Voices-Lost but left behind forever...

In this world of ours, people come and people go but those who leave their indelible footsteps on the sands of time are remembered for time immemorial. The world never tires worshiping them. They come like everyone and go like everyone of us but what makes them unforgettable is the immortal energy they leave behind them which is a source of inspiration for thousands of inquisitive fools like me and you. For an artist, it's his art that makes him look stupendous in the midst of comparable human beings.

As far as year 2011 is concerned, it's not been a good year for the world of music. Time took away from us many of the great voices. Death is the ultimate truth. Inevitable. No one is an exception. But the magic created by these voices carried with them a divine energy, a charismatic vibration of positivity, because of which they are still being reverberated in our ears, mind and heart. There have been various great maestros, Ustad, Pandit or Vidwan, whatever you call them, all of whom gave birth to a revolution through their voices by inspiring millions and millions of people all over the world. My music teacher once told me that,"To be a successful musician, you need to work on how are you going to convey your music to a layman. When you achieve in making a layman understand what your music is trying to pass on, then you can say that you have done your job quite well as a musician". Three of such singers by whom I have derived immense inspiration\ are

• Pt Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi
• Pt Jagjit Amar Singh.
• The voice of north east, Dr. Bhupen Nilkantha Hazarika.

When the dreams get equipped with wings, nothing can stop the person. He can even sacrifice his family, friends, house, everything in the search of the destination which he has dreamt of. Pt Bhimsen Joshi ji is the finest example of being such a person. Just imagine, a boy 11 year old, flying out itno this massive world, leaving behind him his each and every belonging, in the persuit of excellence and a world of his own, built by his power of imagination. The rest we know about him is a history. Not only has he given a new dimension to the world of Indian Classical Music but also has contributed immensely to bring about a change in the Dasa Sahitya, The Bhakti Movement literature, light music, Bollywood music and Natya Sangeet. He became the voice of saints like Kabeer das, Purandara dasa, Meera Bai, Soor Das and various other great poets. Pandit ji is the first musician to introduce the Abhanga style into Kannada dasa sahitya. Getting up in the early morning listening to pandit ji's "teerth vithal kshetra vital" has become a tradition in Maharashtra from several years now. Most appreciable thing about pandit ji is that he never confined himself only to a particular kind of music. He went on experimenting with various styles and always stood on the top, creating an enduring mark of his own. His determination and quest to take good from all, made him a genius!! His ability to sing in all the five octaves with a great ease is yet a mission impossible for various people!!. Even though pandit joshi ji isn't with us today, he has left behind his immortal voice, spreading the spirituality of the dasa kirtan, rendering the innocent prayers to the muraliwala, jagatguru shri krishna and inspiring millions of masses who are sinking into darkness. My salute to the classical king with majestic voice, from Dharwad.

"Yeh daulat bhi lelo, yeh shaurat bhi lelo bhale chheen lo mujhse meri jawani, magar mujhko lauta do bachpan ka sawan, wo kagaz ki kashti wo barish ka pani". 

Pleading  his fate to return his youthful and fruitful childhood days, is the voice of The Shehenshah-e-ghazal, Pandit Jagjit Singh. Time is the most powerful thing in the world and has left no one as an exception to its rules. What would you do if all of a sudden, one fine morning, you lose your loved ones? what if your marriage doesn't go well?. Won't you think of ending everything forever!? Won't you cut off yourself from the society and sink into the ocean of sorrow?. What else can be worse than losing your one and only beloved son? Yes, life has shown this malevolent face of its to Jagjit sahab. But our "Punjab da sher" stood firm with his music and raised above all the darkness marched towards eternal light, taking the Ghazal style of singing to a level where nobody had thought it would be at!. Most of us fail to overcome such situations and succumb to them too early. Dear friends, come close to music and you will sense what an elixir it is. Surrender yourself to it and you will be left in a state of bliss forever. Honestly speaking, if the music part of Jagjit sahab's life is taken away, rest what is left is too hard to imagine. The pain in Jagjit sa'ab's voice reflects the ultimate grief of his life, hidden under the vault of his heart. Not only I have derived immense motivation from Jagjt ji as a student of music, but also as a human being. The legacy this person has left behind, is definitely a guiding spirit for all of us. A great person, A great soul and a great singer with a great voice. "Jag hi jeet liya Jagjit ne to"!!! 

I always feel like praying god not to "lauta do bachpan ka sawan" but to give back Jagjit Singh sahab himself.

What to say about "Hazaron me ek Hazarika". 9th Nov 2011, the demise of this grand personality, marked the end of another legend. People from entire parts of the nation went to pay their tribute to this great man on his funeral. His death rituals were postponed almost for a week because of the rush of his fans to pay homage to the legend. What more need I say about his popularity. Hazarika's songs are like eye openers for listeners. His voice asks the world that why is it moving in the path of destruction, war and hatred? It makes them contemplate on the fact that why are we changing. It shows the world its standards and requests it to come back to the lane of truth, peace and brotherhood. That is what Hazarika ji has tried to do all of his life. His song "Oh Ganga tum behti ho kyu", never fails to give me goosebumps every time I listen to it. Hazarika ji, being a son of soil, has given a folk touch to all his songs, be it filmy or non-filmy. Hazarika ji always stood by humanity and now, in his absence, his voice is playing his role and encouraging people to put forth their effort in noble causes. This post graduate in Political Science, showed some interest in politics during 2004, but he was unable to keep himself away from the music as his dil would always "hoom hoom kare for music".  

My floral tributes to Sri C Ashwath and Ustad Sultan Khan, the other two musicians whom the time has engulped during 2011. 

Why accounting??..

As they say that physics is the backbone of engineering, it won't be wrong if anyone says that accounting is the same for commerce as physics is for science. Commerce is meaningless without accounting and accountancy. Accounting is the language of commerce, through which the information regarding transactions within a business firm is transmitted to outsiders and third parties and sometimes for the people inside the business as well. Thus, accounting helps the business to create external links from where it can get various benefits.

WHAT IS ACCOUNTING?
Simply speaking, accounting is nothing but recording of the business transactions by following certain rules and formats. According to the AICPA,i.e, American Institute of Certified and Public Accountants, accounting is,"Recording, Classifying and Summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part, at least of the financial character and interpreting the result thereof". This very statement stands true for the accounting of modern day business firms. Earlier, the accounting was done only to analyse the position of the business and was referred only by the owners and other member constituting the business. Accounting was just a mere tool for the businessmen to assess their position and to bring changes in the plans so as to stand at a higher point in future. But now the situation is different. The rapidly changing business environment has caused the evolution in the field of accounting. It is now realized by people that a business very much depends on its external environment and third parties(people other than the people who are a part of the business). These third party people can be Equity Share holders, Debenture Holders, investors, Banks and other financial institutions. Every business needs credit to raise their capital and to purchase various assets and working capitals and for the same, the business seeks the help from various sources as said earlier. Be it share holders, or debenture holders or any other investors, they invest their money only after realizing the financial health of the business and the expected rate of growth of the business in the years to come, which is very well construed by the accounting tools. The firms get advances and loans from the Banks and other institutions based on their ability to repay on time and accounting gives the statistics for the expected timely repayments. Apart from these issues, the accounting is also carried on in order to show the books of the company to the auditor, who then finishes the process of accounting by disclosing the position of the business. And moreover, revealing of the financial standing of the business is considered as a good business ethic these days.

THE PROCESS

Entries in the journal book.

As said by AICPA, accounting is the recording of the transactions. But, it also has mentioned that the recording should be in terms of money, that means only the transactions involving money and its worth. There are n number of transactions that take place in a business and remembering them will be like counting the stars in the sky! Therefore, in order to keep a record of all those transactions, they are recorded in a book called the Journal Book which is also called as the book of prime entries, where the entries are recorded on the basis of the accounts involved and the effect on them. For example, if the business is buying some assets on cash, the entry thus made in the journal will involve Asset account and Cash account. To be frank to all you readers, I must say that the use of journal is very much reduced these days in business as it is considered to be time consuming. Rather, the transactions are divided into various category and are recorded in a special book called the subsidiary books. Suppose the business has made sales, the amount of sales will be recorded in the Sales book, which is the subsidiary book representing the sales of the business firm.

After the entries are recorded in the journal books, they are shifted to a separate book called Ledger Book. In the ledger book, all accounts are separately shown along with the effect on them. I remember my lecturer saying that it's like you are given a bag full of fishes and you need to separate them and group the similar ones together. Ledger account is maintained by all the business firms and are very essential and indispensable part of the accounting process. 

Specimen of the subsidiary book
showing the details of the purchases.

Soon after the ledger accounts are prepared, the amounts remaining in each account in a ledger book are transferred to the trial balance. Suppose the purchases account shows a debit balance of Rs.5 lacs, then in the trial balance, in front of the 'purchases', Rs.5 lacs is written on the debit side of the amount column. It is compulsory that the total of all the debit balances in a trial balance should tally with the total of all the credit balances. Only then can you take it for granted that there are no mistakes in entries you have made so far.


PREPARATION OF FINAL STATEMENTS AND ANALYZING THE POSITION OF THE FIRM.
The final accounts, which are prepared on the basis of the entries made in trial balance, consist of three major accounts. They are- Trading account, Profit and Loss account and Balance sheet. Trading account is an account where direct expenses and direct incomes are recorded. Direct income and expenditure here refers to the income earned by the sale of the main goods produced by the business firm and the additional charges incurred in producing them. Some of the items in the trading account are Opening stock, Purchases, Wages, Carriage inward, Power and fuel, Closing stock, Sales, etc. Trading account shows only the gross profit earned by the firm.
The Profit and Loss account or shorty called as the P&L A/c is the ledger account where all the indirect expenses and indirect incomes are recorded. Some items that constitutes the P&L a/c are Salaries, Insurance, Depreciations, Advertisement Charges, Provision for doubt full debts, Interest earned, Gross Profit carried down from the trading account and so on. The P&L account shows the net profit.
BALANCE SHEET.

Referred to as the company's snapshot of the financial position, the balance sheet.It is the most important of all the statements. It shows the assets and liabilities of the firm. Based on this very statement, the third parties invest and lend their money to the business.

There are various other statement like Income statement, Cash flow statements, which also display the condition of the business.
This was just a glance of this massive world. Stay connected if you want to learn more!..
Thanks...

Inner war..the stage before you transform...!!

Life is an amazing journey of various phases. Each phase renders to us something or the other. Be it happiness, sorrow, trauma or any other state of mind, but life leaves us with some realistic and practical experiences that metamorphosize us into a better human being. Life send to us various imperceptible gifts which we have to recognize and convert into better resources. This ability to improvise on a given situation comes with maturity. Maturity comes with time, rather it is the gift of time. Once when the person gets mature, when he can comprehend what is right and what is wrong for him, then he can transform himself into the desirable human being that he always wanted to be. But there is this one particular stage in life, wherein one has to struggle hard to break the cocoon of confusions that has enveloped him. Those who know me might be just pondering and smiling by themselves while reading this post that how come I am in a position of explaining the journey of  life, being just have passed by only a few miles of this colossal journey. But, let me tell you that even I have seen a couple of phases of this wonderful journey and life has also put me through an array of situations. May be because of my unawareness I might have lost wonderful opportunities of learning. But life has also subjected me to be a part of a "war". The inner war, the war of confusions, the war of thoughts, the war of unfulfilled desires, the result of which can be miserable as well as a learning experience. 


As we all know that teenage is a part of life, the most wonderful and startling as well, wherein one has the zeal to explore a million things!. Thousands of locks to be unlocked and a bunch of keys which seems to be endless. The inquisitiveness to find a right key for the right lock brings impatience. tensions start making home in the minds of people. When two or more desired destinations are clearly visible and when the mind is equally capable of taking a step in all the directions to reach those destinations, the mind game starts. Mind game is a dangerous one. It can lead to fatal consequences in extreme cases. The same position is faced by majority of teenagers and you will agree with me if you had been through the same phase in your life. Expression of feelings. Yes. That's where everyone lacks. Expression of feelings is important in life. i I am getting reminded of what my friend Raj Sinai Kunkolienker mentioned in his blog that feelings are to be expressed and not to be suppressed. Communicating the feelings is also an art. 

The scale of raga Darbari Kanada, including the Ni.

While mentioning about the art of communicating the feelings, I am getting reminded of raga Darbari Kannada. The king of all the ragas, as said by various maestros and connoisseurs. It is the raga which has the most to do with expression of feelings. It depends on the ability of the musician to present the raga in a unique way so that its purpose is fulfilled. Laying stress on the "Nishad" note or simply called "Ni" ,or 'Ti'(in western music system) is the most cardinal task. Most of the musicians are found falling short in emphasizing on 'Ni'. Such is the case of the person playing an inner war where he knows what he has to do, but doesn't know to put across his ideas into existence.

Guidance and motivation from guru and parents is crucial at this stage. I had come across a sanskrit proverb which says, "Acharyat padamadatte, padam shishya swamedhaya, padam swabrahmacharibhyaha, padam kala kramena cha." A quarter of learning is borrowed by the student from his teacher, a quarter from his own experiences, a quarter from his friends and companions and a quarter with the passage of time. A person is not made by himself. Meeting the right person at right stage at right point of time is really lucky. Even or otherwise the proper interaction with teachers and elders helps to a great extent. It would save you from a life long punishment of  being in wretchedness. The awareness of the sole reason of your existence marks the end of this war.

My parents say that our thoughts play an important role. Our thoughts become our actions, our actions become our habit, our habit changes into our character and our character shapes our personality. I always have been said at home that good thoughts lead to good destination. Time has answers burried in its womb. When the time comes, the lock gets its key.!! Hope for the best!1

In pursuit of perfection....

Sine last few days, the word 'perfection' was the buzz word for me. I came across this word at least three to four times on various occasions. After writing a blog "giving life to life", my uncle called me and guided me how to blog with a perfection with his piece of advice. He had pointed out few error crept in to the blog. The course which he completed in IIT Chennai was not of four year as quoted by me but of five years. I had also said in the blog that he had a meagre amount at his disposal. But to my utter dismay, he informed me that he spent all those five years with no money but only with couple of scholarships and awards and so on. And he finally advised me to go for a thorough search before writing a blog on any person so that a perfection can be brought in the writings. Indulging ourselves into the subject matter of our writings, he said, is what makes our work more realistic and enjoyable for that readers.

When my uncle mentioned about bringing the writing closer to the readers, the one name that popped up in my mind is of Mr Arthur Hailey. I am a great admirer of Arthur Hailey, the author of various best seller books like The Car, The Strong Medicines, The Money Changers.  etc. All of which, whenever released, would attract highest  number of readers from all over the world. Being amused with Hailey's flawlessness and precision I became curious to know more about Hailey and I surrendered myself to Google search. I was really spell bound to know that he spent many many years of his life to master the subject, on which he would then write a book! . Really a perfectionist beyond doubt. To sink into the topic is an art to be learnt from Hailey To become a perfectionist, you require a great amount of research and thinking.As my uncle told me, "Think before you Ink". 

I was watching a cine channel and the host addressed Aamir Khan with an adjective "Mr. Perfectionist". Aamir is called perfectionist because of his right choice of the stories, the befitting location to shoot, the right actors and actresses to suit the characters of the movie and his capacity as a director to bring out the best from the co-artists. He also prepares himself to get the style of the character, whether it is Ghajini, Mangal Pandey or a bubbly teenager 'Rancho' in '3 Idiots'.  Then slowly I started realizing that to get perfection not only you have to think in deep but doing right thing at the right time and at the right place is also equally important. That's called timing. Accuracy and timing is what makes Aamir so special. 

The buzz word "PEFECTION" was still echoing in my ears as I was listening to a tabla jugalbandi  between Ustad Zakir Hussain and his father Ustad Alla rakha. The way he plays tabla mesmerizes the audience. I request you to watch one particular jugalbandi of the father and the son. After their continuous performance for ten minutes, the entire audience were flabbergasted.  The fingers of Ustad Zakir Hussain were rather dancing on tabla with a perfection. The rhythm was so continuous and soothing that he never allowed to miss the total effect. Eventhough they missed a few beats in the middle, they disguised it in such a way that hardly anyone could point it out!. This showed how perfect both of them are in their presentations. Then I slowly realised an age old English adage "Practice makeths the man perfect". 

With all these incidents, my desire to become a perfectionist was increasing. Then I saw my elder sister, who is in Singapore was online on Facebook. I started to chat with her. Being a proud mother of a two year old girl child, she started to narrate me the tantrums of her daughter and she told that her daughter is a perfectionist. She told that her daughter little Sanjana will not get a sleep with a smallest wrinkle on her bed sheet. She gets up, makes it straight and then sleeps. She also told me other habits of little Sanju. Unlike other kids, she doesn't like eating roaming here and there. My sister also explained a unique style of her lovely daughter of shutting the half opened drawers and setting right the door mats even while she is crying. After listening to my sister about the naughty actions of my neice, I have no doubt in mind that all human beings have that basic instinct towards perfection. The only thing that matters is its development. Li'l Sanju's actions brought me back from my journey towards perfection. It taught me a simple but an important thing about what is perfection. It taught me that perfection is nothing but "HOW DO WE DO, WHAT WE DO"?. Li'l Sanju does it in her way and therefore she is perfect. After listening to Sanju, I got totally relieved and got the simple way of achieving perfection. Lots of kisses to my niece Sanju. :) 

Giving life to life!

We all know that voluminous literature is available on achievement motivation. Shiv Khera, Robin Sharma, Chetan Bhagat are few who authored the same. Even I have read few of such literature. Ultimately I understand that to get ourselves motivated more important is not reading the books but getting inspired to what is happening in and around you, looking at the nature, looking at your role model and drawing inspiration from all that. I had already blogged on my uncle, from whom I have drawn immense inspiration. And one more such personality who comes to my mind is my Ramakrishna Mama, my maternal uncle, who has given life to his life and not tired even after he retired!. He is the eldest son of a poor school teacher who left his house at the age of 17 to persue his graduation in engineering at IIT Chennai and passed out with flying colors. I didn't get an opportunity to ask him how did he manage all the four years with 400 kms away from his parents with a small amount of money available at his disposal. He also did his post graduation in engineering and served Govt. of India in water resources department as a Chief Engineer, nearly for two scores. Throughout his proffesional life, he has applied his engineering skills in the department. The reason behind explaining his background is to tell about  his immense interest in subject of engineering. But the point which I wish to underline is his interest in medical science. 

He started to evince interest in medical science and over a period of years, slowly graduated over the many subjects of medical science. He is an voracious reader and an "Ekapathi" . Be it in Pathology, be it matter of endocrine or cardiology, opthalmology, oncology, etc he authoritatively speaks on it and guides you. But the point where I draw Inspiration from him is his passion to regularly call his friends, relatives, well wishers, and inquire about their health and to guide them . He also calls my dad in a regular interval and also informs within which limit his glucose, WDL, creatinine, RBC counts, etc should be. He also explains how to control the diseases and health disorders and provides suggessions regarding what to do and what not to do and these suggestions are valuable and moreover you have to pay exorbitantly when you consult a practicing physician and you wonder at last you get the same suggesions.  Aquiring knowledge is not a big achievement but sharing it for the benefit of others carries more weight. I have learnt a lesson from him, 'Share the knowledge for the betterment of others and increase your knowledge'. Thanks to my Mama ji.

Diverting the interest is his unique strength. The one more area which he has immensely studied and mastered is the history. He is capable of explaining in such a way that you feel that the history is repeated in your presence. From George Washington to Mikhail Gorbachev, from  Bismark and Hitler to Anwar Sadat, from queen Elizabeth to king Hussain from Chandragupta Maurya to Bahadur Shah Zafar. The diplomacy they all practiced during their regime, The tactics they applied, the plans they formulated to break down their enemies, all are on his finger tips. I am unable to analyse that how he shifts his interest from engineering to medical and then to history which are not related to each other. Yet he is successful. The lesson I learnt from him is, 'don't limit your interest or confine to one subject. Your interest in the life helps you to get interest in more and more subjects'.  

Now he is slowly evincing interest in philosophy. He is having a gallery of books of Ramakrishna Mission and upanishaths. I won't be wondering if he comes out shortly with a critical study and analysis of the gospel of Ramakrishna. Having dealt with plethora of files in his department, he never treated his life a file. You may be reminded of a sanskrit shloka "Unshtraya lagna velaya gardhabaha stuthi pathakaha". My dear friends, I beg to differ. I can introduce him to you. But being a nephew, it's my privilege to introduce him and hence you have to contact me only. With his knowledge, varied interest and the enthusiasm and energy he has provided "life to the life"!!.. 

My pranams to my mama shri!! :) 

My Uncle.

Off late, I was repeatedly thinking of writing a blog for my uncle who is a real source of inspiration for me and I have drawn immense motivation from him and assimilated within. Of course, I was restrained due to paucity of the time. I was unable to do so. I felt really ashamed that I was unable to blog for the above reason as a person from whom I derive the motivation is a master of the time management.
On account of a regular transfer which my father gets in his profession, I shall say that I am not so lucky to stay with my uncle who is permanently staying in Mangalore. But thanks to e-media and social network through which I keep myself, rather he keeps in touch with me.


The very reason why I call him master of time management and the source of inspiration will be evident for you while you go through the entire blog. My uncle is a government auditor, auditor of State Govt. of Karnataka. Travels day in and out and returns to home by 9.30 or in the late night. But every night at 11.00 pm he calls me and narrates a story which he had designed in his mind during journey period. Instead of having a nap in the bus, he looks, peeps through the window, studies the behavior of the co-passengers and even studies the crew members and gets inspired himself to write a story. Not only he writes but also ha patience in abundance to narrate me the same in the night and is so humble and asks me for an expert comment from my side! This is where I wonder at this man. He is really a perennial source of enthusiasm. After travelling for three to four hours he is left with tons of enthusiasm!!!. Even to teach his own children at home, to do his office work at home. etc. A few months back even I was also travelling to Margaon from Panjim everyday and was spending equal hours for journey. However, I had never utilized the time for a creative purpose other than reading my notebook and doing some academic work. Kudos to my uncle for the formidable energy he possesses even at the late 40's  of his life. 


My this great uncle is a patient of Diabetic Mellitus. And as all of us know it is a dangerous disorder though not a disease. And walking i the best medicine. Despite his busy proffessional schedule, once he gets down from the conveyance, he walks towards the house and the road gets tired but he never gets!.. He reaches the home. The distance may run to 6-7 kms, I have never seen him waiting for a rickshaw or any other mode. I have seen people walking in the morning. But the speciality of my uncle is that even after walking in the morning and even after getting fully tired of office work, even after the tedious journey, still he walks and with his endless energy and with the same enthusiasm which ordinarily a man will have in the day time he calls me at the night and asks how are you. Now I have started slowly understanding the funda of the life :) The body tires but the mind never. Thanks to my Uncle!.. 


My aunt is also a working woman and they have two kids who are 13 and 9 years old. The morning is so busy for them that getting the kids ready for the school and getting ready for the office and the movement of the clock stops for them for the speed at which they work. But the beauty of my uncle is that he equally shares the road of domestic works, right from cleaning the room and washing the utensils, clothes, etc. He gives his full shoulders to aunt and doubly ensures that everything goes perfect. When I stay there during vacations I had keenly observed my uncle and I have learnt from him that how to become a good dad and a too  good hubby too!. 


At last, he has got immense faith in god the almighty. The pooja he performs is really worth seeing. The shlokas, mantras, ashtakas, sahasranamas that he enchants is worth listening. His unstinted faith in the almighty might have given him this endless energy in his body and mind. My hats are off for my great uncle, not only for the reason that I share blood with him, but his qualities are worth sharing for me.