Hindu pontiff on Oz visit

WhileNRls coday have ~ccess ~o an mcreasmg number of temples that employ priests from IncLia and offer an increasing array of religious practices, what is sorely missing is the absence of visits by Swamijis o r heads of religious institutions, a lso called M"tts.

In some Hindu sects it is believed that one should n ot travel across the oceans. W ith over 30 million NRis and many more millions visiting abroad regularly, this is practiced m o re in breach than in adherence. lt is still the case though that Swamijis from very old religious institutions rarely, if at all, go overseas

One Swamiji thought o therwise. He believed that his primary rni5sion in life is to go where the devotees are, irrespective of where they are in the world, and offer spiritual ad v ice and support. Amidst stiff opposi tion from fellow Swamijis and some in the community, he s tarted making regul ar overseas visits. This brave and far sighted Swami ji is Sri Sri Suguneclra Tirtha from Putcige Mu!t in Udupi, Karnataka.

Udupi is a famous temple city where Shri Macll1wacharya, the propo nent of Dva ita philosop hy, set up the Krishna Nf11tt in the 13th cenUtr)r. He handed over the administration co eight disciples with their own 111atha.r (monasteries) To this day, all the eight J\tfutts take charge of the worship and adm inistratio n of U dupi Kris hna temple for two years on rotation

Puctige 11N1tha is now headed by its 30th pontiff SS Sugm1endra Tirtha Swamiji. He is the President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace and heads over 35 religious and spicirual instirutions in India and abroad

In lioe with his belief that the whole world, not just India, is a holy land and chat devo tees, no matter w here they are, desen1e to be served, he bas set up tluee Krishna temp les in the USA and one in Canada.

Thanks to the valian t efforts of Sri Rag havendra Seva Samiti (SRSS) in Me lbourne,

SS Sugunendra Tirtha Swamiji visited Australia last year. This year he rnade bis second visit for over a month in MarchApcil and met devotees in Perch , Syru1ey, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbomne.

\Xlhal thrilled the devotees no end was that they go t to see and worship the 750-year-o ld Vithhala idol that has been handed over by Sci Madhwacharya and worshipped ever since at Pmtige M11tt. The Swamiji was accompanied by priests who brought the same religious fervour and atmosphere that one gets to see only in ancient Indian temples with their rencLition o f 111a11h<1s and veda patha11a. The cook that came with Swamij i rounded up the experience witl1 the famous Udu p i cuisine. Another highlight of Sw am iji 's visit was his informal Q&A sessio ns where he replied to all the questions, especially from youngsters, with patience, affection and deep knowledge. He also met local Australians at many functions organised b y various educational institutions in b is honour. To the delig ht of SRSS, the organisers o f h is visit, tl1e Swamiji has decided to ser up a Krishna temple and Sri Raghavendrn Swam i 11ri11dt1vt11w in Melbourne in the near future. For mo re information about the mission and activities ofSRSS, v isit www.srss.org.au.

My 1111iti1,g life and lf!J' life 111ith computers, in spite. of their differmces, seem mirrored, h11i1111ed. 130th al'e exp!omlions of pl'ocess, of the 1111.folding of co1111ectio11s. Both reward curiosity, dogf',ed patie11ce. A 11dper!Jt1ps it isjwt the double p resence that l cherish, of 011 and logic.

something and not entirely s ure yo u go t i t, programming i s very certain". O nc e you write a co d e you ge t "tha t lovely m oment when you run yo ur test and get feed b ack; the green tic k bur with prose you have no id ea," Chandra told Sp e ncer.

0~u:~t!:~a;ay in Sydney there was a m eeting between t he geeks a nd [he word sm ith s to hear th eir lead er Vikram Chandra espouse words of wisdo m. Fe llow ' nerd' (as stated on. his t-shirt) Adam Spencer was there co stir up tbe pot and make the awa rdw inning n ovelist a nd professi o nal c o m pu ter programmer choose a side: coder or craftsman?

The e\7e nt was 'Vik ram Chandra: Geek Sflblime,' and tbe space t:hat these two (usually) dispara te g r ou ps mer was Th e L o ft at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay, at [he Syd ney Writer's Festival in late May.

C h a ndra 's latest n ovel Geek Sflbli111e (2014) looks a t the connection between these two seeming ly op po sed words, art vs technology In it Chandra questions w h ether code can ever be called beautiful, notes how San skri t is sim il ar to coding, a nd p o ntificates o ver why h e is drawn to both prose as well as co mputers

It's no t the first tirne tha t C ha ndra, born. in Ne,v Delh i in 1961 , has been a guest o f the Sydney Wri t ers' Festival, and this rime he shared his love of programm in g with Sydn eysiders C handra first impresse d th e literary world with h is deb ut novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995); won the Co mm o n wealth \'.\i'riters' Prize with his second o ne , Love a11d Longing in B omhtry (1997) and then c o ntin ued co woo reviewers with Sac, ed Ga111es (2006).

And n ow th e re's Ch a ndra's first woi:k of non- fi ctio n , Geek .\"11hli111e, o r as it is pub lis hed i n India, 1'1irrored Mind: 1\t[;, Life i11 Letters and Code The woi:k is part memoir, part literary theory and part smdy of [ecbno logy And t he to ne, well, it's also quite d iffe rent fro m his previous works. He explores his two worlds in this n ovel, which is almost a sei:ies of essays He writes:

20 JUNE (1) 2014

So where d oes this geeky s id e come from, Spencer as ked the lndian author. Chandra explained that after he g raduated from the Univers ity o f CaJifo rnia he moved to New York, where he became obsessed wit h p laying with PCs.

Nor onl y di d be enjoy ir, he "lusted after" t:he m , a nd t heir " b ig hard discs," h e cheekily stated. He even went so far as to describe the App le II as the "sexiest computer," with its functionaJ elegance. An d so Chandra ,vas hooked.

According to Kirk11s Revic//ls (USA) Gerk S11blir11C is "an engaging exercise in inte rdisciplinary thou g ht, both el ega m and eloquent," wh ich is aJso how I wotLld describe the festival discussio n . C handra and Sp enc er h ad the entire audience's attention capmred throughout the talk Th e novel an d rb e talk both delved into di e hi stor y of coding, the stereotypes of geekdo m , linguistics, [be gender im b alance in S il icon Valley and more.

Chandra's latest novel came about during a pause while h e was writing his next piece of fiction after Sacred Games Instead of waiting for the i ssue. with bis work o f fiction to be resolved, he ende d up writing 20 or 30 pages of an essay on the ctLl tme of program m ers, and it grew from there.

Chandra de scribed tbe act of writing as "not p le asa nt," b ur for birn " programm.ing has worked as an escape from that".

"In computers I can complete ly lose m yse lf," said Cha ndra.

In prog r amm i ng, the computer is the game, but with writing, Chandra qu otes Robert Ha ss who sai d , "It's hell wri ting, bur it's h ell not w r iting. The onJy tolerab le. sta re is ju st having Wl"itten".

He went on to describe program m in g as having a d ifferent level of absorption

"After a day of literary wor k, whic h is ver y ambiguous , when you are always search ing for

With books, o n the other hand, C h a ndra believes that "after it c o mes o ut, it di sappears Th ere 's no thing certain about it"

In Geek Subli111e h e fur[he rs tbis idea:

1\tfctki11g softl/larr g,111e me 11 littlejolt 11fjqy each ti1J1e a piece of code worked the world jell atVt!_)\ vry botfy 11a11ished, ti111e receded y ou can s/0111 thispleas11re spoke intoJ'Oll r vines ag11i11 a11d again, and yo11 want 111ore, cmd 111ore and111ore.

Adam Spe ncer asked C h a ndra , " \Vh y is writing simple c ode so hard?"

" B ecause of the startli ng elegance o f the sim plicity of computers," replied C han dra "Yo u can ma ke logic gates ou t of even !ego bricks," bur is ver y difficult to wri te coding with n o bugs

"You can have moments ,vhere a sen[ence c rackles th rough" in fiction, whic h is beautifu.l , but with code the "clarity and expression o f code is beautiful," Chandra explained.

"Th e beauty in code," h e noted, comes from it being " c oncise, S[ructured and Lingui stically Aexibl e, and as such, many p rogrammers see their work as a creative practice, akin to c reati ng music or Literature".

"A line of code can be perfect, but prose can n ever be," Adam Spencer n oted o n die top ic.

T he re was a lso talk of th e " architectural elegance of machines" by both Chandra and Spencer, who yo u might kn ow from Trip le.], ABC Radio and T V programs sucl1 as The Sleek Geeks Cha ndra observed th at w hile. writing fiction, his "first draft wi ll lack archirecnuaJ co h e r ence and shapeliness," but that he has the same sel f-doub t when writin g and programming.

However, he cl aimed , programming is n ever painful like writing is W hile writing fiction, he feels a "fracture tha t leaves raw edges exposed"

"AJl virtues one associates wi th writing can be applied to code," Chandra mentioned m Spencer, as he described t:he process o f both struggling d1rough code or words , and the ex act same rewriting process.

"So m e say hackers are the sam e as artist~ ,,

And yes, h e has the "same eureka moments in the middl e of tbe night with progra m ming and wi:iting fiction".

Proi:;ramming is a "weird, m acho, blokey enviro nm ent" these days said Cha n dra, despite programming's roots b eing a female secretary's task

In te restingly, in the Sydney audience, the m a jority of those. who id entified themselves as being programmers were women

At t he end of t he talk, during Q&A time, a fe male audience m e m ber ech oed Cha ndra's own dilemma of the culmre o f scie nce and tbe arts, as she is a singe r as well as a voice scien tist. She asked Chan dra, " Do you think tbis book resolves tbis dilemma?" C h andra answered b y saying that t he l)ook was h is des ire to attempt to exp lain to his wi£e (Melanie) what he spends hi s time d oing

Anotl1er audie nce member who describ ed herself as currently lh7 ing in Bombay, described Cha ndra's book s as "a kind of code, go ing back a nd forth"

Cha ndra agreed with this and furthered explained that his interest in a wheel-like stru cture with repetition " is common in south east Asia"

In h is c o ncl usion in Geek Sublillle C h andra wrj tes: A[y jictionprolifel'tltes doubles, ro11pli11g,; ,,lter egos, lqyer.r IJ)ithi11 lr9'en. "\Xlri ters and programmers ultimately do very different things, and tha t's pa r t of th e argument of the book," said Chandra.

"All language is potentially suggestive," Chandra believes With coding ambiguity can be disasu:ous, however, w ith pro.se i t can produce depth, or rasa (aesthetic pleasure). Chandra now codes as a hobby and is currently wor king on his n ext book, wh ich was tl1e one tl,ac was interrupted by writing Geek S11bli111e

" Should everyone be caug ht code?" Spencer asked Chandra.

Chandra replied, "Everyo ne s hould be provided t he opporrn ru ty and cools to p lay with code and explore, but n ot everyo n e has to actuall y code".

Fo r most write rs, compmer programs are merely tool s used to mak e work easi er.

Chandra describes fiction as his vocation, bur coding as his obsession. He would rather code, but he describes not wri ting as not even an option. Without writing he becom es cran ky, so his "\Vife sends him off co write (fo r a whlle) So that answers Spe ncer's q uestion Chandra .is LLnable co cho ose just one, as they are both a part of him - one an obsess io n, a nd one essential.

Just as Cha ndra reaches a reconciliation between geek and literature, east and west, Iain Pears in !us review pub li shed in The Telegraph (UK) writes:

The effect qf code, Iike that of literal//re, goes bryond language to

,·econstmct comcio11s11ess itse!f Fom,a/ elegance in both is almost secondary: it exists, 110 doubt, and can be· analysed Cbandra pers11a.riveb1 mggests that the tme heaury lies in 111hat it does to m, al!mving rJCCPSS to the 111ifit!homah(y vast, tmd changing the world lt is la n guage chat b in ds the two togetlier; tlie language of computer cod ing and the language of prose. Chand ra seems to be master of botli A nd for Chandra co make both top ics inte resting at tlie Sydney Writer s' Festival i s another feat he quite capabl)' handles, wit!, a little help from Spencer

Youog architect William Chan demon strates how the sharing of kn owled ge can result i n the deve lopme n t of innovative solutions to global issues

'William, named o n e of A u stralia's Top I 00 Brightest Young Minds in 2010, recently recei ved tl1e 2014 Snid ent Prize for the Advan cement of Architecture from tl1e A ustralian Instimte of Arclurects.

His aclueveme n ts are spectacular for one so young Besides being a Future Green Leader for the Green Bui lding Council of A L1stralia, he is also a yo uth mentor for the Museum of Contemporary A r t in Sydner.

His passio n for socially and environmentally sustainable architectme has take n mis young A u stralian, origin ally from Hong Kong, around the g lobe assi sting communities in need.

William grad uated from t he Univers ity of Syd ney with tl1e Convocatio n Medal from tl1e Faculty of Archl tec ture, D esign and Planning and received a faculty sch o larsh ip to participate in a n inter-disciplin ary design program called G lobal Studio.

Global Studio is an action research program witl1 students, academics and professio nals from all over tl1e wor ld that use a participatory design process to facilimte projects.

W illiam 's first expe rien ce was at D iepsloot, a slum in Johannesburg. This project opened his eyes to how arc h ite cture could positively influence p eop le a nd tl1eir livelihoods.

His continued involvement with G lobal Studio gave William the n ext opportuni ty to coordinate the program in Bhopal, India

Here William was part of a team d eveloping an urban ren ewal master plan with a p rocess of ind epth community consultation.

"\~orkingin Bhopal and visiting other places in India was an incredible and eye-opening experien ce for me," William said

The inter- discip linary project that William was part of had six di fferent groups working in tl1e Bhopal slrn11s. Students and pro fessionals from arorn1d the world - Europ e, USA and Asia from the areas o f architecture, business and Jaw, worked in designoriented projects o r researchoriented projects, covering different aspects

William's group loo ked at th e master p lan of Bhopal. They studied tl1e n ew a nd old p arts of Bhopal city, examining how th e distinctive lslanuc side and H ind u sides worked together.

why tl1ey enjoyed the space.

They partnered wid, the local university, Maulana Azad ational Institute of Techno logy (MA1 IT) who hel ped the overseas guests with interpreting, as well as research

The high lig ht of t he whole process was irs culmination in a festival called IV'e are 13bopal, which encomaged people who live in Bhopal ro share their .ideas for the city.

"We held a community consultation , asking children and adults to d raw o n m aps of Bhopal an d put down their id eas," said \ Xi'illiam, t he memory of t he interactions still fres h in bis mind.

"We showcased different id eas to give me communiq, a n idea of how a p ublic sp ace could change. We did .illustrations and computer renders to show the 'before ' and 'after' of possibilities, so that they could start talking and discuss tl1ese ideas".

So did the project get im plemented after the overseas visitors returned hom e?

William regrets tl1at tlu s was unfortunately not the case.

"Attempting t o change a city is a l arge scale project," admi t ted William.

They presenced tl1e p lan to the local government bu t he said imp lementing it would be a long, hard process.

He found tl1e lustory of Bhopal fascinating.

"lt was amazing to see how the city recovered following the Unio n Carb ide disaster and seeing how it has impacted the community," he said.

As part of the process o f develop ing a master p lan for Bhopal, his group went around t he public spaces of the c iq; talking with residents to find out how a nd

"At least we were able to initiate som e discussio n around how to make t he city better and ,ve in volved the community .in th is pwcess. I fee l i t is so powerful if we actually sp eak to th e people They will tell yo u wbat they need, we just need to ta ke d1e ti m e to listen and find out the best solutions," h e said hopefully.

Vol unteering wi th World Vision and having worked in aid and development, William met many p eople who bad previous ly traveJJed to India.

"\~hen I was leaving, they warned me ab out how incredible and crazy India is While 1 was over tl1ere l could undersmnd \vhy!' '

Besides Bhopal, he travelled co Mumbai, DeJh~ Agra, Varana si and C handigarh.

''Chandigarh was a lu ghlight for me as i t was designed by ilie famous arclutect Le Co rbusier and it was interesting ro see how architecture and d esign changes tl1e ,vay people live. Here was a city which was completely planned and I n oticed how different it was from ilie r est of India. People followed road r ul es and respected me environment," he said.

This reiterated what William p a ssionately believes - an architect can create an environment tl1at inRu ences d1e way people live and behave, through d es ign.

In 20"12 \'l:'illiam also received a scholars hip to participate in ilie In ternational Exhibition at tl1e Venice Arcluteccure Biennale, the worl d's m ost p restigious architecnire festival.

Here he helped Anupama Kuocloo, an Indian arclutect now based in Brisbane, build a low impact house b ased on her o,vn home at Auroville in Pondicherry.

'°I was captivated by Dr Kund oo's passion in sustainability and genui ne advocacy for social .inclusion within arclu tecture, particularly how she re-interpre ts tradition al design, mate rials and skills," said William.

His experiences in Bhopal and around the world, h as given the young man directio n for wha t h e wants to aclueve in the funire

Hamsa Venkat has done it agai n Having successfully infused the classical Indian dance scene in Syd ney with new ventures, freshness and enthus iasm , her latest production Pra11t1 was another breath of fresh air.

A bouquet of dance items contributing to the theme of pmna, or li fe force, three of Harnsa's students Vidya GokuJ, Priya Murali and Govind Pillai performed in this presentation.

The provisi on of live m u sic formed another attractive feature, with Krishna Ramarathinam (vocal), Pa!Javan l agendran (mridangam) , Narayanan Ramakr.islmana (violin) and Harnsa Venkat (nattLNanagam).

There was great clra.rna in the item Aba!Ja Moksb,1, based on the well- known story of Ahalya who is turned imo stone by her husband, the sage Gauthama, angry at her dalliance with Lord lndrn. It i s left for Rama to place a foot on the stone that is Ahalya, and bring her back to ber form. Dancer

V idya Gokul\ interpretation of Ahalya was simply astounding, especially as it was performed to instrumental music only, provided b y the hugely talented Mohan

A yyar on symhes iser. The absence of vocal s did not seem to matter at all, with the m u sic actually heightening the mood in this tale.

V idya particularly excelled in tbe moments depicting the wrath of Gauthama and the joy of Aha.lya as she regained her physical form.

The Krishna leela Jr1gtll1111oba11a11e Klis/ma was a total treat to the audience. This celebrated kriti in Kannada speaks of the three great episodes, the Lord begging Bali co g ive him three "feet" of land and thus grant him moksha; Tv,/i11ga Mardbana by r<.rishna and the deceitful play of chess by Duryodha.na with Dharamaraya, and O_ra.upadi's vastraharana and Krishna's intervencion to give her Akshaya Vasana. Each of these episodes is symbolic and holds deep significance. Lyrics presented in p leasing ragas b y Krishna, nattuvanga by Harnsa, and the clever mix of nritya and abhinaya by all the three dancers elevated the experience. There was a quick show of Dashavatara as well In the Bali episode, Ortdu padava bho0111jya 111e/001i, ond11 padadi gaganavttt1aled11 made for fantastic abhinaya. Following this, Govind gave a pleasing portrayal of Kalinga Mardhana. In the dece itful chess episode, we saw a good interplay of light , bringing out the expression on the faces of dancers

Confluence of tbe ieevathma and the paramathma became the theme for Joo/athi &dha presented

Loolti.n.g fot h.atdwot~ OM. teli.ahl.e tnaM9e.t to, tnaM9e fost food, stote.

'Pti.ot fost-food. e.x.petie.Me. is preferable

• • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Dllti.e.s i.1,cl.wJ.e:

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• • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l'leose. ttl\.9 04SS 088 558 by Vidya and Govind. Radha and Ki:ishna are eternal lovers; there is no end to their p layful activi cy. \X1e saw some beamiful poses of Radha and Krishna in this item. The Abhinaya brought out the love theme effectively. The swing action enacted and light display w it!, colour changes added to the beauty of tl1e presentation.

£njo,y wMlwtg wi:th.iJI. o. greo.t te.o.m. envirOfl.Ment o.nd. be rewlll'ded fo-r yow efforts.

Brocbeuarevamra by Vidya was wonderfull y expressive, especially for the line Seetabapathc, 11apai 11eekahbi111ana11m leda? ln the following item Shakti Swaroopam (D111ge Durge) , roudra was oozing om of every movement of Govind. Indeed, one fek, ·'Durge is reall y blood thirsty".

Music is an essential parr of dance. Tn tllis re.speer Krishna

Ramaratl1inam proved that he is a mature singer for dance. His range and modulation were both very effective. On e shotlld be pleased to note that he is born and brought up in Sydney The other musicians too did an admirab le job.

What was important was that the performance took the audience away from the Sydney surroundings to some hnJerspace, one of divitliry, a,s arc always s hould. The dances were so beautiful that the language of the lyric s seemed to be no barrier to the artiscic experi ence.

The staging raised fonds for orchwest Disability Services, and was supported by V i swa Hindu Parishad, Sewa Internacional and Sydney Veda Patashala.

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male counterpart portrayed tl1e various moods of a ferocious Shiva. le is unusual co see a male and a female dancer pottraing mis androgynous form o f the lord: yet their perfectly co-ordinated moves successfully conveyed tl1e feel of Ltn.ison , of one single entity.

(experience) become an a11ubh11ti (a unique realisation where one gains new uoderstanding)?

When it meets with chat divine handshake!

This is how Padmashree Chi tra V isweswaran introduced her production A,111/Jhuti, which was staged as part of the annual Soorya Festival held in Sydney in early J1me. And in every sense of the word, it was uuly a divine experience!

Initially commissioned for the Opera de Lille, France, in 2011, the Syd ney tour of the show was eagerly awaited by fans of classical dance and music.

Beautifully crafted in tbe traditional Margam fom1at of Bharatnatyam, che production was an effortless blend of Auidity of motion, wi th tl1e nuances of expression pushing the boundaries of the dance fo rm The concept of the divine experience was beautifully illustrated wid1 excellent execucion, co-ordination, mellifluous music and to top it all, power- packed performances from six talented dancers.

Appropriately introduced by rl1e legendary dancer herself, each segment of d1e show carried a soul of its own. The first segment was an myali (an offering) to the Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - d1e Creator, me Preserver the Destroyer respectively It constinited a combination of ttdt1v11s (basic steps of Bharatnatyam) and rhythms. The music, a mixture of mgps, sounded vibrant w id1 a percuss ive Jhum;h1m/ iliroughout, as a perfect accompaniment to me celebratory dance.

Exploring d1e concept of the cosmic whole in the androgynous for m of Ard.hanarees hwara / Ardhanaareeswari, the show was slowly bm s urely on the take-off to great heights In the brilliant por traya l of the two halves Sakti and Siva d1at constitute the archetypal 'whole ' , the dancers were so synchronous that they perfectly complimented one anod1er. The female partner stayed beautifully calm and collected, whereas ber

The d1.i rd and central piece of traditional B haraU1atyam performances, called the Padt1Vanw111, incorporates tl1e essemial elements of mitta (i:hythrnic, abstract dance mo ves) and 111-itlzya (band gestures and facial expressions) And here, the legendary Chiera Visweswaran had crafted a segment that illustrated the nine moods of Indian aesth etics, the Navrasas, with reference to die Goddess Shakti. The music that accompanied was captivating, gorgeously composed by violin maestero Lalgudi Sri G Jayaraman, set in Ragamalika and Adi Talam.

The next segment was exu-acted from P1u·andaradasa's kritis, and this particular portion addressed Vishnu in d1e form of Krishna, the flute playing avatar. The dancers asgopis (rnilkrnaids) passionately enacted ilieir individual association with the young Krishn a. The ecstati.cgopinvere lost between the feelings of fondness towards a child and affection towards a lover. As they stood i.o a group jointly en acting their feeli ngs for Krishna, they created one of the most memorable moments of the sho,v, perfectly blending me sensibilities of stagecraft and lighting to create a dynamic posel

The "lullaby" by the legendary dancer herstlf; at the ver y end, was ju st as evocative. As she sat at d1e centre of the stage cuddling an imaginary baby, there was an effortless efflux of eo10tions: she p layed with the little Krishna, demonstrated his lee!ttS (games) and sang him a lullaby. Even as l s u·uggled to rake my eyes off her, I was distracted by a young mtu11 wiping her tears of joy; a telling comment on me sheer power of die talent on stage. lt was a defining moment indeed, when d1e show moved from being extraordinary to exorbita ntly beautiful!

Flaw wise, asking to take a break for dinner before even the show s tarted was not somed1ing many an1ong the eager audience appreciated. A n d tl1e speeches before the show seemed to have lost that beauty of crispness. These mi.nor issues not:wiilistanding, it was truly an amibhuti: a unique experience indeed!