What do I think as I say goodbye to 2016?
Artist: James Stevenson
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Thursday, December 29, 2016
फेसबुकावरील स्मारके ....Memorials on Facebook
I have created Facebook pages dedicated to some of my favourite writers and artists. Over the years, I have created a few pages on English Wikipedia too.
Here I have listed FB pages in alphabetic order. (Please note that my father: Gopal Dutt Kulkarni and Vasant Sarwate are very much alive!)
p.s. After I had completed writing the post, Sarwate died on December 24 2016.
Here I have listed FB pages in alphabetic order. (Please note that my father: Gopal Dutt Kulkarni and Vasant Sarwate are very much alive!)
p.s. After I had completed writing the post, Sarwate died on December 24 2016.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
ओ हो हो ! काय अदभुत सौन्दर्य हो !...I Hope He's In A Better Place....Vasant Sarwate
Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) (February 3 1927 - December 24 2016)
The greatest Indian cartoonist is no more on earth....I hope he is in a better place.....
Artist: The late Vasant Sarwate
The greatest Indian cartoonist is no more on earth....I hope he is in a better place.....
Don't Mixup Christmas With New Year's Eve...A Letter to Three Wives
Following sequence of picture frames is from Joseph L. Mankiewicz's wonderful film 'A Letter to Three Wives', 1949.
courtesy: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
In the first picture above, L to R,
Connie Gilchrist as Mrs. Ruby Finney,
Barbara Lawrence as Georgiana "Babe" Finney,
ever so dependable Thelma Ritter as Sadi and
super gorgeous Linda Darnell as Lora Mae Hollingsway.
In the first picture above, L to R,
Connie Gilchrist as Mrs. Ruby Finney,
Barbara Lawrence as Georgiana "Babe" Finney,
ever so dependable Thelma Ritter as Sadi and
super gorgeous Linda Darnell as Lora Mae Hollingsway.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
She Never Made Jam...Ava Gardner
75 years ago, in 1941, Ava Gardner (1922-1990) made her debut in films.
Ava Gardner:
courtesy: respective copyright owners of the images
Shawn Levy, ‘Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci,
Paparazzi, amd the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome’:
“...But the 1950s were allowing for a brassier and more
overtly sexual image of feminine allure to emerge on movie screens than
previously, and Hollywood would send a specimen of that sort to Rome in
November 1953: Ava Gardner flew in after divorcing Frank Sinatra, to blow off a
little steam at the nightclubs that were starting to pop up around town, to
acquire a hand-fit wardrobe of couture dresses, and, almost incidentally, to
play the title role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa, a story of
a poor girl turned man-eating diva that was, apparently, personally tailored to
Gardner as a bespoke gown...”
Ava Gardner:
“You can sum up my life in a sentence, honey: She made
movies, she made out, and she made a fucking mess of her life. But she never
made jam.”
(‘Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations’ by Peter Evans &
Ava Gardner)
courtesy: respective copyright owners of the images
Saturday, December 17, 2016
(पन्नास वर्षांपूर्वी एक फार महान ) विदूषक आटोपला...Buster Keaton Died 50 Years Ago
Year 2016 is 50th death anniversary year of Buster Keaton (Oct 4, 1895- Feb 1, 1966)
सदानंद रेगे:
"सकाळी सकाळीच
हसण्याचा आवाज आला
तेव्हाच मी ओळखलं-
वरच्या मजल्यावरचा
विदूषक आटोपला.
प्रेतयात्रा व्यवस्थित
तडक थेट बिनबोभाट
हसत हसत.
त्याच्या अश्रू-अश्रूची
राख झाली
अन आमच्या कवट्या फ़ुटल्या
तरी त्याचं हसू
काही केल्या फुटेना.
विदूषकाने जाताना
हसू मागे ठेवून जावं,
हे त्याला कधी
कळलंच नाही."
Artist: Joseph Farris, The New Yorker, May 12 1980
सदानंद रेगे:
"सकाळी सकाळीच
हसण्याचा आवाज आला
तेव्हाच मी ओळखलं-
वरच्या मजल्यावरचा
विदूषक आटोपला.
प्रेतयात्रा व्यवस्थित
तडक थेट बिनबोभाट
हसत हसत.
त्याच्या अश्रू-अश्रूची
राख झाली
अन आमच्या कवट्या फ़ुटल्या
तरी त्याचं हसू
काही केल्या फुटेना.
विदूषकाने जाताना
हसू मागे ठेवून जावं,
हे त्याला कधी
कळलंच नाही."
Thursday, December 15, 2016
येकाच्या लाळा गळाल्या...ते नागवींच लोळों लागलीं...Samarth Ramdas, Homer Simpson and Us
समर्थ रामदास :
"येक हात हालविती। येक पाय हालविती।
येक दांत खाती। कर्कराटें॥
येकांचीं वस्त्रें निघोनि गेलीं। ते नागवींच लोळों लागलीं।
येकांचीं मुंडासीं गडबडलीं। चहुंकडे॥
येक निजेलीं अव्यावेस्तें। येक दिसती जैसीं प्रेते।
दांत पसरुनी जैसीं भूतें। वाईट दिसती॥"...
‘येक हाका मारूं लागले। येक बोंबलित उठिले।
येक वचकोन राहिले। आपुले ठाईं॥
येक क्षणक्षणा खुरडती। येक डोई खाजविती।
येक कढों लागती। सावकास॥
येकाच्या लाळा गळाल्या। येकाच्या पिका सांडल्या।
येकीं लघुशंका केल्या। सावकास॥
येक राउत सोडिती। येक कर्पट ढेंकर देती।
येक खांकरुनी थुंकिती। भलतीकडे॥
येक हागती येक वोकिती। येक खोंकिती येक सिंकिती।
येक ते पाणी मागती। निदसुऱ्या स्वरें॥’
(सौजन्य: समर्थ साधक)
आता 'येकाच्या लाळा गळाल्या', 'येकांचीं वस्त्रें निघोनि गेलीं। ते नागवींच लोळों लागलीं।' 'दांत पसरुनी जैसीं भूतें।'.... वगैरे माझ्या किंवा होमर सिम्पसन यांच्या बाबतीत खरे असेल....
courtesy: 20th Television and creators and developers of "The Simpsons"
... पण झोपणे काहीवेळा सुंदरही दिसू शकते...
"येक हात हालविती। येक पाय हालविती।
येक दांत खाती। कर्कराटें॥
येकांचीं वस्त्रें निघोनि गेलीं। ते नागवींच लोळों लागलीं।
येकांचीं मुंडासीं गडबडलीं। चहुंकडे॥
येक निजेलीं अव्यावेस्तें। येक दिसती जैसीं प्रेते।
दांत पसरुनी जैसीं भूतें। वाईट दिसती॥"...
‘येक हाका मारूं लागले। येक बोंबलित उठिले।
येक वचकोन राहिले। आपुले ठाईं॥
येक क्षणक्षणा खुरडती। येक डोई खाजविती।
येक कढों लागती। सावकास॥
येकाच्या लाळा गळाल्या। येकाच्या पिका सांडल्या।
येकीं लघुशंका केल्या। सावकास॥
येक राउत सोडिती। येक कर्पट ढेंकर देती।
येक खांकरुनी थुंकिती। भलतीकडे॥
येक हागती येक वोकिती। येक खोंकिती येक सिंकिती।
येक ते पाणी मागती। निदसुऱ्या स्वरें॥’
(सौजन्य: समर्थ साधक)
आता 'येकाच्या लाळा गळाल्या', 'येकांचीं वस्त्रें निघोनि गेलीं। ते नागवींच लोळों लागलीं।' 'दांत पसरुनी जैसीं भूतें।'.... वगैरे माझ्या किंवा होमर सिम्पसन यांच्या बाबतीत खरे असेल....
... पण झोपणे काहीवेळा सुंदरही दिसू शकते...
'Sleep', c1800
Artist: Francisco de Goya
“Untitled, Moscow, Russia,” (2009-2011)
Photograph by Jana
Romanova/Andrea Meislin.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Conrad मला फार श्रेष्ठ लेखक वाटतो. कारण त्याचे कथानक एक metaphor असतो...29 Years After GA
आज डिसेंबर ११ २०१६, जी ए कुलकर्णींची २९वी पुण्यतिथी आणि डिसेंबर ३ २०१६ हा कॉनराडांचा १५९वा जन्मदिन होता.
Joseph Conrad, ‘The Secret Agent’:
“...The Professor passed the tip of his tongue on his dry,
thin lips, and said doctorally:
"There are no such things. All passion is lost now. The
world is mediocre, limp, without force. And madness and despair are a force.
And force is a crime in the eyes of the fools, the weak and the silly who rule
the roost. You are mediocre. Verloc, whose affair the police has managed to
smother so nicely, was mediocre. And the police murdered him. He was mediocre.
Everybody is mediocre. Madness and despair! Give me that for a lever, and I'll
move the world. Ossipon, you have my cordial scorn. You are incapable of
conceiving even what the fat–fed citizen would call a crime. You have no
force." He paused, smiling sardonically under the fierce glitter of his
thick glasses...”
जी ए कुलकर्णी, मे १७ १९८०:
"...Conrad किंवा Hardy सारखे लेखक नव्या नगाऱ्याच्या आवाजात फार दुर्लक्षित झाले आहेत. विशेषतः Conrad मला फार श्रेष्ठ लेखक वाटतो. कारण त्याचे कथानक एक metaphor असतो, तर विषय जीवनातील साक्षात्कार किंवा भ्रमनिरास किंवा anguish चे असतात..."
(पृष्ठ: १९४, 'जी.एं.ची निवडक पत्रे: खंड १', १९९५)
महान व्यंगचित्रकार डेविड लोंनी काढलेले कॉनरॅडांचे अर्कचित्र , १९२८
जीएंना जोसेफ कॉनरॅड अतिशय आवडत. त्यांच्या पत्रात तर ते अतिशय आदराने येतातच आणि त्यांच्या साहित्य प्रकृतीला पण कॉनरॅड जवळचे होते.
खालील दोन अवतरणे वाचा कॉनरॅडांची..."fatality governing this man-inhabited world",,,आहे ना जीएंची नाममुद्रा?
"...the only remedy for China-men and for the rest is the change
of hearts, but looking at the history of the last 2000 years there is not much
reason to expect that thing, even if a
man has taken to flying- a great uplift, no doubt, but no great change. He
doesn’t fly like an eagle; he flies like a beetle. And you must have noticed
how ugly, ridiculous, and fatuous is the flight of a beetle..."
"...I have never been
able to find in any man's book or any man's talk anything convincing enough to
stand up for a moment against my deep-seated sense of fatality governing this
man-inhabited world..."
शिवाय त्यांनी एक विद्यार्थी म्हणून कॉनरॅडांच्या पुस्तकांचा अभ्यास केला असेल आणि काही पुस्तके शिक्षक म्हणून कदाचित शिकवली पण असतील- उदा. Lord Jim (1900), Heart of Darkness (1899), Nostromo (1904)....
अलीकडे जुलै २०१६ मध्ये दी सिक्रेट एजन्ट पुन्हा एकदा, चौथ्यांदा, बीबीसीने, छोट्या पडद्यावर आणले.
Tom Reiss, The New York Times, September 11 2005:
"The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel
about an anarchist plot to blow up the Royal Observatory at Greenwich -- in
fact, a scheme by a secret police agent to stir up a government backlash -- has
acquired a kind of cult status as the classic novel for the post-9/11 age.
Conrad's villain, the Professor, who never goes out without a glass vial of
high explosives in his breast pocket and a detonator in his palm, has been
taken to be a prescient portrait of the terrorists who menace our own world... The
Secret Agent" remains the most brilliant novelistic study of terrorism as
viewed from the blood-spattered outside...”
जीएंनी जोसेफ कॉनरॅडांचे 'दी सिक्रेट एजन्ट', १९०७ किंवा दुसरे कोणतेही पुस्तक का अनुवादले नाही?
जीए डिसेंबर १९८७ मध्ये वारले. अमेरिकेत तो जरी सप्टेंबर २००१ मध्ये मोठ्या प्रमाणात पोचला असला तरी, आतंकवाद भारतामध्ये केंव्हाच स्थिरावला होता. पंजाब त्यामुळे पूर्णपणे ढवळून निघाला होता: १९८४-१९९५. (मला आठवतय ज्यावेळी आम्ही १९८९ साली आसामला पहिल्यांदा गेलो त्यावेळी आजच्या इतकीच कडक सेक्युरिटी कलकत्ता एअरपोर्टवरती होती.)
भारताच्या पंतप्रधानाची हत्या होऊन जीए जाईपर्यंत तीन वर्षे झाली होती. जीएंना कधी या दरम्यान 'दी सिक्रेट एजन्ट' आठवले नाही? का त्यांना निवांतपणा आणि प्रकृतिस्वास्थ्य, जे एका लेखकाला लागते, ते त्याकाळात कधी लाभलेच नाही?
जी एंनी कॉनरॅड रिखटर यांच्या पाच पुस्तकांचा अनुवाद केला पण त्यांच्या दुसऱ्या (जास्त?) आवडत्या कॉनरॅडच्या एकही पुस्तकाचा अनुवाद त्यांनी केला नाही हि मोठी खेदाची गोष्ट आहे.
मराठी लेखकांनी- अगदी सदानंद रेगे आणि विलास सारंगांनी सुद्धा- जोसेफ कॉनरॅडना दुर्लक्षिले आहे...का? याचे उत्तर जॉन ग्रेंच्या खालच्या अवतरणात तर नाही?
"...Conrad published The Secret Agent in 1907. Although he experimented boldly with literary techniques, he was essentially a 19th-century writer. He took his subject matter from the anxieties of his time - the ambiguities of progress and civilisation, the sense of the blind drift of history that preceded the First World War and the break-up of personal identity that comes with loss of faith in the future. For much of the past hundred years, these seemed dated themes, with little bearing on the great political transformations that preoccupied novelists such as George Orwell and Arthur Koestler. Whatever horrors they chronicled, Orwell and Koestler never gave up the hope that humankind could have a better future. It did not occur to them that history might be cyclical, not progressive, with the struggles of earlier eras returning and being played out against a background of increased scientific knowledge and technological power. For all their dystopian forebodings, neither anticipated the 21st-century reality, in which ethnic and religious wars have supplanted secular ideological conflicts, terror has returned to the most advanced societies and empire is being reinvented...."
('Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings', 2009)
मराठी लेखक सुद्धा ऑरवेल आणि केस्ट्लर यांच्या प्रमाणे 'प्रगती'च्या ट्रॅप मध्ये तर अडकले नाहीत?
"Whatever horrors they chronicled, Orwell and Koestler never gave up the hope that humankind could have a better future. It did not occur to them that history might be cyclical, not progressive, with the struggles of earlier eras returning and being played out against a background of increased scientific knowledge and technological power."
माझ्यामते त्याचे उत्तर २०व्या शतकातील बहुतेक मराठी लेखकांच्या बाबतीत 'हो' असे आहे. पण जीए त्यात नाहीत. त्यांना दी सिक्रेट एजन्ट चा अनुवाद करायला अनेक कारणांमुळे जमले नाही एवढेच मी गृहीत धरतो.
on the right Toby Jones as Mr Anton Verloc
from BBC's TV series 'The Secret Agent' based on Joseph Conrad's novel of the same name, 2016
Courtesy: BBC