Quote Unquote - VII

• Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither -- Benjamin Franklin
  
• It is okay to be smarter than everybody, but you cannot go around pointing it out -- Mary Cooper
  
• Men will be free when the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest -- Denis Diderot
  
• If you think you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around -- Cowboy Wisdom
  
• One man's Kurosawa is another man's Kanti Shah -- Diptakirti Chaudhuri
  
• You can’t live in reality television forever. At some point you have to live in reality. -- Abhishek Kumar
• Science tells us we are merely beasts, but we don’t feel like that. We feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, forever craving transcendence. -- VS Ramachandran
  
• It is difficult to explain, the wrongness of collective punishment. This is because our identity is collective, and so is our behaviour. -- Aakaar Patel
  
• The damage is done by a vernacular-medium world view. Trying to fight it with English-medium tools will end in frustration. -- Aakaar Patel
  
• Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn -- Gone with the Wind
  

Quote Unquote - VI

• Just because you're paranoid, Don't mean we're not after you --Kurt Cobain
• If you are not an Idealist at 20, there is something wrong with your heart. If you are still an Idealist at 40, there is something wrong with your head -- Anonymous
• You can argue, only with someone who is at-least, half right -- Arnab Ray
• Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon -- Susan Ertz
• We fight for our right to say and do whatever we wish, by telling others what they cannot say and do -- Samir
• If your sons grow up badly, there is no amount of power and money on earth that can make that right -- Rashmi Uddhav Thakrey
• The people who take religion most seriously are atheists -- Anonymous
• Every age gets the rich people it deserves -- Siddhartha Deb
• Where did he get his money? And, where did he go to college? -- Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
• Doctors prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing -- Voltaire
  

Career Planning (55 Word Fiction)

"So, what are you planning to do in your life, Son ?"
"All your friends are already helping their fathers in their work."
"And you are wasting time, drawing those stupid paintings, on my home wall."
"What use is of, taking to Arts anyways ?"
"You are shaming us by going into that field."


- Bhimbetkaa, 90000BC

My Invented Proverbs - Part VI

• It is scarier when power doesnt remain a pre-requisite for corruption.
• If you want to think out of the box, dont ask the size of the box in the first place.
• If you are not Smart enough, then you are not Smart enough to realise that you are not Smart enough.
• The refusal for introspection is the first sign of Decay.
• The single most reason for most problems of the world is bad parenting
  
• Bad Parenting is Hereditary
• The worst of people are those who do not deserve to have truth spoken on their faces
• Not only is life Unfair, it is unfair to different people in Unfairly different Proportions
• Corollary to Godwin's Law : As an online discussion involving Indians grows longer, the probability of discussing Modi and/or Gujarat approaches 1
• All philosophies/strategies of life sound nice to hear about, so long as you are not on the receiving end of them.
  

Quote Unquote - V

• He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words -- Sadia Sarfaraz
• Marxism is not a substitute for Intelligence -- DD Koshambi
• Idealism is little more than a form of prejudice -- Patrick French
• How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind -- Bob Dylan
• Pay attention to advice from people who have a stake in your happiness, and not a stake in your success -- Sidin Vadukut
• Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body -- Elizabeth Stone
• Sacred cows make the best hamburger -- Mark Twain
• When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity. The distinction between crime and justice is no greater -- George Bernard Shaw
• What is true of Families and Communities, is true of Nations. There is no reason to believe that there is one law for Family and another for Nations -- Mahatma Gandhi
• If a chance that comes up only once in a century is wasted, it takes another century to make up for that loss -- Hamid Dalwai
  

Quote Unquote - IV

• The more populous the category, the less it tells you about any individual within it -- James Fallows
• The world is a beautiful place, and worth fighting for -- Ernest Hemmingway
• You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it -- Master Oogway (Kung-Fu Panda)
• The first law of decency is to preserve the liberty of others -- Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
• The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page -- Saint Augustine
• Democracy and Freedom have little to do with majorities, and everything to do with individual rights -- Girish Shahane
• Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Na Milya Koye, Jo Mann Khoja Apna, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye (I sought the wicked ones, but found none, And when I looked within myself, I found none more evil than me) -- Kabir
• Utopias kill; radical universalist utopias, kill radically and universally -- Yehuda Bauer
• The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn -- Anand Jadhav
• Every revolution begins with noble intentions and ends up by devouring its own children -- B Raman
  

Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani

कुछ तो कमि रखी होती उसके ईमान में,
थोड़ा तो सब्र होता, रुख-ए-आसमाँ में |
होंगे कई मसीहा ऐ खुदा तुम्हारे पास,
एक छोड़ दिया होता हमको, इस जहां में |
ईमान है आधा खुला, आधा ढका पडा,
एक पूरा कोई इंसान नही आता ध्यान में |
सुनता नही है कोई यहाँ सच्चाई की सदा,
यकीन कौन करेगा, अब इन बद-गुमानों में |
यह सोच नहीं बाकी, क्या अच्छा है, क्या बुरा,
तकसीम करते है कुछ तो, है वो इंसानों में |
करते रहेंगे वो ही, जो हुआ है उनसे पहले,
तोलेंगे नहीं किसी को, वक़्त की ढलान से |
जहालत कहे इसे हम, या किस्म संग-दिली की,
रोया नहीं है कोई, अब तक तेरे बयान से |
दिखला दिया है नीचा, बुलाके हम को काफ़िर,
एक बार पूछा होता उन्हने मेरे इमान से |
एक दूजो को देते है, तोहमतो के नज़राने,
गढ़ती नहीं है नज़रें, खुद अपने गिरेहबान में |
मानता है हर एक आदमी को खलील तुम्हारा,
क्यूँ छोड़ दिया हमको फिर युहीं दरमियाँ में |

- खलील सावंत (~2004)

Harry Potter, The Defense Against Dark Arts and the Seven Unwanted Vices

For those who have been following the "Harry Potter" series (books/movie) religiously, would be well versed with the fact that Harry and friends had a subject called "Defense Against Dark Arts" all along their education. Also the fact that the job of the "Defense Against Dark Arts" teacher was jinxed , and hence no Professor remained in the position for more than one year. This meant that each year we had a new Professor for the position and consequentially the scope of introduction of a new charachter each year/book.

I realised a small observation regarding the people who took up the post each year. Apparently each of the seven people, were charachteristically different from each other, and exhibit some charachteristic unwanted vices (unwanted in the sense that we wouldnt want it in ourselves) .

• Quirrell, in the first year, is some-one who is cowardly and spine-less
• Lockhart, in the second year, is some-one who is boastfull and fraudulent.
• Lupin, in the third year, is some-one who is miserable.
• Moody, in the fourth year, is some-one who is cranky, Vichitr and actually deceitfull(no more spoilers)
• Umbridge, in the fifth year, is some-one who is corrupt and un-just.
• Snape, in the sixth year, is some-one who is vengeful and un-courteous.
• Slughorn, in the seventh year, is some-one who is lazy and nepotistic.

Just an observation, although some vices apply to others also.

Quote Unquote - III

• The 20s are designed for failure, so fail all your can. Because in 30s there is no room for making mistakes -- Dustin Hoffman
• Animals do smart things with their pea-sized brains, and humans do animal things with their smart-sized brain -- Gaurav Patil
• Jumping off of a 200-foot cliff is a lot of fun for 199 feet, That final 12 inches is a bitch -- Sam Davidson
• Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into -- Henry Beecher
• Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you do not need an appointment -- Catherine Aitken
• There is always room at the top, but there is no lift -- Jaswant Singh
• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness -- Mark Twain
• I believe that parents also want their kids to chase their dreams, but they know from their own life experiences how hard it is know which dream to chase. -- Amit Singh
• The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. -- Adam Smith
• The road to positivity is strewn with the abandoned vehicles of the faint-hearted. -- Anand Jadhav
  

My Invented Proverbs - Part V

• People are too lazy to specialize, hence they generalize. They hence do not work on facts, obtained through specialization, but rather on perceptions, obtained through generalization.
• Xenophobia is selective Mis-Anthropy.
• Your popularity is directly proportional to the ratio of your twitter-followers-count to your twitter-followings-count.
• GOD is a placebo for Human fallibility.
• 90% of people within any group, resent the fact that they are not 100%
• History may be written by victors, but Archaelogy is not.
• I am not an atheist, I am just GOD with retrograde amnesia.
• I am not on bench, I am suffering from a "Programmers block".
• There is a whole range of gray shades between pride and shame.
• If we cannot have consensus on current affairs, why do we expect different people to have a consistent view of history, for today's current affairs are tomorrow's history.
  

Logical Grouping of Devanaagari Baaraakhadi

Came across this interesting realisation about the arrangements of the Baaraakhadi in Devanaagari.

This is about how you use your tongue and mouth cavity to articulate a particular sound.
There is a sort of logical grouping and progression about the arrangements.

क, ख, ग, घ, and ङ sounds are all articulated by the tounge against the back of the ceiling of the mouth cavity
For च, छ, ज, झ, and ञ sounds, we move forward and use tounge against the centre of the mouth cavity's ceiling
ट, ठ, ड, ढ, and ण are produced more forward behind the gums of incisors
त, थ, द, ध, and न are produced with the tounge against the teeth
and प, फ, ब, भ, and म are produced by the lips alone.

Considering the expertise on grammar that stands 2.5 millenia, this phonetic formalism is not a surprise.

The curious case of the missing Bania

Disclaimer : Academic post, not meant to be normative, the word "Bania" is used bona-fide.

One of the undeniable realities of Indian history has been the caste system. A little thought on the same(induced by formal history reading) would lead one to conclude, that this social stratification had not been uniform throughout the country. The caste divisions as seen in Uttar Pradesh are different from those in Tamil Nadu.

One of the more peculiar things regarding this that I realised in hindsight was the absense of the trading stratum within the Maharashtrian caste heirarchy. There are Brahmans, there are Kshatriyas and Shudras and there is a "warrior+peasentry" mix in the Marathas, there are Dalits, but no Vanika. Such an absense of the Vanika is not seen starkly in any other place, which have their fair share. I think I can safely argue that on an average, having business sense(or business shrewdness) has never been the common man Maharashtrian's strength. This is also shown by the absense of any big Maharashtria names in the field of business, (specifically as business owners).

I think that one of the outcomes of this was that trading people from other places, came in and filled this vacancy. As much as different strata of the society have a varying degree of influence on the society in general, it can be argued that the "having" of economic clout goes a long way in determining the political (and other) clouts. Consequentially there is absence of Marathi clout specifically on the economic front in Mumbai. The popularity of people like MNS and SS could be attributed to this resentment.

Having said all this, it is possible that my observation may be incomplete and hence flawed.

Quote Unquote - II

• When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber -- Winston Churchill
• Stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones -- Ahmed Zaki Yamani
• The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing -- Edmund Burke
• A country is known by the proverbs it keeps -- Anonymous
• I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go -- Abraham Lincoln
• Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them -- Mark Twain
• The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself -- Mark Twain
• Man's greatest blunder has been in trying to make peace with the skies instead of making peace with his neighbors -- Elbert Hubbard
• Most people have no knowledge of their history. They only live it. -- Bhishm Sahani
• A person's maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child, at play. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Well Done Major Khan (55-word Fiction)

1965

"Well Done Major Khan, that was a brave show", said Brigadier Singh, "But you look upset".
"Nothing, Sir".
"One of the enemy soldiers killed was his cousin", explained Colonel Khanna.
"Uncle had migrated during 1947, father chose not to".
"Oh".
"Jai Hind, Sir".
"Jai Hind, Dismissed".

आंखे

बोहोत कुछ युं ही केह जाती है आंखे लेकिन,
निभाई दिल से दोस्ती तुम्हारी आंखों ने ।
मै सोचता हूं तुम्हारी सीरत के बारे में,
नेकी इतनी दिखा दि तुम्हारी आंखों ने ।
एक हसीन चीज खुशी होती है जिंदगी भर की,
क्यूं कहा जाता है, जताया तुम्हारी आंखों ने ।
- खलील सावंत

Eyes generally say a lot about a person,
Not to betray your heart, your eyes though, chose.
I think about your good character,
Goodness, so much your eyes have shown.
A thing oof beauty is a joy forever,
Why it is said, your eyes have made me realise.
- Khalil Sawant

Rozaa (55 Word Non-Fiction)

Disclaimer : The following post contains Explicit Language. Reader's Discretion advised.

"Main Kya Idhar B**C** Baitthaa Hun Tera Sun Ke Leney Ke Liye", said one.
"Bh***D**, M**C**giri Tuney Chaloo Ki Thi", replied the other
...
...
I finally couldnt take it anymore.
I got up to the window and had a nice look down at both of them.
"Ek Meharbaanee Kariye", I shouted. "Kal Se Rozaa Mat Rakhnaa"

Sach

लगता है डर सच से, लोगों को इसलिये,
उनको भी शायद उसकी अजमत पे यकीं होगा ।
- खलील सावंत

Truth is feared, by people because,
they too perhaps trust its strength.
- Khalil Sawant

Conflict of Interest

Humans are in a fundamental conflict of interest

It is required for them for their daily food that they sell themselves (as we call it)
It necessitates for every individual, the need for showing how he/she is good with what he/she is
Gradually this even takes/took the help of falsehood

It is required for them to maintain peace with each other, for a successful society in general
It necessitates the need for humbleness and mutual respect, lessening of the importance of how good you are, for bragging (honest or otherwise) and peace with others cannot go hand in hand

Humans are in a fundamental conflict of interest

On Krishna and Achilles

Was watching Troy yesterday on HBO
Achilles killed by his heel
One more person died similarly, Krishna, an arrow through his foot
Then something struck me
Achilles and the Trojan war was around 12-11 century BC
Krishna and the Mahabharata was around 11-10 century BC

Two legends, two historical wars, two similar deaths, nearly the same time
The connection ends there :)

Hariyanvi Mehta

Had known a guy, junior in college for some time now, around 10 months now, is a Mehta.
Came to know that he is a Hariyanvi from around Sirsa.
Weird, I thought Mehtas were supposed to be only Gujaratis.
Anyways :)