Potpourri
IT WAS Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary anew (May 7) and I have so many Bengali friends how can I not take notice of that! I mean Tagore is someone who may be found in most every Bengali’s home and heart and I owe my best friends past and present who are Bengalis. I have more Bengali friends my own native Gujarati friends! They introduced me to things Bengali when I was in my teens…on visits to Calcutta then eating jalmuri, rossogolla or misthi doi, singhara, bits of noton gur like fine chocolate but better than fine chocolate and of course whenever I turned up my Calcutta friend Mita Sen (nee Ray) would be happy to feed me with “macher jhol” and “doi maach” with “chopchuri veggies” (with the wee aroma of a panch poran phodni or tempering). And never to forget the Rabindrasangeet of Bengali litterateur — poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, writer thinker, painter, educationist, singer – Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel prize winner in Literature, 1913… Rabindranath Tagore of Shanti Niketan fame and such a fine human being from all accounts. And this bit of amusing trivia when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee went to pay her shradhanjali to the she was scolded over social media – that Tagore would not have been happy in her West Bengal of today at all! Or something along those lines. Amongst the many writeups and narratives doing the rounds to celebrate Tagore’s birth anniversary is this poem “Go Not the Temple” which has such a powerful message to us all in our world which is spoiling for warfare anew…says the poet in Rabindranath Tagore: “Go not to the temple to put flowers Upon the feet of God, First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love and kindness. Go not to the temple to light candles Before the altar of God, First remove the darkness of sin, Pride and ego, from your heart… Go not to the temple to bow down Your head in prayer, First learn to bow in humility before Your fellowmen. And apologize to those you have wronged. Go not to the temple to pray on Bended knees, First bend down to lift someone who Is down-trodden. And strengthen the young ones. Not Crush them. Go not to the temple to ask for Forgiveness for your sins, First forgive from your heart those Who have hurt you! Do you know that the national anthems of two countries, Jana gana mana (Bharat) and Amar shonar Bangla (Bangladesh) were written by Tagore who wrote and composed more than 2,000 song poems in Bengali (collectively called Rabindra Sangeet which so many Bengali’s have byhearted in their minds and souls). He got the Nobel prize for his collection of songs poems “Gitanjali” and I yet have to come across a Bengali who doesn’t have a favourite Rabindrasangeet. “Ekla Cholo Re…” lyrics resonate in many other Indian hearts too. Have you heart Amitabh Bachchan’s singing “Ekla cholo re…”? “Jodi tor dak sune keu na ashe, /Tobe ekla cholo, ekla chalo, aekla chalo re…” and the rest of it which is so memorable. “When dark clouds cover the sky,/When darkness engulfs the truth,/When the world cowers and bows before fear,/You be the flame./ The flame that burns you and banishes darkness from the world,/(be not be afraid) Burn alone my friend.” Ekla cholo re of course most everyone knows, Bengali or non-Bengali for it is sung on many an occasion…on its own a national anthem for us in Bengali! My Mumbai-based friend Munmun Ghosh, an ardent Rabindrasangeet artiste, often sings what she considers Tagore’s most famous song “Anondodhara bohiche bhuvane…” (reminds me of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”). Most Bengalis do imbibe Tagore’s philosophy of human beings being born to be noble human beings to enjoy the best of the good life Mother Earth offers in so many wonderfully practical, self-sustaining, simple and divine and ways!
TAKE A BOW DR SHIVA AYYADURAI!
I DON’T understand why the Indian media is not following the adventures of this most interesting of man in today’s times! Dr Shiva Ayyadurai, inventor of email and systems scientist, MIT PhD scholar several times over, and much else, who has now decided to run as presidential candidate for USA elections coming up next year. Currently, this crusader for truth, freedom and health is on the second largest island in the Mediterranean sea, Sardinia, considered to be one of the world’s Blue Zones, here live a maximum number of the world’s centenarians… But the tragedy of modernday America’s war-mongering politics is that on this balmy holiday island NATO occupies 50 sq km of Sardinia and 65% of its farmers in Quirra region have cancer from inhaling radioactive thorium dust (1000xsmaller than red blood cells) – a direct result of weapons testing of uranium tipped missiles testing in that region. It is a closely guarded American nuclear military enclave and Dr Shiva Ayyadurai, wannabe politician extraordinary, has been talking to Sardinians and members of his large bottoms-up working class movement have held a demonstration for NATO to get out of Sardinia. Right above the Quirra region ironically is the Olejastra region with the highest per capita of people living over 100 in the world. It is quaint that death stalks this lovely holiday island where many Hollywood celebrities come for rest and recreation and imbibe the secrets of longevity! Dr Shiva Ayadurai was invited to deliver a public lecture in Sardinia and he spoke about how most Sardinians are not even aware of the USA secret nuclear armaments facility operating in Sardinia and how their farmers are being affected by thorium dust in the air… simple, he said: Get educated or be enslaved by dirty warfare politics coming from USA. The war in Ukraine is just small fry warfare currently, the big one is yet to come…can anyone stop it? Only the unity of all working people can stop it! They and their families will be the worst affected. The man who invented Email is educating all kinds of people the world over with his online campaigns, he says the world’s political systems have been so vitiated that it is time to go beyond left and right, pro and anti, and working people the world over should wake up and take stock of every aspect of their life: your body, your relationships, your business, your world and where our notso-obvious power-mongers of profit and control are taking us. Dr Shiva who stood for his home state Massachusetts senator’s seat in 2020 and lost (with government laundering censorship via Twitter) is now running for president’s post along with heavyweight worthies like Donald Trump anew. In fact, Dr Shiva’s historic lawsuit was the first to reveal in October of 2020 that it is government which has an unholy alliance with Big Tech e.g. Twitter. He shared his lawsuit with critical American media but it ignored him royally! Well, it won’t be able to ignore him now for he has something like 350 million fans and followers in America and around the world cheering him on. If you’re asking me my dears, we in India should follow the ups and downs and ups of this adventurous man Dr Shiva Ayyadurai, born in Bombay Tamil boy from deep down south India, who’s made it good in the US of A through sheer determination, grit and hard work. Whatever he does will have an impact on the rest of us around the world including India. ON that note it’s avjo, selamat datang, poiteverem, au revoir, arrivedecci, hasta la vista and vachun yeta here for now! –Mme Butterfly