Plans that last

 It is that time of the year! The time when New Year Resolutions are made. Dozens get made. Mostly most fizzle out the very next day! Why does it so happen? Why are New Year Resolutions made only to be abandoned?

May be, most resolutions are planned half- heartedly, more as a "been there, done that" kind of fashion statement than as a passion principle, I suppose. No wonder, such letters are written on the water, to get washed out (eh, flushed out would be a better turn of phrase as it is closer to the truth!) within a week tops.

Which could be the New Year Resolutions that should last forever? Here is a list. May be, you could add a few more. To begin with, my plan is to be a better human being by the day. How to go about it? By being more and more self-reflexive, I suppose. That is to say, analyse the self at the end of the day, find out the dross and the dregs which should be carried on to the next morning only if worth it, right?

Such an analysis of the self is necessary indeed, 'coz none knows which could be the last breath. Yes, such indeed are the times. To give a flippant example, the Pune traffic is such that any minute could be the last moment,especially if you are a pedestrian. No, you do not jay-walk. The vehicles rush over the kerb, too. Such is the road rage! 

The New Year Resolutions, in brief, should not be like the expletives, spluttered and scattered out in a fit. Rather, make such plans that fit your real self. Thus would they reach fruition, right?

Pratima@ To make plans is like making mistakes. Unless you make them, you cannot better them, right? Go ahead, make many. Thus would last more, if any!

Santa

 Santa exits!

Adulthood cannot him dismiss.

Ne'er he vanishes from the horizon of heart!

Toward triumph travels the mind thus

As each time the world rewards us!

Clad in glory-n-pomp, gilded here-n-now

Lowly gifts thus life bestows on us, crybabies

Admitted in to the nurseries of experience!

Us wise they make not, neither seraphic

Sick the rose that the worm within withers!

Pratima@ My acrostic "Santa Claus" argues that worldly gifts acquired in adulthood may taint us, as often they are (and) corrupt from within, however gilded n glitzy on the outside! How to respond to the not so sacrosanct Santa gifts which re(de)fine us not!?! That is the question of this poem with its unmistakable Blake references, and M.H.Abrams' "Natural Supernatural" Romantic allusions!

The Way to be!

 Do you like to watch videos of  wild animals in their wild habitats? I do! There was this video. I am not exactly sure where it was from, as details were not provided. The accompanying song made me believe that it could be the Krueger Park.

The video showed a pair of majestic lions sharing the siesta time. Oblivious to the whole world around, deep in sleep they were. A sure sign in a way it was of their awareness of their power, as if they knew that none would dare to mess with them.

Walking down the same narrow lane were two huge rhinos. That pair, too, seemed absolutely aware of its huge power. Now rhinos ARE huge. Their walk cannot be nimble and light like that of a deer. It must shake the dirt road beneath their feet.

The sleeping lions must have felt the tremors. They seemed to ignore them completely. The rhinos kept on approaching nearer and nearer by the minute. A huge fight between the two mighty species, one carnivore and the other herbivore, seemed inevitable.

At the last split second, however, the two lions just woke up, and vanished in to the tall grass around. Were they afraid? Did they run away like cowards? So it may look like to a casual observer. I look at it absolutely differently. 

I feel it was a wise decision. No unnecessary clashes, no avoidable bloodshed. No ego issues. Instead, it was the 'live and let live' policy. The best way to live, I believe!

Pratima@Human beings can learn a lot from animals! How I wish Russians versus Americans, via Ukraine, would read my blog, quite an allegory, right?

We are Indian!

 Remember "We are seven" by William Wordsworth? A lyrical ballad it is, indeed made the most touching by the young protagonist's insistence "we are seven". The blog today takes its title from the poem because my argument is equally persistent. Well, I am absolutely tenacious in maintaining that despite all the distinctnesses, despite the difficult politicisation's of the differences, we, Indians, are the same. "We are Indian"!

Wanna know why? Just a few days ago, I was sent a video of a dance drama in Malyalam. The choreography of the ballet entitled "Kuchela" clearly had the Mohiniattam stylisation. It seems, the performance was in celebration of the "Kuchela Dinam".

Now even if one knew not a word of Malyalam, the performance with lovely mudra, aangik and waachik abhinaya straight went to one's heart 'coz the soulful call to Krishna in it was by Sudama. Sure, the actor's get-up, including the 'veshti' and the bamboo umbrella, was typically Malayalee, but the soul of the Keralite show was absolutely Indian.

Yes, we ARE Indian. Despite all the differences of languages, looks, rituals, there undoubtedly is a unique commonness we all share. That is our Indianness. Our state(ly!) ego, our ideological differences, the religions, the different denominations in each, nothing can come in the way of this unique togetherness, our Indian identity.

Is it merely ancient, shared via the mythology, and so on? Well, I do not think so. Let me explain why. Yesterday, I was returning home after a programme. The crazy Pune traffic was at its peak. Horns blared, people glared at each other, the signal stared red in fury.

Yet in this mad hustle-n-bustle, all listened avidly when floated on the air Latadi's immortal "Kuch Dil ne kaha, kuch bhi nahi". The magical tenderness of her divine notes set to Bhimpalas by the great Hemantda made Kaifi Azmi's brilliant lyric come alive even in that crazy chaos. Believe me, at the crossroad, till the signal turned green, everyone was listening intently.

Now, it is not exactly a "chikni chameli" type of a 'come hither' song. Yet the charm of this long forgotten ditty  was unmistakable. It came from our common, shared Indianness. So like the young Wordsworthian protagonist, my insistence, "we are Indian"!

Pratima@ When a Dhoni hits a helicopter shot or when a soldier suffers a bullet shot, ALL the Indian hearts bloom or bleed as per the occasion. Yet they all beat to the same rhythm, yes, you got it, "we are Indian". I am sure, you have already noticed that I am not using the  adjective in its plural form, coz, yes, we ARE Indian!

Year end is near!

 How time flies! Literally at a supersonic  speed! We are almost about to bid good bye to 2023. Most often, the year end brings a feel of unhappiness, sadness, a sense of loss for most. Well, i am the sort who starts looking eagerly at the next year with new hopes. 

The year end always reminds me of a much loved Thomas Hardy poem. The title of this lesser known poem in "The Darkling Thrush". The poem, may be, is not known much as Thomas Hardy is often associated with novels. His Wessex novels are indeed great.  Yet Hardy was an interesting poet as well, as this small little poem proves. 

The poem begins with a bleak scenario. It is the deadly winter time. The whole ambience wears the white shroud of snow. The feel gets eerier with the bare trees looking like ghosts. This typical horror movie scenario makes the poet feel absolutely dejected, depressed, unhappy. 

'The end is near' mood is suddenly transformed because despite this absolutely  unhappy context, a thrush, a small bird, chooses to warble, to sing passionately. The sweet notes outshine the darkness around, proving how the morrow hides in the dark womb  of today.

An intensely lyrical, optimistic and positive poem, it is one of my topmost favourites. It is an outsider in the pessimistic, fatalistic universe of Hardy's oeuvre. In a way, it resonates with 'the life goes on, continues despite catastrophes' feel of all great literature, Hardy's included. That is the beauty of literature, a great energiser!

Pratima@ A bitter tear may hide a sweet smile. Life is too short to waste it on negativities! Who knows, the next breath could be the last. Live hence fully this moment!

December 25

 December 25 this year was indeed special. It was obviously the Christmas Day. The British Royal family was there for the Morning Mass. Sure, monarchy as a mode may appear a secondary motif in the post- colonial period. Yet believe the Brits to be the best when it comes to celebrating the festivals, religious or civil, with all the regal grandeur. They are really good at the ceremony. This year was not an exception either. Little Prince Louis to his grandpa, the reigning  King Charles delivering his annual Christmas message, all were  wow in the regalia, the royalty related roles.

In our very own Maharashtra, it was the Dutt Jayanti. Every year my parents would send a certain amount to the Gangapur Dutt temple. In their memory, so do I. 

Personally I like the Dutt concept a lot. Want to know why? To begin with, I like the Anusuya story which in my opinion celebrates the power of the feminine principle as a manifestation of the  mothering role to which even the Trimurti bow down .

Yet another aspect of the Dutt Avatar is this search for the Sadguru, the ideal spiritual teacher/leader. The beauty of the Dutt concept is that it suggests that the guru is to be found, to be met everywhere, and in each person, every form of the fauna and flora.

 In other words, the moment we find modern values in ancient customs, ceremonies become marvellous, right?

Pratima@The old is the new!

Gentle, kind yet firm: Protagonist of a Pure Tale

 Gentle, kind and yet firm is how the person of the day can best be described. Yes, you guessed it right. I am indeed talking of Sane Guruji, the cultural icon of the twentieth century Maharashtra.

Most of the people of my generation would have weaned on "Shyam chi Aai", a great read. As for me, it was one of my childhood buddies. A very interesting book, which is a great account of his growing up, it is written in a unique style, stories within a story, and is told with genuine gentleness, his hallmark.

His is a childhood I can easily identify with! Idealistic, genuine, honest, straightforward parents trying to inculcate values and principles in their children is the crux of his story, and of my upbringing. Sure, such a self development makes one quite naive, a person rather unfit for the "nasty, selfish and brutal" world to quote Hobbes' famous description.

Gentle yet firm was Sane Guruji. The proof thereof is the Pandharpur Vitthal Mandir Satyagraha, a fast unto death that resulted in the total accessibility to each and every devotee, absolutely thanks  due to Guruji. 

Indeed wonderful is his poem "khara to ek chi Dharma/jagala Prem arpawe", that is to say, 'the only true religion is an offer of love to the whole world".  No wonder, his birth anniversary falls on the Christmas Day. Jesus' story, too, is an inspirational gospel of love and humane kindness for all, including those who crucified him. Merry Christmas!

Pratima@ Goodness is its own reward.

Refugees

  Refugees are a sad lot.

  Earth hath nothing more tragic to show.

   Far away from the motherland

   Under the cruel sea that sheds no tears

   God forsaken in tempest tossed dinghies 

    Eerie silence surrounds their eternal exits!

    Enter they not the bright future of dreams

    Savage life they flee, hopes have no echoes

Pratima@ This acrostic is my response to pathetic pictures of small wooden boats, sans safety measures, rotting without a proper coat of paint, toppling in the Mediterranean waters, not so deep, yet drowning dreams of  contraband entries in to a better, safer future forever. The faint smile of the innocent infant, in a huge contrast to all the grim faces of the elders aboard, is truly heart wrenching as thus must have giggled Ailan Kurdi, and countless others before the storm rolled on and the sea gobbled a boat packed to capacity!

A unique night

 Yes, tonight is a unique night. For various reasons. Let us begin with the natural one first. Tonight is the longest night. The reason is scientific/geological. It is the winter solstice on December 22. The earth's axis is the farthest from the sun. The day hence is the shortest, and the night longest.

No wonder, it is the forefathers' night. That is to say, dedicated it is to the memory of  forefathers in many a culture. 'Death, where is thy sting?', the night seems to ask. Well, death sure is the leveller. The king's crown must tumble down in the dust, and so must the yeoman's thinking, at times, unthinking, too, cap. Death thus is the leveller. It cannot be the destroyer though, 'coz long long after they are gone, they continue to be remembered with love and respect, right?

No less unique is December 22 as a day. This year, December 22 happened to be the Geeta Jayanti Day. The Geeta philosophy, the core principle of Hinduism, is a way of life, and this core principle needs to be remembered/reminded year after year, especially in the post COVID, pro AI days, right?

December 22 is the National Mathematics Day as well. On this day, the nation pays tribute to the Mathematics genius, S. Ramanujan whose life proves that years of extreme difficulties cannot wipe out the brilliant. Whatever may be the difficulties, often consciously created, in their path, they overcome it to burnish brightly.

At places, December 22 is the cookie day, et al. That brings us back to the special significance of the night. In Pune would be held a long march in which women would walk long in to the night, singing, dancing, what have you. Thus gets defeated darkness, the worst enemy of a woman! I would have liked to participate. How to get back home in the dead of night is the issue! Well, the night does thus matter, creates and constricts our circumferences. Long live this unique night!

Pratima@ "I have loved the stars too fondly to be afraid of the night," says Sarah Williams. Could not agree more!

Love thy heart! Heal thy heart!

 The title of the blog today is hyper romantic. Its content, however, is hardly so. Well, i listened this evening to the Head of the Cardiology Department,  AIMS, New Delhi, The talk was under the aegis of the New Indian Express. This online talk ended with Ten Commandments.

Let me share a few here. Exercise regularly. Avoid obesity, especially the huge bulge around the waist/stomach. Keep the weight, diabetes and blood pressure under control. The cardinal sin in the opinion  of the expert was tobacco in any form.

Extremely relevant suggestions he made regarding the use of blood thinners and cholesterol medications. Well, as Aai's care giver for some fifteen years, all these issues, including the CPR and the golden hour sorbitrate have been my good friends.

I suppose with the new variant of our dear frenemy, Corona, looming large on the world horizon, it is better to be absolutely aware of all such issues. In fact, on a wapp group, there was this message that all above forty should not immediately get up and get going from the bed. The advice was to sit up for three minutes and then get going. The reason provided was that due to the cold climate, arteries and veins compress which, of course, I found suspiciously unscientific and quite crazy because by this logic, whatever would happen to the people in the West would be unimaginable, right?

In my opinion, acidity is also a major issue. Often, its symptoms appear like those of a heart attack. Hence the need to keep it under control. Excessively spicy and oily food hence must be avoided, too. I suppose, this rule applies to even the under thirties, a group suffering from heart attack these days! 

That brings us back to the arch enemy of the heart and the brain, that is, stress. The specialist discussed it as well in detail. May be, each individual needs to develop his/her own ways to deal with it, and must!

Well, the heart is so tiny and yet rules the whole show. Hence the title of the blog, heal-n-help thy heart! Love thy heart!

Pratima@ The heart is in its place, and can make heaven of a hell, and a hell of heaven. With due apologies to Milton!

Rain on the Southern plain!

 Remember Audrey Hepburn's Eliza  in "My Fair Lady"? Remember her irritation with "the rain in Spain/mainly fall(ing) on the plains?'' Currently, the South Indian, especially Tamil, plains would find this ditty absolutely replicating their tragic fate.  It is raining hugely, almost like cloud bursts, there so much so that roads are now as good as rivulets.

And yet, this very Chennai, now soaked to the gills, strictly only a metaphor, please, d(r)ies for a drop of water in the summer! Needs summer water (t)rains! So there is a complex conundrum now a days, of course, due to climate change, whereby  rain water is washed away in to the sea, while destroying the civic amenities along the way, and later in the summer, there is a huge potable water crisis!

Sure, everybody chooses to smirk at the Puneites' bathing habits for the summer water shortage. How about the Konkan area? Suffers the Chennai fate, too. Look at Kolhapur-Sangali drowning every monsoon, while the next door Mangaon/Jat/Waduj being dry as a bone!

What is the solution? Linking the rivers? How feasible is that? Huge costs, geographical complexity, inter-state problems, issues with the Center for funds, multiple are the issues!

Instead, compulsory rainwater harvesting could be a feasible solution? Would not it improve the water table? During the summer, desilting lakes, dams, rivers could help. Building small bund dams, digging small lakes and canals on the POP principle may help, right? 

Multiple useful, meaningful,  small but smart solutions is the need of the hour, right? Oh, yes, Aamir Khan's "Pani Foundation" tried and tested some of these techniques, too, right?What do you have to say?

Pratima@ Necessity is indeed the mother of inventions, says Einstein. Of water scarcity and flood management, too!

Miracle

 Trailer homes, though the term is politically incorrect in the U.S. today, is a lived reality as far as the daily business of living is concerned in the U.S. These makeshift homes that can be hitched to a trailer are currently called manufactured homes.

In the state of Missouri, a miracle happened in one such trailer, eh, manufactured home. There was a horrible tornado with a deadly wind speed. Nor did the tornado uproot mighty trees alone, it also blew off the tin roofs of such mobile homes.

In one such household, the fury of the tornado lifted up the air stream a bassinet with a four month old baby in it! The father tried to cover both, the bassinet and the baby in it. He, too, was lifted up the current, and dashed aside. Up flew the bassinet with the baby, while the mother grabbed, and saved his elder four year old sibling from the wall that came crushing down.

The father went in search of the cradle, sure of certain calamity. Wonder of wonders (though the temptation to call it 'wind-er of wind-ers' is much too much), the baby was found alive, cradled in the branches of a fallen tree.  The entire family survived this terrible catastrophe with a few scratches, and the father's dislocated shoulder. 

Now this is indeed nothing short of a miracle. The religious there may remember the month, and its significance. In my opinion, however, the real miracle would be if the family forever remembers the charmed  charter for living granted to them by Life, Existence, God Almighty, however you may choose to call it.

Hope they do not waste this charmed, and charming, second chance in self-centred orgies of individualism, caged behind closed doors of egotism. The real miracle would be if each of them spends a lifetime brimming with benevolence, creativity and joy. Such a tribute to the grandeur granting them literally a second lease of life would be the real miracle. What say?

Pratima@ Said Albert Einstein, "your whole life is a miracle." Indeed it should be lived that way, in gratitude to the very many chances life allowed us!

War Zone

 A siren afar, or is it near, blares.

 A police van? An ambulance? Who cares!

Masses to safety scurry like mice.

Against them is loaded every dice.

On unsteady knees the aged hobble.

On moldy stinky slices children nibble.

Which world power sides with whom?

No midwife to help, from womb to tomb

Straight they go, the baby mask a little askew

Sphinx eyes' Cyclops stare already mildewed

Hope for humanity washed down the drain

Makeshift tent shivers, blasted untimely rain

Abandon all hopes, ye who enter here!

Aeons away festive star pitieth shame mere!

Pratima@Dedicated to every refugee camp, be it Gaza or be it the 'Gazwa-e-Hind' h(a)unted Kashmiri Pandits' at Jammu!

Horrors of every war

against humanity itself

is the theme of my sonnet today 

that describes a typical refugee camp!

Desert Deaf:A Death in Retrospect!

 What is this life, if full of suspicion

 Who hath the time to think or envision?

 Time to deeply doubt, time to worry

 No happy feel in this empty life so sorry!

 Time to hate, time to cast awry aspersion

 And death available for tawdry commission!

 Time to agonise, time to rise to a bait

 Treachery rampant, selfishness THE trait!

What is this life, never ever fair

 Endlessly weep eyes, shedding no tear!

Such, such is death in life, and life is death

Tragedy lingers, in such a life, love a myth!

Deserts sprout pyramids, celebratory tombs 

Mystery shrouds, still-born(e)  the wombs!

Pratima@By sheer chance, rolled out on my mobile screen the video about Sridevi's "accidental" death. Hence this sonnet as a response!

The Star Dust

 The wonders Mother Nature shares with us so very bountifully are indeed very many.  Yet beyond this earth, there are gorgeous beauties that literally illuminate every dark (w)hole in the space. Want proof? Watching the full moon, or for that matter, the crescent moon, is an illuminating experience in every sense of the term. 

Why, every sunrise and every sunset tend to be sheer poetry. Intimacy does not dull the colourful beauty of these daily events. Every morning creates a unique pallette in the sky, and every evening ends with a darkening lining to that spectacular show called the sunset when the sky and the horizon seem to merge in to each other passionately.

If such is the spatial beauty near the earth, imagine that vast canvas called the space.  What a great wonder is the rainbow even when single! To watch it as a double, two rainbows nestled  in each others' arms, is simply divine.

One such space-ial event is the shooting star. Watching it is blissful. A flame of light runs passionately to the earth. So lovely and lyrical  is the sight that most cultures associate it with a good luck charm. Literally star dust it is! It is part of the tail end of a comet. While entering the orbit of the rotating earth, the particles catch fire before hitting the earth, and in the process, light up the very space!

Watching the meteorite shower is itself a blessing. No need actually to wish on it! It is believed that the wish comes true. It has to, given the gorgeous  beauty of the shooting star.

No wonder, watching the Milky Way made of very many solar systems, galaxies, planets, stars, moons, and countless such shooting stars is beatitude  itself. Divine experiences these are. All the laws of Physics, Astronomy are pushed to the back of the logical analytical mind, and we are permanently bound within a cosmic beauty that is forever.

Pratima@"Beauty is Truth" indeed!

Bow-wow!

 'Dog' is often the Wor(l)d for many. Yes whether metaphorically or literally, the dog is the god for many. These gods, moreover, come with  cute gifts such as abundant love, superb ability to train and learn, not to forget legendary obedience!

No wonder, the Internet is flush with doggie videos. They ARE cute, too. The pet parents of these doggos often forget that their fur baby is not hooman! At times, their antics are more hilarious than the dogs'.

The most used pedigrees of dogs are the beagle and the labradors. To begin with, both have a huge cuteness quotient. Even when goofy, they are lovable. Not so with the alsatians who are trained, but by the police alone. 

Two observations bow my heart with heavy weariness. The first is the monetisation of such gamification. I would not know the benefits involved when the viewership is huge, vast, immense, whatever! Often there is promotion of dog eats to dog leash, too. Then it is like the ad's where child (star's) labour is involved!

My second observation is that the local species are not part of such videos. Actually, the street dogs are hyper skilled, given their harsh realties, the fight for survival. Yet they never form the subject of such videos. Wonder why such colonial legacies!

Pratima@ One can bow-n-wow only when the adulation is genuine, and beyond material considerations. What say?

Man proposes, internet disposes! Indeed is it thus?

 The Internet is a funny creature! Seems to have its own mind. Like look at what is happening to the blogger upload. All the icons clearly say that nothing is the problem. And yet it would not upload. 

A similar problem emerged at the time of the MCQ exam this morning. Suddenly, the internet was down. Why? How? No way of knowing! An entire batch of hundred and twenty students kept on waiting. It took some solid fifteen minutes to restore the interrupted internet. We had to reassure repatedly the students.They were, of course, alloted/allowed extra time. 

At times though, one does get the feeling that that some creepy fool, too, moght be interefering to settle some imaginary/imagined wrong. In fact, as the technology progresses with a supersonic speed, such sick interventions are going to be a major issue. 

Given all such difficulties, the blog today is short, and not exactly the sweetie-pie types. That is okay though. Better be smart than stupid. So signing off for the time being!

Pratima@ With the new techologyy, newer Frankensteins! 

Difficult Dreams

 Have you noticed a unique video trend? Well, even if you cursorily browse through the YouTube, you get to note/know such trends. One such trend is bad-mouthing the realities of the lived American life. You would find loooong videos that reveal the reality of the American pay cheque.

Often, due to the conversion rates, the American salaries appear huge. Even if one stays in tax h(e)avens such as Florida, even then the other multiple taxes, the huge EMI's, the insurance payments, and the general very high cost, forget standard, of living drill a huge hole in the pocket. Although their people back in swadesh think that they are rolling in money, they have pathetic savings. The only exception is a DINK couple. 

Well, the American economy is in doldrums. The inflation rate is very high there. So it is a question why legal/illegal immigrants flock there. I suppose, it could be the compulsory  basic minimum payment practice there. Anyways, jobs are fewer there, and people are paid pittance even in the I/T. 

Of all the emigrants, the most interesting in my opinion are the students. To get an American post-graduate certification, you have to shell out circa fifty lakhs. Unfortunately, moreover, most students (and even job aspirants) who go there  these days are not of the 60's/70's variety, that is, the IIT topper types. In India itself, they would be mediocre students. Yet they choose to go there against such huge investment. Even an educational loan, too, needs some assurance which would be the family property!

Would they get, forget good, jobs there? One of our close acquaintances whose daughter is a Ph.D from John Hopkins, and she was a rank holder here, always tells stories of how her daughter's jobs are fit for mere minimal survival. If such students, who went there with high hopes, come back, they would be misfits here, too. 

Well, the sad saga reminds me of my M.A. students whose hold over English is minimal. They come from poor or middle class rural families. Given the empty PG degree, they do not want to go back to fields. Most educational institutions demand lakhs and lakhs for a permanent position. What future do they have? 

Equally pathetic is the story of those preparing for the MPSC/UPSC. If an alternative back-up plan is not ready, after some six attempts, they are nowhere!  

Hence the need, I suppose, to dream, but with open eyes! What say?

Pratima@ "A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick," says Toni Morrison.

The Doordarshan Days

 When one is teaching a foreign language, one knows that students typically face two major difficulties, learning grammar and acquiring vocabulary. One of the tricks I teach my students is associating the foreign language word with either English or Marathi. 

Well, German words are anyways a little hard on the learners, what with their jumbo size and the despite-possible-rules-difficult-to-guess triple gendered articles. The trick mentioned above is hence very useful. Let us look at the words, "Fernseher" and "fernsehen".  Most all students find it easy to remember them as fern/दूर sehen/seher/दर्शन. 

With every new batch hence, one remembers the "Doordarshan" yet again. Not that it is easy to forget it. It ruled the roost till the late 80's, early 90's. It was the only channel till mid 80's. Most programmes then used to be indeed quality programmes. The Sunday morning "Chitrahaar", for example, was a throwback to the mellifluous songs from the golden era of Hindi film music, the songs from the 50's and 60's. Its popularity was as immense as the Amin Sayani programme on Radio Ceylon.

Even the serials were wonderful. The comedy serials did not obsess with cross-dressing. Nor were the jokes either stupid or vulgar. They used to great comments on daily lived lives and the small little problems therein. Remember "Yeh Jo hai zindagi"? Practically every comedy artist then was  part and parcel of this lovely serial with lovable characters you could easily identify with, fun situations enacted with ideal comic timing.

There used to be very many literature based serials such as "Tamas"." Ek Kahani" would depend on famous American/British/foreign language stories adapted to Indian contexts. In fact, for the "Eenadu" media group, I had prepared a huge list of such stories, their themes, basic storylines and how to adapt them to 'our' world.

And the ubiquitous serials? Well, there used to be Mahabharat and Ramayana. Even the daily soaps did not show the vicious kind of politicking within the family and the household that mostly forms the staple  diet of the silly serials today. 

May be, the technology was not as fine tuned as it is today. Yet the content and the artistry were far far better. There was, moreover, a certain innocence, and hence charm, sans any manipulation. Why, even the advertisements were fun, and their jingles were catchy. 

Now all that is door-darshan indeed! Yet this vista of the past is not long lost. It continues to allure our souls ever! The black-n-white vision then continues even now to be more colourful than any pallet of any artist!

Pratima@ The good ole times when the 'idiot box' was neither idiotic nor eccentric!

P.S. :Oh, yes, my eldest nephew, Amar, used to love the Doordarshan tune. Till he was almost three, the moment the t.v. was switched on, from wherever he was, he would hasten-n-run to listen to it. Till date, I remember the joy and the wonder on his happy handsome face as he listened to the tune with rapt attention. That memory used to tug at my heart whenever I heard the tune far away in Hyderabad.

Hope for-n-of Human(e) Rights

 In our Hamas-harassed and Israel-ideated year that is still h(a)unted by the Ukraine issue looming large on the Russian horizon, what hope for human rights, many would ask. Well, my submission is that human rights are like genuine people. When the going gets tough, these tough get going, right? So it is with the human rights. Hence these inalienable and natural rights define the very idea of being human(e).

I suppose, human rights are like concentric circles that are in a way self-sufficient, and yet they choose to intersect to form a new enriching 'design' of being human(e). What are these principles? They are autonomy, dignity, equality, fairness and respect, almost in an ascending order, so to say. In other words, human rights are the rights of both, the individual and the collective.

As an individual, my own autonomy and dignity must be respected both by me and the others if I want to, and hope to, believe in equality, fairness and respect, right? Respect for others, I would say, is rooted in respect for one's own self. A person who does respect herself, and her basic decent right to be(come), would be passive-aggressive, and would not respect others either, right? 

In fact, even in daily lived life, one must learn to be kind to oneself as well. When one is kind to herself, she can respect others. If necessary, to stand up for oneself, one should be ready to distance oneself from people and situations hell-bent on demeaning and belittling one. 

Yes, I do believe that like charity, hope for-n-of Human Rights, too, begins at home. When your fight with yourself is thus won, you can understand the wor(l)d's better! Hence to make our bitter era better, let us be better than the best within ourselves, and for ourselves.  Thus would live long the human(e) rights, right?

Pratima@The Enlightenment Thinkers, Thomas Paine, William Godwin have long defined our human(e) rights. Time we start living them. Only then can the world be a family, right?

Noble Nobel Prize!?!

When we were small, Aai-Papa always used to tell me about Marie Curie who won two Nobel Prizes. Ever since then, I used to think with a lot of reverence about this tribute to excellence at the global level. Indeed it is hugely inspirational. 

However, when one reads up a lot, one understands multiple aspects of the prize. To begin with, one gets to know the life of Alfred Nobel who bequeathed the prize money. He was himself a brilliant man. He had many inventions and scientific achievements to his credit. THE one invention associated with him, however, is that of dynamite. 

 

Apparently, though this anecdotal account cannot be confirmed authentically, when his brother expired, it was mistakenly believed that he had died. There were a number of obituaries dedicated to him due to the misunderstanding. Most were highly critical. In fact, a French reporter apparently called him "the merchant of murders" alias "merchant of death."

Apparently, hence, he wanted to leave behind a positive legacy even when he himself never intended the dynamite for destructive purposes. Hence he instituted these prizes, it seems. In other words, the prizes were more a reparation money according to this version which seems to take some sheen off the prizes.

Yet another issue is the politics involved apparently in awarding them. Hence the sins of omission are many. At times, moreover, why a particular individual  was awarded the prize is absolutely a mystery wrapped in a riddle.

One such example in the field of literature is the 2016 prize to Bob Dylan. True, his songs are popular. Yes, they are associated with civil rights and anti-war movements. They did contribute to counter-culture. Yet by no strech of imagination are they literature. At times, ad copies are as good or bad as the Dylan ditties! To call them literature is indeed travesty of creativity.

Yet that is the way of the world. Often all that glitters is thought to be gold. That does not diminish the preciousness of gold. Equally true it is of the Nobel prize, too, (as well as of the Acceptance Speeches) as it celebrates quality year after year.

Pratima@ "Truth is not always beauty" opined Nadine Godimer, herself a Nobel Prize winner, who said, "The search for it is." And, eternally!

 

 

Corruption

 It is supposedly anti-corruption day today. I am using that 'supposedly' quite carefully. Well, in this blog today, I want to define corruption. So!

What is corruption? Undoubtedly, it refers to monetary malpractices. In India, we all know very many examples of this sense of the term, as the famous assertion by the erstwhile P.M. Rajiv Gandhi regarding the dregs of a rupee reaching the end beneficiary would establish beyond doubt this type of corruption.

Surely with the DBT technology, such kind of corruption could be checked. Even the notorious ' chai pani bhiskut' 'adjustment' with the traffic police is now a little difficult, what with road side cameras filming your traffic faux pas, and issuing challans against which you face a court hearing and the fine.

As salaries as well as bills are mostly, though not all, managed by computers, tax evasion of any sort is comparatively difficult currently. Does that mean we are all back in to Raja Harischandra's kingdom in the Satya Yuga? No way! You all know the (in)famous "jugad" mode in India which is often used to deceive the system, even the technology.

Well, then what exactly is corruption? I think it is a particular mental make-up which looks for easy solutions of all sorts. Actually, it is an attempt to deceive the others, the world. In reality, however, it is tainting your own soul, staining your own image in your own eyes. That is the real corruption in my opinion.

Is there a second chance if/when such an eventuality takes place? Indeed, yes, there IS. 'Admit your  mistake to your own self, never repeat it' would be the process, right? If I may quote an example, Gandhiji's "experiments with truths" would provide  the best example of such a mode of self-purification, I suppose.

Well, I would sum up by saying that corruption vanishes in to thin air as long as there is transparency in our dealings, in our behaviour, but most importantly, in our own souls, and most ethically!

Pratima@"Integrity, transparency and the fight against corruption have to be part of the culture. They have to be taught as fundamental values.” So says Angel Gurría, OECD secretary general.

Generosity

 Is not generosity a great virtue? Indeed, yes! Indeed it is. Being generous makes us a better person, I think. We become kinder, nobler, puerer through generosity. Why? Generosity means that we have to be less self-centred, we have to be more other-oriented as well.

Yet that generosity is the best when 'your left hand knows not what you right hand gave'. In other words, generosity should not be for publicity. It should not be to boast about it to others because such bragging behaviour, too, is self-obsessed.

Equally important it is to be generous with, to offer, to extend warmly a helping hand to someone who realises its value. If people consider you and your generosity as necessary only when they need it, and forget you once the difficult moment is over, most possibly, they think of you as a simplistic fool who can be easily cheated/conned. 

Even to such crooks, give. Give them your forgetting of their smallness. I suppose, even to the worst person who continues to harass you in multiple ways, give the gift of your completely, totally ignoring his/her crookedness.

I do think that the best gift could be the gift of time. Everything else can come back. But the seconds and our close ones, lost once, never come back the second time.  When we invest time for someone else, we are literally giving a part of our life which can never be reclaimed.

Yet just as generosity is not for a show-off, it is also not empty, dry, pitiless CSR, right? Neither should generosity be only future-focussed. 'Real generosity to future,' says Albert Camus, 'lies in giving all to the present.'

Well, whatever be the motive, generosity and kindness never harm, neither the giver nor the receiver. So, give, be kind, be generous right now, today. For who knows what would happen tomorrow? So give your best to every nano-second in/of your life!

Pratima@"None has ever become poor by giving," writes Anne Frank.

Appalling Oligarchy

 Oligarchy is a phenomenon that spreads its tentacles in every field, at least metaphorically. Oligarchy literally means the power of the few. Believe me, this self-sustaining, self-satisfied and self-perpetuating mode of dominance is NOT restricted only to financial and/or political cliques.

This rule of/by/for the few is in every field. The worst of these power-centers is, of course, the intellectual arena. Remember G.B.Shaw talking of the oligarchy of the intellectual(s)? In contemporary India, there is this bitter battle by n against the "urban naxals". 

Utmost self-serving are such grandees.  They speak and write in the most democratic tone. Their actual behaviour is utmost oligarchic though. They see to it that only their own family-n-friends, whether capable/creative or not, must get plum posts. Their children alone must join the best schools/colleges.

They will cry hoarse about the negativities of competition. Their own praxis, however, would be most exclusionary. Their 'gang'/'mafia' types alone, whether capable or culpable, must flourish. No end to back-scratching, string-pulling then/thus! Nor are they ready even to hear, forget 'listen' to,  the alternative points of view.

Post the Internet, and now the AI, (r)evolution, a new oligarchy has emerged. As it is, the big algorithms are already buying-n-building our very beings. In addition, the newer softwares by the day bamboozle us literally beyond belief. 

Actually, in the practical usage of any given software, there is nothing creative or intellectual. Once we get the flowchart, remember-n-revise the few steps, which takes tops three hours, we can manage anything, and a little diffidently initially,  but most confidently very, very soon.

Yet those in the know use such gobbldy-gook and with such serious mien that they make it appear almost like the divine fiat! Let me give you my own example. For the first two attempts, setting up a Google classroom or creating a Google form was tough for me.

 Thereafter setting up/conducting the "g" to zoom meets, creating/importing/exporting Excel sheets/Google enabled tests are a child's play for me. There is NOTHING creative, intellectual, brilliant therein. Never understand why slightly more proficient users,  everywhere and always, think no end of themselves!!! Appalling oligarchy indeed!

Pratima@ Says Alice Walker, "those in power must spend a lot of their time laughing at us". Absolutely acceded, especially when it comes to technocratic oligarchy! Well, technology is just a tool.Why gloat over the fact that, when practised, you can use it a little better?!?

Flight Fascination

 I am fascinated by flights. Sure they include flights of fancy. In this blog, they refer basically though to travelling on aeroplanes. Why so? Well, multiple are the reasons. For one thing, aeroplanes prove that the sky is indeed not the limit! In addition, even when all of us are now used to saying that any place on the earth is  just a skype away, there is no real alternative to a flight away, right? That is the real zoom, right?

The view from an aeroplane can make a poet out of the most prosaic person. The Liliput towns below, the mighty oceans looking like a great lake or a grand river tops, the sun appearing right next door, or rather the window, everything about a flight is absolutely fabulous. Truly a flight gives wings to your fancy!

Why, I find the plane taking off and landing down simply superb. Sure, when the plane starts taxying down the runaway, there is that "giant wheel" feel for a few seconds. That slight sensation soon disappears, and then you start enjoying the announcements by the pilot, the artificial smiles of the air-hostess, why, even the funny uppity arrogance of most travellers!

You realize thus how the world is indeed a small place because most passengers are not moved by this unbelievable miracle made possible by the human spirit, by the creative use of human brain and imagination. Most continue to be as banal and boring as they are in their earth-y avatar. Personally though, I feel that while flying, we are touched by divinity! Flying indeed is a fabulous fantasy that literally is in seventh heaven!

Pratima@Given my fascination for flights, it is no wonder that I totally agree with Henry Ford who stated," when everything goes against you, remember an airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

Soil is soiled

 The world today is environmentally aware, indeed very conscious, at least theoretically, if not in practice. Multiple debates happen on multiple fora. The usual suspects, industry, vehicles, the self-obsessed consumerism, all such usual culprits, get their share of the much deserved blame. Debates happen, discussions continue.

One major factor of the natural cycle, however, gets less focussed attention. That is the soil. Crop failures are literally rooted in the soil issue. Due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers, due to soil erosion given the cutting down of the green cover, due to erratic monsoon patterns and floods that add to this problem, the health of soil is suffering hugely. In fact, it is inching fast and surely towards a certain death. 

Soil is indeed soiled. Sure, efforts to make it bounce back to health are afoot, too. The 'Save the Soil' day gets celebrated the world over. High profile movements by the government are encouraged. Famous guru's with a huge fan following jazz it up. Farmers are urged repeatedly to use organic fertilisers. Instead of burning the butts and the dead leaves, farmers are getting trained to turn these in to organic manure.

All such efforts should be more and more concerted and concentrated. True, today is the era of designer waterfalls, artificial rain, vertical farming, and the GM, or the genetically modified, crops. These, too, have their own problems. Instead, it is safer and better to follow Mother Nature who lovingly nurtured the soil cover over centuries and millennia. In brief, save soil to save ourselves!

Pratima@"Earth we are and to Earth we return," say all the religious texts. Why not take care of birthplace ( and the final resting place according to all the Abrahamic religions) of not only human-beings, but of the very natural cycle?

Wondrous

 This evening, after the Spanish lecture got over and since I did not have to conduct the French lecture, I could watch the fabulous demo's by the Indian Navy. Superb as usual they were, especially when in tandem with the air force. Some of the formations were literally spell-binding, absolutely breathtaking.

Yet much more fascinating was the sea itself. I think the allure of the sea is as deep and as wide as the sea itself. Sure this statement holds good when we are safely near the shore, yet somehow the sea appeals to our imagination.  May be, because we do not know much about it! In fact, we know more about the moon and the space than the seas! 

More than a dozen men have walked on the surface of the moon. As  yet nobody has managed to walk on the slushy surface of the Mariana trench, the deepest point of the deepest ocean, the Pacific, or its nearby sibling, the Challenger Deep. Anyways, only six people have managed to descend down there in a submersible, and as early as 1960's. In other words, our ignorance of the seas and oceans that surround us everywhere is as vast and as deep as the oceans themselves. 

May be, that is why the oceans, infinite as they appear as one stands by the shore watching the blue of the water merge with the blue of the skies as the very horizon seems to disappear in to eternity, hold the psyche in thrall.

Oceans are forever. Life began there. If human beings do not pay any heed to the rising water levels due to human interference in the environment, life would end there, too! 

I love the ocean as a symbol, too. Oceans may rage wildly. Yes, I have watched videos of storms, and they are terror itself. Oceans have ebbs and tides. Yet they never ever cross the bounds. Even a tsunami is the after-effect of a deep water earthquake. By itself, forget the sea, even the ocean, never goes off its limits. 

Like a genuine human being, who however much harassed, ill-treated, never leaves his/her own innate qualities, however much angered, right? So roll on, the deep oceans, ancient than the human history itself!

Pratima@ Oceans are mystic, majestic and magnetically mesmerizing! One of the reasons why I hold Raju in high esteem is his close acquaintance with these giants in all their moods!

Pollution

 Recently was celebrated the pollution control day. Yes, in the environmentally conscious world today, pollution is indeed a big challenge. We indeed need to check it, control it ASAP.

Pollution, every school child can tell us, is of multiple varieties, be it air, water, sound, and so on. Personally I think though that the real pollution is that of  human greed. Let me give a few examples to clarify why I think so.

Look at Delhi, for example. Most winters, the Delhi air is beyond breathing. That is undoubtedly because of the exhaust gases. Equally responsible is the farming practice of burning the remains of the earlier produce so that the farmland grows fertile for the next seeding cycle.

Even in Maharashtra, every summer, there are forest fires. Most often, that calamity is because of such farming practices. Well, there are very many alternative organic methods of making the farmland ready for the next planting pattern. In other words, most pollution problems emerge out of human interventions.

Let me give another example. The Amazon forest, full of the rarest of the rare flora and fauna, is being burnt. My e-mail box gets daily at least two such messages regarding such environmental disasters, and appeals to help out. I try whatever I can manage regarding the saving of ambience.

Yet the real pollution in my opinion is that of the thought process, the mindset.  This pollution vitiates truly. Be it human greed, jealousy, viciousness, such impurities  create the real problems which are manifested in multiple ways.

Hence I liked the idea the P.M. floated this evening in his victory speech. He stated very clearly that the only four castes are women, youth, farmers, and the poor. In an ambience vitiated by irritatingly strident,  often most ignorant, and absolutely self-centric casteist debates, this thought in the welfare mould/mode cuts across all sorts of narrow boundaries, right? 

Hopefully, the thought pollution would somehow get controlled. The moment that happens, children would not be hostages as in the Gaza Strip. Nor would the Russia-Ukraine war go on endlessly to suit the war industry or egos across the world, Putin to the U.S. senate using this godsend to downsize him! Such  'vision'ary pollution check would not only use alternative energy like the sunshine, but it would also guarantee forever that no Hiroshima happens again!

Pratima@ Sant Dnyaneshwar writes, "the darknesses of the vicious vanish must." The moment such an insight is revered and realised, all pollutions of all sorts sure would end!

Finding Patterns

 Do you find patterns and designs in clouds? For sure, I do. It need not even be a particularly lazy day. A cursory look at the sky even on the busiest day,  and I can trace all sorts of patterns and pics there.

Indeed clouds, even liquids,  do form such patterns. On one of the groups, there is this lovely forward. Instead of its usual vertical stand-up position, there is this cup that has fallen, not broken really though. May be, the person, who drank the  tea, was in a hurry. The remaining dregs are spread nearby the tilted cup. Looked at carefully, in the horizontal position, the dripping  dregs have spread in such a way that we can see a sketch of the old time Parvati, without the zopadpatti, of course. 

What would this ability to see patterns mean? Sure, being imaginative and fanciful  for one thing. It would mean, moreover, that the visual, the kinetic and the kinaesthetic abilities are sharper as well. Multiple  aspects of intelligence are active, so to say. May be, eternal positivity and optimism as well?

Anyways, are not there such patterns everywhere? In literature, in music, in film making, and in painting? Why, I would even say that there are patterns in/to people's behaviours as well, right? And, oh, yes, there is a pattern to life, too. It adds a sense of order to existence. So long as such discipline does not get reduced in to regimentation, I suppose, all is well!

Pratima@ Well, both Isiah Berlín and Fritjof Capra seem to share my opinions because both believe that understanding itself begins with perception of patterns!

The Moral of the Number Game

 Fun it was. On one of the  WhatsApp groups, there was this message that 2023 was a unique year indeed because everybody would have a birthday every day this year. Quite exciting the news appeared, right? At least it did appeal to me.

Let me give you a few concrete examples. India was born in 1947, as we became independent in 1947. So the equation was,  add your age to the year of birth, and it  would be 2023. Like India is now 76 +1947 =2023. The Indian Constitution was born in 1950. So its age  is 73. 73+1950= 2023.

Let us look at a few more examples. Your kid is born in 1998. So his/her age is 25. 25+1998 = 2023. Your mom was born in 1940. So her age is 83. 83+ 1940= 2023! Your dad was born in 1937. So his age is 86. 86+ 1737 = 2023!

It appeared hyper exciting at the first glance. Believe me, for everybody! Fast fell the likes and the thumbs-up's. Yes, of course, I, too, was taken up with the idea that apparently was doing the rounds of very many groups.

After some time, on the first group where I first read this message, there was this terse and wry message that a similar post was doing the rounds last year. By that time, at least for me, the excitement and the fun feel mattered no more. Then the University Topper Mathematics student in me woke up. I realised then that it was nothing but a mere number game, a simple addition process wherein the sum total naturally would be the particular year!

Sure I felt a little sheepish, and quite silly. That, however, yet again ascertained my strong belief that one should never forward anything, unless one has checked and counter-checked it at least from some three knowledgeable sources.

It is like using the Wikipedia, a great open source of information. You have to, however, to take all the facts therein with a pinch of salt as this open access portal is open to constant and uninformed editing by most anyone!

Now that we are in the thick, rather than the thin, of the AI era, such total precaution is absolutely necessary as parallel realities can now be actually constructed. It would, moreover, be tough to check the veracity of any bit/byte of data. Now it is so very clear why the Oxford Dictionary chose 'authentic' as the word of the year!

Pratima@ Authenticity, as Janet C. Stephenson states, is (a little) vulnerability (or naivete), (total) transparency, and (complete) integrity, right?                                            N.B.: The bracketed additions are mine!

The beginning of the end

 It is December 1 already! Never realised that the end of 2023 has begun already. It is now hardly thirty days away. How time flies fast!

Yes, I do know that our Indian new year, as traditionally our calendar counts time the lunar way, is yet some three and half months away. Well, for all practical purposes though, we do follow the Gregorian calendar, right? 

How would be 2024? Yes, in India, there is going to be a decisive election in 2024. Yes, in Paris will be held the Olympics, and exactly a century later. Would the AI affect the Olympic games? Undoubtedly, given the pace it is running at.

Yet life will go on. Just as normally as the sun rises and the moon sets, lives will continue, too. Hope there would not be any new scare the Corona way, though some time back, there were news n rumours of some outbreak of a lung disease amongst the paediatric patients in China. Sure it appears to be mild. Let us cross fingers though.

At the personal level, I have chalked out (m)any number of plans. Sure would work well, and sincerely and efficiently, to effectively realise them. It is this hope and optimism that life would be (still) better that helps us continue to live, and quite happily. No harassment, no ill-treatment can then dampen our enthusiasm, right? So here is hoping all would be well, as it reasonably was this year. So let us enjoy the remaining part, the tail end of 2023! Anyways, 'what will be, will be', right?

Pratima@ Remember the "Que Sera, Sera" song? Doris Day made it the anthem of the "lead life as it comes your way" feel. My brother, Parag, recently sent me the song which is a joy to hear, given the simple acceptance lighting up each line in it.