Rewriting history - Chanakya

Lately, I've been seeing people rewriting history in many ways. Our Television channels are one big avenue. Popular historical figures are used, and fake storylines are made up - Rani Laxmibai, Tippu Sultan, Pritviraj Chauhan, etc. Facebook/Youtube also seem to be a popular medium for such things.

Chanakya- the author of Arthashasthra - arguably one of the smartest Indians ever - is a popular subject.

One popular thing seems to be various editions of 'Chanakya Neeti' or Chanakya's wisdom.
Another recent one that I came across is a lie about how Chanakya sent Alexander packing. It is a clever 'remix' of powerpoint, the 'Chanakya' television series by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, and Alexander's history from the history channel. The history channel excerpts lend authenticity to this otherwise bogus nonsense.
To the casual viewer, it would seem to be truthful -

• Chanakya lived around the same time as Alexander's invasion of India 
• The television series seems to show him delivering powerful dialogues making him a leader of sorts Chandragupta Maurya did rule most of India 
• He is one of the smartest Indians that lived 

So, lets credit him for everything - including sliced bread! Right ? Wrong!!


There is little evidence that Chanakya had any role in stopping Alexander. He was a teacher at Takshashila- ruled by Ambhi of Gandhara.(Current Kandahar).

• He did try to get Nanda's support to defeat Alexander and unite the rest of India, but was rejected. 
• Porus of Punjab put up such a strong fight with only an army of 20,000, that it shook up Alexander's army. 
• When they reached the Ganga- which was the extent of the Nanda kingdom, the Greeks almost revolted against Alexander because they didn't WANT TO fight another Indian army which was 200,000 strong infantry alone - 10 times the size of Porus' army. 
• Alexander went back without a battle there. 

The reality was probably different - Porus was a gallant commander, and his troops were extremely loyal to him. Dhana Nanda didn't have such support. He also was derided as a 'Shudhra' (lower caste) king.
  
So, if anybody deserves credit for turning Alexander back, it would be Porus. He put the fear of Indian opposition into the Greek army.

Chanakya really came to power/influence after grooming Chandragupta to fight Dhana Nanda.

About fighting the mosquito squadrons

If you live in Bangalore, you get to expend brain power on esoteric stuff like 'strategies to beat mosquitoes'.

You basically have three stages: Defence, warfare and the retreat.
'Defence' : All the things you can do keep the cute little darlings out of your house.
'(Trench) Warfare' :  They've breached your defenses. Plus points range from cute music around your ears, and bites that let you appreciate the stillness of the night at 2 am - but you need to fight. There's hand to hand, Airborne (we'll come to that later), aerosol/repellant cream/coils, etc - chemical warfare,
'Retreat/Suffer': You have been introduced to malaria, dengue or chickengunya. The last one doesn't even have allopathic cures; in most cases you have severe joint pains for years after recovering. And you groan/whine and suffer your way out of these illnesses.

Clearly, 'defence' is preferable to 'warfare', and 'warfare' hits the 'suffer' out of the park.

Defence:
When we lived in single-family house, the standard plan ingrained into us was that by 6 pm, you make sure to close all windows & doors. And keep them shut until atleast 8 pm. And that is pretty effective in keeping mosquitoes out the rest of the night, so long as you live in non-mosquito breeding area.
In apartments (where we now live), they mosquito squadrons have different schedules. From 6pm till around 7pm, they feast on the evening walkers that are brave enough to wear shorts and short sleeves. Little babies are...well.. its like taking candy from babies. You can almost hear the wicked laughter while the kids cluelessly slap themselves silly.
The winged  also have allies in our local Udupi restaurants - ours keep their 'AC rooms' shut till 8pm - and force you to sit out, and get feasted upon while you feast. And the restaurants still do roaring business- one suspects some kind of deal with the devil.
Back to the apartments: Around 7 come out the maintenance staff with their own concoctions of medicine (mostly kerosene, it feels like - from the odour) and start spraying around the plants. These concoctions are designed to look convincing to the human eye in terms of the smoke produced - since they are using up the aparment-owner associations' money for this purpose.  
Convinced,  the heretofore exercising brave humans make a beeline for the elevators - all the while playing the 'slap-your-thighs, clap your hands, listen to the music and slap-your-face' game.

This is the indication to our winged crusaders to start out for the upper floors.
Theories abound on how they get to the really high floors -from some of the finest minds in the Bengaluru software service industry:

• They follow people into elevators - the very ones that are fleeing the medicine spraying
• Their wings are deceptively powerful and can fly up all those floors 
• They track wind currents around buildings, and use the right drafts to 'glide' up alongside buildings. And along the way, they enter apartments mission-impossible style upon spotting 'clients'.
• When nobody is watching, they manage to bunch up to create enough mass to press elevator buttons...  
• etc.

Warfare: There is always the 'clap-n-slap-till-you-drop' approach.
There are mosquito coils which spit out rather scary smoke. They do keep mosquitoes at bay - but there are enough suspicions about the damage they cause to humans.
There are now electronic bug swatters sold at most traffic junctions at around 100Rs. These are like small tennis rackets, and work reasonably well. But mosquitoes seem to have learned about them. I was evidence at a friend's where the little buzzers kept above 10 feet altitude. He was climbing various tables/chairs to get at them, but they pretty much hugged the ceiling. (The airborne warfare I was referring to)

Retreat: Not much to talk here- one just hopes not to fall victim. BTM Layout - the area I stay next to - is a Dengue hotspot.

Chords for Paravasha Naadenu

Just heard the new song 'Paravasha naadenu' or 'Paravashanadenu' by Harikrishna from the movie Paramaatma. Beautiful song, and chording. One of the rare songs where both paragraphs are different tunes ( even chords).

Movie: Paramaatma (2011)
Music: V Harikrishna
Direction: Yograj Bhat
Singer: Sonu Nigam
Lyrics: Jayanth Kaaykini


C#m G# 

lead 
C#m (arpeggio x 2 )

C#m                      G#           
Paravashanaadenu Ariyuva Munnave..    
C#m                               F#m 
Parichitanaagali Hege.. Pranayaku Munnave?
      
  C#m                    A                      
Idakintha Bega Innu.. Sigabaaraditte Neenu..     
F#m              F#m           B              C#m
Innaadaru Koodittuko Nee Nannannu.. Kaleyuva Munnave..

Paravashanaadenu Ariyuva Munnave.. 
Parichitanaagali Hege.. Pranayaku Munnave....

Interlude1: 
C#m F#m x 2   C#m F#m   C#m B
            ( fast Arpeggio)

E                       B          G#m
Ninna Kanniganthu Naanu Nirupayogi Eegalu..
Innu Bere Yenu Beku.. Prema Yogi Aagalu..

Amaj7         G#         E     F#m   E  F#m  A
Hoo.. Araluva Saddhanu.. Ninna Nageyali Kelaballe..
C#m           B       G#Aug               C#m
Nanna Ekaanthavannu.. Tiddhikodu Neeneega Ninthalle..
            C#m                          A     
Naanene Andaroonu... Nanagintha Chooti Neenu.. 
     F#m                     B                   G#
Tutiyalliye Muchchittuko Mutthondhanu.. Kadhiyuva Munnave..
     
Paravashanaadenu Ariyuva Munnave..
Parichitanaagali Hege.. Pranayaku Munnave....

Interlude2: TBD

C#m                A         C#m
Haa.. Naa.. Naa... Na Naa... nam

        C#m                         F#m  (riff)
Kanasali Thumba Kettiruvenu Ninnanu Keladhe..
       C#m             G#m          F#m
Rekkeya Neene Kattirulu Ee Hrudayavu Haaridhe..
B           E          F#m
Nanna Kouthuka Ondonde Helabeku..
G#                          C#m
Aalisuvaaga Nodu.. Nannanne Saaku..
C#m                     A                       
Sahavaasa Dhoshadhinda Sari Hoga Bahude Naanu.. 
  F#m                       B                  G#
Nanagaagiye Kaadittuko Hatavondhanu.. Kenakuva Munnave..
  
Paravashanaadenu Ariyuva Munnave.. Parichitanaagali Hege.. Pranayaku Munnave....

Tablatures: 

Intro Lead:

E-----------------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------4-5-7--4-5-7--------
G-----------------------------5-6---------------------
D-6666-7-6-5-6-7-6-5-6--6-7---------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------


E-4-5-4--------------------------- 4----------------4-----------
B-------7-5-7s9------------------5---5---5--------5--5---5------
G----------------88888888888888--------6---6--7--------6---6---7
D------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------

1st Lead: 0:55 to 1:00 
e|--------------------------------------------------|
B|----5s9-9-9s7-7-7h9--9p7-7-7h9-7---7h9-9-9-7------|
G|--6------------------9p8-8-8---- 9-----------9-8--|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

1st Lead: 1:01  to 1:06
e|---------------------------9----------------------|
B|---7s9-7-9-10-9-7---7h9-10---7--------------------|
G|-6----------------9------------9-8----------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

1st Lead: 1:07 to 1:09
e|--------------------------11-12-11----------------|
B|-------7--9-7-9-10--12-14----------14-------------|
G|-9-8-9--------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

1st Lead: 1:10 onwards Hotel california style begins
e|-12-------12-------12-------12--------12------------|
B|----14-------14-------14-------14--------14--------|
G|-------13-------13-------13--------13--------13----|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

1st Lead:
e|-14-------14-------14----16-14-----11----------|
B|----14-------14-------14-------14----------------|
G|-------14-------14--------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

1st Lead:
e|-12-------12-------12-------12--------12----------|
B|----14-------14-------14-------14--------14-------|
G|-------13-------13-------13--------13--------13---|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|


1st Lead:
e|-11-------11-------11----11-----------------------|
B|----12-------12-------12--------------------------|
G|-------11-------11--------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------|

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Several of you have asked about how to play the song. The videos are below.