Mahadev, for real!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Put your hands together to welcome Mahadev...Yes, you heard it right! Mahadev...for real...here!

For those who don't understand Hindi, here is Shahrukh Khan, the famous Bollywood actor giving some tips on normal and real acting to Mohit Raina (the actor who played Shiva in 'Devon Ke Dev Mahadev') stuck with his mystical aura. Apparently this kind of acting, wherein Sharukh made the girls fall for him again and again on screen, is "Bayen haath kaa khel" for him!!! (An idiom which translates to "left hand's play" meaning one has such a knack for it that they could do it with their left hand - you see, at the origin of such phrases lies this assumption that this is a right-handed (right dominated) world!)

Looks like Mohit was really overwhelmed sharing the stage with Sharukh Khan! So overwhelmed that, while signing off, he actually says he has learnt that his name is Mohit Raina and that people would have certainly paid attention to it, LOL! Now Mohit: Please get hold of yourself! Perhaps that's not what you meant, but theoretically or grammatically (whatever), it sounds really funny!

My first translation!

This happened around this time last year. My friend and ex-colleague Purnima posted on FB asking for translation of one of the most famous poems in the 'Sumati Satakam'. I was a little surprised by this. Now, here's a girl who writes really great in Telugu, a voracious reader of English and Telugu books alike (and in fact of Hindi books too, of late, at that time) And on the other hand, here is a widely known poem explaining simple things. "Why is she asking others to translate this for her?" I have no clue till today, but I went on to respond to her, me being perhaps some third in the queue. Though, my guess was that, she was perhaps working on/reading some translations or maybe was just curious to see how variedly people translate the same thing.

We get to translate things as students and at many other times in life for various reasons as part of some or the other work. Say you are preparing for some English Elocution and some great content in a Telugu magazine has been given to you to rescue you...so on and so forth. But I'd like to mark this translation of Telugu poem as my first official translation :-)

Original Telugu Poem:

తన కోపమె తన శత్రువు,
తన శాంతమె తనకు రక్ష, దయ చుట్టంబౌ,
తన సంతోషమె స్వర్గం,
తన దుఖమె నరకమండ్రు తథ్యము సుమతీ!

Translation in English:

One's anger is one's own enemy,
One's tolerance protects oneself, one's kindness comes to one's help,
One's happiness can bring about heavens,
Oh good-minded fellow, it is said one's sorrow can certainly yield hell!

I don't remember if this is exactly what came out of my translating skills back then, but I remember I tried to stay "literally" close. I tried to do the same now and hence hope the same content to be out now.

Twisters absolutely!

The weekend started off quite boringly, as usual. Lots of work to do, if I wanted to do, but nothing seemed interesting enough. Books were there, if I wanted to read, but again I had absolutely no interest to put even an iota of effort into reading. So off I went to check out some movies. Telugu movies? Checked, but nothing interesting came up. Same with Hindi, just this Friday watched "Highway", I really liked it, especially Alia's acting was commendable and I was in no mood to spoil it with some mediocre bollywood comedy that popped up on my search list. And then I went onto English. Actually I wanted to watch this "Another Earth" movie coz I watched only the second half on TV and missed the first half (of course some snippets on net made up for it, but I really really wanted to watch the first half). Somehow this 'Another Earth' route took a backseat and I finally zeroed in on "Absolute Zero" movie. And then completed it with "Category 6: Day of Destruction". En route, I quickly touched upon the movie "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" (for whatever little time I gave to it - couple of mins - the movie seemed sooo strange, perhaps the worlds out there, if any, would seem the same for us or is it all our imagination and expectation that is?) and barely barely just as much literally touched upon the movie "In the year 2889" (so to say, I did not care to land on it).

"Absolute Zero" was perfect for an English movie. I mean, it had the typical length of 1 hour something, logic crisply presented and neatly executed. Nothing more to mention beyond that. Ah well, forgot, few things here - there is this dialogue that comes up quite often in the movie "Science is never wrong...Science is never wrong!!". If I were the dialogue writer, I would have had some one ask this counter-question - "But what if you/we are wrong about Science?" (...wrong in the way WE had interpreted/used/implemented "it" - the Science?) Already the movie shows how two groups come up with different test results - one group with all Ph.Ds, which says that the event cannot happen any earlier than 200 years and the other group with interns, which declares that the event is happening NOW and who didn't happen/get to predict it any earlier. Now fine, Science is NOT wrong, but what good is it, if Science is right only at the brink of the disaster? To me, what matters is NOT if Science is/can be ever wrong, but if using (or not using) Science matters when it comes to saving people. If there is a better way than Science, then so be it!

The second movie (though again is mostly based on Science) has a dialogue which says just that - "The strongest forecaster is instinct". But this time, we do have some random character countering it - "I'd prefer reason to instinct!" Of course, we don't have any plans being executed there based on instinct anyway. Both the movies have a major scientific background. I'd love to see a movie in this genre where the game runs by the rules of both reason and instinct.

The Category 6  movie is a little long going by the English movie standards - nearly 3 hours! Couldn't watch it in a single go, had to break it up for y'day and today. The movie is again a typical one in this genre -there is this main thread of the wide-scale calamity going on and then there are these sub-threads of routine life problems - love, infidelity, politics, media, career et cetera et cetera. Yet the movie stays on in the mind for a while. What clearly stands out in the movie is that - Man is an optimist, survival is his priority (I often feel that even when people commit suicide, their intention is most probably not to kill their soul and let it survive more decently). You see life going away in the movie, in fact thousands of lives, but amidst all this chaos you see the angst of a mother wanting to save her daughter, the anxiety of would-be parents to save their child to be and the humans that all of us are, wanting to save our fellow human beings in the moment of disaster.

Purnam

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं

पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णश्य पूर्णमादाय

पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Transliteration:

Om purnam adah, purnam idam,
purnaat purnamudachyate,
purnasya purnam aadaaya,
purnam eva vashishyate,
Om shantih shantih shantihi


Meaning:

That (YOU) is full, This (you) is full,
From that fullness, comes this fullness,
When infinite is taken off from the infinite,
The Infinite indeed remains,
Peace peace peace.

You must have come across this hymn (from one of the Upanishads), which is regarded to hold a deep meaning, elucidating the ways of Universe. If you haven't, already, I will allow you to explore the meaning on Internet, but here are some links I like, which I have browsed just now for the purpose of this post. (Before immersing yourself in this exploration, you may want to listen to this first here) Otherwise, I too didn't know these metaphorical meanings...not until now.

All that I grasped from this mantra before, were:

1.This mathematical equation: Infinte - Infinite = Infinite (Like, Natural Number Set - Odd Number Set = Even Number Set, all of them being Infinite, some of them parts, but each of them a whole in itself)

2. And this understanding that any Cause-Effect sequence deduced from a human (a finite one that is!) perspective is bound to be incomplete in reality, yet we are forced to deem it complete for a limited frame of reference, we have access to.

Of course, it is not that I agree with everything mentioned in those links. I just like them, not that I agree with them. For instance, it is often brought up that there is absolutely no difference between the Absolute and the Miniscule...that every living being is not different in nature from the Infinite. That Advaita is the real reality. That non-duality is all that is! I don't really agree with it. The very human birth has its limitations, I myself am so different every time. I would most probably react in a very different way from what a cosmic being would react in a given situation, all other conditions being the same.

If we are not different from the Absolute, then we should not behave so stupidly! Like, I get so impulsive at times for no reason. If the Absolute or any other responsible being were to be so impulsive, then this Universe wouldn't be so orderly. If the Creation and the Creator are one and the same, if they are inseparable, then why the bloody hell is God so crazy as to behave so irresponsibly within His/Her own creation, tell me? No, it isn't like that for me. For me, the Creation IS separate from the Creator, most of the times, when there ought to be some growth. That is duality! Dvaita! Yet the Creation and the Creator unite and become one and the same, at times, when there ought to be some balance. That is non-duality! Advaita! Both of them are real for me. It is this churn between these two schema of Universe so as to bring out the most optimized Universe, more real for me than any other possibility. And that is Dvaitadvaita! The first para here under the heading "Purport", paraphrases this well, albeit from a different perspective. Growth and Balance are again like those two ends of the lever, that is our Universe, which is always held in a delicate and dynamic equilibrium. Or maybe, I should say two ends of a spring balance always showing a Zero reading, pulled by equal weights, but in opposite directions.

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One day, some time towards the end of November 2014, as I was watching an episode of the Hindi serial, "Devon Ke Dev Mahadev" here, my brother was asking, "Idi eppatiki avvadaa? Leka pothe nuvvu chusinde chuusthuu untaava?" (That's Telugu. It means, "Is it never over? Or do you watch the same content again and again?").

I replied saying, "Vaalla story eppuduu nadusthuune untundi. Kaani manam daanni eppataki andukunee sakthi ledu avasaram ledu". (Their story is eternal. We have neither the power nor the need to catch up with it)

As expected, he had this "What the hell?" look on his face tagged with his usual mode of reciprocation - silence.

Again I replied (much to his irritation, when he really did not want to hear anything more from me), "Mari! Naakela telusthundi eppudavuthundoo. Naaku teleedu eppudu avuthundoo!" ("What then? How the hell would I know when will it end? I don't know when it's going to end!" with a "Don't you ever bother me while I watch this!" tone in my voice answering his second question.

This time, he did reply...not so usual with him, "Neekivanni telusthuntaayi kadaa" ("You tend to know these things right!")

This time silence was my turn, because I was already irritated enough. In this aspect, he never understood me. Nor did I understand him!

But very surprisingly, this serial on LifeOK ended on Dec 14, 2014. It was indeed very sudden for me. Just saying, as a matter of fact, it started on Dec 18, 2011 almost exactly 3 years ago. I must tell you this, I did inform my brother, "You know! That's finally over!"

When I wanted to start my blogging again, it was about this serial and this episode with my brother that I wanted to write. But you know how that song on Dec 26 and another 'Daily Digg' update distracted my attention. I did talk about the episode now, but about the serial, maybe some other day.

Time and Time again!

That title was borrowed from Dec 09th's 'Daily Digg' update. But since we dealt with time yesterday and are going to deal with time again today, the title is appropriate nevertheless.

I don't have much to add actually. This link which comprehensively presents a 'Two Future' model - flowing from Second Law of Thermodynamics, the certainty of increasing Entropy, the essence of tending to crawl back to equilibrium, presenting a possibility of two epochs, two temporal paths, two arrows of time travelling opposite to each other...observing the possibility of we being the past of another Universe - is all that I wanted to share. The initial comments are also well worth a read, especially the links shared by one anil rajvanshi were very interesting.

Ah, one more thing. A minor clarification about the choice (between being frozen in time or engaging in time to eat three years in one year) part discussed towards the end of y'day's post. There were obviously some constraints assumed at my end, which I did not bother to elaborate. I'd of course make that choice in such case of critical resource status where in resources are not abundant and their efficient usage is of crucial importance for further survival. If the resources are really abundant or at least haven't exhausted to the point of a trade-off decision, the latter naturally makes for an easy choice for most of the day-to-day survival conditions.

One more note. This is specifically for my old readers. I'm not going to make any book out of this further writing, so don't worry and please feel free to interact here. I expect my writing here on to be far far more casual than what I did before. If you already thought the first innings itself was too casual by your standards, then you are bound to be disappointed henceforth, so please help yourselves by staying away from this space.

Old Beginnings

Now that surely is a misnomer, I mean the title. I'm trying to word out and indicate that beginning which I have been postponing for quite a lot of time. Postponing, brewing the idea if I should or should not begin and then ignoring it and then again considering it as if it is one of those decisions that really matters and is going to shape my life (maybe it really matters, we never know until it does) in the coming years, again damning it for a while in Sita's Eye mode ( In telugu, "Sita kannu veyyadam" means "ignoring a given thing and not giving it even the most bare minimal concern - basically not caring a damn about it") and then wondering what's the whole point about this blogging (which most of the times, for me, turned out to be 'thinking aloud' writing) and then finally giving it a thought!

Ok, now those very few old readers of my blog, if they happen to read this post, would know that I made that up. The truth is, I never wanted to begin this again. Today, some impulse inside me surfaced up and I just thought why not begin it again, so here I am. So basically I'm beginning my blog again and honestly I hope this to be a new beginning...in a sense that I don't want to carry forward my old style of writing, especially its purpose!

And for the future readers of my blog, just some introduction. This is Smanu here, who blogs when she feels impulsive, when she wants to get her revelations, ramblings (and creative writing practice) out when she no longer can contain the burden of it with her. Mind you, she never thinks so much before writing something, especially the whether or not, should I or should I not part. Even if she does, that will be very much part of that post. It is not necessarily to share it (this writing) with a larger audience, but more importantly not to keep it to herself. That said, she'd any day prefer a smaller set of responsive audience who do not inhibit her creative writing, irrespective of the discomfort, if any. Basically, she expects and appreciates a bit of tolerance in the audience, because after all the audience have some element of interest in the blog.

Now from the third-person mode back into first-person mode. Dear Future Readers of the blog! All my old writing - hmm, not really all, but most of it - has been published as a book - my first book - "Inside-Out". If you are interested to know a bit about me, just please click on that link and "Look Inside" and you will know a fair deal about me, in fact a fair enough deal to follow me here.

So, that means all my old writing is no more available online, which is a good thing actually (about which I'm sure the old readers would concur). I don't know about others, but it is really good and relieving for me, because I'm looking at shifted interests and topics.

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So, I was thinking about an apt topic to start my blog and I hear random lyrics, I mean lyrics of a random song my brother is playing aloud on his system currently - yes very much right now. The lyrics go like this - "....blah blah, ... blah blah.... ika neenu neevu okataipothee aagipodaa kaalam...blah blah...blah blah...blah blah..." Now that's a telugu song, so looks like the rest of the post is not going to make any sense for non-telugu people, so such reader(s) please excuse yourself(ves) from this! Thank You!

Now seriously, I don't understand this obsession lyricists have about freezing time. Yes, the problem is with the lyricists. I don't think the directors, actors and music directors today have such romantic fantasies anyway! I don't think they care any more, this kind of pure innocent romance doesn't seem to be the in-thing these days and even telugu movie audience don't care any more. That said, I'd really love to care, I really wish to care about such naive nuances, but again some how even I don't care anymore and I honestly don't know why. My only guess is, I've grown too old to care about it. But just before few years, just before, say 2 years, I did have the energy to care about such innocent ramblings, but now I don't know why, I've all of a sudden grown too old for it. So this ageing thing is very tricky, you see and it doesn't seem to follow any strict periodicity rules. So now you vaguely know that the topic for today is TIME.

Ok, back to the naive nuances part! So you and I are not bothered about these petty issues, one of them being - freezing time. But still, lyricists seem to be clinging to these lyrics. Right now, at this very moment, I can list down at least three songs that have this "let's freeze time now! Bingo, let's just do it!" act in them...

1. "Pade pade ventaadee kala.." song from 'Kalusukovalani' movie ...."Yugaalu kalakaalamu ilaage nuvvaagumaa, dayunchi oo doorama ivaala itu raakumaa..."

2. "Uyyalainaa Jampaalainaa..." song from 'Uyyaala Jampaala' movie... "...Okkoo kshanam pothee poni poyeeedemundi? Kaalannilaa aapee balam iddaarlo undi..."

3. "Emito Ivvala..." song from 'Andaala Rakshasi' movie... "...Aagani prayaanamai yugaalugaa saagina oo kaalamaa, nuvvee aagumaa thane naa chentha nundaga..."

4. Now the song that started this all in this post...from the movie 'Bhadram'. (Nice movie by the way..)

5. "Kadilee kaalamaa kaa seepu aagavamma, jarigee veeduka kallaara chuudavamma..." from the movie 'Peddarayudu'.

And give me 20 more mins of research time and I can list down 10 more songs at least.

In fact, not just the lyricists, but once upon a time, the capability of "freezing time" was looked upon as sort-of an essential parameter to measure true love.

Anyway, I don't like to talk more and more about freezing time because I, of all, know how it feels to be frozen in time, but for very different reasons, in a very different manner. Now you sit in meditation for some while and you come out of it expecting 30 mins to pass by, but three long hours have already passed. And then you are supposed to follow a regimen for 45 days and you don't know whether time has frozen once in a week for 45 days or if some mice chew off some Mondays and Tuesdays in the month but  what you do know is, it is weekend already. And then, a year seems to have passed by in a jiffy and you have not done anything...anything at all. Nothing more than getting out of bed, doing the daily routines, eating, bathing, sleeping, washing hands, eating, washing hands, staring, washing hands, yawning, checking mail, washing hands, looking at your face in the mirror, eating, washing hands....checking mail, staring at mobile, staring at computer, staring at life, staring at time, staring into the void, staring inside, staring outside, washing hands, checking mail, washing hands and then losing track of why you were washing hands, but washing hands seems to be the best thing to ward off time, coz you get to look at yourself in the mirror, pity yourself for this ill-luck of washing hands and then get busy again washing hands....sleeping, getting into sleep thinking that you must seriously think about your life sometime and call it a day at least for few things and then sleeping....and then waking up....sometimes you wake up as though you were woke up all your life that you have never slept....

So if you get a "golden" opportunity to pass time this way - would you say that you were frozen in time or would you say time was running or would you say you waited in the same moment while you allowed time to run its course, basically to take its natural course? Would you enjoy being frozen in time? I've had enough of it....for now. Let me clarify that - I've had enough of it, but that is only for now. Any day if you ask me to make a choice - choose between being frozen in time this way or engage yourselves in time in such a fashion that you are eating three years in one year, I'd perhaps choose the former. Now chew a bit on the second choice - "eating three years in one year" definitely doesn't mean time is running fast. I'd have jumped to that conclusion few years ago if I was taking a rapid fire round of 'relative time' questions, but not now. Now, I'm slightly better at being quick about relative time. (Yeah, but given enough time I'd always arrive at right conclusions about time, 2 years ago or today) "Eating three years in one year" means time is running slow. It can also mean that you are eating out the resources of three years in just one year. Yes, it can mean either of them irrespective of "your" perception of time. And the description I gave in my last para, if I succeeded to do it right, is of such phase where either time is running fast or you are given just 4 months' (1/3 year's) resources to spend for one full year.

I have something more to talk about time. But I will keep it for tomorrow.