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."

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

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
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)