Here He Arrives!

 Of all the festivals in the Hindu calendar, closest to most hearts is the Ganesh Utsav. This festival fills the whole house with an  unnamable life force which pulsates with a palpable energy. No, it is not merely the spruced up feel. The very household blooms with a divinity. 

Ganesha is everything. With His invocation begins every holy function. He is intelligence incarnate, and yet there is a gentleness to him. Remember the story of the circumambulation of the whole universe? For him, his parents are the world, a choice which is both, deep affection and smart wit.

A non-entity like a mouse is his vehicle. As he is very much a folk godhead as much as a Vaidic presence, is not it but natural that he should control the rodent, enemy number one of the agrarian way of life?

Actually, he is so very appealing because simultaneously he can be everything. He is an abstract form, yet his very shape is hyper concrete. He is divine but has an elephant head. He may have huge ears, small eyes, a big belly, incidentally though each of these has a deep symbolic meaning, and yet he is beauty incarnate.

To every artist, accomplished or otherwise, he invites to explore his self, to understand his form, and thus in the process grow. He would be with us till Saturday. Hence every day, on my status where I share our blog, I shall be uploading my (he)art as it depicts him, though I cannot upload these images here for your perusal as the format does not support such a function.

Pratima @ Each day till Saturday, I shall attempt a translation of his unique manifestations either in Sanskrit and/or Marathi. Hence no quote, no word of the day till Saturday. Instead, an attempt at a better, closer understanding of the Great God Ganesha! 

Today let me try translating the first few invocatory lines from the "Atharv Shirsha.

" Om, paeans to Thee, O Lord of the 'Gana'/Thou art Essence incarnate/Thou art Action itself/Thou art the Upholder himself/ The destroyer incarnate Thou art! Indeed art Thou this entire universe/Thou, the forever revelation of the Atman! 

A little worrisome?

 This year, the Ganesh Utsav in the public sphere is full of cacophony. No, it is not the usual dolby walls that are creating the typical din. They are the cause though! 

Yes, here, there and everywhere, the opposition to the dolby walls, or versions thereof, is the talk of the town. True, nobody would deny the fact that the dolby sound during the installation and immersion processions IS a bother, and every which way. 

Yet the opposition to the dolby walls has started grating on the ears, too. First and foremost, the occasion! Timing matters, right? Why suddenly the Ganesh Utsav? Nobody appeared disturbed by the decibles on July 31 when the processions began to go on till August 1 midnight. Sickest songs possible blared bang next to a hospital. 

Any meeting regarding the Municipal Corporation permission was not reported then in the media. Nor is it conventionally  conducted annually, right? 

Come Ganeshotsav, and objections have become a furore, interview after interview after interview of Mr. Bapat resounding louder and louder, what with the media, every possible YouTuber, each podcast reverberating with the Bapat Speak!

Yes, the dolby walls or versions thereof ARE bad for health every which way. Period. Nobody is arguing against it. Yet funnier is  the anti-dolby noise which has now reached  such a crescendo that there are articles discussing how Tilak was wrong in getting the deity in to the public sphere, and quoted are Gokhale-Ranade-Agarkar!

Tilak's contemporaries debated the issue in a totally different vein altogether. Why mix that past debate circumscribed by a certain (intellectual) context with the trashy dolby din? Most conveniently is now forgotten the fact that, for the last two years, hugely it was asserted that Tilak did not initiate the Ganapati festival at all. Apparently, it was Bhau Rangari.

This year, indeed curious things are happening circa the festival, eggs getting thrown at processions, the huge murtis (actually such huge idols should be a no-no!) falling down, and now this high decibel debate!

Yes, wrong things MUST change, and sooner for the better. Yet should not it be a process? Of step by step changes? Incidentally, for the "dahi handi" celebrations this time, most "mandals" did reduce the volume. There was police action against the groups which violated the restrictions.

Hence the continuous discussion regarding the dolby disturbance appears suspicious. Is it the case that somebody else is manipulatively pulling the puppet strings? Whose is the face cleverly hidden behind the Mr. Bapat mask?

Ever since the Jantar Mantar days, we have "intellectuals" like Yogendra Yadava openly declaring that all decisions henceforth would be taken, not in the parliament, but on the streets! 

Is the Mr. Bapat kind of opposition to the dolby walls a subtle attempt at creating anarchic situations on the street during the hugely popular, and populous, Ganesh festival? How come people of Mr.Bapat's ilk never are bothered by the forever weird wonky honking of mobikes and cars without silencers that roar down the streets, be it day or night? 

Hope Lord Ganesha gives everyone concerned (including the traditional but pricey dhol-tasha groups, the modern but cheaper dolby-wallahs, and everyone opposing them) wisdom, intelligence and sensibleness enough so that the next twelve days are joy, devotion, and peace!

Pratima@ The common devotee is hugely happy while welcoming this deity who stands for all the auspicious beginnings, all the arts, all knowledge, all that is good, pure and propitious in the human head, heart and soul.

Quote of the day:                                                              "In the national interest, we will not oppose for the sake of it." So said  Rishi Sunak, the erstwhile prime minister of Britain, while expressing the principle that political opposition should be constructive rather than purely obstructive. 

Word of the day: furore                                                 Furore is great anger or excitement expressed towards something by a number of people. 

Why not celebrate?

 It was the Shravan Amavasya on Thursday/Friday. Hardly do we remember the first or the last days of lunar months, as way too busy we are with the solar months, full of responsibilities, duties, activities, and what not. 

My submission, however, is that better it is to remember certain such 'muhurt'. Oh, yes, i do know that some people may accuse me of being traditional, obscurantist, 'sanghi', et al. I am neither. Nor do I care about empty accusations. Some may ask how I dare call 'amavasya' a muhurt. 

Better to hold your horses, please! Yes, most often, 'amavasya' is not considered auspicious. Yet, without getting obscurantist, it is better to observe certain rituals as they make us truly human(e).

Look at the Shravan Amavasya, for instance. It is the best occasion to show our gratitude to the bullock. This beast of burden, so very necessary for our existence, is no longer extant even in agriculture, given the technological onslaught. 

When we were small, on this day, Papa used to buy us a pair of earthen toy bullocks. We were made to garland them, pray to them. Aai would make puran poli, the last of the Shravan season.

 What a lovely way to stay tuned to the originary modes of life! A great tribute to the agrarian roots as well as to the barter mode of existence, as the village potter would thus get his share of the goodies, too! In brief, certain rites make us right.

Pratima@The second reason is still more sensitive. Shravan Amavasya is the Mothers' Day according to the Hindu calendar. A mother must be celebrated as often as is possible, right? So why not twice a year, in May and on the last day of Shravan during which the "jivti" picture in the "devhara"  repeatedly reminds us of her centrality!  

Let us celebrate such Amavasya rituals, like the last day of Ashadh, a tribute to  light which must have literally illuminated the rainy dark days once upon a time long long ago. 

Quote of the day:                                                          "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." Agreed, Melody Beattie. 

Word of the day: gratitude                                         Gratitude is the feeling of being grateful to, of wishing to  thank someone. 

Nine eleven!

 The year was 2001. The new millenium was settling down. The West, especially the U. S., was in an absolutely self-satisfied mode, what with the feel of the Y2K win. That blasé self-absorption was to get a severe jolt on 9/11.

9/11 indeed was an earth shattering event. The whole world knows how the 'al queda' terrorists crashed three planes in to the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, while the fourth faced the irate passengers' revolt. 

The world was never the same after 9/11. The very paradigms of perception changed thereafter. Hatreds, which had been simmering since the centuries old Crusade Wars, started spewing over openly. 

Yes, there have been terrorist attacks before and after. Yet none had the visual effect of the Twin Towers collapsing like a pack of cards. A kind of naiveté died that day, and was buried deep down the terra firma. 

The pathetic (in all senses of the term) collapse of the Twin Towers became a visual symbol of, nay, not the end of, but the clash of civilisations. It shook the smugness of the U. S., which had always amused itself through proxy wars, because, for the first time ever, war manifested itself at the threshold of America itself, and mocking all its might! 

We all know very well the after shocks of 9/11, beginning with Afganistan and ending to an extent in Abbottabad. In the meantime, any number of absolutely innocent lives suffered due to the perverted mindsets of certain cheap creeps and their vicious stooges. 

Yet war mongers have not learnt their lessons, and now with the AI, precision powers their perversions. Unfortunately, no monotheistic godhead can master such maniac monsters, and therein lies the true tragedy that, despite heroic and humane efforts, there is no real Ground Zero!

Pratima@Of course, there are wonderful conspiracy theorists who never stop carping about how 9/11 was 'native', and even when concrete proof flies in the face of such falsehoods, stupid narcissists would never tire of spreading such silly gossip!

Quote of the day:                                                             "No day shall erase you from the memory of time," is a quote by Virgil from Book IX of "The Aeneid." It is   inscribed in the Memorial Hall at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Word of the day: ground zero                                    Literally 'Ground Zero' is the 14.6-acre area in Lower Manhattan, New York City, where the World Trade Center Twin Towers stood before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Metaphorically, difficult to decide its very many echoes across spaces and times!

Soupçon, Fallacy Series - 5

 The fallacy that we are going to discuss today is known as the slippery slope. It consists of arguing that the small little first step is wrong, and hence would lead inevitably by chain effect toward a wrong position. 

It appears very mathematical in tone. Thus it has a very scientific temper superficially. An example of this fallacy can often be seen in the society's reluctance to accept any new paradigm, such as the online Gpay type of payment, for instance. 

Now the cashless payment is the driving force for one n all, and even in Paris. Yet, initially, even learned economists opposed it stiffly as a wrong step which would drown the economy, right?

Pratima Agnihotri

Soupçon, Fallacy Series - 4

The next fallacy we are going to look at is known as the 'red herring.' To understand it, let us first look at the etymology of the term.  A "red herring" is  a fish. It is not a separate species of fish though.

 It is an ordinary herring that turns a deep coppery red, and acquires a very strong, salty smell  through a heavy process of brining and smoking.  Apparently, as early as 1802, William Corbett reports that trainers dragged these pungent fish across a trail to test or distract hunting hounds. 

The process need not always be so very. innocent. Escaping criminals used the red herring to throw tracking dogs off their scent, it seems. As fallacy, hence, it consists of introducing irrelevant information in the discussion to divert attention from the actual/original theme. 

The best example of this fallacy would be the T.V. debates, right? While they are all out-shouting above each other, they are  trading extremely irrelevant  details about each other or about the issue being disc. Such whataboutery drowns any and every valid argument. 

 

  Pratima Agnihotri 

A book exhibition

 Books are now noteworthy due to their absence. Yes, reading has taken an absolute back seat. The  basic attention span required for reading is now a thing of the past. In our A.I.-enabled, or is it absolutely alien-ated, era, who wants to read? That does hurt a bibliophile.

Well, you love research. Seminar after conference, dedicated, mind you, to the publication process, has "experts" advising you to use the ChatGPT for " literature review"! In other words, the A.I. reads, the A.I. summarises, and the future 're-searcher' is reduced to a kid who waits 'two minutes' for the A.I.-d! 

Actually reading helps in very many ways. Yet when the allure of the colourful screen beckons, back seat get the plain pages, right? Hence the need for book exhibitions which, too, these days are seen scenery. In other words, an event they, too, are. 

Without fail, there would be a selfie point or two, and cosy kiosks for a cuppa. That is okay, though. At least, youngsters, who would otherwise never venture near a library or avoid a bookshop as if it is the Corona ward, actually see the colours, the shapes and the sizes of books, even if most would be of the DIY or "how to" variety! Even then unmistakably flutters, like the pages of unread books, the hope that books would survive, despite the A.I. (r)evolution! Long live book exhibitions! 

Pratima@ Recently I read a news item that many European countries have chosen to reduce the screen time of school children. Books, notebooks, abacus, slates are back, it seems. No mean achievement for sure. How long the 'fad' would last, I am not sure! 

Quote of the day:                                                            "Books are uniquely portable magic," says Stephen King.

Word of the day: bibliophile                                       A bibliophile is a person who loves, admires, or collects books.