Philosophical Inquiry of a Colloquial Phrase

பிறந்து வரணும் டா / புறந்து வரணும் டா 

(Rough Translation: One has to be re-born to beat the sayer (or) None is there to beat the sayer; Used to emphasise supremacy of the sayer; )

This is a dialogue that you might hear, when some one wants to tell you that he can't be beaten in a particular field / art, and he is the 'supreme' guy in that subject and to beat him, some one is yet to be born - meaning, nobody is there yet, to beat him.

Of course, this is a very colloquial phrase, and I believe this is not being used these days, that frequently. However I have heard several times, when I was in school, probably due to the influence of a movie.

Now, let us leave that aside and do a quick philosophical inquiry.

Though, it gives a sense of the sayer's arrogance in display, it also means that the sayer acknowledges that he/she is adept/best only in the current time frame, and over a period, there may be some one who will emerge better than him.

Let me throw some few arbitrary examples.

When we all watched Kapil Dev in awe, there came another greater player - Sachin Tendulkar, after many years, and then when we believed that there can be never be another player like Sachin, we discovered Dhoni, and then Virat Kohli - all in overlapping and close time frames. Though the styles are different, almost everything is different, our beliefs on the best player changes over time.

If you like Ramayan, here's another: When everyone thought that Ravan was simply unstoppable and unbeatable, there came a Ram, in a different (but overlapping) time period, who destroyed Ravan and that too in a very unconventional and different style (Ram did not have the powerful armed force of Ayodhya with him, and he was not even a king, when he defeated Ravan).

Moral: There is always going to be a bigger force or person, than the current one, but only away in the time frame.

Belief and Self-Belief : Lessons from the Indian Epics

Two different incidents from the great Indian epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata, strike me about the importance of belief and self-belief. Though I had talked about belief in my earlier posts, I would like to take it a step further with examples / incidents drawn from the above two epics.

First, the belief - In Ramayana, there comes an instance, when Hanuman, the great devotee of Lord Ram, had to disobey the orders of the latter, due to a promise given by Hanuman's mother to save some king from Lord Ram. Hanuman under these circumstances decide to stand by his mother's promise, and protects the king. Lord Ram with no options left, aims to attack Hanuman, and Hanuman simply keeps chanting and praying Lord Rama in full faith, and the powerful arrows from the bow of Lord Ram could not cause any harm to Hanuman. Ram upon frustration, aims to use even more powerful arrows, but of no use, as none of them could do anything to Hanuman. Later, ofcourse Gods intervene and stop it, and it is revealed that whoever has strong unshakable faith on Lord Rama, they cannot be attacked even by the powerful Lord Ram himself.

The point to be noted is the strong belief - which is highlighted in several ways throughout Hinduism. This is one of the traits that make Hinduism accept different ways and methods of worship - simply put, if you have full faith on anything and believe in it completely (absolute surrender), God (or powers that may be) manifests through it to make your beliefs come true.

Second the self-belief - In Mahabharatha, there comes an instance when Duroyadhana seeks the help of Sahadeva (Remember that Sahadeva is one of the Pandavas, whom Duroyadhana will be fighting against in the war), for telling him a suitable day to perform the sacrifice to Goddess Durga before the start of the Kurukshetra war. Sahadeva being righteous and virtuous tells him that the up coming new moon day is the auspicious day for doing the sacrifice, and it is widely believed that whoever does the sacrifice first, will be the winner of the war. Krishna on his pursuit to make the Pandavas win the war, plays a game to make the Sun and Moon (depicted as devas) meet, a day before (or probably hours before) and ask the Pandavas to immediately perform the sacrifice.  (Technically new moon day happens when Sun and Moon are in straight line and their angular degree is Zero). Duroyadhana on knowing this, becomes angry and argues with Sahadeva & Krishna regarding the correct new moon day, and though Sahadeva says that whatever he said was right, Krishna simply answers saying that Yudhistra believed him, and you (Duroyodhana) believed Sahadeva, and whoever has strong belief will win. Later when Pandavas question Krishna, he goes on to say that, to win a war, self-belief is more important than anything else, emphasizing all other rituals are only secondary to self-belief.

May be more and better examples could be extracted from these two great epics, but these two strike me the most!

P.S: An interesting link that I discovered about 15 people (or characters) common between Ramayan and Mahabharatha was: https://wiralfeed.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/ramayana-to-mahabharata/

Baahubali Movie and Just a thought on Historical Inspiration

Being a History fan, I was smitten by the movie Baahubali: The Beginning  and watched it last year. The movie was excellent with great picturization (as per Indian Standards) and a historical fictional story being told in a superb style, and ofcourse as evident it had drawn inspirations from the great Indian epic Mahabharata.  

After coming out of the theater, a question was lingering on my mind, why the Kalakeya kingdom (portrayed by Prabhakar and others) was characterized as dark people and the most cruel fighters? Has the director, Shri SS Rajamouli,  had just done it to give a sense of 'fear' to the audience or is their a history behind it ? 

When we look at the History in general, it is filled with wars and the associated cruelties committed by people, who primarily belong to the fairer skin color!  A couple of days or months later, Shri SS Rajamouli was present in a Rediff Chat - and I posted this question, but it went unanswered. 

Had he got inspired by the Asuras from the many Indian epics including Ramayana ? or from any pre-British-era wars that were fought in the Southern side of India or was it a casual depiction ?  Also has the movie got any connections with the Bahubali - the first teacher of Jainism, as speculated in these article. We don't know. Anyways, will look forward to the second and concluding part of the movie (yet to be released) to see if the director has given any clues and of course to enjoy the movie !

A must-see Historical place in Shimla

Last year, when I was in Shimla: It was raining and foggy around 4 PM, as I hurried up to the prestigious institute, well renowned for its historical importance & architectural splendor. I was told that the institute was a place that I should not miss, and truly it was! 

Indian institute of Advanced Study - IIAS - an institute for postdoctoral studies in areas of arts & humanities - is housed in this prestigious building that resembles a palace. The building originally built in 1888, was meant to be a summer palace for the Viceroys of India. After independence, it became the summer rest house for Indian president, but Dr. S Radhakrishnan the then President of India, decided to convert it into an academic institution for higher studies. Now residential post-doctoral courses are run here. 

Few of the notable things, that captured my interests were: 

• Clock - Old manual winding clock that still runs today and shows the Full Moon and New Moon
• Roof - Made of Walnut wood  
• Switches - German make and still functioning!
• Piano - keys made out of elephant tusk
• Electrification - First electrified building in Shimla in 1888 and that too with concealed wiring!
• Chandelier - Belgian make 
• Table - Pandit Nehru and Mountbatten signed an agreement for partitioning of India and the table was partitioned to signify it 
• Doors - Burma teak unpolished & unpainted
• Library - Originally a Ballroom 
• Simla Conference - Hindu Muslim conference organized in 1945
• Fire Sensors - Wax on water pipes that will melt automatically on heat
• Entrance - Wood paneled like the best Scottish houses, with fireplace for the winter months

IIAS - As I saw it - that day, that time

A brief history of Madurai

Madurai is one of the of the oldest continually inhabited city in the World (along with Varanasi in India), which I had already mentioned in my older post.  So, obviously it has a very long and eventful history.  So, this is an effort to summarize the history so far in few words, and the primary sources of this article were several well-written Wikipedia articles and ofcourse other literary sources. Here it goes ... 

History of Madurai can be started atleast from 500 BCE (though there is a mention that first Sangam - a sort of - academy happened in Madurai around 9000 BCE) , wherein Pandya kings were ruling the region. There have been numerous references to kings and the town in texts of Ramayana, and Mahabharata. An interesting part is that the Pandya king sided with Pandavas during the war, especially king Malayadwaja Pandya (son of Kulashekara Pandyan) - the father of Meenakshi (an avatar of Goddess Parvati) who later ruled Madurai. Though there have been confusions raised stating that the Pandians / Pandyas were actually Pandavas, it is amply clear that Pandya/Pandian kings were separate members as they have found mention even in Ramanyana which predates Mahabharata and the Pandavas were one branch of descendants from the Kuru.  

Cut to 3rd Century AD - the end of the last Sangam period. Pandyas and Madurai appear to be flourishing as they appear to have established trade relationships with Rome, and Egypt. Historians of China mention them after Greek historian mentioned them in 1st Century AD. Jainism then followed by Buddhism appear to have taken dominance in the region during this period.  Archaeologists and Historians concur that Elukadal Street  (one of the streets of Madurai), is said to have been the biggest trade market street of those days.  So, Pandyas / Pandian kings dominated Madurai from 500 BCE till 400 AD, and then again from 1190 AD to 1334 AD.

Cut to 1300's. Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, an viceroy of the Delhi Sultanate proclaimed independence in 1335 (then ruled by Mohammed Bin Tuglhaq) and established the first independent sultanate. The Madurai Sultan rule continued till 1378, after which the kingdom of Vijaynagar during Harihara II's rule in 1378, invaded it and formally declared as its possession. Kumara Kampana, also known as Kampana Udaiyar, an army officer in the Vijayanagar Empire led the successful invasion of the Madurai Sultanate. He had previously conquered or subdued the Sambuvarayar Dynasty (a vassal of Delhi Sultanate) in Kanchipuram.

Nayaka's dominance and dynasties start from 1538. They were originally military governors under the supervision of the Vijayanagara Empire, but after the downfall of Vijayanagara Empire, many of them declared independence. In 1538 AD, the Vijayanagara commander Kotikam Nagama Nayaka defeated Veerasekara Chola who occupied the Pandyan region. However, Nagama Nayaka declared independence from the Vijayanagar dynasty instead of handing back the Viyanagara kingdom. To check the rebellion of Nagama Nayaka, emperor Krishnadeva Raya sent a large force under Viswanatha Nayaka (who is actually the son of Nagama Nayaka). Viswanatha eventually defeated and imprisoned his father. However later he only obeyed the orders of the Vijayanagar king nominally, and placed the Pandya on the throne who ruled for a while. However, Vishwanatha Nayaka later set out to rule on his own account; and in 1559 when the Vijayanagara Kingdom was in decline, he established a dynastic rule, and there was born the Madurai Nayak dynastic line.

Thirumalai Nayakar the most famed ruler of the Nayak dynasty established the famous palace in 1636 in Indo-Saracenic Style. Earlier his capital was in Dindugal, which he moved to Madurai. The structure of Meenakshi Temple was significantly expanded during his reign - which is the structure that we see today - sprawling around 17 acres. The nayaks rule of Madurai came to a complete end by 1739.  Ceylon (now called as Sri Lanka) was invaded during his period.  There was a brief period  (1734-1740) of domination by Chanda Sahib, who started as a sepoy under the Mughal emperors and controlled Madurai from 1736. From 1740 onwards he had to fight wars and with many potential rulers like the Marathas, Nawabs, French & the Britishers, entering in and around Madurai. Meanwhile in 1750's Hyder Ali, the nawab of Mysore said to have plundered wealth from temples in and around Madurai.  Yusuf Khan (Marudhanayagam) who served under Chanda Sahib,  then fought with Hyder Ali, and pushed him to Dindugal said to have helped in restoring some of wealth and glory of the temples back. 

British Rule in Madurai started after 1750s and after 1800's they ruled comfortably till independence without any troubles. (before 1800, they had to fight the polygar wars - with palayakarrars, (a title given to administrators assigned by Nayak rulers controlling a territory;) like Puli Thevan, Veerapandya Kattabomman and the Marudhu brothers). Cut to 1900s. Mahatma Gandhi visited Madurai 5 times, first in 1919 to enlist supporters for Satyagraha against the Rowlatt act. It is in Madurai, he renounced his traditional attire and switched to simple clothes. He refused to enter Meenakshi temple until all classes of people were allowed to enter it, and after it happened he visited in 1946.  Here's an video of Madurai of 1947

Madurai and Melbourne

Madurai, the temple town or city, was where I was born, and spent few years there.  Melbourne was the first place that I roamed around outside of India (forget the airports). So I was obviously, though unconsciously trying to find similarities between these two places. 

Though it's like comparing apple to oranges, I want to share my perspective primarily with respect to the structure of the cities. So, here goes the list of similarities.

• River: Both (Madurai and Melbourne) have a river flowing through in the City. Madurai has Vaigai (though most part of it is without water, and poorly maintained) and its length is 258 KMs, Melbourne has Yarra river flowing through with a length of 242 KMs. (Yarra is beautiful and well maintained river supporting lot of recreational activities. ) 

• Street Layout: Both Madurai (old Madurai) and Melbourne (Old Melbourne) have streets designed in a rectangular/squarish way, and from an inner rectangle, you move to an outer rectangle and so on. In case of Madurai, the Meenakshi Amman temple is considered as the central point, surrounded by the 4 Tower streets (North, South, East and West), and as you move outer and outer you will reach the 4 Veli streets (North, South, East and West). In case of Melbourne it has Flinders Street, Collins Street all parallel to each other in the rectangular pattern.

• University: Madurai and Melbourne have a University starting with their name. - Madurai Kamaraj University and Melbourne University (Though Kamaraj refers to a person, atleast they are starting with the name of the place). 

• Market: Though it is quite common for every city to have it, the structure of markets were quite similar - noise, smell :), dedicated day of the week for markets, etc... 

P.S: Do not get misled by the above, if you had never visited these places. Both of them are great and unique places in this world, that I would recommend you to see for yourself. Madurai has a very long history (several thousands of years), and one of the oldest continually inhabited city in the World (along with Varanasi, India). Melbourne, founded in 1835 (though occupied by local hunter-gatherers for thousands of years) is rated as one of the best places to live.

The Human Evolution Story so far

After writing about Religion, and Passion & Success, and nearing the end of the year, I decided to return back to my older interests on evolution, especially the Human evolution.

Many of us would have heard about Neanderthals, our (Homo sapiens sapiens) closest relatives. Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) have become extinct from this earth, 28,000 years ago. They were said to be ruling this earth  for more than 200,000 years, especially in regions of today's Europe and Western Asia. They lived in regions around today's Israel, Mongolia, Italy, Gibraltar, and Britain, but gradually moved from place to place. 

Research shows that modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) invaded Europe, starting a little more than 40,000 years ago which means that Neanderthals and our current species would have lived together in the same region or territory for a period of 12,000 - 15,000 years. This makes it interesting. The Neanderthals and modern humans probably lived most of their lives without seeing each other; or rather kept away from each other from the landscape. 

The last batch of Neanderthals are believed to have lived in the now British territory of Gibraltar, some 28,000 years ago. The prime reasons being cited for extinction of Neanderthals are Climate Change and subtle differences in their behavior and biology. It is known that Neanderthals were bigger in size than Homo sapiens sapiens, and therefore would have required 4034 Calories per day, while a modern human being required only 2200 calories per day, which might have caused the Neanderthals to hunt for bigger animals only (like horses, deer, bison and Wild cattle etc..),  though they ate vegetables and other plant food, they served only as supplementary food items for them. 

Humans on the other hand might have hunted for smaller animals, survived with plants and vegetables (latter activities were primarily carried out by women), during the extreme climatic conditions that were changing rapidly within a span of few decades. Therefore humans survived with diversified diet. Another theory is that, Neanderthals had different cognitive capabilities than modern humans; as they reproduced 4 years earlier than in modern humans and therefore matured earlier.

Now the developing story of our history is about the discovery of a new Denisovans - another sub-species of Homo sapiens, who seem to have coexisted in Asia with Neanderthals and early modern humans. To begin with, the common ancestor of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans would be Homo heidelbergensis, (though some scientists consider it an European species ancestral to neanderthals alone) who existed 700,000 years ago and began to diverge into these two groups and so far. But now a discovery in the Caves of Siberia, called the Denisova Cave, a new human species - Denisovans seem to have existed 190,000 years ago. The surprising and interesting thing is that, this cave seems to have been home for both Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Denisovans are closer to Neanderthals in their DNA and reveals that both might have interbreed with each other. However it is highly likely that Denisovans might have interbreed with another species (yet-to-be identified) which would have created them.  The DNA analysis also tells that traces of Neanderthal DNA (approx 2.5%) in found all non-Africans today and of Denisovan DNA (5%) found in today's Melanesians - the aboriginal Australasians. It may be noted that African populations do not have Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry because those species were never on that continent. This means that humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) interbreed with both Neanderthals and Denisovans and also provide strength to the argument that Neanderthals were with the West, and Denisovans with the East. 

Prior to this, the discovery of the remains of Homo sapiens idaltu, another extinct sub-species of us, was found in Ethiopia in 2003. This species is argued as the ancestors for us - Homo sapiens sapiens.   The discovery of yet another species - Homo floresiensis - known as Hobbit (as they were known to be very short) through the remains found in Indonesia  in 2004 tells about another human species that is considered to be from Homo erectus, another of our sibling that would have lived with the modern humans for a long time.   

Well, the story does not end here, and hopefully,  even more mysteries of our species will be unraveled in future. 

Sources of Info: 

• National Geographic , October, 2008
• Scientific American, August 2009 
• Scientific American, August 2012
• National Geographic, July 2013
• New Scientist, November 2013

Update - March 2016: 

A DNA sequencing study of Melanesians (people on the equatorial islands of Melanesia) having appreciable levels (2 - 4%) of Denisovan ancestry also had 1.5% to 4% of Neanderthal genetic ancestry. This indicates that at least 4 species of hominins (our species - Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and yet-to-be discovered another extinct human species) were alive at the same time and were interbreeding at times over the last 100,000 years. 

Amar Bose and Bose Stereo: Passion for Excellence

Amar Gopal Bose, an American with Indian origins (born to an Indian father, who was a freedom fighter) was a professor at MIT, and CEO of the (World renowned) Bose Corporation passed away recently (June 12, 2012 at the age of 83). This short post recounts his quest and pursuit of excellence in creating world-class systems.

Bose Stereo Speakers are world-class and there is no need to shout it over the top, as its systems are installed in Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and also in the grand mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Mecca - cutting across different religions but unifying through its quality product.

Amar Bose's venture into creating the world's best audio system starts like this: Bose bought a high-end stereo system in 1956 with technically impressive specifications, thinking it will be able to reproduce the quality of sound as in a live performance in an auditorium, but failed miserably. Bose, then a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researched on acoustics and produced a stereo loudspeaker that would reproduce music as you would listen in an auditorium, and without any sub-woofers.  

Bose then founded his own company Bose Corporation in 1964 with funding from angel investors and from his mentor and professor Dr. Lee. Bose said he never wanted to do business to make money, but to try out his creative ideas and research. A point to note is that though the first speakers were a flop, subsequent product releases delivered through extensive research garnered huge appreciation and gave them required reputation. 

Bose had varied interests and developed technologies for regulating electric power on Jets, noise-canceling head phones, suspension system in cars (a very innovative technology developed after 24 years of research!)

Though a founder of a firm, he continued as a professor at MIT, till 2001; and he also donated a major chunk of shares in his company to MIT - as a gratitude to the institution. 

As I write about this genius, two thoughts occupy my mind. One is the link between passion and excellence - his passion for excellence coupled with his curiosity and persistence (what can explain several years of research without results for many years) lead to greatness; and the other is about when will the Indian academic system will create such an conducive environment for such passionate researchers to thrive?

Few Notable Quotes by Bose: 

•  I wanted to teach thought, not formulas; - as a professor to his students at MIT

•  Learn how to work through the problems you'll experience in life, in any subject - to his students

•  Better Products through Research - his company tagline

•  I went into business so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before

BodhiDharma and Bogar

Lately, I have been conducting my Internet surfing research, about a great saint. Well, I got initiated into this due to the interest generated by the movie 7 aum arivu. 

I watched the Chinese movie "Master of Zen" (Made in 1994) which depicts the complete history of Bodhi Dharma. Bodhi Dharma (before becoming) was a prince in the Pallava Dynasty, that was ruling Tamil Nadu, with Kanchipuram as their capital, during 5th-6th CE. Most of the literature available on the Web, concur that he was born in Kanchipuram, and after adopting Buddhism, and then becoming a Buddhist monk, he moves to China, as per the wishes of his Guru Prajnatara (Buddhist monk). 

Bodhi Dharma first goes to Southern China (Obvious, if you are from India), and then after spending some time there moves to Northern China, and was known to use unorthodox methods of teaching. Primarily he wanted to convey that one needs to perform a self-realization to understand himself, nature and God. He also have taught about physical exercises or self defence (probably a form of varma) to Shaolin monks, to protect themselves. Some more information about Bodhi Dharma, especially the cave where he lived for 9 years, and his burial place could be found here and here.

It is said that Bodhi Dharma during his last days, wanted to travel back to India, but died in China, and buried in the Shaolin temple. But later after his death, some one cites him, and when asked where he was going, he supposed to have told, he was moving towards West (towards India). 

Bhogar / Bogar: Bhogar was a Siddha, meaning a holy saint, who practiced meditation, and other techniques (Mantra, Tantra, Yantra) to attain liberation.They were primarily Saivaites who worshiped Shiva.  Bhogar was known to be a great alchemist. He installed the idol of Lord Muruga in Palani temple (known as Karthikeya, and brother of Lord Ganesha, and son of Lord Shiva) which is made of nine special herbs, and known to have medicinal effects, and stronger than Granite.  He also helped or advised in the construction of the Brihadeeswara temple in Tanjore, around 1000 CE. 

Now comes the interesting part. Some accounts say that Bhogar travelled to China, as per the instructions of his Guru, and then to Srilanka, and lived for several centuries. He also have said to taught tantric techniques in China, and  was known as Lao-Tzu (known to be founder or influence of Taoism) (The theory Yang-Yin is correlated with the Shiva-Shakti). Then in the same accounts it is mentioned that he returns back to India. Incidentally his Guru was Kalanginathar, who was originally from China. The period of Bhogar also seems to be from 8th CE.  Bhogar did have a Chinese disciple Pulippani (renamed in Tamil), who was also a Siddha. Bhogar completes his life's journey in the Palani Murugan temple.  

Another interesting thing is about the dates. Bodhi Dharma, said to be from Pallava Dynasty, belongs to 5th -6th CE, and  said to have lived for 300+ years. The Pallava dynasty come to an end during 8th Century CE, and Cholas emerge as the stronger dynasty, starting from this period. Bhogar's time period starts from 8th, and said to have lived several centuries. Both of them had some connections with China, and both were saints with extraordinary capabilities. Hope this is a enough material for a researcher to carry on further.

Update - October 2013:  As can be read from the comments section, though there have been references to texts that states Bhogar's time period as starting from 3000 BC, there is a significant convergence in many of those accounts from 6th CE onwards and during that period Bhogar is said to have travelled to China (for the second time) with few of his Tamil disciples and supposed to have returned back few centuries later. So, that raises another question - If BodhiDharma and Bhogar were different people, then "Was BodhiDharma one of the disciples of Bhogar, who went to China along with the latter's visit?"

Are Great Achievers born?

Well, I am not sure of the answer.

However, when we look around the most famed people in the modern history of the world, we find that most of them had nursed their talents from their childhood days and followed it up with great passion and commitment. Here are a few legends, who have created history in their own right

• Thomas Alva Edison (Came up with his first invention at the age of 16)
• Bill Gates (Started programming at 13, - at a time, when no one did)
• Warren Buffet (Bought his first shares at the age of 11)
• Ilaiyaraaja (Started early, and by 14 years, was a performer in Musical Troupe)
• A R Rahman (Started to play instruments before the age of 11)
• Michael Jackson (Debuted with his brother, at the age of 6 )
• Viswanathan Anand (Started playing Chess at the age of 6)
• Sachin Tendulkar (Started playing cricket as a Toddler)

So, do you need to start things very early, and continue for very long (or if possible through out your life) to become a legend or a great achiever? The answer appears to be affirmative, but not everyone who started early was a great achiever later, as another list of people, who had a promising start, but could not live up to the expectations or failed miserably could easily be put up.

So, what separated the great achievers from people who also started early, but could not attain the fame that great achievers attained? The answer is Passion, Focus, and Commitment. These legends were passionate about one particular aspect, and they worked on it with sincere commitment and focus, and as time passed, they automatically excelled, in what they did, and that lead to the list of great achievers.

Most importantly, these great legends, though would have faced great disturbances, or influences or diversions, than others, in their lifetime, it was their passion and commitment, that should have helped them to cross or ignore the diversions easily.

I also believe that most of the great achievers, including the above legends were never behind money, and their prime intention was on achieving some thing else, and money followed them as an end-result of their achievements.

So, to conclude, if something is started from a very early age, and religiously practiced with passion and commitment for years, then great success is bound to happen.

Update: 2015:  Recently I was reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, (It was published in 2008), and the essence of it is that to be successful, you should start early (in terms of age and time), put in continuous and consistent efforts (10,000+ hours) and be prepared to seize the opportunity (hopefully if it comes to you at the right time). The point here is that Gladwell drives home the point with case-studies and data, emphasizing the same points, and coincidentally the examples mentioned above in this post concur with it.  

Zheng He - A great Voyager

I got to knew about Zheng He through one of the recent issue of National Geographic. Though we had a lot of mention about Vasco da gama and Columbus in the history subject during our school days, I don't even vaguely remember Zheng He, before this enlightening and vividy written article. Here's the life of a great icon in short.

Zheng He - known as Ma He - a central asian muslim - born to a rural official in a Mongolian Province - taken captive and ritually castrated by a Chinese army that overthrew the Mongols in 1382 (Zheng He was related to Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. The Mughals of India also claim their descendance from  Genghis Khan and are considered as turkic-mongol is another different story) - Assigned to work for Zhu Di - he rose to a key strategist - that made Zhu Di the emperor in 1402 - Chosen to lead one of the powerful naval forces ever ensembled - he went to Thailand, Malacca Straits, Indonesia, Srilanka, Malabar Coast in India, and to Swahilli Coast in Africa and then to few countries in Africa and then to Arabic countries - tried to develop the ocean trade with these countries - mutual visit of ambassadors - thus mixing business exploration and diplomacy - and therefore established China as the leader during the 15th Century.

The major land battle was fought in Srilanka - that was witnessing the fight between Tamils and two mutually hostile Sinhalese Buddhist rulers - Zheng He fought a battle and brought a settlement - which was then ruled by Sinhalese king Parakramabahu VI for 55 years after it - But after which the violence erupts again, and ironically still today the fighting continues (Well, to be precise, the wars were happening, since 2nd Century BC (250 BCE), as per the history available - probably starting with Chola King - Elara - also known as Manuneedhi Cholan).

Zheng He spent a good amount of time in the Malabar coast around cochin in kerala in India. He had initiated a lot of trade particulary the spices with India, and his jottings in 15th century describing the spice trade remains very much unchanged even today. Zheng He is said to have died during his way back to China from the visit to Mecca and arabic countries during his 7th Voyage. During these years of his voyage China too has moved its capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Zheng He is said to be a good natured and generous man. Zheng he (as he was castrated) adopted his brother's son.