In Times of Trouble

 Generally I avoid news about this "Ma", that "Kunwar" types. In other words, I am rather allergic to news about groups that deal with spiritual prowess. May be, I am wrong, but it is my firmly held belief that such inner strength, garnered after lots of mind efforts, cannot be a consumer item to be advertised like some two minutes stuff. It becomes business then, right? 

In other words, that sad saga of the recent unnatural death of a sadhvi can never be my kind of stuff. Yet I am going to write about it because it points towards a terrible danger sn(e)akily lurking for women who are, as it is, more and more victimised as technology develops! 

Well, this lady had installed in her "kuti" a cctv camera. Using this safety device, there was some objectionable video shooting of her. Apparently, the person responsible is the mechanic who installed the camera, in cahoots with the menials working for her. 

The intimacy thus videographed was with the 'pater familias' in her opinion. It got morphed to spread the vilest rumours against her. May be, it was to extract money from her. Possibly it was out of professional jealousy. I would not know such details.

What I find appalling is not only the invasion of her privacy but also the involvement of the mechanic. True, these are the DIY times. Yet not everything you can do it yourself, right? If you have to call a mechanic, how to know whether such a person is trustworthy, is not up to some creepy crap?

Our country does not have enough certified guilds of the "blue collar" workers. How to believe such gig workers? How far safe it is to allow them inside your home? In addition to the legit fear of robbery, there is this additional trouble of such camera fixing for some pervert, right?

Softwares such as photoshopping, not to forget the AI enabled Grok, can online create an alternate reality that never existed. Now such trouble offline is truly a bother. Hence the Marquez like title of our blog today that opens up  subtle victimizations of women!

Pratima@'Eliza' type of mini robots, too, transmit their surroundings, it seems. Your own mobile, too, can be tapped to trap you, and beyond that notorious digital arrest. If technology is going to get better by the minute, while human perfidy would be worse by the second, it is indeed times of trouble for women, what with the "no work" times looming ahead, and very soon, what with the five years upper limit by M/S Musk, et al!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Toxic people," argues this anonymous quote, "attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters." Given such sicko's around, you can never stop being wiser!

Word of the day: perfidy                                     Perfidy refers to the negative state/quality of being deceitful and untrustworthy.

Let us learn grammar:                                              As we noted last week, the subject drives the sentence, and determines the verb. Before we discuss this issue further, it is necessary to understand the basic types of verbs. Verbs can be transitive, intransitive or di-transitive.

Intransitive verbs do not have/need an object. Transitive verbs have an object, while di-transitive verbs require two objects, direct and indirect. Tomorrow we shall explore this concept through examples.

An evening in the realm of music

 February 1! The budget day! Till the cows come home, the entire discussion everywhere, on the roads, on the radio,  on the internet, on the t.v. channels to youtube groups is about what would cost more, the eternal grouse that travels times. 

This year though, despite it being Feb First, in the fab evening, I could calmly crawl in to the spaces between better 'notes', and curl my back to worries about dirty monies. Maya Angelou would sure forgive me my take on her famous quote. 

The occasion was the "Swar Utsav", an evening of simply superb music, orchestrated by the "Sapthak" ensemble in Bangalore, in association with the Pune based "Mitra Foundation". 

The first of its kind, the "Swar Utsav", which initiated the Mitra renditions this year,  was a sheer celebration of music, what with the life time achievement award being given to flautist Pandit Nityanand Haldipur, a disciple of the great Annapurna Devi. 

The evening performance was a mix of the vocal and the instrumental. The evening began with Dhananjay Hegde singing the Bhimpalas. This disciple of the Kirana-Atrauli gharanas made the evening meditative with "ab to badi der" and "lagan lagi". His "Yaman" made the longing pulsating in the evening absolutely poignant. 

He was accompanied most lyrically on the harmonium by Suyog Kundalkar, while Pranav Gurav's tabla complimented them both most ably.

 Though the break was too long, what with the air conditioners making it truly wintry, the wait was worth it because what followed after the break was 'sense'-ationally superb. Rakesh Chaursia's "Jog" made the auditory abilities of the audience surfeit with superb sur's. 

While his disciple, Ms Joshi, ably proved what it is to be trained by a 'guru', Ojas Dhadiya's tabla complemented n complimented the magic that a genuine jugalbandi of sur n tal can create. I felt real sorry to have to leave with the "Hamsadhwani" just flute-ing in.

I cannot thank my colleague, Rajeshree Gokhale Madam, the compere of the evening, for the invite. Absolutely looking forward to many such mesmerizing memories, Ma'am!

Pratima@What truly created the 'mahaul' of the 'mehfil' was the cute fact that both the artists, masterful as they were, refused to take themselves too very seriously. While Hegdeji reminded us of our shaky footsteps in to classical music before he began his majestic "Yaman", Rakesh Chaurasia's fun filled raillery made his superb rendition of the classical absolutely en-'light'-ening!

Quote of the day:                                                     "One good thing about music is," asserts Bob Marley, "when it hits you, it causes no pain."  

Word of the day: melody                                             Indian classical music is melodious, not symphonic, it is always argued. 'Melody', the principal part in harmonized music, is an aspect of musical composition concerned with the arrangement of single notes to form a satisfying sequence. So says the dictionary, while artists en-'live'-n it.

Let us learn grammar:                                             Let us not to the melody of music add our daily dose of grammar, okay? We can break that rhythm for a day, right?

N.B.: a blog by Pratima Padmaja-Ramchandra Agnihotri, Pune

The beginning of the end

 Already it is January 31!How time flies fast, n past as a blur of days! It appears as if it was just yesterday that 2026 had begun. Why, it is already the end of January, 2026! 

Ours is an era marked by supersonic mo(ve)ments that just speed fast. As a result, the attention span is minimal most. Mind you, I am not talking merely of kids obsessed with cocomelon. Adults are no better! Look at the way we consume news now. Earlier people used to actually read a newspaper. Now a days, most do not even watch the t.v. news. The source often is a quickie online! 

Consequently, the celebrities these days are, too,  of the "here today, gone tomorrow"  variety, right?  As it is, given the explosion of excessive (n obsessive!) information overload about everyone n everything, hardly is there any alluring aura, a subtle mystique about anyone. The very many "managed" competitions are, moreover, spewing celebrities dime a dozen! 

Hence the title of our blog today which wonders what people would do when there would not be any work, as already  abundantly promised by the AI establishment. May be, hence such habit-formation of the masses to be passive spectators, quiet(ened) consumers. Are not we giant sized babies, happy with our own pacifiers!

Pratima@Sometimes I wonder if we are dancing to the Einstein rhythm. What do I mean? Well, the great Albert Einstein never put his feet on Mars, but his equations took that giant step long before any rover could walk the surface of any planet, forget Mars.

When he published his ideas on general relativity more than a century ago, as scientists would put it, he proposed something outrageous for his time: gravity does not just pull on objects, it stretches and warps time itself.

For decades, that sounded like pure abstraction, adored because it was Einsteinian. A thing for school n college chalk n blackboards, and university journals, not for the dusty red deserts on the Mars! 

Now, ultra-precise atomic clocks and radio signals bouncing between the Earth and the Mars are quietly confirming what our Albert knew an eon ago, namely, time on Mars is not flowing at the same rate as time on Earth! 

May be, hence, we on earth are so zapped by the time curve wherein there is always the end of the beginning! And, hopefully, vice versa!

Quote of the day:                                                        Says Sage Heraclitus, "we never put our feet twice in the same river." 

Word of the day: fugacious.                                  Fugacious is a rather literary word which means fleeting or transient. Rather like a sensational news time our blog mentions in the initial paragraphs! Sure does it have a fugacious claim on the public attention. The term  is from Botany, where it refers to falling or fading early.

Significance

 How does anything get any significance? It is due to thoughts, emotions, actions associated with it, right? Otherwise, each day is like every other day. From the first rays of the sunshine to the moon rise, and beyond. The same day, the same routine! 

January 30 has been significantly different though. It was on this day in 1933 that Hitler became the German Chancellor, an event which changed the history of the world, and undoubtedly of the inter-war Germany. 

Far away in India, the day is darkly significant, too. It was on January 30, that Gandhiji was assassinated. Tragic as the event was, it assumed a trenchant significance  in Maharashtra coz in the wake of the horrific event, countless Brahmin families suffered indescribable atrocities. 

What then is the significance of not only the martyrdom of Gandhiji, individually  but also as a way of life? In a world full of subtle, unseen but efficient falsehoods, getting more and more entrenched due to technology? 

The meaning of the day, in my opinion, consists of questioning, and avoiding like the hell itself, the hunger for control, whether physical or psychological. What do you say? 

Pratima@Tragic as Gandhiji's assassination was, equally cruel was the pogrom in Maharashtra against Brahmins. Casteless society, a forever dream! 

Quote of the day:                                                        "The darkest places in hell," asserts Dante, "are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."

Word of the day: wily                                                Wily means skilled at gaining an advantage, especially deceitfully.                                   If you are wily and ignore an injustice, you are  UNFAIR. 

Let us learn grammar: The basic most sentence structure in English is subject+ verb. A few examples can be: The wind blows. The door opens. The lightening strikes.                                                                               Of course, we can extend these structures. As we go along, we shall know how. We need to know the types of verbs for such an explanation. More about verbs and their types when we meet after the weekend 

The Genie in the Lamp

 Have you heard the name Tim Berners-Lee? Does the name click? Okay, a clue! He created something that you use day in and day out, and not merely for "entertainment" raised to infinity. 

No guesses, hain? Okay, no issues. He is the Oxford/MIT profe who invented the internet. A great person, right? Believe me, he began the works as early as 1989, and kept on perfecting it. By now, literally each and everyone across the globe is using his product. 

Why remember him now? Is that your question? Well, it is just to prove to you that not only is he highly intelligent, but that he is a good soul as well, a pretty rare combination. 

Well, he thinks that the internet, his brain child, is being grossly misused. The internet has grown up to be excessively commercialized. Yes, that is his grouse, and he is up in arms to undo the harm. A great gesture indeed!

The internet which is much better than the genie in Alladin's lamp, is, however, more like the slave of the wicked magician. Open,  and actually much worse, subtle, data theft, blood curdling crimes such as the digital arrest which dupe the victims of a lifetime, the Grok like AI apps that make women's lives much more miserable, the internet, in addition to excessive commercialisation, is almost a den of crime. Good, its father is thinking of straightening out the errant kid!

Pratima@ All the conscientious inventors have always opposed the misuse of their creative concepts. Einstein who opposed the making of the atomic bomb is another major example.

The quote of the day:                                               "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge," argues Carl Sagan.

 The word of the day: fluke.                                      By fluke is by sheer chance. Nothing in science is by fluke. As Edison summed it up, "it is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration "  

Let us learn grammar:                                             An English sentence, in regular, non-poetic, non-literary usage begins with a subject. The subject is followed by a verb. The kernel of an English sentence is the subject-verb concord. That is to say, the verb agrees with the number (singular/plural) of the subject. The subject is singular, so has to be the verb.

 That is to say, with the third person singular, he/she/it, the verb is verb+s in simple present, is/was +verb-ing in continuous tenses, and has +participle with the perfect. With the modal (we shall soon understand the verb types, moods, tenses), 'be able to', it has to be 'I am able to', 'he/she is able to. ' Tomorrow we shall look at lots and lots of examples of the subject-verb concord. 

Death: A few after thoughts

 Death is like an  earthquake. Never to be exactly predicted. Equally devastating it is. Leaves a lot of wreckage and rubble in its wake. Equally horrible are the after shocks. 

In a way, the moment we are born, begins our inevitable journey to death. Death, however, seems to like the game of hide-n-suddenly seek. Look at the tragic plane accident of Ajit Dada Pawar. The news was so appalling that initially it appeared unbelievable. 

Undoubtedly, he was a leader with a huge mass appeal. Why, the auto fellow, who drove me to college this morning, got a call regarding the sad demise midway, and this man in his fifties had tears in his eyes, and he kept on wiping his tears almost till we reached the college. 

Ajit Dada's communication style undoubtedly had that rustic directness which made his speeches full blast fun for his audience. There was a kind of honest openness about him, right? Remember the "dam" incident? On his own, he chose a fast at Karad as a mode of self flagellation and auto correction. May his soul rest in peace!

Now a few after thoughts about the after shocks of this tragic event. Is it right, as is quoted, on the part of "Maharashtra Times" to start discussing the 'wealth' Dada amassed, within a few hours of his sudden demise? Well, at least, let the final funeral rites get over before such eternal politicking begins. 

Yet another after thought which hugely disturbs me is the  media circus about the cause of the tragic accident. Self advertised analysts started blaming the poor pilot even before the 'black box' was found. 

Does it occur to these self declared Sherlock Holmes that the pilot, too, is dead! Imagine the plight of his family who has to hear at such a tragic moment how his service contract was twice terminated for drunken flying! Nobody knows how far true such rumours are. Why malign a dead man just because he is a nobody? 

How about the rest of the crew? Is it right to ask silly questions to a grieving father, thrusting, moreover, the mic literally in to his mouth? Well, death has a finality to it which must make everyone more sensitive and human(e)!

Pratima@ I taught in the S.P. college for two years. As it was a reserved category post, I could not continue teaching there, though even now I meet my S.P. students who still remember our literature lectures after so many years.

Mr. Ashtekar, who was the sports-in-charge there, wanted to honour Ajit Dada for his contribution to the sports culture, especially in the S.P. College. He asked me to write the text of the citation to be presented to Ajit Dada. Apparently, Dada liked it very much!

Quote of the day:                                                          "It is indeed sad that the person you 'know' suddenly transforms in to someone you 'knew'! The world moves on, goes on as if nothing happened!" An anonymous quote.

Word of the day: dirge                                              A dirge is a lament for the dead, especially one forming a part of the funeral rites. Literature is full of sensitive dirges that capture the sense of the forever loss most feelingly. 

Let us learn grammar:                                   .           Let us continue the discussion of sentence formation tomorrow onwards.

Equity: An Acrostic

Each second the trial to be equitable!         Quail we never before what separates 'us'.  Under-estimated ever is 'our' genuineness.  Indeed shrivelled 'our' prejudice(s) n pride!     The victory roar! Easy target is an innocent.   Years pass, yet mo(ve)ments recur as a test! 

Pratima@Be it the murder of a lecturer in Malad, Mumbai; be it the constant harassment of a woman who is the object of a one-sided obsession of the richie-rich n mighty; be it the insensitive legalities of all sorts, hey, Equity, indeed where art thou?

Quote of the day:                                                  "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion," asserts Albert Camus, a great thinker and a greater author. 

Word of the day: Fair-mindedness                       Fair-mindedness is the intellectual virtue of judging situations impartially, without bias, prejudice, or dishonesty, by considering all viewpoints equally.                                                   It involves actively listening to others, setting aside ego-centered perspectives, and treating people with respect, which is crucial for critical thinking and fostering equity.  So says the dictionary! 

Let us learn grammar:                                               The subject drives the sentence. It is in a way the in-charge. The subject can be a noun of any variety, common, countable, singular, or otherwise. We have already discussed all the types of a noun, while trying to understand the article-usage.                                                           Similarly, the subject can be a pronoun. I/we are first person pronouns (the speaker of the utterance), you/you are the second person pronouns (the listener of the utterance), (s)he/they (the object of the utterance). The first item of all these pairs is the singular pronoun, while the second is the plural versions. Pronouns do not require any articles.