जी ए कुलकर्णी...Did GA know Ingrid Bergman's Admiration of Eugene O’Neill?

As I have said on this blog earlier, G A Kulkarni (जी ए कुलकर्णी) was an admirer of Eugene O’Neill. In the only letter he sent to me, he prods 22-year-old me to read Dostoyevsky and O’Neill.

Robert Dowling has written a book 'Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts', 2014. It has been much reviewed.

In February 2015, John Lahr- author of much lauded 'Tennessee Williams', 2014- has reviewed it for London Review of Books.

Mr. Lahr writes:

"...O’Neill was a rangy handsome man who looked out at his bleak world with large haunted eyes. ‘They were the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in my whole life. They were like wells; you fell into them,’ the 26-year-old Ingrid Bergman said, who had had a success in a San Francisco production of Anna Christie but wouldn’t let O’Neill lure her away from her film ambitions..."

Now, by some coincidence, GA too was an admirer of Ms. Bergman! GA mentions her a few times in his  letters.

In a letter dated April 12 1980 to Ms. Sunita Deshpande (सुनिता देशपांडे ),  he writes:

"...मी Garboचा एकच, 'Ninotechka' हा  चित्रपट पाहिला, पण अनेक stills पाहिले आहेत. Ingrid Bergman देखील अविस्मरणीय आहे…."

[...I have see just one feature of (Greta) Garbo- Ninotechka (1939) but have seen her many snaps. Ingrid Bergman too is unforgettable...]

Elsewhere he recalls a Marathi article (by Mr. Deshpande?), on Ms. Bergman, he had loved. 

Did GA know this Bergman's admiration of O’Neill? Would he have felt jealous of O’Neill if he knew it?

I Will Not Fight the Future, the Offspring of Accident and Wilfulness

Tom Stoppard:

"....What he (Alexander Herzen) detested above all was the conceit that future bliss justified present sacrifice and bloodshed. The future, said Herzen, was the offspring of accident and wilfulness. There was no libretto or destination, and there was always as much in front as behind..."

courtesy: The Simpsons

Ogg Invents Fire...From Cave to Conference Room

If you haven't seen the post on this blog dated December 11 2006, here is the wonderful cartoon in there:

Artist: Robert Kraus, The New Yorker, July 30 1960

And now enjoy this cartoon on the same theme from 2014:

“Before we begin, I’d like to thank Ogg for making this wonderful fire, which, up until now, I had not thought him capable of.”

Artist: P C Vey, The New Yorker, 2014

The Traveller Opens His Cupped Hands: Gaha Sattasai & Jagte Raho

I read some thing from Gaha Sattasai (गाथासप्तशती) for the first time in 2015. My friend Nikhil Bellarykar had always recommended it strongly.

I first bought Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's translation of some its verses- 'The Absent Traveller / Prakrit Love Poetry from the Gathasaptasati of Satavahana Hala', 1991. After that I bought S A Joglekar (स आ जोगळेकर) edited tri-lingual (Marathi, Prakrit, Sanskrit) version of it- there is even some English in it.

Gatha's beauty is ethereal and Prof. Mehrotra's translation perhaps enhances it. 

Here is an example, verse 161:

"As the traveller, eyes raised,

Cupped hands filled with water, spreads

His fingers and lets it run through,

She pouring it reduces the trickle."

I had never read something so simple and that beautiful. 

In my school days, drinking water away from home often meant cupping hands and adjusting the trickle. I couldn't have imagined there existed one of the most beautiful poems in (almost) my own language - Maharashtri Prakrit.

After reading it, I immediately remembered the final scene from Jagte Raho (1956), a song - "Jago Mohan Pyare" (Music: Salil Choudhury, Words: Shailendra / Prem Dhawan).

That song is no less beautiful than Hala's poem.

courtesy: Shemaroo and R.K. Films Ltd.

मिठू मिठू पोपट....Parrot, Parrot Everywhere

It was widely reported that the 900-year-old 'Parrot Lady' sculpture from Khajuraho could soon find a place at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Museum. The sandstone piece was returned by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Canada in April.

 

courtesy: The Amar Chitra Katha Studio

A Parrot Perched on a Mango Tree; a Ram Tethered Below, ca. 1630-1670

courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art, Hyderabad

त्याच्या चित्रांत विश्वाचे हुंकार ऐकू येतात...Je Suis Naji al-Ali

Today, on August 29 1987, Naji al-Ali, one of the greatest political cartoonists was shot dead

Paraphrasing G A Kulkarni (जी ए कुलकर्णी)… 

"...चित्र म्हणजे निव्वळ हातचा वारा; त्यांना रक्त नाही की मांस नाही, पण एखाद्या चित्रकाराचे आत्मसमर्पण मनावर सतत आदळत राहिले तर त्याच्या रक्ताची अमर नक्षत्रे होतात, त्याच्या चित्रांत विश्वाचे हुंकार ऐकू येतात... "

This blog has already paid tributes to Mr. Ali on July 26 2009 here and another brilliant artist Ali Farzat on September 3 2011 here.

courtesy: FB page and Y. Taha

विशुद्ध आनंददायक असा खेळ...World Cup Philosophy

Today August 23 2015 is 97th Birth Anniversary of  Vinda Karandikar (विंदा करंदीकर).

विंदा करंदीकर: 

"…  पण हे लिखाण करताना माझ्या या दुसऱ्या बालपणात मी एक विशुद्ध आनंददायक  असा खेळ  आहे एवढेच मी समाजत होतो… "
 (माझे मनोगत, अष्टदर्शने, 2003)

This post is largely based on my earlier post dated March 15 2010.

When I finished reading -‘Ashtadarshane’ (अष्टदर्शने), 2003, I wrote a letter to Lalit (ललित) and sent a copy of that to (now) the late Vinda Karandikar.

Lalit published it and Vinda wrote back thanking me for it.

This is what I had said in the letter.

In Marathi, the late M P Rege (मे. पुं. रेगे) has written a lot on the subject of philosophy using formal prose. It sounds tough even for the writer, let alone reader!

But writing on philosophy, in any other form, is even tougher for the writer.

Particularly, if one wishes to deploy quality humor or poetry. The way Woody Allen does in English.

But for the reader, it's easier.

Unfortunately, in Marathi, I have hardly come across such writings.

I remember one example from P L Deshpande's (पु ल देशपांडे) book.

Pu La imagines that the famous argument between sage Vasishta and sage Vishwamitra- 'Who is Brahmin?' (One: Brahmin knows Brahma, The other: the one who knows Brahma is Brahmin)- took place while both were chewing betel leaf (paans)! Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) has drawn a beautiful illustration for it.

It reminded me of Mel Brooks' quote:

"Nietzsche whispers to you: ‘Without audacity there is no greatness.’ Freud whispers to you: ‘Why must there be greatness?’ That fight’s still going on. And you don’t understand either one, because they’re both whispering in German."

Frankly, other than Charvak-darshan (चार्वाक), there is little information in Vinda's book that is not there in Will Durant's 'The story of philosophy' (1926). However, Vinda's usage of abhang (अभंग) format to write on the subject of philosophy was at the edge of innovation.

Vinda had good sense of humour as is obvious from many of his poems. Vasant Sarwate too vouches for it.

I hope, some day, his 'Ashtadarshane' ushers in Marathi's Woody Allen.

In the moth of June 2015, I came across an excellent example (one of the best really) of how creatively philosophers and their philosophy can be presented.

 World Cup Philosophy: Germany vs France

Courtesy: Existential Comics

There are four such frames on the website. The above one is the second frame. One of the picture is reproduced below:

"Camus has convinced several of the Germans that the game is fundamentally absurd. And there is no inherent difference between winning and losing. They are just lying on the pitch in despair."

Or see the one below:

 "However, not much action since then, as the Germans seem to be mostly content to kick the ball back and forth endlessly."....and one of the dribblers is Kant!


Every picture is a gem and teaches as well as amuses a lot.

काय खर्ज लागतो एकेक बेडकाचा...Mandookavani

काकाजी:
"… आपल्या देवासला पावसात हजारो बेडकं ओरडतात मेंडकी-रोडवर, ओहोहोहो! काय खर्ज लागतो एकेक बेडकाचा- असं वाटतं, की  कोणी दशग्रंथी ब्राह्मण वेदपठण करून राहिले आहेत बेटे ! काय ?"
(पु ल देशपांडे, 'तुझें आहें तुजपाशी', 1957)

[Kakaji:

"...in our Devas thousands of frogs croak in the rain on Mendaki road, oh..oh..oh! What deep (bass) sound each one creates- one feels, it's as if  Brahmins with the command of the ten great books are chanting Vedas ! What?"

(P. L. Deshpande, "Tujhe Ahe Tujapashi"]

Mohit M. Rao reported for The Hindu in April 2015:

"...In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, research spanning a decade has resulted in a comprehensive audio database titled ‘Mandookavani’ (translates to ‘speech of the frog’ in Sanskrit) which contains voice samplings of about 70 of these amphibian species.

The 30-minute CD contains a brief introduction to the frog species, followed by a 10 to 30 second voice sample. As an added bonus, the CD also features a one-minute ‘symphony’ using these samples. Researchers Ramya Badrinath, Seshadri K.S., Ramit Singal and Gururaja K.V. independently recorded the samplings during their research in amphibian behaviour and ecology in the Western Ghats.

The lush forests and innumerable streams of the region house 192 frog and toad species – or, around half of the amphibian diversity of the whole country – each of whom have their own distinctive voice. Of the 70 in the CD, 58 are endemic species..."

I have downloaded Frog Find, an Android Apps and I just love listening to various sounds of Mandookavani. 

 courtesy: gubbilabs