Enjoyment of Aesthetic Experience- Jyotirao Phule ज्योतीराव फुले and Nanasaheb Peshwa नानासाहेब पेशवे

Marathi readers are fortunate that Marathi became the chosen medium for some of the best poetry in the world.

Marathi prose has not scaled the same heights though.

There are some exceptions. Here are two of them.

John Maynard Keynes(1883–1946): “…one's prime objects in life were love, the creation and enjoyment of aesthetic experience and the pursuit of knowledge.”

One of the greatest personalities of India, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule महात्मा ज्योतीराव फुले (1827-1890) knew that well.

Following is one of the most moving passages I have read in Marathi. Its author Phule imagines what our pre-religion-caste ancestors must have witnessed in the nature around them.

The last line reads:
“…looking at this, ancestors of our human brothers who call themselves Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Mahar, Brahmin etc must be feeling so delighted!”

(click on the picture to get a magnified view)
source: शेतकर्याचा आसूड Shetkarayacha Aasud (Cultivator's Whipcord), July 1883

Jyotiba had no respect for Brahmin rulers of Pune- Peshwas. Peshwas, never visionaries like Shivaji or Akbar, were products of their time. But most of them did show some great qualities.

Nanasaheb (1720 or 1721 - 1761) नानासाहेब पेशवे- wrote following letter that brings out the finest qualities of his personality.

Nanasaheb wrote it when Marathas were campaigning in southern India. The letter describes qualities of south Indian landscape and people inhabiting it.

(click on the picture to get a magnified view)
source: पेशवेकालीन महाराष्ट्र Peshwekalin Maharashtra by वासुदेव कृष्ण भावे Vasudev Krushna Bhave, 1936

Guns made in China from Manhole Covers of Mumbai don’t Shoot Straight!

Times of India on June 17 2008 reported:

“…Civic officials say the massive construction activity undertaken for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing has increased demand for iron ore globally. As a result, they claim, organised gangs are now operating in Kurla, Bandra, Mankhurd and parts of Byculla to systematically steal the manhole covers. A staggering 1,500 covers have been stolen in the past few months—each costing a handsome Rs 5,500 in the grey market…

… BMC officials have shot off a letter to the Mumbai police, asking them to speed up the detention in cases of these thefts. They have also unsuccessfully tried drastic measures to prevent thefts, from chaining the manholes to covering them with concrete, but to no avail…”

(Read the full report here)


Artist: Lee Lorenz The New Yorker June 23 2008 cartoon caption contest # 150

Proposed caption:

“That gun doesn’t shoot straight, honey. It is made in China from manhole covers of Mumbai. It’s kind of cursed by citizens drowned there.”

Nil-nil is the Score of Life but thankfully not at Euro 2008!

From 1972 Munich Olympics onwards, milestones of my life’s journey are Olympics, world-cup football and euro. Throw in some closely fought cricket, field hockey & kabaddi and map of life is complete.

All personal events of my life are sort of in between.

I still remember electricity of Marco van Basten of Euro 1988 and here he is looking as dapper as 20 years ago, in the dugout as a coach, ready to come out any minute to score a goal himself.

When my sister gave birth to a baby boy in 1991, I suggested a name- Donadoni. It was turned down. Ishan is now 16 and Roberto Donadoni is present here as Italy’s coach.

Has life stood still in some ways?

Michel Platini is gushing.

“…The quality of play is extolled by everyone, defensive tactics are nowhere to be seen, team play is not stifling the talent of individuals, who are frequently giving some particularly dazzling performances…”

This football on display reminds me of the football we played at our school in Miraj. One ball, 40 odd boys, running from one end of the ground to the other until the bell rang.

I like Adam Gopnik’s analysis- "Nil-nil is the score of life.” but happy that Euro 2008 is not following it!

The European Union makes one excuse after another to keep out knocking Turkey- waiting and frustrated- from joining them but here they can’t do so. Turkey has just knocked the door down to enter the quarterfinals.

I am tired of verbose limited-overs cricket where some times analysis runs longer than the playing time especially when it comes to umpiring decisions.

Read Platini on the subject- “…The referees are controlling these fast and energetic matches well and one or two minor errors of judgement, usually down to just a few centimetres and, moreover, spontaneously acknowledged, have not spoilt this great festival of football…To err is human and that is how it should stay as far as football is concerned.”

(This picture reminds me of some of the best test-cricket pictures of Patrick Eager)



Loneliness of Petr Czech
Picture Courtesy: Times of India and Reuters

Newspapers that Speak from the Loins

If a person who doesn’t understand either Marathi or English were to look at daily morning newspapers at Pune, how will she distinguish between the two?

Answer: Marathi dailies have less female frontal nudity!

I wonder why because their morals and ethics are as suspect as those of English papers. Read the late Vijay Tendulkar विजय तेंडुलकर on this subject.

Is it because Marathi media have been hypocrites for a long time? For example, they ridicule Hindi TV sitcoms while producing far worse serials than Hindi.

Or is it because they can't afford to pay for the porn or extra pages?

Times of India Mirror Pune edition now has a license for nudity in the name of generation Y. Who knows it may turn out to be its chief quality when they start pricing the tabloid.


‘Yes, it is spoken from the heart, but our readers prefer books that speak from the loins.’


The Spectator June 14 2008

India’s Greed Belts

SOMINI SENGUPTA of NYT recently discovered what many of us now have known for a while:

“Many in India’s upper middle class have moved to gated communities, with servants who live in nearby slums.” (June 9, 2008)

Read an entry dated November 20, 2007 from this blog here.

The NYT article says:

“…Hamilton Court — complete with a private school within its gates, groomed lawns and security guards — is just one of the exclusive gated communities that have blossomed across India in recent years…

… In China, the main Asian competitor to which India is often compared, the state managed early on to harness economic expansion for huge public works projects and then allow more and more Chinese to partake of the benefits. There, the poor are far less likely to be deprived of basic services, whether clean water or basic schooling.

In India, poverty has also dropped appreciably in the last 17 years of economic change, even as the gulf between the rich and poor has grown. More than a quarter of all Indians still live below the official poverty line (subsisting on roughly $1 a day); one in four city dwellers live on less than 50 cents a day; and nearly half of all Indian children are clinically malnourished…”

What I didn’t know was how China handled this challenge.

Movements of Indian upper middle class are an old story. Recently a relative made a statement: “Poor people hate us because we have a big car.”

D D Kosambi has written about “senseless opportunism and termite greed of the ‘cultured’ strata” through India’s known history.

T S Shejwalkar त्र्यंबक शंकर शेजवलकर has written some of the best essays in Marathi on various subjects.

In an essay dated Diwali 1962, he writes:


"बुद्धिवादी आणि सुशिक्षित समाजाची नीतिमत्ता" "Intellectual and Educated Society’s Morality”
("निवडक लेखसंग्रह" त्र्यंबक शंकर शेजवलकर; परिचय गं दे खानोलकर
"Selected Articles-collection" by Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar 1977 introduction: G D Khanolkar)



The Spectator September 22, 2007

Bank Robbers at Pune may now need Financial Adviser!

Times of India / Pune Mirror reported on June 11, 2008:

“Police chief cannot protect banks, he can’t stop MNS from holding illegal rallies. He can’t keep senior citizens safe. He can’t stop burglaries, chain snatchers. Under the present circumstances, he says he is helpless.”

On June 9, 2008: Broad daylight dacoity at Punjab National Bank, Sanewadi Branch, Aundh. Eight robbers enter the bank at around 10 am.”

In calendar 2008, this was 10th attempt of burglary at a bank in Pune.

Police commissioner said: “Maybe the banks are apathetic towards safety as the cash is insured.”

Following picture shows a classic win-win! Bank , bank-employee, robber.


‘Would you like to see a financial adviser, sir?’

The Spectator

Maybe Hillary didn’t Lose because she was a Woman but Joan of Arc?

Pundits wrote Hillary couldn't lose. Therefore, I made an appeal to her using poet B S Mardhekar's बा सी मर्ढेकर words. Read it here.

Now pundits are analysing her loss.

“…Obama is like her idealistic, somewhat naïve self before the world launched 1,000 attacks against her, turning her into the hard-bitten, driven politician who has launched 1,000 attacks against Obama.

As she makes a last frenzied and likely futile attempt to crush the butterfly, it’s as though she’s crushing the remnants of her own girlish innocence. “

MAUREEN DOWD, NYT May 7, 2008

“…She didn’t lose because she was a woman. She didn’t lose because America isn’t ready for a woman as president. She lost because of her own — and her husband’s and Mark Penn’s — fatal missteps.”

MAUREEN DOWD, NYT June 8, 2008


Artist: Mischa Richter The New Yorker 29 January 1949

BJP Saffron and Ivanovic Neo Red are going to be Huge this Summer

Frontline Jun 07 - 20, 2008


A Colourful Champion


Artist: Robert Mankoff The New Yorker September 27, 2004

new caption: "Ditch Detainee Orange now, BJP Saffron and Ivanovic Neo Red are going to be huge this summer."

Have you read M F Husain Version of Ramayana?

U.R. Ananthamurthy says: “The only two languages that are understood all over the country are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.” (India Today, August 20, 2007)

I know there are many versions of these two ‘languages’ but don’t know which one M F Husain uses.

This refers to “Politics of Art” by GPD from Economic & Political Weekly dated May 17, 2008.

GPD sounds naïve even comic when he compares “blasphemy” of Saint Janabai संत जनाबाई with insensitivity, ignorance and plain mischievousness of M F Husain. He seems to be carried away by the fact that Husian hails from Pandharpur पंढरपुर.

On this subject, I wish to quote the late Durga Bhagwat दुर्गा भागवत, who all her life defended freedom of expression, challenged the dictators like Indira Gandhi when most intellectuals were silent and fought culture-vultures of Maharashtra while defending Marathi author Bhau Padhye भाऊ पाध्ये who was accused of obscenity.

“…why does Husian draw Seeta sitting on the tail of Lord Maruti flying across the sky? And that too naked one? Obviously religious people will get angry, won’t they? Basically Husain has not read Ramayana is obvious because no where in Ramayana, Maruti carries Seeta. In Ashok-vana, he offers Seeta that he would transport her on his shoulder safely. Seeta declines the offer because she wants Rama to go there personally, slay Ravana and free her. That shows Seeta’s confidence in Rama and also pride. Without considering this context, drawing revealing pictures of Hindu goddesses has to be considered objectionable. Such pictures are naturally going to hurt the sentiments of religious people. Not just that even a religious Muslim may not like this insult of gods of other religions.”

In the same book, Ms. Bhagwat dares likes of GPD to defend the right of Salman Rushdie to write “The Satanic Verses”.

(Source- ऐसपैस गप्पा : दुर्गाबाईंशी लेखक प्रतिभा रानडे “Aispais Gappa: Durgabainshi” by Pratibha Ranade, Rajhans Prakashan, November 1998)


Artist: Alan Dunn The New Yorker 22 April 1961

Mobile Towers are a Health Hazard for Parachute Jumpers!

The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest #149


Artist: Mick Stevens The New Yorker June 9 2008

"You completely forgot about the last communication tower installed by Bharti Airtel in our neighbourhood last week. Didn't you?"