Fasri, Urdu and Mirza Ghalib

January 2024: "The government of India has decided to include Farsi as one of the nine classical languages of India in our New Education Policy," said S Jaishankar, highlighting the cultural, literary, and linguistic connections between Iran and India.

 

Sidney Lumet@100

 Sidney Lumet gave us some great movies. One of them is '12 Angry Men', 1957. 

artist: Benjamin Schwartz, August 2015

मृणाल गोरे, मी आणि सध्याची "पुरोगामी" चळवळ...Mrunal Gore@96

 आज जून २४   २०२४, मृणाल गोरे यांची ९६वी जयंती आहे...

Sonal Shah, EPW, Aug 11 2012:

“Mrinal Gore, veteran politician and leader of the women's movement in Maharashtra, who passed away recently was the quintessential grass-roots leader who could also hold her own in the state legislature. A call from her would mobilise thousands of women on the streets of Mumbai and she tirelessly raised issues that affected the common citizen, from rising prices, shortage of water, sex determination tests to corruption in real estate. Mumbai's citizens, otherwise ever cynical about politicians, held her in great esteem and affectionately called her paaniwali bai - the water lady.”

 

मी शाळेत असताना (१९६५-१९७५) कै मृणाल गोरे माझ्या हिरो होत्या कारण त्यांच्या चळवळीचा भर ह्या गोष्टींवर होता - भ्रष्टाचार, महागाई, सामान्य महिलांचे प्रश्न... 

 

माझ्या माहितीप्रमाणे स्वतः त्या सरकारकडून कसल्याही सवलती पदरात पडून घेत नव्हत्या... त्यांचे आर्थिक आयुष्य अतिशय पारदर्शी होते... त्या अतिशय साधेपणाने रहात असत... 

 

त्या पुरोगामी होत्या आणि मला तसे पुरोगामी व्हायचे होते... आणि माझे आई-वडील (होते तोपर्यंत) आणि मी गोरेबाईं सारखे पुरोगामी आहोत... 

 

मी आयुष्यात भ्रष्टाचार केला नाही... अंधश्रद्धा, भविष्य यांच्या मागे लागलो नाही... जातीभेद, धर्मभेद, भाषाभेद केला नाही.... माझ्या वडलांनी माझी मुंज केली नाही , मी माझ्या मुलाची मुंज केली नाही (बायको त्यावर अजून वैतागली आहे!)...

 

मिरजेत रहात असताना आमच्या कुटुंबाचे संबंध बहुजन समाजातील लोकांशी आणि अल्पसंख्यांकांशी, ब्राह्मणांबरोबरीला संबंधांपेक्षा जास्त चांगले आणि प्रेमाचे होते... माझे आर्थिक आयुष्य संपूर्ण पारदर्शी आहे... मी अतिशय साधेपणे राहतो... 

 

मला कन्नडा, बांगला बऱ्यापैकी समजते... भारतात अनेक ठिकाणी राहिल्यामुळे माझ्या कडे साने गुरुजींच्या आंतरभारती बद्दल आत्मीयता आहे... 

 

सध्याची पुरोगामी चळवळ सर्वव्यापी भ्रष्टाचारावर थयथयाट करताना मला कधीच दिसत नाही... एखाद्या कडे इतक्या assets कशा असा प्रश्न विचारत नाही.... साधेपणाचा, आंतरभारतीचा कधी पुरस्कार करत नाहीत...

 

भारतीय समाजातील शक्तिशाली (अगदी हौसिंग सोसायटीतील पदाधिकारी सुद्धा शक्तिशाली) लोकांच्या assets पहा... शून्ये मोजता येत नाहीत... 

हे विषय का महत्वाचे राहिले नाहीत ... फक्त युरोप आणि अमेरिकेतील पुरोगाम्यांचे मुद्देच का भारतात पुरोगाम्यांसाठी सर्वात महत्वाचे होऊन बसले? 

 

ह्या कारणामुळे ही "पुरोगामी" चळवळ माझी होऊच शकत नाही...

 

 

Parrots Are Taking Over the World...मिठू मिठू पोपट

 

दिलीप चित्रेंच्या प्रायोगिक रंगभूमीवर गाजलेल्या ‘मिठू मिठू पोपट’ (१९८९) ह्या नाटकात काय आहे हे मला माहित नाही....

 दिलीप चित्रेंना इथे दिलेल्या विलक्षण गोष्टींची माहिती होती का हे ही माहित नाही ... 

 

मात्र अरुण कोलटकर, बा सी मर्ढेकर , सदानंद रेगे आणि स्वतः दिलीप चित्रे या प्रतिभावान कवींना हे माहित असते तर पोपट त्यांच्या कवितेत वेगळ्याच पद्धतीने नक्कीच आले असते... 

 

"... For better, for worse, and sometimes both, parrots have taken over our cities. Their ability to thrive in our altered habitats is a testament to what makes these species special and why we should work to conserve them in the wild while minding the potential impacts of introduced parrots. They're innovators, problem solvers, socializers and survivors. That's how they earned our adoration in the first place. Sometimes it's a joy to stop and marvel at the parrots."

 

Read essay by Ryan F. Mandelbaum for Scientific American titled "Parrots Are Taking Over the World"dated July 1 2023  here.

 

                            A Parrot Perched on a Mango Tree; a Ram Tethered Below

 

painting belongs to the Golconda school and dates back to 1670. The painting was displayed at the Met in 2015 as part of the ‘Sultans of Deccan India’ exhibit. 

Where, in short, are the Flying Cars?

 David Graeber :

"A secret question hovers over us, a sense of disappointment, a broken promise we were given as children about what our adult world was supposed to be like. I am referring not to the standard false promises that children are always given (about how the world is fair, or how those who work hard shall be rewarded), but to a particular generational promise—given to those who were children in the fifties, sixties, seventies, or eighties—one that was never quite articulated as a promise but rather as a set of assumptions about what our adult world would be like. And since it was never quite promised, now that it has failed to come true, we’re left confused: indignant, but at the same time, embarrassed at our own indignation, ashamed we were ever so silly to believe our elders to begin with.

 

Where, in short, are the flying cars? Where are the force fields, tractor beams, teleportation pods, antigravity sleds, tricorders, immortality drugs, colonies on Mars, and all the other technological wonders any child growing up in the mid-to-late twentieth century assumed would exist by now? Even those inventions that seemed ready to emerge—like cloning or cryogenics—ended up betraying their lofty promises. What happened to them?

 

We are well informed of the wonders of computers, as if this is some sort of unanticipated compensation, but, in fact, we haven’t moved even computing to the point of progress that people in the fifties expected we’d have reached by now. We don’t have computers we can have an interesting conversation with, or robots that can walk our dogs or take our clothes to the Laundromat.

 

As someone who was eight years old at the time of the Apollo moon landing, I remember calculating that I would be thirty-nine in the magic year 2000 and wondering what the world would be like. Did I expect I would be living in such a world of wonders? Of course. Everyone did. Do I feel cheated now? It seemed unlikely that I’d live to see all the things I was reading about in science fiction, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t see any of them."

 

 

 

artist: Bill Watterson

ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार...Harry Bliss Saw Him!

 

गीतकार: भरत व्यास, संगीत: सतीश भाटिया, बूँद जो बन गयी मोती, १९६७ 

 

"हरी हरी वसुंधरा पे नीला नीला ये गगन
नीला नीला ये गगन
हरी हरी वसुंधरा पे नीला नीला ये गगन ह्म ह्म
के जिसपे बादलो की पालकी उड़ा रहा पवन ह्म ह्म
दिशाये देखो रंगभरी
दिशाये देखो रंगभरी चमक रही उमंग भारी
ये किस ने फूल फूल पे
ये किस ने फूल फूल पे किया सिंगर है
ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार
ये कौन चित्रकार है

ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार

 

तपसियो सी है अटल ये पर्वतो की चोटिया
ये सर्प सी घूमेरदार, घेरदार घाटिया
ध्वजा से ये खड़े हुए
ध्वजा से ये खड़े हुए है वृकश देवदार के
गाळीचे ये गुलाब के, बगीचे ये बाहर के
ये किस कवि की कल्पना

"ये किस कवि की कल्पना का चमत्कार है
ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार
ये कौन चित्रकार है

ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार

 

कुदरत की इस पवित्रता को तुम निहार लो हा हा हा
इसके गुनो को अपने मन मे तुम उतार लो हा हा हा
चमका लो आज लालिमा
चमका लो आज लालिमा अपने ललाट की
कण कण से झाँकती तुम्हे छबि विराट की
अपनी तो आँख एक है, अपनी तो आँख एक है, उस की हज़ार है
ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार
ये कौन चित्रकार है

 

ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार
ये कौन चित्रकार है ये कौन चित्रकार"

 

 

artist; Harry Bliss
 

वासुदेव शास्त्री खरे जाऊन आज शंभर वर्षें झाली ...V V Khare, 100th Death Anniversary

आमच्या मिरजेचे सर्वात मोठे सुपुत्र, वासुदेव शास्त्री खरे (५/८/१८५८- ११/६/१९२४) हे केवढे द्रष्टे विचारवंत होते हे सोबतच्या उताऱ्यावरून दिसून येईल...

एक उत्तम इतिहासकार आणि लोकमान्य टिळकांच्या केसरी मध्ये वरच्या पदावर काम केल्यामुळे त्यांच्यामध्ये हा गुण आला असावा...

शास्त्रीबुवांनी हे मार्च १९१८ साली लिहले आहे . आज १०६ वर्षांनंतर, भारतात लोकशाही येऊन ७४ वर्षे झाल्यावर, त्यात एकही शब्द बदलायचे कारण नाही... 

(पृष्ठ पंधरा, 'उपोदघात', 'मराठे व इंग्रज', न. चिं. केळकर, १९१८-२००९)

 

हे मराठीत का होवू शकले नाही, १९व्या शतकातच?...the Oxford English Dictionary, World’s First Crowdsourced Project

२०२३ साली एक फार सुंदर पुस्तक प्रकाशित झाले : "The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary" by Sarah Ogilvie... 

त्या वर आलेल्या अनेक परिक्षणांतून काही उतारे खाली देतोय :

"...When his Indian languages specialist Edward Brandreth died, having spent countless hours in the British Museum tracking down entries for 35 separate lists of desiderata, Murray wrote of the debt he had incurred over their long collaboration. ‘Among the many volunteers whose work has contributed to making the New English Dictionary what it is, not many have had the capacity and qualifications, the willinghood, and the time to work for it as our honoured friend has done. May his name never be forgotten when the story is told.’"

"... However, Ms. Ogilvie’s book is at its best when focusing not on words but on people. In addition to those mentioned, we encounter fraudsters and fantasists, vicars and vegetarians, rain collectors and a mummy collector, a cannibal, a kleptomaniac and a pornographer, together with Karl Marx’s daughter and Virginia Woolf’s father; most of the contributors were autodidacts, amateurs and unknowns who found themselves outside of, often excluded from, social circles or academic elites.

What united this disparate group was a shared love of language and a desire to be part of a prestigious crowdsourced project. Ms. Ogilvie’s history unites a choice selection of these fascinating personalities still further, turning aspects of their colorful lives into the driving force of this absorbing book."

 

"The OED was one of the world’s first crowdsourced projects—the Wikipedia of the 19th century—in which people around the English-speaking world were invited to read their country’s books and submit words for consideration on 4-by-6-inch slips of paper. Until recently, it wasn’t known how many people responded, exactly who they were or how they helped. But in 2014, several years after working as an editor on the OED, I was revisiting a hidden corner of the Oxford University Press basement where the dictionary’s archive is stored, and I came across a dusty box...

...Murray’s radical vision was for a dictionary of English comprised of words spoken and written in all parts of the world—including the U.S."

 

ते वाचुन माझ्या मनात आलेले काही विचार ... 

 

हे मराठीत का होवू शकले नाही? १९व्या शतकातच? हे "नेटके मराठी" बुलशीट कुठून आले?

याचा फायदा मी शाळेत गेल्यावर मला किती झाला असता! मी मराठी डिक्शनरी पुस्तकासारखी वाचत बसलो असतो. बहुजनांच्या भाषेबद्दल आदर निर्माण झाला असता...  १९व्या शतकात मराठी डिक्शनरी अशी, अशा सर्व स्तरातील लोकांनी तयार केली असती , तर अधुनिक महाराष्ट्राचा इतिहास वेगळा असता... ऑक्सफर्ड इंग्लिश डिक्शनरीच्या भारतीय भाषा तज्ञा बद्दल लिहली गेलेली वाक्ये पहा... ब्रिटिशांबद्दल त्यांच्या भारतातील काळ्या कामांनंतर सुद्धा जो आदर वाटतो ते अशा गोष्टी वाचून ... 

 

 

 

100 Years of A Passage to India: How India Showed E. M. Forster Another Way of Looking at Life

Nigel Collett, “Developing the Heart: E. M. Forster and India”, 2022:

“…Politically, the novel is a criticism of the British Raj, whose functionaries and their wives are uniformly portrayed as failing to understand, and mostly not wanting to understand, those they govern. The flawed relationships between rulers and ruled create the impossibility of friendship between the two and place insurmountable difficulties in the path of any man or woman brave enough to defy convention by reaching out the hand of friendship. It is clear from his earlier denial that Forster had intended a serious purpose in writing the novel — he had wanted it to build a bridge between the nations. That he no longer thought such a bridge possible was one of the factors that deadened his impulse to complete the book.

The novel is also about the confusions of a young life awakening to awareness of sex and love, and failing badly to cope. Through the character of Miss Adela Quested, who finds more in “the real India” than she had ever imagined, Forster examines the mystery of the passage from innocence to awareness. Permeating the book are Forster’s hymns to friendship and to India, the country he loved…”

Jacqueline Banerjee, ‘Abundant vitality: How India showed E. M. Forster another way of looking at life’, TLS, August 5 2022:

“…Collett’s thorough research enables him to find many correspondences between Forster’s experience of the subcontinent and A Passage to India, showing, for example, how his state of mind when visiting the Barabar Caves, near Gaya in Bihar, is reflected in the Marabar Caves episode in the novel. But what makes this book so rewarding is the bigger picture – of how a rather timid, repressed youth was, as he put it, shaken out of his “narrow and academic suburban outlook” and introduced to “another way of looking at life”, becoming, in the process, a man at ease among every rank and caste. In return, as Collett shows in new detail, he did much to convey India’s abundant vitality to an uncomprehending West. His broadcasts and contacts in later life helped him to repay the debt of which he was so keenly aware. Enabling leading Indian novelists such as Mulk Raj Anand and Ahmed Ali to find their audience abroad was another part of Forster’s achievement…”

E. M. Forster, “A Passage to India”, 1924:

“…MOST of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence. Inside its cocoon of work or social obligation, the human spirit slumbers for the most part, registering the distinction between pleasure and pain, but not nearly as alert as we pretend. There are periods in the most thrilling day during which nothing happens, and though we continue to exclaim, “I do enjoy myself,” or, “I am horrified,” we are insincere. “As far as I feel anything, it is enjoyment, horror”—it’s no more than that really, and a perfectly adjusted organism would be silent…”

 cover artist: David Gentleman (1930-)