COFFEE FROM MY LAND

Little pleasure of a delicacy,

reminds me of the past tense;

the mere thought of its efficacy,

fills glee in abundance.

Every sip is an oceanic fun,

freshness refreshed, mind expand;

It is my drink, my possessive one,

it is the coffee from my land.

I get bemused, lost sometime,

in questions of unanswered science;

I sip a coffee in its prime,

to see the words of missing lines.

Aroma is the master,

controls the sense as a slave;

drives the thought faster,

breaking the mystic enclave.

Come what may, snow or sun,

it is difficult temptation to stand;

It is my drink, my possessive one,

it is the coffee from my land.

NONE OF THE ABOVE

Three players begin the pivotal game,

begging to differ, but hollowness the same;

hand is paralyzed, lotus looks dry,

third front toothless with hue and cry.

People divided on caste and creed,

blood of aspiration sucked in greed;

adding salt to the wound is IPL loss,

blisters boil for personal cause;

A billon dreams taken for a toss,

hate spoken without a thoughtful pause.

 

The silent spectator looks sad and puzzled,

her griefs are many, and safety is troubled;

whom should she chose, and who should be out?

her mind being pricked with an intellectual bout;

she thinks twice to vote for a crook,

choices are a few, with negative outlook.

On the ballot day she looks at the list,

her mind goes rolling with tumbles and twist;

she reaches the booth with a thought in her mind

decides to register, but her vote will turn blind.

'NONE OF THE ABOVE' is her mindful choice,

this is her power, her incredible voice !

e-xperiment : visualizing the audio

 Ever since the emergence of u-tube, and its subsequent convergence with google, sharing of visual and audio information has undergone a revolution. Adding constructive rotations to this revolution are organizations like TED, which are doing wonderful job of sharing knowledge via online videos. As an offshoot of this technology, exposure to foreign culture has increased, and this familiarity with the ‘other world’ may be the first step towards ‘global integrity and tolerance’ which is today’s doctor order. After I came across the work of Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry on technological sixth sense, and when I heard to Stefan Sagmeister’s talk Yes, design can make you  happy, I realized that experiments with technology can be great fun and concomitantly philosophical. This has inspired me to experiment with internet, and here is my first experiment. I choose an easy path – music on internet because it is now easy to search for a specific kind of music. One common thread which runs parallel around the world is music, and internet does cater to the musical taste of people by providing the required audio-visuals. As a first step, I tried to correlate different images one imagines in mind to different kinds of music on the internet. I should disclaim at the onset, that my knowledge on technicalities of music is poor, so this experiment was purely on personal front. Probably, people with a better knowledge of music can come up with a better correlation. Anyway, this was for fun ! Ok, the nitty-gritty of this experiment was to match the music to a particular scene I can visualize in my mind when I hear to it. I made a note of the vision I could imagine all along the music. To enhance the effect, this experiment was performed in dark with out looking at the video of the song (if present). All are instrumental music, just to keep things simple. I have given links to all the music so that you can hear it…so here I go…

(it is better to open the links in new tab..)

 The Corrs Silver Strand – journey on a boat, cruising slowing on water, twilight, not very sunny, can’t see land very far off, Kerla

Origen Dance of the clounds  – lost in ones thought, body in present – mind either in past or future, sitting numb, calculating, something unveiling, Calcutta

Ian Bouras’s Latte – suspense, surprise, evening, laser (for a specific sound), suddenness, waiting, speeding, haste, sports

Trio Caliente – lots of bright light, lot of people, horse ride, chain reaction, nothing to hide, flash of water on the sea, decisive, Barcelona.

Tender of passion – feeling humble, seeing stars, something coming to end, big hall, helplessness, children, delhi, talking to a true scholar  

Neon Quinlan – morning, out doors, rising sun, vast, walking, bit of cold, green, getting warmer, seeing water from a far off place, slowing down, canopy, bandipur forest

Una fortiva lagrima – of course windy day at the sea, lots of water, pace, running, searching, change, mangalore, Mumbai, goa, bus travel, wine

Quest of Orpheus – slow, snake, karate, monk, wood, gold and sliver, convergence, growth, dilemma, emergence, steps, roads in small city, ornaments, window, Jaipur.

Dreams of Iliad - hard day’s work, slowly walking, good dinner, Bangalore in the evening, internet, soup, realize, forgetting, brushing teeth, small child, IISc

Corrs – Toss of feather – climbing, mountain, edkal caves, good food, coconut tree, wooden barell, control, fish, aquarium, houses in Europe

 The list is by no means complete,and also please remember that this experiment need not be confined to internet, but in this case I would have never come across any of them but for the specific internet search I made with particular words...hence the relevance to technology 

CHROMA OF SEASON

It is six in the morning, wind blowing hard,

mind sails through the sea losing its guard;

I await the sun to enlighten my thought,

like a child seeking love in mother’s resort.

Sneaking through the corridors of greyish patch,

he shoots his rays for my eyes to snatch;

red, violet and blue, are all there to sight,

when he reveals his gallery, they all converge to white.

All green around me bathe in sprinkled pearl,

flowers dance in the background with an artistic curl;

It was a concert of nature celebrated with emblazon,

glee filled the hearth as light escaped the twilight prison.

Like the breath in my lung, he emerged over horizon,

adding life to my life with the chroma of season;

The definition of freshness was felt in every vein,

darkness being uprooted, moments were devoid of pain.

VERDICT VIA VIEWS

The great English poet Alexander Pope says to observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for the observer's sake.  Now that Oscars are out in the last week and euphoria floating all around India, let me take a stance on the movie slumdog with the aforementioned quote as a backdrop. To begin with, I experimented with this movie. I saw half of the movie when the BAFTAs were announced, and the other half after the Oscars; this was just to test the influence of the movie on my views, and how it was portrayed in the media. Although by no means I am a movie buff, I felt this movie had different dimensions to it, not to say Oscars was always on Boyle’s mind. Now coming back to the movie itself, let me try to postulate the reasons why it grabbed many awards:

MARKET VIEW-POINT:

Make no mistake, India to western world is not just a cultural hub or land of diversity, but a magnanimous market where the billion consumers are viewed as a potential buyer of everything made in west, so why not movies ? Even if a single product made by the western world is consumed by, say 1/4th of Indian population, then the product will indeed produce rich dividends to the seller. Apart from this, India also acts as a good launch-pad to many products in south asia, unlike China which relies mainly on its own production. A movie like Slumdog would have been never possible if Boyle had decided to shoot it in China. Hollywood feels that its market is undermined in India because of the bollywood domination, so the best way to enter the arena was not to fight the enemy in its own den, but to befriend the enemy by identifying the talent in India and portraying it to the world; so Rahman was the obvious choice, along with Russell Pookutty, and of course Gulzar. 

SOCIO-ECONOMICS VIEW-POINT:

 It is a staggering fact revealed by World Bank that a third of the global poor now reside in India, and what better way to portray this than a movie. Boyle’s idea to magnify the poverty is effective, and to some extent humbling too. It is sad if all the things shown in the movie are indeed real, but if it is real, then it is high time for us - the billion Indians to gather steam. But why did Boyle choose India, and not Africa or other parts of Asia ? Part of the reason may be due to openness of India, as our political leverage and media welcomes criticism, and this movie is indeed a critical portrayal of our socio-economical divide, and where else is this division evident as much as in Mumbai? Boyle’s experiment would have neither worked in Israel nor in Nigeria or for that matter Zimbabwe. India after all is a secular republic, so unveiling her grief is simple yet special ! 

 ENTERTAINMENT VIEW-POINT:

CHILDREN are fulcrum to this movie. This is indeed a smart move by Boyle to grab attention. If all the characters in the movie were shown as adults, I doubt the message would have been as effective as it is now. The best way to show emotion, especially the sober ones is through innocence, and children do this effectively than the grown up. Also, children, irrespective of race, colour and language are welcome across the world, than their adult counterparts. Frankly speaking, great Indian filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Girish Kasaravalli and many more have show poverty and suffering of India in greater depth and width than Boyle has done in Slumdog. It is just that foreigner’s camera opens the eyes of globe. It is high time that we first identify our good directors and film makers in India and project them to the world in a better way than it has been done. Then Oscars will not be a once in a century kind of experience.

                After all this, it was heartening to see the ever humble Rahman receiving Oscars, even though he may have not got the award for his best work. In my view, Oscar deserved Rahman more than the other way around, because everyone knows how good he is. In future, if Rahman and Sachin Tendulkar get Baratha Ratna, I will not be surprised. 

JAI HO….to only those who deserve it…

BAIL-OUT

Money, money maketh the mammoth man,

priced possessions raises the devil to elite clan;

with an air of arrogance he sets the trend,

turning the government to a pervasive friend.

Then comes the dubious recession storm,

democracies help him with a new reform.

Bail-out, bail-out these banking thieves,

world highlights only rich man’s grief.

Then comes the mystic election time,

ideals lost, and characters sublime.

The mammoth man plays  a role in the game,

pouring the money to boast his fame.

It is me, the LAYMAN, bewildered and lost,

hunted like a deer to be killed at any cost;

ARISE , AWAKE tells an inner voice,

it's time for us to make a better choice.

Reverberation

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand…these are the remarkable words of Lady Macbeth in the famous ‘sleep walking scence’ of Shakesphere’s MACBETH. Another literary instance which beacons is the peculiar ‘dream-conversation’ between Vasavadatta and Udayana in the drama SWAPNAVASAVADATTA written by the great sanskrit poet Bhasa. I had never ever thought that thinking can be so different and unique in literature, before I came across these descriptions. For a person in science, reading prose and poetry is indeed a welcome digression; as it has an amazing ability to take the mind to new shores, which are untouched by the rocketing Science. Personally speaking, science is like father of thoughts, and literature is mother of hearts. It switches you ON and sails the mind on soothing sea of imagination, and what a pleasant journey it is to travel through this ! Every time I read or hear a lovely prose or poetry, I get nostalgic about my English and Sanskrit classes in my B.Sc. days. The language courses we took have had a tremendous impact on my thought and perspective, and of course have molded my views and taste. It was an interesting time when these classes were held in between the Maths, Physics or Electronics class. This was a unique phase during the college where we experienced rich blend of rigorous science with splendid literature. We had some gifted teachers too, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them; it is indeed an amazing thing how great teachers can sculpt minds, and how they leave an everlasting impression on students. I am a living example of that.

                            During this time, I had the pleasure of studying some lovely poems like MEGHADOOTA, RAGHUVAMSHA, THE SEND OFF, YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE, TELEPHONE CONVERSATION, ULYSSES, OZYMANDIAS and many more. Sometimes I feel that I was not good enough in the past to understand the deep significance hidden in each of them, and I discover a new meaning every time I read them now. Each one of them has a great story to tell, and they resonate in my mind for ever. A big thanks to internet and the public library in Purdue, I have been able to revisit and revise them, time and again.            

               Perhaps this is what good teaching can do, they make the horse go in search of the water, and of course time and experience further teaches the horse how to drink it. Although great teachers come and go in the passage of time, what remains is the reverberation of the immortal thought they seed in the pupil’s mind. Indeed, they do a priceless job…

 

Learning – a game of confinement

Mind is a window with colourful glass,

thoughts are the rays which dwell and surpass;

some are absorbed, some attenuate,

some get entangled to remain innate.

 

Every ray has a cause and an effect,

enters the window to evolve and correct;

Learning is a game of confining them,

and letting them out as a coherent stem.

 

Learning, per se, is a very interesting and involved process; it is a paradigm of mind to seek something unknown or to discover something which is latently hidden in the bushes of our thoughts. Lloyd Alexander says, We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.  Perhaps, this statement blends the definition of both learning and life itself. Every new-born living creature, humans or animals, are wonderful examples of this. It is amazing to see how newbies grasp, learn and adapt to the life surrounding them within such a short span of time. With every new thing learnt by the brain, there is a change in the think-tank, and one could call this as evolution of mind. However, it is interesting to note that humans learn less as they grow older. Although, this is not a general phenomenon, I can confidently say it is the most probabilistic one. There is a kind of aversion to take new things into mind, as we confine ourselves to the imaginary boundaries of thought, beyond which venturing is a strict ‘NO’.  I feel that we should always make an effort to learn something new, to keep ourselves evolved, and perhaps attain the state where learning becomes not only a path but also a destiny of mind. NEVER STOP LEARNING……

Nine rotund sisters

Listen to the story of nine rotund sisters,

all move in ellipse with vivid spectral colours;

Sun is their father, gravity the loving mother,

moons are their dolls which always stay together.

               

My paths are eccentric, with iron as my core,

Einstein’s elegant theory was proved by my shore;

I shiver in the cold and blister in father’s fury,

weird terrains on my skin, I am cute Mercury.

 

I neither have a magnet, nor dolls that go around,

I opened Galileo’s eye making him spellbound;

With pancake volcanoes, I am the ever-glowing highness,

I am a pseudo star, I am the beautiful Venus.

 

I am the land of life with belts and magnetic prisons,  

I home the crazy creatures: the mighty homo-sapiens;

I am the densest sister with a peculiar recipe of birth,

I am the green cradle, I am goddess Earth.

 

I am the fourth sister bathed in crimson red,

sapiens of the earth are digging water on my bed;

 Viking, Pathfinders are looking at my chars,

With Phobos, Deimos dolls, I am the puzzling Mars.

 

I am the walloping sister with a great red spot,

with no fusion tank I am still severely hot;

Mother gravity on me squeezes the inner matter,

with flowing hydrogen, I am the great Jupiter.

 

I am the pretty sister with a sizzling bright ring,

I am lightest of them all, indeed a mystic thing;

Cassini and Kirkwood gaps  form a strange pattern,

I fill the Voyager’s sight, I am the princess Saturn.

 

I am the modern lady, but people were very skeptic,

I am a strange sister rotating parallel to ecliptic;

Herschel spotted my beauty and called me "the Georgium Sidus",

I have an offset magnet, I am the bluish Uranus.

 

I perturb sisters around to take a different path,

I’m home to deadly storms and dark gaseous froth;

I have holes in my clouds with penetrating dune,

I may be the last sister, I am the far Neptune.

 

Father resides far and mother’s affection weak,

I am not a real sister to hold a position I seek;

I am anti-green house with no specific motto,

I move on chaotic path, I am the dwarf Pluto.