Jacinda Ardern announces self-quarantine restrictions for entrants to New Zealand. Photograph: Dave Rowland/Getty Images

New Zealand will require people who arrive in the country including returning Kiwis to self-isolate for a 14 days as the country locks down to ward off the spread of coronavirus, excluding people from the Pacific Islands.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the measure on Saturday after an emergency meeting of cabinet.

We do not take these decisions lightly, she said.

Alongside Israel and a small number of Pacific islands who have effectively closed their borders, this decision will mean New Zealand will have the widest ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world, she said.

Ardern said the measure applied to people, and not goods, though gave an exemption to people arriving from the Pacific a region largely devoid of the virus.

The decisions will take effect as of midnight local time Saturday into Sunday. The decision will be reviewed in 16 days.

New Zealand has just six cases of the disease to date, and none that have been transmitted through the community.

Ardern also announced cruise ships would not be allowed to dock in New Zealand until at least 30 June.

She also encouraged all New Zealanders to avoid all non-essential travel overseas.

Earlier on Saturday, the government cancelled the national remembrance service in honour of the Christchurch mosque attacks, which took place on 15 March last year.

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New Zealand tells arrivals to self-isolate for two weeks, including citizens - The Guardian

The terms revolution and disruption in the context of technological innovation are probably bandied about a bit more liberally than they should. Technological revolution and disruption imply upheaval and systemic reevaluations of the way that humans interact with industry and even each other. Actual technological advancement, however, moves at a much slower pace and tends to augment our current processes rather than to outright displace them. Oftentimes, we fail to realize the ubiquity of legacy systems in our everyday lives sometimes to our own detriment.

Consider the keyboard. The QWERTY layout of keys is standard for English keyboards across the world. Even though the layout remains a mainstay of modern office setups, its origins trace back to the mass popularization of a typewriter manufactured and sold by E. Remington & Sons in 1874.[1] Urban legend has it that the layout was designed to slow down typists from jamming typing mechanisms, yet the reality reveals otherwise the layout was actually designed to assist those transcribing messages from Morse code.[2] Once typists took to the format, the keyboard, as we know it today, was embraced as a global standard even as the use of Morse code declined.[3] Like QWERTY, our familiarity and comfort with legacy systems has contributed to their rise. These systems are varied in their scope, and they touch everything: healthcare, supply chains, our financial systems and even the way we interact at a human level. However, their use and value may be tested sooner than we realize.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology (blockchain) are two novel innovations that offer the opportunity for us to move beyond our legacy systems and streamline enterprise management and compliance in ways previously unimaginable. However, their potential is often clouded by their buzzword status, with bad actors taking advantage of the hype. When one cuts through the haze, it becomes clear that these two technologies hold significant transformative potential. While these new innovations can certainly function on their own, AI and blockchain also complement one another in such ways that their combination offers business solutions, not only the ability to build upon legacy enterprise systems but also the power to eventually upend them in favor of next level solutions. Getting to that point, however, takes time and is not without cost. While humans are generally quick to embrace technological change, our regulatory frameworks take longer to adapt. The need to address this constraint is pressing real market solutions for these technologies have started to come online, while regulatory opaqueness hurdles abound. As innovators seek to exploit the convergence of AI and blockchain innovations, they must pay careful attention to overcome both technical and regulatory hurdles that accompany them. Do so successfully, and the rewards promise to be bountiful.

First, a bit of taxonomy is in order.

AI in a Nutshell:

Artificial Intelligence is the capability of machine to imitate intelligent human behavior, such as learning, understanding language, solving problems, planning and identifying objects.[4] More practically speaking, however, todays AI is actually mostly limited to if X, then Y varieties of simple tasks. It is through supervised learning that AI is trained, and this process requires an enormous amount of data. For example, IBMs question-answering supercomputer Watson was able to beat Jeopardy! champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings in 2011, because Watson had been coded to understand simple questions by being fed countless iterations and had access to vast knowledge in the form of digital data Likewise, Google DeepMinds AlphaGo defeated the Go champion Lee Sedol in 2016, since AlphaGo had undergone countless instances of Go scenarios and collected them as data. As such, most implementations of AI involve simple tasks, assuming that relevant information is readily accessible. In light of this, Andrew Ng, the Stanford roboticist, noted that, [i]f a typical person can do a mental task with less than one second of thought, we can probably automate it using AI either now or in the near future.[5]

Moreover, a significant portion of AI currently in use or being developed is based on machine learning. Machine learning is a method by which AI adapts its algorithms and models based on exposure to new data thereby allowing AI to learn without being programmed to perform specific tasks. Developing high performance machine learning-based AI, therefore, requires substantial amounts of data. Data high in both quality and quantity will lead to better AI, since an AI instance can indiscriminately accept all data provided to it, and can refine and improve its algorithms to the extent of the provided data. For example, AI that visually distinguishes Labradors from other breeds of dogs will become better at its job the more it is exposed to clear and accurate pictures of Labradors.

It is in these data amalgamations that AI does its job best. Scanning and analyzing vast subsets of data is something that a computer can do very rapidly as compared to a human. However, AI is not perfect, and many of the pitfalls that AI is prone to are often the result of the difficulty in conveying how humans process information in contrast to machines. One example of this phenomenon that has dogged the technology has been AIs penchant for hallucinations. An AI algorithm hallucinates when the input is interpreted by the machine into something that seems implausible to a human looking at the same thing.[6] Case in point, AI has interpreted an image of a turtle as that of a gun or a rifle as a helicopter.[7] This occurs because machines are hypersensitive to, and interpret, the tiniest of pixel patterns that we humans do not process. Because of the complexity of this analysis, developers are only now beginning to understand such AI phenomena.

When one moves beyond pictures of guns and turtles, however, AIs shortfalls can become much less innocuous. AI learning is based on inputted data, yet much of this data reflects the inherent shortfalls and behaviors of everyday individuals. As such, without proper correction for bias and other human assumptions, AI can, for example, perpetuate racial stereotypes and racial profiling.[8] Therefore, proper care for what goes into the system and who gets access to the outputs must be employed for the ethical employment of AI, but therein lies an additional problem who has access to enough data to really take full advantage of and develop robust AI?

Not surprisingly, because large companies are better able to collect and manage increasingly larger amounts of data than individuals or smaller entities, such companies have remained better positioned in developing complex AI. In response to this tilted landscape, various private and public organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justices Bureau of Justice, Google Scholar and the International Monetary Fund, have launched open source initiatives to make publicly available vast amounts of data that such organizations have collected over many years.

Blockchain in a Nutshell:

Blockchain technology as we know it today came onto the scene in late 2009 with the rise of Bitcoin, perhaps the most famous application of the technology. Fundamentally, blockchain is a data structure that makes it possible to create a tamper-proof, distributed, peer-to-peer system of ledgers containing immutable, time-stamped and cryptographically connected blocks of data. In practice, this means that data can be written only once onto a ledger, which is then read-only for every user. However, many of the most utilized blockchain protocols, for example, the Bitcoin or Ethereum networks, maintain and update their distributed ledgers in a decentralized manner, which stands in contrast to traditional networks reliant on a trusted, centralized data repository.[9] In structuring the network in this way, these blockchain mechanisms function to remove the need for a trusted third party to handle and store transaction data. Instead, data are distributed so that every user has access to the same information at the same time. In order to update a ledgers distributed information, the network employs pre-defined consensus mechanisms and militarygrade cryptography to prevent malicious actors from going back and retroactively editing or tampering with previously recorded information. In most cases, networks are open source, maintained by a dedicated community and made accessible to any connected device that can validate transactions on a ledger, which is referred to as a node.

Nevertheless, the decentralizing feature of blockchain comes with significant resource and processing drawbacks. Many blockchain-enabled platforms run very slowly and have interoperability and scalability problems. Moreover, these networks use massive amounts of energy. For example, the Bitcoin network requires the expenditure of about 50 terawatt hours per year equivalent to the energy needs of the entire country of Singapore.[10] To ameliorate these problems, several market participants have developed enterprise blockchains with permissioned networks. While many of them may be open source, the networks are led by known entities that determine who may verify transactions on that blockchain, and, therefore, the required consensus mechanisms are much more energy efficient.

Not unlike AI, a blockchain can also be coded with certain automated processes to augment its recordkeeping abilities, and, arguably, it is these types of processes that contributed to blockchains rise. That rise, some may say, began with the introduction of the Ethereum network and its engineering around smart contracts a term used to describe computer code that automatically executes all or part of an agreement and is stored on a blockchain-enabled platform. Smart contracts are neither contracts in the sense of legally binding agreements nor smart in employing applications of AI. Rather, they consist of coded automated parameters responsive to what is recorded on a blockchain. For example, if the parties in a blockchain network have indicated, by initiating a transaction, that certain parameters have been met, the code will execute the step or steps triggered by those coded parameters. The input parameters and the execution steps for smart contracts need to be specific the digital equivalent of if X, then Y statements. In other words, when required conditions have been met, a particular specified outcome occurs; in the same way that a vending machine sells a can of soda once change has been deposited, smart contracts allow title to digital assets to be transferred upon the occurrence of certain events. Nevertheless, the tasks that smart contracts are currently capable of performing are fairly rudimentary. As developers figure out how to expand their networks, integrate them with enterprise-level technologies and develop more responsive smart contracts, there is every reason to believe that smart contracts and their decentralized applications (dApps) will see increased adoption.

AI and blockchain technology may appear to be diametric opposites. AI is an active technology it analyzes what is around and formulates solutions based on the history of what it has been exposed to. By contrast, blockchain is data agnostic with respect to what is written into it the technology bundle is largely passive. It is primarily in that distinction that we find synergy, for each technology augments the strengths and tempers the weaknesses of the other. For example, AI technology requires access to big data sets in order to learn and improve, yet many of the sources of these data sets are hidden in proprietary silos. With blockchain, stakeholders are empowered to contribute data to an openly available and distributed network with immutability of data as a core feature. With a potentially larger pool of data to work from, the machine learning mechanisms of a widely distributed, blockchain-enabled and AI-powered solution could improve far faster than that of a private data AI counterpart. These technologies on their own are more limited. Blockchain technology, in and of itself, is not capable of evaluating the accuracy of the data written into its immutable network garbage in, garbage out. AI can, however, act as a learned gatekeeper for what information may come on and off the network and from whom. Indeed, the interplay between these diverse capabilities will likely lead to improvements across a broad array of industries, each with unique challenges that the two technologies together may overcome.

[1] See Rachel Metz, Why We Cant Quit the QWERTY Keyboard, MIT Technology Review (Oct. 13, 2018), available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611620/why-we-cant-quit-the-qwerty-keyboard/.

[2] Alexis Madrigal, The Lies Youve Been Told About the Origin of the QWERTY Keyboard, The Atlantic (May 3, 2013), available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/the-lies-youve-been-told-about-the-origin-of-the-qwerty-keyboard/275537/.

[3] See Metz, supra note 1.

[4] See Artificial Intelligence, Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster (last accessed Mar. 27, 2019), available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial%20intelligence.

[5] See Andrew Ng, What Artificial Intelligence Can and Cant Do Right Now, Harvard Business Review (Nov. 9, 2016), available at: https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-artificial-intelligence-can-and-cant-do-right-now.

[6] Louise Matsakis, Artificial Intelligence May Not Hallucinate After All, Wired (May 8, 2019), available at: https://www.wired.com/story/adversarial-examples-ai-may-not-hallucinate/.

[7] Id.

[8] Jerry Kaplan, Opinion: Why Your AI Might Be Racist, Washington Post (Dec. 17, 2018), available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/12/17/why-your-ai-might-be-racist/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.568983d5e3ec.

[9] See Shanaan Cohsey, David A. Hoffman, Jeremy Sklaroff and David A. Wishnick, Coin-Operated Capitalism, Penn. Inst. for L. & Econ. (No. 18-37) (Jul. 17, 2018) at 12, available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3215345##.

[10] See Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index (last accessed May 13, 2019), available at: https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption.

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The New ABCs: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain And How Each Complements The Other - JD Supra

If you are anything like me, and curious about how new enterprise tools will transform our relationship with work and business-technology, then you are probably reading a lot about artificial intelligence. Theres likely no other topic thats been written about in more depth in recent years, yet much of it is unrealistic or poorly reasoned hype.

This is why Ive been reading more books from trusted authors on the subject. In previous years, Ive read books such as Erik Brynjolfssons and Andrew McAfees Race Against the Machine, and Martin Fords book Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. Both were great books that brilliantly framed AI. Last year, I wasnt as fortunate.

Last year, my reading included The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos. It was an interesting look at machine learning algorithms, and specifically the quest for the algorithmthe master algorithmthat would create all future algorithms without the need for humans. This book proved a disappointment because the author seemed as convinced, almost dogmatically so, that general AI success was as close around the next corner as the AI pioneers of the 70s and 80s believed success for them was around the next corner.

The next book up for me was Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark. While this was a good read, it proved to be too much of an analysis of what has been already written than a book that significantly pushed the subject of AI forward in a new or unique way.

Hopefully, my next batch of AI reads will prove better. I realize Im playing catch-up here, as most of these arent new books. But they do look to be important books on the subject.

Heres what I currently have lined up.

Author: Kai-fu Lee.

Following the defeat of the worlds top player of the game Go, to Googles AlphaGo AI, the government of China set ambitious plans to become the global AI hub by 2030. In his book, Kai-fu Lee contends that China has quickly caught up to the U.S. and that dramatic changes from AI developments are happening much more quickly than many expect.

In his book, Lee examines universal basic income, and examines what jobs may be enhanced with AI the possible solutions to the biggest changes AI promises to bring to us all.

Authors: Peter Norvig and Stuart Russell.

At 1152 pages, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (due out this April) isnt a light read. The latest edition of this book looks across the entire field of AI, and a deep dive into machine learning, deep learning, transfer learning, multi-agent systems, robotics, natural language processing, causality, probabilistic programming and more.

I have high hopes for this book, as its treatment appears to be exactly what Im looking forward to reading: an overview of the state of AI without going too light on the treatment of each topic.

Authors: Mariya Yao, Adelyn Zhou and Marlene Jia.

This book is made the list because its AI as it can be applied to business-technology. It promises to be a roadmap on how to use data, technology, design and staff to solve enterprise business problems.

We teach you how to lead successful AI initiatives by prioritizing the right opportunities, building a diverse team of experts, conducting strategic experiments and consciously designing your solutions to benefit both your organization and society as a whole.

Thats exactly what enterprises need to do to succeed at integrating AI into their companies in order to get value from this growing enterprise technology.

Authors: Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson.

I learned and enjoyed both Race Against the Machine and The Second Machine Age. The latest book from MIT Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee and Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business Eric Brynjolfsson, looked at the impact of machine intelligence and big data. In this book, the authors look at another form of augmented intelligence: our collective intelligence, and what it means for transportation, medical research, financial services and more.

Thats it for the reading list for now. Id appreciate hearing what AI-related business books you are reading this spring and summer.

George V. Hulme

Originally posted here:

Enterprise AI Books to Read This Spring - DevOps.com

By Express News Service

KOLLAM: In the wake of the coronavirus spreading to more and more countries and people all over the world experiencing fear, anxiety and confusion, Mata Amritanandamayi addressed the public and called upon the public to pray intensely and work together to overcome the difficult situation.

The ashram has received instructions from the Central and state health departments, and they demanded us to adhere to certain precautionary steps. Everyone should understand the gravity of the situation and cooperate. Even the slightest carelessness on our part could be disastrous, read the message. Last week, in the wake of the coronavirus scare, Mata Amritanandamayi had stopped giving darshan to her followers.

GoK Direct app for info on epidemic TPuram: To disseminate valid information on COVID-19, the state government has launched a mobile application GoK Direct. Besides giving periodic instructions to the public, the app will provide information of people under observation and those returning from abroad, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after launching the app.

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Math stopped darshan on the directives of health dept - The New Indian Express

Yesterday, Hindus all around the world celebrated the colorful festival of Holi. Of course, Holi in India brings back sweet memories for Beatles fans. Their trip to India not only brought forward some amazing music but also changed Indias image in the west! Lets take a look at the historic trip and its impact on music and the world.

The Beatles traveled to Rishikesh in India in February of 1968. The reason for the visit was for the band to explore Transcendental Meditation (TM). This came at a time when the four were trying to quit drugs. As expected, it drew a lot of media attention. Thus, the media went crazy over this trip, with many reporters traveling with them for coverage.

They took training in the Ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which is now called the Beatles Ashram. Both George and John were most eager to attend this training and spoke about TM with high regard. They brought along Paul and Ringo, along with their wives, assistants and many reporters. It was during this time that the Beatles also celebrated Holi in India at the Ashram.

1968 :: Paul McCartney of The Beatles Playing Holi During India Trip pic.twitter.com/64yfs3wXWd

indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) March 10, 2020

This trip brought a lot of fame to India, especially spiritual meditation. The Beatles were such a household name back then that anything they did, received instant fame. And India was no different. However, this doesnt mean that their time in India was just magical.

It was difficult for the four to adjust to the Indian lifestyles, such as the climate and the food. Ringo especially had a difficult time living there. Furthermore, a serious controversy took place between the Maharishi and Mia Farrow that tarnished the trip. The controversy was mostly related to harassment. Thus, it resulted in the Beatles leaving back for England earlier than expected in March. This, however, did not stop them from creating some amazing music!

This trip is often considered one of the most productive time for the Beatles. Many of the songs they made on this trip were a part of the album The Beatles and Abbey Road. They include:

1. Back in the U.S.S.R. 2. Dear Prudence 3. Julia 4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 5. Revolution 6. I Will 7. Sexy Sadie 8. Mean Mr. Mustard 9. Polythene Pam 10. Im So Tired

And these are just the popular ones. The Beatles might not have achieved peak spirituality, but it was enough for them to produce some incredible music. Creativity truly hit its peak with this iconic band. And the world is still indebted to them for it.

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When The Beatles Celebrated Holi In India - Dankanator

Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev. Image Credit: ANI

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Mar 11 (ANI/NewsVoir): Yog Abhyas Ashram Trust (Reg) is organising the 22nd 108 kund yog mahayagya to mark the auspicious occasion of Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev's 100th Janmothsav. The grand event will take place at The Akhand Jyoti and Divine Samadhi Sthal of Yogeshwar Mulakh Raj Bhagwan, Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev and Yogeshwar Surender Dev Mahadev on March 14 and 15.

This sacred celebration will be guided by Yogacharya Amit Dev. The first day of this spiritual event is starting with Abhishek and Poojan followed by a reading of the Holy Book (Yog Divya Darshan, Yog Ka Sakshatkar and Dayal Yog Sandesh) and Bhajan Sandhya at the end of the day. The second day is totally dedicated to the holy 108 kund yog mahayagya. From making the atmosphere pious to killing different viruses (including corona) the importance of this Yagya is enormous.

An exhibition about Yog Sadhna is also being organised to let people know more about the spirituality of Yog Sadhana. Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev took birth on March 10, 1920 at Haveli Diwan, Dist Jhang of undivided India and his eternal rest was on August 1, 1998. He was the son of Lala Lal Chand and Ratan Devi. Swami Surender Dev Maharaj (Declared as successor numerous times during his lifetime such as 15.07.1997) Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev and Guru Mata Meera were blessed with three sons.

Elder Son: Prof M Lal, also known as Swami Lal ji Maharaj H/o Prabha having three Daughters: Anjalina, Avantika and Smarika. Second Son: Swami Surender Dev Maharaj H/o Shakti, who were blessed with a son: Amit also known as Swami Amit Dev

Younger Son: Yogacharya Shri Ashok H/o Meena, having two sons: Nitin and Kartikey Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev has enshrined the divine yoga from a very ancient age. He dedicated his life in guiding many disciples into a spiritual journey of a healthy lifestyle and mental peace. His sacramental principles have been a great help in deciphering incurable diseases, domestic disputes and blessing his devotees staying far away.

Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev is much admired for his free of cost yoga camps teaching sanctified yoga asanas which has added happiness and prosperity in the life of many people. He is also the founder of numerous ashrams in India, few of which include: Delhi Yoga Sabha, Chandigarh Yoga Sabha, Dayal Yoga Prachar Samiti (Rohtak), Rajasthan Yoga Sansthan, Punjab Yoga Sabha etc. Being a prestigious personality, Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev has been honoured with a bunch of awards which also includes the first prize from the hands of Jawaharlal Nehru, in the first World Yoga Conference organised in Delhi.

Come and join us for a peaceful and joyous atmosphere, where devotees will be offering prayers, gifts and seek blessings of many yoga gurus who will be attending the ceremony. Yogacharya Amit Dev, fifth in line in the lineage of yoga masters at Yog Abhyas Ashram Trust and great grandson of Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev will be supervising this glorious birthday event with dedication and divinity.

This religious and blissful birthday celebration is a medium to spread the message of peace and joy through yoga. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Yogeshwar Devi Dayal Mahadev's 100th birthday celebration with 108 Kund Yog Mahayagya - Devdiscourse

Brazilian jazz artiste Bianca Gismonti has an undeniable connection with Indian musical heritage; her father, the pioneering Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti has performed with the legendary Hari Prasad Chaurasia. She herself is an avid fan of Ustad Rashid Khan. On her first visit to India, Bianca performed at the Jaipur Jazz and Blues festival and made her way to Kolkata to perform at ICCR along with her band members, drummer Julio Falavigna and bass player Antonio Porto.

We are playing some original compositions, some of my fathers works, some Tom Jobim with lyrics, Bianca tells us a few minutes before her set. In a free-wheeling chat, the jazz pianist opens up about her trajectory, her soundscape and her undeniable desi connect.

How do you feel about the Indian listeners?

Its been so beautiful meeting them; I personally feel Indian people are like Brazilian people, they are so warm and happy and it makes you feel at home.

Contemporary jazz is really big here right now. Is that why you decided to come here?

Not exactly, Ive always loved India, so music was a great excuse really (laughs). And many people were not aware about Brazilian music and our jazz so its been great bringing it here

A lot depends on mixing it especially, because my family is from Lebanon, Italy and Brazil, so its a mix of influences which have come naturally to me.

Are you familiar with Indian music?

Yes! So Julio Falavigna, our drummer, whos also my husband has two Indian gurus, and I love listening to Hindustani music. My father used to play with Hariprasad Chaurasia, they have performed here as well. Also Rashid Khan, hes my favourite!

Did you plan to do something in the city? Maybe sample some food?

Im a vegan so I had actually planned to see and eat whatever I can! Today, we went to the Yogananda Ashram and the Ramakrishna Ashram as well.

How would you define your trios sound?

Its Brazilian jazz with many, many influences, from African music, folk beats, European music, its about the right mix.

How did the trio come together?

I started playing with Julio in 2011 we were a duo back then, then we started playing with Paolo, hes our Italian bass player. He has been Brazilian music for many, many years hes very used to the genre.

What are you planning next?

We are touring to Europe next, in Germany, Italy, Hungary, Portugal. After April Ill be back in Brazil, where we will finish up our new album and mix it in Hungary, at our label there. The album is called Gismonti VII, its my last name and it is an homage to my father. I also have a piano duo with whom Ill be recording a new album.

What does your playlist sound like...

I love my fathers music, then theres Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento. I also really like Keith Jarrett he plays really touching music, and I love Herbie Hancock. In Japan, I love this jazz composer called Hiromi.

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Contemporary jazz performer Bianca Gismonti talks about everything, from Brazilian jazz to Chaurasia - Indulgexpress

Happy faces, a welcoming atmosphere and warm people, it is that time of the year when the sprawling lush-green Osho Ashram lit up for the five-day Osho Spring Festival that brings artistes, painters, dancers and yogis from all across the globe under one roof. Day one of the festival started with a soothing performance of jazz and Carnatic music by Aditi Ramesh. Aditi, along with her ensemble Ishan Jadwani, Vinay Kaushal and Bijit Bhattacharya transported the audience to the world of trans with their performance on jazz, blues and Carnatic music. Aditi said, I had no plan for the performance tonight; I blended various emotions, life stories and different tunes for them. To perform in front of an audience that is so receptive to fluid and experimental music is a dream come true for an artiste like me. The festival also saw performances by Ustad Usman Khan on sitar, a creativity night, where visitors took to paintbrush and canvas to make art, a spiritual reading session, singing, spring dance and meditation etc. were the highlight of the festival. Amrit Sadhana from Osho Ashram said, It is a different world inside, people from all walks of life sing together, stay together, dance and meditate. It is a perfect ode to the spring season.

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Soaking in art, music, dance and the spirit of spring - Times of India

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New Delhi: Congress will flag off a 27-day-long Gandhi Sandesh Yatra on March 12 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The march is also being undertaken to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhis historic Dandi March, which started on March 12, 1930, and ended on April 6, 1930. The Yatra will begin from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad and will be culminating at Dandi in Gujarat on April 6, covering the 386 km route in 27 days.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and Congress Chief Ministers will attend the 27-day long padayatra. On the culminating day at Dandi, public meetings will be organized which will be addressed by Sonia, Rahul, all Congress-ruled state Chief Ministers, PCC chiefs and CWC members. The objective of the yatra is to recall and recapture the spirit of Gandhis Dandi March. We will be re-establishing our resolve to protect and promote the values enshrined in our Constitution and to emulate Gandhijis thoughts especially those relating to truth, peace, non-violence and social harmony, said the Congress in a statement.

The Gandhi Sandesh Yatra will give an opportunity of making our younger generation appreciative of the great legacy that we have inherited from the Father of the Nation, it added.

The party has directed each PCC to participate for a day with their contingent of leaders making it an All India Participative Programme.

Also read: Institutions of law & order abandoned dharma, those of justice, media failed India: Manmohan

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On 90th anniversary of Dandi March, Congress to take out Gandhi Sandesh Yatra - ThePrint

Sweetness and Light the title echoes Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas Booker-winning Heat and Dust is the story of two foreigners in India to find themselves only to end up getting more lost. Every human being has a choice, Pieper writes, to be a predator, alone and cruel, or to be part of something greater. This divide, between creator and destroyer, characterises the lives of Sasha and Connor, strangers who, through a cruel twist of fate, cross paths on a sleeper train.

Connor, an Aussie expat, fled his island home after a troubled upbringing reigned over by a father who drank wildly and developed delusions of grandeur about his sons chances to become an Olympic swimmer.

Credit:

Bitter and jaded beyond his 30 or so years, he spends his days in self-imposed exile in Shanti Beach, a little-known backwater town, thieving from women, alone, not too young who arrive on the rare tour bus in search of zen, beachside meditation or a shipwreck off the coast the towns sole tourist attraction.

But his knack for criminal deception has waned, and a combination of drinking to obliteration and working for his big-fish gangster boss, Baba, has turned him into a scarecrow, every day knocking a little more stuffing out of him.

Ostensibly, Connors job is to take tourists scuba diving, but his real business lies in persuading women hes the mistake they didnt know they wanted to make. Pieper sets this up in the opening pages, with a sweeping long-shot of Connor sitting on a hill, scanning the tourists that exit a bus for the Talent, meantime being kept at arms length from the Indian locals he lives among.

One day, however, his petty but elaborate scam goes horribly wrong, and he is blackmailed by Baba into a far more dangerous plot that coerces him to travel across the country, to Chennai on the east coast. Along the way he meets Sasha, wounded by her ongoing divorce from a wealthy surgeon. Back in New York state, shes left behind a medical career as tattered as her marriage.

After being gobbled up by middle-class ennui, shes been spat out craving intimacy and spiritual awakening. Thanks to her ex-husbands bottomless pockets, she joins an ashram led by a revered guru with a personality cult that could match Stalins. Her disciples live solitarily in a crucible in the jungle, building a kingdom of sweetness and light all at a handsome price thats deducted weekly from her bank account.

Pieper is an endearing and generous storyteller. He writes fully: nearly half the book gives us the earlier lives of Sasha and Connor, both of them plagued by some cliched trouble the Alcoholic Parent but does so with sensitivity and uniqueness to look beyond its hackneyed origins. Theres a flourish of dramatic irony, too, as neither character realises the eerie similarities between their upbringings.

Sweetness and Light gives the exhausted story of Westerners driven toward the spiritual world of India a bit of punky attitude. Its belief in the undertow of karmic cycles dances gleefully between Jonestown and nirvana, refusing to preach, or drench the reader in dull mantras. Its a far cry from the Big Indian Novels, the likes of Vikram Seths A Suitable Boy, Rohinton Mistrys A Fine Balance, or even Gregory Roberts Bollywood blitz, Shantaram, which are more bitterness and dark. Instead, in Piepers entertaining tale, two lost souls roam an ancient land they barely understand.

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Two loners adrift in the mysteries of India - The Age