Eastern Astrology

Eastern Astrology

I do not wantt o teach anything about Astrology as there are many sites to do that. I have a book which I wrote that gives a clear picture about what to look for in Astrology and where anybody , both the astrologers and those who go to astrologers for a reading, can go wrong. I will post it here and it is in Tamil. Feel free to read and give me your comments.
I have done astrology for more than 30 years, and I have not charged any mony for my services. I do not intend to in the future also. But, I do it with passion, and each one's horoscope becomes a case study for more learning. Hence, it is challenging.

My Veena

When I wanted to learn how to play this wonderful string instrument, my father was very much against it. He opined that this is not for a girl who is of marriageable age. I was at my liberty to learn it when I married, that is what he insisted. I did exactly what he wanted me to do. But, not soon after my marriage, but many years after when my husband brought me to Alaska on a cold winter day with day light only for few hours.
I needed something very challenging to divert me from the loneliness and the darkness of Alaskan winters. I started learning Veena. Since there is no teacher to teach me here, I realized that I should have a thorough knowledge of the theory. I learnt little by little and whenever I went to India, the lessons taught by the teachers, first, Saraswathy mami, Manonmani, Ninju,Radhika, Gomathy mami and Muthu Kumar helped me immensely. Now, I can identify the Ragas, and I can play by ear.
I realize that constant hearing of the classical songs do the trick and hence, I hear the soothing melodious classical songs often. My young teacher
The only problem I am facing is with Tal, the beats. My young teacher Radhika is of the opinion that she should sit in front of me and make me practice for three months to get the perfection in it. Hope I would do it sometime soon.

My Readings

I have always been a lover of books. I have been reading a lot from my childhood and I love fiction. Though I have been reading a lot of non-fiction lately, my passion for stories remains unsurpassed. I wish I have a count of all the books I have read. It is never late than never.
As a child, I read the story of a lost lamb , and I remember very well how much I cried. I need to thank my Dad for giving me the genes to love books. Very little time I have seen him without books. He had had a wonderful knowledge of English history with dates. He inculcated the habit of reading in me, and thankful I am for that.
I should thank my husband for encouraging this habit of mine without any inhibition. Once a Lady asked me that she would like to see that man(my husband) who would willingly wash the pots and pans when the wife reads.
Though I can write pages after pages about the books I have read in the past, I do not intend to do that, though I will mention them as and when I get a chance to talk about.
I have been enjoying reading my fiction for the last one month. I read Philippa Gregory's "The Boleyn Inheritance," in which she talks about the marriage of the English monarch Henry the Eighth's with Anne of Cleaves. But, we read a lot about his previous marriages with Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour and his other two marriages with Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr. I enjoyed reading about the English court and the erratic way in which the King did away with his unwanted wives.
Another one I enjoyed reading was "The Thirteenth Tale", by Diane Setterfield.
Both the above novels have English locale and I felt very much at home with English writing.
I read Anita Sebold's "Almost Moon." One thing I do not understand in that book is that why the heroine of the book murders her mother and why she sleeps with her friend's son soon after. I heard that her "Lucky Bones," is good. I will try that to understand the author better.
I read another book called,"A view from the City," a story that depicts the life of women in Egypt. The lives of women were very similar to women in India. It was not a great book: you can read once.
I am reading "How Green was My Valley." I will get back here as soon as I am done with that.
I did finish that... Though there is a complaint that the author did not live in that particular valley, he has done a wonderful job at it by describing the family values of welsh families which had been in the clutches of british culture and rule. One description of an incident touched my heart is that a welsh boy who has a board in his neck hanging written on it,"I will speak in English in class." I was reminded of the prayers that we,Hindus always had to start the day school with the pryaer,"our father who art in heaven." in India.
After that book, I read the book,"marley and Me." Though the movie was out earlier, I wanted to read the book first and I did.. It was wonderful... Any dog lover would like the book... The one scene I enjoyed was when the author takes marley for training, there were many dogs sniffing each other. The author imagines the dos as thinking,"Oh, god, so many gentials to sniff and so little time." ha... ha.. ha..
Then I read this book for the book club...
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court..."by Mark Twain. I have read many of Twain's short stories and they are wonderful with good twists in the end... So, I expected the same here too, but in vain. Though time travelling theme is nothing new, the way it is written matters to enjoy the book. I should admit twain does a very lousy job there... Swift's "gulliver's travels," also has a similar theme, though the places Gulliver visits are all fantacy places, unlike a definite historic place like King Arthur's court. Gulliver makes the story very believable by giving accurate detais which transport us to the places he talks about. I have read books like "Time machine," by H.G.Wells and "Time Traveller's wife," which have the similar theme.. I need to admit twain falls short in our expectation...
I did read another book by Aravind Adiga,"The White tiger." This book was suggested by my daughter and I really enjoyed reading it. You learn a dark side of India, but sadly, it exists in India.
Now i have started reading another book ,"Far pavilions," another book my daughter suggested.. This one is also about India, written by a British who was born and brought up in India. I find many fallacies in it in the inial pages of the book. When she talks about south Indian regions, she adds maharashtra too which is west and not south... She tries to imitate hindi words which sound very poorly...It is not "Barra bai.." it is "Bada Bai," for bigger brother.
Since I have been accepted for my Ph.D program, I am knee deep in studies.. i am doing "The Iliad," now..so, I presume my fiction reading will appreciably come down... good I cannot fall asleep without reading, so, I guess, I will be reading, though slowly.