Archive for May, 2021

A tale of two poet laureates

Posted by Dev Baul - 26/05/21 at 04:05 pm

A tale of two poet-laureates separated by centuries, continents, and languages

Bob Dylan was born in the USA in 1941, the same year in which Tagore died at the age of eighty. Their personas could not have been more different. There is no evidence to suggest that Dylan was familiar with Tagore or his works, although Dylan started as a folk artist and collaborated extensively with Purnadas—a pioneering Bengali folk artist. As is well known to Tagore buffs, he was very fond of folk music, and many of his songs had a folk origin.

I bring up this fantastic argument as a prologue to what I propose next that is even more outrageous. I submit parts of two songs to back my defense—Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone and Tagore’s We ain’t got nothing, we sing from within and without. A lot has been lost in translation in my inept English interpretation of Tagore’s original.

Similar ethos predicates both the songs that celebrate the bliss of owning nothing. Both poet-laureates argue,” What can you lose when you got nothing?”

You may not be impressed with my construct, but do take a dekko and a listen.

Play Video

If you enjoyed this article please consider staying updated via RSS. Links to your own social media pages could be added here.

Posted in LOST IN TRANSLATION
6 Comments

The Migrant Worker Family

Posted by Dev Baul - 21/05/21 at 07:05 am

The Migrant Worker Family

Corona has turned out to be pretty much an equal-opportunity affliction in that it has not discriminated between religions, castes, genders, or social hierarchies. But there has been a marked variance in the way lives of the haves and the have-nots have been affected by the pandemic. Urban poor, mostly migrant workers have been worst affected. Loss of livelihood, lack of transport, and desertion by society at large underwrote their despair. In their desperation they started walking for home—some reached, few fell on the way.

Using my privileges, I managed to escape the lockdown-driven cooped-up existence in Kolkata and go to my all-time go-to getaway–Shanti Niketan. The walks I undertook were serene, quiet, and eerie at the same time. In Kala Bhavan premises, usual tourists were conspicuously absent around Ramkinkar Baij’s Santhal Family.

Santhal Family, sculpted by Ramkinkar Baij in 1938 is widely considered to be the first modernist sculpture in India. It depicts a father with a child carried in a basket, a mother with another child on her left flank, and a dog from a Santhal family carrying their scant possessions and going in search of a new life—uncannily similar to the images of migrant worker families moving back from cities to their villages on foot. It was as if Ramkinkar had some oracular vision to foresee events that were to unfold eighty years down the line.

If you enjoyed this article please consider staying updated via RSS. Links to your own social media pages could be added here.

Big-Endians vs Little-Endians

Posted by Dev Baul - 16/05/21 at 06:05 am

Big-Endians vs Little-Endians

In the course of his travels, Lemuel Gulliver met two warring factions in Lilliput—Big-Endians and Little-Endians. Big-Endians broke their boiled eggs from the bigger end while the Little-Endians did the same from the smaller end. A crown prince had cut a finger while breaking the egg from the bigger end in earlier times. Whereupon the emperor decreed that his subjects were ordained to break their eggs from the smaller end only and default would result in stiff penalties. People resented this law and rose in revolt multiple times. These rebellions, often aided and fomented by the monarchy of neighboring Blefuscu, resulted in a loss of life of one emperor and thousands of Big/Little-Endians. At the time of Gulliver’s visit, Lilliput and Blefuscu had been engaged in a war for “six and thirty moons(three years).”

I came across this bulletin board while walking around in a modern Egyptian museum in Cairo and it reminded me of the Big-Endians vs Little-Endians story. Here were two peoples with identical prophets but for the names, engaged in an eternal war. Their salutations (shalom vs Salaam), headgears (kippah vs taqiyah), rituals (brit millah vs khatna), and concepts of purity (kosher vs halal) are similar too. They agree even in their taboos (pork) but keep firing rockets at each other and have kept at it for decades! Unlike the Big-Endians vs Little-Endians story, there is no egg in play here let alone the big or small ends of the egg.

Jonathan Swift had used Big-/Little- Endians as metaphors for Protestants/Catholics and Lilliput/Blefuscu for England/France. I have examples from closer home in mind but desist from citing them lest I hurt someone’s sentiments and go behind bars under UAPA/NSA.

If you enjoyed this article please consider staying updated via RSS. Links to your own social media pages could be added here.

Posted in Footloose
6 Comments

Big-Endians vs Little-Endians

Posted by Dev Baul - 15/05/21 at 11:05 am

Big-Endians vs Little-Endians

In the course of his travels, Lemuel Gulliver met two warring factions in Lilliput—Big-Endians and Little-Endians. Big-Endians broke their boiled eggs from the bigger end while the Little-Endians did the same from the smaller end. In earlier times, a crown prince had cut a finger while breaking the egg from the bigger end. Whereupon the emperor decreed that his subjects were ordained to break their eggs from the smaller end only and default would result in stiff penalties. People resented this law and rose in revolt multiple times. These rebellions, often aided and fomented by the monarchy of neighboring Blefuscu, resulted in a loss of life of one emperor and thousands of Big/Little-Endians. At the time of Gulliver’s visit, Lilliput and Blefuscu had been engaged in a war for “six and thirty moons(three years).”

I came across this bulletin board while walking around in a modern Egyptian museum in Cairo and was reminded of the Big-Endians vs Little-Endians story. Here were two peoples with identical prophets but for the names, engaged in an eternal war. Their salutations (shalom vs Salaam), headgears (kippah vs taqiyah), rituals (brit millah vs khatna), and concepts of purity (kosher vs halal) are similar too. They agree even in their taboos (pork) but keep firing rockets at each other and have kept at it for decades! Unlike the Big-Endians vs Little-Endians story, there is no egg in play here let alone the big or small ends of the egg.

If you enjoyed this article please consider staying updated via RSS. Links to your own social media pages could be added here.

Posted in Footloose
18 Comments

Kompoo – a Professor Shonku story by Satyajit Ray

Posted by Dev Baul - 12/05/21 at 04:05 pm

For the uninitiated, Professor Shonku is a fictional scientist created by Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) in a series of Bengali science fiction books published from 1965 onward. Kompoo a story written in the early 70s is about a computer created by Shonku. When I read it again recently it read like a product catalog of an ‘OK Google’ or an ‘Amazon Alexa’ device – a very accurate prophecy made 40 years ago !!

Giving below an inept translation done by me of an extract from the story …..

Kompoo

When two Japanese assistants entered the stage with Kompoo, the auditorium reverberated with an appreciative buzz from the audience, as they saw the beautiful platinum-clad orb.

That a machine capable of answering 500 million questions would be 1.5 times the size of a football; that it would weigh only forty two kg; that it would not look like a machine – was beyond anybody’s imagination.

In this age of transistors and micro-miniaturization, even the most complex machine need not be big in size. Fifty years ago could anyone have thought that in future all the components of a radio could be fitted into a wristwatch!

At this point, it would be appropriate to note that our computer does not solve complicated mathematical problems. Its job is to answer those questions, answers to which are found in encyclopedias. Kompoo’s other special ability is that it answers verbally in a shrill humanoid voice. Before asking a question one would need to speak out the code ‘1313137’ to get Kompoo started <does this remind you of ’ok google’ or the ‘Alexa wake word’ >. After this one would get an instant answer to the asked question. The questions should be such that can be answered in brief and precise terms. Despite the forewarning, a journalist from the Philippines ended up asking Kompoo to comment on ancient Chinese civilization. Obviously, Kompoo kept silent, but when the same journalist asked specific questions regarding ancient Chinese dynasties like Tang, Ming, Han, Song – Kompoo reeled off the answers in a flash.

Apart from information dissemination, Kompoo also has a fine logical reasoning ability. A conversation between Nigerian naturalist Dr Solomon and Kompoo aptly demonstrates this trait.

Dr. Solomon – ‘Where would a baby baboon be safe

a) In front of a hungry deer or

b) In front of a hungry chimpanzee’

Kompoo – ‘hungry deer’
Dr. Solomon – ‘why?’
Kompoo –‘chimpanzees are occasional meat-eaters.’

Now, this is a recently acquired knowledge – till a few years ago it was believed that all primates were vegetarians. < Surely this interaction would pass the strictest Turing test !> [1]

———————————————————————————————————–

[1]The Turing test, developed by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.

Epilogue

I wrote this blog in 2020—Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) was yet to be born. In 2023 I asked the same question of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard that Dr Solomon asked Kompoo.

Kompoo

Apart from information dissemination, Kompoo also has a fine logical reasoning ability. A conversation between Nigerian naturalist Dr Solomon and Kompoo aptly demonstrates this trait

Dr Solomon – ‘Where would a baby baboon be safe

a) In front of a hungry deer or
b) In front of a hungry chimpanzee’

Kompoo – ‘hungry deer’

Dr Solomon – ‘why?’
Kompoo –‘chimpanzees are occasional meat-eaters.’’

Now this is a recently acquired knowledge – till a few years ago it was believed that all primates were vegetarians.

ChatGPT

‘Where would a baby baboon be safe? a) In front of a hungry deer or b) In front of a hungry chimpanzee’

A baby baboon would be safer in front of a hungry chimpanzee than a hungry deer. Chimpanzees are closely related to baboons and share a similar ecological niche, potentially leading to a lesser threat due to a possible social bond or recognition. On the other hand, deer are herbivores and may see the baby baboon as a potential threat or competitor, reacting aggressively.

but chimpanzees are known to be occasional meat eaters!

You are correct, chimpanzees are indeed omnivorous and have been observed hunting and consuming meat, including small mammals like monkeys. I apologize for the oversight in my previous response. Both a hungry deer and a hungry chimpanzee pose potential threats to a baby baboon.

why deer? deer are herbivorous!

Apologies for the confusion caused in my previous response. A baby baboon would be safer in front of a hungry deer compared to a hungry chimpanzee. Deer are herbivores and typically do not pose a direct threat to baboons. In contrast, a hungry chimpanzee, being an omnivorous primate, could see the baby baboon as prey or competition for resources.

Bard

‘Where would a baby baboon be safe? a) In front of a hungry deer or b) In front of a hungry chimpanzee’

The baby baboon would be safer in front of a hungry deer. Deer are herbivores and do not eat meat. Chimpanzees are omnivores and will eat meat if they are hungry. While not all chimpanzees will attack a baby baboon, there is a greater risk of being attacked by a chimpanzee than a deer.

Here are some additional details about the diets of deer and chimpanzees:

Deer: Deer are herbivores and their diet consists mainly of grasses, leaves, twigs, and fruits. They will also eat bark, nuts, and seeds. Deer do not eat meat.
Chimpanzees: Chimpanzees are omnivores and their diet consists of both plants and animals. They will eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and insects. Chimpanzees will also eat meat, including monkeys, birds, and small mammals.

In conclusion, the baby baboon would be safer in front of a hungry deer because deer are herbivores and do not eat meat. Chimpanzees are omnivores and will eat meat if they are hungry. While not all chimpanzees will attack a baby baboon, there is a greater risk of being attacked by a chimpanzee than a deer.

Notes

Kompoo’s knowledge base is updated till 1970; ChatGPT’s till 2021; and Bard’s till 2023
At first,ChatGPT gave a wrong answer—a hungry deer would be a bigger threat. On a follow-up prompt, it reversed its logic and gave an ambiguous answer that both a hungry deer and a hungry chimpanzee pose potential threats. On a further prompt, it accepted its mistake but came with an irrelevant answer that the baby baboon would be safe with its mother.
On the other hand, Bard stated explicitly that the baby baboon would be safer in front of a hungry deer.