SHORT STORY: NIRAV MODI AND THE CURSE OF MIDAS

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    Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant who fled the country after reportedly swindling the banks for over Rs 13,000 crore, has one thing in common with a character in Greek legend, King Midas of Phrygia: and that is insatiable greed.

    By all standards, Modi ran a successful diamond business and had amassed more wealth than most people can even dream of. The sale of his art collection alone is said to have fetched Rs 58 crore. He owns several properties in India, and at least two apartments in a tower block in Central London, which in themselves would cost several million British pound sterling.

    But I guess all these immense riches were apparently not enough to satisfy him, so he conspired to swindle the banks for thousands of crores of rupees.

    Now he is fugitive from the law in London. A prisoner who has been denied bail by a British judge and is facing extradition to India, where he is likely to do extended jail term.

    So then why, when he already had more money than anyone could possibly spend in several luxurious lifetimes was he compelled to become a cheat and land himself in such a mess as he is now in?

    The answer is, insatiable greed. Modi’s story parallels that of Midas. Who was granted a boon by Dionysus, the God of wine and revelry. Midas chose infinite wealth and was granted the golden touch whereby everything he laid hands on turned into precious metal.

    But Midas’s joy at having been given the golden touch was short-lived. As he could not eat nor drink anything, because whatever he came in contact with turned into gold, including his beloved daughter.

    Midas then realised that his golden touch, born out of uncontrollable greed, was not a boon but a curse. So, he went back to Dionysus and begged of him to take back his baneful gift. The God told Midas to go bathe in a river that would wash away the unbearable burden of his greed.

    The dietary disorder of bulimia turns people into obsessive eaters who cannot stop themselves from consuming much more than what their bodies actually require or what their constitutions can withstand. If untreated, bulimia leads to obesity and other life-threatening conditions. The unbridled greed for material wealth is a bulimia of the spirit, an uncontrolled and uncontrollable appetite that leads to grevious consequences.

    In Oliver Stone’s movie, Wall Street, the protagonist, Gordon Gekko, sums up the mantra of compulsive consumption: ‘Greed is good’. But greed, as Midas discovered, is far from being good; greed is another word for grief.

    The so-called ‘subprime crisis’, which started in the US in 2007 and led to worldwide financial turmoil, was caused by greed, and led to many millions losing their life savings, their homes and their jobs.

    Greed is harmful not just for our financial health. Greed for more and more of the planet’s limited resources has brought us to the brink of irretrievable environmental catastrophe.

    Collective human greed –particularly as evidenced by the world’s wealthiest nations, who have shown that the more you have more you desire to have—has endangered the Earth, perhaps beyond salvation.

    Not just Nirav Modi, we are all inheritors of the curse of Midas.

    This column is inspired by a recent article of Jug Suraiya in Speaking Tree.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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SHORT STORY: MAHAVIRA AND HIS TEACHINGS OF AHIMSA

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    Mahavir Jayanti is one of the most significant festivals of Jainism. It is observed to commemorate the birth of Mahavira, the 24th and the last Jain tirthankara. A tirthankara is an enlightened soul, who is born as a human being and attains perfection through intense meditation.

    Many incidents and stories reveal the character of Mahavira. Mahavira, once said that, “Anger causes degradation of soul.” A popular story talks about Mahavira and Chandkaushik (a poisonous cobra). Once on his way to village Vachala, where lived Chandkaushik, Mahavira heard that the people of the village near the forest lived in absolute terror. Mahavira stopped in the forest where Chandkaushik lived, and started meditating. Feelings of peace, tranquillity and concern for the well-being of every living being flowed in Mahavira’s heart. On the other hand, Chandkaushik, on encountering Mahavira, hissed in anger, but saw no sign of fear in him and this made him more angry and he blew poisonous venom at Mahavira three times, but still the tirthankara was in absolute meditation posture. Now Chandkaushik was really mad and concentrated on all his power and bit Mahavira’s toe. He saw white milk flow out of his toe. This was when Mahavira opened his eyes but was so calm and compassionate. He looked at Chandkaushik and said, ‘Hey Chand, shant ho ja, shant ho ja’ and requested the cobra to overcome his anger and bitterness and instead, forgive and remain peaceful. Chandkaushik acceded and became calm, and peacefully retreated back to his hole.

    Moral of the story: Peace and harmony in society come from the feeling of love and equality of all living beings. This is the concept of Mahavira’s non-violence.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

SHORT STORY: TEN FOOLS

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    We spend a lot of time in knowing about others. But we hardly spend time, in knowing about our own ourselves. The reason is very simple, because we always think we know ourselves inside out. But the reality is quite the reverse.  The story below is a satire on this very thought process.

    Once there were ten friends who had embarked upon an adventure. They Crossed rivers, scaled mountains, traversed across forests, and finally they arrived in open fields. When suddenly one screamed. ‘O my God, one of us is missing. We started off as ten and now there are only nine.’ They hurriedly sat in a circle, and  started counting, and then started crying for the missing tenth. Once again, the first counted each one and wailed loudly as he reached the ninth. Number one was on his left and number nine was on his right. Where was the tenth? The second did the same and so did the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and the ninth … but the tenth was nowhere to be seen. They all kept crying till a wise man pointed out that each one counted everyone, except himself.

The moral of the story is, in this busy and crowded world keep good track of yourself, or you’ll get lost.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES–16

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Google sab janta hai. Google knows everything about everyone through their ‘search history.’ If Google were to enter the business of “Private Detectives’ or open a “Marriage Bureau” they probably would be the best among the trade, as Google knows everything about everyone. And through Google one can say even ‘Úncle Sam’ that is the US also knows everything about everyone.

A committee of senior statisticians has said that verifying 479, randomly selected EVMs, from a total of 10.35 lakh EVMs, achieves a confidence level of 99.99%. Raising sample size further yielded only ‘negligible gains’ in confidence levels. This would also roughly translate to one EVM per Lok Sabha seat. Election Commission says that VVPAT slip count from 1,500 polling stations in elections since March 2017 have matched completely with corresponding EVMs.

In 1939 Savarkar wrote the foreword of a book by a Nazi sympathizer and European born Hindu revivalist who called herself or you could say she wrote under the pseudonym of Savitri Devi Mukerji. Savitri Devi Mukerji lived between (1905-1982), and her real name was Maximiani Portas she was a mix of Greek, French and English parentage, she was a remarkable figure who, among other idiosyncratic beliefs, considered Adolf Hitler an avatar of Vishnu. Her book, prophetically titled “A Warning to be Hindus,” is a passionate polemic about the need for Hindu assertion. A prominent proponent of, deep ecology and Nazism, who served the Axis cause during World War II by spying on Allied forces.

The origin of the word Juggernaut comes from the Hindu God Jagannath. The word is derived from the Sanskrit—Odia Jagannatha meaning “World Lord” which is one of the names of Krishna found in the Sanskrit epics. Where, Jagata means world, combining with Natha meaning Lord. By the eighteenth century juggernaut was in common use as a synonym for an irresistible and destructive force that demanded total devotion or unforgiving sacrifice—the sense in which it pops up in novels of Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens, and even Robert Louis Stevenson, who applied it to Dr Jekyll’s foil. Mr Hyde. It was only Mark Twain in his autobiography, who described juggernaut as the kindest of Gods.

The concept of GDP was invented in 1937 by US economist Simon Kuznets, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1971. In 1944, following the Bretton Woods conference that established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, GDP became the standard tool for sizing up the country’s economy.

India is now the largest market for Youtube with over 265 million or you could say 26 crore monthly active users for the video sharing website.

Last week five South Korean celebrities became the world’s first 5G subscribers. The service since then has been opened to regular subscribers as well. Simultaneously the US also saw a limited commercial launch of 5G networks. The intensity with which telecoms in the two countries are claiming they did first, underscores the stakes in this battle for supremacy and how competitive it’s likely to be.

2G opened up mobile telephony mainstream, 3G opened up the app economy and social platforms, 4G redefined businesses from banking to entertainment and transportation, 5G equals superfast communications that backers say will transform life as we know it. Its speed, responsiveness and reach could indeed revolutionise agriculture, utilities, law and order, healthcare, manufacturing, AI and virtual reality.

Whereas, South Korea and the US have launched 5G and China is in a great state of readiness. India on the other hand is yet to allocate spectrum for 5G trails. There is no doubt that rolling out this technology is seriously capital intensive.

During the 2014 campaign, Narendra Modi crisscrossed 3,00,000 km to address hundreds of rallies in person. Five years later, his energy is still undiminished. With 150 rallies already planned and more in the works, he is poised to convert the election into a presidential style contest once again.

Deteriorating quality of education in public institutions poses a serious threat to the Indian youth of today and tomorrow. As it directly affects about 65-70% of the students—those who use publicly funded institutions. 

Mumbai is one of the hottest stock markets of the world, with a gain of nearly 30%.

To go off the rails. Means to start behaving in a way that is not generally acceptable, especially being dishonest or illegal.

Tail wagging the dog means a situation where a small part controls a big part.

Magna-carta—is a document ensuring guarantee of basic rights.

Research shows that over a third of the US population is single. In India too, the demographic has been rising. They now number 74 million or 7 crore and comprise 12% of the female population.

The commonwealth is by no means a perfect institution. It is a legacy of the days when London was the centre of the world and Great Britain was the mother country.

From a peak of 90800 sq km under its control in 2015, IS (Islamic State) is now down to ruling over a mere 3% of Iraq and 5% of Syria today.

More than 80% of Google’s revenue comes just from its ad business. In the last quarter, the company earned $32.6 billion from ads and just $ 6.6 billion from other sources.

A strategic industry should be defined on the basis of its multiplier effect on employment.

India has fought three, and two half wars, against Pakistan, and one against China in the past 70 years. The halves are the limited Kargil war and the longer Pakistani covert war that continues. Two of them in 1965 and 1971 lasted less than a month. The Kargil war went on for three months but in a very small un-populated part of the country. The first Kashmir war began in October 1947 and ended a year and more later on December 31, 1948. The Sino-Indian war of 1962, too, was a month-long affair. Acutely aware of their own vulnerability, India and Pakistan have generally avoided the deliberate targeting of economic and civilian areas during their wars. But in this regard the future now remains unpredictable.

A recent unofficial count found more than 600 lions in the area, up from 523 in a 2015 census in Gujarat. Gujarat’s chief minister Vijay Rupani said. “Our efforts for lion conservation with support of local people have yielded good results. The number of lions now in Gujarat has reached the 600 mark.”

More than 2500 years ago Confucius said that those who govern should do so through merit and virtue, not inherited status. From the 10th century to 1905, Chinese officials were selected primarily through competitive exams and promoted through rigorous performance assessments.

When a sector with less than 15% of GDP supports a population three times its size, we have a convergence of rural and urban hopes which is jobs. You cannot lift rural incomes without absorbing at least two-thirds of those dependent on the farm in non-farm or urban jobs.

China’s staunch opposition has ensured that Taiwan remains the only major country in the world to be outside the UN.

Interesting quotes and lines.

Crime does not pay as well as politics—ALFRED NEWMAN, a US composer.

The ability to look without motive is missing in the world today—Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

I noticed people coming out of restaurants always had more joyful faces than those coming out of temples—anonymous.

I knew nothing about anything. That means I ended up paying enormous attention to everything—anonymous.

When someone spoke, I saw they were only making sounds and I was making up the meaning—anonymous.

Sophocles, one of the three ancient Greek tragedians said he would prefer even to fail with honour than win by cheating.

There can be a world of a difference between knowing ethics and practicing ethics—anonymous.

In business you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate—CHESTER KARRASS, US author

By Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

LITERARY CORNER: HAMLET by William Shakespeare

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    Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of being retold and adapted by others. It was one of Shakespeare’s most popular works during his lifetime and still ranks among his most performed, topping the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessors in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879. It has even inspired many other writers from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and Iris Murdoch—and has been described as “the world’s most filmed story after Cinderella. Hindi film “Haider” released in 2014 is a modern day adaptation of Shakespere’s tragedy Hamlet.

    The play is divided into four acts.

Act I.

    Prince Hamlet of Denmark happens to be the main protagonist of this play. He is the son of the recently deceased or killed King Hamlet, so essentially there are two characters by the name of Hamlet in this play. Then you have King Claudius, who is Hamlet’s uncle and his father’s brother and also the successor. After the death of King Hamlet, Claudius hastily marries his widow. Her name is Gertrude, who is also Hamlet’s mother, and occupies the throne himself. The play goes on to say that the country of Denmark has a long-standing feud with the neighbouring Norway, in which King Hamlet had once killed King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle some years ago.

    Although, Denmark defeated Norway and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbras’s infirm brother, Denmark does fear a retaliation led by the dead Norwegian king’s son, Prince Fortinbras, as imminent. Then the scene changes to a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle, where the sentries Bernardo and Marcellus discuss a ghost resembling the late King Hamlet which they have recently seen, and bring Prince Hamlet’s friend Horatio as a witness. After the ghost appears again, the three vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of the state with their elderly adviser Polonius, where Hamlet looks on glumly. During the court, Claudius grants permission for Polonius’s son Laertes to return to school in France and also sends envoys to inform the King of Norway about Fortinbras. Claudius scolds Hamlet for continuing to grieve over his father and refuses him permission to return to his schooling in Wittenberg. After the court adjourns, Hamlet despairs on his father’s death and his mother’s hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself.

    As Polonius’s son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius decides to give him a contradictory advice that culminates in the famous ironic maxim, “to thine own self be true.” (Meaning he must think of his own benefit first). Meanwhile Polonius’s daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, but Laertes warns her against seeking the prince’s attention, and Polonius orders her to reject his advances. That night on the rampart, the ghost reappears in Hamlet’s, presence telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius, his own brother and demands that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees, and the ghost vanishes. The prince confides in Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an ‘antic disposition’ on, or act as though he has gone mad, and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge a secret. But privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghost’s reliability.

Act II

    Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving erratically. Polonius blames love for Hamlet’s madness and resolves to inform Claudius and Gertrude. But as he enters to do so, he finds the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, at Elsinore the royal palace. The royal couple requests that the students investigate the cause of Hamlet’s mood and behaviour. In the meanwhile some additional news requires that Polonius waits further to be heard. When messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to refight his father’s battles. The forces that Fortinbras had drafted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, though they will pass through the Danish territory to get there.

    Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlet’s behaviour and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all along. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his “friends” warmly but quickly discerns that they are spies. Hamlet becomes bitter, admitting that he is upset at his situation but refuses to give the true reason why. Instead he comments on “what a piece of work” humanity is. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that they have brought along a troupe of actors that they met while traveling to Elsinore. Hamlet, after welcoming the actors and dismissing his friends-turned-spies, asks them to deliver a soliloquy about the death of King Priam and Queen Hecuba at the climax of the Trojan War. Impressed by their delivery of speech, he plots to stage, “The Murder of Gonzago,” a play featuring a death in the style of his father’s murder (that reminds of the last song of Rishi Kapoor’s film Karz) to determine the truth of the ghost’s story, as well as Claudius’s guilt or innocence, by studying Claudius’s reaction.

Act III

    Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet’s love letters and tokens of affection to the prince while he and Claudius watch from afar to evaluate Hamlet’s reaction. Hamlet is walking alone in the hall as the king and Polonius await Ophelia’s entrance, musing whether, “to be or not to be.” (The famous phrase that means to act or not to act). When Ophelia enters and tries to return Hamlet’s things, Hamlet accuses her of immodesty and cries, “get thee to a nunnery,” (give her to the whore house) though it is unclear whether this, too, is a show of madness or genuine distress. His reaction convinces Claudius that Hamlet is not mad for love. Shortly thereafter, the court assembles to watch the play that Hamlet has commissioned. In which after seeing the protagonist King being murdered by his rival by pouring poison in his ear, Claudius abruptly rises and runs away from the room. For Hamlet, this indeed is a positive proof of his uncle’s guilt.

    After which Gertrude his mother summons Hamlet to her room to demand an explanation. Meanwhile, Claudius talks to himself about the impossibility of repenting, since he still has possession of his ill-gotten goods that is his brother’s crown and his wife. He sinks to his knees in frustration. Meanwhile, Hamlet, on his way to visit his mother, sneaks up behind Claudius but does not kill him, reasoning that killing Claudius while he is praying will send him straight to heaven while his father’s ghost is still stuck in purgatory. In the queen’s bedchamber, Hamlet and Gertrude fight bitterly. Where Polonius, spies on the conversation from behind a tapestry, calls for help as Gertrude, believing Hamlet wants to kill her, also calls out for help herself.

    Hamlet, believing it is Claudius behind the tapestry, stabs wildly, but in the process he kills Polonius. He pulls aside the curtain and discovers his mistake. In a rage, Hamlet unsparingly insults his mother for her apparent ignorance of Claudius’s villainy. But just then the King Hamlet’s ghost enters and reprimands Prince Hamlet for his inaction and harsh words. Unable to see or hear the ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet’s conversation with the ghost as a further evidence of his madness. After begging the queen to stop sleeping with Claudius, Hamlet leaves, dragging Polonius’s corpse away.

Act IV

    Hamlet jokes with Claudius about where he has hidden Polonius’s body, and the king, fearing for his life, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England with a sealed letter to the English king requesting that Hamlet be executed immediately.

    Shocked by grief at Polonius’s death, Ophelia wanders aimlessly around Elsinore. Meanwhile Laertes returns from France, enraged by his father’s death and his sister’s madness. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible for the killing, but a letter soon arrives indicating that Hamlet has returned to Denmark, foiling Claudius’s plan. Claudius switches tactics, proposing a fencing match—a sword fight between Laertes and Hamlet to settle their differences. Laertes will be given a poison-tipped sword, and Claudius will offer Hamlet poisoned wine as a congratulation if that fails. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned, though it is unclear whether it was a suicide or an accident exacerbated by her madness.

    In the meanwhile Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet, explaining that the prince escaped by negotiating with pirates who attempted to attack his England-bound ship, and the friends reunite offstage. Two grave-diggers discuss Ophelia’s apparent suicide while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of the grave-diggers, who unearths the skull of a court jester from Hamlet’s childhood that he loved. His name was Yorick. Hamlet picks up the skull, saying “alas, poor Yorick” as he thinks of death. Meanwhile, Ophelia’s funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet and Horatio initially hide, but when Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is the one being buried, he reveals himself, proclaiming his love for her. Laertes and Hamlet fight by Ophelia’s graveside, but the brawl is soon broken up.

    Back at Elsinore, Hamlet explains to Horatio that he had discovered Claudius’s letter in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s belongings and that he had replaced it with a forged copy indicating that his former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, by the name of Osric, interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Hamlet. Hamlet, despite Horatio’s pleas, accepts it. Hamlet does well at first, leading the match by two hits to none, when Gertrude raises a toast to him using the poisoned glass of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet. Claudius tries to stop her but is too late in doing so. She drinks, and Laertes realizes the plot will now be revealed. He slashes Hamlet with his poisoned blade. In the ensuing scuffle, they switch weapons, when Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poisoned sword.

    In the meantime Gertrude collapses exclaiming she has been poisoned, she dies. Further, in his dying moments, Laertes reconciles with Hamlet and reveals Claudius’s plan. Enraged Hamlet rushes at Claudius and kills him. Soon the poison takes effect on Hamlet. Who upon hearing that Fortinbras is marching through the area, names the Norwegian prince as his successor. Horatio, distraught at the thought of being the last survivor and living whilst Hamlet does not, says he will commit suicide by drinking the dregs of Gertrude’s poisoned wine, but Hamlet begs him to live on and tell his story. Hamlet dies in Horatio’s arms, proclaiming “the rest is silence.” Meanwhile, Fortinbras, who was ostensibly marching towards Poland with his army, arrives at the palace, along with an English ambassador bringing news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s deaths. Horatio promises to recount the full story of what happened, and Fortinbras, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for himself and orders a military funeral to honour Hamlet.

    In the final analysis a demon such as Claudius is sufficient to destroy the entire clan.

Synopsis by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

SHORT STORY: THE CAVE AND THE LIGHT

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    There was once a cave that lived underground as most caves do. The cave had spent its entire life in darkness. It had never seen light. One day, a voice came up to him and said, ‘Come up … into the light. Come up … and enjoy the sunlight.’

     ‘I don’t know what you mean by light. All I have ever known and seen is darkness.’ The cave replied. ‘Come and see it for yourself,’ said the voice again.

    The cave mustered up enough courage and climbed slowly up from the depths of the earth. Suddenly, it reached the top of the earth and was surrounded by magnificent light, the likes of which he had never seen before in its life.

    ‘This is beautiful,’ said the cave. And after enjoying the light for a while the cave said to the sunlight, ‘Now it is your turn to come with me and see the darkness.’

    ‘What is darkness?’ Asked the Sunlight. The cave answered, ‘come and see it for yourself.’ The Sunlight decided to visit the cave’s home. And as the Sunlight entered the cave, it said. ‘Now show me where your darkness is.’ But with the Sunlight there was no darkness to be found.

    What the anecdote illustrates is the power of light. Wherever there is light there can be no darkness. Whenever we feel we are in the dark spell of our life, we need only to tap into the light of our soul.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

SHORT STORY: THE FARMER AND THE WELL

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    Once a farmer who was looking for a source of water for his farm bought a well from his neighbour. The neighbour was a cunning person. He refused to let the farmer take the water from the well. On asking why, he replied, “I sold the well to you, and not the water.” After saying this he walked away. The distraught farmer didn’t know what to do. So he went to Birbal, a clever man and one of the nine courtiers of Emperor Akbar, for a solution.

    The emperor called both the farmer and his neighbour and asked why the man was not letting the farmer draw water from the well. The cunning man said the same thing again, “Your majesty I sold the well, and not the water. So he cannot take my water.” To this, Birbal replied, “All that sounds fine to me. But if you have not sold the water and the water is yours, then you have no business keeping your water in his well. So remove the water or use it up immediately. If not the water will belong to the owner of the well or you may have to pay rent for keeping your water in his well.”

    The neighbour realising that he’s been tricked and even taught a lesson, immediately apologized and left.

    So the Moral of the story is: Cheating will never get you anywhere. If you cheat, you’ll pay for it soon.  And in Hindi as they say … ser ko sawa ser jaroor milta hai. Birbal was the sawa ser to the cunning neighbour.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share it if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

  

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES EPISODE 15

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INTERESTING FACTS 

  1. Hamletian dilemma: The phrase is derived from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. When Hamlet, the prince of Dutch learns that his father was murdered by his uncle, he is in a dilemma as to whether he should avenge his father’s death or continue ruling the kingdom.
  2. Begusarai was once known as the “Leningrad” of Bihar, or the “Leningrad” of East. It was recently in news again, because the Communists, are trying to field Kanhaiya Kumar from this pro Communist constituency. Leningrad as we all know is a place in Russia. The famous siege of Leningrad lasted from September 1941 to 1944. By the end of the siege, some 632,000 people are thought to have died with nearly 4,000 people from Leningrad starving to death on Christmas Day, 1941. The first German artillery shell fell on Leningrad on September 1st, 1941.
  3. Teacher absenteeism accounts for the loss of up to one-quarter of the primary school spending. A World Bank Report estimates this loss to be about $2 billion a year in India, just at the primary level.
  4. With a median age of 27.9 years in 2018, India’s population is quite young. By 2020, youth will make up for 34% of India’s population.
  5. Forty-five million young people have been added to the voters list since 2014. Based on 2011 Census, about two crore youngsters turn 18 every year, even though not everyone gets registered to vote.
  6. India has shown responsibility and restraint by targeting a satellite at 300 km altitude, as opposed to China destroying a satellite at the height of 857 km in 2007, which created a lot of risky debris. But even the Indian test has a small likelihood of creating some debris that gets thrown into the higher orbits.
  7. One of the reasons for lesser concern with India’s test has to do with the height of the test. At 300 kilometers, the debris may survive just for months, if not weeks. At 800 kilometers, the Chinese satellite debris has already survived for more than a decade and may survive for a few more years.
  8. India has demonstrated that it can take down satellites in Low Earth Orbits of less than 2,000 km above the surface.
  9. There are over 22,000 artificial objects currently in the orbit that are being tracked by one government agency or another. The European Space Agency estimates that currently there over 34,000 pieces of debris in the orbit that are larger than 10 cm in size; close to a million pieces between 1 cm and 10 cm; and 128 million pieces of debris less than a centimeter in size. With reducing satellite size and the increasing frequency of space launches, this is only set to grow rapidly.
  10. UTSAVA- is a Sanskrit word. Where, UT –means to ‘let go’ or remove and SAVA means worldly sorrows hence the complete word UTSAVA means to “let go your sorrows.”
  11. In the Scandinavian countries without any reservations, around half the MPs are women. In India we only keep talking of 33% which is not happening.
  12. Earth orbital safety in the 21st century is as vital as shipping lane security was, in the 20th century.
  13. The Lucas critique, named after Robert Lucas‘s work on macroeconomic policy making, argues that it is naive to try to predict the effects of a change in economic policy entirely on the basis of human relationships observed in historical data, especially highly aggregated historical data.
  14. Marriage industry of India boasts about 10 million weddings a year.
  15. There are reports that Pakistan is collaborating with China to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. India too needs to double up.
  16. In Hindu philosophy the soul is interpreted as being without a gender.
  17. Security cooperation was one of the reasons why PM Narasimha Rao formally opened diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, followed by purchase of India’s first IAI Searcher unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and an air combat manoeuvring system from Israel in 1996. 
  18. India is the largest single market for Israeli arms. Israeli arms sale to India is only second to Russia, having gone up by 650% in the past decade, now amounting to $715 million in 2017 alone. IAF misslies fired in Balakot reportedly used Israeli made SPICE-2000 GUIDANCE KITS.
  19. Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Tel-Aviv in July 2017 and then came the visit of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Delhi in January 2018.
  20. Israel is virtually a ‘nation-at-arms’ country. It has always had conscription, or draft, or compulsory enlistment of people in national service. Every Israeli man (who’s Jew or Druze, excepting those with medical disabilities or religious scholars) above 18 serves in the military for 36 months, and every Israeli woman for 24 months.
  21. The National bill of Israel passed in 2018 specified Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. This makes Israeli state closer to a theocratic one.
  22. Iron and steel accounts for roughly 15-20 % of the total cost in real estate.
  23. Global warming: When Americans were experiencing bone-chilling temperatures on January 29, the world was actually 0.3 degrees warmer on an average compared to a baseline from 1979 to 2000.
  24. Among all the 13 tiger range countries, India alone has the maximum number of tigers (70% of the global wild tiger population) and their source areas. This impressive gain is there despite the fact that our per capita forest is only 0.06 hectare as against the world average of 0.6 hectare, apart from having 60% of global livestock, 17% of world’s human population, with a forest productivity of around 1.34 cubic metre per hectare per year as against world’s average of 2.1 cubic metre per hectare per year.
  25. It has been documented that around 67,911 hectares of forest cover has been lost in 188 districts of India between 2009 and 2011 due to encroachment.

Quotes

  1. Earth: The soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones, and the wind is her breath; trees and grass her hair. She lives, spreads out, and we live on her. When she moves we have an earthquake—Rabbi Ezekiel Malekar
  2. In real life it is the hare who wins—ANITA BROOKNER, award winning novelist.
  3. Mary Shelley projected through the character, Frankenstein. We all are threatened by the monsters we create. They don’t come into being on their own.
  4. Every fair-minded person holding a position of authority must support the few who have stood up against the injustice being perpetrated in the name of blasphemy—ASMA JAHANGIR, Pakistani Human Rights lawyer and activist.
  5. If you don’t have a coalition with you, you will have a coalition against you—SHIMON PERES. Israeli politician who served as the ninth President of Israel.
  6. ‘No book is perennially useful to mankind,’ says English philosopher David Hume.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

BOOK CORNER:GODS AND ROBOTS: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology … by Adrienne Mayor

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Khidki (Window)

–Read India Initiative—

This is only an attempt to create interest in reading. We may not get the time to read all the books in our lifetime. But such reviews, talk and synopsis will at least convey what the book is all about.

Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology’

Adriyana Mayor in 2018.

Published by Princeton University Press, New Jersey

    Albert Einstein had once said. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” So, let ‘imagination’ be the tagline of this write-up. As books are indeed an exercise of the author’s imagination. For who could first imagine the concepts of robots, automation, human enhancements, and Artificial Intelligence? Historians tend to trace the idea of automation back to the medieval craftsmen who developed self- moving machines.

    Let me now take you to a research scholar at Stanford University. Her name is Adrienne Mayor. She is a historian of ancient science and warfare, and a classical forklorist who investigates natural knowledge contained in pre-scientific myths and oral traditions. She has recently come out with a book titled, ‘Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology.’ It’s a long title.

    Adrienne feels Hindu epics are full of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and robots, and legend has it, that they guarded Buddha’s relics.

    In this book the lady author explores how ancient culture imagined futuristic technologies and left behind those imaginations in epics and scriptures. She tells how Ashoka battled robots, and other tech tales from the past.    Faith can move mountains. There is a belief in India among the Hindus that ancient Indians had invented everything from spacecraft to missiles to the internet. Lady author tries to link this theory with her research work. She feels her research got her into the first inklings of the scientific impulse and that took her into the world of mythology, where ancient people first envisioned making artificial life, automation (or robots), self-moving devices, and other marvelous things long before the present day technology made them possible. She states these stories about robots and other machines in ancient oral traditions were first written down during the time of Homer, about some 2,700 years ago. But the Greeks were not the only people to imagine automation and machines in antiquity. Similar stories exist in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other epics. In Hindu myths, automations are made by the engineer God Vishwakarma and the sorceress or more appropriately the mystique of Maya. In Greek myths they are made by the God of technology. His name is Hephaestus—the Greek God of fire and metal working and the brilliant artisan Daedalus, a craftsman and artist again from Greek mythology. I consider such myths to be the world’s first science fiction stories. No single civilisation had a monopoly on such ancient dreams of advanced technology. Whether one looks at Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Islamic, Chinese, Etruscan—the modern name given to the powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy or any other ancient cultural myths about artificial life. They all contemplate what wonders might have been achieved if only one could possess the divine creativity and abilities of the Gods. But it’s not possible to draw a direct line of development from mythology over the millennia to the modern scientific knowledge.

    Further the lady author goes on to say that the Indian and Hellenistic cultures borrowed and influenced each other, beginning in about the fifth century BC, The syncretism only intensified, after Alexander of Macedon and King Porus began relations in the fourth century BC. Jain texts mention that the engineers of Ajatasatru, the  king of Haryanka dynasty of Magadha, invented armoured war chariots with spinning blades, which may have inspired later the Persian scythed chariots. Ajatasatru had powerful machines to hurl massive boulders,  even before Philip—II of Macedon obtained torsion catapults—those huge launchers. India was known for perpetually burning oil lamps, suggesting knowledge of naphtha, that was unknown to the Greeks and the Romans until much later. The travelling Greek sage Apollodorus of Tyana observed automated servants and self-propelled carts in the court of a ruler of India, and India was centuries ahead of Europe in the technologies of distillation and hydraulics. There was probably more give and take than we know about.

    Myths featuring flying chariots and synthetic swans, animated servants, giant robots, machines, and the like appear in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Kathasaritasagara, Harivamsa, and other works. Self-navigating ships appear in Egyptian texts and Homer’s odyssey; android and animal automations are described in Homer’s Iliad and in Chinese chronicles. And further examples are myriad.

    The book goes on to share the story of android warriors guarding Buddha’s relics. The most detailed account is in the Lokapanatti, a complicated compilation of tales from Burma. After Buddha’s death, the story recounts that King Ajatasatru preserved his bodily remains in a hidden chamber under a stupa. The precious relics were guarded by ‘bhuta vahana yantra’ (spirit transporting machine). These were robotic warriors with whirling swords—reminiscent of the king’s novel war machines with spinning blades. Greek myths tell of automation guardians in human and animal form defending palaces and treasures, but the historical and technological details of this legend make it unique. The story says the robots were constructed from plans and were secretly transported to Patliputra from Romavisaya, the Greek-influenced west, by a yantrakara, that is a robot maker who was originally from Patliputra. The automation soldiers guarded Buddha’s relics until the great Indian emperor Ashoka heard about the secret chamber. Ashoka battled the robots and after he defeated them he learned how to control them. They obeyed him. Historically, we know that Ashoka did unearth and distribute long hidden relics of Buddha across the land.

    By third century BC, craftspeople and engineers in the Greek world, Alexandria, Arabia, India and China began making self-moving devices, flying bird models, animated machines, and automations like those described in myths. Some were miniature and some monumental, some had simple mechanisms but some were quite complex. These inventions were powered by springs, levers, pulleys, water, air, heat, and so on.

    Overall it’s an extremely interesting book of around three hundred pages. The book really impacts you and leaves you enlightened. Where, you might just be inclined to even change your mindset. But yes don’t rush through the book as it is a little complex in terms of old historical words and even geographies and names. You might even have to refer the glossary or even the dictionary a little too often. I would give the book eight out of ten.

Synopsis by Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share it if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-EPISODE 14

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  1. It was observed in an Economic Survey of 2016-17 that there are 950 central government welfare schemes accounting for 5% of GDP. But out of that only 11 of them account for 50% of the budget allocation. This indicates that there is a strong case to revisit the balance 939 welfare schemes which are not receiving adequate funds and are perhaps defunct.
  2. Global Trade is $16 trillion and India’s share in that is an abysmal 1.7%. If this could grow up to 2.5%, there would be enough jobs in India. And to further improve on the job situation all jobs leaving China should come to India, and not Vietnam. 
  3. India’s film industry is now a global powerhouse. In 2018, Indians made and watched 1,776 films across several languages, garnering more than Rs 7 Lakh crore in revenues. Indian movies are also becoming a valuable export. And notable is that 60% of Bollywood’s overseas earnings in 2018 came from China.
  4. Hindi film Dangal earned Rs 1300 crore in China, dwarfing its domestic earnings of Rs 500 crore. Dangal is the highest grossing Indian film in China. Amir Khan’s other films, ‘Secret Superstar’ and ‘PK’ were also big earners making Rs 800 crore and Rs 100 crore respectively. 
  5. Bollywood earned Rs 1800 crores from just 10 Indian films released in China in 2018. As compared to an earning of Rs 1200 crore from Indian films released in all other countries out together. The earning of Indian films in overseas markets was 2,500 crore in 2017.
  6. Hindi movie Padmavaat was the highest revenue earner in 2018 at Rs 185 crore followed by Sanju at Rs 148 crore. The other top earners of 2018 were ‘Badhai Ho’ ‘Raazi’ & ‘Stree.’ 
  7. 332 Indian films were released abroad in 2018. About the same as in 2017 which was 331. Indian movies have a strong presence in at least 25 international markets, particularly Gulf, North America and Australia.
  8. Bill Gates as compared to his mentor Warren Buffet owns a home of 66,000 sq ft  estimated cost of which is $64 million which is ten times the size of the 6,000 sq ft Omaha home of Warren Buffet, bought in 1958 for $31,500.
  9. A Mexican Standoff is a confrontation between two or more parties in which no participant can proceed or retreat without being exposed to danger. As a result, all participants need to maintain the strategic tension, which remains unresolved until some outside event makes it possible to resolve it.
  10. Air pollution is a mix of ozone, sulphur-dioxide, nitrogen-di-oxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particles. A 2013 WHO study revealed that Delhi had the world’s worst air, in terms of its PM2.5 count- these happen to be the tiniest granules that settle deep in the lungs and bloodstream. This causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and cancers of trachea and lungs.
  11. India is short on oil and imports 80% of its total oil demand.
  12. UN recommends a ratio of more than 222 policemen per one lakh of population, whereas, India has only 106.
  13. Groundwater supplies around 70% of all our water requirement.
  14. Women are not only getting more lead roles. In fact movies led by women are making more money. A study of the global box office from 2014 to 2017 has found that in every budget bracket, average earnings of women-led films outstripped their men-led rivals. Evidently audience viewpoints and taste are shifting such that it now makes good business sense to caste women leads.
  15. The Union cabinet has sanctioned, Rs 4242 crore to strengthen and enhance the technology backbone of the income tax department. Once done it should make filing taxes online easier and also compress the cycle of tax refunds.
  16. Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh are 2500 km apart as the crow flies, more than double the 960 odd km between the farthest points on the British map.
  17. A recent analysis published in Science reported that the oceans are warming at a 40% faster rate than was estimated just five years ago. And 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record.
  18.  Roughly 70% of Indian bank loans are dispensed by government owned banks.
  19. Indian Railways transports more than 23 million passengers and 3 million tonnes of freight every day. This makes it the economic lifeline of India. Derailments account for 50% of rail accidents, with civil engineering defects being the main culprit.
  20. Human mind on an average has over 50,000 thoughts in a day.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

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IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****