Old is Gold....

You might be wondering why am I saying "Old is Gold", when we are on the verge of entering a New Year.... But Nokia has forced me to say this...

This post is just to enlist a few things, which I miss these days. I enjoyed these features of my Nokia 1200 (at a throwaway price) but couldn't get them in Nokia Asha 302, even after paying heftily...(Compared to Nokia 1200)

Here are a few important of them:

1. Torch
2. Calendar: Nokia 1200 had a variety of calendars including Indian Lunisolar Calendar (the one which determines our festivals) and Indian National Solar Calendar (the scientific calendar approved by our constitution as our national calendar). Most of you may not recall what that National Solar Calendar is, but it was my topic of interest and so this mobile version of that was pretty handy. Indian Lunisolar Calendar I used to use regularly to check the holidays, be it Diwali, Holi or Ganapati...
3. Messaging in Devnagari: Messaging in Hindi/Marathi was another thing that I used to do religiously, at least while sending wishes on Indian festivals. Many a times, it's annoying to read a spelled version of Sanskrit/Marathi/Hindi texts and specially so, when it involves literary/poetic words. 
4. Call Screening/Screened Messages: Screening the unwanted numbers (some people playing pranks or insurance agents etc.) would lead to peace of mind, as those calls or messages wouldn't disturb your routine.
5. Inserting a number in a message: If I want to send a text message and insert some contact number in between, that could be done conveniently in Nokia 1200. In Nokia Asha 302, if you try doing something like this, it becomes a multimedia message and you can't send it to someone having basic phone. 
6. Timing of Message Delivery: In Nokia Asha 302, we get to know the delivery timings of the received messages and sent timings of the sent messages, which is actually totally useless. What one is interested in knowing is, when does your message get delivered or when has the sender sent it. This was exactly what I got in Nokia 1200 and it's highly necessary during network congestion or when you are out of reach...

Obviously, there are many new things in this new phone, since I have paid  more, but then in my opinion it doesn't make sense to remove the good features of the earlier versions.

जपानी (日本語) शिकताना - 3

जपानी (日本語) शिकताना - १

जपानी (日本語) शिकताना - २

हिसाशीबुरी  दा ना (खूप दिवस झालेत ना आपण भेटून ..). आजच्या भागात एका भाषेत विचार करून दुसऱ्या भाषेत बोलायला गेलं  की  कशा गमती होतात ते बघूयात .

याचं अगदी क्लासिक उदाहरण आमच्या भावना सेन्सेई नेहमी सांगतात. एकदा एका मुलाला "काल क्लासला का आला नाहीस? " असं  विचारल्यावर "मे गा किमाशीता (शब्दश: भाषांतर: डोळे आले होते.)" असं  उत्तर मिळालं . आता सेन्सेई पण मराठीत विचार करू शकत होत्या म्हणून ठीक. पण एखाद्या जपान्यानी हे उत्तर ऐकलं  कि तो बिचारा सॉलिड गोंधळणार हे काय प्रकरण आहे म्हणून....

 आणखी एक उदाहरण त्यांनीच सांगितलेलं... एकदा जपानमधल्या एका कंपनीत मीटिंग सुरु होती.   मीटिंग बरीच लांबल्याने थोडा ब्रेक घ्यावा असं  ठरलं.  भारतीय मंडळी कंपनीच्या कॅन्टीनमध्ये बसून पुढचा अजेंडा ठरवत होती. तितक्यात एका जपानी माणसाचा फोने आला. ही सारी कॅन्टीन मध्येच आहेत हे कळल्यावर तो जपानी माणूस म्हणाला, "We will also go". हे ऐकून भारतीय माणूस वैतागला. आपण ह्यांना उशीर होऊ नये म्हणून बाहेर न जाता कॅन्टीनमध्येच जेवतोय आणि आता हे कुठे निघालेत..शेवटी जेव्हा दुभाष्या मध्ये पडला तेव्हा कळलं की  तो जपानी माणूस प्रत्यक्षात "आम्ही कॅन्टीनमध्ये येतोय", असंच  सांगत होता. पण जपानीत आपली आहे ती जागा सोडणं म्हणजे "जाणं " असल्यामुळे त्यांनी शब्दश: भाषांतर करून "We will come" च्या ऐवजी "We will go", असा शब्दप्रयोग केला. सुदैवानं, दुभाष्याला हे बारकावे माहित होते म्हणून ठीक... 

कालही वर्गात अशीच मजा झाली. एखाद्या गोष्टीचं  कारण कसं  सांगायचं  तो वाक्याचा प्रकार आम्ही शिकत होतो. उदाहरणादाखल प्रत्येकानी एकेक वाक्य बनवा असं सेन्सेईनी सांगितलं . माझ्या एका मैत्रिणीनी "काल लग्नाला गेल्यामुळे मी क्लासला आले नव्हते" असं वाक्य बनवायचं ठरवलं. आता मराठीत स्वत:चं  असो की  दुसऱ्याचं, लग्न ते लग्नच. पण जपानीत लग्न समारंभाला वेगळा शब्द आहे. त्यामुळे "काल मी लग्नाला गेले होते" याचं  शब्दश: भाषांतर केलं की "काल माझं  लग्न होतं", असा अर्थ निघतो. साहजिकच तिचं वाक्य ऐकताना हा फरक माहित असणाऱ्यांची हसून पुरेवाट झाली.  

परवा असाच एक घोळ मी पण केला. "जिंको" म्हणजे Population, असंच लक्षात असल्यामुळे bacteria ची जिंको असा शब्दप्रयोग मी वापरला. आता खरं  तर जिंको म्हणजे लोकसंख्या. त्यामुळे मी नक्की bacteriaच्या संख्येबद्दल बोलतीये की माणसांच्या हे न कळल्यामुळे समोरची जपानी मुलगी पूर्णच गोंधळली आणि मला हा प्रकार कळलाच नाही. नंतर एका मैत्रिणीने जिंकोतला जीन म्हणजे माणूस हे लक्षात आणून दिल्यावर माझी ट्यूब पेटली. शब्द वापरण्यापूर्वी कांजी डोळ्यापुढे आणणं  सेन्सेईना का गरजेचं  वाटतं ते मला पहिल्यांदा इतक्या प्रकर्षाने  जाणवलं.  

असंच आणखी एकदा आम्ही काही वाक्य बनवत होतो. माझ्या मैत्रिणीनी "जखम झाली की रक्त येतं " असं  वाक्य बनवलं. नेहमीप्रमाणेच वाक्य आधी मराठीत बनवून नंतर जपानीत भाषांतर केलं आणि मग झाली कीपरत गडबड. जपानीत आतून बाहेर यायला वेगळा शब्द आहे. आणि तो न वापरल्यामुळे रक्त असं समोरून पळत पळत भेटायला  येतंय असं दृश्य डोळ्यापुढे आलं  आणि आम्ही पोट धरून हसायला लागलो.

पूर्वी एका लेखात मराठी पुस्तकं इंग्रजीत भाषांतरित करताना "जेवायला पाने घेतली", "लोक तमाशा बघत होते" अशा वाक्प्रचारांचे भाषांतर करताना विशेष काळजी घ्यावी लागते हे वाचला होतं . आता दिवसेंदिवस त्याचा प्रत्यय यायला लागलाय...

Back to Books

Haven’t written since long, as I was busy with shifting, volunteering for/attending workshop, studying, teaching, practicing Japanese song etc. Finally today, got time to look at two long abandoned friends of mine – books and blog.

New Additions to My Bookshelf

Recently, had a chance to visit a book exhibition at Institution of Engineers hall, Pune. The USP of the exhibition was the almost throw away price tag of Rs. 50/-. Obviously, we (me and deep) couldn’t resist the temptation of collecting the books in a hope to read them sometime later. We both had two visits to the exhibition – one individually, one together, which yielded in exactly a dozen books per head. Here is a snap of 11 of them. The 12th one “The Dictionary of Derivatives”, is in the department as it is the one that would help convert incomprehensible Greek letters of finance into apprehensible English letters. Don’t know when I am going to read so many of them, ‘coz even one per month would take entirely two years, during which there are surely going to be new entrants in the queue. But for the time being, I am happy to see these new books resting elegantly at my new home. After a 4-year long stay at hostel, which had enough space only for statistical books, this leisure stuff reminds me of my home, back in Aurangabad.

In school days, mostly my vacation plans would center only around books. Now a days I feel like going back to that time, when I wouldn’t keep the book down, until finishing it. Such days are now rare. In fact, so is the influence of computers, that after clicking this photograph, I thought of pressing ‘undo’ to rearrange the books in place. I hope the batch arrival of them would now help me to get back to them soon.

डॉ. सुखात्मे - नीलफलकाच्या निमित्ताने

आजच्या स्वातंत्र्यदिनी भारतमातेच्या एका सुपुत्राबद्दल लिहावं वाटलं, म्हणून ही पोस्ट. आजवर अनेक क्षेत्रात अनेक महान हस्ती होऊन गेल्या. पण बहुतेकदा त्या त्या क्षेत्रातील लोकांनाच त्यांच्या कार्याची महानता जाणवते. इतरांपर्यंत ती फारशी पोहोचतही नाही. कधी कधी तर अगदी आपल्या घरापासून हाकेच्या अंतरावर राहणाऱ्या दिग्गजांचीही आपल्याला माहिती नसते. "पुणे ऐतिहासिक वास्तू स्मृती समिती"च्या नीलफलक लावण्याच्या अतिशय स्तुत्य अशा उपक्रमामुळे आपण सामान्य लोक निदान आसपासच्या परिसरातील ज्येष्ठ - श्रेष्ठांना ओळखायला लागूत.

नीलफलकाची ही कल्पना मुळात लंडनमधली. लोकमान्य टिळकांच्या तिथल्या वास्तव्यस्थानी असा फलक लावला गेला, तेव्हा त्याने प्रेरित होऊन जयंत टिळक आणि दीपक टिळक यांनी असा उपक्रम इथे सुरु केला. काळकर्त्या शि. म. परांजपेंपासून सुरुवात करून आजवर या समितीने पुण्यात 116 फलक लावलेत.

मागच्या रविवारी पद्मभूषण पुरस्कार प्राप्त डॉ. सुखात्मेंच्या प्रभात रोडवरील "सांख्यदर्शन" या घरावर 116 व्या फलकाचे अनावरण झाले. डॉ. पांडुरंग वासुदेव सुखात्मे - संख्याशास्त्रात जागतिक स्तरावर पोचलेलं नाव. लंडनमध्ये संख्याशास्त्रात Ph. D. करून भारतात परतल्यावर बनारस हिंदू विद्यापीठात प्राध्यापक पदासाठी त्यांनी अर्ज केला. विद्यापीठाचे तत्कालीन कुलगुरू पं . मदनमोहन मालवीय डॉ. सुखात्मेंच्या शैक्षणिक गुणवत्तेने प्रभावित झाले खरे, पण संख्याशास्त्राचा भारताला गरिबीतून बाहेर काढायला कसा उपयोग होणार या पंडितजींच्या प्रश्नाला समर्पक उत्तर न देता आल्याने डॉ. सुखात्मेंनी याच प्रश्नाला आपलं जीवनध्येय बनवलं. बनारस विद्यापीठातील प्राध्यापकपद न स्वीकारता राष्ट्रीय कृषी संशोधन संस्थेत (ICAR) संख्याशास्त्रात संशोधक म्हणून त्यांनी काम सुरु केले. त्यांच्या अनमोल कार्यामुळे आज या संख्याशास्त्र विभागाचा विस्तार होऊन एक नवी संस्था IASRI उभी राहिलीये. भूक, कुपोषण या समस्यांवरील त्यांचं काम जगभर नावाजलं गेलं आहे.

केंद्र सरकारच्या सांख्यिकी व कार्यक्रम कार्यान्वयन मंत्रालयाच्या वतीने दर दोन वर्षाने एका ज्येष्ठ संख्याशास्त्रज्ञाला "डॉ. सुखात्मे पुरस्कार" दिला जातो. 2003-04 साली डॉ. बी. के. काळे तर 2011-12 साली डॉ. जे. व्ही. देशपांडे अशा दोन पुणेकरांना या पुरस्काराने सन्मानित करण्यात आले आहे. साहजिकच या नीलफलकाचे अनावरण डॉ. जे. व्ही. देशपांडे यांच्याच हस्ते करण्यात आले. त्यामुळे डॉ. सुखात्मेंच्या कार्याबद्दल डॉ. देशपांडेंच्या तोंडून "सांख्यदर्शन" मध्ये ऐकायला मिळणं आणि त्यानिमित्तानं अनेक संख्याशास्त्रज्ञांना भेटणं ही माझ्यासारख्या संख्याशास्त्राच्या विद्यार्थिनीसाठी पर्वणीच होती. शिवाय पद्मश्री डॉ. सुहास सुखात्मेंची भेट आणि त्यांच्या तोंडून त्यांच्या वडिलांच्या आठवणी ऐकणं हा तर एक अनपेक्षित बोनस होता. अशा रीतीने स्वातंत्र्यदिना पूर्वीचा रविवार एका उत्तम कार्यक्रमात सहभागी होण्याचा आनंद देऊन गेला.

If only - 2...

If only - 1...

Would it have hurt God to be a bit more systematic and create identical human beings, with identical thoughts… There wouldn’t have been any confusions, misunderstandings. World would have been a happier place and then people would have really believed in God. So, in the end it would have been a benefit to the God as well. Why didn’t he think of His own profit at least?

But if you were happy, would you really go to God just to thank him for whatever he has offered. If everyone around you is equally happy as you, you start thinking that getting this is your right and not a favour by God. So, no need to thank him. So, if God fulfills your wishes automatically, he won’t get any offerings. Seems God is far more foresighted and smarter than us. That’s why He is happy to keep us unhappy to secure His future.

But what about your future. We would have surely been happier to have like-minded people around us. There wouldn’t have been any quarrels, wars. So many lives would have been saved. Just imagine Duryodhan offering half of his kingdom to Yudhishthira, Ravan gracefully returning Seeta to Ram and so on. Surely, Mahabharata and Ramayana would have been a bit boring to read and watch. If everyone would have been logical and flexible, there would remain no uncertainty in life. It would be almost surely predictable.  कहानी में twist  आये बिना  climax का मजाही क्या ? So, it seems that God wanted our lives to be ‘खमंग’ and so he added so many flavours of dissent to it.

If you think a bit more calmly, is the person in front of you really illogical or stiff? Stubbornness on part of one person is irritating to you, but then are you not being equally stubborn in not accepting that person as it is? Why do you think that there is only one solution to the problem at hand? There may be an entire set of solutions, but the feasible region may vary from person to person as per his constraints. So, you have to optimize the results subject to the constraints of all those who are involved in this problem some way or other. That seems to be a real skill and it will be really thrilling if you could attain the optimum within the constraints of most, if not all. Because, the variety of these constraints is commendable. God seems to have put in a lot of thought and creativity in crafting each piece on this Earth, including yourself. So, why not simply enjoy being a part of this bigger plan and play your role in the best possible manner, instead of cursing God for this lovable diversity, without which the earth would have been a storehouse for the machine outputs?

If only - 1...

If only everyone in this world would have been a bit more logical, practical and flexible…

I think this is the thought which comes to most of us every now and then. I am not an exception. It seems that this thought is not going to leave me today. It is said that, “Compromise is an art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he got the biggest piece”, but for now, it seems that “Compromise is a situation where everyone is satisfied; not because that he’s got the biggest piece but because he thinks that he has made the biggest sacrifice”. Thus, compromises simply become deals, where you start calculating your profits, losses and net gains. And once these calculations start, you can’t resist the temptation of calculating the expected net gain in the near future, then in the far future and so on… You start thinking and planning about the future. All the self-help stuff you have read until now has taught you to be prepared for the worst. So, you start enlisting the possible obstructions on your route (your mind has the best creativity when it comes to visualizing the pits and falls, ‘coz “ मन चिंती ते वैरी न चिंती”), then think about the bypasses that you could take, expected cost for them and so on…. You are so lost in these, that you simply forget to enjoy whatever small piece of cake you have in your hand right now…

Then someone suggests the solution… Don’t look far away.

You somehow convince your mind to stay in the present after unlearning the things about future that you have read in those best selling stuffs. But your mind has been used to working so hard that it can’t stand still. It starts roaming aimlessly in your present as well. It starts comparing your piece of cake with what others have got in their hand – “that person over there has a smaller piece than mine, but it has got a cherry on it and the one here looks so yummy with such a thick creamy layer…”. Alas!, you got a new reason to be unhappy.

So, you can’t think of future, you can’t remain in present and you have already cried so much over the past that returning there is not even an option. It seems that God has been really cruel to mankind....

Enthralling Revivifications...

Recently watched two fascinating movies, both underscoring the fact that,

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.”

La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)

"This is a simple story, but not an easy to tell. Like a fable, there is sorrow… and, like a fable, it is full of wonder and happiness..."

With these words, starts our journey into a simple life of a simple person. A romantic waiter Guido trying to impress a  school-teacher Dora with his sense of humour and presence of mind. He manages to snatch her away from her fiancé while serving at their engagement ceremony. Later on he opens his dream bookstore. They have a beautiful son Giosué and it seems to be a perfect life until their little fairy world is shattered by the World War II. Then starts a struggle for survival... the story of life and death, where even a single unintended word or action may result in loss of your life. The courage, optimism and presence of mind of Guido (played by Roberto Benigni (who is director and one of the writers as well) and the innocence and faith of his equally witty son Giosué (played by Giorgio Cantarini) leave us spellbound throughout this second half of the movie.

The Shawshank Redemption

Topping the IMDB list for a long is a story of a successful banker who ends up in jail being charged with the murder of his wife. It's a story of a bonding between this snobby looking professional Andy (played by Tim Robbins) and an unsophisticated prison-mate Red (played by Morgan Freeman). How Andy proves that "Hope is a good thing" and "Salvation lies within" is really worth watching and worth listening to through Red's distinctive voice. The director Frank Darabolt scores by his attention to details.

The strategic planning by Andy is in contrast to the impulsive actions of Guido (in La vita è bella), but both live up to their images of a trained professional and a simple small-town waiter turned bookseller respectively. It is said that no words can convey the sweetness of sugar. The same holds true with these movies. You have to really experience them, to get a hang of it.

PS: Special thanks to Richa and Deep for recommending these masterpieces.

जपानी (日本語) शिकताना - 2

जपानी ( 日本語 ) शिकताना - 1

आमचा जपानीचा क्लास सुरु झाल्यावर थोड्याच दिवसात म्हणजे 6 ऑगस्टला "तानाबाता फेस्टिवल" होता. आकाशगंगेमुळे एकमेकांचा विरह सहन कराव्या लागणाऱ्या ओरिहीमे आणि हिकोबोशी या दोन ताऱ्यांचा भेटण्याचा दिवस म्हणजे हा सण. ओरिहीमे ही तेन्तेईची (आकाशाच्या राजाची) मुलगी. लग्नानंतर दोघांचंही आपआपल्या कामाकडे दुर्लक्ष होऊ लागल्यानं चिडून तेन्तेईने दोघांना आकाशगंगेच्या दोन बाजूंना टाकलं. विरहानं दु:खी झालेल्या ओरिहीमेवर दया आल्यानं मग तेन्तेईने वर्षातून एकदा म्हणजे चांद्र दिनदर्शिकेनुसार सातव्या महिन्याच्या सातव्या दिवशी दोघांना भेटण्याची परवानगी दिली. तो दिवस म्हणजे तानाबाता फेस्टिवल. ही सारी गोष्ट ऐकताना चंद्र-दक्ष-रोहिणी यांची चंद्राच्या क्षय-वृद्धी संबंधातली कथा आठवली. आणि जाणवले, संस्कृती भारतीय असो की जपानी की आणखी कुठली. सण - उत्सवांच्या कथांचा मूळ गाभा तोच.

नंतर आले ते कोरे, सोरे, आरे, दोरे. थोडक्यात हे, ते, ते तिथले आणि कोणते. यांच्यानंतर "वा" पार्टिकल लावून "कोरे वा कोकुबान देस" म्हणजे "हा फळा आहे", अशी वाक्ये सुरु झाली. मग कुणीतरी शोध लावला. बहुदा "दुरून डोंगर साजरे " प्रमाणे जपानी लोकांना दूरच्या वस्तू आवडतात. म्हणून दूरच्या वस्तूबद्दल बोलायची सुरुवातच " आरे वा" अशी होते. हे सारं अचल वस्तूंसाठी. साधारण अशाच धर्तीवर चल - अचल सर्वांसाठी चालणारे हे, ते, त्या तिथले आणि कोणते म्हणजे कोनो, सोनो,  आनो, दोनो . इथे, तिथे, त्या तिकडे आणि कुठे असं जागेबद्दल बोलायचं झाला की कोको, सोको,  आसोको, दोको; दिशांबद्दल बोलायचं झालं की कोचिरा, सोचिरा, आचिरा, दोचिरा; अशी को, सो, आ, दो ची जणू नवी बाराखडीच शिकायला मिळाली.

त्यानंतर शिकवली गेली ती वेगवेगळ्या देशांची जपानीतील नावे. भारत, इंडिया, हिंदुस्तान इतकी नावे कमी आहेत की काय म्हणून आता जपानीत भारताला "इंदो" म्हणायचं हे कळले. तीच गत आपल्या शेजाऱ्याची . चायना, चीन आणि आता च्यूगोकू . "देशवासीय" म्हणजे "~जिन ". म्हणजे आपण सारे "इंदोजिन". एकूणच या साऱ्यामुळे "भाषा" या प्रकाराचा धसका बसला की मग कुठल्याही भाषेचं नाव काढलं की पळून जायची इच्छा होणार, हे जाणूनच बहुदा प्रत्येक भाषेच्या नावानंतर “go” लावायची पद्धत आहे जपानीत. आपली मातृभाषा मराठीगो, राष्ट्रभाषा हिंदीगो आणि सध्या आपण शिकतोय निहोन्गो.

शिवाय नम्रपणे बोलायचं झालं तर शक्यतो आपल्या समोरच्या व्यक्तींना कधीही तू / तुम्ही म्हणायचं नाही . समजा वीणा नावाच्या मुलीला, तुला काय आवडतं , असं विचारायचं असेल तर “तुम्हाला काय आवडतं ” असं न विचारता “वीणासानला काय आवडतं ” असं विचारायचं . म्हणजे एखाद्या भारतीयानं हे ऐकलं तर अगं मग ती कोण वीणा तिलाच विचार नं, दुसऱ्यांना कशाला विचारतेस असा अनाहूत सल्ला येणार. पण मग थोडा विचार केला आणि “आऊसाहेबांची काय आज्ञा आहे आमच्यासाठी?” असं जिजाऊना आदरपूर्वक विचारणारे शिवराय आठवले.

एकूणात काय तर दोन भाषांमधली साम्यस्थळे आणि भेदस्थळे यांचा अभ्यास करणं हे मजेशीर ठरतंय.

जपानी (日本語) शिकताना - 1

खूप दिवसांपासून, खरं तर खूप वर्षांपासून एखादी परदेशी भाषा शिकायचा विचार करत होते. पण काही न काही कारणानं ते टळतच गेलं. शेवटी मागच्या जून - जुलैत सगळ्या गोष्टी जुळून आल्या आणि ऑगस्ट मध्ये अस्मादिकांचं जपानी प्रशिक्षण सुरु झालं. जपानी, चीनी भाषा म्हटलं की पहिली आठवते ती किचकट चित्रलिपी. त्यामुळेच बहुदा मी कुठलीही युरोपीय भाषा न निवडता जपानी निवडली. शिवाय शिस्तप्रिय आणि कमी साधनसंपत्तीच्या जोरावरही समृद्ध, प्रगत बनलेल्या, अणुबॉम्बमुळे बेचिराख होऊनही फिनिक्सप्रमाणे उड्डाण करणाऱ्या जपान बद्दल इतर देशांपेक्षा जरा जास्तच आपुलकी होती ती वेगळीच.

“はじめまして(हाजीमेमाश्ते)” असं म्हणून एकमेकांशी ओळख झाली आणि मग सारे वर्गमित्र हे ~さん(सान) बनले. प्रत्येकाच्या नावानंतर सान लावूनच हाक मारायची जपानी नम्रता अंगी बाणवायचा प्रयत्न सुरु झाला. स्वाती 先生 (सेन्सेई - teacher) आणि हर्षदा 先生 च्या मदतीनं, आम्ही जपानीच्या बालवाडीत प्रवेश केला. जपानला जपानीत “ 日本 (निहोन किंवा निप्पोन)” म्हणतात हे ऐकून "इंडिया - भारत"ची आठवण झाली आणि एक समान धागा मिळाला. जपानी राष्ट्रध्वजाचं वर्णन आणि इतर तांत्रिक माहिती घेऊन आमचा वर्ग सुरु झाला.

सुरुवातीला फक्त मौखिक असणाऱ्या या भाषेत आता ३ लिपी आहेत – हिरागाना, काताकाना आणि कांजी . हिरागाना आणि काताकाना या प्रत्येकी ४६ अक्षरांच्या वर्णमाला आणि कांजी ही पारंपारिक चीन कडून आयात केलेली चित्रलिपी. कांजींची संख्या तर हजारोत. त्यामुळे यंदा आपल्याला हिरागाना, काताकाना आणि १५० कांजी शिकायच्या आहेत हे ऐकून धडकीच भरली. चौकोनात प्रमाणबद्धपणे आणि ठराविक दिशेने आणि क्रमाने रेषा काढून वहीत उमटणारी अक्षरं मनाला आनंद द्यायची. पण हीच अक्षरं त्याच्या रेषाक्रमासह (stroke order) लक्षात ठेवणं अवघड जाई. शिवाय, अक्षरांचे उच्चार आठवणं म्हणजे अजूनच तारांबळ. हिरागानातला “से” थोडा थोडा देवनागरीतल्या “ए” सारखा दिसतो. मग इतक्या वर्षांपासूनच्या “ए ” ला क्षणभरापुरतं विसरून “से” म्हणणं, फारच अवघड होतं. मग थोड्या दिवसात आलं ते 日本語初歩 (निहोन्गो शोहो) नावाचं पाठ्यपुस्तक. त्यामुळे लेखन, वाचन आणि संभाषण अशा तीन पातळ्यांवर भाषा विकासाचे आमचे प्रयत्न सुरु झाले. शुभ प्रभात, शुभ रजनी या नेहमीच्या शुभेच्छांसोबतच घरातून बाहेर पडणं, परत येणं, जेवण सुरु करणं, संपवणं, दुकानात येणं इत्यादी अनेक गोष्टींसाठीचे नवनवे शुभेच्छासंदेश आमच्या शब्दकोशात भर टाकत होते. मराठी - हिंदी - इंग्लिश पेक्षा जाणवलेलं प्रमुख वेगळेपण म्हणजे अनेकवचनांचा अभाव. एक झाड पण की आणि अनेक झाडे पण कीच. इथंही इतक्या वर्षांपासून डोक्यात घट्ट बसलेल्या की म्हणजे किल्ली या समीकरणाला छेद द्यावा लागत होता. पण वचन एकच असलं तरी अनेक वस्तू झाल्या की मोजाव्या लागणारच. आजवर या चराचर सृष्टीतील यावज्जीव सजीव - निर्जीवांना मोजण्यासाठी १, २, ... या एकाच अंक - तागडीत तोलायची सवय होती. पण जपानीत तर माणूस, प्राणी, पक्षी, लांब वस्तू, इमारती, यंत्रे, सपाट वस्तू अशा अनेक तऱ्हेच्या वर्गवारींसाठी स्वतंत्र मोजणी तक्ते. ते सारे लक्षात ठेवून सुयोग्य जागी वापरताना नाकी नऊ येत. मग आले विशेषण – क्रियापदांचे प्रत्येकी २ आणि ३ प्रकार. पुढे पुढे जशी मोठी वाक्यं आली तशी भारतीय भाषा आणि जपानीतली समानता दिसायला लागली. त्यामुळेच, जपानी वाक्यं इंग्लिश पेक्षा मराठी -हिंदीत अनुवादित करणं सोपं जात असे. शिवाय, करून ठेव, बघून घे, करून बघ अशी दुहेरी क्रियापदंही जपानीत आहेत.

अशा अनेक गोष्टींचा वेध घेत घेतच वर्ष संपलं. सध्या इथेच थांबते. उरलेल्या वैशिष्ट्यांवर परत कधीतरी बोलूयात. じゃまた( ज्या -माता) .

Hostel मध्ये पाहावे राहून

Last night, my roommate returned to the room exhausted by the efforts of breaking a lock in her friend’s room. The rock had hit the cupboard more times than the actual lock and finally they had given up. Just then, I recalled that I have an iron rod, preserved specially for this purpose. I offered it to her, told her the technique that worked for me twice and she was back in two minutes rejoicing that finally, the lock had surrendered.  This made me think about what are the new experiences that hostel life has given me. Here are a few of them:

1. How to break a lock: In fact, one of my classmates was such an expert lock-breaker that we used to tease her that we need to inform her employer about this skill which she hadn't mentioned in her CV. ;)

2. How to locate, identify and kill a bedbug: Bedbug was a creature, which had met me only through stories. In fact, I didn’t know what a bedbug looked like.  In earlier days, we had a roommate who used to examine each and every insect found in our room and would give her verdict on whether the suspect was bedbug or not. Later on, all of us acquired the skill of locating the bedbugs, tracking down their habitats, destroying their colonies by using various weapons like candles, pesticides, heat, water, cement and what not.

3. How to repair a drenched laptop/cellphone: Just open it up, try to clean the wet portions by a dry cloth and then put it below a working laptop until it gets dried completely. It recovers pretty fast and gets back to work, except for a few minor injury marks on its screen, which get cured with the passing time.  In case of a drenched cellphone, use the laptop adaptor as the hot bed. (Practice at your own risk ;))

4. How to sleep on newspapers: This was a really rare experience. You cannot claim your own bedding kept in luggage room, just because you couldn’t complete the technical formalities of hostel admission. So, you are forced to sleep on the newspapers, though it’s cold outside.

5. Lazybones may help: This is in continuation with the previous one. You spend a night shivering. Next day, you manage to complete the admission procedure and return to hostel to collect your luggage, only to realize that you are too late. That is what happened with us. Eight of us had slept on the newspapers, the earlier day. Next day, we requested for the luggage, but were told that as it was already 4.30pm, only two of us can get their bedding. Then suddenly we recalled that, two of us had kept two mattresses each (one their own, one their roommate’s, as their roommates were too lazy to take care of their own belongings). So, we got four mattresses though we were allowed to take out only two. In this way, the lazybones, who didn’t take care of putting their things on their own name, helped us.

That’s enough for today. There are still many more. Will write about them at some later date…..

Attention Please

( Japanese serial " アテンションプリーズ ")

This cute little story of transformation of a tomboyish, overconfident, careless rock singer to a caring, mature flight professional is worth watching. The story is that of Misaki Youko (played by Ueto Aya), a girl who grew up with 4 brothers and a father. Naturally, she went on to become a tomboyish teenager, with no female friends. Being a cabin attendant is the most unsuitable job for her. But, just because a friend she has a crush on, says that he would like to see her in uniform, she applies for the post. During the interview, she manages to conceal her rock-star like appearance by borrowing a costume from the fellow interviewee and surprisingly, gets selected.
Here onwards starts the real drama - her continuous struggle to fit her unrefined self into the sophisticated surroundings; all this while dealing with a strict trainer Mikami Tamaki (Played by Maya Miki), not-so-supportive classmates and seniors. Everything she does is wrong, right from the speed of bowing to the tone of her speech. This obviously leads to frustration fueled further by her crush falling in love with some other girl. She almost gives up the wish to become a cabin attendant, now that the main motive is lost, but the trainer challenges her. Too proud to accept her failure, Misaki starts training again, just to defeat the trainer, though she is no more interested in the job. Her instinctive behaviour leads to some incidences which make her infamous. People start commenting that she is the one who is spoiling the whole class and how could someone like her get selected in the first place. But then, a moment comes. Just for fun, she wears a senior's uniform and then realizes the responsibility that comes with it. The immense satisfaction derived from helping an utterly confused Chinese traveller by communicating through sign/body language (due to language barrier), makes her start loving this job. In addition to this are the encouraging words from a newly acquired engineer friend, Nakahara Shouta (played by Nishikyodo Ryo).

Finally, as the exam nears, Misaki works really hard and performs pretty well. During the practicals, she maintains her smiling face though the examiner tries to pester her by her actions. Everyone agrees that she should pass, but the trainer declines. This is the most shocking incident for Misaki as this was the first time that she had done something so seriously and had still been a failure. This leads to the increase in her hatred for the trainer. But when finally, she realizes that the trainer knows her "inner beauty", more than anyone else and wanted her to become perfect, she softens, works hard again and finally passes the second test. During OJT (On the Job Training) again she does some classic mistakes, but when scolded by the senior Asou Kaoru (played by Fueki Yuko) and Captain Sakurada (played by Kohinata Fumiyo), tries correcting herself. In fact, later she manages to handle a critical situation, by her keen sense of observation and presence of mind. In her last OJT flight, she handles an unconscious passenger courageously despite being frightened in her mind.

On the final day of her training, both Misaki and the trainer are overwhelmed when Misaki admits that though she hated the trainer, it's because of her that she could attain this height. Also, the training section chief Dazai (played by Inoue Jun) admits that he pleaded with the interviewers for selecting Misaki, as he thought she can become a cabin attendant with a new charm.

"Never give up" attitude of Misaki, patience and strictness of Mikami trainer, section chief Dazai's faith in Misaki and the trainer, Captain Sakurada's well thought advices to Mikami trainer, Nakahara's never ending support to Misaki.... all these help Misaki grow into a professional cabin attendant who adds a special personal touch to the service she offers. We are simply surprised to see this transformation and how a seemingly unimportant job can be challenging as well as critical.

What if,

1. Dazai hadn't thought of selecting someone who is out of the box

2. Misaki had given up at one of the many frustrating moments

3. Mikami trainer had thought even once that Misaki is useless and gave up working on her (She had to put up with the comments from her colleague, students on why Misaki is not being kicked out by her and at the same time she had to listen to the hateful remarks from the hurt Misaki)

4. Sakurada captain hadn't assured Mikami trainer that she is doing her best.

Culmination of the efforts of so many people was a "a great new hire with special charm".

All these people lead by endearing Misaki and patient Mikami tell us, to believe in ourselves and to learn from those around us because, no job is easy and no individual is useless.....

अकिरा योशिझावा आणि कागदी दुनिया

आज सकाळी google doodle नं लक्ष वेधून घेतलं - कागदी google आणि फुलपाखरे... आणि मग कळलं की आज अकिरा योशिझावाची जयंती आणि पुण्यतिथी दोन्ही आहे म्हणून...

कोण होता हा अकिरा योशिझावा? पारंपारिक जपानी कला ओरिगामीला जगण्याचं साधन बनवण्याचे धाडस सर्वप्रथम केलं ते यानंच. ९४ वर्षांच्या आपल्या आयुष्यात तब्बल ५०,००० हून अधिक ओरिगामीच्या कलाकृती बनवणारा हा अवलिया. कंपनीत भूमिती शिकवण्यासाठी त्यानं ओरिगामीचा वापर सुरु केला आणि मग त्याच्या लहानपणापासून जोपासलेल्या छंदाला खत-पाणी मिळालं. या ध्यासापायी पुढं त्यानं कंपनीतली नोकरीदेखील सोडली. १९३७ साली हे नक्कीच खूप धाडसाचं होतं. साहजिकच सुमारे१५ वर्षं गरिबीत दारोदार भटकत घालवावी लागली. तरीदेखील निराश न होता १९५४ साली त्यानं Atarashi Origami Geijutsu (नवी ओरिगामी कला) या नावाचं पुस्तक लिहिलं. या पुस्तकातील घड्यांसाठीची notations आजही प्रमाण म्हणून वापरली जातात. याच वर्षी, म्हणजे त्याच्या वयाच्या ४३ व्या वर्षी, तोक्यो मध्ये International Origami Centre ची स्थापनाही त्यानं केली. पुस्तकामुळे त्याची आर्थिक परिस्थितीही सुधारू लागली होती. पण सच्चा कलाकार असलेल्या अकिराने आपल्या कलाकृती कधीही विकल्या नाहीत. त्या इतरांना भेट देण्यात किंवा प्रदर्शनासाठी देण्यातच त्याला आनंद मिळत असे.
ओरिगामीच्या थोड्याश्या ओबडधोबड कलाकृतींना अधिक गोलाई देऊन सुबक करण्यासाठी अकिराने "wet folding " या नवीन तंत्राचा वापर सुरु केला. कागद थोडासा ओलसर करण्याच्या या तंत्रानं ओरिगामी कलाकृतींमध्ये 3-d परिणामही अधिक उत्तमरीत्या साधला जाऊ लागला.
तर असा हा महान कलाकार आज "google doodle" च्या माध्यमातून आपल्या सर्वांच्या घराघरात पोचलाय.

Rat's Paw /पिपांत मेले ओल्या उंदीर

It was an afternoon, in August. We (me and deep) entered our office to be welcomed by a messed up drawer. There was someone, who was sharing not only our office space, but our food as well. And then, the hunt began…
The claws indicated that it was some kind of rodent. But then, we hadn’t kept the drawer open. Was there someone from “Ratatouille”, who was smart enough to open the heavy drawer? Surprisingly, it was true. Its way of entering the drawer by climbing from the lower section of the table and then pushing the drawer from inside was really astounding. But then, we bipedals don’t like to get defeated by some petty quadrupeds. And hence, we blocked its way by locking the table drawer. 

But this new roommate of ours was not to be deterred by these small oppositions. In fact, it lodged its protest by routinely dirtying our floor and the table tops with its paws.

It kept visiting our room, though he no longer had access to the delicious food items. We desperately wanted to have a glimpse of it, but what we found were just various evidences of its existence. And now, the story seems to have ended. Last Saturday, we caught a sight of it in the water tank. It may have fallen down in it while jumping from its edge and couldn’t come up. Hope, others from its clan don’t take up its incomplete job of fighting against us…. RIP "the uninvited guest"…

आज मराठी भाषा दिन ! आणि सकाळी सकाळी हे उंदराचे दर्शन. त्यामुळे, साहजिकच मर्ढेकरांच्या कवितेची आठवण झाली.

पिपांत मेले ओल्या उंदीर;
माना पडल्या, मुरगळल्याविण;

ओठांवरती ओठ मिळाले;
माना पडल्या, आसक्तीविण.

गरिब बिचारे बिळांत जगले,
पिपांत मेले उचकी देउन;

दिवस सांडला घाऱ्या डोळीं
गात्रलिंग अन् धुऊन घेउन.

जगायची पण सक्ती आहे;
मरायची पण सक्ती आहे.

उदासतेला जहरी डोळे
काचेचे पण;
मधाळ पोळे;

ओठांवरती जमले तेंही
बेकलाइटी, बेकलाइटी!
ओठांवरती ओठ लागले;

पिपांत उंदीर न्हाले! न्हाले!

- बाळ सीताराम मर्ढेकर

सर्व वाचकांना मराठी भाषा दिनाच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा !

Happy B’Day

Dear ----,

First of all, wish you many many happy returns of the day… We still remember the day, when you entered our lives. We couldn’t contain our excitement. We were waiting for you since so many days. Every now and then, we used to feel the need of someone like you. Your absence made us wander in this World Wide Web, in search of someone, who can lessen our web-trotting efforts. But , most of the times, it yielded no fruitful results. It isn’t the case that you are the only member from your clan to exist in this world. There are few like you, who had secured their virtual positions, even before your birth. But, none of them could match our expectations. We wanted someone who could provide exactly the things that someone like us would want; nothing less and nothing more. It’s well said “Look within, Don’t search for the things you want, in the external world. They are inside you.” So, we finally decided that we can’t wait for others to come forward. We have to take initiative and bring someone like you in the lives of many like us… That was exactly one year before….

Considering your age, you have achieved a lot. Though sometimes, we being only two, fail to give you the attention you deserve. In fact, today also, we almost forgot your birthday. In this first year of your life, you have given us immense pleasures… especially, the joy of creation. Within a week of your birth, you had earned the praises from a rock star in our field. Throughout the year, we received the words of appreciation about you from the young and old alike. Some even gave you a special mention on their homepages/blogs/walls. With the support of people like these, you grew up very fast and are about to complete the century of your contributions to this uncertain world.

Hope, you get better, day by day and enrich the lives of many like us, in the coming years…..

Once again, Many Many Happy Returns of the Day to our (me and Deep’s) dear blog “Certain News about Uncertain World”. You can see your gift on the right panel of this blog.... :)

Discoveries in a Day

Today was pretty eventful. Our usual discussions and surfing led to three discoveries (to be precise...Observations). None of them is that significant, but still we found them to be notable. It may happen that some of you are already well aware of these facts. But for us, it's nontrivial. Hence, the post...

1. Real life application of the fact that the sequence (n+k)/n goes to 1.

Most of you must have solved age problems in school. The problem statement would be something of this type....
"A man is 4 times as old as his son. In 3 years, the father will be 3 times as old as his son will be. How old is each of them now?"
Cynosure's post on the difference between the ages of siblings reminded Deep of a question that she had in mind as a school going kid.- "Why does it happen that as the time progresses, father who was 4 times his son's age became 3 times the same son's age". Translating this question into the language of Mathematics, with son's age as 'n' and father's age as 'n+k', yields a sequence (n+k)/n which is obviously decreasing and converges to 1 as n goes to infinity.

2. Sunrise and Sunset timings

It started as a discussion with MGK on the timings of getting up. We were whining about not feeling like getting up, as it's too dark around 6.30. Out of usual habit, we googled and got the latest time for sunrise as 7.15 am, which happens to be in the second week of January. Isn't it too late for The Sun to rise at 7.15 am??? No wonder then that we petty human beings don't feel like leaving our beds. This googling led to the second interesting observation of the day - "The shortest day doesn't correspond to the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset." Again resorting to the tools of real analysis, if we define the timing of sunrise on nth day by Rn and that of sunset by Sn, the shortest day would correspond to the smallest value of (Sn-Rn). But then inf (Sn-Rn)≠inf Sn + inf (-Rn) (To be precise, argmin (Sn-Rn)≠argmin (Sn) or argmin (-Rn) ). In fact, in this case it turns out that the “n” for which the corresponding extreme values are attained (argmin), are different for all the three quantities, Sn, Rn and Sn-Rn. So, we got a good application for somewhat non-intuitive real analysis result. For actual geographical reasoning, you may google and do explain us, if you get something.

Enough of real analysis stuff now…. Let’s get to real blogging

3. “blogspot.com” changed to “blogspot.in”

Richa noticed that the Feedjit has kind of restarted, as it was showing only latest 2-3 entries instead of its usual count of 50. But, when we went to Feedjit’s “real time view” for our joint blog, it seemed perfectly alright except the fact that in last 8 hours there was only one entry and it was from Indonesia. When we tried to visit the same link via blog, it turned up that it had almost 20 entries during last 5 hours, but all of them were from India. Then we noticed the change in the link from “.com” to “.in” and realized that all the blogspot.com links are getting redirected to blogspot.in links. Googling almost instinctively, we stumbled upon the page giving the details of this country specific redirecting. This helps Google to remove the content found objectionable by a specific country from a page visible in that country only. Of course, it won’t affect the harmless content posted by ordinary people like us. But still, if you want to see the original “.com” version, just type “-----.blogspot.com/ncr” to get the no country redirect version. Dear Feedjit users, don’t get disheartened if the panel on your regular blog shows only Indian visitors. If you want to see your visitors from abroad, go to “/ncr” link given above…..

That’s enough research for today… Off to some real research now…

- Akanksha & Deep

折り紙 - Origami

Haven't written anything since long... In fact there has been a drought of posts in 2012. But there is a reason behind it. Was busy with some creative stuff apart from writing. Here is the final output of the same seen through Deep's camera..... (Click the caption for enlarged view along with the names)

Origami City

It all started when our Japanese teacher told us about the exhibition "Reflections-2012" showcasing some aspects of Japanese lifestyle and culture to be held at Ranade Institute. We were supposed to present something related to Origami. First we started with the idea of airport, but finally landed on this city. Meanwhile, there was also a chart to be prepared related to origami stories. So, with so many things to do along with the regular work, couldn't take out time for blogging....

It was really an interesting experience... to see almost real-life like objects emerging out of a plane sheet of paper, without using anything other than the paper and our hands (Not even scissors, gum etc.). The word Origami literally means folding paper (Ori = To fold, Kami= Paper). So, our city consists of just twists and folds & no destructive acts like cutting.....

Showcasing this city and explaining the types of origami, telling the stories related to it to the visitors on the actual tenrankhai (exhibition) day was even more interesting. The most enjoyable experience was to tell these things to Japanese people in chyotto chyotto Nihongo (Little bit of Japanese) and listen to their excited responses in थोडा थोडा हिंदी / थोडी थोडी मराठी. In fact I even got a 5-yen coin, which is considered to be a lucky coin in Japan, from a Japanese girl.... So, in all it was a good republic day!!!