************************************************************************************************************
The other day there was this derisive comment by a ruling party official on the election symbol of the main opposition party: The Lotus
He asks:
"What is the use of a lotus?...it is useless"
The gentleman must be a South Indian. For, the only use of flowers in the south is that he can buy them for his wife who would wear them in her hairdo. Obviously a couple of full-blown lotuses can't serve this purpose. Well, if the wife were brand new, she would indeed wear them for his pleasure for an hour but he will hear of it throughout his life as a memento of his imbecility.
I recall the occasion when Freddie wanted a willing accomplice to help steal his aunt's diamond necklace in Leave It To Psmith. And in arranging the rendezvous with this unknown Psmith, Freddie writes to him asking him to stand in the lobby of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel wearing a pink chrysanthemum in his buttonhole. And you can imagine the chagrin of the dandy Psmith to be seen wearing a thing as big as a cauliflower in his buttonhole.
Turns out Freddie actually meant a carnation:
The earlier election symbol of the said opposition party was an oil lamp. That sure has a purpose especially now in AP where there is no power for love or money...neither is there much oil though. Just this morning I was talking in skype to an old-student-couple stationed in the US who, as usual, were 'thinking' of returning to India 'sometime' in the near future. And I was selling our Hyderabad like our Autocrat who said that he could dispense with the necessities of life if they could give him its luxuries. Hyderabad has no power nor water but it has 24-hour wi-fi and a dozen mobile companies that are vying with each other...talking is dirt cheap here.
During my childhood there were only two parties in the then Andhra State: Congress and Communist. We had a strong communist movement and had a recognized communist opposition of 50 MLAs while other 'progressive' states like Bengal were groaning under the Congress yoke. Congress then had Two Bulls & Yoke as its symbol, naturally...India was then an agricultural country.
The Communists had the Sickle and a Sheaf of Corn as their election symbol...just for a change in the agronomy. By and by the communist movement split vertically and we had the new CPI (M) whose symbol was sickle, hammer and a star. Hammer was ok since India turned somewhat industrial by then but I could never get the meaning of star there.
Congress lost its bulls and yoke and took up Cow and Calf. That too was discarded and it is now the hand with its lifeline, head-line, heart-line and a hint of fate-line clearly visible. A raised hand always reminded me of my teachers in my primary school who believed in threats first and action later.
And then there is this elephant which is certainly useful in temple-processions in the South. But the elephant-party right now is a Northern affair.
This question: "What's the use?" always bugged me like I suppose most folks who chose to do theoretical physics since they were good for nothing else.
What was just Physics in the 19th century acquired several adjectives before it to qualify and sanctify this useless thing. We had at our University separate departments for Nuclear Physics, Applied Physics, Geophysics and maybe many others now.
Indeed by now Physics has become a buzz-noun that can acquire any adjective or noun before it to glamorize it and make it seem useful. Bio is one such. And Climate is another...just say it and you have it...for Rs 5 only.
I myself was once helping write up a paper for an American Industrial Engineering journal on series production systems and used the word:
"the Physics of 2-stage production systems"
And I wrote a blog titled:
"Physics of Sex"
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2010/03/physics-of-sex.html
So I guess everything has its uses...
************************************************************************************************************
The other day there was this derisive comment by a ruling party official on the election symbol of the main opposition party: The Lotus
He asks:
"What is the use of a lotus?...it is useless"
The gentleman must be a South Indian. For, the only use of flowers in the south is that he can buy them for his wife who would wear them in her hairdo. Obviously a couple of full-blown lotuses can't serve this purpose. Well, if the wife were brand new, she would indeed wear them for his pleasure for an hour but he will hear of it throughout his life as a memento of his imbecility.
I recall the occasion when Freddie wanted a willing accomplice to help steal his aunt's diamond necklace in Leave It To Psmith. And in arranging the rendezvous with this unknown Psmith, Freddie writes to him asking him to stand in the lobby of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel wearing a pink chrysanthemum in his buttonhole. And you can imagine the chagrin of the dandy Psmith to be seen wearing a thing as big as a cauliflower in his buttonhole.
Turns out Freddie actually meant a carnation:
During my childhood there were only two parties in the then Andhra State: Congress and Communist. We had a strong communist movement and had a recognized communist opposition of 50 MLAs while other 'progressive' states like Bengal were groaning under the Congress yoke. Congress then had Two Bulls & Yoke as its symbol, naturally...India was then an agricultural country.
The Communists had the Sickle and a Sheaf of Corn as their election symbol...just for a change in the agronomy. By and by the communist movement split vertically and we had the new CPI (M) whose symbol was sickle, hammer and a star. Hammer was ok since India turned somewhat industrial by then but I could never get the meaning of star there.
Congress lost its bulls and yoke and took up Cow and Calf. That too was discarded and it is now the hand with its lifeline, head-line, heart-line and a hint of fate-line clearly visible. A raised hand always reminded me of my teachers in my primary school who believed in threats first and action later.
And then there is this elephant which is certainly useful in temple-processions in the South. But the elephant-party right now is a Northern affair.
This question: "What's the use?" always bugged me like I suppose most folks who chose to do theoretical physics since they were good for nothing else.
What was just Physics in the 19th century acquired several adjectives before it to qualify and sanctify this useless thing. We had at our University separate departments for Nuclear Physics, Applied Physics, Geophysics and maybe many others now.
Indeed by now Physics has become a buzz-noun that can acquire any adjective or noun before it to glamorize it and make it seem useful. Bio is one such. And Climate is another...just say it and you have it...for Rs 5 only.
I myself was once helping write up a paper for an American Industrial Engineering journal on series production systems and used the word:
"the Physics of 2-stage production systems"
And I wrote a blog titled:
"Physics of Sex"
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2010/03/physics-of-sex.html
So I guess everything has its uses...
************************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment