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, May 26, 2011

Brands from my Birth: 51 years later

Apple's brand is now worth $153 billion, according to a study by Millward Brown, a global brands agency. (May 9, 2011)

The past issues of Chandoba (चांदोबा) are available online here.

I looked up the issue of the month I was borne May 1960.

Following products/companies have either half or full page ad:

1. Parle Monaco Biscuits


Caption on the top right reads: "सुशीलेच्या पार्ट्या म्हणजे नाविन्यानें नटलेल्या!" (Sushila's parties are bedecked with newness!)

[
remember Monaco too once was 'new' (on the lines of 'every word was a poem once').

Today, I feel, Monaco biscuits are one of the most value for money products in the market. The other day I was surprised to see the number of biscuits that still come in a five-rupees pack.

But I wonder if stylish Sushila- although a bit too anorexic for a 1960's look and certainly far cry from fellow Chandoba women- serves them in her party anymore!

And when did you last hear a girl in a party-giving Marathi home named Sushila? Isn't it so pre-historic? Now the criterion for a new-born child's name is: its meaning should not be understood by any one but parents.
]

2. Calendars by Sharda Enterprises

3. Books published by Cottage industry

4. Remy Beauty Products


(its fragrance now has vanished.)

5.
Nutrine Confectionery Company (now part of the Godrej group)

6. Iris Inks

7. Energy food

8. Lama Hair Dye

9.
Rexona

10.
Lifebuoy

11. Parry's sweets


I may not be thriving but a number of products/ companies- bold and in green- from the list above are!

Apple was just a fruit in 1960, will it return to be just a fruit in 2062? I won't know!