पेड-पौधे, जन्तु-जानवर आदि के बारे में गहरी जानकारी रखने में मेरी कभी दिलचस्पी नहीं रही, इसलिए मुझे अधिकांश पेडों और जन्तुओं का नाम नहीं पता । यह स्थिति और अधिक कठिन तब हो जाती है जब किसी दूसरी भाषा में कोई लेख पढा जा रहा हो । अब जब अपनी ही भाषा में पौधों का नाम नहीं पता, तो भला दूसरी भाषा में क्या पता चलेगा ! Continue reading
These days whenever I hear the work ‘black’, all I can think of is corruption, black money and Swiss account 😦
Image source: Wikipedia
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Surname is a very involved subject, which encompasses caste, profession, language and native place. For example, you need not be told where your colleague Bandyopadhyay hails from or why your neighbour Agarkar is not a Bihari. As long as surnames are unique — Rao, Gowda, Chaturvedi, Mukherjee or Kulkarni — everything is fine. However, whenever there is an overlap — obvious or apparent — new questions arise. An example could be Trivedi. Today we would discuss few such cases. Note that here our aim is not about the classification and nomenclature per se, nor do we attempt at understanding the logic behind surname and its distinction from Jati, Varna, or Gotra. Here we are only concerned with the migration or movement of people as reflected in their surnames. Continue reading
Singer and actor Sonu Nigam enthralled the IIT Kanpur community with his melodious songs and charming looks.
Incidentally, this is my 100th post on Pradyot. I thank you all for your beautiful company. Let us continue discovering new things. Lots of love!
You may like : Sonu Nigam at IIT Kanpur.
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P. Ravishankar gave voice to Sonu Sood to create Pasupathi, the epitome of terror, in the movie Arundhati. Photo source:- P. Ravishankar: Alchetron, Sonu Sood: Pinterest, Sonu Sood in Arundhati: YouTube.
After handing over the items to me, the shop assistant turned to his colleague and in a low voice said:
— Dangerous Khiladi. That is the title. Watch it.
I was startled, and looking at him, asked –
— Have you seen it? Continue reading
Information source: List of top international rankings by country (Wikipedia).
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Routine annual inspection of our school went well and smoothly. After the education inspector left, the teacher asked our class –
— So, how was it?
Everybody said “Fine madam!”, but one girl remarked –
— Madam, I think they should have done a surprise inspection, then only they would have known the correct picture. Otherwise everything here is planned and prepared — questions, answers, reading, everything — how would he know the truth? Continue reading
The Scream, by Edvard Munch, 1893. Image source: Wikimedia.
In an amusing short story, Satyajit Ray narrated a funny incident in the life of an artist. This artist had worked for several days on an oil painting that he titled ‘The Somnambulist’, and which he wanted to submit as his entry in a competition sponsored by the Academy of Fine Arts of the state government. On the last date of submission, instead of sending his painting, by mistake he dispatched the cloth that he had used to wipe and clean his brushes. However, the organizers considered that dirty cloth to be a modern art work and selected it for the first prize!
For most of us, this incomprehensibility is the underlying criterion for any work of art to be classified as ‘modern art’. It goes to an extreme that whenever we fail to understand any artwork, we label it as modern art! Continue reading
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