Allahabad, Hindi poetry, Nirala, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala
In Poetry on November 7, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Back to blogging after a prolonged hiatus. A combination of summer break, travels, conferences and the ensuing “catching-up” kept me away.
Today a well-known poem by a well-known poet. I grew up listening to anecdotes about Nirala and his antics in Allahabad from my father who studied there. A recurrent aspect was his excessive random altruism, especially remarkable given that he himself was supposedly penniless and bore a famously mercurial temperament. How many of these fables are true, I don’t know. But the dearth of serious biographical research and writing in India is a grouse for another time.
“तोड़ती पत्थर” and Nirala were almost always mentioned in the same breath. Its not hard to see why. Its perhaps his most well know poem in the popular imagination – accessible compared to his other work, deals with a scene that is familiar to most Indians, and evokes tremendous empathy while avoiding pity – not an easy thing to do. For me personally, the lines, “देखा मुझे उस दृष्टि से/जो मार खा रोई नहीं,” are among the best poetic lines ever penned. These lines sting in the deepest wells of our empathy, and the sting lingers just long enough till the wells overflow.
Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, JBS Haldane, John Maynard Smith, Marxism
In Politics, Science on August 9, 2009 at 4:41 pm
1. My friend Prasad sends this excerpt from J. B. S. Haldane’s views on the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, and Marxism:
“Similarly [Gargarin] was no doubt tested with psychological shocks such as loud sounds, flashes of light, and so on, to see that they neither affected his heart nor stopped him doing a job. In both these sets of tests he was probably helped by joining the Communist Party, as he has recently done. The acceptance of Marxism leads to the disappearance of certain kinds of worry, which may play a part in causing gastritis, anomalous heart beats, and so on. And membership of the party might suffice to give an extra few minutes’ endurance of extreme hardship.”
2. There is a story, possibly apocryphal, of the distinguished British biologist, J. B. S. Haldane, who found himself in the company of a group of theologians. On being asked what one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of his creation, Haldane is said to have answered, “An inordinate fondness for beetles.” (Source: Hutchinson, G. E. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals? American Naturalist, 93: 145-159.) [ Also check out this link]
3. And here, finally, is a video of the great evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith, recounting the story of Haldane’s last words, and revealing his profound affection for his mentor.
