Deceit and lies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pratima@Innocence is its own protection.

 

Acquired Meanings

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

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

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

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

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

Inviting Danger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Navy Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

Song Psychology: a paean to pan music

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Unique Month

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fengal Phenomenonn

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

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

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

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

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

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