Titoooooooon Pattanaik

Sachidananda Pattanaik

2008-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Dual Meaning, Complex, immaculate - are a few adjectives that would describe Sachidananda’s work. His works catch your eye even if you are just passing by, and this glimpse takes you into a journey of thought and reflection. Every time you view Sachidananda’s paintings they reveal a new facet, pushing you into a new realm of thought. "A work of art should not set boredom", believes Sachidananda. He works like a sculptor adding & subtracting upon the surface of his paintings - the color is built through a series of layers, which at times are also scratched out. He incorporates the human figure in his paintings in the same vein - building it in and out of the surface. Initially, these figures were mere spectators in the composition of the artwork, but now they appear to be active participants, asserting their presence and subtly revealing the mystery behind their form.
After completing his B.Tech (Computer Science), he is an active member and exhibitor in Scribble Artist Together Group, Hyderabad, India and also set off to exhibit his paintings in many online Arts Gallery. A self taught artist whose only passion is Art.

Former President Kalam’s message to nation ...

2008-01-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

Dear friends, let me share with you a seven-point resolve on the occasion of ensuing Republic Day 2008:

1. Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind -- *what can I give?*

2. Whatever the mission I will do, my motto will be *to work with integrity and succeed with integrity.*

3. I will always remember that *my winged days, be not spent in vain*.
4. I realise I have to set a great goal that will *lead me to think high*, work and realise the goal.

5. My greatest friends will be *great human beings, great teachers and great books*.

6. I will firmly believe that no problem can defeat me; *I will become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed.*

7. My National Flag flies in my heart and I will bring glory to my nation.

The Mhamai Kamat House....At Goa

2008-01-24T00:01:00.001-08:00

One of the oldest houses in Panjim is that of an important Hindu family in Goa, the Mhamai Kamats who had escaped from the Jesuits crusade in Chandor to convert people to Christianity as per the law enforced then by the Christian Missionaries.

Their house at Panjim is located just opposite the statue of Abbe Faria. Some members did get converted while the Hindu section of the family that remained established alliances with the Vijayanagar rulers and the Portuguese government sections thereby shifting to Panjim in the mid 18th century.

The reason for moving into this house was the close relationship of the Mhamai Kamats with the Raja of Sawantwadi who was a bitter enemy of the Portuguese government in Goa. Since the Kamat family had established diplomatic relations with the Vice regal circle of the Portuguese government, the Raja could have benefited from this. This prompted the shifting of the Mhamai Kamat family to Panjim just near the Idalcao palace which was the Viceroy’s official residence after he had left Old Goa and so have been there ever since.

Just along the waterfront is the famous jetty of the Mandovi river where ships would arrive and depart for Bombay. There was quite a lot of commotion during the arrival and departure of ships due to passengers trying to claim their positions on the ship. Opposite this jetty, one can still find the old public buildings.

Opposite the water creek at Betim, one can see the High Court building built in 1878 besides the famous Mandovi Hotel which offers a magnificent and picturesque view across the river. On the Betim hillside opposite the Panjim jetty is a white building or the Sikh Gurudwara which is the only one in Goa besides the one at Vasco, due to less Sikh population in Goa. The Chapel of Dom Lourenco built in the 18th century, is quite congested and crammed for space with an unusual combination roof of a plastered white dome and red tiled pyramid. Within the chapel are the remains of the altars and coat of arms of the Noronha family. A road to the left of the Mandovi hotel leads to the Azad Maidan.

The Konkani Language...Language of Goa

2008-01-23T23:59:00.001-08:00

The Konkani language is the most widely spoken mother tongue of people in each and every part of Goa and is highly responsible for unification of the Goan population.

It is being made as the official language amidst a lot of disputes over its acceptance. Hindus use the Devnagri script while Roman Catholics add the Roman accent to the existing Devnagri script. Although it is widely spoken in Goa, it has a limited use in administration purposes, hence Marathi is made use of for such purposes. Its use as an official language is a major topic of discussion in debates, some favouring it while others going against it.

The Konkani language was initially banned by the Portuguese who destroyed all literary works and books written in Konkani and insisted that Portuguese should be the medium of learning at educational level and used in administrative purposes. It was only in the mid 19th century that the restriction on the use of Portuguese language was lifted due to the extreme difficulty that the Goans faced in using Portuguese for communication as well as commercial purposes. Although Portuguese is not used recently, there are quite a handful of people who still tend to use some Portuguese accent in their conversation, although this is rapidly reducing and only a mere sprinkling of words here and there is observed. Constant debates have been fought over the language to make it official as opposed to Marathi, which is believed to be derived from the Konkani language.

The educational system in Goa follows the Marathi medium of instruction in 80% of the institutes, while only 0.25% follow the Konkani medium. But on a higher scale, English is the most preferred medium of instruction in schools and colleges where 96% of students are taught English. Steps are being taken to include Konkani in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The use of English is by far the largest, justified by 3 of the local and national newspapers, which are printed in English.

Pig Latin .... A game to write secretes

2008-01-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

Pig Latin is an English language game, where the inital consonant sound of an English word is placed at the end and an ay is affixed (Ex.: "Banana" would therefore translate to Anana-bay), to both obfuscate the encoding and to indicate for the intended recipient the encoding as 'Pig Latin'. The reference to the Latin is a deliberate misnomer, used only for its English connotations as a 'strange and foreign-sounding language'.

In Britain this term more often applies to the type of backslang used by the criminals of 19th century London and used as a playground game today, which was based on turning words backwards), or Butcher's Backslang which was common in English butchers' shops at least until World War II[1]. Prior to this, Benjamin Franklin was known to use a version of Pig Latin in some publications. Pig Latin is usually used by children for amusement or to converse in (perceived) privacy from adults or other children. Conversely, adults sometimes use it to discuss sensitive topics they do not want very young children to overhear. A few Pig Latin words — ixnay (nix), amscray (scram), and ''upidstay (stupid) — have been incorporated into English slang.

Why Do We Celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st?

2008-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

Julius Caesar. Well, actually that date was chosen in 153 B.C. by the Roman Senate. That didn't matter much though, the New Year's Eve date was celebrated whenever folks wanted to.........until Julius Caesar decided in 46 BC that it WOULD be celebrated on January 1st.

Julius actually created the Julian calender that year and decided the New Year would start on January 1st. That first year he had to make the year last 445 days in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun!

You'd think the New Year would be celebrated sometime around Spring. When things began to grow and everyone was glad to survive the winter. The Babylonians sure thought so! They celebrated New Year's Eve in 2000 B.C. with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox. Their celebration of New Year's actually lasted 11 days. The celebration was called Akitu.

Akitu was an enactment of a mythical battle fought between the new god Marduk and the old goddess Tiamet. It was the story of creation and sought to show bringing heaven and earth back into synch. They wanted to start the New Year fresh! At the end of the festival oracles were cast to determine the fate of the coming 12 months. Their most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment!

That sure sounds like a battle between old man time of the passing year versus the new baby of the New Year. Add in some resolutions to determine your fate for the next 12 months! Actually the image of a baby was introduced by the Greeks somewhere around 600 B.C. They celebrated their God Wine, Dionysus by putting a baby in a basket on parade. That baby represented the annual rebirth of Dionysus as the spirit of fertility and rebirth.

Some Christian denominations celebrate New Year's Eve because they believe that was when Jesus Christ was circumcised!

Knowledge Management benefits...

2007-12-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Knowledge Management comprises the practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It has been an established discipline since 1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Most large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management' departments, and sometimes reporting directly to the head of the organisation. As effectively managing information is a must in any business,and knowledge and information are intertwined, Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide market.

Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organisational objectives and are intended to achieve specific outcomes, these can include, improved performance, competitive advantage innovation, lessons learnt transfer (for example between projects) and the general development of collaborative practices.

Sharing Looses Nothing But Increase Knowledge...

2007-12-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

Knowledge sharing... Why important

Knowledge sharing is an activity through which information, skills, or expertise are exchanged among the members of an organization. See definitions of knowledge. The sharing of knowledge constitutes a major challenge in the field of knowledge management because employees tend to resist sharing their knowledge with the rest of the organization.

Organizations have recognized that knowledge constitutes a valuable intangible asset for creating and sustaining competitive advantages.Knowledge sharing activities are generally supported by knowledge management systems, although technology is only one of the many factors that affect the success or likelihood of knowledge sharing in organizations, such as organizational culture, trust, and incentives.