On Poems and jottings

Posted on September 28, 2017 by prashant bhatt

“My poetry is a declaration of war, not an exordium to defeat.

It is not the defeated soldier’s drumbeat of despair, but the fighting warrior’s will to win.

It is not the despirited voice of dejection but the stirring shout of victory.”

Atal Bihari Vajpayee- Former Prime Minister of India.

Writing notes, letters, jottings are part of a family tradition of ours. Our family is originally from the Garhwal Himalayas, but have traveled to many parts of the world.

2017-3 Delhi

DELHI-Poem composed by my Mausa-ji- Professor Ram Prasad Nawani

 

 

mausa-ji poems sep 2017

MAUSA-JI- Professor Ram Prasad Nawani- writing his poems. These pen pictures on diverse topics ranging from Delhi through the ages, to railway journeys, to the aging process evoke many memories of the sounds and scents of India

Think Globally, act locally concept was well illustrated while reading a school gazette of my sons

When my sons would study in St.Edward’s college-Malta, I came across a weekly gazette of the school, which served as a point of reference for the many facets of school life from the primary, secondary, to senior years, with an interesting note by the headmaster, an interview with some of the non-teaching staff who kept the system running. There were special notes on visits by dignitaries, professionals, or school trips , exchange programs or live-in experiences in the school. This interesting school magazine introduced me to facets like the stories of Sister Violet Briffa, the school through the world War II period, the origins of the school building and the background

See this video of The Chapel of St Edward’s college interiors which is part of the bastion which date back to the times of the Knights of St John. In the walls are inscribed the names of old Edwardians who fell in the World War. There is an inscription in memory of Sister Violet Briffa who served in the college for 38 years.

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GOZO CITADEL-Malta..many histories, musings, walks and reflections..it used to be one of my “Thinking Places” when our family used to stay in Malta

Our family is originally from the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand.

This school gazette inspired me to keep a “Family Gazette” which is one of the forms of communication between immediate and (select) extended family in which we see some of the nitty gritties of life as it has evolved in the past decades, we being originally from the Garhwal Himalayas.

delhi-35

KARANPRAYAG-…Our souls are from these stones, we will return here, again and again, a veteran social activist told me, as we stood by the Pindar-Alaknanda confluence and discussed nuances of the character Karna-from Mahabharata

Karan Prayag-the meeting of Pindar and Alaknanda

Last November, when I was visiting a camp at Gauchar, I talked to a veteran who confided how his brother is the last family member living in his town-Nandprayag, and even he is not able to sustain only from the work of that area, and has to travel to district headquarters at Gopeshwar.  Most families of the hills, migrate  to the plains. There are many Garhwali families in Delhi region. Ours is one of them.

We have stayed in the Delhi region from the nineteen thirties, and four generations of our family have walked at Lodhi gardens, where my elder cousin brother still does Yoga every morning, on the lawns next to Bada Gumbad.

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Yogendra Dobhal..Dear Guddu Bhai..Walkers of Lodhi…

The garden tombs of Delhi have been a hub where we have discussed and learnt many things

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LODHI- See blog https://prashantbhatt.com/2013/05/24/exploring-the-seeds-of-time/

The Humayun tomb is one of our favorite “Reading places”.

It is on the footsteps of Bada Gumbad-Lodhi gardens, that my Uncle (Mausa-ji) explained to me many intricacies of family, community. Now through a distance, he has been sending regular short poems in instalments, and with his permission, I am posting one of his poems, handwritten in his neat writing, about the different stages of Delhi, as he has seen and experienced it. When I used to stay in Delhi, I used to go with him for morning walks to Raj Ghat-Shantivana area, or for evening walks through the Lutyens Delhi region and explore different facets of the architecture of Delhi. Who was the architect of South Block (answer-Herbert Baker)

2017-3 Delhi

APOLOGIES

In lieu of Translation..it is not out of laziness that I did not try to translate this poem, written in Devnagri script, but I hesitate as I am not skilful enough to bring out the essence in translation.

 

Other blogs-of interest –reflecting past perspective notes

2008- With the person who taught me to make notes-

My Mausa-ji-Professor Ram Prasad Nawani

 

2003-Palam Vihar

https://prashantbhatt.com/2008/12/23/with-the-person-who-taught-me-to-make-notes/

 

1999- Lodhi..walking with my Dadaji-Shri Kali Charan Bhatt,(my father’s Chacha-ji) he remembered coming here in 1940s

With K C Bhatt Oct 1999

4 generations of our family have walked Lodhi Gardens..This was in October 1999, with Dada ji of Agra https://prashantbhatt.com/2008/12/23/an-afternoon-at-lodhi-gardens-delhi/

 

2011-mayank-doing-rolly-polly

THE MANY FACETS OF DELHI-PURANA QUILA- Mayank doing Rolly Polly      See blog-2011- 
https://prashantbhatt.com/2011/10/22/writing-workshops-with-mayank/

 

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Reading journals-On Characters

Posted on September 17, 2017 by prashant bhatt

 

Asking questions, keeping files, making reading journals make the reading process more rich.

Let us look at some characters-brought to life by the director David Lean.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA

This summer we went into dissection of some characters. In this video, sitting in Naturalization zone, Hershey, near our house in Mississauga, we looked at the character Ronny Heaslop

In- A Passage to India- Ronny Heaslop-the City Magistrate-son of Mrs.Moore from her first marriage,  tries to fit-in. He is a parody of a colonial administrator, whose views are not his own, but cliches he picks up from his seniors.

We examine different facets of humanity, using literature as a framework to shape discussions.

The story brings out the prejudices of both sides of the racial-colonial divide, and characters like Dr.Aziz show many inconsistencies- at times becoming angry at Mr.Fielding-the College Principal and within a few minutes asking him to accompany him to the victory celebrations.

sahil papa discussion 2017 aziz fielding

Dr Aziz and Fielding-A Passage to India, based on EM Forster’s novel,directed by David Lean. Many interesting characters brought to life the many nuances of Colonialism and meeting of different civilizations

BRIDGE ON RIVER KWAI

You are a fine doctor, Clipton, but you have some things to learn about the Army institution, Colonel Nicholson –the commander who helps the Japanese build the bridge explains why he is helping in build the bridge, which may be of military use to the Japanese

The war will  one day be over, and my men, will remember that they built this project as soldiers not slaves.

A discussion on how the military institution is built, led to many nuances on how the British and American armies collaborate and how the Major Shears is explained that the only option he has to get over his impersonation as a US Navy commander is to cooperate and go back to the jungle from which he had escaped.

PERSONAL NOTE..I first saw the movie-Bridge on the River Kwai-with my father in Pune in 1970s. A military doctor, who had served in North East India, he told me about the Kohima war memorial and INA in a more intimate direct way. Through these discussions -woven around the story of Kwai, I tried to connect Sahil-his grandson- to the ways of the army institution and his grandfather, whom he never say physically

DARK STAR SAFARI..Paul Theroux-July 2017

Rattray Marsh area-Port Credit: We read excerpts from Theroux’s -Dark Star Safari.  His overland journey through Africa has many rich insights. This year have read and discussed three of Theroux’s books- Great Railway Bazaar, Dark Star Safari and Deep South. Deep South is particularly interesting in the context of what is happening in the Southern US -the open resurgence of the KKK.

To see earlier perspectives click on the link Negro Journeys (2012-2015)

http://wp.me/piL5Q-wY

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Flow and Happiness

Posted on September 14, 2017 by prashant bhatt

In his book-Flow-Mihaly Ciskszentmihalyi writes- On Reading

The skills involved in reading include not only literacy but also the ability to translate words into images, to empathize with fictional characters, to recognize historical and cultural contexts, to anticipate turns of the plot, to criticize and evaluate the author’s style, and so on. In this broader sense, any capacity to manipulate symbolic information is a ‘skill’ such as the skill of the mathematician to shape quantitative relationships in his head, or the skill of the musician in combining musical notes.

This summer-2017-we went to some places – to get a feel of the smaller towns of Ontario and feel the rhythm of life there. Huntsville – Ontario and the Canoe-Lake at Algonquin brought us closer to the legend of Tom Thomson, who around a hundred years ago, drowned at Algonquin.

READING AND FILING

Click on images to see larger version

 

 

Keeping a reading journal adds a new dimension to Reading. Other dimensions are added by trying to ask questions and keeping a file. So, after the children returned from the Trip to Algonquin, I showed them the file in which I have kept the newspaper cuttings on Dr Tay- (Taylor Statten II)…(Side note-in that file, there are also cuttings of 2016 August – 100 th Birth Anniversary of Dom Mintoff-Malta, which I got after a long night discussion at Qawra,Malta on 5th -6th August..as the Maltese remembered their first Prime Minister….keeping a file of such cuttings and notings adds great richness to life)

 

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