35th Edition of Shadow Dancing With Mind

It feels great that Shadow Dancing With Mind has been awarded the “Top Spiritual Blog of India” and with Half Million hits I am so happy that all my friends have enjoyed what I have shared through the blog posts and specially 34 previous editions. So here you are with the 35^th Edition, which has a new section Chennai Colors, showcasing amazing talent we have here. But the most interesting stuff this time is the History Of Philosophy  and my thought about…

EVOLUTION - A Work In Progress and GOD is the endresult…

As "Darwinism" became widely accepted in the 1870s, caricatures of Charles Darwin with an ape or monkey body symbolized evolution. For quite sometime, I have been thinking about the Darwinism - The theory of Evolution, as it has put some serious question mark to the idea of GOD, and this post is the result. (Read More...)

HAIKU MASTERS SERIES: On Classical Haiku Masters

III: Sōin and Saikaku - The Comical Renga Masters

A series on discussing Haiku Masters and their poetry…. This discusses the very popular and prolific Haiku Masters who aimed to move away from the serious 'Bookishness' popular in Japanese poetry in the 17th century. Sōin founded the Danrin school of Haikai poetry, whereas Saikaku created the 'Floating World' genre... (Read More...)

CHENNAI COLORS: Some interesting, creative and amazing people of Chennai… 

I: The Drum Fighters

Creating music with only Drum Sticks...

During the course of our interaction, Music Director Paul Jacob invited me to a Drum fight at the Alliance Françoise, which he was coordinating. They call themselves Drum Fighters and could use anything like beer bottles, tennis ball etc. to create great music. (Read More…)

II: Praveen - The Wine Guy

My friend Praveen is one such enthusiast, who got me to know there is much more to wine than drinking. (Read More…)

III: Anitha Guha – AIM for Seva through Bharatnatyam

Noted Dance Director, Choreographer and leading Bharatnatyam exponent Smt. Anitha Guha. (ReadMore…)

READER: A Section where I share most important thoughts from the books that I read

 

A) ZEN KEYS by Thich Naht Hanh

What is the sound of one hand (clapping)?

It is probably one of the most famous Koan of Zen thoughts, written by Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1768). If you think about it, it might take you a lifetime to know but if you let it seep into you, while you go about your day-to-day activity, with unattached mindfulness, it might give you a sudden clap of enlightenment, what is known as 'Satori' in Zen school of thoughts. (Read More…)

B) THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK by Publishers D K London

I have been reading various books on Philosophy, trying to get the big picture out of the multitudes of volumes I have had come across. After decades of trying to catch up with Philosophy, now I feel that I have a little idea of what is the history, back ground, ideas of Philosophy and its progress through the history of mankind, but "The Philosophy Book" is one of the best one to ‘Explain The Big Idea Simply’

PART I: Ancient and Medieval World - 700 BCE to250 CE (Read More…)

PART II: Renaissance and The AgeOf Reason – 1500 to 1750 (Read More…)

PART III: The Age Of Revolution –1750 to 1900 (Read More…)

PART IV: The Modern World – 1900to 1950 (Read More…)

Hope you have enjoyed this edition, look forward to your comments. Please do share...

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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34th Edition                                      36th Edition

CHENNAI BLOGGERS MEET BY ECHOVME

After a beautiful Writer's meeting, the Urban Chennai Blogger's meet was icing on the cake. It was such a pleasure to meet most famous bloggers of Chennai and then get on to some hilarious standup act by Shyam, followed by Tricky Tambola, A great learning session on Sustainability by the Urban Tree Homes, Mr. Abhishek Mehta, Add Zap and the much awaited Chennai's Best Blogger awards. So here are some of the images from the party, hope you all will enjoy.

A wonderful Stand up act by Shyam

Mr. Mehta of Urban Tree Homes providing sustainability tips...

AND THE ADZAP TEAMS WORKING ON THEIR AD

Ganesh Puttu with the WOW effect...

And the winner is Team Oxygen, with Hema's sound effects...

CHENNAI'S BEST BLOGGERS

Ganga Bharani

Praveen Kumar

Pradeep

In the end, let me leave you with sense of fun and festivity that was the hallmark of blogger's meet and awards at the Beverly Hills (just could not stop my self from putting that together) organised by Echovme and presented by Urban Tree Homes. I look forward to more such opportunities of sharing stories.

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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Sky Scanner Bloggers Meet at Delhi

CHENNAI COLORS II: PRAVEEN - THE WINE GUY

THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE I TALK ABOUT INTERESTING PEOPLE OF CHENNAI...

Over the years, I have come across many interesting people in Chennai who opened new fields of creativity, enthusiasm and vision. My friend Praveen is one such enthusiast, who got me to know there is much more to wine than drinking.

 

Praveen - The Wine Enthusiast, who can guide you to make
money out of wine and drink it too...

Recently few of friends from COIN Arisa Group got together and cornered him in the excellent wine cellar of Hyatt Regency and got a full-fledged run down on wine tasting as well an investment opportunity.

Coin Arisa Gang, which cornered Praveen at Hyatt Regency Wine Celler

His journey towards knowing a lot about wines started from the time when he was working in wineries across Barossa Valley, where he was working at the time as summer intern.

When he came back to India worked as a banker, gained extensive knowledge on HNIs invest in and what drives them to buy an asset and eventually decided to merge his passion about wines and investment banking and undertook research on wine as an asset class.  He spent two years in the UK apprenticing under one of the finest wine merchants in the world Berry Bros and Rudd in Basingstoke and went on to submit 20,000 word thesis to the University of Reading on the subject of wine as an asset class relevant to the Indian Context.  Upon his return to India, he launched India’s first wine investment advisory service.

The most exclusive line up of wine in Chennai...

Wine tasting has always been an integral part of what he does and he believes that in order to buy an asset you need to appreciate it first. Hence he decided to conduct wine tasting events for private and corporate groups. In these endeavors, his basic aim is to provide the tools for people to appreciate the living breathing beverage i.e. Wine and assist them to pair it with the right food to enhance the experience.

From Praveen's write up on " A Glass Of Shakespeare"

He always tend to challenge wine tasting trends and constantly push the boundaries by creating wine parallels with inanimate objects such as books, cars, Zodiac signs clothes etc. According to him, everything conveys an emotion and so does wine in a lot of ways. He pushes the limits on the current food and wine pairing trends and experiments a lot in pairing wine with all cuisines and not just traditional European cuisine. 

Please write to Praveen or me to get the full
article, it has an interesting combination...

Hyatt Regency Wine Celler

He has extensively written and been quoted in the media as wine connoisseur and regularly writes and advises in the HINDU BUSINESS LINE about wine as an asset class and the current trends.

He is also a committee member and an active participant in Terroir - The Wine Club Of Chennai as well as he has worked with the founder of Chennai Wine Club Mr. Chinmaya on few projects.

He has successfully done tasting events from private evenings with snacks for few persons to a full fledged Buffets and proper sit-down four course dinners with various private groups to five star galas.

I was quite impressed with the way he guides investors to invest in the perfect Wine, which in the end gives quite a handsome returns over a period of time. He has multiple clients across the world, investing in this unique asset class.

In the end, he says, “I don’t like to be called connoisseur. I am more an enthusiast who happens to know a lot about wines. I personally feel it is reserved only for a privy few”. 

And I am so glad that I feel quite privileged to know him and a lot more about wine, than just guzzling it down to get an immediate kick.

End Note: By the way, asked the inevitable question and the answer is yes, one glass of wine (No, not that, only 90 ml) is good for heart, though as Praveen says, there are various studies going both ways.

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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The Drum Fighters