1. Ghanshyam Das Birla was concerned about the money being wasted on capturing his images. Photographic plates were costly in those days. He was accompanying Gandhi on his trip to London. It doesn’t happen in Europe. Only in India: patrons of saints considered themselves fortunate. Da Vinci died on lap of king of France but he never had any peace of mind. Effectively : Gandhi also had no stretched peace of mind. Who am I to judge his mind? The point is: all technology is the scientific sheath: Matrix and magic shows. If souls are countless Sparks of fire from my being and if there’s infinite inexhaustible energy: why worry about minimalism? Certainly premise is solid but temporarily you always find: picture is imperfect: it can be improved. More the merrier. Even the one who sleeps on footpath has better availability of technology, books and like than many kings of past centuries or so has been fed into our minds. Iron Man Tetsuo: we are breathing in technology. Electricity. Smoke.

2. The book of cartoons on Gandhi: extract from which was published in the previous post is an amusing study of how international media looked at Gandhi. A picture is worth thousand words: therefore that book by Navjeevan Trust Publishing is worth thousands of books. I finished reading it in a single short sitting : yet, multiple sittings might reveal deeper information. Only animals which have been used in depictions: humans, lions, goats, monkeys. Britishers were only influenced by the mass appeal Gandhi had. It was number game then. It’s number game now. Churning of oceans, churning of minds, generation of ambrosia and poisons. Gods direct the show, build the platforms and execute it: they keep the nectar and the venom is given to demons who know nothing better. This is an eternal game played by angels and demons in the royal court of God-head. The serpent is torn and it has to eat its tail. It can’t continue to eat it forever: so it leaves it and some of its offsprings escape who also do the same business.

3. While the Chandragupta Maury’s guru Chanakya had a name Vishnugupta and he kept a tuft: his name Kautilya means “one who is crooked.” His treatise is akin to China’s military general’s treatise : “The Art of War.” I was teaching Madhya Pradesh Board’s Hindi Special to a seventh standard student: the chapter fifth tells you about the ancient Ujjayini: it was ruled by Chandragupta Vikram. How come: Vikramaditya has been named as Chandragupta ? It’s a mystery. I often think that rulers like Chandragupta gaining immortality disguised themselves in their clans and reappeared in form of modern rulers. It’s a tricky business. The question arises: what about the galactic core. What about infinite space. Why all this war for this tiny planet when there are countless universes? Or was it all a lie: like the movie Dark City tells so beautifully.

4. Missus Rathore paid hundred rupees. I bought milk worth twenty rupees and a bread packet worth ten rupees. I also had a plate of poha worth ten rupees and drank water on three handpumps. My time in the library was worth it as I was not busy. The next class is by three thirty in the noon. I bowled twenty bowls. Sun is still harsh. I might have worked to create rains but then hounds come after me. I have limited my hours outside. The supernatural series had a wonderful depiction of heaven and hell and since I watched its many seasons : I do miss it at times. I can’t afford Netflix.