Is this the end of English?

Breaking News!

Google sides with traitors to the English language over dictionary definition of literally

If you don't believe me ask Ambrose Bierce who tried to teach us write right, back in 1909. The entire book is available online through Project Gutenberg, though such a gem must/should have seen light of the day.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12474/12474-h/12474-h.htm

He argues -- "Literally for Figuratively. It is bad enough to exaggerate, but to affirm the truth of the exaggeration is intolerable."  The rest of it also makes for a quite a fun read.

I 'confess' that I 'still continue' to 'literally' fume abut Google being literally 'mistaken' about 'literally'. Rest, 'later on'.  I guess I definitely need a personal copy of Bierce's book. Literally!

Review Roundup

This is a list of reviews for the latest books and movies I have recently watched.

1. Book: Inferno
    Author: Dan Brown

This book again finds Brown's character Robert Langdon, Harvard symbologist, in a situation straight out of an action thriller, hardly a regular occurrence in the life of an academician (not counting the grant deadline weeks!). The extra touch is Langdon being a savior of the planet this time, against brilliant semi-mad scientist Bertrand Zobrist who has designs to unleash "hell" (hence the name Inferno) on the human civilization which just refuses to stop growing. Additionally, the backdrop constantly derives from Dante Alighieri's epic poem 'Divine Comedy' of which Inferno forms a celebrated first section. In the process, Brown frequently slips into a travelogue spirit where he spends paragraphs after paragraphs giving the reader a "wiki-like"  description of  cathedrals and museums in the Italian city of Florence (birth place of Dante), some of them not even relevant to the plot. Quite typically as in his previous works, this takes the readers into the regime of reading between the lines, deciphering symbols, and navigating dark corridors of medieval history and even futuristic science. I think this is an essential component of Brown's style of writing which makes him tick with such a wide audience --- of making the reader feel as if  'he/she knows' while keeping a pace which precludes the question 'how' or even 'what'. Add a dash of conspiracy theory, which Brown specializes in and you have a bestseller on your shelf. This is what Inferno manages to achieve quite successfully, especially as compared to Brown's previous effort 'The Lost Symbol' -- where reading the fine print only leads to an empty head throbbing with pain. So go ahead and pick Inferno; you will enjoy it if you flow along with Brown's spirit of crashing head long into historical tidbits, but do not question much.

2. Movie: Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani
    Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone et al.

I am not surprised this movie is doing well, but I am not happy about it either. It is easy for a movie with lead actors like Kapoor to be saleable hits these days, unless the story line is irretrievably retarded. This movie exploits the presence of its lead actors to its full advantage, but unfortunately neither of the characterizations seem genuine. The misplaced view of self, the main protagonist Kabir (Kapoor) seems to champion throughout the movie and almost gets away with it, seems absolutely contrived to say the least. If the contemporary generation is finding a resonance with this so called "devil-may-care" attitude, this portrayal goes from being annoyingly superficial to downright disturbing. Unlike the movie, where Kapoor manages to salvage all his relationships and sings/sobs his way into hearts of family and friends whom he has trashed, real life can be pretty stingy in offering redemption opportunities. The other stereotype this movie promotes is that unless you are a wastrel in your school/college days, you would turn into a self-bashing, forlorn wretch with little meaning to your life. This is what 'padhaku' Naina (Padukone) seems to personify when she yells at her mother and says "I want a holiday", before running off to Manali with her cool friends. When she comes back, the ugly duckling has turned into a swan, shed her number 5 glasses, is comfortable flaunting her waist along with her legs, and has fallen in love with the cool Kabir. The reinvented Naina then even dares to sermonize foreign-returned Kabir on 'how to lead a life' (with whom she is still in love for some god-forsaken reason), sharing pearls of wisdom like importance of viewing DDLJ at Maratha Mandir over Phantom of the Opera at Broadway. Cliched does not even begin to capture it.

If you want better worth for your popcorn, go and watch DDLJ at Maratha Mandir. Seriously!

Food Security Bill: Links

The current debate in parliament over the food security bill is currently in a stalemate. A quick recap of the features of this bill which proposes food subsidies to two-thirds of India's population, a staggering 800 million people, can be found here.
(P.S. It gives a good handle on numbers, without any distractions of a logical debate which is anyways beyond the regime of reporting style of NDTV severely cramped by their congress-blind mypoic hogwash).


Why the proposed bill compounds the problem, instead of solving it, especially in the Indian set up is well-articulated by Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor at Carleton University in Canada in his recent article in business standard. He argues

"...no (such) defence exists for supporting an expansion of the provision of subsidised food through the inefficient and corruption-prone public distribution system (PDS). A widening food entitlement under the notoriously leaky PDS, rather than through direct cash transfers, is self-evidently a giant step backward in rationalising the provision of public goods and services to the poor and disadvantaged."

An afterthought to Aurat

 I have been in permanent awe of the poem "Aurat" written by one of the giants of last century poets Kaifi Azmi, ever since I heard it the first time (you can find it here, along with a translation). The recent events of unimaginable cruelty perpetrated against Indian women made me revisit it and reflect over the ever-growing relevance of its philosophy. As I wondered to myself the progressive nature of his great verse, my thoughts found a resonance in the spirit of the original masterpiece. These are my verses, written in the same spirit as the original, but obviously no match for its eloquence.

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

Beshak teri masoomiyat ko kuchla sabne
Teri ruswaiyon ka muzehka banaya sabne
Ashqon ke sailaab mein na ise behne dena
Jo aag mann mein jali, roshan use rehne dena
Tanhaiyon mein bhi jashn hi karna hai tujhe

Uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe

Darr na tu apni takdeer se ab
Tujhe bhi azaad jeene ka hai har-haq
Khwahish-e-gair par aur tu kurbaan na ho
Apne wajood ki pehchann se anjaan na ho
Har saans mein ek umr ko jeena hai tujhe

Uth meri jaan mere saath hi chalna hai tujhe


---------------------Translation------------------

Though your innocence has been despoiled,
Your destruction has been ridiculed,
Don't let your tears wash away,
The fire that burns bright in your heart
Celebrate even in desolation,

Get up, my love, you have to walk with me

Don't fear what awaits as destiny
You have every right to live free
Don't sacrifice any more for wishes of others
Don't remain ignorant of your own identity
A life awaits you in every breath,

Get up, my love, you have to walk with me


                                                  -- Archana

Yay!

A paper on the project that I had been working on for almost three years got accepted today in a very decent journal. Super-relieved! And still in love with physics!

Yours confidentially!

I am beginning to feel that there are actually quite a lot of topics, which I would like to blog about without divulging my identity. This emotion is not borne out of fear of any kind but rather out of a concern of losing the objectivity of a discussion due to audience identifying/confusing my views with my personality (of course the new pieces will still be my views but it won't be like oh yeah! she would think like that because I know she is so and so...). Plus no one can deny that anonymity gives one much more independence of expression. At the same time I feel that maintaining even one blog requires a time commitment which I find hard to fulfill. So I need a show of hands from my blog-friends -- please take the opinion poll on the right and allow me to share your views on the matter.

Adieu Annus Academici

Dear academic new year (new year starts late for academicians, just like everything else!),

Welcome back! You have always been special for me, since as far back in the past, as I can care to remember. Though our relationship has been tenuous in the past few years with me not doing anything special to celebrate your birthday like before -- buying new books, clothes... stuff,  you have been continued to remain an eagerly awaited friend. Being a graduate student, my life does not particularly conform to any academic calendar with the "commencement" and "finals" strictly controlled by the unpredictable nature of my research. Nonetheless the emails announcing welcome receptions for my past-forward versions on campus (I am not on 10 mailing lists for nothing!), or the repeated reminders from the irritated registrar to register for another term yet again, have kept me informed of your whereabouts. It seemed to me as if our relationship evolved with every "student" year of my life and we moved on from being friends to lovers to a matured couple. We grew out from going into raptures on meeting each other after year long gaps into exchanging quick warm hugs as we crossed each other.

In fact, when I opted for graduate school, I was privately happy for being with you for a few more years by extending my student life. So, it has rather come as a shock  to realize that I will cease to be a part of your circle after all this time. You are probably going to be the last one which I can celebrate yet again as a student as I would have moved on into professional life before you come back next year! So you are really extra special. I never thought about this moment of bidding adieu to you as I never really thought of it coming. But next year, when I brush my bag and overturn it to empty it of the bits and pieces of last year, re-arrange the pens and pencils in its pocket (I don't remember why and when I stopped using a pencil-box!), label new folders and sort my papers... it would be to shake hands and share a smile with you for the wonderful time we spent together.

Love,
Archana