Life

 A road 

that bends at the deadliest curve

in a valley that slopes steeply 

down a waterfall 

with no Charon to ferry across.

Why doth life forever thus image?

Or as a rose pale

with a worm's trail

that infested 

the crimson bed

it as a bud shed?

Why doth life forever thus image?

Why doth despair dark thus forage

fodder scarce in nightmares drear ?

Long marches to nowhere

Feet drag to futures lost forever

The Sisyphean rocks tumble everywhere 

 here

there 

wherever!

Why doth life forever thus image?

An unholy alliance trudging a pilgrimage

A road robber riven

who never turns a poet nor a sage.

Why doth life forever thus image?

Out of a mountain of despair

a molehill of broken dreams to re-pair!

Pratima@ Whence the soul begets this sadness?/What the innermost heart tears?/Whence to go, what to do?/ Who canst thee console, to such questions which clue? Despair rages wild/ like a harsh hellish hiss coiled!

Myths as a maze

 No, do not worry. I am not going to refer to any mythology or every maze therein. Rather, i am talking of certain myths that are literally like a maze as far as language learning/ teaching, especially of poor dear English, goes.

Yes, i love my mother tongue. I am reasonably good at it, too. Yet my love for my L1 does not blind me with a vicious visceral hatred of English. YES, i am not afraid of being politically incorrect, and i can affirm most strongly and openly that I ADORE English. In fact, every language is unique, and enriches beyond words the individual user.  The more languages a person knows, his/her mind is that much opener, that much more sensible and sensitive.

Okay, let us forget such individual benefits and preferences. How about the society/the country? Whether anyone likes it or not, and despite and due to the historical realities, English is the lingua franca across the world, and, unfortunately, in our own country, given the rejection of Hindi in the southern states.

Actually, like any other chauvinism, linguistic chauvinism, too, is reactionary, reductive, and harmful. Ignoring English is like being an ostrich, especially given the current cusp of historical realities. 

Given such inalienable truths, the myth that in language learning/teaching, communication alone matters, and grammar is an unnecessary headache is a myth that can gulp generations in to a maze of incompetence and diffidence. Sure, grammar should be taught communicatively, yet to deny it completely is dangerous because grammar is the skeleton of a language. 

In other words, creative ways of teaching grammar, using realia, puzzles, language games, and other such methods can be created, but completely ignoring it, while praising communication, is injurious! Actually any sane person would grant that good, effective, efficient use of a language requires a very good hold over grammar basically. 

Now let us look at another myth about English language teaching. Yes, most all people think that they 'know' English. Actually so horrid is their awareness of grammar, usage, vocabulary that such English could have been used as a terror weapon of mass destruction against the British! In other words, it is necessary to teach correct English and proper usage as only then people from the various corners of the world can relate to us. De-learning and re-learning English is the need of the hour.

Yet another horrible myth is vivisect-ing language in to ridiculous fragments  such as 'Spoken English'. At every street corner, there are 'Spoken English' classes. Downright infamous, and hilarious is this myth 'coz language cannot be so neatly cut  in to pieces. Each of the four language skills is inter-woven with the  other(s), and can never be taught independently.

Yet another methodical madness is the insistence on the ESP, English for Specific Purposes. Sure, language transfers information. Undoubtedly, creating career conscious and relevant material must be used. Yet the real soul of a language resides in its true entirety, which includes its culture. Not only does ESP make language learning boring and repetitive (because the  content subject lectures would be using the basic English, the same terminology anyways!), it reduces, moreover, the complex creativity of an individual user and in the final analysis of the community!

This does not mean that every student must read Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Tennyson, and other such canonical authors. One can use lots of realia, even soul soup stories. In literature, lovely alternative pieces, that make students culturally sensitive synthetically, all sorts of games and stories as teaching techniques and tools are available.  In brief, a mix of culture, a  dash of geography, a dollop of history make the learning of a language real and fun.

Well, teaching/learning should make every student an ardent user who uses the language effectively and efficiently, as thus would generate a community that stays together. That can happen if learning is fun, beyond any mazes of convenience!

Pratima@Animals communicate, even bots can, emojis create word pictures;  but human beings alone make language a lovely tool of expression. Let all the myths  mentioned above be busted, and asap!

The Great Chain of Being

 Well, biodiversity is the buzzword these days. The term is a combination of two components, the prefix 'bio' and the base word 'diversity' which comes from the adjective 'diverse'. It means a complete, total life cycle.

Now, if we really want to understand the concept in some detail, we would have to go back to our school days. Remember we had to study this notion of the food chain? Well, when it concerns biodiversity, it is more of the togetherness, of 'the unity in variety' 'idea' of life.

Biodiversity includes a co-existence of an eco-system where a variety of many varied types of animals and plants live together to form a good and healthy system. It includes all sorts of life forms; flora, fauna, fungi, micro-organisms like bacteria, and so on.

This ecosystem of genetically and species wise different forms of life has yet another axis to its existence. It includes a particular environmental context. In other words, the desert biodiversity is drastically different from the tall grass prairie ecosystem. 

For the existence of the earth itself, we require all these bubbles of life. In a way, this unique interaction of varied species in a given context can be an apt metaphor for a society, a nation with reference to a particular historical, socio-eco-psycho-political epoch.

Interesting concept, in brief! I suppose, it can best be summarized as the singular ethical principle, "live and let live" so that together all survive and flourish!

Pratima@ "Remember," asserted Alexander, the Great, "on the conduct of each depends  the fate of all"!

Let us laugh awhile!

 Well, i just could not resist the temptation. Yes, i watched "Pather Panchali", twice in a row. Yet again i was lost to that magic world. After that deeply moving experience, it is not possible to write a blog. Yet there has to be the daily blog entry. Hence this return to the childhood game, of telling silly jokes!

1) Sunday Best Behaviour!

"Always knock on the door before opening a fridge?"

 "Why?"

"Salad dressing!"

2) School rules!

"What? Oh, there was a kidnapping at school?"

"No worries! He woke up!"

3) Prize Winner!

"Why did the scarecrow win the award?"

"He was outstanding in his field!"

4) The Writer's Block

"I cannot write with a broken pencil." 

"Why?"

"It is pointless."

5)The i-deal couple at a yum party

"How can you go fetch the ice- cream and cookies for the tenth time? They would laugh at you," hissed the wife under her breath.

"Do not worry, dear. Each time  I tell them it is for you," assured her the loving husband.

Pratima@ Simple puns as word games can sometimes lift a little your spirits slumped in the doldrums, right? So here is hoping

 you like this childhood game

 all of us used to love 

once upon a time

not very long ago.

Well, naive eons ago!

Ray's Sunshine

 Surprised, confused with the title of this piece, are you? Well, it refers to Satyajit Ray and his film, "Pather Panchali", which celebrates that sunshine period of our life, that is, childhood. Actually, personally i love "Apur Sansar" more, not to forget many more of his other films. I shall, may be, talk about "Apur Sansar" on May 2, the date of the maestro's birth anniversary, and, at least currently, the birthday of Yours Truly!  With Corona cudgeling  life hard again, let us all live long and strong!!

April 23 was Ray's death anniversary. Hence this tribute! Why did I choose "Pather Panchali"? Well, it was the first film ever from India to get global recognition. Indeed it is sheer poetry on celluloid. Every frame in that film can inspire a chapter, if not a book. Much debated, Nargis called it "selling India's poverty abroad", for instance, this great film shows us the real India, or Bharat, if you wish to have it that way.

Well, actually, i have chosen to talk about this film for a very personal reason as well. During my mid-teens, i made Aai watch with me all sorts of great films. More about this theme some time later. "Pather Panchali" was the first ever among these.

Aai loved it absolutely. Yet again the reason was extremely personal, and truly cute. Subir Banerjee who enacted the young Apu looked rather like Raju in many scenes, and absolutely like Sanju in practically every scene. Anyways, as young boys, as if they were twins, they did look like each other's carbon copy.

She used to absolutely adore a particular scene, and the still shot thereof, mostly used in the publicity material. It consisted of Durga and Sarbojaya getting Apu ready for the school. With his hair parted, Sarbojaya looks at Apu with pure love and sheer adoration. Aai loved the scene, and remembered it forever. Of course, all of us were terribly innocent, nay, naive, then. Hence the feminist issue of a sister's role, patriarchally defined, kind of questions never emerged.

 With a honest, sincere, poetry obsessed husband who is never worldly wise, she must have found identifying with Sarbojaya very easy. Though Indiran Thakur was mostly not a member of family those days, i suppose, many scenes in that great film are very close to Indian hearts from the middle class. 

I have discussed the film in many film workshops which, at times, as in the HCU Eng Dept, i initiated and led, etc etc etc.The film is a film buff's Bhagwadgeeta, Bible, Guru Grantha Sahib, and every other sacred scripture, all rolled in to one. Even when you watch it for the hundredth time, THE nth time, every shot, each frame such as the train sequence energises you eternally.

 Beautiful indeed is the scene, for example, when Apu and Durga follow the sweetmeat seller, their undulating reflections, the long-legged fly skirting on the water whom one repeatedly met, once in my M.A. Yeats classroom, and yet again while teaching Ramanujan.

Durga's tragic death never fails to move, not even the hardest heart. In the HCU workshop i mentioned earlier, one of the foreign students who attended it was so deeply touched that he vehemently denied my critique of the unmistakable sentimentality of the Durga episodes, especially her rather filmy death. 

Well, the film indeed is about the simple but strong bonds that string our existences together as the scene when Sarbojaya tells Harihar of Durga's death proves. Well, i can go on and on, discussing, for example, how this celebration of childhood is also about its end. Before the rays of readers' patience dim, however, it is better to stop, right?

Pratima@ i am terribly busy with all sorts of assignments lined up, and yet I think i would make time to watch "Pather Panchali" yet again!

To argue or not to argue?

 To argue or not to argue/that is the question! As a sensitive and sensible person, mostly you choose not to, because you know that arguing is like wrestling with a pig. You get absolutely dirty, and the pig loves it, anyways. 

At times, however, you are almost provoked in to arguing. There are people who are extremely aggressive, authoritative and, oh, yes, hugely and loudly argumentative. They do not allow anyone a word edgeways. 

They choose, moreover, to conveniently arrive at their own conclusions which, much worse, they love to carry to all sorts of people, including those in the higher/authority positions whose ears they love to warm.You, of course, like to believe that such people may not choose to believe everything they hear. Well, one should always be optimistic. In short, depends! 

Even in such a context, i would regret having argued at all because it is a sheer waste of energies of all sorts, trying to justify yourself. Why justify yourself if you are not at all wrong in the first place, right? Anyways, however much you may justify your position, if a person has decided to think otherwise, your sincerity is going to fall on deaf ears, right? An argument, moreover, demeans you as you descend down to the level of the other party who would be excellent at such secondary skills they are extremely experienced at. 

And, yet, if arguments are so very horribly bad, why did a scholar like Amartya Sen think of argumentative Indians? I suppose, to understand the whole issue, let us look at the etymology of the term. It has two Latin origins, arguere (which means, make clear) and argutari (which is to prattle, and comes closer to accusing).

The typical banal argument would descend from the second verbal source, while 'argument' as a philosophical criterion, a thought-full activity should enjoy the first as its root. In ancient India, or in Socrates' 'Dialogues' or later in Aristotle's peripatetic mode of pedagogy in the Lyceum, an argument was an honourable mode of intelligent and intense questioning and debate. You had to be, moreover, truly skilled at rhetoric  to put forth any  argument and/or counter-argument.

Later on, as history shows,  such intellectual debates and discussions, too, plumetted down to mere conventions, leading to coteries showing off their 'inform'ed abilities, void of wisdom, may be, as mostly in the medieval Europe and its scholasticism during the Dark Ages! 

In brief, whichever way we look at the activity, better to never argue. Silence speaks the loudest, right?

Pratima@Self-reflexivity is the best policy because therein you argue with yourself, in the process making yourself a better version of yourself constantly.

Books:THE Bestest Buddies

 It is but obvious that my blog today would deal with books. Well, April 23 happens to be both the birth and the death anniversary of one of the greatest authors ever, William Shakespeare. He was, it seems, baptised on April 26. Hence, like many other assumptions about this legend, it is conceded that he must have been born on April 23. Like the very many exceptional events associated with him, his writings and his life, significant it is that he was born and died on the same day.

The world over, this unique day is associated with the celebration of books.Yes, reading a book is being with the bestest buddy ever. This friend never ever gets irritated, bored,  angry, upset with you. In return, this 'amigo' takes you to unseen lands, helps you meet unique people in absolutely different time zones, and shares special feels, thoughts, ideas, concepts, experiences with you, and, that, too, in different styles. 

Meet this buddy again after any number of years, and, wow, he meets you so much more enriched with all the passing years. Neither space nor time ever can wither the magic of a book.

Indeed there is nothing better in this world than reading a book, with a cup of coffee in one hand, your pet curled at your feet, your small little garden a window away, and great music playing in the background. If there is heaven on earth, eh, Firdaus, it is thus, it is thus, it is thus. Omar Khayyam would sure forgive me the anachronisms.

No wonder, it is said that it is better to avoid the company of a person whose t.v. screen is bigger than her book shelf. Yes, that brings me to the issue of technology replacing reading.

Yes, undoubtedly the fragrance of a brand new book, the touch of a page to be turned for the first time ever are absolutely heady. Yet i am not an enemy of the internet/the lappie/the mobile. Depends on what you use these tools for. You can read online research articles otherwise not available. The Project Gutenberg makes very many books accessible. My online meets with the very many Encyclopedias indeed strengthen me a lot. Indeed nothing like the internet for a quickie of a reference, right?

I do not mind confessing that although anyday anytime I would prefer a book,  I adore the all inclusive multi-media experience as well. The Tedx type talks are part of my staple diet. Many bloggers are brilliant, too. Oh, yes, that uniquely democratic knowledge production and distribution mode called the Wikipedia is unashamedly a great intro to brand new areas. 

Yes, i am logical enough to grant that some people may prefer a Kindle, or some such version, to a print book. How can anybody forget the Amazon many swear by, though i love the book shop.  May be, the online buy is less costly these days! Long live online pdf's, better than even xeroxes!

The 'what' of the reading, in other words, matters much more than the 'how' thereof, right? Reading is reading is reading, in brief, and that is 'the be-all and the end-all', to quote our dear Shakespeare!

Pratima@ "I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library," wrote Borges. He said it!

Forever

 Akshya Tritiya is a very interesting day.  It is supposed to be one of the three and half most auspicious days/muhurta according to our belief system. What i like the most about the festival is the mythology associated with it. 

According to one myth, on this day, Lord Krishna visited Draupadi when the day was almost getting over. The Pandavas were undergoing the vicious exile imposed on them by the Kauravas after the unjust dice game. The food was almost over in their forest residence. Lord Krishna found a grain in one of the pots which was filled to capacity when he touched it blithely. 

Hence the day is associated with all that is eternal, the forever. To celebrate the happy association, Aai had earmarked a special pot, and on this festive day, she would use it to keep the special "amras", the unique  Alphonso mango pulp preparation.

In yet another version of the story, Sage Durwasa, extremely notorious for his short temper, visited the Pandavas to test their hospitality. Draupadi prayed to Lord Krishna, and the rest of the story follows the same pattern.

In my opinion, the myth celebrates the support system a woman, who runs a household, needs. Given the celebrated Draupadi-Krishna relationship, it could also mean the sibling support a woman needs in tough times. It would, of course, symbolise the relationship between a devotee and the divine, the forever succour.

That would be the symbolism underlying the other story associated with the day, the Sudama-Krishna story. As per this story, the tired, irritated wife of the poverty stricken Sudama sends him on an errand to Lord Krishna, his childhood friend. When Sudama, however, meets his friend, he is so overcome with affection that he forgets all the worldly demands of his wife.

 He gives his best buddy, the small, little sachet, a packet of 'poha', puffed rice, he has brought along.  The Lord eats it with a lot of relish, and they part happily.  When Sudama returns home, he finds it flush with all the material riches.  This story would also signify the divine support, even when unasked, as the Lord knows the real, the genuine love of the devotee, and bestows blessings that are forever. 

If the Basweshwar Jayanti celebrated today signifies societal equality, it also reminds us of the gender justice that poetesses like Akka Mahadevi initiated those days. As for the Id that fell on the same day this year, in my mind, it is always associated with Premchanda's simply superb story, "Idi". One of his gems, the unbelievably vivid and realistic story celebrates a kid's innocent love and large-heartedness.  

Well, all these references prove that whether in myth or in literature, great beginnings that end in abundance forever are always rooted in selfless straightforwardness and genuine caring love, an essential message in the "I, me, my" world today!

Pratima@Empathy is the basis of eternity!

Civil Servants

 In the intellectual circles, it is often a commonplace practice to mock, deride, look down upon the bureaucracy. At times, it does appear valid, too! The great German philosopher/intellectual in the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt, wrote a brilliant book entitled "The Banality of Evil". Born out of her coverage of the Eichmann trial, in this book, she concluded that the quite ordinary Eichmann, who was cruelty personified when it came to the Holocaust injustices, was not evil by nature. As a bureaucrat, he followed the "orders from above" thoughtlessly, without any empathy. 

That often is the image of the bureaucracy as an institution; thoughtless, heartless, boot-lickers of the current power that be. In India, moreover, they are considered monetarily, and not merely morally, corrupt. "Babugiri" and "khabugiri" are synonyms in the Indian scenario. On this day, April 21, dedicated to the bureaucrats to commemorate the memory of the first Indian Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, I would like to object to this image.

As a daughter of a hyper-sincere, hyper-committed government officer, I would like to assert most vocally that the country runs effectively and efficiently because of the (may be, just two per cent) genuine civil servants.

Well, to begin with, let me ask you a question. Can you show me any institution in the public space which is not vitiated by these very viruses? Let us look at medicine and education, two disciplines that can make or mar a life. 

All of us know the horrors padding up the medical field. As for the uglinesses in the education system, one can comfortably write enough books, fat at that, to fill at least half the library of any good, decent nursery school! 

There are, however, two percent perfect doctors and ideal lecturers/teachers who command respect because of their integrity and genuine committed contribution to their respective vocations, right?  The same rule holds good when it comes to civil servants!

The term bureaucracy was first used by an eighteenth century Enlightenment  'philosophe', Vincent  de Gournay.  The term is made of "bureau" which in French means  an office/writing desk and the suffix "-cracy" which stands 'for the rule of'. In a way, in the bureaucratic mode, important decisions are guided by the civil servants rather than the elected  representatives/rulers. These worthies tend to use officialese, full of terminologically challenged gobbledygook, and extremely complicated administrative procedures.

Remember the BBC comedy show "Yes, Minister"? It showed hilariously how ministers may come and ministers may go, but the secretaries of various designations stay, and (mis)rule as per their own whims and fancies!

 Comedies depend on a mole of truth made in to a mountain hill of exaggeration. Despite the undeniable truth in such depictions, i would insist that nations continue to be for the welfare of the citizens because of the (may be, just two per cent mentioned above) bureaucrats.

Can you imagine a city without the police 'mama', however inept? Remember the chaotic scenes in the parliament that at times appears sane because of the quiet efficiency of the officers there? A good, committed collector, why even a 'talathi', an official at the lower rung, can change the face of a place. A good judge makes all the difference, right? Examples can be multiplied ad infinitum. I think though that these many would suffice to make my point.

This does not mean that civil service as a concept does not need sprucing up. Irrelevant colonial laws need to be deleted more and faster. The bureaucracy must be made more sensitive and citizen-centric, too. Oh, yes, they have to be technologically savvy, given the current trend of the AI, digital money and cyber crimes.

In brief, let us not throw the baby with the bath water. As citizens, we, too, must learn to follow our duties as well, and we have to respect the sincerity of civil servants who run the show, and effectively! Long live the sensitive and sensible bureaucracy!

Pratima@Literary texts are full of the depiction of the bureaucracy as woodworms.  I intend writing a story or two, comic yet grim, about the other side of the coin!

Vacation

                   Vacation:Give me a break!

Vacation 

that escape 

from 'schooling'

the ways of world

soon gonna impose

on carefree lives

making them run and turn 

in the same rut

tied blindfolded to a press

sometimes called a job

at times, 'responsibilities'

often, prejudices and opinions

as existence plays  

hide n never seek the essential

the elemental, the radical!

Wild chase in fun

soon gonna mutate n be

a sick(ly) wild goose chase

as the epidemic of the 'real' 

leapfrogs

over broken bits of vision

 sharding

dreamy ideals 

in the gathering dusk!

Pratima@ Childhood games are nightmare metaphors of/for adulthood!

Water

 Remember that ad "thanda, thanda, cool, cool"?  Or that scene in "Jab we met" where Kareena Kapoor, the lead actress, talks of "Pani to Pani hi hota hai!" etc etc etc. Have you read "The Gulag Archipelago" wherein one of the crudest yet cruellest punishments consists of denying water to the prisoners so that they would agree to any and every atrocious condition put forth by the jail authorities?

Yes, water is truly essential to the human body. One can go without food for a fortnight, but without water, not even a day and half! Come mid-April, and every year, we realise this obvious truism yet again. So the more water we drink, the better for us! At least, eight full glasses are a must, preferably with a dash of lemon juice.  

Well, our dear pets require more water, too. The only part of a dog that can perspire is the tongue. You can hence see the tiny little tongues of our pet doggies popping out, oh, sure not to mock us, but to make themselves "thanda, thanda, cool cool".

My submission in this blog today is that the strays and the birds get horribly dehydrated as well. Well, for strays, i distributie "Parle G" biscuits . One cannot provide them water as they do not have any defined/definite address.  True travellers they are! "Life is a journey/at times, here; sometimes there" is their motto!

As for birds, i do keep water and fine millet grains . I truly feel bad for the trees and plants. Rooted in one place, whether it be the pot or the soil, they need water. Pour a little daily near the roots, and watch the riot of colours and fragrances! Trees, hence, for me, are the symbol of a good, gentle soul who rewards in abundance any n every tiny little act of goodness/kindness extended to him/her, right? 

Pratima@ "Water, water, everywhere/want many drops to drink" is the theme song of most living things in summers scalding like the molten lava, right?

Heritage:An Acrostic!

                   Heritage: An Acrostic 

Heartily happy and proud they make us feel.

 Earth indeed has nothing more fair to show!

Rare visions, stately art, they our souls steal.

Indeed gems, ne'er stolen, soul wise to know!

They prevail immemorial n beat tyrant Time

Ancient art, sculpted, painted, sung, danced,

Grows richer as daily lives with them chime!

Ever new, never old, us they hold entranced!

Pratima@ Heritage, whether of the world or of the motherland, and of thy family,  needs to be celebrated every single day!

Pet pals

 All your pals need not be pets, right? But, believe me, all the pets are always, already pals. And the bestest at that! Yes, this is a truth universally acknowledged. 

A pet loves you with his entire being, tail to teeth. Yes, when he playfully nibbles at your arms, legs, palms, toes, his teeth, sharp as saws, never bite you. At times, he manages to gulp something he ought not to. You can pry open his mouth, pull out the unwanted bit he is about to swallow, he may growl, but he would never ever bite. As for his tail, the way it wags, it reflects the soulful pleasure he feels in your presence, a feel you can associate with very, very few pals, right?

At times, i feel that pets are more human(e) than most human beings. They are super intelligent. They are hyper affectionate. They can gauge your moods, and respond to you. They would try and protect you with  just a menacing growl. Yet they are forever your babies. You may treat them harshly. They would be confused, but they would never stop loving you. Very, very few human beings can be thus described!

They can be gentle with babies and children. They are respectfully affectionate with the elders.  They can be your playmates. They can be your devoted listeners when you croon. They can cuddle next to you as you read or doze off. 

Your shadow leaves you, but not your pet. He would walk you to the door when you leave, to rush back running wildly to the balcony, and keep on peering at your receding back till you get invisible near the bend around the  corner of the road. Whatever might be the time management mode wired in to his system, he knows the exact time of your return, wagging his tail till it would almost fall off. Very, very few would be the pals who would be consistently and continually so wild with joy at your very sight, right?

Your pet pals, they, would understand your language, almost everything, though, of course, they love certain  food words a lot more, right? Have you ever wondered how many of their (re)actions can we reciprocate? Very few, right? Why, they can even love our smell(!) , and so much so that they have to have some piece of our clothing as a comforter. Quite a package rolled in to one they are, buddies, clowns, babies, and so on. Why, at times, they scold you. Believe me, they laugh, too, and at times, very roguishly and naughtily. They get upset if you fight with anyone at home. They understand your mood swings. 

A wet nose nudging you, a rough tongue licking you, and a wagging tail expressing pure love are  often the real consolation, right? The famous puppy eyes can melt your bad mood literally in a jiffy, right? And, oh, yes, they have to participate in, share their mite/might in each and every activity around the home, right?

In return, what do you do for them? You snap at them when irritated with someone else. You forget to give them food/water on time. At times, you find them a burden. But they are never bored with you. They never bully you. No offence meant, but after God, parents, and family, they love you the most; in fact, at times, more, and genuinely, than the others!

Yes, all pets are pals, but the dog beats them all hollow when it comes to the pal quotient!  No wonder, even though there is a designated  pets' day, we hardly ever celebrate it, mostly because they are celebrating it every second!

Pratima@A pet is a pal with four legs, two loving eyes and a heart as huge as the sky! Long live pets!

AI images

 By now, everybody knows of the AI, that is to say, artificial intelligence. Based on it, we have bots like the Chat GPT and/or its recent version, the Auto Chat that can autonomously manage the assignment. Not lagging much behind are other competitors such as the Bard. Poor Shakespeare! True, this bard borrowed the plots of his plays, but the unique creation in/of each play was absolutely his, completely original.

It is well-known by now that such AI enabled bots can manage a lot. Well, they are a lot of help for students and translators and programme writers, and and and. The list is endless. 

What i find most interesting is the fact that the AI bots are no longer related only to areas that are useful or are for utilitarian purposes. Unmistakably, they are encroaching areas such as religion, for instance.  I have seen on statuses loveliest possible images of Lord Rama as he would have looked as a twenty one year old. Yet again, on status, i have seen unimaginably beatific images of Lord Dattatreya. 

Well,  on one hand, it is very interesting that language based images from epics and stotras are getting visualised. What is terrorising is the fact that words are thus becoming worlds. Myths, literary texts, history, everything is fodder for the AI mill. The AI is no longer mere images, it imag(in)es!

If this process continues to get more and more sophisticated, very soon the thin line between the real world and the AI generated reel world would simply vanish in to the oblivion. Then life would indeed be hell as there would not be enough jobs, lots of time on hands that have mouths to feed, but there would not be any money in the pockets.

No, i am not being pessimistic. Look at what the "g" mobile has done even before we have reached its fifth generation. Crimes against women have increased in the ugliest ways. There is lot of white collar crime, too. Unfortunately, moreover, the criminal minds seem to be smarter than the police brains!

Marx imagined a world wherein machines would take over the routine jobs, and human beings would use the time and energy thus saved to lead extremely creative and thoughtful lives. Well, Utopias seem gorgeous. That is what they are though, imagined utopías. Here is hoping that the AI generation does not lead to the worst dystopias! Sad prognosis about a bad future!

Pratima@ Machines are no longer tools nor are they team-mates. Machines are already the measure/major of man!

Festivals with a flavour

 Well, in the world of the Chat GPT and its latest edition/version, knowledge production and distribution have become an interesting industry. As a result, information is available in abundance. Want proof? The Punjabi festival, Baisakhi, has a Marathi and Kannada parallel, it seems, known as Mesadi and/or Vaisakhadi!

The common factor amongst all these fests is that all of them are agrarian festivals. It is the new phase, new beginning as per the solar new year. In a way, all 'the three states' celebrate it as as a harvest festival. 

With the rabbi crop process finally over, it is the beginning of making the farmland ready for the next crop, the kharip. Hence would begin the preparation of the farmland that would include (hopefully not!) the stubble burning that begins as early as late October once the rice crop is ready, and the fallow land has to be readied for the wheat crop.

With environmental awareness seeping in surely though slowly, such crude methods may burn out hopefully, though not the enthusiasm for such local festivals that have a very regional, earthy, folksy feel.

As the Bollywood films made everything Punjabi pan-Indian, there is that Bhangra-Gidda rhythm to the Baisakhi celebration. Actually, this festival has a very Sikh slant to it. It seems the third Sikh Guru allowed the Hindu festivals to be part of the Sikh way of life this festival onwards.

It was, however, Guru Gobind Singh, the last and the tenth Sikh Guru who in 1699 used the occasion as the Foundation Day of the Khalsa Panth, and the exaltation of the 'Panj Piare'. 

The Khalsa belief in the equality of all human beings is the need now of the hour, given the recent developments in that part of the world and its huge and well-off expatriate/emigrant community. Hope this Baisakhi helped such a message take root!

Pratima@ Festivals (should) bring out the best in mankind!

Seniors!

 How funny it is, isn't it, that when we are young, we dread 'seniors' (remember those early days in the hostel? Boys' hostels are the worst, though girls' are no less notorious!), while as we grow older every month and each year, we are aware that we are the senior (citizens) now, and rather glory in the fact, right?

Indeed, seniors (or senior citizens, if you must have it) are quite sassy and savvy these days. With the tremendous advances in the medical field, life is tolerable. Mostly, hence, life is of the "God is in his heaven/All is right with the world" variety. There is "entertainment, entertainment, entertainment" everywhere, online, offline, and politics, cricket and the filmy gossip add spice to routine lives! 

I would like to insist, however, that this kind of comfy life is a boon the urban upper middle class, and, of course, the rich enjoy. Such very lucky (but very few) can even think of a brand new hobby, a foreign trip or meditation, et al.

Unluckily, however, the majority of Indians who do not belong to this ambit lead a very difficult life as they age. Imagine the life of the elderly if they are poor villagers or much worse, 'bpl' urbanites. Imagine how difficult lives of lonely men and women in small towns must be. As urbanisation and digitisation grow, many such, and more and newer, difficulties emerge for the majority of seniors, and they need truly urgent solutions.

True, India has the much celebrated "demographic dividend". Yet the number of the elderly is markedly significant as well. As welfare measures shrink across the world, and as humane bonds and ties loosen over generations, there is an absolutely urgent need to address the seniors' issues. Hope this Senior Citizens Day would begin the search for some solid solutions so that seniors do not suffer sordid days in their remaining lives! 

Pratima@ Futures, says common sense, do not make themselves, you have to create them!

Memories that sting

 Some national events, even when they happened almost hundred and five years ago, and some thousands of miles away, continue to haunt us, right? The Jallianwalla Bagh massacre is one such occasion.

It is an episode that in a way precipitated the Freedom Struggle. The common man, too, passionately understood the urgency of the movement. In a way, it clearly bifurcated the two radically different routes as well as attitudes to Independence; the Gandhi method and the Bhagat Singh/Subhash Chandra Bose mode.

The actual site of that colonial atrocity is in Amritsar, next to the Golden Temple. It has a permanent address in most Indian hearts though. The place belonged to the Bains family which hailed from a place called Jalla in Punjab. The place hence actually was Jallewalla Bagh. The horrible firing was such that it literally became perforated with bullets, almost as if it were a net, a jali as in Hindi.

The person responsible for the horror was General Dyer. True to his surname, he dyed even the well there with the blood of innocent civilians who died in the firing on that day. Just a few days before he ordered almost four hundred men, women and children to be shot at sight, he had quelled the Afghan rebellion. He was hence considered the right candidate to curb any disobedience in Punjab.

As it is, 1919 was tough for the British, what with the terrors of the World War I, the horrors of the Spanish flu epidemic, and the looming economic crisis, not to mention the unmistakable rise of Stalin in Russia who defeated a very idealistic vision for his power lust. Very soon Franco, Mussolini, Hitler were to emerge on the European soil itself. Given such volatility back at home, they did not want any political awareness emerging in the colonies, surely not in India, the Kohinoor of the Empire.

The tragedy on April 13, 1919 was so enormous and vicious that back in England, there was a demand for General Dyer's impeachment. The furore was such that the Queen visiting the unfortunate site during the centenary year was expected to ask for forgiveness for the atrocities!

Hundred and five years later, the wheels of fortune have trampled the Eurocentric vision completely so much so that the new king to be, Charles III, wants to open up horror  stories such as the British slave trade history. May such reparations against unforgivable injustices ascend, at least in theory, can only be the prayer on this memorial day!

Pratima@"... nothing can erase my rage --- not an apology, nor a sum of money, not the death of the criminal --- for this can never be made right... Can a way be found to make what happened not have happened?", argues Jamaica Kincaid in "A Small Place".

Age is just a number!

Meet Man Kaur. She is from Patiala. Recently, just about a week ago, she won the gold medal at the World Masters Athletics. The event was the two hundred meters running race. She won a gold medal last year as well. We must say that this year she improved her own record  as last year she won  the gold medal for the hundred meters running event. Hey, come again! What did you say? So what? Punjabi and Haryanavi women have these days anyways made it a habit to excel at sports, right?

Well, let me tell you, Madame is just hundred and two years old. YES! You heard it right, she is all of hundred and two! Wonder of wonders, she started her sports career at ninety-three! Her seventy eight year old son encouraged her. He, too, participated in this Olympics for the senior citizens. But Mum is the wor(l)d always, right?

Hey, you are sniggering that with some practice, anyone can do it, are you? Okay, then! Meet Prof. C R Rao. He heads the Statistics Dept at prestigious universities like the Penn State and SUNY. At hundred and one, he won the Nobel prize for Statistics which tires and wears out the tiny little tiddly widdly brains of many a young at the oh-so-tender age of eighteen!

Indeed, like the proverbial wine, age enriches abilities as well. In Vizag, for instance, ninety three years old Shanthamma regularly teaches Physics! What a great , fitting and much needed antidote are these stories to the much touted but always extremely vacant and most often quite stupid and silly 'youth dividend', mostly good at nothing.

 The only thing most of them are adept at is arrogantly showing off their so-called attitude, or minor achievements praised sky high, and/or silly six- or eight- or whatever packs. Extremely lazy intellectually, they are alecky smart at dramatising their minor, easily managable problems, and "issues'' to gain/get every possible sympathy, or rather self importance.

The moral of the story is: one can bloom -n-blossom and fructify at any age. Old is gold after all!

Pratima@ i loved Aai's committed study of the Marathi Sant Sahitya in her late sixties. Papa joined social work devotedly in his sixties. Huge respect!

Mother Love

 Have you read Brecht's play, "The Caucasian Chalk Circle"? Undoubtedly, as a student of literature, one likes the play for the Brechtian dramaturgy. One can explore in it very many aspects of Socialism and Marxism as well. Unmistakable are the contemporaneous echoes as well. Equally interesting, however, is the play for the definition of motherhood and mother love.

In the play, a dramatic version of Brecht's short story that anyways depends on an ancient Chinese tale/play, we have two representations of motherhood, Natella and Grusha. Natella is the biological mother, but she is sold on-n-out to her extra marital affair, her vanities, her giddy ambitions. For her, the child is a tool to wrest control, of the family property, of power, of the so-called societal acceptance. She is never concerned with the child's welfare or well-being. She can drop him like a hot potato the moment he is inconvenient to her desires and deals.

Grusha, on the contrary, as Brecht states most ironically, may not have conceived him in the so-called holy matrimony,etc etc. In fact, Brecht mocks all such conventional hypocrisies that typically idolise motherhood. Grusha has no such duplicitous insincerities in her very being. She takes care of the child, not her own, against all odds, against every difficulty. She sacrifices her comforts for his wellbeing.

In the Chalk Circle test hence, she lets go of him because she cannot bear to see him torn, to see him suffer between two forceful pulls. Thus is decided the real mother, not the natal mother, but the nurturing mother.

Indeed biology cannot be the destiny of motherhood either. Being a mother is a feel. Biological motherhood, born out of  sexual intercourse, is a physical process, a game of hormones and chromosomes, and can often be a mere 'chance'. If it were not so, there would not have been any abortions of foetuses  born out of wedlock. There would not have been any female infanticide. Married women would not have thought of aborting a foetus because it inconveniently interferes in their idea of carefree fun.

Nurturing motherhood is never a chance. Forever it is a choice. Such a motherhood has eternally the child's happiness and welfare as its ultimate goals. Without any expectations of any 'return gift', such a mother forever prays for the child's welfare, does everything possible for the child, can literally fight, nay, not just the world, but the very destiny! 

In the devotional literature called Bhakti poetry, there are lovely myths celebrating it. Yes, undoubtedly, the Yashoda saga celebrates it. Much more interesting are two motifs, the fish and the tortoise. The fish mother supports the child's growth just through remembrance, while the fish mother supports her baby through looking at it.What a vision indeed!

Pratima@In all fairness and honesty, i can say that Aai was such a nurturing mother as well. Well, i would like to go a step ahead, and assert yet again that Papa was a father with a mother's heart. 

Teaching teachers to teach?

 Sure all of you as 'stakeholders' must be aware of the NEP, the new education policy. Interesting document, moreover open to suggestions, recommendations, reparations! 

Well, what exactly ails the education system in India? Well, in Marathi, my mother tongue, there is a proverb which literally translated would read as follows: if the well has no water, how can you get it in a bucket? A dry well cannot water the farm, right? 

In other words, unless and until, teachers at all the educational levels are at least trained, if not well, how can there be a transformation in the educational scenario? Unfortunately, such is the reality that very, very few teachers at any educational level love teaching. Honourable exceptions to such a sad rule can literally be counted on finger tips. 

Most people choose the career (oh, really!) coz it is convenient every which way.  Well, as it is, education is not result oriented or end intensive. If students do well,they are intelligent. If they do not, none is responsible. People in the teaching field do not prepare much apparently. There are even PG teachers who use the Nirali stuff, and students 'guide' them to the proper page every day!

Horrible stories of teachers in cahoots with the tuition classes, of teachers indirectly leaking the paper which is anyways based on the minimal most that they bothered to teach at all, etc etc keep on doing the rounds. Well, the SSC and HSC question papers get leaked almost habitually!

Sure teachers get burdened with lot of other duties. It is, however, a sad fact much established that they themselves do not take their basic job seriously.  Very, very few teachers, even at the pg level, visit libraries, borrow books, journals, etc. Sure the internet is hardly used in this way either.

Well, etymology wise, education basically comes from 'educare' which means to lead. From darkness to light, from ignorance to light, how can you lead if you forcefully finish off the 'teacher-ly' duties?

In these days of the ChatGPT, and its various versions and variants, very soon the tribe itself would be extinct. At least for self preservation, let us all first and foremost TEACH to REACH our students meaningfully every which way. Hence the need to teach the teachers to teach!

Pratima@ Says Joyce Meyer, "With a chalk and a duster, a teacher can create magic!" Yes, true! Indeed!

Easter

 Easter, in my opinion, is a better festival than the Good Friday. Well, Good Friday is more a tale of a sincere, a genuine devotee suffering the whims and fancies of the mighty political/religious powers that be, the Establishment!

Easter, or Resurrection as it is known, is the celebration of the good winning over the bad, the rising of the pure, of the innocent beyond these powers. It is the beginning of a new awakening. 

Want proof? Read the novel entitled "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy. It has one of the most beautiful, the loveliest descriptions of the Easter celebrations. Equally moving is the story of the spiritual punishment of/for a crime, and how trying to redeem the horrible effects of the crime resurrect the soul of the perpetrator ethically. 

A great read, the novel truly reveals the real resurrection, the purification of the soul, the process underlying the original Biblical resurrection whose description in the Bible, too, is moving, where a mother's and a wife's ( if the reinterpretation of the Mary  Magdalene myth by Dan Brown or by the feminists is any proof) grief finds a new paradigm of meaning. Resurrection, in brief, is the real crux of the Jesus saga in my opinion, and hence more meaningful spiritually than the crucifixion!

Pratima@ A symbol of hope, of renewal, of resurgence and redeeming beyond every injustice,  Easter proves that none can bury truth, it will resurrect eternally!

Health

 Holistic it is, not a cough or a cold away!

 Early set in life, bad habits destroy it may.

 Amidst joy or grief, helps to stable stay

Laughter n love its bases, makes life a play

True n simple it is, why Thyself betray?

Hounded Thee would be, if it Thou betray!

Pratima@ Health these days has to be a lot defined negatively. It is NOT the 'anime' obsession, it is NOT being the coach potato, it is NOT illness of the mind vitiated by viciousness, vulgarity, jealousy, envy and 'one up man ship'. It is NOT doing drugs or drinks, however hip-n-hep it sounds. Health is NOT self-destruction, in brief!

 

Happiness

 Happiness is all.

 Aware and caring, loving all

 Pet-proud and people-friendly

Pure of heart , of head sincere, smile-ready 

Intent good, of action purposeful but kind

Nature lover,  nesting in own company dear

Eager to welcome all that is clean   

Sound of heart, head n soul

Sure to be happy, healthy and wise!

Happiness is my birthright, and i shall get it!

Pratima@ Happy World Happiness day!

The old as new

 Can we make myths more relatable if we assign contemporary meanings to them and re-invent them? Let me see if i can try and find new meanings in the Hanuman story.

Well, the first idea that comes to our mind when we thus think of Hanuman would be obviously his commitment to Lord Rama's cause. What i would say is the most remarkable aspect in this context is that this cause becomes his not because of unthinking obedience. Not at all. In fact, each time there is a crisis, throughout the Ramayana, there is an element of discussions, deliberations negotiations. Hanuman is an expert at this art. 

Negotiating ability always would require good, effective communication, and Hanuman is an expert par excellence at this art. May be, he is good at it because of shared purposes? Indeed so! In fact, the shared purpose adds to his accountability as many events in the Hanuman story show.

In my opinion, the Hanuman myth is s process of empowerment as well, and it is unique because it is not merely self-directed. His empowerment includes that of his clan, of his friends and a betterment of the goals of the entire team.

Yet another anachronism one can locate in the Hanuman story is the holistic vision. Look at any of his major decisions. They forever emerge out of holistic purposes.

Well, i can provide umpteen examples to prove each one of my points. That, however, would extend the blog like the mythical Hanuman tail when he decided to teach Ravana a lesson.  Let me hence cut short my tale, a new take on the Hauman myth. Hope you like it.

Pratima@ "Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands," says Ralph Waldo Emerson.

April full

 You think, i wanted to write April Fool!?! Eh no, not at all! Remember very well that a student of Eng Lit never ever goes wrong with either the grammar or the vocabulary. As for the typo's, very rarely would there be one.

To  get back to our theme, unlike T.S. Eliot, i do not think that April is the cruellest month. Instead, i would like to assert that April is the fullest month. Why? Let me count a few of April's blessings. 

To begin with,  April has, yes, I agree with Chaucer, lovely summer showers. The whole day, it gets hotter by the minute. In the evening, suddenly sprinkles the summer shower. The most beautiful and literally heady is the fragrance that intoxicates the very air when the rain droplets meet the hot soil. Every evening, hence, watering the plants is literally a fe(a)st of fragrance because i try to recreate this fragrant feel of the quickie of an April shower.

In April flower beautiful trees such as the 'flame of the forest', the 'golden shower' , for instance. They are a treat for the eyes, while the fragile 'bakul' flower completes the April evening feel with its mild and beautiful fragrance, and its delicate darkish beauty. The colourful "rangoon creeper" completes this medley of colour n fragrance.

How can you forget the fragrance of the first mango? The rich look of the mango, both in the raw and the ripe versions, is unbelievably unique. Such a mango-laden tree can transport you back to childhood in a jiffy. Tangy is the taste of the raw mango with a little rock salt and a smattering of the chilly powder. At times, nicer  it tastes than the ripe one, especially when the cuckoo hidden in the branches goes 'kuhoo, kuhoo'. April, in brief, like a fond father, indulges us hugely. Each one of our five senses is literally satiated.

So is our cognition. Full of festivals is April. Each one has its own ways of enriching our souls. Well, as important as the religious festivals is the Shakespeare day dedicated to reading.  Yes, on April 20 begins the Taurean Torrent of geniuses (it lasts till May 20),Yours Truly, too, included! 😂Creativity begins to bloom in April, right? No wonder, April is the fullest month. "Kool" it is indeed as the slang goes!

Pratima@ April is the month of beauty, joy and creativity. With the March exam fever behind you, you can rest, relax, read, reel, in brief, in the very real pleasures of the ever attractive April.

Tiger!

 Trees shudder, leaves rustle not

 In the deep jungle roars and roams this gale 

 Growls he, the master with the fierce stare

 Earthy, with stripes that camouflage best 

 Royal yet vitriolic,the tiger un-friends all!

Pratima@ The tiger, on the brink of extinction, needs our empathy, more than our terror-born anger. Why destroy this fierce beast of prey, Pratima prays! 

Languages are fun!

 You are just through that long winding track called the Tenth or the Twelfth Board exam. May be, you are an under-grad student whose exams are almost on the verge of finally getting over. A stretch of some three months looms large before the college would re-open, right?

In the meanwhile, care to learn Spanish, German, French (either of these or all the three, if you so wish) so that you can appear for the international qualifying exam A1 or A2? Write to me at pratimagnihotri@gmail.com. 

I can help you get a good score for the IELTS, TOEFL, GRE (General and Literature), too. Are you preparing for the NET/SET (Eng Lit), and want a thorough preparation? Do write to me, and let us see!

Learn a language to gain an advantage!

Marriage de-fine-d!

 Anything, and everything, can go viral on the internet. Generally, i am not in to such stuff. Well, one of the reasons is that it is often almost a gang war. There are groups of 'friends' who support each other no matter what, who praise each other sky high for every minor achievement, et al. This gang attacks the 'other' so viciously, with such venom, and with such systematic mafiosi techniques that the real, the original mafioso would blush, not beetroot, but blood red! And, oh, yes, they all call themselves ooh-so- sensitive aware intellectuals, etc, etc, etc!

Despite this aversion of mine, i am going to talk of a viral post today because it is quite a gem. It is, moreover, not of the arty-farty variety. It is a simply hilarious essay written by a student. It deals with the theme 'marriage'. The student seems to be an almost Emile Zolaesque observer of the institution. While reading these few lines, one can flippantly say that most all characteristics of 'naturalism' of the later part of the nineteenth century appear to have come alive in these few lines.

According to the tweet which is available on the Lokmat Internet@google search, the student writes, " marriage is when a girl gets big, and her parents say, you are big now, we can't feed you any longer, you go find a guy who can feed you. Then the girl meets a boy whose parents are shouting at him, you are big now. So they get married, and do nonsense for children"!

The student is quite some philosopher who seems to have located the brass tacks of that 'age-old' (as per the student's definition, too!) institution, namely, bread-n-butter and procreation! Poor Shakespeare who wrote of the "marriage of true minds"!

Pratima@ I suppose if the student were to write a little longer, he would have agreed with  Rita Rudner who states, "I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

Master Machine!

 I am sure you have by now heard of Chat Gpt, right? May be, you have already used it, too. It has been hardly six months that it invaded our awareness. Well, already its version number four is available. Not to mention, its clone such as the Bard!

The hugely rapid speed of its spread and, most importantly, its growing sophistication and hence similarity to human cognition, well, all these factors are already a cause of concern so much so that there is a serious and strident demand for a moratorium on further such exploration.

Whether this demand would be catered to is anybody's guess. Yet what is significant is the threat implicit in its growth to human brain. Well, it could already be argued that even a little more nudge to the Chat kind of architecture would make it better than the human brain!

Dystopian versions of intelligent machines ruling and controlling the earth, nay, the very existence are already afloat, and quite threateningly! Well, when fiction is thus the reality, who is the master, man or machine or its programming software, that is the moot question!

Pratina @ By playing God in multiple ways, be it computer programming or eugenics, are we progressing or regressing???!???

Despair

 Despair is a dark abyss, why drown?

 Ever lost why be in the dark dungeon?

 Softly ushers in a new life, like the morn

 Pirouettes blithe the new day, not grief torn

 After every storm must settle a happy calm

 In a wound is a hurt, but each has a balm

 Rest awhile, but ever of life sing the psalm!

Pratima@ After every unhappiness, despair is but normal/ of gloom n anguish tho' why forever wear the dress formal?

Internal Audit!

 April 1 it is. Why make it the typical April Fool Day? True, there are enough fools around. Why provide them any space on our blog though? 

Let us instead celebrate the very first day of the new financial year! Let us plan it properly. In this new financial year, let us not waste anything, be it time, resources, our emotional energy, especially on people who try to harass us, belittle us every possible way, right? 

In this new financial year, let us invest in new plans, plans of growing better by each new second. As we know by now, even geniuses do not use a huge part of their respective brains. Let us begin this new, not merely financial, awareness.

Let us learn new techniques of counting our blessings. These should include the love of our near and dear ones whom we often take for granted. Let us spend more time with them. Let us remember with huge affection and gratitude those whose company we now sorely miss as they peacefully reside in the heaven. Quality time, of course, has to be with our own self, improving its vast potential.

As for deductions, there are one too many, right? Let us reduce the negativities  in us, especially the ugly ones, caused by the horrendous cruelties of the vicious around us. Let us blot them out of our very consciousness, our very own existence. 

Let us cut out the unnecessary procrastinations. Let us put heavy tax on silly temptations. Let us not give any rebate on regrets of any sorts. Such liabilities could disturb our creativities. 

The benefits then would be very many. Unnecessary worries, tensions, stress, physical or health problems thus caused would thus get audited out. We would have huge funds of happiness, contentment, togetherness, and creativity. Let us budget a great year ahead! Happy new financial year which is sure to bring us wealth, health, peace, joy, and every minute of living life fully, leading it to yet another unique dream year!

Pratima @ Let us be our own, and therefore best, internal auditors!