Aubrey Menen & Descartes

"I wanted to know who was the ‘I’. Without knowing that, Descartes’ proposition is imperfect."

I read about Aubrey Menen, first time, in Sahitya Varaphalam, a weekly column late Malayalam literary critic and academic M.Krishnan Nair wrote in Malayalam magazines. 

Krishnan Nair introduced international literature and writers to Malayalam readers among whom include Neruda, Paz, Milan Kundera, Kazantzakis, Gide, Camus, Boris Pasternak and so on.

Krishnan Nair died in 2006. So this is way back. 

I was fortunate enough to get a copy of Aubrey Menen's The Space Within the Heart of which the late critic recommended as a book one should not miss.

A slim volume divided into two parts Heart is an autobiography, a writer's search for himself, who felt himself bored in front of a Pope. He takes the reader on his personal quest to find who the 'I' is after the death of his mother. It is a study on being and dying.

For an idea what the quest is all about here is Menen in his own words:

"In Rome I remembered Descartes. He had been suddenly struck by a question very similar to mine. He wanted to know if he really existed, and he saw at once that it was going to be difficult thing to prove. He therefore shut himself up in a large Dutch stove, presumably (though he does not say) unlit, and emerged with the proposition ‘I think, therefore I am’. This was very good, so good that Catherine the Great summoned him to Moscow where, having proved he existed, he caught a cold and died.

All the same it was not good enough for me. ‘Thinking’ was all very well.  I wanted to know who was the ‘I’. Without knowing that, Descartes’ proposition is imperfect. He did not explore the question himself, perhaps because of the fatal cold, perhaps because he saw with his clear mind that the answer would probably be very upsetting to religious and moral people, for whose good opinion he had great respect. In fact, the answer, as I intend to show, is the most disturbing thing a religious and moral person could ever hear."

A bachelor, Menen died of cancer.  In his conclusion he says that it is Love that makes life worth living.

ENDS

SPB demonstrated Energy & Humility!

 

Legendary playback singer SPB or Balu withdrew into the realm of eternal silence leaving his fans distraught.

He cooed, crooned, howled, rendered dappan koothu (a folk dance and music genre with emphasis on percussion) and melodies with equal elan and gained a place in the hearts of music lovers forever.

With his voice variation, incredible vocal range, vibrancy and versatility, SPB enthralled his fans world over for decades.

He testified that he can do classical in Sankarabharanam which brought him international fame and awards. 

He left us breathless with Mannil indha kandhal (Keladi Kanmani) 

Nostalgic numbers like Naan Ennum Pozhuthu (set to music by Salil Chowdhury/ Azhiyatha Kolangal), Ilaya Nila, Hey Aatha, Thogai Ilamayil, (Payanangal Mudivathillai) Kadavul Meedhu Aanai Uunnai (Radha), Paruvame (Nenjathai Killathe), Sangeeta Jaathi Mullai (Kaadhal Oviyam), Enn Kanmani (Chittu Kuruvi) Kadavul Amaithu Vaitha Medai (Aval Oru Thodarkathai)

He also rendered amorous songs such as Ilamayannun Poonkatre(Pagalil Oru Iravu)

Romba Naalaga Enakkoru Aasai (Ennadi Meenatchi).

Sujatha Narayanan, columnist, film writer and producer is an ardent admirer of SPB, as a, singer, his energy and his personality. 

For her, the playback singer is a celebrity without an ego.

Sujatha recalls an incident when she, as the southern head of a private FM radio station, had invited the singer six year ago for a programme. 

She recalls he came up to her and said, "you paid me for atleast 20 songs. I think there is time only for a few songs. So, in case I've to give you back the balance amount, I'll give it back."

He could have had an ego. You could not have faulted him for it for the fame he has attained. But, instead of ego he had a lot of grace, Sujatha told Mirror.

"SPB sir is full of energy and aura and you feel it if you're receptive to it. He is intelligent, sharp and so talented, yet humble."

She says that in their music and music-loving family SP Balasubrahmanyam was perhaps the first 'household celebrity' name. He was the favourite singer of all cousins who would visit his recordings. They  saw him record many hit songs in a studio that one of her three uncles managed at the time.

"He is my first hero before I saw a hero on screen," she says.

He always carries his lyrics book with him. 

Whenever someone asks him to sing a few lines he does it with his characteristic grace and zeal. He did sing a few lines for her when she interviewed him once. It was the song, "Sujatha, I love you Sujatha," from the film Kodeeswaran Magal.

Sujatha says he will also sing for children if they asked him to.

When she met him for her first FM radio live chat in 2003 he asked her what happened to the LML Vespa he sold to her dad. SPB said that if he could trace the buyer he would like to buy the scooter back. But she didn't have the details and he went on to talk about how it is all for the good and how one must move on with the times.

His is a voice of hope for millions of his fans in south India.

"I grew up listening to his songs in the radio and identifying my heroes, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth among others through his voice," Sujatha noted.

"He is central to a film to me. The very essence of the movie."

Sujatha says that three of her uncles were in the film industry and their house used to teem with celebrities from the industry. SPB has also visited their house a few times.

"I would liken him to Kishore Kumar. He didn't confine himself to singing. He tried his hand at acting, producing and music direction. He had dubbed for over 200 films for Kamal Haasan in Telugu," Sujatha said.

Of his latest songs, Sujatha made special mention of En Kadhal Thee (Irandaam Ulagam) and Yamma yamma kadhal ponnamma (7aam arivu) besides the title song for Pettai.

His live performances on stage were equally entertaining and alluring, she noted.

It is certainly weird that he had to be bed-ridden and...

Whatever, his songs will live forever, she signed off.

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Temple politics.

Twenty-eight years after an unruly mob brought down a mosque, which stood there till December 6, 1992, the Prime Minister of India formally launches the construction of a temple at the spot, where Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.

On this occasion I stand in awe before the four pillars of our ailing democracy for their over-zealous devotion to prejudice.

The age of pandemics.

(August 5, 2020).

Sonia Gandhi Can.

The narrative is on the son, or even the daughter the mother stands in the sidelines, a substitute till the party president's post is filled up by a candidate of the Gandhi family's choice.

 

But it was the mother who was instrumental in formulating the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and upon her rests the responsibility of saving the UPA and Congress itself from frittering away, however far-fetched it might sound.

True the Congress party is in shambles and Sonia Gandhi's health related concerns would be an obstacle for her to helm the party for long. But what is ailing the Congress, including the desertion of the party by several leaders, could be a temporary phenomenon and could be set right. The Lok Sabha poll debacle is behind. Now is the time to look forward to what lies ahead for the party, the opposition and for the country. 

The vacuum felt in the opposition cannot be allowed to last. It would only further invigorate the BJP. As reported widely what has helped the Modi-Shah juggernaut to roll on has been the muscular nationalism and Hindutva agenda which could be countered only by an equally strong counter-campaign.

ENDS

Julian Barnes l The Only Story.

​The Only Story by Julian Barnes is a tragic love story of a 19-year-old Paul, son of a policing mother and a milder father less given to judgment and, 48-year-old Mrs Susan Macleod, who is is married with two daughters both older than Paul. 

The plot is almost similar to Mario Vargas Llosa's Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter. But unlike Aunt Julia, this one is bleak as it tries to delve into Susan's sufferings.

The story is recalled from memory by Paul in his old age well following the death of Susan after being treated in a psychiatric institution for depression and related problems. 

Paul-- Casey for Susan since she says he 'is a case' --and Susan meet in a tennis court, fall in love and move on to live together. Susan's husband Macleod is a 'Short, fat guy' who while playing golf 'hits the ball as if he hates it,' and is given to a querulous temperament.

The first time Paul goes to Macleod house, is as Susan advises him, through the garden in the back way.

In passing we're informed that Susan ('She laughs at life, this is part of her essence') was a victim of sexual and domestic abuse. When she (her mother dies of cancer when she was 10)  used to go and stay with Uncle Humph and Aunt Florence) one night in a drunken mood Humph rams his tongue into her mouth and thrashes it around like a live fish. 'I wish I'd bitten it off,' she says. Every summer he did it till she was about sixteen. 'Oh, it wasn't as bad as for some, I know, but maybe that's what made me frigid.'

When her husband smashes Susan's face into the closed door Paul muses: "One thing I never swerved from was the certainty that Gordon Macleod's behaviour was a crime of absolute liability. And his responsibility was also absolute. 

A man hits a woman; a husband hits a wife;  a drunkard hits a sober spouse. There was no defence, and no possible mitigation. The fact that it would never come to court, the middle-class England had a thousand ways of avoiding the truth, that respectability was no more shed in public than clothes, the fact that Susan would never accuse him to any authority, not even a dentist -all this had no relevance to me, except sociologically. The man was as guilty as hell, and I would hate him until the end of his days. This much I knew."

He and Susan talk about everything: the state of the world  (not good), the state of her marriage (not good), the general character and moral standards of the Village (not good) and even Death (not good).

He takes her to a consultant psychiatrist at a local hospital after she staggers beneath the weight of extreme, unbearable and incompatible emotions. She starts taking alcohol. Her health deteriorates that finally Paul has to hand back Susan to her daughter Martha.

As the narrator recalls, "Handing back Susan had been an act of self-protection on his part. There was no doubt about that; and no doubt in his mind that he had to do it. But beyond this, was it an act of courage, or of cowardice?." 

Joan, surviving sister of Gerald, "who donkey's years previously had been sweet on Susan, but then has died suddenly from leukaemia" is an interesting character.

The Only Story is a meditation on love and the tragedy told sans sentiments  ("It was as if he viewed, and lived, his life in the third person. Which allowed him to assess it  more accurately, he believed") It is not however the best of Barnes' works for it lacks the intensity and magic of say, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters.

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Kamal & Rajini

"I can’t figure this debate. Was Nathuram Godse an assassin? Yes. Would you call him a terrorist in today’s terminology? Yes. Did he kill the Mahatma because he thought he was being unfair to Hindus? Yes. Was he a member of the Hindu Mahasabha? Yes."

--Pritish Nandy.

Self-aggrandisement, self-delusion and exaggerated ambitions could wreak havoc on your life and work. This is the message actor-politician Kamal Haasan conveys to me. 
He was once, when he used to work under renown directors, an excellent actor. 

Later on, when he started playing the Sakalakala Vallavan (virtuoso of all arts) in reel and real life,  the colossal over-excessiveness of him drove one sick.

Currently the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder seems to be maintaining a low profile in the wake of the controversy that has erupted over his Hindu extremist remark. It should have taken its toll on him. He appears to have decided to wait till May 23, when Lok Sabha poll results would be out, to speak to the media or, so says his spokesperson.

  

In politics things are not working for him as he would have wished is my guess. If he had expected to capitalize on his 'star value' to succeed in politics he should be disappointed by now. 

He is an also -ran in the election. But the results would throw light on--MNM's symbol is torchlight-- what is in store for Kamal Haasan the politician in the near future.   

Haasan and T.T.V.Dinakaran are apparently running for third position in the polls. If Dinakaran is a savvy politician Haasan is a novice who is struggling to gain a foothold in politics.  

The fact that Kamal Haasan is new to politics and non-corrupt has endeared a section of neutral voters to vote for him. But stalked by controversies and isolation how long Haasan would succeed in keeping up the momentum in politics remains a moot point.  

He calls himself an atheist. His 'Hey Ram' left many liberal friends fuming. They dubbed him an RSS propagandist. His Vishwaroopam was seen as 'anti-Muslim.' In politics, he didn't hesitate to criticise the BJP and AIADMK. But harping on 'corruption' distanced him from the DMK. He rather failed to recognize that this election was not about corruption but about ousting a pro-Hindutva nationalist government from power.

At the zenith of the controversy over his movie Vishwaroopam in January 2013--it was banned by then chief minister J.Jayalalithaa after Muslim outfits took offence to some scenes in the movie-- Kamal Haasan declared he would leave the country. 

This time round, it is the Hindu outfits led by the BJP and its ally AIADMK which were after Kamal Haasan for his assertion during an election rally in Aravakurichi that an Hindu, Nathuram Godse, was the first extremist of independent India. 

There is no love lost for him among many of my friends. Not me yet.  But one thing is sure: the so-called 'superstars' Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth live (just like their movies) in self-delusion and they drive their fans to the same pit.

ENDS

Rahul Gandhi disappoints

Rahul Gandhi should find a suitable hand to helm the party.

The exit poll results released on Sunday evening favours BJP-led NDA to retain power at the Centre.

Will  the exit poll results come true?

If it does BJP would only have to thank the opposition particularly, Rahul Gandhi for gifting BJP another five years to rule the country.

For the government -led by Narendra Modi was in an unenviable  situation when Election Commission announced dates for the polls in March. The fallout of demonetisation, GST, the monumental neglect of farmers and marginalized sections etc, had turned the masses against the government. Thereon, all that the opposition had to do was to capitalize on it;  come together to form a formidable front and step up an aggressive campaign against the BJP to topple it. It was on this aspect that Rahul Gandhi miserably failed.

In U.P, in Delhi (how wrong was Rahul on relying on leaders like 81-year-old Sheila Dixit and sidelining Mani Shankar Aiyars') and in some other states he bungled by failing to align with potential allies. He then chose to contest from Wayanad thereby annoying the left parties.

The master strategist Amit Shah took care of the rest.

In Tamil Nadu, there need be no qualm in reiterating that DMK scion M.K.Stalin is more or less similar to Rahul Gandhi in the bungling game. He failed to strengthen the front, for instance by failing to rope in parties like Vijayakanth's DMDK into its fold.

Whether BJP wins or losses the Hindu nationalist party has changed the politics into a notoriously  shrewd game. And the saffron party's victory doesn't augur well for our democracy.

Whether Congress manages to form a government or not it's  time that Rahul Gandhi found a senior hand to helm the party till it is time for him to lead it.  It appears that Rahul like his father Rajiv Gandhi is not made for politics. It was his mother Sonia Gandhi who is an adept politician. We don't know much about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra yet.
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ReplyForward

Brian Murphy

We didn't meet as he wished.

Brian Murphy, a Facebook friend, passed away recently. What is given below is from his FB conversations. Over to him —

I find over and over again that there's nothing on gods green earth which can get unreasonable people to see reason...It's very true that any nationalist movement peppered with religious fervor like the RSS is fascist to the core. Don't feel bad, brother...Listen to some D.Gilmore...Relax. Oh, the article I read was written by Pankaj Mishra on Modi...Very well written. Very close to the bone...Modi is a dangerous maniac - megalomaniac whohas really gotten the taste for power. Very disturbing.
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Brother...Can't say if you're seriously busy these days...If not? Fuck that! Or, even if you are - let's write a story together...I have a cool idea...Did work - a lot, actually...Like 23,000 words....Fucking lost it all this last time when laptop crashed in Manila. Nothing was left on the hard drive! What kind of fuckery is that? I was kicked in the jaw...Because I am a Knucklehead - not at all techo-savy - even about back ups...Or worse - when i know, I still don't do shit to change things anyways. Big problem I've got...I lost the first version when I dropped that laptop off a table...They tell me the hard drive was cracked - Fuck me....Never mind.
I have an interesting India story - pretty far-out, actually - it would be awesome to work with an Indian writer who could assume characters...Give them the proper voices.
Anyway...Think about this. Should be a fun thing. Maybe, just the sort of thing I need now, here, in this place...
So....
Suss this over, my guy...
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Brother...I thought it would be smart to exchange phone numbers - in case for whatever reason we lose touch here at FB...Mine is, 9640506926...It's a cell phone...I most definitely will make it to Chenai one fine sunny day.

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'Glory and loveliness have passed away'*

You're gone, times have changed
the trees are being felled, woods destroyed. There is no rain.
Drought of feeling and felicity.
The rivers are going dry
What was green once
fast growing grey.
The bird calls sounds like laments,
as ruthlessness rules
in the absence of mercy
and grace.

*from John Keats, Dedication, to Leigh Hunt.

ENDS

Sisyphus...

What else can Sisyphus do but to roll the immense boulder up a hill and roll it down. 

A life of repetition. 

But then as Camus suggests there may be a moment  when Sisyphus is walking down the hill when he is free, though briefly. When he is 'superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.' 

As Milan Kundera writes about Kafka's The Trial, the writer says that though K, completely absorbed by the predicament of the trial that has been imposed upon him cannot  escape through the windows that open suddenly, for a brief instant, but, for a flash at least, he can see the poetry of the world outside, "the poetry that, despite everything, exists as an ever present possibility and sends a small silvery glint into his life as a hunted man."

Though bound to a life of tragedy and repetition Mankind can find their `small silvery glint' in their own way. 

Perhaps a parallel universe can exist in imagination even as one undergoes through the trial of reality. 

The reassuring thing then is, in life, such 'brief opening of windows' and `poetry' are possible. Flashes of imagination which, though entirely different from what is real, but in perfect  harmony with it.

--------------------------

Gandhi isn't turning in his grave.

The knives are out still  for the toothless old man decades after his death.
No end to postmortems as to find out what the pacifist stood for, his rights and wrongs, his oddities and eccentricities.

Upon him the curse of being judged by each generation. It has to be so since his devotees have bestowed upon him the title 'Mahatma'.

The stooping, bare-bodied wiry frame of a man who spearheaded the freedom struggle is revered and reviled understood and misread...

The younger generation find him outdated and boring.

The Hindu supramacits consider him a traitor for advocating Hindu-Muslim unity. The reason why they are currently involved in a bid to salvage his assassin Nathuram Godse from History's landfill and sanitize him. The refrain is Godse killed Gandhi out of his love for the country.  They are fabricating History. They are turning the tables on Gandhi. But Gandhi isn't turning in his grave. It would be so unlike of him. We aren't losing sleep over what is taking place around us. The right wing is having their way. We seem to have lost our way.

A Missionary of Tamil

​

Constanzo Giuseppe Beschi or Veeramamunivar is today a life size statue at Marina hardly noticed by a majority of pleasure-seekers who frequent the popular beach. He stands there gazing at the traffic along the Kamarajar  Salai. 

He should be sick of the new generation's preoccupation with the English language at the cost of their mother tongue. He should be anguished over  how some political leaders make a living dividing people on linguistic lines... 

Veeramamunivar- missionary of Tamil, taught us that with devotion we can easily cross the choppy seas of mastering a distant tongue. 

(It was through friend Lena​kumar when I was working in Tirunelveli that I came to know about this missionary).​

ENDS.

Brainwash

The word 'Brainwash' has gained currency lately particularly in discourses relating to radical elements, quite often, in the aftermath of their misdemeanours or terror strikes in some parts of the world.

I'm of the view that such a 'wash' could work only on people who lack a brain (encephalon), 'that portion of the cerebro-spinal axis that is contained in the cranial cavity' (Gray's Anatomy). In such skulls, that resemble the archaeological findings of prehistoric times and filled with hogwash the embers of resentment for 'others'  is lit and kept  smouldering. Many such brains, that contain explosive ideas meant for detonation,  are appallingly difficult to understand.

These brainwashed patients believe that the disease they are inflicted with was a blessing bestowed by God and that they will be rewarded with a paradise once they leave this earth. But earliest concept of the disease they are inflicted with, understood by the patient and the healer, according to Pathology, Quick Review and MCQs, is said to be the religious belief that the disease was an outcome of 'curse from God' or the belief in magic that the affliction had supernatural origin from 'evil eye of spirits.

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Haasan & Controversies

Kamal Haasan has this trait of raising the bar whether it be movies or his new- found passion, politics. (though these days all his shows are flop shows). This along with his outspokenness quite frequently lands him in controversies.  

This time round he has landed in trouble with his Hindu terrorist utterance.

The BJP -led right wing is up in arms against the actor-turned-politician's statement that free India's first terrorist was a Hindu and his name was Nathuram Godse.

Haasan, who heads Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) was campaigning for his party candidate S.Mohanraj at Aravakuruchi where bypoll is due on May 19 when he went hammer and tongs saying the firsts terrorist of independent India was a Hindu. 

"I'm not saying because this happens to be a Muslim-dominated area. I say this in front of Gandhi statue. The first terrorist of independent India was a Hindu. His name was Nathuram Godse," the actor declared.

Describing himself as the spiritual great- grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Haasan said that he has come to seek answer for the murder. 

"All good Indians want an India where equality and all the three colours of national flag were upheld. In that sense, I am a good Indian," Kamal Haasan claimed.

The right -wing took exception to the remarks with BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan vehemently condemning.

"In addition to using the term 'Hindu terrorism' in a Muslim-dominated area, Kamal Haasan has also said that Hindu terrorism was the first in Independent India. This is vehemently condemnable," Tamilisai said.

Vivek Oberoi, who portrayed the role of Modi in PM Narendra Modi took to twitter to react.

 "Dear Kamal sir, you are a great artist. Just like art has no religion, terror has no religion either! You can say Godse was a terrorist, why would you specify 'Hindu'? Is it because you were in a Muslim dominated area looking for votes?"

The actor urged Haasan not to divide the country.

"Please sir, from a much smaller artist to a great one, let's not divide this country, we are one."

Being on the receiving end is not something new for Kamal Haasan. In 2013 Muslim outfits raised a banner of revolt against the actor's Vishwaroopam. Finally, the movie was released after some controversial scenes were edited out. He has also drawn the ire of Hindu outfits several times in the recent past.

When he launched his political outfit on February last year it appeared, for his strident criticism of Narendra Modi, that he could be a natural ally of the DMK-led front. But Stalin apparently was not much inclined to accommodate him. A section of the voters identify MNM as a B-team of the BJP, which it is not. Thus, Kamal Haasan's is an ambiguous presence in Tamil Nadu politics.

ENDS