December 17, 2011
Woke up to an enchanting 2-minute video from the BBC featuring outstanding nature photography with David Attenborough narrating 'What A Wonderful World'.
Home-stuck predominantly these days, such videos are a tremendous relief. Not that the butterfly visitors to the garden are less invaluable. Today's guest carried a color combination of dull blue and deep indigo on its wings. Fluttering around before settling on the underside of a yellow bordered green showy leaf blade, it resembled a lively piece of carbon paper that had escaped a bonfire.
Generous amounts of my day are spend squeezing out unruly stitches from the second surgery that survive as stubborn strands. There are a few that refuse to leave even after the body has rejected them after their service. Their stubbornness is understandable. Nobody likes to be treated as 'use and throw'. But then capitalism is deeply ingrained in my body!
Their #occupymyskin waged in protest is a slightly painful affair.
Instead of pepper spray, I have Dettol and Neosporin.
Instead of batons, balls of cotton!
The arts supplement of the Hindu newspaper had an interview with Roysten Abel, the creator of splendid shows like 'The Manganiyar Seduction' and 'A Hundred Charmers'. I had no idea that he hailed from Palakkad. Interesting education and career trajectory from Christ College to National School of Drama to Shakespeare Theater to Can & Abel Production. He talks about meeting the Manganiyars, a combination of extreme poverty with extreme talent. He recalls spending a fortnight in Rajasthan where a couple of Manganiyars will follow him to the desert and there under a billion stars, all night music sessions lubricated with alcohol. His task was to capture these two weeks into an hour long show. The worldwide popularity of the Manganiyar Seduction is proof that he succeeded.
Now that my inner stomach muscles have sufficiently healed, I can laugh heartily. And that meant catching up with the past episodes of QI. The episode on intelligence discusses the duping of geese into thinking that painted volleyballs are their eggs. The birds are only bothered about the color and the shape. The unnatural size doesn't cross their mind. The phenomenon called supernormal stimulus. Stephen Fry draws an analogy towards human indulgence in sugar, fat and sex. We enjoy them but we can't quite fix the upper limits of the consumption naturally.
I think bank balance and wealth also fall prey to the same quirk of nature. Conscious, studied interference becomes absolutely necessary to prevent ruin. Sadly, that is not natural.
The QI episode also featured the Asimo robot that could negotiate stairs, run and even do a little dance. The name Asimo comes from abbreviating the Japanese for feet(leg) mobility. The resemblance with Asimov is just a coincidence, much like the link of Apple logo to Alan Turing. Stephen Fry mentions that he had asked Steve Jobs himself about the connection and Jobs regretted not having thought of the connection while creating the logo but was happy that people were considering the logo a Turing tribute.
I don't know if there is a single world for 'erudition envy'. That's what I feel towards the late Christopher Hitchens. To read him is to be amazed at the size of his memory, the clarity of his thoughts and the strength of his articulation. Unfortunately this amazement, once in a while, gets punctured with the identification of the lack of all these in oneself.
According to a report, 90% of the unpaid taxes in the country is owed by 12 individuals starting with Hasan Ali who needs to pay up around Rs 52,000 crores. Supernormal Stimulus!
"I felt boundless joy. My mind was dancing at the outer edge. My heart was hurting in the deep centre...you have made beautiful theatre that surprises constantly with hidden magic." That's the note Oscar winner, Geoffrey Rush, wrote Roysten Abel after watching The Manganiyar Seduction.
Applies to the works of David Attenborough and Christopher Hitchens as well!
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