Manu mulls ...

On Little Prince by Manu

“Little Prince” – by Saint Exupery, one of my all-time favourite books…..one that, I believe, is seemingly addressed to children, but reaches out to anybody who seeks in it.

My favorite episode in the book is when the Prince meets the Fox, and gets enlightened about the only phenomenon that is worth knowing, love or “tame” as he calls it here.

Some of my favourite bits of their conversation:

1. Fox explaining the meaning of “TAME” to the Prince: “To me, you are nothing more than a little boy, who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you TAME me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.”
2. On the significance of taming: One ONLY understands the things that one tames.
3. Fox tells the Prince how he could be tamed: “First you will sit down at a little distance from me. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. But you will sit a little closer to me everyday”.
4. On the limitations of words: Words are the source of misunderstandings.
5. Fox’s parting gift, his secret, to the Prince: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

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In a way, this is Manu's second post in this blog. The first one, a poem, is referred in an earlier post.

- Shencottah

This-or-that meets Pepo

Pepo wore a long white dress, looks more like a drape than a dress. But he is very influential and claims to be a representative of some species. He is known for his innovative dialogue-initiations. Just to illustrate his approaches and its effects:

Once This-or-that met Pepo along with two warring groups - let us say Group-1 and Group-2. Pepo told Group-1 that they were humans. Group-1 was insulted. Group-2 was very happy. Group-1 leader questioned the wisdom of Pepo. Pepo maintained that he was initiating the dialogue by insulting. He maintained further that negotiation-after-insulting is an accepted norm of dialogue in the present millennium. The two groups fought relentlessly and killed each other merrily. Pepo escaped and claimed he had solved the problem. This-or-that later told me the first group was actually a group of dogs.

I asked, "What about the second group?"

He said, "Another set of powerful dogs."

When I asked about the nature of Pepo, This-or-that smiled meaningfully as if he could unearth a cup of red river.

Other This-or-That features:

1. This or that? - 1

2. Colors speak -- This or that? - 2

Rainy Day

It is raining outside. Leaves are Green. Fresh Green. Flowers are looking at themselves. Looking at their fresh and joyful faces. Rain is a river. Earth rejoices as the river flows down from Heavens.

I remember the words of Manu.

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Rainy Day

I'd await the times,

Though it may never be.

When your heart beats aloud

To a forgotten melody;

And beckon with the smile, I once knew

To relive my spring with you.

The blushing earth,

Embraced so tight.

Its joys smell so sweet;

The grasses gasp

The undying kiss.

Its heart's forgotten beat;

The joys we've known, are all I can hold

If tomorrow brings on tales untold.

Will memories awaken a promise once said?

Will we walk the same road ahead?

Looking on and on - Lost in rain,

I wish I too could feel the way they do.

- Manu

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Thanks to Manu who sent this poem to me few days ago.

Magic disappears

Ustad Bismillah Khan passed away.

1. The Hindu editorial
2. Violinist L. Subramaniam remembers
3. Gautam Chatterjee
4. Goutam Ghose remembers
5. On Wikipedia

Sangita Kalanidhi 2006

The Music Academy will confer the title Sangita Kalanidhi on vocalist Vidwan Madurai Shri. T. N. Seshagopalan at its 80th annual conference on January 1, 2007.

You may also see this forum discussion.

Colors speak -- This or that? - 2

Colors attract. Colors speak. No, it is not figurative. This-or-that can hear the language of colors too.

Once he was sitting alone in a park bench. He saw two colors speaking to each other. Speaking is a mild word. They are shouting at each other. One color was White - khadi white, and the other was Red. White was accompanied by a person named Economist. Excerpts:

White: "Ha..Ha..I am the ruler."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

Red: "You think like that? I will pull you down."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

Red jumped ferociously after this. This-or-that heard someone crying with pain. But it was not White's cry. This-or-that was puzzled.

White (meekly): "I am not the ruler."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

Red: "We will decide the fate."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

White: "No. I am not the ruler. We are the rulers."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

Red: "That's better."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

White: " Ha..Ha.. We are the winners. Winners take them all. Ha..Ha..Winners take them all from the London banks."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

They jumped with joy. This-or-that still heard the cry - the cry from the heart but he was puzzled as he could not see the source of that wail.

Red: "What is two plus two?"

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

White immediately warned Economist that he was not supposed to tell "Yes" when a question was asked. Economist nodded his head at 50 cycles per second.

White: "Four according to Russian and Chinese mathematics books."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

Red: "Well done. Well done."

Economist: "Yes..Yes.."

They danced together. This-or-that still heard that cry. He decided to go a bit forward to see what was happening. He was shocked. White and Red were jumping on a poor old man - 59 years old man. The cry was from that man. This-or-that now knew the source of those cries. This-or-that had a hearty laugh when he came to know that White had told an American TV that two plus two was four according to American books. Economist, as usual, nodded when he was asked if it was right.

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Previous This-or-that feature is available here.

Cartoon, Insensitivity, and Violence

The media and the western leaders have successfully projected the cartoon issue as a conflict between the great quality of western democracies, free speech, and the dogmatism of islamic society, intolerance. The violence that followed should be condemned in strongest terms possible. At the same time, why has the dialogue to evaluate the responsibilities of free speech not been initiated by media as well as by the rhetorical speech of western leaders. The insight into the reasons for lack of such dialogues within western society might possibly unveil the true nature of free speech as practised by western countries.

Cartoon controversy - Few questions

The cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) were first published by Danish newspaper. Several European newspapers have caused outrage in the Muslim world by republishing them in support of the vague concept, freedom of press. Two issues involved here are depiction itself and its offensive content. Let us just ask few questions first - only questions.

1. How do you draw a line between "freedom of press" and "civic responsibility"?
2. Do we understand the difference between "freedom of power" and "freedom of expression"?
3. Can racially, or otherwise, offending abuses be justified in the name of freedom of expression?
4. Is creating fear is the only way through which abuses can be stopped?
5. Why do people, who say they are deeply hurt seeing their national flags burnt, are not able to see the hurt caused to the people by their "freedom of expression"?
6. In our society where symbols have an extraordinary sense of importance and meaning, do media have enough maturity to glorify and/or demean those symbols?
7. Why do we accept a societal model where innocents suffer?
8. Does scientific outlook, whatever that means, have anything to contribute constructively in the above issues?

This or that? - 1

Once a person, whose name is This-or-that, went to a Quiz programme.

This-or-that now remembers only this question: Who is the prime minister of India?

Everyone answered this question correctly except one who put up a brave face saying his answer was right. The answer he told was Sonia and maintained that the principle of division-of-labor was at work. His name, This-or-that forgot, was some Man-moiety Singh or Mater-mohan Singh or something like that.

PS: This-or-that now reads a book written by an economist on how to do an obedient somersault before natives and native-foreigners.

Feynman lectures

Few links for those who would like to see Feynman in action:

1. Feynman's New Zealand lecture (streaming video in four parts), is available here.
http://www.vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8

2. What did he think of beauty, prize, and lack of knowledge? Three video clips are available here. Don't miss to see the extra glow on his face when he speaks of his father in the second clip.
http://www.basicfeynman.com/interviews.html

3. Here is the link to view the special programme organized to remember Feynman. His daughter Michelle is also in the discussion panel.
www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3013