To Progress and being Progressive is . . .

 Dear Reader

For some time now, the question of what is progress and what is being progressive has engrossed me. The referential used to identify progress are--science and technology, evolution, economics etc. I understand that these are more significant issues--macro aspects of progress and/or being progressive. At a personal level, the interpersonal life on which our life revolves, what are the parameters of progress and being progressive? This is a question that has bothered me quite often. But, the one resounding affirmation of progress concerning human relationships is respect. 

So, here is one perspective that I am exploring and sharing--not very popular these days; however, this certainly is one of the roots that arose out of this need at least!1  

"GENDER EQUALITY TODAY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW"--United Nations identifies as the motto for the contemporary world. Beginning the journey of equality with socio-political rights, the gendered journey today is taking yet another crucial 'turn' towards active interpersonal relationships. And this 'turn' has come as we have travelled rougher terrains of the public sphere in the past. Beginning with Suffragette, struggling with stereotypes, questioning discrimination--educational and professional opportunities, creating new vistas and identifying new arenas-- women created a real niche for themselves and future generations. For some women and men, this must have been an arduous journey. For some, it was excruciatingly disparaging (let us remember, without preconceived notions, Sylvia Plath, the poet) that living didn't seem worth it! But, women celebrated Life by living it, facing it, dealing with their troubles; at times, punching and at times, taking the punch in their stride. 

   It's not that there is no toxic femininity! Oh! Yes. . . for every toxic masculinity, there is one toxic femininity. It's not that feminism/ feminists blinked it out! Perhaps, it took us all some time to recognise the toxic trait in women. In some instances, it is a case of women practising patriarchy and its values habitually to survive (this observation is not offered as an excuse or an explanation; it is not to be tolerated). Having breathed the poisonous gas for a long time, it took a lot of time and effort to cleanse, be purged, and emerge healthy. Let's be happy and proud to say today that we can recognize certain traits as poisonous, identify the toxic and be unsparing in our criticism. But, in some instances, toxic femininity is sheer work of art created by Life herself 🙆!! And here, ZERO TOLERANCE. 

  And it is a joyous phase when we can respect an individual for their attributes in personal relationships. To establish such an 'idealistic' situation, It is as much about bringing up boys who are self-respecting and respect girls not as tokenism but as a fundamental requirement as it is about bringing up girls who will stand up for themselves and respect men. If we do not recognize and behave such as this, it defeats the very premise of feminism. Women, if they don't practice equality, can we claim to be better than toxic men?         

     The other day, while I was browsing the internet, Google showed interesting snippets of opinions expressed by young women and men about 'arranged' marriages and living with parents. While most young women talked about feeling discriminated against at home, some men talked about taking a stance for their wives, agreeing it's better to live apart and be a family than stay together and be no family to each other. These conversations may seem superficial and gimmicky, leaving us to wonder if it is even to be considered, forget giving these snippets a thought. For whatever reason these conversations are shared, they raise pertinent questions. Answers to these intriguing questions provide clarity. It may be mere tokenism, the politically correct thing to say today. But, so be it. Because, voices are emerging, slowly but steadily, that say equality begins at home. Equality is rooted in the most personal, intimate relationships. It springs, blooms, and spreads its cheer from here. We may not acknowledge the connectedness of personal space to the public sphere for any umpteen reasons. But, respect, equality, appreciation, and knowledge are qualities of a human being. The bare minimum qualification to be identified and addressed as a human being. There have been many conversations about modernity--democracy, Science and technology, evolution into the human form we possess today, Knowledge, philosophy, economics, religion, etc. But, for people across races, colours, and genders, the most basic qualifying marker is respect for each and all. Without this mutual respect, we may not stand a chance of continuing to be here, on this earth. 

   We will learn to respect and rise above self-centeredness to respect people for their life choices. And, like we all have reached here today--willy-nilly, somewhat bruised, winning at times, losing and falling but never giving up, never failing ourselves, getting up, hoping one day to reach yet another turn that is kinder, lovelier, more cheerful and humbly grateful for the arduous journey that many people have taken.

DISCLAIMER: if the question is, are not men desirous of, and practice, these qualities? Yes, they do. Many men are lovely and respectful. And here are kudos and cheers to them 😍😍   

Dear Reader, I am happy to share these thoughts very close to my heart. If you have something to say or to share,  please do share👇 and if you are pleased to read this blog, do hit the follow button 👉

Please share your comments directly with me to rekhadatta02 @ gmail.com or message me @ rekhadatta1 on Instagram. I shall send the links to you personally. Thanks for your patience. 

 

Readership

 Dear Reader, 

Indeed we all are readers--newspapers, magazines-economics, social, psychological, film, women's magazines, literature etc. Even from this brief reading list, we notice that our reading is guided by two instincts-first, our need for factual information of different kinds (which is also pleasurable) and our desire for entertainment--be it films, fiction or literary non-fiction. 

    Modern technology provides us with entertainment from across the globe. A few years ago, 'anime' was not such a popular genre of film: today, 'Suzume' is breaking box-office records in India; OTT has made the series popular once again; crime fiction, thrillers, and action/adventure have once again gained popularity. With personal narratives, Podcasts have made orality popular once again. And what is really heartening is that stories and personal histories inspire people. Instagram provides that crucial spot for creativity. Twitteratti and netizens rule the roost!!

  If all is so beautiful, is there a hole in this new galaxy? Unfortunately, yes. Fake news and paid reviews that praise a work of literature galore. Today's media-unlike yesteryear' which used the news as a facade- is using 'news' to manipulate, create opinions and create 'false' truths! In this scenario, it is imperative that readers, as contemporary people, be aware of the possible twists and turns of reviews and shows of democracy.  

   So, how do we, as independent and good readers, distinguish between hollow and opinionated literature against a genuine work of art? This is an important question because of the politics involved; comprehending if a literary representation is dependable and whether the time one has spent on it is 'worth my time' can never be doubted. There is no easy way of ascertaining this about a work of literature. A precious metal or a gem could be examined and found genuine by reviewing it with a touchstone or putting it under a lens; but, with literature, there is no single method of finding out if the representation in literature--be it of people and/or place, set in its socio-political and cultural context--is genuine or not. 

     Dear reader, as you might have experienced, some books have a strong plot structure that makes you read only to leave you frustrated that you have spent so much time on it🙅 So, should we stop reading such books halfway? Undoubtedly! I am not talking of books that we, as good readers, find impossible to continue to read. However, some works of literature leave you with a hallucinated vision, making it difficult or sometimes impossible, for us to recognise reality. 

     In such a situation, there are two questions: i. if one should continue to read or leave it aside and ii. If the book is engaging enough to groom your reading--'upskilling'.

1. Good readers have many methods of identifying a good book viz. spending some time to understand the title of the book, reading the content list in the book, reading the review by the publication house or reading the blurb

2. If you buy a book at a bookstore, read a few pages before deciding. If you are buying online, some of the platforms provide a preview. Do take time to flip through it.     

3. whenever we choose a new author or a book, we usually go by reviews or popularity. If you want to purchase a book based on good online/publication house reviews, read multiple reviews on different platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Though this pointer is not 'upskilling', this is the first step that will take you towards becoming a good reader.  

5. While reading, take a minute to reflect on what is happening in the story! In other words, focused reading is of utmost importance. Do you see that a character grows in a possible/plausible direction; does the action in the plot (within the narrative structure) seem probable; does the author's intention override the creative actuality? And, if you think it does, it is a red flag that the good reader should pay attention to. 

6. Literature especially has multiple meanings. So, slow reading is the key to enjoying a work of literature. In fact, literature is not a speed reading competition!! Like Francis Bacon said five centuries ago, 'some essays are to be chewed and digested'.

7. Last but most important, as a good reader, share your review that arises from your understanding of the work and is not based on your opinions or prejudices. This is a gentle reminder of what a lack of conscientious review makes--wasting your valuable money and time. And this is at the heart of this blog post!!  

Dear Reader, please share👇your thoughts and opinions on this topic. If you are happy to read this blog, hit the follow button 👉 And, if you would like to, please share this blog with your friends and like-minded readers!! 

You could share your comments directly with me to rekhadatta02@gmail.com or message me @rekhadatta1 on Instagram. I shall send the links to you personally. Thanks for your patience. 

  

 

To the joy of reading poems . . .

 Dear Reader

I sincerely hope you are doing great.

 The twenty-first century is marked by its paradoxes. Look at it this way--tremendous technological expansion, gender equations that have begun to change for the better with people more willing to speak and listen, academics being more skill and employment-oriented than ever before and the facilitators and learners are equally enthusiastic about exploring this 'whole new brave world'! It's certainly not that everything is like the fragrant Jasmine flower (I am giving up on roses because of the thorns and lilies as they are so beautifully seated amidst a lake). Today is also the time when people are competing with each other to prove their own superiority, power struggles are not just evident, it has become the mantra for survival and narcissism is more the rule than an exception. And, yet, we believe a positive way of life is of utmost importance.   

         On one such gloomy day, as I was researching a poem that expresses the twentieth and the twenty-first century at the same time, I chanced upon this poem 'The Flute I would Leave Behind for my daughter' by  Ruby Rahman, an East Bengal Poet. I found it interesting in the way it presents the mother-daughter relationship. What is attractive about the poem is that it shares the concern of a mother who is conscious of the changing times and the inadequacy of protection that a mother would like to give to her child. It is feminist in the sense that the poem is by a woman and her concern that if she were to pass away, how is her daughter to survive. I found it so refreshingly fresh that I could not and did not resist the temptation to translate it into Kannada. 

Dear reader, I am sharing the English poem which is translated from Bangla by the poet herself and its translation to Kannada by me here with you. I just hope you like the poem. 

The flute I would leave behind for my daughter

Ruby Rahman

I wonder, what can I leave behind for my daughter!

I am in my late fifties.

I do not have the ability to buy a flute

that I would offer her when I would leave this world.

My mother had wonderful bright fingers

that danced upon the keys of the piano-

She glowed like a tiger seen in the forest on a moonlit night.

She held up the glorious arrogance of the mount Kanchenjunga 

As she stood upright.

But keeping aside all those

She gave me a shawl--

An ancient worn-out shawl

Which she inherited from her father-in-law.

I wrapped up my entire world with this wrapper

              in winter and on wet days,

In the days of happiness or days full of dismay.

The houses these days are cloudy and filled with clouds.

The cold winter wind always trespasses into the house

With endless effort, I somehow manage to protect myself

               with that worn-out shawl.

As a star-studded sky

The old shawl is gradually getting filled up with numerous holes.

I have not inherited my mother’s instinctive skill of mending;

Cotton derived from lamb’s wool

That could have kept the shawl warm 

                 is unknown these days in the market.

I can only faintly remember a flicker of fire

That I found glowing inside my mother.

Nowadays the houses are too much cloudy

Our days are ridden by bone-chilling cold.

How can I assure myself that

My daughter would be provided with adequate warmth

                  by that old worn-out shawl?

Or should I ask my mother for that indomitable holy fire

That I found burning within her!

Here is my translation in Kannada👇

ನನ್ನ ಮಗಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋಗಲಿಚ್ಚಿಸುವ ಕೊಳಲು

             ‘ಕೊನೆಯದಾಗಿ ನನ್ನ ಮಗಳಿಗೆ ಏನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋಗಲಿ! ’

            ನನಗೆ ವಯಸ್ಸು ಐವತ್ತೈದು ದಾಟಿಯಾಯಿತು.

            ಈ ಪ್ರಪಂಚ ತೊರೆಯುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಇವಳಿಗೆ ನೀಡಬೇಕೆಂದಿದ್ದ

            ಕೊಳಲು ಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯ ನನ್ನಲಿಲ್ಲ.

            ಸಹಜ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯದಿಂದ  ಹೊಳೆಯುವ ನನ್ನಮ್ಮನ ಕೈ ಬೆರಳುಗಳು

                                               ಪಿಯಾನೋ ಕೀಲಿಮಣೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ನರ್ತಿಸುತ್ತವೆ.

           ಕಗ್ಗಾಡಿನ ಬೆಳದಿಂಗಳ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣುವ ಪ್ರಜ್ವಲಿಸುವ ಹುಲಿಯ ಕಣ್ಣಂತಿದ್ದಳು.

           ಕಾಂಚನಜುಂಗೆಯ ಅದ್ಭುತ ದಾಷ್ಟ್ರ್ಯವನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದು

                                                ದಿಟ್ಟವಾಗಿ ನೇರವಾಗಿ ನಿಂತಿದ್ದಳು.

                  

           ಆದರೆ,ಅದನೆಲ್ಲಾ ಬದಿಗೆ ಎತ್ತಿಟ್ಟು

           ನನಗೆ ಒಂದು ಶಾಲು ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾಳೆ--

           ಒಂದು ಹಳೆಯ ಮಾಸಿದ ಶಾಲು

           ಅವಳಿಗೆ ಮಾವನಿಂದ ಪಿತ್ರಾರ್ಜಿತವಾಗಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ್ದು.

           ಛಳಿಯಾಗಲಿ, ಮಳೆಯಾಗಲಿ

           ಖುಷಿಯ ದಿನವಾಗಲಿ ಅಥವಾ ದಿಗ್ಭ್ರಮೆಯ ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲೂ

           ನನ್ನ ಪೂರ ಪ್ರಪಂಚಕ್ಕೆ ಇದರಲ್ಲೇ ಕವಚ ಹೊದಿಸಿದೆ ನಾನು.

 

        ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಮೋಡ ಮನೆಯ ಕಟ್ಟಡದ ಒಳಗೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೊರಗೆ ಆವರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದೆ.

           ಮನೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊರೆಯುವ ಛಳಿ ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಅತಿಕ್ರಮಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ.                             
           ಕೊನೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನದಿಂದ ಈ ಹಳೆಯ ಶಾಲಿನಿಂದ ಹೇಗೋ ನನ್ನನ್ನು
                                                                                          ಕಾಪಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ.

 

           ನಕ್ಷತ್ರ ತುಂಬಿದ ಆಕಾಶದಂತೆ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ

           ಈ ಹಳೆಯ ಶಾಲು ಅಸಂಖ್ಯಾತ ತೂತಿನಿಂದ ತುಂಬುತ್ತಿದೆ.

           ಆದರೆ ನನಗೆ ನನ್ನಮ್ಮನಂತೆ ಸಹಜವಾಗಿರುವಂತೆ ರಿಪೇರಿ ಮಾಡಲು ಬರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ;

           ಕುರಿಯ ಉಣ್ಣೆಯ ದಾರದ ಬೆಚ್ಚಗಿಡುವ ಶಾಲು ಈಗಿನ  ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ
                                                                                            ಸಿಗುವುದೇ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ.

           ನನಗೆ ಮಸುಕು-ಮಸುಕಾಗಿ ನೆನಪಿರುವುದು

          ಒಂದು  ಸಣ್ಣ ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಕಿಡಿ ನನ್ನಮ್ಮನಲ್ಲೂ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು.

 

          ಈಚೆಗೆ ಮನೆಯ ಸುತ್ತಾ ಮೋಡ ಕವಿದೇ ಇದೆ.

          ಮತ್ತೆ ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಹೊತ್ತು ಕೂಡ ಮೂಳೆ ಕೊರೆಯುವಷ್ಟು ಛಳಿ.

          ಹೀಗಿರುವಾಗ, ಈ ಹಳೆಯ ಶಾಲು ನನ್ನ ಮಗಳನ್ನು ಬೆಚ್ಚಗಿಡುತ್ತದೆಂದು ನನ್ನನ್ನೇ

                                                                                     ನಾನು ಹೇಗೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿ?

          ಅಥವಾ, ನಾನು ಕಂಡ ನನ್ನಮ್ಮನ ಆ ಅದಮ್ಯ ಪವಿತ್ರ ಅಗ್ನಿಯನ್ನು

                                                                                     ಅವಳಿಂದ ಕೇಳಲೇ!

Dear Reader, if you want to share a poem or a story,  please do share👇 and if you are happy to read this blog, hit the follow button 👉 and share this blog with your friends and readers! 

Thank you for continuing to be the readers of my blog posts. Have a lovely week ahead 🙏💚

You could share your comments directly with me to rekhadatta02@gmail.com or message me @rekhadatta1 on Instagram. I shall send the links to you personally. Thanks for your patience.