feynman, cargo cults, dharmic rituals – notes
June 14, 2022
‘Athma’ has commented on the previous post – yo-yo ma on richard feynman – an extract.
“Many times when I perform rituals somehow his Cargo cult comes to my mind..”
“don’t take me for granite”
December 23, 2018
For many, many years I have been reading (=devouring, I mean) Ursula Kroeber Le Guin’s thoughts, scribbled notes and books. Read the rest of this entry »
சிலைத் திருடன் – சில குறிப்புகள் (+ஒரு கமர்ஷியல் ப்ரேக்!)
September 17, 2018
எஸ். விஜயகுமார் அவர்கள் எழுதியிருக்கும் இந்தப் புத்தகம், மிக முக்கியமானதொன்று.
பாரதக் கலாச்சாரச் சுரண்டல்களுக்கும், அறமற்ற வகையில் அவை அழிக்கப் படுவதையும் குறித்த புத்தகம் – முக்கியமாக, நாடு கடத்தப்பட்ட நம் பொக்கிஷங்களான விக்கிரக மூர்த்திகளைப் பற்றியும் அவற்றை திருப்பிச் சேர்க்க நடந்துகொண்டிருக்கும் பகீரதப் பணிகளைப் பற்றியுமானது… Read the rest of this entry »
எவ்வளவுதடவை இந்த எனிக்மா ஆஃப் அரைவலைப் படித்திருப்பேன். மாணிக்கம். Read the rest of this entry »
grand ma’am shabana azmi – some book excerpts
December 1, 2017
When the grand dame of filmi protests makes facile statements about secularism, women’s rights and lefts, it is important that certain other facets of her character are also brought out.
May grand ma’am Shabana Azmi be the mother of a THOUSAND protests!
“தயைசெய்து எங்களுக்கு உதவி செய்வதை நிறுத்தவும்”
March 12, 2017
அண்மையில் படித்த பல புத்தகங்களில் எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்தது இது. Read the rest of this entry »
ar venkatachalapathy, a disgrace to both tamil and english, and a professor to boot…
November 15, 2016
um… I meant ‘boot out’ :-(
ashokamitran, kalyan raman, two new translations
March 11, 2016
I have always been fascinated by the way my beloved Ashokamitran – delicately weaves & writes remarkable stuff — without resorting to any literary ‘device’ embellishments or verbal hijinks or melodrama or self-flagellation or laboured constructs or faffing roundabouts or philosophical blather or put-on erudition. Read the rest of this entry »
strongly recommended: a book by the mother + a music album of joy chowdhury et al
September 17, 2015
First things first, dear fellers and fellerinas…
Let me upfront say that, I am big sucker for very beautifully produced and content rich books – and of course – soulful, deep, lilting music.
malcolm gladwell = the capital punishment :-(
February 28, 2014
The Sweeping Generalissimo strikes again! Oh mommeeeee!!! (or) Oh Gladwell, what a sad sickness! (or) there is absolutely NO reprieve, sorry.
The problem with some kinds of popular science writing is that, well, they are written to be popular with the people who want to be popular – which they do by being seen with the book. It is of course, a wince-wince situation. The best-selling author and the ‘best-seller buying readers‘ both enjoy the reflected glories of the symbiotic relationship.
I understand that these kinds of work always aim at the Minimum Common Denominator – the likes of the uncritical, all accepting fans of Oprah Winfrey (the Grand ol’ Ma’am of moralization & mediocrity) and Rahul Gandhi (the Grand Duke of terrible, terrible snafus) & Arvind Kejriwal (the Chief Propagandist of preachy middle-class morality and middle-classy vicarious rabble rousing). But, still…
Yes. This Malcolm veX, reminds me of another of those sweeping theorists who grandly generalize based on exactly one single rather lonely data point or even less, if they could help it.
Yes, you are verrrry corrrrect… immediately, the image of The Jared Diamond floats up, claiming his inherent right to be the Grand Duke of the Great hall of Grandiose theorists – but then, it would be kinda jarring to bring up this rather pricey carbon allotrope, so I choose to desist from dealing with this man… I merely gnash my teeth, for the time being. Oh my GAWD! Read the rest of this entry »
daniyal mueenuddin, a pakistani-ameriki auteur
October 17, 2013
Very interesting guy, this Daniyal.
I chanced upon a short article in ‘Outlook’ – an otherwise execrable & shady (Indian) magazine – in the ‘waiting room / lounge’ of a local dentist – no, I was not the one with random tooth issues. ;-)
This article talked about how good this Daniyal guy is and stuff — and I got curious… (there was also a picture of him (as under) that would qualify him as a veritable ‘hunk!’)
Daniyal, who is also apparently a practising farmer (earlier avatars included being a Newyork lawyer and stuff) is good with his language, almost RK Narayan-like – in terms of telling an universal story from the particular point of view of a culture, while using a simple story line and leisurely snapshots based character development. Read the rest of this entry »
| ஒத்திசைவு | प्रत्याह्वय | resonance | 