Worlds @ words

 April 23 celebrates books which open for us worlds through words. The occasion deserves this ceremonious celebration. April 23 marks both the birth (given the baptisma certificate on April 26) and the death anniversary of  Shakespeare, the ultimate wordsmith in English who, in addition to his great creative output, coined any number of English words still very much in use. No wonder, April 23 is also celebrated as the English language day. 

Soupçon I. iv

 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. iv                                                 The Dis-ease and the Public Space   

The pandemic that could have almost ruined a nascent career began in August, 1592; peaked circa December, 1592, and was officially declared under control in December, 1593 , though sporadic cases continued till end, 1595!

There was a method in the mad spread of the epidemic. The dominion of death drear moved from the outer parishes to the center of London. As those days, the theatres, such as 'The Rose' and 'The Curtain', were in the Shoreditch area just outside London, when the authorities decided to close public spaces, the theatre world suffered hugely. 

The bubonic plague had claimed some fifteen thousand lives by December, 1592. Something was indeed rotten in the state of England! The bacterium Yersinia pestis which caused the notorious "ring of roses" thrived in the fleas on rats. Given the  terrible stink, it was thought that herbs could heal it. 

The fault was not in the stars, though the planetary alignment of Saturn passing through Cancer and Leo was blamed. With the theatres closed ad infinitum, how to survive, that was the question. In Soupçon I. v, let us find out how Shakespeare rose to the awful occasion 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune     

Memories

 Generally I do not much vouch for jingoism. Yet I cannot but remember the Pahalgam visuals. Exactly a year ago, when most all indians were in the "God is in His heaven-/ Everything is all right with the world" kind of contented spring mood, out of nowhere emerged terrorists, and opened fire on the handful happily frolicking tourists at Pahalgam! 

The scenes were heart rending, a young bride, for instance, with the wedding mehendi on her palms and the marriage chuda on her wrists sitting dazedly near her brand new husband's dead body, her hardly two days old marriage forever over. 

Much more moving were the tragic stories narrated by the survivors. Fathers and husbands were brutally bulleted right in front of their children and wives. Two of such suffering families live in the Aranyeshwar area, some two kilometers away from my home! 

Across the whole of India, all of us have such neighbours never known, yet whose intense pain we all experienced deeply. All of us felt anger not only against the jihadi murderers, but also against the shallow sympathisers who rushed to Pahalgam so that would continue unabated the tourist business of the locals, without whose overt or subtle support, such havoc could not have taken place in the first place! 

Well known is the rest of the story, Operation Sindoor, the creepy, crazy politicking over it, the usual headlines, the typical t.v. debates, the same sorry stuff searching the 'breaking news'! Yet just unforgettable are those shots, both by the cruel Ak-47's and by the candid cameras, the hurtful memories! 

Pratima@ True, April 22 is the National Services day, just as it is the World Earth Day, celebrated the same routine way. But, for me, matter memories reflecting 'the tender grace of a day that is dead/will never come back to me.'

Quote of the day:                                                            "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," says Martin Luther King.

Word of the day: terrorism                                         Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against civilians or governments to induce fear, and achieve political, ideological, or religious goals. It often involves non-state actors targeting non-combatants, though state-sponsored terrorism does exist. 

Soupçon I. iii

 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. iii                                                        Carping Criticism                               By the time, the "dis-ease" decided to turn life topsy-turvy, Shakespeare had arrived enough to invite bitterly biting criticism. Yes, one of the privileged University Wits, Robert Greene, in his "Groats-worth of Wits" (1592), lashes at this 'upstart', a 'crow beautified with our wings ', the "Shake-scene" with 'bombast blank verse', dismissed as 'Johannes factotum', in brief, a Jack of all trades. There is an equally nasty swipe at the 'tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide' reference from Henry VI, Part III.

Yet, given the epidemic, Shakespeare's unmistakable emergence on the cultural scene, which itself suffered a complete closure, was in danger of being wiped out. In the next spoonful of "Soupçon", we shall learn more about the 'dis-ease', how it impacted Shakespeare, and how he negotiated it. As this is the very first week of "Soupçon", let the MCQ questions not appear yet.

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune  

A Great Soul

 The Chardham Yatra is a unique soul-stirring experience felt on the pulse. Every nano second of that transformative feel is etched forever in memory. Yes, undoubtedly, the awe-inspiring yet unbelievably calming grandeur of the Himalayas inspires such a sense.

Yet there is another presence, mightier than the Himalayas, who accompanies every breath i take. Yes, Joshi Math onwards, the great Adi Shankaracharya is unmistakably the immense existence who transmogrifies me from a traveller in to a pilgrim.

An astounding legend indeed! Sure, in his infinite wisdom, he transformed a moribund religion in to a vibrant way of thinking, of becoming, of being. Yet, just imagine, in those days traversing those great heights, and not merely metaphorically!

A young man, nay, an adolescent, from far away Kerala! All alone! There would not have been any defined roads, there must have been any number of wild animals across the path, and there was the chimeric climate, changing literally any moment as per its maddening moods. How could he have managed the feat?

I am hugely humbled each time I think of that great achievement. 'He' 'then' takes a dip in to the freezing bitingly cold water so that 'we' can 'now' 'enjoy' the darshan of Badrinath, which currently is so very touristy! 

On the banks of the mightily rushing Alaknanda in spate, her swirling waters lashing the banks as I perform the tarpan kriya for Aai-Papa, I re-live the magic of His charm, He being both, Lord Shankara and the Adi Shankaracharya.

Meeting him at Kedarnath, despite the silly debates about his very many samadhi's at very many places, is as primal a feel as touching the Bheem Shila that appeared out of nowhere to protect the temple. Honestly, this young man who cherished, revived, resurrected Hinduism at a critical juncture, and so intelligently, rationally and yet most poetically, is the real bulwark whom I cannot adore enough. 

No wonder, I did not mind building the customary small little home of pebbles near His samadhi, instead of troubling a 'kandi'wala bearing my weight in the 'pithu' all the steep way up to the Bhairava temple! Honestly, literally 'Beda par' as the mendicant sadhu told me when, despite the chill and the winds, I managed to light the diya Raju got from London, as the priest in the sanctum sanctotum of the Kedarnath temple so infinitely gently, and, eh, absolutely scientifically, had on his own explained the 'no diya' policy there. Enriching, fulfilling, immensely humbling!

Pratima@ Throughout the Chardham Yatra, which I yet again re-lived due to the Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti, every nano second, I kept on thinking of three individuals. Oh, yes, of Aai, given her hyper-sensitivity and the toughness of those wild pathways,  of Papa, for going there, without proper preparation, and, oh, yes, of the great Adi Shankaracharya who traversed all sorts of tough terrains so that we survive!

Quote of the day:                                                         "It is only great souls who know the glory of being good," said Sophocles.

Word of the day: Advait Vedanta                                Advaita Vedanta is a non-dualistic Hindu philosophy, primarily systematized by Adi Shankaracharya, asserting that the individual soul, atman, is identical to the ultimate reality, Bramhan. It teaches that the perceived world is, maya, an illusion, and mukti, liberation is attained by realizing this fundamental oneness. The core belief is the non-duality of the atma-paramatma, the individual soul and the divine.

Soupçon I. ii

 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. ii                                                  Shakespeare and the Dis-ease 

Yes, like the Corona confinement in the twenty-first century, twice was Shakespeare's career curtailed due to a deadly 'dis-ease'.

The first of these closures is closer to the notorious "lost years". Yes, Shakespeare's life leaves a lot to imagination, beginning with the exact date of his birth. Yet the "lost years" are truly apocryphal. 

As this is the first week of our attempt, no quizzes, no MCQ's this week. Instead let us share information.

The "lost years" refer to the seven years hitch, 1585 to 1592, that is, after his twins' baptism to his certain emergence as a London playwright. There are not any definitive records. Instead, there are all sorts of 'his-stories' ranging from run-away activities such as poaching to duties as (h)ostler, for instance. 

Yet, by this time, he was an all-in-one wizard, that is, an actor, a playwright, and a shareholder in the theater company called 'Lord Chamberlain's Men'. The 'dis-ease' was, in brief, a financial calamity.

By then, he had to his credit comedies  and histories such as "Comedy of Errors", "Richard III" and the three parts of "Henry VI". As the histories dissected weak, corrupt regimes, it was clear that the Tudor dynasty was indirectly being praised n promoted.

 In other words,  such was Shakespeare's stage success in these early years that in 1592 itself, the unhappy year of the 'dis-ease', he was viciously trolled.  How? By whom? Let us learn the details by and by. Suffice it, for the time being, to say that those 'dis-ease' days, too, were indeed tough!

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune

The AI hallucinates!

 The AI IS unmistakably getting more and more human! Why am I so very sure? Is that your question? Well, my write-up on the AI and literature teaching is ready. Yet I am in to the 'finishing touches' stage before submitting it finally. 

Hence I am furreting out the minutest unavoidable but available detail. Thus I have come across this notion of the AI hallucinating. Yes, the AI does hallucinate, and, the fun of it is that the process is no different from the human hallucinations, delusions, self-deceptions. Is the AI getting more and more human! You bet! 

Okay, let us begin at the beginning. Let us understand this concept. The AI itself describes the AI hallucination as follows: "An AI hallucination is a confident but incorrect or fabricated response generated by an artificial intelligence model, such as a chatbot, that does not align with reality or the provided context. Instead of admitting a lack of knowledge, the AI often generates plausible-sounding falsehoods, such as fake citations, fake news, or incorrect data."

Absolutely human! Always far away from the real lived life; instead one's own blind surmises, supporting them widely and wildly, however much contrary to facts they may be! Never admit lack of knowledge or a mistake! Instead produce/provide falsehoods cloaked as suppositions, which are nothing but gossip dressed as narratives! 

So very many examples from very many possibilities! The AI, this newly admitted entry to the Academy of Life, has already beaten the director, mankind, black n blue (not merely metaphorically either!) in this regard as well. Long live the AI! 

Pratima@ In its hallucinatory hollowness, the AI is not humane either, and that is the tragedy!

Quote of the day:                                                                 "If you understand hallucination and illusion, you don't blindly follow any leader," says Marguerite Young. Holds true of the thought leader of the many, known as the AI.

Word of the day: Delusion                                           Delusion is a fixed, false belief firmly held despite contradictory evidence and lack of cultural consensus. Symptoms involve unshakable, illogical beliefs (persecution, grandeur, jealousy).