Vitthal Vitthal Pandurang

 Why is the deity at Pandharpur who presides the Ashadhi Ekadashi so very popular? Look at the favourite monikers of Lord Vitthala. He is Vithoba for many, but for most, he is Vithu Mauli. Both these nomenclatures indicate an intimacy, a close bond. Mostly, the relationship devotees share with him is familial. He is the mother or the father figure. He is the brother, he is the best friend. The abhanga's often depict him as a family man. 

I suppose that is because he is kindness and helpfulness personified. He is indeed very helpful. He does not mind performing the lowest of the low tasks to help out his devotees. He stands by them. Miracles associated with him show this 'common touch'. He is of/from the soil. Despite being the Lord, he has no hassles helping out with the meanest task of the lowest, the socially rejected. No dualities, no distinctions due to age/gender/class or creed/caste matter to him!

His abode is simple, too. Neither is it exotic nor distant. He makes a small town his hometown, and thus makes it the greatest place in the universe. Look at even the flowers he loves. It is the simple, abundant herb, the 'tulshi', the basil plant leaves, which are full of medicinal value, moreover.

Like Devi Saraswati, he, too, carries no weapon. Instead, to slay the worries, the woes, the griefs of the devotees, he advocates the simple, easy 'namsmaran'/remembrance, the 'bhakti'/devotion as the means.

Look at his gestures. He shows through his very posture that the depressing worldly worries can just reach waist wise, and not above/beyond! The other idol/ideal symbols show how he can respect his devotee hugely, be it Bhakt  Pundalik or Bhrugu Rishi. In fact, the idol shows a togetherness of the Shaivaite and the Vaishnav traditions as well 

Many more are such symbolisms associated with the Lord. What i like the most is the great Bhakti literature associated with him. Sant Dnyaneshwar's devotional literature, for example, is great philosophy, superb theism, and so on. In addition, it is sheer wondrous poetry! I can thus go on and on and on. The only point I would like to conclude with is the fact that he is very human, and hence wholly humane. No wonder, millions abide by  him as well so much so that every year they are ready to walk some two hundred miles, whatever and however may be the difficulties which they do not even realize! Forever is thus created sweet memory!

Pratima@ Of/for/by the people is the great symbolism associated with the Lord at Pandharpur, Vithoba, the  Vithu mauli!

The alien objects

 Human beings have always had a very strong  attraction, fascination of/for the unknown.  The space is one such arena that has ever attracted the human curiosity, the human  imagination.  The alien objects are hence as attractive as the alien beings.

The asteroid is one such phenomenon. It has created the  Lonar Lake, the center of unexplored biology, zoology, geology, why, almost the very idea of a  University! Sure, like most all educational centers, it is now highly polluted, adulterated, unclean, in brief!

Well, an asteroid is at least a reality, the UFO's are unique. They are seen everywhere and anywhere, lonelier and more far-flung the siting place, the better! Sometimes, they almost appear a figment of imagination! 

The aliens, the more weird they are, the more attractive they are. But natural hence that their vehicles, the UFO's, are excellent examples of the willing suspension of disbelief!

 The favourite theme of both science fiction and the folk lore, there are millions of examples of the UFO sightings, the weirder, the merrier! Very soon, however, given the  development of the space technology and the human lust to colonise the space, not to forget the rapid growth of the AI technology, the  unmanned as well as manned UFO's would be a reality! Long live the human imagination and the human desire to conquer the unknown!

Pratima@ The never ending exploration of the  Asteroids and the UFO's is some proof that an eternal Columbus is ever a not-so- distant relative of all of us! The known is boring; the unknown, the unexplored is real exciting! 

Rare R.D.

 The moment you hear the abbreviation 'R. D.', what do you think of? Zing? Youthfulness? Rhythm rather than melody? Folksy music? Pop music? Copy-paste of Western tunes? Well, R.D. music magic sure was much more than all these put together, and truly much much more! Why, he had a great classical touch as well, as many of his songs could comfortably prove.

In my opinion, however, the real R.D. with his own signature dhun, beyond the influence of either his father's or the Western tunes, that real rare R.D. magic is the music he created for "1942:A Love Story". Each song from this film is a gem so much so that it is difficult to decide which is the best of these rarest of rare songs!  

Today let us look at "Ek ladki ko dekha". It is simply divine. It captures the essence of deep love. It is a tribute to the unique girl as well as to the intense love she inspires. 

Actually, the song is a series of similes cum images that capture the rare beloved in all her special uniqueness. R.D's music embellishes equally softly, sweetly, superbly the  gentle, pure, sweet soul. This song genuinely captures the 'junoon' of love that is as intense as the 'junoon' of patriotism, and thus adds credibility to a love that crosses the class and creed boundaries. The real rare R.D. magic it is! Take a listen on the R.D. anniversary day!

Pratima@ Ek song ko suna to aisa laga/jaise jannat ki dhun, jaise pyar ki gunj, jaise platinum me jhalake koi hira! Rarest of rare R.D, in brief!

Doing drugs

 Doing drugs is indeed the worst injustice perpetrated by the self against the self. Why, even mafiosi films such as 'The Godfather" show powerful crime cartels refusing the hugely monetary temptation of doing drugs.

Rendered glamorous and sexy by the sixties' hippie generation (remember the Bollywood hit entitled 'Hare Krishna Hare Rama' with Zeenat Aman as the perpetually high addict using drugs as a disconnect from the harsh realities?), the drug business has made the Latin American countries and citizens the eternal suspects and criminals not merely in the Hollywood, but in the American imagination itself as the flipside of the American Dream.

Why, even the warlords of the ancient Afganisthan as well as the otherwise horribly conservative Talibani's have survived because of the cash crop called the opium/poppy!

Of all the toxic substances, opium is the worst as it is  the most powerful and comparably cheaper drug which apparently ruined generations in Punjab as shown in "Udta Punjab".

Doing drugs is thus made the 'in', the fashionable thing so much so that the pre-Covid Pune boasted of hukka parlours. For quite some time, whiteners were banned in the liquid form as creepy youngsters used it for a quickie and cheap high.

I suppose, extremely weak people with very silly, stupid ideas of modernity and/or creativity go for drugs. Why, your own existence is thus at stake in a foolish way. Everyone faces huge problems in the course of life and doing drugs can never be the solution, however hip.  Hence on the anti Drug Day, this reminder that true creativity never needs false intoxication!

Pratima@ The best intoxication is courageously and creatively lived life itself, however tough it may seem!

Reading

 Recently national reading day was celebrated, while the international books day falls on April 23, the unique Shakespeare day on which fall both his birth and death anniversaries  

True, books are the very breath of existence. Well, to enjoy this breath, we require reading, right? Well, significantly, the national reading day falls on the day dedicated the the memory of a librarian, Mr. Panickker!

Sure reading depends on literacy as well as on a library, especially given the high cost of books whose prices are forever on the rise these days! Moreover, many prefer a Kindle these days to a book, though my eternal worry is who, unlike a librarian, would curate books on the internet? Internet tools like the Kindle!?! May be, a built-in ChatGPT kind of tool, i suppose!

Well, whatever the mode, print or online, reading is a superb activity. Reading really maketh a human being, Bacon would say. Reading truly enriches the very identity, whatever might be the theme. Even reading for mere information increases your awareness that an illiterate person surely lacks.

Even then, mere information one can get through other modes, listening to news or even to gossip, for instance.  Reading, however, gives you both knowledge and wisdom as reading is mostly an individual act. It changes the interior mindscape, making the reader more sensitive and sensible in the process. Long live reading hence even in the days of bots and cyborgs!

Pratima@ Tell me what you read, and i shall tell you who you are. 

The soul searing loneliness

 Recently was celebrated the World Refugee Day! Nice to know that the most unfortunate lives thus get noticed! Refugees indeed are the worst affected, the worst treated.

Unlike the migrants, both of the immigrant and the emigrant varieties,  refugees do not leave their country of origin out of choice. The refugees do not flee from the motherland in search of greener pastures, the way the migrants try. 

Refugees are literally forced to leave their place. This coercion has many masks, political, ideological, economic. The vicious faces behind these hideous masks are most frightening. They leave no alternative open, except running away.

Rejected by the motherland, the refugees are not exactly welcome in the country of adoption. Most often, they are consciously made to feel  that they are the most unwelcome burden. Forced are they to live in ghettoes, problematic existences every which way. Often they may not have the valid papers. Terrible is the treatment then.

They are thus utterly lonely in this vast universe, often without any valid means of livelihood.These ignored children of absolutely forgotten gods have an extremely uphill journey till they reach any acceptance of any variety. Indeed it is a soul searing loneliness, surviving which shows the tenacity and courage of these much misunderstood masters of fortitude and resilience.

Yet, like the Holocaust survivors, may be, because of the truly transformative experiences, refugees, too, have a largeness of soul. They may neither forget nor forgive. Yet they bravely soldier on in life.  Most of them hence are better human beings.

Aai-Papa, given the ill treatment they had to suffer for no rhyme nor reason in the very early months of their marriage, had all these wonderful qualities of refugees, and that adds to my admiration for both of them.

Long should never live refugee-dom. Nor should anyone undergo such soul searing loneliness!

Pratima@ "No one leaves home, unless home is the mouth of a shark, " says Wassan Shire.

Yoga!

 June 21 is special for various reasons. It is Papa's death anniversary. It is the world music day. It is the summer solstice day in our hemisphere. Currently, there is yet another reason why the day is so very special. Yes, you guessed it right. Since 2015, it is the Yoga Day. 

In this sense, it is one of the best examples of India's soft power. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that it has overtaken even the Bollywood as the most potent and real popular soft power of India. As it is celebrated the world over, it can be argued that it is one of the prominent visible symbols which declare loud and clear that India has 'arrived' on the world scene/stage.

All of this is great, grand, good. Sometimes, however, i feel that like all the other "days", the international market forces have managed to co-opt yoga and the day allotted to it as well. Look at the very versions of nomenclature, for instance.  It should be "yog", right? Why call it 'yoga', right? 

Traditionally, moreover, it is not merely a mode of physical exercise or a warm-up to aerobics, or whatever. It is a way of thinking that believes in the symbiotic relationship between the "aham"/selfhood and the "param", the larger universal soul, right? At the individual level, it is a togetherness of hands/physicality, head/intellect, heart/mind and soul, right?

The proliferating Wellness Industry, given the need for an urgent medical alternative given the environmental awareness, loves it as a multi-millionaire business proposition. It jells rather well with the vegan, and all such food fads as well. Even the publicity for this product is more mouth to mouth and driven by the common man rather than the celebrities. No wonder, international market has made it so sexy, what with Yoga shorts to Yoga mats!

In fact, in the West, there are more versions and varieties of "yoga" than even we know of. Circa June 21, all these mini versions with their minor differences make it in a big way to the market! 

All this is fine, though what touched me the most while returning home from college this afternoon was this young girl performing the ring trick, the tightrope walk at the crossroad, at the busy junction. Her clothes were torn. Her eight or nine year old garishly painted face and kohl covered eyes had a curious mix of shrewd cunningness and naivete. She was performing the best 'yoga' position to the beat of her young brother's drum.

The saddest part was that some adult, the gangster lord-n-master, the lazy parents/family  were to feed off her difficult days. Though i know that i am helpless against such begging industry, i gave her a measly five rupees, with tears welling up in my eyes. Well, i now know for sure that the world is not totally bad because practically  every vehicle at that busy crossroad came up with some monetary help to the poor girl. The perfect yoga, togetherness, of individual needs and social responsibility!

Pratima@ Yoga is where perfect balance is !

When the day is the longest

 June 21 is remarkable for yet another very special reason. Yes, it marks the summer solstice. Put in the simplest terms, on this unique day, the sun is the longest and the highest in the sky. As a result, on June 21, the day is the longest and the night is the shortest.

Well, yes, i can in school girl perfect terms explain this astronomical phenomenon, right to the point of the sun's declension. Is it needed, however, given the AI enabled world today? Not only do you have now the support of the Google Guru and the Yahoo Yar, but the ChatGPT also can write a better essay on the topic with great visuals in tandem! 

Well, such machine references cannot, however, beat us humans when it comes to exploring and explicating the symbolism underlying any event, personal to universal. Shall we try it? 

The summer solstice would be the highest day in the career of a person. On this day  ride the highest all the best activities in the personal and professional life of an individual. After such a zenith point, only possible is the process of descending, of the day getting smaller by the second, of the decline of an individual! 

That is what happens astronomically! A human being, however, can realise that it is time to move beyond this point of saturation. Either one can find newer goals with newer heights in the same field or one finds a new field to scale new heights. The day thus forever continues, never to set ever!

Pratima@ It is such symbolism, highly resilient, that makes life, not merely positive and optimistic, but unique and special as well.

 

Music is the food of life

 "If music be the food of love, play on," is an almost cliched quote from Shakespeare's most interesting comedy, "Twelfth Night". The title of our blog is a play on that quote.  This title is indeed the truth incarnate in these days of distress 'coz music can help us de-stress. As today is the World Music Day and as both my parents loved it (Aai sang quite well), this tribute to music on Papa's death anniversary. 

If you have ever learnt music systematically, "bhimpalas" would be the raag taught to you asap, right? Believe me, there is nothing "bhim" like about this formation of musical notes. Rather its melody is like the beautiful "palas" tree and its flowers. Known as the "parrot tree" given its reddish-ochre blooms, it is medicinal as well. A perfect name for the perfect blend of the musical notes!

You do not believe me. Okay, let us have a look at some of the loveliest songs which all  of you know, and sure love. Let us begin with the Bollywood as songs abound in most Bollywood films, barring a few. In the golden era of Hindi film music, we have simply lovely creations such as " e ri main to prem diwani/mera dard na jane koi". A little later, we have the grand assertion of love, "yeh zindagi usi ki hai". Can we forget " naino me badara chaye" and " raat bhi hai kuch bhigi, bhigi/chand bhi hai kuch madham, madham", songs that continue ultimately both the melodious and the harmonious combination of the shayarana words, the notes created by great music directors, and the silken voice of the greatest Lataji!

Our Marathi music world, too, has used this raag most beautifully. It is the base of the loveliest film songs such as "tu la pahte re tu la pahte". It is used in 'bhavgeet's such as "madhu magasi mazya Sakhya pari". Abhanga's such as "Datt Digambar Daiwat maze" use it. Most evocatively, it is the base of Natya Sangeet kruti's such as "kata rute kunala" or the Bal Gandharv best "swakul tarak suta", not to forget the simply brilliant Deenanath great " Prem seva sharan"!

Just hum these wonders to yourself, and your entire world would change. Such would be your mood that life would appear the rosiest, more colourful than the palash flowers, all the thorns having vanished literally in to thin air. Depression, move over, actually, go away, 'coz here is the best medicine that is the sweetest with the least side effects! Music is indeed the food of life. Long live the World Music Day!

Pratima@"Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies," says E. B. Lytton.

 

My Father's Daughter

 Whenever I am at my best, i am my father's daughter. Yes, indeed! I have a zillion examples to prove this statement. On June 21, Papa's death anniversary, let me narrate three major mishaps that prove how a father's love is the best protection. 

The first one was on the day my S.S.C. exam began. Papa, who used to guide me for my language papers though letters as he was then posted in Solapur, had taken leave so that he could take me to the Exam Center, the Tilak Road New English School. 

At the Parvati Post Office Circle,  Mitra Mandal Chowk, there was a puddle of diesel oil that streaked some distance. The scooter skidded on it. I fell down, the scooter on me. Even in that moment, my worry was whether Papa would be hurt. He somehow pulled the scooter up, and we reached the center just on time. My right wrist was swollen. I wrote two papers thus, each one of three hours, and despite everything, scored well enough to be in the top fifty which earned me the National Merit Scholarship.

The second mishap was when i was to appear for the T.Y.B.A. exam. The exam was not even a fortnight away. Grandmother, Aai's Aai, succumbed to a heart attack. Naturally, everything was topsy turvy. As our schooling began early and we were promoted given the good performance, i was not even eighteen. Despite the first encounter with the fact of death of a dear person, i managed to appear for the fast approaching exam, and wrote well enough to be in the toppers' list, yet again with Papa's confidence in me.

The third mishap was when i was to appear for my M. A. Final exam. Grandfather, Aai's father, who was at our place till seven the evening before, succumbed to a massive heart attack early in the morning at his son's place. My exam was at 11 a.m. The news reached us at about 7 a.m.

 Even then, Papa somehow contacted the Head of the Department to find out if i could possibly miss the exam. When it was realised that any alternative would harm my entire performance, he came to reach me to the exam centre at Law College. I appeared for the exam. 

The second day, while i was pillion riding to the exam centre for the second paper, we were caught in a bad summer shower. I wrote the paper, drenched to skin. Well, yet again, i repeated the toppers' list performance.

Now when i think back and remember these mishaps, the only thing that comes to my mind is that nothing seemed to matter (and despite my hyper-sentimental personality then) because i was absolutely sure of the protective gear called Papa's support always being there! Hence the assertion that whenever I am at my best, i am my father's daughter!

Pratima@Dad is always the cool dude!

The first ever day

 Come the first ever day of Aashadh, the fourth month in the Hindu calendar, and literally the whole of India goes lyrical and artistic. Well, the very occasion prompts such a beautiful transformation. 

"Aashadh's pratham diwase, megham ashlisht sanum", the famous quote from the great messenger poem by Kalidasa, makes most all thus go evocatively creative year by year. Well, the very theme of the photographically realistic and yet deeply symbolic poem has this wondrous effect. 

This year, i decided to have a look at two very unusual depictions of it. The first of these was the first ever English translation of this sensitive poem. This 1813 version is available in the Harvard University Library, and it is indeed a great feel to find it on the Internet Archives. 

The second representation of the Kalidasa poem that i looked at was the 1960 postal stamp dedicated to this poem. Believe me, it is quite beautiful. It shows the emaciated Yaksha, a too elongated figure actually, even when we know his separation woes. 

The rest of the ten paise ticket has a lovely combination of the cloud whom the yaksha is addressing, the distant places he would travel to, the flowers fluttering around but in a way almost like his everflowing tears, the beauty of the rain drenched month, the works, in brief!

Both these versions are absolute proof that years come and years go, but never vanishes the magic of great literature. Instead, it has the power to move, even if momentarily, the most prosaic and dull minutes of a typical day in to a wonderland! Long live literature!

Pratima@ Memory, even when faded, distant and thin, evokes an era long lost, but lyrical.

Hope this reaches the right address!

 What is our duty as citizens in a healthy democracy? Surely, it cannot begin and end with voting, if we feel like it at all, every five years, right? Very strongly do i feel that we should share in every which way possible in the actual running  of as many institutions as is possible that go in to the making of a healthy, happy city, state, nation, right? 

Hence this blog. Hope it reaches the right address. May be, somebody would bring it to the notice of our D.C.M, Shri Phadnavisji and the Central Transport Minister, Shri Gadkariji. 

Well, why am I not doing it myself? For one thing, the forwarded video does not have an https://youtu.be address. And, yes, i do not know how to get in touch with, 'tag' these worthies, especially because i am not on the Insta and the Twitter. I use the internet and the social media in a rather limited way, only the trio of the google, the WhatsApp and the YouTube. As for the FB, i may open it once a week, possibly!

If any one of you knows how to get in touch with the duo, i shall forward the video to your WhatsApp number so that you can do the needful. So what is this wonder video about? It is an absolutely authentic video by an Australian University, the University of Newcastle. It deals with a brilliant idea for the alternative energy source generation, the solar energy. 

It is indeed unique because it revolutionises the making of the solar energy production panels. The traditional ones used so far are made of silicon conductors, hence are extremely heavy, and thus need special installation devices.

This technique by the Newcastle University uses,  to begin with, the IoT. That is to say, the ultrathin panels can be mass printed the 3D way. The panels which use organic polymers that can capture solar energy and conduct electricity are ultrathin. A mere 0.075 mm is the thickness the panel enjoys. Obviously, hence, the panels are easy to mount. Moreover, they can be fixed with a special adhesive to any surface. The installation woes end thus. The panels are comparatively much, much, much cheaper. Yes, they are being tried usefully in Sydney.

Imagine how they can radically change our urban and the rural scene! Like rainwater harvesting, these panels can transform the very vista. Street lights to electric vehicles can thus be solar charged. Homes to institutions to offices would thus be lighted up. The irrigation motors in the rural areas would thus be better charged causing less distress to the farmers, and ending the typical land acquisition bother.

May be, Indian universities and  start-up's/msme's can initially tie up with the Newcastle University. Later, they can process the technique further to suit our conditions. The possibilities are endless. If the political will and the citizen initiative thus collaborate, Mera Bharat can indeed be 'mahan' and 'atmnirbhar' the much needed alternative energy source way, right?

So, if you can help this message reach the right address, its proper destination, please do so URGENTLY. In the meanwhile, i have already requested the source as well as some media youtubers to reach the message/video at the right address. Hope our city/state/country soon gets "bijli" this cheap and alternative way!

Pratima@ A city/state/country can be what its citizens are!

Papa Proud

 The multi-channel television invaded the Indian living rooms, and much changed, often for the worse. In its wake, globalisation, too, shaped India inevitably, and in quite a goofy way. 

Such pan-global intrusions do have, like the proverbial cloud, a silver lining, and does it shine bright! Yes, i am referring to the Father's Day. Like the Mother's Day, it entered India in the 1990's. Despite the market madness ( what with the goodies that flood the market every second Sunday in May, and every third Sunday in June) that dogs its feet, i feel this is a most welcome practice.

Fathers are the most misunderstood and ignored entities in the family. Undoubtedly, from the generation who is now in their twenties onward, this injustice has abated quite a bit as the children of this age group casually treat their fathers as a friend, at least superficially. 

Earlier, however, hardly was it so. Fathers used to be the most hardworking, most concerned, most loving member in the family. Hardly, however, were they so understood. Most often the bogeyman with whose anger and beatings, mothers would threaten the misbehaving children, fathers were kept at a safe distance, right?

Luckily, in my family, Papa never ever beat, belted, slapped, or kicked us. Why, he hardly ever screamed at us! Sure, we were well-behaved children, and, yes, there was a lot of discipline, but it was kindly and lovingly administered. 

Given his honesty and sincerity, he was often the thorn in the flesh of the corrupt, and hence often he had to face transfers. For the sake of our higher education, however, he had to live all alone at those places of transfer. But it never ever occurred to him to put us in hostels or at relatives' place so that they both could enjoy togetherness as a couple. We were given all the best facilities available then. Given the frugal salaries then, he would himself live most simply, but never ever did he deny us any resources whatsoever.

In his early youth, he had to shoulder all the responsibilities of his paternal family. He had to hence sacrifice his dreams. Yet even when he was ill-treated by them, he never ever uttered a single bad word against them. I marvel at this generosity of his spirit.  

Indeed he had very many sterling qualities, and not only do i adore him as a daughter, but i also look up to him as a human being. I am indeed very much Papa Proud, and have always done everything to live up to his vision, and will continue to do so forever!

Pratima@ Father is indeed a Saviour!

The Best Donation

 Donation as a concept currently  seems more and more to be doing the disappearing act. Well, i believe that any donation with some return expectation is hardly a donation. So all the donations given in Aai's and Papa's name by us have one and only one condition, "let us annually know the name of the winner who got the R. M. Agnihotri or the Padmaja Ramchandra Agnihotri Prize."

Even then, in my opinion, the best donation is, okay, the blood donation, but more than that, it is the organ donation. Very soon i am formally going to make a legal statement that after my death, whenever it happens, as many organs as is possible must be donated. Many should be possible as my health is not exactly bad nor do i have any lifestyle diseases. As for the cadaver, it is to be given to the AFMC or Sasson or Mangeshkar Medical Research Center. 

In other words, one should continue to live, to be useful and relevant even after the physical death, right? In return, there possibly could not be any expectations, except that an ill person could get an extension and a healthy life due to such a donation. What say?

Pratima@A donation should the ultimate sign of human(e) solidarity, right?

The age inside!

 The other day, i got to hear about an old (in all senses of the term) teacher of mine. The fellow is currently working in a university established by a minority community. What is unusual? Is that your question? Well, the chap is eighty-ish!

Ah, that brings us to the question, should the old work? In the case mentioned above, the man has been getting a full fat pension. So why the need for money? I find this yucky argument against the old workforce very stupid. It is almost as brainless as the other argument, 'good, the old chappie has something to do'!

Let us today discuss this issue beyond this specific example. Should the old work? YES, surely, and why indeed not? To play a little on a quote from "Devdas", though, of course, rather out of context,  'kaun kambhat paise ke liye ya timepass karne ke liye kam karta hai? Yeh to acche Kam ki nasha hai!" Well, those who work only for the bucks or because they have nothing else to do would do so more during the youth, right? During the young days, you need money more, and if you are not doing anything, you get, to repeat the youth mantra today, 'bored'!

When one is super-annuated, and still works, let me tell you, that is only because one is excellent at that work. The institute recognises one's merit, one's unique abilities, and wants that expertise for its own betterment. It is thus a win-win situation.

If one is in very good health, if one is  brilliant at one's job, if one has the edge/age inside, one continuing to work  is adding  a gloss, a finish of sincere perfection to the assignment. One is  anyways genuine. Even when age meant youth, one was genuine, sincere, committed, and so on. This soul coat is not tattered, though the body may show some wear and tear.

When the aged work, all the stakeholders benefit because one is aware of the new, and beware of the old. Through this special woof and weft of the old and the new, every thread of the work is a perfect blend of the best every which way.

 The new generation also thus gets kind mentors whom they can help if there are any hiccups technology wise, a kind of reverse training, so to say! As they say, thus we help each other develop and grow.

Oh, that reminds me, initially, very many of my colleagues at the post-graduate level were retired professors! Thus we always had the students' back, so to say. Actually, how old you are, hardly matters. What matters is your wisdom, your sincerity, your depth, and such genuineness mostly the old enjoy, right? So long live and long work the old!

Pratima@ Relatedness and relevance matter more than being merely young. Anyways, age is just a number! It can hardly define you any which way.

Child Abuse

 Child labour is the worst child abuse. It is, moreover, the most heinous kind of abuse because the child's own family indulges in it. For the sake of money, always wanted, always missing, his/her own family makes the child miss the very childhood.

In the cities, in metros, in mini metros, every shop or hotel and each such establishment would boast of a 'board' mentioning that the premises are free of child labour. Right in front of the establishment, or just a chowk away, however, there are children selling tidbits or begging, dressed up as the mythical characters as per the significance associated with the day. At the crossroads, they would be dangerously skirting the chaotic traffic to thus beg or to sell flowers, pens, books (!!!!!), and what have you!

There is another rampant child abuse in the cities and metros. It takes place in posh apartments, et al. Most often, such households would have just one child, two being luxury! The father would be in a plush position in an i/t company or in shipping, banking, et al, earning lakhs per month.

The prince/the princess of the family has been horribly indulged. The spoilt brat, so used to have only his/her way, is absolutely silly and immature. So wilts he/she at the first push/knock by the wicked world that the cocoon around the self becomes still more cemented. 

I have always wondered how such fools can never see the terrible suffering surrounding them, and without any alleviation, or means thereof. I suppose, these over-pampered idiots lack any sympathy.  It is not possible they would have even heard the word 'empathy'! As long as they get their fancy clothes, hep boots, hip computer games/films, not to forget, designer food, they would be lost to themselves behind the forever closed doors of their own separate rooms.

Why would they have to worry, anyways? Daddy Dearest is slogging for hours on end to fund their lavish life(!)-style.  How, one wonders, are these nincompoops going to manage in the AI enabled world shifting by the second! 

Both these abuses, one of atrophy, and the other of entropy, must cease. Only then can a wondrous future for all be possible!

Pratima@ Suffering injustice is not as toxic as heaping injustice on others!

Tests

 Most all children love to hate tests. When the government officially allowed them 'not to worry about any tests', formative or summative, till they reached the ninth standard, they would have, i am sure, voted en masse for the ruling party, if they were at all allowed the right!!! Well, none could reduce the voting age to that low a 'standard', so democracy managed to pass with its own unique colours!

As children turn adults, who would have, one would think, happily left tests back-n-away in the long lost student days, suddenly, for them, there is this desparate urge for tests. Everywhere, online, in newspapers, in magazines, there are all sorts of tests, sudoku, different word power tests, and most important of all, the personality tests.

'Are you an introvert?', 'What kind of friends do you like?' umpteen such questions about your very own self get answered if you are game for the quiz that follows/accompanies. In my opinion, these 'tests' are like the 'daily horoscope' in the newspaper or on the T.V. Equally applicable to everybody  in a very democratic way! 

They are absolute fun, believe me! Partially, every item from every category applies to each and everyone. Once i was asked to answer one such never-ending longish test. Since I was helping this young lady with her Ph.D. thesis, and she seemed highly impressed with my tasteful interpretations of the basic texts and the critical paradigm i had suggested, i agreed to humour her, and took the test.

Well, every question in that personality test had four answers, and at least three, if not all,  seemed absolutely applicable! If i were to thus follow up the test these three or four different ways (she assured me most comfortingly that it was okay to take the test any number of times, and with varied answers each time!), I would have ended up being gladioli, rose, and many such fab flowers. Oh, yes, per answer, you had to assign a certain mark to yourself, and accordingly, as per the sum total, you would get a flower assigned to your self which would be explained further!

Well, i had no intention whatsoever to be a bouquet of selfhoods. So, with a happy sigh, i left the test (and my inner self) alone even when my first time (as sincere as is possible given the choices) answers just reduced to me to a violet  or some such non-glamorous, flower by the mossy stone (as Wordsworth would put it), while she told me with quite some pride that she had ended up as an orchid, or some such rarest of the rare flower!

No harm meant, but i think even with these tests, it is not a real test of your intelligence or inner self. Exam after all! You should learn how to to t(r)ick the right answer. Yet people spend hours on such tests whose answers you can go on guessing easier than a typical simplistic MCQ! Practice does it. Two or three tests tops, and you can comfortably arrive at the 'right', the 'propah', the 'correct' answer.  So here, too, practice makes man perfect which is the real  'result' of each and every test after all!

All sorts of such tests are there, believe me! Which one picture do you like, the guffawing donkey,  the smiling zebra or the giggling monkey? Accordingly, your inner animal would get defined! Well, the very idea gave me such a side-splitting laugh that Tashu, our amused doggie, looked at me most suspiciously! Tests, and exams, of all sorts are crazy, and to be avoided as much as possible, in brief!

Pratima@ Resist the stress of the test, do your best, and forget the rest, and thus would you get the results best!

The Mob Mentality

 'Pandhari chi wari', the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, began in Alandi yesterday. As for the Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palakhi, it began its journey the day before. Both the processions reached Pune this evening.

Every year, i walk some distance with the pilgrims. There are a number of reasons that lead to my attempt. For one thing, we are all Pandharpur born. My small little walk is in a way a humble tribute to that gorgeous fact. Both my parents, moreover, were religious, without any excessive religiosity whatsoever. So it is a heart-felt remembrance in its own way of their simple but genuine way of life.

It is an act of empathy as well. The  'warkari'-s, the pilgrims, would be walking the entire distance for about three weeks despite all the difficulties faced on the way. I try to participate in that feel via this brief walk shared with them. This tradition, moreover, continuing from the days of Sant Dnyaneshwar is the soul of Marathi-ness so to say, and i like soaking in that entire feel, the beat of the taal-mridang, the warkari's singing the abhang's, the unique traditional patterns of each dindi, et al.

The only thing i hate each year is the mob mentality. There is a terrible and simply horrible rush. The mob enthusiasm is such that everybody is pushing everyone else so mindlessly that even when an elderly person falls down, nobody notices nor cares. 

Many pilgrims are extremely poor. The noble act of providing them goodies is great. Yet the food donation/anna-dan is most mindless, and quite heartless. It is heartwrenching to see people of all ages literally snatching the food packets!

Often bananas are eaten, and peels pile up on the road. Elderly pilgrims slip on them. Such is the mad mob rush that it is impossible to bend down, and pick up the peels out of the way. Once i saw some five elderly women slip on banana peels, made yuckier and deadlier due to punctured plastic water pouches. Nothing could be done, and none helped them. They got up on their own, and continued limping on, wobbling along. 

May be, all such mishaps can be avoided if the food/drink items are given to the dindi pramukh, the head of each pilgrim group, who can systematically distribute them at every small little stop, right?

The current mob mentality leads only to mishaps and ugly scenes. Oh, yes, that reminds me, the push parade at Tirupati, too, is simply a terror and quite a horror! Why the mob mentality at the divine doorstep? Instead we should be more disciplined in our dedication, right?

Pratima@The mob, opines Kelly Slater, "is like the mafia". Once you get in, there is no way to get out!                                              When in a mob, most human beings reveal the latent gangster lurking in them, may be! Does that explain the mob mentality? Remember the viciousness let loose when/if a petty pick-pocket is caught, and beaten up on the Mumbai local train?!?

Forgetting

 Do we really forget anything? Not really, i think. You do not believe me, right? Okay! Let me remind you. Once upon a time, not exactly so very long ago, you were one of the best cyclists around, right? You have not, however, touched a bicycle for the last thirty years or so, okay? Try riding one. The vehicle may initially wobble like mad. Within a few minutes, however, you would be back to riding the cycle like a pro!

The same simple rule applies to all the skills, be it swimming, rolling out perfect chapati's, playing an instrument, using a language, and so on. These skills seem to enter our very blood stream, and are back with us within seconds, after a few nervous hesitations. What a great vehicle is our brain, our long term memory, our short memory, the constantly new connects our brain neurons make, and so on.

This is the physiology of memory, and a wonderful tool it is.  Yet, psychologically, human memory is a curse. Almost all of us are excellent at literally memorizing the hurts, insults,  demeanings thrown our way. We do not want to forget these emotional wounds.

All the influencers and psychologists would constantly advise us all to forget all these, and lead a happy life. Believe me, all these bad vibes are excellent at playing hide and seek with us. We never forget them even if we want to.

 Personally, i am, moreover, of the opinion that we should not even try to. Instead of such oppressive technique which sooner than later sure leads to irritation/anger management issues, i think, it is better to accept these memories of the vicious cruelties meted out to one, and slowly they start losing their sting.

Yet another ardent belief i hold is that the vicious ones would pay for their badness in this very life. The 'here and now' of the karma justice is inevitable. It has to be because the powerful would otherwise ride roughshod over the docile/gentle ones.

In my opinion, yet another and more effective way is to be so thoroughly involved in creative activities that you hardly get any time for a re-visit to the dark land of painful memories. 

The best method in my opinion, however, is never ever do anything to others that would hurt/bother you yourself. The moment we follow this unique principle, we do not 'create' bad memories. That cleanliness of heart and vision teach us to laugh at the viciousness dished at us. We learn to understand their irrelevance, and thus their size minimises, and slowly but surely they lose the power to agonise. One achieves a calm distance from the painful experiences, and the vicious thus lose their dark power over us! 

Pratima@ Forgetting sure happens, however slowly, at the individual level. And it must! At the larger perspective/level, there IS universal justice!

Moment of Re-cognition!

 This evening gifted me a lovely moment. My doctor cousin's best friend's daughters were training for the Spanish A1 exam with me. Young students being young students, i had to remind them regarding the results. I do not know how my query to them regarding the results being declared got copy-pasted to my status account. For sure, i did nothing of that sort.

After half an hour or so, i realised that many of the regular readers of my blog @ my status had actually bothered to open the status entry! So sure they were that i must have communicated something worth a read, even when the thumbnail obviously could not be much to write home about!

It was a genuinely humbling moment. The faith your readers thus show in your ingenuity, in your genuineness, in your ideas, in your ability to 'mean' well (that is, communicate  nice ideas, and well) is both, a high and a humbling moment, believe me, especially because i do not write any gooey-gooey, goodie-goodie, cutsie, tantalising or 'explosive' stuff, nor are there any appealing visuals, et al!

In a way, hence, it was both, a moment of recognition and re-cognition. It was recognition on my readers' part which made me aware, made me realise yet again my responsibility, the moment of re-cognition. Great feel it was that at least some people actually bother to read my little pieces, even when available are so many more alluring amusement alternatives! 

Honestly and in all humility, i must say that such reader response has always been a blessing i have enjoyed. The articles i wrote for 'The New Indian Express' used to be syndicated in a big way, and researchers from all sorts of places would come up to tell me that they actually liked a write-up, which was not bad because i used to write on high-funda stuff in a 'popular' way.

 My articles in the 'Newstime' and the 'Hindu' pull-out, not to forget the city portals, were 'liked/admired/appreciated' as well. All sorts of compliments i have garnered for all these which range from Bhishm Sahni writing 'you are very kind' (i have the letter with me) to 'i look forward to your articles' and 'i buy the newspaper for the sake of your articles', for instance.

The readers' compliments that i liked the most were the ones i used to get for my Marathi articles. Let me tell you why. Aai used to love answering the phone calls (the landline phone used to be right next to her bed) that asked for Pratima Agnihotri because the person at the other end 'liked the xyz article/story very much'.

Well, my moment of re-cognition of my writerly capabilities is a little special because every chance i got was purely due to sheer abilities, and in a field where only (fairy)mothers and (god)fathers alone matter. I remember, i had just gone down to 'The New Indian Express' office; i was asked to write a review which was so liked the title onwards that i became a regular freelancer  (at least four articles per week) in no time! 

My very first published book review got rave remarks from the writer, who (i did not know it but) was the best friend of the Resident Editor. None ever begrudged me the assignments that followed in abundance. Oh, yes, the complimentary copy of that book i gave to Papa as the review was published on March 18, his birthday. Papa was as happy as he was when they both saw my name flash on the national t.v. as the co-producer of an EMRC programme which, incidentally, got both, high praise and a prize.

Well, all such and many, many more lovely responses make me feel more committed and still more responsible to my small little creative contributions. So, Thank You, Everybody! Your response made my day!

Pratima@ I love celebrating the readerly activities even on a blog because the eternal grouse currently is that reading is dead! 

Heart-y!

 Do you read these "best ten" kind of pop-up's that hit our eyes while surfing the internet? I sometimes do read such trivia because they are full of nuggets of information. Like this one that i read yesterday! It seems that there are certain creatures that have multiple hearts, or have a number of extra organs that have heart like functions.

Most of these are deep water creatures. There is one, however, whom we all love to hate. Any guesses? Well, it is the cockroach. It apparently has thirteen hearts! These thirteen valves are in a row, and pump blood to the various organs of the roach. Well, wonders never cease!

Nature indeed is unique in its creations because horses, too, have such heart like organs near their feet of all the things!  No wonder, they are literally and figuratively powerhouses. 

'Horsepower' as a concept thus makes sense, come to think of it. No wonder, for M.F.Hussein, horses were (he)art power! His lines could capture their strength, their power, their wind-like speed, their grace, in brief. Can you think of a Hussein canvas without horses? Almost an obsession they were for him!

Incidentally, is not it a wonder that a hyper-intelligent animal like the elephant or those power-packed existences, lions and tigers, cannot boast of possessing many hearts? Well, when it comes to our pets, the household animals, i suppose, dogs do not need any such obvious manifestation/contraption because head to tail, in every bit of their very being, they are sheer heart! Heart, thy name is dog! Why then the need for any extra than that large heartedness known as their very existence!

Pratima@ Dogs are heart itself because they are Honest, Effusive, Affectionate, Radiant/Robust, Tender, in brief, HEART on four feet!

Beaches are where Life is

 Beaches! THE ultimate as far as life begins. Oh, no, the spelling should nullify your naughty homophonic associations, right? Though beauties prance by the beaches, thus amplifying the naughty quotient, actually our blog is absolutely innocent. It is talking of BEACHES because it is the World Ocean Day!

Actually, at least 95 per cent of our earth is really the ocean. True, that saline water, though now getting harnessed for alternative energy sources, is not worth a drink. Even when the huge water (re)source is not exactly potable, life began in the ocean. But for the ocean, we, the human beings, would not be possible!

Actually, we know so little about the huge and deep oceans. It has been said that we know more about the space than we know of the oceans, that like the omni-present God, surround us everywhere, and across all eons and ages.  We may might build bridges below or across the creeks. Yet we hardly know the huge hidden secrets deep down the ocean.

Rather like the complex and colourful human minds, the oceans, too, are most unpredictable. My shippie brother never told us about the storms his ships weathered. I have seen a few videos though, which show the demonic ferocity of the oceans, and the fact adds hugely to my appreciation of the unique specialness of my sibling.

Despite the ills and the cruelties and the crudities of the colonial context, i cannot but absolutely admire Columbus for crossing the Atlantic on board a wind-tossed ship. Sure, beaches have borders, but not the human quest!

Pratima@ "The sea, once it casts its spell, it holds one in its net of wonders forever," says Jacques Custeau!

(What) to eat or (what) not to eat!

 To eat or not to eat, that is no longer the question. Neither for the rich nor for the middle classes! If the rich eat anchovies and asparagus, the by-now-confirmed-as-aspirational middle classes are eating the pulav and rabadi.

As for the poor of the world, though hunger unites them, they, too, have nothing to worry as the street food, however unhygienic, fills an empty stomach. You do not believe me? In any city, at every corner, there are such small shops that sell vada-pao, for instance. Honestly, there are some who manage to live off such stuff. 

Well, it hurts my sensibilities a lot that the so-called 'modern' folk insist on leaving a lot uneaten (food) on the plate. Why do they take large portions? Why waste food? Despite my jibe in the earlier paragraph at street food, i am painfully aware that many go to sleep on an empty stomach, be it the city or the village.

As for the upwardly mobile in cities and in villages dreaming to be equally vain and vague, there are these diet fads! Each one tells us, the gullible, to eat exactly the opposite of what the other plans consider a  sheer hazard. One dietician's recommended food is another's poison! To each dietician, his/her fad followers! If one advises you to drink at least three litres of water per day, for example, there instantaneously emerges 'an-other' proving that it is a sure formula for a damaged kidney!

The title, hence, of the blog today! What to eat and what not to eat, that is the real question!! As today is dedicated world wide as the day celebrating healthy food, this blog  post trying to digest our unhealthy food habits!!!

Personally, i feel the typical traditional veg food is the best. It has all the ingredients in perfect proportion. No harm indulging the taste buds now and then. Equally important is a fast or two, and some sensible exercise every day. A young person who lives off noodles and pizzas, and then sweats it out like a zombie in the fitness club is every which way harming himself/herself, and forever! 

We are what we eat! Healthy body, healthy mind! Such axioms are mindful truly, though they may not sound 'kool'! Hence on this auspicious day, let us  pledge to eat towards our own sustainable growth!

Pratima@ Tell me what you eat (and, more importantly, what you do not), and i can tell who you are (and who you can never be)! In brief, though I hope that many would find the blog post today yummy, i am not sure many would digest it! 

The soul is where the son is!

 For a mother, her daughters undoubtedly  matter, too. Yet her soul is where the son is, just as the light is where the sun is, though the sky matters, too! May be, it is the natural selection as some would put it, but beyond any gender issues, a mother does have a softer corner for the son. 

Aai was no exception to this universally accepted truth. Both her sons were absolutely special to her. Of course, both of them have been truly worthy of her deep affection, too. 

To provide that trite, traditional tale, they would be like her two hands, so very central to her very existence. Well, sure she was ambidextrous, if the metaphor could be continued. Yet, after all, she was not a leftie. Just as naturally she would use the right hand, equally obviously her heart had the softest corner for Raju. Not that she liked Sanju any less, but she loved Raju a little more, by a fraction or two.

Raju absolutely lived up to her adoration throughout her lifetime. Every Friday, after he would return from his institute at 7 p.m., he used to call her up. "Ghe vishranti" ( take rest) was all that she said. But that phone call was her oxygen. Well, the soul is where the son is!

He used to come to Mukund Nagar every weekend without fail, and she used to look forward to that visit. She loved everything about him, his jollity, his sincerity, his straightforward behaviour, and so on. I have written in depth about their bond on June 7, 2021. 

Yes, June 7 is Raju's birthday. As per her practice, i shall begin the day by gulping down a dollop of asafoetida and ghee as traditionally the Mriga Nakshtra, the herald of the monsoon season, falls on June 7. Here is wishing Raju a Very Happy Birthday! All his dreams are sure to come true, given our parents' infinite affection for him, the son of their souls, just like Sanju! 

Pratima@ Parents' love is like the internet, invisible, but helps you stay always connected! Unlike the Mbps, however, it helps you route better with your real self, right?

The green force

 I do not know how far/much you read poetry. Much more, would you read a great but rather neglected English poet, Dylan Thomas? He wrote a simply superb poem, "Fern Hill". Equally great is his poem "The force that through...". The title of our blog is a word play on the first line of the celebrated poem. 

I have chosen it because it captures perfectly the theme of the Environment Day. Yes, the very day when, the world over, in a major way, most wax eloquent on the climate crisis, blah, blah, blah. Yes, debates are indeed fine, especially as most television channels establish this undisputable fact evening after evening.

Personally, however, i love it when i can walk the talk. I try to plant a plant or two in my small little garden on this day. Great feel it was when this World Environment Day,  i was made to plant a palm tree as a guest of honour. Yes, at the Shirur DES school where i was to train teachers on vocabulary development and communication skills @academics, i could thus celebrate June 5, which was a wonderful feel. I tried to support the sapling with a few fragile dried sticks,  and, voila, did the green force make the small sapling stand a winsome way!

I have started putting together all the special seeds and saplings in my garden, and next i go to the Shirur school for the training session, i shall hand over this seed and saplings bank to Principal Sir. The green force would thus always fuse my tribute to the environment awareness  on that campus, a  vibrant feel forever!

Pratima@ "Nature never did betray the heart heart that loved her," wrote William Wordsworth. Should be the anthem of the day the world over! What say?

The Vat Pournina Vrat

 Yesterday was the Jyeshtha Pournina. Traditionally, it is associated with a fast women are supposed to keep. Typically, there are two responses; women who keep the "vrat" and women who disdain it

 The first category includes high profile celebrities as well. Rather like the "karva chouth" of the North Indians, both, the celebrity wives and their normal counterparts, deck up a lot, and follow the ritual religiously. The other group is environmentally conscious and considers hence the botanically cruel and heartless ritual very patriarchal. 

Without going/getting extremist either way, how does one 're-vision' the 'vrat', the fast, the religious rituals related to the holy occasion? Long time back, as a twenty-one year old, while teaching my first ever M.A. batch wherein most students were much older, i had thus tried to analyse the Savitri phenomenon differently. 

In my opinion, she is highly intelligent, intellectual and learned. She seems to know the properties of trees, for instance. Every  Botany beginner knows the scientifically established fact that the bunyan tree is both, inherently medicinal and an ecological center. Given her choice, how about granting her such awareness even during those mythical days?

Her story, moreover, shows that she makes her own choices, stands for/by them despite every attempt to dissuade her. No wonder, she finds "re-solutions" to existential issues that seem to threaten her very identity. 

The famous boon she asks for shows her smartness and infinite wisdom. Just a single utterance is enough for her to re-gain the lost kingdom as the lineage for her son. Hers is the re-vision that gets back a dethroned king's sight/site. She is strength incarnate indeed! Her 'boon' shows that she is, moreover, excellent at communication strategies, right?

Well, can it be thus said that allocating new and contemporary meanings to traditional tales makes them more worthy of respect rather than merely following a custom that goes down generations? Any response to my argument? 

Oh, yes, that reminds me of my resolve to read Aurobindo's eponymous verse epic! 

Pratima@ 'What oft was narrated, but never so well explained' can be the definition, i suppose, of aware interpretations and conscious/conscientious behaviour patterns as well. What say? 

Bicycle-nama!

 Remember how you learnt riding the bicycle (the real one, not the stationary exercise treadmill one, please!)? I do, and distinctly.  The initial zigzagging of the bicycle, with the handle ready to shift in to the reverse gear any second, the big bang beating heart managing to remain stable, given the absolutely firm  assurance that Papa would be there, holding both me and the bicycle, and then one day realising that i am riding the bicycle absolutely like a pro, with Papa receding in the distance, smilingly admiring the fledgling skill of his hardly eight year old daughter.

Quite a metaphor in a way of/for our upbringing! Quietly he (and, Aai, accompanying him, of course) gave momentum to our dreams, allowed us to be ourselves, with him always there, supporting us, having our back, so to say! Such was his solid sincere support that one could never ever even dream of breaking his absolute unwavering faith in oneself.

I have lovely memories of bicycle rides, Papa reaching us both, me and Raju, to Swargate Bus Stop so that we could catch Bus No. 4 on time, Papa taking us to Kulkarni Kaka's house via the Canal Road. Those days, Pune canals actually used to have water, and clean at that. I clearly remember the blue skies or the evening stars reflected in that lucid water. Nor have I forgotten the morbid fear of that water body that almost seemed to touch the cycle tyres, as i could not swim then. 

Those days, one could hire a cycle. I have not forgotten hiring it for a mere fifty paise per hour, and zooming around the narrow lanes, or mostly going to fetch Sanju from his LKG (to primary) school. Like a Great Grand Lord, he used to ride pillion, and give me directions from behind, "look at that bus, it is getting too near us" types!

Like a typical Puneri, I rode the bike to college. Even for my PG, i used to ride the bicycle half way, park it at Mama's place, walk across the Lakdi Pul, and catch the Univ bus. Never even once was i late, not even by a fraction of a second. While returning home, if Ajji were at Pune, it was a pleasure talking to her for a few minutes, before rushing home as Aai would be waiting at home.

Rarely did i meet any accidents despite so much bicycling. Just once though, a huge ram, let loose by its stupid master to wander the roads, crashed into my bicycle for no fault of mine. I had badly bruised my knees, elbows and forehead. Symbolic of the ways of the world! 

"Bicycle" in my opinion is a very family vehicle. It has a cute aura of childhood innocence that continues in to teenage (at least those days, it used to!). No wonder, de Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" is a film i absolutely adore, in fact, love! 

Well, the bicycle epic can carry on and on, without a punctured (i tried to learn how to mend it, at least understand the process, just as i tried to clean the plug once i got my "chal meri dhanno" luna) memory, but better to 'break' it soon, and on time, as rough roads rub smooth tyres real harsh!

Pratima@ Cycling is some proof that life is a resilient ride!

Parents

 I read somewhere that in the last week of May, one of the days was the Parents' Day. There is no knowing exactly because often  these kind of celebratory days seem to be mushrooming rather like the Good Morning wapp messages, right? Yet the theme of this particular day is so central to existence that it needs to be celebrated even if there is no day dedicated to it.  Hence this acrostic.

                             Parents

Phenomenal they are,

Absolutely the lodestar!

Radically central ever anew to

Existence, like the horizon blue!

Never for a moment by children forgot,

Truly mourned, even when long lost!

Souls' saviours, lost never n  ever fo(u)nd!

Pratima@ Parents continue to be the soft sitar notes at the back of our beings, gently always there, never lost in the  dizzy din of daily lived realities! 

A tribute

Felt

At each heartbeat!

The language makes the locale

 As it happens to be the Telangana Formation Day, and as Hyderabad is the capital of the newly formed state, let us have a look at that peculiar version of Hindi called  Hyderabadi Hindi.

It is indeed unique. Often known as 'Dakhni', it is a curious combo of Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and a bit of Persian and Punjabi. Typical of the Ganga-Jamani ethos of Hyderabad which is absolutely a twin City, the hi-fi high-tech Hyderabad (especially circa Madhapur, Hi-Tech City, Gacchibowli types) and the Old City of the Charminar!

Even in the twenty first century, these are two distinct worlds. Sure, traditionally, the twin cities are Hyderabad and Secundrabad, divided supposedly by the  Hussein Sagar Lake. Yet the LCD (to use the mathematical metaphor) in both these places would be the local Telugu culture common to both, found even in the "Camp" like Secundrabad, once the British hangout.

Whichever way you may divide Hyderabad, Dakhni sure unites it. Typical 'yes' in Dakhni is 'hau' and 'no' is 'nakko'. Every woman is a 'bibi' which means 'lady', while 'biwi' is the 'wife'! The less said in this context, the better, right?!?

Incidentally, Dakhni does not have the Lucknow-walla 'Aap' 'adab'. There is this direct frontal attack, 'ama', of 'tum' and 'tumku' and 'kayku'. Given this equalisation, if one speaks the 'shudh' Allahabad Hindi, it really marks one out as a stranger!

 Want proof of all these assertions? Watch Sagar Sarhadi's film 'Bazar' which mostly uses Dakhni with its typical tone as well. Or, if you like the so-called comic effect, Mahmood could regale you with "hum-a kaale hai to...",  quite crazy actually!

Scholars assert that mostly women created, maintained and nurtured this version of Hindi. Actually, it is less a dialect of Hindi, and more a unique language in its own way. In brief, a unique example of the language marking the locale!

Pratima@ "A different language is a different vision of life," insisted Fellini.

Wayward

 What do summer showers, or for that matter, the monsoon rains, remind you of? Well, as for me, they appear like the wayward, naughty and adamant youngster in the family. Absolutely follows the dictates of his/her own heart, without ever bothering how his/her behaviour hurts others. The absolute lord of all that he/she surveys!

Yes, rains are crazy like that. Yesterday I went to Hinjewadi, Sanju's place. It seems on May 30, almost for four hours,in two phases, there was lashing rain, lightening that would scare the sky itself, and thunder that was absolutely in sync with the torrid lightening. 

Even on May 31, at about 4 p.m. it looked as if there would be a downpour yet again, as if in tandem with the day before. Luckily, for me, such a future plan of the rains turned out to be a 'cry wolf' story. All this while, the Mukund Nagar area was as dry as the bone!  

That is how whimsical rains are. Once i was accompanying Aai to Raju's place, for some 'puja'. At the Alka Talkies side of the Lakadi Bridge, there was  a downpour, while at the other end of the bridge, some two hundred feet away, there were were not even droplets.

Well, hope this crazy amigo, despite the El Niño, takes pity on us this year, and rains sufficiently on all the areas!

Pratima@ We dare not sing "rain, rain, go away". Instead "rain on the plain" should be equally and sufficiently distributed, that is our prayer, because, yet again, it is that time of the year!!