I felt proud to be a Marathi speaking male

On March 9 2010, Ms. Najma Heptullah spoke in Rajya Sabha on the subject of Women's Reservation Bill.

She observed that world over women's movement was led by women but in India it was led by men.



Three- Phule, Ambedkar, Karve- of the four names she, a Muslim non-Marathi speaking woman, mentions were Marathi speaking males!

All three were borne when the British empire showed no signs of decline. And yet they showed no sign of inferiority using their native language to accomplish what they did.

Most Governors-General and Viceroys of India will be forgotten- if not already forgot- soon but this trinity will last in public memory for next many hundred years.

Their Marathi did not feel any threat from any other language or its speakers.

I take pride in speaking their language.

Why Vinda, Kusumagraj, Khandekar but NO Bhagwat, Tendulkar, Chitre?

Vinda's popularity after the Jnanpith (ज्ञानपीठ) Award soared and probably reached the levels previously attained by Kusumagraj (कुसुमाग्रज) and V S Khandekar (वि स खांडेकर).

All three of them Jnanpith awardees.

Like Vinda, Kusumagraj too was a good poet and a great human being. (Kusumagraj was our family friend and attended my sister's wedding. He had great regard for my father and his writings. He exuded only kindness and love.)

The same can be said of the third awardee, V S Khandekar. Average writer but a great humanist who motivated scores of budding artists. (At IIT, Madras, I once asked my Tamil speaking class-mate: who were popular Tamil writers? His answer stunned me because one name on that very short list was Khandekar. Yes, V S Khandekar in translation! Yes, he was that popular.)

The award was not given to Durga Bhagwat, Vijay Tendulkar and Dilip Chitre, for my taste, all of them better writers than the Jnanpith trinity.

Is it because M/s Bhagwat, Chitre and Tendulkar constantly rebelled against the establishment? The government of the day as well as extra constitutional authorities and power-centres in Maharashtra.

Remember fearlessness of Durga Bhagwat during the emergency, Vijay Tendulkar's run-ins with Shiv Sena and the government on many issues, death threat to Chitre in the wake of James Laine controversy?

Vinda, Kusumagraj, Khandekar avoided such conflicts. I like to think: Not for want of courage but they were built differently.

Will Vinda usher in Marathi Woody Allen?

When I finished reading -‘ASHTADARSHANE’ (अष्टदर्शने), 2003, I wrote a letter to Lalit (ललित) and sent a copy of that to Vinda Karandikar (विंदा करंदीकर).

Lalit published it and Vinda wrote back thanking me for it.

Following is based on that letter of mine.

In Marathi, M P Rege (मे पु रेगे ) has written a lot on the subject of philosophy using formal prose. It's tough for the writer. And reader!

But writing on philosophy, in any other form is even tougher for the writer.

Particularly, if one wishes to deploy quality humour or poetry. The way Woody Allen does in English.

But for the reader, it's easier.

Unfortunately, in Marathi, I have hardly come across such writings.

I remember one example from P L Deshpande's (पु ल देशपांडे) book.

Pu La imagines that the famous argument between sage Vasishta and sage Vishwamitra- 'Who is Brahmin?' (One: Brahmin knows Brahma, The other: the one who knows Brahma is Brahmin)- took place while both were chewing pans!

Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) has drawn a beautiful illustration for it.

It reminded me of Mel Brooks: "Nietzsche whispers to you: ‘Without audacity there is no greatness.’ Freud whispers to you: ‘Why must there be greatness?’ That fight’s still going on. And you don’t understand either one, because they’re both whispering in German."

Frankly other than Charvak-darshan (चार्वाक), there is little information in Vinda's book that is not there in Will Durant's 'The story of philosophy' (1926).

However, Vinda's usage of abhang (अभंग) format to write on the subject of philosophy was at the bleeding edge of innovation.

Vinda had good sense of humour as is obvious from many of his poems. Vasant Sarwate too vouches for it.

I hope, some day, his ASHTADARSHANE ushers in Marathi's Woody Allen.

I also suggested that Vinda himself was 20th century's Charvak!

p.s. Read Vilas Sarang's (विलास सारंग) essay- first published in August 1973- on Vinda's poetry from 'Aksharancha Shram Kela' (अक्षरांचा श्रम केला), 2000. Sarang explains the good and the bad of Vinda's poetry.

Vinda- My Charvak (or my Eknath?) is Dead

Vinda Karandikar (विंदा करंदीकर) has been here a few times before.

He reminded Dilip Chitre (दिलीप चित्रे) of Sant Eknath (संत एकनाथ).

To me, he was like his own depiction of Cārvāka/ Charvak (चार्वाक), in possibly his best book: -‘ASHTADARSHANE’(अष्टदर्शने), 2003.

Charvak is the last 'darshan' in the book. Arthur Schopenhauer too gets his due but it is no surprise that 'Marxist' in Vinda doesn't like him much.

(I feel privileged that I have this book autographed by him. I also have his letter.)

In Vinda's words, Charvaka was like :

सत्याचा स्वीकार। श्रद्धांचा अव्हेर,
हिंसेचा धिक्कार, । करोनिया,
मानवी जीवन। करणे सुखमय
हेच एक ध्येय। मानणारे
मानवतावादी, । उद्योगप्रवण,
असे हे दर्शन । चार्वाकाचे.

In my words, Vinda was:

सत्याचा स्वीकार। श्रद्धांचा अव्हेर,
हिंसेचा धिक्कार, । करोनिया,
मानवी जीवन। करणे सुखमय
हेच एक ध्येय। मानणारे
मानवतावादी, । उद्योगप्रवण,
असे हे दर्शन । विंदांचे.

But in the final analysis, Chitre was right. At the end of all intellectual discussions and philosophies, what we will remember most about Vinda is his humanism. Like Eknath, like Mahatma Gandhi.

"जगाचिये नेत्री दिसे तो संसारी, परी तो अंतरी स्फटिक शुद्ध" ("In the world's eyes he looks ordinary married man but inside he is crystal pure.")

p.s. Vinda has written thirty odd books. When I last checked, other than his poetry books, most of his books- I was particularly looking for his translation of Dnyaneshwar's (ज्ञानेश्वर) Amrutanubhav (अमृतानुभव), 1981- are not available in the market. Such is the poverty of Marathi publishing world.

Cricket is like Carbon monoxide

On March 13 2010, I saw one of the best Hockey matches ever: Australia Vs. Germany, final of FIH world cup in New Delhi.

Since I have not seen too many Hockey matches, I feel it was as good as some of the best football matches.

Contrary to my hope, India didn't make even the semi-finals.

In fact, through the fortnight, I often thought India and Pakistan were playing a different ball-game than Australia, Germany and Holland.

Even then India and Pakistan gave me many exciting moments and displayed tremendous skills at times.

On March 13, I checked most TV news channels, during the half-time, if the match was getting due attention by our electronic media.

Not one of them bothered! All of them were busy with IPL.

What is the greatest achievement of an Indian sports-person in year 2010?

By some distance this: In March, Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Super Series badminton championship.

Our cable operator is not even carrying the sports channel that is covering the championship!

Cricket is like Carbon monoxide. In its limited-over avatars, it binds with Indian mass psyche so much that the psyche is not available for any other sports.

Which Religions will Now Inspire M F Husain's Nudes?

For my taste, M F Husain is an average artist. His art has never inspired me.

I should just leave Mr. Husain alone.

But then I read Durga Bhagwat (दुर्गा भागवत).

The late Ms. Bhagwat all her life defended freedom of expression, fearlessly took on Indira Gandhi during the Emergency when most intellectuals were shit-scared and fought culture-vultures turned goons of Maharashtra while defending Marathi author Bhau Padhye (भाऊ पाध्ये) who was accused of obscenity.

“…why does Husain draw Seeta sitting on the tail of Lord Maruti flying across the sky? And that too naked one? Obviously religious people will get angry, won’t they? Basically Husain has not read Ramayana is obvious because no where in Ramayana, Maruti carries Seeta. In Ashok-vana, he offers Seeta that he would transport her on his shoulder safely. Seeta declines the offer because she wants Rama to go there personally, slay Ravana and free her. That shows Seeta’s confidence in Rama and also pride. Without considering this context, drawing revealing pictures of Hindu goddesses has to be considered objectionable. Such pictures are naturally going to hurt the sentiments of religious people. Not just that even a religious Muslim may not like this insult of gods of other religions.”

(Source- ऐसपैस गप्पा : दुर्गाबाईंशी लेखक प्रतिभा रानडे “Aispais Gappa: Durgabainshi” by Pratibha Ranade, 1998)

On March 10 2010, in The Asian Age, I read Cho S. Ramaswamy "Feel free, Mr Husain. Go paint Qatari leaders":

"...Now that M.F. Husain has settled in Qatar where there is total freedom, he is free of the shackles imposed by the Indian system on freedom of expression. All those who appreciate his art would now eagerly await his imaginative paintings of the leaders of Qatari society, hopefully not artistically clothed.

His fans would not expect him to confine nudity to Hindu deities alone; it would extend to all the religions. Having already painted his mother, daughter and Muslim kings fully robed, Mr Husain, being the freed citizen that he is now in Qatar, should be prepared to remove those clothes. How can the artist in him be satisfied with seeing Saraswati and Parvati alone in the nude?..."


'It’s all very well you saying I should paint something else, but WHAT?’


courtesy: Spectator

S G Joshi, John Tenniel: The Power of Simple and Vague

John Gray: "...To be sure, the pursuit of self-realisation does not often result in happiness. But is it happiness that most people are pursuing? Or is it stimulus and excitement?..."

It is now clear, going by the most reviews, that Tim Burton's film 'Alice in Wonderland' has screwed up Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'.

I felt sorry because I really love some of Burton's earlier work: Batman (1989) and Planet of the Apes (2001).

But Mr. Burton like all of us has been affected by Disneyfication of everything around us.

Ramin Setoodeh writes:

"...The only way to understand Alice is to use your imagination. Do you even remember how to do that? In our society of Web links, Wikipedia, Facebook, and reality TV, everything and everybody comes with a label and an exhaustive definition. There's scant room for ambiguity and interpretation. The genius of the 145-year-old Wonderland is that it forces you to bring your own creative juices to the tea party...

...In short, the story is a metaphor for how Alice uses her imagination to quench her boredom; Carroll says her favorite phrase is "let's pretend." What she also does is remind us how little we do that anymore..."

(Newsweek, Feb 26, 2010)

Lewis Carroll handpicked the accomplished illustrator John Tenniel to draw pictures of Alice for his story. His images were often simple and vague, so you could bring your own imagination to the tea party.

Here is an example:


Earlier on this blog, I have embedded an illustration by S G Joshi (सीताराम गंगाधर जोशी) for C V Joshi's (चिं. वि. जोशी) book.

Vasant Sarwate has done a moving appreciation of unsung S G Joshi's art in his book "Parakee Chalan", 1989.

He and I spoke on Joshi's work. Sarwate told me how he tried to meet Joshi in Joshi's home-town Baroda. We also speculated how little money would probably have come to Joshi for this work.

I feel, in following picture, Joshi has tried hard to motivate us to bring our imagination along with our appetite to the lunch!


Artist: S G Joshi सीताराम गंगाधर जोशी

Gross Injustice to G A Kulkarni's Memory?

(There are a few more entries on this blog on G A Kulkarni and his art. Click here to access them.)

Recently I was reading "Priya Jee E Sa. Na. Vi. Vi.", 1994 (प्रिय जी. ए. स. न. वि. वि.) edited by G A Kulkarni's (जी. ए. कुलकर्णी) cousin-sister Nanda Paithankar (नंदा पैठणकर) one more time.

G A Kulkarni received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1973 for his collection of short stories 'Kajalmaya' (काजळमाया).

Although today it looks no more than a storm in teacup, the award created a huge controversy that stirred middle class Marathi world.

No one doubted the merit of the book but the controversy was about whether the book qualified for the award in the first place.

The criterion laid down by the Akademi was that the book had to be published between Jan 1 1970- Dec 31 1972.

'Kajalmaya' wasn't published before March 1973!

This was raked up by 'Maharashtra Times' (महाराष्ट्र टाईम्स) whose staff member wanted to hit Ramdas Bhatkal (रामदास भटकळ), GA's publiher. (So much bitching went on in that small, claustrophobic world)!

Instead G A was devastated by the controversy and promptly returned the award. He wrote many letters in great anguish and received as many.

Ms. Paithankar's book carries a lot of that correspondence and even carries a picture of the receipt of the award amount- the then princely amount of Rs. 5,000- by the Akademi.

The book has an undated- from 1975- English letter by G A Kulkarni to the Akademi where he says: "...I have no desire to accept the award as it is, whatever the rules of the Akademi, which do not recognize a new problem like my book's. Unless the Akademi condones the irregularity, or accepts the book definitely in 1972,The award may please be treated as permanently returned..."

Since the Akademi's website still carries G A's name as the recipient of 1973 award, it should refer to this controversy and announce there what G A desired so desperately: "condones the irregularity, or accepts the book definitely in 1972."

It should also clarify the small matter of Rs. 5,000 because G A's best friend Jaywant Dalwi (जयवंत दळवी), in a lighter vein, wondered if G A's 'return' cheque was ever encashed by the Akademi!

ITC, Don't Worry, Obama is on your side

"Smokers have to now pay more for their puffs as the Government today announced a steep hike in the excise duty in the Budget proposals. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the Budget today, announced an upward revision of excise rates up to Rs 2,363 per 1000 sticks." (PTI, Feb 26 2009)

And like Obama, Pranab Mukherjee, once a passionate smoker himself, will find it hard to quit spending and reign in India's fiscal deficit.


Artist: Scott Stantis

Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan: I sometimes wonder who all this is really for

"akhil bharatiya marathi sahitya sammelan" (अखिल भारतीय मराठी साहित्य संमेलन) is upon us.

What connects following authors- not listed in any order- of 20th century in Marathi?

V K Rajwade, Bhalchandra Nemade, Sane Guruji, Bhau Padhye, C V Joshi, Baburao Arnalkar, Vilas Sarang, D G Godse, Vasant Sarwate, Vijay Tendulkar, Natyachhatakar Diwakar, G A Kulkarni, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, B S Mardhekar, M V Dhond, T S Shejwalkar, Vinda Karandikar, Balkavi, Keshavsut, Jayant Narlikar, Laxmibai Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, Setu Madhavrao Pagdi, D B Mokashi, Sadanand Rege, Ram Ganesh Gadkari, Namdeo Dhasal, Govindrao Tembe, C T Khanolkar, S N Pendse, R V Dighe...

(वि का राजवाडे, भालचंद्र नेमाडे, साने गुरूजी, भाऊ पाध्ये, चिं. वि. जोशी, बाबूराव अर्नाळकर, विलास सारंग, द ग गोडसे, वसंत सरवटे, विजय तेंडुलकर, नाट्यछटाकार दिवाकर, जी ए कुलकर्णी, अरुण कोलटकर, दिलीप चित्रे, बा. सी. मर्ढेकर, म वा धोंड, त्र्यं शं शेजवलकर, विंदा करंदीकर, बालकवी, केशवसुत, जयंत नारळीकर, लक्ष्मीबाई टिळक, विनोबा भावे, सेतु माधवराव पगडी, दि. बा. मोकाशी, सदानंद रेगे, राम गणेश गडकरी, नामदेव ढसाळ, गोविंदराव टेंबे, चिं त्र्यं खानोलकर, श्री. ना. पेंडसे, र. वा. दिघे...)

They never became the president of All-India Marathi Literature Meet!

Other than holding sprawling (and eagerly awaited by me this year!) Marathi book exhibition, maybe these meets serve a purpose I don't quite understand.


'I sometimes wonder who all this is really for.'

The Spectator