कुम्हार !

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,
चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |
बगलो में सुथरी
आरू लोटिया में पानी
देखै छौ तोहरो आस |

कालके धरलो मट्टी
लरपै छौ हिन्नs-हुन्नs
धूप-बियार आरू बतास
की देतै एकरा आकार ?

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,

चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |

लियs पारै छै यहू एक रूप,

बनी का कोटरा 

योहो बुझाबs पारै छै भूख |

या फेनु बनी का ईंट 

करs पारै छै

कत्तs सपना साकार |

कबs अपनो हाथो-सs

करभैन हेकरो उपकार ?

बेरा डूबै बाला छै,

लोद्को के छाहीं  

अबs लगाबै छौ गुहार |

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,

चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |

- शिंजन

--------------------------------

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,

(where are you, O' Potter)

चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |

(the wheel has been spinning, night and day)

बगलो में सुथरी

(the thread beside )

आरू लोटिया में पानी

(and the water of the bowl )

देखै छौ तोहरो आस |

(has been awaiting you)

कालके धरलो मट्टी

(the mud-lump that was put yesterday )

लरपै छौ हिन्ना-हुन्ना

(has been wobbling and dribbling)

धूप-बयार आरू बतास

(will sun, wind and heat)

की देतै एकरा आकार ?

(give it a shape?)

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,

(where are you, O' Potter)

चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |

(the wheel has been spinning, night and day)

लिय पारै छै यहू एक रूप,

(This too can morph into)

बनी का कोटरा 

(a pot)

योहो बुझाब पारै छै भूख |

(and quell hunger )

या फेनु बनी का ईंट 

(or it can be a brick)

करा पारै छै

(and will)

कत्ता सपना साकार |

(materialize so many dreams)

कबा अपनो हाथो-स 

(when through your hands)

करभैन हेकरो उपकार ?

(would you consummate it)

बेरा डूबे बाला छै,

(It's almost twilight)

लोद्को के छाहीं  

(the shadow of the lump (lean and long))

अबा लगाबै छौ गुहार |

(is now gesturing (in genuflect) to call )

कहाँ छैं रे कुम्हार,

(where are you, O' Potter)

चाक घूमै छौ दिन-रात |

(the wheel has been spinning, night and day)

-Shinjan

--------------------------------

A Minor in Mechanical Engineering

A table would be a good attire for my small room. A lamp with a weathish complexion would produce a warm nook. It would let me feel home. When it rains outside (and when it rains, and if it rains here at all) I would enjoy a nice breeze, murky sky and an earthly whiff, still with no power gone for the fear that the trees would fall over power lines. This was the thought I started with few days back. Didn't know that this would cost me some sweat, frustration and a blog. Yes, this arrangement seems to deserve one and here I am writing about it :).

It would have been at least 25-30 Kg, but thanks two friends who own Coupe with large trunk. We could some how fit this thing and got it home. I would see it everyday, imagining it to grow to a full 3-dimensional entity. Waited most eagerly for the weekend to arrive when I would open this cousin of Pandora's box. 

We (as in me and subbu) had assembled two Hopen beds, it almost took us our whole Friday night to call it a day. This time I was all alone, but what the heck I recently bought a whole tool-box set from Home Depot, tell me what numbers are the screws and I would be done with it in few hours. And then I would relish the wood in dark and alone. 

And came the Friday. I gave up my tennis session that day only to realize that I had in total around 75 parts and 234 screws to forge in to make a table !!!. The task look daunting and had 21 steps before I can call it done. It took me almost 3 seating and probably 6-7 hours to realize this.

By the time I was done with it, I was already swearing not to dismantle it ever, even when I move to a next place. It sure did look like one of the Mechanical Engineering workshops. Phew!!!

PS: The table had an optional shelf part too which I returned back as soon as the next Weekend arrived :) and got a simple shelf in return.

An old trip

Got up pretty early, it is now almost scaring me. I am not sure if the Jet lag is going away, just wondering if it has deepened, or may be I am still settling down so still getting hang of things. Was particularly bored on what to do after doing the daily chores. Thought of putting some really old photos of some initial trips from ittiam.

Started looking at first ever trip to Shivanasamudram. Nitesh and Vaibhav were fascinated about it and picked me up in the morning from 80 feet road, Indiranagar. I used to stay with Gunjan, Anubhav and Kshitiz. I didn't have a bike then. The photos had come really well. We looked so young and "innocent" in those photos and obviously no tummy. There was a smile, almost a pervading one. The day was great, ate anything we found in our way.

They both looked very well-versed with the Kanakpura road. Though near Bangalore, this was the time (sep 2004) when signal connectivity still broke on parts of the highway. Things changed very fast, now Airtel seems to be a ubiquitous one.

There were other things that changed too, while coming back we stopped at the Art of Living centre on Kanakpura road. This is the international ashram for the group founded by Sri Sri Ravishankar. We roamed around the place and appreciated the calm and energetic environment. It was evening before Vishalakshi Mandap was lit. After taking some really nice snaps of this sublime architecture we left. Recently, started visiting the place more frequently. Now, it seems to be housing many more people, there are few huts and pathways which are now unaccessible to commons. Many more auditorium and divine-shops have come on the campus. Still it's a very nice retreat from the daily chores.

Big Bang

On the last day at Ittiam, was gifted this book with lots of well-wishes graffiti. From the cover page the book looked like a parody on the Big-bang model. Had never heard of Simon singh, so was surprised if people wanted to give a jocular touch to my sermons on the "creation". However, I was assured that it was one of the most famous books in the field.

With a mixed feeling finished the day, wishing everybody best of luck. Had to rush for a dinner treat by few loved ones at Cafe Masala and finish the packing for the next day trip back home, Bhagalpur.

All the time while packing over the weekdays, had a wish to buy a good book and spend the luxurious train journey (luxury in the sense of time and disconnection) with it. Never found time to do it owing to last minute rushes and meeting up with people. But this book, for sure turned out to be a serendipity.

Many of the points, after reading "Brief history of Time" was not very clear, looked more like a "modern art" painted by Hawkins. However Simon has been very lucid in painting the folklore. I guess he seemed more of a historian of astro/cosmo/particle physics. The difference and significance of cosmologists and astronomers comes very vivid in the book.

The book starts with a very nice background of B.C. era astronomy and logically tells how the mysteries around earth's diameter and measuring distances in solar system were solved. While talking about the development on cosmological sciences, Singh delves deep into the logic of science and describes why a particular model stuck for a long time even though it suffered from a known lacuna. For example, Newtonian Physic obstructed Einstein's theory for a long before it would give to new facts discovered by astronomers. Somehow, I felt that Indian contribution to astronomy should also have been covered, but probably the Indian contribution was not main stream before the likes of Chandrasekhar and Narlikar, so probably the book misses on allocating a rung on the ladder by Indians.

How astrophysics progressed over the time and how still it relies on just few basic principles of science is remarkable. The journey through these discoveries have been very gripping and Singh has been superb in attributing contributions to various people associated with discoveries and serendipities. This seems to make the most lovable feature of this book, as it discusses people and science politics along with giving an unbiased account of it there by giving a human touch to heavenly studies.

In all this book is a really great one to follow up on the journey of one the most beautiful and non-commercial fangs of science. I would certainly recommend it as a pre-requisite for reading Stephen Hawking.