Sibling affinity

 Right now the data I have makes me bold enough to assertively state that most probably India alone could be the country where there are temples in which siblings are prayed to as gods. Let me give you an example or two. The best one, of course, would be the Jagganath Puri Temple. 

Down South, the Murugan/Kumar Swamy temples would surely share the Kartikeya/Gajanana idols, I suppose. Well, I do know that the Egyptian and Latin-American places of worship may belie my claim, and there could be temples there wherein siblings are the deities. Though I would be happy to locate such details, right now I do not have any corroborating data.

Indeed, I would be eager to find out many more such temples because the sibling bond is unique, too. However farther, and further,  we may roam away from each other,  even go astray, the umbilical cord that we share seems to be a bind that forever loops us together. Siblings have an instinctual understanding of each other  that like a mirror reflection comes back to us.   

Well, every second shared during the first fifteen formative years is sure to leave an indelible stamp, right? The mould remains the same even when minor details and vivid colours may differ, so to say.

 Can we not locate the Hussein strokes whether he draws a zippy foal or a magnificent Madhuri?  Siblings, too, are creations of the same atelier, dubbed in the same colour, etched with the same strokes.

Well, we can even locate people as per the hometown, right? Hence the very many jokes about Pune cranks, right? Given such an innate bonding one instinctually shares, one worries quite a lot if the big sis or the kid bro behaves even a little out of character.

Yes, blood relations are the given of life, and later we may form definitive relationships out of choice. Sure enough, and fair enough. And, yet none can guess our hidden selves, our moods, our tensions, our worries, our inner selves the way a sibling can. Hence the Celebration of Indian temples that venerate a bond that defines us, even when we may try to defy it. Long live sibling affinity!

Pratima@ siblings: a kaleidoscope on to both childhood and selfhood

Post scriptum: Oh, yes, is there a temple dedicated to the foursome, the Dyaneshwara siblings?

Dance Day!

 If next to acting in films/plays and  making films, there is any art most people love, it is the dance. Its sibling, singing, is equally popular, too, what with umpteen reality shows. Painting is tougher. Nor can it enjoy the gooey sweet judges of the song-n-dance variety. Given the social media as well as self publication via the internet, hyped up is writing, too. The society is very arty now, in brief!

Dance is like French, moreover, the mark of sophistication, in that, it is, a symbol of polish, of upward movement socially, a metaphor for the aspirational middle classes to prove that they have 'arrived'.  Very many dance  schools have hence mushroomed. Dance is everything, music, sur, tal, laya, acting, et al. Dance is not mere steps. It is dreams come alive.

Actually, it is the shiva tatwa in motion. It is deeply spiritual. That is the transformation I was witness to when I interviewed Sitara Devi. As I am not a dance disciple, I had gone with immense preparations. My theory questions, she would, despite her advanced age, translate in to a passionate performance. The hotel room, the imminent evening performance, nothing would deter her from dancing which was  both, her body and her deeply dedicated soul. 

Minutes etched on my memory indeed! Remembered all this as April 29 celebrates the world over this composite art form, unique, special and etheral.

Pratima@dance is trance!

Meeting a mate

 As part of the M.A. teaching, had  to read up Aprah  Behn's Prefaces to her plays. What unique writing indeed by a woman who was the first (woman) author to live by pen when the literary, nay, the entire art world, crawled at the patrons' feet!

Here is a woman writing roughly three hundred fifty years ago, give a few years here and there, of course. Extremely contemporary though are her ideas! 

She questions the 'supra censoring' by the 'powers that be' in the establishment, for instance. Many such are her upfront, honest, transparent critiques of  multiple issues, the problems a woman writer, especially, a woman dramatist faces/suffers. 

In those days, she stands up to the male canon making. She feels women have a better sensibility. She has the temerity to tell off her male critics who carp that she is not learned enough by declaring that unlike the University Wits, Shakespeare was a wonderful playwright, though he, too, was  not highly qualified. Many, many are such issues she addresses.

Indeed her preface writing literally explodes in the reader's face, full as it is with extremely contemporary ideas through old typical debates.

Reading her is like meeting a long lost friend who was always bursting with new ideas, fresh insights, had a razor sharp mind that never failed to en-light-en! Amazing indeed! No wonder, 'read, dear', the mirror phrase,  is the best mantra, the ideal antidote to banal, boring realities!

Pratima @jub we meet a mate!

Who is the guilty one?

 Indeed who is guilty? The obvious culprits who would even indulge in black magic and voodoo as a targeting trick? Those who would create scares to topple an innocent person off the balance? Those who would unleash full blast all sorts of cheap, almost crazed, as absolutely unbelievable it is,  gossip? Those with unhappy lives, however chic? Those with huge contacts in all fields, busy back scratching and buying each other in multiple ways? Such people would also have their local agents who will advise the innocent victim in such a way so as to try and demoralise the victim further. Are they the culprits, too?

Or is the culprit the witnesses who are perfectly aware of the truth, but choose to keep quiet because it suits them, because it could get them some direct or indirect benefits sooner than later? The power and position hungry who know that by subtly encouraging the crooked ones, their bread will continue to be buttered? Like as guilty as the SS were the commoners who would loot the left overs of the victimised!

I have a rather different take on this. I think, the innocent victim who could possibly  believe in the credibility of such crooks of various castes, creeds, genders, class, involved nationalities is the real culprit! Even when very many people, at times without any direct ulterior motives, kept on dissing these crooks and vamps, to continue thinking of them as decent people is indeed a crime.

Has such a victim lost much? Not really! To call chicaneries of  very many different types success or growth is itself a defeat, to begin with. In other words, despite all the gildings, it is tacky, their so-called sophistry.

In the process, whatever the victim lost, would rightfully re-turn, though indeed a tad too late. Which is okay because in the process, the good wishes and blessings of such a victim, who was made to suffer and lose hugely for no fault, would have a magic touch, a genuine  feel that would work wonders indeed because somewhere the universe would listen to all the positive vibes, and uphold these genuine blessings.

Given this magic that would sure be granted to the blessings ardently wished, why even.worry about the negativities? They have already made themselves empty from within, and would continue further to be the  hollow men!

Pratima@Such should be the power of your good wishes that literally magic would happen, and indeed work wonders.

That day of the month yet again

 The twenty first and, now, the twenty sixth of each month are always tough days. The first one is Papa's death anniversary, while the second one is Aai's. I keep a proper fast on both the days each month. 

As for the twenty sixth, through out the last year, every month I sent all her near and dear ones some memoir of her. Today, shared the feel with my siblings. As things would have it, her brother whose upbringing she had shared in a big way,  I had a wappy chat with his family. I am sure others, too, would have remembered her, but today onwards, unlike last year, I would not every twenty sixth  consciously remind her larger family, her kins.

And, yet, even now, thirteen months after her sad demise, often I just tend to forget it. Still I feel she is, of course, there, may be, at my brothers' place. Often, even today, my instinctive response is oh, Aai must know this.

Well, even after twenty three years of his passing away, even today, I get extremely vivid dreams of Papa, hyper realistic in the details. Often in such dreams, they are both there as in childhood. I and my brothers are peripherals in these dreams, but they both are truly real.

I suppose that is because physical death cannot distance this most visceral relationship, and the only one that is absolutely irreplaceable. True, each relationship is unique, but every other relation  we can get yet again, but never parents!

Well, the best tribute to them is keeping them alive in their ideals, in activities that made them happy, that made them feel proud.

Pratima@Memory is forever.

Serial (as) Killers

 I have never been a committed spectator of any serial. I have never ever been the type who would watch the repeat telecast, never miss a single episode, and stuff. Luckily, nor did Aai like even mainstream serials like 'Malhari Martand', for instance. The whole Maharashtra was obsessed, for example, with some "Asambhav" (in all senses of the term? I would not know at all. We never even watched such impossibilities) serial  or some "night show", while we were absolutely innocent of any such ugly contamination. Even the good serials we watched were " Unch maza zoka", the one on Ramabai Ranade, for instance, or " Dil, dosti, Duniyadari". Yet neither of us was ever  obsessed even with those serials.

Honestly, most serials are killers of every decent feeling, good emotions, wonderful ideas. Instead get shown jealousy, envy, greed, lust, gossiping, vicious competition, the seven vices listed in the Christian religious writing!

Why are these serials appealing? May be, because most people see shades of the so called near and dear ones in the villains and vamps? Around us sure there is a horribly jealous and terribly vicious vixen whom we  tolerantly  ignore for multiple  reasons!  In a typical serial, such a 'character' is publically punished by the powers that be, including divine intervention which creates a cathartic effect, may be.

In brief, serials provide us with a vicarious escape from such weirdesses in 'nirmal'/normal life. Quite purgative  hence the serials indeed are!

Pratima@ who watches why which serials!

The Street Food

 Did you have a look at the dosewala at Malad? I think he is the one Anand Mahindra made famous via the social media, though I am not sure of it.

Well, whether anyone admits it or not, these eateries tickle the taste bud. Sure, all of us are aware of the Thane scoop which created a huge furore.  Here is hoping such, such are the exceptions!

Well, I am not much in to either the fast food or the street food or hotel hopping. Mostly, I eat the healthy, wholesome and very tasty food at home, though I am not as superb at cooking as Aai was.

Yet I would not mind admitting that the street food is tasty. Look at the dosa, for example. There IS variety, too, however oily the 'tawa' may look. May be, to make dosas fast, that much oil could be necessary.

These hawkers have special skills, moreover, such as 'dishing' the dosa which adds to the entertainment, the fun value, I suppose. What with most of India grooving to 'Badam, Badam', fast food is forever, especially when made @ street! 

Let us some other time talk of the economics of it. In brief, for the time being, if food is the fad, munch on! Calory, take thou care of thyself!

Pratima@feasting  on street food/ Free is the fun/packed in each dish/at every turn/ foodies feast on fad fast feted!

Read, dear!

 April 23, the day, is indeed special. It is the death anniversary of two of the  greatest giants of the literary world, Cervantes and Shakespeare. Given the confusing loose talk about his entire life and career, some pundits consider it to be his birth anniversary as well which makes the day absolutely unique. 

Whatever might be the  silly gossip any which way, none can deny the magical greatness of these two masters. Literally every word they wrote is as priceless as any Pearl from Persia. No wonder then that this day should be reserved for Celebrating Reading.

Reading really is unique.  It makes us more informed, less prejudiced; in fact, a better human being. It guides us real well and sensitively in dealing with people, in leading life as the pages that we continue  turning with love, lost to words that transport us to a never land actually always, everywhere present, have vicariously prepared us for life itself. We learn thus to read life itself.

While reading, whatever might be the theme and the philosophy or the style of the author, we are always in the company of the best that human creativity can offer. Why, even the so-called pop books have their own nuggets of wisdom to offer. Every minute of reading repays richly, a metaphor consciously used here, given the marketing mantra most popular today.

In fact, reading makes us more sensitised to the vicious cruelties entrenched in the technologically enabled but empathetically disabled world today. In fact, the best antidote to the Post Truth era unleashed by the social media is reading, and in as many fields as is possible. That would help us see through all the lies of all the varieties. 

Hence on the occasion of this august day auguring all that is awesome even when complex and complicated, yet again this talisman to real life, 'read, dear'!

Pratima@'read, dear', the two terms that are reverse  or mirror images of each other are the perfect binary code to a real rich grotto full of priceless pleasures. So, 'read, dear'! 

Earth Day!

 Earth has now little to show as fair!

 All of us have made her life a terror.

 Round and round spins the trash here.

 The earth has huge carbon dioxide to bear.

 Heard her sobs untold? Do you at all care?

 Dark is her future. Worse would be our!

  All is not yet lost. Faint hopes shimmer.

 Ahoy! Wake up! Enliven Earth, our mother!

Pratima@ Yet another Earth day/not mere vacant hopes and usual noises, I pray! 

Heritage

 A few days ago, it was the Heritage celebration day. What exactly is heritage? Let us look at this concept in two ways; from the perspective of a nation/society and  the way an individual relates to the concept.

Let us begin with the larger whole. In a country like ours, which is almost a (sub) continent, there would but be many natural and geographical wonders that would be heritage sites. An example could be the Himalayan wonders or the coastal curios.

Historically as well as civilisation wise, such wonders could defy counting, beginning with zero, that is, and stretching literally up to the infinity. These could include fields aa diverse as archaeology, arts,literature to religion and philosophies. We must as a society learn to respect this great heritage. We must preserve this heritage, be it forts or unique architectural wonders. Just as we must not allow the ravages of time to dilapidate the unique structures, we must not deface them either by writing silly sundry comments there, for instance.

When it comes to our unique individual heritage, it is our very identity that is our real heritage. Wherever the world may take us, the unique, definit(iv)e selfhood never changes. This selfhood, though we may work on it as an adult, is given to us by the ideals bestowed on us by our parents, by the shared, subtly stated principles and values that form the very bedrock of our lifetime. Whatever may happen, this heritage stays!

Similarly, the family heritage in the form of monies and jewelleries that our parents give us in the will, is also a form of heritage we must respect. To begin with, such a heritage is a symbol of their simple, sincere, disciplined and dedicated lives. By honouring such an individual heritage, we are actually paying a tribute to that entire value system.

Moreover, it is quite possible that in some realm of existence not as yet validated by our current knowledge systems, their souls could exist in some yet not fully mapped way, and at that level, these souls would sense a great exaltation and ecstasy when they would realise that their immediate descendants respect their heritage every possible way. Such contentment would truly re-lease their souls. 

Long live our duty to respect our heritage every reach/rich way!

Pratima@The real stories and souls are in heritage. Let us conserve it as a sacrosanct duty!

Love

 In the childhood stories

The marked eye of the bird 

That forever slays the demon

That is love.

Love is 

That  teenage tension 

That made the compulsory re-vision 

The day before the examination

A joy.

Love is the ecstacy

Each time one 

Yet again attained 

The impossible. 

Love is 

The pit in the stomach

The silent scream

As the leaping flames

Consumed forever 

The dead 'body' of a much loved 'soul'.

Love is 

All that is intensely felt

On the pulse 

As the rebellion against banal boredom.

Love is 

That eternal faith 

Abloom again 

despite 

every deception

each negation.

Love is 

Yet again 

The knowing of the self.

Love is still again

Sailing in a leaking little boat

As around howls and rages 

The storm drunk ocean

And swing waves high as the heaven.

Love IS!

Pratima@Love is/the fairy tale/that made/every word a charm/that crafted all possible as the probable/as the real/beyond every Plato, each Aristotle.

The best alternative

 Fall ill just a little, and there would be a deluge of advices of multiple varieties. Each therapy believes that it is the best. For the patient though, that particular therapy which gets him/her immediate relief tends to rhe best.

Each therapy has its own benefits, and side effects, too. But for immediate relief, it is the allopathy, while the ayurveda would argue that it  an ase of the problem from the very very root.

In my opinion, what matters the most is the holistic  medicine, a meeting of the best collated from every system. Panaceas are always syncretic, right? As per this argument, rhe patient gets the best of all, an would thus recoup the fastest. Hope you would agree with me.

Pratima@united we care and cure better!

News Value!

 While researching for and writing the Ph.D. thesis, I used to freelance as a reporter. I freelanced with major publications such as The New Indian Express (and my articles used to be syndicated in all the southern and eastern editions of the newspaper), the City special pull out of The Hindu, and The Newstime owned by the Eanadu group.

Though a freelancer, I was almost as regular as at least one article per day. At times, my articles got the entire page, the byline and even the very front page. Great fun it was whichever page one was asked to associate with, though mostly it used to be the Features Desk. Apparently, most of my features used to earmarked for the newspaper special reference library, and the hosts used to be quite confident of a just and good write-up if I were to cover the event.

I remembered all these details because Features Desk then was not mere paid journalism. In fact, it was a page wherein social, economic, ideological issues could be opened up, debated. If you did a sincere, genuine job of it, not only the Resident Editor but even the Cultural Dept Minister noted it, and the newspaper/Desk Editor got appreciated.

In a way, at times, I feel happy that I could not continue (though very soon I WILL try to get back (in) to the groove) with my regular freelancing in newspapers in Pune (as I could not possibly leave my frail old Aai either all alone or with the Mavashi for a long tine) as I would not be able to compromise as per the demands of the paid value business which is morphed news,  and not merely photoshopped visuals.

Hope  (and  I AM sure of it, too) that there is some news value(d) even in the post truth era of the social media with its wapp university full of thorough experts 'forward' in most all subjects!

Pratima@ Better to face reality as it is rather than imagine it as it ought to be!

Memory

 Memory unvanquished, ever victorious

 Each minute in remembrance glorious

Missed ever is that presence gregarious

Organic like birdies nesting victorious

Rise again away from all in the past dross

Yet again together in a new way never gross!

Pratima@ Lives end, but memories never die

Conventions, after all!

Ours is a country that obsesses over film stars, cricketers and politicians. Let me give you an example. The other day one of the channels was interviewing an elderly, mind you, couple who had come all the way from Gujarat just to  have a 'dekko' at (or was is the 'darshan' of ?) the recently wed star couple!

Given such a mindset that the populace abundantly exhibits -- it seems, there are temples devoted to the trinity mentioned above -- it is but natural that the 'common (wo)man' would imitate, almost blindly, not merely the fashions, but also the actions of these 'celebrities'. 

Well, could not then these 'celebs', as the populist 'Page whatever number now' press  (these days does the ' public' read  newspapers at least, given the yen for the social media!) fondly nominates them, set examples for the "bhakts" (another favourite term!) to follow? 

Can I exemplify my statement? In the recently concluded 'shaadi' where the jealously guarded (incidentally, why? Are the rights sold to some OTT platform or is it a smart gimmick to keep the 'celebs' in the news?) but obviously much released details revealed the groom's mother's ooh-so-sensitive mehendi, her fashion conscious 'youthful' dresses, her 'bahu' tailored but 'master' trained 'dances' despite her being in the mid-sixties, her wishes for the 'ladli' to now take over the family responsibilities , mind you, these are headings glaring at you, whether you wanna know or not the details, et al.

And, yet, this trendy lady did not have the guts to do the 'gath bandhan'! At such a 'pious' occasion, it was the 'beti's' who did the needful! If instead the feisty lady had indeed shown the courage to tie literally, too, the knot of her 'ladla', she would have set a much deserved trend wherein a widow shows her love for both the baap-n-beta by actively participating in religious functions as well.

The modernity such 'influencers', often unfortunately, exhibit begins and ends with the fashionista 'statements' about colour coordinating 'lehengas' and jewellery patterns that can continue to be gossiped about till the next new 'trend setting'(!!!) shhadi happens!

The way these power monsters, eh, mongers, deal with the avid 'press', 'pressing' them for details (ah, the 'divine' duty!) clearly shows their awareness of their power! Why do they never use it for setting meaningful new trends beyond the ooh-la-la ladi-da-dah fashion 'statements' that are actually a sick(ening) show of wealth that 'sucks' dumb in a country where half the 'janta', their 'mai-baap', might go to bed without food?

May be, they might not be revealing the 'charity', but has anyone ever heard of these 'showsha shor' weddings ever feeding  some lane in, forget Dharavi where live many hard working and honestly tax paying, too, 'log',  but at least in 'Bandra' (please to remember the pronunciation)?!?

Why do they waste their huge soft power in mere 'entertainment, entertainment, entertainment', unfortunately echoed in a grisly, ghastly way in the societal corridors cutting across caste and creed and class! Or is it too much to expect intelligence and sensitivity from such 'creative' minds and souls, hoping (against hope!) that they do actually own such useless contraptions, not available anyways for sale! 

Pratima@the real lifestyle dis-eases 'released' by big, fat Indian weddings, and beyond any cure!

Discipline

 Is it right to be disciplined, to have a discipline to your daily doing and being? In the laissez-faire scenario today, this d-word is looked down upon. The more chaotic, disorganised you are, you are considered a genius.

Actually, the best in any field are always highly disciplined. In fact, there would be a regimen not only to their imaginative and intellectual being, but even to their daily chores. Being unorganised reveals more an imaginative and intellectual laziness than the physical sloth so looked down upon in every religion, each philosophy.

Then whence this glorification of the total lack of discipline? I suppose, one of the reasons could be the much misunderstood Post Romanticism artist phenomenon. As it is, art and artists, always ignored and overlooked in a society lusting after material success, get evoked only when it suits the mindset. 

When lazy unorganised thinking and behaviour need be justified, most all remember the oft wrongly quoted Wordsworthian definition of the "spontaneous overflow", conveniently forgetting the second half of that axiom that most probably they do not know.

Actually, for the " spontaneous overflow" to happen, subtly and intuitively  years of disciplined thinking would have gone in. A rebellious thinking is not mere laziness. In fact, rebellion would need a questioning of the comfort zone which requires the D word in a big way.

In brief, no excuses to avoid the defined day sculpted out of a chaotic mismanagement! Long live creative discipline!

Pratima@Discipline is the bridge across the ditch of laziness that leads to your dreams. Discipline is not punishment. It is a mode of empowerment.

Faith

 As April 14 this year happens to be a unique amalgamation of the "jayanti" or the birth anniversaries of two unusual souls and the beginning of the new year for many regions of India, this small little acrostic for the day!

Friendly for the soul is the occasion

An alternative to lifelong privations

In opposition to all possible stagnations

The initiation anew of joyous creation

Hallelujah! Yet again arises self foundation!

Pratima@keep the faith, better hold on/Things are sure to get better/The heat may scald the soul/Such tests make the self real whole!

Publicity

 I have often wondered what the paparazi and their so-called victims, the celebrities, get/gain by that entire chase game. They obviously feed off each other. How?Why? These are the questions.

Let me give you an example. A certain film star would share pics of her exercise regime in detail during her pregnancy. Minutest details of her feed, of her clothes were tom-tomed publically. The Baby was born. The photos just would not be shared. Nor would the paparazi leave the Baby alone. The entire circus was funny.

Now a certain marriage. Why create such hangama over it both by the paparazi or the families concerned? There is nothing shameful about either a marriage being performed or a Baby being born. Why such silly secrecy? And if the concerned parties do not want any publicity, why the tamasha by the press and the photographers?

Who feeds off whom?If the celebrities are so against it, Why do they stoke the fire constantly by keeping the curiosity alive, by feeding tidbits to the media? And if they are so absolutely against it,why does the media chase them either? 

Indeed ugly could be the under-the-table deals mutually beneficial. Much worse is the intention in my opinion. Both the parties are consciously creating a buzz to stay in the news. Any publicity matters!

  Or is it the ultimate consumerist consent creation? To use, to be Used! Moreover, certain products (the wedding dresses, the pregnancy suits, not to mention the videos and/or the books' royalty) and, oh, yup, certain fashions cum lifestyles get popularised and sold as merchandise! Imagine performing shirsana during advanced pregnancy. Poor gynacs must have had a horribly hard time preventing that practice mass scale! 

May be, that is the Name of the Game. Conscious creation of a certain life style to be sold to the peurile public to lap it up and replicate! Thus businesses flourish, consumers continue lapping up and recreating the morsels of a lavish, luscious but vain and empty lifestyle consciously created and thrown at them. An entire set-up based on all the negativities, jealousy, greed, covetousness. The market wins. The consumer is beggered every which way. Who cares? Publicity matters!

Pratima@what shame /when 'any' publicity at any cost is the name of the game!?! 

The Culinary Experiment

 The summer was blazing hot. Dry and withered appeared even the thick foliage of the ancient, age old trees on the campus.  But worse than that hottest summer were the simmering temperatures in the mess. And, yes, yours truly had to suffer the misfortune of being the mess secretary yet again.

Well, the occasion was the Akshay Tritiya, and it happened to be a gazetted holiday as well. As per the unstated conventions of the mess, the non-veg members could go for the non-veg dishes. So far, so good.

Suddenly, however, members of two minority communities from the southern most state decided that  they wanted to eat beef on campus, in the mess, and the majority community, mostly from up north and Nepal, found it an insult to their sensibilities, especially given the day which according to the other group hardly mattered as it was not exactly a major festival.

It was abundantly apparent that the vociferous members from both the groups had their own axes to grind, had individual scores to settle. The warden chose to remain non-committal. Actually, everybody was watching the fun from afar.

Obviously, as the mess secretary, I would be supposed to take care that the issue does not blow up in to a full blown controversy. Actually, all the research scholars present on campus, hardly thirty, given the summer vacation, knew each other rather well. But neither party was ready to back down.

After individual and group meetings, there was a possible solution. The most unwelcome beef, God alone knows why they could not go to some hotel to eat it, would be cooked separately, and, in return, on Sunday, pork must be served. Clearly, it was a conscious attempt at rubbing each other the wrong way.

Given this adamant stand, the other group thought they would find an escape route as  there must be at least seven members who want pork. The three musketeers from that oppositional group had to give their names as they were the ones who demanded beef in the first place. The two leaders from the other group cheered on the show by adding their names to the list though they refused to pay. Still two were needed. Well, yours truly had to rise to the occasion. I added up two entries against my name.

Actually,  I am a pure veg so much so that I have not even touched an egg nor eaten an omlet. But at least a major controversy, consciously constructed, was thus averted. The only advantage was that the mess workers were exceptionally cooperative thereafter as they got to eat four dishes of pork absolutely free of cost! In brief, a few poor animals and yours truly had to pay the price for the wonky taste buds of a few weirdos!

Pratima@If food is the bone of contention, how to stop the warring groups from fighting on!?!

Sibling succour

 Same of soul, tho' apart every which way

 In sync somehow, tho' miles and eons  away

 Buddies best, tho' busy,  a word not shared

 Long time, no see, real time hardly spared

 In the mind sphere, tuned like violins gentle

 No need for speeches or selfies incidental

 Greatest gift parental, and monumental

 Shared lives continue in spaces sentimental!

Pratima@Forever lives the siblings' day/ the bond that always stays/never wastes away!

 

Mata Ramau Matpita Ramchandra

 On the Ramnavami day, it is but natural that Aai-Papa would be at the centre of our thoughts. Aai loved Ramraksha. She used to recite it daily, while Papa always tried to live up to his name. Undoubtedly, their life had its own Kaikeyi's and its own vanvasa's. Both faced such misfortunes with dignity. 

In fact, the very "Ram" principle, the very "Ram" concept has to it an inbuilt dignity. Lord Rama is perfection itself. He is all that is the best, the most ideal, the most trustworthy. He is indeed Purushottam.

Compared with Lord Rama, Shri Krishna is a very anthropomorphic concept. He is quite close to the human perception. The solutions that he finds to tricky situations are very real, quite human(e), too.

No such compromises for Lord Drama. He is ideals incarnate. He leads a life that is utmost guided by virtue. Well, I am absolutely aware of the contemporary interpretations wherein he is accused of ill- treating the downtrodden, be it Jambuka or his treatment of the 'demons', the Anarya's. Equally faulted is his treatment of women, beginning with Shurpnakha.His behaviour with Sita is thus problematised, too.

Well, in the Indian polity, given its multiplicities, its multi-ethnicities, it is inevitable that the Rama concept would also be examined and attacked by the followers of identity politics which is reigning supreme in the field of intellectual discourses after the post-Mandal era.

There are extremely positive alternatives to confront such interpretations of the Rama idea(ls). Such a debate needs a very academic platform though. A personal blog is not exactly the authentic 'space' to critique such argumentative interpretations.

For a daughter reared by patents who lived as close as is possible to the Ram ideals, the Lord continues to be the idea(l), always to be looked up to!

Pratima @ Mata rama: mat pita Ramchandra!

Let's laugh away the heat!

 With the sun blazing hot, how to keep yourself thunda, thunda, cool, cool? By laughing away the summer blues, right? So here we go.

1)When do you 'go' at the red and 'stop' at the green? When you eat, eh, the summery fruit, water melon, when else?

2) What happens when you read while sunbathing? You appear, well, red!

3) Poor fish! They can never go on a summer holiday! Why? Coz fish are always in a school.

4)Why does not the sun go to college? Well, he has a million degrees!

5) Why do teachers need to wear glasses while teaching? Well, their students are as bright as the summer sun!

Indeed some fun!

Pratima@beat the heat/with a silly tidbit!

Heat again

 Why the leapfrogging by smart May?

 Why the self advancement by mature May? 

If thus is April, how possibly could be May?

Mind boggles!Be thou gentler, Dear May!

Pratima@ May thou tread gently,  Dear May!

Heat:Haikus

 1) Heat : Ah, an amicus curiae!

Hot like a potato

That can be neither gulped

Nor be peeled

Appeal just to a deaf court!

2) Heat : The worst warfare 

A cruel war crudely imposed

Frenemies  melting like the Dali clocks

Psyches shattered, towns tattered!

3) Heat: An alternative ignored

Petrol blazes worse than the atomic energy

Diesel dissolves the purse in to dust

Gas prices burst like a bomb

The solar energy abundant

Cheap alternative untapped!

Pratima@ heat is hot!!!🥵🔥🥵

Summer Offers

 The summer heat

Boils angrily

Sputters viciously 

Burns  glaringly.

The earth has nothing to show as fair.

The afternoon falls hush

Like the last breath of a dying heart.

No water can cool it

Nothing can quench it

This heat bursting like a 

Sob buried deep in an ancient grief.

April is indeed the cruellest month!

Pratima@ The heat hurts!

Contentment

 In this small, quite contained, blog, let me briefly discuss why contentment is much better, far more superior than either mere happiness or sheer joy.

Why the need to understand, to explicate, to define contentment? Well, in the neo global, neo capitalist world today, gobbled up by consumerism, happinesses are aplenty and joys are dime a dozen. The Market is prescribing them for us ad infinitum. Defined by its absence, however, is satisfaction.

Such satisfaction, I believe, is the base of contentment because contentment does not demand any excesses; in fact, denies and rejects them.To give a simple example, 'weed' or 'grass' may give a high, but it never provides any contentment.

Contentment comes from within. It believes in self discipline.  It avoids any show-off's. It is self directed. Hence it requires no comparisons. A constant process of self amelioration, it is a peaceful but fervent prayer that comes from a critique of one's own self. No wonder, contentment is divine!

Pratima@ Contentment has to be defined through negation, though it is the moat positive feel! Fun fact indeed!

The German Connection

 Anybody who has even the least fascination for Marathi movies cannot help but see "Pinjara". Made in 1972, or rather released that year, the iconic film turns fifty this year.

I shall some time later write a detailed article/blog on the film.Right now the point I want to make is that it has a very interesting German connect. It is based on or rather is inspired by a German novel by Heinrich Mann, published in 1905.  The title of the novel is indeed interesting. It reads    'Professor Unrat'.Translated in to simple English, it means "Professor Rubbish". 

Sure it may remind one of the umpteen examples of the grand souls who dare to call themselves by the nomenclature 'professor'. That, however, is not the point right now. 

Interesting is the fact that the novel, too, depicts the rubbish heap an idealist is reduced to due to the machinations of a wily, shifty schemer! The German connection does not, however, end there.

It is a well-known fact that V. Shantaram was unmistakably and deeply influenced by German expressionism. He went to Germany to consciously study the expressionist film techniques, it seems. Especially brilliant he found the use of light and shadows by German expressionism, apparently.

In 1930 was released one of the greatest German films featuring Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola. It is entitled " Der Blau Engel". So many are the unmistakable similarities between the two films, the caged bird as a symbol, for example, that frame after frame, you remember the original German film by Sternberg. 

Quite likely that V. Shantaram who was in Germany in the 1930's would have watched the great film that he adapted brilliantly in the Marathi mould. Incidentally, the Sternberg film is indeed based on 'Professor  Unrat'.

All the three texts are superb in their own ways proving how inter-semiotic and inter-textual translations enrich creativity. Which brings us to another major example of the German connect.

Yes, i am referring to 'Khamoshi'. With its lovely music, the brilliant performances by Nana Patekar and surely by Seema Biswas, this film illuminated by the radiant presence of Manisha Koirala reminds one, frame by frame, of Karoline Linke's 'Jenseits der Stille' which means 'the other side of or beyond silence'. Indeed another very interesting example of the German connection!

Pratima@complex creative connections!

Online Education

 Is online education the bane of the current academic scenario? Well, that is the chorus. Undoubtedly, the online education has its limits. Many have been much talked about already.

In my opinion, the real problem with the online education is that it is not meant for large classes. Even offline, large classes face multiple issues. My Additional English classes used to have at least hundred students. If I were to stand at the pulpit,  so to say, the first two rows may pay attention. 

To make the whole class attentive, I literally used to follow the traditional peripatetic method. That is to say, I used to walk through the columns between two rows of benches throughout the lectures. Students had no other go but to open the textbooks, jot down the points, et al.

At times, I introduced some group and pair activities that I used to time up. The leader per group would make a representative presentation. Sometimes I would introduce some games or competitions.

All such activities are impossible online as students know very well how to be technologically present while remaining even physically absent. The classic "Mam, issues with the internet or the wifi, Mam" is the favourite alibi if you insist on physical and/or psychological participation.

This negative aspect of the online education granted, the online education is effective indeed. How, you are asking? Online education is a boon indeed when you are teaching a focused individual wherever (s)he could be physically. 

Online education then encourages a deep bond between the teacher and the 'teachee'. Often they end up being good friends, buddies almost. Mentoring, supposed to be central to education now, happens naturally. Thus studies become genuine, a process of intellectual and emotional nurturing.

Every issue has two sides. Why always look at the dark side, right? Its difficult days behind it, why beat out the online mode, the only, rather effective, mode that helped us survive during the corona times!

Pratima@why worry over the half full glass always?

Padwa

 The first ever major festival this year! Well, there was Holi, but it was Aai's first birth anniversary after her sad demise on March 26, 2021.

Padwa is in that sense the first ever major festival after the year long mourning period got over. In her memory, however, I celebrated it exactly as she would wish it celebrated. 

She, and Papa, too, used to be the happiest when Raju and Sanju and families would be with them on the festival day, and the rituals get nicely get observed. So just like they would eat the Padwa chutney the first thing in the morning, I,too, made it a point to make that unique chutney ---could make it as fast as possible ---and eat it.

When I realised Sanju would not make it, I honoured Raju's invite. As every year, shared the very tasty vegetable pulav with both the families. Dunzo did work out. So could send Sanju family the treat via the 'pick up' mode.

Unlike most of the Indian festivals, Padwa is not an agrarian festival. It celebrates the creative beginning of Lord Brahma, the very beginning of the world. So it was indeed very happy for me that I could be at Raju's place as Amar and Ashwini share their marital life festivals with Padwa, the day of the very beginning of our universe.

The most touching point of the day was Tanu hoisting her Gudhi with Aai's saree as she did last year.  Very sweet of her indeed! Happy  that the post parents era begins with such a sweet gesture. Begun well is already half done as I could manage to send a unique gif card to my siblings!

pratima@every moment now would be a new beginning!

In the beginning is the end

 Let us look at the title of our blogpost today. It appears paradoxical, a contradiction in terms. That premise would vanish in to  thin air  the moment  we look at the meaning of 'end'.  It may mean the finish, the dead end. The word has yet another meaning,too!

'End' may mean goal. In this sense, it is highly relevant today. April 1is the April fool day. Instead we can make it April full day. How? Instead of fooling around, let us decide cooling the 'around' us. The around obviously means either the climate/ambience or the ambiance. Both need cooling currently.

Let us begin with the ambiance. Currently everybody is so horribly sure of oneself that even when the truth is staring at the person directly in the eye, (s)he would choose to look the other way. So the blame game is the name of the killer sport. 

This sport rules every sphere of human activity , be it personal relations, international relations, relation within and between/amongst class, caste, creed, religion, region, gender, and currently age as age shaming is the name of the game. 

As a result, the temperatures run/soar eternally high. Ambiance, in brief, needs to cool down. The best solution could be to be equally sure that the other person, too, may be right. The moment everyone grants everyone else the right to be right, the whole ambiance would be right!

Now let us come to the other ambience, the climate. How can we cool it? We can stop misusing the resources. We can think of alternative sources of energy, too. 

If we try such measures, in the beginning of this Hindu calendar, the chaitramas, would indeed be the goal, the end!

Pratima@ well begun is half done.