मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि च 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: "… इ. स. 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Sunday, August 19, 2018

इकरस आकाशातून पंख वितळून खाली पडून बुडला...तरीहि येतो वास फुलांना...Mardhekar and Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts


#WHAuden  #बासीमर्ढेकर #LandscapewiththeFallofIcarus
 
Anton Chekhov, The Bishop, 1902 (translated by Rosamund Bartlett, 2004): “....Three doctors arrived and consulted with each other and then they went away. The day was long, unbelievably long, and then night fell and it went on and on, but towards morning on the Saturday the lay brother went over to the old lady, who was lying on the couch in the sitting room, and asked her to go into the bedroom; the bishop had passed away.

The next day it was Easter. There were forty-two churches and six monasteries and convents in the city, and the booming, joyous sound of bell-ringing hung over it from dawn to dusk without a break, stirring up the spring air; birds sang and the sun shone brightly. It was noisy in the main marketplace; there were swings going up and down, barrel organs playing, an accordion wheezing away, and drunken voices calling out. And then pony-rides began on the main street in the afternoon—it was all great fun, in a word; everything went well, just as it had the previous year, and as it probably would the following one.

A month later they appointed a new bishop, and no one remembered Bishop Pyotr any more. And then they completely forgot about him....”

जी ए कुलकर्णी: "... कोणीदेखील तुझ्याकरिता खंगणार नाही. थोडे दिवस शोधाशोध होईल. कदाचित वर्तमानपत्रात जाहिरात येईल, पण माझे एक. आठवड्याच्या आत सगळ्यांच्या भुका ताज्यातवान्या होतील.... तू काय, मी काय, किंवा एखादा सम्राट काय, आम्ही जागा खाली केली की ती रिती न राहता  दुसऱ्या एका बुडबुड्याने लगेच भरून जाते..." (पृष्ठ ३३, 'स्वामी', 'पिंगळावेळ', १९७७)
 
W. H. Auden:
"
Musee des Beaux Arts

About suffering they were never wrong,

The Old Masters : how well they understood

Its human position ; how it takes place

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just

                                                                      walking dully along;

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting

For the miraculous birth, there always must be

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating

On a pond at the edge of the wood :

They never forgot

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot

Where the dogs go on with their doggy

                                                        life and the torturer's horse

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance : how everything turns away

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,

But for him it was not an important failure ; the sun shone

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on."

                                                                                 December 1938


बा सी मर्ढेकर:
"अजून येतो वास फुलांना,

अजून माती लाल चमकते;

खुरट्या बुंध्यावरी चढून

अजून बकरी पाला खाते.


अस्मानावर भगवा रंग

आणि नागवें समोर पोर;

अजून डुलक्या घेत मोजतें

ह्या दोहोंतील अंतर ढोर.


भूकंपाचा इकडे धक्का

पलीकडे अन् युद्ध-नगारे;

         चहूंकडे अन् एकच गिल्ला,

         जुन्या शवांवर नवे निखारे.


फत्तरांतला देव पाहतो

कुठे जहाली माझी फत्ते;

        माणूस म्हणतो चिरंतनाचे

        मनांत माझ्या अस्सल कित्ते.


चढेल तुसडी तेढीं नातीं,

नश्वरतेंतहि चिरका नखरा;

          शिजत्या मांसामधून कोणी

          स्वर्ग हुंगतो बुलंद बहिरा.


सटीक मानवतेची टिपणी

पुन्हा वाचली अर्थ तोच तरि;

         आभाळाच्या पल्याड स्पंदन

         टिपरी त्याची ह्या मडक्यांवरि.


जगून थोडें अखेर मरणें

उघडझांप ही डोळ्यांचीच;

         अंधारांतुन राडाराचा

         किरण चालला सलत पुढेंच .


कार्तिकांतले गव्हाळ ऊन

जरी मनाची अशा रितीनें

          फाडुनि बघतें ढिली कातडी

          जखम आंतली जुन्या भितीनें;


तरीहि येतो वास फुलांना,

तरीहि माती लाल चमकते;

खुरट्या बुंध्यावरी चढून

तरीहि बकरी पाला खाते;


अस्मानावर भगवा रंग

आणि नागवें समोर पोर;

तरीहि डुलक्या घेत मोजतें

ह्या दोहोंतिल अंतर ढोर!

---"अहो बत महद्भाग्यं  द्रष्टुं व्यवसिता वयम्"---"

(३२, पृष्ठ १०२-१०३, 'मर्ढेकरांची कविता', १९५९/१९६९/१९७७, प्रथम प्रसिद्धी: सत्यकथा , फेब्रुवारी १९५१)

मर्ढेकरांच्या ह्या कवितेवर म वा धोंडांनी १६ पानी लेख लिहला आहे: "अजून येतो वास फुलांना" (पुस्तक: 'तरीहि येतो वास फुलांना', १९९९, पृष्ठ १५०-१६५)

त्या लेखात ऑडेन यांच्या वरील १९३८साली प्रसिद्ध झालेल्या कवितेचा कुठेही उल्लेख नाही (तो उल्लेख बहुदा विजया राजाध्यक्ष यांच्या लेखनात सुद्धा नसावा नाहीतर धोंडांनी तो केला असता, किमान खोडून काढण्यासाठी!). 

रॉबर्ट ब्राउनिंग (Robert Browning) यांच्या १८४१च्या 'Pippa Passes' चा उल्लेख आहे, मर्ढेकरांच्या एका इंग्लिश कवितेचा पण उल्लेख आहे. 

पण माझ्या मते मर्ढेकरांच्या कवितेचा जो गाभा आहे : "...
तरीहि येतो वास फुलांना,
तरीहि माती लाल चमकते;
खुरट्या बुंध्यावरी चढून
तरीहि बकरी पाला खाते;...." तो ऑडेन यांच्या कवितेवर आधारित आहे अस मला वाटत: "... the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on....."!

कसे ते पहा.... 

In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with bees wax. Ignoring his father's warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. (विकिपीडिया)

म्हणजे तो इकरस आकाशातून वितळून खाली पडला आणि बुडाला तरी the sun shone As it had to आणि  ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on

 ऑडेनना ही कविता स्फुरली खालील पेंटिंग पाहून... पहा सुर्योदय झालेला आहे, शेतकरी नांगरतोय, जहाज शांतपणे सफर करतय आणि इकडे इकरस पाय वरती करून बुडतोय....


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c 1558

Artist: (perhaps) Pieter Brueghel the Elder 1525/1530- 1569

Location :Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

मर्ढेकरांनी इकरसच्या भयानक शेवटा ऐवजी कोरियन युद्ध, आसाम मधील भूकंप आणि अनेक प्रतिमा वापरल्या आहेत, इतर विचार मंथन पण केल आहे, पण त्याचा निष्कर्ष एकच आहे: "we seek comfort where we can, even amid calamity".... किंवा चेकॉव्ह यांच्या गोष्टी प्रमाणे : "it was all great fun, in a word; everything went well, just as it had the previous year, and as it probably would the following one"....तरीहि येतो वास फुलांना....

Thursday, August 16, 2018

R K Laxman on A B Vajpayee and L K Advani Friendship

#ABVajpayee #VajpayeeAdvaniFriendship

L K Advani published his autobiographical book 'My Country My Life" in 2008. 

This is great R K Laxman's take on the book....the guy sitting in the chair is supposedly Vajpayee.....this is one of the best cartoons I have seen....


Artist: R K Laxman, The Times of India, March 27 2008

क्रिकेटच्या मैदानावर ते....The Joy Ajit Wadekar Gave To Me

#AjitWadekar

"तुम्ही अवतरले गोकुळी आम्ही गोपाळांच्या मेळी
तुम्ही होते रामराजा आम्ही वानरांच्या फौजा"


"तुम्ही अवतरले वेस्टइंडीजी आम्ही तुमच्या फॅनमेळी
तुम्ही होते इंग्लंडचे राजा आम्ही  वानरांच्या फौजा"


एका ठराविक वर्षाच्या नंतर जन्माला आलेल्या भारतीयांना अजित वाडेकरांचे महत्व कदाचित समजणार नाही.

१९७१-७२ काळातील अभूतपूर्व विजयी अशा टेस्ट क्रिकेट टीमचे कॅप्टन, बॅट्समन आणि फिल्डर तर ते होतेच, पण त्यांचा दबदबा माझ्या सारख्या रणजी ट्रॉफी फॉलो करणाऱ्या लोकांमध्ये केंव्हापासूनच होता.

१९६९ साली ऑस्ट्रेलिया विरुद्धच्या दिल्लीमधील संस्मरणीय विजयात त्यांची  कामगिरी मोठी होती.  मी ९ वर्षाचा होतो आणि माझ्या आयुष्यातील एक सर्वोच्च आनंदाचा तो क्षण होता, अजूनही आहे.

वाडेकर यांच्या अजून दोन-तीन खाजगी अशा आठवणी आहेत.

मिरजेला त्यांचे १९७२-७३ साली रोटरी-लायन असे कुठेतरी भाषण झाले होते आणि मी ते बऱ्यापैकी जवळून ऐकले होते. त्यांनी संयोजकांना विचारले की मराठीत बोलू की इंग्लिश. त्यांना इंग्लिश चॉईस देण्यात आला. कुठंही गर्व नाही, नर्म विनोदी पद्धतीने , मिश्किल चेहरा ठेवून त्यांनी छान भाषण केले होते. त्यांनी जितेंद्र सारखी घातलेली अत्यंत टाईट नॅरो बॉटम पॅण्ट अजून आठवते.

वाडेकर स्टेट बँक ऑफ इंडिया मध्ये नोकरीला होते. १९७१-१९७३ च्या सुमारास त्यांच्या बँकेने शाळेतील मुलांसाठी बँक खाते काढण्याची योजना सुरु केली होती. मी त्यात उत्साहाने खाते सुरु केले कारण प्रत्येकाला वाडेकरांच्या सहीची कॉपी असलेल, बॅटसारख दिसणार, प्लास्टिकच पेन मिळणार होत. तो पेन मिळालेला दिवस आजही आठवतोय. ते पेन मी न वापरता कित्येक वर्षे जपून ठेवले होते. बँक खात सुद्धा मी मिरज सोडेपर्यंत , १९८४, चालू होत. 

माझ्या आत्याने मला त्यांचे अनुवादित आत्मचरित्रात्मक पुस्तक १९७२ साली दिले होते - त्याचे शीर्षक होते : "क्रिकेटच्या मैदानावर मी"... आता ते फार मोठ्या मैदानावर खेळायला  गेले आहेत....


Wednesday, August 15, 2018

डिटॉक्सड नागपंचमी.... An Epidemic of Wellness Reaches Snakes

#नागपंचमी
#EpidemicOfWellness 
 
आज श्रावण शुद्ध पंचमी शके १९४० 


Lara Prendergast, The Spectator, August 2018:
“...Men are being led to believe that their masculinity is a problem. Their rapacious pursuit of pleasure has damaged the world around them, they are told — and it’s up to them to curb their appetites. Women have had enough.
For an example of an unacceptable male appetite, look at the US President. Donald J. Trump is held up as a symbol of all male vice, with his pussy-grabbing and his populism. A serial womaniser and fast-food addict, he’s a greedy man. Harvey Weinstein, another #MeToo villain, is invariably described as a fat slob who was addicted to sex, fizzy drinks and bad food. They have become symbols of ‘toxic masculinity’. Is it any wonder that many young men are starting to look for ways to, as that dieting cliché goes, ‘detox’ their masculinity — in order to distance themselves from monsters like this?...”
  


Artist: Robert Thompson, The Spectator, UK, April 2018

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The late Shri. Naipaul On Mahatma Gandhi and Most Indians

#VSNaipaulDead

(There are multiple posts on VSN on this blog, created over the years....search the blog using google- naipaul site:searchingforlaugh.blogspot.com-  to reach them)

V S Naipaul on Dr. B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary celebration in Mumbai, “India A Million Mutinies Now”, 1990:
"...There had, indeed, been a religious stillness about the people in the line. They had been like people gaining merit through doing the right thing. The Dr Ambedkar idea made sense of the flags and the emblems of which I had had a memory. The people I had seen were honouring their leader, their saint, their deity; and by this they were honouring themselves as well..."

V S Naipaul on Pakistan, 'Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples', 1981:
 “...It was Muslim insecurity that led to the call for the creation of Pakistan. It went at the same time with an idea of old glory, of the invaders sweeping down from the northwest and looting the temples of Hindustan and imposing the faith on the infidel. The fantasy still lives; and for the Muslim converts of the subcontinent it is the start of their neurosis, because in this fantasy the convert forgets who or what he is and becomes the violator. It is as though—switching continents—the indigenous people of Mexico and Peru were to side with Cortés and Pizarro and the Spaniards as the bringers of the true faith..."

दुर्गा भागवत:
"...मानवी अंतरंग असो किंवा बाह्य सृष्टी असो, प्रकृतीचे आकलन, व तेही सूक्ष्म असल्याशिवाय, कल्पना उंचावत नाहीत, भावना संयत होत नाहीत. विभूषित होत नाहीत. आणि म्हणूनच फुलपाखरांचा अभाव हा भारतीय साहित्याच्या अनेक अभांवाचा प्रातिनिधिक अभाव आहे असे मला वाटते… "


Artist: Unknown to me; courtesy: The Spectator, UK  2007

V S Naipaul: “The outer world matters only in so far as it affects the inner. It is the Indian way of experiencing…”

"...And this is how, in his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, written nearly forty years later, when he had become the Mahatma, Gandhi remembers the great adventure (the translation is by his secretary, Mahadev Desai):

I did not feel at all sea-sick … I was innocent of the use of knives and forks … I therefore never took meals at table but always had them in my cabin, and they consisted principally of sweets and fruits I had brought with me … We entered the Bay of Biscay, but I did not begin to feel the need either of meat or liquor … However, we reached Southampton, as far as I remember, on a Saturday. On the boat I had worn a black suit, the white flannel one, which my friends had got me, having been kept especially for wearing when I landed. I had thought that white clothes would suit me better when I stepped ashore, and therefore I did so in white flannels. Those were the last days of September, and I found I was the only person wearing such clothes.

That is the voyage: an internal adventure of anxieties felt and food eaten, with not a word of anything seen or heard that did not directly affect the physical or mental well-being of the writer. The inward concentration is fierce, the self-absorption complete. Southampton is lost in that embarrassment (and rage) about the white flannels. The name of the port is mentioned once, and that is all, as though the name is description enough. That it was late September was important only because it was the wrong time of the year for white flannels; it is not a note about the weather. Though Gandhi spent three years in England, there is nothing in his autobiography about the climate or the seasons, so unlike the heat and monsoon of Gujarat and Bombay; and the next date he is precise about is the date of his departure.

No London building is described, no street, no room, no crowd, no public conveyance. The London of 1890, capital of the world – which must have been overwhelming to a young man from a small Indian town – has to be inferred from Gandhi’s continuing internal disturbances, his embarrassments, his religious self-searchings, his attempts at dressing correctly and learning English manners, and, above all, his difficulties and occasional satisfactions about food...."

('India: A Wounded Civilization', 1976)



courtesy: cover artist and the publisher

Thursday, August 09, 2018

Freezing Egg....Not Career But Lack of a Stable Partner


Olivia Petter, Independent, UK, July 2 2018:
“Women are freezing their eggs due to a “lack of stable partners”, new research suggests.
Despite claims that egg-freezing derives from a desire to delay childbirth and prioritise careers, the study found that not being in a secure relationship is the primary motivation for women freezing their eggs today...
... The findings go against the idea that social egg freezing primarily appeals to women wanting to prioritise their careers”

 
“I’m thinking about freezing my eggs.” 

Artist: Charlie Hanki, The New Yorker, January 2016