Counting My Annas…..
It is Anna Anna every where-on TV,in newspapers,on social network sites like FB etc,on hoardings,on posters etc.So,I decided to take a break from Anna Hazare and count other Annas I knew/know.
Here I go:
1.Indian 1 Anna coin :
When I was in college I used to collect old Indian coins as a hobby. I had a good collection I recall,but it was mislaid somewhere during frequent transfers in Bank.BTW,an Anna was a currency unit formerly used in India, equal to 1/16 of a rupee. It was sub-divided into 4 paise or 12 pies (thus there were 64 paise in a rupee and 192 pies). The term belonged to the Muslim monetary system. The anna is not commonly in use since India decimalised its currency in1957.Sometimes, 50 Paise is colloquially referred to as 8 annas (Atthanni in Hindi and Urdu) and 25 Paise as 4 annas (Chawanni in Hindi and Urdu,recently demonetised in India).The coin of one anna was made of copper,while a half-anna(called Takka) was also made of copper.Two-anna pieces were made of silver,if I recollect .The term anna is still frequently used to express a fraction of 1/16.
2.Anna Karenina :
I remember having read about her when I was in college.BTW,Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with its editor Mikhail Katkov over issues that arose in the final installment; therefore, the novel’s first complete appearance was in book form.Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction.Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel, when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel.The character of Anna was likely inspired, in part, by Maria Hartung (1832–1919), the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.Soon after meeting her at dinner, Tolstoy began reading Pushkin’s prose and once had a fleeting daydream of “a bare exquisite aristocratic elbow”, which proved to be the first intimation of Anna’s character.Although Russian critics dismissed the novel on its publication as a “trifling romance of high life”. Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be “flawless as a work of art”. His opinion was shared by Vladimir Nabokov, who especially admired “the flawless magic of Tolstoy’s style”, and by William Faulkner, who described the novel as “the best ever written”.The novel is currently enjoying popularity as demonstrated by a recent poll of 125 contemporary authors by J. Peder Zane, published in 2007 in The Top Ten, which declared that Anna Karenina is the “greatest novel ever written”.There have been a few films also made in the name of this character,but I have missed seeing them.
3.Anna Kournikova :
Like most of my readers and friends,I too am guilty of seeing hot photos of this stunning beauty,in the recent past .BTW, Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova,born 7 June 1981 is a Russian professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name one of the most common search strings on Google.Although reaching No. 8 in the world in 2000, she never won a WTA Title in singles. Kournikova’s forte has been doubles, where she has at times been the World No. 1 player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002. Based on their looks, Hingis and Kournikova referred to themselves as the “Spice Girls of Tennis”.Kournikova’s professional tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems.
4.Anna in Tamil :
My limited vocabulary of South Indian languages,learnt through brief interactions with my college/hostel/office mates,tells me that Anna in Tamil means Elder Brother.Correct
me if I am wrong please.
me if I am wrong please.
I cannot think of other Annas right now,though a few words suffixed with Anna are there in some remote corners of my memory.For example :Annamalai ( a University),Annadurai ( a political leader’s name) .
BTW,if you search Wikipedia by going to : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna , you will find many more Annas listed there in under headings of People,Places,Culture and Society,Literature,Music,Science,Vehicles,etc.Try knowing about them too to pass your time while the idiot box continues to focus on Anna Hazare-the Indian social activist.(as he is billed in Wikipedia’s afore-mentioned site.) So many other options to explore.
So,count your Annas and be happy.May be,some one out of you,dear readers, even had a girl-friend named Anna (a variation of Anne,I think) in school or in college.This is the right time to go to the flash-back mode !
Thanks for sharing your pun and spin on the word, Anna, Broca.
Seshu Chamarty, Hyderabad
Aug 21, 2011
Interesting article Broca Saheb. But India today seems to be banking on one Anna only, the young oldman who is fasting against corruption at the Ramlila Grounds at Delhi. Let’s hope for the best. Warm regards.
Sunil Uniyal, New Delhi
Aug 21, 2011