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I didn't then hear the phrase: "doing its own thing". But, if you ask me, the best example of a creature that I watched doing its own thing was the crab on the Vizagh sea beach.
Those seven years I spent in Vizagh from 1958 to 1965 were eminently forgettable years for me since I was then not allowed to do my own thing, whatever that was. I was in my teens for most of those years and was subject to the teenage blues. And those happened to be my university years where I had to mug up subjects like chemistry and physics which neither I nor my teachers understood the way I wanted to. And the bugbear called math which I had to somehow pass. Neither then nor later could I do integrations without the help of Tables. And I was perennially hard up. And I was practically friendless. And I was expected by my family to stand first, I don't know why.
But then, in retrospect, I guess those years laid a solid foundation for future frustrations, if that was any help.
I was then living in a tiny shack with lime walls, bedbugs dropping from the ceiling on my bed...Tik 20 came much later. But the consolation was that the house was on a hillock a furlong up from the beach and had a window with a sea-view...unlike now in Hyderabad where every prospect leads to rocks or concrete jungles. My table was propped against the window, so, not much of concentration was possible on mugging up the periodic table. When exams approached periodically I had to get down and squat on the floor with P. Ray's unreadable chemistry tome on my lap...it was my fault and the fault of the subject, not the author's. Otherwise I used to run down to the beach most evenings and sit there on a rock with my feet drenched by the incoming and receding sizzling waves hitting the sandy beach. And watch the scenic Dolphin's Nose hillock jutting into the sea and ships anchored at the horizon.
And gather wool.
I used to then watch a host of crabs crawling on the sands. All of them had their own specific holes. And I guess they heard the sea waves through their skin and feet, like snakes. As soon as a wave receded they would peep out and crawl fiercely and run sideways hither and thither hunting for their food whatever that was. And as soon as they sensed a wave approach, they ran back and hid in their holes. Again and again...no worrisome quarterlies, half-yearlies, and annual exams for them. Food and sex and predators...that's all they worried about...like me subconsciously.
Things changed altogether for the best for me as soon as I landed a teaching job at IIT KGP in 1965. No one there expected big things from me...just do the minimum to get paid the next month's salary. And I was allowed to learn and teach at my own pace. And I got unduly promoted to the next position whenever they found me ok for it...I rarely applied unless my HoD (or equivalently) my wife came to know that I was dodging.
And it continues...I was never good at chess or bridge and skipped them shamelessly. And the other day I was given a primitive version of a Rubic Cube and asked to disentangle it. I threw it away after a few minutes of wasted trial and error. And got back to my evening's blogging.
I guess our PM (by Monday) has always been doing things his own way. And the best we can do is to let him go on doing it, for better or worse.
Many furious journos and politicos dumped his chances in the bin and wrote erudite but nasty pieces about him and his credentials and his personal life and his beliefs and his vaunted 56" chest and his riots.
All of them had to eat their hats in a hurry. Our Shobhaa-di who wrote that she was packing her bags to go to Pakistan ate her words gracefully.
But the worst retreat came from a chap who lets himself be called an 'educator and commentator' in his byline. I expected better of him. And he was less of an educator and more of a left-liberal intellectual...they are now a species on the verge of extinction...they are neither left (of what?) nor liberal nor intellectual. These things don't sell anymore. Youngsters want jobs (even in Didi's Bengal). They had had enough of preaching.
This 'educator' wrote a piece ruing the post-election lashing he got from My India (for better or worse). And although he started with a left-handed apology for getting his intellect washed and put up to dry in the Bengal summer sun, his article still remains preachy...now happily enlarging on the insurmountable hurdles in the path of Modiji and almost wishing him ill luck from the word go, surreptitiously:
http://www.asianage.com/columnists/right-wrong-way-073
You may ask me how I would describe myself if I had a byline.
I am a fond cynic:
I define Cynic as one to whom there are no surprises.
If they say Osama has been found and elected President of the US after the Impeachment of Obama, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say Wheeler really SAW a Black Hole, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say Superstring Theorists finally found the Theory of Everything including himself, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say they have found a 500-page Proof of Fermat's Last But One Theorem, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say India and Pakistan decided to live in Everlasting Peace, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say the British decided to overthrow Monarchy and imitate the French Revolution, he would say: I am not surprised.
He can't be convinced unless he sees one; which he does everyday in his Shaving Mirror.
I am not surprised!!!!
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Swadharmo nidhanam shreya:
Paradharmo bhayaavah:
...Gita
"There is only one success --- to be able to spend your life in your own way"
...Christopher Morley
...Modi's cook Badri, who has served him for over a decade, also moved to Delhi with him. His personal aides Dinesh Thakur and OP Singh also travelled with him into his new home. What Modi is leaving behind is the salary he earned as CM in 13 years. According to a close aide, he intends to give away the money for a fund that would be used to educate children of the staff working at the CM's Secretariat...
...ToI Front Page, Friday May 23, 2014
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I didn't then hear the phrase: "doing its own thing". But, if you ask me, the best example of a creature that I watched doing its own thing was the crab on the Vizagh sea beach.
Those seven years I spent in Vizagh from 1958 to 1965 were eminently forgettable years for me since I was then not allowed to do my own thing, whatever that was. I was in my teens for most of those years and was subject to the teenage blues. And those happened to be my university years where I had to mug up subjects like chemistry and physics which neither I nor my teachers understood the way I wanted to. And the bugbear called math which I had to somehow pass. Neither then nor later could I do integrations without the help of Tables. And I was perennially hard up. And I was practically friendless. And I was expected by my family to stand first, I don't know why.
But then, in retrospect, I guess those years laid a solid foundation for future frustrations, if that was any help.
I was then living in a tiny shack with lime walls, bedbugs dropping from the ceiling on my bed...Tik 20 came much later. But the consolation was that the house was on a hillock a furlong up from the beach and had a window with a sea-view...unlike now in Hyderabad where every prospect leads to rocks or concrete jungles. My table was propped against the window, so, not much of concentration was possible on mugging up the periodic table. When exams approached periodically I had to get down and squat on the floor with P. Ray's unreadable chemistry tome on my lap...it was my fault and the fault of the subject, not the author's. Otherwise I used to run down to the beach most evenings and sit there on a rock with my feet drenched by the incoming and receding sizzling waves hitting the sandy beach. And watch the scenic Dolphin's Nose hillock jutting into the sea and ships anchored at the horizon.
And gather wool.
I used to then watch a host of crabs crawling on the sands. All of them had their own specific holes. And I guess they heard the sea waves through their skin and feet, like snakes. As soon as a wave receded they would peep out and crawl fiercely and run sideways hither and thither hunting for their food whatever that was. And as soon as they sensed a wave approach, they ran back and hid in their holes. Again and again...no worrisome quarterlies, half-yearlies, and annual exams for them. Food and sex and predators...that's all they worried about...like me subconsciously.
Things changed altogether for the best for me as soon as I landed a teaching job at IIT KGP in 1965. No one there expected big things from me...just do the minimum to get paid the next month's salary. And I was allowed to learn and teach at my own pace. And I got unduly promoted to the next position whenever they found me ok for it...I rarely applied unless my HoD (or equivalently) my wife came to know that I was dodging.
And it continues...I was never good at chess or bridge and skipped them shamelessly. And the other day I was given a primitive version of a Rubic Cube and asked to disentangle it. I threw it away after a few minutes of wasted trial and error. And got back to my evening's blogging.
I guess our PM (by Monday) has always been doing things his own way. And the best we can do is to let him go on doing it, for better or worse.
Many furious journos and politicos dumped his chances in the bin and wrote erudite but nasty pieces about him and his credentials and his personal life and his beliefs and his vaunted 56" chest and his riots.
All of them had to eat their hats in a hurry. Our Shobhaa-di who wrote that she was packing her bags to go to Pakistan ate her words gracefully.
But the worst retreat came from a chap who lets himself be called an 'educator and commentator' in his byline. I expected better of him. And he was less of an educator and more of a left-liberal intellectual...they are now a species on the verge of extinction...they are neither left (of what?) nor liberal nor intellectual. These things don't sell anymore. Youngsters want jobs (even in Didi's Bengal). They had had enough of preaching.
This 'educator' wrote a piece ruing the post-election lashing he got from My India (for better or worse). And although he started with a left-handed apology for getting his intellect washed and put up to dry in the Bengal summer sun, his article still remains preachy...now happily enlarging on the insurmountable hurdles in the path of Modiji and almost wishing him ill luck from the word go, surreptitiously:
http://www.asianage.com/columnists/right-wrong-way-073
You may ask me how I would describe myself if I had a byline.
I am a fond cynic:
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cynicism
=====================================================I define Cynic as one to whom there are no surprises.
If they say Osama has been found and elected President of the US after the Impeachment of Obama, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say Wheeler really SAW a Black Hole, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say Superstring Theorists finally found the Theory of Everything including himself, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say they have found a 500-page Proof of Fermat's Last But One Theorem, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say India and Pakistan decided to live in Everlasting Peace, he would say: I am not surprised.
If they say the British decided to overthrow Monarchy and imitate the French Revolution, he would say: I am not surprised.
Is there really any Perfect Cynic?
He can't be convinced unless he sees one; which he does everyday in his Shaving Mirror.
I am not surprised!!!!
.............................................................
...Posted by Ishani
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