Anything for laughs!

 The Ms Mali 'affair' is the talk of the town currently. What do you think is the cause behind that entire fiasco? In my opinion, it is the silly sense of comedy. Let me explain a little.

Let us look at "Hasyajatra", the 'comedy' show that Ms Mali comperes. Well, I have stopped watching it quite some time back. So I would not know whether she is still compering it. That show also makes extremely cheap, absolutely typical comments about women and their societal roles!

 Remember Ms Lolly? Or the social media influencer enacted by Shivali Parab? Extremely  brainless, using just their physical allure, such was the depiction of an actress and a social media influencer enacted by Shivali Parab as well as Namrata Sambherao. Such is the depiction of women in media under the guise, the garb of comedy!

In other words, when I used to watch  'Hasya Jatra' till about a year ago, the so-called 'jokes' often used to be thus, quite vulgar and extremely sexist and targetting a woman! So were the jokes about lady teachers in "Chala, hawa yeu dya". If women's professions were so depicted for the sake of a silly laughter or two, you can imagine the presentation of women in the familial space.

If such "comedy" at the expense of women, especially actresses, social media influencers were not to be there for silly laughs, may be, Ms Mali would not so suffer now. Remember, on another occasion, Mr. Amol Mitkari chanting "mum bharya samarpayami" as the 'Kanyadaan mantra', and every leader on the stage laughing his head(!!!) off!?!

 If such rotten 'fun' was protested against then, may be, Ms Mali would not so suffer now because such 'comic' incidents full of 'laughter' set a pattern which victimises women in the final analysis! Yet another example of such sick fun is the way, Amruta Fadnavis, the Chief Minister's wife, is targetted most mercilessly.

 In brief, it cannot be the case that 'let us enjoy laughter at the cost of women so long as it does touch my skin'. If such guffaws were steered clear of, criticised then, may be, tears could have been avoided now!

Pratima@ If comedy is not sensible/sensitive, it leads to tragedy as in the present, Ms Mali, case! 

Want further proof of such mindless laughter at the cost of women? How about the Kapil Sharma show which, too, thank goodness,  I watch rarely, almost never? The digs at women there are indeed 'laughable'!

Much more sick is the attempt to analyse the incident through the casteist lens. Ms Mali is targetted as a woman, and  with a certain profession about which sadly seem to continue certain prejudices even now. Period!

Games that villains/vamps play!

 These days, one can never be wary enough. It is no good being innocent or straightforward these days. Sincerity and authenticity are great, but they are sure to land you in to soup. Naïveté should actually be banned because it is a surefire formula for disaster.

Why do I say so? Well, times are such that lies and dishonesty are more attractive currently. Glamour matters now, not the genuine substance. Why? Because fake falsehoods of all sorts would have made rounds of all WhatsApp groups, all the 'x' and insta accounts, would get tweeted and re-tweeted, would have got thousand likes and would have gone viral world-wide even before Truth would have switched on the mobile after the self-imposed media detox!

Don't you believe me? Well, do you know that fool(hardy) game tried by crooks? Yes, it is known as "digital arrest''! All sorts of people have not only been financially duped, but they have also been subjected to lots of emotional violence and intellectual torture!

Do not ever answer a number that you have not saved. You never know which fraudster is attempting which chicanery hidden behind it. Some time back, there was a Malaysian investment and trading platform which quoted the Murthy couple, the TCS people, the Infosys bosses, and so on!

Well, the latest trick, so say the police, is something that would take advantage of one's kindness, goodness and humane decency. On a busy road, a crying child would accost any single woman appearing vulnerable. So, no worries, tough cookies! But beware if you are a gentle soul whose heart melts faster than butter near the fire.

Why? Well, the crying baby would whimper and sob, and say that it is lost. The kid would have an address on a chit of a paper. In between huge sobs and tears streaming down cheeks, the child would ask you to take him/her to that address. Instead take the kid straight to the police station! So say the police because if you were to give in to your emotional overdrive, and take the child to the address, goons worse than Valmik of the Beed notoriety would be awaiting you! Sure, in brief, no times, no place for genuine goodness! Simplicity, straightforwardness, genuine goodness are no longer their own reward. So, better be careful. 

Pratima@Such crooks succeed and scoot! Says Benjamin Franklin,"tricks and treachery show lack of brains because such people cannot imagine intelligently a better world". Hmm, indeed!

Unusual poet!

 Bahinabai Chaudhary, whose birth anniversary was celebrated early December, is an unusual poet in multiple ways. First and foremost, her poetry is a truly interesting example of innate talent nurtured due to experiences in life. She was not formally educated. Why,  she was illiterate! Her poems were transcribed by others.

Yet another interesting aspect of her poetry is that she uses a local dialect, not essentially the standard Marathi.  Her poetry, hence, has the immediacy of a feeling felt on the pulse, and with a unique local lilt.

Her poems, which deal with simple themes, daily images, yet reveal deep poetic truths about life and its philosophy, are much loved by most. I would like to argue that, in a way, she continues the  tradition of the women poets of the Bhakti sect.

In a very famous poem, sung by Suman Kalyanpur, and set to music by Vasant Pawar, writes she:

Hey, the world, alas, the world/Never ever it belie/only when the palm it scalds/ only then gets one to eat, aye!

Interesting poet, in brief!

Pratima@ Her poems critique patriarchy, but without any rancour!

I

Guess what? Guess who?

 Do you like solving puzzles? Indeed it is a wonderful challenge. There are all sorts. "Find out the alien", " Find out the rich family", "Find out who is the mother", "Find out the owner of the dog", and types. Sure such "find outs" are interesting because they challenge all sorts of intelligences.

Yes, there are many intelligences. Intelligence need not necessarily be only mathematical or science-oriented. Not only is there IQ, there is also visual intelligence, spatial intelligence, design intelligence, musical intelligence, and so on. One needs to use all these subtly to solve these puzzles that need acute observational skills as well. 

It need not be a mere hobby or time pass. Many entrance tests use such techniques to gauge the abilities of a candidate. In my opinion, such pattern finding is both fun and great mental exercise. In a way, reading/watching crime fiction also hones such skills, such abilities. Nothing can ever beat the exhilaration of guessing a "who-dunn-it" as in the Sherlock Holmes or an Agatha Christie mystery.

In a way, that profound satisfaction comes from unravelling the secrets hidden behind the pretty masks that shrewd people always wear. Hidden behind the apparently innocent and so-called beautiful facades are extremely ugly, scheming minds hungering for self-elevation at the cost of others. Such cuties are so very subtle in their domineering and machinations that exposing them sure requires a Hercule Poirot or Ms Marple.

Well, my personal take is that sleuth business is great in fiction. One should read it carefully, and use  it to be wary of the very many criminal minded around us. As for the crooked, they surely get hoisted in their own petard. Sure, they would meet people who would give them a 'tit for tat' and a 'tat for tit'! Well, there is justice in this universe, and sooner than later, the evil such people brew gets back to them, and hundred-fold!

Pratima@Such people can deceive one person all the times; all the people one time, but they cannot deceive all the people all the times! Everyone knows all their scheming games!! They get caught in their own nets!!!

Rest in Peace!

 Remember the December 26,  2004 tsunami, yes, exactly twenty years ago? It was a national tragedy. There was an appeal by the central government for donations so as to restore the lives literally lost. As a young research scholar, I pitched in, in my own small way. Imagine my joy when I got a letter addressed to me, and personally signed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister!

I think that was that silent gentlemanly goodness that won hearts for Dr. Manmohan Singh. I remember another occasion when I genuinely felt sorry for him.  Dr. Singh was in the UK where he was being feted as an alumnus by the Cambridge University. Here in India, an ordinance, signed by him and his ministry, was publically torn to pieces, that, too, in a press conference. I felt truly angry at such humiliation of Dr. Singh. Honestly, it was the kind of livid fury one feels when your good, gentle father is unnecessarily insulted.

Yes, he was the man who in early nineties changed the direction, nay, the destiny, of the Indian economy. Supported by  Dr. P.V. Narasimha  Rao, the then Prime Minister, Dr. Singh ushered in a change, 'an idea whose time has come'. Sure, one may have hundreds of issues with the LPG economic reforms. One cannot deny, however, its inevitability then, and Dr. Singh's bold measures. 

His last appearance in the Rajya Sabha, too, was stellar. His party needed him. He was present there on a wheel chair! I suppose, sadly that generation of principled, honest, sincere genuineness is surely, and not so slowly, waning away. Rest in peace, Sir! History would surely judge you kindly!

Pratima@ In my opinion, the current appeal of our present prime minister, Modiji, like his BJP predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpeyi-ji, stems from the common citizen's recognition of their genuine commitment to the national welfare and common good. A generation of stalwarts, indeed!

A Unique Day

 Why is December 25 a special day? Yes, indeed! It is the Christmas day. It is the day that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus? Well, he was, in my opinion, a radical thinker. Why do I think so? If you read the New Testament, you would realise that he represents  and empowers the common man. 

Everything about him is ordinary. Jesus is not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was born in a manger. Father Joseph was a carpenter who had to migrate after Jesus' birth. In other words, Jesus belonged to a poor family, and yet the mighty king, Herod, considered him a threat as per the prediction. Despite such a persecuted life right from the beginning, such was Jesus' concern for the common man that he gave them the spirit, the courage to stand up to the crooked mighty.

He was betrayed by those considered his near ones. Judas betrayed him for thirty ducats. Paul doubted him thrice before the cock crew. Yet he continued to care for them, as for those others who followed him. If you read his 'miracles', they tell the story, you would realise, of the empowerment of the common man. 

Indeed it is sad that the religion of pity and love that he preached and practised later engaged in crusades for ages. Much worse is the fact that proselytisation and conversions continue in his name! Well, disciples' excesses cannot be piled on to teachers! 

Jesus, like Gautam Buddha, represents 'love, pity and mercy' to quote William Blake. May be, real secularism consists of respecting all these alternative paths to the ultimate Truth. As our treatises would sum it up succinctly, "ekam sat, vipra: bahudha vadanti", that is to say, "Truth is one; the learned enunciate it in multiple ways".

Hinduism, which is not monotheistic, instead recognises these multiplicities, is more a way of thinking, living and being. Sooner than later, people who would oppose for the sake of opposing, recognise such multi-dimensionalities, and go for a re-think of their former rigid positions. Yes, you guessed it right. I did watch a few videos about Shela Rasheed's sea-change of opinions. That, too, indeed made the day special in a way!

Pratima@ December 25 is the birthday of  Atal Behari Vajpeyi-ji whose ideology, too, was inclusive in an interesting way, I would like to maintain. Indeed a unique day hence  in multiple ways!

 

The Santa Spirit

Have you read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens? Sure, the novella is not Dickens' best. Undoubtedly, it is senti. Yet it captures brilliantly and celebrates feelingly the Santa Spirit (in all senses of the term as the story is literally driven by a ghost), much needed today as ever.

What is this Santa spirit? As children, we have all loved the Santa Claus who gives us special gifts. As we leave behind that naive joy in a toy or two, we realise that it is our elders who keep the gifts under our pillows. Even then, the charm of the Santa spirit continues to be equally sweet and charming.

Why is it so? How is it relevant now? The Santa Spirit is that of benevolent joy. It consists of sharing happiness. It means making our own selves better and nicer. Hence it is highly relevant in the world today which is driven by the 'i-me-my' obsessions. Take any field, be it the private space or the public sphere. It is vitiated by mean self-obsession, hyper competitiveness and jealous viciousness. 

In such a nasty, brutish world (to quote Hobbes' iconic description thereof) which is becoming narrower and narrower, and more hellish as the technology develops at a breakneck speed, people obsess over power, control, abrogating to oneself all the credits and benefits. In such a crooked, crackpot wold, the Santa spirit asserts the joy of sharing, and thereby  being a decent, good, genuine human-being. Hence its ever-lasting relevance!

Pratima@ The genuine Santa spirit does not boast of or advertise loudly its gifts as actually that would be self-promotion!  I would say that the real Santa gift is becoming by the day a better version of oneself. Oh, yes, that is one of the messages of Dickens' novella, too.

Churchill pe Charcha

 Is a man a hero or a villain? Is he a demi-god or the devil? Often the alternatives used to describe a human being are not so diametrically opposed to each other.  When it comes to Churchill, however, everything has to be larger than life. Rather like his obviously bulky figure.

No, this is not body shaming. It is stating a fact, many would say.  That is because Churchill was a contradiction within a contrast within a conundrum. Intensely hated and deeply adored, Churchill is an interesting figure of the twentieth century.

For the British, he is a hero, given his much valorised bulldog spirit that helped him overcome every possible hurdle in the British path to victory in the World War II. It was his leadership and his powerful oratory that turned the war around. 

His career is full of many contrasts and contradictions. He was a Conservative, who in between turned to liberalism, for example. He was a hard-hitting politician who was an impressionist painter of sorts. 

Why, this politician, this Prime Minister who changed the destiny of Britain in extremely difficult, tough times was so much an accomplished author that he got a Nobel Prize, nay, not for peace, but for literature!

Yes, he spoke well, and most effectively. His words about the British, for the British, and within the British psyche helped the British win an impressive victory. Despite winning acclaim internationally for his leadership, immediately after the war, he lost an important election to Atlee of all the people.

For us, Indians, he is hypocrisy  and cruelty personified. Heartless was his treatment of the "natives" in general, especially during the famine that helped him fleece the poor Indians whose back was literally broken.  This "man of letters" was meanness personified when it came to letting millions of Indians die of starving! Hence the first line of our blog today. Who is he? A hero? The worst villain? Depends! Especially on the context, right? 

Pratima@ Remember his "give me " speech that helped England win ? That is the power of words!

Mathematics!

 It is the Mathematics day today. Since 2012, December 22 is celebrated as the Mathematics Day in memory  of Ramanujan, the great Indian genius. Actually, India and mathematics can be considered an equation as fundamental as the zero, right? Aryabhatta to Ramanujan, India has a great lineage of mathematicians. The Vedic Maths tricks can beat any app with the ease of Gukesh emerging as the World Chess champion.

Yet most Indian children consider mathematics the bane of their school life. Well, now students can choose to complete their SSC without opting for maths! Come to think of it though, you can never escape maths because it literally pervades life, and every activity therein.

Right now, let us laugh a little at maths through language so as to drive out the possible fear against maths. So, bingo! Here we go at 'sum'! 

1) How to make seven an even number? Well, remove the 's'!

2) When it snows heavily, what do mathematicians do? They build a snow 'angle'!

3) What did one maths book say to another? "Why bother me? As it is, i have my own problems!"

4) What did the calculator say to the student? "Don't worry. You can count on me"!

5) Why is pi lucky? Well, everything about pi is infinite and non-repetitive!

Pratima@" Pure mathematics is the poetry of  logical ideas," opined Einstein.

Musings on the Meditation Day

 Like the Yoga Day on June 21 which is the longest day of the year, on December 21, the shortest day of the year, we have the Meditation Day. Both, Yoga and Meditation, are India's gifts to the world. Yes, now both are events as well. I tried to participate online in a Guiness Book World Record event organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Aai attended one of his programmes cum camp. Those days it was obviously offline, and daily I used to reach her to the center at 6 a.m. Initially, I used to fetch her back at 9 a. m. Later, she started coming back on her own, accompanied by other participants. 

She even attended one of the Gurudev outings. It was like a school trip every which way, beginning from preparations at home to games and fun time there.  She continued to read up the Gurudev literature. Remembered all these details because I attended the Sri Sri meditation programme online. I intend following it up for twenty-one days. Hope I can manage it.

Human attention span is roughly forty-five minutes. Now it has been reduced to three seconds, it seems. Given this attention deficit, there is less of active listening. As a result, misunderstandings mushroom, leading to anxiety and stress.

Meditation, a way of being aware of oneself through such modes as paying attention to one's own breath, for instance, encourages you to love your alone time. In my opinion, that is indeed a great contribution to the world today which often is nothing but lonely crowds!

Pratima@In a way, meditation is self hypnosis as well. What is your opinion about meditation?

Blue Christmas

 Tomorrow is December 21. The day of the winter solstice it is. The night will be the longest and the day, as a corollary, the. shortest. In the day/date itself is thus inured a sense of sorrow, of deep sadness because we always associate the night with darkness, despair, depressed feel, the down and out mood, in brief.

 Since 1990 hence, every December 21 is observed what is known as the 'blue Christmas'.  Blue as a colour is often associated with grief and sadness. It is also a symbol of the infinite skies and the interminable oceans together creating the indestructible horizon.

In the spoken, the typical native speaker way, version of English, there are, however, very many expressions that indicate the sadness, the blue  that we often associate with unstated unhappiness.

December 21 is the day dedicated to the pre-Christmas purging of all  these griefs, grievances, grumblings, and so on, hoarded over the year.  Rather like the "michchami dukkadam" by the Jain community is this blue christmas day.

Given the twenty-first century unhappiness-es of multiple varieties, such a day is indeed the need of the hour, eh, nay, of every Christmas so that on that day, on December 25,  there is sheer happiness everywhere.

Pratima@ New times require new rituals and different paradigms! 

For me, however, every  twenty-first is always blue as it marks the mensual death anniversary of Papa! I always keep a fast each and every twenty-first.

Human Rights

 Human rights are actually as old as the French Revolution, though formally they were assigned a day, December 10, in 1948. Why is December 10 so important? On this day is declared the Nobel Peace Prize every year and the UN Prize in the field of Human Rights every five years.

Yes, in an unequal world after the cruel history of colonization and after the horrendous two world wars and the very many crimes against humanity committed therein, human rights are indeed important. After 1945, too, many heinous crimes against humanity have continued world wide. Hence the need for the annual remembrance.

Let us take the rights such as fair election and peaceful assembly. Look at how they are mocked at in our own country. When the results go in favour of your favourite party, the EVM and the VVPAT are the best. Otherwise, they are villains much worse than all the baddies of Bollywood!

Look at Markadwadi. The bizzare decision to conduct their own voting by ballot paper is as much against the constitution as the scaling of the Red Fort during the farmer agitation or currently the climbing atop the North Gate. There is the Supreme Court to decide such issues. Otherwise, such ugly demonstrations are nothing short of the Capitol attack in the U.S.!

Human dignity, irrespective of differences due to gender, ethnicity, race, class, region, religion, language, caste, matters the most. That is the essence of the concept called human rights. Huge need right now to preserve them as the capital and the deep state stampede over them across nation states. Hence the importance of the basic human rights. 

Pratima@ Actually, the 'pasaydaan' of 'Dnyaneshwari' is some proof of how universally and uniquely human rights have been thought of in our own country, nay, state!

Parenting Styles

 Remember some time back in the U.S , there was a huge furore over a Chinese mother's child rearing techniques. In the wake of that debate emerged fanciful terms such as helicopter mother, hothouse parent, and so on. Well, these days, next to being a teacher, if there is any other role equally difficult, it is being a parent. You cannot chide or control the ward in any way, while you alone would be considered responsible, if anything goes wrong.

So let us discuss major parenting styles which apply, rather, stick, quite well to student management as well. The first one is the neglectful. Such a parent is least concerned about the child's behaviour. Such a mom, for example, would allow the child anything and everything so long as her own mobile or kitty party or versions thereof or travel time is not curtailed!

Next comes the permissive parent. This laissez-faire personality pampers the child silly. The brat can be up to anything, can insult anyone, this type of father will give a knowing, indulgent smile as if the child has achieved some great smartness.

Next come the authoritative parents. They now belong to history books. This type was the 1940's style, or rather the "Aawara" style of parenting. None would even dare to think of it now.

In my opinion, the best style of parenting, or even of student management, is the authoritarian. Yes, there are certain rules of "this far and no further" variety. The ward knows the set boundaries ( arrived at through open and regular sharing of opinions) that must not be crossed for one's own good. There is never harsh punishment, but lots of praise and rewards for even a minor achievement. A conscientious attempt is thus made for the all-round, non-impulsive growth of the ward. Thus were my parents.

Well, there has to be some discipline as children do not drop down from the heaven as ready-made-for-the-world kind of adults. They need to be spruced up, right? Over- smartness, arrogance, vicious malicious behaviour have to be curtailed. Otherwise, such individuals would be a torture for everybody who has the misfortune of coming in to contact with them! Independence is indeed valuable. Children as they grow up must, however, be made to realise that with great independence comes great responsibility, right?

My parents brought us up thus, and I am eternally grateful to them for thus making us better individuals.

Pratima@For the first, and the last, time the blog reaches you this very late. Sorry about it! My parents most indirectly taught us both: punctuality and saying 'sorry,' if one makes a mistake!

N.B.: The mobile phone, too, needs some control, for the user as well as for the person who reads, or intercepts, messages. If you read something, like or dislike it, why not have the courage of showing that you read it? Just now, someone read this message. Well, I realised that there was a spelling error. So opened the blog again. The interceptor had made the vanishing trick! Ha, ha, ha!

A unique tradition

 Can the sound of a word reflect its meaning? Sure it can. This auditory figure of speech is known as 'onomatopoeia'. English is full of many such words. Let me share a Marathi word today. 'Dhundur'. What mental picture does it create? It echoes something misty, slightly vague, a little mysterious, right? Yes, that is the visual, the look of the early morning in the 'Dhundur mass' so aptly named.

Like the Chaturmas, this month, too, is not to be located in any formal calendar. This folk festival is 'celebrated', indeed, it is a wonderful celebration, after the Margashirsha Pournima till Sankranti. Basically it is rooted in the agrarian tradition. 

Around this time, the farmer is comparatively free. So families celebrate this together time by lighting a bonfire with the useless remains of the earlier 'kharip' season, dry shoots, et al. They 'chitchat', to use an Indianism, sing and eat a special breakfast. Rest time, in brief.

My parents made it a happy time for us in the urban context, too. Papa used to bring home heaps of green peas (mutter). The 'harbhara pendi' (fresh from the farm) used to be literally a daily taste. 'Hurda', berries, sugarcane pieces, groundnut peas with jaggery used to be in abundance at home. Fresh sugarcane juice he used to bring while returning home in the evening. To it, Aai used to add lemon juice and grated ginger. Heavenly the drink used to be.

'Kakvi' (an offshoot of the process of jaggery making) with dollops of ghee used to be the standard sweet in the evening. Aai used to make lovely 'amboli's', while her 'bajra' khichdi with ghee and curd-groundnut chutney, lemon pickle and papad as side dishes used to create the divine "all is well with the world" mood. What happy days! 

Pratima@I do try most of these at home. For all of us, every winter, I make matar usal (it never has the taste of the Aai special, however much I emulate her recipe) and gajar ka halwa. The win(n)ter, the 'dhundhur' feel!

The cuppa that cheers!

 It is a misty morning. The sun, too, seems to be refusing to come out of the blanket of clouds. But we have promises to keep with the wall clock that ticks faster than the forever flowing traffic leading us to our various assignments.

Given such existential compulsions, what can get us out of bed, and ready to face the merciless world? For most people, it would be the cuppa that cheers. Yes, a cup of tea! What is this magic potion that most sip the first thing in the morning? 

A concoction of boiling hot water, tea leaves, lemon grass and ginger, while sugar and milk are optional. For most people, it is the true tonic that strengthens. No wonder, there are 'tea-holicks' who drink cups after cups throughout the day which is actually bad for health, given the tanin in tea.

Let us look at another scenario. It is drizzling. The very climate pushes you to eat a plateful of bhajji's, need not necessarily be the onion variety. Which is the cuppa that goes with it? No guesses! For most people, it would be the cuppa that cheers. Yes, a cup of tea!

No wonder, the Japanese have an elaborate tea ceremony that artistically celebrates the drinking of tea. These days, however, tea seems to compete with the varieties of cheese in France. For the real relisher of this wonder drink, such variants as the lemon tea, mint tea, cold tea may not matter much though. They would rather say,"wah, the typical tea"!

Every house has its own taste of tea. Many households, like mine, associate drinking tea with subtle rules of growing up. We never were allowed to drink tea as children, while there are families where even a one year old drinks tea. Each to his/her own, I suppose.

True, Assam to Munnar, India has huge tea estates that have their own colonial histories, too. Yet, whichever might the type you brew, dust to leaves, for many amongst us, tea is a must, tea is the best. No wonder, December 15 is the World Tea Day!

Pratima@Despite this "tea puran" with its "glory be to tea" mantra, I love my coffee the most, though an occasional (not to forget the concessional, that is to say, when one is not at home, but is a guest)  tea or two once upon a time is not a strict no-no!

The dark night of the soul

 Recently was celebrated the Raj Kapoor film festival as part of the centenary celebrations. The most interesting of the RK films in my opinion is "Jagte Raho", a brilliant dystopian satire on the big city life in a period when metros were not even conceptualised.

This critique of capitalism wherein everything and anything, including human beings and relationships, are mere commodities with a price tag, is a look at urban realities from the innocent perspective of a villager who witnesses all the idiocies of the so-called upper class bourgeois life.

Based on a Bengali play produced by the IPTA, and directed by Shombhu Mitra, the film is yet another brilliant example of the fifties' superb connect of the Hindi films with the Bengali sensitive intellectual artistry. 

In the Hindi version, too, Mitra continues to be the director. He is the scriptwriter as well, while the dialogues are by A.K. Abbas. If the screenplay by Mitra is a searing critique, the songs written by Shailendra and Prem Dhawan bring out in to sharp focus the irony the film intends. The Salil Chowdhury music uses folk forms to intensify the critical view of the city life. Raghu Karmakar's brilliant black-n-white cinematography captures the dark night of the soul of a nascent nation.

Raj Kapoor has produced this film, which was a huge risk to take, as it is not a typical love triangle, et al, that his filmography excels at. The social criticism, mutant/indirect in his other films, is 'in the face' in this film.

He enacts his typical 'Raju' character in an effective mimicry of the Charlie Chaplin common man, here dressed in a short dhoti. In fact, there are any number of Chaplinesque effects echoing in the film. Indeed, it would not be wrong to say that this RK film shows how mainstream cinema can effectively be as intense as the then parallel art cinema of the Ray-Ghatak variety.

Of course, there are concessions to the Raj Kapoor mode such as the topless Nargis, clothes clinging most suggestively, singing the great "Jago Mohan" bhajan at the end. Despite such co-opting by the pop art, the film continues to be a classic in multiple ways. A must watch, in brief!

Pratima@ Just as Raj Kapoor made social criticism easily palatable for the common man, the tabla maestro, Zakir Hussain, made 'popular' the tough art of  playing the tabla. A great contribution his was to classical music. May his soul rest in peace!

Men's Melancholy

 The tragic news on an otherwise bubbly social media is the suicide by Atul Subhash, an I/T employee, with AI specialisation, at Bangalore. I am not sure of it but, most probably, he hanged himself. Before committing suicide, he wrote a detailed (apparently twenty-two pages long) suicide note. A detailed video of some ninety minutes and a detailed checklist of activities to be accomplished before the final good-bye are doing the rounds of the social media.

I have not checked either as there are extremely ugly details about personal preferences, et al, which nauseate me because it is the peeping Tom mentality which I have always found disgusting. Why unnecessarily interfere in others' lives about which we do not really know much, right?

 Yet, on the basis of the details available in the media, the techie's tragic end  raises many issues. The first obviously is the judge's behaviour. Asking for bribes, otherwise prolonging the case by giving 'tarikh pe tarikh', laughing at the man's plight when the wife publically taunts him "to die" are hardly activities befitting a legal luminary. If found guilty of these nefarious activities, she deserves a sack.

Just as one expects more sensitivity from a female judge, one is equally bamboozled by the menacingly mercenary behaviour of the  wife. Asking for eighty thousand rupees for the upbringing of a two-year old in a two/three-tier city like Jaunpur, asking for crores as alimony even while getting a big fat salary herself are clear indicators of treating the husband as a human ATM!

It is unfortunate that many women think of marriage as a convenience. Well, the society cannot point fingers at you even when you have extra-marital flings on the sly, or openly, as you can always gloss over anything and everything as 'professional behaviour', as ' professional activity', et al.

Yes, women do misuse the anti-dowry act. Yes, women do allow extreme interference, especially by their mothers. Yes, they do misbehave most maliciously  with the in-laws. Yes, they do not want any responsibility, but all the pleasures of all sorts at their beck and call. 

Luckily, now the in-laws are not immediately arrested. Earlier so was the case. Moreover, the husband had to sui motto prove HIS innocence. Many women did take most undue advantage of all possible loopholes, and ruined the reputations of the entire in-law families. Now it is not that easy for scheming wives to live off the alimony, while the husband and his family face living hell due to such machinations. 

When a relationship dies, is it okay to milk it to one's own advantage? It is neither feminine nor humane!

Pratima@The real tragedy is that the media glare thus attained hides more menacingly the harassment, physical abuse many daughters-in-law suffer in the mofussil as well as urban(e) areas. Most mothers-in-law treat the new woman in the son's life as an intense threat. In brief, instead of the male or the female versions, we require a human(e) society!

Pedestrian problems

 Once upon a time, during the heydays of the Cold War, it used to be said that the USSR is a mystery inside a puzzle within an enigma. If one has to describe the pedestrian problems in a similar vein, one would have to say that pedestrian problems are difficulties piled upon troubles that precariously balance themselves atop an Everest of bothers. Yes, being a pedestrian is a proper headache, not to forget the pain in the feet, tendons, legs, and that posterior part of our body, yes, the 'backside', that the Indian English users rather love.

Don't you believe me? Okay! Try using what Indian English calls 'footpath', that is to say, if that strip, narrower than the Gaza strip, exists at all. Well, it is equally, if not more, fraught with wartime woes. To begin with, the feel you get can beat the moon walk, both of the Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson varieties. Truly tough! Any number of sudden craters, the slippery sand pored to hide the last/latest dig up doing its job most efficiently, the gravel full of leftovers of all sorts, that is the kerb for you!

Well, as and when it exists, it is always occupied by the roadside shoppies, sellers and their enthu buyers busy haggling. Do not want to believe me? Okay, visit the FC road any day any time. Veggie venders occupy every other 'roadside' the same way so much so that bang opposite the MMCC,there is an informal set-up, most probably to initiate the students in to their future of household chores! Quite some effect of the NEP principles that education better be relevant to life, one must say.

Oh, yes, how can you forget the thundering- without-silencers mobikes zooming past you as the richie rich owners seem to think that every inch of the busy road is their precious birthright. Who cares how precarious it is for the pedestrians!

Ah, yes, the zebra stripes that should help one cross the road. They are as extinct as real zebras! The  motor vehicle act apparently teaches the drivers that the red light area is dangerous, to be avoided! No wonder, they never stop there! In fact, their speed crosses every limit at that very spot. Naturally, any pedestrian who loves her life has to wait eternally at the crossroads. No, there is no road less chosen, thank you, Mr. Frost, however much one loves your poems!

Well, in brief, if you want a feel of "swarg dwar apavrtum", that is, the door of the heaven wide open, try that hellish experiment, being a pedestrian beside a busy road!

Pratima@Pedestrian problems pore finally on the road, to become more gruesome in the process! And, less said the better about the skywalks and the subways!

May be, you never leave the doorstep of your house without the vehicle keys. Even then, you can understand the pedestrian woes which, in your own way, you suffer as the driver of your vehicle!

Dil hai Hindustani

 Remember the currently most discussed pic in India? Yes, it is the Kapoor  Khandan with the P.M.! Of course, the viral video has its own hilarious moments such as the family taking a whole long week to decide how to address the Prime Minister! The lady, moreover, stylishly mispronounced the poor word. Such 'kitty party' mannerisms are but to be expected of Bollywood-ians, especially of the brood of THE 'showman' of Hindi cinema! 

The occasion of the meet makes us overlook such funny bits. The occasion was the formal announcement cum celebration of the  birth centenary of Raj Kapoor. In a way, it is the birth centenary of Bollywood itself because more than anyone else, it was Raj Kapoor who made the industry what it is today.

He was, for example, the director to begin the studio system in the Indian film world. He was the one who made films infused with both the national pride and, oh, yes, the 'wet dream' sequences. A Raj Kapoor heroine is always dunked in water in some form or the other, leaving, of course, very little to the male viewer's imagination!

Yet some of his films do capture the teething problems of a nascent nation. Look at films like 'Awara', 'Shri 420', and the much viewed, as per the Prime Minister's confession, 'Jagate Raho', for instance. His acting consisted of the Indianisation of the great Charlie Chaplin as in 'Anadi', and he did indianise 'The Roman Holiday' as 'Chori Chori'. 

He was youthful enough to let go of the obsessive and massive failure of 'Mera naam joker' and make a 'Bobby', India's own take on the Romeo-Juliet phenomenon. The songs of his films, great poetry set to melodious music, are wonderful, and they set the trend of Bollywood as song-n-dance bonanza. 

His DoP would be great, too. Remember the final scene of the dacoits surrendering in "Jis desh me ganga bahti hai"? His editors were the best in the industry then. He thus made the art of film making a dream sequence that the spectators the world over, especially in the socialist block, loved.

Ideologically, his films do critique the capitalistic forces that the emergent india had to negotiate. In that sense, his filmography is nationalist, however much it may be escapist romances. As the P.M. told his family the other day, he made films which are a kind of Indian 'soft power' in days when the concept was not even coined. Hence this tribute!

Pratima@Mukesh, his screen voice, has this gem of a song 'Jeena yahan, marna yahan/iske siwa jana kahan' which sums up the leitmotif of the life of the artist who conceptualised  the RK banners! Yes, sure 'rahengi nishaniya' (my parents', especially Aai's, favourite line) because in the globalised attire (japani joota, pataloon inglistani, lal topi rusi, et al) beat a 'dil hai hindustani'!

Inventions and Discoveries

 Inventions and discoveries! As school children, the difference of meaning between these two terms was literally dinned in to our heads, right? James Watt invented the steam engine, while Columbus discovered America, and beyond. That is the example we had to remember. 

The present times, too, are full of inventions and discoveries. Let us today look at two truly radical ones. Let us begin with 'invention' as it is a great tribute to human imagination, creativity and intellect. 

How about the possibility of things getting invisible? YES, our very own Indian scientists have made it possible. At the IIT, Kanpur is perfected a polymer that can render invisible things coated with it. This polymer, moreover, is made of absolutely local ingredients. Most interestingly, it is going to be used by the Indian army and it is an msme type of industrial unit that has already begun producing it for the aviation wing of our army.

Now, the discovery bit. Apparently, the 'Atlantis' is finally found. In Iceland, it is discovered that the Atlantic and the  European tectonic plates are still united. That is to say, deep down America and Europe are still connected as one tectonic plate. Culturally, Europe always looks down upon the brash America which prides itself on its own vibrant  energy. Well, surface differences are only a few nautical miles deep!

Well, let us end the truly enlightening blog today via the  Greta Thunberg mode, that is rendering a quite relevant fact the environmentally chic way. Well, British scientists have discovered that an ice wall, ten times the size of Britain, has collapsed. In a way, it is due to underwater currents whose temperature is the result of climate change due to human interference. The sea water levels would hence be affected, resulting in a huge danger for the coastal cities. Tiny islands are already getting submerged anyways! 

Human beings can create as well as destroy. Hope the human race chooses wisely!

Pratima@ Human beings can create heaven, but can also render heaven in to hell! Hope human beings wake up on time!

Elocution

 Who 'speaks' these days? Currently, it is the era of the ppt's, mostly AI-generated. Such visuals do the speaking! Listeners love such suspicious scholarship. Speakers find it sumptuous. The art of speaking well is dying. Yesterday I was one of the judges at an elocution competition. Hence the following acrostic!

Emphatic, empathetic

Laconic, learned

Oratorical, outstanding

Considerate, cautious

Unbiased, unassuming

Tasteful, tolerant

Idealistic, inclusive 

Original, optimistic

Natural, noble!

Do you agree with this definition of 'elocution' which, in my opinion, is surely style. It, undoubtedly, is oratory. Body language, facial expressions, intonation and sentence stress matter. So do cohesion and coherence. Vocabulary, good grammar are important, too.

Yet what matters the most is the central idea, unique, original, thought through. Brilliant analysis, researched data full of facts are the core of a good speech. Unique ideas are at the center of any good communication, written or spoken.

Therein lies the hope in the AI era today which is marked by thoughtless copying. Not only the generative AI nor the smartasses using it efficiently can copy the thought process. Sure, copy is the ultimate compliment that others can pay one. Yet this compliment cannot be curtailed even by the most competitive, however ambitious and aggressive. The central unique thought/idea is the pearl that the shell of oratory must preserve, most nurture!

Pratima@ Brilliance is not mere bombast!

The first of its kind

 The other day, I was browsing the internet,  given the submission of an assignment for the completion of an FDP.  Thus I came across this interesting initiative by the UGC, that is, 'celebrating the Indian languages week'. 

How to make it operational in the BMCC? I mentioned it to Bagwan Madam, my co-editor of the volume celebrating the BMCC on the occasion of its completion of its eightieth year.  Luckily, she immediately agreed that it was an important event. During deliberations, it was decided that there should be an elocution competition on this occasion.

Very rare are elocution competitions these AI-aided days. Especially when it comes to the Indian languages, students find it almost funny to use it, even when their hold over English leaves a lot to be desired. Hence the relevance of this elocution competition which has extremely thought provoking themes such as 'the relevance of the Indian languages in the media world'. 

It may appear as if the metros are sold out to English. Though it is not so, the Indian languages have a vibrant existence in the two- and three-tier cities, and the mofussil areas. Why, the giant MNC's/TNC's choose to translate their advertisements, for example, in the local languages. Literature in Indian languages is vibrant in these areas. Well, in Karnataka, there is a village that even today carries out its entire daily activities in Sanskrit! Hope students would explore such pulsating areas. Well, I did provide tham general guidelines for an effective presentation. Looking forward, in brief, to the event!

Some of my students are participating in the event. I have asked the entire German group to 'grace the occasion.' Hope they will turn up to cheer their classmates. It indeed matters a lot because in a commerce college, languages always get the step-sisterly treatment, though actually commerce students need languages the most as communication is the fulcrum of their future careers.

Hence this sincere attempt which could fructify in to reality, given the Library machinery that Bagwan Madam can gear up in to action mode. May be, like its unique PNG Language Lab, this language-oriented initiative in the BMCC, a commerce college, too, turns out to be "neighbours' envy, owner's pride"!

Pratima@Languages matter the most, especially in the AI-era.

Beware of Fraudsters

 I was busy completing an article. Constantly hence was I checking and re-checking. In that process, I came across this video which talked of this stupid but almost hypnotising concept called 'digital arrest'. Actually the nomenclature itself is a fraud. There possibly cannot be any such notion.

I checked hence some four youtube videos on this theme. One involved Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor, AajTak. There was one of a lady journalist. There was one of a social media influencer. I saw the fourth one which was that of a seventy-eight year old victim who was a retired auditor. 

The Editor, AajTak and the Social Media influencer recorded the whole process. The old man, despite being an auditor, succumbed to the fraudsters. The lady journalist did not lose money, but lost her peace of mind. 

These four videos clearly indicate that it is more a psychological game. So to begin with, one should never answer/respond to an unknown number. Next, both Mr. Chaudhary and the Gujrat based social influencer insisted that one should not feel either tense or afraid. Fear psychosis is their way of trapping the victim.

The social media influencer suggested that one should insist on the local (police, bank branch) for confirmation before doing anything drastic such as allowing them to shoot you or following their demands for money transfer. 

Well, with new technologies emerge new rogues. It sure is not the mistake of the technology that it gets misused for white collar crime. As a law-abiding, sensible user, it is better to be constantly aware. Surely one should never ever let anybody know the bank details.

Personally I do not believe in online purchase. The lady journalist said that she got trapped because of the online purchase. Yet those who love it should remember that the online OTP is the easiest way to trap you as a victim.

In brief, it is extremely important to be aware and careful so that one's hard-earned money is safe and secure. Nor should the cheapskate tricksters threaten you with any distortion of your image. Beware of fraudsters!

Pratima@i shall need just a day more to complete the research article. But the lessons learnt by watching these videos are priceless. On Saturday, I could have been so victimised. So now I realise! Yet as I said in that blog, innocence is its own protection!

School reunions

 School reunions is quite a fad these days, right? You hear everyone talking of  all types of school reunions, beginning from 'a decade later' to all possible types. Currently I am co- editing a souvenir. Surely it is not about the school days. The articles, however, are some proof of "looking back in love-n-admiration".

Yes, all the reunion types are always mushy and senti. It makes you wonder if it is more a convention to be so very senti-n-mental about the past. Such nostalgia always has an agenda hidden within; namely, critique-ing the present and, not to forget, the mundane attempts at 'connections' which matter much in the real world.

Whenever I hear of school reunions, I always remember the following laughter riot. "I said, "Oh, Lord, life as an adult is truly tough. Please make me a school kid again." Agreed Lord, the God, " Sure! Once again your companions would be trigonometry, axioms, rules, algebra, formulae, chronologies, climates and crop patterns in far away lands..." I shivered and shuddered at this rattling off. Before he could go any further, I stopped him, and said, "No, thank you, Lord! The present is much better!"

I suppose the bountiful crop of films about the rosy romances during school days (I have always wondered who had the time, given the flurry of constant tests  and eternal homework, and the pre-puberty spunk, given the teachers' strict stares !?!) has increased the yen for such reunions, at least in Maharashtra! So sorry single sex schools, no? You never know though!

May be, school reunions are more about showing off, and, oh, yes, yet another occasion for eating out! Sorry for the cynicism! Honestly though, why do people hate something so intensely what they would nostalgically gloat over a few years later?!?  

Yet again another quote from a cartoon, and I shall sign off. It is the  famous wor(l)d of the most lovable Dennis, the menace. My topmost favourite cartoon strip. In this particular cartoon, Dennis' mother is trying to feed him. Grimacing, he is refusing even a spoonful. Says the harassed Mom with irritation, "Eat it fast. Some twenty years later, you are going to tell some unfortunate girl how much you loved the food your Ma cooked!"

Nostalgia nourishes!

Pratima@ Distant mountains are always easy to scale, right? 

Deceit and lies

 The crooked think that straightforward people are fools. It never is so. Kind-hearted, straightforward people are extremely intelligent, nay, brilliant. It is just that they feel that everybody else is equally good, kind, nice and straightforward as they are. 

Such people, let me tell you, have a great awareness of the world because they are extremely well-read and hence in the know of the ills of the world. It is just that they cannot bring themselves to behave badly or wickedly even when they can intuitively spot such ugly behaviour in others. May be, their inbuilt innocence gifts them with a sixth sense which saves them from the malicious.

Let me share two examples to prove this truth universally acknowledged. Some three to four weeks ago, this student with a backlog in the MCQ test had not paid the re-exam fee. I had sent an individual message to this boy as early as September, 2024. On the WhatsApp group of his batch, I had sent some four messages, beginning September 2024. There was the green tick which showed that the messages were read. He did not respond in any way. Another student, she woke up on time, paid the fees, and I gave her assignments which she submitted a little late which I ignored. She cleared the backlog.

Most interestingly, even when this boy had not even paid the re-exam fees (I asked him repeatedly, I reminded him many times), his name appeared miraculously on the result sheet. How he magically emerged there is anybody's guess. I inquired again on the group. He responded that neither had he paid the re-exam fees nor did he approach me for any assignments. Absolutely clean records on my side! I just felt pity for the mischief-monger who made an absent student appear present!

 Now the second instance! As usual, there was this buzz of the neighbour family, as well as the roadside riffraff, " eh, she is asleep." The crooks never understand that I can hear every nonsensical word. Suddenly my mobile rang. On the line was this person saying my phone would be switched off within two hours.

First it was said that I use the phone too much!!! Next he said that my second phone, later he changed it to mobile number, is involved in some nefarious activities. Immediately  I realised that some hanky-panky is afoot because I do not have any other phone number.

I cut the call. Some riffraff @the roadside said so immediately. Well, any mobile phone can be tapped within fifteen meters range. So I realised that someone nearby was keeping an eye/ear on my mobile. Immediately  I started checking back every detail. 

There is no TRAI office in Colaba, Mumbai. The second Airtel phone number this guy, Rajeev Sinha, alloted/assigned me actually belonged to some Poonam, elderly lady, in Delhi who said in a fake voice that she was sick. Her name, too, was clearly invented on the spur of the moment. I could hear in the background a young woman scolding a child who dropped some utensil.

 The phone number from which this Rajeev Sinha called up has a +870 series which is either from Arkansas, America or some hanky-panky connection called 'Panerian'. I tried calling up the police. Most phones were dead, unanswering. On one call, some lady tried to disconnect.

I chose then the best way. I e-mailed  in detail all the relevant information to the top most authorities @ TRAI and the online Crime Branch. Hope this Rajiv Sinha as well as some "poor Javed" mentioned in the lane nearby get arrested and jailed and fined which should teach them that innocence is not stupidity!

Pratima@Innocence is its own protection.

 

Acquired Meanings

 Words are powerful. Literally! They have magic power. At times, this magic power gets doubled, nay,  increased in multiple  moulds. To give a very facetious example, look at the transformation the word 'mouse' has undergone. It is no longer merely the  furry small animal, the bane of a farmer's life. The life and soul of a hi-fi mnc/tnc it now is!

Another such word that has radically changed its fortune is 'acquired'. Once the darling of  the high-n-mighty, now it is associated with the dreaded disease , the AIDS.  This acquired immune deficiency syndrome was the cussword of the eighties and nineties.

The AIDS was not merely a horrible disease that ended in a certain terrible death. It was an acronym that showed how Africa continued its colonial hatefulness despite the independence struggles that were victorious. It was believed that the barbaric blacks were responsible for the terror.

Much water has flown under the bridge thence. The disease is now managed by medical treatment. Drug addiction and homosexuality, which were the prime suspects  for the disease, are no longer a strict no-no! No wonder, none noticed how the AIDS day vanished into thin air! Hope the disease does, too!

Pratima@ It is wrong to hate the result. Better cure the root cause, right?

Inviting Danger

 Read a news item which disturbed me. It does nor directly have any bearing on any event in India or with any Indian. It is from Thailand and is about a Russian actress. It, however, has life lessons for everyone everywhere.

Apparently this young lady liked very much this craggy coast in Thailand. She would often return there. This time she chose to perform yoga on a rock on that coast. A huge wave crashed on to that rock, and took her away. Soon her drowned body was found nearby. 

Why this play, rather gamification, with nature, right? Her 'act' is like the selfie craze in India. People attempt any stupid adventure for a unique selfie. Without fail, every monsoon, people, at times, entire families, drown near that seashore or downstream this waterfall. People fall into deep gorges in an attempt to catch a so-called unique selfie. 

To every action, there must be a contextual propriety.  No bride should get married in a swim suit, right? Nothing nor anyone can technically stop such a practice. Yet it is in extremely bad taste, right? Like a so-called notorious actress who wanders the Mumbai streets in awful stages/states of undress! I suppose such people lack sobriety, sensibility, sensitivity, and sense!

Pratima@Yet another example of such crass and crude behaviour is this video sho(r)t of an interview with Dwiwija, the daughter of Devendra Fadnavis. The kid, must be in her mid-teens, is asked her reaction about the landslide victory and her father's future chances. The girl answers absolutely maturely for her age. 

She answers in English because the interview is in English. Yet the ugliest comments below the video by typical trolls are difficult to believe, with the usual casteist slur being the most predominant. 

Highly dangerous is such behaviour pattern with its targetting techniques and its ugliest divisive politics at the cost of a kid! It invites the danger of unnecessary victimisation of the innocent, right?

Equally badly, it invites extremely ignorant and malicious, downright dangerous, propaganda against English, the lingua franca of the world, whether anyone likes it or not.

The Navy Day

 December 4 is the Navy Day in India. The date matters a lot in the context of the current events in the subcontinent. Yes, in 1971, as part of the process of creating Bangla Desh, it was on this day that the Indian military ships drowned Pakistani ships and soldiers, rather Navy men. Though such a death is horrible, their enemy status, may be, did not leave any chance of saving them. Much worse, it cannot be forgotten that they would have been more vicious and cruel if the tables, or, rather, ships, were turned the other way round.

Sad, bad, mad is any war. The Navy, whether of the military variety or the merchant typology, is indeed interesting. For one thing, the high seas are both a beauty and a terror. Imagine the multiple shades of the different hues of the blue as reflecting the infinite sky in the eternal sea all around. Imagine a starlit night with the full moon amidst the high seas.

Imagine equally the no moon day or the        fierce winds and horrible storms that plague the deep seas. So terrible they are that it is scary to even watch videos thereof. Imagine crossing the deep and wide Pacific Ocean, without any land mass anywhere in the site/sight/vicinity. Not that the Indian or the Atlantic oceans are any less a threat, yet they are no match as far as danger to ships goes. Equally impossible are the snowy arctic oceans, and much worse are the pirates, forever in search of easy money.

In other words, the witchery of the seas is infinite and deserves an eternal fascination. Long live the Navy day!

Pratima@ My brother, Parag, has been a merchant navy guy. Having thus faced the worst dangers, he now is a professor in a maritime institute. The fun is that he is full of great anecdotes which he rarely shares! Deep oceans are lovely from afar. That is the moral of the story!

As I conclude the blog, it has suddenly started raining, the result of the far away storm fengal! Shows how the seas affect us, far or near!!

Song Psychology: a paean to pan music

 It is your "down and out" day. Literally in the doldrums is your mood. On such a dark day, try listening to a truly sad song like "Aaj socha to" or "n kisika ankh ka nur hun".  Unshed tears would moisten your eyes. For sure. 

Otherwise on that very day, listen to a very happy song like "sare ke sare ga ma ko lekar gate chale" or "zindagi ek safar". Without fail, you would jump out of that depressing mood. That is the power of songs.

As for romantic songs, the less said the better. Whatever might the stage of your current 'status', any love song is enough to energize your faith in love and romance. That indeed is song psychology for you.

Well, it does not have to be film songs.  Nor is it necessary that you understand the words. Listen to classical music of both the  Indian and western types, especially the instrumental variety. and you would agree with my statement above.

May be, because the musical notes address us subtly at the core, and because they literally ring out of nature, music creates this cathartic effect. No wonder, Aristotle's 'Poetics' thinks of it as an inalienable aspect of the dramatic art/act.  Our very own Bharat Natyashastra explains the structure and the effect of  music in minutest most details.

Music, whatever the variety may be, affects not only us, humans, but oh, yes, animals, too, deeply feel music (remember 'The pied Piper of Hamelin"?), while we cannot foget Sir Jagdishchandra Bose's research regarding music and plants. So, listeners of the world, unite and, listen to more and more music of any and ever variety. Because thus you have  nothing to lose, except the shackles of your depressed mood!

Pratima@ Even when we listen to sad music, we like it because of its artistic excellence. In brief, "music when soft voices die/lingers in the memory" as Shelley would say.

The Unique Month

 In the tenth chapter of the Bhagwad Gita, entitled the "Vibhuti Yog", Lord Shrikrishna  describes the best amongst the rest. Let me give you an example. Says the Lord, "Of/amongst the seasons, I am the spring." In Verse Number xxxv of the chapter, says the Lord,  "masanam margashirsh: asmi" which means " I am the margashirsha of/amongst the months." This year it began on December 1.

Significantly, the ninth month, the month of birth in a way, this month is special across the whole of India. In Maharashtra, for example, the Prabodhini Ekadashi (the ekadashi whence begins the end of the Lord's restful slumber) would have just got over. Across temples, there is the early morning special "kakad aarti." In Tamilnadu, it seems, they draw the 'kollam' rangoli. Apparently, Devi Laxmi is worshipped in this month 

Aai used to love that excerpt from Chapter X, Shloka xxxv. "Masanam Margashirsh: asmi" was one of her favourite quotes. Throughout the month, she used to take up some 'vrata' and follow it most assiduously, most religiously. At Sanju's Woodland home, she used to go for the early morning "kakad aarti".  She used to love it, too. I remember her detailed description of those special morning prayers.

Festivals are always related to the agricultural calendar in our agrarian country. May be, it can be said that the 'kharif' crop would be long over, and the hustle and bustle for the 'rabbi' crop would be awaited as well. May be, hence, the month would be like a fallow piece of land. It should be reaped productively. To keep, in brief, the common man and the typical society on the path of good behaviour (well, the empty mind is always the devil's favourite front), all the rituals must have been introduced.

Hence the calling the month holiest of the holy.  Hence the rituals and prayers. Well, anything followed/practised for twenty-one days becomes a habit. So says folk psychology. May be, hence the 'vrata's and prayers to instil good habits in the common man.

Pratima@How many are the ways to creatively and critically understand our culture, our traditions, our ancient ways of living!

The Fengal Phenomenonn

 Currently there are so very many events and incidents that human beings as a race can think of themselves as the divine gift to nature. Now cars can drive themselves, for instance.  As for the AI, the less said the better because so much more is being said about it, by it, through it, and what not.

Mankind can send space shuttles to the moon, the mars, and beyond. Human beings can stay in the space. Looking at the very core of the universe is no news now. In brief, it may look like we have mastered most all Nature.

Have we though? The great five principles time and again show mankind what a tiny speck in the infinite universe we indeed  are. Look at the Fengal, for example, which is to hit the Southern India. With an almost  brutal force happen these typhoons with gales at unimaginable speeds, and in their wake they lay bare mankind's empty swagger! 

Sure, mankind does try to control the wastage by intimating people. Thus lives lost may be an unfortunate few. Yet such is the destruction of  property that people would require a lifetime to get out of it. Yet another Fengal appears on the horizon in no time. 

Despite such battering by Nature, mankind never loses its hopes, its dreams, its  aspirations. That is the way, mankind overpowers all types of Fengals, right? 

Pratima@Fengals may belittle our 'physic'al spaces. They, however, do not have any control over our inner core which makes us truly human(e), right? So, Ahoy, Fengal, literal or metaphorical!

Age cannot stale nor dull

 Age cannot stale nor dull. Yes, this title of our blog may remind you of Shakespeare's famous description of Cleopatra on that resplendent barge. Well, the lady I am going to talk about is no queen for sure. In my opinion, however, she is an empress. 

Okay, let me explain what I mean. Before I attempt that,however, let us talk of ageism. Yes, ageism is rampant in the world today, especially in India with its demographic dividend. Ageism takes two forms. Gen Z, for example, would like to earn enough as soon as is possible, and then retire from work.

 A corollary of this axiom is the other version of ageism. It consists of constantly mocking older people about their age. At times, it is attempted with a veneer of concern, but the malicious intent cannot hide itself. It hardly matters that most young are no good in any way at all.

That, however, is not our concern right now. Today we are going to meet a lady who is living proof that age is mere number. Yes, we are talking of Prof. Shantamma. For four days a week, she teaches medical physics, radiology and anesthesia. Her house is some sixty kilometers away which means, up and down, she travels hundred and twenty kilometres  per day .

What is so great about it? Many attempt it in metros. Is that your foregone conclusion? Okay, be ready to hold your breath. She is just ninety-seven years old. Two years ago, she entered the Guinness Book of Records for such an achievement. 

Both her knees are replaced. She walks with the help of calipers. Nothing can stop this lady who completed her Ph. D. In 1947. Apparently, she was the first to win that honour, too. Her students like her as well because she is a living fount of inspiration. Some proof she is that age is just a number, most often, in the mindsets of others!

Pratima@What is age? A way of thinking! What is age? A way of defying! Well, we began with a take-off on Shakespeare. So let us thus end with another!

Simplify! Why?

 The current mantra applicable to all the fields, but especially to academics, is "simplify." Indeed, it is important to make complex concepts easy to understand. That process makes studies enjoyable. Absolutely accepted. It is, moreover, true of every experience. Let me give you an example. Not everybody can understand, forget appreciate, Picasso's "Guernica". Everyone can comprehend a Ravi Varma canvas, right?

My problem is with excessive simplification, and as a corollary, with the avoidance of all that is tough. Personally I feel that human mind is capable of analysing, sorting out most complex issues. It may take a little bit of time, but one sure gets it, may be, with some practice. Do not we manage any software package with a little bit of practice even if it appears tough initially?

Why constantly insist on simplification? Let me give you a parallel example. We do not always eat mashed food like a baby, right? Why, our system needs roughage for it to remain healthy! Our minds, our brains, too, need roughage, complexities, abstractions, conceptualisations. Why avoid all these super foods for the brain?  Who is, moreover, going to gain what, profit how by simplifying everything for the majority? Is not it a new form of exclusion? Is monopoly of genuine resources and better opportunities hidden within this yen for simplification?

Yet another canard I find difficult to grasp is not declaring the toppers, the academic prize-winners in the name of, under the garb of, equality? Why? Why not pat the back of achievers? Do not we have the gold, the silver, and the bronze medals in the Olympics? Or is it the case that all the players are declared winners? 

To begin with, it is necessary to remember that equity and equality are absolutely different from each other as  concepts. True equality is not exactly allowed by Nature which is full of variety. In fact, Darwin's concept, too, despite its ethical lag, suggests a hierarchy of the weakest to the strongest! 'The survival of the fittest' is his theme song!

There is always a suspicion lingering at the the back of the entire procedure that by simplifying it for the huge majority, there is an indirect annihilation of the gifted by consciously demeaning them. When one insists that there cannot be any difference between climbing to the top of Parvati and Mount Everest, there is a demeaning of both, Mt Everest and the process of mountaineering. Excessive demand for eternal simplification could nip in the bud any demand for individual excellence which is the plinth of creativity, right? Beware of simplifiers and their sweet gobbledy gook talk of 'all are equal' because they  are, in the process, positing themselves as 'more equal'  to quote George Orwell's motto in the 'Animal Farm', a great mirror to society.

Pratima@ True, every flower is unique, each bird is special. They, however, are not equal, right?

Is this right?

 Since 10.30 p.m. on November 27, some funny, quite creepy sounds could be heard in the lane next to our home. Somebody was dragging something, some vehicle was repeatedly moving up and down. Suddenly, the vehicle would go away somewhere, though quite nearby. Soon it would return.

Generally, I do not keep the door open, surely not in winters, beyond 10 p.m. As it is, the main gate is forever locked, that, too, from inside. So I did not worry about safety, or any other fear factor as such. Yet is it right to create such an eerie feel? So much so that the eternally-screaming-at-night gangs of, I suppose, drunken louts were not making any silly noise!

Well, I guessed quite soon that the road was getting tarred. Is this the right time for heavy vehicles zooming up and down a lane? Is this the time for the workers screaming unnecessarily, and loudly at that? The vehicles making the mechanical sounds of changing the screeching gears and brakes, of driving forwards and backwards? Of trap doors banging shut and open?

Even now huge noises ( I am consciously pluralising an uncountable noun!) of the heavy vehicles, the engine whirring, the huge roller thundering on over the scrunchy gravel,  the hustle and bustle of the workers, their screaming are very much on, and right next to our gate. Sure there was not any notice of this night time work. What kind of efficiency is this that does not allow citizens a quiet sleep? Is this the proper work ethic? Is this right? What do you think?

Pratima@ There is (very much) (lot of ) sound and fury, to quote Shakespeare's Macbeth, but  signifying what?

A Unique Day

 November 26, or 26/11 as it is popularly known, is indeed a unique day. In India, it is celebrated as the Constitution Day. It was on this very day in 1950, the Indian Constitution was released. Its Preamble, which I had tried quite unsuccessfully to be included in the Compulsory English syllabus, once autonomy set in, can be considered the sum total of the entire treatise. Citizens who are not very fond of Social Sciences/Humanities, to which category most people belong, can read the one-page Preamble to get the gist of Indianness.

The day takes us back to the horrible attack on Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab and his gang. The sad saga, the sacrifices by the police, by the para-military forces, by the commandoes, by the Taj/Trident employees, by the Jewish inmates of the Chabad House, and the common man, with the famous Mumbai spirit, all deserve our deep  remembrances. A sad chapter in the history of post-independence India, it tragically, and, may be, maliciously, took place on the Constitution Day. 

This year, 26/11 turned out to be the tithi commemorating the Sanjeevan Samadhi of Sant Dnyaneshwar, a great philosopher-poet whose writings changed the course of the history of Maharashtra and of Marathi. The Bhakti Literature as well as Sampradaya/Sect owe their very inception to this great thinker. No wonder, he is known as the Emperor of Spiritual Enlightenment.

Obviously celebrated in various, mostly merely populist, ways, this unique day, too, ended with the latest excitement haunting the media of all types; namely, 'Kaun banega Maharashtra ka Mukhya Mantri, the C.M.?'

Pratima@For me, 26/11 has a sad association.

To begin with, the date '26' is the day Aai passed away in March, 2021. Every 26, I keep a fast in her memory, as on every 21, in Papa's. Tough to believe how time flies away at a supersonic speed.

As for 26/11, Manu, our cat, almost tore off my right arm and both hands on that day. She was hardly eighteen months old. Her mother had just left her, a kitten who was hardly three days old, in our home. Literally saved her from certain death.

 God alone knows what happened to her, but Ajmal was attacking people in the CST, and here she was mauling me most viciously as if possessed. According to the mavashi, who used to clean our vessels then, it was an Amavasya, the no-moon-night! I still have the marks of those  wounds, both physically and psychologically!

The win-win possibilities

 Maharashtra elections are always interesting. For a number of reasons.  This time, for example, it was a question of sheer existence for all the major parties. I am sure all of them worked hard. The BJP-led coalition won with a thumping majority.

So far so good! What I find quite funny is that the losing opposition parties and their voters/well-wishers are crying, nay, rather screaming, foul. The funniest argument is the EVM or the counting machine being faulty!

Well, simultaneously, the results of  Jharkhand as well as many other constituencies in other regions  were being declared, too! How cum technical glitches, hacking, wrong counting do not matter there? Why the 'l lose, therefore, you must lose, too' shenanigans each time the other (ruling) party conclave wins?

What applies to political processes holds true in the  real, lived, daily life as well. Even if the other  people, downright viciously ganging up to  snuff out your chances consciously, even if they indulge in the 'you must lose' rhetoric, instead of creating a huge hue and cry, it is better to learn from your own possible weak spots, quietly move on, and start afresh.

No use crying hoarse against their 'you must lose' ganging up against you. It is a sheer unfortunate trap which sure saps your energy most nefariously. There ARE zillion other channels to reach your innocent goals. Then why give the villains a chance to justify themselves? 

No, this is not 'the other cheek turning' technique. Rather, it is accepting the viciousness of those who 'hate you just like that only.' It is choosing to avoid them for your own peace and balance of mind. Limited is our stay on this earth. Why waste it on useless fights?

 Instead, better to work every nano-second on our own betterment which leads to a (now-) win-(and forever)win success story! The crooked victimisers would sooner, rather than later, get the deserved punishment for sure!

Pratima@ Why fight useless battles? Instead forever prepare for greater wars which give you the ultimate victory, on your own self, and on your own terms and conditions 

Tradition is the individual talent

 Have you read T S.Eliot's seminal essay? The title of our blog today is a take-off on its famous title. Tradition is indeed the individual element in each unique talent, says the Eliot essay. Let me give you an example. A danseuse-activist such as Mallika Sarabhai, for instance, could experiment as a dancer because she was deeply rooted in Bharat Natyam and Kuchipudi.

India has a great tradition artistically as well as philosophically. Indian aesthetics dates to Rishi Bharata whose "Natya Shastra", so to say, created the plinth for our dramaturgy, dance forms and music. Our great tradition, hence, of classical dance forms, of music, both Hindustani and South Indian and both oral and instrumental, are deeply steeped in the tradition which every individual artist interpretes uniquely.

So is our tradition of philosophy. The Vedas are not mere religious literature. In a way, they are the very source of how we think. As we have such a hoary tration, we can genuinely create new networks, new pathways to explore the eternal truths in every field, philosophy, wys of living, science to plastic arts, performing arts, aesthetics, architecture to sculpture, and so on.

Tradition need not be only for the classes. It is very much for the masses. The folk tradition has contributed hugely to our understanding of reality. In fact, it is argued that the seven notes of the classical music are rooted in the folk response to nature in all its manifestations. 

Sure every country, each civilisation would have its own holy tradition, and we can imbibe interesting aspects thereof into our arts, our world view. Tradition thus calibrates and celebrates the individual performance by relating it to a vaster canvas to which it can respond radically, nay negatively as well.

Let me give you an example from literature to prove my point. T. S. Eliot was not merely a critic; he was a great poet as well. He introduced 'free verse' which revolutionised poetry the world over. Yet Eliot maintained that the most unusual free verse is nothing but a distant ghost of the traditional verse forms!

In other words, tradition is the individual talent, and the vice versa, however confusing it may appear as a self-contradictory statement!

Pratima@ Why all this discussion? Well, currently is being celebrated the Heritage Week, and I was indeed lucky to have listened to great artists perform unique experiments rooted in tradition.

A medley

 Can a day be a medley? I guess so if the experiences the day delivered were varied, but had a single theme, a common thread. In that sense, this Saturday was a medley with the central note being contentment.

The feel of restful fulfillment revealed itself circa 3 p.m.-ish. By that time, the mandate was clear. Maharashtra voted for the Devendra Fadnavis led Mahayuti. It was a happy feel because it was a decisive mandate which Maharashtra needed.

Sure the BJP emerged the strongest which, too, was satisfying because it clearly shows the direction the voters want. It is a clarion call against divisive politics if the Karnataka mollification fiasco is any proof, and, more importantly, for development as promised by the P.M. Personally, moreover, it is my gut feeling that the BJP can be critiqued without a vitriolic backlash.

The clear mandate mattered the most for yet another reason. Now there would not be any horse trading! Given the extremely embarrassing post poll scenario in 2019 with its mix-n-match  mishmash that made Maharashtra politics  acutely volatile thence, such a clear stance by the voters indicates the path political parties must now chart. 

For the other two parties in the coalition, the mandate must matter, too, because in a way it seals their fractured identities. Hopefully now, Maharashtra politicians would honour the verdict the citizens provided by voting in a record break way.

I find the poll results significant for yet another reason. Sure there were the star speakers with their mass appeal. Yet, in my opinion, the ground swell was a creation of the very many vloggers whose passionate videos revealed the ground realities the mainstream media may not.

Well, I am not much of a party politics person. Hence now the real reason for calling the Saturday a medley. In the evening, I attended a great annual concert entitled ''Mitra Mahotsav". My colleague Gokhale Madam and her family are the concert organisers.

By a sheer yet wonderful chance, I could get to sit next to my colleague, Deshpande Madam. Well, that added to the secure safe feel. It is always great to find a friend in a huge gathering, otherwise faceless.

The large medley audience was moved by the superbly mellifluous performance by Jayanthi Kumaresh and R.Kumaresh. In a way, instrumental music is more evocative as it gives a free fillip to one's own imagination. 

As words  from a language that one may not understand are not present, the notes allow you to traverse your own meanings. The jugalbandi by the artist couple on the veena and the violin was everything that music should be, technical perfection and soulful rendering. Such was the magic their notes weaved that the Pune evening was majestically transported to the Mylapore Sangeet Sabhas exploring 'Tyagaraja krutis' that Chennai abounds with circa November-December.

The accompanying artists were masters as well. In fact, though there was not the usual ghatam, the mridangam and the tabla were great. I heard for the first time the other instument that accompanied the most melodious medley of raga's the couple presented. Most interestingly, the spell-binding performance was a medley because the "sur" accompanying artists, too, explored the "tal", literally miraculously.

What an evening indeed! A perfect potpourri of pure pleasure! No wonder, I found the day a medley of contentment.

Pratima@ The appeal of art is priceless.

Fame-n-life

 Yes, I have consciously written the title so as to sound like "famous life" as well as "fame-n-life". Why? Well, because I want to write about an interesting fact of life through a look at Indira Gandhi whose birth anniversary was celebrated recently.

On a group was shared a pic of her in the bloom of youth. Undoubtedly, she is 'priyadarshini' indeed. Obviously, extremely good-looking. What I liked the most about that youthful photo, must be in her late teens or early twenties, is the fact that in that pic, she is very shy and unassuming. There are absolutely no airs about her. 

That is the point I want to make in a way. Most often when it comes to famous people, most of us tend to forget that they, too, are human beings. Their 'fame' seems to blot out their 'life'. Everything about them is larger than life, rosier than the sky at the sunrise, and darker than the darkest sin. 

Actually, beyond, besides, and despite, their fame and name, they, too, lead a normal life, though this basic fact is often forgotten. On that very group was released a video of her wedding. In it, she is the typical young bride very much in love. There was this video of Rajiv Gandhi's marriage. In it, she is the typical flustered mother whose child is about to enter a new phase of life, the typical mother worried about the minutest most detail.

Yes, famous or otherwise, we are human beings first and foremost. Life, our careers therein, the often involved small or big compromises due to the chase after fame are just the same though the scale obviously is veeeery different. 

The moment we recognise this  essence, bitterness vanishes from perceptions. There IS a readiness to accept others as they are, not as what we perceive them to be. Of course, the famous, too, need to know and forever accept the boundaries of the 'normal'. Only then is true grace possible.

Pratima@The candid pics are the toughest to take, but they most beautiful 'art' to look at! My brother, Parag, is very good at such portraits, pics that portray the real self of the subject.

Big Brother is us watching!

 Have you read "1984", one of the greatest novels ever written? Its author, George Orwell, is one of my top most favourites for his honesty, authenticity and courage to stand up for principles. Every  word he writes is fragrant with his devotion to all that is genuine in this god-forsaken world.

In that dystopian "1984", Orwell introduces us to this 'Big Brother' whose ever watchful eyes seem to follow the hapless victims everywhere. My submission is that currently we are really  living that fictional nightmare, and every nano second. 

As it is, each time we use the internet, either for referencing or for e-mailing or for wapp-messaging, we leave an indelible trace. Every word we read, each site/sight we visit, we are scattering like the bird seed information about ourselves. All such data get mined in such a way that we are victimised by the prisons we thus make for ourselves.

This doubt of mine got strengthened due to a lecture I listened to in the evening. Well, I am attending an online faculty development programme organised by the UGC. Such attendance strengthens the c.v. and, moreover, keeps one abreast of the latest in the academia.

There was this lecture about technology and academics. First there was a reference to Google Earth. Blithely was it mentioned how thus is available a camera that can, like a drone, capture anything everywhere. In the hoo-ha that followed, it did not seem to occur to anyone nor matter much that thus is individual privacy, an impossible dream currently,  much infringed upon.

Next, there were discussions about how the ChatGpt and multiple other similar platforms (one of the most interesting though intriguing aspects of interactive (communication) technology is its infinite capability for endless repetitive doubling of functions!) get a teacher ready made lectures with the right writing of a prompt.

Everybody else, except me, found it wow, and wah-wah-ed it. How horribly bothersome, nay, downright dangerous, this is! Facetiously put, why would students attend any lecture at all as they, masters of such technology, can create with the ChatGpt, and types, any and every lecture, question paper, project possibility, and, in addition, ready-made answers to these! Given most syllabi, no HOTS are required to guess the prompts for all these!

Much worse than such kaput-ing of the teacher function is the fact that to such 'generated' material, there is not any validity nor authenticity. It is even much worse than the Google oriented copy-paste job for which people had to check at least a few sites. Such 'generated' material could, moreover, be downright wrong! Yet most teachers found it a panacea!

When I pointed out this lacunae, a huge problem, the expert had to agree to it. Most unhappily and pathetically he was asked by others how to check the authenticity to which the obvious answer had to be "check with/through books" which appeared disparaging to most.

Why the need to use technology to avoid hard work and genuine commitment to one's profession that should develop the learners' critical and creative abilities? How would that be possible through ChatGpt generated lectures, however 'smart' they might be? Why turn technology in to 'Nirali' guides? Would students, who can easily understand such sources, have any respect for their teachers?

In one of the colleges where I used to teach Eng Lit and other related papers, there was this senior professor (with all the attendant perks!ha!ha!ha!) who used to teach in the class with a guide, it seems. Students used to tell him the 'guide'  page number which he would fumble for after attending to a call on the mobile during the lecture. I had found all these stories impossible fiction. They apparently were facts. If students mocked such chicanery, what would they think of chat-gpt-ed lectures!?!

To begin with, the use of technology is always fraught with moral dilemmas. Especially for professions like teaching, huge ethical issues are involved because (in)directly the classroom creates human(e) beings. A classroom must sensitise, must teach critical analyses, must give unique insights, and not indulge in easy escapades, right? Why create/be created by Frankenstein's galore? That is the question!

Pratima@ Tesla Musk has already created not only self-driving cars but humanoids as well, that is, female robots who are perfection itself, and can give birth to genetically ideal babies with high intelligence and all health and/or beauty issues sorted out. Apparently, by 2026, these would be mass produced, moreover. Big brother is watching us all right, in our bathrooms, in the bedrooms, and in maternity wards!

'After'thoughts

 The voting process is finally over. The results, packed in the EVM, would soon be out. The guessing game has anyway begun. Some entertainment we have to have, given the difficult life, right?

As citizens though, is it enough to have voted, that, too, if at all your name was in the voters' list? Absolutely not! In a democracy, the citizenship duty does not begin and end with voting. It is necessary to participate in the democratic processes.

Yes, unlike the unorganised sector, we, the voters from the organised sector, religiously pay the income tax, not to mention the indirect versions thereof such as the GST as we insist on the receipt on every purchase. As we use the online payment mode often, we do help in the transparency of the financial processes as well.

What is far more important is to keep a check on the execution of the vision the political parties promised. Easy it is in a way because the proceedings of the Lower and Upper Houses are aired on various channels these days. 

In a way though, extremely difficult is political participation. Almost till the nineties, in the public sphere, demonstrations, sit-in's were the norm. Now a days, very rare is such social awareness. Unfortunately, moreover, if used at all, such proceedings are extremely biased and party-politics-motivated. To pull down someone is the goal. Never is it to empower the common man, the ordinary citizen.

Do not believe me? Okay, find out how often the common man demonstrated for better roads, for instance? The corollary is equally true. There is road rage just because someone overtook someone. How often do citizens insist on the lane discipline while driving a car or riding a bicycle? Signals are meant for jumping, right? Roadside curbs are public spittoons, right? How does it matter that the COVID virus silently keeps mutating?

In other words, it is not enough to vote once for all and forget for the next five years. We, the citizens, must participate in the civic proceedings in a creative and transformative way, right?

Pratima@Like citizens, like rulers!

Voting

 Voting is a great event. It is highly exciting. In fact, it gives an adrenaline rush to us, the otherwise non-descript citizens. As upper middle class people, we are hardly the demogaugic candidates to fall prey to the non-veg-n-liqueur apparently freely flowing in the ghettos, the zopadpatti's, the night before. 

As intellectuals, nor are we prone to the sarees or any other freebies. In other words, we choose to cast our votes not for any personal profit. Neither do we care for the empty caste castigations. We want to elect a government that cares for our genuine demands for a wonderful nation, for our self-respect as free, independent citizens. 

An election gives us the right to elect a government dedicated to development. We vote for a party, for a candidate who understands the contemporary contexts. We can through our votes empower thus a better state, the best country committed to sustainable goals that promise the win-win growth and togetherness of all.

Voting, the basis of democracy, is as old as Greece. In modern times, it is late seventeenth century when democracies were thus enabled. The fight for the voting rights for women, for the black community, in brief, the empowerment through voting has a long history. Hence the need to exercise this right which was exercised by almost half the world this year.

Every vote counts. When we vote, we define definit(iv)ely the contours of the future of the entire polity. Thus the need to cast the vote most sensibly, and at any cost, a duty as a citizen. Hence, in May 2024, i felt very bad when my name was struck off the voters' list most surprisingly.

 In our lane, the only name missing was mine. Even people who had died a decade ago had their names present as eligible voters! I immediately wrote to the Election Commission. This time, when I tried to complete the form, repeatedly I got the message that I am already a registered voter. Looking forward, in brief, to tomorrow!

Pratima@ I love the colour blue. Hope my thumb would tomorrow thus get impressively inked!

Kindness

 Recently was celebrated a day dedicated to kindness. That made me think more and more. What exactly is kindness? Does that appear to be a very easy question? Well, I do not think so at all. In my opinion, it is a truly tough question.

Most people associate kindness with exhibition of gooey sympathy. There would be a tender tale trembling on their tip of their tongues about saving a small kitten shivering in the cold. Sure it is a good deed. Is it kindness though?

Is kindness empathy? Sure this is a better definition. It involves trying to be right, in the shoes of the afflicted. In a way, thus it includes looking at the reality from the perspective of the 'other', the victim, the down and the out.  Yet is that a complete definition of kindness?

Kindness in my opinion is tougher than mere sentimentality. Kindness involves a principled taking of responsibility till the receiver of one's kindness can stand firmly on his/her feet. Kindness is my opinion is not sentimental because such sensitivity is subtly stroking one's own ego.

As true kindness is ethical and principled, often it involves, no, not cruelty, but surely strictness. I suppose such a path is inevitable because there is always a destination, a goal to true kindness. Unnecessary detours are hence just not allowed even if such a stance may not appear very senti. Yet it is truly sensitive and sensible, i think.

Want examples? Look at the way good parents bring up a child. There are not any excessive concessions to the silly tantrums. There is a strict set of standards,  right? Yet another example could be a guru training a disciple, whichever may be the field. 

Yet another example could be an artist, be it author or a musician or a painter. The artist is kind to himself/herself and to the art. In the process, whether it be the practice session or the actual performance, there are no indulgences, no easy escapades of the temptations variety,  no dalliances away from the set path, however unique, challenging, unexplored, leading to the defined goal. 

Ask an author how much she weeds out from the page before it satisfies her a little. There is always a lot of self-critique which may not exactly be kind to one's own self. In brief, true kindness is not easy simplistic sentimentality. Tough is true kindness!

Pratima@True kindness blooms out of genuine concern!

 

Deadly Disease

 Oh, no, the title need not delude you. No, the blog is not going to be about the dis-ease called poisonous people. They sure are not worth so much thought. Period.

The blog today is about a silent killer which is hence a deadly disease. Unfortunately, India is soon going to be the epicenter of its volcanic spread. The statistics is already quite frightening. Apparently, one in every threesome is a victim of diabetes.

Diabetes has no surface manifestations. It destroys from within, and all the centrally important organs. It consists of insulin resistance. In a way, it is a life style induced dis-ease as well. Loads of psychological stress, fast food, irregular work hours, lack of exercise, addictions of all sorts result in this dis-ease.

Once detected, it requires life time medication and regulated food habits. It is not life threatening though. With proper care, normal and long life is possible for a diabetic patient. Type II is more rampant, though Type I attacks very early in life.

Its hypoglycemic version, less sugar in the blood stream, is more dangerous than the hyper- type which can easily be controlled with proper medication and regular tests. Well, facetiously it can be said that diabetes proves how dangerous it is to be sweet inside, from within!

Pratima@The disease is deadly for two reasons; namely, the prolonged medication has side effects for one thing. It may be inherited, moreover.

Well, I have a terrific, rather terrible, sweet tooth. I cannot live without sweets which I can gobble up by quintals. On Aai's side, everybody is a diabetic patient. Well, when the monthly test shows my sugar at 98 tops, for me, it is a sign that 'God is his heaven/ and all is well with the world,' to quote Browning.