Minding Marx

 Currently, the world over, there are echo chambers in abundance. You can 'belong' if and only if you make the right noises which that particular group loves to listen to. Even if you were to deviate by an inch/iota, the entire gang is sure to harrangue/hassle/harass you like a pack of hyenas. 

This tendency is much worse and more markedly predominant in the so-called intellectuals. So drunk are these mafioso on their forever being the correct, the right, the  'i-deal' voice(s) that nuanced self-reflexivity which doubts any monolithic formats would not dare to be anywhere near their shadow(s), so absolutely convinced they are of they alone being sincere, authentic, progressive, blah, blah, blah ad infinitum!

Do not you believe me?  Okay, just try saying that we should re-look at 'Manusmriti' as a product of its times. A beehive would blush at the attack that would follow. 'Scholars' who have not touched the text with a barge pole, 'activists' who are most often hypocritically interested in furthering their own, at the most, their gang's, welfare and agenda would reduce you to persona non grata, and in a jiffy! 

So, you have to be either pro Palestine, or you are a retrograde traditionalist conservative! Iran may shield the worst terrorists. If you were to bring this fact in to the debate, all the atom bombs in the whole world would be directed at you! 

No better is the other side! Currently, in India, for example, thinking of Marx is a crime. NO, I am NOT a Marxist! Nothing in the whole world would induce me to be one!! NO, I am not a Urban Naxalite either!!! Believe me, such would not like any truck with me!

Yet, YES, for sure, I do think that Marx is a poet of transformative change. Do not you believe me? Okay, actually read his stuff, his writings on literature, for instance. Well, not interested in such theory? Read his "Manifesto". It is a poem of progress. 

Oh, yes, Marx always thinks in and through metaphors. He was a minor litterature, though he majored in philosophy, political economy, and sociology. In our so-called interdisciplinary etc, etc, etc era,  we conveniently forget how thoughtfully we could critique wor(l)ds through his paradigms. 

Just as it is stupid to criticise the never-read "Manusmriti" by quoting  some one-liner out of context, it is equally ludicrous to talk and talk and talk about the "religion as opiate" in a de-contextualised way.

No, the so-called disciples' crimes cannot vitiate a thinker. A Stalin or a Mao, I can go on listing names endlessly, cannot tarnish a way of thinking which Marx himself would not mind being opened up, being questioned, being critiqued! Hence this tribute to Marx on the day of his birth anniversary!

Pratima@ We have nothing to lose but the shackles of our silly-silly prejudices if we keep an open mind! Beyond partisanship, there exists a sphere where genuine conscientious aware wor(l)ds await us!

Quote of the day:                                                           "If partisanship makes us abandon intellectual honesty... we become mere political short-sellers, hoping for bad news because it's good for our ideological investment," asserts Kurt Andersen.

Word of the day: partisan                                          Partisan means showing excessive support for one person, group or idea, especially without considering it carefully and/or critically.

The Bengal Win

 Election results are always electrifying. Like the thunder and lightening before a sudden summer shower, they change the very feel. However much predicted, via psephology or otherwise, there always is a sense of throbbing tension, of anticipation, of surprise. 

The election results of the five state assemblies this summer were almost foregone conclusions, yet there were twists such as the surprise Tamilnadu sprang. Hence there is always a lesson or two to learn in every election season. 

In 2025, i, too, travelled from 'Gangotri to Gangasagar'. Every second of that journey is a forever imprint on my mind. Yes, I do vividly remember the drive from Kolkata railway station to Gangasagar, and back. The taxi fellow was what I would call the 'chota bhadralok'. 

What I mean is that the young man was  an extremely aware person. He cared for his state's progressive image. He knew his gracious behaviour would matter in creating the "amar shonar Bangla" effect.

 He was politically extremely voluble, had defined opinions he could discuss intelligently, the typical cultured person one typically associates with Bengal, the 'bhadralok'. I call him "chota" because he came from the lower middle class, unlike the richie-rich zamindar bhadralok. 

His opinions were quite some crystal gazing for the Bengal mood,  best reflected in the aware  middle class/upper middle class anger at the GOAT Messi fiasco at the Salt Lake stadium. Equally palpable was the frustration felt at the unmistakable illegal immigration, nay, invasion. No wonder, the election result in Bengal was as obvious as the Assam or the Baramati win!

Praiseworthy are the efficient efforts of the election commission machinery who had the most uneviable duty, what with record break voter turnout, not to forget the usual Opposition allegations. The BJP as usual worked very hard, and systematically, for its victory. The party played its cards most astutely. What was lost in the women's reservation bill debates on the floor of the parliament was thousand fold retrieved during the election result counting! Talk of a twist in the tale! 

Pratima@ I absolutely admire the stamina and the dedication of both, Modiji as well Dr.Tharoor. Both tirelessly combed the respective constituencies in the blazing heat, even when both are in their mid-seventies. Admirable commitment!

Both of them are clearly highly respected in their respective constituencies, albeit the thunderous response his rallies received in all the five states would mean that, for Modiji, the whole of India seems to be a constituency! Most significantly, this time round, Modiji, dressed the Bengali way for the victory speech, did  never ever, not even once, mention "Didi, oh, Didi" in his speeches. Wonderful learning from faux-pas!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Victory is always possible for a person who refuses to stop trying, " says Napoleon Hill.

Word of the day: bhadralok                                    Bhadralok (Bengali for "gentlefolk") is a social class in Bengal, emerging during the British rule (the nineteenth century) as an educated, upper-caste, and elite Bengali community, marked by both wealth as well as cultural, intellectual, and refined behavioral standards. 

Nota Bene:                                                                   Despite open attacks by Madhu Kishwar, and her spoofs with proof as she insisted, nothing shifted, altered, changed in Modiji's popularity! Perceptions once formed, never ever waver! 

A transcendental date indeed!

 Remember "Narayan, Narayan" intoned in a certain way to the tune of the veena? Yes, in the "maha" episodes of the much liked mythologicals on the single channel television of the eighties, this character enjoyed a love-hate relationship with the spectators. 

Yes, Maharishi Narada whom the serials reduced in to a comic tell-tale villain was actually never so. Not only was he a great sage, but he was also highly knowledgeable and wise. Why, he invented the veena! A great singer and artist, he was the divine messenger, too, whose advice led to unique events such as the 'Shiv-Parvati Vivah', for instance 

In fact, May 2, supposed to be "Narad Jayanti", is hence celebrated as the 'journalism day', dedicated to honest journalism. True, in our post-truth era marked by narratives, journalism is most often reduced to opinionated partial (in every sense of this word) truth, nay, falsehoods. No wonder, like the teaching community, once revered to no end, journalists, too, were highly honoured. I do know rather very well the respect for both these vocations. 

Message was medium, and vice versa, as Marshall McLuhan would say. The divine Narada would be the ideal deity for that tribe. Unfortunately, currently, like most all everything, journalism, too, has mostly reached the nadir in its partisanship. Truth is lost in the opinionated cacophony, just like pop raps drown great tunes celebrating superb poetry! 

Pratima@Great souls are born on May 2. Yes, the date marks the birth anniversary of Vasantrao Deshpande, one of the best music doyens whose unique renditions enriched classical music as well as Marathi "natya geet" and "bhava geet". His " main patiyan likh bheju" entice our ears as much as his  "surat piya ki" or "tejo nidhi loh gol". His "datuni kanth yeto" is so touching that many modern brides may not mind their costly eye make-up thus getting washed out in the torrent of tears. 

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

Word of the day: Transcend                                     Transcend means go further than the usual limits of something.

An exquisite drink : A truly Indian soft drink

 There is a rather quirky joke doing the rounds of the wapp groups. "When it is cold beer, it is summer. If whiskey is offered, it means the rainy days, and if rum is on the rocks, it has to be winter."

Well, as an absolute teetotaller, I would not know the truth of this assertion. Yet just look around, and if you see the neera shoppies in every nook n corner, you can safely draw the conclusion that summer is here to stay.

Neera is indeed an exquisite drink. It is divinely cool. Absolutely quenches your thirst in a few sips, and the remaining swigs of this real soft (in all senses of the term) drink can be savoured, instead of gulping it down. 

How is neera made? Neera (also spelled Nira) is not actually made from a fruit, but is a sweet, nutrient-rich sap tapped from the immature flower clusters (inflorescence) of various palm trees. 

It has a unique taste. It is sweet, a mix of sugar cane juice and tender coconut water. It is an absolute health drink whose benefits literally cannot be counted. It saves the body from kidney infections, tooth decay, and many other high profile diseases due to a faulty lifestyle. Specially good for expectant mothers, it is equally helpful for children and senior citizens, too. 

No wonder, come summer, I am forever on the look-out for a neera shop, nectar nearby this planet of ours where most all truths and honesties are mostly mocked! 

Pratima@ The only problem is that if it is not kept cool, it ferments, and then it is nothing but "desi daru", the " local liqueur." Aai hence often insisted that it must be drunk before noon. 

Quote of the day:                                                       "Nothing I have ever drunk has ever tasted like this before: rich and cool and perfectly happy in my mouth." Neil Gaiman would excuse me the minor changes I have made to his quote. 

Word of the day: savour                                          Savour (or savor) means to enjoy food, drink, or an experience, slowly and completely, relishing every moment of the taste. 

May Day is unique!

 In the nautical dialect, which my shippie brother, Raju, knows in thorough detail,  "may day" has a particular meaning. Sure, he would correct me immediately, and point out that it is written as "mayday". Yes, it is a distress call, and it may be pointed out that it could be an off-shoot of the French "m'aider", French for 'help me.'

Yet I would like to play on the word, and insist that 'May Day' is 'mayday' or 'm'aider' in other multiple ways. Why/how so? Let me see if I can explain. May 1 is indeed special. On this day, in the Northern hemisphere alais the Western World (to use the parlance everybody would immediately cotton on to), is celebrated the spring festival. 

As the beginning of the summer festival, which is truly pleasant there, this ancient ritual celebrates fertility, exactly the same way many of our harvest festivals do. Often, there is a dancing around a maypole, and  a "May Queen", too, gets crowned! Remember the famous "sawan ke zule" hereabouts? 

Yes, it is the international labour day, and given the upstart AI currently claiming the white collar jobs (very soon, with robotics, it would manage to gobble up the blue collar jobs, too), this day needs to be taken utmost seriously. The AI, alais Revolution 5.0 or whatever, IS vastly different from the earlier technological interventions affecting the socio-economic realities, and no better than today to open up the dressing-up of this ever festering issue!

Yes, of course, I AM extremely proud of the fact that it is the Maharashtra Day. They say, what Bengal thinks today, the rest of India thinks, may be, a week later. Let me tell you, what Maharashtra thinks, feels, most importantly, does today, the rest of the world has to reverberate, and ASAP! Remember how Barry Sternlicht got an absolute earful for hinting that Monsieur Mamdani would make a Mumbai of New York?  Yes, Maharashtra was, is, and will be Number One. Here is a confident and proud Happy Maharashtra Day!

Pratima@ Want proof why I am so cheering up my region? No, it is no empty parochialism. Just go n have a look at the 'missing link' project inaugurated today! I, too, am raring to travel that way. Hope the occasion would soon emerge.

Quote of the day:                                                        Jared Loto's assertion, "the bridge between reality and dreams is work" is apt for most of all associations of this May Day.

Word of the day: unparalleled                                   Unparalleled is an adjective which refers to a person or an achievement/opportunity that  simply is exceptional, has no equal, is matchless, or is  greater than any other, thus highlighting superior quality, scope, or rarity. 

Soupçon II.v

Dancing to (he)art's content

 Dance is a unique art. True, I am no good at it. I can dance only to the Marathi children's song "nach re, mora" which was taught to us during the school days or  tops, i might emote "ya kundendu..." dedicated to Devi Saraswati or the Ganesh Stuti "vakra tunda", though not very effectively or efficiently. Ah, yes, like everybody else, i, too, would be able to manage the "ganapati mandal" special 'kite flying/cutting' step! 

Just because I dance with a lame foot, it does not mean that I do not appreciate the art form. For one thing, I am rather well-acquainted with the "Natyashastra" which I have studied formally. I do hence understand the intricacies of the entire "Ras" theory, and how dance conveys it.

I do appreciate this art which is a combo of the kinetic, aural/oral and spatial, along woth others, intelligences. It is a unique mix of the literary, musical, and gestural (both bodily and facial) art forms. 

It is hence that on the international dance day (sure, a day later), this tribute to this unique art form! Its western ballet form, a treat to eyes and ears, is responsible for instituting the international dance day! Yes, in 1982, the Dance Committee of ITI founded International Dance Day to be celebrated every year on April 29, the birthday anniversary of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810) the creator of modern ballet.

May be, because I respect the art a lot (my newspaper reviews on various dance forms, including the folk 'yaksha gana' or an interview with the Kathak maestro, Sitara Devi or write-up's on the Bharat Natyam expert, Shobhana, were appreciated by the danseuses themselves!), i do have doubts about the cheapening and dumbing down of this art form.

This process includes a Gautami Patil or lavani guru's of her ilk or very young girls gyrating to the vulgarest songs on different channels or the millions of season specific dance classes such as garba special or the marriage sangeet special types run by thousands of dancers!

 Hardly, however, are there any attempts to modernize the traditional modes to reflect contemporary issues or to use dance as therapy, for instance. Is it indeed dancing to (he)art's content? That is the question! 

Pratima@ Pune never ceases to surprise me. On this auspicious day of Nrisimha Jayanti, I got to know lovely details about the beautiful, centuries old Narsimha temple in the heart of Sadashiv Peth. I have promised myself that, at the earliest, I shall try n visit this holy and artistic space! 

Quote of the day:                                                           "Dancing is like dreaming with your feet," says Constanze.

Word of the day: gyrate                                              Gyrate means to move or turn quickly in a circle or spiral around a fixed point, often referring to dancing through such body movements/motions as spinning, twisting, or circling.

Soupçon II.iv

Soupçon II.iii

                     Soupçon II.iii                                    The Public Sphere until the Enlightenment  

As we travel from the  Antiquity towards the modern times, one of the most interesting examples of an intellectual in the public sphere is the "Renaissance Man". Leonardo da Vinci (painter, sculptor, inventor) or Michelangelo (painter, sculptor, inventor) or Sir Philip Sidney (poet, critic, scholar, courtier, soldier) can be intellectual/creative giants who strode various fields masterfully.

The Enlightenment grants a clearly socio-political edge to the concept. Let us look at three major thinkers to understand it in some detail. 

Who wrote that in the state of nature, the  "life of man (is) solitary, poor nasty, brutish and short"?  1) John Locke 2) Francis Bacon 3) Michel de Montaigne 4) Thomas Hobbes. The correct answer is Thomas Hobbes's "Léviathan" (I. xiii). Hobbes argued for a strong central authority to avoid constant conflict and to maintain peace. 

Who introduced the concept of 'natural rights' such as "life, liberty, right to property"?  a) French philosphes 2) Voltaire 3) Diderot 4)John Locke. It was Locke who first asserted that the government must protect such natural rights. 

 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the outsider against the establishment, sealed the concept of the 'social contract'. It legitimised the voluntary agreement among citizens who disapproved of the monarchical power granted by divine law, and instead as individual chose to surrender certain individual freedoms so as to gain a government protection of rights.

The Enlightenment, leading to the French Revolution (May 5, 1781) and the American Declaration of Independance (1776), becomes the major plinth of the public space celebrating democracy, individual rights and people's sovereignty. 

Next let us look at the wor(l)ds of 'salons' and the rise of the print culture and their contribution to the notion of the public space. Oh, yes, it is better to look at a concept in some detail rather than determine it the weekly way. So Soupçon II, and all the following versions, would continue beyond the weekend in to the next week, if necessary.

Pratima Agnihotri                                                        Pune

The weird power cut

Electricity! How we get used to it! In a metro like city such as Pune, electricity is literally oxygen. The kind of high rise buildings everywhere, one wonders what must be happening to the senior citizens there, if there is no electricity, and, hence, no elevator! How to climb up floors beyond the third upwards!?! What if the generator chooses to be dysfunctional as well?

Let me give you my own example. No, no staircase is involved. I live on the ground floor. I was conducting my early morning online lecture, and suddenly to the shouts and screams of "Ajay, Ajay", the power cut began. 

Both, the catcalls "Ajay, Ajay" and the power cut, continued till 4.50 p. m. The second half  of my morning online lecture, I continued in utter darkness. There was an online seminar. It was my power bank which enabled me to attend it. In fact, the delays in uploading the blogs and the "Soupçon" is utterly due to this power cut.

Weird was the response of the MSEB. I contacted the Rasta Peth office. The lady on the line was very courteous. She asked me to call back after half an hour so that she could find out. Next she told me that not even one of all the concerned lines could be contacted! The third time I called up to get to know the status quo, that line also would not answer. 

When I checked the 18002333435 number, I was told that the number is wrong! All along, the weird shrill cries of "Ajay, Ajay" refused to die down! The 18002123435 operator  wanted me to tell her how far (not how long, please note) the power cut extended. Finding out the area has to be the MSEB job when I gave the customer number, the address, the landmark nearby, not to forget my mobile number! About the possible cause behind the power cut, she hazarded a guess! It could be for line repair work!

I requested a neighbour to lodge a complaint, too. At last, after six hours, the current was restored. I did not miss much, given the power bank. I also made the home cool in simple ways. The fridge, too, remained cool enough. No problems hence at all!

Funny was the message about the complaint by the MSEB (in extremely poor English! Oh, yes, incidentally, I spoke in Marathi!) after the power was restored !!! Why attempt English, if you cannot manage it? Marathi is our mother tongue, and has been made compulsory in  official transactions!

If the rates of electricity are to be increased, so should be the service! When it comes to meter reading, to give yet another example, every month, there is a fiasco. On every eighth of each month, I wait and wait, but the meter reading fellow never turns up, and cooly reports that the door was closed!!! When, by chance, he comes, he is interested in the death of one Mr. Gadekar about which i have no clues whatsoever! 

How I wish the bigwigs supporting hooligans of the "Ajay, Ajay" types were to instead take care of their own politically dwindling party, or two. Surely, without their support to the Ajay's and others of his ilk, such riffraff will not dare to behave so ridiculously. If so much energy were instead spent on the concerned party, at least, Maharashtra might enjoy some opposition party, or two, worth its name!

Pratima@ It is always the precaution as well as traditional methods that are eternally helpful. Those were the ways i could comfortably survive a power cut during a particularly hot April!

Quote of the day:                                                        Those, who dig ditches for others, fall in to it themselves!Such ditches are as crazy as the empty minds that have NOTHING to do, and hence are devilish, as per the proverbial wisdom!

Word of the day: Weird                                                Weird" is an adjective describing something strange, unusual, or unexpected, often with a slightly unsettling or eccentric or even eerie quality. Bizzare like the "Ajay, Ajay" catcalls, for instance!

Manners

 Good manners matter! The self-obsessed Gen Z may not agree with me. Well, for them, they alone matter as "I,me, mine" is their anthem. Yet, in my opinion, and many may agree with me, good manners maketh a human being! 

Why so? Well, for one thing, looks, riches, even intelligence are not your personal achievement. They are a genetic accident, thanks be to your parents. In fact, if you do not have good manners, you indeed do not deserve those genome- (or traditionally, believed to be, by God-) given gifts! 

Even for the Gen Z, I could be wrong, and remain open to correction, I have a feel that it is the Indian Gen Z that lacks manners! They are kind of neither here nor there. The Gen Z abroad, may be, I have not observed them enough from close quarters, may be in their own fancy wor(l)ds, but they appear to be decent in the daily lived realities.

No forever furrowed forehead with irritation, no rude banging of the doors in everybody's face, no foul language, no arrogant strutting about in torn n tousled jeans, in brief, no ridiculous behaviour, not to forget doing drugs n baiting types! 

In fact, to be fair, even in India, it is only the pampered princes and princesses of the upper middle class who suffer from such nonsense as their fathers have already created a cushioning cocoon for them to relax in till the last day of the life. The rich send their kids in to the business world where they have to behave decently as they are constantly in the public glare which would determine the business deals, while the very poor anyways cannot afford such over indulgence.

It is most unfortunate that the thoughtless brash brats, nay, creeps are not waking up to the realities that the AI is forcing down everybody's gullet. The very notion of work, and, hence, of individual responsibility, is changing which does not account for such stupid cheapness. But who is to tell, and whom! Hope it is not too very late when they wake up to realities!

Pratima@ Good manners may not win us friends. At least, they would not create sworn enemies in a world full of economic, societal and political tensions everywhere!

Quote of the day:                                                          Says Emily Post, "Good manners reflect something from inside, an innate sense of consideration for others and respect for self."  

Word of the day: bearing                                           Bearing means a person's manners, presence and the way of conducting himself/herself.

Soupçon II.ii

                        Soupçon II.ii                                              Antiquity and the Public Sphere

To understand the concept of the public sphere in some depth, it is necessary to know in some detail its roots in the antiquity. 

Let us begin with Socrates.                                    Socrates' " Dialogues"  1) initiate thinking together through the method of feigning ignorance and cross questioning 2) believe in 'critique'ing 3) open up ethical and conceptual growth 4) could take place anywhere.                                                                   

Which of these options are close to the modern ideas of the public space? a) only 1 b) both 1 and 2 c) 2 and 3 d) 1 and 4.                                The correct option is "c".                                           

All the statements above, 1 to 4, describe the Socratic method accurately.  Yet, it is only statements 2 and 3 which are close to the notion of the public sphere as it is now understood.                     

 Next comes Plato's position and its relevance to the idea of the public space.  To begin with, Plato, as his metaphor of the 'ship' and the unruly crew suggests, is quite doubtful about "ochlos", that is, the crowd. He feels that the public sphere is meant more for the demagogues. He fears that they are more 'self'ish, and thus terrify good people out of the public sphere. He wants a 'polis' which is highly organised, more harmonious, and less full of individualistic cacophony.                                        

Plato's "Republic", Chapter XII (alais  Books VIII and IX) and the city of Magnesia in "Laws" 1) are dismissive about the public sphere 2) accept the notion of public sphere 3)find the notion quite ambivalent.                    

Which of these statements describes Plato's position closely?                                                            The correct option is '3'.   

Aristotle's "Lyceum" truly instituted the Socratic peripatetic (walking the talk, to put it the t.v. channels way!) mode. Yet, for Aristotle, the mobility is more metaphorical. He considers the peripatetic mode more as a meandering across unrelated themes.                        

 In addition, the 'polis', a combination of the 'agora' and the 'gymnasia', is for him more an ethical idea, governed basically by 'honour', and less by civic debates, as  it is a mode of 'eudaimonia', a method for building good life through cultivating virtue and communal well-being through civic friendliness. The political overtones are rather distant in his philosophical insistence on the moral perspective.                                                       

      Suffice hence it may to conclude that in the thought of the antiquity may lie the roots of the notion of the public sphere which bears distinctly different fruits in the twentieth century debates, and beyond.                                    Pratima Agnihotri                                                      Pune

Soupçon II.i

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities, and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                     Soupçon II.i           

Who is the twentieth century thinker who critiqued the 'public sphere'?                                 1) Jürgen Habermas 2) Théodore Adorno 3) Carl Jung 4) Bertrand Russell                              The answer to this MCQ is 2)Theodore Adorno.

Yes, this week we are going to discuss the concept called 'public sphere'. Let us introduce the MCQ element this week onwards, and, oh, yes, the explanatory  paragraphs about the title, et al, would henceforth be repeated only on Mondays. 

'Public sphere' is currently a concept much in vogue, given the unfortunate event of the recent death of Jürgen Habermas, who theorised it in detail in his 1962 book, "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere." 

Actually, this concept is as old as the 'polis', that is, the Greek city-state which differentiated between the 'oikos' (that is, the private household) and the 'agora' (that is, the public space) where citizens could deliberate on political issues as a stepping stone to acting collectively. 

In the historical overview of this concept, we shall look at the Socrates-Plato-Aristotle tradition, the eighteenth century notions,  the Habermas ideas, and the Adorno critique, with inputs from feminism. 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                      Pune 

Hellhole!?!

 The whole world's dearest buddy currently, yes, no brownie points for any guesses, yup, it is Mr. Trump who has let loose yet another verbal bomb. This time round, he has weaponised language. 

Yes, he chose to call India, his  bete noire, and China, his worst competitor, "hellhole". True, he is absolutely within his rightful ambit as the American MAGA president to criticise the procedure of American citizenship whereby, as he states it, women enter the United States in the third trimester of pregnancy, give birth in America to the baby who gets American citizenship by birth, which is used by the entire jingbang to enter the U. S. of A.

Fair enough! The problem is why call India a hellhole. Ideally, instead of calling countries names like a petty pouting kid, he should work at a constitutional change which can seal such loophole entries, right?

Actually, come to think of it, is America indeed the land of dreams? The underbelly of the so-called American Dream is hardly much to write home, eh, hellhole, about! That is the truth! 

Forget the usual culprits like mafia muggings, the gun culture, the high taxation, and so on, and on. We all know the reality which no swag(ger) can hide. Many American cities, including a metro like New York, yes, the Manhattan area, for instance,  are dirty beyond belief. 

People who paint a pretty picture of the American realities seem to forget that we live in an era of information overload. It is common knowledge that vagrancy is on the rise in the U.S. In addition to "car people", there are the tent encampments. Many people live in tents along highway exits, under bridges, and on sidewalks, sometimes due to the lack of available or safe shelter spots, not to forget, huge job losses.

In other words, where/which exactly is the hellhole? In the trying-to-be-better India? Or in the clearly con-founded America? Anyone can go on and on, providing any number of such 'credit'-worthy details, with solid proof, to establish where/which the real hellhole is! In brief, heal thyself, the high-faulting hellhole!

Pratima@Propaganda narratives no longer function because, forget the Google, also the AI, enabled mostly by brilliant  people from the so-called 'hellhole', is there to showcase hugely the grim realities! 

Quote of the day:                                                           "Stupid is knowing the truth, seeing the truth, but still believing the lies," maintains Morgan Freeman.

Word of the day: canard                                            Canard is a false report, hoax, or groundless rumor designed to deceive.

Nests!

 The summer season is indeed special. For many reasons, as we noted yesterday. Today a little note on the cute little birdies and their simply superb nests that make the summer a unique season. 

We have a small little garden in the backyard and the front yard of  our home. Every year, birds build their nests in the trees. Unique they are. Yesterday I found one which is as beautiful as that by the weaver bird. 

It is roundish, not conical. It hence cannot be that by the weaver bird. It is equally artistic though. This birdie, too, has actually managed to stitch, yes, you read it right, the edges to give it a round shape.

To cushion the sticks that make the base between two drying leaves, the brilliant bird has actually made a comfy, fluffy bed of cotton for the eggs and the female who would hatch them. 

Each year I find such wonderful artifacts. I keep them on the side wall, and the economically efficient beings that birds are, they re-cycle whichever elements they need while (re-)building the nests each summer! 

The nests are neat, moreover, and functionally most effective rather than merely attractive. If you were to see these tiny birds, they would be smaller than my fist, tops, the spread palm. What marvels though their nests are! And mankind chooses to call itself intelligent, evolved, and superior! 

Pratima@ Once an unusually beautiful blue bird had built a nest in our garden. The nest had unbelievably blue eggs. The nest was not particularly well hidden. The three of us used to literally stand guard as a big bad bird was hell bent on attacking it. One very early morning, it did manage to destroy the eggs. I still remember the genuine grief I then felt. I was yet to know then the casual cruelty many enjoy in de-structuring, de-centering innocent lives. And such call themselves human! 

Quote of the day:                                                            Leonardo da Vinci says of a nest, "bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang". 

Word of the day: craftsmanship                               Craftsmanship is the skill used by somebody to make something of high quality with his/her hands, or the small, little beak!!!

Summer

 How is the summer? Much awaited for sure. Yes, from the days of childhood onwards, this season is special. Yes, it is the season of holidays. It is a different story altogether that within a fortnight or so, the holidays of not doing anything much start getting on your nerves, and you start hankering after that dull routine you wanted to escape from in the first place! 

These days, the summer season may not mean going to your grandma's place. Life has changed much too much for that. To begin with, modern grannies, as they choose to call themselves, are much too much in love with themselves, especially with proving how they are still 'young'. Busy dressing up, 'they have their own life' in which the 'grand'child (mostly one per their own one child) is more like the side dish, yum but 'better don't come'! 

Instead  for the modern threesome/foursome ( in the "l, me, myself" wor(l)ds, everybody else, especially from the husband's side, is the most avoided intruder) go for foreign tour(s). They have their own some club, or the other, membership for the domestic tour where they chill!

In brief, even in the times today, the summer is travel time, which is comfy, moreover. Have you noticed it? Despite the forever threatening Trump and the awful AI, not to forget the dicey waters of the defamed strait, not much seems to have changed with most lives, thanks be to credit cards! May be, topmost the tour plans might be more domestic this time!

Personally I prefer the summer because it is the season of colours and fragrances and sounds and tastes. Honestly, no other season satiates our senses like the summer, right? Just look around at the trees in full bloom, the multi coloured boguainvilles, the flaming red 'flame of the forest', the purple jacaranda, the golden yellow 'golden shower', our very own white mogra, the summer is just a visual treat. 

Fragrances of the mogra n champak n rangoon creeper/madhumalti, even of the budding neem tree, and, yes, of the ripening alfonso and payari mangoes are absolutely heavenly. My personal top favourite is the petrichor, the sudden summer shower drenching the hot earth, prefarably with a drizzle of a  light hailstorm. 

So sweet are the sounds of the nesting, and hence forever chirping and warbling birds, who make you forget the dreary urban scene around, right? No, I have not forgotten the tactile sense. Remember, getting drenched in the sudden summer shower? Or the first tumbler full of cold water, while bathing? Or the swim like a tadpole in the tank?

Nothing can match the taste of the "amrus", that is, the mango pulp, of the "amba dal", that is, the raw mango special dish, or of the 'cool cool, thanda thanda' home-made 'panhe' or of the fresh mango pickle, right? Why, I love the jamuns and the karawande, the Indian version of the blueberries, not to forget, the "jaam" fruit, that is , the rose apple. Who can miss the watermelon or the jackfruit? Or the cold coffe, just set in the fridge, and forever!

The summer sure satiates senses! No wonder, even far away in time and space, Shakespeare said in Sonnet Number XVIII, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" 

Pratima@ During our childhood summer vacations, Papa used to get the school textbooks which I would have all read up by May end, not to forget, heaps and heaps of story books! Aai used to make 'papad', 'sabudana/sago papdi', the 'batatyacha kis', that is, the grated potato savoury, 'kurdai', 'sandage', the mango pickle, and all the other savouries that would make the entire year a treat for the taste buds. I used to adore the home-made ice-cream in that special ice-cream pot. Lovely days indeed!

Quote of the day:                                                            "Everything Good, everything magical," everything 'cool' happens during the summer. Jenny Han would sure not mind my minor changes to her fun quote.

Word of the day: vacation times.                              Needs no explanation, right? "Nam to suna hi hoga!"  Kafi hai!

Soupçon I. vi

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                      Soupçon I. vi                                         Plague Disadvantage: A Career Advantage

If the 1593 "Venus and Adonis" depicted female desire, exactly opposite is the theme of the other long poem that Shakespeare wrote during the plague years. Incidentally, this 1594 poem entitled "The Rape of Lucrece" is absolutely contemporary.

To begin with, it deals with a husband, Collatine, bragging about a beautiful wife's virtue at the Ardea war camp. It triggers the typical male jealousy in Tarquin, the prince cum officer. In other words, the woman's, Lucretia's, reputation for being good, honest, ideal, becomes a class issue.

When Tarquin, who sneaks out of the war just to tempt her so that his ego is satisfied, cannot manage to woo her with her husband's praise, he threatens her that he would kill a slave, set up the dead body next to her in such a way as if she is embracing the slave, and then murder her stating that he killed her because she was lustful and dishonourable. Talk of the Photoshop and the AI generated images in the post-truth era!

The most interesting part of the poem, which uses the 'rhyme royale' stanza that earlier Chaucer, and later Milton loved, is that it proves that 'the personal is political'! Lucrece commits suicide, and her dead body is taken through the streets of Rome. As a result, the Tarquin royal family is banished, and Rome becomes a republic.  Are not there very many contemporary echoes in these unfortunate proceedings? Hence the argument that this comparatively lesser known poem is relevant today!

In other words, the plague infested years indicate a huge 'break' in Shakespeare's career, his growth as an author. He managed to make the calamity in to a gain. The Lucrece theme echoes in many of his later works. In addition to direct allusions, remember, Lady Macbeth tried the Tarquin trick with King Duncan's  assassination? 

It has been argued that "King Lear", too, was penned during yet another plague outbreak. In fact, historians note that when Shakespeare was at his creative best, theaters, which then were considered vicious and vile, often closed. This week, we have tried to establish that Shakespeare, the genius, used the plague predicament, which had been chasing him since his childhood, to become better as an author!

Pratima Agnihotri                                                      Pune

                                                          

The Earth Day

 The Earth! It is the very base of our existence. What we eat, grows there. What we drink, the earth holds in its arms. That is to say, be it food or be it water, the earth donates them to us. 

In addition to these primal gifts, the earth has been paying the cost of man's modernity. Be it most of the metals or the petrol, the earth has been dug by the ever greedy humans, hardly worth being so called!

Yes, in its excessive greed which has surpassed any needs, mankind has wounded the earth the most. To make the 'giddy in its greed' mankind aware, days such as the 'earth day' become the need of the hour! 

Mankind may thus be reminded that the earth is not its sole property. The Earth is the 'equity' mankind must share with the flora and the fauna. In the annihilation of the earth, mankind is literally digging its own grave! Long live the earth so that mankind may lead an enlightened life! The UN deserves everybody's huge thanks for this annual awareness, at least for a day!

Pratima@ Just as the earth has everything to be aware of at least for a day, readers must be sensitised to April 23 as a day of remembrance for Miguel Cervantès, the progenitor of the greatest Don ever, Don Quixote!

Quote of the day:                                                           Every day has to be the Earth Day! We must treat and respect the earth that way! Glory be to the earth, the very base of our existence!

Word of the day: terrestrial                                       The adjective terrestrial means related to the earth.

P.S.: My brother, Pinaki alias Sanju, is in a big way in to the green cause, plantation, seed collection, et al. He has donated in Aai's name a park dedicated to herbal plants for an Ayurvedic college. 

Soupçon I. v

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                      Soupçon I. v                                                        Of love n longing                                

Shakespeare's answer to the constraining dis-ease and the resultant total closure of the public space was his first ever publication, a pastoral poem of seduction, entitled "Venus and Adonis." It was so widely/wildly circulated, literally 'went viral'  even in a period of private circulation, that a lesser known playwright became a sensation absolutely overnight! Given the patronage system prevalent then, the Earl of Southampton to whom it was dedicated, had every reason to feel special. 

Actually, this narrative poem, full of pastoral images and symbols, is quite steamy. It sure has its moments of high comedy (such as Adonis'  'horse running after a jennet') and it ends tragically (the lovelorn Venus 'weary of the world, away she hies' as Adonis is gored by a boar). Shakespeare may choose to call it "my unpolisht lines", but the six-line-long iambic pentameter stanza with a quartet (rhyming abab) followed by a couplet (cc) thereafter came to be known as the 'Venus and Adonis' stanza, tried by the 'poet's poet', Spenser. 

In Soupçon I. vi, let us explore such tidbits about the other poem Shakespeare attempted around the same time, "The Rape of Lucrece." Suffice it may for the time being to assert that both these long poems echo the structural and thematic patterns of the 'sonnet cycle',  much adored across the world.      

Pratima Agnihotri                                                        Pune

Worlds @ words

 April 23 celebrates books which open for us worlds through words. The occasion deserves this ceremonious celebration. April 23 marks both the birth (given the baptism certificate on April 26) and the death anniversary of  Shakespeare, the ultimate wordsmith in English who, in addition to his great creative output, coined any number of English words still very much in use. No wonder, April 23 is also celebrated as the English language day. 

Actually currently both, books and the publication industry, are facing tough times. Apparently, book exhibitions overflow with countless customers, and books are sold not by dozens, but by tons and quintals. Are these 'real', that is, authentic books though? Most often not. They are the DIY stuff in very many fields. 

May be, in our times invaded by emojis and by reels of all sorts, even such a read, whatever be the platform, hard-bound to Kindle, needs to be tom-tom-ed! Yet do such books energise either the intellect, the heart or the soul of the reader? Hardly! Instead, such DIY books of all sorts encourage the reader to be a passive, nay, brainless consumer of goods that fatten capitalism.

What do true, good, committed books do? Without any overt propaganda/agenda, instead through their own word and narrative powers, they sensitise the reader, they awaken the reader, their words create worlds that expose all the injustices, inequities, imbalances of our ever incomplete existences hankering after possible perfections. 

In today's post-truth(s) era of paid publication of an instant book the AI 'writes', anybody and everybody pretends to be an author so much so that there are many many more writers than there are readers! Hence on this world book day, yet again the need of a conscientious reader in search of a genuine author! Long live authors whose words make worlds! 

Pratima@ Given all such realities, my daily blog and now the "soupçon" are my small little affirmations of words making/un-making/re-making worlds. Believe me though, I read a lot, too. Even the reels I may watch are deeply intellectual. They are never for "entertainment, entertainment, entertainment" alone! 

Quote of the day:                                                          "Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived," asserts Matt Haig. 

Word of the day: bibliophile                                       A bibliophile is an individual who deeply loves, admires, and frequently collects books. The word is made of two units, biblio (books) and phile (love-r). Often referred to as a "book lover" or "bookworm," a bibliophile may focus, explains Cambridge Dictionary, on collecting rare, antique, or beautifully bound editions, though the term generally applies to anyone with a strong passion for reading (and owning) books.

Soupçon I. iv

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                      Soupçon I. iv                                                 The Dis-ease and the Public Space   

The pandemic that could have almost ruined a nascent career began in August, 1592; peaked circa December, 1592, and was officially declared under control in December, 1593 , though sporadic cases continued till end, 1595!

There was a method in the mad spread of the epidemic. The dominion of death drear moved from the outer parishes to the center of London. As those days, the theatres, such as 'The Rose' and 'The Curtain', were in the Shoreditch area just outside London, when the authorities decided to close public spaces, the theatre world suffered hugely. 

The bubonic plague had claimed some fifteen thousand lives by December, 1592. Something was indeed rotten in the state of England! The bacterium Yersinia pestis which caused the notorious "ring of roses" thrived in the fleas on rats. Given the  terrible stink, it was thought that herbs could heal it. 

The fault was not in the stars, though the planetary alignment of Saturn passing through Cancer and Leo was blamed. With the theatres closed ad infinitum, how to survive, that was the question. In Soupçon I. v, let us find out how Shakespeare rose to the awful occasion 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune     

Memories

 Generally I do not much vouch for jingoism. Yet I cannot but remember the Pahalgam visuals. Exactly a year ago, when most all indians were in the "God is in His heaven-/ Everything is all right with the world" kind of contented spring mood, out of nowhere emerged terrorists, and opened fire on the handful happily frolicking tourists at Pahalgam! 

The scenes were heart rending, a young bride, for instance, with the wedding mehendi on her palms and the marriage chuda on her wrists, sitting dazedly near her brand new husband's dead body, her hardly two days old marriage forever over. 

Much more moving were the tragic stories narrated by the survivors. Fathers and husbands were brutally bulleted right in front of their children and wives. Two of such suffering families live in the Aranyeshwar area, some two kilometers away from my home! 

Across the whole of India, all of us have such neighbours never known, yet whose intense pain we all experienced deeply. All of us felt anger not only against the jihadi murderers, but also against the shallow sympathisers who rushed to Pahalgam so that would continue unabated the tourist business of the locals, without whose overt or subtle support, such havoc could not have taken place in the first place! 

Well known is the rest of the story, Operation Sindoor, the creepy, crazy politicking over it, the usual headlines, the typical t.v. debates, the same sorry stuff searching the 'breaking news'! Yet just unforgettable are those shots, both by the cruel Ak-47's and by the candid cameras, the hurtful memories! 

Pratima@ True, April 22 is the National Services day, just as it is the World Earth Day, celebrated the same routine way. But, for me, matter memories reflecting 'the tender grace of a day that is dead/will never come back to me.'

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

Word of the day: terrorism                                         Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against civilians or governments to induce fear, and achieve political, ideological, or religious goals. It often involves non-state actors targeting non-combatants, though state-sponsored terrorism does exist. 

Soupçon I. iii

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor,  is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                      Soupçon I. iii                                                        Carping Criticism                               By the time, the "dis-ease" decided to turn life topsy-turvy, Shakespeare had arrived enough to invite bitterly biting criticism. Yes, one of the privileged University Wits, Robert Greene, in his "Groats-worth of Wits" (1592), lashes at this 'upstart', a 'crow beautified with our wings ', the "Shake-scene" with 'bombast blank verse', dismissed as 'Johannes factotum', in brief, a Jack of all trades. There is an equally nasty swipe at the 'tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide' reference from Henry VI, Part III.

Yet, given the epidemic, Shakespeare's unmistakable emergence on the cultural scene, which itself suffered a complete closure, was in danger of being wiped out. In the next spoonful of "Soupçon", we shall learn more about the 'dis-ease', how it impacted Shakespeare, and how he negotiated it. As this is the very first week of "Soupçon", let the MCQ questions not appear yet.

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune  

A Great Soul

 The Chardham Yatra is a unique soul-stirring experience felt on the pulse. Every nano second of that transformative feel is etched forever in memory. Yes, undoubtedly, the awe-inspiring yet unbelievably calming grandeur of the Himalayas inspires such a sense.

Yet there is another presence, mightier than the Himalayas, who accompanies every breath i take. Yes, Joshi Math onwards, the great Adi Shankaracharya is unmistakably the immense existence who transmogrifies me from a traveller in to a pilgrim.

An astounding legend indeed! Sure, in his infinite wisdom, he transformed a moribund religion in to a vibrant way of thinking, of becoming, of being. Yet, just imagine, in those days traversing those great heights, and not merely metaphorically!

A young man, nay, an adolescent, from far away Kerala! All alone! There would not have been any defined roads, there must have been any number of wild animals across the path, and there was the chimeric climate, changing literally any moment as per its maddening moods. How could he have managed the feat?

I am hugely humbled each time I think of that great achievement. 'He' 'then' takes a dip in to the freezing bitingly cold water so that 'we' can 'now' 'enjoy' the darshan of Badrinath, which currently is so very touristy! 

On the banks of the mightily rushing Alaknanda in spate, her swirling waters lashing the banks as I perform the tarpan kriya for Aai-Papa, I re-live the magic of His charm, He being both, Lord Shankara and the Adi Shankaracharya.

Meeting him at Kedarnath, despite the silly debates about his very many samadhi's at very many places, is as primal a feel as touching the Bheem Shila that appeared out of nowhere to protect the temple. Honestly, this young man who cherished, revived, resurrected Hinduism at a critical juncture, and so intelligently, rationally and yet most poetically, is the real bulwark whom I cannot adore enough. 

No wonder, I did not mind building the customary small little home of pebbles near His samadhi, instead of troubling a 'kandi'wala bearing my weight in the 'pithu' all the steep way up to the Bhairava temple! Honestly, literally 'Beda par' as the mendicant sadhu told me when, despite the chill and the winds, I managed to light the diya Raju got from London, as the priest in the sanctum sanctotum of the Kedarnath temple so infinitely gently, and, eh, absolutely scientifically, had on his own explained the 'no diya' policy there. Enriching, fulfilling, immensely humbling!

Pratima@ Throughout the Chardham Yatra, which I yet again re-lived due to the Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti, every nano second, I kept on thinking of three individuals. Oh, yes, of Aai, given her hyper-sensitivity and the toughness of those wild pathways,  of Papa, for going there, without proper preparation, and, oh, yes, of the great Adi Shankaracharya who traversed all sorts of tough terrains so that we survive!

Quote of the day:                                                         "It is only great souls who know the glory of being good," said Sophocles.

Word of the day: Advait Vedanta                                Advaita Vedanta is a non-dualistic Hindu philosophy, primarily systematized by Adi Shankaracharya, asserting that the individual soul, atman, is identical to the ultimate reality, Bramhan. It teaches that the perceived world is, maya, an illusion, and mukti, liberation is attained by realizing this fundamental oneness. The core belief is the non-duality of the atma-paramatma, the individual soul and the divine.

Soupçon I. ii

 Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor,  is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!

                       Soupçon I. ii                                                  Shakespeare and the Dis-ease 

Yes, like the Corona confinement in the twenty-first century, twice was Shakespeare's career curtailed due to a deadly 'dis-ease'.

The first of these closures is closer to the notorious "lost years". Yes, Shakespeare's life leaves a lot to imagination, beginning with the exact date of his birth. Yet the "lost years" are truly apocryphal. 

As this is the first week of our attempt, no quizzes, no MCQ's this week. Instead let us share information.

The "lost years" refer to the seven years hitch, 1585 to 1592, that is, after his twins' baptism to his certain emergence as a London playwright. There are not any definitive records. Instead, there are all sorts of 'his-stories' ranging from run-away activities such as poaching to duties as (h)ostler, for instance. 

Yet, by this time, he was an all-in-one wizard, that is, an actor, a playwright, and a shareholder in the theater company called 'Lord Chamberlain's Men'. The 'dis-ease' was, in brief, a financial calamity.

By then, he had to his credit comedies  and histories such as "Comedy of Errors", "Richard III" and the three parts of "Henry VI". As the histories dissected weak, corrupt regimes, it was clear that the Tudor dynasty was indirectly being praised n promoted.

 In other words,  such was Shakespeare's stage success in these early years that in 1592 itself, the unhappy year of the 'dis-ease', he was viciously trolled.  How? By whom? Let us learn the details by and by. Suffice it, for the time being, to say that those 'dis-ease' days, too, were indeed tough!

Pratima Agnihotri                                                       Pune

The AI hallucinates!

 The AI IS unmistakably getting more and more human! Why am I so very sure? Is that your question? Well, my write-up on the AI and literature teaching is ready. Yet I am in to the 'finishing touches' stage before submitting it finally. 

Hence I am furreting out the minutest unavoidable but available detail. Thus I have come across this notion of the AI hallucinating. Yes, the AI does hallucinate, and, the fun of it is that the process is no different from the human hallucinations, delusions, self-deceptions. Is the AI getting more and more human! You bet! 

Okay, let us begin at the beginning. Let us understand this concept. The AI itself describes the AI hallucination as follows: "An AI hallucination is a confident but incorrect or fabricated response generated by an artificial intelligence model, such as a chatbot, that does not align with reality or the provided context. Instead of admitting a lack of knowledge, the AI often generates plausible-sounding falsehoods, such as fake citations, fake news, or incorrect data."

Absolutely human! Always far away from the real lived life; instead one's own blind surmises, supporting them widely and wildly, however much contrary to facts they may be! Never admit lack of knowledge or a mistake! Instead produce/provide falsehoods cloaked as suppositions, which are nothing but gossip dressed as narratives! 

So very many examples from very many possibilities! The AI, this newly admitted entry to the Academy of Life, has already beaten the director, mankind, black n blue (not merely metaphorically either!) in this regard as well. Long live the AI! 

Pratima@ In its hallucinatory hollowness, the AI is not humane either, and that is the tragedy!

Quote of the day:                                                                 "If you understand hallucination and illusion, you don't blindly follow any leader," says Marguerite Young. Holds true of the thought leader of the many, known as the AI.

Word of the day: Delusion                                           Delusion is a fixed, false belief firmly held despite contradictory evidence and lack of cultural consensus. Symptoms involve unshakable, illogical beliefs (persecution, grandeur, jealousy).

Akshay Trutiya

 Unique is this festival. It is celebrated on the shudhdh (waxing moon fortnight) tritiya (third day) of Vaishakh. Season wise, clearly it implies the onset of the burning hot summer. Yet such is the abundance of joy, happiness and contentment on this day that the blistering heat does not seem to matter.

 Well, this year, the Akshay Tritiya appeared indeed special as there were hailstorms in many places, thus adding a "thanda, thanda, cool, cool" effect to the alfonso mangoes special enrichment of this day, marked by abundance, often signified by new purchases, of cars, for instance. Bro Dear is sure to agree, right? 

Just look at the day. It venerates Lord Parashurama who combined the Bramha and the kshatra luminescence, that is, both wisdom and valour. In the current opening up of the typical traditional definition of caste beyond the post-post-colonial rhetoric, such an alternative look at the forever cast caste is a fulfilling look at identity politics. 

As per yet another legend, this festival celebrates the most moving meeting of Lord Krishna and Sudama which reveals the abundance of good faith, friendship and bonhomie beyond material status. 

Oh, yes, according to yet another myth, Akshay Tritiya is supposed to be the day when that abundance of purification, the Ganges, descended on the earth. 

Let us not forget that it was on this day that Draupadi received the "Akshay Patra" which sustained her, and the Pandava reputation for beneficence, during the extremely tough exile era. 

No wonder, it is the day of new beginnings that last forever, because Sage Vyasa began dictating the Mahabharata itself to Lord Ganesh on this very day. 

Very important is this day to other sects and religions as well. It marks the Basweshwar Jayanti. Sant Basweshwar's was yet another attempt at a democratic space beyond caste identities. I have translated some of his "vachanas". Some other time, will discuss my "vachana" presentation. 

For the Jain community, it is the most significant occasion when the first tirthankar, Sage Rishabh Deva, ended his year long fast and accepted sugarcane juice to break his fast. Honestly, as one of our earlier blogs discussed it, sugarcane juice on a hot afternoon day is no less than the heavenly manna itself. 

May this day of special prayers, charity and forever prosperity make your lives full, too. Long live Akshay Tritiya!

Pratima@ Aai had her own version of the Akshay Patra, a brand new vessel she would use only once annually, on this day for ensconcing in it the special prasad. It indeed is beautiful and unique. 

Quote of the day:                                                           "Doing what you love the most is the best source of abundance in your life," say many influencers. 

Word of the day: cornucopia                                      Cornucopia is a symbol of abundance, traditionally represented as a curved, horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruit, vegetables, and flowers, often called a "horn of plenty". It represents an inexhaustible, generous store of items. 

Soupçon I. i

 As Akshay Tritiya is the day of auspicious beginnings, when Sage Ved Vyas himself began dictating the Mahabharata to Lord Ganesh, let us begin this brand new blog. 

Let me explain its title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It means that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction 

Our column, which extends that metaphor,  is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, they might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so- literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details! 

                           Soupçon I. i

Who but Shakespeare can be the best candidate to thus float a new venture? Remember the Corona confinement? Shakespeare, too, twice suffered such a predicament. Which were the years? Which disease was it? How was it looked at by the common man, the majority of spectators then? How did Shakespeare respond to such closures of the cultural space? How did it affect his career? Such and many more questions would be so designed and answered that memorising the answers would be no trouble at all. See you then, every Monday through Friday! 

Pratima Agnihotri                                                        Pune

Protecting the Past in the Present for the Future

 Which are the visible symbols of our cultural identity? There sure are many, beginning with the bindi that caught the sight of the Lenskart recently, for example. Undoubtedly, such personal markers matter.

Yet, in the larger public sphere, a nation's civilizational/cultural wealth is often associated with its monuments. These iconic structures are annually celebrated on the world heritage day, that is, on April 18.

Given the actual and ideological wars that are right now, and as always, the open wounds, worrisome is the future of these treasures from our past. How we hand them over safe and sound to the future generations that is now the real issue, given awful threats such as atomic and chemical warfare! 

Pratima@ In the Indian context, April  18 stands for a real monument of our society. Yes, April 18 is the birth anniversary of Maharshi Karve, a great social reformer in India in the field of women's welfare. 

He advocated widow remarriage, and, as a widower, he himself remarried a widow. Karve was a pioneer in promoting widows' education. He founded the first women's university in India, the SNDT Women's University, in 1916. He organized a conference against the practice of devdasi. He started 'Anath Balika Ashram', an orphanage for girls which helped women get a social standing. Indeed, he re(de)fined heritage, truly re-built it. Truly, he gave posterity a present that purified the past!

Quote of the day:                                                         "Embrace your heritage with pride. Remember that history and culture are a part of who you are," asserts Maya Angelou. 

Word of the day: heritage                                         Heritage, according to the UN,  refers to the traditions, beliefs, culture, and physical artifacts passed down through generations, representing a shared history and identity. It includes tangible items (monuments, artifacts) and intangible elements (customs, folklore) valued in the present and preserved for the future. It signifies a legacy from the past. 

Let us laugh n loud!

 Today let our blog be silly, silly PJ's. Why so? Well, T. S. Eliot wrote a poem entitled "Preludes". This strikingly radical poem, which changed wor(l)ds, ends with a brilliant image which captures the futility of reality. 

T. S. Eliot ends his poem with "wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;/The worlds revolve like ancient women/ gathering fuel in vacant lots."

So much in so many places, the high space parliament to hi-fi corporate companies, is so astounding that reeling, like the Eliot image, is the effect! After such realities, what sincerity? what seriousness? what authenticity? what 'alter-natives'? Instead, as ever, only very many narratives! Hence let us, too, wipe our hands across our mouths and laugh out loud!

1) The Trust deficit:

Why do not scientists trust atoms?                              Because they make up everything!

2) The prize and the news 

Why did the scarecrow win a Nobel prize?             Because she was outstanding in her field.

3) Such is 'no bell'!                              

  Knock, Knock!                                                               Why? Who?                                                         "Nobel"                                                                           Why? Who?                                                                "Nobel, that’s why I knocked!"

4) Shame! Shame!

Why did the tomato blush?                                        Because he saw the salad dressing.

5) The final cut! 

Why is grass so dangerous?                                       Because it is full of blades!

Pratima@When realities are crazy, laughter is the last refuge! The more PJ-ish, the better!

Quote of the day:                                                          "Rhetoric is not important," asserted Nelson Mandela. "Actions are!" 

Word of the day: Disillusionment                         Disillusionment is a sense is of disappointment and unhappiness resulting from discovering the truth about someone or something previously respected or admired. It occurs when reality fails to match high expectations, often leading to a disenchanting loss of faith in ideals. 

Getting a job

 Have you noticed some quite crazy stuff recently? Yes, it deals with this very touchy theme entitled 'getting a job'. Let us today look at it in some detail. First and foremost, there is the AI scare. True, new jobs may emerge, but they ARE going to be scarce, and absolutely focussed on higher order (intellectual/thinking) skills.

 Students who never ever attend lectures, colleges where semesters are not even of twenty five lectures, institutions where not even half the portion is taught as lectures just do not take place (Who cares, anyways!!?!! Teachers get wonderfully well paid, which most often is their only goal. Indirectly, or even quite shamelessly, openly, directly, students are often told (about) the possible/important questions. So they, too, are happy that they get a degree without any studying, in addition to developing 'skills' which would make the Bloom taxonomy blush!), given such realities, would such students have the mental capacity for, forget higher order, any thinking at all?

Anyways, there are any number of 'coaches' on the social media circuit who advise openly that jobs cannot be gotten through Naukri.com or even LinkedIn. Their open secret is creating a clout, developing contacts, managing connects!!! Just listen to/watch their ads that come along every YouTube video. They ARE quite open about this fact.

So the cat is finally out of the bag. To get a job, you require either, though prefarably both, of the two c's. The two c's are 'contact' and/or  'caste'.  If you have the right contacts, you need not be able to speak/write a single correct sentence in English, your so-called copy-paste Ph.D. thesis on the banal most topic/theme under a guide, whose own English and scholarship are extremely dicey, would have errors on-n-from the title page itself, and yet you get a job in an English medium college, and, yes, you would win awards for being a celebrated teacher and a great scholar!

I do not even want to, forget dare to, mention the other 'c'! Why am I talking about the college education alone? Well, unfortunately, in our context, a degree, anyhow gotten, is always associated with jobs! Truly unfortunate because even post-graduate degrees are gotten, even with a first class/distinction, by students who would go to college only for the exam or related duties, not to forget the social events! What to say about students depending on 'guides', now AI is thus 'enabling', when teachers themselves use such!!!

One of my M.A. students, she herself could not construct a single correct sentence, was telling me how uneducated her in-laws, especially her sister-in-law was her real target, would be. I kept on listening to the silly tirade. At one point, it got so crazy that I just could not control my laughter. When I pin-pointedly asked her a few very simple questions which totally exposed her post-graduate ignorance, she chose to keep quiet!

This total lack of, forget knowledge, even information begins at the school level. Kids are sent to tuitions from the first standard!!! Why? What is (not) happening in the teenie-weenie classrooms? What are the parents themselves up to? Why cannot they bond better with their own kid by teaching her/him basics at the primary level!?!

When the base to top is so completely  hollow, how would,  forget the higher order, skills develop at all? Anyways, why are skills currently getting reduced to glitzy event management without the least content? Most all of the traditional disciplines, courses and colleges would repeat the same sad story! The sick n silly ways students complete their entire term related assignments in a day, study for the exam just the night before, is pathetic. 

No wonder, to get a job, you require contacts, rather than intelligence, imagination, creativity (which is now reduced to event management related DIY activities!), scholarship! Sad scenario indeed!

Pratima@The very institution called college and/or degree would very soon undergo radical changes. Want an example or two? Forget the online degrees from major universities. Foreign universities with world wide fame are setting up local campuses here in India with unique, relevant, absolutely contemporary courses. Major companies are offering online certifications which make candidates corporate ready! All along, colleges are busy with petty politicking and internal gangsterism, eh, groupism!

Quote of the day:                                                          "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors in to windows," asserts H.J.Harris.

Word of the day: integrity                                        Integrity is the quality of being honest, enjoying strong ethical principles, and maintaining consistency in actions, values, and methods. It implies incorruptibility and wholeness, often described as doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Synonyms include honesty, honour, probity, rectitude, says the Cambridge Dictionary.

Art is (He)art!

 Everyone blames the internet as the devil that killed reading. I do not completely agree with such a judgement. I do feel that the information overload the internet may unleash, if used thinkingly, makes us more aware and conscious. 

Look at the date April 15, for instance. Yes, despite soaking in the aura of THE Leonardo da Vinci whose 'Monalisa', 'The Last Supper' and the 'Vetruvian Man' have awed the whole world, this artist to whom, while teaching the Elizabethan Era, I have each time referred to as THE Renaissance Man who strode the worlds of both art and science, while referring to Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" as an alternative look at 'his-story', yes, despite all such acquaintances, I did not remember that April 15 is his birth anniversary! 

Apparently, the UNESCO has declared it to be the World Art Day.  So informed me the internet! Hence my enthusiastic celebration of the day because we do need such a celebration of art, especially right now, when the very many direct and indirect wars have brought the wor(l)d real close to self-destructions of all sorts! 

Right now we do need very many George Orwell's and Ernest Hemingway's and Picasso's whose art, whether verbal or painterly, spoke from the heart, and denounced the soulless cruelties and tactless uglinesses of the all-destroying wars! 

Art, whatever the type, plastic, performing, spatial, kinetic, verbal, that is, be it painting, sculpture, a play or a music/dramatic performance or be it a wizardry of language and meaning  in a poem/a novel/a play, art enriches us.

Art equalises us, too. It shows us, for instance, the unmistakable connect between the lower and the higher forms of the aesthetic expression. For me, for example, the unique perspectives an artistic rangoli provides makes me understand better the more difficult, enriching, energising art of abstract painting!

Art is waging another war these days. Yes, it has to negotiate with the AI that now seems to be infringing the very existence. Yet, the imagination, the individualism and the unmistakable spiritual aspect at the core of (e)very art would sure give richer dimensions to the AI itself! In brief, art is (he)art, and, hereafter, I shall never ever hereafter forget to celebrate this day in my own way!

Pratima@Every art is the best because its appreciation simultaneously gives us joy, makes us a better thinker, and adds a unique liberating perspective otherwise just not possible. Long live art as it enlivens every heart!

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

Word of the day: emancipatory                                 Art is great because it is emancipatory. Emancipatory refers, according to the Webster Dictionary, to actions, ideas, or laws designed to produce freedom, liberation, or release from social, legal, or political restraints. Art is emancipatory because it focuses on empowering individuals or groups by subtly overturning oppression, promoting social justice, and reducing the influence of controlling structures. 

How big/small ?!?

 Whenever you are a little giddy about some sizable success of yours or whenever you feel absolutely lost due to some fat failure, be it the professional arena or the public sphere or the private space, you should always remember your place, they say. 

What/where exactly is this location? Want to know it? Okay, let us present it on the descending scale. In other words, an 'i-ndividual' should forever remember that in a grand universe with countless galaxies, there is one galaxy known as the Milky Way which has very many solar systems out of which i inhabit one city in a solar system on a planet which has seven continents and some hundred and ninety-five countries. Ah! Enough, right? I need not add the exact percentage of water and land, okay? 

Sure a very ennobling thought or a truly belittling one! Depends on the perspective for sure! An idea that forever must reside in every consciousness and each conscience, no doubt!

Yet is not it worth worrying why such a perspective is never ever the parameter of a Trump or a Mojtaba Khamenei? Why does not this scale zapp every owner of each war machine making industry? How come each small time power broker, every authority as punitive that much worse, never ever remembers such a perspective? 

Why is this paradigm only for a genuine sincere committed individual who cares for, is considerate about every one in his/her ambit and for every issue beyond it? Is not it in a way (of) affixing? Hence, YES, I would surely always keep in mind this descent. Yet i would glory in my small success set up against all the big ways intent on ruining it totally, just as I would admit the honest hurt felt when a good effort is badly felled and/or hauntingly fails! 

After all said and done, how big is the world? As large as the size of the head, right? And, oh, yes, how vast is the despair? As huge as every stone thrown at me and as sharp as each splinter consciously  planted in my way, right? Who anyways worries if I live/die, unless it to their own motives they tie!?! So, live full, do worry a little, too, because who knows when would all end!!! 

Pratima@ It is indeed nice to now and then to look up the Stoic teachings which subtly open up the infinity of the 'i-ndividual' paired with/poised against all sorts of systems! 

Quote of the day:                                                          "To see in a grain of sand a world/and the heaven in a wild flower/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/and an eternity in every passing second."                                                            William Blake would sure forgive me the minor changes I added to his great quote.

Term of the day: frame of reference                         A frame of reference is a coordinate system or set of axes used to define the position, orientation, and motion of objects, acting as a "viewpoint" for observers. It establishes a standard for measuring movement, where motion is relative to the observer's chosen frame, stationary or moving, for instance. So says the dictionary. Better to feel it on your pulse, too! 

Hawala Haul Halted?

 Out of bad, they say, sometimes, the best emerges. The current Iran idiocy can be an example thereof. Why do i say so? Let me see if I can explain.

It is an open secret, frankly shared unofficially and informally in those twin cities that Hyderabad is one of the hawala centers, and hence has huge monetary dealings, most of which, such unofficial sources say, are most questionable in nature. 

Hawala is a monetary transaction that respects the word of mouth. In the initial phase, may be, hawala could have been most honourable, high-minded and honest dealings. 

The nerve center of the hawala trade apparently is the Middle East countries, it is maintained in Hyderabad. Equally vociferously, it is argued that hawala money is all "haram" money. 

Remember, for instance, the Telgi scam? Even when an official document, the  stamp paper, was involved, there was an 'efficient' network, apparently invisible, which distributed counterfeit stamp papers, and siphoned off crores. Imagine, given such realities, the possible money laundering, the tax evasion, the black money, and the criminals involved in the hawala connections!

Now with the entire Middle East being off the bounds in a major way, the hawala haul has to be halted.  The crooks involved must suffer, if they have not found out some alternative solution, which, given their criminal proclivities, they might have. 

Yet they must face financial loss as well as losing clout and power. Every which way, this is great news for India, right? Hence the initial assertion; namely, bad may at times lead to the best! 

Pratima@Such crooks siphoning off huge sums shamelessly lead a luxurious life which, too, must get curtailed to some extent, even if they would have stashed away illegal money for generations apparently. The bad and the ugly need not forever be in good conditions!

Quote of the day:                                                          "You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from," concedes Cormac McCarthy. 

Word of the day: hawala.                                          Hawala is an informal method of transferring money, relying on a trust-based network of brokers. It operates outside traditional banking, and is commonly used for rapid, low-cost remittances in South Asia and the Middle East, though it is often illegal due to lack of regulations.