Creepy crazy foolish behaviour!

 Well, I write articles, stories, translation, et al for different magazines, journals, and so on. I am supposed to get hard copies of these once they are printed. Funny, creepy , crazy stuff happens these days. The so-called courier people  bluff saying that thrice they tried to deliver the material, and the door was closed!

What stupid rubbish! To begin with, I leave for college around 10-ish, and I am back home after college latest by 2 p.m. Earlier, moreover, these very people  used to call me up or message me in the morning, and without fail, the courier fellow would come at about 6 to 7 p m, and deliver the copy. I, moreover, get all sorts of other couriered material! 

Suddenly what happened? Is there some desperate cheap creep who wants to peep in other people's houses? Is some such sick sadist peeping Tom egging on people who do not have anything else to do except loaf around lazily, and keep on yaking in a nonsensical way? 

Logically, to begin with, why must doors be constantly open? Why, moreover, cannot there be a telephone call? The mobile number is there on the envelope. Simpler still, why not knock? Or call out? If a message is sent on the mobile number, I could always to go to the courier office, and collect the book/magazine! As simple as that! Why brainless lies?

The same kind of behaviour with the meter reading as well! The man comes at 8 p.m. because somone in the neighborhood met him, and told him! What stupid rot! 

Why stand around and talk about "chudail" et al? Who pays cheap fools who apparently have nothing to do except to say such nonsense? Absolutely un-"man"-ly behaviour by some third rate cad! 

The cheap creep behind all such nonsense does not realise that NOBODY is thus frightened! Moreover, he (has to be some so-called namesake "he" !!!) can be easily exposed, if worse comes to worse, and the consequences would be tough for this soft-brained fool and his cohorts!

Sick, silly, third-rate behaviour! Thomas Hobbes used to argue that human beings are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish", while human life is "short." The first part of this quote is proved by some sick fools around. Unfortunately, however, their life is as empty as it is long! 

Pratima@ Basically I am amused by such low crooks who keep an eye on each and every movement, and hence i tend to completely ignore them.                                            These days, however, I get the feeling that their (how to say intellectual or moral as they have neither brains not ethics! Tough to believe they are aged adults!) ugliness is such that these stupido's feel that silence is weakness!                                                                  Why, at night, all creepy stuff is attempted such as jumping on roofs, loud shrieks cum chats late at night and early morning, scratching/thumping on walls! Sick behaviour that sucks! What the cheapos do not realise that I am NOT thus frightened. In fact, I am the last person on this earth to be thus terrorised!

Quote of the day:                                                       A "healthy man does not torture others," says Carl Jung. 

Word of the day: threaten.                                     'Threaten' means cause someone to feel vulnerable or at risk; endanger. 

Let us learn grammar:                                       English does not have cases (विभक्ती). The only exception to this rule is "pronouns". They substitute nouns, and their forms as objects are: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them. Let us look at a few examples: I help her.  She scolds him.                                                    The pronoun as an indirect object  can be before the direct object or it can follow the direct object. When it follows the direct object, it is preceded by 'to'. Let us look at a few examples: I explain grammar to them. On her birthday, we give her gifts or On her birthday, we give gifts to her. 

Awesome Architecture

 At an altitude of some eleven thousand seven hundred and sixty feet resides Kedarnath. The square and/or oblong stone slabs, rather blocks, built together by the interlocking system that go into the making of His abode would not be available anywhere in the Himalayas. Yet the temple stands tall there, defying bitter winters, fearsome floods and ravaging time. Even before you enter the temple, its very architecture envelops you in its mystique! 

Awesome architecture! That is the first feel Indian temples always awaken in us. Would you believe me if I insist that right in the midst of the ever expanding Pune full of shrieking horns and shrinking spaces are two temples that are architectural marvels? 

Yes, I am referring to the Trishund Ganapati Mandir and Nageshwar Mandir in Somwar Peth nestled on the bank of  the Nagzari river once flowing freely in this central part of Pune. 

The Trishund Ganapati Mandir is in a way a  document built in stone of the Maratha Kingdom, not to forget the Indian Independence struggle. Why, a plaque in the outdoor wall has a stucco engraving commenting on the 1857 War of Independence as well as the lackdaisical self-obsessed attitude of the very many royalties then. 

With the "Hathyogi Gosavi" contribution to its fame, this marvel has stories galore in each of its images. A unique synthesis of the Rajasthani, Southern, and Marathi architectural styles, each carving, every column and all the corners here are deeply symbolic. 

The Ganesh idol in this temple is unique. Hence the nomenclature of the temple where the stone inscriptions clarify that literally all the deities, Shiva, Vishnu, Dattatreya and the goddesses, the Hamsavahini Saraswati to Gajantlakshmi, reside in this unique space whose structure is such that flood waters drain on their own! 

The nearby Nageshwar temple goes back to the fourteenth century, the Yadav era, and even earlier. It is a unique combo of the "hemadpanthi" style, superimposed by the Peshwa wooden built-up area. A complete unit in itself which once housed everybody associated with the temple, truly special is its canopy which tells a unique tale of how Mughal architecture subtly started influencing the temple construction. 

A must-visit wonders are these lesser known temples where divinity resides in ageless (hi)stories.

Pratima@ The Heritage walk was guided by the duo M/S Shantanu Paranjape and Vaidya. Absolutely infectious was their commitment to the oral narratives of-n-about these two heritage gems that sure need better awareness raising. A great Sunday morning, in brief!

Quote of the day:                                                         "We shape our temples, and thereafter they build us, and forever." Winston Churchill would overlook my re-structuring of his famous quote.

Word of the day: serenity.                                 Serenity refers to a state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled, often characterized by an absence of any stress or anxiety. Derived from the Latin serenus, it signifies tranquility, composure, and quietude.                                                                   The term is often used as a title of dignity for royalty or high dignitaries, especially religious.

The Mumbai Spirit?

 On one of the groups was shared this video of the 9.10 Dombivali Fast as it reaches the railway platform. There was a dare, too. 'Try getting in to this local train.' Honestly, it was pathetic. People were attacking the bogies as if their lives depended on it. 

In a way, they did, too. The local train would take them to Mumbai, and fast. Yet the very sight was inhuman(e) because the scenario totally desensitised, dehumanised and objectified people as living skeletons! 

Those who stay in Mumbai would maintain that such behaviour is a matter of habit. Each one would have his/her story about it. In general, such insensitivity, pushing others so that one gets in to the bogey, literally mowing down someone who falls down in that crazy hustle n bustle to catch the train, just moving on even if someone dies on the tracks, and much worse, the subtle, unstated yet obvious gangster like behaviour inside the bogey! Alll these phenomena revealing the dormant 'Flee it or fight it' animal instinct!

Often all these compulsions are sugar coated and glorified as the Mumbai Spirit. Is it really so? Luckily, for the last decade or so, there have not been any bomb blasts or riots or underworld gang wars in Mumbai. Otherwise, people would travel in the same trains, on the same tracks as if nothing had happened! 

Is such habit formation that leads to a hard, rough core within, such desensitisation, such dehumanisation desirable? Why must life be so mechanical? How (much) must it hurt the idealists, the sensitive, if at all they survive the so-called Mumbai Spirit.  Last but not the least, let us never forget the Malad Incident which exemplifies the worst of the Mumbai Spirit!

Honestly, the video reminded me of T.S.Eliot's "Preludes", "The Waste Land" and the "Hollow men". What cost money when human lives are easily dispensable, and cheap!

Pratima@ Have you noticed that all the acidic jokes on all groups about the Pune 'attitude' are from Mumbaikar's?!? Must be a case of lower self-esteem disguised as a superiority feel! 

Quote of the day:                                                         'Those who follow the crowd are usually lost in it! ' The author is anonymous! 

Word of the day:  expeditious.                                Expeditious  means done with speed and efficiency.

As usual, we learn grammar Monday through Friday. See you on Monday for the "Let us learn" section.

Unki awaz hi pehchan hai

 Remember that immortal song from the film "Kinara"? That lovely assertion "meri awaz hi pehchan hai" has over the years grown to be the signature tune of Lata Mangeshkar. This tribute to her on her death anniversary would like to state that unbelievably varied are the moods of that voice.

 A truism this statement may appear to be.  Let us hence in our blog try an appreciation which possibly is a little different. Very rarely are Lata's "naughty" ditties discussed, right? Sure, she avoided the oomph songs. It seems, she found "abhi na jao chodkar"  'suggestive'! To be very frank, till this date, I have not deciphered why/how! 

Hence this attempt to understand her "bahon me chale" from 'Anamika'. Well, listen to that refrain. The hook line is " baho me chale aao". The queen of pronunciation, rather enunciation, that she was, Lata takes a slight, almost unnoticeable, pause after "aa", and it is heard as "aa o". In my opinion, that pause adds a cute naughtiness, without the open invite sounding vulgar. 

In fact, she has sung the entire song as if it is more a chatter than an overtly seductive 'come hither' type. The whisper effect, enhanced by the impossibly high note (she alone could manage it so musically) stanza finally, adds a subtle allure to that naughtiness, right? May be, it adds to the mystery in the film, too, I suppose. 

Yet another interesting facet of Lata's artistry is that her voice enacts the screen emote, right? Well, the song is picturised on Jaya Bhadhuri. Then she was the sweetheart of Bollywood, surely not the "angry old woman" (just a take on the famous Amitabh persona, no ageism/no aspersions meant, please!) much derided now. 

In my opinion, Lata's rendering of the Majrooh Sultanpuri verse manages to capture the cute innocence (notice, please, in this context Lata's smile in the song. She does not laugh, nor does she simper, she cutely smiles, right?) of Jaya's sweet face then. This R.D. Burman product in the Lata version of naughtiness has all the charm of the Asha sizzle without the sensual provocation, right? No wonder, "unki awaz hi pehchan hai" as our title puts it!

Pratima@At the BMCC, the Internationally renowned project n light artist, Herr Philip Geist from Berlin, Germany, literally performed magic in the evening. 

With two haze machines, four projectors, and a software programme, it was graphic design as the witchery of light, accompanied by lovely sound effects. The College building appeared 'ethe-real'! Beautiful beyond words!

Quote of the day:                                                       "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life, " asserts  Pablo Picasso.

Word of the day: exclusive.                                        Exclusive refers to  something unique, restricted to the person, group, or area concerned. Lata's rendering of the naughty ditties is exclusive, for instance.

Let us learn grammar:                                               A di-transitive verb, as the very name suggests ('di' in Latin means two), uses two objects, direct and indirect. A direct object is necessary for the meaning of the sentence to be complete. Let us look at an example. We learn grammar/music/painting/cookery/gardening, and so on. Unless the object is stated, " we learn ..." would be incomplete. Hence it is the direct object (" what" is the question often asked to locate it).

Now look at this sentence. "She explains grammar to students". The "to students" is extra information, not necessarily crucial to the meaning of the statement. Hence the indirect object ("whom" is the question that places it).

Cancer Cure

  February 4 is the world cancer day. Cancer is the cruellest disease, whatever might be the type or the stage. No doubt whatsoever about it! How do I know it? For the New Indian Express, I wrote articles on cancer. I met a lady whose dis-ease began with breast cancer to morph in to uterine cancer as well. It was tough listening to her lament about how the disease relates to her very i-dentity as a woman. 

Much worse was writing about childhood cancer. Be it the six month old baby with eye cancer or a six year old who played innocently without knowing what was imminent, meeting such victims of the cruel disease was heart-rending. 

Equally tragic is getting to know the last stage, beyond cure cases. Palliative care, the inevitable use of morphine as the pain killer at that stage were issues which moved me beyond tears when I wrote an article on palliative care, a rather novel idea in India in the early years of the twenty-first century. 

All these are instances of cancer assaulting physically. Much worse is the cancer cruelly cutting in to the societal space. Do you know its nomenclature? Yes, it is the fear of, the avoidance of, the rejection of excellence. 

Yes, take any field of the public sphere, or private space for that matter, the hunting down of excellence is unmistakable. The worst case scenario, however, is in academics. This cancer is so wide-spread that, at times, its morbidity is frightening, especially because its nodes, hence spread, are everywhere!

What is the panacea? Tough to tackle as there seems to be an apathy at all which is terribly terrifying, what with the AI shrinking possibilities galore! 

Pratima@ Cancer is an auto-immune disease. That is to say, the body seems to rebel against itself. Hence this metaphor!

 Mathew Arnold had a beautiful image for such a tragic trajectory, 'ignorant armies clashing by night', not knowing whom they are fighting, finishing off, friends or foes!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Not all monsters hide in the shadow. Most smile soothingly during the day." An anonymous but apt quote!

Word of the day: stellar.                                          The word, close to the celestial, that is, the starry firmament, means 'of the best quality', excellent.

Let us learn grammar:                                              What is a transitive verb? The very term explains it, right? 'trans' is 'across'. A transitive verb hence is a verb whose action/activity, whether corporal/physical or abstract, is carried across the object. Let us look at examples. Children love pizzas. Students bunk lectures. I love reading. Poets use imagination. 

Incidentally, the thumb rule is to ask " who" to find out the subject of the sentence, and  "what" to find out the direct object. Tomorrow we shall further discuss the direct and the indirect object(s) when we shall try to understand di-transitive verbs.

The Best of Bhimsen Joshi

 How to decide the best one by Bhimsen  Joshi? Simply impossible is such a futile exercise, right? Well, to begin with, his range is literally infinite. He sings the classical ragadari sangeet to perfection. His Marathi abhang and Hindi bhakti sangeet mesmerise one and all. Why, the film song "ketaki gulab juhi" is as beautiful as the flowers it describes. 

Neither musical genres nor even his Kirana gharana is a limitation for his brilliant art in to which he pours both technical perfection and deep emotion. May be, hence, it is difficult to decide the best of Bhimsenji, right?  

Yet each one of us has her/his favourite, right? Well, mine is the Bhairavi which begins as "jo bhaje hari ko sada". This composition by Bramhananda truly guides us towards, and in to, both bramha, the ultimate truth and the beatific anand, the ecstatic joy when Bhimsenji renders it absolutely inimitably. 

The "rasa" this Bhairavi creates is a kind of deep peace which allows you to be both within and beyond this world made of imperfections. The "bhava" Panditji generates is both "nirgun" and "sagun" bhakti, that is, devotion. 

In other words, whether or not you are a devotee or a believer, this Bhairavi as rendered by Bhimsenji is sure to lead you to be as close as is possible to the divine feel. 

You need not know either the technicalities of a bhairvi nor need you be entrenched in to the religious literature. Yet this bhairvi is sure to carry you on the wings of sur and drut gat teen taal (at times drut gat Dhumali, too) in to the world of exquisite joy and ultimate peace. Hence this tribute to Panditji on the occasion of his birth anniversary!

Pratima@ I must confess that it was the story shared by  our C.M. Devendra Fadnavis which reminded me of the special occasion. Indeed it is a very nice feel to have a Chief Minister who is so artistically sensitive, what with all the issues circumscribing Maharashtra politics right now!

Quote of the day:                                                   "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything," says Plato.

Word of the day: harmony.                            Harmony is the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect.                                                                        No wonder, any good relationship is always known as 'harmonious'. 

Let us learn grammar:                                          Since we have discussed dedicated depiction of devotion deeply, why descend down to something as prosaic as grammar, however 'basic' it may be to communication, right? Let us learn more about transitive verbs tomorrow.

Why infantilise?

 Have you noticed a rather funny pattern? After Ajit Dada Pawar's sad, and sudden, demise, there is a weird competition to predict the future of his party. Forget day in and day out, literally it is hour in and minute out, that crazy news items about what is happening, or not happening, in that camp are shrieked, yes, indeed, 'shrieked' is the word! 

Why would it be so? The rather obvious answer is that the t.v. channels need something to show 24 x 7, and this unfortunate event is obviously their milch cow, right? The more sensational the coverage, the better the TRP. Anyways, ours is the post-truth era! No need hence to worry about any veracity, right? 

I find editorials about what Sunetra Tai should, or should not, do/say, how right/wrong she is, quite some 'game'. Obviously, the hidden agenda is unmistakable. More than that, does it occur to these so-called intellectuals that they are rubbing salt in to her wound? 

Why not let her be? Why think that she is not capable of (or responsible enough, for that matter, to think of) deciding what could be good for the party of her husband, for herself,  for her children? After all, she is in her sixties. Why infantilise her?

Why do these self-declared intellectuals overlook the fact that she, too, comes from a political family, both from the parental and marital ends. Why forget the lifetime, and thus practical, advice she would thus get, in addition to the suggestions by the party functionaries?

Why deny her any acumen,  political and/or otherwise? Why reduce her to a non-thinking nobody? Why not grant her some sensibility? Honestly, all this media circus smacks of, rather, smells of, a prejudiced attitude to women, and not merely as leaders!

Pratima@The entire episode proves how there is not only glass ceiling for women,  but also ropeways that are cut off at every step. Oh, yes, I better clarify that the ropeway I here refer to is of the Tanaji Malusare and Sinhgad variety!

Quote of the day:                                                         "The view that women are infantile and emotional creatures, and as such are incapable of responsibility and independence is the work of the (societal) tendency to lower women's self-respect," says Karen Horney. I could not have found a better quote to go with our discussion today.

Word of the day: infantilise                             Infantilise means treat (someone) as a baby, as a kid, and in a way which denies her/his maturity age-wise, or her/his intellect, forget wisdom!

Let us learn grammar:                                             Today onwards,  we are going to look at a few examples of the transitivity of verbs. The wind howls, the sun shines, the door opens are examples of the intransitive usage. Sure we can add adverbs of time, of manner, et al. These sentences, actually verbs in these sentences, do not, however, need an object. We can say, for example, "The sun shines brightly in the morning in India". We have used all sorts of adverbs, right? An object, however, is not needed.

Tomorrow let us look at the transitive verbs which would further clarify the notion of an object. Oh, yes, we shall explain all the adverb types as well.

In Times of Trouble

 Generally I avoid news about this "Ma", that "Kunwar" types. In other words, I am rather allergic to news about groups that deal with spiritual prowess. May be, I am wrong, but it is my firmly held belief that such inner strength, garnered after lots of mind efforts, cannot be a consumer item to be advertised like some two minutes stuff. It becomes business then, right? 

In other words, that sad saga of the recent unnatural death of a sadhvi can never be my kind of stuff. Yet I am going to write about it because it points towards a terrible danger sn(e)akily lurking for women who are, as it is, more and more victimised as technology develops! 

Well, this lady had installed in her "kuti" a cctv camera. Using this safety device, there was some objectionable video shooting of her. Apparently, the person responsible is the mechanic who installed the camera, in cahoots with the menials working for her. 

The intimacy thus videographed was with the 'pater familias' in her opinion. It got morphed to spread the vilest rumours against her. May be, it was to extract money from her. Possibly it was out of professional jealousy. I would not know such details.

What I find appalling is not only the invasion of her privacy but also the involvement of the mechanic. True, these are the DIY times. Yet not everything you can do it yourself, right? If you have to call a mechanic, how to know whether such a person is trustworthy, is not up to some creepy crap?

Our country does not have enough certified guilds of the "blue collar" workers. How to believe such gig workers? How far safe it is to allow them inside your home? In addition to the legit fear of robbery, there is this additional trouble of such camera fixing for some pervert, right?

Softwares such as photoshopping, not to forget the AI enabled Grok, can online create an alternate reality that never existed. Now such trouble offline is truly a bother. Hence the Marquez like title of our blog today that opens up  subtle victimizations of women!

Pratima@'Eliza' type of mini robots, too, transmit their surroundings, it seems. Your own mobile, too, can be tapped to trap you, and beyond that notorious digital arrest. If technology is going to get better by the minute, while human perfidy would be worse by the second, it is indeed times of trouble for women, what with the "no work" times looming ahead, and very soon, what with the five years upper limit by M/S Musk, et al!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Toxic people," argues this anonymous quote, "attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters." Given such sicko's around, you can never stop being wiser!

Word of the day: perfidy                                     Perfidy refers to the negative state/quality of being deceitful and untrustworthy.

Let us learn grammar:                                              As we noted last week, the subject drives the sentence, and determines the verb. Before we discuss this issue further, it is necessary to understand the basic types of verbs. Verbs can be transitive, intransitive or di-transitive.

Intransitive verbs do not have/need an object. Transitive verbs have an object, while di-transitive verbs require two objects, direct and indirect. Tomorrow we shall explore this concept through examples.

An evening in the realm of music

 February 1! The budget day! Till the cows come home, the entire discussion everywhere, on the roads, on the radio,  on the internet, on the t.v. channels to youtube groups is about what would cost more, the eternal grouse that travels times. 

This year though, despite it being Feb First, in the fab evening, I could calmly crawl in to the spaces between better 'notes', and curl my back to worries about dirty monies. Maya Angelou would sure forgive me my take on her famous quote. 

The occasion was the "Swar Utsav", an evening of simply superb music, orchestrated by the "Sapthak" ensemble in Bangalore, in association with the Pune based "Mitra Foundation". 

The first of its kind, the "Swar Utsav", which initiated the Mitra renditions this year,  was a sheer celebration of music, what with the life time achievement award being given to flautist Pandit Nityanand Haldipur, a disciple of the great Annapurna Devi. 

The evening performance was a mix of the vocal and the instrumental. The evening began with Dhananjay Hegde singing the Bhimpalas. This disciple of the Kirana-Atrauli gharanas made the evening meditative with "ab to badi der" and "lagan lagi". His "Yaman" made the longing pulsating in the evening absolutely poignant. 

He was accompanied most lyrically on the harmonium by Suyog Kundalkar, while Pranav Gurav's tabla complimented them both most ably.

 Though the break was too long, what with the air conditioners making it truly wintry, the wait was worth it because what followed after the break was 'sense'-ationally superb. Rakesh Chaursia's "Jog" made the auditory abilities of the audience surfeit with superb sur's. 

While his disciple, Ms Joshi, ably proved what it is to be trained by a 'guru', Ojas Dhadiya's tabla complemented n complimented the magic that a genuine jugalbandi of sur n tal can create. I felt real sorry to have to leave with the "Hamsadhwani" just flute-ing in.

I cannot thank my colleague, Rajeshree Gokhale Madam, the compere of the evening, for the invite. Absolutely looking forward to many such mesmerizing memories, Ma'am!

Pratima@What truly created the 'mahaul' of the 'mehfil' was the cute fact that both the artists, masterful as they were, refused to take themselves too very seriously. While Hegdeji reminded us of our shaky footsteps in to classical music before he began his majestic "Yaman", Rakesh Chaurasia's fun filled raillery made his superb rendition of the classical absolutely en-'light'-ening!

Quote of the day:                                                     "One good thing about music is," asserts Bob Marley, "when it hits you, it causes no pain."  

Word of the day: melody                                             Indian classical music is melodious, not symphonic, it is always argued. 'Melody', the principal part in harmonized music, is an aspect of musical composition concerned with the arrangement of single notes to form a satisfying sequence. So says the dictionary, while artists en-'live'-n it.

Let us learn grammar:                                             Let us not to the melody of music add our daily dose of grammar, okay? We can break that rhythm for a day, right?

N.B.: a blog by Pratima Padmaja-Ramchandra Agnihotri, Pune

The beginning of the end

 Already it is January 31!How time flies fast, n past as a blur of days! It appears as if it was just yesterday that 2026 had begun. Why, it is already the end of January, 2026! 

Ours is an era marked by supersonic mo(ve)ments that just speed fast. As a result, the attention span is minimal most. Mind you, I am not talking merely of kids obsessed with cocomelon. Adults are no better! Look at the way we consume news now. Earlier people used to actually read a newspaper. Now a days, most do not even watch the t.v. news. The source often is a quickie online! 

Consequently, the celebrities these days are, too,  of the "here today, gone tomorrow"  variety, right?  As it is, given the explosion of excessive (n obsessive!) information overload about everyone n everything, hardly is there any alluring aura, a subtle mystique about anyone. The very many "managed" competitions are, moreover, spewing celebrities dime a dozen! 

Hence the title of our blog today which wonders what people would do when there would not be any work, as already  abundantly promised by the AI establishment. May be, hence such habit-formation of the masses to be passive spectators, quiet(ened) consumers. Are not we giant sized babies, happy with our own pacifiers!

Pratima@Sometimes I wonder if we are dancing to the Einstein rhythm. What do I mean? Well, the great Albert Einstein never put his feet on Mars, but his equations took that giant step long before any rover could walk the surface of any planet, forget Mars.

When he published his ideas on general relativity more than a century ago, as scientists would put it, he proposed something outrageous for his time: gravity does not just pull on objects, it stretches and warps time itself.

For decades, that sounded like pure abstraction, adored because it was Einsteinian. A thing for school n college chalk n blackboards, and university journals, not for the dusty red deserts on the Mars! 

Now, ultra-precise atomic clocks and radio signals bouncing between the Earth and the Mars are quietly confirming what our Albert knew an eon ago, namely, time on Mars is not flowing at the same rate as time on Earth! 

May be, hence, we on earth are so zapped by the time curve wherein there is always the end of the beginning! And, hopefully, vice versa!

Quote of the day:                                                        Says Sage Heraclitus, "we never put our feet twice in the same river." 

Word of the day: fugacious.                                  Fugacious is a rather literary word which means fleeting or transient. Rather like a sensational news time our blog mentions in the initial paragraphs! Sure does it have a fugacious claim on the public attention. The term  is from Botany, where it refers to falling or fading early.

Significance

 How does anything get any significance? It is due to thoughts, emotions, actions associated with it, right? Otherwise, each day is like every other day. From the first rays of the sunshine to the moon rise, and beyond. The same day, the same routine! 

January 30 has been significantly different though. It was on this day in 1933 that Hitler became the German Chancellor, an event which changed the history of the world, and undoubtedly of the inter-war Germany. 

Far away in India, the day is darkly significant, too. It was on January 30, that Gandhiji was assassinated. Tragic as the event was, it assumed a trenchant significance  in Maharashtra coz in the wake of the horrific event, countless Brahmin families suffered indescribable atrocities. 

What then is the significance of not only the martyrdom of Gandhiji, individually  but also as a way of life? In a world full of subtle, unseen but efficient falsehoods, getting more and more entrenched due to technology? 

The meaning of the day, in my opinion, consists of questioning, and avoiding like the hell itself, the hunger for control, whether physical or psychological. What do you say? 

Pratima@Tragic as Gandhiji's assassination was, equally cruel was the pogrom in Maharashtra against Brahmins. Casteless society, a forever dream! 

Quote of the day:                                                        "The darkest places in hell," asserts Dante, "are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."

Word of the day: wily                                                Wily means skilled at gaining an advantage, especially deceitfully.                                   If you are wily and ignore an injustice, you are  UNFAIR. 

Let us learn grammar: The basic most sentence structure in English is subject+ verb. A few examples can be: The wind blows. The door opens. The lightening strikes.                                                                               Of course, we can extend these structures. As we go along, we shall know how. We need to know the types of verbs for such an explanation. More about verbs and their types when we meet after the weekend 

The Genie in the Lamp

 Have you heard the name Tim Berners-Lee? Does the name click? Okay, a clue! He created something that you use day in and day out, and not merely for "entertainment" raised to infinity. 

No guesses, hain? Okay, no issues. He is the Oxford/MIT profe who invented the internet. A great person, right? Believe me, he began the works as early as 1989, and kept on perfecting it. By now, literally each and everyone across the globe is using his product. 

Why remember him now? Is that your question? Well, it is just to prove to you that not only is he highly intelligent, but that he is a good soul as well, a pretty rare combination. 

Well, he thinks that the internet, his brain child, is being grossly misused. The internet has grown up to be excessively commercialized. Yes, that is his grouse, and he is up in arms to undo the harm. A great gesture indeed!

The internet which is much better than the genie in Alladin's lamp, is, however, more like the slave of the wicked magician. Open,  and actually much worse, subtle, data theft, blood curdling crimes such as the digital arrest which dupe the victims of a lifetime, the Grok like AI apps that make women's lives much more miserable, the internet, in addition to excessive commercialisation, is almost a den of crime. Good, its father is thinking of straightening out the errant kid!

Pratima@ All the conscientious inventors have always opposed the misuse of their creative concepts. Einstein who opposed the making of the atomic bomb is another major example.

The quote of the day:                                               "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge," argues Carl Sagan.

 The word of the day: fluke.                                      By fluke is by sheer chance. Nothing in science is by fluke. As Edison summed it up, "it is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration "  

Let us learn grammar:                                             An English sentence, in regular, non-poetic, non-literary usage begins with a subject. The subject is followed by a verb. The kernel of an English sentence is the subject-verb concord. That is to say, the verb agrees with the number (singular/plural) of the subject. The subject is singular, so has to be the verb.

 That is to say, with the third person singular, he/she/it, the verb is verb+s in simple present, is/was +verb-ing in continuous tenses, and has +participle with the perfect. With the modal (we shall soon understand the verb types, moods, tenses), 'be able to', it has to be 'I am able to', 'he/she is able to. ' Tomorrow we shall look at lots and lots of examples of the subject-verb concord. 

Death: A few after thoughts

 Death is like an  earthquake. Never to be exactly predicted. Equally devastating it is. Leaves a lot of wreckage and rubble in its wake. Equally horrible are the after shocks. 

In a way, the moment we are born, begins our inevitable journey to death. Death, however, seems to like the game of hide-n-suddenly seek. Look at the tragic plane accident of Ajit Dada Pawar. The news was so appalling that initially it appeared unbelievable. 

Undoubtedly, he was a leader with a huge mass appeal. Why, the auto fellow, who drove me to college this morning, got a call regarding the sad demise midway, and this man in his fifties had tears in his eyes, and he kept on wiping his tears almost till we reached the college. 

Ajit Dada's communication style undoubtedly had that rustic directness which made his speeches full blast fun for his audience. There was a kind of honest openness about him, right? Remember the "dam" incident? On his own, he chose a fast at Karad as a mode of self flagellation and auto correction. May his soul rest in peace!

Now a few after thoughts about the after shocks of this tragic event. Is it right, as is quoted, on the part of "Maharashtra Times" to start discussing the 'wealth' Dada amassed, within a few hours of his sudden demise? Well, at least, let the final funeral rites get over before such eternal politicking begins. 

Yet another after thought which hugely disturbs me is the  media circus about the cause of the tragic accident. Self advertised analysts started blaming the poor pilot even before the 'black box' was found. 

Does it occur to these self declared Sherlock Holmes that the pilot, too, is dead! Imagine the plight of his family who has to hear at such a tragic moment how his service contract was twice terminated for drunken flying! Nobody knows how far true such rumours are. Why malign a dead man just because he is a nobody? 

How about the rest of the crew? Is it right to ask silly questions to a grieving father, thrusting, moreover, the mic literally in to his mouth? Well, death has a finality to it which must make everyone more sensitive and human(e)!

Pratima@ I taught in the S.P. college for two years. As it was a reserved category post, I could not continue teaching there, though even now I meet my S.P. students who still remember our literature lectures after so many years.

Mr. Ashtekar, who was the sports-in-charge there, wanted to honour Ajit Dada for his contribution to the sports culture, especially in the S.P. College. He asked me to write the text of the citation to be presented to Ajit Dada. Apparently, Dada liked it very much!

Quote of the day:                                                          "It is indeed sad that the person you 'know' suddenly transforms in to someone you 'knew'! The world moves on, goes on as if nothing happened!" An anonymous quote.

Word of the day: dirge                                              A dirge is a lament for the dead, especially one forming a part of the funeral rites. Literature is full of sensitive dirges that capture the sense of the forever loss most feelingly. 

Let us learn grammar:                                   .           Let us continue the discussion of sentence formation tomorrow onwards.

Equity: An Acrostic

Each second the trial to be equitable!         Quail we never before what separates 'us'.  Under-estimated ever is 'our' genuineness.  Indeed shrivelled 'our' prejudice(s) n pride!     The victory roar! Easy target is an innocent.   Years pass, yet mo(ve)ments recur as a test! 

Pratima@Be it the murder of a lecturer in Malad, Mumbai; be it the constant harassment of a woman who is the object of a one-sided obsession of the richie-rich n mighty; be it the insensitive legalities of all sorts, hey, Equity, indeed where art thou?

Quote of the day:                                                  "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion," asserts Albert Camus, a great thinker and a greater author. 

Word of the day: Fair-mindedness                       Fair-mindedness is the intellectual virtue of judging situations impartially, without bias, prejudice, or dishonesty, by considering all viewpoints equally.                                                   It involves actively listening to others, setting aside ego-centered perspectives, and treating people with respect, which is crucial for critical thinking and fostering equity.  So says the dictionary! 

Let us learn grammar:                                               The subject drives the sentence. It is in a way the in-charge. The subject can be a noun of any variety, common, countable, singular, or otherwise. We have already discussed all the types of a noun, while trying to understand the article-usage.                                                           Similarly, the subject can be a pronoun. I/we are first person pronouns (the speaker of the utterance), you/you are the second person pronouns (the listener of the utterance), (s)he/they (the object of the utterance). The first item of all these pairs is the singular pronoun, while the second is the plural versions. Pronouns do not require any articles. 

The Day that made us

 Let us first look at the very term "Republic." Etymologically, it comes from "res publica". In other words, in the very term is included the notion of the power of the people, unlike a monarchy or a dictatorship. 

If we were to look up the basic terminology of Political Science, we would know that we are a participatory, representative, federal republic. We are, moreover, democratic. Does that appear a a little quizzical? 

Well, basically all the republics are democratic, but it need not be vice versa. Look at England, for example. It is democratic, but it is neither a presidential (like America) nor a parliamentary (like us) republic. It is a monarchy. 

Why is January 26 important? On this day, the Constitution was formally accepted as the collation of the guiding principles that govern our federal identity (the relationship between the states and the center), our parliamentary system, and our rights, responsibilities and duties as citizens. It is in this sense that it is truly the day that made us, "we, the citizens."  

Pratima@When we were small, we were never ever allowed to miss the Republic Day Parade on January 26 or the flag hoisting on August 15. Actually, our home was really very far away from our school. Yet Aai-Papa made it a point that we would attend these national festivals.                                                   Moreover, at home, too, Aai would conduct essay writing and elocution competitions on all such important days. The real patriotic seeds were thus sown in our souls, I would say. 

Thought of the day:                                                 "We are Indians firstly and lastly," asserts Dr. B. R. Ambedkar . 

Word of the day: politics/politicking             Politics refers to the formal, structured process of governance, power distribution, and decision-making within societies or organizations, focusing on "who gets what, when, and how".                                                      Politicking, on the contrary, points to the active, often informal, and strategic "performative operations" or campaigning used to gain power, influence, or, at times, even personal advantage. 

Let us learn grammar:                                        Today onwards, let us start looking at the sentence structure in English.                               The basic most point we have to remember in this context is that, unlike the sentence   structures in our languages, the English sentence structure is not elastic.                             Our languages have case markers, known as "vibkhati pratyay." The subject, in Marathi, for instance, would have the "tritiya vibhakti"  and related case makers. The direct object would be in the accusative (dwitiya) case.                                                            The sentence structure, hence, can be very fluid. The standard example given is "Ramane Ravanala marle". The "ne" shows it is the subject and "la" indicates the direct object. As a result, the sentence can be written/spoken in nine ways.                                  English does not have such case markers. The sentence structure hence has to begin with the subject, followed by the verb with which it agrees. We shall learn all such niceties of sentence construction in English as we go along. 

Weird Ideas of Crazy Fun

 Who does not like fun? Most everyone loves it. Yet what can be fun? I suppose, the answer instantly shows up the real you. Do not you believe me? Okay, here is what happened in a Delhi metro.

Let me describe the video as seen. A highly funkily decked up "smart" woman with a tinnie-winnie pallu is laughing in a shrewd wicked knowing way. The metro stops. Suddenly this creepy woman kicks from behind another woman facing the exit door. 

So forceful is the kick that the other unsuspecting  woman falls flat on her face. Despite the solid kick, luckily she is not hurt in a major way, though her knees, arms must have got grazed. In a split second, fortunately before the metro starts, she is back in to the bogie.

Surprised, she seems to be questioning the woman who kicked her out. She bursts out laughing. It seems, it is a joke because the lady who kicked is guffawing, winking and pouting out her tongue! 

What is weird is that both these women must be in their thirties at least. Much worse, there is another creep filming it. What a terrible use of data gotten almost free of cost!

Why is it that the sense of fun these days is getting stupider by the day? First and foremost, it MUST be noted that childish IS childish, looks yuck on grown-ups. Childish, moreover, is by no means child-like!

The child-like is imbued with innocence. Any fun that is weird (cross-dressing and decking up a boy as a girl) wicked (consciously make a person take a very long detour even when it could have been avoided easily by informing him just an hour earlier)  bizarre (mocking the beggars who are blind or laughing at 'the' wall) is not only crooked, it is downright outlandish. Such acts are pathetic, not even childish!

A person and his supporters who find it funny to knowingly harass for years an innocent whom they believe they have "finished off" belong to the mental asylum. A person who knowingly loosens the screws of a tyre, spreads vicious rumours out of jealousy, causes a major planned accident needs to be incarcerated for a lifetime.

Such crude and crooked frivolity, which often panders to the ugly bodily functions, can NOT be fun! Nor is it childish! Such "naughty" viciousness goes to such an extent that people with nothing to do are paid in various ways to consciously, knowingly, wickedly target an innocent person, just because she had the gall not to like/reject a crook! Imagine the harmful harassment, what with the recent UGC Act types helping the stalkers!

Fun is playing on words, spoofing a silly idea or some contradictory behaviour. It can be satirical, too. Remember the "you said it" cartoons which mocked even the mighty. Everyone loved the humour, including often the powerful target(s)! Across the globe people love P.G. Wodehouse. In Maharashtra, we have a huge tradition of great humour beginning with Chi Vi Joshi, or even earlier.

Clean humour cannot depend on harassment, cruelty, trapping, vicious competitiveness, silliness, and such types. Such weirdness is not only not fun, but actually it deserves punishment legally. Wish there were solid proof! The metro authorities, for instance, must see to it somehow that such foolishness is NEVER  repeated.

Pratima@ I suppose, it is the craze for reels which is one of the reasons behind such wicked weirdness. Yet another possibility could be the need to attract attention, and retain it. Such boring behaviour then obviously is born out of an intense inferiority complex dressed as a show off of superiority. Such perpetrators sure need psychiatric treatment!

Quote of the day:                                                        If asinine behaviour were a sport, champions would abound.

Word of the day: repartee.                             Repartee is conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies.

Girls glitter-n-gleam

 The girl child day matters. Why? Well, girls are special. Let us re-count the reasons. First and foremost, lifelong a daughter is a daughter and a sister remains a sister. Forever, she continues to care for her parents and  siblings.

The really good n nice one extends that warmth to the marital family as well. That is to say, never does she marry merely for money, and cares for the loving husband, his nurturing parents and his sincere siblings, too. She does not enter the marital home with pride and prejudice(s), in brief. 

Girls mostly are genuine about everything they do. Yes, the very many exceptions sure prove the basic rule. Want proof? Look at the results of any and every examination. Most often, of the topper ten, at least eight would be girls.  Later, however, at the workplace, the glass ceiling is as deceptive as the slippery steps to success, not to forget the crab mentality often encountered! 

Girls are hyper sensitive and yet they are highly resilient. Weave any impossible nightmare around a girl. She would manage to survive intact, and with grace. Unlike most men, self pity, that leads to all sorts of addictions, does not dominate the difficult days. 

Yes, I do agree that such qualities are individual-specific and gender-neutral. Often, they are rooted in parenting as well as in her own unique personality. Hence the need to support a struggling girl, right? 

In a way, it is dicey that the day needs to be continued! That irony is not lost in 2026 which brings not only new challenges as well as the unmistakable frivolities that majority of the girls, too, exhibit abundantly. Well, one has come a long way, right? The competition, moreover, never was with the male of the species. The attempt ever was to evolve better and more human(e)!

Pratima@In brief, girls glitter dazzlingly. They and their families, hence, must not allow anyone or any situation to scratch the sheen of their dream(s).

Quote of the day:                                                        "Why be an echo when you have your own unique music?," so says, yes, you guessed it right, Pratima!

Word of the day: resilient.                                       A resilient person is able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions/situations/circumstances.

A Citizen appeals to...

 What goes in to the making of a good, vibrant democracy? Undoubtedly, the elections matter as ours is a representative democracy. Yet, 'we, the citizens', are not merely a number. Rather, we are a participatory society, and each one of us is/has to be an active, conscientious member. It is in this spirit that I would like to make a fervent appeal to our Prime Minister. 

Sure my blog is not a jazzy, sensational one like Ranveer Allahabadia's. Nor is it a mouthpiece of any faction, any party or any ideology. Yet I love my country a lot, and hence this open appeal to our Prime Minister. 

Just look around us. Most nations, the erstwhile colonizer, England to the oil-rich Middle East, are on the boil, America being no exception. As for China, there is no knowing. Yet it is observable that, almost everywhere, there is an implosion like situation. 

Given such ground realities and the fact that our nation seems to be making strides in many fields, why the need to make divisive laws? As a result, suddenly there is a surge in our country of the strident caste rhetoric. It is assuming many, and major, and forceful forms, moreover.

The most obvious one currently is the UGC issue which is getting gargantuan in proportion. It can very easily be 're-solved' without anybody losing face. First and foremost, that entire rigid prison like structure, committees, centres, is terrorising. If at all such strictures are to exist, there must be clear cut, 'open'ly indicated, inclusion of ALL sorts of representatives.

That stringent law would appear less draconian, the moment it is 'open'ly stated that false allegations and malicious complaints are punishable, and equally heavily. The moment there is a guarantee of a fair hearing, the bursting anger would cool down. 

The PG medical entrance issue, too, can honorably find an amicable and honest solution. Let the c-word not be a divisive force, Sir! As it is, there are any number of external forces, countries, deep state(s) out (there) to get India. Why are we providing them an opportunity on a platter, especially when we know our very many internal enemies rather well?

Otherwise, there is no knowing how which generation would when n where  love the streets! All the sincere work at alternative paradigms tried for about a decade would go simply waste. No, sensible citizens are not taken in by that Adani-Ambani jibe because everyone knows that both of them were, have been, and are, favoured by all possible political parties! 

Instead, through fora like the BRICS, et al, India can diffuse international polarisation. In fact, now is the time to question and re-think neo-capitalism/the LPG paradigm/neo-colonialism of all varieties. Why then push India near the brink of chaos? Do we really need/deserve it, given the AI (r)evolution, and its emergent tensions?

I am a never-say-no diehard optimist. I believe in thought-through, honest, inclusive measures that are just to all, and are not mired merely in politicking or propaganda. Hence this fervent appeal, Sir, especially because of your words in Kerala for a kid holding your portrait. 

Sir, I do not like narratives of any sorts. Instead, I believe in dialogue which, I always thought/believed, we were good at since the days of Shankaracharya. Oh, i better clarify that I mean the "Adi" one! From those, or even earlier, ancient days, as a civilisation, as a culture, we have always been comfortable with an atheist Charvaka to all possible varieties of thought processes. Why then allow some rhetoric to make us a monolith which we never ever have been? Hence this fervent appeal, Sir! 

Pratima@Oh, yes, I love my India, and believe we can continue to be better! Hope my voice, however tiny, gets heard, and in the right spirit!

Quote of the day:                                                        Says Aristotle, the father of the Western wisdom, "The good of (wo)man must be the end of the science of politics." 

Word of the day: Deliberation.             Deliberation refers to a detailed, and careful consideration or discussion.

Let us learn grammar:                                          We have revised all the major rules of article usage. Articles are not visible markers on the surface level in our languages. All the European languages have to have articles. Why, Japanese, the Asian language i know, uses counters, a little like articles, though not exactly. Better hence to revise all the usages of articles. Come Monday, and let us begin a new chapter.

 

Who is afraid of the AI?

 Ashwini Vaishnav is an efficient example of  a well-educated bureaucrat turned minister. This Wharton educated bureaucrat turned minister was at the Davos meet. There he was questioned if India could join the first bouquet of the AI ready countries, supposed to be the U. S. and China. 

I liked his "layered" answer. In his opinion, the AI architecture comprises five layers — application, model, chip, infrastructure, and energy. He clarified in a strong way that India is real good at all these, especially "application", nuanced as per the business demands. 

In my opinion, indeed important is this detailed explication. Why, so? Well, at that very Davos, Satya Nadela of the Microsoft, a seasoned businessman, was singing the dirge of the AI. In his opinion, if restricted only to tech companies, the AI would prove to be a bubble ready to burst any minute. 

In his opinion, the AI must branch out to agriculture, and other such sectors, for instance. While M/S Gates, Musk and others are busy declaring that the AI would finish off within five years all possible "white collar" jobs, including medicine, the Nvidia honcho, Jensen Huang, is taking such 'nay-sayers' to task because, as per his viewpoint, they terrify not merely the general public, but the investors as well! In brief, as many power magnates, those many AI futures, not to forget its ever expanding versions! 

Pratima@Hence the title of our blog which is a take on Edward Albee's brilliant play "Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The play tears, rather rips, open the façade of the power-mongering university professorial couple, Martha and George, brilliantly enacted by the Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor couple in the film version. 

Quote of the day:                                                         “An invention has to make sense in the world it finishes in – not the world in which it started.” This is an anonymous quote. Yet it pins properly the responsibility  of any invention, especially if much publicised. 

Word of the day: serendipity                            Serendipity refers to the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.                                               Scientific (r)evolutionary discoveries and/or inventions cannot be a serendipitous act as they affect society in a huge way! 

Let us learn grammar:                                     Today ends the usage requisites of articles. Please remember that ordinal numbers require the definite article "the", while names of sports do not require any article.                                     Let us look at an example or two. Cricket is the first preference of most Indians. As the second born child of his parents, he was much loved and was allowed to make a career in hockey. Chess is a difficult sports that tries your patience.                                                                     It is absolutely fashionable currently to maintain that communication matters! Yet another passionately held belief is English can have as many avataars as many speakers there are.                                                                                           For sure! Yet for any ordinary communication, basic grammar has to be OKAY. Otherwise, communication itself would suffer.                                                            Similarly, it IS true that ex colonised countries can enjoy their own versions of English. Yet there has to be a semblance to the educated native speaker's English. Otherwise, it would be a Creole or a Pidgin, not English at all!!! 

Day and night/have to fight!

 Sant Tukaram, a famous saint from Maharashtra, much translated, much quoted, wrote this famous abhang. "Day in and night out/we have to fight" is how it can simply be summarised. Sure, being a saint, he means more the inner fight within the self to remove all the dross so as to be closer to the Lord 

If you were to look at the world around us at this moment, the saint appears to be prescient. Everybody constantly seems to be in the fight mode, and, no, it is not the inner variety. 

Look at our very own state, Maharashtra, for instance. Such were the countless alliances pre-election at the basic most level that the in situ realities were tough to understand. All the usual election dramatics was staged, and in full force, money/muscle power, 'the' religion card, the ballot paper not being used, the ink that was not indelible, and so on, and so on. 

Despite all such shenanigans, the BJP won decisively. One thought, as the CM suggested, calm would return, especially when the election fever was over. No, though! The CM is in Davos, and all sorts of games are being played here, what with the channels screaming "breaking news" every nano second!

As if that is not enough, the world's worst hidalgo/amigo, have it whichever irony you like more, Señor Trump is every day finding new targets to threaten, Iran, Europe, Russia so much so that Ukraine must now feel a little left-out, like the cur pup none wants! 

If Trump trumpets, can China be far behind? The head of the topmost think tank there has threatened to blow off the U. S. with a hydrogen bomb. The next morning America's most invincible plane is visible in the aerospace! 

At such times, a certain person does not fear the atomic threat, though many in the Congress (American, please!) are openly and vociferously questioning His Excellency's policies! No advice, no attempt at truce wanted by Him in such contexts! The tariff war, in fact, is in full throttle mode, and not only against India where the new UGC rule is threatening to turn campuses in to trenches, and every which way!

What is up? Are we indeed inching towards a third world war that would finish us all?

Pratima@ In Aai's memory, we conduct a short story compétition in collaboration with "Menaka". The theme of that competition this year is "war" , too!                                           Interested in writing a short story on the theme? Please get in touch with me. 

Quote of the week:                                                   "There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.". Anonymous is this quote.                                        If you want to guage the horror and the "pity of war/the pity war distilled", read the poems by the shell-shocked poets of the First World War when the WMD's were first used, when the trench realities were brutal beyond belief!

Word of the day: war theater                                The term refers to the entire land, sea, and air area that is, or may become, involved directly in war operations. A related term is 'theater of operations'. No entertainment in this theater though! 

Let us learn grammar:                                         No article is needed with set expressions. Let us look at a few examples.                       1)She is out of town. 2) He has been out of work for many years. 3) Her father is at work. 

Who is afraid of the AI entering the medical field?

 Bill Gates and Elon Musk and others of their ilk are already predicting that very soon the  AI would take over the medical profession. No, this foretelling has nothing to do with the "minus forty" furore in India, rooted, directly and/or indirectly, in the buying/selling of the PG seats in medical colleges, especially of the private variety. 

M/S Musk/Gates types believe that the speed of the AI (r)evolution is such that it would soon take over the need for doctors, with the robots performing, moreover,  the toughest operations without a single faux-pas! 

Of course, my immediate objection to such a proposal would be the (lack of) human touch. I mean it literally, too. A doctor kindly talking to you, actually touching the aching body part, thereby reassuring you that "all is under control" would be 'out of touch' due to the utmost sophisticated A/I, I believe.

True, in the contemporary era of super specialists, doctors depend more on a battery of tests than actual examination and diagnosis of the "family doctor" variety which  has almost disappeared. Often it looks as if a doctor is responding more to the statistics tests generate than to any actual physical examination. 

My problem with 'the AI as the future medical practitioner' goes a step further n ahead. Already a majority self-medicate-ers, improve their medical awareness, what with the help of the Google Guru and an obliging chemist. 

With the AI, what would happen to such hypochondriacs? That is the real question! The AI would not leave any physiological details to imagination. Equally open would be the interpretation. Thus the territory is fully accessible to the nervous hypochondriac who can imagine himself a patient, nay, the victim of every possible disease! 

Actually, it is the perfect diagnosis and the precise pharmacology that make a good doctor. The AI would simplify these processes every which way. Oh, yes, one can already get detailed google search based articles that diagnose the condition and further suggest possible medication. 

Hence the worry about hypochondriacs who anyway are/get upset when they read such "strictly for educational purpose" articles. I am sure that with the AI arrival in the medical field, the hypochondriacs would imagine, nay, be sure that they have got each and every symptom of most all diseases! Stress, in other words, would be the real killer in the AI regime! 

Pratima@ Who would enslave whom? The AI the doctors or the doctors the AI? That is the quesion! 'AI, heal thyself' is not the probable advice either. Tough times ahead, in brief! 

Quote of the day:                                                         "By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it (or through it!)," opines Eliezer Yudkowsky.

Word of the day: self-aggrandizement                 This term refers to the action or process of promoting oneself as being powerful or important. The AI may make this process absolutely easy, right? That is  the terrible tragedy!

Let us learn grammar:                                               Zero article or no article is used  when we refer to 'Common Categories,' such as languages, sports, academic subjects, and meals. An example or two may suffice.  She speaks/studies Spanish, I play football, Breakfast is ready. 

Kyase kya ho gaya!

 Even if you might not have read the original novel by R.K.Narayan,  you  would have at least watched its filmy version as the Dev Anand starrer "The Guide", and  you would have surely loved the film, at least for the songs, right? In the film, there is this song  "kya se kya ho gaya" as the background score, when Rosie suspects Raju Guide of pilfering her money against a forged signature.

Currently in the public space is unfolding a private drama which would remind anyone of that song of sad repentance. The occasion is the bitter acrimony of the Mary Kom divorce saga.

Mary Kom has been a role model for a generation of women boxers, given her much narrated life story, what with a film dedicated to her journey. All along, the subscript had been her husband's silent but solid support.

Apparently, he was her coach initially, right? Once she rose to giddy heights in the arena of boxing, he was the support system who sportingly took the back seat, and cared for the family. Everything was portrayed to be so hunky-dory that the very mention of a divorce comes as a huge surprise.

Much worse are the undignified acrimonious accusations hurled at each other. If Mary Kom accuses her ex-husband of financial deception and monetary irregularities, he publically suspects her of conjugal deception in the form of a string of extra marital affairs!

It is sad that they are thus washing the dirty linen in public. It is a huge hit in the face of a woman player dedicated to her game. Tough it must be for the families, too. Instead, they could have gone for some silent separation which would have saved her dignity, instead of such a solid punch at the mask! 

Indeed a 'kya se kya ho gaya' lament not only for the lady, but also for the depiction of women in the public space, especially because it sends extremely regressive messages about a woman player's success!

Pratima@Is not it ironic that such "Raju guide" moments are often the fate of masterful women, be it Chanda Kochar of the ICICI  or Mariah Carey or Steffi Graf! Much worse is the sad(istic) tragedy of Radhika Yadav, right?

Quote of the day:                                                        "It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it," warns Warren Buffet.

Word of the day: a spat                                            A spat is a petty quarrel or angry outburst in public, often revealing unsavoury realities hidden behind the mask.

Let us learn grammar:                                              If we should use the indefinite article 'a/an' for professions (She always wanted to be a professor, an author), we use the definite article 'the' for oceans, seas, channels, rivers, canals, may be, because they are specific. Let us look at a few examples: the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the English Channel, the Arabian Sea, the Suez Canal.

 

The Bicycle Race

 Pune was once known as the bicycle city. Those of us who have grown up in the city in the eighties and nineties would have been avid bicycle kids, right? If de Sica were to come to Pune till the late 1980's, he would have gotten many, very many indeed, bicycle briefs! 

It is hence most appropriate that the first ever Indian version of multi-stage road bicycle race, so very popular in most all countries, should begin in Pune. It is to start tomorrow from the iconic Good Luck Chowk, and would return to Deccan on Friday. Quite an auspicious beginning of the lunar month of Magh! 

This Pune version of the famous Tour de France is going to cover city roads as well as the hilly terrains. Quite tough this some four hundred thirty seven kilometers race would be for the one hundred and seventy one riders from twenty nine teams from thirty five countries. Puneites as keen n enthu spectators are going to love it though.

Yes, even today, there are cycle tracks on major Pune roads. If you ever were to go to the hip Hinjewadi area, most all I/T-wallahs would be riding a trendy gear bicycle to their swanky offices. Yes, even today the enterprising n adventours among the youngsters do go for bicycle trips n tours.

 Yet that magic of the absolutely unpolluted Pune full of the musical tring-tring of simple non-gear Hero or Hercules brand bicycles, which could even be rented for less than a rupee for an hour, is now missing. Instead we have the cycle brand agarbattis now! 

Hope such a bicycle race, supposed to be an annual event, brings back at least that nostalgia, if not the actual bicycles, almost impossible now, given the terrible traffic!

Pratima@ Nothing can beat the happy feel of pedalling away to glory, the wind singing in my ears, the feet n legs swinging rhythmically like a ballerina's, and the soul free n happy like a birdie's!                                                   And, oh, yes, the unique, the simply unforgettable memories of Papa teaching me to ride, the handle wobbling almost one eighty degrees on the first day to not even realizing soon that he is no longer holding the cycle from behind as a support! Such a lovely image for his absent yet forever present aura!

Quote of the day:                                                        H.G.Wells, who wrote "The Time Machine", maintains, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, no longer do I despair for the future of the human race." 

Word of the day: nostalgia                                      Nostalgia means the sentimental longing and wistful affection for the past.

The New Equity Rules by the UGC

 Let us begin with the very meaning in simple words of the term 'equity'. The first clarification due in this context is that the term has no finance/economics/commerce related echo(s) in this context because the UGC does not mean it that way at all. 

What does equity mean in the general, non-finance sense? The term refers to the quality of being fair and just, especially in a way that takes account of and seeks to address existing inequalities. Fair-mindedness, in brief.

The general principles of equity and fairness are undoubtedly great. Why then the furore over the UGC 2026 Equity Rule? Let us see if our blog can explore it.

Actually, this legality, begun circa 2012, and  revisited in the 2016 Rohit Vemula case, and later the Payal Tadvi Case, was revived last year as a draft. There was a terrible critique of the draft as the OBC group was not included in the "discriminated". Now the OBC's are included as well. 

Why then is the 2026 rule being debated fiercely? Forget larger issues such as academic freedom and institutional autonomy! To begin with, the very definition of harassment is not clear-cut in the regulation. Much worse, the "false complaint" possibility is removed, too. 

In other words, targeting a person whom an individual/a group does not want around for whatever might be his/her/their own problems is going to be extremely easy! The 'general category' community feels actually threatened because of the removal of a fair and equitable opportunity to state the alternative version of the complaint. 

Tough times on campuses for sure! Hope the government re-calibrates the law with a sensitive attitude as the victim/victimiser duality is often non-transparent! The so-called victimiser has to have the right to state his/her side as well, right? In a Maharashtra where the Kopardi wounds are just a scab deep, such laws are sure to appear terrorising!

Pratima@ Yet another academic tornado  is a public interest litigation filed in the Supreme Court challenging the notice dated January 13 issued by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences which reduced the qualifying cut-off percentiles for NEET-PG 2025-26, apparently to minus 40!

The PIL is  filed by a social worker,  Harisharan Devgan, a neurosurgeon Dr.  Saurav Kumar, Dr Lakshya Mittal ( the President, United Doctors Front) and Dr Akash Soni, among others. The issue is the quality of medical education, and hence of medical service as a consequence, if the entrance qualifications are watered down that much.

Quote of the day:                                                  "Injustice anywhere," says Martin Luther King, "is a hindrance to justice everywhere." 

Word/Phrase of the day: "audi alteram partem" 

The right to a fair hearing is "audi alteram partem". It is a fundamental principle of natural justice. It means "listen to the other side," thus ensuring everyone gets a chance to be heard, present evidence, and challenge opposing claims before any decision is arrived at. It has to be a core part of any  procedural fairness, ensuring justice is done impartially and transparently in legal and administrative processes. 

Let us learn grammar:                                               Let us follow the rule of "no grammar during the week-end".