Aficionados of R D Karve र धों कर्वे Rejoice

The late Durga Bhagwat दुर्गा भागवत rates R D Karve र धो कर्वे next only to Mahatma Gandhi. She does it for his spearheading of important "family planning" movement in India.

M V Dhond म वा धोंड taught us how R D Karve's objectives were much broader than just "family planning".

Visit for my take on Karve's work here.

I have said elsewhere on this blog how we Indians are so poor at preserving our history. Even the history of 19-20th century, let alone the earlier one.

Marathi has seen lots of good, interesting stuff since mid-19th century. But little remains accessible to general public.

On January 13, 2008 Washington Post reviewed a "cluster of smartly designed, comprehensive reprints of vintage comics, going all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century -- and, in one notable case, earlier."

In Maharashtra, I have rarely seen such reprints in recent times.

One notable exception was Popular Prakashan's पॉप्युलर प्रकाशन reprinting of 'Riyasatkar' Govind Sakharam Sardesai's रियासतकार सरदेसाई work.

Now comes Padmagandha Prakashan's पद्मगंधा प्रकाशन project to reprint the entire work of R D Karve. It is slated for a release on March 15, 2008.



source: Lalit ललित January 2008

Mahabharata Redux. On Iraq and On EBAY.

Asian Age on January 24, 2008 reported: “Bush lied 259 times.”

“A study by two non-profit journalism organisations has found that President George W. Bush and top administration officials issued 935 false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

President Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about WMDs in Iraq and 28 about Iraq’s links to Al Qaeda, the study found. That was second only to then secretary of state Colin Powell’s 244 false statements about WMDs in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and Al Qaeda…”

This brought back Yudhisthira Dharmaraja to the mind. He too lied. He did it only once. But it was WMD kind of lie.


“…In the war, the Kuru commander Drona was killing hundreds of thousands of Pandava warriors. Krishna hatched a plan to tell Drona that his son Ashwathama had died, so that the invincible and destructive Kuru commander would give up his arms and thus could be killed.

The plan was set in motion when Bhima killed an elephant named Ashwathama, and loudly proclaimed that Ashwathama was dead. Drona, knowing that only Yudhisthira, with his firm adherence to the truth, could tell him for sure if his son had died, approached Yudhisthira for confirmation. Yudhisthira told him: "Ashwathama has died". However Yudhisthira could not make himself tell a lie, despite the fact that if Drona continued to fight, the Pandavas and the cause of dharma itself would have lost and he added: "naro va kunjaro va" which means he is not sure whether elephant or man had died.

Krishna knew that Yudhisthira would be unable to lie, and had all the warriors beat war-drums and cymbals to make as much noise as possible. The words "naro va kunjaro va .नरो वा कुंजरो वा" were lost in the tumult and the ruse worked. Drona was disheartened, and laid down his weapons. He was then killed by Dhristadyumna.

When he spoke his half-lie, Yudhisthira's feet and chariot descended to the ground…”

Talking of epics, in India, most of us know our Ramayana and Mahabharata but not many of us have read them as they are i.e. translated line by line from Sanskrit in their tongues.

For example, Durga Bhagwat दुर्गा भागवत is her classic Vyasparva व्यासपर्व 1962 writes about the song of Kunti when she abandons Karna, setting him afloat in a box in a river.



We all know the scene but very few perhaps know the beauty of this passage.

Following picture reminded me the episode of “The Game of Dice” from the epic where Yudhishtira gambles and loses his wife.


The Spectator January 12, 2008

Indian Stock Market Crash. Can Tragedy be Quietly Enjoyed?

John Kenneth Galbraith:

“…And tragedy can be quietly enjoyed when, as is not true of war, nothing is being lost but money.”

(Full disclosure- I have lost fair amount of my own paper money in this!)

By the way, Subhash Bhende सुभाष भेंडे informed us that M V Dhond म वा धोंड dabbled in stock market as much he did in classical arts. Dhond apparently lost a fortune in the stock market before India’s independence. But it didn’t deter him from staying in the market.

Bhende saw it as a contradiction.

I don’t see it that way after reading Nicholas Taleb.


Artist: R K Laxman Times of India January 24, 2008

Celebration of Hobby…Er Addiction at Dharmapurikar Wedding

In last 47 years, I might have seen thousands of wedding cards- simple, elegant, beautiful, functional, even vulgar.

I thought I had seen them all.

I was wrong.

Madhukar Dharmapurikar मधुकर धर्मापुरीकर- once a promising cartoonist, storywriter, and above all a cartoon nut- recently sent me his son’s wedding card.

It probably made me happier than my own wedding card! See pictures below.

First picture makes you dizzy. Guy might fall to his death, the way he is rushing down.

But the second picture brings sheer joy. Eternal joy of swirling.

My wish for the wedding couple?

Let that joy enter their lives on February 1, 2008 and let its momentum last forever.

Fate, Destiny or Luck of Girish Wagh and Vasudev Deshpande

Indians tend to use the word "fate" very often. They seldom use "destiny" or simple "luck". Marathi author G A Kulkarni जी ए कुलकर्णी, deeply influenced by Greek culture preferred "destiny" नियती.

I am more comfortable with the word "luck", toss of coin.

In January 2008, media and the world at large hailed the launch of Tata's Nano. Ratan Tata very generously gave large credit of this success to Girish Wagh.

I am sure Wagh deserves all his success but does he know that he also is very lucky?

41 years ago in 1967, in the middle of what Surjit Bhalla calls India's "rotten age period (1960 to 1980) of declining growth and increasing poverty", a young man Vasudev Deshpande helped design "Meera Mini Car" for now defunct "Meera Automobile & Engineering Industries Pvt Ltd" based in small town of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district. See few relevant pictures below.

India's automobile industry history has almost forgot Deshpande.

History is replete with such examples. When we hail new heroes and their achievements, it also is time to reflect on who all went before them.

Nicholas Taleb:

“Heroes won and lost battles in a manner that was totally independent of their own valor; their fate depended upon totally external forces, generally the explicit agency of scheming gods (not devoid of nepotism). Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.”

Vasudev Deshpande will remain a hero to me.



Please note Numberplate




Vasudev Deshpande explaining features to a minister

Phantom महाबली वेताळ in My Classroom. Speaking Marathi.

NYT editorial of January 3, 2008- “Comic Books in the Classroom”- said:

“Generations of children grew up reading comic books on the sly, hiding out from parents and teachers who saw them as a waste of time and a hazard to young minds. Comics are now gaining a new respectability at school. That is thanks to an increasingly popular and creative program, often aimed at struggling readers, that encourages children to plot, write and draw comic books, in many cases using themes from their own lives…

…Teachers are finding it easier to teach writing, grammar and punctuation with material that students are fully invested in. And it turns out that comic books have other built-in advantages. The pairing of visual and written plotlines that they rely on appear to be especially helpful to struggling readers. No one is suggesting that comic books should substitute for traditional books or for standard reading and composition lessons. Teachers who would once have dismissed comics out of hand are learning to exploit a genre that clearly has a powerful hold on young minds. They are using what works.”

I know the power of comic books.

When I grew up, no one (yes, including Shivaji) captivated me more than Phantom, Mahabali Vetal महाबली वेताळ in Marathi. I read and re-read exploits of Phantom and Mandrake, published as part of Indrajal Comics series by Bennett, Coleman & Co

Those heroes’ families became mine.

Bheem of Mahabharat was strong as Lothar, Mandrake as clever as Shivaji. When Princess Diana died I felt sad because she had the same name of Phantom’s wife!

Kolhapur had many attractions for me. One of them was my cousin’s collection of Phantom and Mandrake books. I knew by heart all those books. They were translated in Marathi with some chutzpah.

I have never understood why Phantom comics books were not published in Marathi later.

I wish I had the help of Phantom to learn Newton’s laws and Diana’s help to understand working of the United Nations!

Marathi newspaper Sakal सकाळ on January 18, 2007 reported: “अल्लाद्दिन, टारझन, मोगली आता मराठीतून 'बोलणार'!” (“Aladdin, Tarzan, Moguli now to ‘speak’ in Marathi”)

Poor Sakal. It doesn’t even mention the rich world of Phantom in Marathi that came to pass.

Anil Kumble’s Team is Largely Brahmin. So was Shivaji’s Ministry..

त्र्यंबक शंकर शेजवलकर, 'रामदासांचा उपदेश व उद्योग महाराष्ट्रराज्याला विघातक ठरला काय?', १९४३, 'निवडक लेखसंग्रह', पृष्ठ ३१-३२, १९७७:

"... प्रो. (व्ही. व्ही) जोशांचे 'शेतकरी-राज्य' महाराष्ट्रात स्थापन करणारा शिवाजी सेनापतीखेरीज बाकीचे सात प्रधान ब्राह्मणच का नेमतो?... खरी स्थिती अशी की, शिवाजी जातधर्म , आपपर, उच्चनीच, काहीही न मानता 'अधिकार' पाहून प्रत्येकाकडून काम घेत होता... "

Indian media is angry because Australian media have raked up caste.  

 The Sydney Morning Herald article says: “…The Brahmin caste, which forms only a tiny fraction of India's population, has always dominated the national cricket side. Even today, with the game reaching further and further into the countryside, and the so-called lower orders, the Indian team has a decided flavour with Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, R.P. Singh and Ishant Sharma all Brahmins. Wasim Jaffer is a Muslim, Harbhajan Singh a Sikh, while, of the Hindu players, only Mahendra Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh come from "lower" castes…” 

The other day I read T S Shejwalkar’s article on the importance of work of Saint Ramdas who was a Brahmin. He says:”…seven out of eight members of Shivaji’s 17th century administration were Brahmins…only chief of army was non-Brahmin...” 

Most Hindu Indians are sensitive about caste. Most of them like me marry into their own caste.  Why can’t foreign media talk about it?

 

Y D Phadke य दि फडके No More

Yesterday afternoon I spoke to Vasant Sarwate. I thanked him for sending me two of his books. I read his obit of Ramesh Mantri रमेश मंत्री and felt sad.

Little did I know by evening I would be sadder.

I have created five entries pf prominent Marathi speaking personalities in English Wiki- Vasant Sarwate, D G Godse, M V Dhond, Y D Phadke, T S Shejwalkar.

Four of them are now dead.

I couldn't have imagined that it would happen so soon after M V Dhond.

19th/20th century Maharashtra produced some great historians.

V K Rajwade, Riyasatkar Sardesai, Vasudevshastri Khare, T S Shejwalkar...

Y D Phadke easily fitted in that tradition.

Unlike Shejwalkar, he was not great original thinker but focused on hard data and facts.

When Ramachandra Guha wrote "A Corner of a Foreign Field", I suggested him to check his fundamental thesis with Phadke.

I like all of his books but particularly like Nathuramayan नथुरामायण. He is not much known outside Marathi reading world because most of his work is not translated in English.

Non-Marathi reading world is poorer for it!

Now, Here's My Plan...For 2008

The Dalai Lama (August 1999): "For me, it is nothing. New millennium, or new century, or new year. For me is another day and night. The sun, the moon, the stars remain the same."

I need no alcohol to get drunk but I have never understood all the hoopla about a new year. I get very excited on the morning of Indian new year day. This year like almost every previous year, I won't be awake when new years arrives. Neighbourhood noise of course will wake me up.

31st December is a busy day for Indian TV channels. Their anchors are very excited, people watching them- like a couple below- probably aren’t.



“With sensing of New Year you must be thrilled- heart must be beating faster, let us dance, let us sing!”

(double click on the picture to get a much larger view)

Artist: Abhimanyu Kulkarni, Lokprabha अभिमन्यु कुलकर्णी , लोकप्रभा

I have no resolutions but plan for 2008...



Artist: Shel Silverstein for Playboy (easily one of the best pictures I ever saw)

...a plan to escape.

But isn't this blog an effort to escape? Escape from one's own personality?

Well then I have a plan to escape from "escape".

I will be off for few days and will meet you some time in January 2008.

Happy New Year 2008. Thanks for all your encouragement and comments.

Faking Friends for Fame

Times of India November 25, 2007:

“…Competition for friends can be so fierce that some have even resorted to faking friend lists. Sixteen-year-old Mohit Kapoor, for example, has put up 20 benami profiles and keeps scrapping himself daily. "This not only pads the number of scraps I receive, but I can also brag about things indirectly," grins Mohit.

This kind of obsessing before the computer about unreal friends who don't really give a fig about you has unhealthy consequences, especially for introverts who don't have a life in the real world. "There are a lot of people who go online looking for friends because they don't have them elsewhere," says Dr Harish Shetty, a Mumbai-based psychiatrist. "So, the online friends become their universe, and even a slight rejection or snub becomes a big issue."
“
This brought back memories of Devyani Chaubal (1942-1995), a film gossip journalist. She reportedly faked friends, stars of Hindi film industry, from Raj Kapoor to Rajesh Khanna.

Subhash Bhende सुभाष भेंडे drew a delightful Marathi word-caricature of her- "Sharmishtha Godambe शर्मिष्ठा गोडांबे"

We may or mayn't know clandestine Mohit Kapoors but we get to know many Sharmishtha Godambes in our life.

I have lost their count.


Artist: Barney Tobey The New Yorker 23 October 1978