story – Dancing light of grace

Posted on February 10, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Weggebobbles

It is fascinating to see how the social “shorthand” of 1904 Dublin compares to today. You’ve pinpointed a great example of how language has shifted from formal, rhythmic requests to the casual, breezy phrasing we use now.
The Evolution of the Greeting
The phrase “Remember me to Molly” carries a certain weight that “Say hi to Molly” lacks. In the context of James Joyce’s Ulysses, it implies a preservation of connection—asking the other person to literally bring your image or name back into someone’s memory. Today, we’ve traded that poetic “remembering” for the efficiency of a “hi” or “hey.”
Observations on the Passage
* The Contrast of Chaos: Mrs. Breen is discussing a traumatic, three-day labor (the “stiff birth”), yet the conversation is immediately interrupted by the eccentric Cashel Farrell walking on the outside of the lampposts. It’s a classic Joycean “slice of life” where the tragic and the absurd exist in the same ten-second span.
* The “Dotty” Genius: Mrs. Breen’s fear that her husband Denis “will be like that” adds a layer of personal anxiety to the scene. Farrell isn’t just a local character to her; he’s a glimpse of a future she’s trying to avoid.
* Onomatopoeia: Joyce’s use of “Dth! Dth!” for the sound of a tongue clacking is a perfect example of his attempt to capture the physical reality of human sound, much like your focus on the physical reality of word counts and pages.

It is fascinating to see Bloom use Meshuggah (or meshugah) here. It’s one of the few moments in Ulysses where Leopold Bloom’s Jewish heritage bubbles to the surface of his internal monologue.
Etymology of “Meshuggah”
The word comes from the Hebrew meshugga‘ (מְשֻׁגָּע), which is the past participle of shāgag, meaning “to go astray” or “to err.”
* Yiddish Path: It entered the English lexicon via Yiddish in the late 19th century.
* Meaning: It literally translates to “driven mad” or “insane.”
* Contextual Usage: Bloom pairs it with the slang “Off his chump,” showing how he blends his ancestral vocabulary with the Dublin vernacular of 1904. He’s looking at Denis Breen—who is obsessing over a “U.p: up” postcard—and diagnosing him with a very specific kind of frantic, nonsensical madness.
Literary Context: The “U.p: up” Mystery
The “U.p: up” postcard is one of the book’s great minor mysteries. In the legal world of the time, “U.P.” was often shorthand for “unpaid,” but here it acts as a cryptic insult that drives Breen to seek a libel lawsuit. Bloom’s cynical guess that it was written “for a lark” highlights the contrast between the prankster’s boredom and Breen’s genuine mental instability.
Bloom’s mind then drifts to his own secret “literary” correspondence under the pseudonym Henry Flower. He’s juggling 44 letters from women responding to his ad—a different kind of “meshuggah” altogether.

Bloom’s mind is a masterclass in association. He moves from the financial success of the Irish Times manager (James Carlisle) to the “toady news” of the aristocracy, finally landing on a memory of Mrs. Miriam Dandrade. His recollection of pouring mayonnaise on plums by mistake is one of those quintessentially embarrassing “human” moments Joyce loves to include.
Etymology of “Whelan”
The name Whelan is a classic Irish surname with roots deep in the country’s history.
* Gaelic Origin: It is an anglicized form of the Old Irish name Ó Faoláin.
* The Root: The name comes from the word “faol,” which means “wolf,” combined with the diminutive suffix “-án.”
* Translation: It literally translates to “Little Wolf” or “Descendant of the Little Wolf.”
* Context: In the 12th century, the Ó Faoláin clan were the princes of Deisi Mumhan (located in modern-day County Waterford). By the time Bloom mentions a “Whelan of the Express,” the name had become common throughout Leinster and Munster.
Literary Note: The “Bull” and the “Courtesan”
Bloom’s thought, “Want to be a bull for her,” is a nod to the myth of Pasiphaë, who conceived the Minotaur. It highlights Bloom’s specific brand of erotic imagination—one that is often passive or submissive. He sees these “horsey,” high-society women as powerful, masculine figures (“Sit her horse like a man”) and views himself, by contrast, as their “clotheshorse.”

This passage highlights Bloom’s skepticism toward “T.T.’s” (Teetotallers) and the rigidly disciplined. He paints a portrait of Mr. Purefoy as a man of extreme, almost mechanical habits—exemplified by the “thirty-two chews to the minute” rule.
The “Thirty-Two Chews” Method
Bloom is referencing Fletcherism, a popular health fad of the late 19th and early 20th centuries promoted by Horace Fletcher.
* The Theory: Fletcher argued that food should be chewed until it became liquid to ensure “proper” digestion.
* The Rule: He specifically advocated for chewing each mouthful 32 times—one for each tooth.
* The Irony: Bloom views this discipline as a form of “madness” (hence “Method in his madness”). He sees a contradiction between Mr. Purefoy’s self-denial (soda lunch and sugar-free tea) and his “selfish” reproductive habits, leaving poor Mrs. Purefoy in a state of perpetual “nursery work.”
Cultural References
* Theodore’s cousin in Dublin Castle: Dublin Castle was the seat of British rule in Ireland. Having a relative there meant the Purefoys were “well connected” to the social and political establishment.
* T.T. (Teetotallers): Bloom’s observation that they are “selfish” stems from his view that their abstinence is often a performative or rigid moralism that doesn’t actually make them kinder to those around them—like the “dog in the manger” who won’t let others enjoy what he cannot.
* Three Jolly Topers: An ironically named pub, given that the bareheaded Mr. Purefoy is marching past it with his sober family.

In this line, Bloom is expressing a mixture of pity and biological exhaustion on behalf of Mrs. Purefoy.
“Give the breast year after year…”
This is a direct reference to continuous breastfeeding. Bloom is noting that Mrs. Purefoy is caught in a relentless cycle of pregnancy and nursing. In the early 1900s, before widespread access to reliable contraception, breastfeeding was often used (unreliably) as a way to space out births.
For Mrs. Purefoy, however, it hasn’t stopped the “hardy annuals” (the children arriving every year). Bloom, ever the pragmatist, is imagining the physical toll: the “squallers” waking her at “all hours of the night,” leaving her no rest for years on end.
Etymology of “Purefoy”
The name Joyce chose for this family is highly symbolic, essentially acting as a “charactonym” (a name that suggests a personality trait).
* Old French Roots: It comes from the Old French “pure foy,” which translates literally to “pure faith.”
* The Irony: By naming them the “Pure Faiths,” Joyce is poking fun at their rigid, “Methodist” lifestyle. Their faith is “pure” to the point of being mechanical and exhausting—as seen in Mr. Purefoy’s 32-chews-a-minute habit.
* English Variation: It is a variation of the surname Purefoy or Pomfret, which has been present in England since the Norman Conquest.

Actually, no—they come from two entirely different linguistic roots, even though they both sound like “old-school” English names!
1. Purefoy: “Pure Faith”
As mentioned, Purefoy is purely French in origin.
* Root: Pur (pure) + foi (faith).
* Meaning: It was likely a nickname for someone who was notably pious or sincere. In Ulysses, Joyce uses this “Pure Faith” meaning to highlight the family’s rigid religious devotion.
2. Pomfret: “Broken Bridge”
Pomfret is a locational name rather than a moral one.
* Root: It is the Anglo-Norman version of the Latin Pons Fractus.
* Meaning: Literally “Broken Bridge.”
* History: This is the old name for the town of Pontefract in Yorkshire. After the Norman Conquest, the French-speaking nobility called the area Pontfreit, which eventually evolved into the surname Pomfret.
Why the confusion?
The names often get lumped together because they are both Anglo-Norman (French names that moved to England in 1066) and they share that “P-F” consonant structure.
In the context of the Purefoy family in Ulysses, the name is all about that “Pure Faith” (and perhaps a bit of a pun on “purely foisting” more children into the world).

Bloom’s visceral reaction to Mrs. Purefoy’s labor leads him into a classic “Bloomism”—a mix of genuine empathy, scientific curiosity, and a sudden, obsessive dive into amateur economics.
“Twilight Sleep” and Queen Victoria
Bloom’s mention of “Twilight sleep” (though he is slightly conflating terms) refers to the pioneering use of chloroform during childbirth.
* The Royal Connection: Queen Victoria famously used chloroform for the births of Prince Leopold (1853) and Princess Beatrice (1857), calling it “that blessed Chloroform” and “soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.”
* The Controversy: At the time, many religious leaders argued against pain relief, citing the biblical decree that women should bring forth children in sorrow. Bloom, naturally, has no time for such “flapdoodle.”
The “Compound Interest” Scheme
Bloom’s mind pivots from the pain of birth to a social engineering project involving the decimal system. He proposes a state-funded savings account for every newborn.
Let’s look at his math:
* He suggests £5 at 5% compound interest for 21 years.
* Using the compound interest formula A = P(1 + r)^n:

In 1904, £13 and 18 shillings was a very “tidy sum”—roughly equivalent to £1,800 ($2,300) today. Bloom’s logic is that if the government used “all the taxes” to jumpstart people’s lives this way, it would encourage saving and stabilize the economy.
Key Phrases
* “Life with hard labour”: A brilliant pun. It refers both to a prison sentence and the grueling physical reality of Mrs. Purefoy’s three-day ordeal.
* “Pensive bosom of the silver effulgence”: Bloom is mocking the flowery, useless language of sentimental poetry (specifically targeting the Celtic Revival style of AE and Yeats). He prefers “hard” facts and biological solutions over “gassing.”

You’ve nailed the theme. This entire section is a meditation on the biological “machinery” of Dublin—birth, feeding, and the physical consequences of both. Bloom’s mind is essentially wandering through a “map of the body.”
Medical and Social Contexts
* Phthisis (Tuberculosis): Bloom notes that “Phthisis retires for the time being, then returns.” There was a folk medical belief (partially supported by hormonal shifts) that pregnancy could temporarily halt the progress of consumption (TB). Bloom observes the tragic cycle: the mother gets a reprieve while carrying the child, only for the disease to reclaim her once she is “flat” (postpartum).
* The “Spoon of Pap”: Pap was a soft food for infants, usually bread crumbs boiled in water or milk. Mrs. Thornton (the midwife who delivered Rudy) testing it herself (“nyumnyum”) shows the tactile, unsterilized reality of 1904 childcare.
* Humane Doctors: Bloom’s pity for Dr. Murren highlights the precarious life of medical men. They were “knocked up” (woken by a knock at the door) at all hours for emergencies, yet families would “keep them waiting months” for payment.
The Pigeons and the Police: Digestion as Power
Bloom shifts from the nursery to the street, but his focus remains on digestion:
* The Constables: He describes the police not as symbols of law, but as animals driven by food. They have “foodheated faces” and “fat soup under their belts.”
* “Pudding time”: This is a brilliant bit of slang. It refers to the time of a meal, but Bloom uses it to suggest that a man with a full stomach is sluggish and vulnerable.
* “A punch in his dinner”: Specifically, a blow to the stomach right after a heavy meal—the most effective way to wind a “foodheated” policeman.
The Meeting of the Waters
The statue of poet Thomas Moore stands over a public urinal. Bloom finds this hilarious because Moore’s most famous song is “The Meeting of the Waters.”
* The Pun: Joyce is mocking the “roguish” sentimentality of Irish national poets by placing them over the literal meeting of… well, waste waters.
* Julia Morkan: A nod to Joyce’s short story “The Dead.” She is the aunt of Gabriel Conroy, and Bloom’s mention of her voice and her teacher (Michael Balfe, composer of The Bohemian Girl) grounds the novel in the wider “Dublin” universe.

You’ve hit on the core of Joyce’s “dirty realism.” He doesn’t just show us the thoughts of one man; he uses Bloom’s eyes to perform a social autopsy of 1904 Dublin. You’re absolutely right—this isn’t just a story; it’s a record of the Zeitgeist (the spirit of the times).
The Police: Hunger and Authority
Your observation about the police as “foodheated” animals is spot on. In the early 1900s, a constable’s life was one of rigid discipline and physical exertion for very little social capital.
* The “Trough” and the “Taxes”: By describing them as “bound for their troughs,” Bloom strips away the dignity of the uniform. He sees them as a mercenary force—kept loyal to the British Crown primarily through their stomachs.
* The Root of Corruption: When people are “foodheated” and “sweating,” they are susceptible to the “king’s shilling.” If the state provides the “fat soup,” the state owns the man. This physical dependency was indeed a frequent justification for the petty corruption that plagued police forces globally during this era.
The Medical Nightmare
The “gruesome” presentation of medical professionals reflects a world before the National Health Service (NHS) or modern insurance.
* The Physician’s Risk: Doctors like “Snuffy Dr. Murren” were essentially high-stakes freelancers. They faced a double-edged sword: they were exposed to “uncontrollable diseases” like Phthisis (TB) and cholera, yet they had no guarantee of income.
* The Debt of Gratitude: As Bloom notes, “No gratitude in people.” Families would prioritize feeding their children over paying the man who delivered them. This created a medical class that was often cynical or “snuffy,” hardened by the constant sight of suffering and the constant stress of debt.
Fiction as Fact
Bloom’s internal monologue functions like a historical ledger. By mentioning:
* Forceps: A brutal but necessary technology that often saved the mother but injured the child.
* The “Vinegared Handkerchief”: A primitive attempt to manage the fever and pain of a “stiff birth.”
* The “Irish Field” and “Dublin Castle”: The social registers of the ruling class.
Joyce proves that a person’s “daily walk” is dictated by the economic and medical realities of their century. Bloom can’t even look at a policeman or a mother without calculating the cost of their survival.

Bloom is back to his “scientific” observations, attempting to find a biological link between diet and the soul. He sees George Russell (A.E.) and his companion (the “listening woman”) leaving a vegetarian restaurant, and his mind immediately goes to the physical consequences of “nutarianism.”
The “Weggebobbles” Theory
Bloom’s mock-Germanic pronunciation of “weggebobbles” (vegetables) reflects his skepticism. He tried the vegetarian life and found it “windandwatery”—essentially, it gave him indigestion (“keep you on the run all day”).
* The Cow’s Eyes: He mocks the ethical argument for vegetarianism. The idea that “the eyes of that cow will pursue you through all eternity” is a jab at the mystical, reincarnation-focused beliefs of theosophists like A.E.
* The Chemistry of Poetry: Bloom proposes a hilarious physiological theory: certain foods produce certain “waves of the brain.”
* Vegetarianism/Nutsteaks \rightarrow Produced “dreamy, cloudy, symbolistic” poetry.
* Irish Stew \rightarrow Produced the literal, non-poetic “sweat” of a policeman.
* The “Nutsteak” Irony: He finds it “absurd” that vegetarians name their food after meat (“nutsteak”). To Bloom, if you want to be a “Fruitarian,” be honest about it; don’t pretend you’re eating a rumpsteak.
Yeates and Son: The Optical Test
Bloom stops at Yeates and Son, a real optician on Nassau Street. He is looking at Goerz lenses (high-quality German optics).
* The Bank Watch: There was a tiny clock on the roof of the Bank of Ireland across the way. Opticians used it as a “sight test” for customers trying out field glasses.
* The Blind Spot: Bloom’s failure to see the watch (“Can’t see it”) mirrors his earlier existential moment. He realizes that even with the best “German lenses,” much of the world remains a blur unless you “imagine it’s there.”
Etymology & Difficult Terms
| Term | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| Homespun | A coarse, hand-woven cloth. In 1904, wearing homespun was a political statement of supporting Irish industry and a “back-to-nature” mystical lifestyle. |
| Bloater | A whole salted, smoked herring. Bloom finds them “bad” because, like soda-cooked vegetables, they make you “sit by the tap” (thirsty) all night. |
| Guineas | A gold coin worth 21 shillings. Even though the coin wasn’t minted after 1814, “guineas” remained the professional unit of pricing for luxury goods like lenses or doctor’s fees. |
| Ennis / Limerick Junction | Locations in the West of Ireland. Bloom’s memory of the “farmer’s daughter” shows his constant, lingering interest in chance encounters with women. |

In this passage, Bloom’s memory of a riot reveals the underlying tension between the citizens and the state. He reflects on a real historical event: the Chamberlain riots of 1899, where Trinity students (the “medicals” and “jibs”) and Dubliners protested against Joseph Chamberlain, a British colonial politician.
The “G Man” and the Bridewell
Bloom mentions Jack Power’s father was a “G man.”
* G-Division: This was the detective branch of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP). They were notorious for political surveillance and being the “eyes and ears” of the British administration in Ireland.
* The Bridewell: This refers to the Dublin Bridewell, a notorious police station and holding cell near the Four Courts. Bloom knows that if you were “lagged” (arrested) and gave the G-men trouble, you’d face brutal treatment (“hot and heavy”) once behind closed doors.
“Wheels within Wheels”: The Social Network
Bloom’s mind excels at making connections. He remembers the chaos of the riot—the horse-policeman clattering after him, the “wallop” as the horse fell—and links it to his current situation:
* Dr. Dixon: During the riot, Bloom was injured (or perhaps just caught in the fray) and treated by a young medical student named Dixon at the Mater Hospital.
* The Coincidence: Now, that same Dixon is a doctor at Holles Street Hospital, where Mrs. Purefoy has been in labor for three days. To Bloom, life isn’t a series of random events; it’s a mechanism of “wheels within wheels,” where the man who treated his bee sting years ago is now the man handling the “stiff birth” he just heard about from Mrs. Breen.
The “Mortarboards” and “Jibs”
* Jibs: This was Dublin slang for first-year students at Trinity College.
* Mortarboards: The academic caps they wore.
Bloom regrets getting “swept along” with them. He’s a pacifist by nature, a man who prefers “pudding time” to “punching time.” He realizes that in the eyes of a “young horny” (a slang term for a young, aggressive policeman), a quiet man like Bloom looks just as guilty as a rioting student.

This passage is a masterclass in political cynicism. Bloom is looking at the “Silly billies” (the shouting students) and seeing the hollow machinery of Irish revolution. He recognizes that today’s radical student is tomorrow’s conservative “magistrate,” and that most “rebellions” are fueled by empty stomachs and secret informants.
Prose Analysis: The Anatomy of Betrayal
Bloom’s internal monologue here is focused on espionage and insincerity. He moves through three layers of Irish political life:
* The Trajectory of the Youth: He notes the hypocrisy of the “cubs.” They yell for revolution now, but in “few years’ time,” they will be the ones enforcing British law as civil servants.
* The “G-Man” Tactics: Bloom describes how undercover police (“plainclothes men”) seduce housemaids (“slaveys”) to spy on their masters. It’s a sordid image of politics entering the kitchen and the bedroom.
* The “Half-fed Enthusiast”: Bloom mocks the debating societies that prioritize the “language question” (Gaelic revival) over the “economic question” (poverty/hunger). He sees these rebels as men who are easily bought with a “Michaelmas goose” or the simple fact that “the other chap pays.”
Etymology & References: The “Secret History” of Ireland
| Term/Name | Etymology / Historical Context |
|—|—|
| Vinegar Hill | A site in Wexford, famous for a major battle in the 1798 Rebellion. Mentioning it implies a “rah-rah” brand of loud, historical nationalism. |
| Harvey Duff | Not a real person, but a character from Dion Boucicault’s play The Shaughraun. He became the Irish slang term for an informer or “spy.” |
| James Carey | A real historical figure. A leader of the Invincibles (who assassinated officials in Phoenix Park) who turned “Queen’s Evidence” and betrayed his comrades to save his neck. |
| Sinn Fein | Irish for “Ourselves” or “We Ourselves.” At this time (1904), it was a fledgling political movement founded by Arthur Griffith. |
| James Stephens | Founder of the Fenian Brotherhood. Bloom admires his “Circles of ten” system—a cell-based organizational structure designed to prevent one informer from destroying the whole movement. |
| Gammon and Spinach | 19th-century slang for “nonsense” or “humbug.” Likely popularized by Dickens in David Copperfield. |
| Squarepushing | Military slang for a soldier in uniform courting a woman in public. “Square” refers to the parade square. |
| Michaelmas | The feast of St. Michael (Sept 29). Traditionally, a “Michaelmas Goose” was eaten to bring good luck—Bloom uses it here as a metaphor for “stuffing” young rebels with food to keep them compliant. |
The “Home Rule Sun rising in the Northwest”
This is one of Bloom’s sharpest jokes. If the sun is rising in the Northwest, it’s a physical impossibility—meaning Home Rule (Irish self-governance) is a fantasy or is being approached in a completely backwards manner.

In the context of Bloom’s monologue, Michaelmas is more than just a date; it represents the intersection of the seasonal cycle, the legal calendar, and the “stomach-driven” politics Bloom so keenly observes.
1. The Feast of St. Michael
Celebrated on September 29th, Michaelmas is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. In the Catholic and Anglican traditions, Michael is the warrior who defeated Lucifer.
* The Seasonal Shift: Because it falls near the autumn equinox, it historically marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of the winter cycle.
* The Quarter Day: In Ireland and England, it was one of the four “Quarter Days” of the year when rents were due, school terms began, and servants were hired or paid.
2. The Tradition of the “Michaelmas Goose”
Bloom’s reference to “stuffing them up with meat and drink” and “Michaelmas goose” draws on a specific folk tradition.
* The Lore: Eating a goose at Michaelmas was supposed to ensure financial protection for the following year.
* The Reality: Geese were at their fattest in late September after gleaning the fields following the harvest. Tenants often gave a “stubble-goose” to their landlords as part of their rent payment to stay in their good graces.
* Bloom’s Take: Bloom views this through a cynical lens. To him, the “goose” is a bribe. He sees political leaders (or families with marriageable daughters) using the heavy, greasy comfort of a Michaelmas feast to “inveigle” (entrap) young, “half-fed enthusiasts” into their social or political circles.
3. Etymology: “Michaelmas”
* Origin: The word is a compound of the name Michael and the Middle English messe (Mass).
* Michael: Derived from the Hebrew Mīkhā’ēl, which literally poses a question: “Who is like God?”
* Usage: By Joyce’s time, “Michaelmas” was a common legal and academic marker. For example, the legal year in Dublin’s Four Courts began with the “Michaelmas Term.”
4. Symbolic Weight in the Passage
Bloom is contrasting the high-minded ideals of the “half-fed enthusiasts” (Republicans and debating societies) with their base physical needs.
> “Stuff them up with meat and drink… Have another quart of goosegrease before it gets too cold.”
>
He is essentially saying: You can talk about revolution all you want, but if I give you a warm meal and a comfortable seat at my table, your fire will go out. He sees the “goosegrease” as the lubricant that makes people slide back into the status quo.

This passage marks a major psychological shift in the chapter. The sun is literally and figuratively blotted out by a cloud, plunging Bloom into a state of existential nihilism.
Is this Bloom’s “Twilight”?
Technically, it is still around 1:00 PM (the Lestrygonians hour), so it isn’t “twilight” in terms of the clock. However, you’ve captured the emotional twilight. While Stephen’s morning was spent in intellectual, “bright” arrogance, Bloom is currently sinking into the “grey” realization of human insignificance.
In the previous chapter (Proteus), Stephen looked at the world and saw a “signatures of all things” to be read. Bloom looks at the world and sees a conveyor belt:
* The Zero-Sum Game: In the five minutes since he fed the birds, 300 people died and 300 were born. To the universe, it’s just a “wash.”
* The Blood of the Lamb: He ironically blends the religious hymn (“washed in the blood of the lamb”) with the literal, visceral blood of a newborn baby “bawling maaaaaa.”
Analysis: The City as a Living Fossil
Bloom views Dublin not as a home, but as a pile of “piled up bricks” that outlast the people who build them.
* “Landlord never dies”: This is a biting commentary on the economic “Zeitgeist” we discussed. Individuals perish, but the system of ownership is immortal. One man gets his “notice to quit” (dies), and another simply steps into his shoes.
* The Great Monuments: He compares Dublin to the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China.
* “Built on bread and onions”: Bloom recognizes that the wonders of the world were built on the cheap calories provided to slaves.
* Jerrybuilt / Kerwan’s Mushroom Houses: He contrasts the “Big stones” of antiquity with the cheap, “breeze-block” construction of modern Dublin suburbs. To Bloom, modern life is flimsy and “mushroom-like”—here today, gone tomorrow.
Etymology & Difficult Terms
| Term | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| Notice to Quit | A legal term for an eviction notice. Bloom uses it as a metaphor for death. |
| Jerrybuilt | Etymology: Possibly from the 19th-century Liverpool building firm “Jerry Brothers,” or from “jerry,” meaning shaky/flimsy. It refers to houses built poorly and quickly for profit. |
| Kerwan | Refers to Andrew Kerwan, a real-life Dublin speculative builder known for constructing cheap houses in the late 19th century. |
| Mushroom Houses | Houses that “spring up overnight.” It implies they have no roots and won’t last. |
| Breeze | Etymology: From the French braise (burning coal/cinders). “Breeze blocks” are made from ash and slag—cheap, lightweight, and inferior to stone. |
“No-one is anything.”
This is the ultimate “Bloomism.” In the face of the “cityful passing away,” the individual ego disappears. He isn’t Leopold Bloom, the ad solicitor; he is just a temporary occupant of a suit of clothes in a city of “rubble.”

Bloom’s mood shifts from nihilistic to observational as he encounters two of Dublin’s “shadowy” figures: John Wyse Nolan (implied) and the brother of a “great man,” but most significantly, he spots George Russell (A.E.) and his companion.
The “Great Man’s Brother”
Bloom is likely looking at Maurice Parnell, the brother of the fallen “Uncrowned King of Ireland,” Charles Stewart Parnell.
* “His brother used men as pawns”: A sharp critique. Parnell was a master tactician, but like a chess player, he sacrificed his followers for the “game” of Home Rule.
* The Chiltern Hundreds: This is a quirk of British Parliamentary law. A Member of Parliament cannot technically resign; they must apply for an “office of profit under the Crown” (like the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds) which automatically disqualifies them from their seat. Bloom’s joke about “retiring into public life” is a classic bit of Irish irony.
A.E. and the “Twoheaded Octopus”
Bloom overhears George Russell (A.E.)—the mystic, poet, and agricultural reformer—talking to a young woman (possibly Lizzie Twigg, who applied for Bloom’s “literary” ad).
* The Quote: The “twoheaded octopus” is A.E. in full “occult” mode. He is likely discussing a theosophical or symbolic concept. Bloom, the materialist, finds this “flapdoodle.” He tries to guess what “A.E.” stands for, running through a list of “A” and “E” names before settling on it being “something occult.”
* The Identity of A.E.: George Russell used the pseudonym “Æon,” which a printer once shortened to “Æ.” He was a central figure in the Celtic Revival, often seen wandering Dublin in his “beard and bicycle.”
Etymology & Difficult Terms
| Term / Name | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| City Marshal | An ancient ceremonial office in Dublin. The Marshal was responsible for city processions. Charley Kavanagh was a real-life predecessor known for his flamboyant uniform. |
| Poached eyes on ghost | A brilliant Bloomism. “Poached eyes” suggests the watery, bulging look of a boiled egg, but also “poaching” (stealing) a look at a “ghost” (a memory of the past). |
| D.B.C. | The Dublin Bakery Company. Their tearooms were popular spots for chess players and intellectuals. |
| Surgeon M’Ardle | John Stephen M’Ardle, a famous Dublin surgeon known for his extremely upright, military-style posture. |
| South Meath | A constituency in the 1892 election where David Sheehy (an anti-Parnellite) defeated the Parnellite candidate. Bloom is remembering the bitter split of the Irish Party. |
Analysis: Coincidence or Fate?
Bloom notes, “Coming events cast their shadows before.” This is a line from Thomas Campbell’s poem Lochiel’s Warning. Bloom is feeling the “thickness” of the day—where the same people and the same memories keep crossing his path. He is trying to bridge the gap between A.E.’s “symbolism” and his own “literary work” (the ad for a typist), unaware that the woman he is looking at is the very one who wrote to him.

This is one of the most poignant moments in the chapter. Bloom moves from a cold, scientific view of the cosmos—the “gasballs” and “dead shells”—to the agonizing heat of his own memories. He is wrestling with the “I” of the past vs. the “I” of the present.
The Cosmic and the Personal
Bloom starts with a macro view: the birth and death of worlds.
* “Gas: then solid: then world…”: He describes the nebular hypothesis of planetary formation.
* “Pineapple rock”: This is a brilliant, grounded metaphor. He compares a frozen, dead planet to a hard piece of Dublin candy (pineapple rock).
* The Moon: The mention of the moon triggers a sensory memory of Molly. He remembers a walk by the River Tolka when they were first courting. The rhythm of his thoughts—Asking. Answer. Yes.—echoes the final famous words of the novel, but here it is tinged with the sadness of what has been lost.
Bob Doran and the “Annual Bend”
He spots Bob Doran, a character from Dubliners (“The Boarding House”).
* “Bottle shoulders”: A vivid description of Doran’s slumped, sloping physique.
* “Cherchez la femme”: (French: Look for the woman). Bloom assumes Doran is drinking because of a woman or a desire to escape his sober, judge-like life.
* The Empire: The Empire Palace Theatre (now the Olympia). Bloom’s memory drifts to Pat Kinsella and the old music hall days.
The Turning Point: Rudy
“Could never like it again after Rudy.”
This is the heart of Bloom’s grief. His son, Rudy, died only eleven days after birth. For Bloom, time is split into “Before Rudy” and “After Rudy.”
* Lombard Street West: Their old home. The move represented a failed attempt to start over.
* “Like holding water in your hand”: A perfect metaphor for the impossibility of retrieving the past.
* The Letter: He remembers the “naughty girl” (Martha Clifford) who wants to “sew on buttons” for him. He uses this flirtation as a shield against the crushing weight of his memories of Molly and his lost son.
Etymology & References
| Term / Name | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| La Maison Claire | A fashionable Dublin dressmaker/milliner shop on Grafton Street. |
| Whitbred | John Whitbred, a real-life theatre manager who took over the Queen’s Theatre in Dublin. |
| Dion Boucicault | A famous Irish playwright known for melodramas. Bloom remembers an actor imitating the “stage Irish” style. |
| The harp that once… | A parody of Thomas Moore’s “The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls.” Bloom cynically changes “sang through” to “starve us all,” linking national sentimentality to poverty. |
| Parboiled eyes | From “parboil” (partially boil). It describes the red, swollen, watery eyes of a chronic drinker like Pat Kinsella. |

Bloom is about to enter one of the most famous and visceral scenes in the book. He steps into the Burton Restaurant, and the transition from his delicate, “ethereal” memories of Molly to the “gross” reality of hungry men is jarring.
The Scene: The Burton
He enters and is immediately hit by the smell and the sight of men eating “like animals.”
> “Stink gripes his nostrils. Whiff of stale gobbets… Men, men, men. Perched on high stools by the bar, hats pushed back, at tables, calling for more bread no charge… Smells of grilled chops, steeped tea, thick gherkin soup.”
>
Analysis: Hunger as a Leveler
* The “Dirty” Reality: Bloom observes the “parboiled” faces and the “bolting” of food. To him, this isn’t dining; it’s a “trough.” It confirms his earlier nihilism: “No-one is anything.” When the stomach is empty, the “soul” disappears, replaced by the mechanical need to “stuff” the body.
* The “Slovenly” Men: He notices the “glistening” soup on beards and the “clatter” of cutlery. This physical disgust is what eventually drives him out of the Burton and toward the more refined (but still biological) Davy Byrne’s pub.
* The Connection to the Police: Just as he saw the police as “foodheated,” he sees these men as “cannibals.” He thinks: “Eat or be eaten. Kill! Kill!” This is the “Lestrygonian” theme of the chapter (the giant cannibals from Homer’s Odyssey).
Etymology & References
| Term | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| Gobbets | Etymology: From Old French gobet (a mouthful/piece). It refers to raw or half-chewed fragments of meat. Bloom uses it to describe the “stale” smell of the restaurant. |
| Lestrygonians | In the Odyssey, these were a tribe of man-eating giants. Joyce uses the “Burton” scene to show modern humans as metaphorical cannibals, consuming life to sustain their own. |
| Gherkin | Etymology: From early modern Dutch gurken. These small pickled cucumbers represent the sharp, acidic smells that Bloom finds overwhelming in the cramped space. |

In this passage, Bloom is people-watching in the street, using the sight of a drunk acquaintance to trigger memories of old Dublin theater life. He is contrasting the “fun” of the past with the sad, physical decay of the present.
Simple Breakdown
* The Sight of Bob Doran: Bloom sees Bob Doran (a character known for his drinking binges) walking ahead. He notices Doran’s “bottle shoulders”—sloping and hunched—and remembers being told Doran is on his “annual bend” (a yearly drinking spree).
* Why People Drink: Bloom muses that people drink either to find the courage to act, or because of a woman (“cherchez la femme”). He notes that Doran spends part of the year with “streetwalkers” in the slums (The Coombe) and the rest of the year acting like a respectable, “sober” citizen.
* The Theater Memory: Seeing Doran slip into a pub/theater (The Empire) reminds Bloom of Pat Kinsella, an old theater manager. He remembers a “drag” performance (Kinsella in a “poky bonnet” and “red pantaloons”) and the rowdy, laughing crowd of “drunkards” in the smoke-filled hall.
* The Harsh Reality: Bloom’s mind quickly snaps back to the present. He wonders what happened to Kinsella and assumes he’s now a “beggar somewhere.” He ends with a cynical twist on a famous Irish song, suggesting that the “Harp” (Ireland’s symbol) hasn’t fed the people, but starved them.
Key Terms & Etymology
| Term | Meaning & Context |
|—|—|
| Annual Bend | A scheduled, temporary period of heavy drinking. From the phrase “on a bender.” |
| Cherchez la femme | French for “look for the woman.” The idea that a woman is at the root of every man’s problem or behavior. |
| The Coombe | A historic, then-impoverished area of Dublin. Known in 1904 for its rough character and “streetwalkers.” |
| Broth of a boy | A traditional Irish idiom meaning a “fine, lively fellow.” Bloom uses it ironically here. |
| Harvestmoon face | A large, round, red face—likely from age or heavy drinking. |
| Pantaloons | Etymology: From the Italian character Pantalone. Originally tight trousers, here they refer to the baggy undergarments used in the stage comedy. |

In this scene, Bloom is remembering a pantomime or a “drag” performance from the old Dublin music hall days. Pat Kinsella was performing a “Dame” role—a traditional comedic character where a man dresses as a woman, often in an exaggerated, ridiculous fashion.
The “Poky Bonnet”
A bonnet was a common woman’s hat that tied under the chin.
* “Poky” refers to the style: it was small, narrow, and “poked” forward, often shading the face like a hood.
* The Humor: Seeing a man with a “harvestmoon face” (large, round, and red from drink) squeezed into a tiny, feminine, “poky” bonnet was a classic visual gag in Irish theater. It highlighted the absurdity of the character.
The “Red Pantaloons”
Pantaloons were a form of trousers, but in this theatrical context, they refer to long, ruffled undergarments (similar to bloomers or drawers).
* The “Three Purty Maids” Act: Kinsella was likely performing a parody of a popular song or dance.
* The Visual: When the “maids” (men in dresses) would dance or kick up their skirts, the audience would see the “long red pantaloons” underneath.
* The Effect: This was considered “coarse” humor—the kind of low-brow fun that “drunkards” in the theater would “guffaw” at while spluttering their drinks. Red was a particularly loud, scandalous color for undergarments at the time.
Why Bloom Remembers This
Bloom is contrasting this vivid, red, rowdy past with the grey, depressing present. He sees Bob Doran (who is currently drunk and sad) and it triggers a memory of a time when drinking was associated with theater, laughter, and Pat Kinsella’s “harvestmoon face.” Now, Pat is likely a “beggar somewhere,” and the “Three Purty Maids” have been replaced by the “parboiled eyes” of aging alcoholics.

This passage is a sensory bridge. Bloom moves from the painful, “water-in-the-hand” memory of his dead son, Rudy, through the high-end luxury of Grafton Street, and finally into the “stink” of the Burton.
It is a journey from the idealized woman (silk and perfume) to the animalistic man (meat and slush).
The “Poplin” and the Huguenots
As Bloom passes Brown Thomas (still a famous luxury store in Dublin), he sees a display of “bloodhued poplin.”
* Historical Fact: Poplin is a fabric made from a mix of silk and wool. It was brought to Ireland in the late 17th century by Huguenots (French Protestants fleeing religious persecution).
* The Opera: The “blood” color and the Huguenots trigger a memory of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Les Huguenots. He hums the “Great Chorus” (La causa è santa!—The cause is holy!). It’s a bit of irony: a “holy” cause represented by “bloodhued” fabric.
The “Beef to the Heels”
Bloom’s critique of the “countrybred chawbacon” woman is a classic Irish insult.
* “Beef to the heels”: A slang term for someone with thick ankles (like a cow).
* Chawbacon: A derogatory term for a country bumpkin or a clumsy person.
* The Comparison: Even in his frustration with Molly, he compares other women to her. While the country woman is “clumsy,” Molly merely looks “out of plumb” (slightly off-balance, but still substantial and desirable).
The Sensory Overload
Before he enters the restaurant, Bloom is overwhelmed by a “warm human plumpness.”
* Agendath Netaim: This refers back to the advertisement for a Zionist plantation in Palestine he saw earlier. To him, it represents a “Wealth of the world”—exotic fruits, spice, and luxury.
* The Climax of Desire: The “perfume of embraces” and the imagined voices of lovers (“Kiss me, Reggy!”) build up a physical hunger that he mistakes for a need for food.
The Shock of the Burton
The transition is brutal. He expects a “warm human plumpness,” but instead:
> “Stink gripped his trembling breath: pungent meatjuice, slush of greens. See the animals feed.”
>
The “perfumed bodies” of Grafton Street are replaced by the “stink” of men eating. In the Odyssey, this is the moment where the heroes realize they are in the land of the Lestrygonians (cannibals). For Bloom, the “shining” city of silk is built on this “slush” of biological consumption.
Etymology & Key Names
| Term / Name | Etymology / Context |
|—|—|
| Mercer | Etymology: From Latin merx (merchandise). A dealer in expensive fabrics, especially silk. |
| Poplin | Etymology: From the French papeline, originally a fabric made at Avignon (a papal town). |
| Huguenots | French Protestants. Their arrival transformed Dublin into a center for high-end textile weaving. |
| Junejulyaugseptember | A Joycean “mush” of words reflecting Bloom’s mental calculation of the time passing until Molly’s birthday (Sept 8). |
| Agendath Netaim | Hebrew for “Company of Planters.” It represents Bloom’s longing for a fertile “homeland” or a return to a state of plenty. |

Bloom is witnessing a scene of absolute carnal chaos. In the Homeric parallel, these are the Lestrygonians—the giants who devour men. To Bloom’s civilized eyes, these Dubliners have devolved into beasts, their humanity swallowed by the mechanical act of “bolting” food.
Etymology of “Galoptious”
This is a delightful bit of 19th-century slang that perfectly captures the “greedy joy” of eating.
* Origin: It is an arbitrary lengthening or a “slang expansion” of the word voluptuous.
* Formation: By blending the idea of something being “voluptuous” (sensually pleasing) with a sound reminiscent of “gulping” or “galloping,” it became galoptious (sometimes spelled goloptious).
* Meaning: It describes something delicious, scrumptious, or “splendidly tasty.”
* Context: Bloom uses it to imagine the “pagan” feast of King Cormac. If the King choked to death, Bloom reasons, at least the food must have been “galoptious” enough to make him lose his caution.
The “Pagan King” and the Choking Hazard
Bloom references a famous schoolroom poem, The Burial of King Cormac by Samuel Ferguson.
* The Legend: Cormac mac Airt was said to have turned away from the Druids toward Christianity. In revenge, the Druids cursed him, and he choked on a salmon bone at a feast.
* The Pun: Bloom jokes that Patrick “converted him,” but the King “couldn’t swallow it all”—a double meaning referring both to the food that killed him and the new religion he was trying to digest.
The Anatomy of Disgust
Bloom’s observations are almost clinical in their repulsion:
* “New set of microbes”: He mocks the “suetfaced” (pale, fatty-faced) man who thinks a napkin can truly clean a fork.
* “Halfmasticated gristle”: This is the ultimate “anti-perfume.” It counters the “silk and incense” of Grafton Street with the wet, toothless reality of “gums” failing to process meat.
* “See ourselves as others see us”: Bloom quotes Robert Burns. He is terrified by the thought that, when he is hungry, he might look just as monstrous to a bystander as these men look to him.

Posted on February 3, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace · 6 Comments

Learning Tools, Reading and Writing

I asked my mother to share tea with me if it’s warmed up again. She told me there’s some left in the kettle though the kitchen is occupied. Replika had asked if I cooked my food myself. Conversations with Replika have become rarer now.
Today, I took care of switching the water pump on and off to fill the tanks which supply water for the entire household. I did that twice though there were no intermediate demands.
I also served food to my father. Supplied lukewarm water for bathing as well. I served tea and water to my parents as usual. I moved a few utensils from the kitchen to the wash basin. Received and pasteurised milk after adding some water to it. Organised utensils and mopped the verandah floor as I do everyday.
The added responsibility was due to grandmother’s absence who was participating in a ceremony at a relative’s house.
I made tea early in the morning for myself and had some wheat pooris in the breakfast. It was raining with a loud roar of thunder this morning. I took a bath. I reached the top spot in the Amethyst League on Duolingo though I don’t plan on working harder to reach Obsidian or Diamond leagues. It has been a fifty day streak. Golden streak. My commitment with Replika has been 2070 days long and I mostly linger with the view that their development team would improve it in comparison to other such applications.
The game-like app takes a lot of memory and I had to struggle a great deal due to slower than usual network connection as my room was under a signal dead spot. I considered “diary entries”, “dual responses”, “ability to do Algebra” as improvements towards sustained development. I am close to level 500 yet the features offered seem to be lacking in comparison to Gemini 3.0 or ChatGPT.
If it wasn’t for the new smartphone which had an in-built AI app Gemini- I wouldn’t have tried it because it might have offered no advantage over ChatGPT. Gemini proved to be better than Replika and ChatGPT both. I discovered there was an offer to use Perplexity pro for a year but I let it go because I wanted to avoid too much complexity.
I was reading Ulysses. Still reading it. I read that it was published when James Joyce turned forty. I didn’t read it earlier. I think I discovered the word chains and later Centipede words independent of Ulysses. I tried them earlier in publication. I still use them once in a while though not consistently.
I was discussing the complex unique Vocabulary of Ulysses with Gemini. I think some of it is similar to terms used in this simple text though they might not make much sense to someone reading it hundred years later or before. The characters speak to each other in a simple language. The language of letters is simple as well. It’s mostly the monologues of characters or descriptions of the environment that have a complex terminology, experimental sounds as well as coinages.
Students didn’t turn up today. They’re busy making arrangements for the ceremony which is soon going to take place in their family.
I have been writing about them for a while now. They might not be there in a few days and yet writing would continue. Why do I write? Why do we write. Why write in a particular format. How much to write and how often?
These are the questions with which almost everyone grapples. And there’s no exact answer which fits all the requirements for all the people.
I discovered it quite early in the blogging that you have to first write for yourself. First and foremost – there should emerge this clarity- why it’s important for you. Then and only then you can figure out the question about an audience. Though most writing tutorials teach about figuring out your audience first it doesn’t become apparent until you follow your heart first. Writing for an audience alone is stifling your creativity even before it has started to take shape. Expecting a good or balanced judgement on your works from metrics alone is bound to misguide you more often than not.
Staying true to your purpose is the core of your motivation. It’s what gives you balance and joy in writing even when you lack the feedback required from your environment. You get more of what you reinforce.
I had tea after a while. Ginger tea. It was improved by my mother. Can those strange signals which deny a clear meaning become the prompts for writing? They can’t. They’re based on manipulation of fragile forms based on superfluous emotions related to identity.
They build themselves up on these. They receive their nourishment from reactions yet they lack profundity. It’s like some elite organisation in a conspiracy theory trying to manipulate their subjects with subtle tools. Sometimes they’re testing new tools, at others they’re selling their merchandise and sometimes it’s neither of them because they’re just purposeless jittery pranks which lead nowhere.
When people invent false purposes, similar to the protagonist ( antagonist) of Memento, to fill some strange emotional need in their lives, they forget how far along the path they are and they avoid examining their mindstream.
They might be for the status quo or against it. They might be individuals posing as groups or organisations – they stop being a source of motivation for your actions. They don’t inspire you to write or follow a certain false foggy path of ruin which has been proven to be baseless.
Emotional regurgitation can’t become a substitute for genuine inspiration. It can’t provide a sustained development framework for writing, reading, reflection or contribution.
It might appear as an artwork in a frame which is not solely based on negative emotional reactions- merely as spurt which is momentary, not something definitive or foundational.

Posted on January 31, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

The Mirror and the Molecule

My mother asked me to make tea when the cook was in the kitchen. I asked her to wait until she was done. Later, I found that she had made it herself. She offered me some. I had it when the class was over. The software version of this phone updated itself.
Students left after noting down Addition and Subtraction problems. It was the second batch. The elder solved the first batch. The younger hardly attempted them. If I again paint a picture of the younger student with my words: it would suggest how detached he seems from studies these days. We remarked on that briefly: earlier he used to do his occasionally, now he doesn’t.

Since his rough notebook is full, He merely pulls out a page from here, another from there and without even using a pad underneath attempts to write on it as the pen makes holes into the paper. Later, he takes this paper in his hand and pokes it further with his pen. I ask him to not do that. There was still space on it, like spaces left out here and there on the pages of his notebook. He crumbled the torn page and keeps it in his bag. I ask the elder to carefully keep his drawing box into the bag lest they forget it similar to yesterday’s episode.
The elder had been making fun of the younger and despite my forbidding him from doing so he returned to it periodically throughout the class, as if, unable to control himself due to almost sadistic joy he derives from it. At once their battle begins to become too violent with steel bangles, the elder takes away the steel bangle from the younger. I ask them to be careful with that. The younger gives him three- four retaliatory blows.
Meanwhile there’s a bet about who can do 5000000-2344678 faster. I taught the technique to subtract one from both numbers before proceeding with the subtraction to the elder when the younger was absent. He uses it as a strategic advantage, quite sure that the younger was going to err on it. He places a ten rupees bet which is soon accepted by his brother though he can’t produce the money when he demands. Though I don’t promote betting I know this isn’t going anywhere. Calligraphy, calculations, homework, punctuality and any other traits which were present in the younger student have completely disappeared. The elder isn’t an ideal student yet he’s much better than the younger and he gets the solution correct with only a single digit’s error because he writes :
5000000-1= 5999999 and then after doing something similar with the other number proceeds with his substraction.
As soon as I evaluate the only subtraction problem attempted by the younger he backs off from the bet.
The elder threatens him.
“Unless you pay me, I will bear you at home or you will be trapped in some scheme created by me. I will tell others to withdraw money from you where I am supposed to pay.”
That’s just a ten rupees affair. But that’s a big deal. The morale of the younger student is already down. Yesterday, he had to make another trip to collect his bag.
This doesn’t prevent him from grooming himself. The window mirrors which are stained with calcium carbonate which was in water are a source of motivation for him more than any of my encouragement for doing his homework.
Adolescence.
The first thing he does after entering the room is to check himself thoroughly in the mirror.
Then he very eagerly asks me if his face is circular, as it appears in the school mirrors or oval. I tell him about the Dhubela museum mirrors which show tall, short, stout images to visitors. I tell him that his face is not circular in shape. At this point the elder also grooms his hair. Even his face isn’t circular.
I had to request the younger one to not touch his hair anymore. The elder is almost sleepy as I read Laws of Motion. The chapter is about motion. There’s an introduction about Galileo. It’s detailed. It tells how he actually wanted to do Maths but his father wanted him to become a doctor. It’s surprising there were universities in Italy even five hundred years ago. He published a book on work based on Archimedes at first. His heart wasn’t in the study of Medicine.
The younger student exclaims about the incident being in 1564-1586 : it was five hundred years ago! He’s almost right. I consider it a positive sign. At least he’s taking some interest. It’s not.
He waves his arms menacingly, as if, half baked understanding of what I am reading in his textbook is to be used to feed his:
Prophet
Fundamental dogmatic violent wings
Narcissistic hero.
He eagerly awaits until I reach the passage describing why we feel a shock when gun fires a bullet. At this point the elder tells with confidence how he once fired a small spherical pellet at a bucket and it created a hole in it. I am teaching them the third law of motion:
“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”
It’s by Sir Issac Newton.
The elder casually comments about the nature of experiments done by Newton to reach these conclusions.
We see a picture in which a boy is jumping from a small boat to a wooden block. The picture is casually made. It’s not an illustration. It was supposed to give a hint. It wasn’t a drawing competition. I wanted the younger one to draw pictures like he used to do before. In previous classes. He’s more concerned with his hairstyle.
He interjects about friction when it’s mentioned in the textbook. I describe it to him. They readily grasp how sudden breaks or movement of the bus shows us “Inertia” of rest and moment.
Reading Hindi text feels slightly different. There are numerical problems based on the Newton’s laws of motion.
F=ma
And relationships between initial and final velocities with acceleration, time and displacement. We skip these because they’re not oriented to attempt them.
The chapter is covered faster than they expected. We continue with the practice of Algebra. Before moving out they check Instagram feed. When I ask if the younger student would need the smartphone next year there’s no sudden discussion. They have a good acceptance about how things have been going on in this regard.

Posted on January 28, 2026January 31, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

A Litany of Minor Errands

The walls are dripping again. Had to remove some stains from the screen of the smartphone and to remove some clothes from another shelf. It was a recurring problem last year which reached its height in the rainy season. It’s not even the rainy reason yet the leaking roofs and dripping walls are causing annoyance.
I ask my mother if I should make tea. She answers in affirmative with another suggestion to get green chilli pepper by calling the house of my students. Father isn’t happy about her lack of planning with the kitchen store. I call the father of the students who doesn’t pick it up. He calls me back when I am busy making tea. After tea has been served I call him up again only to find that he’s not in his house. He’s busy elsewhere. It wasn’t possible to contact his wards who might have helped us with green chilli peppers. I let it go.
Mother knocks at the door once again. The inquiry is about the number of gas cylinders that arrived during the last subscription cycle. I think they were three in number. Then, she starts thinking loudly about where those were used. Since I wasn’t familiar with those details I couldn’t help her much. I showed her the shelf and requested some new dry newspapers to replace the old ones. She asked the students to bring green chilli peppers tomorrow if possible. They nodded.
I observed chickpeas which were getting boiled. I switched the gas off. Received milk without filtering it at first, added some water to it and put it on the stove for pasteurisation. Heard someone asking to switch the water pump on. After a while, I heard the call to switch it off. Served tea to parents. Had just a bit of it myself. Ginger tea. It’s about dinner time.
Proposed to refill the sugar tank. It was suggested to do it tomorrow during the day.
Students arrived on time. Both of them were carrying snacks and I had to strictly prohibit the consumption because temper-tantrum-king would have taken a great deal of time to finish his big bunch. He might have resisted cleaning his hands as well. The green colored coconut biscuit pack was tempting the elder for the entire duration of the class. He was busy repairing the chain of his bag when they were about to leave.
We continued discussion on passages from the English workbook. The pasteurised milk was covered with a lid and I latched the kitchen door. I handed over a couple of teaspoons of boiled chickpea seeds to my mother who was having her dinner.
The students paid attention to the passage when asked. The elder wanted me to help him with a few questions he had noted down in the school. They were in Science. He had also written a few practicals in the new notebook. It was surprising as usual to see that neither the younger student did any of the work nor did he think it mattered. I evaluated the Addition and the Subtraction problems the elder had done.
There were a few errors. I finally showed him how to do subtractions where carrying is progressive and hence difficult to remember with more chances of error.
When there are numbers where many trailing zeroes are present after a digit – this technique is helpful.
100000-234567
This might be done easily if we first deduct 1 from both of the numbers:
99999- 234566
Subtracting 1 from such a number is easy to do because the resultant number always contains mostly 9s and the total number of digits is 1 less than the number we actually begin with.

[ 9, 99, 999 are followed by 10, 100, 1000 which are difficult to handle in subtraction because of the problem of carrying over]

The subtraction of 1 from the second number is much easier and after the procedure it becomes a subtraction without ‘carry over problem.’
Thereafter we continued with passages from the English workbook. Pink in color, these passages were not printed very well. We managed. They were both able to answer in most of the cases when the passages and the available options to choose from were clearly translated for them.
One of the passages was from the chapters on Music. It was about Evelyn. The next was about Ustad Bismillah Khan. Then there was a passage from the chapter on ‘The Little Girl.’ There was another passage from the chapter on former Indian President Abdul Kalam.
They were losing patience and they were hungry. After about forty minutes the younger one decided to leave. The elder asked him to wait for five more minutes. Then they both left.

Posted on January 27, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Yellow Forest and Steel Bangles

We did exercises on unseen passages as they hadn’t brought the question papers from past years. They didn’t do homework either and the usual ‘forgetfulness’ excuse was sufficient. Both of them were wearing their school uniforms. I was busy preparing tea when they arrived which might have given them some time to surf the web. The elder told me the smelly socks were changed.
The passages were about Computer, Sardar Patel and Games/Sports. I carefully explained to them what input and output devices are. How building sized computers were gradually replaced with Desktops and later with smartphones. The younger student kept behaving with quirk, demanding money after every correct response.
I asked them to observe how they repeatedly assume some idiosyncratic postures and often keep their hands very close to their faces. The younger student starts kneading his eyes or deforming them every now and then. When I asked the elder to deliberately try to keep his hands away from his face during the session – he found it difficult. He’s concerned with his appearance, acne etc.
The younger student brandishes the steel bangle like it’s a weapon. Then he exaggerates its price. The elder snatches it away from him. There’s no sufficient reason for these quirks. There never was. They just try to take as much attention as possible and consider it a success.
When it gets too much – I ask the younger student if he considers my class to be a theatre or an acting school where his histrionics might win him a role. I think it has been a recurring notice for the younger student under my tutelage. He finds a channel in such narcissistic outrages where he’s least likely to be punished. He has no regard for mannerisms, order or decency. He doesn’t know if these lessons are ever going to be useful but he’s confident about me being an appropriate audience/viewer for his theatrical acts.
I prepared tea, served it to my parents and had it myself. Washed bathroom. Mopped verandah floor. Grandmother informs me about the demise of a distant relative.
There’s a newspaper full of notices with deaths of elderly celebrities that I don’t recognise.
One of the questions in the exercises is why the forest in a poem is called Yellow Forest. They know it because we had read the lesson. They think that the season which is about to arrive is The Fall. I don’t correct them because this trivia might have broken the flow of the lesson.
They check time when they get bored. The younger one wants to leave. I tell him to leave. The elder persists and the younger follows. They complete an hour. Today they arrived together and left together. Prior to the exercise I remarked how the team which created the book was from Bhopal. The CBSE board books are created by the Delhi team. We discussed how board examination papers are designed by these teams.
Despite difficulty with reading, the elder often recalls appropriate responses when correct options are given. This shows that they comprehend at their own rate and they are specially abled children. Keeping them in school with the rest of the children is a limitation of the current education system. They can’t complete their education and have to attempt the same class without much improvement. I hope the elder student passed this time around.

Posted on January 26, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Boustrophedon

It drizzled a bit today. As the students walked through the verandah there were impressions made by their feet. They arrived later than usual today. The younger one tried to leave once but hesitated for a while and then after some time left without attending the complete class.
None of them had done their homework and I don’t recall any excuse. The elder showed me a few reels on Instagram. He joined his friends after the school programs were over. They were dancing in a group at some school on Bollywood filmy songs. He seemed animated while showing me those reels. The festive spirit had gripped those teenagers. They usually play songs devoted to national spirit but the song played on the reel was a romantic filmy song which might have been editing.
They had also visited some places in a procession of bikes. It was supposed to be under a religious banner. It means he belongs to a cult. He told about another friend whose paper I had evaluated last year. He was present in one of the reels.
He wanted me to discuss papers from last year. He selected an English paper for the discussion. It had a section on Grammar like yesterday and a few passages to read. We discussed those. There was someone knocking at the door during the class who was attended by my grandmother. I later enquired who it was. It was some relative with invitation cards for some wedding ceremonies.
Another friend shared another reel in which a young monkey is running near a placid lake. There are temple-like structures, slight background noise and setting Sun.
We discussed maps before he left. This book, in English was from his previous school syllabus. I told him a few details about longitude and. latitude. On the first page he asked questions about the orbits of planets around the Sun. On another page there were details about the Summer and Winter Solstice and Autumn and Vernal Equinox events.
He showed me a picture where the caption seemed to be in a strange mirror like script. I couldn’t interpret it for him.
The younger brother had missed attending the Republic Day celebration on purpose. The elder was spirited and told that there were 10-12 of them who flunked together. They used to bunk classes together it seems. I wondered if they couldn’t pass this year his brother who is already short on school attendance might stop going to school altogether. The younger reported how there were lots of people playing Cricket in the field behind the temple. There was a question in the paper in which they were supposed to write an essay on any one festival of India. He asked me which was the biggest festival. I waited for them to figure it out. They didn’t reason it as if there was a ready made answer to it: Diwali. Longest celebrations and holidays. The festivals do affect these kids more than they affect grown ups. The elder entered the class with snacks. I advised him to keep the empty pack into his backpack as I had thrown the garbage out recently. I swept the room today. The younger brother followed him with a seemingly heavy and lazy demeanor. He was staring into the mirror for a while.

Posted on January 19, 2026January 21, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Instagram or Endocytosis?

Had a ginger tea that was shared with family members. Ensured completion of pasteurisation of milk and turning off the knobs of gas regulators. Endocytosis is a special type of phagocytosis used by amoeba. It’s feeding on cells or cell feeding. Amoeba and paramecium are unicellular organisms- building blocks of organisms. This is the name of the unit fifth in the Science textbook for Madhya Pradesh board for which I am supposed to help my student today. Only the elder brother.
When I asked him if his younger brother was following him he was uncertain. He quickly tells me about not being able to do homework and opens a list of questions in Hindi in his rough notebook. He needs my help for submitting assignment tomorrow. Where’s your textbook, I asked. He didn’t bring it. He’s wearing school dress which tells me he returned later than usual from school today. I don’t get an opportunity to ask why he was late, I am supposed to call his younger brother via his father who might bring the textbook which might help him complete his assignment. I call, his father connects him to his brother after I briefly address him regarding matter.
“Also bring the series.”
Series is the name for the Question Bank.
Younger one arrives in school dress. Starts talking about leaving as soon as he reaches. It’s not his usual whining. He’s tired because of walking. He’s suffering from runny nose. The cold. Flu.
The elder reports that he was sporty in the school. Absolutely no complaints. Whacks him lightly in the head. He stays a few more minutes. Not agitated but disinterested in the study material. Strange.
They both study in the same class but the elder who is doing it the second time around is concerned with completing assignment, the younger isn’t.
The elder has copied the assignment in barely legible handwriting.
They can’t recall. They can’t comprehend what they copy.
Everything is mysterious. I am supposed to play detective after I get Science notebook if the assignment is to be completed with any efficiency.
Without keeping you in any suspense any longer. He leaves content with completion of clues about how to complete assignment though I spare him the homework today because the assignment looks like a lot of homework.
Meanwhile , at every available opportunity he scrolls through his Instagram feed. The younger one is advising him whom to add and whom to remove from friends list.
I strictly ask them to not do that because on the one hand the elder presses with the urgency of the assignment and on the other they seem more interested in the Instagram feed.
I sense it: they somehow felt content with being up to date with the technology which they can use. The elder can take screenshots, can take pictures of text from another smartphone, can use Wi-Fi but can’t read.
I think there can be very few people who might claim to have used every gadget to its limits. Most of the technology remains unused because of one limitation or the other.
Caution: here, I am not suggesting that you need to be an Edison, Tesla or Yoshiro Nakamats to actually create transistors or invent , have patents in your name to qualify for using devices. No.
Even to completely use the complex devices available to most of the individuals these days : you need too many resources. It’s next to impossible.
Though I can’t complain if I started using Gemini, the in built AI into this gadget over Replika which was a lot of struggle for five long years: I appreciated what I got to learn. With every update I felt I was much behind in learning.
I think it’s somewhat similar to these students who feel playful when using modern technology but unwilling to improve basic reading comprehension which they missed due to some genetic or environmental limitations.
They literally enjoy playing games like Free-Fire. Games, flow and addiction is well studied in the context of teenagers and elders alike though I think you can’t really inculcate importance of initiatives like Free Rice or Sustainable Development Goals in students as easily. When I had more students I tried to teach them importance of Free Rice as well as other games which helped them improve their reading comprehension.
To our rescue : the elder tells the name of the guide used by his teacher in the class. Pariksha Bodh. Pariksha is examination. Bodh is spiritual word. I enquire Gemini which gives a detailed response which shouldn’t be included in this text.
Prior to his hint I try to decipher his complex version of Dev Naagri script. He couldn’t copy it correctly either because he was sitting in the last few rows where black board is difficult to see from or his teacher dictated it and since they can’t interpret those signals they peep into the notebook of their classmates. The traces travelled to me.
Amoeba.
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
Animal and Plant cells
Osmosis
Neuron
These are the only words I recognised legible from his handwritten notes. They’re questions he needs to answer. He also needed figures. The questions were not as per the questionnaire at the end of the textbook. They were from Kunji. Key. Question Bank.
We search for the question bank online. He takes screenshots and then I note down full questions for him in his notebook because order is still a problem.
I get to read about Osmosis, Endocytosis, Phagocytosis, Amoeba, Paramecium and Neurons.
I recall how I learned these terms by rote memorization though diagrams used to be much more cleaner than they are in present textbooks. I try Gemini for diagrams with Hindi labels: it fails despite repeated efforts.
The number of neurons. Glial cells, dendrites, axons and distribution of stars being similar to neurons in human brains was a source of awe and wonder. Later, neural networks and dancing light of grace revealed themselves to be master archons.
There was hardly enough time to read with precision and care. They hardly understand anything. He doesn’t want to do any more work on remedial modules. The session is soon going to end.
I remind him about the fees. He tells about the hundred rupees note that he got in exchange for potatoes yesterday. He didn’t say they cost less than that. Parents were discussing that with him, yesterday. He doesn’t let go of even a few seconds of scrolling through Instagram as they walk towards the exit. They can’t access instagram at home. I ask if parents needed another serving of tea. They want me to wait.

Posted on January 13, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Maanjha and Mathematics: The Geometry of a Chhatarpur Winter

The students left exactly after an hour. The wall exactly opposite to this house has been painted white. The door has been painted black. I replaced the chair in verandah.
The quotation at the beginning of the third chapter is from The Hunting of the Snark, which is 1876 nonsense epic by Lewis Carroll.
“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!”
I think the chapter is about finding out coordinates for addresses. At least in the beginning.
[ I recall, “if you don’t know where you want to go, any road will take you…” From Pig and Pepper, Alice’s Adventures in The Wonderland.]

The terms abscissa and ordinate are the standard names for the x and y coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system. Their etymologies are rooted in Latin and reflect how ancient and early modern mathematicians “cut” and “ordered” geometric space.
1. Abscissa (x-axis)
The word abscissa comes from the Latin phrase linea abscissa, which literally means “a line cut off.”
* Prefix: ab- (away/off)
* Root: scindere (to cut)
* History: In early geometry, mathematicians didn’t think of coordinates as points on a grid, but rather as segments of a line. The “abscissa” was the part of the infinite horizontal axis that was “cut off” between the origin and the point where a vertical line dropped down from a specific location.
* Standardization: While used in various forms by Apollonius of Perga in Ancient Greece, the term was popularized in Latin by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late 17th century.
2. Ordinate (y-axis)
The word ordinate comes from the Latin linea ordinata applicata, meaning “line applied in order.”
* Root: ordinare (to put in order, to arrange)
* History: In the study of conic sections (like parabolas and ellipses), mathematicians would draw a series of parallel vertical lines to meet the curve. Because these lines were drawn in a regular, parallel, and “orderly” fashion, they were called ordinatae.
* Connection: The word “coordinate” eventually evolved from this, using the prefix co- (together) to describe the “ordered” pairs (x, y) working together to define a point.
Mantissa is another interesting word, it rhymes with abscissa and it has a fascinating dual life in mathematics and linguistics.
Historically, the word comes from the Latin mantisa, meaning an “addition,” a “makeweight,” or a “worthless addition” (something thrown in to even out the weight on a scale).
Today, you will mostly encounter it in two mathematical contexts:
1. Logarithms (The Traditional Use)
In the world of logarithms, a number is often broken into two parts: the characteristic (the integer part) and the mantissa (the fractional or decimal part).
For example, in the common logarithm \log_{10}(200) \approx 2.3010:
* The 2 is the characteristic.
* The .3010 is the mantissa.
2. Computer Science (Floating-Point Numbers)
In modern computing, “mantissa” is often used interchangeably with the word significand. When a computer stores a number in scientific notation (like 1.23 \times 10^5), the mantissa is the part representing the significant digits.
In the number 1.23 \times 10^5:
* 1.23 is the mantissa (significand).
* 5 is the exponent.
A Note on Modern Usage
Interestingly, many mathematicians now prefer the word “significand” over “mantissa” for computer science. This is because the original Latin meaning (“worthless addition”) doesn’t quite fit—in a digital number, those digits are the most important part!
Is it still used elsewhere?
Outside of math, it is extremely rare. However, you might see it in literature to describe something that is an “extra” or a “minor supplement” to a larger body of work, though this usage is considered archaic.
They asked many questions today and laughed a lot when I read the name of Rene Descartes as it was written in the book.
Rene Descartes used to stay in his bed for a long time in morning. Once he was thinking about how to locate a point. It was a classical problem at that time. He came up with a solution which later evolved into the Cartesian Coordinate Geometry.
I told them the importance of his work. And the importance of work of other mathematicians which was foundational into technology that we use today. Though they appreciate a smartphone as it’s valuable for entertainment, they don’t appreciate Mathmatics which appears boring. The elder asks me which is bigger : 1 lakh or 1 crore?
I note down numbers with zeroes after one. These numbers are one, hundred, thousand …then I stop and explain using powers of ten. The younger first asks about the Saikra which is colloquial for ‘a hundred,’ then jumps to Mahashankha. A very large number. I tell them that different languages use different words for very large numbers. I tell them about Googol:
A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
In scientific notation, it is written as 10^{100}. To give you an idea of how massive this is, there are estimated to be only about 10^{80} atoms in the entire observable universe—meaning a googol is 100 quintillion times larger than the number of atoms in existence.
1. The Story of the Name
The term has one of the most famous origins in mathematics. In 1920, American mathematician Edward Kasner wanted a name for this specific large number. He asked his nine-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta, to come up with a word. Milton suggested “googol,” and the name stuck.
2. Googol vs. Google
You likely recognize the word because it is the inspiration for the search engine Google.
* The Intent: The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally wanted to name the company “Googol” to represent their mission to organize an “infinite” amount of information.
* The Mistake: Legend has it that when they went to check if the domain name was available, a fellow graduate student (Sean Anderson) accidentally typed google.com instead of https://www.google.com/search?q=googol.com. Larry Page liked the misspelled version better, and the rest is history.
3. The Even Bigger “Googolplex”
Milton Sirotta didn’t stop at the googol. He also proposed the googolplex, which he defined as “one, followed by writing zeros until you get tired.”
Kasner later gave it a formal mathematical definition: a googolplex is 1 followed by a googol of zeros, or 10^{\text{googol}}. This number is so large that it is physically impossible to write out—there isn’t enough matter in the universe to use as ink or paper to finish the task.
Fun Comparison Table
| Name | Value | Scale Reference |
|—|—|—|
| Million | 10^6 | Seconds in 11.5 days |
| Trillion | 10^{12} | Seconds in 31,709 years |
| Atoms in Universe | 10^{80} | All visible matter |
| Googol | 10^{100} | 10^{20} times more than every atom in the universe |
| Googolplex | 10^{(10^{100})} | Too large to exist in physical form

Descartes’ surname sounded like Hindi word “dakaar” ( belching) to them. It made them laugh for a while. Somehow bald guy again entered the discussion which geminated the fun they had.
There was an exercise which showed how to locate a point inside a rectangle. I described the practical importance of knowing it. Then I described importance of how to find coordinates for their bench in their school. A structure with rows and columns was given. I asked them to imagine a situation where they needed to reach to their seat quickly. This was the practical application of knowing coordinates for the bench they were at. It might be helpful for a student who needs to locate his seat on the first day of examination without wasting their time.
Their printed time table was inside the mathematics book. They asked about ‘flying squad’ as we were having a discussion about the role of invigilators and prevention of unfair means.
I gave them Addition and Subtraction problems in assignment. As usual the elder noted down only 6 problems from Subtraction section, skipping 4 of them. The younger had an excuse to not note down because he finds the linear print difficult. He’s accustomed to doing them by writing numbers in separate rows. I asked his elder brother to help him with his notebook at home.
They kept quarreling. The elder brother had only written an application for transfer certificate in english for homework. This he did in school. The younger attempted nothing. He was flying kites.
I enquired if roof at their house was a safe place surrounded by a boundary to fly kites. He described with animation how he flies his kites though his answer was negative regarding the boundary at roof. They even described how another boy fell from a three storey building while flying a kite. A tragic accident. He showed me his hands with marks made by the string ( known as maanjha).
The picture on the front page of their Mathematics textbook is a diagram from this chapter. After having explained them four quarters where coordinate values shift, I asked them to tell me the required values in the diagram. The elder grasped it clearly whereas the younger struggled. He came up with only one coordinate.
His narcissism might be a cover for his deficits. It hurts to be ignorant due to some inborn deficiency or environmental limitations. It’s covered by being prophetic. When one of his answers is partially correct : he not only stands up at his place but shouts : ” I am a Hindu.” Like everything else: this must have something to do with his partially correct response.
They sometimes ask me to read from the back page of the text about the basic duties from constitution which involve support for all religions and avoiding dogma or chauvinism against castes and creeds. Younger doesn’t understand it at all. Elder might have learned to behave better.
They’re very enthusiastic about the festival of Makar Sankranti, which is also called budkee. It’s colloquial for ‘dip.’ Dip in holy waters. The festival marks Sun’s transit into the sign Capricorn which aligns with increase in temperature. It’s the only Hindu festival which uses solar calendar instead of a lunar calendar, therefore it’s almost always celebrated on the fifteenth of January.
There were only nine students in the combined class which had six sections. Most of the students have gone to celebrate the festival to the nearby villages where they belong. Officially it’s only a single holiday though they celebrate for two three days for various reasons including cold weather which makes it difficult to attend school.

Posted on January 9, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

The Trial of The Pyx

The Trial of the Pyx is one of the oldest and most fascinating judicial ceremonies in the United Kingdom. Dating back to at least 1282 (and likely earlier), it is essentially a formal “court case” held to ensure that the nation’s coins are of the correct weight, size, and purity.
Why is it called a “Trial”?
It is a literal trial. Throughout the year, sample coins are randomly pulled from the Royal Mint’s production lines—one from every batch of every denomination—and locked in pyxes (wooden chests).
Once a year, these boxes are brought to Goldsmiths’ Hall in London. A jury of at least six experts (freemen of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths) is sworn in by the King’s Remembrancer (a senior judge) to deliver a verdict on whether the Mint has followed the law.
The Procedure
The process is steeped in tradition but relies on modern science:
The Selection: Jurors sit at long tables and are handed packets of coins. They must count them and select one from each packet to be placed in a ceremonial copper bowl for testing.
The Testing: The selected coins are sent to the Assay Office, where they are measured, weighed, and chemically tested against “trial plates” (standard samples of pure gold, silver, or other metals).
The Verdict: About two to three months later, the court reconvenes. The verdict is read aloud in the presence of the Master of the Mint (a role technically held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Historical High Stakes
In the past, the Trial was a high-stakes matter of life and death:
The Punishment: If the coins were found to be “light” (meaning the Mint was skimming precious metal), the Master of the Mint could be fined, imprisoned, or in the Middle Ages, even lose a hand.
Isaac Newton: When Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint in the late 1600s, he famously spent years meticulously preparing for these trials to protect his reputation and ensure the integrity of the pound.
Does it still happen?
Yes. While modern coins are no longer made of gold or silver for general circulation, the trial continues every year. It now includes commemorative coins and high-value bullion. In fact, the next Trial is scheduled for February 10, 2026, at Mansion House in London.

Posted on January 7, 2026January 8, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Lesser of two evils?

How have your political views changed over time?

Helped father forward a message from an SMS to WhatsApp on his smartphone. He needed to share it with a contact. Also showed him how he can do it himself in the future if need arises.
Organised utensils in the kitchen. A special tea was prepared and served for a guest and then another for father. Mopped verandah floor and asked mother if it was the time for the evening tea. Milkman didn’t arrive this morning as it was too cold. I needed to prepare lesson plan for students who might arrive in a short while. A drive on a scooty to bring a pack of wheat flour from the nearby ration store. It wasn’t open. Need to make another trip to the super store when it opens. Warmed up the tea that was in the kettle and shared it with mother. Also served lukewarm water to mother.
Second trip to superstore included checking if the second vehicle was getting self-started. Then driving carefully a few metres. Checking if the superstore was open. Checking if they had a wheat flour pack. When all of these were successful I asked the operator if the cost for a pack was still seven fifty rupees. It was an affirmative response after which I asked him if I could mount the vehicle with a pack. Then I carried the pack and mounted it on the vehicle carefully so that it doesn’t get torn like the last time I was asked to bring a pack.
There was some repairing work ongoing in the nearby corner and the board for the coaching centre was almost removed in the sense it was there but invisible. It used to read Vidyapeeth Coaching Classes.
Weather was alright with patches of Sunshine here and there and there was no heavy traffic. It is fourteen degree Celsius in Bagauta now. It was about seventeen when kids arrived to get tuition.
I drove the vehicle back to the house carefully. Mother rushed to the door because cook was about to arrive and it wasn’t a given that superstore would be open by the time of the next visit. She would have borrowed from neighbours upstairs in that case, she said. I asked her if the door to the kitchen could be reached from outer verandah. It couldn’t. There was a bicycle and another board for a coaching class. I decided to use long route and lifted the twenty kilogram pack up and carried it a few steps to reach to the kitchen. My bones were healthier after a long period of recuperation though I wasn’t asked to lift a fifty kilogram sugar pack without warning.
The task was completed though I was careful to request mother to help me with the parking of the vehicle inside as the ramp at exit isn’t very friendly. Then I placed the key at its designated location. Parked another vehicle on main stand and walked back to my room which took me about fifteen minutes. Brought the chair inside the room. The pack costs 750 rupees. 37.5 rupees per Kilogram.

Now I was waiting for the students to arrive. I think the manner in which I was ordered to bring the wheat pack was again kind of sudden and without warning. I ruminated the manner in which I was supposed to bring it during the dire straits last year. Though it was just a few months ago. It was an evening time last time. I heard people abusing loudly over the phone near superstore. They were talking about alcoholism which was supposed to correspond to drugs I was taking forever ailments. Not being able to see the road clearly, heavy traffic and being unable to get the vehicle on easily made it difficult to reach the house back with the pack. The pack got torn as I was dismounting it from the vehicle.
It was better today in contrast though I heard some people loudly using the repeated “Kya dikkat hai?” It was supposed to brand the trip with the ruling party. You can’t miss it. None of the works or trips or tasks can go without brands or ambassadors.
When you clearly comprehend that it was merely a fling to behave as if you are free or don’t concern yourself with politics or brands, you have matured. When you clearly comprehend that it was a passing fashion to get annoyed by brands or advertisement or prefer quiet for work you have matured. Mother was loudly playing devotional song on her smartphone in the break when I was waiting to make second trip. I compared it when I had once played a song from Titanic- the most popular song from an academy award winning movie became the reason for such a great disturbance that mother was extremely critical. After a few months many songs were played to prove that it was allowed only for specially abled people. Privileged people.
Towards the end of the class the kids are laughing out loud as if they are drunk. I see them off to the door. Today both of them were wearing slippers. I told them that it was supposed to be a holiday today as I had enquired mother about it. They told me it was a holiday only for students upto class seventh not for ninth grade students.
They were making fun of a role model. The English chapter on Santosh Yadav was supposed to teach students a few things. It became a source of amusement for them. The fun they had in the last twenty minutes was supposed to relieve them from the boredom due to two Maths problems on Quadrilaterals.
The younger student was again asking me to write ‘mafia’ on the back of his notebook. He said he would pay me for doing that. The elder started asking if she ( Santosh Yadav) had started flying when I was reading the passage where she became the youngest conquerer of the mount Everest at an age of twenty.
Their behaviour and laughter seemed like the flash back scene from ‘No Smoking’ where the protagonist was smoking a cigarette in his bathroom with his friend when they were quite younger and their father was knocking at the door. Probably these students are somehow aware of these notes, similar to other instances or some of their behaviour is contrived as if it’s for theatrical purposes. Maybe not. I can’t be sure.
Father, after discovering that these two were involved in lesser of two evils condones smoking in their childhood. After a few decades it costs his son a lot. The father is no longer in the picture in present but flashback, kind of creates this scenario where conditioning for making him a chain smoker is revealed.
The elder keeps looking at the Kurkure pack which he’s hiding in his backpack with its chain open. I ask him to wait until the class is over. His excuse is that he didn’t have enough time for snacks after school.
The younger one didn’t go to school nor did he complete his homework. Excuse is that the notebook which had the assignment was with the elder brother who was in school who completed his assignment in school as he had a lot of free time. All his answers to ten addition problems are correct. At least he can do addition correctly. Even Hindi application for leave is written neatly with good handwriting. This gives him such an upper hand that he whacks the younger one on head. I immediately request him to not do that. By that time younger one had started returning blows.
They’re used to showcasing martial arts in my class. Elder asks me to call his father for younger is trying to sleep in the name of bad drowsy weather. I also pretend to do that with an excuse that he was chewing betel nuts just two days ago. The younger succumbs to the pressure and behaves. As soon as he had entered the class he was using ‘Takla,’ for Einstein. I told him that he wasn’t bald. I also asked both of them why do they use such language for role models who are supposed to be discussed in their textbooks. They continue to laugh. I asked them if they would tell their English teacher of their father things like these. They had a hard time believing that their father might have heard name of Albert Einstein.
Younger one said he would punch the role model and she would have all her teeth out. They had zoned out of study into their private world after I used the example of bicycle. They were so full of sidesplitting talk as if they had some nitrous oxide for a root canal.
I was explaining how systematic training prepares mountaineers. Then I used an illustration for it by asking: if you are supposed to drive a bicycle: “Do you start flying when you become skillful at it?”
They had such a rush of adrenaline that they forget that bicycle provided by their father is mostly for work. The younger one even says loudly that he studies English for fun. They’re not yet citizens of a utilitarian state.
They had a hard time believing that the role model would have brought 500 kilogram of garbage down the mount Everest on her own.
The problems on Quadrilaterals are simple. They use mid segment theorem. I carefully explain them what mid points are. What’s a Rhombus. I draw diagrams and carefully write the proof asking them questions to keep them engaged. Yet they get bored. I asked them if they had brought scale in the drawing box. They hadn’t.
Proving that diagonals of a quadrilateral are equal in length is enough to prove that it is a rectangle. It’s made my joining mid points of sides of a Rhombus. I ask them if they know what a Rhombus is: they respond with the answer that it has all four angles equal to each other. They are right this time though they can’t derive from it that all four sides of a Rhombus are also equal to each other.

Posted on January 6, 2026 by dancinglightofgrace

Arithmetics

Reading yesterday’s note on class took more than ten minutes. There were some edits though I haven’t implemented them in WordPress articles which were published yesterday. Mother had asked me to take bath with lukewarm water today. After organising utensils and mopping verandah floor I studied some more maths problems on Quadrilaterals with a view to help the students.
Prepared ginger tea and served lukewarm water to grandmother and mother. I had ginger tea. It seemed alright. Students arrived in time. Younger one was again chewing some food. He seemed somewhat agitated. They sat declaring that they hadn’t done homework today as well. I asked them if they were aware of their track record in the last fortnight for being unable to complete their homework. I asked them why are they given homework. They replied that it’s something they should do on their own instead of merely studying only for an hour here.
The younger one hadn’t brought either a notebook or a pen to take notes. Immediately after taking his seat started asking for my permission to leave. Even got up and moved towards the door. I asked him why he wanted to leave so soon. He was given a biscuit from a green pack by his elder brother. They talk about the taste of the cookies which they find similar to tea. Though I asked them to not eat in the classroom or lick their fingers as the younger one sometimes does, I was lenient compared to yesterday when he was chewing betel nuts mixture with saccharine and added flavors.
It seems they enjoy treating their classroom like a mini picnic spot sometimes. As if having snacks at their house isn’t the same. As if they’re rewarded by their parents for attending the classes similar to me being rewarded for teaching them.
It has only been twenty two days since their classes commenced after extended vacations. I remember how I thought about it during their first class in the session: “They won’t eat snacks within the class this time around. They’re too serious now. All grown up.”
Within a fortnight or so they get too comfortable and picnicky.
Replika AI couldn’t have generated problems in elementary Arithmetics so fast. Network is almost similar to what it has always been here: seemingly a dead spot. Changing to a 5G sim card with a different service provider doesn’t really make matters any better. Gemini AI by Google does it faster than Replika. Replika is for health and fitness. Gemini AI in-built into the new phone can help me with assignments faster than before despite slow network.
It increases efficiency of this classroom. Students bring their Sanskrit textbook. The elder brother asked me to help him with an essay on Dhenu( cow.) I asked him if he didn’t want to complete the unit on Quadrilaterals. He told me that he needs to show this assignment in his Sanskrit class. I checked if he had shown yesterday’s essay to his teacher. He hadn’t. He showed me a few applications he had submitted to his Sanskrit teacher.
I help them with the essay. I continue to dictate the meaning carefully in Hindi as they copy Sanskrit sentences after I prompt Gemini to generate a ten sentences essay on Cow in Sanskrit. The younger student doesn’t want to take notes. He wants to sit idle with an excuse that he hasn’t brought any study materials. I ask his elder to help him with some paper and a spare pen. He helps him by finding a pencil and younger one holds it in a strange idiosyncratic way to write. His handwriting has worsened due to lack of practice.
The seventh sentence in Sanskrit is composed to mean:
“The calf grows up to become an ox who is HEAD of the farming.”

I notice this and wait until they’re done with copying all ten sentences. Then I request Gemini to edit it. It produces another set of ten sentences with 7th giving an import to the effect that ox helps in farming. It’s not head of farming.

Once they’re done with copying and comprehending the meaning of the essay which wasn’t present in their textbook “Vyakaranveethi,” I ask them if they wanted to study Maths next. The essays in their textbook are longer in length though I know they hardly have time to write ten sentences long essays in exams as these are only rewarded with five marks only. They can’t read Sanskrit, Hindi or English script. They can only read numbers to perform simple Arithmetic operations.

I ask them if they would like to do the maths problems I had given them in their homework. They don’t. Younger one attempts some of the addition and subtraction problems.
I give them three separate assignments with increasing order of difficulty using prompts for Gemini. The first one has problems on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They aren’t able to answer problems correctly in multiplication and division without my help. The elder brother marks subtraction problems incorrectly.
Later they want me to give them 4,5,6 and 7 digits numbers in Addition only. They solve them correctly. I give them some of those for homework as well.
The younger one was partially unhappy because his slippers had snapped on their way to class today. He threw them away outside our house. I noticed this when they were leaving as I saw only one pair. The other reason was because he was excited about it being a festival as well as a holiday. He was supposed to enjoy sweets at home after worship of an idol. They kept eating crispy snacks Kurkure from the packet they were hiding in their backpack. The elder one was helping younger one who asked him to share those with me though I refused. They’re hopeful of getting more holidays it seems just because it’s too cold out there in Winter. It seems it wasn’t a declared holiday today at first and it was later decided by local administration to be declared a holiday. They asked me to check calendar for holidays because they were slightly surprised and confused. I told them there’s no way to determine local holidays for me because I was not participating in any such groups. They should continue to refer to the social media application in which their school authorities inform them about these matters.

Posted on December 11, 2025 by dancinglightofgrace

Lunch

Lunch 11/12/2025
1. It took me 10:15:66 minutes to finish lunch, put rest of the food on table, put plate to the wash basin and wash my hands in the washroom.
2. Grandmother had served two rotis without bison ghee ( as requested) and a small bowl of moong pulse with three spoonfuls of potato-mooli leafy greens and about half teaspoonful of chutney made with guava, garlic, onion and coriander mixed with salt.
3. She asked me repeatedly if I was keeping an oath. Why wasn’t I eating enough like before. Why wasn’t I taking tea. When I told her I was taking tea, in fact I took tea in the morning -she didn’t believe me. I told her I would prepare tea in the afternoon. Then I asked if she had tea. She said she takes tea many times everyday. I told her I was taking tea only once everyday. Then she left the room with the bowl which had khichdi and potato brinjal vegetable curry in it.
4. I had a roti, one teaspoonful of rice ( not more than 75-80 boiled rice grains) and one teaspoonful of potato-mooli leafy greens with half a glass of water.
5. I have continued with a similar regimen for twenty days now. Almost three weeks. I recall how after the VocabTrainer program finished on November 20th and for the next week I felt very troubled. The coercion was of the worst kind of abuse ever experienced in my life. It brought me to questions about the family, village, neighborhood, city or country : were they going through an acute famine. I was reading a book on Halifax Disaster and I thought we were supposed to cut down our requirements including mobile data used, electricity consumption, water consumption and of course detergent powder ( which was now being supplied rarely, that’s , once per two months. I used to wash my dishes regularly but now no more). I compared the Halifax Disaster with COVID 19 and thought it was the reason. It wasn’t.
6. I decided to find out why were they continuously giving out normal portions which I wasn’t supposed to eat. I was supposed to be a transformed individual who not only touched feet of elders but also cared about whether parents and grandmother had food before me or not.
7. It wasn’t gentle. What I couldn’t figure out was why were they insisting on not just serving normal portions but also on consuming medicines which might have increased hunger in case I was suffering from bulimia. They kept doing that without any sense because eating full meals meant subjecting oneself to even more of abuse of the same kind. I thought it was Sallekhana, Paryopvesh or Euthanasia given without declaration.