मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि दशा चक्रनेमिक्रमेण"

समर्थ शिष्या अक्का : "स्वामीच्या कृपाप्रसादे हे सर्व नश्वर आहे असे समजले. पण या नश्वरात तमाशा बहुत आहे."

G C Lichtenberg: “It is as if our languages were confounded: when we want a thought, they bring us a word; when we ask for a word, they give us a dash; and when we expect a dash, there comes a piece of bawdy.”

C. P. Cavafy: "I’d rather look at things than speak about them."

Martin Amis: “Gogol is funny, Tolstoy in his merciless clarity is funny, and Dostoyevsky, funnily enough, is very funny indeed; moreover, the final generation of Russian literature, before it was destroyed by Lenin and Stalin, remained emphatically comic — Bunin, Bely, Bulgakov, Zamyatin. The novel is comic because life is comic (until the inevitable tragedy of the fifth act);...”

सदानंद रेगे: "... पण तुकारामाची गाथा ज्या धुंदीनं आजपर्यंत वाचली जात होती ती धुंदी माझ्याकडे नाहीय. ती मला येऊच शकत नाही याचं कारण स्वभावतःच मी नास्तिक आहे."

".. त्यामुळं आपण त्या दारिद्र्याच्या अनुभवापलीकडे जाऊच शकत नाही. तुम्ही जर अलीकडची सगळी पुस्तके पाहिलीत...तर त्यांच्यामध्ये त्याच्याखेरीज दुसरं काही नाहीच आहे. म्हणजे माणसांच्या नात्यानात्यांतील जी सूक्ष्मता आहे ती क्वचित चितारलेली तुम्हाला दिसेल. कारण हा जो अनुभव आहे... आपले जे अनुभव आहेत ते ढोबळ प्रकारचे आहेत....."

Kenneth Goldsmith: "In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.”1 I’ve come to embrace Huebler’s ideas, though it might be retooled as “The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” It seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. How I make my way through this thicket of information—how I manage it, how I parse it, how I organize and distribute it—is what distinguishes my writing from yours."

Tom Wolfe: "The first line of the doctors’ Hippocratic oath is ‘First, do no harm.’ And I think for the writers it would be: ‘First, entertain.’"

विलास सारंग: "… . . 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Shriram Lagoo, 'Mughal period' was NEVER as bad as 'Bajirao-II period'

Woody Allen:

"As a filmmaker, I'm not interested in 9/11 - it's too small, history overwhelms it. The history of the world is like: He kills me, I kill him, only with different cosmetics and different castings. So in 2001, some fanatics killed some Americans, and now some Americans are killing some Iraqis. And in my childhood, some Nazis killed Jews. And now, some Jewish people and some Palestinians are killing each other. Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are ephemeral - not important. History is the same thing over and over again”


The Times of India spoke to Shriram Lagoo about Pune German Bakery blast on Feb 18 2010.

Mr. Lagoo said:"...It is the worse than the 'Mughal period' now...".

In Marathi 'Mughal period' translates as मोगलाई 'moglai'.

I wonder if Dr. Lagoo has read M V Dhond's (म वा धोंड) "Marhati Lavani" (मर्हाटी लावणी) or Vasudevshastri Khare's (वासुदेवशास्त्री खरे) books: multi-volume "aitihaasik lekhasangrah" (ऐतिहासिक लेखसंग्रह) or "nana phadanvees yanche charitra" (नाना फडनवीस यांचे चरित्र).

If he had, he would say: It may be as bad 'Mughal period' but it is CERTAINLY not as bad as 'Bajirao-II period'.

Bajirao-II period should be the benchmark for a low in social and political life of Pune.

When I read Khare's books, it's hard to believe that it all happened in this city not too long ago. No wonder Jyotirao Phule (ज्योतीराव फुले) preferred British over Brahmins.

At least today we don't pay "Santosh Patti" (pleasure tax)because Congress-NCP are in power!

(Peshwa Bajirao-II infamous for his life dedicated to debauchery imposed a tax called "Santosh Patti" on Pune after his accession under the presumption that people were happy to have him as their king!)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

तुम्ही अश्या सगळ्या घटना, ज्यात हिंदूंना नावं ठेवता येतील त्यांचा उल्लेख करता. उदाहरणर्थ : एम. एफ़. हुसेन, गुजरात दंगली, इत्यादी.

परवा पुण्य़ात बॉंबस्फोट झाले, तुमच्याच शहरात. पण त्यावर एक शब्दही नाही? त्यातही तुम्ही काय शोधुन कढलंत तर श्रीराम लागू ह्यांचे काही शब्दं. आणी लगेच त्यावर तुटुन पडलात हे सांगुन कि मुघलांपेक्षा बाजीराव २ ह्यांचा काळ जस्त वाईट होता.

तुम्ही ज्या परखडतेने हिंदुंची समिक्षा कराता, तेवढ्या परखडतेने मुसलमानांची करतांना दिसत नाही? तुमचं काही वकडं केलयं का कुठल्या हिंदुनं?

A cursory glance over the events in last couple of years in India will show that, Hindus have suffered at the hands of muslim extremists. Your articles dont talk about that. You seem to be a contrarian who has lost the sight of the usefulness of insight gained by being a contrarian. For example, you might quickly point it out to me that its not Hindus who have suffered the most but Muslims because .... the military in kashmir is ruthless, poverty is high in their society, and the young ones have no direction.

Ofcourse you can push your own agenda and continue writing the way you want. But then dont pretend की तुम्ही सारा-सार विचार करुन लिहिता. आणी अशी अपेक्षाही ठेऊ नये कि लोकांनी तस समजावं.

Aniruddha G. Kulkarni said...

Thank you Anon for your comments.

I respect your views. You could be right and I could be wrong.

But then you have your views and I have mine.

As for expectations from the readers, I have none.

best,

Anonymous said...

Above, your reader asks the question, "तुमचं काही वकडं केलयं का कुठल्या हिंदुनं?" I don't know about Ashutosh but the so-called Hindutva parties नी माझं मात्र नक्कीच वाकडं केलं आहे. And the same goes for all the chauvinistic Hindutva types like the commentator above. They have taken the religion of the masses, distorted its teaching and they are trying to make it the narrow, unjust religion of the few powerful. This is wrong and I applaud Ashutosh for highlighting the horrible massacres like the Gujarat riots, etc. Yes, every religion has its fundamentalists but we can and should look at our own house and clean it first.

Aniruddha G. Kulkarni said...

Thank you Anon.

I completely agree with you.

Keep in touch.

best,

Anonymous said...

I am sorry, Aniruddha, I mis-addressed you up there because I was passionately discussing this with my own brother, Ashutosh, as I wrote the above. And obviously forgot to preview the comment before sending it.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous:
तुमचं काही वकडं केलयं का कुठल्या हिंदुनं?
This line might have been a bit attacking at first to you. I can understand that.
Lets assume that I take back that line.
Now tell me...
You say Bajirao's period was worse that Mughal period because Bajirao imposed "santosh patti". One could argue in the same way that Bajiraos period was much better than Mughal period because Aurangzeb imposed Jaziya on Non muslims.

Surely you will agree that Jaziya had more impact on the society than santosh patti purely on the basis of its reach, magnitude, and the missionary zeal of the followers to implement that tax because it had the religious sanction.

My point is, objective view is one thing, contrarian view is quite another.

Surely there are nut cases in every religion (the other anonymous will quickly point to me). But laying the blame solely or majorly on extremists Hindus is infinitely unjust.

The other anonymous's comment doesnt deserve much attention purely because he/she rambles aimlessly. I have never quoted any religious text, neither mis-interpreted it in any way nor tried to distort its teachings.

Just because what I said leans to the political right, doesn't mean you talk about the most generic things you associate with right wingers. (chavinistic hindutva types, narrow minded, distorted teachings etc)

I am more than willing to discuss this issue with Aniruddha and the other anonymous guy. I would like to know what Aniruddha thinks and why he thinks so?

-Vedant

PS: Right wing or left wing propagandists have a standard method of converting a person. One that involves making him angry by giving rousing speeches, writing fiery stuff and telling stories of grave injustice. A sane man sees through all this. I am sure Aniruddha is a very very sane person.
My aim in raking up this issue is not to convert you in any way, but to point out that by writing things which is so anti-right, you might end up converting people to anti-right (left) side. Which if un-intentional is equally bad.

Aniruddha G. Kulkarni said...

Thanks for giving your name Vedant.

I have no arguments with you at all.

You have your views and I have mine.

Today they don't SEEM to converge, but- who knows- one day they may!

I often quote Eknath: our worst enemy is anger. (that's why he was one of the greatest Hindu and not just survives but thrives!).)

Facts are more powerful than sentiments. And I am deeply disturbed by intellectual bankruptcy of middle-class Maharashtra.

I am neither on left nor on right. Neither I attempt any such madness. I am just trying to survive.

best wishes,

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Yes I am equally disturbed by the intellectual bankruptcy of the mahrashtrian middle class and thats why I look upto you and this blog. :)

Again.. sorry if I have used strong words.

-Vedant.

Aniruddha G. Kulkarni said...

No problem Vedant.

And thanks for your kind words about the blog.