Oct5
Nov28
Seeking Bubble Reputation
It was really so nice to discuss ‘The Seven Ages’ by William Shakespeare with the 9th graders. As a student of grade 9, I had read this poem.
Here, is the complete poem:
The Seven Ages of Man
(By William Shakespeare)
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
5 His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
10 Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
15 Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
20 Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
25 And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
I remember, poetry and Literature as a whole has always attracted me. The idea of the abstract fascinated my imagination. The other day, a good friend of mine said that she could never analyse the abstract referring to the poems that we teach in class. But, I have done fairly well in this area. Since early childhood, I had the habit of dwelling deep into the meanings of poems, lyrics of songs, that too the high philosophical ones. For example, the Hindi Film song, “Mein Zindegi ka saath nibhhata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuye mei urata chala gaya”. Though, we cannot actually ‘throw away our worries like a breeze of air. “Jo milgaya, usiko muqaddar samajj gaya, jo kho gaya mein usko bhulata chala gaya”. Wonderful lines with very deep meaning and of course a lot to learn. These lines actually teach contentment.
Now, contentment is something which usually comes to people at a very later stage of life. But, for people who are high in Philosophy of life, like me, it comes pretty early or let us say, maturity comes much earlier.
Well, let me come back to my original topic, ‘The Seven Ages’ by the great William Shakespeare. I don’t wish to lecture on the greatness of William Shakespeare, as we always do in our English classrooms. I always say to my students that the stature of William Shakespeare is so huge in English Literature that he holds the position of a subject (100 marks paper) in the study of English Literature for earning a Master’s Degree. What I personally admire about him is his great understanding of Human Psyche, Behaviour, Personality etc.
In this poem, ‘The Seven Ages’, the poet presents a huge philosophy, something which can be found in almost all the holy texts of the World. He starts the poem by declaring :
” All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,…”
He compares the life of a Human Being with a Stage, where everyone play their part. All men and women are mere actors. This point proves that there is a Director, directing this stage of life and assigning roles to these ‘mere players’. And, the funniest part is these ‘mere players’ during their act, start thinking themselves to greater than all or even the creator. They do/talk absolute nonsense, and think that they are not being observed by anyone. But, the truth remains that every action is being observed and recorded for which we all are accountable.
Another point that I wish to discuss here is again inspired from these lines:
“Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation….”
Here, by the word ‘soldier’, the poet refers to ‘Adults’. The stage of life, which comes after teenage and before Middle Age. It can range from the age of 20 to 45. How aptly, Shakespeare describes this stage of life!
I absolutely agree with all the points, stated here. I would like to focus upon two characteristics: ‘Jealous in honor, and
Seeking the bubble reputation….”
As a student of Psychology, I always observe human behaviour, very keenly. I know people, who are so ambitious, opportunistic and competitive. They take everything as a competition. They always want to be the best always. They feel insecure if they find others going ahead of them (Jealous in honor). And, out of this insecurity, they can go to any extent. The funniest thing is that, what they are seeking, with all their hard work, has the status of a bubble (Seeking the bubble reputation). So, finally what they attain with all their efforts doesn’t even last long, it is just a temporary feeling of joy or moment of recognition.
The biggest lesson that life teaches is that everything temporary in life. It is completely futile to run behind something which is not real. They chase a reputation, defeating others on the way and finally achieve the desired goal, which is short-lived and temporary. So, finally what are they gaining by all these efforts is actually nothing. It can be a temporary satisfaction but the negative Karma that they are creating by hurting people is something they need to think about. As Karma doesn’t have a ‘Bubble Reputation’.
Apr15
Jan24
Vasanth Panchami – The Day to worship Goddess Saraswati – The Goddess of Knowledge
‘Vasanth’ in Hindi means ‘Spring Season’ and Spring is considered to be the best of all seasons, specially in India. ‘Panchami’ means the fifth day. In Hinduism, it is beleived that Goddess Saraswati was born on this day. Goddess Saraswati is considered to be the Goddess of Knowledge, Wisdom, Music, Fine Arts and all the related fields.
Idol of Goddess Saraswati
The day is celebrated in Bengal and by Bengali speaking people residing, all over the world. People offer their prayers to Goddess Saraswati. Special rituals are held since early morning. Idols of Goddess Saraswati is worshiped with flowers, garlands, lamps, incense sticks amidst holy chants in Sanskrit.
Fruits, sweets of different kinds and Khichari (traditional dish made with rice, pulses, vegetables and spices) are offered to Goddess as Naivedya or Bhoga. It is a very special day for students and educational institutions. As the season is spring, there is a tradition of wearing clothes of yellow colour. Students pray with devotion and one of the most ommon prayers in Sanskrit language is:
Saraswati Namasthubhyam
Varade Kamarupini
Vidhyarambam Karishyami
Siddhir Bavathume Sadha
May Goddess Saraswati bless us all with wisdom, knowledge, positive thoughts, and also the ability to differentiate between God and bad.
Jan2
2014 in review
The WordPress.com prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.
Oct23
HAPPY DIWALI
Diwali or Deepawali is the festival of lights, celebrated in India and by all India with grandeur and jubilation. The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil. People celebrate by offering prayers to Almighty God and by lighting lamps all around the house. Lamps are believed to bring Divine Energy and auspiciousness home driving negative energy. People greet each other, share gifts and sweets.
It was a moment of joy for me, when I found a hand-made Diwali greeting card in my daughter’s School Bag where she returned from School. I thank her Teacher for this initiative. This made me so happy and feel so special. Happy Diwali Everyone.
Do also my post on the Importance of lighting lamps in Bubblews:
http://www.bubblews.com/news/8958161-light-a-lamp-and-bring-home-the-divine-energy
Sep7
Onam – the colourful festival of Kerala
HAPPY ONAM 2014
ONAM
The festival “Onam” is celebrated in the state of Kerala in India and by Keralites living all around the World. It is the most famous and biggest festival in Kerala. The most interesting fact about Onam is that it is a social festival. It is celebrated by the people of kerala irrespective of one’s religious background. It is a celebration of 10 days in the coastal state of Kerala.
The festival marks the end of rainy season and nature is dressed in its best with flowers of varied colours ,fruits and other agricultural crops. The main attraction of Onam is the display of huge flower-carpets which is an arrangement of flowers and it looks like a rangoli, in the courtyard of every house. These are known as “Pookalam” in Malayalam. Usually, youngsters gather together in collecting flowers and arrange flowers in a well designed layout. It is a celebration…
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Aug28
Happy Anniversary!
May14
Lord Buddha and His Teachings
Today, on this auspicious day of the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, let us all meditate upon Lord Buddha and pray for peace and harmony. Let us determine to follow the values taught by him and lead a life of truthfulness, honesty and compassion.
![By Shahakshay58 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://krishnawrites.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/450px-lord_buddha_at_budhagaya.jpg)
By Shahakshay58 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Lord Buddha was born as a Prince and was named as Siddhartha. When he realised that people undergo severe pain during their lifetime, he was immensely disturbed. Later on, he gave up his Kingdom and all its comforts, in order to seek answers for all the questions that were troubling his mind.
He realized that the main reason behind sufferings of human beings is ‘desire’. ‘Desires’ bring dissatisfaction and sufferings. He advocated the path of detachment. He taught the principles of Karma. His main teachings included the basic values of life and way of conduct. He wanted human beings to follow the path of right thought, action and deed.
Lord Buddha appeared on the full moon day of the month of April-May according to Hindu calender. The followers of Lord Buddha and his teachings are Buddhists and the faith is famous as Buddhism. The teachings of Lord Buddha forms the basis of Buddhism.
May11
The Best Gift of My Life
Today as the whole World celebrates Mother’s Day, I received the best gift of my life. My little daughter, who has just started going to School, gifted me a cute little card which says “LOVE YOU MOM”.
She is just 3 and a half years old and I was amazed to see that she, of course with the help of her Teacher has made this wonderful little card, just for me. My sincere gratitude towards my daughter’s Teacher, who has conceptualized this and made it happen. Many many thanks dear Teacher.
Today, as my little angel returned from School, she warned me not to open her bag as she knows that I will open her bag as I do everyday. This is my usual habit to check her bag, as soon as she returns home, so as to ensure that she has eaten her food that I had packed for her and also to check her School diary as her Teacher writes about the tasks completed in School and the portion to be completed as homework. I also check her books and it gives me immense pleasure to find a few stars or a well done comment with cute stickers given by her Teacher.
Today, probably this was instructed by her Teacher, she didn’t allow me to open her bag. She opened her bag and took out a cute little card and handed over to me saying “Love you Mummy”. I was thrilled to bits. I hugged her and said “Love you too darling”.
My daughter made my day today as she does everyday. Today, is very special, as I received the best gift of my life.
Card made by my daughter.
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