Happy Birthday Chennai

It has been 369 years since the founding of our dear old Chennai. On August 22, 1639, Francis Day of East India Company received a piece of land from a local chieftain and that's how Madras came into being. A sleepy fishing hamlet is now a sprawling metropolis - IT hub, medical capital of India and so on. Bit conservative yes, but nowadays a happening city. Born and brought up in Chennai, I am very proud of my city. On this occasion, I have to commend Mr. S. Muthiah who through his books and columns has brought out graphically the various facets of Chennai in all its glory.

Cybernetic H(e)aven !

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Richard Brautigan

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

This was written by American writer Richard Brautigan in late 1960s. He envisages a future where computers, humans and animals will co-exist in a peaceful manner. This poem exudes rosy optimism in stark contrast to dark futures foretold by many a book in which computers take over the world and even supplant us human beings.

Khudiram Bose

Today an advertisement issued by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in The Hindu caught my eye. It carried a photo of a young lad, Khudiram Bose, with the words "The Youngest Revolutionary who laid his life in the Service of mother India". He has lived hardly 19 years ! I vaguely recall reading about him long back in NCERT history book alongside the names of well known revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad. I set about to research about him on the net. Wikipedia had an entry on him about how he planned to assassinate Kingsford, the Calcutta Presidency Magistrate, but inadvertently killed two British ladies instead. He was arrested and sentenced to death. Wikipedia says "he was hanged on August 11, 1908. But the one thing that surprised everyone was that as he was hanged he was still smiling. And to this the Bengali poet Kaji Najrul Islam wrote a poem to honor him."
As our 61st Independent Day is fast approaching, let us pause a moment and think about the immense sacrifice of people like Khudiram Bose and do our bit towards making our motherland proud.

Red Letter Day

Today is a red letter day in history of Indian sports. Abhinav Bindra did all of us Indians proud by winning the Olympic gold medal in shooting. Let us hope that this 25-year-old lad's grand accomplishment will inspire many of our sportsmen to go for the gold.

Red Earth and Pouring Rain

Tamil Sangam literature is cherished for its richness. Though I have just nibbled at the edges of its vast richness, the following sample will suffice, I think, for its greatness. See the usage of the metaphor of red earth and pouring rain for lover's longing. I have given the poem in its Tamizh original and its English translation by inimitable A K Ramanujan.

Incidentally I remember reading elsewhere that this vintage Tamil verse became the first (also the only Asian and Indian) poem in a set of six, displayed on the London subway through June-July 2001.

குறிஞ்சி - தலைவன் கூற்று

யாயும் ஞாயும் யாரா கியரோ
எந்தையும் நுந்தையும் எம்முறைக் கேளிர்
யானும் நீயும் எவ்வழி யறிதும்
செம்புலப் பெயனீர் போல
அன்புடை நெஞ்சம் தாங்கலந் தனவே.

-செம்புலப் பெயனீரார்.

Red earth and pouring rain

What could my mother be
to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
Did you and I meet ever?
But in love
our hearts have mingled
as red earth and pouring rain

Translated by AK Ramanujan (Kuruntokai - 40)

A poem from the Eight Anthologies Collection.

BlogWatch

Today NDTV 24x7 featured blogger Mayank Austen Soofi in their breakfast news with the news that he could be the youngest India to be featured in Pakistani textbooks aimed at 11th standard students. This piqued by interest and I did research on him on net and came across his blogs and also a write-up on him in The Hindustan Times (July24, 2008). Let me reproduce it below:

He has broken new ground on the blogosphere. Twenty-eight-year-old journalist-blogger Mayank Austen Soofi, 28, could become the youngest Indian to be published in a Pakistani textbook.

Soofi’s blog Pakistan Paindabad aims to shatter stereotyped Indian perceptions about its neighbour. “People treat Pakistan as a country of terrorist camps, but there are swanky cafes, pretty girls, galleries, writers… a very Khan Market crowd. I wanted people to see that it’s as normal as India,” he says.

Samuel Ray, editor, Oxford University Press, Pakistan, recently wrote to Soofi showing interest in using material from his blog for an English textbook for class XI students. “It’s great. Nothing’s finalised yet, but if I’m published it will be a slap to all those people who think Pakistani publishing is all about India haters,” says Soofi.

The excerpts being sought are from a series called ‘Five Best Things About Pakistan’, wherein Soofi got writers, activists and common people from Pakistan or of Pakistani origin to pick their top five.

On his first visit to Pakistan in 2006 for the World Social Forum, Soofi fell in love with the country. His travelogue on Heera Mandi, Lahore’s red light district, has garnered interested from Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “But he doesn’t want me to talk about it yet,” he shrugs.

The assistant editor with Hindustan Times has five blogs that he updates regularly. And if you are wondering how the nomenclature came about, he is officially Mayank Singh but his passion for Jane Austen and Sufism made him denounce a sectarian identity.

It is indeed heartening to know that he is doing his bit towards friendship with our neighbor. We , Indians, should realize that not all Pakistanis are terrorists hellbent on destroying us. An average Pakistani is as much peace loving as we Indians are.

"88888" Campaign

I have been reading in newspapers for the last few days about the plan to voluntarily switch off power at 8 p.m. to 8:08 p.m. for eight minutes on August 8th in symbolic support of Exnora's campaign to create awareness about global warming . It is indeed a laudable initiative. It is heartening to read that many school students have taken a pledge to implement the plan. It is high time young school kids are sensitized to environmental concerns at an early age. I will do my bit too and switch off power on 8th August at 8 p.m. and sensitize my son Nikhil towards saving our fragile ecosystem.