Some well thought witty Q&A

Click here to read in Gujarati
This post follows to my previous one “Time-pass Crazy Q&A”. Here, you will read some ‘quality not quantity’ – material just to sharpen your intellect. This product has resulted from my own thinking from moments to hours in dim light at midnight. Some questions arose in my mind have been answered by myself with my intuition after my short-medium-long well thinking process or some from my studies. They have been kept safe in my memory for years and I disclose the same today before my valued Readers just for entertainment or acquiring knowledge.

 

Life and Literature

Click here to read in Gujarati
In Sanskrit, there is a verse (Shloka) as “साहित्य संगीत कला विहीन, साक्षात् पशु, पूच्छविश्नहीन” (Sahitya sangeet-kala vihin, sakshat pashu poochchh vishna-hin). Its translation is as “A man, not interested in Literature, Music (Classical – as it is the ancient verse) or any Art, is just like an animal without a tail and horns.” Here, I am going to discuss only literature in context to human life. Literature is an indispensable necessity of human life. It is an eye opener, a driving force to mould our life and a preacher to understand human life, human love, human nature and overall to say humanism. The literature helps a man to come out from animalism and adopt humanism. Gift of intellect from God to a man makes him different and superior to all other creatures. The study of literature, inclusive of religious ones and other sciences, not only sharpens the intellect of a human; but also provides him inspiration and aptitude to know everything, visible or disguise, in the universe. With reading the works of poets, philosophers and intellectuals and also religious literature of spirituality, divinity and mysteries of the universe and its Creator, a man can become capable to uplift himself to be a super human from simply a human. The literature feeds the human mind and soul such a food with which it can enrich own thoughts to make own life successful and think for the good of the whole mankind of the universe.

A matured man or woman who remains indifferent towards literature is just like a kid of a famous poem of Rabindranath Tagore titled as ‘Authorship’. I know that to spare more space for this side reference in my brief essay is not appropriate, but I can’t withhold myself as I am sure that the poor level of the kid of the poem to understand literature will compel my Readers to admit that the people, matured but passive towards literature, are like this kid unable to understand literature with the only difference that they people do not play with toys and swing in cradles. Let us enjoy some pieces of thoughts of the kid of above poem here below.

The child complains to its mother with some charges put upon its father, an author. Firstly, it says that the father writes a lot of books but what he writes is beyond its (kid’s) understanding. It tries to make its mother agree with that she is also in same position unable to understand what he writes. The child considers the mother superior to the father as she can tell nice stories which the father can’t write. A very cute question is asked whether he has not heard the stories of giants, fairies and princesses from his own mother or has forgotten them all. Further, the child says that the father is crazy towards writing books as if he plays at making books. The child complains also that she does not allow it to make the slightest noise in the house that may disturb him. In child’s view, the writing of books is nothing more than its own writing of the alphabets just as a..b..c..d..e in its notebook. We can see the humorous argument of the child in a climax that the father wastes heaps and heaps of papers and she does not allow it (kid) to take a single sheet of paper to make a boat with. Here, my summary of the poem is over but I recommend to my Readers to read original text of the said poem to enjoy it nicely.

Now, I once again come to my main track of the theme of my essay. Today, the Reading of literature has decreased to a considerable rate. Two factors have played their rolls in this regard; one, other forms of entertainment such as TV, Movie, Sports etc. have become popular and, two, human life has become strenuous in gaining money for survival of the family. In such situation, the Reading is going to become a lost art and that is not a good sign for the future of the world.

Modern means of entertainment which have taken place of Reading of literature are merely aimed to give pleasure, luxury and time-pass only. They are far away from teachings of any moral lessons or developing any wisdom in the minds and souls of the people. No doubt, all these are the various forms of an Art, but they are deficient and imperfect for cultural advancement of the people.

For centuries, a debate on art, divided into two schools of thought as ‘Art for art’s sake’ and ‘Art for life’, has been going on without any conclusion. Concept of ‘Art for art’s sake’ may be good for artists themselves as they are the monopoly holders of saving art, but the common men need something more that may uplift them in all aspects of their lives, something that may empower them to strengthen their inner thoughts, something that may realize them the realities of life rather than flying high in the sky of imaginations. Any art whether it may be even literature must have the aim of bringing some change in human behaviors and morals. Modern popular arts such as western noisy music, vulgar performance of dance, nude painting and photography, violent and sexy movies and TV serials are just like slow poisons for the new generation capable enough to throw them deep down into the valley of decline. We can distinguish the basic difference between literature and other arts in a very simple way that literature teaches us what to enjoy and other arts teach us how to enjoy.

Literature opens the windows of our mind through which we can gaze towards the unknown inner and outer world which we have not yet seen. The works of great writers have changed the thinking directions of the people with their writings. They have sown the seeds of social awareness and ethical reformation in the minds of the people and many revolutions such as developing ideas of democracy, abolishing slavery and hatred towards so called untouchables, avoiding discriminations of all kinds, uplifting the status of a woman in society etc. have been possible covering the most part of the world and its numerous communities. It is the role of literature that has changed the most of the false traditions throughout the globe. To maintain the size of my Article, I cannot catalogue all those books both literary and religious which have played a vital role in changing the values of human life.

Literature is capable to change our beliefs if they have been falsely hammered into our minds. It makes us a mentally matured person to grow high towards understanding. An American historian and author – Barbara W. Tuchman quotes on books of literature as “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled (lame), thought and speculation at a standstill.” For expansion of horizons of knowledge, no any alternative other than books can be so effective and result oriented.

My humble request and counseling to parents worldwide is that they should encourage their children to read some good books or cultural magazines. In modern social system, birthdays of children are celebrated by giving them various gifts. Should we not add at least a single good book to the list of gifts?

– Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: May 5, 2008

 

Paying lip service

I was little bit in confusion in giving the title to my Article. Firstly, I thought to name it as “Lip Exercise”, but I put it aside as it might mean as lip therapy under which some people have to go to bring a good look of mouth, face or lips. Facial therapists suggest various exercises and a new word ‘facercise’ is popular also! Secondly, I thought my Article as titled with “Lip Service”; but, I was afraid of being taken its meaning in otherwise sense as seen in adult movies and TV serials! My essay has no concern with neither of the two above. While starting with my Article I am very clear that I am going to write on such “Lip Service” which is purely related with character building and human behaviors. Thus, I have thought out the above title which, I think, will not confuse my Readers.

Various definitions are here such as “Lip Service is the act of claiming tobe something that you are not.” and, “Lip Service is an insincere expression of respect, loyalty and support etcetera.” In single word, we may define “Lip Service” as ‘Hypocrisy’. Here, the words are full of favor, support and assistance to the opposite person in sophisticated style but not backed by deeds. Find below an imaginary and funny episode exposing the original character of a hypocritical guy applying only lip services at all the times to understand the concept of my Article.

At the corner of a street, a man was crying. A passer-by fellow, the character of our episode, went to him and asked, “Why are you crying, my friend? What is wrong with you?”

“I am hungry for the last three days”, he replied.

The latter sat down near to him and he also began to cry. The former asked him surprisingly, “But, why are you crying and what for, gentleman?”

“I am also hungry of a day and can understand your grief, and that is why I am also crying.”

“But, you have breads in your hand and still you are crying! Shouldn’t we both eat the breads to satisfy our appetite and stop crying?”

“We ..e..e?? No, no way! I can sit with you and cry for hours to share with your hunger and grief, but I can’t give you any breads as they are for my family and me!”

Above episode may be exaggerated one beyond our beliefs, but it is enough to serve my purpose to make you understand what “Paying lip service” is and how such hypocrite people behave with others. Now, let us go further to peep into the subject some deep with the realities of the topic in discussion which we experience around us now and then.

Some of the Politicians and political parties in democratic countries worldwide pay lip services to keep their vote banks intact.Their promises to the public are nothing but like lip service which are never uttered seriously. Once they are elected, they forget everything. Besides politics, we may see excessive use of lip service in ad world also. Products of various companies are advertised in such attractive and deceptive words where quality of products and words of publicity have no match with each other. Shop-keepers, Counter Sales Managers and even hawkers in the streets sell their goods with their illusive words of negative salesmanship. An expert salesman capable of paying good lip service can sell refrigerator to the customer living even in Himalayas and deal with a bald man by giving him over a bottle of hair oil or shampoo in his hand.

Sometimes, lip service is essential also in such cases where it is necessary. Take an example of a clinician who is committed under oath to satisfy the patients and make them relaxed from worries. In such circumstances applying lip service is not against any ethics. At the same time, if lip service is tried simply as a professional motive, it is not desirable. It will be breach of loyalty towards patients. The lip service without any concrete action might prove to be illusory and exposing the original character of such trickster at long run.

Lip service has a core value while bringing up kids, respecting others and counseling needy people for their respective problems. It’s easy to pay lip service to failures of any field, but turning them truly from negativism to positivism is something different and difficult also. While addressing any audience, lip service becomes an important part of the speech to keep the listeners attentive and relaxed from any boring. Such are the positive traits of paying lip service.

Paying lip service is an art acquired by oneself with efforts or training and sometimes God-gifted also. What it may be, but it should be used for good purpose. Magicians, street jugglers, artists and so many like them perform their arts supported with their oratorical power of lip service to earn their breads in exchange of providing innocent entertainment to the audience. Beggars should not be excluded from such class of people. They people are also capable to awaken the feelings of the givers to have their alms for food or money with their art of begging and that also is a part of lip service.

Before summing up, I am very happy to quote Neal Boortz in his words, “One of the most crucial but the hardest things to do as part of turning your life around is to get rid of all the negative people around you and replace them with people who encourage you instead.” These words are self-explanatory and not dependent on any interpretation that one should try to be a good human and for that very goal, one should have good company of good people.”

Lastly to say, I am always of such a tendency that I never impose my ideas over others and that is why I occasionally clarify in words of disclaimer such as what I represent here on my blog is not necessarily to be understood as any affirmation, but merely as a question.

With warm regards,

-Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: 8^th April, 2008

Note:-

It is the matter of great pleasure to me that on May 5, 2008; one full year will be over to my blog and if anything does not go wrong, it will break at least 12,000-hit marks at the average of 1,000 per month in natural course. With publication of above, the number of my Articles will be 60. What I am trying to say here is ‘thanks to my Readers spread over world-wide for their encouraging visits and comments to my blog.

 

My Haikus (Humorous) – IV [મારાં હાઈકુ (રમુજી)- ૪]

In my previous posts, I had presented some uncategorized Haikus; but here you will find some more under the category of ‘Humor’. In my opinion, most of them are humorous and subjected on ‘Happy married life’, ‘Marriage customs’, ‘Funny dialogues and satires’, etc.. Here are the word pictures and a very little concentration in reading them may entertain you just as a change after reading my previous posts on heavy subjects.

My good Readers, proceed further and enjoy :-

દૃષ્ટિઘૂંટડા
ભરી, રહ્યાં ખામોશ,
ગળ્યાં શું જિહ્વા! (૨૮)

ઉરેપાલવ,
લાળટપકતી શું!
હવે થ્યાં મોટાં! (૨૯)

દેવુનીપારૂ,
પ્લાસ્ટિક સર્જરીથી
ઘાવ રૂઝાવે! (૩૦) [બંગાળી નવલકથા ‘દેવદાસ‘ ઉપર આધારિત]

સંસારઘાણી,
વરવધૂ ફેરવે,
લગ્નમંડપે! (૩૧)

ઢોલ ઢબૂકે,
નાચનિષેધ, કન્યા
ભીડે પલાંઠી! (૩૨)

વરએંજિને,
ઘસડાતી લાડી, ને
અદૃશ્ય ડબ્બા! (૩૩)

હલાવી જોયાં,
લાગ્યું ગયાં! ધ્રાસકે
હસી પડતાં! (૩૪)

ધબકે ઉર,
પડઘા ઝીલે, પ્રિયા
કે સ્ટેથોસ્કોપ! (૩૫)

‘સાંભળો છો કે!‘
સાંભળવાનું ગમે
થઈ બધિર! (૩૬)

કેશગૂંફન
તવ, સુગરીમાળો!
પ્રવેશ બંધ! (૩૭)

ડબલબેડ
અવ વિશાળ, ભીંસે
કોણ તથાપિ! (૩૮)

ભરનિદ્રાએ
ફરી ગયાં પડખું!
કર્યા શું કિટ્ટા! (૩૯)

મોં મચકોડ્યું!
અમે નવ આમલી,
જૂઓ તો ચાખી! (૪૦)

સજ્જ ઘરેણે!
મોબાઈલ શોરૂમ!
પિયુ જૌહરી! (૪૧)

તવ આલ્બમે,
વય બદલી, હુંયે
સાથ નિભાવું! (૪૨)

ભલે રૂઠ્યાં, ના
મનાવું, લાગો મીઠ્ઠાં,
ફૂલ્યા ગાલોએ! (૪૩)

 વીજળીકાપે,
કોલબેલ મૂક, ત્યાં
રણકે ચૂડી! (૪૪)

ધ્રૂમ્રપાનની
ઘૃણા તને! ફૂંકતી
તુંય શિયાળે! (૪૫)

ફૂલદાની થૈ,
બદલે નિત ફૂલ,
તુજ અંબોડો! (૪૬)

ગુલબદન!
‘જો, પેલું ગુલ ઝૂકે,
તને સૂંઘવા!’ (૪૭)

સામી છાતીએ
ભાસો નાગણ! પીઠે
નાગ ચોટલો! (૪૮)

શૃંગારમેજે
મિથ્યા શ્રમ તવ!
કાં સૌંદર્ય ચૂંથે! (૪૯)

નખ કરડે
થૈ તલ્લીન તું, આવે
મર્કટયાદ! (૫0)

આળસ ખાતાં!
કથકનૃત્ય તણી
જાણે ઝલક! (૫૧)

તમે શીખવ્યું,
ક્યમ તરફડવું?
નીકળ્યાં ગુરુ! (૫૨)

ભલી કાળજી!
નિદ્રાભંગભયશું
નગ્ન કલાઈ! (૫૩)

શર્મઘરેણે,
તુજ દેહઘરેણાં
લાજી મરતાં! (૫૪)

શરમભારે
લચી ગરદન, ને
ઢીંચણ ટેકો! (૫૫)

દૂર ફૂંકાતી
શહનાઈ, પ્રજાળે
લગ્નવેદિને! (૫૬)

તું ભતિયારી,
ભૂખ્યો ડાંસ હું, ભાગું
જીવનશેઢે! (૫૭)

– Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: 12th December, 2007

P.S.: Next post of ‘Haikus’ will be in the category of ‘tragedy’. Please, wait.

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A Challenging Puzzle (3 in 1)

My intelligent Readers,

Welcome. The title is exciting, isn’t it? No any preamble, nothing.  Please go to the Puzzle straightway below:

“There are two similar gates, one leading to Heaven and the other to Hell. I am sure you will like to go to Heaven; but imaginary, not really! Everybody is willing to go to Heaven, but nobody is prepared to die. Praying to God, “Live long.”

Let us move further. Two gate-keepers are already there to ask for. But, tragedy is there; one is a liar and the other a truth-speaker. You can understand who may be representing Heaven and who the Hell.

Part – I

Now, you have to form a single question and ask to any one you like. Nothing is written on any one’s forehead, otherwise it would have been easy for you to know the qualities of the gate-keepers.

This puzzle is really a puzzle because there is no any indication from the narrator’s side. All you have to do is to form such a question with which you can get the answer through which gate you can go to the Heaven. Being the puzzle abstruse, please don’t waste your time more than 5 minutes.

If you raise your hands up, go to my previous blog – “Equivocal Pronunciation” dated 14^th June, 2007 (Annexure – I). There you will find the ready-made question to be asked for your purpose.

Part – II

In the title, (3 in 1) is written. You have missed the first enjoyment by failing to form the question. No matter. Now, you can ask that ready-made question to anybody you like with no any tension. The gate-keeper whom you ask the question will answer with either ‘this gate’ or ‘that gate’. You may name the gates, like A or B, if you like for your convenience. Now, the acid test of your reason starts. You have to decide whether to follow the answer blindly or not. You have to analyze it and it is in your discretion to amend the answer or not. If you succeed here to know the true gate leading to heaven, you have been lucky to have the second enjoyment. If you are confused, don’t worry.  You may go to my former Blog “A True Judgment” dated 10^th June, 2007 (Annexure – II). There you will find what to do.

Part – III

The puzzle and its solution are before you. Now, an interesting brain exercise you can enjoy. This is your 3^rd enjoyment. You have to justify the correctness of the procedure and finding of the true gate leading to Heaven. While going through this job, you will have to keep in your mind the qualities of the gate-keepers. While examining the same, you will have to make different suppositions, etc. etc. . Your friends will not believe in the solution of the puzzle until you prove it to be correct.

It’s over, my good Readers.

Drafted and presented by: – Valibhai Musa
Courtesy: Rubina A. Palasara (Australia), Author’s grand daughter
Dtd: 10^th September, 2007