मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि 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: "… . . 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Kismet of Gyan Mukherjee and Omar Tahan

 #KismetManofFate

Amazon.com is releasing 'Kismet, Man of Fate' by A. David Lews (Author), Tyler Chin-Tanner (Editor), Noel Tuazon;Rob Croonenborghs (Illustrator) today.


Kismet the first identified Muslim superhero first made appearance in 1944. And I wondered if the name was in any way inspired by one of the most successful (blockbuster) Hindi film ‘Kismet’ that was released in 1943.

 courtesy: Wikipedia


Sunday, November 25, 2018

Ye Must Have Faith....The Centenary Year of Max Planck's Nobel

#MaxPlanckNobel100
2018 is centenary year of Max Planck's Nobel prize in physics

Albert Einstein writing to Mrs. Planck after Planck’s death : 
“Now your husband has finished his days after he achieved greatness and experienced much bitterness. His gaze was fixed on the eternal things, and yet he took an active part in all that was human and he lived in the temporal sphere. How different and better the human world would be if there were more such unique people among the leaders. So it seems not to be, as the noble characters in every time and every place must remain isolated without being able to influence the events around them. 
The hours that I spent in your home, and the many conversations that I conducted in private with the wonderful man will for the rest of my life belong to my beautiful memories. It cannot change the fact that a tragic event tore us apart.

In today’s loneliness, may you find comfort in that you have brought sun and harmony into the life of this revered man. From a distance, I share with you the pain of parting."


Brandon R. Brown, 'Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War', 2015:
"...Planck was born into an 1858 that employed candlelight and horse-drawn carriages, but he came to hear radio-transmitted symphonies and watch airplanes crisscross the sky. He joined a physics in the nineteenth century that was reportedly nearing completion. There was as yet no Planck’s constant to stand between a scientist and the pursuit of exact knowledge. The atom was unlikely, light a pure wave, and energy indivisible. Time and space stood absolute and inflexible before our rulers and clocks. Physics was a far flung outpost of science then, with a tiny clan. Germans jokingly confused it with forestry. But as Max Planck reached his last years, physicists stood like shamans for a nuclear age. Their ideas flashed and echoed around the globe..."


Max Planck: 
 "Anyone who has seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realises that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words, ‘Ye must have faith'." 
 
 

courtesy: Wikimedia 
Manjit Kumar, 'Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality', 2007:



"...The photograph of those gathered at the fifth Solvay conference on ‘Electrons and Photons’, held in Brussels from 24 to 29 October 1927, encapsulates the story of the most dramatic period in the history of physics. With seventeen of the 29 invited eventually earning a Nobel Prize, the conference was one of the most spectacular meetings of minds ever held. It marked the end of a golden age of physics, an era of scientific creativity unparalleled since the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century led by Galileo and Newton.

Paul Ehrenfest is standing, slightly hunched forward, in the back row, third from the left. There are nine seated in the front row. Eight men and one woman; six have Nobel Prizes in either physics or chemistry. The woman has two, one for physics awarded in 1903 and another for chemistry in 1911. Her name: Marie Curie. In the centre, the place of honour, sits another Nobel laureate, the most celebrated scientist since the age of Newton: Albert Einstein. Looking straight ahead, gripping the chair with his right hand, he seems ill at ease. Is it the winged collar and tie that are causing him discomfort, or what he has heard during the preceding week? At the end of the second row, on the right, is Niels Bohr, looking relaxed with a half-whimsical smile. It had been a good conference for him. Nevertheless, Bohr would be returning to Denmark disappointed that he had failed to convince Einstein to adopt his ‘Copenhagen interpretation’ of what quantum mechanics revealed about the nature of reality.

Instead of yielding, Einstein had spent the week attempting to show that quantum mechanics was inconsistent, that Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation was flawed. Einstein said years later that ‘this theory reminds me a little of the system of delusions of an exceedingly intelligent paranoic, concocted of incoherent elements of thoughts’.

It was Max Planck, sitting on Marie Curie’s right, holding his hat and cigar, who discovered the quantum. In 1900 he was forced to accept that the energy of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation could only be emitted or absorbed by matter in bits, bundled up in various sizes. ‘quantum’ was the name Planck gave to an individual packet of energy, with ‘quanta’ being the plural. The quantum of energy was a radical break with the long-established idea that energy was emitted or absorbed continuously, like water flowing from a tap. In the everyday world of the macroscopic where the physics of Newton ruled supreme, water could drip from a tap, but energy was not exchanged in droplets of varying size. However, the atomic and subatomic level of reality was the domain of the quantum..."


Friday, November 23, 2018

Mamamon!...Buy Nothing Day

Today November 23 2018 is Buy Nothing Day (BND), an international day of protest against consumerism.


Artist: John Riordan, Capital City, 2013 inspired by 'Prophetic Books' of William Blake

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Thanksgiving: Alternative Ahalya Myth!


Today November 22 2018 is Thanksgiving day.


Wikipedia informs: “...The Puranas introduce themes that are echoed in later works, including the deception of the unsuspecting Ahalya by Indra's devious disguise as Gautama in his absence. The Padma Purana states that after Gautama leaves for his ritual bath, Indra masquerades as Gautama and asks Ahalya to satisfy him. Ahalya, engrossed in worship, rejects him, considering it inappropriate to have sex at the cost of neglecting the gods. Indra reminds her that her first duty is to serve him. Finally Ahalya gives in, but Gautama learns of Indra's deception through his supernatural powers and returns to the ashram. A similar account is found in the Brahma Purana. At times, Indra takes the form of a cock that crows to dispatch Gautama for his morning ablutions, as in the 18th-century Telugu rendition of the tale by the warrior-poet Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka of the Madurai Nayak Dynasty...
...According to the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Gautama curses Indra to bear a thousand vulvae, which will turn to eyes when he worships the sun-god Surya. Ahalya, though innocent, is turned to stone for sixty thousand years and destined to be redeemed only by Rama's touch..."

Artist: Zachary Kanin, The New Yorker, November 2015

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

तंबाखूचा पाईप, रिने मॅग्रिट, वसंतराव नाईक, वसंत सरवटे....C'est un Magritte@120

#RenéMagritte120   
 Tomorrow,  November 21 2018 will be  René Magritte's 120th birth anniversary


Bob Mankoff:
"...Magritte’s paintings didn’t draw the humorous fire of cartoonists until much later, in the eighties, but his “Son of Man” in particular has proven quite inspirational....
....Magritte’s work provides excellent grist for the cartoon mill because it’s weird, and the weirdness is usually limited to just one incongruous element that can be manipulated, like the apple in front of the guy’s face. The difference between the two art forms is how Magritte’s work does not attempt to resolve the incongruities it creates but rather revels in them, while cartooning creates revelry by making sense of the incongruous....."



C'est un Magritte....It's a Magritte......1929

courtesy: Wikipedia 

 कै. वसंत सरवटेंनी कितीतरी प्रसिद्ध पाश्चिमात्य चित्रांवर आधारित अप्रतिम व्यंगचित्रे काढली आहेत - उदाहरणार्थ पहा "सरवोत्तम सरवटे", २००८, पृष्ठ १०८-११०, किंवा ही माझी पूर्वीची एक पोस्ट पहा - "The Persistence of Memory. Vasant Sarwate style!", सप्टेंबर २६ २०१०.

पण त्यांनी रिने मॅग्रिट यांच्या  अतिवास्तववादी (surrealistic)  कलेवर चित्रे काढलीत की नाहीत याची खात्री नाही. त्यांचे हात नक्कीच शिवशिवले असणार आहेत. विशेषतः वरील मॅग्रिट यांचा पाईप पाहून कारण महाराष्ट्राचे दीर्घकाळ मुख्यमंत्री राहिलेले (१९६३- १९७५) कै वसंतराव नाईक यांचा 'ट्रेडमार्क' हा पाईप होता.

सरवटेंचे नाईक आणि पाईप वरील खालील धमाल १९७२-७३चे चित्र पहा: "मुख्यमंत्री वाघाच्या शिकारीला जातात.". चित्राच्या मध्यभागी वसंतराव नाईक तोंडात पाईप आणि हातात बंदूक घेऊन आहेत आणि खाली वाघ ओरडून सांगतोय : "साहेब, मी आलोय!"....

 (पृष्ठ ७०, 'रेषालेखक वसंत सरवटे', २००९)


 Ceci N'est Pas Un Magritte.... This is not a Magritte.... Indeed it's Mick Stevens

Saturday, November 17, 2018

जेंव्हा वाहन चालवायचा स्कार्फ चुंबनात ओढला जातो/ रसिक किती हा स्कार्फ.....René Magritte's The Lovers@90

#RenéMagritteTheLovers90 
#स्कार्फस्त्रीआणिटूव्हिलर
अण्णासाहेब किर्लोस्कर, 'संगीत सौभद्र', १८८२
"अरसिक किती हा शेला । त्या सुंदर तनुला सोडूनि आला ॥ 

प्रेमें प्राणपतीला । मी संतोषें हा अर्पण केला ।
 दुर्मिळ जें स्थळ मजला । तें सहज मिळुनि या दुर्भाग्याला । 
तेथुनि कां हा ढळला । त्या सत्संगतिला कैसा विटला । 
कोंडुन ठेविन याला । मज दृष्टीस नलगे निष्ठुर मेला ।"

रिने मॅग्रिट (René Magritte) यांच्या खालील जगप्रसिद्ध पेंटिंग साठी कॅप्शन कॉन्टेस्ट दी न्यू यॉर्कर ने २०१४साली घेतली होती.


'The Lovers', 1928

"रसिक किती हा स्कार्फ"

जज्ज बॉब मॅन्कोफ्फ (Bob Mankoff) यांना आवडलेल्या काही एन्ट्रीज पहा:

“Love in a Time of Influenza.”

“Darling, couldn’t we go back to just turning off the lights?”  

“I’m seeing someone else.”

“If muslin be the food of love, chew on.”

माझ्या डोक्यात मात्र हे चित्र पाहिल्यावर फ्लू वगैरे काही आल नाही,  फक्त एकच आले... टू व्हिलर चालवणारी मुलगी तिच्या प्रियकराला भेटायला आलीय, त्याला पाहून डोक्यावरचा स्कार्फ काढून टाकायचे भान सुद्धा तिला  उरले नाहीय  आणि इतक्या उत्कट भावनेने ते चुंबन घेत आहेत की तिचा स्कार्फ तिच्या लव्हरच्या आणि तिच्या डोक्या भोवती गुंडाळला गेलाय...

 तेंव्हा माझे कॅप्शन आहे : "जेंव्हा वाहन चालवायचा स्कार्फ चुंबनात ओढला जातो....." किंवा "रसिक किती हा स्कार्फ."... 

कोणत्याही कलेचे रसग्रहण शेवटी आपण आपल्या आजूबाजूच्या परिस्थितीच्या कोंदणात करत असतो... हे पेंटींग मी पहिल्यांदा याच शतकात, पुण्यात राहिल्या आल्यावर पाहिलय... आणि ती स्त्री टू व्हिलर चालवत तिच्या प्रियकराला भेटायला इथे आली आहे ह्या शिवाय माझ्या डोक्यात काहीही येत नाहीये...  स्कार्फ, स्त्री आणि  टू व्हिलर हे समीकरण इतके घट्ट झाले आहे....

१९२८ साली , ज्या वर्षी हे चित्र प्रदर्शित झाले, पुण्यात एकही स्त्री टू व्हिलर चालवत नव्हती किंबहुना "India had its first set of scooters in 1948, when Bajaj Auto imported the Vespa scooters."

कला आणि मोठे कलावंत हे नेहमी प्रत्येक पिढीने नव्याने interpret केले पाहिजेत... महाकाव्ये, संतकवी पासून मर्ढेकर, जीए, वसंत सरवटे,  सदानंद रेगे, नामदेव ढसाळ, अरुण कोलटकर वगैरे.... किंबहुना ते नव्याने interpret होत असतील तरच ते महान आहेत!

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

रघुवीर मुळगावकर@100...Raghuvir Mulgaonkar

#रघुवीरमुळगावकरजन्मशताब्दी

#RaghuvirMulgaonkarBirthCentenary14Nov1918to14Nov2018

Today November 14 2018 is 100th birth anniversary of Raghuvir Mulgaonkar (रघुवीर मुळगावकर) 14/11/1918- 30/3/1976



Artist: Raghuvir Mulgaonkar, August 1951

Courtesy: Vangmay Shobha , Bookganga.com and copy right holders of Mr. Mulgaonkar's work

सौजन्य :  कै मुळगावकरांच्या चित्रांचे कॉपीराईट होल्डर्स, वाङ्मय शोभा , बुकगंगा.कॉम 

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

स्पायडरमॅनचा बहुप्रसव जन्मदाता....Did You Do It Yourself, Stan?



#StanLee #SpiderMan #MarvelComics
 

Gabriel Winslow-Yost, NYRB, December 2012:

“In 1988, Gore Vidal predicted that by 2015 “The New York Review of Comic Books will doubtless replace the old NYR.” It was a joke, of course, and a warning (Vidal preferred “book books,” as he called them), but we’re just a couple of years short now, and he wasn’t all wrong. The past decades have seen an unprecedented amount of serious attention paid to comics, and for good reason: they’re better—stranger, subtler, more ambitious—than ever before.

A medium that had spent most of its existence being mocked, ignored, and denounced, its books shoddily printed and sold only in specialty shops that, as one artist recalled, were “really just one step away from a pornographic bookstore to a lot of people,” began winning the awards meant for “book books,” and showing up on the walls at MoMA and the Whitney Biennial (The New Yorker called this “pant[ing] after the youth market”). Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-winning Holocaust comic Maus was nearing completion even as Vidal wrote, and there has been no shortage of successors, from the politically minded reportage and memoirs of Joe Sacco and Marjane Satrapi to the acid, unnerving fictions of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns—to, above all, the intricately bleak work of Chris Ware…”
 
टीव्ही वरच्या आतापर्यंत ऐकलेल्या थीम/ शीर्षक संगीतातले सर्वात आवडते संगीत दूरदर्शनने  १९८०-९० च्या दशकात दाखवलेल्या स्पायडरमॅन, १९६७ ह्या ऍनिमेटेड सिरीजचे. सिरीज सुद्धा प्रचंड आवडायची.

मागे लिहल्याप्रमाणे इंद्रजाल कॉमिक्स सोडले तर दुसरे कोणतेही सुपरहिरो कॉमिक्स माझ्या सारख्या कॉमिक्स भुकेल्या मुलाला पुस्तकरूपात, १९६०-१९९९० दशकात,  वाचायला मिळाले नाहीत.  

त्यामुळे स्टॅन ली ह्या शतकात, वयाच्या चाळीशीत, माहितीचे झाले.....

स्पायडरमॅन वरची आधीची एक पोस्ट इथे पहा : "ऑर्फियस आणि स्पायडरमॅनयांची दिङगमूढता.... Deaths of Eurydice and Gwen Stacy"





Artist: James Stevenson, The New Yorker, July 16 1990