tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73732488630231833012024-03-18T15:18:26.147+05:30An Amateur At BestMy Writings On My Passions - History, Languages, Some Movies, Technology, Architecture, Life, Blah Blah Blah.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-3070664531659414152015-06-04T21:52:00.000+05:302015-06-17T11:46:05.236+05:30Movies As Teachers For Learning The Urdu Language<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I find movies to be fascinating tools for learning languages. Rarely are their dialogues cut from the same starched-stiff cloth as a Wren & Martin dinner jacket (unless the characterization requires it to be so). Far removed from the standard fare served in nearly every Learn-To-Converse-In book ever published movies talk about more interesting subjects like love, hurt, machinations, revenge, stillness, discovery, new experiences et al. That is why movies are a great way to get a feel for the natural cadence and sounds of the language in question. They also serve as fantastic instructors for the appropriate use of idioms and phrases. Usually, they are also refulgent gateways to the culture of the peoples whose language one intends to learn, making the whole process of learning a language fun, real and memorable. Next to talking to native speakers of a language, this is one of my favourite ways of learning a new tongue.<br />
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To be sure, movie dialogues aren't the most kosher way of learning the grammar of a new language; they can be too quick, too softy whispered, too incomplete to always follow immaculately but then they more than make up by providing reference to context, diction and accent stress clues as aids to learning. Needless to say some very rudimentary vocabulary is essential to follow the dialogues but then grammar, especially syntax (word-order), can be picked up through the dialogues. One caveat here, if one's objective is to learn the 'Standard' register of a language (usually spotted in the newspapers, official reports and legal papers), then movies should not be one's primary source. They can at best only serve as an aid and should not be considered a substitute for a grammar compendium and formalized instructions.<br />
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Luckily, in this post-YouTube era most of us can easily access news, movies, talk shows, songs, regional language channels and even language instruction videos. Podcasts and internet streamed radio stations are also decent alternatives, though they come sans the visual experience. Another great feature one can make use of is 'subtitles'. While watching the movie online or through a software on your computer, simply turn on the subtitles in your target language for any movie and read the translations on the screen while listening to dialogues in the target language. YouTube even allows for slowing down the speed of the video playback (if this helps you). However this may only work for those popular languages for which subtitles are commonly available. I often find myself turning on the subtitles in some language to English movies. In my books, this is a very special boon for language learners.<br />
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I think I first fell in love with this idea when as a kid, one lazy summer holiday afternoon, the VHS tape* of the Bollywood movie Amar Akbar Anthony I pushed into the VCR player turned out to be dubbed in Arabic.<br />
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<i>Note to reader - a VHS tape is a magic device from a long gone era; often passed on with reverentially trembling hands from one generation to the next one, these antediluvian pen drives would be usually traded as if made of 18k gold on the local residential kids' exchanges.</i><br />
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<b>Best Movies To Learn The Urdu Language</b><br />
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While earlier a majority of Bollywood movies had dialogues in the language called Hindustani (a slightly-shifted-towards-Urdu middle ground in the continuum between Urdu and Hindi) nowadays the dialogues are becoming more "street friendly". It is possible that Hindustani itself is changing rapidly and that these new dialogues merely reflect this change. Rather than as a chicken-egg problem, I see Hindustani and the language of Bollywood dialogues as part of a mutually enriching feedback mechanism.<br />
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Again, in order to extract the best from these Urdu movies, it is advisable for the learner to have a grasp of rudimentary Urdu/Hindustani vocabulary.<br />
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Click on the image for the trailer/song/movie snippet (if available). In no particular order of preference:<br />
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107199/" target="_blank">In Custody / Muhaafiz (1993)</a><br />
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/92529442" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIjycV_CX6ACHBdH9TNCt4wufeefwSbchYtokYKTCnJ3-Q2njgS-TrbEUJGWkJqq0ic6rkBHMYYl3_NERE2Pv3jAh_sgk_cpU9A7TxUZEMA55XuKzfu2qJAlRcLq6KuL2nmGV6dLsGb23/s200/MV5BMTU5MTM2Njc5N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzUzNjgyMQ%2540%2540._V1_SY317_CR4%252C0%252C214%252C317_AL_.jpg" width="135" /></a> A movie by Merchant Ivory, based on a novel by Anita Desai, it is the story of a Hindi language professor's quest to keep alive his greatest love, Urdu, by recording for posterity the works of one of the last great, on his deathbed, poets of the Urdu language. The movie is beautifully shot and rife with visual metaphors of the demise of Urdu language. Brilliant ensemble cast of Shashi Kapoor, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Shushma Seth, Neena Gupta, Parikshit Sahni and Tinnu Anand, not one weak scene in this movie. Almost all of the ashaar featured in the movie are by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and some of the ghazals are by Behzad Lucknavi</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067546/" target="_blank">Pakeezah (1972)</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstX-ldiJcRTHglKDWmY92rR_cKRCGLPJOF-kMrR0e4ar5jVeSQ2VnjnE099r77wq01LqVQ-iFgE3Ks_xkX7doGpc7ZcByw5llmGGmduqzWAjViXirOmUP8PyUXDIpsUBoNImlw8s7G8LV/s1600/220px-Pakeezah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstX-ldiJcRTHglKDWmY92rR_cKRCGLPJOF-kMrR0e4ar5jVeSQ2VnjnE099r77wq01LqVQ-iFgE3Ks_xkX7doGpc7ZcByw5llmGGmduqzWAjViXirOmUP8PyUXDIpsUBoNImlw8s7G8LV/s200/220px-Pakeezah.jpg" width="141" /></a>This movie by Kamal Amrohi will be in nearly everyone's list of best romantic/tragic movies. Portraying the trials and tribulations of the life of a courtesan (very much on the same lines as Umrao Jaan), the tale ends with a heart wrenching twist of fate. Kamal Amrohi also wrote the dialogues for Mughal-E-Azam and wrote and directed Razai Sultana, two movies acclaimed for their scriptwriting amongst other things. The ghazals from Pakeezah are considered a part of modern Indian culture, especially the celebrated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1U2ji1OhEo" target="_blank">Chalte Chalte</a> which was penned by Kaifi Azmi.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083248/" target="_blank">Umrao Jaan (1981)</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82tyHLrjuBo" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2t-SP31aEQp46ZKOlR7HJnhECiPqWmh3ONPLOdQkcFoe1C5k_FeAY8s-UGaZlI_FM67RizuuoVOWUWb8FQKh7zwRgp_6UjNxf6z3mS_xpIhumfKaT-Js16DdNb9WavouUIAVMSET6g9W/s200/220px-Umrao_Jaan_movie_poster.jpg" width="133" /></a>One of my favourite novels and movies. Rekha did an unbelievably masterful job with her Urdu diction for this movie; it was flawless. The second of courtesan stories in our list, the story is set in nearly decrepit Nawabi Awadh of the 1840s-1850s. Deeply touching and so memorable, the ghazals have been penned by Shahryar, a professor of Urdu at Aligarh muslim University. The only marginally light hearted melody in this movie, Zindagi Jab Bhi, which is about separation, gives you a sense of the tone of the rest of ghazals. And yet everyone, including me, loves them because they speak of the ever repeating story of our lives. Check out the novel by Mirza Ruswa, it's written in a very conversational and easy to access style. My English translation of the Urdu ghazal Yeh Kya Jagah Hai Doston from the movie is <a href="http://historyview.blogspot.in/2008/11/umrao-yeh-kya-jageh-hai-doston-lyrics.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The entire script for the movie is in Nastaliq Urdu is available <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/01glossaries/bulpip/umraofilm1981_text.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073034/" target="_blank">Umrao Jaan (2006)</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzuBfWmeAJk" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGqoD1nHgfbLovSH_iiCarlMkgL-z4P0diQMPYrOnnIN9YG0ML9_4SvN5ARj2Pm3YbX6oedWjTiOy30Oa6sLygLrN_V0mxOEXufg6WO1LRBeveU0_I2XQrJaREoJs63FyRXGnUf7rH2NQ/s200/download.jpg" width="137" /></a>This much vilified 2006 remake may be weak in terms of acting and song writing but it is absolutely top notch in terms of dialogues. Well researched, it is a must see for those who wish to take a detailed dekko into Luknavi Urdu, Adab and Tehezeb of the 1800s. Interestingly, Shabana Azmi played the role of Khanum Jaan (the brothel madam) in this 2006 version, while her mother, Shauqat Azmi played the same character in the 1981 version.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076696/" target="_blank">Shatranj Ke Khiladi / The Chess Players (1977)</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zCsn-he5Kk" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PnWxFxJHMofoz1YsKj7sWy6Zwk5D3QHsaDvVWPbW_pSWyZGAqv8J2GUUFjZtmhs6bCdVTv-4BeKgSox3gNTywIIvca1O6m_w-2LgV01VDxZkdiVji42I59i2nliVDd6z6xYWGY0GtnZV/s200/MV5BMjEzMDIxMDI5MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzEzNzIzMQ%2540%2540._V1_SY317_CR6%252C0%252C214%252C317_AL_.jpg" width="135" /></a>Satyajit Ray's film adaptation of Munishi Premchand's Urdu translation of Munshi Premchand's Hindi story on the abysmal decay of Indian elite society. Munishi Premchand often did self-translations of his works and he tells the story in very different ways in the two version: Hindi and Urdu, perhaps to give two slightly different messages to two segments of readers. Like Umrao Jaan, Shatranj Ke Khiladi too is set in Mutiny-era Lucknow. The movie follows two chess-mad nawaabs who, oblivious to all the political and personal tragedies around them, are obsessed with playing yet another game of chess. Superb thespian skills on display by Shabana Azmi, Saaed Jaffrey, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan and a cameo by some Jurassic-era chap called Richard Attenborough who keeps babbling about the Nawaab's Mutaa Wives :D The entire script is available <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/01glossaries/bulpip/shatranjkekhilari_text.pdf" target="_blank">here </a>in Nastaliq Urdu.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157571/" target="_blank">Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986)</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8PeUVbNTsT1I2urfNJIwrYSh7XEVvkOE-LOciyeh1zsG4KnkDXGSXZQ7M50veZWh5Ch3gPNDVOOjCgher7QDxML-HJDG_4gS5kvE9t4SYo21uCcCX7qRAppBFDZhdB-tXYnvmTYyJEng/s1600/Ek_Ruka_Hua_Faisla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8PeUVbNTsT1I2urfNJIwrYSh7XEVvkOE-LOciyeh1zsG4KnkDXGSXZQ7M50veZWh5Ch3gPNDVOOjCgher7QDxML-HJDG_4gS5kvE9t4SYo21uCcCX7qRAppBFDZhdB-tXYnvmTYyJEng/s200/Ek_Ruka_Hua_Faisla.jpg" width="139" /></a>Probably a surprise addition to this list for most people. A nearly scene by scene copy of the 1957 hit, 12 Angry Men, this movie has no courtesans, no Mughal princes, no ghazals, no tehezeeb and no adab. But it does have loads and loads of very cleanly spoken simple Urdu dialogues, from amuman to maaqool shaks and everything in between. The dialogue does sound made up but then this isn't really a movie review. What works in favour of EkRuka Hua Faisla are a known plot, easy to follow dialogues and repeated use of many Urdu words and phrases. Most of the actors are seasoned theatre and film players which translates into good and measured Urdu diction.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3359290/" target="_blank">Bobby Jasoos (2014)</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHTTNn_XEtE" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizFyZv-K9jum8o1xVr67ClKCR2Wc8qUGmQaRM7woHzpwZ4HZFLN_-VeiVj8PhpJ9RnQds1u4DJNFaI4AqRQqawSAJtO49FYb8kPbItq9tcC3bgD8TrWhq4Ybew-5LF5znLHr_LPyWfXf2/s200/Bobby-Jasoos-Movie-New-Posters.jpg" width="138" /></a>I like Bobby Jasoos for its Deccani (Hyderabadi) Urdu. For a considerable time in its early history (fondly referred to as Nash-o-Numa) Urdu developed its own unique image as Rekhta in the courts and bazars of Deccan before taking on the Urdu glean we have come to know and love in Delhi and then in Lucknow. Up until the mid 1800s both the names Rekhta and Urdu were sometimes used interchangeably for the Urdu language; Mirza Ghalib in one of his shers observed <span style="color: blue;">رختے کے تم ھی نھیں ھو استاد غالب / کھتیں ھیں کھ اگلے زمانے میں یک میر تھا</span> There is something very endearing and heart warming about Hyderabadi Urdu; I hope to gain a certain level of proficiency in speaking it. Bobby Jasoos is a fun film and makes for great dialogues.</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073034/" target="_blank">Garm Hawa (1974)</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv_gdEcZD66bMF7jfbfd-wFGPQmtzSAD0Ir5WVP947rl9aONLyCkbe9bT5qOhLNm5CDfupcnymzegeIp3g7cWVW3u1WC6OJ9QOFaAkRkIYNvmvEVHy-J-uMfsleZEcjr18g0cdwASUupYH/s1600/GarmHavaFS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv_gdEcZD66bMF7jfbfd-wFGPQmtzSAD0Ir5WVP947rl9aONLyCkbe9bT5qOhLNm5CDfupcnymzegeIp3g7cWVW3u1WC6OJ9QOFaAkRkIYNvmvEVHy-J-uMfsleZEcjr18g0cdwASUupYH/s200/GarmHavaFS.jpg" width="138" /></a>A soul searching statement on the impact of partition on those who chose to stay back in India. Very few such movies have been made on the post-Independence era. The towering figure of Balraj Sahni leads a brilliant caste to deliver some of the most credible performances in India cinema. Kaifi Azmi and the great Ismat Chughtai wrote the screenplay and the story for Garm Hawa, which alone gives this a very high place in my echelon of Urdu movies. Great effort has been made to lend realism through the choice of different registers of Urdu speech (different vocabulary) for different characters based on their region, social class and age. The mesmerizing Sufi song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1yNA3SlhnQ" target="_blank">Salim Chisti</a> from Garm Hawa, along with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVvYe_2Ii9k" target="_blank">Aaj Rang Hai</a> from Junoon and <a href="http://historyview.blogspot.com/2008/03/khawaja-mere-khawaja-correct-lyrics.html" target="_blank">Khawaja Mere Khawaja</a> from Jodhaa Akbar, is my favourite BollywoodSufi piece.</div>
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Other movies which could have been part of this list but didn't make it (entirely due to my excellent skills in lethargy):</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054098/" target="_blank">Mughal E Azam</a>,<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152148/" target="_blank"> Razia Sultan</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139237/" target="_blank">Gazal</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057555/" target="_blank">Taj Mahal</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077783/" target="_blank">Junoon</a>.</div>
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Two important points here: First, this is not an exhaustive list by any means. I keep discovering new and brilliant Urdu movies all the time. Second, I have extremely limited access to Pakistani movies and hence, sadly, that entire universe of Pakistani Urdu movies is untouched here. Hopefully, the latter problem will be addressed soon.<br />
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I fervently hope that people keep making such beautiful Urdu movies in the years to come.<br />
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If you have any doubts about any dialogues from any Urdu movie or want to learn / discuss more feel free to leave a comment and I shall get back to you.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-1503124983823269992013-06-07T04:51:00.000+05:302013-06-07T04:51:23.581+05:30Not On Memories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Not solely on memories as you say<br />
But on memories and each other to fill our days<br />
Not to grow old slow and alone until over is our stay<br />
But to together see the seasons turn back to whence they came<br />
Not by cursing the empty luck that takes us our separate ways<br />
But by basking in the destiny that crises-crosses our paths again and again <br />
Not for losing hope of seeing one another and just walking away<br />
But for trusting in the magic that always ensures we meet each other half way</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-30462247156922328102013-03-08T03:22:00.002+05:302013-03-08T03:37:07.572+05:30So it seems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So it seems it really isn't possible for some things to come about,<br />
it suddenly seems that anything is possible could just be a slogan you shout,<br />
<br />
So I ask do we get old because despite bleeding every time we fail to chain our dreams the next time around,<br />
Or do we age because we've used fetters so heavy they cost us life but save us pain and self doubt,<br />
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So they wished me well by insisting I don't count the chickens before they come out,<br />
but isn't half hearted love like the hat from which the rabbit is pulled out,<br />
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So I was asked why I was given a heart so stout,<br />
Now I know it is so because it must last a lifetime of rout,<br />
<br />
So I have decided that from this eternal test I will not bow out,<br />
if God could make a beautiful flower once then surely he could make it again is my prayer devout.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-57849594167685298172013-01-30T11:49:00.001+05:302013-01-30T11:54:26.021+05:30Brief Guide To The Development Of The Arabic Script<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<u><b>Brief Guide To The Development Of The Arabic Script</b></u></div>
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This post is
intended as a very brief guide to the development of the modern Arabic script
and derived scripts (Persian /Urdu/Sindhi/Balochi/Afghani/Turkic and their
friends). The history of the development of the Arabic script proper is to an
extent a history of Quranic orthography ie the way the Quran is written out in
the Arabic script. I have tried to steer clear of any historical and
hagiographical controversies and presented only the bare minimum of information
needed to get a clear grasp of the journey of the Arabic script from its
embryonic stage to maturity. I hope this will serve as an introduction to my
next post which will be on the different styles of Arabic calligraphy. </div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Super Short History of Arabic's Ancestors</span></div>
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Arabic is a Semitic
language and all Semitic scripts (not languages) are based on the
proto-Canaanite script. It is agreed that Proto-Canaanite is a child of
Egyptian Hieroglyphs<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with a hint of
Akkadian DNA (completely different from Hieroglyphs). The pictographic Egyptian
Hieroglyphs become proto-Canaanite Acrophones, symbols in which the symbol
represents only the first sound of the word depicted by the same symbol in
Egyptian Hieroglyphs rather than the whole word itself, eg. the hut Hieroglyph
symbol depicted the word "beyt" (house) in totality but actually just
stood for only the "b" sound of "beyt" in the Acrophonic
proto-Canaanite script.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-Linguistic-Blackwell-Linguistics/dp/0631234640" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Source - Writing Systems, ALinguistic Approach by Henry Rogers</span></a></div>
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In the Semitic
language, tree over time, the Proto-Canaanite script mothered the Phoenician
script which begot the Aramaic script which birthed the Nabataean script which
bore the Arabic script. It is very important to note that the Nabataean script
used only 22 consonants and early Arabic had to make do with these 22 symbols
for its own repertoire of 28 consonants. This 22 vs 28 difference will be
significant later. Another feature of almost all of these Semitic scripts was
that they did not depicts vowels (long or short), something of a family trait
because the Egyptian Hieroglyphs omit vowels too; this also should be kept in
mind for later on. </div>
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This would also be a
good place to mention that the Greek, Roman and many Indian scripts (and their
spawns) are also derivatives of the proto-Canaanite script. So Arabic and
Devanagari are distant cousins and most of the things mentioned so far apply to the
Indic/Greek/Roman scripts as well.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-Linguistic-Blackwell-Linguistics/dp/0631234640" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Source - Writing Systems, ALinguistic Approach by Henry Rogers</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Earliest Arabic Script</span></div>
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Now let's come to
the Arabic script itself. As of now, the first definitive example of what can
be called as Arabic script is a rock engraving, an epitaph of a certain Mrs
Raqush, found in Mada'in Saleh (Saudi Arabia) dated to about 267AD. Some
scholars believe this script to be something in between Nabataean and Arabic
and others unequivocally classify it as Arabic script. This inscription does
have some words in the Thamud scripts as well. However do not assume that this
is the oldest inscription in Arabic <span style="font-style: italic;">language</span>.
Many, much older, Arabic language samples have been found, albeit
written/engraved in non-Arabic scripts such as pre-Islamic Arabic poetry
written in Nabataean, Aramaic, Thamudic, Epigraphic South Arabian scripts etc.</div>
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<span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;">The famous Raqush
inscription to the left and modern Arabic copy/interpretation to the right. Can
you make out any of the words in the original? Without the aid of the modern
copy I can barely recognize the odd </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ع</span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;">here and the odd</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; unicode-bidi: embed;"> </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; unicode-bidi: embed;">ل</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; unicode-bidi: embed;"> </span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there and one </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; unicode-bidi: embed;">ح</span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;">and a </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; unicode-bidi: embed;">في</span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;">somewhere and that's
all conjecture too. The second word in the second line is Raqoosh.</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic;"> </span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: italic;">Of course I have
forgotten most of my Arabic anyway. But this must have been perfectly legible
to the people it was meant for. </span></div>
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<span lang="en-IN" style="font-style: italic;">Source - </span><a href="http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/raqush.html"><span lang="en-US">http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/raqush.html</span></a></div>
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For a
partial list of Nabataean and the very early Arabic script samples check out <a href="http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/">http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/</a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Revelation Era</span></div>
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Jumping forward
three and a half centuries after the demise of Mrs Raqush we come to the era of
the Quranic revelations (610-632AD). By this time the Arabic script had been
modified a lot more from the semi-Nabataen form and had come much closer to its
final form. The initial Meccan utterances in the Quraishi dialect of Arabic by
Prophet Muhammad were shorter and quickly committed to memory by the small but
fast expanding group of Muslims. However by the time the Prophet emigrated to
Medina the revealed verses became much longer as did the size of the Muslim
community. Now secretaries started recording these longer Arabic verses on
whatever medium was ready at hand at the moment of revelation, be it animal
hide, parchment, rocks, leaves or bones etc. These written records were created
purely as memory aids and not as written scripture. According to Kees
Versteegh, this shift from an purely oral Meccan record of the divine words to
a partially written Medinan record is attested to in the Quran itself, through
the shift in the usage of the word Quran (recite this), referring to the sacred
revelations in the earlier verses to the word Kitaab (book), referring to the
sacred revelations in the later verses. However the key thing to remember here
is that despite the growing importance of a written record, for the Quranic
verses as well as the pre and post Islamic Arabic poetry these written records
were still secondary to the primary method of preserving something which was to
memorize it (except in the case of commercial transactions and war treaties).
This tradition of oral recitation and transmission is quite well entrenched in
most Semitic cultures and religions so much so that to this day those who
commit the Quran to memory are bestowed the title of "Haafiz" which
means the preserver/protector, one who preserves the sacred text in his/her
heart. Hence even till the a few years after the death of Prophet Muhammad
(632AD) the written records were considered secondary as there were thousands
of "reciters" who knew the Quran by heart and had learnt it from the
Prophet's own mouth.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Supposed letter dictated by Prophet Muhammad to a
scribe and then dispatched to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, circa 630AD.
Regardless of the authenticity, if this text is indeed from around 630-650AD it
clearly shows the strong departure of the Arabic script from its Nabataean
sandbox-days as depicted in the Raqush engraving. I can easily make out quite a
few letters (and words!) of this text.</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Source - </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Muhammad-Letter-To-Heraclius.jpg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Muhammad-Letter-To-Heraclius.jpg</a></div>
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Although the scripts
used in the 5th-8th Centuries were very different from the one given below,
this table gives an idea of what the shapes of the different Arabic letters
were at this time, which sounds they represented and how common shapes were
used for very different sounds. One can see that there are no dots, diacritical
marks, above any of the letters.</div>
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As noted in the
table given above:</div>
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The sounds b/t/th
were represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds j/H/kh
were represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds d/dh were
represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds s/sh were
represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds ṣ / ḓ
were represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds ṭ / ẓ
were represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds r/z were
represented by the same symbol.</div>
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The sounds `/gh were
represented by the same symbol.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Early Caliphate Era - The Rashidun</span></div>
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In less than 15
years of the death of the Prophet certain developments compelled his
successors, the Caliphs, to take make changes in the written Quran and the
Arabic script. First, many of the reciters died in battles against the
apostates, the Romans and the Persians. A famous, oft quoted, example is of the
half a thousand reciters who died at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yamama" target="_blank">Battle of Yamama </a>in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>632AD; an event which so perturbed the pious
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uthman_ibn_Affan" target="_blank">Uthman </a>that he convinced the first Caliph, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_bakr" target="_blank">Abu <span id="goog_1075154648"></span>Bakr<span id="goog_1075154649"></span></a>, to overcome "the loss
of much of the Quran" by having it compiled into a book. Second, the
increasing number of non-Arab converts to Islam, who were new to the Arabic
language and sounds, often incorrectly recited the Quranic verses. Finally, many
of the Muslims started to disagree amongst each other on the pronunciation and
meaning of some words as the Prophet had clearly declared that there were seven
different, perfectly equal, readings of the Quran, based upon the different
urban and Bedouin dialects of Arabic in his time. When Uthman became the third
Caliph (644-652AD) he decided to bring an end to the worry of "forgetting
the Quran" and also to the conflicts caused by the variant readings by
undertaking a codification of the Quran. He collected all the written sheets of
Quran from the Prophet's time, had them collated them into one definitive
edition and then returned the sheets to Hafsa, the widow of the Prophet from
whom he had taken them in the first place . For some reasons there are no
extant samples of the original written records of the Quranic revelations made
by the secretaries of Prophet Muhammad. This "final" version was sent
to every province of the geometrically expanding Islamic empire as the authorized
Quran and all non-compliant written variants were destroyed by state officials.
Some variants were concealed but ultimately lost to the hands of man or of
time.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Umayyad and Very Early Abbasid Caliphate Eras</span></div>
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However, soon two
characteristics which the Arabic script had inherited from Nabataean and had
not caused any problems before now returned to haunt the Arabic script's
efficacy in a vast and diverse empire. Quranic orthography still employed 22
symbols to depict its 28 consonant sounds and it did still did not depict
vowels in writing. This negated any real codification and unification efforts
which the Caliph Umar had hoped to achieve with his authoritative final version
of the Quran.</div>
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1.The first
characteristic of using 22 symbols to depict 28 sounds caused a problem in
identifying the correct letters.<i> </i>The examples below
illustrates the problem. Without diacritical points to identify which of the
phonemes (sounds) is being referred to, only reference to context or external
guidance can help shed some light on the correct word which is implied by the
author of the text.</div>
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The problems caused
by misreading of Bs for Ts and Rs for Zs and so forth had reached an inflection
point and something had to be done to correct the situation. Some accounts
would have us believe that under the aegis of the Umayyad governor<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajjaj_ibn_Yusuf" target="_blank"> Hajjaj ibn Yusuf</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajjaj_ibn_Yusuf" target="_blank"> </a> </span>(d.714AD), the diacritical points were
innovated and adopted for use in the Quranic texts in order to remove the
ambiguity in reading. However the actual historical evidence proves these
accounts are largely apocryphal. As of now, the oldest usage of such
diacritical points has been found on a papyrus called Perf No. 558, a
billingual (Greek and Arabic) advance tax receipt which dates itself to 643 AD,
a decade an a half before Hajjaj ibn Yusuf was even born. The Arabic text in
this tax receipt has some letters dotted and others undotted and the dots
appear to have been used in a very matter of fact way. Although Perf No. 558
has not been studied extensively, it is clear that at least 20 years after the
Hejira of the Prophet, if not earlier, non-religious Arabic texts occasionally
employed diacritical points to eliminate faulty reading of the text. </div>
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<span lang="en-IN" style="font-style: italic;">Perf No 558, the oldest Arabic text which
clearly shows the use of diacritical points, dated to 643AD. Source </span><a href="http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Papyri/PERF558.html"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic;">http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Papyri/PERF558.html</span></a></div>
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Based on the
evidence of Perf No. 558, it can be stated that Arabic script did have
diacritical points used as a tool to proper understanding of the text. The
Arabic letters with the diacritical points to differentiate them from each
other would have looked almost exactly like the ones used today, as shown in
the table given below. The dots help, as shown in the mountain/dementia/rope
example above to read<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However mere
availability is not the same as active usage and we know for a fact that the
Arabic Qurans did not employ the diacritical points, perhaps largely to avoid
any inadvertent desecration of the base text. The arrangement in the table
below was made by Arabic grammarians on the basis of similarity in the shapes
of the letters. More on arrangements later. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="en-IN" style="font-style: italic;">The final Arabic alphabet. Compare with the first table above which gives the same number of sounds but with fewer letters</span></div>
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2.The second
characteristic of the Arabic script of not marking vowels also caused
confusions, especially between verb forms which often have the same shape and
letters but different short vowels and sometimes between plurals and verb
forms. The example below illustrates the latter confusion.</div>
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<span lang="en-US">This
vowel problem was initially overcome by the pioneer grammarian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Aswad_al-Du%27ali" target="_blank">Abul Aswad AdDuali </a></span><span lang="en-IN">(d.688AD) at the behest of the Umayyad Caliph <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Malik_ibn_Marwan" target="_blank">AbdUl Malik </a>(d.705AD), who was also instrumental in switching the administrative
language of the entire Arabian empire from a patchwork of Greek, Aramaic and
Pahlavi over to Arabic after he caught a Greek scribe urinating into the ink
well used to write out the official records for lack of water to prepare the
ink. The solution proposed by the grammarian Abul Aswad seems to have been
partially inspired by similar solutions in other Semitic script traditions:
place dots around each letter to indicate short vowel sounds for that letter.
Abul Aswad is also credited with inventing the symbols for the Hamza and the
Khafeef vowels and the Shadda. Before, the Khafeef (absence of any vowel) and
the Shadda (doubling of a consonant) were not depicted at all, hence the
Khafeef and the Shadda too had to be inferred from the context of the base
text. This system of Abul Aswad was further refined by the 8th Century
grammarian and author of the first Arabic dictionary, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Khalil_ibn_Ahmad_al-Farahidi" target="_blank">Al Khalil ibn AhmedFaraaheedi</a> (d.791AD) who replaced the dots with smaller versions of the
corresponding long vowel sounds. This has been illustrated in the table below. </span></div>
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<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; direction: ltr;" valign="top">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Vowel Name and Sound</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Abul Aswad Ad-Duali's (d.688AD) Vowel Markers</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Al Khalil ibn Ahmed's (d. 791AD) Vowel Markers</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Fatha
- Short "a" - "Ma"</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ur-PK" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ݥ</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">مَ</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Dhamma - Short "u" - "Mu"</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">م.</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">مُ</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Kasra - Short "i" - "Mi"</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ݦ</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">مِ</span></div>
</td>
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Tanwin - Short Nunation - "Dan, Dun, Din"</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ڍ , د.. , </span><span lang="ur-PK" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ڌ</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>دٍ , دٌ,داً</span></div>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Shadda - doubling of a consonant sound</div>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Symbol unknown to me</div>
</td>
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<span lang="ur-PK" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ّ</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Khafeef aka Sukoon - absence of any vowel sound</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Symbol unknown to me</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; unicode-bidi: embed;">ْ , </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Calibri; unicode-bidi: embed;">ۡ</span></div>
</td>
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<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2937in;"><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
Hamza - glottal stop</div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.3368in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ء</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-color: #A3A3A3; border-style: solid; border-width: 1pt; padding: 4pt 4pt 4pt 4pt; vertical-align: top; width: 3.2902in;"><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed;">ء , ؤ , ئ , أ , إ</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="en-IN">
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Middle Abbasid Caliphate Era onwards</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
These two changes
were not accepted immediately by the religious members of the Muslim community
largely as a result of fear of innovating the received text of the Quran.
Similar fears also dissuaded the Jews from accepting any diacritical points or <span style="font-style: italic;">matres lectionis</span> to identify letters or vowels
over the base text of the standardized Hebrew Bible until well over a thousand
years after the composition of the last book of the Hebrew Bible. It took close
to 250-300 years after the revelation of the Quran for the vowel markers and
diacritical points to become a common place feature in Qurans. Interestingly
the Jewish initiative, called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoretic_Text" target="_blank">Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible</a>, and the
Muslim initiative for making these changes in the Quran were both finalised
around the same time, being almost contemporaneous events, within 50-75 years
of each other. Further both of these sacred texts with the diacritical marks
and vowel points are now the standard texts for their respective religions
(though only unmarked, base text Hebrew Bibles are used for liturgy).</div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Very early Kufic Arabic Quranic calligraphy from
Yemen.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Shows only the base text.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">No vowel markers - No diacritical points to
distinguish between phonemes</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Kufic Arabic calligraphy, Surah Hujjarat, 9th
Century. Text on the obverse side is visible due of inadequate thickness of the
parchment.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Shows base text. Coloured vowel markers added later
in Abul Aswad's style over base text in an effort to standardize the sounds.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">No diacritical points to distinguish between
phonemes.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Later Kufic Arabic Quranic calligraphy, perhaps 10th
Century. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Shows base text, vowel markers in Abul Aswad's style
and diacritical points to distinguish between phonemes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nlEwVAucZT4g_zYXuIOBFMkH5mdNbCVagvYkMSbjVhGOzBDVh9UBcioYHnX0KAPE5etHz51ElBqpyt-g3os1cEcp5CLk5Z48GPiA2WxZDKNc8mEAc_V_QoZ56X6kLMvQEppp2GmqVoJi/s1600/FirstSurahKoran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nlEwVAucZT4g_zYXuIOBFMkH5mdNbCVagvYkMSbjVhGOzBDVh9UBcioYHnX0KAPE5etHz51ElBqpyt-g3os1cEcp5CLk5Z48GPiA2WxZDKNc8mEAc_V_QoZ56X6kLMvQEppp2GmqVoJi/s640/FirstSurahKoran.jpg" width="376" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Naskh Arabic Quranic calligraphy, Surah Fatiha,
representative of all Qurans post-11th Century.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Shows base text, vowel markers in the newer Al Khalil
style and diacritical points all made as part of the writing at the same time.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">However
by the turn of 10th-11th Century Qurans employed both diacritical points and
vowel markers and from then have been mandatorily written with diacritical points and vowel marks. By this time non-Quranic Arabic texts also used the diacritical
points as standard usage, though they did not use vowel markers. </span><span lang="en-IN">In non-sacred and non-school texts, the ancient Semitic habit of not
marking vowels has managed to keep its hold till today. As a result only the
diacritical points are marked in the majority of Arabic texts and the short
vowels are left unmarked, to be guessed by reference to context. Even religious
commentaries on the Quran and Hadith do not carry the short vowel markers. All
other scripts based on Arabic such as Persian/Urdu/Turkic have also continued
with this same tradition. Though in certain rare cases vowels are marked to
clear ambiguity.<span style="color: #0000ee;"> <span style="color: #0000ee;">The following examples will make the <span style="color: #0000ee;">partial </span>usage of vo<span style="color: #0000ee;">wel marks more clear.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZLyDN2n5HCLBdzXZcmwfCbOYLP6I4Ys84_PtHgc0oRTvr09RwRenL1-xYTWrdQdk2fIM6IgsznE2t5tZj0inVVBwPOwG-KM_I1hUt4xMDem2TbfZEUhbusrK6rtGUuv4QNqFCFQhfdjP/s1600/Screenshot+-+28-01-2013+%252C+03_19_13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZLyDN2n5HCLBdzXZcmwfCbOYLP6I4Ys84_PtHgc0oRTvr09RwRenL1-xYTWrdQdk2fIM6IgsznE2t5tZj0inVVBwPOwG-KM_I1hUt4xMDem2TbfZEUhbusrK6rtGUuv4QNqFCFQhfdjP/s640/Screenshot+-+28-01-2013+%252C+03_19_13.png" width="430" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">A textbook to teach Arabic from the 1950s, employs
vowel markers in every word to remove ambiguity.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvPrxYW43OGQxBI26v2Jh19X8BVzsYQmWrNGpvhKuRDjckOOPuiFGhDLjPTRCUW7-ykVxipmOFTbKMdHyrH1bCm-HZVvwr6dsFSY5xZb_iq4DmwhuqN2mdOMpsr9Uh9w3e2ba79BnBJ3u/s1600/Screenshot+-+29-01-2013+%252C+11_58_32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvPrxYW43OGQxBI26v2Jh19X8BVzsYQmWrNGpvhKuRDjckOOPuiFGhDLjPTRCUW7-ykVxipmOFTbKMdHyrH1bCm-HZVvwr6dsFSY5xZb_iq4DmwhuqN2mdOMpsr9Uh9w3e2ba79BnBJ3u/s640/Screenshot+-+29-01-2013+%252C+11_58_32.png" width="448" /></a></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Modern printed version of the first page of the
celebrated Introduction or "Muqadimah" of Ibn Khaldun's 14th century
Arabic treatise on history, politics, economics and sociology. Again, barely
discernable use of vowel markers</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycpjfnFDcI9adiMgEgYhfnhyphenhyphenRlegYZ9wQO8BL0PA1z67ntZwCOImA7gUMmvgz6AwH-VeliFlNZkfQpz5a08_SkqhxP-IcMrTPQrYxYo1C-tJLVvB1TgoKLYs06SfEClfYlaW3SW3ajdu5/s1600/Screenshot+-+30-01-2013+%252C+10_02_12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgycpjfnFDcI9adiMgEgYhfnhyphenhyphenRlegYZ9wQO8BL0PA1z67ntZwCOImA7gUMmvgz6AwH-VeliFlNZkfQpz5a08_SkqhxP-IcMrTPQrYxYo1C-tJLVvB1TgoKLYs06SfEClfYlaW3SW3ajdu5/s640/Screenshot+-+30-01-2013+%252C+10_02_12.png" width="436" /></a></div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">Modern printed version of the first page of the Persian translation of Mevlana Rumi's "Fi Hi Ma Fi Hi" ( In It Is What Is In It). Notice that although most of the sentences do not </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">have vowel marks, </span>some sentences do. These sentences are verses from the Quran which must always be written with vowel marks.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>
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<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">First page of the famous turn of 20th Century Urdu
novel, Umrao Jaan Ada, bereft of vowel markers but for the short vowel u in the
name Umrao</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Arabic Alphabet</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNE0k8QczntnJIbs1dZgZIxhWRgpqcdFa3eOKuMa9A0L3H9ngbUCK43G_OFXcX-S0YVBFR64xmxUdBjYSvWFy1uj5NNqyU4D6Y6X5O4HopgyTiAKXApin03RAwkTHC05FmtDu5rSa3sAQB/s1600/ArabicAlphabet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNE0k8QczntnJIbs1dZgZIxhWRgpqcdFa3eOKuMa9A0L3H9ngbUCK43G_OFXcX-S0YVBFR64xmxUdBjYSvWFy1uj5NNqyU4D6Y6X5O4HopgyTiAKXApin03RAwkTHC05FmtDu5rSa3sAQB/s640/ArabicAlphabet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">The modern standard Arabic alphabet arranged according to similarilty in shapes</span> of the letters</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEJIQN2CYypfy5sAdZf0aM0jDL4iS3_MVDZw7cShRTarhwHj1aYd6CLLAquFVycg-VwGHCjzbk0Px8RuCTLD5srjcBtS8746FTQiSUVOChF3ZQj3-ir0Jc9G3wRGaHMuZfjPaG345iVRo/s1600/ArabicAlphabetWritten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEJIQN2CYypfy5sAdZf0aM0jDL4iS3_MVDZw7cShRTarhwHj1aYd6CLLAquFVycg-VwGHCjzbk0Px8RuCTLD5srjcBtS8746FTQiSUVOChF3ZQj3-ir0Jc9G3wRGaHMuZfjPaG345iVRo/s640/ArabicAlphabetWritten.jpg" width="542" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Note that many letters have different slightly
different stand-alone, initial, medial and final forms. This feature is common
to many Semitic scripts and seems to be an ancient feature of these scripts.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="en-IN" style="font-style: italic;">Source - </span><a href="http://www.importanceoflanguages.com/LearnArabic/learn-arabic-alphabet-letters/"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic;">http://www.importanceoflanguages.com/LearnArabic/learn-arabic-alphabet-letters/</span></a></div>
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<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Gematrical Values and</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Other Arrangement of the Alphabet</span> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Along with the shapes and sounds of the Arabic letters, the
numerical values of these letters are also fundamental. Many Semitic and
non-Semitic alphabets assign numerological values to their letters.. Often in
earlier times, the letters were used as numbers based on their numerical values
in lieu of any special number symbols, until Hindu numerals (to the Arabs) were
adopted by the Abbasid Caliphs in early 9th Century and then later on adopted
by most of the West as Arab numerals. Hence the letter </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">أ</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">was used for the value
1</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">,</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> the letter </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">ب</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> was used for the value
2,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">ت</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">for 3</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt;">,</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"> ج</span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for 4 and
so on; these first four<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>letters,
A-B-J-D, which correspond to values, 1-2-3-4 were together called the </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">abjd</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> and gave rise to the
term </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">abjd</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> for the Arabic alphabet. The numerical arrangement of the Arabic
alphabet is given below. Other Semitic scripts also follow this same numerical
system. The numerical values of letters are used for various purposes such as
religious symbolism, magic and divination, astrology and occult and even for
seeking divine patterns. The table below shows the numerical values and
arrangements of the letters.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdM664GOE_Z3yOad28YPSDXkSvwVSK1JGyNeRpy_8DmMMXmm6yy-XBORRmrFltuJZgFKu9wH-UYr4cnHIb7r3dF3QUNGF8qYCLgNzeB_0VlvkzrRUzQS_2KfXcl5JXfU1AP4b_aflnbH-/s1600/Gommal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdM664GOE_Z3yOad28YPSDXkSvwVSK1JGyNeRpy_8DmMMXmm6yy-XBORRmrFltuJZgFKu9wH-UYr4cnHIb7r3dF3QUNGF8qYCLgNzeB_0VlvkzrRUzQS_2KfXcl5JXfU1AP4b_aflnbH-/s400/Gommal.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span lang="en-IN" style="font-style: italic;">Source - </span><a href="http://www.quranwonders.com/images/Gommal.png"><span lang="en-US" style="font-style: italic;">http://www.quranwonders.com/images/Gommal.png</span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The arrangement of Arabic letters into numbers is called Taarikh </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">تاريخ</span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">or Chronogram and the most famous chronogram in Arabic is
undoubtedly the number 786 which is derived as follows:</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">بسم لله</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">- bism illah -
2+60+40<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>+<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1+30+30+5 = 168 </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">الرّحمن</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">- a(l) rrahman -
1+30+200+8+40+50 = 329</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">الرّحيم</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> - a(l) rraheem -
1+30+200+8+10+40 = 289</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
168+329+289
= 786 </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The title
of one of my favourite books, Bagh - o - Bahar is also a chronogram which gives
the value 1217AH corresponding to 1802AD, the year in which the book was
written. Chronograms have been used for thousands of years and can sneak up on
you quite suddenly, which is why they are so much fun! </div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">We have already noted two arrangements of the Arabic alphabet: the
one arranged according to similarity in the shapes of the letters and the other
based on the numerical values of the letters. A third arrangement of the Arabic
alphabet was created by the grammarian </span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Khalil_ibn_Ahmad_al-Farahidi" target="_blank">Al Khalil ibn Ahmed Faraaheedi</a> (d.791AD), whom we
have already encountered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as the one who
perfected the vowel marker system. Al Khalil Faraaheedi wrote the first
dictionary of Arabic, Kitaab al Ayn, in which he arranged the letters neither
according</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">
to their shapes nor </span><span lang="en-IN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">according</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> to their values but according to where their sound originates in
the mouth. His dictionary starts with Ayn</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ع</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">as the first letter because it is voiced from the
lowest point in the throat and moving upwards and outwards in the mouth, ends
with Meem </span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="ar-AE" style="direction: rtl; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">م</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">as the last letter because it is voiced from the tip of the lips.
Because the first letter in this dictionary is Ayn it is called Kitaab al Ayn.</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
These
three arrangements of the Arabic alphabet are not exhaustive.</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Persian, Urdu, Turkic, Malay and Allied Scripts</span> </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Persian, Urdu,
Turkic, Malay use the Arabic script for their own sounds by mapping the Arabic
letters onto similar sounds from their alphabet. However in the case of each of
these languages their sound space is much larger than the one catered to by the
28 Arabic letters and this has neccesitated the innovation of new shapes from
with the 28 letter repertoire in each of these languages.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Additional letters
can be spotted in the alphabet tables given below:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5FBKJ6MI1dNEGwE4DpB2MvAl0T7RhPiS7yGtghlJPWbMilS8G41duXipxjSTLbxJCpyTvQyV-Rpxc2uR4peBv6m7n1J4q48_DGEegiWZq4GXKq2SGuLKVL7WmNRSBFderHRNLTsvVTum/s1600/dari_alphabet.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5FBKJ6MI1dNEGwE4DpB2MvAl0T7RhPiS7yGtghlJPWbMilS8G41duXipxjSTLbxJCpyTvQyV-Rpxc2uR4peBv6m7n1J4q48_DGEegiWZq4GXKq2SGuLKVL7WmNRSBFderHRNLTsvVTum/s400/dari_alphabet.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Persian / Daari alphabet</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNr9Ha6hjCfoY1QIuQctcUeBhYEwUuRJX3BvC8Q_8AP02dCDp-XsBwcuGtJir-ICouFKRCnMdTJZU7GDxjjrPXfUQ-zn7KyN34txgwJQ0sDXi3eaBYB4wmSAUBEBWSicQyEtbn_xi4ZK5G/s1600/Urdu-alphabet-en-hi-final.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNr9Ha6hjCfoY1QIuQctcUeBhYEwUuRJX3BvC8Q_8AP02dCDp-XsBwcuGtJir-ICouFKRCnMdTJZU7GDxjjrPXfUQ-zn7KyN34txgwJQ0sDXi3eaBYB4wmSAUBEBWSicQyEtbn_xi4ZK5G/s400/Urdu-alphabet-en-hi-final.svg.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Urdu alphabet</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Ottoman Turkish alphabet</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Sindhi alphabet</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Jawi / Malay alphabet</span></div>
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I hope this post has helped you to understand the basics of the development of the Arabic script and will point you in the right direction.<br />
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<u><b> To Know More About:</b></u><br />
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Arabic script and learning to write Arabic<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Arabic_alphabet" target="_blank">Wikipedia's page on the history of the Arabic script</a><br />
<a href="http://www.guidedways.com/lessons/unit1_writing.php" target="_blank">Guidedways's has a decent introductary course to learn the script</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Dab4agZDQ" target="_blank">Youtube video tutorial</a><br />
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Numerology/Gematrical values<br />
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/section13.html" target="_blank">One of my favourite Urdu luminaries, Prof Frances Pritchett, talks about Chronograms</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjad_numerals" target="_blank">Wikipedia on Arabic gematrical values</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria" target="_blank">Wikipedia on Hebrew gematrical values </a><br />
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Writing Systems, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Proto-Cannanite<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-Linguistic-Blackwell-Linguistics/dp/0631234640" target="_blank">Writing Systems, A Linguistic Approach by Henry Rogers</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-World-Language-Library/dp/0631180281" target="_blank">Writing Sytems of the World by Florian Coulmas </a><br />
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Others<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Arabic-Language-Kees-Versteegh/dp/0748614362" target="_blank">The phenomenal work by Kees Versteegh on the development of the Arabic language </a><br />
<a href="http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Papyri/jones.html" target="_blank">Alan Jones talks about the significance of papyrus Perf No 558</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Quran" target="_blank">Wikipedia on the history of the Quran, including its compilation</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-2628825243413619612012-08-29T12:08:00.000+05:302012-08-29T12:18:51.592+05:30William Jones aka Yunis Uksfardi, Oxford and Persian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<u><b>William Jones urf Yunis Uksfardi, Oxford and the Persian Language</b></u></div>
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Most people know of William Jones' superhyperparanormal command of scores of languages, precocious childhood and ever more prodigious adulthood. Most also know that he was the founding father of the famous Asiatic Society of Bengal. However, few are aware that<u><i> William Jones also went around by the nom de plume Yunis Uksfardi</i></u>.</div>
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In 1771 William Jones wrote a book on Persian Grammar. On the inner title page of this Persian Grammar, William Jones wrote his name in Persian text as Yunis Uksfardi. The sheer sense of wow which I got the first time I encountered this Persian rendition of William Jones' name can not be described. I think it was akin to suddenly finding a small fantastic treasure buried under one's bed. </div>
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Uksfardi obviously comes from Oxford and refers, perhaps, to the deep sense of attachment that William Jones may have had for the University of Oxford. He seemed to treasure his association with the University of Oxford so much that he selected Oxford rather than his place of birth, Westminster, as his last name in Persian. Perhaps he took up Uksfardi as the second part of his pen name because it was at Oxford that he learnt Arabic and then Persian under the tutelage of a Syrian native, Mirza of Aleppo, whom William Jones chanced upon in London and requested him to help him learn these tongues. William Jones was very highly regarded at Oxford and won quite a few accolades during his time there. In 1780 he even contested in the Parliament for the seat from Oxford.</div>
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Why did William Jones choose Yunis as his first name though? Some are of the opinion that Jones is a Welsh contraction of John (or of son of John). In this case William Jones had two choices for rendering John into Persian (Arabic):</div>
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Youhanna - the Christian Arab version of the name John</div>
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Yahya - the Islamic Arab version of the name John </div>
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He swept aside both options in favour of Yunis. There has to be a reason for this choice.<br />
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<i>But why Yunis, why?</i></div>
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One gets an idea of William Jones' inclination towards the re-discovery of Ancient Oriental knowledge from the (celebrated) Preface to his Grammar of the Persian Language. The Preface is truly an introduction to the Persian language as it goes into the details of describing the Persian language as well as of the development of the language. He extols the virtues of Oriental knowledge and also denies any validity of the various excuses the British of his time used to make for not showing an interest in Persian culture; ranging from being too busy to waste time on Persian to Persian being a language of barbarians and or of believers in Mahomet, to everything else in between. Bear in mind that in 1771, warfare between the fractious European powers and the Ottoman Empire was still very common indeed and also that European imperialism was now taking firm shape. William Jones cites Voltaire's unbridled appreciation of Persian literature in support of his ideas. He goes on to explain how Persian has started becoming very important for the British in India for good governance and politics as all court correspondence, firmans and petitions are in Persian and every British official in the Indian courts must be able to hold his own when it comes to reading and writing in proper Persian without resorting to Munshis. This book on Persian Grammar is clearly targeted at the British officials in India. I think I remember reading somewhere that William Jones wrote this book at the request of a director of the East India Company who wanted a Persian manual for the EIC officers. Earlier they had to rely solely on the Indian Munshis for learning Persian and other Indian languages. However, soon after, the British realised the importance of employing local dialects rather than Persian or Sanskrit while conversing with the commoners. To this end, Fort William College was established in Calcutta at the turn of the 19th century. The British of course, sounded the death knell for Persian in India when they outlawed its use as an official language of British India around half a century after the publication of the first edition of William Jones' Persian Grammar.</div>
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In his Preface, William Jones laments the fact that he does not have enough time to write an accompanying history of Persian literature. William Jones, of course had earlier already translated many books on Persian history from Persian into European languages. Perhaps in the title pages of these texts also he may have given his name as Yunis Uksfardi. He gives pointers to Europeans on which intermediate and advanced texts to study in order to extend their basic learning ("the first book I would recommend is... Gulistan, the Bed of Roses..."). William Jones informs the reader that if the learner follows his advice then he will be able to correspond with any prince in India and with any commoner within a year of starting his studies. He also suggests that mastery of the various aspects of Arabic (Arabick) will be completely essential for attaining truly dizzying heights in the knowledge of Persian.</div>
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Although William Jones' Persian Grammar is good as a book for learning Persian but it's not the best.. Perhaps it was the best book of its kind in English when it came out but then it was soon eclipsed by other Persian manual. Lt. Col D C Phillott's magnificent book comes to mind immediately as a later day example of a much more exhaustive text, but there is no doubt that William Jones's book was the path finder for learning Persian through English. William Jones' Persian Grammar proved so useful and famous that it has to date never really gone out of publication (latest edition 2010). For me, the true value of the book lies not so much in the main didactic section but rather in the Preface, which William Jones uses very well to converse with his reader and to put forth his case for the study of Oriental subjects.</div>
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I end by quoting the last paragraph from Yunis Uksfardi's Preface to his Persian Grammar:</div>
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<i>" As to the literature of Asia, it will not, perhaps, be essentially useful to the greater part of mankind, who have neither leisure nor inclination to cultivate so extensive a branch of learning; but the civil and natural history of such mighty empires as India, Persia, Arabia and Tartary, cannot fail of delighting those who love to view the great picture of the universe, or to learn by what degrees the most obscure states have risen to glory, and the most flourishing kingdoms sunk to decay; the philosopher will consider those works as highly valuable by which he may trace the human mind in all its appearances, from the rudest to the most cultivated state. and the man of taste will undoubted be pleased to unlock the stores of native genius, and to gather the flowers of unrestrained and luxuriant fancy"</i></div>
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I still can't get over Yunis Uksfardi being the nom de plume of William Jones. I think it would have been fantastic to meet him.<br />
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<u>To know more about:</u><br />
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<b>Yunis Uksfardi, I mean about...William Jones</b><br />
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<a href="http://archive.org/details/SirWilliamJones" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LSR Krishna Sastry's quick read of a book on Sir William Jones</a><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia on William Jones</a><br />
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<a href="http://archive.org/search.php?query=william%20jones%20works%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The collected works on Sir William Jones at Archive.org</a><br />
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<a href="http://archive.org/stream/agrammarpersian00jonegoog#page/n10/mode/2up" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Grammar of the Persian Language (1771 edition)</a><br />
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<a href="http://archive.org/stream/agrammarpersian01jonegoog" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Grammar of the Persian Language (1828 edition)</a> - this one has some useful footnotes to the Preface and the font is more legible.<br />
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<b>Asiatic Society of Bengal</b><br />
<a href="http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The official website</a> - They have done a decent job of ensuring that some of the old manuscripts of India and scholarly papers remain in circulation.<br />
<a href="http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/history/index.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Their history in their words</a><br />
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<b>Learn Persian</b><br />
Lt Col D. C. Phillott's fantastic book of Persian - <a href="http://archive.org/details/higherpersiangra032060mbp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Higher Persian Grammar</a> (1917). Make sure you read the Introduction.<br />
And while you're at it, also consider reading his true treasure, a book on Hindustaani Idioms, <a href="http://archive.org/details/khaznaemuhawarto00philuoft" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Khazana - i Muhaawaraat</a> (Treasure of Idioms) - <u><i><b>highly highly recommended</b></i></u>.<br />
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Or just check any of the 50 trillions websites which help you to learn Persian.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-14613937361043683272012-08-24T18:16:00.000+05:302012-08-24T18:16:00.301+05:30Review: Les Uns et Les Autres aka Bolero 1981 - an epic about our daily lives<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083260/" target="_blank">Les Uns et Les Autres a.k.a Bolero 1981 - an epic about our daily lives</a></b></span></div>
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<i>"There
are only two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves as if
they had never happened before…"</i></div>
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Les Uns et Les Autres is
one movie worth watching. Again and again. From the first scene till the last
there is one big circle of events, people and lives. At just under three hours hours, Les Une et Les Autres is a long movie but these three hours are amongst the best three hours I have ever spent on cinema. <span style="font-size: 11pt;">The story of Les Uns et Les Autres</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> may seem as if it is about artists being herded into war; though soon we come to realise the reality, that it is never the one soldier who fights the war against his state's enemy but his entire family which finds itself at war, with cruel fate. For what else is it to the mother of an infant when her husband is executed for trying to escape his POW camp a few hours before the official end of hostilities. Or when middle aged parents are told the heart wrenching news of the death of their sons in combat even as across the street their neighbour is welcomed back home from the war by his wife and children singing to the tune of a jazz orchestra. Incredulous juxtapositioning? Perhaps to the inhabitants of today's world, secure as it is from any large scale armed conflicts between nations, yes. But not false. And it certainly can and does happen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Music is the binding thread in</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Les Uns et Les Autres. It</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> is the story of four families and their friends over the course of 25 odd years. Three of the four families, one each from USA, France and Germany , are connected to playing music and the fourth, a Russian family, is associated with dancing to music. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">The characters (and their children and children's children) over the decades keeping walking in and out of each other's lives usually without anyone realizing their mutual connections from the past. And perhaps that is how it is in real life too and if it is or it isn't, how will we ever know, after all , we don't realize the connections we share with other random people criss crossing our lives, because once we do realize the connection, they stop being random people. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Ancient friendships which stains under the weight of things kept unsaid, and angry recriminations </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">erupting</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> at the wrong time, only to be bolstered by the feeling of camaraderie and bitter sweet memories. A badge of honour from the wrong man which will forever be an albatross around one's neck. People who know what to do to get by when the times change; who know how to bet on the winning horse every time but only for so so long for fortune is just one giant </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Ferris</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> wheel. The stories of the War generation give way to the stories of the 60s generation and yet the stories are essentially the same </span><i style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> ...as if they had never happened before… </i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the Ferris wheel keeps coming back. Even the ending of the movie comes back to the </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">beginning</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">One thing I liked about the movie is that ce</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">rtain key scenes involve the supporting cast. In fact there are no protagonists, everyone who is shown in the movie has a significant role to play in some way just as in real life everyone is equally important, in a way. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Comic relief is provided in the form of the two teenage brothers who can not give up on even the smallest of oppourtunities to throw punches at each other (in good humour) though ultimately there is a tragedy in this as well. The overall sense is one of tragedy. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The last one hour moves quite quickly. Time loses its continuum and leaps back and forth, some scenes are genuinely confusing as the same actors play both the parent and the child or the grand parent and the child. This technique of narration takes some getting used to but fits perfectly into the overall "feel" of the movie. Some pretty solid editing manages to hold everything together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">There is minimal
use of dialogues. Most of the narrative progression is through visuals and not
through dialogues. Significant events, such as courtship and marriages, come to
happen over the course of a few seconds. Yet, there a voice which does narrate
certain events which are not shown to have passed but lead to other events in
the chronological progression of the script. The narrative is mostly linear. Some of the dialogues are truly inspirational. Sample this one; "No man who has known war could ever start another. Those who start wars must know no friends nor lovers. Must be their way to get revenge on those who are happy."</span></div>
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Claude Lelouche's direction <span style="font-size: 11pt;">is fantastic. The way the focus moves from the key characters in the foreground
to the supporting cast in the distant background brings out the significance
those supporting roles have for the movie. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Cinematography is quite good. Fantastic use of zooms to take the viewer inside the thoughts of the character on scree and at other times to fix the character inside the larger frame of things. My favourite such scene is the mental asylum scene shot through the window in which the camera follows a middle aged son as he walks towards his old and mentally ailing estranged mother siting alone on a solitary bench in the light of the setting sun. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I loved the winding staircases which keep cropping up throughout the movie and the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">extremely wide angled fast moving circular </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">shots of these winding staircases. Long shots where the camera follows the actor are also well suited to the overall aura of the story. I liked everyone's performance in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Les Uns et Les Autres, Geraldine Chaplin in particular has acted quite well. I felt she did a great job in Doctor Zhivago too. Actually everyone's dished out great performances.</span></div>
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I have added another great title to my list of all time favourite movies and I am sure <span style="font-size: 11pt;">Les Uns et Les Autres will touch every one who see it in one way or another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And the dancing...did I mention the phenomenal dancing? Check out Jorge Donn move to Maurice Ravel's unforgettable Bolero.</span></div>
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Oh! An there's even a glimpse of Sharon Stone thrown in for good measure.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-78076889295370267252012-08-18T17:59:00.001+05:302012-08-18T19:48:16.582+05:30The Statistics of Climate Change - A Case Analysis of Dr James Hansens 2012 Paper<div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">The Statistics of Climate Change - A Case Analysis of Dr James Hansen's 2012 Paper</span></u></b></div>
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Climate change is such a hotly debated topic that almost everyone has an opinion on it and even to not have an opinion ("I just don't know") is a valid opinion as many believe that we still do not have enough data to swing the decision in either side's favour.<br />
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The phenomenally controversial head of the Goddard Institute of Space Studies of NASA and noted Anthropogenic Global Warming proponent, Dr James Hansen has published a paper called <i>Perception of Climate Change,</i> in a scientific journal called <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, </i>in which he gives statistical data for temperature changes over the last six decades in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth. Using this data, Dr Hansen concludes that the Earth has been getting much warmer and that the evidence is incontrovertible. Further he also claims that extreme weather situations have become much more common than earlier. <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21560235" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Economist has carried a story</a> on this study and this is where I first read about the study.<br />
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<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21560235" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhSO6FWi5-J00xQNwURiDPgo2BYIqyy7edcxhxJE_LjnSCPlShSzN_Xn8j3snmSHivqhXk26dpQGMP7HVtCO8THH_WuCxj_vScbohUMKRpYptUTsdOICG6FKy58S27CmXLHKdEgSUmSLO/s640/20120811_STC780.png" width="553" /></a></div>
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The data graph of the study given in The Economist</div>
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<u>Description of the Graph :</u><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The data plotted pertains to temperature readings during the months from June to August for six decades starting from 1950s down to 2011 for the Northern Hemisphere.</li>
<li>The data plotted is relative data not absolute data. This has been done to facilitate better comparisons.</li>
<li>The reference curve (given in Dark Brown) comprises the average temperature values from 1951 to 1980; this builds a base with which to compare the temperature variations in each of the six decades. 1951-80 has been taken as a reference because this time period is long enough to build a normalized data range.</li>
<li>0 marked on the X axis (standard deviation) is the average temperature for the reference curve (1951-1980), which obviously has a sstandard deviation value of 0.</li>
<li>The data for each decade is Normally Distributed and hence the peak frequency value for each decade coincides with the Mean(Average)/Median/Mode temperature of that decade. Further the 68-95-99.7 rule holds wherein 68% of the temperature values for any decade fall within 1 standard deviation on either side of the Mean temperature value, 95% temperature values fall within 2 standard deviations on either side of the Mean and 99.7% fall within 3 standard deviation.</li>
<li>Dr Hansen describes an "Extreme Condition" as a temperature value which falls beyond 3 standard deviations from the Mean ie beyond 99.7% of the temperature range. This obviously has to be an absolute limit because uncomfortable or harmful weather is mostly an absolute figure in the short run. In the long run, life could perhaps adapt to the permanent changes but then a few decades can not be considered enough for adapting to these extreme conditions. These Extreme Conditions are perhaps the most important part of the data, from Dr Hansen's point of view.</li>
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<u>Conclusions from the Graph:</u></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The data plotted clearly shows <b><i>an increase in the average Summer temperature</i></b> with each new decade. This can be observed from a right shift, along the X axis, of the Mean temperature value for Reach successive decade as shown by the peak of the Normal Curve for that decade. The Reference Curve's Mean temperature value moves from 0 to 1 for 2001-2011.</li>
<li>The data also shows a much broader range and hence variation of temperatures for each successive decade. This can be seen from the increasingly flattening Normal Distribution. As one moves from one decade to the next, the frequency for the temperature starts to spread out over a wider range which shows up as a lower and flatter curve than the one for the previous decade. This means that since 1951 temperatures have been fluctuating as an ever increasingly pace. <b><i>This large variation translates into lesser and lesser equitable climate, lesser reliable weather and could mean greater stress on crops and businesses and more discomfort for people, animals, plants and vegetation in general</i></b>. The number of recordings for the Mean temperature drops from 0.4 readings in the Reference Curve to 0.3 in the 2001-2011 curve.</li>
<li>The cases of Extreme Conditions in weather,as defined by Dr Hansen, were about 0.3% or less for the Reference Curve but for the 2001-2011 decade these were 6-8% or even more for the hot right side of the curve (though not so for the cold left side). This can be inferred from the right most part of the 2001-2011 Normal Curve, representing perhaps 1.5 standard deviations which has crept in the zone of Extreme Heat. Hence there are 6-8% temperature values for the decade of 2001-11 which fall into the category of Extreme Heat. <b><i>Hot weather extremities are clearly on the rise as well</i></b>.</li>
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<span id="goog_1293804711"></span><span id="goog_1293804712"></span><br />
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<u>Positive Attributes of the Study:</u><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The GISS data is all encompassing. <b><i>Data for the entire Earth has been collected. </i></b>This is not a sample survey, this is a reading of the entire data universe (the entire Earth in this case). Climate is always a global phenomenon<b> </b>(as opposed to weather) and that is why climate change can only be talked about on a global scale. Rising temperatures in one or many parts of the globe will always be concomitant with other related phenomena in other parts of the globe. This universality of data is one of the two big advantages of this study. On the flip side however, only the data for the Summer months in the Northern Hemisphere has been actually plotted in the Normal Curves (see the Doubts section below for more details)</li>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><i>Data plotted is actually recorded data, not future projected data</i></b>. There are no modelling results used here, no assumptions to validate or disprove. This is all genuine and historic data, hence the readings, at least, are unassailable. This, absolute independence from projected data to my mind is the the other big advantage of this study.</li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>This data analysis has been <b><i>accepted by a leading scientific journal</i></b> called <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i> and this gives it some serious credibility, though, it is no guarantee of the water tightness of the analysis.</li>
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<u>Doubts over the Study</u><br />
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Statistics have to earn our trust. We can't give it away for free to them. They have to be able to withstand our scrutiny. And this applies more so to statistics we want should be true, the ones which prove something we hold dear. Or else, suddenly, we might find ourselves betrayed by our own hasty acceptance of data we want to believe in.
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Data Doubts
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<li><b><i>Is a period of 60 years enough to provide data for climate change?</i></b> What is the accepted time
span amongst the scientific community for talking about climate rather than weather, especially when discussing long series temperature changes? In fact, is there is any consensus at all about the time span? What results do we get when we analyse the data for the last 100 years (provided we have reliable global temperature data going back that far).</li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><i>Why only plot the data for the Northern Hemisphere and not for the Southern Hemisphere?</i></b> Perhaps one explanation can be that this has been done in order to facilitate a true comparison. Summer in the Northern Hemisphere extends from June to August, whereas at this time the Southern Hemisphere usually experiences Winter. Hence in order to compare apples with apples, one needs to select the Summer months' data from one hemisphere ie compare June-August data for each year for the Northern Hemisphere and compare December-March data for each year for the Southern Hemisphere. The temperature data for the Summer months in the Southern Hemisphere should be plotted separately as a Normal Distribution for a truly global analysis. If there is indeed global warming taking place then the data for the Southern Summer months will further support this conclusion because, again, climate is a global phenomenon.</li>
</ul>
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Correlation and Causation<br />
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Although, in this scientific paper Dr Hansen has not made any claims about the causes of this clear rise in global temperatures, he is a vociferous advocate of Anthropogenic Global Warming (read human induced global warming) and will place this data analysis in that context.<br />
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I think the single most important caveat for anyone looking at statistics, be they of weekly milk prices for one's household budget or climate change figures, is to <u><b><i>not confuse correlation with causation</i></b></u>. Sympathetic movement of two things does not imply a dependency relationship between those two things. Recently Krishnamurthy V Subramanian of the Indian School of Business has written a very lucid and meaningful article on the difference between correlation and causation. It can be accessed <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-08-10/news/33137629_1_gdp-growth-firemen-correlation" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I believe that climate change is being brought about human actions.I don't know this but I believe it. I am constantly trying to find ways to reduce my carbon footprint. However I do not wish to be slotted into either of the two opposing camps.<br />
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However instead of going into why I believe this I would like to dwell on some questions come to my mind based only on rationale. The answers to these questions will need more data and analysis but once answered they will perhaps help convert my belief into my knowledge and certainly aid policy makers and businesses to come to terms with the reality of our economic activities (again provided these questions are answered).<br />
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These questions directly address the correlation and causation problem for this study on climate change. Answering these could help convert any correlation between greenhouse emissions and climate change into a casual relationship and further even establish the direction of the relationship.<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>How are we certain that human action is causing climate change? Evidence seems to suggest that for all of the previous climate changes in the 4.5 odd billion years long history of our planet, humans have not even been around to witness them, let alone influence them. </li>
<li>Other causes need to be eliminated (though I personally do not give much credence to most of them) such as increased Solar activity, fundamental geo-changes, inner core dynamics etcetera.</li>
<li>Perhaps this time, that we are living in, is the inflection point of a very long run millions of years long climate cycle and hence this sudden acceleration might be a regular thing before such a cycle enter the next phase.</li>
<li>Could it be that in the absence of greenhouse gas emissions temperatures would drop rapidly? Is human activity somehow forestalling the next Ice Age, is this delaying of the Ice Age somehow better (but at what cost)? Perhaps there are some human activities which are masking the effect of excess CO2 (such as smoke emission which cools as opposed to CO2 emission which warms)
</li>
</ul>
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The data above clearly points to increasing weather temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere since the 1950s. Further heat extremities are also rising, fast. But I do need to clear my reservations, as given above in the Data Doubts section, before I can whole heatedly embrace the analysis. Perhaps within the next few years even more conclusive and exhaustive statistical studies on climate change will be carried. I eagerly await that time.<br />
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<b><u>To know more about:</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21560235" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Economist's story on the study published by Dr Hansen</a>
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Climate change Pro Anthropogenic Global Warming<br />
<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/topic/climate-change" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New Scientist</a><br />
<a href="http://climate.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NASA on climate change</a><br />
<a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page3.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Earth Observatory's global temperature data going back 2500 years</a><br />
<a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">And this page which gives human greenhouse gas emission data alongside</a><br />
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Anti-Anthropogenic Global Warming<br />
<a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Telegraph</a><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CHcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skepticalscience.com%2Fargument.php%2F&ei=AYgvUNGyMs3trQftnoGgCA&usg=AFQjCNHVVm3Gr8h6LZsOZYU4M19NKwNpDg&sig2=b8coer9bveMhG4xFI8zImQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Skeptical Science</a><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&ved=0CI8BEBYwCw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGlobal_warming_conspiracy_theory&ei=VYgvUL3ZCYrYrQfc3IHwCw&usg=AFQjCNHYLfNhNX4B8A0C_B6YCpZPvmL9qw&sig2=ZaR4dXOvGeQ0hMEa5v5OZQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><br />
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Normal Distribution in Statistics<br />
<a href="http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Properties-of-the-Normal-Curve.topicArticleId-267532,articleId-267485.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cliff Notes</a><br />
<a href="http://stattrek.com/probability-distributions/normal.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stat Trek</a><br />
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Meanwhile, here in Delhi.......it's getting hotter and drier and more erratic........please ignore, as this is anecdotal evidence and does not make for good statistics ;)</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-73198749884932880432012-07-19T12:05:00.000+05:302012-07-19T12:05:15.788+05:30Dastangoi Perfomance - Dastan e Chouboli<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u>My Recording of a Dastangoi Performance of Dastan e Chouboli</u></b></div>
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I had the good fortune of attending a very entertaining and engaging Dastangoi performance of Shri Vijaydan Detha's Rajasthani folk tale: Dastan e Chouboli in Feb 2012. The performers were Danish Husain and Mahmood Farooqui and the performance was held at Epicentre, Gurgaon.</div>
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I had decided to shot this performance as my first-ever video. Apart from the learning I gained in shooting and editing I also gained hand on experience with concurrent sound recording (a tough job indeed).</div>
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Camera: Nikon D7000</div>
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Quality: Full HD 1080 29fps</div>
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Run Time: 68 minutes+</div>
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Mic: Shortgun mic mounted on camera body</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cu9GqO98Ukg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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This performance is based on a great Rajasthani folk tale by Shri Vijaydan Detha. You can learn more about Princess Chouboli and her vow of silence <a href="http://katha-bethechange.blogspot.in/2010/08/vijaydan-detha.html" target="_blank">here </a>at Katha's website which have published a fantastic cloth bound two volume translation of the Chouboli stories.<br />
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I love stories and Dastangoi is a great traditional Indian form of story telling. Other than the traditional Dastangoi tales, these days one can see Dastangoi performances based on modern themes as well.<br />
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You can read more about the great Dastangoi art tradition here at the <a href="http://dastangoi.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-dastangoi.html" target="_blank">Dastangoi blog</a> and at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dastangoi" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> to keep updated about Dastangoi events you may like to attend.<br />
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This reminds me I should start reading that copy of Bagh O Bahar I've had with me since the beginning of time...</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-2840787657317868992012-01-25T17:58:00.000+05:302012-01-27T10:29:27.507+05:30List of the Best Virtual Panoramas / Virtual Tours / 360 degrees Views<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">List of the Best Panoramas / Virtual Tours / 360 degrees </span><span style="font-size: large;">Views</span></div>
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Virtual panoramas are the perfect union of excellent locations, brilliant photography and cutting edge technology all of which come together to deliver a very high quality art experience. Panoramas transcend border and immigration lines, they offer a passage into our beautiful and varied world. The thing about panoramas is that they can not be viewed in still images of in books; virtual panoramas are a visual art form which can only be experienced on a computer screen or a television. Ultimately though despite all the technology these panoramas and tours can not replace the actual experience. They are meant to give a glimpse and to introduce, to help one decide to go to the actual site or to help one reminisce. The real experience is not just about that one building or site but about the journey to that place, they people and the culture and one's own but happy existence in that experience. But panoramas are beautiful nonetheless. And I love wasting hours and hours going over them.<br />
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Just click on the banner images below to go to the websites for these tours.<br />
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<a href="http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200605/suleymaniye/default.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8brakUxVBYa5KNp1vpqpySF35kakETR06FdxtOKoKcerwt4SK6zxiHHb2aVq-JS673WAIt1claT5F5uih9F_C1lzd7ZWn3eEMDuW-0sgqeVUUwVDbhmC0da2K8XznUeJ_jzdvmEXvulyh/s400/sulemaniye+saudi+aramco.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Suleymaniye Mosque Virtual Walking Tour Istanbul by Saudi Aramco. My first virtual panorama and also one of my favourties. The Suleymaniye panorama is actually a part of a virtual tour of the entire mosque complex. Having seen the Suleymaniye in real life I can tell you that this virtual tour is very good and does provide an excellent simulation experience. The Istanbul skyline is so real, I almost felt like being back there. My favourite scene is definately Scene 5: Minaret 1, for the stupendous Summer afternoon view of the Istanbul skyline all the way down to the Galat bridge and Ayasofya. And for the azaan, the call to prayer, mixed with the bazaar sounds in the background of the scene; so hypnotic for me that I often revisit this virtual walking just to hear that azaan on a never-ending loop. Make sure you check out all of the detailed interior scenes as well. Even while visiting the Suleymaniye I could not access most of the interior sections and certainly not the top of the minarets. I recommend viewing this virtual walking tour in full screen mode. There is a button to activate full screen at the bottom right hand side in every scene.<br />
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Some of the best photos of Suleymaniye Jami are to be found <a href="http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/sinan,s%C3%BCleymaniye/Interesting">here </a><br />
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Two more virtual walking tours by Saudi Aramaco are:<br />
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<a href="http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200604/alhambra/default.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmL0vijQSrYGLmqJCtqOJBBr1ULejPRnEZk3HDwgnZ9tL4CX1J79tujqlQpi-wZxK1bCBGsimL2CKac7fd0cOsyJKEx3cPfdUHaGZuAYPTovXLxmgJMWATtz2eSj8VbJUeK95428VvPTTO/s320/the+alhambra.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The Alhambra complex in the city of Granada. A really fantastic tour again but since I have never been there I can not speak of it in the same way as I do of the Suleymaniye tour. It is said to be one of the best historical sites in the world and this walking tour helped me understand why. I must read up more on this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200901/al-haram/default.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="58" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNh3AE5q546Pj-vbi7ofhB6grg-dc2Fkny6HL1VC5yz54Ji1fDwlEi0dNVH2pqOCVD1Yb6-XQafu0qPft94ZdJgXr3gR4fGh7dyFlZ7j70kdeZCS_rIQA0_wp2gX1SvI3O92O7A8DOP49x/s400/haram+ash+shareef.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Site of the maginificent Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem. Possibly my all time favourite mosque and the third holiest site for Islam. Haraam Ash Shareef is where the First and Second Temple were located, supposed site of the near-sacrifice of Ishmael by his father Abraham. Jerusalem has always been very close to my heart though I have never been there. The sweeping views of Jerusalem from atop the mount, the wise angle shots of the Dome of the Rock are fantastic. You can read about the Dome of the Rock and the Haram Ash Shareef <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Mount.html" target="_blank">here</a>. A virtual panorama I will keep coming back to for the rest of my life.<br />
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<a href="http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttDyILtZ1zek9ZhOWhTGsbV0cbxigJF5SVzgrbp7ZIvCemy3gue7PUQOEpuZKwVm9Xn03NYhXQCJOkAgvnml4SNahBIMk1i-2r8AN_xLVi2gQ3_4N7wiOA3utplv3O15Puwsu83LrwK_M/s200/vaticano.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Fzm2EY9cD4Z-dnxYK8MctwPG79bu5iGYhmVkCp9LiIrLv4dHKTKG_ts0PMJugTk3PQgI20ERWSwF8h3QqHIgQB6TysPgbwVbl2xRGrc4P1LLFBL51BRuAlWuXtW2Scs_42liANxYdNXu/s1600/sistine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Fzm2EY9cD4Z-dnxYK8MctwPG79bu5iGYhmVkCp9LiIrLv4dHKTKG_ts0PMJugTk3PQgI20ERWSwF8h3QqHIgQB6TysPgbwVbl2xRGrc4P1LLFBL51BRuAlWuXtW2Scs_42liANxYdNXu/s200/sistine.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="text-align: left;">SISTINE</span> CHAPEL BY THE VATICAN</b></div>
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Oh my God!!! Literally and in the most pious manner possible. This is a great gift by the Vatican to the net citizens of the world. A fantastic high resolution virtual panorama of the Sistine Chapel. Some time back I saw a BBC documentary called Divine Michelangelo in which one gets to see the back(and neck breaking) efforts Michelangelo had to make in order to fulfill his commission of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel given to him by Pope Julius II. My aching cervical tremours in reverence at the mere thought of the years upon years Michelangelo spent painting the ceiling tilt-necked. And so naturally I was greatly intrigued to discover a virtual panorama of this object of power, faith, art, beauty and ever-lasting adoration.<br />
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The panorama of the chapel is phenomenal to say the least. It is such a great joy to see all of the paintings from the life of Christ on the walls and the scenes from the Old Testament on the ceiling. For someone like me, who enjoys Renaissance Art, this is a great treat. The level of detail really wins the day. And, I did not know that the floor of the Sistine Chapel was so beautiful. I suppose the floor gets sidelined, crowded out by the magnificence of the paintings on the walls and the ceiling. But then this is what panoramas are about; they let one view and observe the entire scene in complete serenity and patience. Do give it a deko.<br />
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<a href="http://www.paris-26-gigapixels.com/index-en.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbg8xfzJN2FJKIv6MjF-XABGnzCm_lkiaRm48M_jpm03I3Z3O9X9zzB19DJgqsGj7PFtIEBHSVNKytQgczLlUhp55hx40-LnSt4ztujuKee-ZQfZ6BAGCAj9nBdO34Oq0nyVCGQaWmiOW/s320/Paris+26+GB.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Paris 26 Gigapixels by the triumvirate of Kolor, Arnaud Frich and Martin Loyer. It's a bright sunny day in Paris and there are plenty of sights to see. There is the Seine, the Sacre-Coeur, Notre Dame, L'Arc de Triomphe and a torrential rainstorm of painful memories of having repeated failed at le langue de francais. This is a very clean, purposeful and highly interactive panorma, though it is not a true-drum-barrel-back to where you started from kind of panorama as there are hard stops at either ends of the panorama and one has to make one's way back in the direction one came from rather than just keep moving in 360 degree circles. Nevertheless it is not a major flaw and does not distract from the delights of this grand French madame. The photographer responsible for the Paris 26 Gigapixels panorama has many of his own extremely beautiful panoramas <a href="http://www.arnaudfrichphoto.com/english-version/virtual-panorama-360.htm" target="_blank">here</a>. Arnaud Frich actually discusses how to make photographic panoramas on his blog <a href="http://www.arnaudfrichphoto.com/english-version/main-menu.htm">here</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.360cities.net/london-photo-en.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1T1CZ7_VQoTKtbffV1Ur9RjXFG1x1t8k1M6-OdlMo9SHRpZcPW-AdeVyhltmtk7BXWdptTMZWO6ZWeyGMgzo4S6bhvM9G2oICpou-clLYpEr_6jgZf0Ti4S2ElILo7CYLBzz1OsY7Gu7W/s1600/london+80+gpx.jpg" /></a></div>
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London 80 Gigapixels by Jeffrey Martin. Be sure to click on the show landmarks button at the bottom right to really enjoy the panorama.<br />
Battersea power station, Tate Modern, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, St. John's Park and Buckingham Palace, the Gerkin, St. Paul's, Shakespeare's Globe, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (can't seem Cromwell's statue though,oh well), and Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square and the little eat on the corner where I had some fantastic sandwiches and coffee.Even Piccadilly Circus can be found with some effort and next to it can be seen the HMV store from where I bought my coy of the Jewel in The Crown.<br />
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Next to the show landmarks button is a take the tour button which seems like a good idea as well.<br />
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Can't see the Beehive, the mayor's office, HMS Belfast, the floating museum. No information has been given about what one is looking at unlike the much more interactive Paris 26 Gigapixel tour.<br />
The weather is overcast, as it should be. Of course.<br />
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<a href="http://virtualguidebooks.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_ye3BN3_FBUhS7LRxnXAp5UhCMt7CVHDzhLqeA9X4xNPNbLeHqE_9bctozX4sQHJPCO02hvlfvBEld_M7oL9VqmnIli9jX1ueKHaiGeTDiFRHdDB3y2_7h8qaQlajJIcCGl7gvf5HR8q/s400/virtual+guidebook.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The natural beauty of the American continent is so appealing to me. From Alaska to Baja California Don Bain has captured it all and made good looking panoramas out of all of them.<br />
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Don Bain's focus is not on just presenting picture-prefect-postcard virtual panoramas but to communicate the impression of a whole region. Considering that Don has over 8000 fantastic virtual panoramas I'd say he's communicated the impressions of a lotta regions in their entirety. Hence the use of the term" Virtual Guidebook" by Don for his kind of coverage. It is overkill? Perhaps for some. Am I drooling over the prospect of exploring the Oregon Trail, the Wild West, the Pacific coast line littoral and the heartland of the American-Indian lore in Canada and the USA? You betcha bottom Dollar bill I am.<br />
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The man's effort has to be applauded. He has brought together his skill, experience and passion and made the best use of oppourtunity (the launch of Apple's Quick Time viewer for example) to serve a superbly delectable multi-course gourmet meal of the wondrous sights of the Western half of North America. Yummm. Don Bain has my unequivocal respect. Highly recommended.<br />
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<a href="http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/earth/map.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbxOaIQGwEM8a2kXsJU5pyCpbDv9QnMROpLuVrkdra8ZSXr4qBQ5G8tkCw5QAj1ZHhvYeDohuPCJDuo_rxRiFUhdt7xUq2Y7wtN3Y8ZRXh9XPKu79YVkjYFYd4ve4NVAuW8tux2N4nsSXg/s200/world+heritage.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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UNESCO and J M Kaplan Fund have come together to prepare a database of major UNESCO identified sites across our planet. I visited just a few of the sites. Sana'a in Yemen is one of my favourites. I love the shades of Brown and White of Sana'a's ancient multistory houses. And of course that brings to mind the spice markets and the great Quran horde of Sana'a. It's a great endevour and I wish them the best.</div>
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<a href="http://70gigapixel.cloudapp.net/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4JBPh6xD3_9Y_7Y3rlb8qkG_L160IC4jOMjtz8euFHIz2Ug3hyWDGNPqvNCOUBbN0ohdE-I4PzV71dS2FoYchXgFVIfoVFr5_iDR284w-XFMt2iSCcfws6N02udDfhx6JcJWzI2wBxgz/s320/budapest+70+gigapixel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Budapest 70 Gigapixels by 360 degrees is also a very good effort. Initially it gives a sense of too much hot air and no real action as most of the 360 degrees view is full of trees and foliage and the city of Budapest is just a few tiny buildings vomitted out somewhere on the horizon. The vantage point seems to be a hill in a forest nnear Budapest. However if one clicks on the photos of the landmarks given just below the panorama one immediately sees what the fuss is all about. The panorama zooms into those distant tiny buildings of Budapest and suddenly they don't look so tiny anymore. The photo resolution is really quite large and all the landmarks are clearly visible. Even atom sized churches built atop hills on the horizon become quite big once zoomed into. Budapest is really beautiful, the architecture is a love child of Ottoman and Austrian which has been brought up in an environment of classy aesthetics and art supreme. This panorama has succeeded at its purpose. I must visit Budapest.<br />
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<a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/index.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="54" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-46Oecm6McRvKjVnafAYhfnSLqomQ7-A3yUq_8aNs3FvRqehDsKZYbXqrby48CWxNGPGI2CQ0n8dhufdyE-tcyB_tPX2lKCxOQy7NagOvBrpZqNn7Tl85oIyWtpbfoj4LXkG6TF9MWnx/s320/panoramas.dk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The New 7 Wonders of the World by Panorama.dk </div>
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VR (Virtual Reality) Panorama tours of the New 7 Wonders of the World. My favourite ones are of the Great Wall of China, Petra, Colosseum and Christ Reeder Rio.</div>
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Panoramas.dk does have some really nice 360 degree panoramas including one of the Great Mosque at Cordoba, the Eiffel Tower, Mount Everest, Sydney Opera House and scores of others. One of my favourites is the series on 4 Danish and Swedish churches from the middle ages which can be seen here One can zoom in and see all the details of the murals, paintings, church ornaments, liturgical objects and of course of the interior architecture itself. It's as close as one can get to actually being inside these churches. Very well executed job.<br />
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<a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/2011/church-murals.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtM_ElKs95WIQNoDuBufHpTKJMAU_iiri9qb6B3OdxU3IquTQRUjYmnONOlgu8oJj2IhrkVp_0M9O4jy440UMgiaab8wtFQufppFTN-du-Zs5mN8kC_sMp6qj1eh2FqmgSKwqsLjABhxxs/s1600/danish+and+wedish+churches.jpg" /></a></div>
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Another fantastic one by panoramas.dk is the Grand Canyon panorama.<br />
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<a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/US/grand-canyon-shoshone.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="48" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kjBkPjVJf9ZvvoXLVMfjzjIQsWGYF8tV1VvYibmNLuuJfjZWJQI6eH-2aCopfvwjITEd222ocs9k9z74jIv7mtMebxyBJ8deK6qC_ZTU1UTCj_jUEwjSrRDVrsp6E0pjwTdD6EG5fy80/s320/grand+canyon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Check out their complete list of VR 360 degrees panoramas here <a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/archive.html">http://www.panoramas.dk/archive.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/strahov-library.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KGiIhQUKRHpfA9chyphenhyphen61vC4fZbxnqTKSVUkQJsif6snxRPRD_P2BxY2FXllWCRLaQpUdLJerC0rUOzdU_KSr_fO19e1ME9Ky3b6_BxyoPYwqWR9s73PurBjaEH8lwPOd5Mwx0R6n4nROA/s1600/strahov.jpg" /></a></div>
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Library on Strahov Monastery Prague by 360 degrees.<br />
This panorama holds the record for the largest indoor photo in the world.3000 individual photos, totaling up to a colossal 40,000 megapixels, were arranged and stitched together to achieve this feat. As a photographer I can appreciate how supremely difficult it must have been to manage to shot 3000 high quality shots in low light conditions. A great accomplishment.<br />
Take a peek into a library going back hundreds of years, zoom in and read the titles of the books arranged in the shelves, marvel at the exquisitely executed art on the paneling and the ceiling and of course the fantastic wooden furniture. A bibliophile's delight.<br />
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<a href="http://www.virtualbruges.be/new_site09/index01.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBBsfjEBhLqlmpxhqP3gmhtX088vAkgY5SzLDMW02qTQ8JehYDBGzbhR3kVqdfhKoe7c4iWSPOq8_jzTpN2O1_HXY4tj7UGMZGVP4AUx3ZIQSfd0Xl8AirIPawd0t-z2wi8NW2lVMbU3I/s320/virtual+bruges.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not one panorama but rather a series of 36 panoramas of the city of Bruges which provide an indept "visit Bruges" experience. The canals runnings through the city look really lovely and the lights reflecting in them with the dark Blue sky above make for some fantastic viewing.<br />
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<a href="http://360.tallinn.ee/pano/list/en/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9XnbNO2ipdq0fGddLS-Q6RJ9OTvjj5KDBGh6uRuZJkjPh_5WsRU6nhdDb4lHVsuHTkQKe8kNvah9VJ3hhln9WvjbHYh5GeaMFl7YEUBnTfAfgFSVmrXHCtlMSQWgyIzpXvX2iHGGWuPl/s320/tallinn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tallinn Virtual Panorama by 360 degrees. The port city of Tallinn is the largest city of Estonia in the Baltic littoral. This set of virtual panoramas is in the same vein as the previous one on Bruges. Excellent views from scores of vantages points all over the city and many of them aerial shots from atop towers and domes.<br />
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<a href="http://www.360macedonia.com/macedonia/en/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpMtG2aqj3E1kSUxOxV_K1XqpFgrr2rOZ-x-cI-_CEbAIi_Rx1xKw8sZ6iI9jTRQK61-2t83QZmyIXgPn-GE3FC0PrLfJZxHhUtiwCOFOqk-Y8sc324XWjOq-5HhY383etbUm5TEcZf9Zg/s320/macedonia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Alexander's own land: Macedonia. Again a series of very touristy virtual panoramas which showcase the best of the country. The site is rife with panoramas of ancient hilltops, idyllic islands, Orthodox churches, heroes from the Aegean (Alexander's the main man of course).<br />
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Sample this virtual panorama of a fantastic ancient Greek theatre <a href="http://www.360macedonia.com/macedonia/en/images/vrtour/teatar-heraklea.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://panolab.com/index.php?action=gallery" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbTm9varpvpQjkuCSv3w-nPD1LAQ7LSut8mDFQS9elCny-EonQv2zR1by39d6CW77eGTFbyWMa4p8YYYn0-vXs5T8h1xaTDbHvu_j9I4QR7DSvaRBnd9hi0hyphenhyphen87dzg_e7XXI4ayprfcrT/s320/panolab.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
This appears to be a Russian site which encourages people to upload their own virtual panormas.Naturally most of the virtual panoramas listed are of places from within the erstwhile Soviet Union. My favourite one is called "In a cockpit at an abandoned airfield" which has the vantage point from within a decrepit MIG 21
(?) fighter jet 's cockpit. It's just so tragic. Reminded me of a story I once read in a Granada magazine on an abandonned Soviet-era "science city". The virtual panorama can viewed <a href="http://panolab.com/index.php?action=fullscreen&img=4c3e75bb" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.arounder.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0mZjPRPKQ_qH4JTQ-VKDuE7CNIM9721m3d8oeljdNdRRR0AVD7FmV7TFQu3glkdIUyCvtoxOF6EyAPHZdIMyJOa0VZcief0jeW0RGOgjlqgfuAwTqLmsrOuXSkfjbUfyqk09Ha5nj9mzG/s320/arounder.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Arounder; now here's a website I love to love. Arounder.com is full of scores of really well made virtual panoramas of many major tourist attractions (including 2 space-tourism destinations: Mars and Moon, keeping a firm eye on the future aren't we). I think I would love to see each and every one of these virtual panoramas, not even one week panorama here; for not only are these really well done technically, the choice of destinations is also quite well thought out. In fact on Arounder.com the problem is one of plenty; it's not what to select out of the lot and see, but what to, sadly, leave unexplored in order to give attention to the greater "to see" group. Monaco, Ibiza, Tahiti here I come.</div>
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<a href="http://viewat.org/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLRF1zq0aQp6EX5XzVfONNCKYqki-3QF9V_cejh-mVjh2lrInkmEa9k0SV-JrvQOq0bi_qgfn9yOanmCEJGz-TP55DtEDkOupnQsDpEAEOP9ruJR4WIk_7_-Z6PC6m8O7mJN6KKPK4T4I/s1600/view.jpg" /></a></div>
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A nice community based website which acts a showcase platform for high quality virtual panoramas made by the members of the community. Though not all of these panoramas are not those of very famous landmarks but they do give an insight into the ordinary life and environment of others and as there is nothing ordinary about life or nature I find these panoramas very fascinating. I was especially curious about the <a href="http://viewat.org/?i=en&id_pn=18266&sec=pn" target="_blank">Curious Cows of Bavaria</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKq9aFq4iN67uafWtygqQ6wns19SBBcwZI9k7YZJ-S6EAGtGc-m6r4crS45oA3jd32Z85FOiM3-Tf6o3iT3uy464wkY0EgcX7Af7tAMGcFXW6ruOf74Ub3PnbPh24Muwf3DgjpQB2dF0JU/s1600/google+earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKq9aFq4iN67uafWtygqQ6wns19SBBcwZI9k7YZJ-S6EAGtGc-m6r4crS45oA3jd32Z85FOiM3-Tf6o3iT3uy464wkY0EgcX7Af7tAMGcFXW6ruOf74Ub3PnbPh24Muwf3DgjpQB2dF0JU/s400/google+earth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAz1xcXt8OYRb-Pg0sMw3l0Bz1t3dwKMnOTv2-G-zd0RWgNJEFGdXSuM0EkonCReJmVl4ilbWyn4x0U1TwrPSD3HNbC1H2R2j0qW3MLrhcylHfJQ4WRDxM_RQC97kXlea4_yOGMu9gRyeh/s1600/360Cities_logo_main-glow-350-300x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAz1xcXt8OYRb-Pg0sMw3l0Bz1t3dwKMnOTv2-G-zd0RWgNJEFGdXSuM0EkonCReJmVl4ilbWyn4x0U1TwrPSD3HNbC1H2R2j0qW3MLrhcylHfJQ4WRDxM_RQC97kXlea4_yOGMu9gRyeh/s1600/360Cities_logo_main-glow-350-300x300.png" /></a></div>
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<b>Virtual Tours in Google Earth</b></div>
360 Cities has teamed up with Google Earth to provide virtual panoramas and tours of hundreds of places all over our world. Google Earth is a software which lets one visit any coordinates on our planet. Though it is not browser based but it is a supremely powerful tool. And it is open to the user community for adding 3D models of buildings, photos of places, landmarks and virtual tours.<br />
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The 360 Cities virtual tours on Google Earth are sometimes made of photos and sometimes of CAD models. They start-off as these circular bubbles which one has to zoom in to. There are hundreds and hundreds of virtual tours on Google Earth which one can enter and walk-around in. They range from tours of cities such as London and Shiraz to tours of Tour De France and cycling venues in the alps to volcanoes in the Pacific to anything and everything. To more about Google Earth go <a href="http://www.google.com/earth/index.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Google Earth is one of my favourite softwares.<br />
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Go <a href="http://blog.360cities.net/360-panorama-photos-google-earth/" target="_blank">here </a>to know more about 360 Cities tours in Google Earth.</div>
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There are many really great virtual panoramas on the web and I haven't listed them out here though they are in no way lesser than the ones already listed above. The ones I have mentioned are merely indicative of the fantastic world of virtual panoramas.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Make your own panoramas</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.panoguide.com/">http://www.panoguide.com/</a>
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<a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/panorama/index.html">http://www.panoramas.dk/panorama/index.html</a>
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<a href="http://www.panoramas.dk/panorama/software.html">http://www.panoramas.dk/panorama/software.html</a>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-82240580675907248662012-01-19T16:59:00.001+05:302012-07-19T11:59:37.898+05:30Daastaan - e - Amir Hamza and Hamzanama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxK_OJbuW7p3rWS5vohv8UZKsM1p6WwgX7JXrPe_x1IvUC8Ha3NO1zCm2azULlepTk_haEHRQHP_YsrljySCBl_PIiPFinrAnLZQ0LwPV3U8A8wVq3QAusU_0Ux7DEPTYPdPeexXbfxgN/s1600-h/hamzanama+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0_-HIuZ1Prz9RubivwLhRI7-6byyWgL8RIlqZlS1ITPJil2aNpEUYb_UO0gFJ-O96IvTtbplOX8bHkvZno2vxeaO9AhTTjx3iX5ay8J_LtjVDsujZRtIi9FiQ-wYr9B4S-suaY4vsNip/s400-r/hamzanama+2.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" wc="true" /></a></div>
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A sketch I made quite a few years back, copied out from a miniature painting on Dasatan - e - Amir Hamza, an epic story of the trials and deeds of prophet Muhammad's uncle Hamza. All Islamic sources unanimously agree that the real Hamza idb Adb Al Muttalib, the Prophet's coeval uncle , died in the Battle of Uhud in 625 A.D. However Hamza's swashbuckling-hero-like qualities and the narratives of real journeys he may have made all over the Middle East, Iran, Turan and the Indian Sub-Continent have lived on in the tradition of Dasatan - e - Amir Hamza in Persian literature and other literatures which have a Persian influence.</div>
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This illustration shown above has been copied from one of the greatest illustrated books ever produced, the Hamzanama of Emperor Akbar. This book is a truly phenomenal piece of work. The 15 years long production of Akbar's Hamzanama is considered to be a seminal event in the history of Indian art as it initiated the radical propelling of the tradition of Mughal miniatures to the top echelons of world art. While on the Mughal subject, it is interesting to note that the different Hamza epics frequently refers to Amir Hamza as Sahib - i - Qiraani, which means Lord of the Fortuitous Conjunction. This title was also used by Mughal chroniclers for their founder Timur. I have written a post on the titles used by Timur <a href="http://historyview.blogspot.com/2008/05/titles-of-timur.html">here</a>. This takeover of Hamza's title by Timur or assigning of a common title to both personalities for reasons of providing an association is something which has always intrigued me.</div>
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Stories from Dastan - e - Amir Hamza are regularly performed on the Indian Sub-Continent and in South-East Asia by dastangoi performers and are quite popular with various groups of audience. Be sure to check out a Dastangoi performance of Dastan - e - Amir Hamza whenever you get an oppourtunity, it's worth it.</div>
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I didn't want to write much about the Dastan - e - Amir Hamza as it really is quite popular; I just wanted to share my love for a wonderful fantasy story. The following websites give a lot of information about this great epic:</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamzanama">Wikipedia</a> on Dastan - e - Amir Hamza</div>
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<a href="http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/hamza/default.htm">Smithsonian Institution</a> - Highly recommended, very beautiful and visual website which uses images from the original Hamzanama of Akbar to introduce the story. The illustration above is also on the introduction page of the Smithsonian Institution's website.</div>
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<a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/hamzanama/">Victoria & Albert Museum</a> holds Akbar's Hamzanama. This website gives some details of the book and also provides a glimpse of the great book.</div>
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An academic discussion on the format, size and nature of Akbar's Hamzanama. Here (<a href="http://www.galbithink.org/sense-s3.htm">website</a>) and (<a href="http://www.galbithink.org/sense1.pdf">pdf</a>)</div>
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<a href="http://mafarooqi.com/hoshruba/history.html">Tilsim - e - Hoshruba</a> - Nice website on a late 19th century Urdu recasting of Dastan - e - Amir Hamza by Indian writers who vastly expanded and changed the original premise of the Dastan. This work has been recently translated into English.</div>
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You can read more about the great Dastangoi art tradition <a href="http://dastangoi.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-dastangoi.html">here</a></div>
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And here's a fantastic Dastangoi performance I shot in Feb 2012</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu9GqO98Ukg&feature=plcp">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu9GqO98Ukg&feature=plcp</a>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-83826015095487108682011-10-22T10:12:00.000+05:302011-10-22T10:12:15.948+05:30It's official folks, we're a 7 billion strong family now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7w9GKpW_IkNkgm3XQJ5d3u2GtyQqtzrlNdP7mI-6Oo2ZTalgrGdlC0Cc9V6JXNpx4u_nUpEBuMAR-cdz63C1AIiauAbXrqd_WTO4WrG1PLW2lQXoJwloAy-bF1pztaRlmWE28IqOCej-/s1600/Earth+Population+oct+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7w9GKpW_IkNkgm3XQJ5d3u2GtyQqtzrlNdP7mI-6Oo2ZTalgrGdlC0Cc9V6JXNpx4u_nUpEBuMAR-cdz63C1AIiauAbXrqd_WTO4WrG1PLW2lQXoJwloAy-bF1pztaRlmWE28IqOCej-/s400/Earth+Population+oct+2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Many population based maps are available at<a href="http://forum.xcitefun.net/population-map-remap-the-world-new-projection-t38129.html"> this forum</a>. </div>
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World Map (country size based on population figure) </div>
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India Map (based on population figures), physical map given in faint outline.<br />
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Rajasthan, Gujarat, J&K, Uttranchal and most of the North East have shrunk drastically, whereas the metros have swelled up to hundreds of time of their physical size. Uttar Pradesh too has assumed a monstrous size.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-70303563907724396592011-10-09T15:24:00.002+05:302011-10-09T17:31:37.637+05:30A Yukaghir girl writes a love letter / Semasiographic and Glottographic writing systems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A Yukaghir girl in love with a Yukaghir boy wrote him a letter. The Yukaghir are a North Eastern Siberian tribe who live by hunting and fishing. The letter is given below. This image constitutes the complete letter. Any guesses as to what it says?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AoUTXY-wbEilpBO7UvFsUkvgiJbvuBYgKxwNFUi-jaofB09Yrhte272Vm4a4Oixm4Xjq3TkSK7z6SiTz8qq5ZM0MKddhLE-rLtMy7Y-gVT6Zru39McGDdj3N2mjKXtT10rkzZzW4BLJd/s1600/writing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" id=":current_picnik_image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3SIYzWxZ-X8qylrDBWjJ3ox7Xfb6AIpTIlH0PGACo1OAfL83EZysXj9rypn5Cc9GaZlDB205VnLELvHpaSe6bNl-baUpUPMRHd-4Uj0yFP14mjis4lYEfC8ZJBXB-0EOeZnwoKDCae-G/s1600/16735129522_96SGg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A bit tough to understand, isn' t it? The first I came across this letter, I couldn't understand any of it; in fact I only saw it as a drawing. But it is a letter indeed and what follows below is the explanation. I have highlighted the parts using various colours and then broken down the sequence of events into 9 frames only to explain the chain of thought. The actual letter is just the one colourless image shown above.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX109wCE4rvuIUMrHEYUzTZmkCsw9cvmyh_B_AIxTCaAMzGG9xvLsOtlhfBVds8rbhOEXicYv9ztXz5keOxIxGGjew0O4zXap4tak29OV2elJUprPoGiCtFG9FRRY_0waydEu718pr0Tl3/s1600/writing+01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX109wCE4rvuIUMrHEYUzTZmkCsw9cvmyh_B_AIxTCaAMzGG9xvLsOtlhfBVds8rbhOEXicYv9ztXz5keOxIxGGjew0O4zXap4tak29OV2elJUprPoGiCtFG9FRRY_0waydEu718pr0Tl3/s400/writing+01.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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1. The writer of the letter, the Yukaghir girl, is the tree shape in Blue. We know she is a girl because she has plaited hair.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-ZnrekvMGQnkChElQ1dwRW45Yuzif9ODRDHQGDQNQFe2pMa02Uyw95JtRbSRZofe71uLR52wiqExH8kszMEIjpNlya22hkIlbxup58qxClBK3NlV6F6alLrUMk-2InPZwx6uY_a0e8nE/s1600/writing+02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-ZnrekvMGQnkChElQ1dwRW45Yuzif9ODRDHQGDQNQFe2pMa02Uyw95JtRbSRZofe71uLR52wiqExH8kszMEIjpNlya22hkIlbxup58qxClBK3NlV6F6alLrUMk-2InPZwx6uY_a0e8nE/s400/writing+02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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2. The girl is in love with a Yukaghir boy, another tree shape, in Green. He is a boy as he doesn't have plaited hair. The letter is addressed to him.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGI9GRloNy5U6DRiGOk6BpjqIsb0X3-3UCTEJVint0VsoI3L8pyMZezKvwOttjrwSwez_iGz8AYRSXmBy_orU-tw-HFPrV8ri45WTWGq7Sjrcw2Gq5n2FgsTodu8nKgz_Oc2fU17UzHG2/s1600/writing+03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGI9GRloNy5U6DRiGOk6BpjqIsb0X3-3UCTEJVint0VsoI3L8pyMZezKvwOttjrwSwez_iGz8AYRSXmBy_orU-tw-HFPrV8ri45WTWGq7Sjrcw2Gq5n2FgsTodu8nKgz_Oc2fU17UzHG2/s400/writing+03.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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3. The Yukaghir girl writes that she and the boy loved each other and this is depicted by the intermingling of their thoughts just above their tree point heads. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7V3POGv7rPcGKqzqatGf-Q73UEr6pp7g5HIcD0tT09d34iauy21dWaZZ4X0ZQE3DOfRBa3W-hS5sJfErUIKXcyMvUA-AjUwgEi8kUeh_kEWDeBw2GFMKOnjMjlf1hlbTSWRDIIQX98Xkh/s1600/writing+04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7V3POGv7rPcGKqzqatGf-Q73UEr6pp7g5HIcD0tT09d34iauy21dWaZZ4X0ZQE3DOfRBa3W-hS5sJfErUIKXcyMvUA-AjUwgEi8kUeh_kEWDeBw2GFMKOnjMjlf1hlbTSWRDIIQX98Xkh/s400/writing+04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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4. The girl further writes that now the boy has left her for another girl, a Russian girl and started living with this Russian girl. The Russian girl is shown to the left of the boy in Red and they are shown together living under one roof (a step pyramid/tent-like structure over their heads). The Russian are ethnically, socially and culturally completely different from the Yukaghir and the writer shows this by drawing panniers on the Russian girl's skirts (which are absent from her own Yukaghir skirt). The Russian girl of course also has plaited hair as she too, is a girl.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mNPkhPDX6jrt9EWY_K7l99d322CqMluLDQscFaAhByeGhehllcwmBDPV71kTEx_5qog2-eO4FFiWjJD2LRyxLiXGIam3k1mRbWnsbjgGmL-YdRvBLpIzkCM64IsF_Fesfsor-tXyRH4v/s1600/writing+05.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mNPkhPDX6jrt9EWY_K7l99d322CqMluLDQscFaAhByeGhehllcwmBDPV71kTEx_5qog2-eO4FFiWjJD2LRyxLiXGIam3k1mRbWnsbjgGmL-YdRvBLpIzkCM64IsF_Fesfsor-tXyRH4v/s400/writing+05.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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5. The Yukaghir girl tells the boy that the Russian girl has destroyed the relationship the Yukaghir boy and girl had earlier. This is depicted by the Russian girl's thoughts emanating from her head and cutting through the thoughts / love shared by the Yukaghir boy and girl earlier shown in figure 1.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EUEI9euAopT7jRDsNJPHff2D_7dQz8C0u7ZK4TDDd9-OPxQkV8APldMqWatMuUMkulAcrG-vzRss18TAd3MNSMGRdB_HBAvRToMNy5QOMLGWbcwP_2qEffQQ4ACNYEbkATA1TiTq3ET6/s1600/writing+06.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EUEI9euAopT7jRDsNJPHff2D_7dQz8C0u7ZK4TDDd9-OPxQkV8APldMqWatMuUMkulAcrG-vzRss18TAd3MNSMGRdB_HBAvRToMNy5QOMLGWbcwP_2qEffQQ4ACNYEbkATA1TiTq3ET6/s400/writing+06.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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6. However the girl knows that all is not well between the Yukaghir boy and his Russian girl friend. This tension is depicted by crosses between the heads of the Yukaghir boy and Russian girl, highlighted in Red.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeVZD9RiitFy4xJOs1t6WpaXYegTEC5NLZHhRdrV_1-VlxDfTiWmKh6ljRA_SF4-vm4z9zKh4n50zB9lzbME4WGlSYyHR2XF1zukHbbl32xSWKHGFHURhnXYodBfClnP3K7GEykBcZ30O/s1600/writing+07.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeVZD9RiitFy4xJOs1t6WpaXYegTEC5NLZHhRdrV_1-VlxDfTiWmKh6ljRA_SF4-vm4z9zKh4n50zB9lzbME4WGlSYyHR2XF1zukHbbl32xSWKHGFHURhnXYodBfClnP3K7GEykBcZ30O/s400/writing+07.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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7. The girl also informs the boy that she is alone in her house and she is sad. Her sad state of mind is shown by the crosses drawn behind her own head. But she tells him that she still often thinks about him and wants to be with him. Her thoughts (shown emanating from her head in Blue) are still.... sort of....drifting towards him.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLA9km6bqfdJGStXOTC_hDye1XxzCuIvWvemnyF6nz_GP5h9KeHMTl35p6Cs6e4g2K2fOYYh9_93K_cXp0H4Maf4Duv_whjGtpuh_Lgp_HrmwPy7O6VwZrCdhET-rQWBN9TilESE3BK-S/s1600/writing+08.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLA9km6bqfdJGStXOTC_hDye1XxzCuIvWvemnyF6nz_GP5h9KeHMTl35p6Cs6e4g2K2fOYYh9_93K_cXp0H4Maf4Duv_whjGtpuh_Lgp_HrmwPy7O6VwZrCdhET-rQWBN9TilESE3BK-S/s400/writing+08.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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8. However there has been a development. She tells the boy that now another Yukaghir boy has started making advances towards her. These are shown by a rather persistent and focused squiggly emanating out of this new boy's head towards the girl. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHNE8wbXBW6n8r70K3ExsQq_VWOuiyJX3Vde5OpDsxCHZjcWKyAp7bX-2Tp_EpflpUofd7E8NgXsE65Kxa6seKIqa0uUbL-p0dze6EZEr36tj_r7sX0eB2grlyoQyIgz2-7M592wkIhrc/s1600/writing+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHNE8wbXBW6n8r70K3ExsQq_VWOuiyJX3Vde5OpDsxCHZjcWKyAp7bX-2Tp_EpflpUofd7E8NgXsE65Kxa6seKIqa0uUbL-p0dze6EZEr36tj_r7sX0eB2grlyoQyIgz2-7M592wkIhrc/s400/writing+10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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9. The girl finally lets her ex lover know that if he wants to get back with her he should move immediately, before she gives into the advances made by the new Yukaghir boy and before her ex lover has children with the Russian girl. Two children are shown on the extreme left moving into the house of the Russian girl and the Yukaghir boy.<br />
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And so this is the interpreation of this love letter written by a grieving Yukaghir girl to her ex lover.<br />
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Amazing isn't it. Suddenly the letter seems so clear after the explanation. This letter is an example of a <i>semasiographic </i>system of writing. Semasiographic writing is when the writing/drawing represents the idea itself rather than any spoken words ie speech. The spoken words which are used everyday by the reader and the writer to communicate are not recorded in the written communication. The idea is recorded. <br />
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Actually we all deal with semasiographic writing everyday. Here are some examples:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DWwkGmuocqHZ4lFPjPoZO5tmLvRJxEZZaOTWKKDBENbciJP-hc4j3oaQFjQ4aFaEM2EUicg-_PMBoIfgWuLBnvvXzkBGNqycvs2gHUCAAB98bK_e6FpPm4LsnZlcK9y_DRh9ZGDgAO8_/s1600/free-road-signs-vectors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DWwkGmuocqHZ4lFPjPoZO5tmLvRJxEZZaOTWKKDBENbciJP-hc4j3oaQFjQ4aFaEM2EUicg-_PMBoIfgWuLBnvvXzkBGNqycvs2gHUCAAB98bK_e6FpPm4LsnZlcK9y_DRh9ZGDgAO8_/s320/free-road-signs-vectors.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUw6jndb3hbvWNBEgYvGjzoDb3h2VJzweTxNoVYmsIO60Qv2OdV1q8ltyFP-y1T08jkzkhEdSNXJFrnc-Irzl9le0P_fERTzR_KBNqTt2KMb5EV27VG3HfOYVNJPyDM4XN7wm1vQS1mivU/s1600/washing-instructions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="67" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUw6jndb3hbvWNBEgYvGjzoDb3h2VJzweTxNoVYmsIO60Qv2OdV1q8ltyFP-y1T08jkzkhEdSNXJFrnc-Irzl9le0P_fERTzR_KBNqTt2KMb5EV27VG3HfOYVNJPyDM4XN7wm1vQS1mivU/s320/washing-instructions.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrqm054TDQvNVbkQRAWkDBViTWZxIlc5dW3J1jxV9gUZ746EU5BOvEQpdFQPCnYfe10UvbKqn6fz0Sl4nzZ4F-rL8TrYGoUtKPQaA-IS4bVQBHpCd1q6FTqrWJ3zXNY490lYbDljmlhdug/s1600/mthpc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrqm054TDQvNVbkQRAWkDBViTWZxIlc5dW3J1jxV9gUZ746EU5BOvEQpdFQPCnYfe10UvbKqn6fz0Sl4nzZ4F-rL8TrYGoUtKPQaA-IS4bVQBHpCd1q6FTqrWJ3zXNY490lYbDljmlhdug/s320/mthpc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yup, these and many more semasiographic writings live all over our glottographic world. It is said that written mathematics is a very pure form of semasiographic writing. </div>
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Semasiographs are not the same as pictures. They are very much language based communication and are fluid in the sense that they can depict tenses and are very precise in interpretation to those who know how to read them, unlike pictures which are frozen and hence perhaps timeless and are also open to subjective interpretation. But most importantly any person using a <u>semasiographic system will have to represent the same idea in the same way.</u> handwriting differences notwithstanding. Whereas in a picture, there are many different ways to drawing the same idea, eg. a woman sitting next to a tree. This can be drawn in many different highly divergent ways. But the Yukaghir people must write the letter above in the same way. Here in lies the greatest difference between semasiographs and pictures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiat_nYO59pkez1qHQcllCfv_xvUfjSS8efuZ_Da8HJuOVHishcC3P38Np4ubrL4KZ6Gu4uTIKzZzl2Cn0-bvHxzYUF-jwo7C3tjBpk12XVI4om5cGJ0PsNkQe5KhoyILJ6buNRiI-t0qIW/s1600/grief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" id=":current_picnik_image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiat_nYO59pkez1qHQcllCfv_xvUfjSS8efuZ_Da8HJuOVHishcC3P38Np4ubrL4KZ6Gu4uTIKzZzl2Cn0-bvHxzYUF-jwo7C3tjBpk12XVI4om5cGJ0PsNkQe5KhoyILJ6buNRiI-t0qIW/s200/grief.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is an example of a picture. Perhaps a grieving lover draws this picture and sends to the one she grieves for. Or perhaps not. She may just be sleeping next to a tree. It is a painting.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AoUTXY-wbEilpBO7UvFsUkvgiJbvuBYgKxwNFUi-jaofB09Yrhte272Vm4a4Oixm4Xjq3TkSK7z6SiTz8qq5ZM0MKddhLE-rLtMy7Y-gVT6Zru39McGDdj3N2mjKXtT10rkzZzW4BLJd/s1600/writing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AoUTXY-wbEilpBO7UvFsUkvgiJbvuBYgKxwNFUi-jaofB09Yrhte272Vm4a4Oixm4Xjq3TkSK7z6SiTz8qq5ZM0MKddhLE-rLtMy7Y-gVT6Zru39McGDdj3N2mjKXtT10rkzZzW4BLJd/s200/writing.jpg" width="200" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">However this is clear written semasiographic communication. It's a letter, not a pciture. Those familiar with the Yukaghir language know how to read this letter.</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Every Yukaghir who wants to represent the idea of this letter in writing will have to write the same letter. </span></div>
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In both cases an idea is communicated. Both the painting and the semasiographic letter can be very precise if need be. But the two should not be confused.</div>
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Now the more prevalent writing system in today's world is not semasiographic but <i>glottographic.</i>This blog post is in English, which is an example of a glottographic system of writing. In a glottographic system the idea is not directly recorded in the communication. The spoken words which represent the idea are directly recorded. The idea to be communicated is not directly shown. Rather the written "speech" has to be read and then the idea becomes apparent. The Yukaghir people have actually now adopted the Cyrillic / Russian script for their languages after the Russification of North Eastern Siberia. Hence the Yukaghir languages have moved from a semasiographic system to a glottographic system of writing.<br />
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Obviously both semasiographic and glottographic systems have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Road signs, washing instructions, mathematics all if translated into glottographic writing would become extremely cumbersome and unwieldy. I think I would use neither exclusively if I had a choice. Both could be used in combination or different ones for different languages. That would be fun. And terribly confusing perhaps.In both the semasiographic system and the glottographic system, the writing, the language and the idea are being coded seamlessly and continuously but in different ways.<br />
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I came across this Yukaghir letter in a fantastic book on scripts called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-Introduction-Geoffrey-Sampson/dp/0804717567">Writing Systems by Geoffery Sampson</a>. It is a great book and I can re-read it many times. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in scripts and perhaps also in linguistics. Most of the ideas for this blog post have come to me directly from the 2nd chapter of this book. I think I love scripts even more than I love languages. I wished to write a much longer post but I am sure it too would have joined my list of long dead unfinished posts. Perhaps one day I will write on the symbiotic world of scripts and languages as well. God willing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yQMVoTRMRp2nIQ3hMCXvI0fqAyTbeqE88RhNX7yA-m7pXOcZyNP8H66yQ4htw5AaMlQ5liWiP617unXNgdxg215i3ST0tr9Oh9NV3-ZYga6JxZ4I8LxMhMUttkI1XN96BlSJ-3kcBIub/s1600/writing+09.jpg">Know More:</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Systems-Introduction-Geoffrey-Sampson/dp/0804717567">Writing Systems by Geoffery Sampson</a><br />
<a href="http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/yukaghirs.shtml">The Yukaghir </a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Study-Writing-Phoenix-Books/dp/0226286061">A study of writing by Ignace Gelb</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification">Russification</a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7V3POGv7rPcGKqzqatGf-Q73UEr6pp7g5HIcD0tT09d34iauy21dWaZZ4X0ZQE3DOfRBa3W-hS5sJfErUIKXcyMvUA-AjUwgEi8kUeh_kEWDeBw2GFMKOnjMjlf1hlbTSWRDIIQX98Xkh/s1600/writing+04.jpg"></a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-77300908797765311842011-10-05T11:38:00.000+05:302011-10-05T11:38:00.120+05:30Who is most fierce animal?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Qual è il più feroce degli animali?" chiese allora il Poeta. "L'uomo."<br />"Perché?"<br />"Domandalo a te stesso..."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoL6yExhZZtAF1Gjt30pj0_emLiQmEqkm8yM6tkPCMhAVX84CNmIvd30gv87xEEuRn5EbrPR56JbKHZc1PQTM2D5SLXXXTgwsdHQ8eQFZk1F36014lJCor9xlQoIU66kIqfOgs2gBjGnN/s1600/baudolino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoL6yExhZZtAF1Gjt30pj0_emLiQmEqkm8yM6tkPCMhAVX84CNmIvd30gv87xEEuRn5EbrPR56JbKHZc1PQTM2D5SLXXXTgwsdHQ8eQFZk1F36014lJCor9xlQoIU66kIqfOgs2gBjGnN/s320/baudolino.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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Baudolino by Umberto Eco</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-13315900411815997512011-10-04T08:19:00.002+05:302011-10-04T08:19:58.878+05:3082 prints of Los Desastres de la Guerra by Goya on an aimless Monday evening<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitL3iE7ViwDpunRzpqU9QSrFrpiSY_9i3tCaam-04cPWj13eUrAXCpPhJVahjiz4D-j8yHmmJAULPc8e80PMz_7rOEjW4qRejQfN3BquSOiDtjf3KiF6Wcj1PhmKiibrmUTD0hNhKtxDPN/s1600/16658854316_Z4wCM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitL3iE7ViwDpunRzpqU9QSrFrpiSY_9i3tCaam-04cPWj13eUrAXCpPhJVahjiz4D-j8yHmmJAULPc8e80PMz_7rOEjW4qRejQfN3BquSOiDtjf3KiF6Wcj1PhmKiibrmUTD0hNhKtxDPN/s400/16658854316_Z4wCM.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ultimately it was the faces. Just one look at the faces and I knew Goya had touched me deeply. He had made me feel the pain. The physical and mental pain of war. And the sheer futility. A waste.<br />
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I knew nothing of Goya before seeing this exhibition. I had ofcourse seen his famous work, The Shootings of May 3rd 1808. But I knew nothing of him, his style, his world. I had read some bits on the Penensular War in War and Peace but that was it. Then one aimless Monday evening I chanced upon an exhibition on a series of war prints by Goya. Goya, a Spaniard, was asked by a Spainish general to witness, and preserve in art, the attrocities being commited by Napoleon's troops in the cities of Zaragoza and Madrid during the Penensular War of 1808-1814. Goya went to the battlfields and the seiges and diligently, often in grave danger or under the protective cover of darkness, sketched out the scenes of agony and human suffering being played out before him. The outcome: a series of 82 prints called Desastres de la Guerra (Disasters of War). <br />
I think each of the 82 prints influenced me immensely. The time I spent amongst them wasn't enough at all. I could look at these engravings over and over again; sometimes looking at Goya's excellent shading technique and his use of dark and light to highlight and conceal, at other times his forceful framing and composition, and at other times just be lost in those scenes, feeling them, living them. Overwhelming. <br />
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The prints themselves are actually etchings/engravings called Aquatints.It think this is a great medium and coupled with Goya's mastery of technique makes for the perfect represtation of such a dark subject. Very effective.<br />
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If I was absolutely forced to pick 5 from the 82 prints which influenced me the most, these would be the prints I would select:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsd803SOKLQK17ahTfS6_j4scZx6J7qz96-64mRFE5-8yZKqTMZV6_0O7nJfNxOwLNi8-WvMvNnnOm6KGGKhO8DK-E6TeJ5uF7i3qJYprA7cDgnuX4gpdHBxsbK1CgkOOG79MmBu9J3EE/s1600/Goya-Guerra_%252807%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKP_u26vfcrMbxhLLa4-dZtOMjhAvfHqQZJcuoo2Z9Gqe3NLRDbw00AU-z1vuKDoVJkPxIAS_ZBXV0LKrxTQ80Pk9D0Xb0uaFc2mBeQIA0ey5NP3D3Cyc2oRs9PqybAKSoXeNulgIwu_B/s1600/Goya-Guerra_%252880%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKP_u26vfcrMbxhLLa4-dZtOMjhAvfHqQZJcuoo2Z9Gqe3NLRDbw00AU-z1vuKDoVJkPxIAS_ZBXV0LKrxTQ80Pk9D0Xb0uaFc2mBeQIA0ey5NP3D3Cyc2oRs9PqybAKSoXeNulgIwu_B/s400/Goya-Guerra_%252880%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I have found a new favourite artist and also images which will always stay in my mind.<br />
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<u>Know More:</u></div>
The exhibition at the Instituo Cervantes - Click <a href="http://www.buzzintown.com/delhi/event--exhibition-goya-chronicler-all-war-disasters/segment--ureviews/id--432667.html#info">here</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Goya">Goya</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disasters_of_War">Desastres de la Guerra</a><br />
The entire <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=352258&word">series </a>of Los Desastres de la Guerra, in the correct sepia tone<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War">Penensular War</a>: Spain Vs. Napoleon<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-78416534613821175462011-10-03T19:17:00.001+05:302011-10-03T19:24:41.436+05:30MKG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlaoafBGhe6q6cOdBuBgJraPIDB3rO4KEjZjY2mclGbsNx3dEgPLItYddf8RfGhA1ZmKzBRwfXpxM29M7b-RgXCg-EwqYRtkyza7r2BchZw3ab4if5xpv16lneukueNBD8Y-6uVlMnJN3/s1600/Still+Smiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" id=":current_picnik_image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlaoafBGhe6q6cOdBuBgJraPIDB3rO4KEjZjY2mclGbsNx3dEgPLItYddf8RfGhA1ZmKzBRwfXpxM29M7b-RgXCg-EwqYRtkyza7r2BchZw3ab4if5xpv16lneukueNBD8Y-6uVlMnJN3/s640/Still+Smiling.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Still smiling :)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of my favourites</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-75636925720229819382011-05-20T12:07:00.001+05:302011-05-20T12:09:22.298+05:30Google Search Globe: some observations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Google Search Globe is available <a href="http://data-arts.appspot.com/globe-search">here</a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6cKilOKQsnAqaaa5DagyLMn5Hw_NFkaO-S-Md4HGmeVaoaYAw7Was5fxu8L84dkNlGwushyphenhyphenORANdioiuJBu69pt00JXVe77HLpnY0QpmbmuOdUZYpR8FH8FzC5ACn6RlOBbhksnCJ7s/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6cKilOKQsnAqaaa5DagyLMn5Hw_NFkaO-S-Md4HGmeVaoaYAw7Was5fxu8L84dkNlGwushyphenhyphenORANdioiuJBu69pt00JXVe77HLpnY0QpmbmuOdUZYpR8FH8FzC5ACn6RlOBbhksnCJ7s/" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b style="text-decoration: underline;">Google Search Globe</b> provides daily statistics on which parts of the globe search in which language and in how much volume. I choose to see Search Globe as a great interactive 3D globe which gives insights into which languages are dominant in which parts of the world for online searches. Quite fun moving the World around. Needs <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL">WebGL</a> in your browser.<br />
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Some observations on Google Search Globe:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>India searches only in English on google.com apparently. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Amongst the Indian cities Delhi uses google.com the most, followed by Bombay, Bangalore, Madras, Pune, Hyderabad and then Calcutta.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkotta do not exist</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bangkok (??), Jakarta (???) and Istanbul (?????) search more than any Indian city</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Singapore searches in English and a bit in Chinese, Hong Kong in Chinese mostly.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>All of South America uses Spanish except Brazil which uses Portuguese. Though West Indies uses Spanish, English and Portuguese.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Despite Spanish being the second most spoken language in the USA, all the google.com searches from the USA are in English.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A lot of people somewhere on the USA-Canada border near Montana do not use English (but which language do they use? can't be French, too far from France and Quebec)</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Canada uses English though Quebec uses French (ugh!).</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Egypt is all about the Nile</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Most (net-connected google.com-using) Australians live on the East coast.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Polynesia searches :)</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Atlantis still chooses to remain hidden from the rest of the world.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>One or more of these: population, internet access, preference for google.com are so low in Central Asia and Iran that the region appears almost uninhabited.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Surprisingly UAE and Qatar perform a majority of their searches in English (expats perhaps), though predictably Saudi, Yemen, Kuwait and Egypt use Arabic.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sadly, Modern European Languages have completely killed of all Western European regional languages (Basque, Piedmontese, Langue d'Oc etc) in terms of net usage at least.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Werewolves and vampires inhabit Transylvania (and Manhattan).</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>North Korea, Tibet, Siberia, Sahara, Congo don't care much for the internet.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Both Arctic and Antarctic Penguins happily agree to eschew all things net and Google.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Highest search volumes originate from USA, Europe, and South America</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The filthy human race has spread to almost all parts of the planet Earth.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I have much to travel.</li>
</ul><br />
More info on Google Search Globe <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/world-of-curiosity-peek-at-searches.html">here</a><br />
<br />
I really like WebGL, it is a beautiful way to interact with 3D content through one's browser, without the need to install any softwares other than a decent browser. One can explore the human anatomy, the World' geography, play 3D games, interpret 3D data and what not. Some more wonderful WebGL applications by Google are available <a href="http://www.chromeexperiments.com/webgl">here</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-4321465019352739382011-05-05T08:56:00.001+05:302011-05-05T09:07:42.345+05:30Luck and Love<div><p>The debutante smiled and said "<u>Oh</u> I just can't decide and do you really thing someone would want to get married to me. I hope I am lucky enough to find the love of my life."</p>
<p>The weary old magistrate instinctively reached for something in the inner pocket of his dinner jacket but stopped. He was silent and staring, <u>at</u> nothing. Then he smiled, took another slip of the wine and said "I hope you are lucky enough for the love of your life to know that he is the love of your life and lucky enough for him to love you back as much."</p>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com0Eastern Exports, Karampura Chawnk, 71/1b Near Haldiram 110015,, Shivaji Marg, Moti Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi, India28.660889 77.150269tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-72422563719908845752011-02-05T18:18:00.002+05:302012-01-27T10:35:17.001+05:30Map of Names of Recent Revolutions - Jasmine Revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am forever in love with maps. While doing a little research about why the revolution in the Arab world is called the "Jasmine Revolution" I realized that in recent years many revolutions have often been given non-political, non-personal names. So I decided to make a map out of this knowledge of names of recent revolutions. </div>
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Libya and Syria are now included in this map. As of today, the 9th of April 2011, the date of the revision of this map, Muammar Gaddafi and the revolutionaries are still fighting each other in Libya and no negotiations have been started. Last night I did listen to a senior ex-Gaddafi minister on Hard Talk who was confident that Gaddafi is not going to be able to hold out much longer and the revolution in Libya will be successful. The NATO-led coalition is still fighting against Gaddafi's mercenaries.</div>
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Meanwhile in Syria 20 protesters more were killed in Dera in their struggle to overthrow President Bashar Al Assad. No progress there either. Each promise for reform made by President Bashar Al Assad is followed by a fresh wave of violence against the protesters. It's almost as if a promise made is a clear hint towards fresh retribution. So Syria is still in a revolutionary limbo as of now. Though the situation could change.</div>
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The revolutions and their names shown in this map chronologically are:</div>
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1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution">Carnation Revolution</a>, Portugal 1974</div>
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2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution">Velvet Revolution</a>, Czechoslovakia and USSR 1989</div>
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3. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Revolution">Rose Revolution</a>, Georgia 2003</div>
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4. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution">Orange Revolution</a>, Ukraine 2004</div>
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5. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Revolution">Tulip Revolution</a>, Kyrgyzstan 2005</div>
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6. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_Revolution">Jasmine Revolution</a>, Arab World 2010-2011</div>
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The Jasmine Revolution is a term specifically for the Tunisian events and I don't think the protests and unrest taking place at various hot-spots in the Arab World have all been clubbed under the umbrella term Jasmine revolution as yet. However it was Mohamed Bouazizi's sacrifice which sparked the domino effect in Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen and Egypt. The tremors are being felt all over the region and in certain Asian regimes as well.</div>
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I hope that the Arab people find themselves in a much better position once their struggle is successful. I also hope that peace comes to these people soon.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM252Qt34fyPmlnZuiq0z71vZ3-c9FSn5VVISeaVDJ0Dh1-y6Myh1so-JeiTc3eQp5OyZcAS1_rNtnJ3DQi9V28r6pSPUn9P1BYyL0Z0fH6uxR5J3H2ubnjvNONzeePSpZlSnkQ8EYBZeM/s1600/flower+revolutions+harkabir+singh+jandu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM252Qt34fyPmlnZuiq0z71vZ3-c9FSn5VVISeaVDJ0Dh1-y6Myh1so-JeiTc3eQp5OyZcAS1_rNtnJ3DQi9V28r6pSPUn9P1BYyL0Z0fH6uxR5J3H2ubnjvNONzeePSpZlSnkQ8EYBZeM/s400/flower+revolutions+harkabir+singh+jandu+2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Click on the map to view a larger image.</div>
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I may have missed some other names of revolutions and I would like to know about these if this is the case.<br />
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Feel free to use this map for any purpose you like, just link back here / give credit. Email me for bigger file size or other file formats (pdf,gif,png etcetera)<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-87657358817763028362011-02-05T12:21:00.000+05:302011-02-05T12:21:19.950+05:30Everything<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Everything I want to write has already been written<br />
Every scene I want to scribe has already been put on the easel<br />
Every hint of an emotion I want to feel has already been experienced<br />
Everything I want to hold back has already been left unsaid<br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-14162490963523421672010-09-22T19:34:00.003+05:302010-09-22T19:51:20.981+05:30Some observations on Perso-Arabic word choice in Urdu and Punjabi news broadcasts on All India Radio Delhi14th July 2010 – AIR 666 MHz AM<br />
Today in the morning I heard the news on the radio and discovered something interesting. The radio channel AIR FM channel 666 MHz broadcasts the news in all of the 4 official languages of Delhi: English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. Usually I just listen to the Hindi broadcast which runs for 15 minutes, and then the English broadcast of the same stories in the same words as the Hindi one, again runs for 15 minutes. <br />
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However sometimes I listen to the Punjabi and the Urdu news broadcasts as well, again 15 minutes each. The same stories, in the same order, with the same news matter, the same words just different languages .<br />
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<em>Now what I noticed in today’s news broadcasts was that although often the Punjabi and the Urdu broadcasts use the same Perso-Arabic words for the same meaning in the same stories, in some places they use different words as well for the same stories.</em> <br />
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Urdu and Spoken Punjabi have both developed in medieval India and both have been influenced by a common set of factors such as the Perso-Arabic lexicon of the ruling class, the Sufi tradition, the use of Persian as a court language in Medieval India and major cultural and literary overlaps. Although Urdu has taken on many more Perso-Arabic words than has Punjabi, there are still thousands of identical words shared by the two languages. My personal opinion is that upwards of 50% of the Perso-Arabic words in Urdu are shared by many dialects of Punjabi as well. Coupled with the facts that the grammars of both Urdu and Punjabi are based on Prakarit, hence nearly identical, and that Hindustaani as a language is a common ground between both means that there is a high degree of mutual understanding between speakers of these languages.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Common Words</span><br />
Both Punjabi and Urdu broadcasts used many common words and the list would be too long to mention here but I shall provide a few examples of special words to illustrate what I wrote above on the same stock of Perso-Arabic words being employed in these two languages:<br />
<b>Gawaahi </b>(testimony), <b>Hukoomat </b>(governement), <b>Tajweez </b>(to suggest), <b>Iqtasaadi </b>(economic), <b>Muhaiyya </b>(make available), <b>Intazaam </b>(arrange), <b>Qaanooni </b>(legal), <b>Dehshat Gard</b> (terrorist) etcetera.<br />
Here I have not mentioned any of the Perso-Arabic words used in regular parlance.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Different Words</span><br />
On the day in question the choice of which Perso-Arabic to use in the same stories differed in the Punjabi and Urdu broadcast for the following words:<br />
<div align="center"><table align="center" border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 547px;"><tbody>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="121"><strong>MEANING IN ENGLISH</strong></td> <td valign="top" width="219"><strong>WORD IN PUNJABI BROADCAST</strong></td> <td valign="top" width="203"><strong>WORD IN URDU BROADCAST</strong></td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="124">To Die A Martyr (verb)</td> <td valign="top" width="217"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">شھید </span>Shaheed</td> <td valign="top" width="202"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ھلاک </span>Halaak</td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="126">Counterpart (noun)</td> <td valign="top" width="216"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ھم عھدھ</span> Hum Auhdah</td> <td valign="top" width="201"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ھم منصب</span> Hum Mansab</td> </tr>
<tr> <td valign="top" width="128">Workers (noun)</td> <td valign="top" width="216"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ملازم </span>Mulaazim</td> <td valign="top" width="202"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">ارکان </span>Arkaan</td> </tr>
</tbody></table></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">To be sure, all 6 of the words mentioned above are Perso-Arabic in origin as well as in their presently used forms. The respective news readers read out near identical sentences for the same stories; the only difference being the choice between which Perso-Arabic word to use from the two words given in the table above for a single meaning. The words from the Punjabi column are very close substitutes of the words from the Urdu column and vice-versa. The import remains the same regardless of which Perso-Arabic word has been used.</span><br />
It is a case of so near and yet so far.<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Nafees Nastaleeq';"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"></span></span><br />
Let us look at these words in a bit more detail.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Same Words</span><br />
1. The first word in the table, <b>Shaheed </b>is an Arabic word often used to denote an honourable death fighting for a cause, in other words it means to be martyred. It also stands for witness. <a href="http://historyview.blogspot.com/2010/09/martyr-and-witness-and-why-common-root.html" target="_blank">Check out my earlier post on the relationship between the words Martyr and Witness</a><strong><u><span style="color: #ff8000;">.</span></u></strong><br />
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2. The second word, <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Halaak </span></b>is a Arabic word which is used to indicate total annihilation and destruction. In the sense of the totality of destruction Halak is close to the word Fanaa فناء though in India the former has a negative connotation and the latter is a Sufi term used for a positive annihilation of the self into the Creator.<br />
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3. The third word in the table, <b>Hum Mansab</b> is a hybrid Perso-Arabic construction. It is made up of a Persian word, Hum (means together/us) and an Arabic word Mansab (means rank). Hum Mansab means counterpart, another of the same rank/position.<br />
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4. The fourth word, <b>Hum Auhdah</b>, is a parallel to Hum Mansab and again, it is a hybrid Perso-Arabic construction. Auhdah is an Arabic word which means position//rank/social standing. Hence Hum Auhdah means of an equivalent position or standing. <br />
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From a lexicographical point of view both of these hybrid Perso-Arabic words are exact substitutes of each other when one want to use them in the sense of position in a hierarchy. Both Mansab and Auhdah can and do mean rank/position. The choice of which one to use should be germane to most speakers. However the second words of these hybrids help provide an explanation for the differing choice. Most speakers of Urdu, with a minimalistic level of Urdu education, would feel equally at home with both Mansab and Audah. On the other hand, nowadays the word Mansab has almost completely disappeared from the vocabulary of Hindustaani (or bazaar Urdu or filmy Urdu or call it what you will). Most speakers of Hindustaani would be uncomfortable with the word Mansab and would ponder over the import of this word. Most of these speakers would prefer the word Auhdah. As observed earlier, Punjabi is closer to Hindustaani that to Urdu. Hence the use of this word in the Punjabi broadcast. Now this explains why the Punjabi broadcast chooses to use Hum Audah. But then if these words are almost exact substitutes, why does the Urdu broadcast choose to use Hum Mansab?<br />
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Well it turns out these words are not exact substitutes all the times. Perhaps the preference for Mansab over Auhdah lies in the historical use of the word Mansab. Throughout Islamic history, in the various Islamic armies, Mansab has been the preferred word for rank. It was always used in the Medieval and Pre-Modern royal courts in the Sub Continent for official and military rank . In fact, the East India Company whole heartedly adopted this word for rank in its muster rolls and even incorporated the Pre-Mughal and Mughal rank of Mansabdaar as a rank of substance in its official military hierarchy. Some, or perhaps many, Urdu speakers would associate Auhdah more with social hierarchy and Mansab specifically with official hierarchy. I have always heard the Urdu broadcast choose Mansab over Auhdah when talking of the rank of a government official . Hence somewhere the more appropriate construction, Hum Mansab, is preferred over the almost there but not quite, Hum-Auhdah, while talking about officials of equivalent rank.<br />
As a side, I would like to mention that speakers of Urdu and Hindustaani use many such hybrid Perso-Arabic words in everyday speech. Some common examples are Bey Shak (=certainly, Bey - Persian, Shak – Arabic), Naa Mumkin (=impossible, Na – Persian, Mumkin – Arabic), Bad Zaat (=bad character, Bad – Persian, Zaat – Arabic), Dast-e-Khatt (=signature, Dast-e – Persian with ezaafe, Khatt - Arabic), Bad Tameez (=unmannered, Bad – Persian, Tameez – Arabic), Hum Safar (=co-traveller, Hum – Persian, Safar – Arabic) etcetera. This feature of Urdu/Hindustaani wherein hybrid Perso-Arabic words are employed, is one of the reasons why some people draw parallels between Urdu and Ottoman Turkish and Urdu and Chughtai Turkic.<br />
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5. The fifth word <b>Mulaazim </b>comes from the Arabic triliteral root LZM and means a lieutenant, an indispensable person, an employee. Many of us in India are unacquainted with this “indispensable” origin of Mulaazim and think of it to connote only a servant / an empolyee. <br />
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6. The sixth word is <b>Arkaan</b>. It is the plural form of the Arabic Rukun. Rukun means a pillar, basis, bolster, the foundation. It is a very close substitute of the original meaning of the previous word Mulaazim, used during the Urdu broadcast. For clarity on this I would like to thank <a href="http://www.ifew.com/insight/authors/jamshed.htm" target="_blank">Jamshed Saahab</a> who guided me towards the right word, Arkaan.<br />
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It is still not very clear as to why there is a difference between the choice of word for the same meaning between the two broadcasts. The difference could be due to a form of diglossia. However this is not to suggest that one of these is a more classical or “higher” language than the other and this is why I shy away from associating the Urdu-Hindustaani phenomenon with diglossia. And of course, I am completely incompetent to speak on matters of linguistic and language theory anyway. Perhaps this has nothing to do with diglossia at all. However the choice of which Perso-Arabic words to use could be the result of perceived diglosia amongst the speakers of Urdu and Hindustaani in the sub-conscious of those who frame the sentences for the respective broadcasts. One need not be a linguistic to believe that different people use slightly different vocabulary sets for the same / similar languages.<br />
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The difference in choice of words could also be due to politics, due to dialectical differences, due to differences in the educational environment of those who frame the news broadcasts, due to the different books the news framers read, etcetera.<br />
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Nevertheless there is a difference, and this difference between choice of Perso-Arabic words for the Urdu and the Punjabi broadcast excites me. This difference points out the commonality, the unity. Vive le difference.<br />
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PS – There is another difference between the Punjabi and Urdu news broadcasts on AIR FM which comes to my mind. Just like the English and the Hindi news broadcasts, the Urdu news broadcast too has a short section at the end which gives a round up of the headlines in the day’s major newspapers in the concerned language. Hence in the last section of the day’s Urdu news broadcast, the news reader reads out the headlines from 4 or 5 of the major Urdu dailies published in Delhi on that morning.<br />
However this headlines’ round up section is absent in the Punjabi news broadcast as although Punjabi is one of the four official languages of Delhi, there are not many Punjabi newspapers of note published in Delhi (perhaps there are none).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-49337075459769721282010-09-06T13:02:00.000+05:302010-09-07T09:15:12.609+05:30Martyr and Witness (and why a common root in Arabic?)<p>It seems that the words Martyr and Witness are inextricably intertwined. At least in some cultures and languages they are. I first realised they are related when I noticed that words in Arabic (and Persian as well as in Urdu) are from the same root: Sh-H-D <font size="5">شهد</font></p> <p>Witness : <font size="5">شاهِد </font><font size="2">(shaahid)</font></p> <p>Martyr : <font size="5">شهِيد </font><font size="2">(shaheed)</font></p> <p> </p> <p>Further research reveals that this is also the case in Greek, Church Latin and Syriac. It seems that in the Classical Mediterranean world the concepts of martyr and witness were not related to each other linguistically. However during the Age of the Apostles of Christ the first instances of the relationship between these two words came to light. From this time onwards till the issue of the Edict of Milan by Constantine in 313AD, with varying degrees of persecution, the Christian believers (starting with Stephen Martyr in 33AD) were tried by various Roman courts for apostasy and were found guilty of this crime, usually punishable by death.  </p> <p>Why for apostasy? Throughout the history of the Roman empire, the Romans had been highly tolerant of other religions and gods. The Roman emperors / senate went so far as to identify the new gods they came across amongst the theology of their newly acquired subjects with those of their own Roman pantheon, as long as these subjects sacrificed to the Roman gods as well. But this was not all, the Romans were even more accommodating. Jewish theology clearly forbade sacrifice to the Roman or any other pagan gods. The Romans accepted Judaism as an ancient and venerable religious tradition from remote antiquity and did not construe this prohibition against sacrifice as Jewish disrespect against Roman gods. Christian theology, nascent though it was during the Age of the Apostles, too forbade sacrifices to pagan gods. At the same time the Christians, the Hellenistic Christians at any rate, maintained that though they too followed the same God of the Scripture as the Jews, they were not a sect of Judaism and were not bound by the Hebrew Bible. They had the New Testament, the Gospel which replaced the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. Hence to the Romans these Christians were neither pagans nor Jews and as the Romans only knew of Jesus Christ as a minor mischief maker in a far-flung-edge-of-the-empire-garrison town and not the Son of God, the Christians could only be apostates. Apostasy was considered to be a heresy of the highest order by the Romans and was thought of as the primary reason for the Roman gods’ anger with the Roman people. Ergo the Roman zeal to eliminate apostasy in all forms from within the vast expanse of their empire. Zeal ;) :), nice word to describe the Zealots’ greatest enemy.</p> <p>Now, back to the Christian martyrs in the Age of Apostles and thereafter. It seems that it was believed by the Early Christians that those amongst them who were being called to trial by the Romans on charges of apostasy were actually being called by God to bear witness to His truth. They were providing testimony of God, of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ; and they were ready to “seal” their testimony with their own blood by submitting to capital punishment for their belief. The Christians also believed that in doing this they were following the example of Jesus Christ, <em>Martyr Kat’ Exochen</em>, martyr par excellence, who bore witness to the truth of God before Pontus Pilate and then gave up his life on the cross for this testimony.</p> <p>Some of the languages which share this association between the words Martyr and Witness are given below:</p> <p> </p> <div align="center"> <table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="444" align="center"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="132"><strong>LANGUAGE</strong></td> <td valign="top" width="134"><strong>MARTYR</strong></td> <td valign="top" width="176"><strong>WITNESS</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="132"> <p align="center">Greek</p> <p align="center">(Church and Modern, not Ancient)</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="135"> <p align="center">ιερομάρτυρας</p> <p align="center">iero<em>martyras</em></p> </td> <td valign="top" width="176"> <p align="center">μάρτυρας </p> <p align="center"><em>martyras</em></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="132">Syriac</td> <td valign="top" width="135"><font size="5">ܣܗܕܐ <br /> <br /></font><font color="#000000">shd’</font> </td> <td valign="top" width="176"><font size="5">ܣܗܕܐ <br /> <br /></font><font color="#000000">shd’</font></td> </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="132">Arabic <br />(hence Persian, Turki, Urdu etc by extension)</td> <td valign="top" width="135"><font size="5">شهِيد <br /></font> <br />shaheed</td> <td valign="top" width="176"><font size="5">شاهِد <br /></font> <br />shaahid</td> </tr> </tr></tbody></table> </div> <p align="center"> </p> <div align="left">There could be other languages as well which share common roots for Martyr and Witness but I have not been able to uncover the  relationship.</div> <div align="left"> </div> <div align="left">It seems that relationship between Martyr and Witness is a fundamental Early Christian concept. Perhaps that is why this connection is not evident in Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Old Latin, Aramaic (unsure), Old Persian, Uzbek, Sanskrit, Welsh, Gaelic, High / Low German etcetera.</div> <div align="left"> </div> <p>This learning has been fascinating for me but now it brings me to the threshold of a new question. <em><strong>Why do the words Martyr and Witness share the same root in Arabic? </strong></em></p> <p>It seems that a common root for Martyr – Witness is not a Semitic concept.  Most Semitic languages do not share the root Sh-H-D for Martyr-Witness; they have different roots for these two words. Hebrew, Aramaic and Geez do not show any signs of a common ground between Martyr and Witness (perhaps they do but I am inept at a thorough analysis in these languages). Syriac, a Semitic language, is a variant of Aramaic and is an exception. Syriac developed into its classical form during the Age of Apostles and thereafter. Further it has always been used as a liturgical language of one of the oldest churches in the world. Hence a common root Martyr-Witness in Syriac is perfectly natural.</p> <p><em><strong>But why the same root for Martyr-Witness in Arabic? Why this second exception from amongst the group of Semitic languages?</strong></em></p> <p>It seems to me that Classical Arabic did not receive this Martyr-Witness concept from a linguistic Semitic sources but rather from a religious source, namely Christianity. The more I think about it the more Gunter Luling’s assertions of a Christian Pre-Islamic Mecca and a Christian Ur-Koran spin faster and faster around my head. Prof Luling’s work is extremely good and extremely erudite and I do not claim to understand most of it. Hence I will desist from writing about his work or about any other Higher Criticism.</p> <p>A further study of Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry should shed some more light on whether the same root for Martry-Witness was used during times of “Jahiliyya” (Ignác Goldziher rolls his eyes). Again there could surface some more words for either Martyr, Witness or for both. And finally in which sense have these words been used in Pre-Islamic poetry?</p> <p>It could be that Arabic has a common root / word for Martry and Witness because of a natural linguistic evolution akin to the same phenomenon seen in Greek and Syriac but independent of these. Perhaps the reason is something else entirely but I would certainly like to know about it and am wiling to do more thorough research on this enigma. Anybody got Hazrat Sibawayhi’s email ID?</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-24208714375037322902010-08-18T12:37:00.000+05:302010-08-18T12:37:52.847+05:30Microsoft Surface: finally a Microsoft technology that made me go "wow"After a decade long love-hate-hater-hatest relationship with Microsoft, finally Microsoft has made me go "wow".<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6_Y5C_87VfASv7hgW1uWzRhZ-nIqMg2EEt1R_ZQBnwMkF9RkbbnW6RlaVuDLEAXnY6PoCXevCydajy6zMSC5Wx4P20KRdVQbEZvRMd2gH-EcH9uL9p0BckUkoi9JmOnhCr82mhg9QnRC/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6_Y5C_87VfASv7hgW1uWzRhZ-nIqMg2EEt1R_ZQBnwMkF9RkbbnW6RlaVuDLEAXnY6PoCXevCydajy6zMSC5Wx4P20KRdVQbEZvRMd2gH-EcH9uL9p0BckUkoi9JmOnhCr82mhg9QnRC/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Check out these links on Microsoft's innovative (not new) technology called Microsoft Surface: table top multi-touch<br />
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http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface<br />
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If MS plays its cards right and if this technology is cheap then it could be the next big thing at MS for the next 5 years or so. Like all touch devices the potential of this technology is limitless. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6BAMQyEZn-MFZIuXvGe85uLtC2AhbFc0iQmd481-9vrhql-VPgm_JlMkMMO_jmwUb7x24F0HcgIrLdMXg_w2MV2VFAML4okP4FPqrTakddZ7k25uoKteZDqHI6MgKiKFkdlZcBbqN04W/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6BAMQyEZn-MFZIuXvGe85uLtC2AhbFc0iQmd481-9vrhql-VPgm_JlMkMMO_jmwUb7x24F0HcgIrLdMXg_w2MV2VFAML4okP4FPqrTakddZ7k25uoKteZDqHI6MgKiKFkdlZcBbqN04W/s400/images+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Live art and television on walls, weather information and calendars on windows, texts and homework on school desks, security information and messages on doors, recipes and cooking videos on kitchen counters, interactive board games and magazines on table tops etcetera...there is no limit.<br />
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Of course I would like to wait for the opensource / android / chrome version but MS Surface is a great innovative application nevertheless.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-38598836031967834512010-05-15T13:22:00.001+05:302010-05-15T13:22:28.715+05:30Living with High Urban Population Density: Domestic Transformer - Create a fully equipped house out of 300 square feet<p>An architect in Hong Kong has invented a system of house-space management called 'Domestic Transformer'. This system essentially allows for very efficient utilization of a very small space with the help of a series of hollow partition walls which slide in an out of each other over channels on the floor and on the roof to reveal, conceal, expand, reduce and "create" space. Bed rooms change in to sofas, libraries into kitchens, CD racks make way for bath tubs so on and so forth. Hence the term 'Transformer'.</p> <p> </p> <p align="center"><object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lg9qnWg9kak&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1"> </param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> </param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lg9qnWg9kak&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object></p> <p align="center"> <em><font size="1">Here is a video of the Hong Kong architect Gary Chang demonstrating the use of his concept 'Domestic Transformer'.</font></em></p> <p>To be sure the Domestic Transformer house is not a dream house for most people and it could loose the "cool" appeal for many people after their having lived in it for some time. However it is a great idea for those who have to manage in very small and tight space due to reasons of affordability, legal restrictions, space scarcity, just lesser need for living space or any other reasons. Many people just don’t have a choice; they have to spend a majority part of their lives in tight-choc-a-block houses. </p> <p>Although architect Gary Chang was inspired to come up with this space management concept as a result of his entire family (of 5 or more people) having to live in a crammed Hong Kong apartment, Domestic Transformer type houses could become a hit with bachelors and those who live alone as well. In the over-burgeoning, always-hard pressed for living space, metros such as Mumbai, Singapore, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, New York City , Mexico City, Hong Kong space management is top priority. It is for such urban areas that Domestic Transformer type of houses are a boon. Of course the economic viability and pricing of such projects would have to be looked into and in order to be successful the model would have to be customized according to the different environmental and cultural conditions and preferences for each metro. But the concept is inherently good and useful.</p> <p>A cursory search for houses for sale in Hong Kong (keeping in mind the surface area and location) does seem to indicate that the Domestic Transformer house is not overly priced, but this is not an accurate or final judgement.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_FLM5x5opGos/S-5SthoqXpI/AAAAAAAAAeA/Lzoo49iB8GY/s1600-h/domestic%20transformer%20schema%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="domestic transformer schema" border="0" alt="domestic transformer schema" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_FLM5x5opGos/S-5Su_Ei1zI/AAAAAAAAAeE/KGow3Yq5FdI/domestic%20transformer%20schema_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="526" height="357" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><em><font size="1" face="Times New Roman">image courtesy </font></em><a href="http://www.designswan.com/archives/domestic-transformer-24-different-room-configurations-on-344-square-foot.html"><em><font size="1" face="Times New Roman">http://www.designswan.com/archives/domestic-transformer-24-different-room-configurations-on-344-square-foot.html</font></em></a></p> <p>I personally prefer a reduction in the population density in the metros as I am sure do many others, but this reduction is not going to happen within the next three or four decades. On the contrary the growth in urban population is increasing faster than ever.</p> <p>Some of the reasons for the ever-increasing importance of better urban space management are:</p> <ul> <li>What I refer to as <b><i>actual human population density</i></b> (ie total population / total landmass baring Antarctica) is already close to <i>50 people per square kilometre</i>. If one was to use only "habitable land"  in the denominator the figure of 50 could rise to well above 70 people per square kilometre. </li> <li>On a global level more humans now live in urban areas than in rural areas. In Asia and in South America this figure is much above the 50% mark (higher than 705 for South America). This trend is still rising.</li> <li>A third of all people living in cities live in slums or areas which can be classified as slums.</li> <li>Beyond a point urban infrastructure is unable to provide</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p>Ideas such as Domestic Transformer are much needed and even though they may not be perfect but they are a step in the right direction.</p> <p>If you have some ideas and know of some similar concepts do mention them in the comments field below. I would love to explore this further.</p> <p><strong>Some related links</strong></p> <p>National Geographic’s website on populations. Make sure you check the “population trends” topics on the right hand side of the map on the opening page.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/population.html">http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/population.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/quality-of-life.html">http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/quality-of-life.html</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Wikipedia page on population density</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population</a></p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-8768034545413838802009-12-31T12:53:00.001+05:302009-12-31T12:54:18.429+05:30Book making binding Pictorial WebsterBook spines, hard bound books, Linotype machines.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoenkAgl9gwjaL1B4WNOLjUQGTW1Wp9GRZZf5ie0tyUs_aNykvt1-lsrTOiqbUOiigFKAmXsGgLNJhNHmp6Pe8IxUuY2aH6ujde4zsPVOl7XOtEOv64aj1J4cTvpaXiR2_LYT-Mjoj7mTQ/s1600-h/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoenkAgl9gwjaL1B4WNOLjUQGTW1Wp9GRZZf5ie0tyUs_aNykvt1-lsrTOiqbUOiigFKAmXsGgLNJhNHmp6Pe8IxUuY2aH6ujde4zsPVOl7XOtEOv64aj1J4cTvpaXiR2_LYT-Mjoj7mTQ/s320/books.jpg" width="246" /></a><br />
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Here is a great video on:<br />
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1. One man's journey to re-create the Pictorial Webster<br />
2. How books used to be made<br />
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By the end of the video I wanted to stand up and applaud.<br />
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<span style="color: #645f5e; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><object height="270" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5228616&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5228616&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="270"></embed></object></span><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/5228616">Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1882107">John Carrera</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #645f5e; font-family: verdana;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">H</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;">r</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">a</span><span style="font-size: medium;">r</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">m</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">t</span><span style="font-size: medium;">h</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;">r</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">v</span><span style="font-size: medium;">i</span><span style="font-size: medium;">d</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">b</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">ok making</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #645f5e; font-family: verdana;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Basic book binding</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: medium;">P</span><span style="font-size: medium;">l</span><span style="font-size: medium;">a</span><span style="font-size: medium;">y</span><span style="font-size: medium;">l</span><span style="font-size: medium;">i</span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;">t</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">f</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">2</span><span style="font-size: medium;">2</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">v</span><span style="font-size: medium;">i</span><span style="font-size: medium;">d</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">b</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">k</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">m</span><span style="font-size: medium;">a</span><span style="font-size: medium;">k</span><span style="font-size: medium;">i</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;">g</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">y</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">o</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">u</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">t</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">u</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1262243572364">b</a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CDC06016A637BA6E&search_query=book+making" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">e</a> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">a</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;">d</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">m</span><span style="font-size: medium;">e</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">t</span><span style="font-size: medium;">i</span><span style="font-size: medium;">p</span><span style="font-size: medium;">s</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">h</span><span style="font-size: medium;">o</span><span style="font-size: medium;">w to make books <a href="http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/09/16/how-to-make-your-own-1.html" target="_blank">here</a> . </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18px; white-space: pre;">Really inspirational, I intend to make a book of my own in 2010, suggestions are welcome :)</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7373248863023183301.post-59746170740409678322009-10-26T11:45:00.010+05:302009-10-27T17:25:53.257+05:30Inglourious Basterds (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawqY365Ot5ktaFTK5V_1xOaJE_rXJMsay_UlKXjhTOSbh8ntzCTAAuWuWmslVr5vScihkvQrmaKW4ABSI560mGm3ofg_IFFC9mGoG8uj3lXtNrBfCe-doxV1tLlk1xIwZPQIaP97ptFEw/s1600-h/inglorious-basterds-1-477x699.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawqY365Ot5ktaFTK5V_1xOaJE_rXJMsay_UlKXjhTOSbh8ntzCTAAuWuWmslVr5vScihkvQrmaKW4ABSI560mGm3ofg_IFFC9mGoG8uj3lXtNrBfCe-doxV1tLlk1xIwZPQIaP97ptFEw/s200/inglorious-basterds-1-477x699.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">In some senses <span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inglourious Basterds</span></span> is a typical <span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Quentin Tarantino movie with "Chapter" - based narrative, cinematic nods of acknowledgement to past movies from the same genre and comic relief blended into seemingly ultra-violent settings: (Col Hans Landa's sherlock-holmes-on-hormones calabash pipe compared to the Frenchman monsieur La Padite's rustic little briar-aspirant pipe did break the tension for the entire audience in my hall during the opening scene of Jew search visit). Everything from the title itself to the minor details is inspired but <span style="line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inglourious Basterds</span></span>is definitely worth a watch.</span></span></span><br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">What I liked about <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span> is that it gives enough screen time to all the major characters. Though Brad Pitt features most prominently on the posters, to me his character appeared as just one of the many key characters in the movie. Lt. Aldo Raine, the Jew-Red-Indian heritage leader of the Basterds played by Brad Pitt, provides a lot of comic relief and sense of purpose. His southern Tennessee drawl, never ending search for Nazi scalps and matter-of-fact engraving of the Swastika on the foreheads of captured Nazis all help make him the most loved of all the characters with the audience. </span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Sample this dialogue between Lt. Aldo Raines and Lt. Archie Hicox</span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000093/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Lt. Aldo Raine</span></span></a>: You didn't say the goddamn rendezvous was in a fuckin' basement.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1055413/"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lt. Archie Hicox</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> I didn't know.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000093/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Lt. Aldo Raine</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> You said it was in a tavern.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1055413/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Lt. Archie Hicox</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">: </span>It is a tavern.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000093/"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Lt. Aldo Raine</span></span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> Yeah, in a basement. You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">However <span style="font-weight: bold;">my personal favourites in <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span> are</span> Lt. Archie Hicox, the British German movie industry doctorate holder, played by Michael Fassbender, Bridget Von Hammersmark, the German movie diva played by Diane Kruger and Col Hans Landa, the "Jew Hunter" SS colonel, played by Christoph Waltz. I also liked the acting of the Frenchman Denis Menochet as the French dairy farmer Monsieur La Padite, hiding his Jewish neighbours in his cellar. In fact all the actors in <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span> have done really well.</span><br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The English subtitles of the many German and French dialogues have been handled extremely well. There are many fast paced dialogues in German which have been executed superbly. Of course most of the cast involved in these is German anyway but it still needs an intelligent director to convert it into great reel time and Quentin Tarantino is more than up to the task here. My two favourite scenes from <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span> are: the first opening scene where Col Hans Landa visits Monsieur La Padite and his three very beautiful daughters and the tavern scene involving the three basterds, Bridget Von Hammersmark and the SS Major Hellstrom. In both the scenes a lot about the characters is revealed, the tension slowly builds up, wooden tables are involved (ok that was stupid) and the outcome in each has great impact soon after. Both the scenes have German, French and English. The subtitles have been done well and more importantly the transition from German English and French English and back and forth is amazingly smooth. </span><br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">As a film, <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds </span>is acutely aware of its audience being far removed in terms of time from the events of World War 2. Take for instance when the narrator explains the highly combustible nature of the 35mm films of the era of World War 2 and he starts with the words "In those days...". Even the need for the narrator to provide an explanation on this says a lot.Another example of this self-awareness is the pointing out on screen the key Nazi officials using animated arrows. These are not necessarily bad things to do, in fact these help to cut through the chase so to speak and highlight the significance of events immediately. Quentin Tarantino certainly knows how to endear his movies to his audiences. In some sense I would do the same if I was to make such a movie for today's audience...okay now entering the realm of day dreaming.<br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Films on World War 2 will not go out of style any time soon, they started soon after the outbreak of the Nazi Blitzkrieg in 1939 and haven't run out of steam yet. Apart from <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span>, there are at least two Hollywood films on this theme set to be released within the next year (a remake of the 1955 Dambusters and the other being Little Iron Men). <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span> will never be in the top rung of great World War 2 films and perhaps if a poll of such great films was to be held a decade from now, <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span>may not make it into the top 20 but the current popularity of this movie can not be denied.</span><br />
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</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Where this movie really scores is that it seems to appeal a lot to a newer generation of movie-goers who have never heard of Patton or Tora Tora or The Longest Day or Dirty Dozen or The Eagle Has Landed et al and who couldn't care less about last year's bomb Valkyrie but who can easily sit through a Quentin Tarantino style rendition of almost anything be it a movie on World War 2 or on how a bride extracts sword-blade revenge or on the nuances of selling salted butter in Namibia or whatever. And in this sense <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">Inglourious Basterds</span>not only keeps the tradition of World War 2 movies alive but it will perhaps help re-introduce at least some of the above mentioned movies to a newer generation of film buffs. </span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">And then of course it has the legend of the Bear Jew.........."NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN"</span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Post Script</span>: - The black and white Nazi propoganda movie of Joseph Goebbels <span style="font-family: '-webkit-sans-serif'; line-height: 19px;">called the "Nation's Pride", which plays in Shosanna's cinema, was directed by Eli Roth, the character who plays the baseball bat wielding Bear Jew.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: '-webkit-sans-serif'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Another anachronism I noticed was when Col Hans Landa talks of precluding any chances of being tried by a Jewish court. In 1944 there was no Jewish state and the real possibility of such a state was quite remote. Further the question of a German colonel ending up in a Jewish court would also seems quite remote or non-existent at the time. Hence Landa's comment is anachronistic. However after the formation of Israel some Nazis were tried in "Jewish" courts the most famous such case being the trial of SS Lt.Col. Adolf Eichmann in the 1960s.</span></span><br />
</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07168397049449458753noreply@blogger.com2