Diwali is...

A fantabulous festival, yes, that is what Diwali is. Remember "Tamaso ma Jyoti: gamay"? Yes, it is the second line of the famous Pavamana Mantra from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28). From Darkness, lead me Oh Lord, to Light, it means. Diwali is fantabulous realisation of  that holy truth.

What is Diwali? Is it fab food, fancy clothes, festival get-together's, fascinating fireworks? Sure, Diwali is all of these, and yet it is much more than all of this put together. What exactly is Diwali then?

Diwali looks...

 Diwali looks simply superb because the Diwali looks of both, of people and places are simply gorgeous. Look at the premises themselves. Homes are squeaky clean. Cobwebs are brushed aside, floors are mopped up to the farthest corner which is comparatively easy these days as most homes are marble floored. 

Without fail, there is a rangoli at the doorstep. Even the floral rangoli looks gorgeous. Next, there are the strings of the colourful  marigold flowers in their ochre n yellow fluffy florescence. Most importantly, there is a sky lantern. Till our teens, we used to make it ourselves, my brothers being better experts at it. Now most all people buy it. 

My most favourite decoration of Diwali is the 'panati', the earthen lamp. It has its own simple but lyrical, graceful n quiet glow. No electric dazzle, however much chinese n glittering, can match the beauty of panati-lit premises. There is something reassuring in the gentle glow of its fluttering wick. Sure these earthen diyas help the local small time business of the potter, thereby making his/her Diwali happy truly. 

As for people, the daily warm oil n scrub bath cleans up the skin, while the Diwali associations clears up the soul. These days, people buy clothes any day any time. No wonder, new clothes, once upon a time Diwali specials, add to the happy look!

In brief, Diwali looks, of people and places both, are dapper!

Pratima@ No Maharashtrian courtyard, these days, a balcony, is complete without the 'fort' during Diwali. During our days, that is, up to late teens, we built it ourselves, with the minutest details carefully catered to. Now, mostly, ready-made stuff prevails. Yet the mock forts are the real ramparts of the Diwali look! 

Quote of the day:                                                          Sparkle season                                                        blissfully here! 

Word of the day: 'fort'                                                   A fort is a strong building that is used for military defence. For the Marathi mind, however, it is the indelible print of the memory of Shivaji Maharaj's glory. 

Diwali means...

 Diwali brings in its wake a special something in the very air. The mornings get pleasantly cool, despite/due to all sorts of cyclones. The blazing hot afternoons keep you busy even when the festival special holidays have begun. There is so very much to do! As for the evenings, literally overflowing with people are the roads. 

Nobody is grumbling about the potholes, about the narrow lanes, about abc to xyz. It is the happiest of times for the small time traders, too. May be, at least half of their annual monies are earned around Diwali. There is a feel of happiness, of joy, of contentment everywhere around. I like Diwali for this fullness. 

No other festival can share this unique plenitude. Diwali is like the climax of the festive times that begin circa Shrawan. Post Diwali, life settles down to the routine rut till Sankranti and Holi. In other words, Diwali alone has its own unique warmth, the special massage with the slightly warm fragrant oil, the unique 'utane' which is a perfect scrub, the lukewarm attar scented water, why, the very bath is a treat, though much missed are Aai's gentle fingers n the soft tingle of her bangles as she would bathe us, with Papa holding up the sparklers in the mist filled bathroom. 

Diwali is, in brief, happy times; the days of the special home-made 'faral' and the intellectual treat of the very Maharashtrian "Diwali ank" of magazines. Most fulfilling is the feeling that my articles are each year included in major magazines. Earlier Aai used to answer first the readers' calls of appreciation as the landline phone used to be right next to her. Forever would be a pleasant memory, her then fulfilled face. 

Diwali is, in brief, the best of times, the happiest of times, the pleasantest times! Diwali is, well, THE days to be, to enjoy, to remember forever each year! 

Pratima@ It was such a happy feel yesterday evening to find in my email box the Prime Minister's Diwali Wishes. Sure the message made my day more n more Diwali! 

Pratima@                                                                     "Feel the magic in the air,                                       embrace the festive flair."

Wise Words of these Days:                                       Tomorrow let us talk of the unique Diwali decorations.

Countless conundrums

 It is that time of the year again. Yes, of course, the Diwali days are here again. Equally predictably here are the farmers' sit-in's regarding the sugarcane rates. Luckily, this year, onions have not so far made housewives cry. Otherwise, the rates shoot sky-high like the  Diwali crackers known as flower pots, and so much so that I pat myself on the back for following Aai-Papa's tradition of not eating onions n garlic during the "chaturmas." 

Yet, as usual, in fact, more regularly than the rains, have begun the sugarcane farmers' protests. Honestly, the bumper production of this crop which is problematic every which way is difficult to understand. First and foremost, it guzzles water more greedily than a dipsomaniac does alcohol. It ruins the farmland texture. Very harsh it is on the sugarcane cutters' families, especially women and children. Yet, year after year, the same sad saga goes on as if it is the bread n butter of the concerned leaders! 

In addition, this year, there is a new variety of demonstrations, the grouse against the data centers. Yes, indeed, they, too, are water intensive. They need more electricity, too. They create a unique kind of noise pollution. Can these problems be solved? For instance, India is supposedly rich with solar power. There must be modes of recycling water, right? Sound-proofing could be sorted out, too. Yet do data centers make Indians more the blue collar workers of the AI economy? That is the real issue.

Ah, yes, the usual protests against the firecrackers! I have not read up the Dia Mirza debate, but it deals with some such issue, I believe.  Well, why snatch away the simple joy of a kid whose face lights up as bright as the sparkler, as colourful as the flower pot. Sure, there could be strict prohibition against fire crackers that cause terrible noise pollution. Yet entirely denying children that fab fun is quite problematic. Incidentally, more poisonous gas is released by the livestock maintained for the non vegetarian palette! Indeed difficult to re-solve are such conundrums! 

Pratima@ Equally problematic for me is the annual ill-treatment of the poor calf during the 'Vasu baras Puja'. It is so very small. It is tied away from its lactating mother. A highly sensitive animal, everybody is touching it here, there and everywhere! How to control the devotees' enthusiasm? That is the question! 

Quote of the year:                                                       "We are between the wild throat of certainty and the mad zitidar of fact - we can escape neither,"  asserts Edgar Rice Burroughs. 

Word of the day: conundrum                                       A conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem that is hard to solve, or a riddle that often uses a play on words or a pun.

A colour(-n-)full result

 Even a casual listener of Western music knows what blue notes are. No, it is not the Aamrikn "nili patti". Well, references to  "hari patti" are so very Indian, na! So say the "aaawsome" Aaamerikn-Indians. That is not the point today though! 

The blue notes are the flattened or "worried" notes (typically the third, fifth, and seventh scale degrees, so say the experts) that create a distinct, melancholic sound. As votes stand this evening, these are the notes Trump must be sobbing to today! Well, the "ye lal rang kab hamen chod de" was apparently the rhyme most Americans were crooning for quite some time as the midterm election results indubitably prove. 

How long this mood will last, difficult to decide it is. Yet all the Indians in the looooong queue for the 'green' card and the software industry, harassed as it is by the AI invasion, must have now left behind their blues, right? In brief, as the 'red ko salaam' returns to pavilion, hurt n down with almost a duck, so does that much missed voice, ah, yes, Nobel Peace Prize winning Obama's! 

In Aesop's "Fables", the donkey is the beast of burden. In American realpolitik, often it outsmarts the elephant, the big brain, ah, rather the big brawn which reduced 'MAGA' in to "Make America goon awfully" for the whole world, what with the Hormuz becoming the strait straight all states feared. Happy days seem to be here again. No need for the blues, in brief! 

Pratima@Actually, as for India, the Dems are not much different from the Republicans, except that they prefer the velvet glove treatment rather than the 'in the face' blow with a Muhammad Ali kinda brute force. Yet good to know that all the American-Indian candidates in the fray have not gone down the Vivek Ramaswami path! 

Quote of the day:                                                          "The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” So opined Abraham Lincoln, THE ultimate American leader, and the first Republican president. Wish his descendants had followed him, both in letter and in spirit!

Word of the day:                                                           Blue is the Democrats' colour, while red is the Republicans',whose election symbol is the elephant.

Pune Proud

 Pune IS my city, well, currently metamorphosing in to a 'metro' in all senses of this term. True, I was not born in Pune, but I have been brought up here, even when my childhood got spent in other cities. In brief, l love Pune. 

Why this panegyric to Pune? Well, Pune simply deserves the praise. You, too, would agree with me if you were to have a look at the latest acquisition of Pune, the Metro Route, "Pink Line Number Three" .

To begin with, this new addition, though running rather late, is itself smart, sophisticated, sauve. The sleek glass doors, the posh interiors, the perfect platforms n stations with the latest gadgets, the very look of this 'rail gadi', which is energy-efficient uniquely, is wow. 

While the "beech wale stations" that for a 'dekho' say 'ruk, ruk, ruk', the simply superb skyline that the metro zooms past has the picture perfect élégance of a well designed movie set. If you were not to know that it is the Pune-Hinjewadi-Mann scenario, you could easily confuse it with the skyscape of New York or Tokyo. 

Yes, Pune-Hinjewadi has that unique combo of the traditional n the modern. This city, supposed to be the Oxford of the East, has indeed been riding in the right direction, from a city of cycles to a town of two-wheelers to electric buses roaming the suburbs to now a 'metro' every which way.

Well, as the Hinjewadi 'Phases' boast of international institutions, this metro line appears savvier then the other two lines which, too, are quite some beauties. Oh, yes, the rakes are squeaky clean just as the stations are elevator-enabled. Have to be! After all, ye Pune hai meri jaan! 

Pratima@ In the typical Pune progressive way, the "Pink Line 3" would be run by women pilots, and it was shaped in to its 'propah' avatar by ladies, too. In brief, Pune's ''Pink Line 3'' metro makes us Punekar's proud indeed! Hope this latest amenity, as it soon settles up-n-down, would downsize the terrible traffic woes of M/S Hinjewadi and Co and/or Associates!!!

Quote of the day:                                                         Currently "the common man enjoys amenities which in ages gone by were unknown and therefore inaccessible even to the richest people," says Ludwig von Mises. 

Word of the day: amenity/amenities                          This term, singular and/or plural, refers to everything that makes a place pleasant or easy to live in.

N.B. : Technology, if used sensibly and without threatening the ambience in any way, makes accessible to us amenities and comforts that could not even be imagined by kings and emperors! Hence the Chief Minister of Maharashtra deserves a "thank you", whatever might be your political/ideological affiliations/inclinations/associations. 

Further n Far Flexi Education

 The Covid days changed the educational scenario suddenly, and decisively. Yes, earlier, too, there was Open Education. It was not mainstream though. Nor was it totally online. There would be regular weekend lectures. I should know because I have taught UG to PG courses to Open University students  as well. Some of them thus grew quite friendly with English Literature so much so that they positively began reading the actual texts, rather than the ready made to order notes provided by the concerned University.

It was, however, the corona virus that made online education an inevitable alternative to the till then standard offline education. Screens were seen as the alternative to blackboards, and so on. Why remember those 'heroic' days which gave an entire batch a unique nomenclature? 

Well, November 2 to November 6 is the National Distance Learning Week. This annual event, celebrated especially in the U.S., would have a slew of webinars (yet another post-Covid development) debating the worth n relevance of the flexi Distance Mode Education. 

In my opinion, such an event is an utmost necessity currently because the AI is drastically shifting the gears of the educational machinery. Our academics may not show very many symptoms of this 'dis-', or rather, 'un-' ease. Yes, though! The AI IS re-defining academics. 

Education, now, surely would be virtual. In fact, huge, impressive, multi-storeyed buildings are already appearing dysfunctional. Most UG/PG students do not attend lectures. Most often, those big halls are embarrassingly empty. 

Students prefer online educational mode. Already they are sure, completely convinced, that the ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, et al, are much better than most teachers! Moreover, inter-disciplinary education is yet another diversion away from traditional modes. The skills-oriented credit-based system is adding its own unique dimensions! 

There is, for instance, a one-credit course entitled 'Introduction to Vedas', it seems. Apparently, it is finished off in two/three lectures, with downloaded material shared online, and possible questions outlined! Such is, of course, the student grapevine. One is, for sure, in the 'mute' mode, in all possible senses of the term. 

Try giving homework to your students, and, voilà, all sorts of AI stuff is there 'for your eyes only'! Why, once one of my students was convinced that an app is better than a book when it comes to learning! 

Apps can be full of errors as they might be developed by non-experts, you try to gently point out. Aye, AI, THE AI has so charmed the reel obsessed gen's that it becomes your prime duty as educators that the LLM's as well as (advanced) learning management systems bear some semblance to accuracy! 

Honestly, the exam system needs a huge re-vamp, if classroom are going to be virtual/remote. Instructional design as well as information sources need fine tuning, too. Oh, yes, there is an acute need to think through supra-academic skills such as on-the-job training, corporate training, adult learning, not to forget, extremely sensitive issues such as telehealth, as the AI has made most all quasi-medic's! In brief, not merely a week, the far away from classroom education, needs beyond the 'celebratory'  week, also a year long fine-tuning! 

Pratima@ At times, the distance enabled education seems to be more and more bureaucratised, not to forget its capital-intensive nature. How to make human(e) beings, the only n real goal of education, out of such further n far education, that is the question!

Quote of the day:                                                            Said Jean de la Bruyère, "reading keeps us away from being a burden to ourselves." Equally true would be the quote if "studying" replaces "reading" !

Word of the day: flexible                                               Flexible means anything that can be changed easily.