Ordinary Lives through Ordinary Files

From being narrow to getting broader and from imposition of learning to exploring new avenues of learning. There is this dialogue in movie 'Lincoln' -- "Euclid's first common notion is this: Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other. That's a rule of mathematical reasoning and it's true because it works - has done and always will do. In his book Euclid says this is self evident. You see there it is even in that 2000 year old book of mechanical law it is the self-evident truth that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other. We begin with equality. That's the origin, isn't it? That's balance, that's fairness, that's justice." Lincoln, a lawyer by profession, is having this conversation with two fellows. He is talking about mathematical reasoning that the engineer sitting with him doesn't even remember. The beauty of it is that knowledge learned does not get compartmentalized. It is interna...

A big Hello to all the humans out there. From your talk and gossip I have understood that my presence is not  welcome here. I am imposed of many crimes and some of them are - drinking milk from your utensils and currently even when it's boiling hot, making residence near your cooler when it's real hot out there, making entry even from the high windows while you were asleep at night, spreading your garbage all over the floor from dustbins and making it dirty in search of food I wish to find as I have to fill my own stomach with my newborns, meowing for long when I feel as if I have lost one of my babies, which in the result disturbs you in your studies and some more can be included in the list. And here with my truthfulness and honesty I admit that I am responsible for all those crimes according to your civilised norms and etiquettes. Currently I have known that you humans call yourself Homo Sapiens Sapiens which at first was Homo Sapiens only which means wise man and so what do...

Was watching some random video on YouTube's recommended list and there was this talk of Oprah Winfrey. After building a school in South Africa and seeing the first batch of graduates getting out, she was delighted and called Maya Angelou to share it with her. She told her that she finally has her legacy in this world. But what made me think was Maya Angelo's reply to Oprah. Maya said,"You don't know what your legacy is. It's every life that you have touched"... That just triggered my think think think kind of mind. I thought of those legacies as one defining feature of a personality. And suddenly realized that with such addition of new things with new realisations, the defining list is never going to be exhaustive and so never are we going to be, even nearest to define a personality in its whole.  I also got to read yet another article that day in The Hindu. It was about Tiruvalluvar by Gopalkrishna Gandhi. He had written how Tiruvalluvar is label elusive, abo...

तर गम्मत अशी की सकाळी पूर्वेकडे सूर्याला बघत वृक्षासन करताना माझ्या डोक्यात भलताच प्रकाश पडला. मी आपली मस्त लयीत पाय वर घेत आता हात वर घेऊन फायनल पोज मध्ये येणार तो नोटीस केलं की मी चक्क बाजूच्या भिंतीचा आधार घेतला होता. स्वतः च आश्चर्याने मग विचार करू लागले की असं कसं बरं? रोजच तर करतो आपण हे. पण दिवसात म्हणे काही ५०००० विचार येतात आपल्या डोक्यात मग एकाणेच तग धरला तर आकडा कसा पार होणार? तर असं कसं चा सवाल पूर्ण होईतो माझ्या मनाने मला उपमा दिली की 'यू क्रीपर'. वृक्षासनाचा अाता कधीच विसर पडला होता आणि स्वारी शवासनच करूच्या मूड मध्ये आलेली. पण त्या ५०००० हजारांची आगगाडी ग्रीन सिग्नल शोधून बसली होती बहुतेक. एक फील घेते पुर्णपणाचा वृक्षासण करताना आणि तो आधाराला गेलेला हात पाहिल्यापासून स्वतःच स्वतःची थट्टा करत होते. डोक्यात आलं खरंच वेळेनुसार परिस्थितीनुसार किवा संगतीनुसर आपण असतोच कढी वृक्ष कधी झुडूप तर कधी वेल. खूप वेळा जेव्हा कोलमडून पडायची वेळ येते, थकवा येतो, अर्थ हरवून जातात… वेलीप्रमाने नाहिका आधार घेत आधार शोधत वाढण्याची धडपड करतो आपण. कधी कधी आपल्याच फुगलेल्या छोट्या विश्व...

लिहायला सुरुवात करताना खूप मोठा प्रश्न हा होता की इंग्लिश मध्ये लिहू की मराठी? मुख्यत्वे लिहिते ती भाषा जी भावनेने पकडलेली असते तीच राहते, पण आज पडला हा प्रश्न. आज पहिल्यांदाच आपल्या जवळच्या लोकांनी म्हणजे नात्यातल्या, घरच्या आणि सगळ्यात महत्त्वाचं शाळेतल्या हे वाचावं असं वाटतंय. आज "Menstrual Hygiene Day" म्हणजे "मासिक पाळीचा दिवस". इंस्टग्रामवर एका सीनिअर ची स्टोरी पाहिली. मनातलंच लिहिलं होतं तिने. एक प्रश्न होता की तुम्हाला तुमची पहिली पाळी झाली तो म्हणजे पिरेडस आले तो दिवस आठवतो का? आणि तो तुम्हाला सक्षम करणारा होता की लाज वाटवणारा?... आशा आहे की ह्याच बरोबर उत्तर तुम्ही गेस केललं नसावं. कारण मला लाजवणारा दिवस होता तो. खजील झाले होते मी. स्वतःपासून आणि त्या ओल्या, उबदार आणि विचित्र जनिवेपासून दूर कुठेतरी पळून जावं ही इच्छा होती तेव्हा मनात. सगळ्यात वाईट गोष्ट अशी की आज पिरेडस आले आणि उद्या सुट्टी संपणार होती. बापरे परत नवोदयला हॉस्टेलला जायचं. खूप भीती होती मनात. खरंतर आई बाबांना सोडून त्या हॉस्टेलला जायचं हिच मोठी भीतीदायक गोष्ट असायची माझ्यासाठी अगदी बारावीला ...

I thought about various beginnings to start my speech like a quote, a story about honesty and truthfulness or something catchy to off course gain your attention. But it is necessary when the topic itself is tremendously catchy. When I first looked at this topic “Eradicate corruption, build a new India” the instant question that came to mind was why corruption? Why not eradicate poverty or a bad education system but only corruption in the process of building a new India. So what is corruption? One definition I got is 'Abuse of public office or position of trust for private gain’. My fellow participants might focus their speech on this definition and talk about scams and scandals like 2G spectrum fraud, coal case, vyapam ghotala and many more.  The other definition which got flashed o is that corruption is dishonest, immoral and illegal behavior or activities. So I thought why not choose the road not taken and that's why my speech is about this aspect of corruption. If we look ar...