Gifted

Movie Review : Gifted

Director : Marc Webb

Genre : Drama

Starring : Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate
Released : 2017

My Rating : 8 out of 10

The economics of movies that fall under the “Drama” genre is quite different than a big budget action blockbuster. That sometimes results in a good drama flying under the radar, which happened with “Gifted” for me. Well, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise when I watched it at home.

Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is a single man living in Florida. His primary job involves repairing boats, but his goal in life is to give a “normal” childhood to his niece Mary (Mckenna Grace). As the movie progresses, his reasons for this desire become clearer and clearer to us. One reason is established right at the beginning of the movie, that Mary is exceptionally gifted at Math. Frank resists attempts by the local school to send Mary to a special school. It seems that he wants to keep a low profile, but his fears come true. His mother, and Mary’s grandmother, Evelyn Adler (Lindsay Duncan) learns about Mary being a prodigy and wants to take control of her upbringing. When Frank refuses, she takes the matter to the court.

Through the court proceedings and in the interactions between the characters, we start learning about the past. This slow unpeeling is one of the major strengths of the movie. The other is the interactions between the characters. These interactions are realistic and never over-the-top, and each has a unique shade. Frank and Mary, is not just a parent-child relationship, they are close friends too. Frank refers to his mom with her first name, and their interactions have an edge of bitterness, but they are not hostile. Frank and Mary have a great neighbor, Roberta (Octavia Spencer), and her love for Mary is genuine. Frank’s interactions with Mary’s teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) are more of a side story, but they add a nice warm hue to the picture.

Stories such as this, can drown into melodrama. Not here. Everyone, the director, writer and all the actors keep everything on realistic grounds. Director Marc Webb has a lot to his credit than the Spiderman movies, but for Chris Evans this is a different ball game than Captain America. They have teamed up well. Overall, the writing and direction is such that, in just a few strokes, each character comes out as a complete person rather than a caricature. It would have been easy to show Evelyn as a all controlling witch of a person, but then that would have been a cliche. I really like it when movies strike a balance between emotional impact and reality.

It would have also been a cliche, and an irritating one, if the portrait of Mary had come across as precocious. The script keeps her a normal child for the most part, and as an actress, the young Mckenna Grace is extra-ordinary. Even on the rare occasions where she gets dialogues that are beyond the age of the character, she makes it completely believable. She is indeed a gifted child.

This is a simple and heart warming movie. The story may feel generic based on reviews, and trailers, but the movie is definitely not. It may evoke memories of “Rainman” or “Kramer vs Kramer” or “Proof”, but it has an independent place of existence on its own. It’s correctly rated PG-13, and would be safe for most teenagers. I highly recommend it as a satisfying movie experience.

Golden

Book Review : Golden

Author : Marcus Thompson

My Rating : 3 out of 5

The complete title of the book is “Golden : The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry”.

Even though I am addicted to watching sports, reading about personal life of sports personalities, is something that I have absolutely no interest in. So I am not sure why I picked up this book. Perhaps I thought it will improve my understanding of the sport, that I have fallen in love with for last 10 years or so.

I didn’t grow up with Basketball around me, and I have never played the sport. Even after I moved to USA, I didn’t watch Basketball for many years. My interest grew when I started understanding the game a bit, started appreciating the fadeaway jump shots of Kobe, then the completeness of LeBron and now this jaw dropping shooting by Steph Curry. So when I read the title, I was intrigued.

Author Marcus Thompson is a sports columnist, which turns out to be a big plus as well as a big minus for this book. The entire book feels like a big newspaper column, and not in the best possible way. There is very detailed play-by-play description of many games. So many that I started just skipping these multi-page replays. I think this book would have been greatly benefited by a good editor who would have ruthlessly chopped down the running commentary of so many games.

In between these lengthy game recaps, there is good information and insight sprinkled in. You will learn about Steph’s childhood, his family, his values, his hard work and his determination. I would have preferred a better structure to this information, as it feels arranged a bit randomly in different chapters. You will also find some new information here that was never mentioned in sports columns before.

One thing that I would highlight is the candid discussion about race and privilege. Curry, unlike many other basketball players, did not have to battle financial adversity in his childhood. As a son of an NBA player, his childhood was comparatively comfortable. The adversity he has faced is due to his smaller relative size on the court, and he has overcome it with spades. Still, he is not “black enough” for many. This particular discussion was very illuminating me. I applaud the author for being very forthright and open about this issue.

The book is written from the point of view of a fan, so expect little criticism of Steph here. I am ok with it, as I was not looking for a bland balanced approach anyways. 

I can only offer a lukewarm recommendation. I have no idea how a die-hard Basketball fan, already with a lot of insight, will feel about this book. How much new would he or she find in this book, is something I cannot say. For a casual fan, this can be an interesting book to read.

Rubaai 11

रुबाई क्रमांक ११

मी कसे म्हणू की जग हे सारे स्वार्थी होते

वेळप्रसंगी आप्तही आले नाही होते

नियम हा विश्वाचा, येता सूर्य माथ्यावरती

गायब ती सावली देखील स्वतःची होते

Loose translation :

How can I say that the rest of the world is just selfish

When even my own friends didn’t offer help in time of need

When the scorching sun is at the highest in the sky

It’s a universal fact that even your own shadow deserts you

Hand Of God

Series Review : Hand Of God

Aired on : Amazon Prime

My Rating : 6 out of 10

If you like watching TV Series, this is a great time to indulge. Everyone is trying to produce longer content hoping to jump on the viewers’ binge train. I have started trying out Amazon series only recently, even though I have been a Prime member for a long time now.

Amazon’s original “Hand Of God” is based on an interesting premise. The lead protagonist believes that God is directing him to deliver justice. Pernell Harris (Ron Perlman) is a morally corrupt judge in a fictional California town of San Vicente. He comes from a rich powerful family that has lot of influence on this town.  His son PJ (Johnny Ferro) has been in coma for many months, inflicted by a suicide attempt after being forced to watch his wife getting raped. Police have not been able to make any progress, and the case appears to becoming an unsolved mystery. PJ’s wife Jocelyn (Alona Tal) decides to end her husband’s agony by taking him off life support. In complete despair, Pernell suffers a breakdown and starts hearing God talking to him via PJ. This is the synopsis of just the pilot episode!

Pernell starts following the clues which he believes are being sent to him by God. These clues surprisingly help him in solving the mystery one step at a time. He enlists KD (Garret Dillahunt) a believer and a criminal, to do his dirty work. Helping Pernell along the way of faith, is a couple with dubious past, Preacher Paul Curtis (Julian Morris) and Alicia Hopkins (Elizabeth McLaughlin). Pernell’s wife Crystal (Dana Delany) is a pragmatist, but not less corrupt. She tries to keep things in control with the help of Bobo Boston (Andre Royo) - who is a family friend, and the sly mayor of the city.

As you can see, this is a rich palette that promises a complex canvass. That promise remains only half fulfilled. The main reason for this is the parallel storylines of the script, because the acting is generally good. On the plus side, the main storyline works really well as a mystery. The viewer gets enough information to figure out the mystery via the visions Pernell get. The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, because it’s not dumbed down in some explanation. The rest of the plotlines suffer from varying degrees of superfluousness. Yes, each of the plotlines has surprises, twists and tries hard to be engaging. That doesn’t help, because these bylines are so obviously irrelevant. On top of that, almost all the characters are un-relatable, and unlikeable. It’s hard to cheer for anyone except the mayor.

The script contains many other elements than mystery. For some reasons, not give enough space has been given to the tragedy element to impact us. The subplot related to the preacher couple, may be controversial and offend some viewers. I am not a religious person, and I found it interesting in the beginning but later it became a distraction. Nevertheless, the novelty of all this, is a big plus. These elements are uncommon.  The political machinations are mildly interesting, but that’s something we have seen before. The plot is indeed multi-dimensional, but the characters are close to being uni-dimensional. The tone of the entire season is a big plus. It’s serious, dark and humor is nearly absent. 

I can only give a mixed recommendation for this series. Sometimes it’s engaging, sometimes it drags. Although I was overall satisfied with the first season, I am unsure if I will watch the second and concluding season. Maybe they should have cut the superfluous material and made this a single season series. It’s correctly rated TV-MA and in my opinion, not for teenagers.

Rising Out Of Hatred

Book Review : Rising out of Hatred

Author : Eli Saslow

My Rating : 5 out of 5

The complete title of the book is “Rising out of Hatred : The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist”.

Just 3-4 years ago, a well known thought leader of White Nationalism, Derek Black, renounced his cause and turned into a liberal. He wasn’t just some leader, he was looked at as “The” future leader. As a son of a former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, as an eloquent speaker, very polished in debates, with a radio show that was widely popular among the followers, as the main speaker at their conferences, he was the rising star and universally loved by White Nationalists. And all this even before he was in college. In changing his positions, he had to publicly admit that he was wrong, and proclaim that the views he once espoused were dangerous. He had no choice but to go against his father, his family and cause them great emotional stress. He had to accept the danger that he will be labeled as a “traitor to the cause”. But he did the right thing. Because he clearly understood how illogical his ideas were, and how much harm they can cause. And he had to fight against those ideas.

This is an incredible story of transformation, courage and honesty. If I had watched such a story in a Hollywood movie, I would have most likely shaken my head in disbelief. “Such things don’t happen in real life”, is what I would have said. But reality is indeed stranger than fiction. That may be a cliche, but it’s true here.

I learned about this book on “The Daily Show” where both the Pulitzer Prize winning author Eli Saslow and Derek Black appeared together. I got so intrigued by the interview that I had to read this book, and I am glad I did.

The story is incredible, and Eli Saslow’s writing is smooth and gripping. This is not a story that can be written with politically safe language. It’s just not possible. This book tells things as they are. This is a history of last few years. As Derek Black was transforming himself from a White Nationalist into a liberal, at the same time, the Republican Party was transforming itself from a conservative party to Trump’s party. Many of the ideas of the White Nationalists which were considered fringe a few years ago, were becoming mainstream and foundational to the new Trump party. What the White Nationalists were hoping to happen for many many years, was suddenly happening with Trump (and of course his team) taking the charge. They were speaking the same language, expressing the same victimhood and proposing the same talking points. While Derek was giving up these ideas that he once promoted on his radio show, those exact same ideas were actually being taken up by the Presidential candidate of the Republican Party. 

These two separate but opposite transformations have been very superbly captured by the author. I am sure, given the current state of affairs, many people on the right, and especially Trump supporters would not like reading these details. But the author has no qualms in stating the facts and writing with complete candor. As many of us know and argue, he documents how the transformation of the Republican party started with the election of President Barack Obama. It was then aided by Fox News and completed by our current President Trump and his team.

It’s not just ironic, it horrified Derek. His transformation took place over the years when he was in college, with help from his unlikely friends which included one deeply religious Jewish friend and one immigrant from South America. His girlfriend was instrumental in challenging his views with facts after facts very patiently presented over many many months. But it was personal. He did not want to make a public scene out of it. But Donald Trump’s rise was the reason he decided to write editorials in liberal newspapers including The New York Times. He felt a personal responsibility to oppose the direction taken by the new politics of our country.

It is impossible to not feel respect for Derek Black. Very few people like to admit, even to themselves that they were wrong. To do it publicly, and going against their family is extremely rare. To do so at this extent - from a White Nationalist to a Liberal - is unheard of. And remember, all this in his twenties. It’s not just that he did it, but why he did it. As the book demonstrates, Derek changed his views, because of his analytical and highly intelligent mind. When presented with facts, it became clear to him that he was horribly wrong.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Especially if you are leaning on the Republican side of the spectrum and even more so, if you are a Trump supporter. No, I am not naive to think that anyone would change their mind by reading a book. But at least to some people, it will be help understand why many of us think that the politics of Trump is so dangerous to the fabric of our society. Well that’s my hope. Not expecting any agreement, just a bit of understanding.

Sharp Objects

Series Review : Sharp Objects

Aired on : HBO

My Rating : 8 out of 10

Apart from long running multi-season serials, HBO also produces high quality mini-series limited to a single season of a small number of episodes. The latest series “Sharp Objects” is based on the book by Gillian Flynn. Before watching the series, I read the book like I usually do. But unlike “Big Little Lies” where I wrote reviews for both the book and the series, I am just going to write a review of the series here. 

The oft repeated and generally accepted conventional wisdom is, a book is better than its screen adaptation. This serial is clearly an exception because the screen adaptation is much better than the book. The book really was not worth writing a review about.

Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) is an average journalist working for a second tier newspaper in St Louis. Her hometown, Wind Gap, fictitious of course, located in southern Missouri, is reeling from a bizarre and shocking murder of a young girl. Camille gets dispatched there to write a story. Her boss is fond of her and thinks it will serve a dual purpose of Camille getting her break, as well as she can use the time to build back her relationship with her estranged family. But the family’s past has tragedies and Camille is still suffering emotionally in many different ways. Camille’s aim is to just report, she isn’t there to solve the mystery. But After reaching her home, things slowly start developing, and Camille discovers a lot more than what she had hoped.

The main thread of the plot is definitely the crime aspect. The book did poorly on that front. It was not at all difficult to guess the whodunit part. The series is much smarter in revealing its cards and hence would have good surprise elements for those who have not read the book. Only a few minor tweaks have been made to the storyline and the result is so much better. The numerous short flashbacks that are sprinkled throughout may get confusing though. Other threads of the plot are about local culture, politics, gossip and such aspects of the small town. The book paints a rather depressing portrait of the community. The series maintains the same tone, as it is an important aspect in building the atmosphere.

Perhaps the most important reason why I prefer the screen adaptation over the book is Amy Adams. She really brings Camille to life in a very controlled, understated performance. Camille is not a heroic character. She has her demons, as a journalist she is just about average and as person she is weak, because of her past. She is rarely happy. It’s not easy to stay invested in such a character, and it’s completely to the credit of Amy Adams that we feel her pain and want her to overcome her sorrows. Casting is outstanding and matches the expectations you would have gotten after reading the book.

These days, technical aspects of most marquee serials are high class. Such is the case here too. Direction, writing, camera work, everything is competent. I really liked the location. Unglamourous and realistic. 

There is very little action here. The series is firmly in the “psychological thriller” category. It may feel slow, but it never releases the tension. I am sure you will be hooked to this bingeable series. I definitely recommend it. It has many dark themes, and is correctly rated TV-MA. I also want to add a note. Please do watch the ending credits. I generally skip them to save time, but in this case the credits of the final episodes have added small scenes that clarify things further. 

Rubaai 10

रुबाई क्रमांक १०

जरी मी कधी काही विसरत नाही
काहीच म्हणे तिला आठवत नाही
अन राहणार होता जो साक्षीला
तो चंद्रही आता उगवत नाही

हिंदी अनुवाद :
मैं तो कभी कुछ भुलता नहीं
पर वो कुछ याद रखता नही
और बनाया था गवाह जिसे
वो चांद भी अब निकलता नही

Everybody Lies

Book Review : Everybody Lies

Author : Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

My Rating : 5 out of 5 stars

The complete title of the book is “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are”.

Like I have done for some other book reviews, I must start this review with proper disclosures. I spent a significant portion of my career at Yahoo, where “Big Data” or “Data Science” or whatever you want to call it, is a big part of the strategy. I have myself worked on projects related to this field, and the results of my own code have astonished me by the sheer amount of insight that can be extracted out of sometimes simple techniques. I am not new to this field, and I am very familiar with the potency of such data mining exercises. 

So a lot of insights presented by this book were not surprising to me at all. That includes the techniques explained in the book for finding correlation using statistics, as well as the kinky nature of a lot that people search for. Like many software engineers do, almost a decade ago, I downloaded Apache Lucene to familiarize myself with the search engine technology. This download includes the sample of actual search terms used by internet users, and it felt that almost all the terms were pornographic in nature, and sometimes quite disturbing. So yes, I kind of knew a lot of the findings of this book already.

If you are not from a similar work background, be prepared to be surprised, enlightened, entertained, disturbed and a bit depressed. Sometimes, all at the same time.

In this fascinating book, the author will give you a grand tour what insights about specific individuals, as well as society in general can be inferred these days. The main source of this information is internet of course. As the book explains, the interaction people have with the various websites, and especially Google and PornHub are much much richer in terms of data mining, compared to the traditional mechanisms such as surveys. Of course the main reason is anonymity - as in people thinking that they are not revealing their identity. So they search for things and visit sites that they would not admit in polite company. They leave anonymous comments that can be analyzed using natural language processing techniques. The quantity of such interactions rise and fall with events that happen in real world. Such trends give far deeper insight into what people are actually feeling, which non-anonymous methods of interactions would simply not reveal.

All this is possible, because people behave differently in public and in private - especially when they are alone and think they are not being monitored. Hence the title of the book - Everybody Lies.

We all know that Facebook posts by users are nothing but advertisements (often false) about what they want their friends to perceive about their life. Reality is very different. But how different? By how much? And what about politically incorrect issues? For example, how racist people really are? What social policies do they really support? And so on.

The author gives a very nice introduction to techniques that have been used by companies, and individual researchers that have access to such internet interactions, what insights we can derive from this research and how valuable this can be.

I will be doing a terrible disservice to this book, if I give an impressions that everything is all dark and gloomy. Or this books is all about interactions on Google, Facebook and PornHub. The author himself takes pains to clarify that this is about “New Data” not just the size of the data. Also included are many many examples of non-internet data that can be as insightful.

This book is not a sales pitch for “Big Data”, and that’s great. You will also learn the limitations of these new techniques, and how mis-interpretations can happen. It’s all written in a very accessible way. No knowledge of economics or computer science is required. In fact, on few occasions, I felt that the author is trying to simplify it too much. Just a quick note : it’s clear that the author’s own stance on many political issues is towards the left. I am fine with it, but some readers may not appreciate it too much.

It’s a wonderful book, very relevant to what’s happening today. It will remind you of the great book “Freakonomics”. If you liked that one, you will like this one too. The findings are sometimes as you expect using common sense, but more often than not, they will be new insights. I highly recommend it.

Maajhiyaa Geetaat Vede

स्पंदने ज्ञानेश्वरांची माझिया वक्षांत व्हावी

Presenting our latest song, and just like our previous two songs, this one is also based on a wonderful poem by the legendary poet Suresh Bhat. This is a very different poem than what we typically identify Suresh Bhat with. A prayer. Technically perfect, and masterfully worded. I hope we bring out the essence of this great poem through our efforts.

Thanks a lot to Preeti NImkar Joshi for providing her melodious voice to this composition. The music arrangement is by Aniket Damle. The highlight of it is the violins which are organized by Suhas Katdare. Amey Thakurdesai is on Tabla and Amogh Dandekar is on the Guitar.

Many thanks to Anita Limaye for specifically drawing many of the sketches just to accompany the song and making it a visual treat.

I hope you like our efforts and support it by sharing it with your friends.

माझिया गीतात वेडे दुःख संतांचे भिनावे

वाळल्या वेलीस माझ्या अमृताचे फूल यावे

आशयांच्या अंबरांनी टंच माझा शब्द व्हावा

कोरडा माझा उमाळा रोज माधुर्यात न्हावा

स्पंदने ज्ञानेश्वरांची माझिया वक्षांत व्हावी

इंद्रियांवाचून मीही इंद्रिये भोगून घ्यावी

एकनाथाने मलाही बैसवावे पंगतीला

नामयाहाती बनावे हे जिणे गोपाळकाला

माझियासाठी जगाचे रोज जाते घर्घरावे

मात्र मी सोशीन जे जे ते जनाईचे असावे

मी तुक्याच्या लोचनांनी गांजल्यांसाठी रडावे

चोख वेव्हारात माझ्या मी मला वाटून द्यावे

ह्याविना काही नको रे, एव्हढे दे पांडुरंगा

ह्याचसाठी मांडिला हा, मी तुझ्या दारात दंगा

Poet : Suresh Bhat Singer : Preeti Nimkar Joshi Composer : Abhay Avachat Music Arrangement : Aniket Damle Violin Arrangement : Suhas Katdare Guitar : Amogh Dandekar Tabla : Amey Thakurdesai Visual Art : Anita Limaye Video Editing : Abhay Avachat

For those, who do not understand Marathi, here is an excellent translation provided courtesy of Abhay Patil.

Grant just so much to me!

Let the pathos of saints 
seep in my songs 
Let the flower of immortality bloom
on the sapless vine that is me,

Let my words be ripe with 
purpose as expansive as the sky
Let my dry breath 
bathe in sweetness

Let the heartbeat of Saint Dnyaneshwar 
throb in my bosom 
Let my senses gratify 
sans physical sensation

Let Saint Eknath allow me 
to break bread with him 
Let my life be an eclectic recipe
stirred by Saint Namdeo

Let the millstone of the world 
grind for me 
But, let my pain be 
that felt by Saint Janabai

Let me weep for the downtrodden
with the eyes Saint Tuka 
Let me be immersed thus 
in business that life is

Nothing more I need 
Grant just so much to me, hey Lord Pandurang 
Just for that sake 
I create ruckus at your doorstep!

When Meters Meet

When it comes to grammar, I am neither an expert nor a nerd. So I am going to be very simplistic in this post. I will try my best to not make this blog post look like a page in a textbook. Hopefully you will enjoy it.

Since I am going to talk about the similarity of a Marathi Poetic meter with an Urdu meter, I need to give some basics about meter for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with it. Side note : I live in the USA, and I will use the spelling ‘meter’ as opposed to ‘metre’. Deal with it :-)

What is meter? Meter is what gives a rhythm to a poem. Side note : In my opinion, that’s the difference between prose and poetry. Now, if you are upset at that statement, please note that, it’s just my opinion on my blog. Let’s move on. :-)

How does a meter give rhythm to a poem? In a nutshell, meter defines how the sounds of the words in a poem should be sequenced. An appropriate sequence naturally leads to a rhythm.

From the metrical viewpoint, there are only 2 types of sounds called मात्रा (maatraa). Short and long. They roughly correspond to the time it takes for us to pronounce those sounds. For example, short vowels are considered short sounds, and long vowels are considered long sounds. Side note : This is a simplistic statement. There are more elaborate rules and exceptions, but I am going to skip them.

Some examples will make it clear. Words such as नमन (naman) and सुमन (suman) have 3 short sounds and are counted as “1 1 1”. The word किनारा (kinaaraa) has 1 short sound, followed by 2 long sounds and is counted as “ 1 2 2”. With that, it should be easy to see that सामान (saamaan) is “2 2 1” and दीवाना (deewaanaa) is “2 2 2”. Side note : In Marathi the notation used for this is either with symbols U for short sound and - for long sounds, or ल for लघु (short) sound and गा for गुरु (long) lounds. So किनारा (kinaaraa) would be noted at “U - -” or “ल गा गा”. I am going to use “1 2 2” as it’s simple to write in a blog, and easier for people unfamiliar with this topic.

Now let’s look at a meter (वृत्त vritta) that is extremely familiar to all Marathi speaking people, even if some may not be aware of it. It’s called भुजंगप्रयात (bhujang-prayaat). The definition of this meter says, that every line (ओळ / पंक्ति / मिस्रा) must follow the following format.

1 2 2   -   1 2 2   -  1 2 2  -  1 2 2

That means, every line in the poem needs to have 4 groups (गण) and each group must have a sequence of 3 sounds, and these sounds must be in the sequence “short long long”. Which mean each group has 5 मात्रा (metrical count) and each line will exactly have 20 मात्रा (metrical count). Let’s look at a very famous example.

IMPORTANT NOTE : I am writing the words as we say it, not exactly as we write it. And I have broken them down so that they match the metrical groups.

1 2  2           1 2 2          1 2 2         1 2 2

सदा सर       वदा यो         ग तूझा       घडावा 

तुझे का        रणे   दे         ह माझा     पडावा 

उपेक्षू           नको  गू        णवंता       अनंता 

रघू ना          यका मा        गणे हे        चि आता

Note : Some poetic license has been taken to adjust the spellings to match the meter. For example तूझा (toozaa) has been used instead of तुझा (tuzaa). The count of अनंता is indeed 1 2 2, but I have skipped that discussion.

This and all such hymns written by the great Saint Shree Samarth Raamdaas Swaami are in this meter. As kids we all learned these मनाचे श्लोक (hymns of mind). 

Now the advantage of the meter should be obvious. Everyone sings these hymns in the same tune / rhythm. It is perhaps THE most familiar metrical rhythm in Maharashtra. Because of the rhythm it becomes easy to recite, and easy to memorize.

Here is my attempt at reciting this श्लोक (hymn).

Now if you are familiar with how to recite this rhythm, and you come across a poem that you can recite in this exact same rhythm, there is a good chance that the poem is also in the same meter. Of course more scrutiny would be needed to be exactly sure, but you get a starting point without having to go through the difficulty of counting and grouping.

How about an example from Urdu poetry? Try reciting these in the same tune as मनाचे श्लोक above. It will comfortably fit the following couplets.

I have to start with a GHaalib sher :-)

बना कर फ़क़ीरों का हम भेस ग़ालिब     banaa kar fakiroN ka ham bhes GHaalib

तमाशा-ए-अहल-ए करम देखते हैं         tamaahaa-e-ahl-e-karam dekhate hai

Note : I am NOT recommending to use this tune for reciting an Urdu sher. It’s done only to illustrate the similarity of the meters. Please do not recite Urdu shaayari like this :-)

ग़ज़ल उसने छेड़ी मुझे साज़ देना    ghazal usne chheRi mujhe saaz dena

ज़रा उम्रे-रफ़्ता को आवाज़ देना     zara umr-e-raftaa ko aawaaz denaa

(Safi Lakhnawi)

तिरि आरज़ू है अगर जुर्म कोई        tiri aarazoo hai agar jurm koi

तो इस जुर्म की मैं सज़ा चाहता हूँ    to is jurm ki maiN sazaa chaahataa huN

(Hasrat Mohani)

Now let’s look at a very famous song, written by Jaan Nissar Akhtar. Yes, you can absolutely recite it in the tune of मनाचे श्लोक. It fits perfectly.

यह दिल और उनकी निगाहों के साये 

मुझे घेर लेते हैं बाहों के साये 

Interesting, isn’t it? You can use the tune of मनाचे श्लोक to recite Urdu GHazals!! Does it mean that these GHazals are in भुजंगप्रयात वृत्त (bhujang-prayaat meter)? No. Absolutely not. There are subtle but very important differences.

Marathi meters are based on Sanskrit meters, which trace their origin to महर्षी वाल्मिकि (Maharishi Valimiki). According to the legend he composed the अनुष्टुभ छंद (anushtubha chhand) spontaneously in pain after seeing a hunter kill a couple of mating birds. By the way, श्रीमद भगवतगीता (Shreemad Bhagwatgeeta) is in the same अनुष्टुभ छंद (anushtubha chhand).

Urdu meters are based on Arabic meters, which are credited to the genius KHalil ibn Ahmed who resided in Basra (now in Iraq) in the 8th century. One of the meters he defined is called मुतक़ारीब मुसम्मन सालिम (mutqaarib musamman saalim). It’s one of the fundamental meters. It has exactly the same metrical count sequence “1 2 2   1 2 2   1 2 2   1 2 2” as भुजंगप्रयात वृत्त (bhujang-prayaat meter). That’s the reason why the same tune fits. But that’s where the similarity ends. Let’s look at an example.

1      2       2          1   2    2           1   2   2           1   2   2

यह   दिल औ          र उन   की         नि  गा  हों        के सा  ये 

मु     झे     घे           र   ले    ते           हैं  बा   हों        के  सा  ये 

The differences can be clearly seen now. In भुजंगप्रयात वृत्त (bhujang-prayaat meter), when a sound of 2 मात्रा (metrical count) is needed, the only allowed sound is a long sound. In the corresponding Urdu meter मुतक़ारीब मुसम्मन सालिम (mutqaarib musamman saalim) when a sound of 2 is needed - you are allowed to use 2 short sounds. For example दिल above.

The second important difference is the way Urdu meter counting is done. As far as I know, the word हैं (haiN) will never be allowed to be counted as 1 in Marathi. But the Urdu meters are more in conversanalist style, and at that place if the sound really acts like a short sound, the poet has the liberty to count it as such.

Because of the restrictions placed by the भुजंगप्रयात वृत्त (bhujang-prayaat meter), it is categorized in Marathi as अक्षरगणवृत्त (akshar-gan-vritta), where not just the count of maatraa, but also the count of letters need to be exact - 12 in this case. And they have to be in the exact same sequence. This is a significant restriction and in my opinion, makes it tougher to write in this meter, and also easier for the reader to figure out. So next time you recite मनाचे श्लोक, give some credit to the poetic prowess of Samartha Raamdaas Swami as well, in addition to his moral teachings.

Not all Marathi वृत्त (meters) are this restrictive. Many popular meters are called मात्रावृत्त where the letter sequence is not restrictive and only the total मात्रा (count) and their division in groups are more important factors.

I found the similarity of these 2 meters, which originated independently in different regions at different times, very interesting. Being able to recite a GHaalib ghazal in the tune of hymns composed by Shree Samarth is something that I realized only recently. Hope it was as interesting to you.

Rubaai 9

रुबाई क्रमांक ९

अविचारे तू जे तोडले, जुळणार नाही
मर्मावर झाला घाव जो, भरणार नाही
पश्चातापाचे तू कितीही ढाळ अश्रू
त्यांनी आता, माझी चिता विझणार नाही

हिंदी अनुवाद :
जो शै तुमने तोड़ी है, जुड़ नहीं सकती
चोट ऐसी लगी है, के भर नहीं सकती
क्या फ़ायदा, आकर बहा रहे हो आँसू
अब मेरी चिता उनसे बुझ नहीं सकती

Manaatalya Manaat Mee

I am very happy to share our latest song, and this one is a new experiment - 3/4th of the team consists mainly of Tech professionals from San Francisco Bay Area :-)

I sincerely thank Rahul Limaye for providing the vocals, and Ashish Tare for helping out on tabla. Like my previous songs, the wonderful music arrangement is by Aniket Damle.

To those interested in poetry, please pay attention to the meter used by the great poet Suresh Bhat. It’s pure genius.

I hope you enjoy the song, and support it by sharing with others.

मनातल्या मनात मी तुझ्यासमीप राहतो
तुला न सांगता तुझा वसंत रोज पाहतो

असेच रोज नाहुनी लपेट उन्ह कोवळे
असेच चिंब केस तू  उन्हात सोड मोकळे
तुझा सुगंध मात्र मी  इथे हळूच हुंगतो

अशीच रोज अंगणी लवून वेच तू फुले
असेच सांग लाजुनी कळ्यांस गूज आपुले
तुझ्या कळ्या तुझी फुले इथे टिपून काढतो

अजून तू अजाण ह्या कुवार कर्दळीपरी
गडे विचार जाणत्या जुईस एकदा तरी
दुरून कोण हा तुझा मरंद रोज चाखतो

तसा न राहिला अता उदास एकटेपणा
तुझीच रूप पल्लवी जिथे तिथे करी खुणा
पहा कसा हवेत मी तुझ्यासवे सळाळतो

The Improbability Principle

Book Review : The Improbability Principle

Author : David Hand

My Rating : 5 out of 5 stars

The complete title of the book is “The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day”.

Who hasn’t experienced minor coincidences? Of course, everyone has. Even when it comes to rare events, most of us would say that we have experienced at least one such event. Are these just purely random occurrences? Many believe that they are not, and in their view, some divine power is at work. Some believe in miracles. Perhaps many more believe in supernatural abilities of certain individuals - whether it’s telepathy or seeing future or something similar. Can there be a rational explanation for all this, without invoking any argument about some divinity?

In this book published by Scientific American, the renowned statistician David Hand has provided a lucid explanation based on probability theory. He has given the theme a very catchy name, “The Improbability Principle”. With it, he asserts the paradoxical statement, “Rare events happen every day”. Wait a minute. If it’s rare, then it cannot happen every day, right?

Well, what’s rare from one individual’s point of view, is not really all that rare in a very large sample size. That’s the crux of the matter. There are other interesting aspects, and the author introduces much more rigor in his argument. The improbability principle, as per his definition, has many strands. He names them, “the law of inevitability”, “the law of truly large numbers”, “the law of selection”, “the law of the probability lever” and “the law of near enough”. Many readers would be intuitively familiar with the first two strands. I was. The formalization of other three strands was very interesting to me. Especially, “the law of near enough” which says that events that are sufficiently similar may be regarded as identical, and that can give rise to many apparent coincidences. 

All these strands are neatly arranged into individual chapters and explained using real life situations. This makes the book an easy read. There is as little mathematics as possible, and the author tries hard to make sure even those who are not mathematically inclined understand the argument well. The downside of this is, some material feels repetitive. 

The examples range a wide spectrum of topics, from gambling, accidents, psychics, science,  evolution and religion. The last two topics were most interesting to me and I wish those chapters were more extensive. In his argument, which I completely agree with, human intuition evolved to help us survive, and for that very reason it understands certainty better than uncertainty. That makes us want to believe in religion, and divine intervention.

That also raises an interesting question in my mind. Will anyone ever change their opinion by reading such books? I guess not. I was already in agreement with most of what the author is arguing, so it’s very easy for me to appreciate the strength of his arguments. If someone is already convinced that miracles do happen, I doubt this book will reverse that opinion. Because the desire to believe is so strong, that no rational argument has any chance to work.

That aside, I highly recommend this fantastic book. It’s extremely easy to read and all readers will find it insightful, regardless of their inclinations.

Billions : Season 2

TV Series Review : Billions (Season 2)

Aired on : Showtime 2017

My Rating : 7 out of 10

This is the review of the second season. If you haven't watched the first season, I recommend you read the review of the first season, as there may be some spoilers here for you.

If you liked the season 1 of Billions, chances are you will like season 2. Season 1 made a small effort at character building, while focusing more on the entertainment aspect. Season 2, makes no pretense. It's pure entertainment. Sometimes it's contrived, sometimes far-fetched, and sometimes it's decidedly in the category - "only happens in Hollywood". Still, it’s all very enjoyable.

This season starts where the previous one left off. Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), the New York State Attorney General, and his wife Wendy (Maggie Siff) are separated, but are trying to work out the problems in their marriage. Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) has restored his office building and started out strong. The foundation of the story is still the same - the egoistic rivalry between Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod and their constant efforts to bring each other down.

In the first season, there were hints that Chuck is interested in a run for the public office. That possibility is realized in this season. A major focus is on his efforts to run for the office of the Governor. Bobby wants to expand his power and legacy beyond hedge funds. For example, he wants to buy a sports team. Although these other parts of the story are important, and interesting, their rivalry eclipses everything else in this season. This time, they engage in far riskier behavior, have even less concern for the legalities of their approaches and their plotting is really insidious. This is  presented in a style that relies on gimmicks - forcing twists and surprises. Since these are the main plot points, anything I mention about these would be spoilers.

The characters are as unrelatable and unlikeable as before. The main reasons to watch this show are the mental duel, the behind-the-door deals ad the manipulations. All that is perfectly enjoyable, even with the financial mumbo-jumbo. The pacing helps. It's fast and doesn't let you have too much time to think. Acting is as good as before, and another reason why this season works.

Almost every series adds new characters and new storylines in a new season. This season is no exception. What I liked was, these additions were interesting and did not take up too much time. The focus never shifted to these characters, they were perfect auxiliary. There are some interesting cameos, and references to some real life billionaires. These were really superfluous, but thankfully these were kept as mere sideshows. 

I definitely recommend this series and this season. Watch it with the right expectations, and you will not be disappointed. It's correctly rated TV-MA and is not for kids.

Rubaai 8

रुबाई क्रमांक ८

थोरवी न कुठचीही, ना गाठले शिखर यशांचे

नसतात कधी शत्रू आम्हा साध्या माणसांचे

हे रक्तबंबाळ हृदय, ह्या चिघळणाऱ्या जखमा

हे  तर उपकार सारे माझ्या आप्तस्वकियांचे

उर्दू अनुवाद :

न यक्ता न दान:, न पाए मुक़ाम सितारोंके

होते नहीं दुश्मन कोई, मुझ जैसे इंसानोंके

यह दिल-ए-बिस्मिल, यह नासूर बेशुमार  

बस एहसान है, यह तो सारे, मेरे अपनोंके

Song Number 7 : Geet gangechya tataawar

Presenting our latest song based on a fantastic poem by the great poet Suresh Bhat. He is lamenting being neglected and is pleading to be showered with affection - but by whom? In my interpretation, he is referring to poetic inspiration, and interestingly doing so in a wonderfully worded poem.

I am so glad to have Dhananjay Mhaskar as the singer for this song. His voice and singing is perfect for these words and the mood we wanted to capture via music.

Once again, cannot thank Aniket enough for another novel and impactful musical arrangement. On flute is Mohit Shastry and on the pakhawaj is Hanumant Rawade.

For the visuals, Arati Phadke graciously provided her amazing paintings to match the poem.

The poem itself suggests Malkans, and hence we have used this raag to base our song on. Hope you enjoy this new song. Please support it by sharing it with your friends. Thank you!

Chess and Trash Talking :-)

Trash Talking is common in all sports, except Chess. Yes, it's a sport :-). Trash talking is simply not possible in Chess, as players are not allowed to talk. They have to figure out subtler ways to intimidate their opponent.

Of course, trash talking can happen once the games are over. Seems like Twitter is where this kind of action is. In the following tweets, read the responses to the tweets too.

Even if you do not know much about Chess, you may have heard that the Norwegian prodigy, Magnus Carlsen is the number 1 player and also the current world Champion. He will defend his title against a challenger, whoever will be the winner of the Candidates tournament. Kramnik  a previous Workd Champion, is one of the candidates. He is being helped by Anish Giri, another Chess prodigy. Anish is known to make tweets like these.

Naturally, this was going to get a reaction. As the news came that Anish will help Kramnik, the back and forth started.

But seems like Magnus is not giving up commenting on Kramnik. There was a routine tweet ...

Magnus for some reason responded

And the trash talk began immediately.

That's the state for now, but I don't think this is the end. I am enjoying it :-)

Rubaai 7

रुबाई क्रमांक ७

वाटली कधी न स्वप्नात शक्यता

जाणवेल भेट होताच खिन्नता

पण खरंच काळजाला चिरत गेली

चौकशीतली तुझी औपचारिकता

Thoughts And Prayers

Sadly, these are the times of “Thoughts and Prayers”. The following are my hopes, thoughts and prayers.

When it comes to gun violence in USA, I am very pessimistic of any real change - in my lifetime. I think my pessimism is realistic and not emotional. The reasons for my pessimism have little to do with the NRA or the impotent and corrupt Congress. It’s the people. The completely brainwashed population. Just like a person suffering from a mental disorder who is unable to realize the disorder, the majority of the voting population doesn’t even know how twisted, irrational their thought process is. They will never realize. It’s an incurable disease. 

The debate has been distorted. It’s too late to even argue about who distorted this debate, and why. There is no way to settle this via rational debate. Nothing will be changed by pointing out the absurdities in pro-gun arguments. We have been having these debates forever. The Twitter memes have been going on forever. Nothing changed after Sandy Hook. Nothing meaningful will change now. Hence I think my pessimism is realistic.

But my pessimism is only for this generation. I am pessimistic to see a change in my lifetime. I do think eventually USA will become almost free of guns. I may not see it, but my prayer is, my great grandchildren will live in a safe country, where guns are simply not available. Where only military and police have access to guns. Just like most of the countries on this planet. Eventually, USA will emotionally be a mature country on the topic of guns. Eventually.

This requires a social evolution, which is a slow process. Social evolutions do not happen because people change their opinions. Most people never change their opinions. Social evolution happens simply because Time replaces existing people with new people. The cycle of death and birth, the foundation of biological evolution, is also the foundation of social evolution. Not the sole mechanism, but the foundation.

Every generation is more tolerant, more liberal than the previous one. On an average basis. The definition of Left and Right is subjective and changes in each generation. There will always be Left and Right, Liberal and Conservative, but the center point keeps shifting to left with every generation. I am talking about social policy, not fiscal policy. When it comes to racism, or the acceptance of gays, overall compassion, open mindedness and so on, the newer generation is simply better than its previous generation. Our kids are better human beings than us.

The same will be true for guns. The newer generation will not accept the current interpretation of the Second Amendment. They will make it relevant to their day and age. They will confiscate military assault weapons. They will make their society safer. We might add a minor new law, or tweak existing laws, but they will make drastic changes. That’s my prayer.

I pray that the newer generation realizes that the time for debate is over. It’s time to vote. Vote with their ballots, vote with their money. They are marching, giving passionate speeches, engaging the opposite side. That’s today. Tomorrow they will vote, and society will change, slowly, but surely, one vote at a time.