Famous Utopias

The first is Kallipolis, a city ruled by a philosopher-king, mentioned in the dialogues of Socrates, recorded by Plato. Here there is no gender discrimination or marriage either. The couples are selected on eugenics only. Economically, it is similar to Communism, all property being shared.

The next is the eponymously named "Utopia", by Sir Thomas More. Though an Englishman, More wrote it in Latin, fearing repercussions. Still he was beheaded because he didn't accept the King as the head of the Church of England. One of the curious items in the book is the use of gold for chains for prisoners & for chamber pots, to reduce the human greed for gold!

Samuel Butler wrote "Erewhon" & its sequel "Erewhon revisited" to project his ideal state. In that country, illness is a crime & crime is an illness, both treated accordingly! This book was one of the first to imagine Artificial Intelligence, based on the then recently published "Origin of Species" by Darwin & the Industrial Revolution.

William Morris, an outstanding designer, was also a fellow member of the Fabian Society with George Bernard Shaw. He wrote "News from Nowhere" an idealised Socialist Utopia, where work is performed for pleasure, so everyone works happily &  productively.

Immortality - Blessing or Curse?

An allegory of immortality
Giulio Romano

In Hindu mythology, the following are generally considered the Immortals:

Veda Vyasa, Parashurama, Mahabali, Vibhishana, Anjaneya, Kripacharya & Ashwatthama. For the last named, it was a curse, as he had to lead a painful life.

For a modern look on the subject, one need go no further than Natalie Babbitt's "Tuck Everlasting." As summarised in the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, the Tuck family have drunk from water, that has made them immortal. When they think that  Winnie Foster, a young girl, has guessed their secret, they kidnap her & try to persuade her of the realities of living forever.

This novel, less than 140 pages, examines the practical difficulties of being immortal in a mortal world, the plot enlivened by a kidnapping, a killing, a jailbreak & the ultimate renunciation of immortality by Winnie Foster.

Guide to pleasant reading from Jane Austen

At the beginning of the last chapter of her "Mansfield Park", Austen writes: "Let other pens dwell on guilt & misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can."

When reading for pleasure, readers can substitute the word "eyes" for "pens" & apply it to their reading choice. This choice, in one fell swoop, removes all dystopian literature from our reading. This move may be criticised as ostrich-like hiding from unpalatable reality. But by reading such books, one cannot make the world a better place. Things have come to such a pass that even the phenomenally popular children's book series of Harry Potter contains more than its share of unpleasant scenes.

Incidentally, Jane Austen herself had her fair share of detractors. Charlotte Bronte, author of the immortal "Jane Eyre" said of Austen "that the Passions are perfectly  unknown to her." Kingsley Amis called the same "Mansfield Park" immoral. But the most vicious attack is found in Edmund Crispin's classic detective novel "The Moving Toyshop." The villain is introduced reading "Nightmare Abbey", a parody of the title of Austen's "Northanger Abbey." The detective, an Oxford Professor of Literature, Gervase Fen himself refers to the Bennet sisters in "Pride & Prejudice" as "those vulgar little man-hunting minxes." In the final scene, when the murderer is injured, Fen gleefully remarks that "he will live to be hanged, which will be one Janeite less, anyway", venting his spleen on Jane Austen to the fullest.

This, regarding the most beloved author in English Literature, after Shakespeare & Dickens!

A Murine Robinson Crusoe

In William Steig's "Abel's Island", one finds Abel, an anthropomorphic mouse, separated from his wife, during a storm while they are picnicking. He had an income from his mother & had no need to work. However he was observant & well read, and  had survival skills.

He, like Defoe's hero, was stranded on an island. But unlike Crusoe, who salvaged many items from his ship, Abel had nothing. Also Crusoe had no wild animals to contend with, whereas Abel had to face deadly enemies like an owl & his natural nemesis, the cat. The novel narrates, how by using his brain & being perseverant, Abel managed to survive an year in the island. 

He also meets a frog, (like Crusoe meeting Friday), who was quite friendly with him & promises to inform his wife about his whereabouts. But the frog forgets to do so & Abel finally swims to safety, when the water level in the river reduces & reaches his home to the loving company of his wife.

It is also implied, that chastened by his experience & using the skills acquired during the year, he may become economically independent of his mother.

What love of music means

There is a short story by Willa Cather (1876-1947) named "A Wagner Matinee". In it a man in Boston gets news that an aunt of his is visiting him to claim a small legacy left by a relative.

He remembers the time he spent as a boy with her & her family at Nebraska's remote homesteads. She, as a girl, was a music teacher at the Boston Conservatory, when she met & married her husband & settled in Nebraska. She taught her nephew Latin, Shakespeare & music on the little parlour organ, after her hard farm work. There was no radio.

He was seeing her again after 30 years, an elderly complete farm woman. After her law work, he takes her to a Wagner matinee, knowing her love of music. She listens enthralled, saying at the interval, "Have you been listening to all this ever since you left me?" reproachfully.

At the end of the concert, even after the hall has emptied, she continues to sit, with tears streaming down her cheeks, saying "I don't want to go back!" to the hard life of the remote homestead in Nebraska.

A Select Bibliography of books on eminent Indian Film Directors

Though there are a number of books on Satyajit Ray, only one has been listed here because, though concise, it covers his whole ouvre & is written by a fellow Bengali founder of the Calcutta Film Society.

1. The Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Chidananda Das Gupta, Published by National Book Trust, 1994.

2. Mrinal Sen - Sixty Years in Search of Cinema by Dipankar Mukhopadyay Published by Harper Collins India, 2009.

3. The Cinema of Tapan Sinha by Amitava Nag, Published by Om Books International 2021.

4. Cinema & I by Ritwik Ghatak (A representative volume of Ghatak's writings on Cinema) Published by Rupa & Co, 1987.

5. Face-to-Face The Cinema of Adoor Gopalakrishnan by Parthajit Baruah, Published by Harper Collins India, 2016.

6. Mysteries of the Mundane The Films of Girish Kasaravalli by John W. Hood Published by Orient BlackSwan, 2019

7. Shyam Benegal by Sangeeta Datta, Published by Roli Books, 2003.

Swami Vivekananda on Patanjali

In his book called "Raja Yoga", Swamiji comments on Patanjali Yoga Sutras. In Chapter 4, Verse 1, it states that the Siddhis (powers) are attained by birth, chemical means, power of words, mortification or concentration.

1. Birth. Swamiji says people may be born with powers which they have earned in their earlier incarnations. He opines that Kapila, founder of Sankhya philosophy was one such. Hindus & Christians also believe that  Lord Krishna & Jesus Christ (among others) also had powers from birth.

2. Chemistry began as alchemy & in India there was a sect called Rasayanas, who thought that bodies can even be made immortal so that one has the time to become spiritual. The drug taking of the west is a unwise byproduct of this. Even Aldous Huxley in his "The Doors of Perception" recounted his altered state of consciousness after consuming Mescaline.

3. There are certain sacred words called Mantras, which have power, when repeated under proper conditions to produce these extraordinary powers (e.g. like those used in rituals.)

4. In every religion, mortifications & asceticisms have been practised. Through such practices, it is believed that powers (Siddhis) can be attained.

5. Concentration is Samadhi, & that is Yoga proper; that is the principal theme of this science, & it is the highest means. Here concentration is defined in Chapter 1, Verse 2 as "Yoga Chittavrutti Nirodhaha" meaning "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)."

Ashta Siddhis or 8 supernatural powers

These are listed as follows:

1. Anima - Shrinking one's body.

2. Mahima - Enlarging one's body.

3. Garima - Increasing weight of body.

4. Laghima - Decreasing weight of body.

                       (One can fly!)

5. Prapti - Get things desired 

                  (out of thin air!)

6. Prakamya - longevity, teleportation, living

 underwater.

 7. Isitva - Control Nature.    

 8. Vasitva - Control others' minds.   

According to Patanjali Yoga Sutras (4.1), Siddhis can be attained by birth, herbs, power of words, austerities or concentration.

Examples of individuals possessing these Siddhis & using them where needed, are present in the Hindu epics, Ramayan & Mahabharat. Of course, these Siddhis are considered not possible as they violate the laws of physics.

Here it can be recollected that in Newtonian physics light travels in a straight line, but in Einsteinian physics, light rays can be deflected.

In the Sci-fi serial "Star Trek", teleportation was common. In Harry Potter's magical world, many similar powers were used. In  the case of spiritual leaders, many thousands of believers claim to have witnessed the Prapti Siddhi being performed. 

But it is also true that "Magic (or Siddhi) causes as much trouble as it cures" as put by J.K.Rowling in her "The Tales of Beedle The Bard."

Pleonexia forbidden in all religions

Aparigraha or non-acceptance (of wealth) is one of the eight limbs of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga.

Aparigraha is also a major requirement of Jainism to be observed by both householders & ascetics.

In the ten perfections to be attained in Buddhism, renunciation is the third.

In the Bible, Matthew 19:24, Jesus is quoted as saying "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

In the Quran, Surah 23, verse 55, "Do they think that, in giving them wealth & children, We (Allah) are solicitous for their welfare? By no means! They lack perception."

Akka Mahadevi, the Kannada Saint-Poet says "What is the use of having wealth, if one doesn't have compassion?"

Rabia Basri was once given a good house by her admirers. She went through it admiringly & then refused it by saying it takes her mind away from Allah.

Pleonexia metastasizing in human society

Pleonexia word sounds like the name of a disease & it is one of the deadliest, the love of money. It has been present since money was invented by the ancient Indians, the Chinese & the Lydians. The second word in the title is primarily used to denote the spread of malignancy from one part of the body to other parts. Here also the word is consciously used to describe the current unbridled spread of Pleonexia.

Like "All roads leading to Rome", all present human activities have money as their ultimate goal. Education is useful only so far as it can lead to economically productive employment. Both education & employment, per se, if not leading to acquisition of wealth, are of absolutely no value. In this equation, Knowledge & Culture, come completely croppers.

Another casualty in this scenario, is Spirituality, the real ultimate goal of human life. Religion, which is often mistaken for spirituality, has already been subverted to serve Pleonexia, because most people pray only for wealth (& of course health) which they cannot get by normal (or even devious) ways.

In spite of seeing everyday the travails of the rich (many of whom have even recourse to suicide), we stubbornly adhere to the only accepted yardstick of human success, namely wealth. Praying to Saints who have voluntarily embraced extreme poverty (in all religions) for more wealth, is the height of idiocy. If we really want wealth, we should worship the modern Croesus (or the Indian Kubera) logically!

"Ragamala Paintings" by Klaus Ebeling

This volume is the magisterial work on the subject. Sumptuously produced (larger than Quarto size), it has 60 full page colour plates, innumerable black & white illustrations & an extremely erudite text based on a research study of 4000 paintings in 1969 - 70. It was published in 1973 & had since become the source book for all subsequent studies on the subject.

The author himself thanks the publisher for giving the book it's "elaborate & very costly but beautiful form". He also thanks 6 women spread across 3 generations (mother, wife & 4 daughters) for having helped in preparing the manuscript.

The highlight of the book is a chapter entitled "Visual Dictionary" where the pictures are listed in the alphabetical order of their titles. Numerous charts, tables & copious cross-indexing make the volume a scholar's treasure trove. Unlike many later works in the genre, this work doesn't confine itself to one school, but is all encompassing in its scope. Starting from the history of Ragamala painting, it also includes the text relating to the raga inscribed in the painting.