A Room With No Exit

Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out.

-Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530)

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Levels of Confusions

We do not know many things. We seem to learn few things as time passes but there is this nagging feeling of incomprehensibility. Here is a quote from Oksendal's Stochastic Differential Equations:

We have not succeeded in answering all our problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

- Posted outside the mathematics reading room, Tromso University

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Going Through the Past

What is the role of evolution of ideas in communicating those ideas? Here is a quote for us to think about such issues.

The task of the educator is to make the child's spirit pass again where its forefathers have gone, moving rapidly through certain stages but suppressing none of them. In this regard, the history of science must be our guide.

- Poincare

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We deserve this, don't we?

1. Rahul eats Puri, Curry, and Daal.
2. Cat stuck on the Roof
3. Amitabh Bacchan catches cold
4. Commissioner's pet dog goes missing and later found

These are some of the breaking news of our media!!! Read more here.
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Finding the Heaven

Who has not found the Heaven — below —
Will fail of it above.
- Emily Dickinson

I saw those waves splashing against stones with force that could not have been imagined. Driblets were distributed in space. I tried to find a face in those bantam drops. A face that lives amidst the silence of pleaching waves. It is a game of hide-and-seek.

Hide! Hide! I stood for a long time.

Seek! Seek! I stood for a long time until a sparge of dribs caressed my skin. When they diffused and dried up, I heard the sea chuckled.

It is a game of glide-and-eek.
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Pay Rs.2 and get Rs.700 - the CPM way

The Economic Times reports,

... It (CPM) already has two prime properties in Delhi — one in the Gole Market area and the other on Rouse Avenue. While the revolutionary activities around the country are being dictated from the AKG Bhawan in Gole Market, the BT Ranadive Bhawan houses the party’s trade union wing CITU’s central office. The new plots that the CPM has acquired are on the Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg, close to Rouse Avenue. The new plots, spread over 2,850 sqm have been allotted to the CPM for Rs 60 lakh, according to sources. The market value of these plots is around the range of Rs 45-50 crore.

... The CPM’s grand land acquisition in Delhi clearly indicates a cosy arrangement between the Congress and the Left. The Left, which does not spare any opportunity to amplify its differences with the Congress and the government, has been quite successful in having its way in important postings. Rivals of the CPM have been alleging that the party is benefiting hugely from the patronage dispensation system of the Centre.

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When Light Enhances Darkness ...

A dark room always invoke an inexplicable state of feeling that something is going to happen. I might call it curiosity. But is it that? The objects in the dark room are invisible. A death lurking in that darkness is certainly invisible. Invisibility gives invincibility. Death is anyway invisible even during the day. Death would be invisible for years. The moment it shows its face, it no longer evokes fear. Fear becomes fact.

I met a cheerful girl nearly two decades ago. She came to the bus-stand to receive me in the city of Ananda. Before my friend introduced me to her, she started talking about many things that included physics, food, books, and films. During the next five days, we, three of us, had many occasions to discuss whatever we like. That was a luxury. I cannot do that now. People are so busy in their lives, it is difficult for them to listen to something outside their interests. Time just flew then without leaving any scar but making every moment magical. When I had to return back, it was quite tough for me to let go of those moments. Those are magical moments. They could fly away without actually leaving you.

I got a letter from that cheerful and innocent girl after a few days. I replied immediately. I got her reply after a couple of days. Those days were days of post-cards. I think I still have some of those post-cards she had then written, somewhere in my dark room. As it always happens, our correspondence became less frequent. Almost stopped after six months.

I met her again few years back. Thanks to my friend (yes, the same friend who came before) who tried hard to find me again - yes, we too had lost the thread. How we got lost and found each other in contact again is a story in itself which I have to record it sometime. Loss never stays. Loss never stays forever. I met him again in the city of Malgudi. When I went to meet him, I met her there again. The same cheerful, innocent, and divine face after all those storms life bestowed on her. Being cheerful is not necessarily being in cheerfulness. She welcomed me with her kids. I met her mother, father, and met everyone I had met two decades ago. Magical moments again.

Life had to go on. It goes on. When I went to my friend's house, in the city of Ice House, a few months after those Malgudi days, I spoke to her over the phone. She was then in United States. The voice sounded a bit tired but the cheer in the spirits was there.

Death is invisible. Invisibility invokes invincibility. It struck her from behind. She had back-ache. It went into her blood. The cruel hands of death silently reached the source. They created beautiful patterns at micro-levels without bothering about its brutal effects at macro-levels. She is no more. Our hearts blame the higher powers. Our hearts are now full of doubts befriended by questions that have no answers.

When death makes itself visible, it becomes more invincible than before. Our minds and hearts are left alone to search for something that gives meaning for this seemingly meaningless life that flows forever and more.

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New Blog on Bharatanatyam

http://natyavidya.wordpress.com/

I happened to know about this blog a couple of days ago from Vidya's father. Vidya is a cute, little, budding Bharatanatyam exponent. There are three posts so far, on Anusham Dance Group and Kalakshetra, but more instructive and interesting posts, I believe, are planned for future. Keep a watch on this blog.

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School means leisure!!

The title says "mother knows best" but this article is about schooling - not the conventional one. It is about how some parents adopt different ways to educate their children.

From the article,

"People see their children suffering in various ways, bored with school, being bullied, insulted and demeaned by teachers. My feeling, based on my interaction with the online group over the past seven years, is that probably more people are turning to home education. I do know that about six people have joined the group every week—mostly those who are home-educating their children or are seeking the courage to do so."

"The Motwanis walk down to the Gateway of India every day. Whatever catches Mahuli’s (their four-and-a-half-year-old daughter) fancy becomes a lesson. A question on why the rocks are visible at certain times of the day and go underwater at others leads to a discussion on tides; an observation of various kinds of animal poop on the Colaba pavements triggers a conversation on scatology."

"It might seem ironical that a home-educated child would find it thrilling to top a competition—antithetical to the very concept of home schooling—but Nadisha (a home educated girl) is quick to point out her priority wasn’t so much to beat 175 others, as it was to give her best."

"Children need a sense of belonging. So, unless it becomes common enough in India, parents need to focus hard on peer interaction. In fact, I think the plus points of regular schools are the break-time or the bus journeys. Without adequate interaction with the outside world, there may be too much of the parents, even a danger of claustrophobia."

"It’s not for every child. Nor is it, obviously, for every parent. But for those for whom it works, it is the most meaningful thing in the world."

Links mentioned in the article

1. The National Institute of Open Schooling
2. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
3. You can download NCERT Books
4. The Singapore government site that details curricula for almost all core subjects
5. California department of education site
6. California tests
7. Texas tests
8. Florida tests
9. Massachusetts tests
10. Alternative Education in India

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Dilemma of Dichotomy

Fritjof Capra was asked,

Can you tell us about a unique experience that changed or shaped your spiritual beliefs?

And Capra's answer,

I have been through many such experiences, but one I would mention was my meeting with Krishnamurti, early on in my career. I had read him extensively, and he was both very convincing and fascinating to me. As I was moving to California after two years of post-doctoral work, I was facing a real problem: how could I embark on a career as a physicist and pursue science, which is about seeking knowledge, while abiding by Krishnamurti’s injunction to free oneself from the known, to go beyond rational teaching? He happened then to come to the University of Santa-Cruz where I was teaching. He was not keen on meeting people beyond his lecture, but as luck would have it, his assistant turned out to be French. I was married to a French woman at the time who befriended him and sure enough, we had an audience with the Master. I told him about my dilemma and without even blinking an eye he said "you are first a human being, only then a scientist". As a human being, we have to go beyond the known in order to deal with our existential problems. Then of course, as a scientist I could pursue knowledge in a more restricted environment. From then on the problem was gone, he had solved my dilemma. I have had that experience several times --- being ready to hear something and someone with a lot of personality and charisma shows up carrying that message, saying the right thing, at the right time.

You may read his full interview at Indian Express website.

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