The weather has been all over the place this month. Mornings and Evenings are
quite chilly but the rest of the day is quite warm. I seem to turn on the fan
for 10 minutes every hour or so. There were again a few weddings this month
but I didn’t attend any as I did in
November because Sakura had a few Olympiad exams this month and her
final exams for class 3 start next week. You may wonder why I did not go alone
as I did in November! Well, I wanted to help her “revise” regularly this time.
Anyway, it seems she did as good/bad as last time so my “help” may not have
helped that much. Or, maybe it “helped” to maintain that level of consistency!😆
We did take a weekend trip to Kochi before the exams,
so there’s that too. And remember Fort Kochi is not a Fort!🤯
I have also been programming the past few couple of weeks and the result of that is
here. The actual code and stuff is accessible directly on
GitHub. It
is basically a card game that became well-known as a nontrivial programming
problem in a
contest organized by MathWorks last year.
Out of the blue, 5 chapters of Sketchbook dropped this year
after a gap of nearly 3 years! And these did not disappoint. Two sample strips
about cooking food are perfect:
Lastly, I listened to a “new” poet this month. I was amazed at
his choice of simple words which packed a brilliant punch to where it mattered! This
is again one of those untranslatable Ghazals so I won’t even transcribe
it in English. But I will try to explain it below, though I don’t think I will do it justice.
राह बदलूँ के क़ाफ़िला बदलूँ
इससे बेहतर है रहनुमा बदलूँ
दर्द जाता नहीं ए चारागर
रोग बदलूँ के मैं दवा बदलूँ
फिर वही खुद से रोज़ का झगड़ा
खुद को बदलूँ के आईना बदलूँ
अब कोई प्रार्थना नहीं फलती
शब्द बदलूँ के देवता बदलूँ
ज़िंदगी की रदीफ़ रूठ गई
बहर बदलूँ के क़ाफ़िया बदलूँ
–दीक्षित दनकौरी
The whole Ghazal is about dilemmas in various situations, where one has to
choose one option or the other. This Ghazal is so structured that the first
and last Sher themselves open up dilemmas in similar situations but with
contradictory options! That’s what makes this a great Ghazal. So the first
Sher asks in its first line whether to change one’s path or one’s company
(caravan); only to wonder in the second line if it’s better to change the
leader. The second Sher complains to the doctor that the pain does not
subside; and wonders whether to change the disease or the medicines. The third
one is upset about fighting with oneself; and wonders whether to change
oneself or the mirror! The fourth one is so profound as to notice that no
prayer is being answered; and wonders whether to change the words or the gods!
The last Sher contains quite a few technical terms related to Ghazals (refer
to this post for their technical meanings) but they all have
“normal” meanings too, so in essence, this Sher is full of श्लेष अलंकार (Puns)
raising it to the highest level of poetical beauty I’ve ever witnessed! Here is
what I think are its dual meanings: 1. My life’s refrain (रदीफ़) is “upset”. Should
I change the meter (बहर) or the “rhyme” (क़ाफ़िया)? 2. My life’s
co-travellers (रदीफ़) are upset. Should I change my ways (बहर) or the followers
(क़ाफ़िया)? What a reversal of viewpoint compared to the first Sher:
there, the leader seemed to be the problem and here, the followers!
To appreciate the beauty of this Ghazal fully, here is Dixit
Dankauri reciting it in full (starts around half-time):
Dixit Dankauri, Jashn-e-Adab, 2025
His previous recitals are also worth listening to:
2019,
2021 &
2023.
One more on the occasion of
Gopaldas “Neeraj” Birth Centenary 2025
