chaotic order

Jottings - slice of life - 261 ( Few thoughts on what is happening in Sabarimala) What is happening in Sabarimala is a sad reflection of our understanding of what equality means, and where and how should it be applied. As a boy growing up in south India, the melodious renditions of Yesudas and Jayachandran have filled my ears and mind with an image of the resplendent Boy god, and the annual pilgrimage that millions make to the hallowed mountain bearing the strains and tugs of an ascetic life for 40 days, walking barefoot crushed between hordes of men jostling for space, and then the final emancipatory climb over the narrow eighteen steps leading to the sanctorum, where the lord sits sculpted in squatting position with hands raised in benign grace, has been eulogized with passion over countless songs and poems to varying tempos and beats. This journey to the feet of Iyappa reverberates in hearts of millions as an inner symbol of a private journey into ones self , amidst the distract

Jottings - Slice of life - 264 ( Gita Gopinath - an incredible academic journey to the pinnacle of her profession) Amidst the media and hype a prominent actress is currently attracting because of the sheer scale of her extravagant wedding and the innumerable star studded receptions ; on the other side of the globe, in Washington DC, in a quiet, polished but significant ceremony conducted without much fanfare, a young and distinguished Indian economist who was serving as John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard, has taken over the mantle as chief economist of the IMF ( The International monetary fund), a global organization established in 1944 at Bretton woods to balance and arbitrate global economic health in times of need . It is one of the most prestigious positions in the world of global finance, and Professor Gita Gopinath is the first woman - among the eleven economists to have held this vital position since IMF’s inception - to occupy this ho

Jottings - Slice of Life - 262 (Adapting a novel for screen. The brilliance of Daphne Du Maurier and the genius of Alfred Hitchcock) One of the most perplexing questions that often face movie makers is how efficacious is it to adapt a popular novel, or a significant work of literature for cinematic representation. The temptation to do so is always there on the periphery of a director’s awareness. To pick a story from a book that is widely read in its day, gives the film maker the confidence that his audience wouldn’t shun the movie because of its story. Once that important element of risk is taken care of, then all that remains for an astute director to do is to assemble the right actors, set the right atmosphere, infuse life through music and anticipate with confidence that his movie would resonate well with viewers, rake in money, and help him climb the ladder of artistic success. In the last hundred odd years of cinema, majority of movies, especially those made in the early year

Jottings - Slice of Life -257 ( The annihilation of Kamal, the amateur politician by the seasoned, articulate and intellectually superior Smriti Irani - in a recent Republic TV debate) Thomas B. Reed, one of the most cherished Speakers of the US house of representatives ; known for his wisdom, arbitrating skills, justice and eloquence, once intercepted a member of the senate, who was debating at length without any specific purpose and told him “ Mr Russell, It seems you dont understand the theory of debate. The object is to convey to the house either information of misinformation. You have consumed several periods this afternoon without doing either”. On watching the debate between the Smriti Irani and the actor turned politician Kamal Hassan, hosted by Republic TV a week ago, and arbitrated by Arnab, I was reminded of Reed’s interjection whenever Kamal was given a chance to speak. The only difference between Russell and kamal was Kamal’s attempt to speak took more time, than actua

Jottings - Slice of life - 256 ( Bruce Lee - the art, the legend, the man and his myth) ( This is a long essay, triggered after I watched "Enter the Dragon" ( for God knows how many'eth time). Over the years, I have been reading as much as possible on lives of athletes who have pushed barriers that seemed insurmountable. Starting with Roger Bannister, to Sergei Bubka, to Pele, to Edwin Moses, to Carl lewis, to Michael Phelps, to Roger Federer, and of course Bruce lee - my childhood hero. All of them possess a madness, a stern resolve and commitment, hardwork and tons of talent. Beyond all of the above, there is an elusive spiritual quality about these champions which shone through when they performed on their respective stages. Bruce lee certainly had the mystique, and he still does, forty five years after his death. This essay is my tribute to Lee - the most enigmatic legend of all time) For many years, a framed poster of Bruce lee as seen in “Enter the dragon” hun

Jottings - Slice of life - 254 ( H.P. Lovecraft and “Annihilation” - the 2018 movie based on his idea) In the annals of English literature, no two writers have seen so much poverty, disregard, and unpopularity during their lifetime coupled with effervescent genius, dark fertile imagination and supreme written artistry over the English language as Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft - two of the greatest novelists and prose writers in the last two hundred years. In the majority of their writings , Man is often pictured as a species tottering at the edge of an uncertain certainty, and to whom the infinite vastness outside his parochial, blinkered brain is as unintelligible as it is frightening and numbing. If Poe is considered the creator of the mystery detective genre through the intricate characterization of his mysterious philosopher, rationalist and amateur detective Auguste Dupin in stories such as “Murders in the rue morgue” and “The purloined letter”; then HP Lovecraft is the pio

Jottings - Slice of Life - 251 ( revival of timeless wisdom, Hyperlink - the legacy of Vannevar bush, and the extraordinary repository of shimmering insights by a young Bulgarian) (Note to my readers : This is a long essay. I apologize. There are three strands of thought that come together here; each related to the other in a way that make sense from a higher perspective. At the time when each of these ideas germinated, it would have been impossible to speculate that one day the aims of renaissance, the birth of the internet, and evolution of the webpage would collectively lead to new way of designing and transmitting content. It is a fascinating story, and I have made a cursory sketch in this essay to present the three ideas to a lay audience.) The Renaissance during the fifteenth century Europe was not an accident, or an event propelled by social upheavals-as is usually the case, when one epoch gives way into another. From the tenth century onwards, the dark ages which began wi