Fiction and facts.

When you asked me for a list of books for your school library, I had lot of names in my mind. Hundreds and hundreds of names jumbled in my mind and I could not send you a list earlier only because I could not sort out only a few names out of them. I had the list of best 100 novels by Times in my mind. I had a lot of literary classics in my mind. I had many veteran names from the fictional world in my mind. Then what did I choose?

I preferred non-fiction to the fiction. I preferred not literature, but I preferred history, politics, social studies, and science. The list I have sent you mail contains only one or two names in fiction and all the others are just non-fiction.

It is not that I do not understand the importance of fiction in life. It is not that I underestimate the importance of literature. It is not that I am only a cold-hearted lover of science. I love literature as I love my life. Literature has helped me to move forward when I was in great worries in my personal life. You know it.

But, again it is a time to move forward. Literature gives you ‘nazariya’ to look at the things, but science and facts give you a ‘nazar’. They tell you exactly what the thing is.

Let’s move towards the list. The first name in my list is the biography of Rabindranath Tagore written by Robinson and Dutta. I have been strongly attracted towards Tagore over the period of last few years when I read his Gitanjali and some of his short stories. I want to know more and more about him. How as a human being he was? How he lived? How he loved? How he looked towards the life? This is the only reason that the list also contains complete work of Rabindranath Tagore, which is the only fictional list other than Midnight’s Children.

The next name is ‘Poverty and Famines’ by Amartya Sen. We know his authority on this subject, and after reading his ‘The Argumentative Indian’, I wanted to read him more and more for his completely logical attitude to see the basic problems in the Indian society.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, as I told you, is the only fictional work except works of Tagore in this list. This book is one of the best 100 novels selected by Times and it was also selected as the best from those 100 at various occasions, so I eagerly want to read this one.

‘What the Buddha taught us?’ is the scholarly work about the teachings of Buddha by a SriLankan monk and scholar Walpola Rahula. It has been regarded as an important introductory work on Buddhism. The explanation of ‘suffering’ in Buddhism by him worth to be read in original.

The next number in the list is ‘Ten days that shook the world.’ This is the book written by John Reed, an American journalist that is based on October revolution in Russia in 1917.

The next one is ‘Discovery of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru and this hardly needs any explanation. You have been reading his ‘Glimpses of world history’ over the last few days and you must be very keen to read this another work by him as I am.

From this point, the list takes a sharp turn and moves towards the field of basic sciences. The first book in this part is ‘Philip’s Atlas of the World.’ You are very much acquainted with my interest in the maps and this would be a great thing if I can have such an atlas of my own to be kept with me always.

The next number is ‘A history of India’ by Romila Thapar. As you know, Romila Thapar is a well-known historian and author of at least a score of books including great works such as ‘Asoka and the decline of Mauryan Empire’ published by Oxford University Press. This book covers the period from Mughal rule through the years of British control to the government of Nehru, with emphasis on the continuity of development from one era to the next.

The next three books—Thinking Chemistry, Explaining Physics, and Illustrated Biology published by Oxford University Press—are standard works of basics in these three branches of pure science. My love to the basic sciences urges me to read such kind of works again and again.

‘The evolution of Indian economy’ is published by NCERT and would be of great help in understanding this aspect of our society.

The last one that I forgot to mention in the list is the classic work by a notable scholar of Indian constitution. ‘Working on a democratic constitution’ by Granville Austin is an important work if you want to learn more about constitutional structure of our country.

You may get surprise on viewing this list. Study, study everywhere and no fiction to read. But let me tell you, this is the time to move forward. This is the time to know the things as they are. A long, long life is spread in front of us to have fun. This is study time.

You may get details, such as publisher and prices, of these books from net if you need them for technical needs.

I am keenly waiting for you reply.
~~Ganesh.

What else can we expect from Mr. Shourie?

The name is Arun Shourie is everywhere in the news all over this week. So, I deem it very timely to introduce with Mr. Arun Shourie.

He may be anything to the world. For me, he is the author of the book ‘Worshipping false gods.’

Worshipping false gods is the series of articles written by Mr. Arun Shourie to deglorify the name and fame of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. The series was too much controversial and he had to face lot of oppositions from all over the India, and especially from Maharashtra. Even though he went ahead and published that series in a large, above 600-page tome. His main allegations against Dr. Ambedkar were serious ones as he claimed Dr. Ambedkar to be a willing stooge of British Government and not actually the father of Indian Constitution. Shourie refers him just an instrument of British’s divide and rule politics.

And what Mr. Shourie assumes himself to be? Does he assume himself so great that he can malign one of the greatest heroes that India has ever produced? Shourie is just a white-collared scholar with Sangh’s voice. Even with his latest bombardment against BJP, he requested the RSS to take over BJP, because he believes no one but Sangha has the power to lead BJP in a great future.

Mr. Arun Shourie is the real face of RSS. We cannot expect anything else from him.

Privacy and Secrecy

Often we may be in doubt as to what to do. It is not easy matter to decide what is right what is not. One little test I shall ask you to apply whenever you are in doubt. It may help you. Never do anything in secret or anything that you would wish to hide. For the desire to hide anything means that you are afraid, and fear is a bad thing and unworthy of you. Be brave, and all the rest follows. If you are brave, you will not fear and will not do anything of which you are ashamed. You know that in our great Freedom Movement, under Bapuji's leadership, there was no room for secrecy or hiding. We have nothing to hide. We are not afraid of what we do and what we say. We work in the sun and in the light. Even so in our private lives let us make friends with the sun and work in the light and do nothing secretly or furtively. Privacy, of course, we may have and should have, but that is a very different thing from secrecy. And if you do so, my dear, you will grow up a child of light, unafraid and serene and unruffled, whatever may happen.
This is what he has written to her about privacy and secrecy. Of course, there should be nothing to hide. Why should we afraid of anything, as the sun and the whole universe is with us? We are loving everything from the bottom of heart and soul.
How smart Arnav is!
He is the same as I saw him in the dream last night.
I am in love with him now.
Same face , same eyes, and same smile. I played a lot with him last night in the dream. Is this a co-incidence?

I will be here

I will be here very soon to join Galibana. I read all posts hurridly.I am at Jalgaon Jamod for some official work and spared some time to come and meet you . And very glad seeing your contribution to Galibana. Wish both of you very happy Ganeshotsav.

That magic touch has lost!

This is the work of perfection. This is the work of complete dedication to, and a lot of homework in, a particular subject. With this letter on Ghalibana, you can tell yourself confidently: Gone are the days of depression. Gone are the days of darkness. Here is a new dawn waiting for a bright morning…
I went through the last letter in a little bit hurry. I read it completely but did not have much time to swallow and digest it. I will read it again and again. This work deserves to be read again and again. I have not had a chance to get the complete book yet, but I can read it now with your help. I have always been fascinated by the idea of a father to write such letters to a daughter who was just 13.
While going through it, it stopped to the line “But the days of that faith are gone, and gone with them is that magic touch in stone.” On this note, I just want to make you aware of a sharp contrast to this line. Just last week, stone-pelting ritual at Pandhurna claimed about 50 casualties. This year, the ritual was banned by Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission and the district administration. When people came to know that they couldn’t hurl stone at each other, they targeted the police vans and the journalists covering the event. The administration needed to bow before the vandalists. The age-old ceremony was celebrated with bloodshed. Who says the days of faith are gone? Just that magic touch is nowhere now. The stones are used as weapons nowadays behind the name of religion.
Let’s discuss it later. Till then, keep writing…

Ganesh

THE LAST LETTER

As I’ve habit of reading anything from the last page, I started reading the "Glimpses of World History" from the last page. I read first the last letter which is 196th letter written by him to his daughter. Into that, he tells he has spread out a lot of swadeshi ink on swadeshi paper to write the previous 195 letters. Was it worth while, he wonders? Will all this paper and ink convey any message to her that will interest her? But he thinks himself that she will say yes; of course she will feel that any other answer might hurt him.
In the same letter he tells her that she must not take what he has written in those letters as the final authority on any subject. A politician wants to have a say on every subject, and he always pretends to know much more than he actually does. He has to be watched carefully. He admits in the letter that there may be many errors as a prison, with no libraries or reference books at hand, is not the most suitable place to write on historical subjects.
He tells her that he has given the barest outline; this is not a history; they are just fleeting glimpses of our long past. If history interests her, if she feels some of the fascination of history, she will find her way to many books which will help her to unravel the threads of past ages. But reading books alone will not help. If she would know she must look upon it with sympathy and with understanding. To understand a person who lived long ago, you will have to understand his environment, the conditions under which he lived, the ideas that filled his mind. It is absurd for us to judge the past people as if they lived now and thought as we do. There is no one to defend slavery today and the great Pluto held that the slavery was essential. We can not judge the past from the standards of the present. Every one will willingly admit this. But every one will not admit the equally absurd habit of judging the present by the standards of the past. The various religions have especially helped in petrifying old beliefs and faiths and customs, which may have had some use in the age and the country of their birth, but which are singularly unsuitable in our present age.
If, then, you look upon past history with the eye of sympathy, the dry bones will fill up with flesh and blood, and you will see a mighty procession of living men and women and children in every age in every clime, different from us and yet very like us, with much the same human virtues and human failings. History is not a magic show, but there is plenty of magic in it for those who have eyes to see.
The past brings us many gifts; indeed, all that we have today of culture, civilization, science, or knowledge of some aspects of the truths, is a gift of distant or recent past to us. It is right that we acknowledge our obligation to the past. But the past does not exhaust our duty or obligation. We owe our duty to the future also, and perhaps that obligation is even greater than the one we owe to the past. For the past is past and done with, we cannot change it; the future is yet to come, and perhaps we may be able to shape it a little. If the past has given us some part of truth, the future also hides many aspects of the truth, and invites us to search for them.
History, it is said, has many lessons to teach us; and there is another saying that history never repeats itself. Both are true; for we cannot learn anything from it by slavishly trying to copy it, learn something from it by prying behind it and trying to discover the forces that move it. Even so, what we get is seldom a straight answer. “History,” says Karl Marx “has no other way of answering old questions than by putting new ones.”
The old days were the days of faith, blind, unquestioning faith. The wonderful temples and mosques and cathedrals of past centuries could never have been built but for the overpowering faith of the architects and builders and people generally. The very stones that they reverently put one on top of the other, or carved into beautiful designs, tell us of this faith. The old temple spire, the mosques with its slender minarets, the Gothic cathedrals—all of them pointing upward with an amazing intensity of devotion, as if offering a prayer in stone or marble to the sky above—thrill us even now, though we may be lacking in that faith of old of which they are the embodiments. But the days of that faith are gone, and gone with them is that magic touch in stone. Thousands of temples and mosques and cathedrals continue to be built, but they lack the spirit that made them live during the Middle Ages. There is little difference between them and the commercial offices which are so representative of our age.
Our age is different one; it is an age of disillusion, of doubt and uncertainty and questioning. We can no longer accept many of the ancient beliefs and customs; we have no more faith in them, in Asia or in Europe or America. So we search for new ways, new aspects of truth more in harmony with our environment. And we question each other and debate and quarrel and evolve any number of “isms” and philosophies. As in the days of Socrates, we live in an age of questioning, but that questioning is not confined to a city like Athens; it is world-wide.
In the same letter he writes, it is easy to admire the beauties of the universe to live in a world of thought and imagination. But to try to escape in this way from the unhappiness of others, caring little what happens to them, is not sign of courage or fellow-feeling. Thought, in order to justify itself, must lead to action. “Action is the end of thought.”, says Romain Rolland. “All thought which does not look towards action is an abortion and a treachery. If we are the servants of thought we must be the servants of action.”
People avoid action often because they are afraid of the consequences, for action means risk and danger. Danger seems terrible from a distance; it is not so bad if you have a close look at it. And often it is a pleasant companion, adding to the zest and delight of life. The ordinary course of life becomes dull at times, and we take too many things for granted and have no joy in them. And yet how we appreciate these common things of life when we have lived without them for a while!
And here he closes his last letter giving 35th poem or prayer from ‘Gitanjali’ by Rabindra Nath Tagore:--
“Where the mind is without fear and
The head is held high;
Where the knowledge is free;
……………………………
…………………………….
……………………………
……………………………
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
So that’s all. We will meet very soon with a new letter.

Who says?

Who says that my friend cannot write good English? You certainly can do better, but this was really a good start. Vocabulary is not a big problem. You will start to get the words by their own, you just keep on writing. I need run back home now. It's too late. ~~Ganesh.

I started life again as I want

Yesterday I felt better as I started reading again. I started reading "Glimpses of World History." Yesterday I read the Last Letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter. I'll tell later what he has written in that, as I have very less time now.

We shall overcome

I got your depressed message early in the morning today. I never wanted to make you feel depressed; I just wanted to pour out my feeling. Let it be. Life is so colorful, and a normal day has only 24 hours to live.

You are given responsibilities because you are considered to be worthy for them. Responsibilities are not bestowed to anyone under the sky. We suffer, because we are chosen. We suffer, because we ourselves have chosen us to be suffered. To complain and regret over the happenings is not the best way to face the situations that we own have created for us. Let the life be unpityful. We shall never ask anyone for pity. We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day…

Explore yourself and fetch your thoughts up till the bottom of your soul is vividly clear. Don't let the thoughts rule over you. You control them, because only you have the power to do so. And never be depressed. I felt very bad when I read you writing you want to get rid of such life. I was really surprised when I saw a lively chap like you talking about the obstacles and not about the dreams.

Follow your dreams with full of life. Dreams cannot be achieved always from the straight and smooth roads. Dreams should be perished and nourished till the spring comes. And the spring will spring up suddenly on some nice morning after a dark depressed night. You just need to keep yourself cool till then.

Be happy and make others happy. I am always there with you in sorrows and joys, but I want you to be happy. I want you to overcome your depressed mood before you come here in the next month. I, once again, want that lively Kailash here and not a pity soul. We will meet soon on a happy note. Yours, ~~Ganesh.

Onam days are going on now!

I am very much disappointed with your response to Ghalibana. I thought that you would be most interested in sharing things with me, but it doesn't seem so. I know you are very much busy in your daily chores, but if you have a will you can certainly find out a little bit of your time for me.

Days are not so good for me too. I don't now why, but I am not feeling well. I am not being able to keep my mind fresh and my mood okay. I cannot smile even if I try to do so. Everything is going well, but nothing pleases me. I get some relief with Arnav. Looking at him when he smiles with himself gives some relief, but the life is so demanding that I cannot afford sitting besides him all the day. I have almost stopped studying for the last few days. I know I need to start it as early as possible. I am preparing to start studies with a good spirit, but things are not going well.

These are all excuses. Excuses cannot lead you to good future. We need to stop giving excuses every here and there. I know everything and I know naught.

Mom and papa are here and these are the days of Onam. Myth behind Oman must be known to you: The beloved king of the masses, BaLi, who was sent to 'pataal' by Vishnu, gets only a single chance to meet his people in a year. People, who live in penury all over the year, do not want their king to see them in such condition and celebrate the days of Oman, so that the king BaLi may feel that his ryot is well-to-do and has no worries at all. They all dress well and celebrate the day of Onam for their beloved king BaLi forgetting all their lifetime worries for a single day. But, the celebrations cannot be continued all over the year. BaLi needs to go. Celebrations stop. Onam ends. Life starts again with same, and some new, worries.

Onam days are going on now!

changing the location

This is to inform you that we are going to change our Reshimbag house in the next one or two days. I have seen a nice place near Manewada. It's a nice compounded house with three spacious rooms, terrace, well for water, and overall the houseowner does not live there, so it would be ours at all. Rent is merely 1500. It is very much uncomfortable to live in a single room, especially having Arnav with us now. I am eagerly waiting both of you to meet at the new location.

Ganesh.

Let's hope for a better future!

Working from Wikipedia seems to be very useful. When you can't get things straightforward, get them by hook or crook. (Its just a saying not my whole life philosophy.)
I just wanted to share a few things with you on which I have been thinking for the last few days. The things may sound trivial to you but I believe these things have some importance and you should know them.
The first thing is the issue of Imran Hashmi's house. Last week media has got a sensational news when Imran asked,"Do I look like a terrorist?" The real issue was he was denied a house in Pali Hill area of Mumbai just because he is a Muslim. He registered a formal complaint in State Minority Commission and thus the news came to media. Media covered both the aspects of the issue. The Saffron Brigade held Imran guilty that he brought his religion in just a minor issue of getting or not getting a house. The secularist held that Imran's example is just a part of a huge iceberg. People must not be discriminated on the basis of caste, creed or ethnicity. Arguments and counter-arguments went on for the whole week and when they seem to calm down, ShivSena came in. In Saamna, it's own publication, Sena started a maligning campaign against Imran. He was referred to as "Chindhi actor", "dum hilau actor(tail moving actor)", etc.
This is not for the first time that a Muslim was rejected a house. Few years ago, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi were also rejected only because they are Muslims. And also, this is not the first time when Shivsena took such a derogatary stand in a delicate issue like this.
Let it be. I told you the whole issue because you should know what is happening in your home state.
Now let's go to another news. And fortunately, it is a good one. Government of Maharashtra has sanctioned the first engineering college in Gadchiroli district. This is an important news, because the district was always neglected when it came to developmental decisions. Gadchiroli is still far away from the lightening fast speed of 21st century. This decision could help it to become somewhat familiar to the new world. Establishing new college does not mean everything. We would hardly get students from district own for the first few years, because we dont have that quality of primary and secondary education in Gadchiroli in present situation. But with the college, outside people will go to Gadchiroli. It would help to minimise the stigmata of naxalism from the district. New opportunities of employment would be created for the native people. They would get something to think over rather than just sitting idly all over the day. There are chances that the situations may turn towards good basic education, and that's all what the district needs badly.
LET'S HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE!
By Ganesh.

I have been going through Ghalibana on a very frequent basis. I do get your messages within few hours of your posting (unless its monday, because i don't come here on Mondays). I really appreciate your longing to read me. I too have so many things that i want to discuss with both of you, but I cannot use blogger on a daily basis because certain problems. However, I would really try to write something on a weekly basis. You don't be disheartened and stop writing. I always eagerly wait for your posts and open Ghalibana as soon as I start my PC. I hope I could write something in the next two or three days.
Ganesh.

two lines

Apni gali mein mujhko na kar dafan baad-e-qatal,
Mere pate se khalaq ko kyon tera ghar mile?

Rone se aur ishq mein bebak ho gaye

Dhoye gaye hum itne ki bas paak ho gaye

write something

If you are getting time, please write something for us.We are waiting for your posts. Everyday I'm checking for new posts

to ganesh

no problem about using of my gmail. there is nothing personal and secret.u r right there should a platform where we all 3 can meet.
I will send you photos of my quarter where I'm living. I'm trying to improve my English, please help me improve. yes, you are absolutely right, I'm little bit lucky to have connected with this world by mobile/net.
I promised you that I'll tell you at least a letter daily from the book "Glimpses of World History", but I could not as I am not getting any free period during school hours.
ok how is Arnav?
yesterday I could not call you as all the networks were down due to some reason till 10 o'clock
bye.

To kailash..

Sorry! I used your gmail account with your password to accept the invitation of this blog. This was only to enable you to post here. Sorry once again for stoling your password. Now start blogging, Ghalibana is ready for you..

I have also seen your Kasargod album at Facebook. Your school is nice, but i would really like to see your room, the place where you live, the sea coast and beach of Kasargod, etc. Hope to see you soon. ~~Ganesh.

Welcome..

Hi friends! and friends means only you two. You know i am referring to you. I do not need to especially name you. Its a fact: Friends means only you two.

Over some period of time, i was thinking of some place for us to be in contact. Telephonic conversations will be there always, but as always we must have some written cotact. Letters, emails, blogs...

All of us have three seperate blogs. But we do not have a common one. It would be a very nice idea to share one blog by three of us.

This blog is named ghalibana. I do not know the exact meaning, but i can feel the meaning. I know you can feel it too. Master's blog also is a nice place. The only thing you need to do is invite kailash and me as the members of that blog. I always wanted to have friends somewhere in blog's name. But, that's another option. Let us at first start. As you know, i cannot access to gmail very frequently. Ghalibana would be a nice option for all of us to be at one place.

I have sent invitations to both of you as users of this blog. Just sign in blogger and you will get them. You just have to accept it. After that, you can post your posts with your own account and your own password with your own name. Master has already accepted it.

There are certain rules in my mind: Do post at least something whenever you get a chance to do so. Because, i want to read both of you. I know, you both are very lonely there. Master is more. Not even having a cellphone facility for most of the time is really being very lonely. Far away from our people. Far away from so many things. Kailash at least have some access to this world. Anoter rule is 'Use copy paste as sparingly as possible.' I want our own writings and not the copy-pastes. We can certainly copy and paste when we are talking over that thing, let's say gazal. But no only copy pastes. One more thing: Please use English whenever possible, as i do not have unicode on my windows 98.

Kailash has been reading "Glimpses of world history" nowadays. He has promised me that he would call me daily to tell what has he read. This would be a better option for him to right your readings on this blog.

I miss you both a lot. You know it. Arnav also misses you. He wants to meet my friends. I would not be able to right so much about arnav on this blog, because its an open space and people are not yet so kind to accept everything as it is.

I have got an MPSC application today. I wish i can try a little bit seriously this time. May Arnav would encourage me.

Let's hope for an early meeting. ~~Ganesh.

कयूंकर उस बुत से रखूं जान

70,1}
कयूंकर उस बुत से रखूं जान `अज़ीज़कया नहीं है मुझे ईमान `अज़ीज़
{70,2}
दिल से निकला पह न निकला दिल सेहै तिरे तीर का पैकान `अज़ीज़
{70,3}
ताब लाए ही बनेगी ग़ालिबवाक़ि`अह सख़त है और जान `अज़ीज़