Pune Proud

 Pune IS my city, well, currently metamorphosing in to a 'metro' in all senses of this term. True, I was not born in Pune, but I have been brought up here, even when my childhood got spent in other cities. In brief, l love Pune. 

Why this panegyric to Pune? Well, Pune simply deserves the praise. You, too, would agree with me if you were to have a look at the latest acquisition of Pune, the Metro Route, "Pink Line Number Three" .

To begin with, this new addition, though running rather late, is itself smart, sophisticated, sauve. The sleek glass doors, the posh interiors, the perfect platforms n stations with the latest gadgets, the very look of this 'rail gadi', which is energy-efficient uniquely, is wow. 

While the "beech wale stations" that for a 'dekho' say 'ruk, ruk, ruk', the simply superb skyline that the metro zooms past has the picture perfect élégance of a well designed movie set. If you were not to know that it is the Pune-Hinjewadi-Mann scenario, you could easily confuse it with the skyscape of New York or Tokyo. 

Yes, Pune-Hinjewadi has that unique combo of the traditional n the modern. This city, supposed to be the Oxford of the East, has indeed been riding in the right direction, from a city of cycles to a town of two-wheelers to electric buses roaming the suburbs to now a 'metro' every which way.

Well, as the Hinjewadi 'Phases' boast of international institutions, this metro line appears savvier then the other two lines which, too, are quite some beauties. Oh, yes, the rakes are squeaky clean just as the stations are elevator-enabled. Have to be! After all, ye Pune hai meri jaan! 

Pratima@ In the typical Pune progressive way, the "Pink Line 3" would be run by women pilots, and it was shaped in to its 'propah' avatar by ladies, too. In brief, Pune's ''Pink Line 3'' metro makes us Punekar's proud indeed! Hope this latest amenity, as it soon settles up-n-down, would downsize the terrible traffic woes of M/S Hinjewadi and Co and/or Associates!!!

Quote of the day:                                                         Currently "the common man enjoys amenities which in ages gone by were unknown and therefore inaccessible even to the richest people," says Ludwig von Mises. 

Word of the day: amenity/amenities                          This term, singular and/or plural, refers to everything that makes a place pleasant or easy to live in.

N.B. : Technology, if used sensibly and without threatening the ambience in any way, makes accessible to us amenities and comforts that could not even be imagined by kings and emperors! Hence the Chief Minister of Maharashtra deserves a "thank you", whatever might be your political/ideological affiliations/inclinations/associations. 

Further n Far Flexi Education

 The Covid days changed the educational scenario suddenly, and decisively. Yes, earlier, too, there was Open Education. It was not mainstream though. Nor was it totally online. There would be regular weekend lectures. I should know because I have taught UG to PG courses to Open University students  as well. Some of them thus grew quite friendly with English Literature so much so that they positively began reading the actual texts, rather than the ready made to order notes provided by the concerned University.

It was, however, the corona virus that made online education an inevitable alternative to the till then standard offline education. Screens were seen as the alternative to blackboards, and so on. Why remember those 'heroic' days which gave an entire batch a unique nomenclature? 

Well, November 2 to November 6 is the National Distance Learning Week. This annual event, celebrated especially in the U.S., would have a slew of webinars (yet another post-Covid development) debating the worth n relevance of the flexi Distance Mode Education. 

In my opinion, such an event is an utmost necessity currently because the AI is drastically shifting the gears of the educational machinery. Our academics may not show very many symptoms of this 'dis-', or rather, 'un-' ease. Yes, though! The AI IS re-defining academics. 

Education, now, surely would be virtual. In fact, huge, impressive, multi-storeyed buildings are already appearing dysfunctional. Most UG/PG students do not attend lectures. Most often, those big halls are embarrassingly empty. 

Students prefer online educational mode. Already they are sure, completely convinced, that the ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, et al, are much better than most teachers! Moreover, inter-disciplinary education is yet another diversion away from traditional modes. The skills-oriented credit-based system is adding its own unique dimensions! 

There is, for instance, a one-credit course entitled 'Introduction to Vedas', it seems. Apparently, it is finished off in two/three lectures, with downloaded material shared online, and possible questions outlined! Such is, of course, the student grapevine. One is, of course, in the 'mute' mode, in all possible senses of the term. 

Try giving homework to your students, and, voilà, all sorts of AI stuff is there 'for your eyes only'! Why, once one of my students was convinced that an app is better than a book when it comes to learning! 

Apps can be full of errors as they might be developed by non-experts, you try to gently point out. Aye, AI, THE AI has so charmed the reel obsessed gen's that it becomes your prime duty as educators that the LLM's as well as (advanced) learning management systems bear some semblance to accuracy! 

Honestly, the exam system needs a huge re-vamp, if classroom are going to be virtual/remote. Instructional design as well as information sources need fine tuning, too. Oh, yes, there is an acute need to think through supra-academic skills such as on-the-job training, corporate training, adult learning, not to forget, extremely sensitive issues such as telehealth, as the AI has made most all quasi-medic's! In brief, not merely a week, the far away from classroom education, needs beyond the 'celebratory'  week, also a yearlong fine-tuning! 

Pratima@ At times, the distance enabled education seems to be more and more bureaucratised, not to forget its capital-intensive nature. How to make human(e) beings, the only n real goal of education, out of such further n far education, that is the question!

Quote of the day:                                                            Said Jean de la Bruyère, "reading keeps us away from being a burden to ourselves." Equally true would be the quote if "studying" replaces "reading" !

Word of the day: flexible                                               Flexible means anything that can be changed easily.

November 1

 November 1! A day that makes you feel a little nostalgic, what with the year about to end! Some sixty days more, and it would already be 2027. I always feel that November has that Janus feel. It is not exactly the final fold of the year like December. It lingers in the past, and yet unmistakably starts looking forward to the future. 

 Not exactly through with the bitter-sweet events of the year soon to end, and yet absolutely  aware of the next year right at the doorstep.  Yet another image for November could be a  good straightforward innocent girl of about eighteen, "part woman, three parts a child," as W.B. Yeats would put it, not forgetful of the past, but one foot in future.

With that selfsame innocence, let me add that i am indeed very happy about the fact that November 1 was not disastrous hereabouts. Despite so many strangers thronging the capital (the kindest estimate apparently is below fifty thousand), nothing untoward happened. 

That is, may be, because India is our 'mother'land. Look at Germany, for instance, THE seat of the Enlightenment. Look at how the Germans have treated the warehouses, showrooms, super-markets, and what have you in their 'Vater'land! Today itself, the rioting 'hood'lums there have destroyed malls, et al, with the harsh cruelty of an ungrateful son affronting his old helpless father! 

Yet November 1 brings unhappy tidings. For one thing, yet another cyclone is about to batter the Andhra-Orissa coastline. Apparently, the British, American, Japanese governments, say some newspaper reports (how much to believe them, what with the Indian Express report creating the EC havoc), are asking their citizens to stock up enough eats, et al. Hope this news is some AI concoction! In the meanwhile, let us be happy that we have outlived November 1!

Pratima@ Grace under pressure, I am getting more and more convinced, is indeed the real nobility. If, for instance, as per popular demand, the Delhi show were fast forwarded by a fortnight, may be, Diwali days would have been sweeter for one n all, right? 

Quote of the day:                                                          "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards,” says Soren Kierkgaard. 

Word of the day: Janus                                                  Janus is the Roman god, traditionally depicted with two opposite-facing heads, looking simultaneously to the past and the future.

Sun, Mere Reader, Re...

 October 31 is the death anniversary of one of the most noteworthy music directors from/of the 'golden era'  of Hindi film music. Yes, I am thus singing the paeans to S. D. Burman. Sure are his compositions sweet, simply lyrical. Remember "jeevan ki bagiya mahekegi" from the film "Tere mere sapne"? 

Sure, it is the Lata-Kishore magic.  Equally great is the duo, master musicians Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma, adding the magic touch with their fine flute-n-santoor accompaniment. What makes it a great duet, however, is the composition by S. D. Burman. 

Countless such melodies enrich our aural abilities. Personally, however, I like him more as a singer. I absolutely adore his "maazi" songs. They have the folk feel rendered classical by his superb voice.  Wonderful, for instance, are " mere maazi" from "Bandini" or " wahan kon hai Tera" from "Guide" or "safal hogi teri" from  "Aradhana".

My personal favourite, however, is "sun, mere bandhu, re" from "Sujata". This beautiful love song, penned by Shailendra, has very simple but touching images of fulfilled love. Ideal is the picturisation of the song with a boatsman singing adrift a small boat across the endless expanse of the Ganges as the beautiful background to the happy love of a girl ill-treated by destiny itself. 

It is a love song. Yet so devoted is the feel that it sounds like the typical Bengali "Baul" Bhajan. Full throated is how S. D. sings it, and yet it has an unmistakable 'nazakat' of a classical Bhairavi. 

No wonder, one can listen to it hundred times, and still one can find thousand soulful novelties in it each time.  Hence this tribute to the master musician-singer on his death anniversary! 

Pratima@ Such is S.D's composition that we can hear the different musical effects the flow of the Ganges uniquely adds to this song! 

Quote of the day:                                                            "Music is the soundtrack to every good and bad time we will ever have,” explicates Alex Gaskarth. 

Word of the day: composition                                  Composition is a piece of music that has been written by somebody.

A Story that is 'His'tory

 Once upon a time, there was a jungle. Everything there was 'mangal'. Come on, how could you imagine that this reference suggests that a qawwali, eh, no, well, the divine marriage song by a highly 'note'd n hugely 'original' music director was blaring away in that jungle? 

Actually, everywhere everything in that jungle was 'mangal' because the festive feel  was (t)here again. All the traders in the forest, big n small, low n high, were looking forward to this fodder flowing forward in to their bank balance. Well, what with this stir n that alarm, the poor dears found n felt that their bank accounts were quite shit, surely not bullish. 

So with the "mangal bell, mangal bell" (Please to note that 'bell' can have very many associations in this context) of the festive feel jingling well, all of them were busy decorating their china shops. No, no, oh, no, the goods in their shops were not at all Chinese. The good(s) merchants loved the jungle(as)mother more than any profit(s), you see. You would soon know, Dear Reader, the china reference is to a phrase in that Macaulay ke putron ki language. 

All was going well, all were doing well. Suddenly a bull entered the china shop! Like a bull-et he was bellowing. But obvious! To a big breed belonged he. Twenty merchants from twenty souks requested him twenty times. Mullish, however, he was. A stampede of two and a half za four lakh footfall, he declared.  In the ring thus threw he his hat(e).

Now the merchants know not what to do. Nor do we, Dear Reader, right? In the meantime, fingers firmly crossed n lips endlessly praying that "ye festival rang hai, sub dang hai,  sarvatr mangal hai" because "sab ke (sang) hone se hi, us ka, un ka, sab ka mangal hai!" 

Pratima@ Now, Dear Reader, this story happened long long ago once upon a time. If you hear in it familiar echoes of what is to be, or not to be, in a certain capital in a special country on a fixed day/date, hope  that "all would indeed be mangal"  because "happy times would thus rule again"! 

Quote of the day:                                                              Says Harry Browne, politicians often "break your legs, hand you a crutch, and then claim they saved your life".

Word of the day:                                                              'His'tory is a word play on history and 'his' story which, hopefully, would have a good moral(e)!

Kaiser-e-Hind

 'Once upon a time, there was a queen'. This is how begin the childhood tales which take us on fairy wings to far away lands. When it comes to our motherland, however, there  indeed were two queens from faraway lands who ruled our destinies. 

The first one of them is Queen Elizabeth I. On December 31, 1600, she promulgated the East India Company Charter which granted the Company of Merchants of London Trading a 'carte blanche' for the lucrative spice trade in India, Africa and parts of Eastern n Latin America. At the peak of her reign, the decree was to enable British merchants a better competition with the other marauding Europeans. 

The colonising process which thus began reached its zenith when the second queen who affected our destinies most remarkably became the monarch. Yes, I am referring to Queen Victoria. Exactly hundred and fifty years ago, in 1786, she adopted the title, Kaiser-e-Hind. The Parliamentary formalities were completed by May 31, 1876. In Delhi Durbar, it was proclaimed the next year.

The title means the Empress/Emperor of India. It was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G.W. Leitner. It was thus used by successive British monarchs in India until George VI. The 1947 Indian Independence Act obviously abolished it.

Incidentally, very soon, on April 10, 1900, Queen Victoria instituted the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal to recognize citizens of any nationality for public service in India. These were awarded in Gold, Silver, and Bronze grades.

Mahatma Gandhi received the Gold Medal in 1915 from Lord Hardinge for his ambulance and medical service work in South Africa. He returned the medal in 1920 during the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements.

The term also refers to a butterfly. Yet nothing flew on the wings of fancy for Indians during the era of this empress of india! Let us forget the famines because much more horrible was the indirect impact. The notorious 1835 Macaulay Minute on Education during her regime formally incarcerated our 'i'dentities in to an infuriating inferiority complex, for instance.

Much worse was the effect of the writings of John Stuart Mill. His apparently liberal-democratic mode of thinking moulded the minds of the "sahibs" sent to rule India, and thus was the caste system iron clad cast! 

Though she loved dachshunds as pets, her regime demeaned women notably as it was during her reign was created that ideal "angel by the hearth" idol which continues to bind the better half of humanity, though her own remarks about marriage and motherhood, not to forget the suffragist movement, are quite interesting to say the least! In brief, the empire of this "Kaisar-e-Hind" held sway over a dominion that determined the domain of identity in multiple ways! 

Pratima@ Very soon I think I should be able to share with you, Dear Reader, yet another tale of 'i'dentity formation during her reign. Fingers firmly crossed currently! 

Quote of the day:                                                           "We are not amused." That is her most famous quote! Well, the sanctimonious hypocrisy of her times which edited the "bawdy" elements in Shakespeare's plays, and which saw to it that the "legs" of tables n chairs would not be not naked, but covered, is extremely amusing, especially in hindsight!

Word of the day: dominion                                         Dominion is the power to rule and control.

Catch the 'I'mpersonation @ If you can!

 "We look before and after,/And pine for what is not" thus begins one of the loveliest quotes in the English language. Yes, it is from "To a Skylark" by Percy Byssey Shelley.  Sure, I do love Shelley's passionate, intense and yet deeply intellectual/spiritual poetry. 

Yet, given the times today, this great quote has a quite new meaning. Of course, a slight word change or two here n there would be necessary, too. Currently, given the AI explosion, the quote would read as "better check before and everywhere/as often they pretend to be what they are not!" 

Yes, with your mug shot available somewhere or somehow, and your voice which can be recorded (as a lecturer, for instance, there is no knowing, when which intellectually lazy and technologically enabled enterprising student is recording/livestreaming your lecture for friends lounging in their beds, and/for their own reference as the 'imp' material for 'that' night before the exam when an entire semester would be pushed tight in to that small little, little brain so as to be puked out in to the answer sheet the next morning!), you can be used against yourself! 

Well, the ICICI Bank has this ad(vice) which shows a guy getting a video wherein his woman relative (her screen presence and her voice are literally too good to be true!) is pitifully narrating how she is in solid trouble, and needs a huge amount. Well, the original version, sitting right next to him luckily, tries to talk to the impersonator, and the video call gets disconnected from the other end 

Which are the safety tricks/tips? First and foremost, never ever answer an unknown number. Anybody who is clean and honest would not at all mind 'i'dentifying himself/herself. Sadly, these days, it is better not to believe. The faith quotient better be low, however much it may go against your core personality.

For most online transactions, better to have a separate bank account with minimal savings so that our hard-earned money does not get transferred to the con (wo)man's difficult-to-locate accounts.

No, no, these are not my insights! I am not that street smart. These are suggestions by the bank, and the police. Why not the Truecaller installed in your mobile? Well, the app needs all sorts of 'permissions' which can be the 'open sesame' in their own way. Better check back, better cross-check each time. Better to err on the side of caution! Valour does reside in cowardice!

Pratima@ Better believe thus that you would not be gullible!

 Quote of the day:                                                     Frank Abagnai says, "What I did 40 years ago as a boy is 4,000 times easier to do today. Technology breeds crime".

Word of the day: Impersonation                               Impersonation is the act of pretending to be another person, character, or entity, either for harmless entertainment or with the intent to deceive.