Worth remembrance

 March 8 is the day women are showered with praise, hugely, in heaps and heaps. Literally, women are drenched in admiration on March 8. On this day, it is as if womanhood is born free and perfect.

There was this lovely message which maintained that at least on this day deserve the martyrs' mothers and wives warm remembrance and deep respect. In my opinion, these martyrs could be from the pre-Independence or post-Independence stage.

Sure, during the Freedom Struggle, women entered the public space. It was Gandhiji's contribution during the "Quit India" movement. Some of them like Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi became  noteworthy as the female faces of the Freedom Struggle.

Equally worth devotion and respect are the mothers and wives of freedom fighters in the first phase of the Independence Struggle. How about Lokmanya's wife? How about  Swatantrya Veer Sawarkar's wife and sisters-in-law? How about Bhagat Singh's mother? How about Batukeshwar Dutt's wife who under disguise saved Bhagat Singh's life? 

The men in their lives were every which way lost to the public sphere which completely corroded the private spaces of these women. Yet like the hundreds and thousands of women who entered the nation-al arena circa the Quit India movement, these remarkable women hugely, though silently, contributed to the Freedom struggle in its earlier phase.

Similarly, post-Independence, the women in the families of the army/air force/ navy men who served our nation, protected us so that most of us could live a cosy, comfy life also deserve our deep gratitude. To give you a not-much-noticed example, the COVID stopped our lives.

 But the valiant merchant navy officers sailed the seven seas so that there could be some movement of goods and raw materials of all sorts. Like the police and doctors, these bravehearts, too, deserve our deep respects. Hence our family is very proud of my shippy brother, Parag/Raju, who is now training even girls to become superb shippy officers, cadets to captains!

Long live such unsung but unique memories!

Pratima@ There was this lovely message which stated that the day, when a woman, all alone,  walking down a lonely dark lane is not considered a prey, a liability, but rather a responsibility, would be the real women's day! Absolutely!! In the meantime, let us take care of ourselves every which way!!!

It is that time of the year yet again!

 March 8! Yes, it is that time of the year yet again. Do I sound a little cynical? Well, I know and I do not know. It is the best of the times and it is the worst of the times to quote Dickens. What do I mean by such confusing confounding statements? Well, since yesterday afternoon, I have been getting on women's groups, too, messages either of fulsome flattery, praising women to skies or of the 'twenty percent reduction for a facial' variety. Am I confused!

In my personal opinion, if there is any genuine need for observing the day, it IS now.  Why? Well, look at the speed and the access of the technology. Any fool can use his mobile to take/edit a pic, to edit conveniently what you said/did not say! A drone camera, easily available/accessible can tamper privacy like anything. 

Much worse, technology such as the A. I. is sure to have a negative impact on the job market. The effect would most adversely be felt by women. Sure new jobs would come up. The skill sets for these are not easy though.

Still worse would be the case of the huge number of aging women. Circa the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, I presented a paper in the JNU about the depiction of aging women in the media and how it affects the societal prejudices. The situation is much worse now, especially because the percentage of the senior citizens is exponentially growing, while support systems are diminishing.

In such a scenario, Gen Z, Y, X, Alpha, or whatever, has a space that, too, is shrinking on multiple levels. May be, to overcome such malaise, are there the rosy tints of free facials? 

No, no, I do not have any major complaints against the government. Yes, there are many a welfare measures being conscientiously taken. Yet the very numbers are staggering, right? Unfortunately, moreover, neither the young nor the society in general seem to mind the consumerist/capitalist dumbing down of the day in to a silly celebration either of the 'reduction in hair/facial treatment' or of the usual plethora of the same speeches on the same themes the same way!

I am a born optimist though. I am sure, solid solutions would emerge, and, of course, in my own small but genuine way, I shall bear the birthing pains!

Pratima@ Nobody can stop the evolution of an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo would sure forgive me the changes I made to his great quote. 

Clean Energy

 What is clean energy? Let us look at it from two perspectives. The first one would be an individual oriented look, while the second one would be the societal-enviornmental one.

What is 'clean energy' when it comes to an individual? Sure it has to be the cleanliness of methods, modes, materials he/she uses. More than that, it means the cleanliness of purpose. If an individual's motives are clean, such an individual would have a clean aura, a clean energy.

I would like to maintain that to achieve any goal, a given purpose in life, such clean energy is indeed an asset, nay, the basic most requirement. A society which has many such individuals would have a clean ethos, too.

These days, however, such spiritual-ethical definition of cleanliness is not enough. In the pursuit of material pleasures, man has so vitiated the actual physical environment that an actual, reality-rooted definition of clean energy is necessary.

Such a definition would but 'naturally' avoid the excessive use of petrol/diesel. Mining, which has now reached even the sea beds, would be suspect, too. Instead clean alternatives which lead to a sustainable growth would be preferred. 

Which would they be? A battery operated vehicle is sure better than the one with  petro/diesel engine. For the battery generation/operation, however, emerge requirements such as mining of metals, their purification, and so on. These processes, too, pollute!

What then would be clean energy? It can be solar energy, for instance. Once I watched a video of a jugad by a mofussil man who had managed to craft from junk a solar cycle which could carry seven people! It was absolutely functional, moreover. 

Such experiments could be made more refined/sophisticated. In India, there IS a huge attempt to harness the solar energy  as an alternative to current modes of electrification. Water, wind, waves, these are other natural resources of clean energy.

Each of these, however, has its own innate limitations as re-sources of energy. In other words, energy, if it has to be truly clean, has to purified at the real source, that is, the excessive human consumption. 

If and only if human beings stop excessive self-indulgences of all sorts, energy can ever be truly clean. Such a process would involve both, sacrifices of selfishnesses of many modes and a societal better structuring at the governance level as well.

Let me give a simple example to prove this point. Instead of individual cars that pollute, that cause horrid traffic jams, citizens should use public transport which in turn must be clean, neat, punctual, pleasant which would be the duty of societal and governance structures.

In brief, whatever may be the level, individual or societal, pure is what pure does! 

Pratima@ To be clean/pure, to remain clean/pure, too, have their own price, though worth the cost!

Many an idle song

 Those of us who love literature, especially English literature, would know the blistering satires Alexander Pooe wrote. He wrote open all the warts and wounds that the genteel society knows how to hide behind thick skins. 

One wonders how many versions and editions of  "An Essay on Criticism" and "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot"  (from whence comes the title of our blog today) he would have penned in the current context! Why so? Well, being an author is indeed getting apparently easier, but actually terribly tougher, by the day!

Oh, yes, all possible ChatGPT types pose a unique problem. Any theme, any form, nothing is an anathema to the A.I. It can concoct any text of any length in a jiffy. It can, moreover, provide its alternative the next minute.

The problem is that genuine creativity is hence totally lost, like Hansel and Gretel, with thick, knotty jungles everywhere, with no bread crumbs to guide you back to safety! Let us count a few which-es (who said 'witches'? Sure I did not!) that make the journey an absolute impossibility.

To begin with, yes, in every Wapp, alias whatsapp, group, whether it be family or friends, you are sure to find a poet too many (in the making). All of them think that rhyme, however far-fetched, makes poesy!

If that is not enough, there are (m)any numbers of online self-publication sites. You pay them a certain amount, and, voilà, in no time, they make you a BOOK! Yes, a BOOK, you read it right! The theme can be anything and everything, meditative, life advice, how- to-type's; the mode can be anything, poetry to research paper, a book is/gets ready-made! 

Such sites (and their entrepreneurial owners out to make monies, eh, writing) advise you about the designing, book cover, blurb, all in the package. Why, they are even ready to ghost-write it for you, and, wonder of wonders, they CAN make it the chart-buster, and for weeks, too. The 'password' is money, money, and money. Everything is indeed 'rated' in all the senses of the term! 

People pay to get their 'research' published. To begin with, they pay to get it written! I was asked to ghost-write a few Ph.D's. Now they would rather request such publishers who would never outright reject, unlike me. Rather, these days, the AI might be the re-searcher. Who knows? Sure it is already so at the UG level!

Equally tough to bear is the senti silly stuff on the blogs and the FB. I am saved because I am not on the insta and/or X! How to tell anyone that fluff is NOT good stuff! Sweet sweet cute cute concoctions cause blisters, please!

Let us not even mention the pop culture. Everybody is a rapper these days! So much so that in one of my German classes, I had to concoct an instant one so that my wow students could remember numbers through rhythm!

Well, *All the very best to all the poetasters as Pope would call them* . Well, writing is indeed not cooking up 'many an idle song.' Writing IS truly serious stuff. It is tough. There is no fairy mommy or sugar daddu to help you out. 

Writing wraps your brain to begin with. It pries open your heart, and has your soul in a wrench, whether it is creative stuff or re-search. It strains your eyes, moreover, because you can write well if and only if you READ a lot.

 And forget not the re-draft! In your mind's eye, every alphabet you concoct appears like a gem. On the paper/laptop screen though, you would realise that it is not even a broken bangle piece which would at least be colourful. Writing, in brief, is not an idle song! It IS heart/hard work! 

Oh, my creative angst/ my worries Thou  infer canst/let my words be blest/let times forever them test/taste!

Pratima@Writing need not be heavy. It can be very simple language. The central idea, however, must be complex. Only then do you write, and, that, too, okay-ish! Self-reflexivity is indeed a great virtue!

Cruelty, thy name is the brutish behaviour day in and night out

 Everyone, especially the regular vloggers, youtubers and podcasters, and hence their regular readers/subscribers, each one of them, is talking about the cruel murder, which is a terrible shame, rightfully leading to a resignation.

Why such cruelty? Apparently, there seem to be all sorts of reasons such as political clout of a certain inclination, caste rivalry, monetary demands, gangsterism, and so on.

Personally though, I think that basically most people have become brutal, have turned non-normal, have got desensitised. Harassing somebody is 'time pass', a fun game leading to huge enjoyment, for most people these days. Targetting a person, the better he/she is than you especially, and even in general, is a regular pastime. Whatever happened at Massajog is just an inevitable extension of such sick mentality of the "wat laga di" variety.

Let me give a few examples to prove that the societal mindset is thus degraded. In the so-called intellectual circles, for example, a person, who can grant you even the smallest, the tiniest favour, is always right. The bootlickers know perfectly very well that their lady "aka" ( a favourite term these days), what is lady-like about her though cannot be found even under a mighty microscope, is absolutely mean, a nasty power-monger allied to a political leader with a history of everything questionable.

Believe me, even such career politicians would blush if the activities of the 'great' souls in academics and/or creative/intellectual circles were to be equally well-known. But boot-licking continues unashamedly! Try uttering a sentence against their pet peeves, and the entire mafia is out with verbal knives which are worse than the actual weapons. Their Trump behaviour, equally lacking in subtlety,  is indeed worth a watch.  

Yet another tiresome entity is the so-called rejected lover. If an adult man, if he can indeed be so called, has anything approaching heart, would he gossip about his 'love' from the rooftop to the whole world? Most interestingly, you would have never ever seen the creep with the woman in question. 

He would have never moved his small toe an inch to help her, while dishing out great help to absolute meanies because they helped him in covering up his ugly life and horrible escapades. In fact, such a cad is up to horrible character assassination of the hapless victim so that his ugly family life gets covered up. To hide the very many skeletons at home, he releases all sorts of ridiculous canards.

Similarly, let a relative manage for you a job you absolutely do not deserve, and, voilà, you are his lifetime bounden slave, a vassal ready to murder metaphorically, of course, because you would not even have that much brain otherwise. 

Constant competition, jealousy, meanness, viciousness, hatred, ganging up in a creepy way, spreading sick, silly rumours, neighing a mocking smirk, meaningless taunting, the cheap list is endless. Sure, these are 'mean', in both senses of the term, tendencies. Currently, however, the cheap chorus is at a cruel crescendo. For a cup of tea and a vada-pav, an entire army of  fools can harass an absolutely  innocent victim. 

Kindness, goodness, gentleness, decency, honesty, integrity are noteworthy currently because of their minimal most presence! People think that mocking, jeering, deceiving, lying do the trick!! Well, there IS justice in this vast Universe!!!

Pratima@In Orwell's "1984", there is a precise, distilled image of all such inhumanity, a heavy boot forever crushing a face! Sick, barbaric brutality cannot have a better image.

www=world wild way

 Do you love watching 'Animal Planet'? Do you like the FB groups about the various safaris? Is it the case that if you see a pic or a video about any form of wild life, birds, animals, trees, you cannot scroll by? If your answer to any or all of these questions is a 'yes', here is a metaphorical handshake.

I love the wild life with its unique sights, sounds, scents, and silences. In my opinion, however, wild life does not merely mean the lions, the tigers, the elephants, the polar bears, and all the other exotic fauna. Sure they matter a lot. In my opinion, however, equally important is the flora in the wilderness. 

Let me give you an example to prove my point. If the bear is to survive, honey in the beehives is important. For a beehive to thrive, bees would require certain plants, specific trees with their unique flowers. See how the wild life is a life cycle, where the whole includes every part, and each part feeds in to the larger whole. No wonder, in the olden days, rishis preferred teaching and meditating in the wilderness!

It is this symbiotic communion, total rapport, fraternal inter-dependence with a truly social feel that binds the wild life together, right? Hence, earlier, human beings used to maintain 'devrai', a sacred space dedicated to the wild life every which way. Unfortunately, however, after destroying the primeval hinterlands,  human habitats are mostly mere jungles, nasty, mean, brutish in its total 'i, me, my' vacantness. No wonder, an Emerson, a Thoreau preferred the 'wanopnishad', the sacred praise dedicated to the forests, away from the non-/in-human jungles, called cities, contaminated every which way.

If we are to survive, we have to follow the www. No, no, not merely the 'world wide web', but the 'world wild way' as well. Let us preserve, conserve, and deserve a 'wild'er tomorrow! Happy World Wild Life Day!

Pratima@ How to make that jungle called human habitat in to a fantastic forest; that is the question!

Oh, yes, we hardly know enough about that wilderness called the seas and the oceans where actually once upon a time long long long long ago, life began. Let us not make the seabeds in to our 'waste'-lands!

The Zelensky (in) Shambles

 "Behind closed doors" was quite a key phrase in Maharashtra politics circa 2019. It appears as if this phrase might have been rather relevant in the current America-Ukraine face-off. Actually, when two presidents meet, all the details of the possible interview are threadbare discussed by the foreign ministers, and other such officers as the consul, etc,  behind 'closed doors'. Every mo(ve)ment is finely orchestrated and monitored.

Hence that surprise called the Zelensky fiasco which leaves the wrecked and wretched Ukraine more and more in shambles. Actually, till Trump won, Zelensky was openly attacking him in the Democratic conventions. So sure he was of the Kamala Harris candidature. In addition, he had already thrice avoided inking the deal. Obviously, behind closed doors, Trump, Vance, and the Aids must have decided to teach him a lesson.

It was pure theatrics, " good television"  as Trump stated openly.  He was perfectly successful in showing (off) that he cares for peace and the American interests, given his tough stance which translates to "treasure only if and only if ceasefire", that, too, as per the American terms and conditions. His voters are thus shown how he is not splurging unnecessarily the ordinary American tax-payer's hard-earned money. 

It could have been a warning to Europe, too. EU nations, mostly in shambles themselves, cannot help Ukraine without America's help. Messers Trump, Vance and Co. are perfectly aware of this reality. Hence the open insult and ill-treatment of Zelensky who was presented poorly as pressurising for the Third World War.

Well, Zelensky pouted, threw a tantrum like a kid. Immediately he rushed to Fox TV ( of all!) to complain and carp. He cut a rather sorry figure for his beleaguered country where impeachment may await him! 

The moral of this fiasco is that in contemporaneous international relations what matters is the insular interests, mostly monetary. The mighty America, which is so much demurring regarding weapons to Ukraine, is comfortable with the arms deals with the Middle East! Words like democratic ideals et al are, in brief, mere salad dressing!

Pratima@Sure Zelensky stood his ground regarding the "suit" stuff. Beyond that, he played in to the American hand by trying to tell Trump how the "ocean" can be no safety measures which led to Trump literally roasting him! No wonder, one remembers the Kissinger quote, viz; "enmity with America is dangerous, friendship fatal!"

All are equal

"All are equal." Yes, that is basically the theme of the 'No Discrimination Day' celebrated on March 1. It is an initiative by the U.N. In our world marked by very many differentiations, such a day is indeed necessary.

What all discriminations are created by the power hungry 'i'diots. Yes, behind all discriminations stands a bullying 'I'. Such an aggressive 'I' trying to belittle others, and trying to keep all things plum  for self, relatives and friends, is often hidden behind a very so-called-progressive facade. 

This mask falls/fails, and the real ugly power hungry and self-centred face shows up the moment there is an imaginary scratch on their so-called self-importance. You cannot ask such people a simple question. It appears a threat to them. The entire gang would be up in arms against you! 

Such people, who would comfortably compromise behind the scenes to get, and to hold to themselves and to those of their ilk, the utmost power and every possible centrality, would always wear the cloak of fraternity, freedom, liberty and equality!

Hence the need of the "no discrimination" day which marks the rejection of any differentiation on the basis of colour, creed, class, caste, region, religion, language or gender. 'Give respect and get respected' is the simple slogan that summarises this unique day much needed in the world today so that nobody turns out to be "more equal".

Pratima@ Chandra Shekhar Azad, whose death centenary was recently celebrated, insisted, " enemies' bullets we would face/free we were, independent we remain." Such a 'born, bred and stay free' attitude questions all possible discriminations, right?

The Art of Science

 Oh, no, do not worry! Do not think, please, that just because  it is the National Science Day, I am going to fulminate on how the Newton-ian optical principles were reflected in Wordsworth's celebration of the rainbow. Believe me though when I insist that the traditional view which looks at the Romantic poets in a very non-/un-scientific paradigm is absolutely wrong. 

It is very easy to establish the connect between the Romantics and the contemporaneous developments in science. Remember, "Frankenstein'', the first ever science fiction in the whole world, was written by Mary Shelley in the beginning of the nineteenth century, a beehive of multiple scientific and technological developments.

Why then the title of our blog? Is that your question? Well, my contention today is that science and art are not diametrically opposite, are not mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, the popular binary treats them so. Rational science versus intuitive art is the silly prejudice nurtured over centuries.

Believe me though when I insist that science and literature, in fact, most plastic arts, are two sides of the same coin. Why do I say so? Well, both begin with imagination and inspiration. Scientists, too, enjoy that 'frenzy of imagination'  Shakespeare or Coleridge  talks about. Often we have read about how this or that scientist found the perfect solution to an impossible problem through the epiphany of a reverie.

Next, both use the royal road of the perception for the Eureka  moment. The  perception tools, touch, taste, et al are tools of both, right? Well, both can make or mar an individual or a society. Multiple examples can be given to support my statement.

Are there any differences? Yes, undoubtedly. Science, and its offspring, that is, technology are value-neutral. The duo is in fact a-moral. Literature, on the other hand, is deeply ethical in its search of the meaning of the perceived reality, and beyond.

Well, whatever be their differences, I love them both immensely. Though literature is my oxygen, I try to keep myself abreast in the sciences. Believe me, in brief, beyond binaries exist excellent expanses!

Pratima@In my opinion, science teaches you the ultimate humility because it tells you that the reality we understand is limited by our current paradigms. Let the paradigm shift, expand, evolve a bit, and new worlds emerge. Einstein expanded the Newton-ian world view beyond belief. Now, not even the A.I. knows what it can attain!

Oh, yes, performing arts like music and dance, too, are mathematical. But  let us discuss this issue  some other time!