Basket Case

I know it is a little late but how often do you find somebody like John Milton writing a sonnet about turning 23. How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-master's eye. -- John Milton Now at first look his poetry seems to be rather terse and lacking in warmth but I have found that it does has a way of growing on you over the time . "On His Blindness" makes much more sense now then it used to back in school. Following is a...

The arguments of last two posts seem to indicate that the future of human languages is quite bleak. There is however a silver lining in the black clouds. As I see it now, the previous arguments fail if you want to apply them to things related to art. I am using this word in the broad sense of meaning most of the creative activities. Now in art, there is little role of "building on top". Surely to become a good writer, as anybody would tell you, you must read a lot or to produce good music, it helps to listen to a lot of good music. It helps but again whenever you start, you are at ground zero. You have to start on your own and buildup. The fact that Ghalib wrote very good sher-o-shayari, makes it no easy or no less creative for a new shayaar to start writing. Similarly Picasso's paintings might have influenced a lot of painters but each and every one of their works is a result of a journey they did alone. Another point is that I think most of the art is very personal. A ...

While writing the last post, I again got a direction that led to my favorite theory of future evolution of human race, namely gaia or collective intelligence. I am not sure how much time it will take us to reach there and the chances of it happening in my lifetime or your are quite bleak. We are talking of evolution here guys :) !! If you again consider the argument of last post and I would stick with the mathematics, today one needs to study a lot before he gets to the point where he can start making new contributions to a field and even then he/she ends up in a very specialized field. Now there are two things that make this model of progress inherently doomed. First one is a little silly but it stands none the less. Most of the major contributions of a mathematician come at a young age and in the first half of his career. There are very few examples of ground breaking works from old mathematicians. For more on this, Hardy's "A Mathematician's Apology" is a good read...

If one has to name one skill of human race that has enabled it to survive and prosper on earth, it will have to be the ability to build up on top of existing knowledge. And if we stretch the point a bit more, even the evolution of life is dependent on this very ability. The difference is that before the evolution of primates, this ability was mainly hidden in the genes, completely in the hands of nature, something called Natural Selection. But as the evolution happened and the brain size increased, species started to use this ability consciously and then came man and devised language. Normally when we talk about language, we think of it as a medium to communicate information. But language also enables us to store information. The capability to store information protects against the attrition of knowledge and allows the coming generations to build on top of what has already been done. And this is one of the aims of education that the champions of creativity sometimes completely forget. ...

This one is a proper Ghazal following all the rules of form of Ghazal. The meter of different shers might be a little off but I hope it is bearable. kabhi hans ke thodi shikayat karenge, meri jaan sun na ki sapno ki tanhai me kuch kahenge, meri jaan sun na. range kore kagaz the pahle bhi maine, magar tumse mil ke, ajab dard aaya hai nagmon me mere, meri jaan sun na. Machalna to hai dil ki aadat purani, magar is dafa to, buna dhadkano ne bhi hai ek tarana, meri jaan sun na. jo taareekh me darz ho na sakin, aisi kuch daastanen, shab-e-taar me gungunaate hain taare, meri jaan sun na [shab-e-taar - dark night] hawayen kahengi khalish mere dil ki , magar apne muh se kah na sakoonga main tumse abhaga, meri jaan sun na. [khalish - pain]

kabhii yuu.N bhii aa merii aa.Nkh me.n ke merii nazar ko Khabar na ho mujhe ek raat navaaz de magar uske baad sahar na ho [navaaz - to grant] vo ba.Daa rahiim-o-kariim hai mujhe ye sifat bhii ataa kare tujhe bhuulane kii duaa karuu.N to duaa me.n merii asar na ho [rahiim-o-kariim - kind & generous; sifat - talent] mere baazuo.n me.n thakii thakii , abhii mahav-e-Khvaab hai chaa.Ndanii na uThe sitaaro.n kii paalakii, abhii aahaTo.n kaa guzar na ho ye Gazal ki jaise hiran kii aa.Nkho.n me.n pichhalii raat kii chaa.Ndanii na bujhe Kharaabe kii roshanii, kabhii becharaaG ye ghar na ho vo firaaq ho yaa visaal ho, terii yaad mahakegii ek din vo gulaab ban ke khilegaa kyaa, jo chiraaG ban ke jalaa na ho kabhii dhuup de, kabhii badaliyaa.N, dil-o-jaa.N se dono.n qubuul hai.n magar us nagar me.n na qaid kar jahaa.N zindagii kii havaa na ho kabhii din kii dhuup me.n jhuum ke kabhii shab ke phuul ko chuum ke yuu.N hii saath saath chale.n sadaa kabhii Khatm apanaa safar na ho [shab - night] me...

One of these days I may write more about it but for the time being, he said it all .

3. chalo mere saath jab tak raaste apne judaa hote nahi, musaafir chaar din ke hum, kisi ko bevafa kahte nahi. hain is umeed me kayam nafas ke silsile ab tak, ki mera muntazir hoga, liye voh haath me khanjar kahin. [Nafas: breath,saans Muntazir: one who waits] asar deedar ka hai ya ki kaafir ho gaya hoon main, tamanna-e-parastish hai magar koi khuda bhata nahi. [parastish: worship] bahut si khwahishen aayin humaare darmiyan lekin, na main badla abhaga, na meri aawargi badli kahin. 1. Zinda rahe to fir milenge, haal-e-dil tumse fir kahenge, aur karenge umeed, ki kabhi kisi udaas shaam me, tumhaari aankhon se ek aanson humaare naam ka bhi bahega. Zinda rahe to fir milenge, haal-e-dil tumse fir kahenge, aur karenge umeed, ki kabhi kisi andheri raat me, taaron ki us barat me ek chehra tumhe humaara bhi dikhega. Zinda rahe to fir milenge, haal-e-dil tumse fir kahenge, aur karenge umeed, ki chahe tum mujhe bhool bhi jao, tumhaare dil me thoda sa dard humaare naam ka fir bhi rahega. Zinda rah...