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."

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Kavita Raut, You inspire me

Kenenisa Bekele:
Ethiopians are born on high altitude and brought up under conditions which are low in oxygen. They prefer running for most of their daily activities, a habit they have nurtured for centuries. This has done them a world of good. In fact, many athletes had been running many miles to school everyday, before their talent was recognized.

Kavita Raut's hamlet near Nashik is low on many things including water but oxygen is not one of them. As a child, apparently, she ran a couple of kilometres every day just to fetch water.

I did not know anything about Ms. Raut before the start of the 10,000 m race at Delhi 2010 CWG on October 8 2010.

My wife and I watched the race live. We were happy to see two diminutive Indian girls leading it.

I thought it was too good to be true. Even English commentators kept mentioning them as "Indian girls".

Kavita Raut fell behind at some point. We forgot about her and kept cheering Preeja Sreedharan who led the race for a while.

When Ms. Raut started catching up, I still thought she would finish fourth or fifth. My wife however felt she would finish third. She was proved damn right.

As Ms. Raut ran last paces of the race she looked pale and white. I was worried for her. (I am not sure but I thought she puked after the race.) It all looked surreal.

After the race, as Kavita joined two Kenyans in running the lap of honour, I don't think they paid much attention to her.

Maybe in near future, they will do so, when Kavita overtakes them in a live race.

Since Friday evening reams have been written about her and her background. A xenophobic member of Marathi TV media tried to gloat about her being "Marathi". Contrast this with the big heart shown by Delhi spectators when they cheered second loudest for Pakistani contingent at the CWG opening ceremony.

Sunil Gavaskar reportedly told a TV channel after V V S Laxman's recent match winning effort at Mohali that it was perhaps the greatest performance of an Indian in any sport. I hope Mr. Gavaskar watched Ms. Raut.

Earlier on this blog I hoped "some one like Moses Kipsiro was my direct ancestor". Male ancestor.

Here I know that my mother in many aspects was like Kavita and so are millions of other Indian women. Most sadly don't finish on any podium. For me, however, they are all winners.




Prajusha Malaikkal, Jumping for Joy and Silver
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