Adam left behind three of his kind:
The mendicants
The pleasure seekers
The 'out of the box' happy lot
And believe me: All of them are happy in their own way.
Of these three groups, the first two are within the box thinkers though they would love to believe otherwise. There is nothing new in renouncing the world to seek happiness. We have very prominent examples. Ashoka, Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak and the very many out of the box thinkers and spiritual gurus who spawned religions and cultures through their way of life. Doing something like that is no longer out of the box. People have been there; done that.
History is full of pleasure seekers. The Pharaohs of Egypt to Bill Clinton: all people who have been there; done that.
What fascinates me is the last group: The ‘out of the box happy’ lot. And why do I call them that ?
Because they are so much ‘out of the box’ that they are so full of themselves. They can’t see beyond their own personal tragedies and sorrows. Not just that they refuse to make any attempt at trying to come out of it, they resist any attempt at anyone trying to help them out. They revel in their sorrow.
With due respect to human pain and tragedy, every human undergoes some pain or tragedy in his/her life. The curse that befell Adam is on all of us. Adam, however,learnt to fight and create his own world.
But these ‘out of the box happy’ people are a stickler for sympathy. They want the world to sympathise with them. They believe that their husbands,their wives, their children, their teachers, their officers, their staff or anyone they interact with is out to harm them and hurt them. The world is an uncaring place where God has let loose the worst serpents on them.
Reach out with a sympathising hand and they will demand your shoulder to cry on. Crying is the best way of purgation. But they will cry and cry till not just your shoulder but your soul would be drenched.
Give a solution to their problem and you will be accused of being a part of God’s uncaring creation.
Make them laugh and you will be accused of being a clown and juggling their feelings.
Show them a practical way to tackle life and you will be accused of being pragmatic.
Time and again you will be reminded how you are a cold hearted, matter-of –fact ,hard headed, worthless friend who cannot be depended on to squeeze out that one ounce of sympathy that they deserve.
Give me Ashoka and Clinton any day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Palace of Illusions
THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS BY CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI; PUBLISHED BY PICADOR PAGES-360; PRICE-RS--495/-
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. She has been published in over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese.
The folktale of Mahabharata has a number of versions all over India. All versions are often depicted from the point of view of any of the male protagonist. The women in the Mahabharata are denigrated to the background. No version ever talks about the pain of Gandhari who spent a lifetime blindfolded or the travails of Kunti who had progeny from six celestial beings. This is where the Palace of Illusions stands out. The tale comes from the point of view of Draupadi.
The young Draupadi,(she hated the name as it identified her only as the daughter of her father and nothing else) dark skinned and born out a yagna, spends her childhood trying to decipher how her life would be charted out. Also called Krishnaa she feels an unknown affinity to Lord Krishna, the reason for which she is never able to decipher. She ponders how the prophecy of her having the strength to change the course of the future would come true.
As she grows into a young adult and gets ready for her Swayamwar (choosing her husband), she oscillates in her heart over having to choose someone who would win a contest. This irked her as she felt it denied her the right to choose her own life partner and the Swayamwar lost its meaning.
The book runs like a brook through her childhood, her relation with her brother, her growing fascination for Karna, whom she cannot marry, her willful decision to accompany her husbands to the forest to ensure that she keeps them in control, her anger at them getting married to other women, her preference for Arjuna over Bheema who loved her very passionately, her friendship with Krishna are all well illustrated in the book.
Draupadi had to pay a huge price for being married to five men. She was given the boon of being a virgin every time she moved in with the next husband. This she felt was very male chauvinistic. “I would prefer that I do not carry their memories”, she says. But as usual she didn’t have a choice in the boon. It was thrust upon her.
Her strained relationship with Kunti also brings to the forefront how again she did not enjoy any motherly affection from Kunti. The only person she related to as mother was her Dhai Ma, the old lady who looked after her when she was young. This lack of motherly affection somewhere translated into a lack of affection from her side to her children. She never lived with her children. She bore five of them, one from each husband but always maintained a distance from them. She could never bring herself to act or react as a ‘mother’. Her sons too accepted the distance she maintained.
She lived a strange life, an unasked for daughter, a wife to five men, a mother to sons who didn’t know her, a woman so mysterious that she questioned her own identity.
This is what the author brings out in the book. Though the read slackens at times,it does bring out many pertinent issues related to the representation of the women in Indian mythology, especially the Mahabharata.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. She has been published in over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese.
The folktale of Mahabharata has a number of versions all over India. All versions are often depicted from the point of view of any of the male protagonist. The women in the Mahabharata are denigrated to the background. No version ever talks about the pain of Gandhari who spent a lifetime blindfolded or the travails of Kunti who had progeny from six celestial beings. This is where the Palace of Illusions stands out. The tale comes from the point of view of Draupadi.
The young Draupadi,(she hated the name as it identified her only as the daughter of her father and nothing else) dark skinned and born out a yagna, spends her childhood trying to decipher how her life would be charted out. Also called Krishnaa she feels an unknown affinity to Lord Krishna, the reason for which she is never able to decipher. She ponders how the prophecy of her having the strength to change the course of the future would come true.
As she grows into a young adult and gets ready for her Swayamwar (choosing her husband), she oscillates in her heart over having to choose someone who would win a contest. This irked her as she felt it denied her the right to choose her own life partner and the Swayamwar lost its meaning.
The book runs like a brook through her childhood, her relation with her brother, her growing fascination for Karna, whom she cannot marry, her willful decision to accompany her husbands to the forest to ensure that she keeps them in control, her anger at them getting married to other women, her preference for Arjuna over Bheema who loved her very passionately, her friendship with Krishna are all well illustrated in the book.
Draupadi had to pay a huge price for being married to five men. She was given the boon of being a virgin every time she moved in with the next husband. This she felt was very male chauvinistic. “I would prefer that I do not carry their memories”, she says. But as usual she didn’t have a choice in the boon. It was thrust upon her.
Her strained relationship with Kunti also brings to the forefront how again she did not enjoy any motherly affection from Kunti. The only person she related to as mother was her Dhai Ma, the old lady who looked after her when she was young. This lack of motherly affection somewhere translated into a lack of affection from her side to her children. She never lived with her children. She bore five of them, one from each husband but always maintained a distance from them. She could never bring herself to act or react as a ‘mother’. Her sons too accepted the distance she maintained.
She lived a strange life, an unasked for daughter, a wife to five men, a mother to sons who didn’t know her, a woman so mysterious that she questioned her own identity.
This is what the author brings out in the book. Though the read slackens at times,it does bring out many pertinent issues related to the representation of the women in Indian mythology, especially the Mahabharata.
A Certain Ambiguity
A Certain Ambiguity =A mathematical novel by [Gaurav Suri + Hartosh Singh Bal] ; Publisher Penguin / Viking;Pages 281 ; Price Rs.450/-
******************************
“Teaching mathematics, like teaching any other art requires the ability to inspire the student. Inspiration requires marketing and marketing requires stirring communication.” These lines from the novel ‘A Certain Ambiguity- a mathematical novel’ stayed in my mind long after I had finished the novel. As an individual who grew up fearing and dreading the subject, the statement renewed memories of the dull and boring mathematics lessons that I used to have in schools. But the fascinating aspects presented in this feast had me “asking for more” like Oliver Twist. By the end of the novel I could almost sense regret within myself for not having been able to see the beauty of this wondrous subject!
The novel not only brings out the fascinating aspects of mathematics but also relates the concepts of mathematics to the concepts of God, religion and faith. The journey of a young boy from his initiation into the fascinating world of numbers at the age of 12 till he decides to study mathematics with unbridled passion is the tree of this novel. Around it is wound like a creeper the story of the boy’s mathematician grandfather-how he was imprisoned for blasphemy, how he proved to the skeptical New Jersey judge that mathematics and religion are both based on faith and neither one is a true science, how he helped the judge and through his story the boy to learn the historical development of mathematics as a branch of science.
The issues that troubled mathematicians of yore still rankle mathematicians of today and the search to find the ultimate truth is on, just like the truth about God is still a never –ending mystery. The novel cleverly weaves history, religion, mythology and mathematics into a magical tapestry.
******************************
“Teaching mathematics, like teaching any other art requires the ability to inspire the student. Inspiration requires marketing and marketing requires stirring communication.” These lines from the novel ‘A Certain Ambiguity- a mathematical novel’ stayed in my mind long after I had finished the novel. As an individual who grew up fearing and dreading the subject, the statement renewed memories of the dull and boring mathematics lessons that I used to have in schools. But the fascinating aspects presented in this feast had me “asking for more” like Oliver Twist. By the end of the novel I could almost sense regret within myself for not having been able to see the beauty of this wondrous subject!
The novel not only brings out the fascinating aspects of mathematics but also relates the concepts of mathematics to the concepts of God, religion and faith. The journey of a young boy from his initiation into the fascinating world of numbers at the age of 12 till he decides to study mathematics with unbridled passion is the tree of this novel. Around it is wound like a creeper the story of the boy’s mathematician grandfather-how he was imprisoned for blasphemy, how he proved to the skeptical New Jersey judge that mathematics and religion are both based on faith and neither one is a true science, how he helped the judge and through his story the boy to learn the historical development of mathematics as a branch of science.
The issues that troubled mathematicians of yore still rankle mathematicians of today and the search to find the ultimate truth is on, just like the truth about God is still a never –ending mystery. The novel cleverly weaves history, religion, mythology and mathematics into a magical tapestry.
The monsoon mismatch
Come rains and Mumbai is divided into two groups: the Mumbaikars and the Mumbaicars.
You are a Mumbaicar if
• You own a Chevrolet, a Benz,a Merc ,a Toyota,a Honda or any other mean machine
• You are seated comfortably in the confines of your AC car
• You are connected to the world through your laptop and mobile
• You are already running the show at your office
• You drive right through the puddle of water by the side of the road so that the fellow on the footpath is blessed by a shower not from heaven but from below.
• You drive right through the water collected on the roads very near an auto at full speed so that both driver and the passenger are drenched to the core.
• You care less about the people on the road
• You care more about your car.
And you are a Mumbaikar if you are trying to stay dry on a wet rainy day .........
You are a Mumbaicar if
• You own a Chevrolet, a Benz,a Merc ,a Toyota,a Honda or any other mean machine
• You are seated comfortably in the confines of your AC car
• You are connected to the world through your laptop and mobile
• You are already running the show at your office
• You drive right through the puddle of water by the side of the road so that the fellow on the footpath is blessed by a shower not from heaven but from below.
• You drive right through the water collected on the roads very near an auto at full speed so that both driver and the passenger are drenched to the core.
• You care less about the people on the road
• You care more about your car.
And you are a Mumbaikar if you are trying to stay dry on a wet rainy day .........
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