Thoughts on Turning 50

Joseph Conrad: "...In this world — as I have known it — we are made to suffer without the shadow of a reason, of a cause or of guilt.... There is no morality, no knowledge and no hope; there is only the consciousness of ourselves which drives us about a world that... is always but a vain and floating appearance....
A moment, a twinkling of an eye and nothing remains — but a clot of mud, of cold mud, of dead mud cast into black space, rolling around an extinguished sun. Nothing. Neither thought, nor sound, nor soul. Nothing.

. . . No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone. . . .”

Recently I turned 50.

And so once one clown.

His life was aptly described by a poet.

B S Mardhekar (बा. सी. मर्ढेकर):

पंक्चरली जरि रात्र दिव्यांनीं,
तरी पंपतो कुणी काळोख;
हसण्याचें जरि वेड लागलें,
भुंकतात तरि अश्रू चोख.

("Punctured though night is by lightbulbs,
Someone keeps pumping darkness;
Though laughter crazed,
tears bark alright.")

He then fell ill.

He knew the saying: laughter is the best medicine.

But one day that medicine stopped working.


Artist: Charles Barsotti, The New Yorker http://www.barsotti.com/

Some more days passed and then one day...



Artist: Oliver Gaspirtz http://www.gaspirtz.com/

He was often heard quoting a borrowed line: life is habit – that it is all just a series of motions devoid of meaning.

The Man Who Tried - G P Pradhan

I hardly knew the late Mr. Pradhan although I first heard his name during the Emergency. I once saw him at the book release function described here.

I have a couple of his books but nothing noteworthy about them.

However, I have always been impressed by his dedication to the causes he believed in. And his philanthropy- he gave away his only house.

He was one of the last of a generation that produced many men and women like him. For them selfishness and greed were sins.

Did Shri GuruCharitra give them Alternate Miracle, Mystery and Authority?

"Shri GuruCharitra" c 1500 CE by Saraswati Gangadhar (श्रीगुरुचरित्र, सरस्वती गंगाधर) is one of the most popular books in Marathi. It's a biography of Narasimha Saraswati c 1378−1458 CE (नरसिंह सरस्वती).

I have never read it because I was told that it contained a lot of 'reactionary nonsense'.

Currently, I am planning to read it in not-so-distant future.

What is the importance of the book, if any, and why did it do so well?

Setu Madhavrao Pagdi (सेतु माधवराव पगडी) has written on it for his book "Bhartiya Musalman: Shodh ani Bodh" (भारतीय मुसलमानः शोध आणि बोध).

Pagdi argues the book helped preserve and revive the Hindu religion and the culture.

According to Pagdi, the most important message of the book was:

when you decide to serve your Guru, you needn't serve any one else, you needn't even be loyal to your ruler, who were happened to be mostly Muslims.

This caught my attention.

Why do most of the people need an authority to be loyal to? Why do they need miracle and mystery to put their faith into?

John Gray explains:

"...The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that humanity is too weak to bear the gift of freedom. It does not seek freedom but bread – not the divine bread promised by Jesus, but ordinary earthly bread. People will worship whomever gives them bread, for they need their rulers to be gods. The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that his teaching has been amended to deal with humanity as it really is: ‘We have corrected Thy work and have founded it on miracle, mystery and authority. And men rejoiced that they were again led like sheep, and that the terrible gift that brought them such suffering was, at last, lifted from their hearts.’

...D H Lawrence: Surely it is true. Today, man gets his sense of the miraculous from science and machinery, radio, airplanes, vast ships, zeppelins, poison gas, artificial silk: these things nourish man’s sense of the miraculous as magic did in the past.... Dostoevsky’s diagnosis of human nature is simple and unanswerable. We have to submit, and agree that men are like that.

Lawrence was right. Today, for the mass of humanity, science and technology embody ‘miracle, mystery and authority’. Science promises that the most ancient human fantasies will at last be realised. Sickness and ageing will be abolished; scarcity and poverty will be no more; the species will become immortal. Like Christianity in the past, the modern cult of science lives on the hope of miracles. But to think that science can transform the human lot is to believe in magic. Time retorts to the illusions of humanism with the reality: frail, deranged, undelivered humanity. Even as it enables poverty to be diminished and sickness to be alleviated, science will be used to refine tyranny and perfect the art of war.

The truth that Dostoevsky puts in the mouth of the Grand Inquisitor it that humankind has never sought freedom, and never will. The secular religions of modern times tell us that humans yearn to be free; and it is true that they find restraint of any kind irksome. Yet it is rare mat individuals value their freedom more than the comfort that comes with servility, and rarer still for whole peoples to do so. As Joseph dc Maistre commented on Rousseau’s dictum that men are born free but are everywhere in chains: to think that, because a few people sometimes seek freedom, all human beings want it is like thinking that, because there are flying fish, it is in the nature of fish to fly..." (Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, 2003)

Shri GuruCharitra perhaps gave our ancestors alternate 'miracle, mystery and authority' to that given by their Muslim rulers.

Was it for the better or the worse?

I don't know.

Today science and technology have given us alternate 'miracle, mystery and authority'.

Is it for the better or the worse?

Don't know again.


Artist: Dana Fradon, The New Yorker, 19 July 1993

Never Throw a Stone at Chameleon because She could be Lonely

One barbaric practice I often witnessed in my childhood at Miraj was: Boys throwing stones at chameleons and dogs.

Unlucky dogs were often injured but chameleons were usually killed in those murderous chases.

I seldom use the word 'proud' in my connection but I am very proud that I never threw stones at chameleons and dogs.

If one wants one more reason for not committing this barbarity, it is provided by Emily Gravett who has written a picture book: "Blue Chameleon".

I was captivated by following illustration. Can I ever throw a stone at that beauty?




(India's very own) Mansur's watercolor painting of a chameleon, from around 1595.

Credit: Royal Collection, Royal Library, Windsor Castle

courtesy: Roberta Smith and The New York Times September 29, 2011

No Guts to Join a Circus? At least Fly a Kite

Once I was of an age when I liked whatever V P Kale (व पु काळे) wrote. Once I also attended his short-stories telling session at Miraj Medical College.

Although now I haven't read him for almost two decades, I still remember a few of his short stories.

The best one was about an office-goer who chooses to fly a kite on the terrace of his office in his spare time instead of indulging in office politics and backbiting.

It's a moving story and I remembered it when I attended Steven Covey's 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' workshop.

I wish more people flew kites in their spare time instead of watching TV.

LAWRENCE DOWNES writes:

"...The kite makers dance through the camps with rubbery exuberance, trailed by younger children, all lost in the moment, the most important in the world. Kites battle kites, their makers yanking their lines to cut each other’s, as the kites whirl and spin. When one kite wins, the jubilation is explosive. It’s one of the few signs of joy you see in Haiti, entirely handmade..."

(The New York Times, March 7, 2010)

Europe and euro are immortal. Really?

As Euro's worth against INR falls, some of Europe based NRI's seem to be getting confused. Here is an example.

Mohan Murti who has lived in Europe for over two decades:

"...Europe and euro are immortal..." (Business Line, May 17 2010)

This claim is absolutely ludicrous. What is he trying to do? Blame all the woes of Europe on currency speculators?

First, when mighty dinosaurs and Ozymandiases have vanished, I would be rather be skeptical about this immortality claim.

And secondly, when the claim is about a civilization that was responsible for the death of 50 million humans just 65 years ago, I would be doubly so. (Andrew Roberts: “WWII lasted for 2,174 days, cost $1.5 trillion and claimed the lives of over 50 million people.”)


Niall Ferguson says in Newsweek May 17 2010: "...Europe now faces a much bigger decision than whether to bail out Greece. The real choice is between becoming a fully fledged United States of Europe, or remaining little more than a modern-day Holy Roman Empire, a gimcrack hodgepodge of "variable geometry" that will sooner or later fall apart."

On Europe’s destiny, I only trust Arthur Schopenhauer:

“We like to believe that all history is a halting and imperfect preparation for the magnificent era of which we are the salt and summit; but this notion of progress is mere conceit and folly. 'In general, the wise in all ages have always said the same things, and the fools, who at all times form the immense majority, have in their way too acted alike, and done the opposite; and so it will continue. For, as Voltaire says, we shall leave the world as foolish and wicked as we found it.”

(Will Durant, 'The Story of Philosophy')

Opium Dens of Tatas only!

Opium dens have been here earlier.

I did not know what Mr. Vithal Rajan of Hyderabad has to say:

"A Case for Opium Dens:

Indian industry got its first tranche of capital accumulation in the 19th century when the Tatas joined hands with the Sassoons and the British to force opium onto the Chinese. The addicts in China in that period took to opium to drown their unpleasant reality in momentary dreams, while knowing in moments of cold assessment that pipe dreams could never be realised in real life. It was only when Mao Zedong came to power in 1949 that the Chinese government banned opium dens, and people accepted their closure in the expectation that they might have a chance of achieving some of their hopes..."

(EPW, May 1-7 2010)

I didn't know Tatas' and Sassoons' 'opium' past!

Now that I know it and also that Tata brand now stands for purity as in "Tata Swach", I wish to reword the caption of the cartoon below.

"Could you point out any opium dens- preferably run by Tatas as I am very fussy about the quality of my opium?"


Artist: Leonard Dove, The New Yorker, 26 Feb 1949

In Chess-IPL, No Chinese Competitor for Viswanathan Anand please!

If you go by the results produced at the highest level, Dhyan Chand and Viswanathan Anand are the two greatest sportsmen India produced. (Read previous posts on the subject here and here.)

No one else comes even close to them.

Playing out Anand's last game on my PC was such a thrill. Although even a chess-toddler like me could make out that it certainly was not one of the best chess games ever played.

K Viswanathan, Anand's father says:"...I doubt if whether there is another sportsperson in India who has achieved so much and made the nation so proud. But it's a pity to see cricket eating up all other sports...." (The Times of India, May 13, 2010)

Sir, if only, we could organise Chess-IPL to "promote" chess.

"...Worse than that, the IPL’s behaviour implies that if discrimination is profitable, discrimination is legitimate. If bigotry pays, then bigotry prevails. The whole affair undermined the IPL’s globalising claims and compromised India’s status as the epicentre and champion of the modern game. You might be able to watch IPL matches in real time in Japan but you could not watch Shahid Afridi or Umar Gul. The BCCI was able to distance itself from this embarrassment by pointing to the autonomous powers of the franchise owners.


Australian cricket historian Gideon Haigh, a persistent and acute critic of the IPL, observed that part of its appeal was that it was a tournament which the home nation was guaranteed to win. Whatever the final score, India triumphed. Apparently, the IPL franchise owners concluded that the presence of Pakistani players would pollute that triumph..."

(MIKE MARQUSEE, Frontline, May 08 - 21, 2010)

Therefore, in Chess-IPL, we have to make sure Anand doesn't lose to a Pakistani or Chinese.

How Little They Know India...And perhaps care

As Brits elected hung parliament and the prospect of coalition government loomed, I thought there would be many references from the British punditry to India's experience in this field.

For instance, the new British PM and Deputy PM were asked on May 12 2010, in a press conference, whether they would both field candidates in a future by-election.

Now this happens in Indian democrarcy almost every day and yet one BBC commentator was amused by the prospect of coalition partners fighting it out in an election.

All 'experts' kept referring to either Europe or USA.

And our TV channels want us to know that the Indian PM called the new British PM to congratulate him.

They say Britain is USA's poodle. Is India a poodle of both Britain and USA?

Have Marathas been Generous Enough towards their Bhimthadi Ponies?

Sir F. W. Fitzwygram:

"It is impossible for a man of average sensibility to observe closely and to note the painful expression and the intelligence of these creatures … to witness their sufferings [and] the brutal treatment which they too often meet from ignorant and cruel men; it is impossible for him to see these things without sorrow, without endeavouring to alleviate their agony …"

('Horses and Stables', 1901)

Many Marathi speaking people feel proud about the military success of Marathas across the subcontinent in 18th century.

Many legends, heroes and myths are borne out of that pride.

A good part of that success was surely due to their mount- a pony aka Bhimthadi-Tatta(भीमथडी तट्टं).

"Maharashtra has Krishna, Nira, Ghodnadi, Bhima, Pravara, Godavari as main rivers. Out of these, more than Krishna, since the water from Bhima, Pravara, Nira, Ghodnadi, Godavari suited the horses better, horses brought up on their water were strong, smart, loyal..."

['Peshwekalin Maharashtra' (पेशवेकालीन महाराष्ट्र) by Vasudev Krushna Bhave (वासुदेव कृष्ण भावे), 1936]

("महाराष्ट्रात कृष्णा, निरा, घोडनदी, भिमा, प्रवरा, गोदावरी या प्रमुख नद्या होत. यांपैकी कृष्णानदीपेक्षांही भिमा, प्रवरा, निरा, घोडनदी, गोदावरी या नद्यांचे पाणी घोड्यांना चांगले मानवणारे असल्यामुळे त्या पाण्यावर पोसलेली घोडी बळकट, चलाख, इमानी व पाणीदार असत.")

I have read a few books describing that period but have never come across the praise for their horses as much as following.

Reviewing "Russia Against Napoleon" by Dominic Lieven that analyses one of the greatest military triumph in history, JENNIFER SIEGEL says:

"...Russia's triumph is also a story of logistics, supplies and, above all, the horse.

The country's leaders mobilized what Mr. Lieven calls "the sinews of Russian power": its vast population (although much smaller than the combined numbers at Napoleon's disposal); its outstanding and plentiful horse stock; its arms manufacturing; and even the sometimes unstable Russian economy.

Of these, it is the horse, and Russia's ability to mobilize its light cavalry to harass Napoleon's rearguard as it retreated across the great European plain, that receives the greatest attention in "Russia Against Napoleon." Coming in a close second to the horse in significance were the victuallers who managed to feed and supply more than a half-million troops during the two-year campaign..." (WSJ, APRIL 14, 2010)