Triumphant Rationalism: The Upanishads

The Hindus have a number of holy books to guide them, starting with the Vedas, Ramayana, & Mahabharata (which includes the Bhagavat Gita). However all these above mentioned are region & time specific. 

The Vedic Gods are mainly Fire, Water & Wind. The prayers offered to them are for health, wealth, progeny & annihilation of enemies, which are hardly spiritual in nature.

Some of the actions of the "Incarnations"of God in the other books mentioned above, are at best, not fully acceptable to the modern mind. Instances in the Ramayana  are the killing of Vali & trials of Sita, not to mention the anthropomorphic viewing of monkeys & bears. In the Mahabharata, the role of Krishna in the demise of Karna & Duryodhana are also problematic as is the Gita which supports caste based occupations.

Though a part of the Vedas, the Upanishads rise triumphantly above all these region, religion & time based limitations to preach a truly universal & perennial philosophy.

In the Chandogya Upanishad, Satyakama,  though of obscure origin, is deemed fit to receive spiritual education, blowing the caste system sky-high to smithereens. Also mentioned in this Upanishad is the story of Svetaketu, who is taught an ancient version of what later became the Atomic theory, that of subdividing matter into minute particles.

Most important & relevant now is the Mundaka Upanishad, which says "Considering religion to be observance of rituals, the deluded remain ignorant of the highest good. Having enjoyed in heaven, the reward of their good works, they enter again into the world of mortals. (back to zero!) But those who practice austerity (voluntary poverty & celibacy) & meditation in solitude & silence, attain liberation."(the true goal of human life.) The universality of this last exhortation is underlined by the fact that Jainism, though non-vedic in origin, subscribes to this belief.

Family Support or Social Policing?

Wealthy or powerful people shielding their kith & kin even if they break the law of the land is quite common. This gradually erodes the people's trust in the law enforcing machinery.

This has been prevalent since the time of Mahabharata, where turning the blind eye towards their erring offspring (literally!) by Dhritarashtra & Gandhari, led to the decimation of the Kaurava dynasty.

However, it was also quite common to endorse "social policing" in the first part of the twentieth century, as recollected by the well-known actor & playwright, Master Hirannaiah. He had said if misdeeds of children were reported to their parents, they would happily endorse the complainants to suitably punish them themselves!

Another variant of "social policing" is the "vigilante" system, where people take the law into their own hands, when the justice machinery is ineffective. The classic instance is the "Four Just Men" series of novels by the popular mystery writer of the early twentieth century, Edgar Wallace.

Two extreme cases of this "social policing" are shown firstly in the popular film "Mother India" (where an upright mother shoots dead her own incorrigibly evil son) & secondly in Agatha Christie's Poirot story "The Chocolate Box", where a similarly upright mother poisons to death her own son, realising his demonic nature.

Dostoevsky, Bresson & Badshah!

"The Idiot" was one of Fyodor Dostoevsky's favourite novels. He created the character of Prince Myshkin, a totally good man, who carries the moniker of the title.

Mani Kaul, one of the makers of art house films in India, adapted the novel to make a Hindi film, 30 years ago. It was made for Doordarshan & never got a theatrical release. Mani Kaul, was inspired by the spare, austere film style of the French auteur, Robert Bresson, who famously discouraged any "acting" from his cast, & instructed them to deliver their dialogues in a monotone. 

In "The Idiot", Shah Rukh Khàn, who later became the "Badshah of Bollywood" had a role as a friend of the title character. Mita Vasisht, who in her later films also, used the non-dramatic delivery of her dialogues, (a la Bresson), played the role of Nastasya.

This film thus had the unique confluence of a Russian novel, film technique influenced by a French Master & the national language of this country.

Lady Detectives in the "Golden Age"

The first was Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, a creation of Baroness Orczy, more famous for her "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Lady Molly started her sleuthing to free her unjustly accused fiancee. Her cases number only twelve, faithfully recorded by her adoring acolyte, Mary Granard.

The next to appear was Miss Maud Silver, created by Patricia Wentworth. She appeared in print much before her more famous "sister detective", Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple. However she appeared in 32 novels compared to 12 of Miss Marple. Both were elderly spinsters but Miss Silver was a governess in her younger days & a professional detective in her second innings. The popularity of Miss Silver is attested by the fact that her books are still in print. Ms. Niranjana Iyer Subramanian writes that Miss Silver is the cleverer sister of Miss Marple!

Miss Jane Marple is of course the most famous female detective created by the incomparable Agatha Christie. She features in 12 novels & 20 short stories. Numerous films are made of her adventures, played by many celebrated actresses. Unfortunately, her very popularity has given rise to film  adaptations, which are far from her creator's vision.

Dorothy Sayers also created Harriet Vane but she mostly played second fiddle to her eventual husband, the celebrated Lord Peter Wimsey.

The most famous female detective story writer to appear after "The Golden Age", P.D.James, also created a lady detective Cordelia Gray, who appeared in only two novels. When she is introduced to educated people, they instantly say "Love & be silent", referring to the famous line 61, Scene 1, Act 1 of Shakespeare's "King Lear."!

Glass Ceiling & Crab Mentality

Glass Ceiling generally refers to an invisible barrier preventing the upward mobility of persons belonging to a particular race or gender in an organisation. But it is also curiously present in family circles. Every family has its own priorities & sets of values, not necessarily always the best. But they are as zealously guarded as a family heirloom & members of the family are strongly discouraged to step out of the boundaries, even if by doing so, they may become better & more accomplished & rounded human beings. The Golden rule here is to encourage only those activities which bring wealth or status into the family. Other creative pursuits are firmly discouraged.

One activity towards which attitudes have dramatically changed, is sports. A few decades ago, indulging in sports was considered as a form of vagabondage. Now that a few sportspersons have become wealthy & famous, the attitudes have taken an U-Turn & one can see parents dropping off their children at the sports grounds, even paying hefty coaching fees!  It is not that people have become fond of sports, but only they have become enamoured of the wealth & fame it is expected to bring! (not alas for the majority)

The earlier mentioned family imposed "glass ceiling" has its corollary in the apocryphal story of live crabs in a basket. It is believed that the basket need not be covered with a lid, because if any crab tries to escape, the others pull it down!

St. Joan, Heavy Metal & Bhagavad Gita

Bruno Dumont's 2017 film of the childhood of Joan of Arc is a unique blend of influences. Based on a play by Charles Peguy & featuring an 8 year old Lise Leplat Prudhomme as the young Joan, it is a musical with songs performed in Heavy Metal style.

Even when Joan was a child, working as a shepherdess looking after her father's sheep, she would share her food with the hungry & was worried about the English invasion. Though playing & prancing as befitted her tender years, she was questioning God about the misery of the French. She even shared her doubts about Divine Justice with Sister Gervaise of the convent, who attributed suffering to the human condition. Not entirely satisfied about that view, she prays to God to send a military leader to unite the French (whose King was ineffectual at that time). A vision is vouchsafed to her in which Saints Catherine, Margaret & Michael appear & ask her to take that leadership herself. She did in her teens, drove out the English but was martyred herself.

At the beginning of Bhagavat Gita also, Arjuna seeks to lay down arms against his relatives (& presumably submit to Fate.) But Lord Krishna reminds him of his duty as a military leader & exhorts him to fight for righteousness & defeat his unscrupulous enemies.

Queens who were Spiritual Preceptors of their spouses

In "Yoga Vasista", a canonical text ascribed to Valmiki & longer than even his  Ramayana, occurs the story of Queen Chudala. Incidentally, this is the text which impressed Dara Shikoh, the elder brother of Aurangazeb, so much that he got it translated into Persian. Chudala was the princess of Saurashtra, & married King Shikadhvaja of Malava. After ruling happily for many years, the couple hankered after spiritual knowledge. However, in their spiritual journey, Queen Chudala made faster progress than her husband the King. Then after many incidents, she succeeded in making her husband also attain their common goal.

St. Margaret of Scotland (1045-1093) was an English princess & Scottish queen. She married King Malcolm of Scotland in 1070. Malcolm was not, like Shikadhvaja above, a naturally spiritual man. She civilised him by reading the Bible to him. She instigated religious reform. She served the orphans & the poor everyday before she ate. She rose at midnight every night to attend the liturgy (public ritual worship). She established a monastery. She used a cave as a place of devotion & prayer, now named after her. She spent much time in prayer, devotional reading & ecclesiastical embroidery. Her husband so adored her piety that he had her books decorated in gold & silver.

She was canonised in 1250.

Education & Work for Life

In most Western countries, in addition to the subjects normally taught elsewhere, learning a language of a foreign country, learning to play a musical instrument & active participation in a sport are mandatory in School stage, without which higher education in College is inaccessible. This obviously results in a well rounded human being, which is the purpose of education. It is assumed that the students retain their interest in these co-curricular activities throughout their life, irrespective of their chosen profession, becoming in the process, well-informed citizens.

A corollary of the above system of education is the 8 hour working day. Though it was in vogue in 16th Century Spain, it was Robert Owen, a visionary  Welsh textile mill owner, who tried to universalise it in the early 19th Century. His idea was that each day should be divided into 3 equal parts for work, sleep & recreation for human workers.

Sadly in this 21st Century, ignorant politicians & industry leaders are talking glibly about 14-16 hour working days. They may be unaware of Tolstoy's story "How much land does a man need" where a greedy man worked himself to death to get more land. Also George Bernard Shaw writes in his "Intelligent Woman's Guide" that slaves were worked so that they expired after 7 years. The reason being that if they died soon after purchase, the owner would lose his investment. And if they lived longer than 7 years, they would not be as productive as a new slave!

Another lobby argues the 8 hour day limit was for manual labour & does not apply for white collar jobs. This is patently untrue as mental labour is more exhausting than physical labour. Creative writing of Code, which employs many educated  people now, is intensely exhausting. Medical professionals work in a highly stressed "life or death" situations. If they are over-worked, their mistakes may be fatal.

Noted thinker Bertrand Russel & Designer William Morris (both highly productive men!) also held similar views. To return to work only after a minimum of 16 hours off each day, should be enshrined as a Human Right under the Constitution. To conclude, it should be remembered that one works to live & not live to work!

Teacher - Student regard in Detective Fiction

Poison in the Pen (1957) by Patricia Wentworth featuring her detective Miss Maud Silver is a novel about anonymous letters. This subject was also the backdrop of Agatha Christie's "The Moving Finger" (1942), a Miss Jane Marple Mystery. However, many critics feel that the later book is the better one. Be that as it may, Miss Silver, when she arrives at the ill-fated  village, meets her old student Randal March, who has become Chief Constable. When he was a small boy, he was delicate & so was educated along with his sisters by Miss Silver, then their governess. However a couple of years of her tutelage put him right. Later after retiring from teaching & becoming a private detective, their paths continued to cross, increasing his regard for her.

Dead Water (1964) by Ngaio Marsh deals with an elderly lady Emily Pride inheriting a place containing a water spring, with allegedly healing powers, a la Lourdes. She is against the commercial exploitation & runs against vested interests out to make a quick buck. When things start getting ugly, she informs her former beloved student, now Inspector Alleyn of Scotland Yard. Such is his regard for his former French teacher, that he rearranges his hectic schedule to attend to her.

Human ear & Mathematics

The musical octave is universally divided into twelve semitones. As the frequency doubles in each octave, the semitones form a geometric progression with the common ratio being the twelfth root of two or approximately 1.06. (In a geometric  progression, each number is multiplied by a common ratio to get the next number in the progression.)

M. Pietsch & others in their paper "Spiral forms of the human Cochlea", write "Inner ear geometry is compared to shells of mollusks. Due to the apparent similarity to the Cochlea, the Nautilus shell has become a symbol of hearing. The Nautilus shell is a perfect example of a logarithmic Fibonacci spiral." (A logarithm is the exponent to which the base number should be raised to yield a given number. A Fibonacci sequence is one, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones.)

Samuel Arbesman writes in his "Fractal Musical rhythms" that "White"noise is the static we hear between radio stations. The other extreme is "Brown" music, which is simply a random walk up & down the musical scale. In between is 1/f noise, called the "Pink" noise. Most music that we listen to is 1/f noise. It has the right combination of pattern & unexpectedness, & is pleasing to the human ear. The shape of the curve described by 1/f music, has a fractal shape!

(Euclidian Geometry deals with straight lines. Analytic Geometry deals with curves. Fractal Geometry deals with irregular surfaces.)

Lilavati & Marya - Study in Contrasts

Lilavati was the daughter of the noted Indian mathematician Bhaskaracharya, who wrote a celebrated text in her name. Lilavati remained a spinster but a very bright woman as many of the concepts in his book are fondly addressed to her as "Oh, Lilavati, you intelligent girl" & evidently understood by her. The book contains 13 chapters dealing with arithmetic, geometry & a method of solving indeterminate equations.

In contrast, Princess Marya, a character in Tolstoy's "War & Peace", was also living with her father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, in his country estate. He himself took care of her education, & taught her algebra & geometry. But she had no aptitude & her father would fly into a rage. But later he would calm down & tell her to persevere as mathematics was a great pursuit.

Later Marya married Nikolai Rostov & had 4 children.

Sri Madhvacharya (1238-1317) & John Bunyan's (1628-1688) views on Salvation

In Shrimadhvavijaya Mahakavya, a canonical text of Dvaita philosophy, the Moksha (Salvation) of souls is described as follows.

"The liberated souls in Vaikunta wear golden yellow garments & wear superior ornaments & sport here with bliss. There are no births, deaths or aging here. There can be no sorrow or defects of character. They have great mutual love for each other & are very beautiful, eternally young & wear Harichandana (Sandal wood) paste with sweet scent on their bodies. They are fanned with attractive chamaras by servants."

In John Bunyan's classic allegorical novel "The Pilgrim's Progress", the protagonist Christian's arrival at the Celestial City ,is described as follows. 

"Before entering the Celestial City, Christian was told he will not see again sorrow, sickness, affliction & death present in the earth. He was also told that he shall enjoy his friends again that have gone before him & he shall receive with joy those that come after him.  And when he entered, he had raiment put on that shone like gold. He was given harps to praise withal & crowns in token of honour. The streets were paved with gold."

How similar are the visions of Sri Madhvacharya & John Bunyan, though they belong to Hindu & Christian faiths!

Early China & Modern West

The 1958 popular film, "The Inn of Sixth Happiness", starring Ingrid Bergman, deals with the practice of foot binding of young Chinese girls, as tiny feet were reckoned a part of female beauty. Though the government tried to stop this abhorrent practice & appointed "foot inspectors", popular opinion was against them & they were thrashed by the local populace. Then Ingrid Bergman, who wanted to be a missionary & was rejected, got the post of "foot inspector." Because of her gender & gentle ways, she succeeded.

Though it was eradicated in China, a modern form persists in the West in the form of high-heeled shoes for fashionable ladies. Though uncomfortable & even dangerous in the long run, women persist in wearing them for the sake of fashion. In fact it is believed that only a misogynistic, sadistic man could have invented them!

In this connection, the tight corsetting of women in the Victorian era also led to many health problems, including fractured ribcages. In the film "Gone With The Wind", a young lady is shown leaning against a tree, while she is being tightly corsetted!

Best tribute from one author to another's book

Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" (1868) is considered by many to be the first detective novel. A later practitioner in the genre, Michael Innes, wrote "The Moonstone stands alone in its kind...(there is) a sense of attending upon the birth of the detective story." Collins was also the contemporary & friend of Dickens.

However, here we can look into another curious aspect of this novel. Much of it is narrated by Gabriel Betteredge, House-steward in the service of Julia, Lady Verinder. This man has a strange habit of using Daniel Defoe's (also known as the father of the English novel) "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) as other people use holy books like the Bhagavadgita, the Bible or the Quran to find immediate solutions to their problems, i.e., open the book at random & apply the first sentence which catches their eye as the answer to their problem!

Though Betteredge claims to be a well-read person, Robinson Crusoe occupies the "Pole Position" among all the books he has read! At the beginning of the book itself, he says he has worn out six copies, no less, in his service, with constant thumbing. So on her Ladyship's birthday, she presents him with a new seventh copy!

It goes without saying that a writer of Collins' calibre, inserts appropriate quotations from Defoe's immortal book at suitable points in his own narrative, as representing Betteredge's references at climactic points of the story, to vindicate his belief in the infallibility of Defoe's book in providing solutions to his own dilemmas.

Feminist writers & mental illness

Patriarchal mindsets were so prevalent in society earlier that women had to fight tooth & nail to avoid being treated like chattel. In the process, incalculable harm was done to their psyche.

About Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the first book on feminism, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", Elizabeth Robins Pennel writes in her prefatory note that "Twice in her misery did she seek to kill herself; the world was too cruel. But both times she was saved, sorely against her will.  I know nothing so tragic in fiction as her second attempt. She had gone to Battersea Bridge, intending to leap into the Thames. As there were too many people, she hired a boat & rowed to Putney. It was a wet day & she walked on the bridge so that her clothes, drenched with rain, might make her sink more rapidly. She jumped but was rescued & forced to face her life & all its bitterness." She died at the age of 38, 11 days after giving birth to her second daughter, who became famous as Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein."

Virginia Woolf, author of "A Room of One's Own", a seminal feminist text, was troubled by mental illness (bipolar disorder). She was institutionalised several times & attempted suicide at least twice. When 59, she drowned herself in the river Ouse at Lewes.

Kate Millet, was the author of "Sexual Politics" which earned her a doctorate from Columbia University. She was also twice  involuntarily institutionalised for bipolar disorder. Her involvement with psychiatry caused her to attempt suicide several times. However, she died from cardiac arrest 8 days before her 83rd birthday.

Betty Friedan, author of "Feminine Mystique", though sane, had frequent physical altercations with her husband for which she had received black eyes.

Cultural/Spiritual Infanticide

Formerly in many societies, female infanticide was practiced. The underlying reason was economic, as it was feared that girls may prove a financial burden.

A variant of this abhorrent practice, has resurfaced in the 21st Century, denying cultural & spiritual education to children, especially girls, the underlying reason being the same economic one. Even as late as the early part of the 20th century, it was mandatory for children, especially girls, both in Western & Indian societies, to learn the rudiments of the arts, in addition to the three R's. The opening up of higher & professional education for girls, unfortunately sounded the death-knell of this practice. It has become synonymous for a professionally educated girl to evince absolutely no interest in the fine arts.

This mad rush for only economically productive education has played ducks & drakes with the mental well-being of the children also. Spiritual education being completely side-lined in favour of purely religious practices (which has regressed to praying for only health, wealth, power & progeny, all purely worldly goals) has also caused greater mental illness, divorces & much worse. The truth that attainment of all worldly goals may still not bring true happiness, in spite of it hitting us in the eye everyday, is ignored.

For a real holistic happiness of the human soul, literature, classical music, art & unconditional love of God (not for what we can get out of Him) should become a part of our daily life.

Hindu view of man-woman relationship

The default option for a Hindu man is to love all women as his blood relations, i. e., mother, sister or daughter. Only in the case of a wife, for purposes of property & income (when they didn't have those rights) they are given some rights for the sake of progeny. Even the change of gotra during marriage is a (biologically) meaningless formality.

This is aptly recognised in the Hindu Succession Act also, as the wife's relatives  do not have any claim. The so-called "inlaws" are practically "outlaws"to as far as the law is concerned.

Even in the western milieu, right from Sophocles' "Antigone", who rated a brother's love higher than a husband's or even children's, to Eliot's Tom & Maggie, who were not separated even in death, in "The Mill on the Floss", sibling love is celebrated. Even in later times, the Lamb siblings, Charles & Mary lived a full literary life together. In "Anne of Green Gables", Matthew & Marilla spent their whole life contentedly, with the irrepressible Anne for company. Even Harry Potter, despite extreme closeness to Hermione, was unable to think of her as anything other than a beloved sister.

Of course, India is the only country, where "Rakshabandhan", celebrating sibling love, is a national festival. Even Draupadi, in spite of having five valorous husbands, had to depend on her brother Krishna, to save her honour. The spiritual leader Sri Ramakrishna, in his "Gospel" repeatedly exhorts his devotee couples to live as siblings after having a child or two.

To end on a personal note, this writer's father, the eldest son, & an ideal brother was the heir to a prime property in Bangalore. He gave priority to the claims of DNA, rather than marriage, & gave up the whole property to his sister cheerfully, whose descendants are enjoying it happily now!

Reading for Pleasure: An Acquired Taste

As Mark Twain said "The man who doesn't read has no advantage over one who can't."

When Winston Churchill was a lieutenant in the Colonial Army, he stayed in Bangalore, & wrote to his mother to send books of Socrates, Plato, Gibbon, Malthus, Darwin & others. He would read for 4-5 hours daily. He writes in his autobiography that "life would have been intolerable but for the consolation of literature."

More recently, another Army man, Capt. Gopinath, writes in his autobiography that when he was in the army, he read Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Sholokhov, Maupassant, Camus, Maugham & others.

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, in his visionary book "Imagining India", has a bibliography, running into 16 pages, containing references from Dickens' "Sketches by Boz" to T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."

N. R. Narayana Murthy, another co-founder of Infosys, has reputedly more than 20,000 volumes in his personal library.

All these extremely busy people made time for reading is a measure of the love of knowledge & the pleasure in reading they had. But as the noted Kannada writer D. V. Gundappa wrote "Even if they have time, even literate people would rather do anything else than read."

In this matter, the achievement of J. K. Rowling in weaning children away from their TV screens to queue up before bookshops at midnight to grab & devour the latest copy of Harry Potter is indeed mind boggling.

Divine Interventions to the Devout

In the famous "Tari Ghat Station Story" from  Page 256, Life of Swami Vivekananda, a rich merchant was taunting Swamiji about his starving condition while he himself was eating sumptuous food. After a while, a sweet meat seller came running to the Swamiji, bearing a basket of food & water. He said he had a dream, where God told him to feed a starving sadhu in the railway station, whom God described. The man identified Swamiji & offered him the food. The Swamiji, surprised, thanked him & accepted it.

In the film "Song of Bernadette" based on a true story, right after the first vision of St.Bernadette of the Lady at the Grotto, a family whom Bernadette's mother had helped in the past, caming running with  food for the starving Soubirous family & even offered a job to the father to enable him to earn money.

On the night of the Muslim Saint Rabia's birth there was no lamp, oil or swaddling clothes for the new born baby. The Prophet, appeared in a dream to the father of Rabia, telling him to write to the Amir of Basra, reminding him of his obligation to help the poor. After the receipt of this letter, the Amir himself came running with the necessary funds.

Science, Faith & Miracles

Dr. Alexis Carrel, a French surgeon pioneered vascular surgery especially triangulation.

In 1902, a physician friend of his, invited him to take care of patients being transported to Lourdes. Dr. Carrel was an agnostic.

On the train, he encountered Marie Bailly who was suffering from acute tubercular peritonitis & abdominal distension with large hard masses. Dr. Carrel believed she would pass away quickly.

Marie was taken to the Grotto where water was poured on her abdomen. She felt a searing pain. After the second pour it was lessened. After the third pour, she had a pleasant sensation & her stomach began to flatten. Dr.Carrel noted that after 30 minutes, the distension had completely disappeared with no discharge from the body.

Marie then sat up, had dinner & got out of bed, dressed & boarded the train next day. Arriving at Lyons, she was monitored by a psychiatrist & a physician for 4 months. After her healing, she joined the Sisters of Charity & worked strenuously for the sick & poor & died in 1937, aged 58.

Dr Carrel felt that if his presence at Lourdes became public, it would ruin his medical career at Lyons. But the news leaked out & he had to leave France (the medical fraternity at that time were ferociously anti-clerical) for the University of Chicago & then to the Rockefeller University. For his work there on vascular anastomosis, he received the Nobel Prize in 1912. When he died in 1944, he was a believer in God.

He wrote a book about his experiences at Lourdes "The Voyage to Lourdes". It was published, for obvious reasons, four years after his death.

Fast forward to the twentieth century. Dr. Samuel Sandweiss, an American Psychiatrist, visited India & Sri Satya Sai Baba. He was overwhelmed & on his return to USA, related his experiences to his brother doctors, who did not believe him. He asked them "If these things happened before your eyes, what would you do?" They unanimously replied "We won't believe our eyes!". But the point is that the whole of science, including medicine, is based on our sensory (specially visual) perception. If we  don't want to believe our eyes, what is left of Science? Is this the much vaunted "Scientific Temper"?

"Nanny" Julie Andrews gets her comeuppance from "Eloise"!

When Jack Warner wanted to produce the film of the Broadway hit "My Fair Lady", he decided not to give the title role to Julie Andrews, who had played it on stage. It was a blessing in disguise for Julie Andrews as she played the magical nanny "Mary Poppins" for which she won the Oscar for "Best Actress." She also played a similar role in "The Sound of Music" in taming the seven rebellious Von Trapp children.

But in the film "Eloise at the Plaza" (2003) based on the Kay Thompson book, the now arthritic Julie Andrews, was unable to control the six year old Eloise, who is left at the luxurious Plaza Hotel in New York by her mother with her nanny & pets. Eloise, whose antics make those of Dennis the Menace look tame, runs amok among the other guests, trailed helplessly by her nanny, played by Julie Andrews!

Versions of Don Quixote

The great Spanish Classic, written by Cervantes, about an idealistic, mad, knight errant, "Don Quixote" & his many adventures is a very long novel in two parts. Eccentric behaviour is called "Quixotic" because of this.

Inspired by this work, many works of literature & music have been produced. Graham Greene wrote "Monsignor Quixote" set in the first half of the twentieth century, featuring a similarly idealistic Catholic priest, who travels across Spain.

Salman Rushdie produced "Don Quichotte", where the character of a travelling salesman, in love with his "Dulcinea", an American TV Star, sets out to win her, laying bare the materialism of USA.

The work also has inspired classical  musicians to compose musical works. Jules Massenet, the French Composer, wrote the opera "Don Quichotte" with a French Libretto.

Richard Strauss composed the orchestral tone poem "Don Quixote" (in Theme &  Variations Form) with Cello representing the Don. Like Strauss's other works, this is also an orchestral showpiece, almost a Cello Concerto.

An adaptation as a musical was also made on Broadway & later a film called "Man of La Mancha" starting Peter O'Toole & Sophia Loren.

Universal appeal of "Savitri"

This story, originally found in the "Aranya  Parva" of Mahabharatha, is about Savitri, who married Satyavan, in spite of knowing of his allotted short life span. When the Lord of Death arrives to take him, Savitri argues with him & claims back Satyavan. In this, she is similar to Nachiketa (Katha Upanishad), who was presented to the Lord of Death by his own father, but triumphantly won the Supreme Knowledge, while still a teenager! So much for the much touted "Teen Angst" now!

Sri Aurobindo, metaphysically analysed this story in his Magnum Opus, the epic poem of the same name in 24,000 lines of blank verse. The theme here was the transcendence of Man into a Supramental being.

The English composer, Gustav Holst, composed an eponymous opera, inspired by this story. His daughter, Imogen, has conducted a recorded version with Dame Janet Baker, the celebrated Soprano, singing the title role.

Sri Ramakrishna & Women's education

Mahendra Nath Gupta, who chronicled Sri Ramakrishna's teachings for posterity, writes about his second visit on March, 1882. Sri Ramakrishna asked him whether his wife is "under the power of avidya?" The disciple, replied "I am afraid she is ignorant" probably referring to conventional education, as he was a school teacher.  Sri Ramakrishna, displeased, asked him "Are you a man of knowledge?" meaning spiritual knowledge.

In this second decade of the 21st Century, the above conversation has assumed ominous, sinister overtones. First one has to accept that, in the famous opening words of the immortal Jane Austen, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that" the Ultimate goal of Hindu life is Moksha, or liberation from the cycle of birth & death. It was followed not only by learned lady scholars like Gargi & Maitreyi but also by Queen Chudala (Yoga Vasista), who was the spiritual preceptor of her husband the King, & Queen Madalasa (Markandeya Purana), who was the spiritual preceptor to her sons.

St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was an Abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, medical writer & practitioner. Christine de Pisan (1364-1430) was a pioneer, being France's first professional woman of letters, when she wrote "The Book of the City of Ladies", arguably one of the first feminist texts, detailing the achievements of women. 

Female secular education, which picked up momentum in the beginning of the twentieth century, satisfied the longing for secular knowledge, as movingly described by the great Virginia Woolf. Also it transformed able women into cultured ladies, conversant with the arts & sciences.

Unfortunately, in a quest to use education as a tool for earning money, the perennial Saraswathi is converted into a mere conduit to get to the fickle Lakshmi. So, to come back to the beginning, Sri Ramakrishna's remarks about women being "Vidya" or custodians of spiritual knowledge, has not only completely evaporated, but has not even left the residue of cultured ladies (with a few honourable exceptions of course.)

"Religious Correctness" as opposed to "Political Correctness"

In the current scenario, even non politicians are obliged to be "politically correct". But it may be equally, if not more prudent, to be "religiously correct", religion being potentially more incendiary in its effects. It is axiomatic that a multiplicity of religions have come up to cater to the needs of different sections of people around the globe, at various points of history.

The ideas of "Chosen People" & "God's Own Country" being bandied about, are too ridiculous for words, implying a "step fatherly" God! The essential oneness of God & various religions as alternate ways was reiterated in India by near contemporaries, Shirdi Sai Baba & Sri Ramakrishna.

If one accepts the omniscience & omnipotence of God, one has to willy-nilly accept that God himself has allowed different religions to come up (like different languages) for different civilisations spread across space & time. So it ill behoves the human race to quarrel about the "true" or "better" religion.

One way out of this apparent conundrum is to elevate one's mindset from mere religion to spirituality, from which sane & logical viewpoint, one can observe things in their true perspective. This is brought out in the startlingly similar ideas espoused in the "Tat twam asi" of the Chandogya Upanishad, the "Ten perfections" of the Dhammapada, the Seven mansions in the "Interior Castle" of St. Teresa of Avila, the "Revelations of Divine Love" of Julian of Norwich & the love of Allah experienced by Rabia of Basra, to name a few.

To sum up, as writers from Thomas Paine (Age of Reason) to Richard Bach (Seagull) have opposed organised religions, with good reason, (which have an unfortunate tendency to sow discord), a spiritual viewpoint may be a more harmonious way of looking at things

Hindu ideals of marriage in Chaucer

It may appear paradoxical that Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", renowned for the bawdy Miller's & Reeve's Tales, should also contain a tale reflecting the highest ideal of marriage recommended in Hinduism.

This is the tale of Zenobia, the great Palmyra Queen, which is one of the many tales included in "The Monk's Tale." She was a great warrior, polyglot & a well-read lady.

When she married King Odenatus, she stipulated "that he would with her lie but once, to have a child." If she "was not with child at the first act, she let him gratify his passion again. If she were with child at the first cast, only after forty days had passed,  she would grant him once to do the same. He got no more of her, for she said 'otherwise were it lechery & shame for wives, if men should play with them in bed."

So, she had two sons, whom she reared to be ideal kings. In this she resembled the Hindu Queen Madalasa (story found in Markandeya Purana), whose lullaby for her children is immortal.

Presumably in Satya Yuga, the precursor of Treta Yuga, in which Vishnu incarnated as Sri Rama to destroy the demon king Ravana, the sages were living such a life.

In more modern times, Sri Ramakrishna, also advised his devotee couples to live like siblings after a couple of children. Mahatma Gandhi also subscribed to this ideal. (even though he had four sons.) More recently, the first spiritual leader in the history of the world to have a truly global following in his own lifetime, cutting across religious barriers, remarked that "Animals have a season & Man has been given reason, but behaves as if he has neither season nor reason."

When release from prison was bewailed

Usually release from prison is celebrated with joy. But there are two examples, one literary & one cinematic, where the prisoners have bewailed their release.

The literary example is from Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." In the first tale, "The Knight's Tale", the knight relates how two cousins, Arcite & Palamon, were captured in war & thrown into prison. From the prison window, they caught sight of the queen's  sister & seeing her daily, fell in love with her. One of the king's friends takes a fancy to Arcite & persuades the king to set him free. The king agrees but sentences Arcite to exile, any return being punishable with death. But Arcite bewails "Alas! the day I was born! Now I have got the worser of two jails!" (because he can't see his love anymore).

The second example, this one cinematic, is from Adoor Goplalakrishnan's "Mathilukal". (The Wall). Basheer, a well known writer, is imprisoned during the freedom struggle for two & a half years. The men's & women's sections are seperated by a high wall. Once when Basheer is walking by the side of this wall, whistling, a female voice from the other side, questions him. An unseen friendship develops & Basheer finds out that the woman, Narayani, is doing 14 years RI (for a murder charge). Basheer throws up a rose plant over the wall occasionally & an emotional bond develops. When Basheer is released, it means he will miss talking to Narayani & he fumes "Who needs freedom? Outside is an even bigger jail!".

DNA or Romance? Antigone's Choice

In Sophocles' "Antigone", the king orders that the rebel brother (of Antigone), who died in a civil war, should not be buried & his body should fall prey to carrion animals, the harshest punishment of the time. In passing it may be observed that being consumed by carrion birds is the preferred last rites among the Parsis in their "Towers of Silence." So much for cultural differences around the world!

Then the eponymous character decides to bury him, at the cost of her life, because;

"One husband gone, I might have found another,

Or a child from a new man in first child's place,

But with my parents hid away in death,

No brother, ever, could spring up for me."

This belief of hers, places blood relationship above romantic love, where it should be remembered, there is no shared DNA, but only mutual attraction, arranged by nature primarily for the propagation of the species.

Later Sigmund Freud, postulated that despite shared DNA, romantic love may occur, as in his "Oedipal Complex" & "Electra Complex." But Freud himself admitted that his interpretation was not primarily found in Sophocles', because Oedipus unknowingly killed his father & had to marry his mother (again unknowingly) on account of social customs & not because he desired her. Similarly, Electra killed her mother because the mother had Electra's father killed & not because Electra was physically attracted to her father.

This also may be due to the observation (made by Freud himself in his "The Interpretation of Dreams") that "filial piety towards parents is wont to recede before other interests."

Though the fifth commandment explicitly says that "Honour your father & your mother", in the Old Testament it also says (Genesis 2:24), "Man shall leave his parents & cleave to his wife." The later quote was not followed much in Oriental Societies until the prevalent Westernisation.

So the basis of Freudian thought may be Eurocentric & according to recent scholarship, also patriarchal in ascribing Oedipus & Electra complexes as an Universal Paradigm. Much of Post-modern scholarship also ascribes a more central role to Antigone than Oedipus even in Occidental Culture. (Ref. "The Antigone Complex" by Cecilia Sjoholm, pub. Stanford University Press.)

The same Eurocentric view is also exhibited by historians, notably Oswald Spengler, who asserted that "Causality had nothing whatever to do with time." But the eminent Indian historian, Dr S. Srikanta Sastri, points out the impossibility for the Western mind to understand that there can be an intense individual existence which can be independent of the World-as-Nature.

Common Person's elevation to Royalty

From the middle of the twentieth century, our country has become a democratic republic. So the selection of the rulers is in the voters' hands & a moiety of the royal ruling privilege has devolved into the citizens. Here, how other royal privileges of earlier times have percolated to the commoners are listed.

Firstly, the most essential item, Food. Earlier rare & diverse dishes were prepared only in palaces or houses of the wealthy by specialist chefs. Eating those was a pipe dream for the hoi polloi. Now the common man can savour those dishes at least once in the restaurants even in small towns.

Regarding clothing, silks & woollens favoured by the rich, are inferior to the current synthetic fibres both in appearance,  durability & affordability. How can the earlier clothing, which would wrinkle after a single use, compete with the "drip-dry" wrinkle proof synthetics? The commoner now may well be better dressed than the earlier royalty. Costume jewellery has made even the indigent girls vie with the earlier princesses!

Many huts have been replaced by pucca houses. Public taps, bore-wells & electricity have brought cleanliness & light to everyone. Even slums now, with their electric lights, are better lit than the torch lit palaces of yesteryears.

Education & Culture are within everyone's reach. Especially Philosophy & Scriptural knowledge, once the domain of the few, are now thrown open. Classical music, once reserved for the ears of the royals & the rich, can be heard universally. Classical dance & Art meant for royal eyes, can now be feasted upon even by plebeian eyes.

From this viewpoint, the common man of the 21st century has the opportunity to lead a better life than even the erstwhile royalty.

Largest Music Industries in the World

The four largest music Industries are in USA, Japan, Germany & UK, with the others lagging far behind. It is noteworthy that the two most populous countries China & India are nowhere in the list.

It is also a vicious (virtuous?) circle that where people buy more hi-fi, they also buy more LPs or CDs to play on them. This is because a true music lover will not be satisfied with the quality of music available free on-line. Also by buying records, one repays at least partly the musicians who make the music in the first place, which is good ethics.

At least as far as music is concerned, "The Best things in Life are free" quote (attributed to the Couturiere Coco Chanel) does not hold good!

Feline Characters in Ngaio Marsh's Fiction

Ngaio Marsh, the Kiwi/British writer of Detective Fiction, was indubitably a lover of cats. She introduced many of them into her novels as crucial characters.

Probably the most famous of them is Lucy Lockett in "Black as he is painted". She is picked up after being injured in an accident by Samuel Whipplestone. She helps in solving the crime by literally depositing the clue at his feet!

Then, Thomasina in "Scales of Justice" plays an obviously important part as the "Scales" in the title refer to both "Justice" & "Scales of a fish" (which latter are the crucial clues) & Thomasina is fond of consuming fish.

Slyboots & Smartypants in "Tied up in Tinsel" are the pets of the cook, appropriately nicknamed "Kittiwee", who frighten the aspiring Chatelaine, Cressida Tottenham, by hiding in her bed. Cressida, however, proves to be the murderess at the end.