Akshay Trutiya

 Unique is this festival. It is celebrated on the shudhdh (waxing moon fortnight) tritiya (third day) of Vaishakh. Season wise, clearly it implies the onset of the burning hot summer. Yet such is the abundance of joy, happiness and contentment on this day that the blistering heat does not seem to matter.

 Well, this year, the Akshay Tritiya appeared indeed special as there were hailstorms in many places, thus adding a "thanda, thanda, cool, cool" effect to the alfonso mangoes special enrichment of this day, marked by abundance, often signified by new purchases, of cars, for instance. Bro Dear is sure to agree, right? 

Just look at the day. It venerates Lord Parashurama who combined the Bramha and the kshatra luminescence, that is, both wisdom and valour. In the current opening up of the typical traditional definition of caste beyond the post-post-colonial rhetoric, such an alternative look at the forever cast caste is a fulfilling look at identity politics. 

As per yet another legend, this festival celebrates the most moving meeting of Lord Krishna and Sudama which reveals the abundance of good faith, friendship and bonhomie beyond material status. 

Oh, yes, according to yet another myth, Akshay Tritiya is supposed to be the day when that abundance of purification, the Ganges, descended on the earth. 

Let us not forget that it was on this day that Draupadi received the "Akshay Patra" which sustained her, and the Pandava reputation for beneficence, during the extremely tough exile era. 

No wonder, it is the day of new beginnings that last forever, because Sage Vyasa began dictating the Mahabharata itself to Lord Ganesh on this very day. .

Very important is this day to other sects and religions as well. It marks the Basweshwar Jayanti. Sant Basweshwar's was yet another attempt at a democratic space beyond caste identities. I have translated some of his "vachanas". Some other time, will discuss my "vachana" presentation. 

For the Jain community, it is the most significant occasion when the first tirthankar, Sage Rishabh Deva, ended his year long fast and accepted sugarcane juice to break his fast. Honestly, as one of our earlier blogs discussed it, sugarcane juice on a hot afternoon day is no less than the heavenly manna itself. 

May this day of special prayers, charity and forever prosperity make your lives full, too. Long live Akshay Tritiya!

Pratima@ Aai had her own version of the Akshay Patra, a brand new vessel she would use only once annually, on this day for ensconcing in it the special prasad. It indeed is beautiful and unique. 

Quote of the day:                                                           "Doing what you love the most is the best source of abundance in your life," say many influencers. 

Word of the day: cornucopia                                      Cornucopia is a symbol of abundance, traditionally represented as a curved, horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruit, vegetables, and flowers, often called a "horn of plenty". It represents an inexhaustible, generous store of items. 

Soupçon I. i

 As Akshay Tritiya is the day of auspicious beginnings, when Sage Ved Vyas himself began dictating the Mahabharata to Lord Ganesh, let us begin this brand new blog. 

Let me explain its title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It means 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, they 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. i

Who but Shakespeare can be the best candidate to thus float a new venture? Remember the Corona confinement? Shakespeare, too, twice suffered such a predicament. Which were the years? Which disease was it? How was it looked at by the common man, the majority of spectators then? How did Shakespeare respond to such closures of the cultural space? How did it affect his career? Such and many more questions would be so designed and answered that memorising the answers would be no trouble at all. See you then, every Monday through Friday! 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                        Pune

Protecting the Past in the Present for the Future

 Which are the visible symbols of our cultural identity? There sure are many, beginning with the bindi that caught the sight of the Lenskart recently, for example. Undoubtedly, such personal markers matter.

Yet, in the larger public sphere, a nation's civilizational/cultural wealth is often associated with its monuments. These iconic structures are annually celebrated on the world heritage day, that is, on April 18.

Given the actual and ideological wars that are right now, and as always, the open wounds, worrisome is the future of these treasures from our past. How we hand them over safe and sound to the future generations that is now the real issue, given awful threats such as atomic and chemical warfare! 

Pratima@ In the Indian context, April  18 stands for a real monument of our society. Yes, April 18 is the birth anniversary of Maharshi Karve, a great social reformer in India in the field of women's welfare. 

He advocated widow remarriage, and, as a widower, he himself remarried a widow. Karve was a pioneer in promoting widows' education. He founded the first women's university in India, the SNDT Women's University, in 1916. He organized a conference against the practice of devdasi. He started 'Anath Balika Ashram', an orphanage for girls which helped women get a social standing.  Truly, he gave posterity a present that purified the past! 

Quote of the day:                                                         "Embrace your heritage with pride. Remember that history and culture are a part of who you are," asserts Maya Angelou. 

Word of the day: heritage                                         Heritage, according to the UN,  refers to the traditions, beliefs, culture, and physical artifacts passed down through generations, representing a shared history and identity. It includes tangible items (monuments, artifacts) and intangible elements (customs, folklore) valued in the present and preserved for the future. It signifies a legacy from the past. 

Let us laugh n loud!

 Today let our blog be silly, silly PJ's. Why so? Well, T. S. Eliot wrote a poem entitled "Preludes". This strikingly radical poem, which changed wor(l)ds, ends with a brilliant image which captures the futility of reality. 

T. S. Eliot ends his poem with "wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;/The worlds revolve like ancient women/ gathering fuel in vacant lots."

So much in so many places, the high space parliament to hi-fi corporate companies, is so astounding that reeling, like the Eliot image, is the effect! After such realities, what sincerity? what seriousness? what authenticity? what 'alter-natives'? Instead, as ever, only very many narratives! Hence let us, too, wipe our hands across our mouths and laugh out loud!

1) The Trust deficit:

Why do not scientists trust atoms?                              Because they make up everything!

2) The prize and the news 

Why did the scarecrow win a Nobel prize?             Because she was outstanding in her field.

3) Such is 'no bell'!                              

  Knock, Knock!                                                               Why? Who?                                                         "Nobel"                                                                           Why? Who?                                                                "Nobel, that’s why I knocked!"

4) Shame! Shame!

Why did the tomato blush?                                        Because he saw the salad dressing.

5) The final cut! 

Why is grass so dangerous?                                       Because it is full of blades!

Pratima@When realities are crazy, laughter is the last refuge! The more PJ-ish, the better!

Quote of the day:                                                          "Rhetoric is not important," asserted Nelson Mandela. "Actions are!" 

Word of the day: Disillusionment                         Disillusionment is a sense is of disappointment and unhappiness resulting from discovering the truth about someone or something previously respected or admired. It occurs when reality fails to match high expectations, often leading to a disenchanting loss of faith in ideals. 

Getting a job

 Have you noticed some quite crazy stuff recently? Yes, it deals with this very touchy theme entitled 'getting a job'. Let us today look at it in some detail. First and foremost, there is the AI scare. True, new jobs may emerge, but they ARE going to be scarce, and absolutely focussed on higher order (intellectual/thinking) skills.

 Students who never ever attend lectures, colleges where semesters are not even of twenty five lectures, institutions where not even half the portion is taught as lectures just do not take place (Who cares, anyways!!?!! Teachers get wonderfully well paid, which most often is their only goal. Indirectly, or even quite shamelessly, openly, directly, students are often told (about) the possible/important questions. So they, too, are happy that they get a degree without any studying, in addition to developing 'skills' which would make the Bloom taxonomy blush!), given such realities, would such students have the mental capacity for, forget higher order, any thinking at all?

Anyways, there are any number of 'coaches' on the social media circuit who advise openly that jobs cannot be gotten through Naukri.com or even LinkedIn. Their open secret is creating a clout, developing contacts, managing connects!!! Just listen to/watch their ads that come along every YouTube video. They ARE quite open about this fact.

So the cat is finally out of the bag. To get a job, you require either, though prefarably both, of the two c's. The two c's are 'contact' and/or  'caste'.  If you have the right contacts, you need not be able to speak/write a single correct sentence in English, your so-called copy-paste Ph.D. thesis on the banal most topic/theme under a guide, whose own English and scholarship are extremely dicey, would have errors on-n-from the title page itself, and yet you get a job in an English medium college, and, yes, you would win awards for being a celebrated teacher and a great scholar!

I do not even want to, forget dare to, mention the other 'c'! Why am I talking about the college education alone? Well, unfortunately, in our context, a degree, anyhow gotten, is always associated with jobs! Truly unfortunate because even post-graduate degrees are gotten, even with a first class/distinction, by students who would go to college only for the exam or related duties, not to forget the social events! What to say about students depending on 'guides', now AI is thus 'enabling', when teachers themselves use such!!!

One of my M.A. students, she herself could not construct a single correct sentence, was telling me how uneducated her in-laws, especially her sister-in-law was her real target, would be. I kept on listening to the silly tirade. At one point, it got so crazy that I just could not control my laughter. When I pin-pointedly asked her a few very simple questions which totally exposed her post-graduate ignorance, she chose to keep quiet!

This total lack of, forget knowledge, even information begins at the school level. Kids are sent to tuitions from the first standard!!! Why? What is (not) happening in the teenie-weenie classrooms? What are the parents themselves up to? Why cannot they bond better with their own kid by teaching her/him basics at the primary level!?!

When the base to top is so completely  hollow, how would,  forget the higher order, skills develop at all? Anyways, why are skills currently getting reduced to glitzy event management without the least content? Most all of the traditional disciplines, courses and colleges would repeat the same sad story! The sick n silly ways students complete their entire term related assignments in a day, study for the exam just the night before, is pathetic. 

No wonder, to get a job, you require contacts, rather than intelligence, imagination, creativity (which is now reduced to event management related DIY activities!), scholarship! Sad scenario indeed!

Pratima@The very institution called college and/or degree would very soon undergo radical changes. Want an example or two? Forget the online degrees from major universities. Foreign universities with world wide fame are setting up local campuses here in India with unique, relevant, absolutely contemporary courses. Major companies are offering online certifications which make candidates corporate ready! All along, colleges are busy with petty politicking and internal gangsterism, eh, groupism!

Quote of the day:                                                          "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors in to windows," asserts H.J.Harris.

Word of the day: integrity                                        Integrity is the quality of being honest, enjoying strong ethical principles, and maintaining consistency in actions, values, and methods. It implies incorruptibility and wholeness, often described as doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Synonyms include honesty, honour, probity, rectitude, says the Cambridge Dictionary.

Art is (He)art!

 Everyone blames the internet as the devil that killed reading. I do not completely agree with such a judgement. I do feel that the information overload the internet may unleash, if used thinkingly, makes us more aware and conscious. 

Look at the date April 15, for instance. Yes, despite soaking in the aura of THE Leonardo da Vinci whose 'Monalisa', 'The Last Supper' and the 'Vetruvian Man' have awed the whole world, this artist to whom, while teaching the Elizabethan Era, I have each time referred to as THE Renaissance Man who strode the worlds of both art and science, while referring to Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" as an alternative look at 'his-story', yes, despite all such acquaintances, I did not remember that April 15 is his birth anniversary! 

Apparently, the UNESCO has declared it to be the World Art Day.  So informed me the internet! Hence my enthusiastic celebration of the day because we do need such a celebration of art, especially right now, when the very many direct and indirect wars have brought the wor(l)d real close to self-destructions of all sorts! 

Right now we do need very many George Orwell's and Ernest Hemingway's and Picasso's whose art, whether verbal or painterly, spoke from the heart, and denounced the soulless cruelties and tactless uglinesses of the all-destroying wars! 

Art, whatever the type, plastic, performing, spatial, kinetic, verbal, that is, be it painting, sculpture, a play or a music/dramatic performance or be it a wizardry of language and meaning  in a poem/a novel/a play, art enriches us.

Art equalises us, too. It shows us, for instance, the unmistakable connect between the lower and the higher forms of the aesthetic expression. For me, for example, the unique perspectives an artistic rangoli provides makes me understand better the more difficult, enriching, energising art of abstract painting!

Art is waging another war these days. Yes, it has to negotiate with the AI that now seems to be infringing the very existence. Yet, the imagination, the individualism and the unmistakable spiritual aspect at the core of (e)very art would sure give richer dimensions to the AI itself! In brief, art is (he)art, and, hereafter, I shall never ever hereafter forget to celebrate this day in my own way!

Pratima@Every art is the best because its appreciation simultaneously gives us joy, makes us a better thinker, and adds a unique liberating perspective otherwise just not possible. Long live art as it enlivens every heart!

Quote of the day:                                                           "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life," asserts Pablo Picasso.

Word of the day: emancipatory                                 Art is great because it is emancipatory. Emancipatory refers, according to the Webster Dictionary, to actions, ideas, or laws designed to produce freedom, liberation, or release from social, legal, or political restraints. Art is emancipatory because it focuses on empowering individuals or groups by subtly overturning oppression, promoting social justice, and reducing the influence of controlling structures. 

How big/small ?!?

 Whenever you are a little giddy about some sizable success of yours or whenever you feel absolutely lost due to some fat failure, be it the professional arena or the public sphere or the private space, you should always remember your place, they say. 

What/where exactly is this location? Want to know it? Okay, let us present it on the descending scale. In other words, an 'i-ndividual' should forever remember that in a grand universe with countless galaxies, there is one galaxy known as the Milky Way which has very many solar systems out of which i inhabit one city in a solar system on a planet which has seven continents and some hundred and ninety-five countries. Ah! Enough, right? I need not add the exact percentage of water and land, okay? 

Sure a very ennobling thought or a truly belittling one! Depends on the perspective for sure! An idea that forever must reside in every consciousness and each conscience, no doubt!

Yet is not it worth worrying why such a perspective is never ever the parameter of a Trump or a Mojtaba Khamenei? Why does not this scale zapp every owner of each war machine making industry? How come each small time power broker, every authority as punitive that much worse, never ever remembers such a perspective? 

Why is this paradigm only for a genuine sincere committed individual who cares for, is considerate about every one in his/her ambit and for every issue beyond it? Is not it in a way (of) affixing? Hence, YES, I would surely always keep in mind this descent. Yet i would glory in my small success set up against all the big ways intent on ruining it totally, just as I would admit the honest hurt felt when a good effort is badly felled and/or hauntingly fails! 

After all said and done, how big is the world? As large as the size of the head, right? And, oh, yes, how vast is the despair? As huge as every stone thrown at me and as sharp as each splinter consciously  planted in my way, right? Who anyways worries if I live/die, unless it to their own motives they tie!?! So, live full, do worry a little, too, because who knows when would all end!!! 

Pratima@ It is indeed nice to now and then to look up the Stoic teachings which subtly open up the infinity of the 'i-ndividual' paired with/poised against all sorts of systems! 

Quote of the day:                                                          "To see in a grain of sand a world/and the heaven in a wild flower/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/and an eternity in every passing second."                                                            William Blake would sure forgive me the minor changes I added to his great quote.

Term of the day: frame of reference                         A frame of reference is a coordinate system or set of axes used to define the position, orientation, and motion of objects, acting as a "viewpoint" for observers. It establishes a standard for measuring movement, where motion is relative to the observer's chosen frame, stationary or moving, for instance. So says the dictionary. Better to feel it on your pulse, too!