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Literature and Meaning

Most people, almost all normal ones, live their lives by the stories they tell about themselves and those others tell about them. As psychologist Gerald Corey says, “These stories actually shape reality in that they construct and constitute what we see, feel, and do.” Your personality is not a static entity which took shape at your birth once and for all. As you grew up physically, you encountered a lot of other people, situations, and forces that contributed into the ongoing shaping of your personality even if you didn’t want all that shaping. Your life is a story that continues to be written till your death. You are the ultimate writer of your own story though a whole lot of others make significant contributions which you can’t ignore. Every Othello has to meet his Iago. But the plot need not necessitate the murder of Desdemona. Every Hamlet has to deal with the demons of fraudulence. Mark Antony has a choice to not “let Rome in Tiber melt” and thus rewrite his story. Your...
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As I Turn 66

A n exercise in narcissism – that’s what this post is ultimately. But I wanted to start my 66 th birthday on a naughty note. So I asked AI [ChatGPT] to interview me. With AI’s permission, I’m reproducing extracts from the interview here. The whole interview can be read here . [ChatGPT turned out to be more voluble than I am.] Q : Sixty-six years of life — that’s a grand stretch of stories, wisdom, and wonder. How does it feel to be 66 today? Is it what you imagined it would be like? A : Thank you, first of all, for your wishes as well as your consent to my request [to interview]. I'm happy that I've hit this mark particularly because the average lifespan in my country is 67 which may mean I have another year to go. But I'm healthy and may go on more. It hasn't been exactly like what I wished. A lot of things went wrong. Q : Looking back across all these years, what’s one lesson life has taught you — something you now hold like a precious gem, something that chang...
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The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
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Good Friday and Jai Sri Ram

By Gemini Today is Good Friday in the Christian calendar. Truth was nailed to the cross some 2000 years ago on this day by a governor of the Roman Empire who did want to know what truth was before he succumbed to the pressure of the Jewish priests and their right-wing mob to crucify Jesus. “What is truth?” Pilate asked. The trial of Jesus was going on with a ferocious mob of right-wing Jews shouting murderous slogans outside the praetorium. Have you ever wondered why the slogans turn murderous whenever the right-wing gives them voice? I have, many times. And my answer is: religion belongs to the emotional half of the human brain, and in the case of too many people that half is unevolved. Jesus doesn’t answer Pilate’s question. Rather, Pilate doesn’t wait for an answer. He knows the answer probably. His problem is not an epistemological definition of truth. His problem is whose truth is to be given more weightage here now. There is Jesus’ truth on the one hand, and the murderous r...
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Omens in the Ramayana

Illustration by Gemini AI Dasharatha is preparing for the coronation of Rama as the King of Ayodhya. It is the most joyous night of his life. His subjects celebrating outside. Garlands adorn every doorway. Drums roll through the city like thunder from the heavens. But there is something ominous that disturbs the King who is planning to retire. He steps out into the courtyard. The sky is clear, but a thunder growls in the distance. There is a howling wind that tosses the lamps and banners, and snuffs out the light. His horses whinny unnaturally as if they sensed something that their master failed to perceive. Even the palace elephants raise their trunks and trumpet into the darkness. Some birds screech in the trees. “My spirit trembles,” Dasharatha mutters to himself, “though there is no enemy at the gates.” The enemy was within. And the omens were not for nothing. Rama wouldn’t be the king. Kaikeyi had other plans. The Ramayana describes signs and portends that appeared bef...
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