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."

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Death Plays Dice...Never Ignoble


Shakuni:

“In any sport involving competition,
the effort to defeat one’s adversary
could be called ignoble, though it never is.
In playing dice, the stronger player tries
to defeat the weaker—that is the game.
If you are afraid, refuse the challenge.”

("17. The Dice Game, II • THE BOOK OF THE ASSEMBLY HALL", 'Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling', 2015 by Carole Satyamurti)




The Seventh Seal, 1957


One of the pivotal scene from Ingmar Bergman's great film 'The Seventh Seal' was inspired by
a medieval church painting:

 'Death playing chess' by Albertus Pictor (1440-1507). 

Location: Täby kyrka, Diocese of Stockholm.

 courtesy: Wikipedia





Artist: Paul Noth, The New Yorker, November 2015

I am guessing here that Mr. Noth is commenting on the terrorism caused deaths around the world (look at the world map)....that includes gun-related deaths in USA....

Friday, December 11, 2015

आयुष्यावर पडदा...Death of Don Quixote: Cervantes and G A Kulkarni

Today December 11 2015 is 28th Death Anniversary of G A Kulkarni (जी ए कुलकर्णी)


Simon Leys writes:

"...The death of Don Quixote in the last chapter is the climax of the entire book. I would challenge any reader, however tough and insensitive, to read these pages without shedding a tear..." ('THE HALL OF USELESSNESS', Collected Essays, 2011)

I have still not read  Cervantes's book but I decided to read the last chapter and it did move me.

But I had already shed the tear for dying Don while reading G A Kulkarni's (जी ए कुलकर्णी) 'Yatrik' (यात्रिक).

GA does not use almost a single word of  Cervantes but I dare say he is no less moving than Cervantes there. He imagines the words that could have been exchanged there as Don lay dying.




courtesy: Popular Prakashan (पॉप्युलर प्रकाशन)



'The Death of Don Quixote', 1902

Sancho Panza peers sadly through the half-open door.  

Artist: William Strang

Sunday, December 06, 2015

लीला गान्धी नाचता नाचता...Golden Jubilee of Kela Ishara Jaata Jaata...केला इशारा जाता जाता


Year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary year of a super-hit Marathi film Anant Mane's (अनंत माने) 'Kela Ishara Jaata Jaata' (केला इशारा जाता जाता).

Although I distinctly remember its huge popularity in Miraj c 1966, I saw the film only in November 2015.

I liked many things about the film, but I was most impressed with the dancing skills of Leela Gandhi (लीला गान्धी)....particularly in the song 'Nachato Dombari Ran Nachto Dombari' (नाचतो डोंबारी रं)

Look at the following snapshot from the song....she actually is balancing on the cable.....Not many film dancers can dare even attempt this....all her dances in the film just blew me away... In your face, Vyjayanthimala!




courtesy: the current copyright holders of the film

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Although 80, Woody Allen Can't Die...

Woody Allen Turns 80 today, December 1 2015...it's hard to believe the man is older than my father, who will turn 80 only next June....

God forbid the death comes looking for him now....but even if he does, he has an an excuse to stay back....

Artist: Harry Bliss

Sunday, November 29, 2015

जाम जड लागतंय हो...Shyam Joshi on His Own Death

Tomorrow November 30 2015 is 15th Death Anniversary of Shyam Joshi (श्याम जोशी), one of the best cartoonists Maharashtra produced.

Independent, UK, September 23 2015:

"...London looks set to host a permanent “Death Cafe”, a coffee shop where people can go to talk about one of life’s most awkward subjects - dying.
Since the Death Cafe movement started in 2011 more than 2,000 popup cafes have sprung up across the world, with the majority opening in this country..."
 
Some how in Maharashtra, we avoid humor around death....I wonder why....Not Shyam Joshi though.

Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) says: "...त्यांच्या व्यंगचित्रातून मृत्यू या विषयावरही पुष्कळ चित्रं आढळतात…" (One finds many pictures on the subject of death among his cartoons.)




Artist: NAF, The Spectator, UK, September 2015


In the following picture, Shyam Joshi imagines his own funeral...wonderfully moving.....

Artist: the late Shyam Joshi  (श्याम जोशी)

Friday, November 27, 2015

Buy Nothing Day

Today November 27 2015 is an international day of protest against consumerism: Buy Nothing Day  BND. Alternatively you may observe it on November 28 2015.


Artist: Steve Cutts

Monday, November 23, 2015

Hesitant Fragile Grace of Two Girls Conversing with God: Louis Malle

Today November 23 2015 is 20th Death Anniversary of Louis Malle.

I have been taken in by the art of Mr. Malle only in recent times.  I have been fortunate to see his Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Atlantic City (1981) etc. but above all I have been charmed by his short documentary films on India: Phantom India (1969).

I have no words to describe his take on 'Kalakshetra'. Watch a part of the film featuring young Indira PP Bora (b 1943) and Jayashree Narayanan here

Listen to the French commentary that is subtitled in English:

"This is India: A worldview we don’t understand, a social heirarchy that puzzles us, an economic reality that shocks us but also the hesitant fragile grace of two girls conversing with God."

                                          Indira PP Bora  and Jayashree Narayanan, c 1968

Friday, November 20, 2015

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today November 20 2015 is Transgender Day of Remembrance

BBC, November 7 2015: "The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is to hire the country's first transgender police officer after a court cleared hurdles that faced one applicant."

"K Prithika Yashini, who was born male but underwent gender reassignment surgery, applied to become a police sub-inspector in the southern state.
But the state police board did not recognise a third gender, leading her to pursue a legal case against it.
A court in Chennai (Madras) has now ruled in her favour..."



Artist: Joan Cornellà 

courtesy: Dangerous Minds

Monday, November 16, 2015

Friday, November 13, 2015

गोविंद बल्लाळ देवल G B Deval@160

Today November 13 2015 is 160th Birth Anniversary of  G B Deval (गोविंद बल्लाळ देवल), the author of 'Sangit Sharda' (संगीत शारदा), 1899.

"...श्रीमंत : तर मग माझं वय किती असावं बरं ?

शाम : श्रीमंतांचं वय जवळ जवळ तिशीच्या पुढें आणि बत्तिशीच्या आंत; फारच झालं तर बत्तिशी पार पडली असेल !

श्रीमंत : इतकंच, इतकंच, बरं जा, जोडी आणि पाक आणून दे. ( शाम जातो. ) हा म्हणतो बत्तीस, मी म्हणतों चाळीस ! तरी कांहीं म्हातारा नव्हे, बत्तिशी पडली असं ऐकून आलं, तेव्हां म्हटलं या शाम्याला आमचं वर्म कळलं ! पण नाही, चला आतां थोडा व्यायाम करूं. ( उठूं लागतो ) ओय ! ओय ! ओय ! पण ही कमरेची वळ कधीं राहणार ? चोरून शेकतों, तेल चोळतों, तरी कमी होत नाहीं..."



“Darling, what—kachoo—difference does age—kachoo—make anyway?”

Artist: George Petty, Esquire, 1933