Translation trounced!

  September 30 is the Translation Day, celebrated the world over. What can be our catchiest slogan for the day? Well, it has to be, "Translation is a trade! Translation is dead!" Quite provocative for sure is this proclamation, right? Let us open it up. 

Why say "translation is dead"? Well, the Google, amongst many other, and online, machine translators, is getting better and better, and more accurate by the day. The "vodka is there, but meat is missing" kind of joke-y translation of " the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" is passe now. 

These days technical (that is, engineering, medicine, pharmaceutical, legal, commercial, et al) translations can easily be executed online! Why, one of my students, when asked how he manages to make do with a foreign language when he bunks so many classes under the pretext of the NCC, et al, was "cool" enough to very kindly, and rather blithely, explain to me, "Every Android has a goggle lens, Ma'am"! Others chipped in to explicate it further, "Ma'am, we divide the pages amongst ourselves"!  Digital natives, you know! 

As if that is not enough, now we have the AI! Famous Marathi authors declare proudly that the AI wrote poems on them! Quite possible, tho' I would not know! I do not use the AI, but I do know perfectly very well that with the right prompt and enough data (actually the data size is already huge beyond belief), the AI can manage anything apparently impossible! 

Why else do you think everybody is in to ppt-production on such a large scale, and for every theme/thing under the sun! In a jiffy the AI manages, it seems, any ppt that otherwise would take weeks of referencing, and actual ppt-making!

Now the other half of the slogan, translation as a trade! Everybody apparently believes that in the age of the social media, nobody reads. That, however, is not true. There is a demand, not only in the mofussil area, but even in cities, for the DIY, the LIT books.

DIY refers to 'do it yourself', while LIT does not have anything to do with literature. Rather it abbreviates 'learn it yourself'. Comfortably, two or three editions of translations of non-fiction books that talk about the psychology of money, philosophy of relationships, sociology of success, economics of cricket, et al, get sold! 

How about textbooks, is that your question? Well, in today's era of skill development, people 'management' matters, you know. And, for the rest of it, if anything is there at all, you have "Perplexity", and the other such AI types! 

Forget all this cynicism though. Actually, there is a huge need of translating sensitive, intelligent books that build bridges because there are enormous  prisons such as identity politics, ideological differences, religious/regional/linguistic/gender differences that are locking up human beings. Such 'categorical imperatives', as Immanuel Kant would name them, are both 'hedge-y' and hazy enough!

In a larger and truer sense, translation is actually a tool for 'transnation'. Indeed, if continental  countries like ours, which are multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-regional, multi-religious, are to survive, translation is the need of the hour. 

In addition to translating from English and other foreign languages in to the regional language, the other way round process as well as translating from Marathi in to Hindi, and vice versa, for example, are absolute necessities. So-called intellectuals, however, are busy prioritising Urdu over Hindi, or rather rarely, vice versa, as it is not chic enough! 

Huge necessity is there of inter-semiotic translation, too, given our 'media'-ted days. Who cares for a sincere, serious approach though? So long as you publish any stuff pleasing your friends, and 'well-wishers' in the process, who cares for quality anyways!?! The Tower of Babel prevails! Amen! 

Pratima@Without any posturing any which way, there is a need for translating from Sanskrit, for instance. Who bothers though? Without any knowledge of the actual realities (why, Dr. Ambedkar indeed wanted Sanskrit to be the National Language!),  people are busy declaring it a classical, even a dead (not to forget the favourite Bramhinical blame) language! They would sing paeans to Persian or even a tone-language like Mandarin, but they must downplay Sanskrit! Hobby horses are easy to ride! 

Daughters' Day!

 September 28 is a day dedicated to daughters. Daughters sure have come a long way. Many families these days do not "mind it", in fact, many might be happy, too, to have a daughter as their only 'issue' as Indian English puts it. "Mind it", to use the Indianism again, 'issue' in this context does not mean a problem, but a child. It is well-known even in small towns that the father determines the gender of the foetus, even if not many may know exactly and/or precisely about the decisive 'Y' chromosome.  

Not only is female infanticide comparatively much less, daughters sure are enjoying a better ambience, if not exactly a level field. Daughters do have a better representation in the workforce, though not many may get a permanent job with all the perks, et al. Sure the glass ceiling does exist. Women who reach higher echelons are still mostly merely representative, and somebody's somebody! Yet there is at least unmistakable horizontal spread, even though not much vertical growth. 

Undoubtedly, tough times might have minimised. Even in city ghettoes or in rural areas, daughters are getting basic education. They are getting the benefits of many an advantageous social reforms. There have been transformative measures such the Triple Talak Act, 2019 which indeed are game-changers. Houses are now registered in women's names, daughters have a share in parents' property, for instance.

Daughters, in brief, have indeed come a long way.  Their difficulties have not decreased, though. There is rampant sexual harassment. Due to the social media, and now the AI, it is assuming weirder forms, moreover. There are dowry deaths, rapes, all the usual culprits!

Much worse is the anti-women attitude hardening  due to the Delhi fridge kind of cases (headstrong daughters as a menace), for instance.  Given the significant rise of crime against men, the Bangalore case to the blue drum case or the Meghalay honey moon case, more and more is the perception that daughters are dangerous, especially because of their meddlesome maternal families. Silly stand up jokes and stupid comedies vitiate the atmosphere further and more. 

In other words, daughters, and their lot, are no longer derailed, even if not every sphere of growth and development enjoys a supersonic speed. Well, social structures, societal attitudes do change . They have a unique pace though. When they proceed one step ahead, they regress two steps backward!

Pratima@ Sad, however, it is to witness how daughters, who now have wider horizons, are wasting it all as slaves of consumerism! Fashion, food, fads, fun, frolicking through awful reel-making, Gen Z 'attitudes' are just that, attitudinizing, all froth and no solid substance! 

Standing tall!

 Our blog dated Sept. 28 ended with my unhappiness about the post match celebrations. This morning, I read about the stand of the team. I appreciate greatly Surya Kumar Yadav, the skipper, donating his entire series fees to the welfare of the Indian army and the Pahalgam victims.

 Yes, I feel vindicated. No, this is absolutely not targetting in any way. It is standing up to bullies. It is standing by principles that are human(e) and irrevocable. It is standing ovation! It is standing tall. Truly, absolutely!

Pratima@A stand is a stand is a stand!

Truly unique weekend indeed!

 This weekend, September 27 and 28, is indeed unique. Want to know why? Well, Sept 27 marks the birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He was indeed a "radical". Surely, everybody would have to accept this truth, given his dedicated role in the Indian freedom struggle. 

Undoubtedly, the assembly bomb case clearly shows that the revolutionaries' intention was not to hurt anyone, not even the victimising colonisers. The bomb was thrown in the vacant passageway. The purpose was to make the deaf colonisers listen to genuine grievances.

Here was a young man who could sensitise an entire nation even when incarcerated in the cruellest way. His fast unto death against the vicious treatment meted out to other young political prisoners made the Indian freedom struggle truly vibrant. 

Not only was he a committed patriot, but he was also a revolutionary thinker. I read up a lot of his writings, translated in to Hindi by his nephew, for an article on the occasion  of the centenary year of his birth. My article was written for the then "Kirloskar"  magazine. If he were to live longer, may be, the vibrant picture of the independent India that he had visualised would have come true. 

Now let us come to the other reason which explains why the second day of this weekend is special. Yes, September 28 is the birth anniversary of Lata Mangeshkar. She gave to the silver screen a voice that was truly golden. Such were her soulful renditions of all possible varieties of songs that it could be said that she accorded filmy music the gravitas of a classical 'mehfil'. 

To commemorate this unique weekend, let us discuss her rendition of "Vande Mataram", the national song which celebrates its hundred and fiftieth year in 2025. Truly, it evokes in the utmost heart-felt way the continent that is our country. We are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-regional, multi-lingual. Yet tying us together is our civilisational Indic identity that is evocatively celebrated in this song. 

It is penned by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel " Anandmath" which depicts the "Sanyasi Rebellion", an upheaval against the East India company against the backdrop of the terrible 1770 Bengal famine. 

Latadi's most moving rendition of the song is in the eponymous film, "Anandmath". I have watched the visualisation of the song as depicted in the film, and as much available on the YouTube. The visuals clearly show why this is a soul stirring national song . 

Latadi sings it with the same intense passion as her "eh, mere watan ke logo". In fact, it is sung with more fervour and genuine intensity.  Apparently the raga is Bhairavi, though there are, it seems, many more classical versions of the song. Hemant Kumar's music direction is uplifting indeed. Listening to it is an absolutely stirring experience. Hence this tribute to the brilliant song to celebrate this special weekend. 

Pratima@ As I am about to finish off the blog, there are crackers bursting, celebrating a cricket match win! These days when every ball and each run in a match is most often a bet, it is such a shame that there is a celebration of a series, forget the final match, that actually should have been boycotted, given the very tragic and extremely vicious and dastardly Pahalgam attack hardly five months ago!

 What must be the feelings of the relatives of the victims! Feel truly happy that greats like Bankim Chandra and Bhagat Singh are not alive/around to witness this moral degradation! 

Empowering Education?

 As we celebrate the "Devi" during the 'Navaratr", we pray to all of her incarnations, be it Kali, be it Laxmi. As an academic, and even otherwise, as per our family priorities, perceptions and proclivities which have shaped me, I adore Devi Saraswati. 

I find everything about her image gorgeous. Her mild demeanour, her unmistakable brilliance, her gentle goodness are my ideals, too. She is kindly unified with Nature, too. The peacock, her vehicle, is unbelievably beautiful, and truly independent. It can never be domesticated. Like imagination, like intelligence, like creativity!

As Navratr Shashthi and Saptami are closely related to  Devi Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and education (in many states, a child is taught the rudiments of script/alphabet on the sixth day of the Navratra), I want to make the following observations. My comments are based on the stark realities of the tertiary stage of education. Could be true of the earlier stages as well. I do not know enough as i have never taught at these levels.  

 Currently the talk is centered around soft skills, right? These people skills are sure power skills. They are supposed to inculcate work ethic, leadership qualities, time management, collaborative style, et al. Superb, great! Well, given the doubting Thomas ever awake within me, I feel a certain unease! 

Are students' presentations/assignments/submissions any proof of the mature self that should thus emerge as they are in their very late teens and/or early twenties? Sadly, the answer is a resounding "no". Credit-crazy, they  seem to believe in the minimalist philosophy, in as little effort as is possible! The AI, anyways, is Alladin's lamp these days!

Under the pretext of extra credit courses, students would give some excuse or the other for avoiding any actual studying. Under such pretexts, they surely paint the campus, and the entire town, red!True, it is not totally their fault. Often lectures do not take place at all. Nobody feels anything wrong or horrible at all that whenever lectures do happen, of an entire batch of hundred and twenty students, not even one-fourth remains present in the classroom! Saturdays are informally off, it seems! 

Sure soft skills do matter. The core of education, however, is the hard skills! If you were to look either at the etymology or at the history of the concept called 'skill(s)', you would realise that the concept means the intellectual prowess to discern, to distinguish, to analyse, to understand.

When students do not attend lectures, and neither their parents nor the authorities in colleges/universities care, how would they develop any basic understanding of the subject? They may gallivant around the whole town under the pretext of some event or the other, they may dance, croon, sell food items, etc on campus, et al. Such "soft" abilities are sure to make them "smart". 

What about the 'hard' skills though? If the students do not even know the basics of their core discipline as they rarely attend lectures, and without any impunity, how would they be job-ready, especially given the marauding AI? Industries apparently cry hoarse that most students are ''unemployable". The basic reason behind this inability is their total ignorance of their core discipline! They never learn how to learn, moreover!

Unfortunately, the entire educational system is more interested in 'showing' the success rate. So somehow "passing", in all senses of the term, the students matters! There are teachers(!) who subtly and/or openly leak the  (entire) question papers, students(!) study (!!) only that much the night before the exam,  and all are happy that nobody failed!

Well, when there are teachers whom students tell the page number of the guide from which they teach, when there are teachers who overnight publish books (the 'self-publishing mode' as well as 'publishing against payment' have completely ruined scholarship), when there are teachers who give ten on five, who can 'correct' thousand answer sheets in a day, who 'allow' students to submit as per their sweet wish-n-will, who tell students not to attend as they stay far away, why would "smart" students care???

There are students who stay in Madhya Pradesh, while registered in a Pune college! Most students are busy with some coaching (which makes them exam-ready without any/much clarity at the base/core level), or the other. Why cannot students carry on such coaching, pocket money providing teenie-weenie jobs, extra-curricular activities, preparing for events, et al,  after college hours which strech up to twelve noon  tops? Otherwise, how about joining the very many Open Universities, and get a degree as per personal convenience?

If during the school days, parents prepare all the project work, if the graduation studies consists of 'regular bunking', how can students learn even the basics? Why the compulsion to pass students somehow?  Why not at least seventy-five compulsory attendance at the tertiary level?  Such and many more are the pressing issues. Urgent steps are necessary to empower education. Hope Devi Saraswati thus enlightens all! 

Pratima@They say, lack of money just cannot be hidden. Neither can be hidden the total lack of basic information, forget knowledge  or wisdom!

Bhondla

 The Garba pandals are comparatively a novelty.  Setting up such pandals on  such a huge scale, and managing them as an 'event', with costly entry tickets, the so-called celebrities attending such functions, dancing to extremely vulgar songs surely did not exist before the 1990's.

Apparently, these days, the sale of contraceptives in shops nearby such pandals goes up! Parents hire detectives to keep track of their 'adventurous' brood!! Is it any wonder then that there are dance classes that have special sessions teaching the 'moves'!?! Poor Devi! What all she has to see, and without any say! 

Earlier, the Garba dance was not such a consumer commodity. Genuinely, it was a way of festive praying to the goddess through a community coming together for the occasion. 

If the Gujrati's had the devotional 'garba', the Maharashtrians would enjoy 'bhondla'.  Now a days, it might be an 'NEP project' in schools, in junior colleges under the rubric of "cultural or heritage activities." No longer, however, does it enjoy the intimacy of a houshold celebration. 

Earlier, after schools got over at about 5 p.m., girls in the locality, in the lane(s) nearby would get together around 6 p.m. All of them would be wearing festive new clothes, oftener a 'parkar- polke', a petticoat and blouse made of a colourful cloth called "khanache kapad", with brilliant colours and lovely decorative borders. Mostly, these unique dresses would be  stitched by their mothers.

They would form a circle holding hands. In the middle would be the picture of the Devi, depicted in the elephant form. Most often a beautiful rangoli it used to be. The girls would go round and round in the circle, singing the special 'bhondla' songs.

 Once upon a time, may be, till the mid-twentieth century when girls were married off early and had no social space to share, such songs complaining about their status quo must have emerged as folk songs. Now they may sound bizarre.

New songs suited to the realities of  the third decade of the twenty-first century must be re-written to fit the current contexts. Who plays the 'bhondla' though? Any end of a folk form of togetherness has a silent sob accompanying it!

Pratima@The fun, and final, moment of this celebration  used to be the special eat, the "khirapat", which the mother of the girl hosting the "bhondla" that particular evening would make. 

All the girls would ask all types of questions (Sour? Sweet? Spicy? Like last year? Liquid? Made of semolina?) till the special dish could be rightly guessed. The girlie fun event would end with all the participants together enjoying the dish, and proceeding to the next 'bhondla'! 

At times, the guesswork could be quite aggressive, if the dish was absolutely unique! Aai was excellent at making such special dishes. The guessing would slowly get high-pitched till they could guess it rightly which would end in huge clapping, a victory sign, so to say! 

'Vrat'

 During the Navratr festival, many people undertake a certain 'vrat' or the other. 'Vrat' in this sense means a vow undertaken which must not be violated.  Remember, during his first stint, our PM was on the official tour during the Navratr, and yet he kept his nine day fast?

 Papa, too, had such a vow, but lifelong. He always bathed in/with cold water. Each Diwali, there used to be a battle of wills between him and me. My argument used to be that he should accept at least tepid water for the  Narak Chaturdashi bath. The kind, loving father that he was, he used to give in with some cajoling, but only the first two or three pourings of the tumbler, and then he would revert to his cold water bath! Tough!

Ah, are we getting very serious? Okay, yes, many youngsters take the 'vrat' of dancing away to glory every night in as many 'garba' pandals as is possible. Luckily for such hopefuls, the rains have forgotten their vow of raining non-stop. 

There was this lady in the office of a PG Department where I used to teach. This lady would not speak a word from the first day of the festival till the dawn of 'Dasara'. Tops, as she could not go on leave for nine days, she would use gestures or write down the message; but speak she never would. 

Another lady would not use any footware. For nine days, she would walk barefoot. It might rain which would make roads slushy, dirty, full of dangerous potholes. It might be horribly sunny, and feet would scorch. She would remain true to her vow. 

There is this student of mine who vows not to use the social media for nine days. On her status update, on the very first day, she declares that for nine days, she would be available on her mobile (she provides a certain mobile number which is not her usual one) only in case of some emergency. A good detox indeed this vow is.

What does a vow do to the "vratis", those who undertake some such penance? Sure there has to be some religious consolation, often, may be, against some favour demanded from the deity. Beyond such barter, as their enemies would call it, I suppose, it inculcates a certain self-discipline. In the process, it sure improves the self-image. So long as it does not lead to pride/vanity, and, in the process, disdain of others, any such vow and every such penance is great purification! 

Pratima@I would, however, say that instead of a physical vow, better to take up a penance that purifies the mind, the soul. Which could be a few examples?

 Not to blame oneself eternally for every minor gaffe, to forgive oneself the momentary lapse from one's glorious self-image, not to worry too much, and all such typical habits which destroy your own peace of mind, right? So what is your vow this navratr? 

The Much Misunderstood "gan"

The fun of language usage is that a word can have very many  meanings, surely at least two. The figure of speech called "pun'' depends on this fact. The silly examples all of us have loved as children (such as "why is a river rich?"  "Because it has two banks."!!!) depend on this linguistic capability. 

In Sanskrit and hence in Marathi, we have this word "gan". Look at the range of meanings it has in Marathi. Beginning with "gan-gawalan" that begins the folk form of entertainment called "tamasha", "gan" can also mean the followers of Lord Shiva. Look at the well-known names of our favourite most deity, "Ganesh, Ganadhipati,    Ganapati", and so on. Why, Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi choose to call our nation as "gana-rajya", of the people, for the people, by the people. 

Well, in astrology, too, there is this stuff called "gan". Like everything else in our philosophy (see, in the Bhagwad Geeta, there are three types, satvik, rajas, tamas of everything, food to personalities, for instance), there are three types in this context as well, "dev gan, manushya gan and rakshasa gan" ! 

Well, even if you belong to the third type, not to worry at all! In fact, such people are the best in many ways. They are highly imaginative, exceptionally creative, truly idealistic. They have a mind of their own, and they stick to their own principles, come what may. 

I suppose, it is the term "rakshasa" that is misunderstood, and confusing. Astrological references are mostly in Sanskrit, right? In Sanskrit, the word for the bad, the demonic is "asur", not "rakshasa". Read up Sanskrit, and you would know that the war is always between "sur" and "asur", never "rakshasa". 

I suppose, the confusion arises because of transporting the word for "demon" from Marathi in to Sanskrit, rather than the other way round. In Marathi, "rakshasa" has a negative connotation. Well, astrology hardly depends on Marathi for its basics, if my guess is right. 

In other words, if the "guruji" or an astrologer, or  some such person, tells you that your astrological "gan" is "rakshasa", please do not worry at all. You are one of the very few, almost the "chosen" one. Do not let the "asur" mockery by others minimise you!

Pratima@Astrology or no astrology, celebrate the creative, intelligent, idealistic spark in yourself. Be brilliant, be brave, be YOU! 

The Visa Bomb

Trump, Frump! These are the kind of stupidest jokes on surnames certain people love dishing out these days. Their "vile bile" (oh, no, our sense of humour is not so cheap as to echo poor Marathi thus!) as well as 'witless' desperation can be understood. For sure! Exposed as they thoroughly are!

 Oh, yes, given such sick and silly tomfoolery that comments on surnames in a weird way, many may think that such "joke-kars" (hain, hain, hain, oh, no, this is not the hyena "giggle", it is supposed to be 'laughter', you know!) should actually belong to so-called comedy shows on certain channels in Maharashtra! 

Well, luckily for us Indians, there is no need to worry too much about their anger which has risen like the price for the H1B visa, from tops five thousand dollars to "hundred thousand" (as the West puts it which, translated in to Indian English, reads as one lakh) dollars. 

Okay, unlike shallow comedians on certain channels who 'crack (up!?!)' jokes on surnames, let us be genuine and serious. We surely are in the post-globalisation world. Especially after the MAGA message, Trump's America clearly seems to be for Americans alone. Sending (illegal) immigrants back to their country of origin, imposing the tariff war on the world, and now the hiked visa fees; the works, in brief.

Given the AI onslaught, the IT companies anyways must be cutting cost. May be, hence they might not be in a big way in to the H1B mode. If "Sakaal" is to be believed, IT giants like the TCS (5505), Infosys(2004), Wipro(1523) would not be much affected as the numbers in the brackets refer to their employees who may suffer the visa cost crunch.

Anyways, the hike is not retrospective in nature. Who would then be facing the hurdle? Mostly, it would be the STEM students already in the U.S. who are about to complete or have just completed their M.S. 

The American education, even in the non-IVY League institutes, runs in to crores. Given the AI, the MAGA, and such H1B fees, American companies may not hire them. 

The situation in America is already so bad-n-grim, say the consultants, that when a candidate makes hundred and fifty applications, (s)he may get just five interview calls which often do not result in any call letter. The famous "pink slip" is eternally a threat, moreover. After spending crores, if they come back, forget the sense of humiliation, they would be facing fierce competition, and getting a bare minimum salary.

Actually, is the so-called American Dream an allure any longer? For one thing, unlike the sixties/seventies, there is hardly any brain drain these days. The best prefer to stay back in India rather than lead in the U.S. a lower middle class/middle class life, given the high rents, the heavy EMI's, the huge taxes, the steep prices, not to forget the rampant racism, and much worse still, the rise of anti-immigrants anger across the entire West, if the London demonstration is any proof.

 

In India, on the contrary,  one lives with family and friends; the household labour is cheap; the taxes are not high. Look at the I/T slabs or the GST reduction. There is increasing ease of doing business. There is a startup culture. Many IIT-ians, for example, prefer India.

In other words, both our nation and our students can use this difficulty as a boon in disguise. Instead of waiting for a green card (apparently has a hundred year long waiting list) or constantly worry about minimally paying jobs and a possible citizenship that needs constant renewal, better are the chances in India. Home is indeed sweet home!

Pratima@"Opportunity," says Edison, "is missed by many because it is dressed in over-alls, and actually looks like work." 

Navratr begins

 This year the Navratr festival has begun properly on a Monday. Given the kind of people most human beings these days are, it must have been "Monday blues" for the Devi, too! 

Sure, this is anthropomorphism. Yet, inevitable, I suppose, these days! Even otherwise, our gods and goddesses are made to behave like us, right? Vithoba takes rest from the Devshyani Ashadhi Ekadashi (there is a bolster/pillow put behind his nape) to the Kartiki Ekadashi. During the Pitru Paksha, Tulja Bhavani literally goes to her "shayanagar". 

Now, till Dasara, lovely puja, simply beautiful is the decoration/dekko, of Kolhapur Amba Bai, Pandharpur Vithoba-Rakhumai and Tuljapur Bhavani would continue. On Zee Marathi, they used to show daily the entire process. Aai used to watch it without fail. Believe me, it is quite some art!

 Beyond all the seasonal symbolism (tough to negotiate this year, given the mad rains) and all the usual rituals, including the feminist interpretations, what does this festival mean? For the Gen Z, et al, for you know, it might mean just the 'garba' get-together's! May be, in Bengal, it might be pandal hopping!

The "Chandi Kavach", from the 'Varah Purana' and composed by Harihar Rishi, narrates the nine names of the goddess, such as Shailputri, Bramhacharini, et al. Each name has an attendant myth to it, the overarching one being the Sati-Shiv story. For sure, it is the celebration of the triad, Saraswati-Lakshmi-Kali. For all you know, the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage, where all these three images are in one cave-like temple, might be on in full force. Of course, the Himalayan rains are a proper terror!

As per the 'tantra' sect, the Devi is Shakti that actually enunciates the universe, and without whom, even the Shiva principle is incomplete. Hence the 'Ardh-Nari-Nateshwra' form, so central to 'Natyashastra', and all the performing arts, especially dance and drama.

Now let me see if I can interpret the triune form in my own way. I would like to maintain that 'Kali' is the "id", the instinctive aspect of psyche, operating at the unconscious level as per the Freudian interpretation of the human mind.

 'Lakshmi' would be the "ego", the organised, rational, realistic part of the mind, necessary for worldly success, and mediating between the 'id' and the 'superego', the institutional demands the human psyche adjusts to as well as the ethical principles, whom Saraswati "re-presents". I think, such an interpretation suits the Maslow pyramid of human needs as well. In brief, new meanings, novel interpretations thus emerge when we re-read the primordial principles through the modern modes!

Pratima@ Nowhere in the ancient texts, it is written that on the first day of the Navratra, wear white; on the second day, red, on the third, blue, et al. In my opinion, it is 'media'ted consumer oriented shopping spree advertising!

Prejudice(s) and Scholarship!

 "Pride and Prejudice" is one of the most loved novels. Let me play on the title, and talk about an interesting issue. Ah, better to clarify right in the beginning that it is interesting to me because otherwise, or to be honest, actually anyways, there would be excessive and eternally continuing hair splitting on "interesting to whom" which obviously would lead to the entire, and by now typical, 'identity' debate, the favourite and final 'resort', in all senses of this term, of many!

Well, more and more one gets the feel that  scholarly debates believe in ghettoisation. One has to be a 'resident scholar', to quote another favourite title, of this or that camp. Such echo chambers absolutely avoid any intellectual fluidity, forget self-reflexivity. Such is the binary division that Bush of the Saddam fame would blush when confronted with such "with us or with them" injunctions! Why not even an ounce of self-analysis, is your befuddled response!

You have to be by definition "with us". Otherwise, you would be accused of being a fascist, "right wing", a Sanghi, et al. Mind you, these accusations are hurled as if they are cuss words! What one finds most interesting about such intellectual mafiosi  is that actually they are themselves fascists in suppressing any alternative opinion! Most often, moreover, they are absolutely unaware of the positions assumed by the giants whose names they quote as if it were some 'mantra' chanting which changes everything to their liking.

Most amongst them would not have read either Marx or Ambedkar, for instance, in any detail or depth, however much the empty rhetoric may use such names conveniently. Would they really have read "Manusmriti" or the different Commission reports about the Three Language Formula? One wonders, given the rigid positioning! 

Well, I sincerely believe that scholarship, like science does, first and foremost teaches you humility. You have to accept that a new paradigm may develop, new textual proofs, not explored so far, may emerge, and you need to understand, appreciate and negotiate with these. After Einstein, for example, none can continue with Newton's model, however much loved, and cast aspersions on those who would like to explore alternative ways of knowing or understanding the world. 

Similarly, it is downright dangerous to retrospectively impose current structures on the past. Hindsight is easy, but hollow. Every individual, each school of thought is defined/defied/deified by the contemporaneous contexts. Even geniuses cannot escape their immediate realities. When re-interpreting them from the twenty-first century contexts, for example, one cannot hence tarnish them according to today's terms (and condition(ing)s)!!!

The worst sin, however, is to be on a high horse, and be extremely condescending which actually makes such a person appear  ridiculous. Equally funny it is to oppose for the sake of opposition, to keep on arguing for the sake of arguing, even when the truth is staring you in the face, and hard! Why consider everyone else beyond one's own gang as suspect every which way? Such unspoken but clearly obvious prejudices stink of a superiority complex, which every primary psychology text tells us, is actually a hidden inferiority complex! 

Another fun episode in such series is excessive relativism as and when/how it suits or to prove one's own position. Cherry-picking references is yet another method. Oh, yes, the easiest mode is to accuse everyone beyond your own gang of every possible sin. Indirect character assassination rumours are a great weapon to annihilate a person you consider a competitor who cannot confront you because the indirect rumouring leaves no "proof"!

I suppose, high-pitched t.v. debates kind of din cannot be the style of scholarship. The best way to deal with high decibel fighting would be to absolutely avoid it. Anyways, such people are never going to think beyond what Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and others of their ilk called "intellectual blinds". Why waste your energy, while giving them the satisfaction of ganging up to reduce any alternative thinking to pulp?!? Intellectual terrorism is best avoided!

Pratima@ Silence, the best reply to the opinionated and prejudiced, is the route to glimpses of truth. 

The AI Bomb

 Almost the whole of my Saturday, of course, the teaching hours excluded, was lost to attending online seminars on the AI. Passionately paeans were sung to how the AI can 're-present' your c.v., how the AI can create a mock interview for you, and so on, for instance. What troubled the 'doubting Thomas' inside me was the simple fact staring right there like a billboard! Well, would not EVERYONE try all these methods so very easily accessible? How would then your candidature be distinctive?

Much worse was to come late in the evening. The evening session was literally "banana". Yes, that is the 'name' of the AI programme! Was it 'banana' in all the senses of the term, both in English as well as Hindi! You bet! People found 'banana' a zapp, while they would not even know that in basic simple English, people, that is, human beings alone would have a 'name'. Rest all have a title! Who cares though? Oh, please, not the usual trash about Macaulay, et al! Why? Well, the hold over the mother tongue, or Hindi, is equally abysmal! 

What I found truly amazing is the horrible fact staring at us in the face, in the eyes, and, oh, yes, in the (no-)brain. More and more, the AI is thus making everyone a derivative user. You do not have to write your own C.V., you need not research even an iota about your future job, for instance. The AI does it all for you. You merely consume! Has the post-(etc etc)capitalism mode already eaten us up!!! Proper revenge it has managed on its perpetrators!

Much worse is the loss of creativity. With the "banana" app, for instance, the machine is already making, thinking, building, designing, writing for you!?! When you write a piece, when you draw a picture, when you design a visual, when you create a tune, you are 'thinking' anew. That is what makes us truly human(e). If some app is doing it (already, when the AI is still in its primitive most stage), what would be the meaning or future of any creative effort which would by definition be wiped out! Genuinely I pity the poor souls who 'create' the Ghibli avataars of themselves. They need not actually. They ARE cartoons!

Forget the loss of jobs because it can be argued that the AI may create new jobs, a premise which is highly suspicious. Anyways, let me leave that aside. How about the truth value of any 're-presentation' at all? As it is, there is already a total lack of privacy. No, I am not talking about the very many cameras everywhere.  Well, every use of the e-media, mind you, your phones now get the 'meta' help whether or not you want it, leaves imprints that are world-wide, and impossible to wipe out. 

Much much worse now are the mix-up's allowed by the AI which are far more sophisticated, and, unfortunately, far far easier to manage/manipulate than any Photoshop, et al! That total obliteration of the truth, of reality, and in the easiest way imaginable, is the real absolute danger of the AI bomb, given the total relativism, more dangerous than mere falsehoods. Deadlier it is than the most sophisticated atom bomb! Post truth society,  ahoy!

Pratima@ Now never ever believe not only what fools gossip about your near and dear ones. Do not believe what you see either. It can be sheer concoction. 

Remember, between your eyes and ears, is your forehead, the 'temples', symbolic of your brains. USE your brains. As it is, the whole of the AI evolution is hell-bent on destroying them anyways!

'Animal' behaviour

 No, I am not talking about a film. Anyways, I have not watched it either. Rather I am referring to intense but unbelievable videos detailing the unusual behaviour of lions. 

I have always felt that there is something majestic and intelligent about lions. They do not seem mean or nasty. There is a certain regal nobility about them. I would always associate such anthropomorphism, that is my assigning human(e) qualities to that apex predator, to my reading of literature. 

Two videos, however, prove that I am not wrong. Both are from African conservation efforts. The first one deals with the forest ranger's doggie saving a drowning lion cub. The second one is about a big grown up wounded male lion being helped by a member of the conservation team. Both these videos show the so-called beasts acknowledging the timely help most sensibly, with visible gratitude and showing the immense depths of emotion(al) intelligence the animals have, proving that Androcles' lion is not a fantasy.

Now compare that decency with the so-called human world. Full of jealousy, ambition, constant competitiveness, hence viciousness and convenient forgetfulness,  there is hardly any gratitude or decency in most human behaviour. Most human beings adopt the 'use and throw' strategy, and in almost all relationships.

That the so-called human beings totally lack such human(e) qualities is the real tragi-comedy. Showing up men and women in such ugly light is our constant friend, the family dog. A dog's devotion and genuine love are simply unmatched.

 I can quote multiple such examples, our Jimmy's. And of much much love, and more sensitivity by Tashu. This pure soul has enriched (my) existence multiple times! More of these tail tales some other time! For the time being, suffices it to say that animals are far far better than most all human creatures!

Pratima@ "An animal's eyes have," says  Martin Bieber, "a depth of love that speaks an eternal language." 

Shradhdh

 It is the Mahalaya period currently. In daily parlance, it is known as the "Pitru Paksha". It is customary to perform huge rituals like some puja, and the Brahmin bhojan, et al. Neither my brothers nor I follow this typical practice. 

Instead, annually during the "Pitru Paksha", I go to the Maha Mrutyunjay Temple in Kothrud. Twice a year, on Ashtami and on Dwadashi shradhdh, I pray there for Papa and Aai respectively, and offer dakshina to the Brahmin there. 

Well, do the souls of our ancestors return to our world during the Pitru Paksha? I do not know enough about such issues. Yes, to accompany Aai during the Chaturmas, I read almost all the Upanishads, discussed them with her, tried to understand them. But, no, I have not read the 'Garud Purana'.  Hence I do not know enough. 

According to the Bhagwad Geeta, "bahuni me vyatitani" is the idea about rebirth. Both my parents were truly good people. No, this is not a daughter speaking. Everybody, who knew them, would say so, does say so.  Their earlier births must have been good, and being the extremely contented, decent individuals that they basically were, they must be happy right now, too, wherever they are.

What then is the meaning of the ritual? For one thing, for sure, it is a heartfelt remembrance. It is a deeply meant message of gratitude, too. Somewhere, somehow, it is an act of humility wherein my ego is humbled before a ritual their generation believed in. In that sense, I am maintaining a connect with the tradition.

And the dakshina? True, prizes are instituted in their memory. Yes, every death anniversary, there is some donation to a worthy cause. Then, why the dakshina during the Pitru Paksha? Oh, yes, I do have issues with the greedy indifference of the typical "bhataji" behaviour which, I do think, brings a bad name to us, the entire Bramhin community. 

Yet I give the "dakshina" with utmost, genuine devotion. Why? Well, when I search within myself, I realise that somehow it is an act of social justice as well. Well, within my Brahmin community, there are some roughly put twenty per cent Brahmins who are well off. The majority, though, is in extreme dire condition.

With no reservations of any type, the EBC ten per cent category is shared with everyone, many Brahmins face extremely tough times. Visit any two tier city, the rural area, and you would know the horrible realities. During the COVID period, for instance, the "bhikshuk" community had extremely tough times. People were concerned with the daily needs of the Budhwar Peth women, but not the "bhikshuk" Brahmins!

As it is, most temples in Maharashtra, at least ninety per cent, have non-Brahmins as the "bhataji" or "pujari". This IS a fact that can be objectively proved. So the majority of Brahmins do not have any valid, regular source of income. All the ills that follow poverty are faced by the Brahmins. May be, my small little "dakshina" helps ease that day for the family of that 'bhataji'!?!

May be, the sigh of happiness which that family feels for that day reaches as some indescribable bliss, unmeasured blessing for my family. May be, a circle of goodness, and its better after-effects, is thus complete. Yes, till I am alive, I shall continue the practice.

Pratima@This blog, I realise, is a minor act of self-analysis.

Modiji's Birthday

 Rarely do I regret missing entertainment events. Yes, though, I am indeed unhappy about my inability to go watch the drone show on the S. P. College ground this evening. It would get over at 9 p. m. Impossible it would then be to get any vehicle back home. Hopefully, somebody or the other, sooner or later, would upload it in some form or the other. Then would I get to see it. 

This mix of the drone technology and entertainment uses the very sky as the canvas to draw paintings truly lit up.  The Pune version of this unique art is to celebrate Modiji's seventy-fifth birthday. Seventy-five! The Amrit Kal, to use his very own terminology, is unique indeed! 

What are my feelings about this event? Is that your question? Well, first and foremost, I would like to congratulate Modiji on this occasion, especially because he is absolutely fit and fine at this age! He walks it up zanily, climbs up and down podiums, gives hour-long speeches, and without even a single sign visible of being tired or drained out. Remarkable fitness indeed!

 Remember his cave yoga at Kedarnath? At Kedarnath, I have seen with my own eyes people in their early thirties grasp for breath! And here was Modiji performing Pranayama at a still higher altitude! Absolutely praiseworthy is his physical and psychological maintenance!

As someone committed to academics, I would, moreover,  like to admit that it was  Modiji and his win in 2014 that ushered in the very possibility of an alternative vision. I remember, in the mid 1990's, I was viscerally attacked for saying that Kashmiri Pandits, too,  need an empathetic hearing as they, too, suffered a kind of genocide. As a young scholar, I was anyways 'other-ed', especially because of my Brahmin descent. 

Now Vivek "Agnihotri" is opening up on the celluloid all sorts of files. A JNU profe like Dr. Anand Ranganathan can have his  adversarial say literally daily on the national television. J. Sai Deepak can critically investigate decoloniality. Dr.  Meenakshi Jain, Amish, Dr. Vikram Sampath,  Ami Ganatra of the IIM, Ahmedabad, Dr. Nilesh Oak, brilliant scholars all, and many, many more are celebrating the Indic awareness, not to forget committed youtubers like Sachin Patil.

 There are any number of other youtubers, political commentators, the Jaipur dialogues, our very own Bhau Torsekar, Prabhakar Suryavanshi,  Sushil Kulkarni, and countless others who can comfortably posit an alternative viewpoint. You need not agree with them totally. Yet you would have to grant that their narrative, too, deserves a hearing. I would objectively like to state that this openness, such vista/vision, this clarity appear available/accessible only after Modiji's 2014 win. 

I appreciate Modiji for yet another reason. He seems ready to listen to wise counsel. He appears open to worthy suggestions. Look at his cabinet, for instance. Many amongst them are highly educated technocrats, career bureaucrats who are (proven) excellent in their given/respective fields.

Dr. S. Jay Shankar, Dr. Ashwini Vaishnav, our very own Chief Minister, to quote a few examples, Modiji seems to be supporting the right candidates, instead of "cutting them to size" because they are 'too big for their boots'! Why, the Congress stalwart, scholar/author, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, was the Chief of the committee that explained Operation Sindoor to the whole world, while it was Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh who daily reported it to indians. 

He seems to be empowering the poor as well, what with the gas, electricity, solar power, housing kind of daily lived necessities. Well, I am not in a big way in to power politics and its nitty-gritty, nor do I pay much attention to the daily politicking and bickerings. Sure, some of his positions, too, could be debated, though in a healthy way. Yet, I would absolutely frankly, openly state that I am the last person on this earth to hate for the sake of hatred, to criticise for the sake of carping, to always attack blindly with vicious vitriolic partiality.

Here is wishing Modiji a very happy seventy-fifth birthday. Let us hope that India will continue its lead in a humane, equal, just way!

Pratima@As for women empowerment, can be quoted any number of positivities such as the Talaq decision at the level of theory/ideology, while there are drone didi's at the ground/practical level, right? 

May be, I, too, would now be attacked as "andh bhakt". I do not care at all because such mischief-mongers forget that most blindly do they follow certain leaders, whatever filthy trash may be spouted out ideologically, practically or "tactics"-wise because such leaders have gotten them, that is, all these kind of people, the right positions, and what not. 

I sure do not "boast" of any such convenient advantages being doled out to me by/from Modiji!!! 

In other words, my comments,  as an honest, committed citizen, are as impartial as can be, without any tidbits of power, position, monetary gains being thrown my way!

Let us laugh a little!

 For quite some time, there have not been (m)any laughs on our blog, right? True, life these days leaves very little room for any laughter, some joy. May be, precisely that is why the need to laugh out (a)loud!

1) A: Married life is exactly like Kashmir.             B: Just like Kashmir? What are you                        talking about?                                                          A: Well, it is beautiful,  but  it is full                        of terror! No knowing when what                            would explode!

2) This one suits the extended and heavy monsoon this year!                                                    A: What does a baby cloud wear?                          B: A leaky thunderwear!

3) How about a riddle? What is it that a minute has it; in fact, moment has it twice; but a thousand years does not have it at all?                The letter "m"!

4) A "Who am i" joke.                                                   I do not have life, but I can be dead.                 Who am I?                                                                                 Both:  battery and memory!      

5) Now a philosophical one! What is it that always goes up, never ever comes down, nor can it return to the base, to the origin?                The answer does not refer to  a 'safe'.  Nor is it the Sufi  notion of money. It is something  truly primal. The answer is  'Age'!

Pratima@Laughter reduces the wrinkles age brings in its wake!

Engineer-ing

 Being an engineer was a big deal, may be, till 2015. By then, those bazaru, cheap engineering colleges in every nook of each lane had not really mushroomed like weeds during the monsoon.  In such cheap colleges without a proper campus, forget adequate infrastructure, money-wise rich but intellect-wise extremely poor students bought seats with their fathers' ill-gotten hawala type money!

Such horrors destroyed the reputation of engineering. Somehow they scraped through such courses, using the potent potion of ill-gotten monies and the 'crook' power of the 'Daddu' types. No wonder, as a fallout, by now, many, many engineers do not get any jobs.

Otherwise, being an engineer was a glory so much so that the COEP regatta, too, was famous. Engineering as a career was so much looked up to that it was quite fashionable for the bigwigs to declare how they were unwillingly forced in to it by their aspirational middle class  parents, while their passion was something else!

 The oft repeated actor Atul Kulkarni story is one such example. Unfortunately, such "engineer-ed" narratives conveniently overlook the fact that out of some lakhs of hopefuls, not even ten actors grace the screen. Mumbai is full of the sad stories of the remaining extras whose lives are forever ruined. But narrative makers never care! The Sushant Singh sad saga hopefully has opened some silly eyes! He, too, was an engineering student who left that career to become an actor!

In brief, the engineers' day should remind us that following in the footsteps of masterful minds such as Sir Vishweshwaraiya is a better track. At least, one might make a small little contribution to one's own life, if not to the world. The engineer-ed narratives of all types always are crooked lures that consciously lead astray, and knowingly laugh at your problems, given their wicked sense of fun!

Pratima@ Truth speaks harshly, but honestly. Lies always smile and simper in your presence; but, behind your back, laugh out loud at your misfortunes! 

The Hindi Day

 You are in Canada, may be, in Toronto. Which language would you get to hear there? English? But, of course! French? For sure! Hindi! Come again! Yep! Hindi is the third most spoken language there as it is in the whole world, too. Oh, yes, after Chinese and Spanish, Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world.

Wherever Indians went, they took Hindi along. Oh, yes, this process is as old as indentured labour. Fiji to Trinidad, you would hear Hindi. Sure, it would enjoy the local flavour as it does in India itself. The Bambaiya Hindi is vastly different from the Alahabadi or Lakhnawi Hindi, for instance. 

In 1951, on September 14, Hindi was formally adopted as the state language, and as a result, 1953 onwards, September 14 is celebrated as the Hindi Day. Actually, given the dominance of Bollywood, though now the South Indian films are The Don, the "Thalaiwa" of the Indian filmography, Hindi has permeated the consciousness of the speakers of other mother tongues.

Want proof of this assertion? Most Marathis "meet" a book, for instance, which is a literal translation in to Marathi of the original Hindi! Better hence to learn it, formally I mean, ASAP because it is part of the spoken lingo, anyways. Why, in the heydays of the Three Language Formula, it used to be taught from the fifth standard onwards. Hope, to balance out Hindi being taught in other states, some South Indian language or Marathi or Gujarati or Marwadi gets taught in the Northern, Eastern or Northeastern parts of India. 

Instead of getting in to that politics of hatred for the sake of hate, let us try to celebrate the Hindi Day more constructively. Here is a four-liner by Terrie Brushette. It reads as follows:                                                                "Never forget                                                           that all storms will clear                                     Remember brighter tomorrow's                                are always near."         

 Here is my attempt at translating it in to Hindi.                                                                                            "ना भूलना कभी/                                                               गुजर जातें हैं तूफान सभी/                                                   सुबहें सुनहरी, याद रहे/                                                       समीप सदा ही रहती हैं!''

Pratima@ Languages are cities to the building of which all human beings bring unique stones. Ralph Waldo Emerson, given his transcendental tendencies, would sure forgive me the minor changes I introduced in to his great quote.

Crude!

 The PMT driver was trying to negotiate the tough traffic near the SNDT bus stop. There is a flyover there. The bus was up the flyover. And, then, there were these two boys going double-seat, zigzagging their bicycle any which way. 

First the driver chose to ignore them completely. But their antics continued so much so that at 'that' point, he had to apply break. The whole bus jolted. Those passengers, busy with their mobiles, almost fell off their seats. 

The driver had the choicest cusswords for the two wastrels. He started hollering, "cheap zopadpatti types. Their mothers, an ugly abuse followed, just bring them in to this world. These, yet another cussword, do not bring them up properly." For those two, it was fun! They were laughing, enjoying the driver's disgust.

As I was sitting in the very first row of the ladies' side, I witnessed the whole scene from close quarters as this seat is just a foot next to the driver's cabin. Was the driver wrong in using those ugly cusswords?

 Well, brought up the proper way ( the ideal, ge(e)ntle, oh-so-right Brahmin way, yes, without any casteist slur I am mentioning this fact), the cusswords did appear crude. Yet, somehow, given the extreme provocation, I could not disregard them completely, however much I disapproved of them.

He used another word which I find interesting indeed. Roughly it can be translated as 'smartypants',  a cocky/cocksure, pushy/arrogant thuggee, in brief. 

With that word, I do not really have a fight. Absolutely deserved it was. If your behaviour is consciously crude, the person at the receiving end is justified in being rude!

Pratima@Some people are good. Some people are real. Some people are crude. Some people are real good at being crude!

Help!

  I was about to decide to travel back home in an auto which I generally avoid. Suddenly an auto stopped next to me. "I have dropped you earlier, too" he asserted. The moment I was a bit comfortable in his auto, began his tirade, his rant, his whine, call it what you will. In no time, I got acquainted with his entire family, its grudges, et al.  Why so? Well, he is father to an autistic son!

His argument was that I should give him quite some amount as I appeared well-off to him. He kept on informing me about the fees charged by the different centers the moment I suggested these. He himself began with Prasanna Autistic center near Deccan. So I suggested Kamayani to which we have given a handsome donation in Papa's name. He said that they are bad people.

I just kept quiet. He decided to pick up a lady near Sahitya Parishad. Apparently they both knew each other as he told me later that she was Mrs. Abnave, the Principal of Adarsh High School who refused to help him and got off the auto! He would not stop talking at all. He told me how every MLA, how each MP in the city would not help him because in his opinion autism is a permanent but non-invasive condition.

So I asked him to meet the CM who sure helps. He talked of the difficulty of getting an appointment. At every signal, he would show me the pictures of the boy of about twelve. He even showed me the huge file of communication when it was time for me to get down.

Of course, I did decide to help Mr. Ekbote (he told me stories about everybody possible) out of compassion. My head told me that I should not. But my heart and my soul would not listen to me. Anyways, we always give donations to the needy on the occasion of the death anniversaries of our parents.

What do you think though? Is it right on his part to threaten an absolute stranger that his family would have to commit suicide if not helped? Is it right to take advantage of straightforward decent human beings? The way there was gossiping around in our lane, I wondered if it was a set-up,  planned in advance!

I did help him, and quite handsomely,  thinking that his could be a genuine case. My gut response, however, is that I have decided to hereafter avoid hiring autos as far as possible!

Pratima@ Such are the times these days that one can never know who is a crook out to dupe!

Exposing Exposure

 Does the title appear confusing to you? Okay, let me try and explain it. The second word in this alliterative phrase is a noun, and refers to the new technology of mass communication (for example, podcasting, comedy shows, stand-up comedians, et al) which has a hugely flourishing following currently. Countless podcasts by all sorts, of all sorts, and for all sorts, for instance!

Once a podcast, for instance, thus establishes itself, it should be less showy, less shallow, less shrill. Unfortunately, that hardly happens. The interlocutor (most often the podcast proprietor as well) of the podcast generally behaves as if (s)he is the master of all. Such 'jacks' (actually no-gooder's, Jack's of all treads, with very  limited basic info, forget any vision, despite the HUGE access via the AI) 'jack' up their image. They pretend to be a public intellectual, while in their private space , they are the regular Ranbir (of the Allahabadi variety, too) type!

Equally responsible, actually irresponsible, is the audience of such podcasts, reels, memes, and the types. With the advent of the mobile, the tagline "kar lo duniya mutthi mai", should have led to a more creative vision, a more productive discussion. Instead, it is mostly provocation  and entertainment, and the audiences are 'loving it'. Otherwise, how to explain a horror show like the 'Big Boss' and its countless clones?

Entertainment, entertainment , entertainment is the pass word to each and everything currently. As a result, the content is unbelievably dumbed down. May be, thus is subtly created the unthinking customer necessary for consumerism!?! No, I am not in to conspiracy theories.

Yet unmistakable is the simplification that dominates all possible domains. Sure, there is no need for any high-faultin jargon. Yet why is it necessary to tone down everything as if the audience has no brains at all? Or is it the case that entertainment and capitalism are cronies? Silly minds used to dumbed down entertainment in every field can easily be the fodder of gigantic trans-national conglomerates? Easy it always is to rule the non-thinking! Big bad brave world indeed, showed up, 'exposed'  long long ago by Orwell, Huxley, and others of their ilk!

Pratima@The dumbing down of all sorts of discourses is dangerous because machines, be it robots, be it the AI 'agents' prompting precisely, are getting smarter by the second!

Gen Z

 Gen Z is currently quite the "in" term, right? Slightly dreaded, too, I suppose, what with whatever happened in Bangladesh, and the storm that is brewing, nay, spilling over in Nepal right now. Though everybody knows whose is the very long (and quite strong) arm stirring such pots (-n-shots), the rebellious face locally is the Gen Z!

Who exactly are the Gen Z's? Well, it has been agreed upon that they are all born in the 1997--2012 span. In a way, they have seen it all, a millenium changing when they were in their knickerbockers, the 2008 meltdown of the economy, especially in the West, which started the rise of the multi-polar world, the COVID years, too. Most of them must have graduated as the COVID batch!

Why do they have this rather funky n crazy moniker? Well, sheer fact of fate! They came after the Gen X, Gen Y, you see. So the Gen Z! Apparently, they are known as "digital natives". Once upon a time, people used to be born with a silver spoon. This unique b(r)and was born with a smartphone in hand, I suppose.

Excellent they are at managing the inter-netted wor(l)ds,  just like they do the smartphone, the logo, brand, tagline, call what you will, of this generation. No wonder, Nepal apparently exploded because of the ban on the internet!!! Of course, we do know that the 'plot' lies somewhere else, though Gen Z gave it "a face and a name" as Shakespeare would put it.  

Much more puzzling than the in-group kinda slang that they use is their attitude to work. Work has to be fun for them. So the informal Friday dress, hence the first name address of each one, the big boss being included! Work is for man, not the other way round, is their belief. They prefer a "cool" work ethic. They party hard as they believe that they work hard. They would make money, and retire by mid-thirties. 

They are horribly climate conscious, and are in to all sorts of action groups to make it sustainable. Yet they are not exactly conscientious like the erstwhile middle class. Hence, even as revolutionaries, they "are in their limits", the realists!

Sure, they are the children of the laissez-faire consumerist, capitalist, and hence cruel world which has echoes in the Gen Z behaviour patterns, too. Their "could not care less" bravura suits the  "I, me, my" space obsession. Hence they are not exactly committed or conscientious, like their parents' generation. Well, welcome to the Gen Z world!

Pratima@As they ushered in the emoji's, et al, let us end this piece with," d r G8, 🤣🤣🤣, u no!" Translated in to normal language, it means, "They are great, ha, ha, ha, you know!"

Soulful Solo

 "Dukh aur sukh ke raste, the ways of unhappiness and joy," she is convincing him, "are made for/tread all." This trajectory of life is the theme of this moving song, one of my most favourite ones.  

It is the most beautiful Sadhana, with her innocent, beatific, angelic look, thus trying to convince-n-comfort the distressed Dev Anand, caught on the horns of a dilemma. The film is "Hum Dono." The actors, especially Sadhana, heighten the consoling mood with sensitive, intimate gestures such as removing the cigarette from his lips, and gently patting his forehead, a scene that reminds you of a similar tender moment from "Apur Sansar" by Satyajit Ray.

What has immortalised this unforgettable song from an interesting film, "Hum Dono", scripted and directed by the genius of a film maker, Vijay Anand, with music by the maestro Jaydev who sets to tune the perfect lyric by Sahir Ludhianvi?

Undeniable is the contribution of these masters. In my opinion, however, what makes this song absolutely great is the Asha rendition. This solo by her has the soft gentle genuineness which assures that "Khushi mile ya gam/jo hoga bat lenge hum, be it joy or grief/ sure we share it, and make it brief". 

This heart touching honesty of the Asha solo is absolutely unmatched. The vivacious duet version of the song "abhi na jao chodkar" pales before the appeal of-n-in this solo version. That is the Asha magic for you. A duet apparently rejected by Lataji for double entendre(!?!), Asha Bhosale's silken 'sur' makes the solo version one of bestest portrayals of true, supportive love. Long live such sweetness! Here is wishing Ashaji a Very Happy Birthday!

Pratima@Please do listen to this soulful solo. Sahir Ludhianwiji's touching words become truly lyrical due to the simple, straightforward sincerity of Ashaji's sweet notes.

Online Gaming

 The mobile is addictive. Period. For one thing, it has gobbled up very many gadgets, nay, institutions. Look at the postal services, for instance. May be, the generation born circa 2010 would not have ever written a letter nor posted it. Wapping messages is the norm now, even professionally. Well, does not LinkedIn encourage kinda of messaging of professional communication?

Given such ubiquity of the mobile, a craze a computer/laptop cannot compete with, is it any surprise that children are addicted to online gaming?  Surely less dangerous than online gambling as money may not be directly involved, it is much worse psychologically as it creates an alternative addictive world that is miles away from the reality! 

We have all read about the PUBG craze that landed the over-indulging parents in to lifelong grief as the obsessed kids 'zombie'd in to life threatening accidents, murders, and what have you, forget comparatively, simple ailments such as dry eyes, but not to forget threats such as paedophiles who may rob a child of  money, family information, and identity?

Why are children addicted to online games? I suppose, they are very eye catching, colourful, and more importantly, easy almost to a thoughtless level. Equally important is the familial world. There are mostly one or two children in a family these days. The aggressively over dominant mothers of the nuclear families do not want the grandparents, forget the other in-laws such as the aunt/uncle. Stupidly, moreover, children are assigned individual rooms whose doors they can snap shut in anybody's face, especially because they would have seen their mothers consciously show such disrespect to the elders.

Given such a heart-less 'home'(!!!) without any constructive communication, the lonely kid is lost to the online game, which is more fashionable, 'in', moreover, so much so that educational institutions encourage mobile gaming (at times, their making) during their fests!!!

Zapping thus the child in to a highly competitive, often violent, vindictive, vicarious world, is it any wonder that the mobile games, initially provided as appeasement  to the cribbing child, eat up innocent, adolescent, adult 'real'ity, too?

Instead of blame fixing, absolutely necessary though not much productive, can be the ways to pull the addict out of the obsession! May be, make the child crave for the outdoors, actual sports ground, treks, trails in nature? May be, chat, communicate, discuss with the most often only kid? 

As in erstwhile families of  earlier bygone days, at least at the dinner table, the whole family should be together, with a strict rule that no mobile is to be allowed at the dining table! May be, the family discusses all the major events of the day after dinner? A family that chats together drives away the monster of gaming, in brief! 

Pratima@ Family is the fortress that must not fall to invaders such as the mobile gaming addiction.

A Dis-Ease or two!

 Now that the festival whose middle name is  joy has formally come to an end, what with all the farewell processions, local to international, finally over, time it is to 're-turn' to mundane issues. They, being humdrum, are banal for sure. Highly dangerous they, however, are!

One such danger, truly a dis-ease, I personally witnessed this evening, was an online literary meet. So obvious it was that most all people present had not touched the text, neither with the proverbial barge pole nor with the witches' broom stick. Yet there was a pretence of high-funda discussion.

 Pitiable was the extremely shallow attempt to appear knowledgeable by using the ChatGPT! People copy-pasted info there and then, too! Talk of chatterati, and I shall always remember this empty verbosity without an iota of conscientious scholarship, but full of prejudices. Sound and fury signifying empty high-horse pretences! Dangerous because if such are adults and senior citizens, what to expect of/from the Gen Next!!?!!

Yet another dis-ease we must discuss is online betting, a silent cancer, already in the fifth stage, apparently beyond cure. This scam consists of betting online on the Indian obsession, cricket (a certain amount per sixer, per four, per wicket), though other games such as football and tennis are not beyond its pale. 

Certain apps use card games, cassino games, slot machines to lure fools in to destroying themselves. In India, mobile data being cheap, consumerist lifestyle being rampant, many are in to this menace that promises easy money. Actually it is a trap that lures with initial free points. A few wins allowed in the beginning make the "gamer" (as there is hardly any fair play) addicted, and then there is literally no looking back!

 The punters are heartless crooks. The loss soon is a huge mountain of debt 'due' (in all the senses of this small little word) to them. The failure to pay it up can lead to targetting, threats, even  to murder. The stupid addict getting lonelier due to constant failure, lack of money, huge debt may get depressed, even suicidal. 

In other words, like the PUBG, online betting poses psychological problems, compounded in this case with financial troubles! Truly, a socio-economic  menace, apparently twenty-two crore creeps are in to online betting, there is some hope at the end of the tunnel as the Central Government might soon declare online betting as a culpable crime! 

Hope it happens soon as given the tough job market, the thoughtless lust for easy money without any taxes or accountability, the now discredited 'Mahadev ' (!!!) app, 'Fairplay(!!!) betting app', 'Probo app', 'Reddy Anna betting app' have already fleeced fools. Hope the Central Government Bill, despite the difficulties of the online mode, given the 'boundary' less jurisdiction, soon sees the light of the day!

Pratima@ Today begins the Pitru-Paksha, too. Time to show some gratitude to our ancestors who 'made' us every which way!

Oh, yes, the blood moon during the second lunar eclipse of this year (the first one was on March 21, a Saturday and an 'amavasya'/no-moon day) that began on pournima, the full moon day, and is visible today!

The Pitru-Paksha thus begins with a lunar eclipse and ends with a solar eclipse, it seems, showing how memories are as eternal as the sun and the moon!

On the Occasion of Anant Chaturdashi

 Finally arrived the day. Anant Chaturdashi. The final farewell to the joyous festival. Yes, Ganeshotsav brings in its wake an optimistic, festive feel full of happiness. Just because the Ganesha is with us, we feel inordinately cheerful. All is well with the world, and will continue to be so, is the mood.

For these ten days, many businesses, the roadside joyrides, the bands and dhol-taasha groups, the florists, the "khau gallis", the housewives who make 'modaks', the rangoli artists, the idol making "classes", the pandal decorators, countless small time enterprises  flourish, whether or not the monsoon plays a spoiler. The business models are both the  b2b and the b2c types. I would not know if a systematic analysis has been attempted by the very many BBA/MBA departments/institutes in the city/state. Worth a try indeed!

In Pune, the immersion procession itself would give a rise to countless commerce/business studies-based analyses, lasts as it does for almost two days. The "first five manache Ganapati" start on time, and mostly end their processions on time, too. Their troupes are culturally rich, beautifully decorated, pay a tribute to Marathi games/exercises/practices, and often have a social message as well.

The Tilak Wada Ganapati this year, for example, made all the dhol-taasha pathaks in their troupe  wear the postal dress so that the spectators remember the relevance of the postal services, almost on the brink of extinction, given the Wapp message mode prevalent currently. The usual Dagdusheth, Mandai, and other such mandals have beautiful electric  decorations.

The whole of Pune is a public disco for almost two days. Every road, each housing society premises transform in to dancing floors. The dhol-taasha beat is sure an invite to every pair of feet to shake it! During the procession, the pathaks play it endlessly, performing for precious ten/fifteen minutes in every chowk, at every crossroads.

Unfortunately, however, there are THE walls and the flashing lights as well. Often, vulgar most songs are played, and the ugliest contortions called dance by the drunks who are full tight are so weird that the Lord himself must be praying that the tamasha ends soon!

The police and the state machinery must be on edge, too, for these ten days. There is no knowing what could turn the context volatile. In addition, there are fireworks most all mandals insist on. The day of the final farewell must be a relaxation for them as well!

Pratima@ Am already awaiting the September next year! Yet I do hope that the Mumbai immersions of these huge idols do not leave the eyesore sight of the disintegrated idols. The Hyderabad Hussein Sagar Lake would have such a pathetic show at least for a fortnight, and it used to tear at my helpless heart!

Teachers' Day. For sure! But, happy? Are you sure?

 September 5. The birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan. Yes, that much for sure everyone would remember this year because circulating on every WhatsApp group was the reel of Queen Elizabeth II herself coming to the railway station to receive him. Where, when, why, the reel pushers would not know though.

Yes, despite the Eid holiday, the day was kinda celebrated online. Trendy, cutsie-coz-ready-made whatsapp greetings with those usual typical visuals got sent in abundance. More as a mere ritual, right?

No, no worries, I got extremely moving, because truly touching, messages from my students. Some of them were my students almost a decade ago. Most importantly, they did not push the usual visual, et al. They wrote extremely personalised individuated messages.

In other words, I am absolutely happy and contented. Yet I feel that now IS the time to take a stock, and honest and critical at that, of the societal attitude to teachers.

First and foremost, let us look at this fancy term, facilitator, supposedly a teacher's role currently. Eh, come again! Do you know what it actually means? Students would have absolutely half-baked, at times downright wrong, information from the internet sources, mostly the apps or even the AI these days. Like the society in general, they would hence think that they know all, while actually they would be unsure of even the basics. 

The 'facilitator' is supposed to deal with this cocksure, quite bratty, 'attitude'. In fact, the classroom, like the reels, should be peppy, it seems. 'Amusing', right? Sure, there has to be a happy feel to the classroom. Sure, education must be student-centric, too. Yet why must the teacher, under the guise of being a facilitator, be a clown, missing from the non-existent circus these days? Why must education be entertainment in the first place? Anyways, it is available in abundance everywhere else, right?

Subtly but surely, there is an under-current which implies that teachers be like the RJ's and/or the anchors or the countless stand-up comedians who quite crazily chatter chatter chatter without any genuine sense/worth to their yak-yak. Better be a Kapil Sharma clone in the classroom, if you wanna be a 'popular' teacher, eh?!?

 It is like this other, and equally empty, stance which maintains that a fifteen/sixteen year old,  child actually,  must decide his/her career, not the parents, and surely not anybody else, however well-meaning. Peer pressure and/or other such noisy opinionated vacuity is okay!

Have you realised that, as a result, there is an over-saturation in every field, and none of these "pass-out's" knows the chosen field in any depth. Their ignorance of EVERYTHING, the domain, good expression even in the mother tongue, the so-called soft/hard skills is abysmal.  Their EQ, a very popular term bandied often these days, is lower than their IQ! How come their parents, the most important aspect of any student's universe, do not question their behaviour?

Yes, there has to be an industry-university tie-up. The constantly shifting corporate/ industry/business needs, however, cannot dictate the academic paradigms, right? Students must learn how to learn. Thus would they  continue to upskill constantly, the need of the hour, given the AI era.

Why, in brief, is there very little genuine respect for education itself, forget teachers? Is it because teachers, quite well-paid,  given the whatever pay commission, do not really deliver? In the autonomous institutes, the situation is absolutely grim. Lectures do not take place. Not even half of the so-called syllabi, often not in sync with the latest domain developments, get completed. Teachers' ppt's, equivalents of the erstwhile "Nirali's", students feel, are AI-made, while the question paper is indirectly leaked, eh, 'shared'.  

Under the guise of "extra credit" courses, students consider themselves legally free to bunk subject lectures. If they do not attend lectures, how do they know even the basics? Who reads these days? Why do not people ever work on their communication? How can a senior college student, and worst of all, teachers, make basic mistakes of spelling and usage, when any number of apps and the AI exist for correction! Or is it the case that the much boasted/touted knowledge of computers and software applications is also equally shallow?

Said Hamlet, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark". Equally true is this quotation of education. Something sure stinks! Hope it is soon 'addressed', a favourite coinage these days, so that countless Hamlets are not sacrificed at the altar of empty convenience!

Pratima@"Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ the falcon cannot hear the falconer/Things fall apart, the center cannot hold/Mere anarchy is let loose upon the world," lamented W.B.Yeats at the millennial shift. The quote unfortunately holds true of the educational  field today. Given such "horror!horror!horror!", the feel of respect  for education, forget teachers, is wither(ed)!!!

Art Matters

 Look at the title of our blog. The " matters" here is both a noun and a verb. This grammatical ambivalence adds two layers of meaning to the title. It means, art matters, that is, art is important, on the one hand. On the other, it suggests art matters, artistic issues. 

Currently in Pune both these meanings appear valid. Why do I say so? Well, look at the decoration of the Ganapati pandals. Marvels of architecture these art decorations are. Right now, in Pune, they allow you a "darshan" of the Kedarnath temple, the Mahalaxmi temple, the Guruvayur Padmanabh Swami temple, the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, for instance.

Why, you can see the Dwarka under water, the Verul-Ajanta sculptures in their glory, the Krishna Vrindavan, and so on, and so on. The electricity dependent  decorations, wherein colourful lights dance to famous Bollywood tunes, are absolutely an eyeful in every sense of the term. There are AI decorations, live performances, the works, in brief.

Yet another reason why "art matters" in Pune right now is because of the Pune Festival. Made famous by the Suresh Kalmadi-Hema Malini duo, it is as major an event in the Pune art itinerary as the Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav in December.

I could attend a part of it in the evening on Thursday. The occasion was the santoor performance by Shantanu Gokhale, my colleague Gokhale Madam's highly talented son. I loved the performance for two reasons. Shantanu performed excellently as ever. What was most remarkable was that he himself was enjoying each 'sur' as well as the tabla saath. Wonderful indeed!

The second reason that made this mehfil astounding matters much to me. In a way, Pune Festival is a kind of 'open mic' event. The audience hence need not be the cognoscenti. The santoor, moreover, is a very difficult instrument to play.

Yet such was Shantanu's artistic excellence that an absolute commoner sitting in the next row, must be a mason or some such factory worker returning home after a tiring day, was humming along  the tunes in his rough voice. When Shantanu started playing the rather unknown Rag Rageshri, this man, an estate agent who was loudly bragging about a land deal ("sixty acres in 2500 rupees!") on his mobile, forgot it. He actually fell silent. He was, moreover, enjoying the delicate trills.

At one such unique moment of the wonderful performance, a "goonda", a "dada" kind of fellow started clapping so loudly that those of us sitting in the last row, could not hear the tabla. An uncle sitting in the next row was literally dancing while sitting! So lost he was to the lovely performance. 

Well, art is true art when it thus accords a soul, at least temporarily, to commoners who might not otherwise know the "s" of soul or "a" of art. Hence art matters! Shantanu sure deserves utmost kudos for proving this universal truth yet again.

Pratima@ Let me present yet another example of "art matters".  My nephew, Kunal, plays the guitar brilliantly. Gifted he is like his flute playing father. Aai used to love his practice of "mile sur mera tumhara". Throughout the Diwali, Kunal perfected each sur as the performance for Raju's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary was on the day after Bhaubeej. For months on end, "mile sur" was her anthem. Such was Kunal's total immersion in the world of music.

On the occasion of Sanju's sixtieth birthday, Kunal's performance was excellent as usual, so much so that every artist in the Jitendra Bhuruk group, including the professional guitar player in the troupe, praised him hugely.

For me, however, the most memorable were the moments when forgetting everything around, he was in his own world, enjoying a lot the most critical sur, the unique attainment of the sur-taal faultlessly managed, smiling softly to himself, given the successful execution of  the tough passages in the guitar pieces, an image etched in my soul. Art matters indeed!

The Frankenstein Day

 Every August 30 is celebrated as the Frankenstein Day the world over. Why so? Well, the reason is but obvious. The day marks the birth anniversary of Mary Shelley, the English novelist who created the monster making scientist, Victor Frankenstein, in her eponymous novel.

Incidentally,  Mary was in her late teens when she wrote "Frankenstein", the first ever science fiction which exposes the banality of the evil that the unbridled use of science without ethics unleashes. 

Unique sure was Mary, the daughter of William Godwin, the arch rebel whose political principles matter even today and Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist, and the wife of one of the greatest poets ever, P.B. Shelley. Written against a lazy bet, this novel, which she wrote in the Gothic style quite prevalent then, tells the story of the irresponsible scientist, Viktor Frankenstein,  who creates a monster without a thought nary about the consequences.

Viktor burns with the ambition of playing God, that is, of creating life artificially. His arduous experiment is successful as well. Yet his creation, the monster, is so hideous that the disgusted Viktor lets it loose on the unsuspecting world heartlessly, a stupid and cruel decision whose consequences ruin both, the creator and his creation.

In my opinion, Shelley's novel shows how empathy has to be the central principle of life, both individual and social. Viktor, self obsessed, lacks this virtue that truly makes us human(e). Obsessed with appearances, he abandons his own creation recklessly, which in the final analysis leads to disaster.

Why is this short little novel, hardly two hundred pages long, still relevant, more than two hundred years after its publication? Well, the answer is obvious. In today's era of the galloping AI, and riveting robotics and gigantic genetics, this novel exposes the dangers of playing God without being human(e) in the first place!

Pratima@ Science and technology, maintains folk wisdom, never solve a problem, without creating hundreds in the process!

Saying "good bye"

 Our Ganapati (yes, that is the relationship I feel we all develop with the Ganesh idol once the Lord is installed at home where the idol suddenly assumes a very happy, blessed look) immersion day is with the Gauri immersion. 

Always, each year, even when I know that the beatific presence is going to be amidst us next year, I feel truly unhappy to bid  farewell to the Lord as absolutely attached I feel to the idol. Well, for quite some time, I cannot even look at the devhara where the idol used to be. 

Much worse, I cannot look at the bucket in which these days my brother immerses the idol. My head tells me that it is the best, environmentally responsible solution. Yet my heart keeps on aching, my soul starts awaiting  already the festive presence next year. Tacitly I check the next year calendar roughly.

Saying good bye is difficult, nay, impossible. One is attached to everything, the structure one calls home, the plants that you nourish, the pet who loves you to distraction, the books you adore, your musical instrument, your paints n brushes, why, every utensil in the kitchen, too. A memory, or thousands, plays hide n seek everywhere. Why, now the Himalayas are mine, too. Reading about the monsoon, and man-made (f)actually, horrors there is extremely painful.

Hence, despite reading the Geeta, and some of our other such texts, I cannot digest the fact of death easily. All consolations do resonate, but only to a certain point. Deep down, the void continues to ache, right?

Ah, that brings us to the death of a relationship, extremely difficult. It is in this context that I would like to talk about Rahul Deshpande's announcement of his divorce. Despite all the ugly comments and gossip that flooded in, I feel that he alone knows the truth. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches! Sure, his parents, siblings, close friends, all of them would have discussed the issue with him. Why, the court, too, always assigns a counsellor before a legal separation or divorce. 

In other words, nobody has any right to publically dissect his decision.  As for the kid, constantly warring parents, too, create a havoc in a child's universe. So instead of pitying, blasting Rahul, bullying the artist in him, i suppose, he deserves his private space. Period.

The only grouse I have is that extremely filmy, rather Bollywood-y, language that he has used to publically declare the private decision. Personally, I do not even understand the need thereof. But if he had to announce it publically, why such goof-up linguistically? It gives rise to wild guesses such as  the divorce as a tax saving gimmick!

Publicity stunts are always a no-no for me. It seems, there is a video/a reel of Rahul Deshpande cutting his moustache on camera! Ugh! Who watches such nonsense? If true, such spectators, too, deserve such celebrities! And, vice versa!  Why the blurring between the intimate and the societal? While teaching Business Communication, I discuss the four spheres of contact, and I do feel that these be respected! Intimate relationships cannot be monetized. Nor  can they be weapon-ised to attack Individuals.

In brief, saying good bye cannot be a public event, with a frivolous divorce party thrown in! The death of a relationship deserves a certain gravitas!

Pratima@ "All happy families," wrote Tolstoy,  "are alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own unique way."

Drama, sheer drama!

 What does the title of the blog mean to you? Do you think that the blog today refers to the 'dramebaazi' in Mumbai? Those "actors" may be from all over Maharashtra. They truly seem to believe, however, in the "amchi Mumbai" tag. Why, they have transformed Mumbai roads in to bathrooms; the Worli Sea Face in to an antics adda, et al. It seems they are misbehaving with women journalists

No, no, no, I am not referring to such street play,  drama on the street. Not only the major Marathi YouTubers, but the regular AV media, too, is complaining about such 'nuisance value'.

Rather, our blog today talks about Thiyam, an Assamese theater director, who combined Brecht's techniques with the 'bihu' moves. The 'bihu' motion is very fluid and soft. My M.A. students from Assam often used to perform this Assam special dance. Very lyrical it appeared.

The Brechtian techniques (which are a conscious questioning of the Aristotelian concepts such "mirror to reality" and "catharsis") mixed with the local Bihu mode is what Thiyam used to portray the ancient Mahabharata  and indigenous myths as a comment on the contemporary realities.

 No wonder, when this Padmashree awardee passed away recently, he was deeply mourned by all the theater buffs across the whole of India. But natural is such grief as the public sphere of the theater performance, by definition, a group activity, is currently getting more and more encroached  upon by the very private mobile space flush with the 'intimate'  OTT content!

In brief, thoughtful actions are noteworthy by absence these days. No wonder, thoughtless reactions, as witnessed on Mumbai roads, abound!

Pratima@ "Fools rush in", Alexander Pope pointed out in the eighteenth century,  "where angels fear to tread!"