The weird power cut

Electricity! How we get used to it! In a metro like city such as Pune, electricity is literally oxygen. The kind of high rise buildings everywhere, one wonders what must be happening to the senior citizens there, if there is no electricity, and, hence, no elevator! How to climb up floors beyond the third upwards!?! What if the generator chooses to be dysfunctional as well?

Let me give you my own example. No, no staircase is involved. I live on the ground floor. I was conducting my early morning online lecture, and suddenly to the shouts and screams of "Ajay, Ajay", the power cut began. 

Both, the catcalls "Ajay, Ajay" and the power cut, continued till 4.50 p. m. The second half  of my morning online lecture, I continued in utter darkness. There was an online seminar. It was my power bank which enabled me to attend it. In fact, the delays in uploading the blogs and the "Soupçon" is utterly due to this power cut.

Weird was the response of the MSEB. I contacted the Rasta Peth office. The lady on the line was very courteous. She asked me to call back after half an hour so that she could find out. Next she told me that not even one of all the concerned lines could be contacted! The third time I called up to get to know the status quo, that line also would not answer. 

When I checked the 18002333435 number, I was told that the number is wrong! All along, the weird shrill cries of "Ajay, Ajay" refused to die down! The 18002123435 operator  wanted me to tell her how far (not how long, please note) the power cut extended. Finding out the area has to be the MSEB job when I gave the customer number, the address, the landmark nearby, not to forget my mobile number! About the possible cause behind the power cut, she hazarded a guess! It could be for line repair work!

I requested a neighbour to lodge a complaint, too. At last, after six hours, the current was restored. I did not miss much, given the power bank. I also made the home cool in simple ways. The fridge, too, remained cool enough. No problems hence at all!

Funny was the message about the complaint by the MSEB (in extremely poor English! Oh, yes, incidentally, I spoke in Marathi!) after the power was restored !!! Why attempt English, if you cannot manage it? Marathi is our mother tongue, and has been made compulsory in  official transactions!

If the rates of electricity are to be increased, so should be the service! When it comes to meter reading, to give yet another example, every month, there is a fiasco. On every eighth of each month, I wait and wait, but the meter reading fellow never turns up, and cooly reports that the door was closed!!! When, by chance, he comes, he is interested in the death of one Mr. Gadekar about which i have no clues whatsoever! 

How I wish the bigwigs supporting hooligans of the "Ajay, Ajay" types were to instead take care of their own politically dwindling party, or two. Surely, without their support to the Ajay's and others of his ilk, such riffraff will not dare to behave so ridiculously. If so much energy were instead spent on the concerned party, at least, Maharashtra might enjoy some opposition party, or two, worth its name!

Pratima@ It is always the precaution as well as traditional methods that are eternally helpful. Those were the ways i could comfortably survive a power cut during a particularly hot April!

Quote of the day:                                                        Those, who dig ditches for others, fall in to it themselves!Such ditches are as crazy as the empty minds that have NOTHING to do, and hence are devilish, as per the proverbial wisdom!

Word of the day: Weird                                                Weird" is an adjective describing something strange, unusual, or unexpected, often with a slightly unsettling or eccentric or even eerie quality. Bizzare like the "Ajay, Ajay" catcalls, for instance!

Manners

 Good manners matter! The self-obsessed Gen Z may not agree with me. Well, for them, they alone matter as "I,me, mine" is their anthem. Yet, in my opinion, and many may agree with me, good manners maketh a human being! 

Why so? Well, for one thing, looks, riches, even intelligence are not your personal achievement. They are a genetic accident, thanks be to your parents. In fact, if you do not have good manners, you indeed do not deserve those genome- (or traditionally, believed to be, by God-) given gifts! 

Even for the Gen Z, I could be wrong, and remain open to correction, I have a feel that it is the Indian Gen Z that lacks manners! They are kind of neither here nor there. The Gen Z abroad, may be, I have not observed them enough from close quarters, may be in their own fancy wor(l)ds, but they appear to be decent in the daily lived realities.

No forever furrowed forehead with irritation, no rude banging of the doors in everybody's face, no foul language, no arrogant strutting about in torn n tousled jeans, in brief, no ridiculous behaviour, not to forget doing drugs n baiting types! 

In fact, to be fair, even in India, it is only the pampered princes and princesses of the upper middle class who suffer from such nonsense as their fathers have already created a cushioning cocoon for them to relax in till the last day of the life. The rich send their kids in to the business world where they have to behave decently as they are constantly in the public glare which would determine the business deals, while the very poor anyways cannot afford such over indulgence.

It is most unfortunate that the thoughtless brash brats, nay, creeps are not waking up to the realities that the AI is forcing down everybody's gullet. The very notion of work, and, hence, of individual responsibility, is changing which does not account for such stupid cheapness. But who is to tell, and whom! Hope it is not too very late when they wake up to realities!

Pratima@ Good manners may not win us friends. At least, they would not create sworn enemies in a world full of economic, societal and political tensions everywhere!

Quote of the day:                                                          Says Emily Post, "Good manners reflect something from inside, an innate sense of consideration for others and respect for self."  

Word of the day: bearing                                           Bearing means a person's manners, presence and the way of conducting himself/herself.

Soupçon II.i

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities, and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                     Soupçon II.i           

Who is the twentieth century thinker who critiqued the 'public sphere'?                                 1) Jürgen Habermas 2) Théodore Adorno 3) Carl Jung 4) Bertrand Russell                              The answer to this MCQ is 2)Theodore Adorno.

Yes, this week we are going to discuss the concept called 'public sphere'. Let us introduce the MCQ element this week onwards, and, oh, yes, the explanatory  paragraphs about the title, et al, would henceforth be repeated only on Mondays. 

'Public sphere' is currently a concept much in vogue, given the unfortunate event of the recent death of Jürgen Habermas, who theorised it in detail in his 1962 book, "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere." 

Actually, this concept is as old as the 'polis', that is, the Greek city-state which differentiated between the 'oikos' (that is, the private household) and the 'agora' (that is, the public space) where citizens could deliberate on political issues as a stepping stone to acting collectively. 

In the historical overview of this concept, we shall look at the Socrates-Plato-Aristotle tradition, the eighteenth century notions,  the Habermas ideas, and the Adorno critique, with inputs from feminism. 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                      Pune 

Hellhole!?!

 The whole world's dearest buddy currently, yes, no brownie points for any guesses, yup, it is Mr. Trump who has let loose yet another verbal bomb. This time round, he has weaponised language. 

Yes, he chose to call India, his  bete noire, and China, his worst competitor, "hellhole". True, he is absolutely within his rightful ambit as the American MAGA president to criticise the procedure of American citizenship whereby, as he states it, women enter the United States in the third trimester of pregnancy, give birth in America to the baby who gets American citizenship by birth, which is used by the entire jingbang to enter the U. S. of A.

Fair enough! The problem is why call India a hellhole. Ideally, instead of calling countries names like a petty pouting kid, he should work at a constitutional change which can seal such loophole entries, right?

Actually, come to think of it, is America indeed the land of dreams? The underbelly of the so-called American Dream is hardly much to write home, eh, hellhole, about! That is the truth! 

Forget the usual culprits like mafia muggings, the gun culture, the high taxation, and so on, and on. We all know the reality which no swag(ger) can hide. Many American cities, including a metro like New York, yes, the Manhattan area, for instance,  are dirty beyond belief. 

People who paint a pretty picture of the American realities seem to forget that we live in an era of information overload. It is common knowledge that vagrancy is on the rise in the U.S. In addition to "car people", there are the tent encampments. Many people live in tents along highway exits, under bridges, and on sidewalks, sometimes due to the lack of available or safe shelter spots, not to forget, huge job losses.

In other words, where/which exactly is the hellhole? In the trying-to-be-better India? Or in the clearly con-founded America? Anyone can go on and on, providing any number of such 'credit'-worthy details, with solid proof, to establish where/which the real hellhole is! In brief, heal thyself, the high-faulting hellhole!

Pratima@Propaganda narratives no longer function because, forget the Google, also the AI, enabled mostly by brilliant  people from the so-called 'hellhole', is there to showcase hugely the grim realities! 

Quote of the day:                                                           "Stupid is knowing the truth, seeing the truth, but still believing the lies," maintains Morgan Freeman.

Word of the day: canard                                            Canard is a false report, hoax, or groundless rumor designed to deceive.

Nests!

 The summer season is indeed special. For many reasons, as we noted yesterday. Today a little note on the cute little birdies and their simply superb nests that make the summer a unique season. 

We have a small little garden in the backyard and the front yard of  our home. Every year, birds build their nests in the trees. Unique they are. Yesterday I found one which is as beautiful as that by the weaver bird. 

It is roundish, not conical. It hence cannot be that by the weaver bird. It is equally artistic though. This birdie, too, has actually managed to stitch, yes, you read it right, the edges to give it a round shape.

To cushion the sticks that make the base between two drying leaves, the brilliant bird has actually made a comfy, fluffy bed of cotton for the eggs and the female who would hatch them. 

Each year I find such wonderful artifacts. I keep them on the side wall, and the economically efficient beings that birds are, they re-cycle whichever elements they need while (re-)building the nests each summer! 

The nests are neat, moreover, and functionally most effective rather than merely attractive. If you were to see these tiny birds, they would be smaller than my fist, tops, the spread palm. What marvels though their nests are! And mankind chooses to call itself intelligent, evolved, and superior! 

Pratima@ Once an unusually beautiful blue bird had built a nest in our garden. The nest had unbelievably blue eggs. The nest was not particularly well hidden. The three of us used to literally stand guard as a big bad bird was hell bent on attacking it. One very early morning, it did manage to destroy the eggs. I still remember the genuine grief I then felt. I was yet to know then the casual cruelty many enjoy in de-structuring, de-centering innocent lives. And such call themselves human! 

Quote of the day:                                                            Leonardo da Vinci says of a nest, "bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang". 

Word of the day: craftsmanship                               Craftsmanship is the skill used by somebody to make something of high quality with his/her hands, or the small, little beak!!!

Summer

 How is the summer? Much awaited for sure. Yes, from the days of childhood onwards, this season is special. Yes, it is the season of holidays. It is a different story altogether that within a fortnight or so, the holidays of not doing anything much start getting on your nerves, and you start hankering after that dull routine you wanted to escape from in the first place! 

These days, the summer season may not mean going to your grandma's place. Life has changed much too much for that. To begin with, modern grannies, as they choose to call themselves, are much too much in love with themselves, especially with proving how they are still 'young'. Busy dressing up, 'they have their own life' in which the 'grand'child (mostly one per their own one child) is more like the side dish, yum but 'better don't come'! 

Instead  for the modern threesome/foursome ( in the "l, me, myself" wor(l)ds, everybody else, especially from the husband's side, is the most avoided intruder) go for foreign tour(s). They have their own some club, or the other, membership for the domestic tour where they chill!

In brief, even in the times today, the summer is travel time, which is comfy, moreover. Have you noticed it? Despite the forever threatening Trump and the awful AI, not to forget the dicey waters of the defamed strait, not much seems to have changed with most lives, thanks be to credit cards! May be, topmost the tour plans might be more domestic this time!

Personally I prefer the summer because it is the season of colours and fragrances and sounds and tastes. Honestly, no other season satiates our senses like the summer, right? Just look around at the trees in full bloom, the multi coloured boguainvilles, the flaming red 'flame of the forest', the purple jacaranda, the golden yellow 'golden shower', our very own white mogra, the summer is just a visual treat. 

Fragrances of the mogra n champak n rangoon creeper/madhumalti, even of the budding neem tree, and, yes, of the ripening alfonso and payari mangoes are absolutely heavenly. My personal top favourite is the petrichor, the sudden summer shower drenching the hot earth, prefarably with a drizzle of a  light hailstorm. 

So sweet are the sounds of the nesting, and hence forever chirping and warbling birds, who make you forget the dreary urban scene around, right? No, I have not forgotten the tactile sense. Remember, getting drenched in the sudden summer shower? Or the first tumbler full of cold water, while bathing? Or the swim like a tadpole in the tank?

Nothing can match the taste of the "amrus", that is, the mango pulp, of the "amba dal", that is, the raw mango special dish, or of the 'cool cool, thanda thanda' home-made 'panhe' or of the fresh mango pickle, right? Why, I love the jamuns and the karawande, the Indian version of the blueberries, not to forget, the "jaam" fruit, that is , the rose apple. Who can miss the watermelon or the jackfruit? Or the cold coffe, just set in the fridge, and forever!

The summer sure satiates senses! No wonder, even far away in time and space, Shakespeare said in Sonnet Number XVIII, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" 

Pratima@ During our childhood summer vacations, Papa used to get the school textbooks which I would have all read up by May end, not to forget, heaps and heaps of story books! Aai used to make 'papad', 'sabudana/sago papdi', the 'batatyacha kis', that is, the grated potato savoury, 'kurdai', 'sandage', the mango pickle, and all the other savouries that would make the entire year a treat for the taste buds. I used to adore the home-made ice-cream in that special ice-cream pot. Lovely days indeed!

Quote of the day:                                                            "Everything Good, everything magical," everything 'cool' happens during the summer. Jenny Han would sure not mind my minor changes to her fun quote.

Word of the day: vacation times.                              Needs no explanation, right? "Nam to suna hi hoga!"  Kafi hai!

Soupçon I. vi

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                      Soupçon I. vi                                         Plague Disadvantage: A Career Advantage

If the 1593 "Venus and Adonis" depicted female desire, exactly opposite is the theme of the other long poem that Shakespeare wrote during the plague years. Incidentally, this 1594 poem entitled "The Rape of Lucrece" is absolutely contemporary.

To begin with, it deals with a husband, Collatine, bragging about a beautiful wife's virtue at the Ardea war camp. It triggers the typical male jealousy in Tarquin, the prince cum officer. In other words, the woman's, Lucretia's, reputation for being good, honest, ideal, becomes a class issue.

When Tarquin, who sneaks out of the war just to tempt her so that his ego is satisfied, cannot manage to woo her with her husband's praise, he threatens her that he would kill a slave, set up the dead body next to her in such a way as if she is embracing the slave, and then murder her stating that he killed her because she was lustful and dishonourable. Talk of the Photoshop and the AI generated images in the post-truth era!

The most interesting part of the poem, which uses the 'rhyme royale' stanza that earlier Chaucer, and later Milton loved, is that it proves that 'the personal is political'! Lucrece commits suicide, and her dead body is taken through the streets of Rome. As a result, the Tarquin royal family is banished, and Rome becomes a republic.  Are not there very many contemporary echoes in these unfortunate proceedings? Hence the argument that this comparatively lesser known poem is relevant today!

In other words, the plague infested years indicate a huge 'break' in Shakespeare's career, his growth as an author. He managed to make the calamity in to a gain. The Lucrece theme echoes in many of his later works. In addition to direct allusions, remember, Lady Macbeth tried the Tarquin trick with King Duncan's  assassination? 

It has been argued that "King Lear", too, was penned during yet another plague outbreak. In fact, historians note that when Shakespeare was at his creative best, theaters, which then were considered vicious and vile, often closed. This week, we have tried to establish that Shakespeare, the genius, used the plague predicament, which had been chasing him since his childhood, to become better as an author!

Pratima Agnihotri                                                      Pune