK Ajay (Kuala Lumpur), Sushmita Sadhu and Charanjeet Kaur (Moderator). Kumarendra Mallick shared his reminiscences about his two-year old grandson in a poetic way and with mature mind. Sushmita Sadhu (Kolkata) took the audience back to Robert Frost, who she said was her favourite poet, with her musings like ‘pain is pleasure – pleasure is pain’, ‘Twilight of lunar magic wins my hope’, ‘Necklace of tears’, and ‘Petals begin to wilt’. MK Ajay’s poems too were equally captivating with figurative expressions like “sweetness of salt”. The penultimate session was a real bonanza – an Urdu-Hindi Mushaira. Elizabeth Kurian Mona, Sardar Saleem, Jagjeevan Asthana, Syed Khalid, Narendra Rai and Tasneem Johar (Chair) competed and excelled with one another, rendering some entertaining presentations. They had the audience continuously wow them – with their optimum modulation, sweet voice, and perfect timing. Then as the day drew to a close, the valedictory observations, remarks, pleasantries, and acknowledgments were befittingly made by T Vijay Kumar (Editor, Muse India and Professor, OU) and GSP Rao, Managing Editor of Muse India. Both of them profusely thanked and felicitated Amita Desai, Director, Goethe-Zentrum for her contribution in making the event the success it was. If I am this much moved just by one-third of the festival, how those who attended it entirely must have felt, I wonder. I congratulate GSP Rao and his team of disciplined soldiers who organized this event in a meaningful manner – showcasing a blend of art, creativity, culture, and literature. The informal interactions and bonhomie among the participants and the audience also served the cause of friendship. It’s how I got introduced to quite a few people, and Seshu Chamarty (Associate Editor) is one among them – a very warm person indeed. So also GSP Rao was full of geniality. In the light of all this, I look forward to the next HLF with a sense of anticipation. And I am taking my membership of Muse India

M.Sri Hari Krishna

Here is a news item that appeared in Times of India.

Ahmedabad, Jun 8 (PTI) A principal of an industrial training institute, based in Vadgam of Mehsana, killed himself to "experience and understand" death, police said today.

"My act is not suicide, but an attempt to experience and understand death," said the suicide note left behind by Ramesh Devmani, principal of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) based at Vadgam in Mehsana.

Devmani jumped into Narmada irrigation canal near Jhundal village in Gandhinagar district yesterday, police said adding that he ended his life following the intense urge he had to experience death.

"Whenever I happen to go to funeral of a relative or a loved one, I would develop a strong curiosity to know about death as it is an enigma, a puzzle unresolved by the human kind," Devmani wrote in his suicide note.

DEATH - is a dreaded subject, which no one likes to discuss about. The Principal at Ahmedabad must be a perverted psychic patient, who ended his life in a foolish manner. May his soul rest in peace.

However, since this is the ultimate destination for all living creatures, I would like to quote some eminent writers who made an attempt to define death, though they were unable to defy it.

P.B.Shelley wrote a poem on 'death' in 1820, which goes as follows:
"Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere,
All around, within, beneath,
Above is death - and we are death".

Mark Twain said: "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry".

"Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.- Somerset Maugham

"Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down".

Undertaker is a person, whose business is to prepare the dead for the burial and to arrange and manage funerals.

Here is a tongue twister on undertaker: " An undertaker undertook to undertake an undertaking. The undertaking the undertaker undertook was the hardest undertaking the undertaker ever undertook to undertake".

I saw a sticker on a truck, which read: "If you're going to overtake me, the undertaker will undertake your case".

One thing is sure that, when the end is getting closer and nearer, all should have the courage to smile at it , welcome it and face it. That is the real NIRVANA.


Live happily as long as you live and leave happily before you leave - this is the essence of a well lived life.

After anybody's death they say - కీర్తిశేషులు but really most of them are - అప కీర్తిశేషులు only.

Let us go through a collection of famous quotes on death.

He can't read his tombstone when he is dead.

The fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can't come out and those outside don't want to get in.

Once you are dead, you are made up of life.

Our body is like a rented house. Its key is with God. We don't know when he wants us to vacate it.

Death is the last enemy: once we've got past that, I think everything will be alright. - Alice Thomas Ellis

Death is the tyrant of imagination. - Barry Cornwall

Death most resembles a prophet who is without honor in his own land or a poet who is a stranger among his people. - Khalil Gibran

Death is no more than passing from one room to another. But there is a difference for me, you know. Because in that room I shall be able to see. - Helen Keller.

Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help. - Carter Burwell


హరి కృష్ణ

ART OF LIVING WITH DIGNITY

Life – a perceptive

If everybody is satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.

(Mark Twain)

Every one of us can’t be heroes. There should be somebody on the foot-path to clap when the real heroes come. Let us clap.

After the game is over - both the king and pawn go into the same box.

In our lives, all most all of us, during a span of over sixty years, would have come across so many incidents, situations and instances. This article is an attempt to recall, recap and remember a few of such common truths and characteristics observed by me: I am sure that we would have come across these types of persons. It may be among your colleagues, relatives, friends, superiors, subordinates and even your customers.

Fear of rejection: Negative thinking always breeds negative results. If you think you can, you can. If you think that you can’t, you can’t. Either way you are correct. Be positive and proceed confidently, without any fear of failure or rejection.

Acceptance of our view: We feel that all others should concur with us. If they defer with us, we get annoyed. Give equal opportunities to others and allow them to express their views. This leads to better understanding and fruitful achievements. It is a good policy to acknowledge and appreciate others and their nature of work.

Management of people: More or less it is as good as accepting others’ view point. But it is always better to make the other person feel important. It doesn’t tantamount to ego boosting, but creates an amicable and congenial atmosphere. I know one friend, who used to insult, criticize and spit venom on the waiter or steward in any bar, hotel visited by him along with some friends. He used to snub them for no reason, causing embarrassment to other guests.

Selfish approach: Greed, avarice, selfishness and envy are the worst traits that should be avoided by us. One need not be very generous to give away all his belongings, but should not crave for things at the cost of others.

Talking about things which are important to us personally: I heard many people doting on their children, grand children, about their achievements, qualifications, wealth and many other things, unmindful of the fact that other people like them or not. This needs to be avoided.

People hear only things that they understand: Some people simply lend their ears to others, though the matter is beyond their comprehension. While talking about something, we should make sure that others are able to follow us, and they are not getting bored. It is better to stop talking when the listeners show any signs of discomfort and boredom.

Building trust: People trust us and form an indelible opinion, when once they start trusting us. Particularly, most of the executives have this trait. They carry on some sort of opinion good or bad on some of their subordinates and refuse to amend such opinions later.

We often do things which may look odd: We do certain things with explicit expectations and finally end up with implicit implications. Sometimes, we wonder why we’ve done like that and start repenting after some damage or adverse affect.

We behave in a petty, peevish and queer manner: I know a group of University Professors behaving in a petty and queer manner, when they were sponsored for a foreign trip by a MNC. They behaved in a very silly manner, unworthy of their status. They were craving for more drinks and snacks shouting at the air hostess. Finally when they attended a symposium hosted by the MNC, most of them were sleeping and snoring during that seminar. Imagine how awkward it looks for the other delegates and to the host who sponsored them.

We wear a social mask: Most of us are proud of our designation or rank. We refuse to come out of that mask even in informal meetings. They even behave in such an authoritative, over bearing and haughty manner, even after their retirement. Get rid of your status anxiety and come out of your social mask, mingle with people and try to mix with them at least now.

The above points are only a few, which define our lifestyle. All these points have been churned out of my real life experience, after observing a number of people.

Say what you mean, mean what you say

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Reading makes a full man,

Conference a ready man

and writing an exact man

(Francis Bacon)

Abilities in the area of language understanding, communicating effectively, expressively and precisely are the main features of any communication. Using communication skillfully with practical language skills coupled with precision and aplomb are identified as communication skills. This is a very important aspect of human life, since it is the communication that enables human beings to connect with each other as individuals and as independent groups. Communication is the very basis which drives the process of development in any field.

Communication is not limited to humans alone. In fact, all the birds, insects and animals also communicate with each other in their own silent gestures. If we have a pet dog or a cat, we can easily observe how they communicate their happiness or their affection, joy and agony etc., through their body language. Even animals in thick forests going in herds also silently communicate among themselves when there is any danger of attack by any predators or even during adverse weather conditions. Insects like bees, ants and others also communicate among themselves when they are searching for food.

If anybody wants to be successful in today’s competitive environment, one should develop communication skills to thrive and survive. It is important to all of us, as these skills facilitate everybody in the following ways:

• Information dissemination is possible through proper communication – news papers, radio, TV are some of the important tools of communication and they help us to gather information on any matter from any place on the globe within a short time. With the invention of computers, E-Mail, Internet and various innovations have made communications much faster and worldwide. As a matter of fact, the world has become so small and the distance between any to places in the entire world seems to have been truncated. Indeed these developments helped us to surpass and conquer all the communication barriers.
• Our emotions and ideals are easily expressed through our words (spoken and written). Expressions and even arts and crafts like painting, music, dance are also considered as good mode of communications.
• Education is perhaps the best channel playing a vital role in the process of learning. Proper interaction between teachers and students is made possible through communication called teaching. When I talk about education, I remember a beautiful quotation on teachers and teaching. “A good teacher teaches, a better teacher preaches but the best teacher reaches his students”. There is one more saying that “a good teacher teaches, a better teacher explains but the best teacher inspires his students”. Students having the best type of teachers, I mean, those who can reach them and inspire them are the luckiest of all. As a result of teaching from such teachers, they become good and successful communicators in their lives and prosper in their careers.
• Proper communication always helps us to maintain good relationships with one and all. It may be business or inter personal communications. It always goes a long way in building rapport among business associates, partners, clients and personnel. Good communication skills are always a plus point in Human Resources Management and overall development. They also help in improving productivity, increasing profitability.
• Communication hastens the process of decision making and makes it possible to convey to all the parties concerned about the decisions arrived at.

The word ‘communication’ need not be construed as a skill in learning and using of language alone. This includes public speaking, writing, which can be improved by listening to good orators and by following news bulletins of popular TV channels and Radio stations. These skills, if developed at school and college levels, would form a good foundation to build our future and career.

Where there is a will there is a way is the old adage. If we have a strong desire to develop our communication / language skills, we can do so by reading books on this subject. Books by Dale Carnegie, Robin Sharma, Shiv Khera and many other self help & personality development books by prominent writers would help you to improve yourself as well as your communication skills.

To be able to communicate well, we should concentrate on improving our deportment and conversation skills. It is not easy to develop such skills, unless we proceed with a strong desire to excel. Please remember that, “True ease in writing and speaking comes by art, not by chance; As those move easiest, who have learned to dance.”

I would like to summarize the essentials of good speaking abilities, leading to good communication skills which can be developed by practice.

·It is not so much what you say as how you say it. Sometimes the words used by you in a talk count. It is the flavor with which such words are delivered will be appreciated by your listeners.

· Many speakers do not bother to look at their audience. They just look into the sky or to a remote corner in the hall. This is not a good sense of communication. There will be a gap between the speaker and the audience. This kind of attitude would kill a conversation and kills interest.

· A good speech is like a baby. Easy to conceive, but difficult to deliver.

· Any speech should have a good beginning and ending, and not much time in between.

· Good delivery of a speech is conversational and enlarged direct approach. We should speak to the audience in such a normal way as if we speak to our kith and kin.

· It is important to see that a good speech is long enough to cover the topic and short enough to evoke interest.

· While speaking in public, please don’t imitate anybody. If you speak naturally and spontaneously in your own style, individuality and your own characteristic manner, you can feel convenient and get used to the same pattern as you go on speaking on various occasions.

· Put your heart into your talking. Real emotional sincerity will help more than any formal rules or protocols.

· If possible, add a tinge of humor to what you talk. This humor should be decent and should not be vulgar by any means. As already told you, brevity is the soul of your wit. Levity is to be avoided at all times.

· Make sure that the topic you are going to speak about is first as clear as noonday sunshine in your mind. Then only you will be able to present your points well to your audience and will be able to reach them properly. Choose what you say rather than say what you choose.

Words reflect our attitude. If not properly used, they can hurt feelings and spoil relationship.

A fool speaks without thinking - A wise man thinks before speaking.

Communication skills are very important, say what you mean and mean what you say.

That is the essence of good communication

NIMBLE AND ABLE

Today I am going to deal with words ending with 'mble' and 'ble'. One day one of my colleagues asked me permission to leave early, when I was the Branch Manager at Berhampur. He requested me 'Sir, please permit me to go early at 4.00PM. This is my humble request'. I noticed that he used the word humble and told him jokingly, 'O.K your humble request is considered, you can leave whenever you want. But can you tell me a few more words ending with mble, since you used the word humble just now?

When I asked him to tell me some more words ending with mble, he fumbled, mumbled, crumbled, grumbled and finally tumbled without telling me even a single word ending with mble. Then I told him don't worry, I'll help you - to start with, there are many words ending with mble, for example, amble, bumble, gamble, jumble, nimble, ramble, rumble, wamble, bramble, shamble, stumble, thimble, tremble, assemble, ensemble, preamble, resemble, scramble, dissemble are some words, which end with the suffix mble. I am not going to tell you the meaning of each word in this list, since I suggest you to consult a good dictionary about these words and their meanings. Dictionary is a place where industry comes before success.

I also told him not to get worried about these words but one should try to practice this type of words which are useful and helpful in building one's vocabulary, so that one can use them depending upon the situation and allowed him to leave the office. Next day he evinced more interest and prepared a list of these items within 3 days. He could find all the words and their meanings neatly prepared in a small note book and thanked me for igniting his interest in learning such words duly sorted and assorted. He also told me that his son and daughter in Intermediate level also helped him in this exercise and developed a fascination for learning and using new words on a regular basis.


Later on, I found that besides these words ending with mble, there are many words which end with ble. For example, able, bible, cable, fable, gable, noble, ruble,sable, table, arable, babble, bobble, bubble, burble, cobble, dabble, dibble, doable, double, edible, enable, feeble, foible, gabble, garble, gobble, hobble, kibble, liable, marble, nibble, nobble, pebble, rabble, rubble, stable, treble, unable, usable,viable, womble, warble, wobble, affable, amiable, audible, brabble, capable, curable, disable, dribble, durable, eatable, ennoble, equable, flyable, friable, fusible, grabble, ignoble, legible, likable, livable, lovable, mixable, movable, mutable, notable, parable, payable, pliable, potable, quibble, risible, salable, sizable, soluble, stubble, tamable, taxable, tenable, triable, trouble, tunable, visible, vocable, voluble, washable.

There is a vast scope to find so many words ending with ble. We can also find credible words like amicable, arguable, bailable, bankable, bearable, biddable, blamable, bribable, chewable, closable, clubbable, crucible, culpable, damnable, dutiable, educable, eligible, enfeeble, enviable, if we go on exploring these words, this list is extendable to infinite proportions and becomes tiresome to the reader.

I also observed that in their eagerness to use words, many people add the suffix 'able' to any verb to make it viable. That leads to so many bloomers and distortions - cookable, sayable, are some of the glaring examples. These mistakes are committed due to lack of common sense and also due to scant respect or ignorance in using correct language. Moreover, this type of transgressions happen only when the users start to think in their mother tongue and try to compare it with the English language, which is not their mother tongue. My father used to say that to learn any language, one should go on exploring just like a child who imitates his parents and siblings for learning the language in the initial stages. He also advocated the four faculties essential for learning any language, viz. reading, writing, listening and finally speaking. All these skills are interdependent and help us to learn and use the language with precision and aplomb.

The process of learning is to be initially encouraged by English teachers, who must also be good speakers themselves. But such teachers are very rare. The most disheartening aspect of this unsatisfactory state of affairs is the complacency with which ineptitude is tolerated at all levels. Inability to speak well is not a failing subject, but no effort is made towards a definite improvement or for learning by the so called aspirants.

It is only an attempt to share my feelings with well wishers like you.

Hari Krishna