Last few blogs were rather serious, i realised. So in this blog, a few jokes!
1) Context matters!
A question like "Hope you are hungry" is great in Switzerland, but downright cruel in Zaire.
2) Pun proud and the world order today!
North Korea is the cruellest country. Why?
Well, it has to be. It has no Seoul .
3) How about this one?
April brings showers and April flowers, and May brings mayflowers. What do Mayflowers bring?
Pilgrims!
4) The best repartee to a maths teacher!
If i have ten apples in one hand and fifteen oranges in the other, what do I have?
Really big hands!
5) Rather silly!
How does the ocean say 'good bye'?
It waves!
Pratima@ Even PJ's are okay 'coz laughter is indeed the medicine.
Since morning, and especially after 2 p.m., all the channels kept on harping only about the destruction of the Noida twin towers. The actual destruction was a site/sight that appeared gruesome, however efficient it may be, at least to me. Honestly, i could not understand the enthusiasm of the channels! The presenters were reciting the countdown as if it were some pleasant game!
Surely, it was not the countdown of a space shuttle, for instance. Undoubtedly it showcased the Indian super efficiency in this field, too. But what was there to gloat about?
Oh, yes, i was also worried about the environmental side effects, especially given the 'capital' (in all senses if the term!) air quality. Delhi, moreover, is a seismically sensitive area. The Supreme Court in its superior wisdom sure would have taken cognizance of all these issues.
The flyovers in Pune, too, have been destroyed citing wrong construction. Sure when they were getting built, all sorts of permissions would have been granted. Why were the authorities negligent then, right in the beginning itself? How about the destruction of all sorts of resources when a built bridge is flattened?
Even in our daily lives, often there are many such destructions of images. When a sensitive poet or an intellectual editor unexpectedly, for example, is suddenly 'ageistic', directly and/or indirectly, the respect quotient dips, at least in my eyes as all of us are older than someone or the other, i believe. Is there a gendered underlining involved, too, i wonder. Of course, you choose to ignore the lingering doubt though it keeps on pricking your sensitivities, right?
Yet another mode of destructions of images is the fact that the smaller the area of their influence, their powers, more inflated are peoples' selves. Power seems to go to the head of people with some importance in a small unit.
If one is a Head in a small college, one must remember, i believe , that in a city itself, there would be hundreds of colleges, not to mention, universities! What is there to give oneself airs about it, especially when in a college itself, there are so many departments!?!
Destructions galore we meet in real lives when, unprovoked, men call, and ask their bought minions, to call a woman "chudail", a "sali" etc etc etc just because she is not interested in the entire public "nautanki"!
Destructions vitiate the atmosphere every which way, in brief!
Pratima@ "A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, it only a man can prevent," says Elie Wiesel. Absolutely!
How does one lead daily life when one is constantly targetted, ill-treated, harassed, bothered, bullied by an unknown enemy without a face? That is the question.
Well, what to do, for example, when after every half an hour some mobike, with the same horrendous blasting sound, zigzags past your home? Well, if questioned, such hypocritical fools would say that it is the public alley, and that would leave you red in the face.
What to do if some auto fellow would scream silly stuff while zooming fast past you or park the auto under a tree near your home, and keep on yaking endlessly? What if urchins going past your home loudly saying silly things, using some silly nickname? How to react when every activity of yours is watched/commented upon? I choose to plain ignore all such creeps because getting in to a fight with a pig makes you dirty, is what i believe strongly.
Why throw a stone in to a muddy pool, and then grumble about getting dirty? So such silliness is what I laugh at. What i am interested in knowing is the name of the stupid mastermind behind such cheap behaviour.
I personally think the revolting person must be a sick fellow with a very weak self image full of all sorts of insecurities. Otherwise, he (most probably must be a he, though could be (ably helped by) equally silly, cheap and vapid she's) would dare a face to face confrontation, right?
When people have money, certainly not deserved, often ill-gotten, and lot of time, given the loss of a meaningful profession, whatever could be the reason behind this lack, they would resort to such cheap behaviour, i suppose. Moreover, such people are hypocritically smart enough not to get caught themselves.
Let me give a concrete example. They would take away all your chances in a very sneaky underhand way. They would also have 'bought' 'friends' in the right places who can cook up paltry justifications.
Suppose, a Head of the Department consciously takes away all the 'papers' you are good at as a literature student? Even then you manage teaching efficiently every 'paper' hurled at you. Atrocious lies, without batting an eyelid, is what such people and their minions come up with!
Imagine a Head of a Department screaming at you impossibly and in a childish way because students told you that the paper you teach has not reached them @an online exam as late as twenty minutes after the beginning of the exam!
Mind you, you are not even on campus, you are at least ten kilometres away from the venue, and some student calls you up, and informs you of the plight. So you call up the Head, and, voila, there is an outburst that would make Vesuvius, Etna and Mount Fuji combined blush!
You wonder later if all this was a trap you innocently walked into, not suspecting why the student called you up, and not the lady. May be, you were needed when this power-monger wanted your expertise as she would not be available due to her professional 'growth'. Now that she has managed it, or, may be, has a friend to promote, if not the basic books in the library, such 'politricks' to make you persona non grata! In such contexts, i always remember Snowball, and how even his memory was tarnished by a triumphant Napoleon.
Of course, such persons would not allow any discussion, would gossip about their own colleagues, and when out of sheer self protection, you try everything in a way to make every detail doubly sure, given their own departmental politics, she would crib about any help you might directly and/or indirectly ask for. Of course, in each batch, there would be rotten tomatoes who would know how to lick the feet of these powers that be, but they all forget that other students also happen to be studying the same course!
This wonder once barked at me because her permanent colleague would not take the regular Saturday lecture, and so i conducted an extra lecture with her proper permission. There was some misunderstanding at their own level. She chose to scream at me, acidic messages and all, too
Yet another area, especially with online lectures, would be how you gently introduce the material once the mechanism has settled down. There would be snide remarks about the ability to use a computer platform, a skill anyone, even a child, can develop after enough exposure, right?
Rather funny because such wonders would not even properly complete their own portions, and batch after batch would tell you about it. You, of course, choose to completely ignore it as it is none of your business anyways. There would be the designated authorities to look in to such and/or financial irregularities, right?
Wonder of wonders is that these very people would eternally yak, yak and yak about bigotry, openness, democracy, liberal space, idea of everything under the sun, etc etc etc even when they themselves are "the" best examples of autocracy, fascism, 'gobbels'-y gobbledygook.
Given their networking, oh, yes, rather 'eco system', they can spread their 'narrative', a mishmash of the meanest lies. They can accuse you of an identity you never had. They love to spread rumours about your character. May be, because theirs is nothing to write home about!
At a literary meet, they would want to discuss the very theme you elaborated in a way that was appreciated by listeners from three different universities. You cannot even question it as the powerful person, quite lawfully, mind you, wants to comment on it, too! So what if in between a few months have already passed by!
Personally my strategy has been not to don a victim card. So i completely ignore such stupid wickedness-es. If such people were not so good at hiding, one could have openly confronted them at least. But how would they have at least the courage of their viciousness, given the 'binary' 'lack' of convictions?
Believe me, you can have versions of such sadists amongst your so-called relatives, too! So the best way is to laugh at it, and leave it! There is justice in this universe after all!
Remember, Orwell's 1984? O'Brien tells Winston that the best image of power is a huge boot crushing a human face. I suppose, the only care you can take is never be under such contraptions!
At such times, I actually feel that people who get death threats openly are much better off. Lucky chappies, they are provided police protection, you see! You cannot even think of it given the facelessness of the victimiser. Laugh at it, and leave it as all this conscious harassment is abundant comedy free of cost!
Pratima@ Sadists are to be laughed at, and pitied! Poor things, they must have suffered a very sad past. In fact, they are paying you a huge compliment as they are externalising their weaknesses by targetting you!
How much are you in the share market? Not much? No worries! I am zilch, too. Yet even a non-shareholder like me, too, knows that when the market is bullish, the securites are up, unlike the bear version thereof.
Do you know how/why this usage "bullish" is part of the financial folklore? Well, it comes from the style a bull attacks a foe, with the horns raised. Well, I suppose this must be the only positive reference to a bull, right?
Otherwise, a bull is almost always a brainless beast of burden. Want proof? Look at the western, sun-oriented, astrological signs. Look at the Taurus people therein. The geniuses in any field belong to this sun-sign, yours truly, too, included!🤣
Well, do you know the hallmark of the Taurus people? They are obstinate apparently. Know now why i find it darn difficult to believe the typical astrology and/or its predictions!!!
Jokes apart, a bull is always supposed to be quite dull and absolutely not intelligent, though powerful but lazy. Remember the great "Animal Farm"? Boxer is a carthorse. He shares so many of the bull-ish qualities, except, of course, laziness.
Why wax eloquent about a bull, you would ask. Well, in Maharashtra, it is "bail-pola" today, a day dedicated to bullocks, and I find that amazing. True, agriculture these days is quite mechanised. Even then, a farmer's fastest friend has to be the bull!
In an agrarian community/economy, a bullock is the fulcrum of existence. It is his power that the farm existence rides on every which way. He helps mankind, even after death, in tanning, in creating folk forms of drums, for instance.
It is hence that i feel that celebrating "bail-pola" is a form of gratitude that the animal absolutely deserves. I suppose cultural practices do not remain a mere meaningless ritual if we interpret the poetry beyond such customs.
On this day, most often the only one, the bull is properly bathed, he is decorated, he is fed the best food. Well, such should be the practice the yearlong indeed. Well, as our consumer economy has drilled it into us, the "day" celebrations are, and have to be, just for a day! Such a "day" long celebration gives the parties concerned the full freedom to ignore, and misbehave every which possible way the rest of the year with the so-called brainless beast of buden, right?
Actually, be it the bulls, the donkeys, the carthorses, they are silently suffering powerhouses that drive so many rural realities, right? Indirectly they feed the urban lifestyle, too, because we cannot eat money, whatever might be the century , the stage of automation, et al, et al!
Hence let us not go the Spanish fiercely cruel way of the traditional bull-runs and bull-fights. Instead, let us be grateful to these quiet creatures , rather like the labour force, forever, and not merely on the day of the "bail-pola"!
Pratima@The tale every boring bullock tells/ of workers' patience and hard/smart work spells!
Tuesday was the wada-pau day, it seems. Who decides, and how such days cum anniversaries get alloted/determined is quite curious. I would someday like to analyse and understand the entire process. Is the decision a result of ethnographic research, i wonder. Most probably must be, I guess.
Well, for me , wada pau is quite a cultural symbol. No, i am absolutely not interested in the political overtones. From gulli to Dilli, there are enough 'intellectuals' of all shades, hues, and stripes to attempt that kitschy job!
Let us look at the popular (not the populist! Let us leave that wordy stuff to the worthy critics mentioned above) appeal of this dish. First and foremost, it is a fulfilling dish for the common man. It fills the stomach, tickles the taste buds, and is rather friendly with the purse strings.
For the well off, this dish can emerge in very trendy, happening forms. It can be enriched with pomegranate seeds, it can have a cheese slice, and what have you.
Whichever economic group you may belong to, wada pau is one of the "on the go" dishes, especially suited for the hectic, busy life of a city. If on a particularly busy day, you could not manage the breakfast, or even the lunch, this "swast and mast", that is, 'cost effective and fun' dish is a must. It does not need any sambar, any chutney, no nothing. If you have it with the green chillies a little fried, it is literally the 'five star' feel, though by the road side.
In my opinion, this street smart dish is a wonderful symbol of the typical all inclusive system of the metropolitan ambience. Just as it is a combo of the Indian (wada) and the western (bread), of the sharp and the spicy, so is the city life, a combo of all sorts of people, of all varieties of experiences.
A student to a CEO, all are equal at these road side eateries, like the typical city feel that wipes out most all typical differences, and divisions.
Similarly, quite like the urban lifestyle, it is unhealthy, too, at least if eaten in excess on any one day, or if eaten, every day, for all the three meals. Yet this fault is in/of the eater, not in the dish itself that is now part ń parcel (literally, given its 'take away' funda, too, though no, no 'drive in and away' possibilities here) of the international scenario.
A folksy food for all seasons, wada pau, like the bhajji, tastes the best when it is drizzling a little. At such times, the 'half cutting chai' with it is quite the elixir of life.
Papa used to savour it, though he preferred it homemade. One of my regrets is not preparing the dish for him though he wanted us all to eat it together over a family chitchat. Though i did make the shimla mirch bhaji, i thought the bread he bought was for bread chiwda, another hyper tasty dish that Aai adored.
In brief, a mix of bitter sweet memories, wada pau is quite 'amrita tulya', like the half cuppa that goes with it. Long live wada-pau!
Pratima@ Bade bade Shaharon me, wada pau jaise mast, mast khane chalte hain!
There are a number of searing poems about the atomic war that i often advise students to read when the topic comes up. The second world war literature, too, is full of moving comments on the meaninglessness of war, the atomic war included. Films such as "Hiroshima, mon amour" can be an emotionally charged experience even for a common man despite its 'arty' quality.
If i wax eloquent about such artistic works in the classroom but if i would not be dead seen participating even in a paper demonstration, that is, simply signing an international application questioning the non-legality of bombing a nuclear facility, am i not guilty of lacking the courage of convictions? Especially if i am ignoring it consciously? Waiting for the Big Bro or the Sugar Daddy or the Fairy Mommy to sign it? Do i really have any conscience?
True, every issue need not appeal to everyone on this earth, and, yes, for sure, everyone has the full freedom to choose to react to whichever issue she/he wants to. The problem is we choose this freedom for ourselves, but accuse others of hypocrisy in the personal space, and of fundamentalism in the public sphere!
India is now on the boil precisely because of such "MY issues/points-that-i-make are worth a notice, while YOU are opinionated" what-about-ery. Out of a convenient lack of convictions emerges the real bigotry!
Why, the world itself is thus suffering if you look at the long protracted Russia-Ukraine war dangerously nearing an atomic 'explosion' in every sense of the term. As if that is not enough in the post-Covid scenario, there are the Chinese skirmishes!
Well, if something is wrong as per the parameters of a given time and space (as both these paradigms may change/shift the focus), it IS wrong whether or not it is convenient to me because of my immediate profit or loss equations.
Let me give you a very safe, as it is very harmlessly academic, example to prove my point.
It is wrong, for example, not to conduct any examination till a student reaches the eighth standard. True, learning is for knowledge. That wisdom sure needs some testing, right? That testing, the exam, can be made creative, yes, even for large numbers.
As a person belonging to academics, i must open up such issues. If i chicken out of any such debates instead of joining them without rancour, do i have any right to go on and on and on about the deterioration in educational standards?
Yes, there are many such issues that do need debating for a healthy society. In fact, i would go so far as to say that even a certain number of signatures supporting an appeal, which is actually more a paper tiger, can create a sense of pressure for the powers be, right?
In brief, the real prayer currently should be for "the right (and the courage of convictions) to say that ''two and two make four" as George Orwell put it so succinctly, and oh, yes, with the real courage of convictions!
Pratima@ "My parents (she talks only of her mother) always taught us that if people do not agree with you, listen to them. But if you have listened to them carefully, and still you are right, then you must have the courage of your convictions," wrote Jane Goodall. Agreed!
"I do not know any other way to live but to wake up every day armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me," says Woke Soyinka. Absolutely!
Dance divine becomes the dancer herself
As in her whirling steps comes alive
None other than the Shiva principle!
Climbs the melodious rhythm heavenwards.
Earth then has nothing to show more fair!
Rare truly such a portrait of grace selfsame!
Pratima@ " Dance is love and dance is joy and dance is dreams", My version of a Gene Kelly definition. Touche!
Remember the school days? Especially, those lazy, end-of-the-day lectures, may be, of geography that a tired and rather uninterested and hence hyper boring teacher would manage to make utmost lackluster? You could be the front bencher or the back bencher. Boredom would be equally distributed though. How did you then manage to keep awake?
Doodling away would be the escape route to a magic land that gave a full scale scope to your ingenuity and imagination and creativity. Suddenly would thus bloom flowers of most unusual shapes, sizes and colour on the drab dull pages of the classwork notebook. The Garden of Eden, too, would possibly not have those fanciful flowers. Of course, since you were not the naughty one, your notebook did not have to hide doodles that would be caricatures of teachers!
It need not always be flowers. On such occasions, Wordsworth would not have been able to compete with you as far as compatibility with nature would go. Exotic gardens, dream soaked flora and curious fauna never discovered by any coloniser would come alive on the pages of your notebook.
Yes, that is the richness of the art of doodling. Doodling is a curious combo of impressionism, surrealism, and realism. It can be both deeply lyrical and hugely funny. Most important of all, it is not the preserve of any age, caste, creed,class or region. It is often so vocal that languages, too, would pose no barriers.
When we were small, Papa got us a set that would create simply marvellous geometric patterns of doodles. They could emerge in wonderful colours as well. In her early eighties, Aai, who always loved drawing and painting, too, got this treasure trove of a minor gift from yours truly. Hours would fly away on wings of shapes and colours with such delicate, fragile contraptions.
It is a pleasure hence to see the daily Google doodles. They are as great a message as the lovely Amul ads. These art forms may appear minor, but their impact is indeed major. Long live doodles!
Pratima@ Be thou a child or be thee old/ doodles forever provide swirls of gold! Thus emerged an art form you just loved!
This morning I was reading a Sunday special newspaper article. The author apparently presented himself as a media guru, an expert in films. The very first few sentences were full of sheer name-dropping. That is okay. "Vadde log, vaddi bate" to quote the Kajol of "Kabhie Khushi, Kabhie Gum".
The article dealt with a great film by one of the best film directors ever, namely, "Rashomon" by Akiro Kurosawa. But it was rather apparent that the "media major" had probably not seen the movie recently, and had clearly forgotten whatever he saw ages ago, though, of course, not a single frame in that film is forgettable ever. The film literally etches itself on the audience's soul.
Well, the expert writing this article seemed to be an exception to this general rule. In his narration of the storyline, there was absolutely no reference to a central character, enacted moreover by one of the brilliant actors world-wide, and the most beloved actor of Kurosawa himself.
Yup, it is like discussing "Deewar" and not mentioning the Vijay of Amitabh Bacchan! Actors after all are the faces of films, and of the characters in any type of story-boarding, to quote a technical term the media major used oh-so-scholarly.
However unusual (better use mild words as the author is supposedly a media expert!) such "name dropping" (not in the figurative but in the literal sense of this phrase) might appear, the author had forgotten to mention the great end of the superb film in an article of about al least three thousand words!
Well, that would be like forgetting "the tossing of the coin" scene in "Sholay"! Yes, when it comes to a work of art, everyone surely has the right to discuss it from any particular angle, but, surely, the basic concepts just cannot be missed, especially in this era of information explosion wherein thousands of sites, beginning with the Wikipedia to Quora versions of Google guru's, provide in detail, though often wrong, all sorts of bits and bytes!
Why could not the great expert consult such basic sources, though, in fact, one should (or, rather, must) re-check every reference while discussing anything at all actually, but surely a great film? It possibly could not be the printer's devil as such biggies' stuff would get proof-read repeatedly, and in detail! What exactly was the editor doing, moreover?
Well, expertise hereabouts often seems to be resting on long lost laurels, right? This is actually an intellectual version of the famous Indian jugad. Such "everything and anything goes" attitude is the real 'fault line', one would say.
One wonders how such intellectual scenario would survive, when in the already happening (in all senses of the term) AI version of reality, robots are writing pitch perfect articles, even literary texts! In the times of intelligent machines, Lord save us from juggadu's of all types, especially of the intellectual variety!
Pratima@ In the times of intelligent machines, none can deceive, forget "all the people all the time", but even one "rasik" one time!
The password woes are truly worrisome. Passwords indeed pose a problem, most of you would agree with me, i suppose. Let me count the reasons, to quote Maria of "The Sound of Music".
Well, for one thing, one has to remember one too many, and that is absolutely bothersome. The mobile, the laptop, the wifi, the e-mail, the online bank accounts, the debit cards, the list is endless. In "smart" buildings, the swanky glass doors, too, are password protected!
Much worse is the issue of designing one! As it is, the all pervasive and all mighty algorithms can guess your password anyhow. It is sheer boredom to re-assign one each time Google "finds a suspicious activity" @ your e-mail account, for instance.
Of course, given the proliferation of cybercrimes, nobody is a nincompoop to have the basic numerals, 123456, as the password even for simple official online activities. Anyways, you have to often share such passwords. No use hence designing them with "a capital, a*, a # @ of eight characters" etc, etc.
Passwords, in brief, are more a boredom than a protection. At times, i also wonder if anyone at all finds us so blazingly radical and/or so filthy rich as to surreptitiously find out our activities even when the technology is already quite some Big Brother!
What would happen, one wonders, when the Digital Revolution, 4.0 or 5.0 as per the different designations thereof, is let loose full scale? Imagine if your personal robot has been assigned a password, and you forget it!
Thank God hence that human beings and humane relationships do not need any other passwords except love, concern and genuine understanding!
Pratima@ Says Clifford Stole, "Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months"! What an indentured labour indeed!
Now that it is the post-Covid period, all festivals would be celebrated on a grand scale for sure. The Gokulashtami festival is no exception to this obvious unspoken rule. In fact, the public functions are on yesterday onwards.
Well, what does the Krishna principle signify? For sure, as the much circulated wapp message goes, Krishna is sheer joy. Actually, throughout his life, he had to constantly give up on people and things he loved. Right at the birth, he had to leave his parents, next he had to leave Nand-Yashoda, his foster parents, and so on went the wapp message, and yet he continues to face whatever life has to offer with a positive mindset. So said the much circulated wapp message.
I look at the Krishna principle slightly differently. Let me see if i can explain my idea of the Krishna message adequately. I think, on one level, he is constantly in search of affective bonds, and he maintains them at any cost. Let me see how well i can exemplify my statement. He is Yashoda's favourite son, and yet he continues to care for and respect Devaki. He is Radha's, and yet he is special for every gopika.
In fact, he is so graceful in his relations with women that despite the aggressive Rukmini, he deeply cares for the soft Satyabhama, not to forget the sixteen thousand women whom he gives a socially acceptable status. I would say that for Draupadi, he is the best brother, protection personified.
I can provide countless such examples, Sudama being a well-known one. The point i am trying to prove is that here is a godhead for whom devotion is through emotions. Generally the god-devotee relationship is spiritual, and hence rather abstract. Here is Krishna abiding by you through emotional bonds. Hence "Meera ke to Giridhar Gopal" is the reality.
Yet another aspect of Krishna consciousness that i admire is that he leaves the choice to you. He does not impose his wisdom on you. When the Kurukshetra war is to begin, in a very fair and open way, he first asks, of all the people, Duryodhana what he would like to choose, the vast army or his advice. Luckily, for Arjuna, Duryodhana is stupid enough to make a wrong choice.
Let me give you another example. If you have read the Geeta very carefully, you would know that in the eighteenth chapter, he summarises the entire argument, and towards the end, he states "yathecchasi, tatha kuru", which can be loosely translated as "do what you want to". This freedom he allows Arjuna the devotee, the disciple, the friend to follow his heart is absolutely wondrous, especially after having taken immeasurable pains, in the midst of a war, moreover, to explain an entire way of thinking.
In my opinion, this openness of choice shows a great democratic force in the very idea of Indian philosophy. So it never dwindles down to mere religiosity in my opinion. It continues to be a way of thinking, of being, of becoming.
Finally, in my opinion, the Krishna Consciousness is embodied in the central message of the Geeta, " uddharet atmna", yet again a choice and the responsibility to carry it out to perfection, right?
In brief, my Krishna is a truly open, democratic consciousness that treats you equally, and stands by you while you try to bring your chosen destiny to fruition.
This is the way we were brought up by our parents, too. Hence on this auspicious occasion, yet again a loving remembrance.
Pratima@ God never helps, who thus says? Within your choices, he forever stays!
Was listening to/watching a few of Salman Rushdie's speeches. Well, the occasion actually was rather "coffee table" types. It was not exactly the passionate about literature and/or creativity crowd.
And, yet, did he hold them in thrall, almost as effectively as did the Ancient Mariner. Well, unlike the poor wedding guest, the audience was not squirming in their finery and/or coat tails.
The tale Rushdie told was deeply ethical, too. It sure was grim and tragic, though the disaster loomed miniscule in hindsight, that is to say, the fatwa appeared a little less dangerous.
What was remarkable about the speech and the Q-n-A session afterwards was the joyful, effervescent tone of Rushdie. His life as Joseph Anton did not seem to hang heavy around him like the albatross. He was full of witty wisecracks, even risque references. His humour was unbelievably subtle and deeply intellectual, exceptionally witty. What a wonderful conversational tone indeed!
The horrible harrassment, the life threat, the years of personal and professional losses seemed to sit so lightly on him that he truly appeared heroic. And yet he was overflowing with genuine humility.
I suppose it was the feather touch humility that was unsettling. He was absolutely not creating an avatar out of himself. And the whole of it appeared genuine, not the put on poses of a smart- aleck-y poseur with a partisan hectoring rhetoric.
I believe it was the searing scorching honesty (every word rang true) and genuine quality analysis without easy solutions or stupid simplifications, that, in the final analysis, was undoubtedly the real hallmark of the man who moreover, was not full of himself! No pretences, no grandstanding! Purely the razor sharp brain and a hyper creative mind with a genuine ethical standpoint rooted in a huge heart were the bases of his talk. The Ideal formula of a Perfect Speech!
Pratima@ A motivational speaker par excellence precisely because he was speaking out his soul. Its dazzling honesty made it truly real! A treat to (h)ear!
I am firmly of the opinion that i would never like to use any influence to get anything. I would rather work hard, and yes, of course, smart, at it, create thus my own brand, and get the much deserved prize or acquisition on my own as much as is possible.
We have been brought up this way. We were never allowed any easy ways out. Sure, it is the most satisfying way of going about anything, too, I believe.
Yet sometimes I do wonder if it is the right thi(nki)ng! Well, around you, everywhere you see people happily bingeing on positions even when they absolutely do not deserve the posts, but have the influence, the right connections, the money power, not to mention the muscle power!
They themselves absolutely know that they do not deserve what they have got. They know very well, too, how they have got it. That is indeed bad. To begin with, it ruins the individual who thus manages to 'make it' as deep down their own self image would have taken a complete beating. You must have observed how tetchy and touchy, insecure and jealous in a mean way such people are!
Well, it can be argued that it is their personal problem, their individual destiny, and let them suffer it as they deserve it. But what about the societal fabric? It is irreparably torn! No stitch can ever be in time for such damage.
How and why, is that what you are asking?, Well, when a non-deserving person makes it due to influence, it sends a very wrong message. It broadens the route for all that is negative. The desire to excel, for example, diminishes because one knows that it is not quality that is going you fetch the deserved success, but just the right influence.
The very morale of an entire society is thus lowered, and tarnished, forever. As a result, there is an unmistakable ordinariness to the entire enterprise. When 'everything goes' attitude thus dominates due to influence, the whole set-up dodders down, and soon all is lost. An institution, a way of thinking, a mode of being get ruined, and all due to "influence" that fetches everything for and to the non-deserving! 'De-served' social ambience, in brief!
Pratima@ Deserve the best! Why settle for the least or the worst? That should be the motto of .. individual lives, the logo of institutions, the mantra of an efficient and effective societal set-up, right?
For August 15, given the Platinum Jubilee of the Indian Independence, i created a blog that listed the "ABC of the Idea of India: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly." It was quite okay, too. Well, it got deleted, and i do not know how. Yes, i must say that it indeed got me the blues.
Well, i could have easily recreated it. I remembered it ad verbatim. Of course, that was not terribly difficult. Remember how Lokmanya Tilak and Savarkar recreated their great texts even when the British destroyed them during and/or immediately after the imprisonment? Compared to that, my task was sheer zilch.
I suffered a mix of incongruous feelings though. Firstly, i felt it was not worth it. Secondly, i felt irritated and depressed. It is not very pleasant to be constantly harassed directly and/or indirectly, even when you have not bothered anyone! Why, i do not even hit a mosquito or willy-nilly crush an ant.
However positive your thinking might be, such constant harassment and ill-treatment at times gets you the blues. It would, to anyone. Sure generally the harass masters must be getting those blues because you are not harassed despite their full-scale efforts!
Well, blue is actually my favourite most colour. I love all its shades. The only blue i am not comfortable with is the one associated with being in the doldrums. One cannot avoid it, however, when one is constantly harassed, ill-treated, bothered incessantly for absolutely no fault of yours, but due to some crazy whim of some despotic crackpot.
Why waste any time though due to such creeps? So, i am back to blogging, and soon I intend more. There is always light at the end of the tunnel!
Pratima@ If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
It has been quite some time that the minor technical and technological, too, adjustments, that is, both hardware and software changes, and, voila, your laptop is friends with any and every language.
Great help, you would day, right? I am not so sure. It does take a lot of time to type thus, believe me. That very duration of time could have been used to write, and not typewrite, at least double the number of pages for sure.
May be, such typewriting would be faster with practice, I suppose. Technology would be a joy to be with in such a case. Till then, it is quite some hindrance. We), it is totally a different story altogether that a typed webpage lacks the live feel of the paper, et al. Altogether a different tangent indeed!
What is the moral of the story? Technology is in its place and at its own proper pace! It is the user who makes it into a help or a hindrance!
Pratima@ A bad carpenter blames his tools.
I had written a detailed ABC of the Idea of India: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. The post vanished! Cannot retrieve it as per the YouTube videos! Those tools do NOT exist!
Well, the only comment i can make is i thoroughly enjoyed writing it, whether or not it gets retrieved. Multiple lessons learnt, too!
The internet is full of these "defining" type of videos, right? You would find on the internet not only the "how to" videos, but "who is", "what are" uploads as well.
Saw, rather just unrolled in front of me, a lecture on 'who is a friend'. It made exactly three, but truly relevant, points.
The first one was that friends you party with, the friends you freak out with are not your friends. The lady called them weekend friends. I would call them fun fellows. They are just company, not friends.
Who is a friend then? Somebody who helps you grow, and in turn whom you help to grow, the instrctor intoned. The lady instructor insisted that such friendship does not require the constant 'siting' together. I would say such friendship is like a refrain in a song. They set the tone, they (re-)appear to give a set meaning and a defining melody and rhythm to existence.
Such a friend will not always agree with you, will not support you when you do something wrong. In fact, a friend who knows you are doing/behaving/acting wrong and does not stop you is not a friend, though such a person could a hidden enemy for sure. Such a friend would be like an ant attacking a piece of jaggery. Use and throw, if necessary, business.
The last point the lady made was that the friends' mindset should be similar. I would say the wavelength should match. In her opinion, without fail, you become exactly like your constant company. As they say in Marathi, the good virtues may not, but surely the ugly vices do rub off. Evil has the tendency to influence subtly and strongly. Wrong companionship, she asserted, makes us like them. Better to be avoided!
In other words, a friend in need may not always be the friend indeed. Rather, a friend who does well, means well, allows you only to do well is somebody with whom you could jell!
Pratima@ Us friends mend, not to hell us they send!
Currently there is a new ism, as if there are not enough already! Unfortunately, as it is, most all people hardly digest the existing ism's real well. Most often, there is mere self-righteous jingoism and high funda terminology, rather jargon, which is both exhibitionistic and terrorising. Well, right now, that is not the issue I am trying to discuss.
I want to attract your attention to the most active and quite dangerous, actually rather stupid, ism now. It is ageism. True, it is not exactly very new. Sure it shows no modernity of attitude or perspective. Yet, these days, it is absolutely rampant.
You must have often observed how most people forever pretend that they are young, and as if to establish that invincible truth, they are forever interested in proving how xyz is older.
Personally, I find the whole exercise rather pitiful, and quite funny. In my opinion, it proves the total and complete insecurity of such people. Actually, each one of us is sure older than someone else. Why, a baby born last week is going to be older than a baby born a minute ago, right?
Hence i find this obsession with ageism rather pathetic. It often assumes two forms. On the one hand, such buffoons try to establish that they are young. On the other, there is quite a desperate, and hence rather pathetic and quite comic, effort to prove how someone else is older.
To begin with, i have never understood which way or how or why it is wrong to be old. It is very much a natural process. In fact, ever since a human being crosses his/her twenties, the process of ageing starts silently.
Why then pathetically prove to be younger, and, in a ridiculous and shallow way, in comparison with someone else? Making someone else's line shorter/bigger, in this context, lifeline older/younger, is not going to change the reality in any way, right?
Actually, the older you are, the more charming you are, is my opinion. You have everything, wisdom, maturity, perspective, and these days, youthfulness, too, as in the ageing world today, most all people live comfortably into their eighties. The medicines are better, there are hospices in the worst case scenario!
Why, the world over, the retiring age is trending to be seventy. As it is, in India where the workforce is mostly in the informal sector, there is no retiring age as such. With all sorts of start-up's, things are okay if you are ready to work smart. Need to learn a new skill? YouTube onwards, there are multiple possibilities, right?
In fact, recently i read a write-up by Shashi Tharoor that argued that the best working years are sixty to eighty. True, indeed, especially if you are in to creative stuff. Moreover, the avenues for showcasing your talents and abilities are infinite, too, given the internet, right?
Why then that obsession with proving how someone else is older than you? I suppose, that kind of cheap competitiveness comes from consumerism that post globalisation flourished like grass in the rainy season. For such a mindset, every person, each relationship is more for show-off-ism and one-up-man-ship than any real connect.
Personally, i feel though that such an attitude is an insult to one's own self. I am firmly of the opinion that my best competitor is my own self, yesterday, today and tomorrow. So long as i am a tad better than what i was yesterday, and i am going to be a shade nicer every which way tomorrow, nothing else matters.
Given this attitude, i find ageism quite funny, and rather pointless, too. What say? We are our energy, as they say, not our years, right? So long as you are curious, open-minded, eager to learn anew, you are forever young, what say?
Pratima@ Who is afraid of calendar years? 😂🤣😂Bliss it is to be born a human being. And, to be old-n- mature is sheer h(e)aven. Wordsworth would sure accept my apologies, for the playful gamification of his words!
The evening turned out to be quite terrible. Fast spread the news of the attack on Salman Rushdie. Now that the fatwa-based threat against him seemed to be a distant nightmare, this had to happen!
It is clear by now that the septuagenarian author would survive the severe attack. Multiple meanings would be assigned to it even though the identity of the attacker is not yet clearly known. For all you know, it could be a public retaliation to the Jawahiri death, a retribution by the radical groups, could be!
Let us not get in to all that international politicking until the truth gets told. Hopefully, it would be though. Instead, let us concentrate on the murderous attack, the attempted 'death of an author'.
Well, authors are always a pain in the neck. Both for the powers that be, and the society as such. Though artists of all 'sounds, shades, shapes,colours and forms' share their yen for "speaking truth to power", authors appear more dangerous as their medium, language, is easily shared. Their truth is hence easily relatable even for the common man.
Let us look at a concrete example. Let us look at two representations of the gut-wrenching world wars in the last century. Well, not everyone can understand a "Guernica". But the "shell shock" literature of the first world war or an Anne Frank or an Elie Wiesel can transform the most cynical, life hardened, war seasoned heart.
Authors are indeed the soul of the very humanity, and the solid pillars of the civil society. Literature is indeed ''mirror walking down the road". It reflects the reality, warts and all, whatever narrative mode it may adapt. The 'real toads in the imaginary garden' that literature depicts make an entire readership conscientious, and conscious, too, against multi-layered injustices and falsehoods of multiple varieties.
Literature adds sobs, smiles and,most importantly, soul to life whose spatial and temporal boundaries it effortlessly transcends "in style", right? The pleasure it provides through its "form-al"qualities is intellectual and yet ethereal, while its content, if at all it can be conveniently separated from the form, is soul stirring.
Be it literature of knowledge or of the aesthetic variety (to quote the famous differentiation by De Quincey, the contemporary of the great Romantics), literally literature lifts us up, every which way. In brief, authors never die, however much attacked for every possible controversy. Long live authors!
Pratima@ Socrates to Soyinka, and beyond, both in space and time, wordsmiths have spoken their truths, and enriched our lives beyond measure. They live for an eternity, however much 'under attack'.
Today happens to be a special day indeed. It is the Shrawan Pournima. One of the best celebrations it is of the brother-sister relationship. As it is, the sibling relationship is a bond that remains intact, despite distances, even when in the grown-up stage not much time gets spent together, and even despite a little misunderstanding here or there. So it has to be, given the visceral quality of the relationship.
Indeed times have changed now. Sisters no longer need protection. They are pretty capable of taking care of themselves, right? So now a sister expects only sheer affection. It is such a great feel to see your happily settled in life kid bro, now a "cool" guy every which way. Equally sweet and touching is the deep feeling of the senior citizens in their seventies/eighties celebrating this bond.
In certain parts of India almost the entire family tie rakhee's to each other, i believe. Would you agree with me though that the festival is now more Bollywood-ised? Well, it is Bollywood that made "rakhee" pan-Indian, right? Actually, in most all parts of India, this Pournima is celebrated as Narali Pournima. It is on this day that the sea, a treasure trove of life literally if you remember your basics of anthropology, is offered a prayer so that the sea routes could again resume post monsoon.
Hence the special sweet dish today is the unique rice preparation made with coconut and jaggery, a real treat indeed. Most all people have forgotten this unique importance of this Pournima. Here at home, we celebrate it both ways as Rakhee Pournima and Narali Pournima. Papa used to without fail offer a coconut in prayer to the sea, given Raju's sea-faring profession as a merchant navy officer.
Well, be it the Rakhee Pournima or the Narali Pournima, the joy this Pournima offers is indeed like the beauty of the full moon, now glistening like a pearl in the wet sky, now glimmering from behind the clouds. It covers the whole existence with a quiet beauty, a lovely peace that makes life truly unique. Long live this Pournima!
Pratima@ "All is well with the world" is the feeling the Shravan Pournima offers year after year. Let us celebrate this Pournima, the Shravan Pournima, as a tribute to the love and affection of the brother/sister for each other and equally a tribute to the respect we human beings owe to nature.
Lord Byron! One of the most interesting poets writing during the Romantic era! He is not as well-known as the other four, the elder Coleridge/Wordsworth pair or the "gen next ", in all senses of this term, the Shelley/Keats duo.
Byron has a very interesting comment to make on bigotry. He argues, "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who can not are fools; those who dare not are cowards ." Byron should indeed know.
Byron should know indeed! The unhappy facts of his personal life made a sensational story. Judgements regarding his life were quite rampant. Most of these were downright lies, and yet most all of his contemporaries believed these to be the sacrosanct truth! That is bigotry for you!
That is the problem. Very rarely is it found that you do not badmouth others. Otherwise, be it the family function or the society in general, you would carry on in " vicious" circles.
Any solutions to such bigotry? One should cross check facts at the initial stage itself! Never open your mouth unless you know the absolute proof about the veracity or the mendacity of the report. Otherwise, it would be prejudice. Building bridges instead of walls is a must!
Pratima@"Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think," says Emma Goldman. Yes, indeed!
You love cats or you hate them. You cannot remain indifferent to them. Wondering why all these thoughts on cats today? Well, yesterday was the cats' day.
We had a cat once. Well, she entered our lives quite accidentally. A stray cat just left her helpless, and hapless, too, kitten at our place. The kitten was not even a week old. She could not even open her eyes. She was that small and fragile.
The only options open to us were either you keep her and care for her or you let her die. It was but obvious that i would not be able to choose the second option. Aai chose to tolerate my decision and thus Manu entered our life.
Countless memories. She loved, for example, to nestle next to Aai, purring away to glory. At times, she would thus enjoy a quickie of a nap. Most often though, she used that perch to stare at her own reflection in the mirror.
For about six months of her little life, she did not know anything about any actual cat. She had assimilated herself so much in to our lives. She shared every little skill acquisition of hers with us. She wanted a special petti g on such occasions.
She led a very structured life according to her daily schedule, and she never faltered at any step while following it. And, yet, daily she learnt something new. Why, she could almost talk, too. Once given the PG orals, i reached home late. She always used to sit like a statue in marble, given her colour mix, waiting for me.
The day i was late due to orals, she would not let me enter the premises. For about five to ten minutes, at the gate itself, she made so many sounds as if she were scolding me, demanding explanation about the delay, so to say.
Given such perfect bond, as if she were the best buddy, difficult it was to understand her last desparate behaviour. Well, better to always remember the happy times with her. All these memories coz of the cats' day!
Pratima@ Cats choose us, we do not own them. That is the folk wisdom. How absolutely true!
Would you, too, say, as is the fashion in certain circles, that feminism is passe? The typical argument such grandees often make is that women have come a long way, have managed to get almost everything, and there is no need now for any special consideration or treatment for/of them.
Indeed? Hey, come again! Want counter proof? Well, yesterday was the sisters' day as well. Including the media, hardly anybody noticed!
Actually, your sister is your best buddy. She is of your times. She knows thus all your troubles, tensions and travails.
And, yet, she is half your Mommy, too. Inbuilt in her heart is that unmistakable motherly love for you, however unconscious it may be. She cannot see you suffer. She can feel your hurt instinctively.
You may snap at her. Well, intimacy has that fault as it most often breeds the 'taking others for granted' virus. You may ten times hurt her, wound her, and yet she manages to overlook such offences in a very parental way. And, yet, she is a silent terror if you so much as think of straining away from the straight path. In such a scenario, she is much more dangerous than the fabled Big Brother, right?
No wonder, the Bollywood films till sixties would often have a sacrificing sister, right? Actually, a sister has grown up with you, knows you as a child, as a young person inside out. She may have been scolded for you at times. She would have helped you umpteen times.
A sis, in brief, always glitters like a silent star, however distant. A sis is a sis is a sis, in brief, whether the day dedicated to her gets celebrated or ignored!
Pratima@"My first job is Big Sister, and I take that very seriously," says Venus Williams. Mental handshake, there!
It is the friendship day today. Let us look at a celebrated mythical friendship in this context, the friendship between Krishna and Sudama. Well, first and foremost, the story tells you that a true bond is not defined by the societal norms or differences. A king can be a pauper's friend.
Next, it tells us that there can be a friendship between the ordinary and the divine. The best buddy is the god, the myth seems to suggest. Indeed friendship is a 'blessing' in this sense! A 'divine' friend seems to enjoy the "poha", the puffed rice preparation, in fact, whatever is offered with devotion, "patram, pushpan, falam, toyam" as the Geeta puts it.
Yet another truth about friendship that the Krishna-Sudama story seems to tell us is that true friendship is never really disconnected. Neither years of physical absence seem to wither it, nor distance apparently ruins it.
Still more interestingly, the story seems to suggest that in any real bond, there is no need to demand, well, no need even to say anything. Krishna seems to understand Sudama's plight and Sudama Krishna's genuine earnestness. In other words, silences speak a lot in every real friendship.
Such a friendship is never exploitative either. There are no hidden or ulterior motives. In fact, the good friend knows what is ideal for the buddy.
Last but not the least, the story seems to suggest that a good friend puts you in the comfort zone, and thus puts your anxieties, your confusions in proper perspective, designing them in to a better shape for you.
Ah, yes, that ideal, many would say, is a story. Such wonders do not exist in reality. My take on the whole of it is a little different. Why cannot we adopt as many defining qualities of/for any bond from this story? Sure we may falter, sure our best efforts may be way below the ideal, and yet these attempts would add grace to our existence as a human being. May be!What say?
Pratima@ Is a genuine friendship a route to a better self? May be! In certain contexts, we could be Krishna; some times, Sudama! Both ways better us, add a touch of the divine to us, make us more graceful (under pressure), right?
You must have seen that hilarious video. Actually it begins on a very serious note. It shows a post-burial scenario. The pastor then invites the daughter of the diseased to speak.
She begins, "The man who i am going to speak...". Promptly the pastor intervenes and says, "The man whom...', and pedantically explains how she is the subject of the sentence and the father was the object, and hence it has to be "whom".
The flustered daughter continues, "between our family members..." Yet again corrects the pastor "Among the members of our family...'. The daughter next mentions,"The faculties of my college". Much more teacher-ly is the zealous priest who says it has to be "The faculty in my college...' "According to me...", the daughter is about to let loose her "ability". She is promptly corrected coz English never allows "according to me".
The girl wants to praise her father's sense of humour, and says, "people literally laughed their heads off at his jokes". The church father patiently explains why it cannot be as "literally" and "heads off" cannot factually jell!
The daughter, by now exasperated, gives the vicar one good whack of her huge purse, and says, "now regard what you did as you lay there". Promptly comes the answer, "no, no, i would have to regret as i lie here".
Exaggeration spart, the video raises a very genuine question. What matters more, mere communication or speaking right? Well, it is "Speak, right?" or is it "Speak right". I would say, to "speak, right", you must "speak right". In other words, effective communication cannot happen unless you are grammatically correct, too.
Do not you know the famous "visiting relatives can be boring" declaration? Who or what is boring here? You visiting the relatives or the relatives visiting you? Such ambiguity at the syntactic level can be hyper dangerous for familial peace and/or relationships.
In other words, to ''speak, well", you need to ''speak well". It is equally true of formality and informality as well. No harm in "hey, ya, dude, wassup? Long time, no see?". Possibly, however, you cannot thus address your college Principal or the company MD, right?
Similarly, if you were to use "i having many friends", the sky is not going to fall off, yet those in the know would nicher a laugh, or rather, a smirk born of linguistic superiority! Why give any one the right to laugh at you? Rather, speak well and be/make merry!
Pratima@"Good English spoken and written well," says W.A. Raspberry, "opens more doors than a degree. Bad English, on the contrary, will close doors you never knew existed!"
Have you read "Life of Pi"? At least watched the movie? Remember the terrible tiger, Richard Parker, Pi Patel's companion, quite some "character", in that book? Remember the end of the novel? Richard Parker almost jumping over the prostrate body of Pi on the sand and vanishing in to the forest near the coast without even a glance back, much a wound almost to the hurt heart of Pi?
Well, i saw a short little video of a Bengal tiger, too, who, after being treated for whatever its troubles, was being towed towards the Sunderbans. Midstream it suddenly jumped off the boat, swimming superbly and faster than even an Olympic gold medalist. The moment it reached the shore, it broke in to a hasty run, and just vanished in to the mangrove mesh, without a look backwards, as Pi puts it.
Unconcerned, it appeared. True, we tend to assign a character, a personality, and/or qualities to and impose value systems on the clean and judgement free lives of animals. Yet, i do not know why the tiger never appeals to me despite its handsome looks and super fine grace. To me, a tiger always has something vicious, raspy, nasty to its personality, and downright cruel and self-centered, almost selfish the animal appears.
The lion does not seem to have that kind of meanness. It appears quite laid back, almost gentle and gracious in its attitude. If the tiger is more a fiercely ambitious person, the lion is a kind of "cool" type who seems happy enjoying the feel of doing whatever is happening. I can imagine a lion smiling, even guffawing. The tiger could only smirk with a snarl, i suppose.
Actually, i do know it is wrong on my part to thus dismiss the tiger. Unconcerned it actually is to all our equations and suppositions. Yet the tiger, burning bright, in the forests day n night, does not appear divine to me, actually it looks devilish and evil, rather like certain human beings, always unconcerned, come rain, come snow, chilling thee to the bone?
Pratima@So it is with the household pets. For a dog, you are God. For a cat, she is god. Having literally brought up a kitten that had not even opened its eyes, and whom its Mommy dear just left to die, i think initially i had almost turned Manu in to a loving doggie, but which magic spell it was that made her attack and bite me viciously, like the unkind, actually unconcerned, tiger, her relative as per the lore!?!
Was watching the Ranveer show. Oh, no, nothing naughty, not the Ranveer of the not even the fig leaf variety. Rather the Ranveer, the podcaster. His podcasts are quite interesting and unusual.
I have watched just a few of his hundred podcasts. I must say he manages to get interesting speakers on the show. The one i watched this evening was with Anil Dhar. Yes, Anil Dhar, the Delhi journalist of the investigative variety.
On this podcast, he was talking of a raw nerve defining the Indian Independence Struggle. Yes, you guessed it right. He was talking of the most mysterious Subhash Chandra Bose. The material he shared was quite volatile, but it sure ignited the intellectual wonder through an analytical frame of mind.
In this context, i do not mind owning up absolutely openly that i often watch the Arnav Goswami debates. Yes, i know that he is anathema to many a groups, but nobody can deny his fabulous international resources. Where else do I hope to watch the Ukranian president live on the Indian T V, for instance? Moreover, despite the aggressive debates, you are free to form your own perspective, right?
It is in this spirit that often i do watch the Times Now channel, too. Some of the panelists are worth a note. It is, for example, quite interesting to listen in to the very academically structured, precise presentation of Dr. Ranganathan. It is a great fun to watch the two Poonawala's parry, too.
My favourite one is the ET Now though. Great speakers, superb themes, very powerful presentations pulsating with contemporary ideas, a mix of thought and action, that is the ET Now discussion for you. Yes, a sprinkle of the BBC, the CNN, the Al Jazeera, the Discovery and the National Geographic, and, voila, your perspective is multi-faceted.
Well, like the genie in Alladin's lamp, the (social) media, too, is a monster, and you can use it maturely to frame your perspective(s) intelligently, right? In brief, like the mind, as Milton put it succinctly, the ( social) media, too, is in its place, and (you) can make a heaven of hell, and vice versa.
Pratima@ Perspectives are like the kaleidoscopic paradigms. Change the angle just a wee little bit, and the entire pattern re-emerges as a new de-sign! Real attractive is this game of patterns and perspectives!
I am a very night person. I love to keep awake, and quietly read, write, listen to music, and so on. Indeed there is something special, unique about the late night hours.
The whole world is asleep, and with it, all the cheap meannesses, all the selfish self obsessions, all the vacuous cruelties, everything is suspended at least for some time.
There is a total quietitude and purity to the times so much so that you can hear your own breath if you wish to. In my opinion, the concentration can be total thus. In the urban contexts, one does not get to see the stars literally. Yet, at night, it is a great feel that stars keep you company.
Well, Aai-Papa always insisted that the Brahma muhurt is the best. Why, Aai passed away at the Brahma muhurt itself, at about 4.30 in the morning.
In my opinion, when the morning enters the day, it has its own unique hustle-bustle. Even at 4.40ish, you can hear the morning walk wallas, the milk and newspaper vendors, for instance.
Each to his own, of course. Raju is downright irritated if i stay up late, for instance. As for me, i do not mind the dark circles etc, etc. I love my (k)night hours!
Pratima@ "Night is a world lit by itself," says Antonio Porschia. Absolutely agreed!
Nag panchmi today. Yet again remembered Aai-Papa intensely, and our childhood, too. The Nag Panchami festival used to be special. Next to the jiwati photo frame, Aai used to draw haldi-chandan/turmeric-sandalwood cobras on a wooden board, offer flowers, and lahya/puffed jowar to the deity. We were told the Nagpanchami story, too. Yes, there used to be the special prasad of the great puran kadabu's that was a real, absolutely yummy treat.
In the afternoon, and this was the practice till 2006-7, the entire area would be alive with very many serpent catchers shouting, hollering "nagobala dhudh". The snake charmers would go from doorstep to doorstep. They would have a proper cobra, hissing, with the hood raised erect and the deadly stare. Aai would offer it pooja. Of course, the snake charmer would collect the milk, pocket the money. Aai would have kept aside a heap of properly washed, neatly folded clothes to donate to him.
Once Aai-Papa, they had both, gone to "Battis Shirale" at Sushama's mama's place, and Aai loved to tell the tales of the cobras there, though in general she did not like it if I were to watch any programme on Discovery or National Geographic that even distantly had anything to do with a snake.
Well, as one grows up, one knows perfectly well that the Nagpanchami cobra is de-fanged, may be, often in a cruel way. One knows that a snake cannot drink milk. One knows the raised hood is in self defence. One realises the ugly economy of the whole procedure of destroying nature thus.
True, and yet somewhere one wonders at the innocent charm of the day as practised in our childhood. Let us, for example, look at the practice of not cooking anything on the Nag Panchami day that would involve cutting/slicing.
One realises that it was a very agrarian ritual as around the harvest time, while farming, there was a danger of the hoe, may be, cutting in to half a much needed serpent as rodents would otherwise eat up the shoots. To make the common man respect the "dangerous friend", the ritual emerged?
Sure one needs to read up a lot on local deities, the relationship of such practices with the matriarchal roots of agriculture, not to forget Engels yet again, and so on. Yet there is a part of my mind that keeps on wondering about these hapless, absolutely poor snake charmers who would at least for a day get some milk, a little money, and a few clothes.
What must be happening to them now? How would they be surviving now? Yes, we must respect the snakes, but what about the poor human beings whose yearly livelihood depended on a day, may be?
I get the same kind of helpless feel when i think of the circus animals. True, it is horribly cruel to treat animals the circus way. And yet there would be a bond between the animals and their human companions, be it circus artistes, trainers, circus owners. At least for their own profit, they might take some care of the animals?
Now the animals are rescued. Great, indeed. But what happens to the circus artistes, circus owners,and their lives, not to forget the entire innocent world of the circus experience?
True, animal cruelties are horrible, must be avoided, for sure. And, yet, not so long ago, there was a care and a concern for the mysterious snake charmer, too. Where would he or his family be in our urban jungles, busy with new "mouses" terrorising us in newer ways!?! Not so long ago indeed, there was a culture of care for and welfare of the entire ambience, man and the entire environment. Now mere nostalgia!
Pratima@ Lost wor(l)ds, but not least the questions without many anwers, unlike all the Shrawan stories that ever ended with perfect solutions!
August 1 is a unique day. It is a day when we pay tributes to Lokmanya Tilak and Anna Bhau Sathe. Both are great, no doubt. These days, however, the Anna Bhau Sathe anniversary is celebrated in a huge way. There are speeches, processions, statue decorations, which is wonderful.
The Tilak anniversary is mostly a ritual that would involve merely floral tributes mostly. Most often at the public or at the government level, there might not be a public event.
Actually, the best tribute is, of course, following in the foot steps of the great man. Lokmanya Tilak provides us a huge route, not merely foot steps, to follow! He was the first ever who questioned the caste divide so much so that in his career as a leader, he was often described as the leader of the downtrodden. He insisted on political freedom as an important stage of a freedom struggle and believed in a simultaneous social upliftment.
He went even so far as to advise his own son that if he so wished, he could be a cobbler, too. The only condition was that he should be the best cobbler in the vicinity.
This insistence on excellence is found in his writings, both journalistic/editorial and philosophic/religious. What i find interesting about him is the fact that considered tough often, he was actually very gentle and sensitive. The best proof thereof is the fact that sparrows would perch on his shoulders while he would be writing in the Mandalay prison.
If a shy bird like a sparrow could so deeply believe him, it is a great indicator of his genuine gentleness, softness, sensitivity and reliability, i believe.
It is wonderful creating an alternative genealogy. But that should not exclude the others. In fact, multiple alternative genealogies co-existing most meaningfully is real collaborative democracy!
Pratima@ Names carved on hearts are etched on souls. Long live such memories!
