Author: Arun Elassery

People Like Us!

There is this need that alternative-type people have of looking for a community of ‘People Like Us’. Maybe this is a need that everyone has but it is more noticeable in the alternative crowd because they are a small minority. Me and my wife were on this search when we, long ago, took our three children out of school. The need was to quickly find other people who had taken their children out of school and then to quickly become friends with them so that quickly our children would have other children to play with. Let me tell you a small story about the end to that search. We, confused new homeschoolers, were in a weekend meeting of people who were all talking about homeschooling on an internet forum. It was a full day meeting on a farm outside Bangalore and in the second half after lunch something struck me as odd and I asked this very vocal and passionate young man if his child/ children were homeschooled. He said he wasn’t married and didn’t have any children but in the course of time when they appeared he would definitely homeschool them. He was very sure about that. We saw that a community of homeschooler ‘People Like Us’ wouldn’t happen and we decided to go it alone!

However, our need to look for alternative-types of ‘People Like Us’ went on for a long time. We visited Auroville, we visited a large community that was being started near Bhopal, we went and spent time at many enthusiastic organic farming experiments. We didn’t find any ‘People Like Us’. We realised that this may be because we are really weird. Because it looked like many people were finding people like themselves. And some of these communities stayed together for longish times before they seemed to inevitably (a) lose their energy or (b) mostly became ‘vayuranilam amritamatedham bhasmantam shariram’, in other words vanished without a trace. I also know of some people who gave the better part of their lives to movements that ended messily. These people, as we can expect, continue to be very bitter about their experience.

Now the problem before me is that all the workshops of SIDH attract a certain type of ‘People Like Us’ and I am sure that communities built around this idea are not sustainable. I am still thinking about it, meanwhile my mantra is what a blogger I follow often says: ‘Building community is learning to live with the stupid idiot next door!’ I kind of believe that is exactly how it is. What do you think?

Illuminations: Passages for contemplation

I thought of collecting together some of the short passages that are given in the Illuminations book and creating a blog post around them. If you go through these stand-alone passages, some of them may strike you as meaningful or intriguing. If you have a discussion with another person (or persons) about the meaning of the passage(s) that struck you, some or all of the following may happen:

a. You may see that your perspective is different (sometimes radically) from the perspective of others.
b. You may notice how the meaning gets built up as the conversation proceeds. As if you are collaborating with the person(s) to build a common meaning.
c. You may notice that the passage served the purpose of starting the conversation but the collaborative meaning-making may take the conversation to a totally different place.
d. You may find the process joyful and exciting and it may open you up to many new insights.
etc.

Here are some of the passages. Give the process a try…

1. No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no symphony for the listener.

2. A bud unfolds into a blossom, but the boat which one teaches children to make by folding paper unfolds into a flat sheet of paper.

3. Comfort isolates; on the other hand, it brings those enjoying it closer to mechanization.

4. Beauty in its relationship to nature can be defined as that which “remains true to its essential nature only when veiled.”

5. One must work, if not from inclination at least from despair, since, as I have fully proved, to work is less wearisome than to amuse oneself.

6. Enthusiasm applied to things other than abstractions is a sign of weakness and disease.

7. Myth embodies the nearest approach to absolute truth that can be stated in words.

8. Association with human beings lures one into self observation.

9. Evil knows of the Good, but Good does not know of Evil.

10. Once, when Denys and I had been up, and were landing on the plain of the farm, a very old Kikuyu came up and talked to us:

“You were up very high to-day,” he said, “we could not see you, only hear the aeroplane sing like a bee.”

I agreed that we had been up high.

“Did you see God?” he asked.

“No, Ndwetti,” I said, “we did not see God.”

“Aha, then you were not up high enough,” he said, “but now tell me: do you think that you will be able to get up high enough to see him?”

“I do not know, Ndwetti,” I said.

“And you, Bedâr,” he said, turning to Denys, “what do you think? Will you get up high enough in your aeroplane to see God?”

“Really I do not know,” said Denys.

“Then,” said Ndwetti, “I do not know at all why you two go on flying.”

Illuminations Workshop at Bangalore

Last week I was part of a workshop for parents and teachers of Udhbhavaha school in Bangalore. The methodology (based on A.K. Saran’s ‘Illuminations’) was to read through some short passages, discuss them in small groups and then present it to the other participants. The passages are taken from the works of authors like Ananda Coomaraswamy, Franz Kafka, Simone Weil etc. who have written about modernity and its effects on us. The words are mostly not very complicated but a participant told me that she was having trouble understanding many passages and I asked her to give me a specific example. She pointed to:

“Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.” (This is from ‘Wedding Preparations in the Country’ by Franz Kafka)

I told her what I thought it meant and told her it was just my interpretation and she had to try to figure it out for herself. I also went through one or two more passages with her and when she got into her small group discussion she seemed to have an easier time with the passages. The first thing that you notice when you get into a group discussion is that everyone comes up with different, sometimes contradictory, interpretations and this opens us up to different ways of looking at things. Over the course of the discussions we realize that what we take to be the certain meaning is actually very tentative and the passages are open to many interpretations.

I was wondering why she was having trouble understanding passages written in simple language and talking to her I had a moment of insight. I realized that she was trying to get a clear, certain meaning out of the passages because her long educational training taught her to not tolerate any tentativeness. She needed to close the loop on each of the passages by fixing the meaning in her head and many of the passages were not allowing her to do so. It made me realize that there were two different paradigms involved here. The paradigm of the certain pushed hard by mainstream modern education and the paradigm of the tentative that is probably related to the older slower-moving world that had the unknowable mystery of life itself as its centre.

‘In Broken Images’ by Robert Graves seemed to put this whole experience in its proper context. The poet says:

He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.

Premalekhanam

(Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer is my favourite author. I translated a long story of his, ‘Premalekhanam’ (Love-letter), some 25 years ago. This is how the story begins…)

Dearest Saramma,
In these difficult times when life is yearningly youthful and the heart brimming over with love, how do you, my dearest friend reconcile yourself to it all?

As far as I am concerned— every moment of my life I spend in my love for you Saramma. And what about you Saramma? Requesting you to think deeply and accept my love with a sweet sweet reply.

Saramma’s
Keshavan Nair

Having written off thus in one shot, Keshavan Nair caught himself suddenly looking back over his shoulder. A sort of vague sense of Saramma standing behind with her soft sweet smile. Oh! just a feeling. He read the letter through. Has poetry. Has Tatvagnana. Has mysticism too. Why?— Doesn’t it contain the whole great secret of Keshavan Nair’s heart? The letter now appears better than intended. He folded it in four and put it in his pocket. Getting out of the bank he turned and walked up a narrow bylane. Then a sudden thought: When given the letter will Saramma read it and poke fun at him? Or will she give a reply? And if so what will her reply be? What stands out foremost from Saramma’s character is poking fun… He recalled an incident from the past: A joyful discussion with Saramma. The jokes turned to the subject of women. Saramma told of some great poet or other having sung of women being God’s supreme creation. Keshavan Nair laughed. “Women have only moonlight inside their heads”, he said. He also told the true story of a seven times wedded gentleman as an example. That gentleman’s seventh life partner in the act of eagerly requesting for something fell downstairs and landed on the granite floor below. The gentleman was coming back after leaving her in the hospital when he met his brahmachari friend and was telling him,

“The accident is not so serious!”

“Didn’t you say that the skull cracked open?”

“Yes that’s true.”

“Can you see the brain matter?”

“Hey!” — the gentleman who has intimately known seven women is telling the nityabrahmachaari: “Just because the skull is cracked does it mean you can see the brain?- isn’t she a woman?”

“From which I infer”, Keshavan Nair told Saramma, “that the heads of women are filled with moonlight.”

Saramma had only laughed politely, a bit, at hearing that. Saramma has not talked about it afterwards. Yet wouldn’t the news that Saramma’s head was also filled with moonlight have touched her? Would she bring the topic of moonlight and make fun of him when given the premalekhanam? Isn’t she a female? Must have forgotten the whole thing. Keshavan Nair entered the hotel thinking this way. Not in the mood for coffee. Nevertheless he drank a cup and smoked a cigarette and sat in the hotel a long time thinking: When give the premalekhanam will Saramma give a sweet-beautiful reply or will she make fun of him? The thing called love has not touched Saramma! Lakhs of times Keshavan Nair has tried. But, whenever, quietly he made a move to open love’s scent bottle, she closed her nose! What is this bad smell? Doesn’t he bathe nowadays? This is the manner in which she looks at him! What way then to make her love him?

(Read the full translation here)

Nitishatakam

I had bought Bhartrhari’s Nitishatakam many years ago when I thought of learning Sanskrit by directly reading original texts and their translations. This project did not take off and I was going through the thin book again yesterday and thought of sharing some of the initial slokas as this weeks blog post. (I apologize in advance for any mistakes in copy-pasting the content below and if you point them out in the comments I will correct the mistakes)

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अज्ञः सुखमाराध्यः सुखतरमाराध्यते विशेषज्ञः ।
ज्ञानलवदुर्विग्धं ब्रह्मापि तं नरं न रञ्जयति ॥३॥

पदार्थ – अज्ञः = न जाननेवाला (मूढ़) व्यक्ति, सुखं = आसानीसे, आराध्यः = समझाया जा सकता है। विशेषज्ञः = विशेषरूपसे जानकार (विद्वान्) व्यक्ति, सुखतरं = अत्यन्त आसानी से । आराध्यते =संतुष्ट किया जा सकता है, ज्ञानलवदुर्विदग्धं = ज्ञानके अंश (अल्पज्ञान) से गर्वित, तं नरं = उस मनुष्य को तो, ब्रह्मापि = ब्रह्मा भी, न रञ्जयति = नहीं प्रसन्न कर सकते ।

भाषार्थ – मूर्ख मनुष्यको शीघ्र ही प्रसन्न किया जा सकता है एवं विशेष बुद्धिमान् और भी आसानीसे अनुकूल बनाया जा सकता है। किन्तु थोड़ा-सा ज्ञान पाकर इतरानेवाले मनुष्यको तो स्वयं ब्रह्मा भी नहीं प्रसन्न कर सकते, मनुष्यकी तो बात ही क्या है ? ॥३॥

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यदा किञ्चिज्ज्ञोऽहं द्विप इव मदान्धः समभवम्
तदा सर्वज्ञोऽस्मीत्यभवदवलिप्तं मम मनः ।
यदा किंचित् किंचिद् बुधजनसकाशादवगतं
तदा मूर्खोऽस्मीति ज्वर इव मदो मे व्यपगतः ॥८॥

पदार्थ – यदा = जब, अहं = मैं, किंचिज्ज्ञः = अल्पज्ञ था (तो), द्विप इव = हाथी की तरह, मदान्धः मदसे अंधा, समभवं = हो गया था । तदा = तब, ‘सर्वज्ञः अस्मि’ = ‘मैं ही सब कुछ जाननेवाला हूँ’, इति = इस प्रकार, मम मनः = मेरा चित्त, अवलिप्तम् = गर्वसे युक्त, अभवत् = हो गया। (किन्तु) यदा= जब, किंचित् किंचित् = कुछ कुछ, बुधजनसकाशात् = विद्वानोंके संसर्गसे, अवगतं = सीखा, तदा = तब, “मूर्खोऽस्मि” = मैं तो मूर्ख हूँ, इति = ऐसा, ज्वर इव = ज्वरकी तरह, मे मदः = मेरा घमंड, व्यपगतः = शान्त हो गया ।

भाषार्थ – जब मुझे (शास्त्रों) का थोड़ा सा ज्ञान था तब मदसे उन्मत्त हाथीकी भाँति मैं अहंकारमें झूमने लगा और मनमें सोचता था कि मैं तो सर्वज्ञ हूँ । परन्तु मैंने विद्वानों के बीच रहकर कुछ-कुछ सीखना आरम्भ किया तब यह बात समझ में आई कि मैं तो मूर्ख हूँ और फिर मेरा सम्पूर्ण अहंकार ज्वरकी तरह समाप्त हो गया ॥८॥

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साहित्यसङ्गीतकलाविहीनः साक्षात्पशुः पुच्छविषाणहीनः ।
तृणं न खादन्नपि जीवमानः तद्भागधेयं परमं पशूनाम् ॥१२॥

पदार्थ – साहित्यसङ्गीतकलाविहीनः = साहित्य और सङ्गीतकी कलासे रहित व्यक्ति । साक्षात् = प्रत्यक्ष ही। पुच्छविषाणहीनः पशुः = पूंछ और सींगसे रहित पशु है। (वह जो) तृणं न खादन् अपि = घास न खाता हुआ भी। जीवमानः = जीरहा है। तद् = वह (उसका जीना)। पशूनां = पशुओंके लिये । परमं भागधेयं = अत्यन्त भाग्यकी बात है ।

भाषार्थ – साहित्य (काव्यादि) तथा संगीत (नृत्यगीत आदि) की, कलासे शून्य मनुष्य, पूँछ और सींग रहित साक्षात् पशु ही होता है। वह बिना घास खाये भी जो जीवित रहता है यह वास्तविक गाय बैल इत्यादि पशुओंका बहुत सौभाग्य है । (क्योंकि यदि मूर्ख मनुष्यरुपी पशु भी घास खाना प्रारम्भ कर देंगे तो प्रकृत पशुओंके लिये घास बचेगी नहीं । अतः पशुओंका भाग्य अच्छा है कि ये घास नहीं खाते) ॥१२॥

US Hegemony and its Perils

This was the title of a public document that was put up on the official Chinese foreign affairs website on 23th February, 2023. In the bluntness with which it lays out its case, this document is almost a challenge to the public image of the USA.

The Introduction and the conclusion of the document are quoted fully below to let you see the nature of the document…

Introduction

Since becoming the world’s most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and wilfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.

The United States has developed a hegemonic playbook to stage “color revolutions,” instigate regional disputes, and even directly launch wars under the guise of promoting democracy, freedom and human rights. Clinging to the Cold War mentality, the United States has ramped up bloc politics and stoked conflict and confrontation. It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a “rules-based international order.”

This report, by presenting the relevant facts, seeks to expose the U.S. abuse of hegemony in the political, military, economic, financial, technological and cultural fields, and to draw greater international attention to the perils of the U.S. practices to world peace and stability and the well-being of all peoples.

(There are five detailed sections following this which are titled:
I. Political Hegemony—Throwing Its Weight Around
II. Military Hegemony—Wanton Use of Force 
III. Economic Hegemony—Looting and Exploitation
IV. Technological Hegemony—Monopoly and Suppression
V. Cultural Hegemony—Spreading False Narratives
The five sections lead to the…)

Conclusion

While a just cause wins its champion wide support, an unjust one condemns its pursuer to be an outcast. The hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games are exerting grave harm. The historical trends of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are unstoppable. The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.

Countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and take the lead in pursuing a new model of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue and partnership, not confrontation or alliance. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and rejects interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The United States must conduct serious soul-searching. It must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.

(The full document is available at: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/202302/t20230220_11027664.html)

Child-centred education

You may be surprised that child-centred education is what the national policy documents on education advocate. Take a look at the following inspirational quotes from the National Curricular Framework (NCF), 2005, document. The fact that the government recommendations do not get implemented is probably because of the inertia of the system.

“Education is not a physical thing that can be delivered through the post or through a teacher… There is a mutuality to the genuine construction of knowledge. In this transaction the teacher also learns if the child is not forced to remain passive… From personal experience I can say with assurance that a lot of my limited understanding is due to my interaction with children.”
– From the Preface to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, recommends that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. This syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote-learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986). The success of this effort depends on what steps the school principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions.
– From the Preface to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005

This document frequently revolves around the question of curriculum load on children. In this regard we seem to have fallen into a pit. We have bartered away understanding for memory based short term information accumulation. This must be reversed particularly now that the mass of what could be memorized has begun to explode. We need to give our children some taste of understanding following which they would be able to learn and create their own versions of knowledge as they go out to meet the world of bits, images and transactions of life. Such a taste would make the present of our children wholesome, creative and enjoyable; they would not be traumatized by the excessive burden of information that is required merely for a short time before the hurdle race we call examination.
– From the Preface to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005

Further, there is a deep disquiet about several aspects of our educational practice: (a) The school system is characterized by an inflexibility that makes it resistant to change; (b) Learning has become an isolated activity, which does not encourage children to link knowledge to their lives in any organic or vital way; (c) Schools promote a regime of thought that discourages creative thinking and insights; (d) What is presented and transmitted in the name of learning in schools bypasses vital dimensions of the human capacity to create new knowledge; (e) The ‘future’ of the child has taken center stage to the near exclusion of the child’s ‘present’.
– From chapter 1 of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005

Why we homeschooled our children

I was thinking about it recently and jotted down some reasons that may have been at the back of our minds when we decided to homeschool our children.

Reason 1: I learnt a lot of complicated real-life engineering in the first six months of starting my first job as a bridge design engineer. I also became convinced that my engineering professors at IIT were less engineer-like than my office seniors who were busily designing complicated structures (and seemingly enjoying the process). If the objective was to become a good bridge design engineer, it seemed like my IIT experience added zero value in that direction. After I gained some experience designing bridges, I used to tell my non-engineer friends that if they remembered 10th standard mathematics, I could make them structural engineers in half an hour. The point I am making is about the futility of all the complicated subjects that were uselessly forced on me as if to somehow fill four years of classroom time.

Reason 2: School and college education is a great corrupting influence on most people who pass through it. Let me explain. Most people are forced to desperately get marks to meet the expectations of their family and friends. The corruption that ensues is a byproduct of the intense competition that is at the back of the whole rigmarole of marks that we have to display to the world. Some years ago I heard that the cut-off marks to get into Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University was 100%. In this scenario getting higher marks by any means possible becomes very desirable. In IIT we used to get some children who got in because they sat behind or next to and copied the answers from someone who had also gotten through the entrance exam.

Reason 3: Both my wife and I are resistant to being pushed around by authority figures. This manifests as a kind of childish rebellion which is not very endearing and many times irritates people who know us. So, when my boss or my father or the Government says—don’t ask so many questions and just do what I am telling you—my first impulse is to resist and say ‘NO’. I may think about it and later change my mind but I have found from long experience that when someone is pushing something hard it is more for their benefit than mine. This rebelliousness appears like unstable or angry behaviour to people and they tend to think that I specialize in doing the exact opposite of what the whole world says is good. So, when someone says send your children to school otherwise you will ruin their lives, it is expected in my circles that I would question the logic of it.

This is an incomplete list compiled to help you introspect and see whether your experience of school and college was similar…

Covering the earth with leather

“Bodhicharyavatara composed in the 8th century C.E. by Shantideva is one of the most celebrated text of Mahayana Buddhism… In this masterpiece, the author, who belonged to the Madhyamika school of Nagarjuna, describes in detail the conduct of a Bodhisattva.”
– From the foreword by The Dalai Lama to the English translation of Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara by Prof. Parmananda Sharma

In one of our workshops, Samdhong Rinpoche made a reference to a sloka by Shantideva that talked about how anger is always counterproductive. The sloka said something like ‘If there is a solution what is the use of anger and if there is no solution again what is the use of anger.’ I was intrigued! I started looking for the original Sanskrit sloka online and could not find it anywhere. But I tracked down and bought the book with the original Sanskrit and English translation and managed to find the quote. This is what it looks like…

यद्यस्त्येव प्रतीकारो दौर्मनस्येन तत्र किम् ।
अथ नास्ति प्रतीकारो दौर्मनस्येन तत्र किम् ।। १० ।।

  1. If remedy is possible, what use is ill-will there? If no remedy exists, ill-will will be of no avail.

If there is a way to resist or remedy the erosion of ‘ishta’ or to counter the onslaught of ‘anishta’, there is no place for anger or feelings of ill-will in the process. The remedy to forestall the undesirable should be sought by renouncing anger. Contrarily, if a remedial course of action does not exist, anger will be equally futile. Hence the best course under both situations is to overcome ill-feeling and eschew anger. Such an attitude alone will lead to happiness.

– From Page 186, chapter 6, of Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara translated by Prof. Parmananda Sharma

I am still going through it but let me share another short sample that shows the power of this text…

कियतो मारयिष्यामि दुर्जनान् गगनोपमान् ।
मारिते क्रोधचित्ते तु मारिताः सर्वशत्रवः । । १२ ।।

  1. How many enemies, limitless as the sky, shall I kill? With the killing of the angry mind, all enemies are killed.

भूमिं छादयितुं सर्वं कुतश्चर्म भविष्यति ।
उपानच्चर्ममात्रेण छन्ना भवति मेदिनी ।। १३ ।।

  1. Where shall be available so much of leather as to cover up the whole earth? But, just with the leather of the shoes, the whole earth is covered.

बाह्यभावा मया तद्वच्छक्या वारयितुं न हि ।
स्वचित्तं वारयिष्यामि किं ममान्यैर्निवारितैः ।।१४।।

  1. Similarly, it is not possible for me to restrain external thoughts. So I shall restrain this mind of mine. What need for me, then, to restrain other things?

– From page 119 and 120, chapter 5, of Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara translated by Prof. Parmananda Sharma

Joyless education

“I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me… I am verily persuaded that I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from that, in which the reader is likely to see me.”

– From ‘The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy’ by Laurence Sterne

Tristram shandy was published in 1759 and the quote above is from the beginning of the book. Somewhere in the initial chapters, Tristram Shandy speaking as the narrator talks about the rules of writing set by a famous Roman poet and makes it clear that this book is not going to follow any rules. He makes good on his promise and the book has:
– Chapters that go missing and reappear somewhere later
– A blank page where the narrator asks us the readers to draw the woman of our dreams
– A black page to mourn the passing of a friend
– A marbled page from which the readers are supposed to derive some complicated meaning
– Many squiggles and ‘*’ that represent parts of the story
– Fake and real Latin pages and their fake and real translations
etc.

The blurb on the back cover says:
“No one description will fit this strange, eccentric, endlessly complex masterpiece. It is a novel about writing a novel in which the invented world is as much infused with wit and genius as the theme of inventing it. It is a joyful celebration of the infinite possibilities of the art of fiction, and a wry demonstration of its limitations.”

It is the funniest book that I have ever read!

I wanted to talk about this book on the blog to make a point about our education system. Many years ago I was talking about ‘Tristram Shandy’ among a group of friends and acquaintances and a girl who had a masters degree in English said that the book seemed familiar. We talked some more about it and it turned out that she had studied the book and passed an exam on it during her BA or MA. She did not remember any of the details and till she heard me talking about it she had not realized, and nobody had told her, that it was a funny book.

I am just wondering how many other joyous and fun things we make drab and lifeless as we go through the grind of school and college education…