Someone called someone milk
Milk as noun or milk as verb?
Milk as the subject or milk as the object?
Milk as the karta or milk as the karma?
The answer appears as a vision
Of huge torrents of something
(It could very well be milk
Of, you know, something)
Flowing from one end
Of the Zipf’s Law curve
To the other end
There is an automatically (intelligently) generated blog which I have read recently.
It appears to be (let’s give ’seems’ some rest) quite a popular one in a certain section.
I know the corpus on which it was trained.
And the corpus on which it was retrained.
(Including most of the quotes and the comments, especially the long ones).
But I wonder whether the order of n-grams was five or six.
It is definitely better than four grams.
It could even be Se7en.
This brings up a new idea.
What about writing a paper on automatically guessing the order of n-grams, given some generated text?
It may be difficult in the general case, but in our case we know the corpus on which it was trained.
Any takers?
चलो बहुत हो गया
कसाई और बकरे का झगड़ा
अब हाथ मिला लेते हैं
आज से हमारी-तुम्हारी दुश्मनी खत्म
आगे वही बढ़ते हैं
जो साथ मिल के चलते हैं
अब से हम-तुम भी साथ-साथ चलेंगे
मिल-जुल के सफ़र करेंगे
बहुत से हैं दुनिया में
जो झिक-झिक में वक़्त ज़ाया करते हैं
या फिर बड़ी-बड़ी बातें किया करते हैं
जहाँ भाई-चारे से काम चल सकता है
वहाँ बेकार की बहस में लगे रहते हैं
हमने भी यह ग़लती की अब तक
चलो आज से इसे सुधार लेते हैं
एक-दूसरे से कड़वी बातें नहीं कहेंगे
प्यार-मुहब्बत से ज़िंदगी भर रहेंगे
न तुम हमें काटो
न हम तुम्हें काटेंगे
ये एक-दूसरे को काटना खत्म
एक नये युग की शुरुआत करेंगे
दुनिया है और दुनिया में ज़िंदगी है
तो कटना-काटना तो होता ही रहेगा
पर अब मिल-जुल कर काटा करेंगे
कभी बकरा मिलेगा तो कभी कसाई मिलेगा
पर एकता की ताक़त के सामने कौन टिकेगा?
The movie to watch now is Das Experiment, which is based on two real social experiments.
There are many such experiments going on right now.
In most cases with involuntary participation.
Not really in labs.
And on a much larger scale.
And not so benign either.
Sooner or later the results are going to be visible.
Even if neither the participants nor the perpetrators want them to be.
They have a habit of moving out of control.
P.S.: The documentation says no violence (whatever that means) allowed.
अगड़-मगड़ अगड़-मगड़
ज़ोर-ज़ोर से
रगड़-रगड़ रगड़-रगड़
इतना करता
शोर मगर शोर मगर
लपड़-झपड़ लपड़-झपड़
क्यूँ? कुछ हुआ क्या?
नहीं, नहीं। अभी नहीं।
करना था इसे
जगर-मगर जगर-मगर
करते जाते
अगड़-मगड़ अगड़-मगड़
बोल-तोल से
लपड़-झपड़ लपड़-झपड़
टुकड़े-टुकड़े
तितर-बितर तितर-बितर
बुरा है लेकिन
हशर-बशर हशर-बशर
हाथों में पड़ गए
छाले मगर छाले मगर
कतर-कतर कतर-कतर
बोलो भाई, पहुँचे क्या?
नहीं, नहीं। अभी नहीं।
अगड़-मगड़ अगड़-मगड़
चलती जाती
लपड़-झपड़ लपड़-झपड़
अब तो बहुत देर हो आई
कुछ और नहीं क्या भाई?
नहीं, नहीं। अभी नहीं।
बहे जा रही
लाल-लाल
ज़हर-लहर ज़हर-लहर
चले जा रही
इधर-उधर इधर-उधर
मोड़-तोड़ से
अगड़-मगड़ अगड़-मगड़
बोलो भाई
तुम तक पहुँची क्या?
नहीं, नहीं। अभी नहीं।
[2009]
For me, at least.
Almost ever since I learnt to read, devouring one or more newspapers has been an integral part of my daily life. Perhaps no other part of my routine has been that consistent. I still read a newspaper everyday (of course, there are exceptions), but now the newspaper is the online version. Unlike for some other people, this is not a matter of choice for me. I would still like to read the paper on paper. But due to some circumstances created by others, I have been forced to forego this habit.
About two years ago I stopped getting newspapers in my hostel room. There are a large number of people in the campus who want to keep teaching me a lesson for some reasons. They are not content with just once or twice. They want constant unrelenting punishment. So, things like taking away (it’s not really stealing, not always, though sometimes it can just be that) the newspaper from my door happen so frequently that at one point I had to decide that the whole thing was not worth the regular anguish of finding your paper missing etc. (this etc. is not empty: some interesting stories lie in there).
So, for about two years or so, I have not been reading the newspaper in hard copy and the age of hard copy newspaper has ended for me. Well, actually, last month the newspaper guy did ask me again if I wanted paper and just to check how things would be now, I said yes and paid him. I got what I expected. Only worse. Now the papers are gone even more frequently. So when the newspaper guy came again yesterday to get next month’s payment, I asked him to stop delivering papers to me. But he said he has already booked etc., so I paid him for one month more and asked him to stop after one month. By the way, I have not been reading the newspapers which I have been getting for the last month because I don’t want to get into the habit again and then first suffer the anguish of the missing paper (only a hardcore newspaper reader can understand what that means: but the people who I talked about know that it means quite a lot, whatever it may be) and then suffer the withdrawal symptoms once the papers have to be stopped.
This post is being written today because the paper is missing again today, the very next day after I paid for the papers that I am not going to read. And I have no doubt at all that it is missing by design, not by coincidence.
Those who know a little about me, also know that there are a lot many other things which others would consider more worthy of concern that…
Hopefully there are some people out there who would understand what and how much this post means. I would have been so much happier not to have to write a post like this. But then there might be other people who have faced similar things.
Or worse. Yes, it can always be worse, of course.
Perhaps it will be, because I do know that as a result of writing this there might be further trouble. Perhaps it is and I am not writing much about it. It can still get worse anyway. But I had to get this out.
Orwell described a picture of the future rather bleakly as:
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this, Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face … forever. (1984 by George Orwell: Part III, Chapter III)
This, I believed, was a dystopian picture. I still do. I have my own picture of the future, which has remained almost unchanged for the last decade (at least). Three recent events somehow seem to me to be describing my picture of the future.
The picture is mine, but the future need not necessarily be mine.
But it can very well be.
The first is the unbelievably and blatantly criminal assault by Israel on all Palestinians: man, woman and child. I won’t give references for this. It’s there prominently even in the mainstream media and has been there for some time now.
The second is a recent call by the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission chief (Chairman) for “legislation to prosecute parents with diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, leprosy and dyslexia should they, knowing that they have the disease, have children”.
Inhuman Rights Commission?
The third is the news, or rather the lack of it, about the recent death of a Hindi writer living in Jaipur (yes, the connection with ‘your’ places does make it worse) Lavleen (लवलीन) who was relatively young. She had a reputation as a ‘bold’ writer and woman. She hadn’t really established herself as a great writer, but she was known among the Hindi literary circles. Let alone the Indian English media, (it has been pointed out) even the ‘biggest Hindi daily’ Dainik Bhaskar didn’t report it, even after many requests. And even the small but very vibrant and inter-connected world of Hindi blogging (which is very enthusiastic about events like the wedding of someone’s relative among them) mostly ignored it, though they are trying very hard to find out who ‘the real Tau’ (असली ताऊ) is. Like a lot of other writers, she died with the dream of some day writing a masterpiece.
(But still, I came to know about this from a Hindi writer’s blog).
And, no, I didn’t personally know her. Nor do I know the A. P. Human Rights Commission Chairman. Nor have I ever been to Israel, though a large percentage of the people (in History) I admire happen to be Jewish and most of them (I am sure) would have or have been horrified by what Israel is doing.
I don’t know why but these three events (or should I say sets of events: being a ‘professional’ practitioner of language sciences, crafts and arts is tough when it comes to writing anything) somehow represent for me the picture of the future.
This picture is not quite as horrible as that painted by Orwell (actually, by O’Brien the character, whether or not by the author).
But it doesn’t seem very pleasant.
Outlook magazine has published an email received by it about the recent goings on in Mumbai, written by an undisclosed Maharashtrian reader (naturally, who wants to be lynched?). It gives no less than sixteen reasons for supporting Raj Thackeray. I wish to join in with my wholehearted support, although I am not too enthusiastic about one or two reasons.
You can read the reasons at the original location, but since I know most people don’t do that, here are a few samples to motivate you (in case you have reached here somehow):
2. Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in Delhi
…
6. All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals
…
10. Let’s support Kashmiri Militants because they are right to killing and injuring innocent people for benefit of their state and community…
…
16. Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever stepping out of Maharashtra, then they will become true Marathis
I can’t claim a place in the original version, but I can do so in the Delhi version of the sons-of-the-soil campaign, as I can call myself, with good reason, a Delhiite.
Who knows, Gods and Goddesses willing, I might finally land a respectable position. When all my qualifications and capabilities have failed to help me become somebody (even the security guards and the cleaning staff at the campus know this and treat me accordingly), my being a legal Delhiite might finally make a man out of me, instead of a wimpy whiny nobody so shoddy.
So how can I contact Delhi’s Raj Thackeray? I would like to apply as soon as possible. Hyderabadis don’t want me anyway.
AnywayS. AnywayS.
Isn’t lynching fun?
What about a spot on the Delhi police? Is firing 13 bullets to kill one katta wielding disgruntled youth who wants to send a message to the to be Messiah of the Dillivala Manoos, sorry, Bandaa, fun?
If you have the right outlook, you can find fun in anything. You can even find honour (honor for the dominant party) in it. Or you can go through life as a frustee-frustoo-frustrated.
Ask Deepak Chopra.
And he was born in Delhi too.
My Delhi. Great Delhi. Hindi Delhi. Cradle of Civilization Delhi. Capital of Successive Empires Delhi. Hindu Delhi. Muslim Delhi. British Delhi. Secular Delhi.
The Marx Brothers were two brothers.
The younger of them was Karl Marx.
The older, well, we don’t remember his name.
But he was called the Crouching Tiger.
That’s why some people call their movies Croucho Marx movies.
It doesn’t matter.
He wasn’t like the younger one.
At least he wasn’t as bad as the younger.
But they did work together.
And since the younger didn’t earn any money from his movies, the elder kept providing financial support to his brother till his death.
He also tried to get those movies shown at exhibitions.
And introduced the younger to other subversive movie makers in Paris.
They even started a movement called Insurrectionism.
Anyway, this younger one, Karl, was a communist.
We think he was a Maoist.
A Naxalite, you know.
A dangerous criminal.
A terrorist.
But he was hunted down by the security forces of the free world in…
… We think it was in the forests of Argentina.
In his later years, he had gone underground.
That’s why he was also known by the alias Hidden Dragon.
The Marx Brotherhood was also known to attack their victims with swords.
They called it fencing.
They also dabbled in making movies.
In our country hardly anyone knew about their subversive movies.
The Marx Brothers movies.
But now it seems some troublemakers are trying to use the Internet to see those movies.
Right here in our country.
Where we are fighting the Great Threat of Naxalism.
Which our honourable (former) President as well as our honourable Prime Minister have labeled at various times as the single greatest threat facing our country.
Never mind poverty, hunger, fascism, casteism, inequity, corporate crimes, social injustice etc.
(Honorable for the dominant party).
This is why we are now forced to ban the websites from which such dangerous movies can be procured.
We are issuing a security alert to all institutions and recommending that they ban all such websites.
This is a serious matter.
We will be following up this matter closely.
Severe action will be taken against those who violate the security regulations.
Karl Marx was a terrorist and his movies shouldn’t be allowed to create a security threat to the citizens of this country.
Come election time and the propaganda by various parties starts. Nothing unusual (or perhaps even wrong) in that. However, since a particular political family (the Sangh Parivar) has much more clout in the middle class, and even more so among the ‘highly educated’ professionals etc., the newest way for carrying on propaganda are (mass) emails and blogs. This media, while allowing anyone with access to the Net to communicate with others (which is obviously a good thing), also allows blatant and completely over the top lies to be spread. What is dangerous in this case, especially with emails, is that these (mass and) chain mails usually come to people from family, friends and acquaintances. Unless you have the habit of checking everything that is told to you before believing it, you can easily be mislead by such mails and blogs. This is even more likely now when, in this age, people anyway don’t have much time to spend on finding out the truth (as much as possible, not absolute) about matters like national or international politics. There is infinitely more data than one human mind can handle.
Whether in the earlier ages people had time for this or not and, if they did, whether they used it for this purpose or not is something I don’t know. But that still doesn’t change the fact that most people are likely to believe certain kinds of the most outrageous lies.
I usually don’t get many such mails, but sometimes I do. When I do, sometimes I also reply in the hope that at least some of the people will go on to check the facts before believing them. At least make some inquiries from reliable sources. Just make some effort to find whether what is being claimed is anywhere near the truth or not.
When I do reply, I usually get into some kind of trouble or the other. Because the mail has been sent (whatever may be the original source) from friends to friends. You are not supposed to suggest that a friend could have sent a mail containing blatant malicious lies to a friend. That is breaking the social code. It’s like a minor crime. If you repeat this offence, it can even become a major crime and there will be consequences.
I have just got such a mail. I am going to quote it here in full just as an example so that in case you have not received any such mail, you might not conclude that I am talking nonsense. Why I used this N-word may be clear when you read this (verbatim):
Dear all ,
This is list of leading News papers in india & its owners. I think you can point out the media atitude towards hindu society from this statistics.
a) NDTV: Funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan . Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, Gen Secy of Communist party of India .
b) CNN-IBN: 100% Funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates 800 Million Dollars for Promotion of its channel. Its Indian Head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
c) TIMES GROUP LIST: TIMES OF INDIA, MID-DAY, NAV-BHARTH TIMES, STARDUST, FEMINA, VIJAYA TIMES, VIJAYA KARNATAKA, TIMES NOW (24 hr News Channel) & many more.
Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. 80% of the Funding is done by “WORLD CHRISTIAN COUNCIL”, and balance 20% is equally shared by an Englishman and an Italian. The Italian ROBERTIO MINDO IS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF SONIA GANDHI.
D) STAR TV: Is run by an Australian, who is supported by St.Peters Pontificial Church Melbourne.
E) HINDUSTAN TIMES: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collobration with Times Group.
F) The Hindu: A English Daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne , Switzerland .
G) INDIAN EXPRESS: DIVDED INTO TWO GROUPS. THE INDIAN EXPRESS & NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (SOUTHERN EDITION). Acts Ministries has major stake in the Indian express and later is still with the Indian counterpart
H) EENADU : Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao
I) Andhra Jyothi : The MUSLIM PARTY OF HYDERABAD known as (MIM) along with a Congress Minister Has purchased this Telgu daily very recently.
j) The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India
k) Kairali TV: It is Controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)
l) Mathrabhoomi: leaders of Muslim league and Communist Leaders have major investment.
L) Asian Age & Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J.AKBAR.
And I was under the impression that all Indians who are even a little bit politically aware know that many of these newspapers (e.g., the Times of India and the Indian Express) are sympathetic (if not more) to the BJP and the right wing nationalist politics in general.
I am sure if I was writing a spoof on the right wing propaganda machine, I couldn’t have done better than this.
The most depressing fact is that a friend (who is a really decent and a pretty intelligent person) replied that “Worth to know this fact. Thanks”. And the friend who sent the mail is also a really decent and a pretty intelligent person.
To be frank, I am feeling a bit disoriented by all this.
Phrases like ‘intellectual apocalypse’ are attacking my mind.
Then I made a search for ‘Joshua Society, Berne , Switzerland “the hindu”‘. What do I find? There is whole list of matches on the front page where the exact same thing has been repeated.
Here (‘Wisdom of the East’) and here (‘India Interacts’) and here (‘Hindu Gujarati’) and here (‘Fundoo’). And here (‘Pickled Politics’: a comment). And here (Vishwa Samvad Kendra).
The list goes on.
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