I read "Aurangzeb" by Sir Jadunath Sarkar. Apart from chronicling the life of this last true Mughal emperor in complete detail, the book provides a comprehensive insight into political, social, economic, cultural, and geographical aspects of life and times of people during his reign. I have some reservations about the tone of language at a few places, especially in relation to Marathas, but it cannot be denied that this a well-researched book based on a huge number of original, authentic sources.
Incidentally, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has undertaken a project to translate major historical treatises into Indian languages, and under this scheme, this book has been translated to Marathi by Professor Kolarkar.
Last weekend, I started (and finished!) reading "Operation Blue Star - The True Story" by Lt. Gen. K S Brar.
Written by the commander who spearheaded this mission, this book is perhaps the most comprehensive and authentic account of one of the most important and unfortunate events of post-Independence era. The author provides details about the rise of Bhindranwale, failure of state and central governments to control his menace, reasons for military action, strategic and tactical planning, the actual commando attack and the aftermath.
The text is direct, matter-of-fact and candid, and it is well-supplemented by over a dozen photographs and maps.
A Marathi translation of this book is also available.
कट्यारकाळजातघुसली is a magnificent cinematic
experience. The film boasts of very high production quality, an ensemble cast
and course, one of the best music track of recent times. Kudos to Subodh Bhave and his team!
After watching
"The Martian", I remembered this superb quote from Randall Munroe
(the guy who creates the legendary XKCD comics):
The
universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made
the 'sensible' economic decision that there's no good reason to go into
space.
These planets are
discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational
decision.
Just finished
reading "Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon.
Spanning 800 pages,
with a cast of 350+ characters and a complex plot that seamlessly blends fact
and fiction about the Second World War, this novel is probably the most
complicated work of fiction I have read till date.
When I just finished reading a superb Marathi book titled "गीतकारांचीबखर". Written by विजयपडळकर, it gives an excellent synopsis of more than 100 lyricists who have given us immeasurable moments of happiness through their songs for the Hindi film industry.
The book also provides some interesting nuggets /anecdotes.... Here are some of my favourites!
When recording the song "aayega aanewala" from the movie "Mahal", the music director Khemchand Prakash wanted a rising pitch/ tone to indicate that the 'ghost' is coming closer. The technology to achieve this sound effect wasn't available at that time . So he placed the microphone in the middle of recording room and Lata didi stood in one corner of the room, gradually walking towards the mike while singing.
The song "yeh mera prem patra padhkar", written by Hasrat Jaipuri, was a rage in the 1960s. But very few people know that he had actually written this as a poem for the love of his life, a girl named Radha. Hasrat sahab could never express his love for her, and she eventually married someone else.
Raj Kapoor was so touched by this that not only he included this poem in his movie "Sangam" but also named the heroine as Radha.
In the 1940s-50s, working in film industry was considered 'below standard'. So when Naushad was about to get married, his parents hid the fact that he was a budding film music director and instead told his in-laws that he was a tailor.
The height of irony was: When the wedding procession arrived at his place, Naushad was stunned to see the 'baaraat' folks dancing to the songs from the movie "Rattan", blissfully unaware that the music for this film was composed by…. Naushad.
Here a song composed by Naushad, one of my all-time favourites.
The song "jara saamne to aao" is a Lata - Rafi duet from the movie "Janam Janam Ke Phere ". Its picturization shows a prayer to God urging Him to make an appearance.
In reality, lyricist Bharat Vyas wrote this song in memory of his son who had run away from home. When seen in this context, the words of the song take on a completely different, heart-wrenching meaning.
The movie "Mera Naam Joker" was a dream project of Raj Kapoor, and it had many beautiful songs penned by his favourite lyricist, Shailendra. Unfortunately, Shailendra passed away after writing a few lines of "Jeena yahan marna yahan".
His son Shaily, just aged 17 that time, found the unfinished poem and completed it. Such a great job he did, that, when we listen to this song, it is impossible to differentiate between the lines of father and son.
"Hai apna dil toh aawara"… Whether you've heard this beautiful melody by Hemant Kumar or not, listen to it once again, this time with special attention to the fantastic mouth organ piece after each stanza. Guess who has played the mouth organ?
Rahul Dev Burman.. He started his musical career as an assistant to his father S D Burman and played harmonica and mouth organ in his music troupe.
When R D Burman saw the lyrics of a song written by Gulzar, he said , "अरेयार ! मैइसपेधूनकैसेबनाऊ? कलतुममुझेटाईम्सओफ़इन्डियाकेहेडलाईन्सपेम्युझिकबनानेकहोगे! (Oh dear! How do I set these line to tune? Tomorrow you'll ask me to compose music for Times Of India headlines!"
Gulzar left the song at Burman's home. A short while later, Asha Bhonsle found the pages lying around, picked them up, and started humming them. R D was impressed. "I have found my tune", he said… And thus was born the unforgettable song…. "Mera kuch saaman"
Everyone has a favourite Lata Mangeshkar song, even politicians. During a film award function, the then-Home Minister L K Advani mentioned in his speech that "Jyoti Kalash Chhalake" was his all-time favourite. When Lata ji began her speech, she surprised everyone by singing a few lines of this song impromptu, and you could see the stalwart politician deeply touched.
As much as I love this song in the mellifluous voice of Lata ji, listening to its Sudhir Phadke version, who composed music for it, makes me wish that Babuji had sung/composed more Hindi film songs.
My mornings during the bachelor days in Pune usually begia with a Vividh Bharati programme on old Hindi film songs, at 7 AM. I do not recollect the name of the programme, but what I clearly remember is that every day it ended with a K L Saigal song.
So… It's quite apt that I close this miniseries on anecdotes of film songs with a Saigal song that I like.
I have always
wondered why old film songs are more dearer than recent ones. The answer came
when reading lyrics written by Sahir Ludhiyanwi… They are good poetry first,
film songs later.
"Wings
of Fire", the autobiography of late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam inspired millions
of people across not only India but world at large. It narrated an amazing,
true life story of a small boy from the sands to Rameswaram who became one of
the one most prominent scientists of the country.
However, it
didn't tell the complete story: the same boy went on to become the 11th
President of our country!
This is the stuff that legends are made of, and I was hoping that one day Dr Kalam would again
write his memoirs to pick up from where he left us in the Wings of Fire.
"Turning
Points: Journey through Challenges" is the answer to my hopes and wishes.
In this
book, Dr Kalam writes in detail about his tenure as the President of India and
his teaching experiences. He describes the turning points that shaped his life:
ISRO... DRDO... TIFAC... PSA... and others. In a chapter, he shares what he learnt from the
various people he came across in his life, be it his elder brother, his mentors like Dr.
Sarabhai, Dr Dhawan or Dr Brahma Prakash, and... Yes, the politicians!
Dr Kalam initiated many activities in the
Rashtrapati Bhavan, such as e-governance, teleconferencing, re-vitalizing the
beautiful Mughal Gardens, and many more. He candidly explains his thought process by
which he arrived at his decisions as the President. This chapter
makes for an engrossing and informative reading.
Unlike Wings
of Fire which had lot of personal anecdotes, this book is more about Kalam's
vision of India 2020. Many chapters are devoted to a 'blueprint' for reforms to make judiciary,
parliament and government more efficient and responsive.
It's a small
book, just 150 pages, and can be finished in a single seating. Language is simple, direct and unornamented. There
are many photographs that show Dr. Kalam's life during his presidential days,
and his interactions with a wide range of people, right from heads of state
such George W. Bush to small school children.
There is something extra delightful about a hydrogen fire — its flame is almost invisible in the daylight, and you can easily walk right into one without seeing it. Any intimate mixture of a fuel and an oxidizer is a potential explosive. And when they are only separated by a pair of firmly crossed fingers, it is an invitation to disaster. Crocco knew the dangers, but with a courage which bordered on certifiable lunacy, he started a long series of test firings with nitroglycerine. By some miracle, he managed to avoid killing himself and his team. As he grew old, he reluctantly made do with somewhat less sensitive nitromethane. Instead of working outdoors, as any sane man would have done, Malina conducted his tests in the building, which was promptly filled with a mixture of methanol and N2O4 fumes. This stuff cleverly converted itself to nitric acid, which rained corrosively on all the expensive machinery in the building. Malina's popularity suffered a vertiginous drop; he and his apparatus and his accomplices were summarily thrown out of the building. Fluorine might be good, but it's a holy terror to handle. Ignition delay apparatus varied wildly, the designs being limited only by the imagination of the investigator. The simplest setup consisted of an eyedropper, a small beaker, and a finely calibrated eyeball. Most of the Navy work on peroxide was directed toward "super performance" for fighter planes so that when a pilot found six MiG-29 aircraft breathing down his neck he could hit the panic button and perform that complex maneuver known as "getting the hell out of here". Chlorine Trifluoride is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It burns rapidly with every known fuel, and no delay in ignition has ever been measured. It also burns with such things as cloth, wood, asbestos, sand, water — and, not to mention, human beings. And did I mention that when added to water, it produces hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid?For dealing with this chemical, I always recommend a good pair of running shoes. There was once a 2-tonne spill of a tank of Chlorine Trifluoride. Miraculously, nobody was killed, but the man who was controlling the tank was found some five hundred feet away, where he had reached a horizontal running speed of Mach 2. The rocket people continued working with CTF, but they nevertheless knew enough to be scared to death, and proceeded with a degree of caution appropriate to dental work on a king cobra. The nature of chemists and of chemistry being what it is, the paths that Germans took were the same ones that Americans and Russians took, just sooner or later. Boranes are unpleasant beasts. They ignite spontaneously in the atmosphere, and the fires are remarkably difficult to extinguish. They react with water to form hydrogen, and of course, the reaction is violent. Also, they have a peculiarly repulsive odour and are extremely poisonous in all forms. This collection of properties does not endear them to me, except one: They are also very expensive. Combustion product of boron is boron trioxide, B2O3, and it is a thick, glassy liquid. When you have a turbine spinning at 40000 RPM, with clearance between the blades a few thousandths of an inch, and this sticky, viscous liquid deposits on the blades, the rocket engine usually undergoes what the British, with their characteristic mildness, call a "catastrophic self-disassembly."
The rocket engine test range hadn't been used for several months, and a large colony of bats —yes, bats, Dracula types —had moved in to spend the winter. And when we resumed the engine test, they all came boiling out with their sonar gear fouled up, shaking their heads and pounding their ears. They chose one particular rocket mechanic and decided that it was all his fault. If you have never seen a nervous rocket mechanic being buzzed by nine thousand demented bats and trying to beat them off with a shovel, there is something missing from your experience. ----------------------------------- If you enjoyed reading this till now, then the book "Ignition!" written by Dr. John D. Clark, is definitely for you. It has many such paragraphs that make you chuckle. But do not let the humour fool you. This book is a comprehensive and serious history of development of liquid rocket propellants.
After a tongue-in-cheek Forward written by none other than the great Isaac Asimov, Dr. Clark begins with the writings of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and experiments by Robert Goddard and Herman Oberth. He then goes on to provide a detailed account of efforts made by various teams from Germany, Britain, USA and Soviet Union to create various rocket propellants and their combinations explored to get the best performance out of rocket engines. He narrates stories of rocket engine tests gone awry, and tells us how they came up with funny names for the compounds such as "Penelope", Phyllis" and "Minnie" . A note to the reader: This is a highly technical book and it is littered with chemical nomenclature, formulae and reaction sequences. Understanding it completely requires a good knowledge of organic and inorganic chemistry. And yet, it still makes for a delightful reading simply because the author has such an engaging writing style. I wish to read more such books in the areas of advanced science and technology.
Many of my favourite books have been read in the Nagpur-Goa-Nagpur
journeys. Last weekend I added "गणिती" by
Achyut Godbole to the list. The book made me think about beauty in mathematics.
In the preface to this book,
the author Achyut Godbole brings up an interesting idea:
Is Mathematics a
discovery, or an invention? Laws of physics and chemistry would exist even if
there were no humans to measure them. But would algebraic equations and
calculus exist without us?
Laws of physics
seem to be the same across the universe. Would the mathematics of aliens be
same like us?
