Ratings of 20th century Kannada literary figures

Nowadays I hardly read Kannada fiction. I was thinking about all the authors I have read and the ones I have missed. The list doesn't look extensive. I have observed that I have not read any poetry and plays. I have skipped most of the female literary figures (apart from a children's story teller). But I might have seen movies based on many of these authors' works and I might have seen the plays and also I might have studied poetry in the school. But I have always been a reader of prose in the form of fiction or non-fiction.

I thought of ranking my favourite authors. So here is the list.

1. Poornachandra Tejaswi

2. B G L Swamy

3. Masti Venkatesha Ayyangar

4. Shivaraya Kulakunda (Niranjana)

5. Subrahmanya Raje Aras (Chaduranga)

6. Devanuru Mahadeva

7. Kota Shivarama Karanta

8. Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa (Kuvempu)

9. Goruru Ramaswamy Ayyangar (Goruru)

10. Anupama Niranjana

11. S L Bhairappa

12. Ha Ma Nayaka(Hamana)

13. Patila Puttappa (Papu)

14. Ta Ra Subbarao (Tarasu)

15. Aa Na Krishnaraya (Aanakra)

16. Bhimasena Rao (Beechi)

And the authors I shouldn't have missed reading(not ranked).

Anasuya Shankar (Triveni)

M K Indira

Sara Aboobakkar

U R Ananthamurthy

Girish Karnada

Chandrashekara Kambara

T P Kailasam

P Lankesh

Baraguru Ramachandrappa

Chinese lessons

Chinese are no longer overawed by Indians' mastery over English. On the contrary, now it appears they want to atone for their inferiority feeling vis-a-vis Indian English.
[Chinese]: It's tough to follow your accent.
[I]: he he he
[Chinese]: I asked my colleague how to follow Indian English and he told me there were three rules.
[I]: A-ha...
[Chinese]: You don't say -t- but -d- instead.
[I]: Is it?
[Chinese]: Say, "interesting"
[I]: iMTresTiG
[Chinese]: Yes, Yes. There you go, iMDeresTiG
[I]: < That must be my Dravidian tongue. We are supposed to use 'voiceless' form in the beginning of a word and 'voiced' form in the next part. > Okay. So, what is the second rule?
[Chinese]: You don't say -c- but -g- instead.
[I]: huh...
[Chinese]: You don't say 'come' but say 'gum'. Say 'come'.
[I]: kam
[Chinese]: < brightening > You see... gam .
[I]: < Now that is a googly. That defies my Dravidian tongue too. I should be natural in pronouncing voiceless velar instead of voiced velar in the beginning. > And the third rule...
[Chinese]: Say 'Mary'
[I]: myArri...Did you mean mEri
[Chinese]: mEli! You don't say 'r' but use 'l' instead.
[I]: < How can my rhotic ever be misunderstood for alveolar lateral approximant? > That is tricky ...ha ha ha..
[Chinese]: Oh! Trrrr......

Unstereotyped

[Few summers ago]
[Air Hostess]: Mr. Mangalore, you have ordered a vegetarian meal?
[I]: < I have to tick 'non-vegetarian' next time onwards >. No, I didn't give any preferences. Probably, agent must have ticked wrongly. I would like to have something from the menu.
[Few summers later]
[Air Hostess]: Mr. Mangalore, you have ordered the Hindu meal?
[I]: < What's this non-sense? Why the agent had to change my non-preference to vegetarian preference > No, I didn't order for Hindu meal. I'm not sure how it happened. I would like to chose from your menu.
[Last winter]
[Air Hostess]: Mr. Mangalore, you have ordered the Hindu meal?
[I]: < What is going on here >. I'm sure that must be a mistake. I didn't give any choices. Do you have something else.
[Air Hostess]: Sorry, Sir. You have only vegetarian selection. Would you prefer that instead of the Hindu meal?
[I]: < What difference will that make? Why these fadists want to force their identity to the majority? > Okay, I'll have the Hindu meal.
[Hindu meal was delivered. It was a non-vegetarian meal]
[I]: < Did they make a mistake? Who cares? >
[Few days back ]
[Air Hostess]: Mr. Vadiarillat, you have ordered the Hindu meal?
[I]: < I stared at her face thinking what to say >
[Air Hostess]: Hindu meal, it's a non-vegetarian meal
[I]: Yes, I know. I'll have it.

Relative knowledge

[Get together at my relatives' place]
[Visitor Malayali]: This parippu vada (red gram vada) is a typical Malayali dish.
[I]: Yeah, it is very common nowadays.
[Host Malayali]: Yeah, Yeah...
[I]: In fact, in Mangaluru we call it 'chattambade'
[Host Malayali]: ...o..o..
[I]: It's basically a funeral dish...the name 'chatta' means funeral and 'ambade'* is vade
[Host Malayali]: [Confused, looks up and nods his head]

* ambade was the original common (Proto-Dravidian) name of all these dishes, now surviving only in coastal Karnataka. The diluted name 'vade' of eastern Dravidians has become common name all over India and among Western Dravidians like Kannadigas too. Strictly speaking, the native Kannada word should have been 'bade'.

Raavan - Movie Review

Other day I watched Rashomon. I wasn't impressed. I suppose I'm sort of saturated with the idea of people viewing any event thro' their own limitations. A day later I read the plot of movie 'Raavan'. It reminded me that I'm still living in Treta Yuga when it comes to Indian movies. However, I'm not going to be a cynic. I would say that the film still has its merits. It has intellectualism of 20th century if not 21st century in its characters.

I have already mentioned I haven't watched the movie. But after reading the plot, I am sure not watching is not a drawback for writing a review. As I have said I'm going to discuss the the wisdom 20th century in that movie. It's all about racial struggle.

Let's check the names of the characters.
Beera Munda: The main protagonist. Equivalent to Ravana of Ramayana.
                      In Ramayana: Ravana was a Brahmin. Most likely Indo-Aryan speaker. Supposedly a scholar. Hence Rama, Kshatriya thus lower caste, performed a penance called Brahma Hatya Dosha for the sin of killing a Brahmin (in that case Ravana). The story was good versus evil. The good was a Kshatriya and evil was a Brahmin.
                      In Raavan: The surname Munda clearly suggests Austro-Asiatic tribal man. Thus an oppressed being and probably illiterate or with a moderate education. He is a diluted version of Ravana of Ramayana in every sense. The story is grey versus grey. The anti-hero is a Munda tribal and hero is a Brahmin.

Serena Munda: Beera Munda's sister. Equivalent to Ravana's sister Shurpanakha.
                      In Ramayana: Shurpanakha lusted after Rama and Lakshmana. But was disfigured by Lakshmana when she tried to harm Sita.
                      In Raavan: The name Serena is unique. It's not a common Indian name. However, most of the educated Indians instinctively imagine Tennis star Serena Williams when the name crosses the mind. Thus his sister is a representative of an African woman. Another suppressed population. Here Serena is the object of lust.

Note: While I started this post couple of days I back I found Wikipedia mentioned her name as Serena. Then they changed it to Jamuni. It appears producers announced the name as Serena but later changed it to Jamuni. Anyway, I'll stick with their pre-release name.

Dev Pratap Sharma: Equivalent to Rama of Ramayana.
                      In Ramayana: Rama was a born Kshatriya. Probably moderately educated. A brave warrior but panicky about purity of his kidnapped wife.
                      In Raavan: Dev Pratap Sharma is a Brahmin.Ruthless and modern enough to be bothered about purity of kidnapped wife. On the contrary, he coldly uses the purity concept of a woman to his own advantage. He is not a stereotypical Brahmins of yesteryears who were passive and panicky about the purity of their women. He is a modern, educated, liberated counterpart of mythical Rama.

Ragini Sharma: Equivalent to Sita of Ramayana.
                       In Ramayana: A passive and submissive wife. Always trying to prove her purity under every  circumstances.
                       In Raavan: A passive and submissive wife. Probably even dumber compared to Sita. Confused in front of aggressive males. Also, trying to prove her purity.

My Genetic Horoscope - i

Slow metabolizer of Caffeine
Less likely to avoid Errors

Bengaluru in other languages

I consider changing names and spellings of the colonized places is a very rational move. However, I believe we can give very scientific/linguistic nature to the whole process. We know that sound changes give rise to multiple branches of a proto-language. We already know the sound changes between the languages of the same family. Therefore, I would propose we should make sure the languages belonging to the same linguistic family must have the spellings/pronunciations that follow those sound changes.

Consider the case of Bengaluru (beGgaLUru)

In Malayalam: veGGallUr
In Telugu: veGgulUru
In Tamil: veGgaLUr

I suppose non-Dravidian language speakers, as far as possible, must pronounce it close to Kannada pronunciation out of courtesy.

A Kafkaesque Early Morning Dream

Something happened and I was ushered to a hotel room. I found myself sharing that room with a family. The family consisted of a middle aged woman, a young man and a young woman. The young woman was breathtakingly beautiful. There was a TV in the room. The women went inside the living room. I went there and came back. I went out.

In the corridor, I ran across another young lady. She was gravely attractive. She looked at me. I couldn't make out whether that stare was blank or she was smiling. Somebody then stopped me and told my room was different. It was 305 and there was the key. I didn't take it. I said something and went somewhere.

Then I found myself arguing with somebody. I told I needed a separate room. Some more arguments. Then I met  another guy and took the keys.

After that I found myself in a friend's room. I told I was stranded and was put up in a hotel. There was another guy. He asked me whether I met Ananya. I said I did.

Then I was at my home. There was something to be done. I sent my brother. After sometime I went there myself. I saw my brother. Then I was walking inside some building I met this tall police officer.

The police officer stopped me. He asked what I did to her. I said I didn't do anything. In fact, when I found myself sharing my room with them I asked for a separate room. Then I said my friend's friend knew Ananya.

[My alarm clock went off and I woke up. I was supposed to study for my exam today but I went back to sleep to complete the mystery. But it was of no use]

Registering a change - i

[First two decades of my life]
"Lady's fingers tastes good"
"I like Lady's fingers"
"Lady's fingers is my favourite vegetable"
"Give me anyday Lady's fingers"
"Lady's fingers is the best vegetable"
[Third decade of my life]
I ate Lady's fingers.
Lady's fingers.
Lady's fingers.
Something is wrong.
[Fourth decade of my life]
"I DON'T LIKE LADY'S FINGERS"
Took nearly half a decade to register that.

The Dravidian Tribes - i

The tribes in central-east India are in the news as part of violent communist struggle (Naxalite, Maoist etc...) in that region. Though a big chunk of the cadres are Dravidians, that identity has always been irrelevant. Incidentally, the leaders of Maoist movements come mostly from non-tribal Dravidians (Telugus). One more Dravidian tribe (Dongria Kondh) are in the news (for a quite sometime now) for a very classic reason. Their sacred mountain is being bought by a multinational mining company. The Kondhs are up in arms against this project. But the mountain god is not sacred just as their language. What should be the reason for the mainstream communities for supporting them? Injustice or the standard of life?

Quintessential Dravidian Names

I:...
He: Hey! That is a North Indian name!
I:< thinking >
He: I mean you people generally give gods', goddesses' names

Kasaragodu Malayalam - i

I spoke my mother tongue Malayalam until I was 4 years old (according to my mother) then switched to Kannada. The legacy of which could be seen in the fact that I can speak with kids below four years old only in Malayalam and also with all animals (Need not be universal truth as my born Kannadiga brother also has the same habit). Of course, it can be also said that the four years threshold is in place because the children above that age have the language skills that exceed mine (in Malayalam).

After the birth of my daughter I have this dilemma whether my natural instincts to speak in Malayalam to babies should be given free run or should be curtailed. I have recently read that if the kids are bilingual before the age of five their communication skills would be hampered as they grow up. Strictly speaking, I wasn't bilingual when I reached the age of five. I switched from one language to another thus I was a serial monolingual. But I was never satisfied with my grasp over any languages that I can read, write and speak (Kannada, English, Hindi, Tulu and Malayalam). So, I thought of speaking with my daughter in Malayalam until she becomes five years old.

However, my wife read somewhere that bilinguals have better chances avoiding Alzheimer's. She thought it would be better if we turned our daughter bilingual. So, I switched over to Kannada with my daughter. But here comes the problem.

Kannada, as I learnt it, is bookish or standard dialect. I am observing it's not best suited to speak with babies. Malayalam, be it standard dialect or Kasaragodu dialect, is an amazing short cut language. I suppose the late standardization of the language has removed many agglutinations/suffixes from Malayalam and is closer to spoken dialects. I do know many of the Kannada spoken dialects have shorter morphology. However, the early standardization has left the standard dialect with long agglutinations. I think there was a recent survey (in Outlook Magazine I suppose) where it was reported that Malayalis have the best grasp over the standard language and Kannadigas the worst among primary school students in South India. Probably, gulf between standard language and spoken language explains this difference between Malayalis and Kannadigas.

Weakest Nazis

Other day, a newspaper report on a suicide caught my eye. He was a Telugu and 22 years old. The background was he had incurred a huge debt to get his sister married off. He was unable to pay them back and creditors were on his back. He committed suicide and curiously wrote a letter that person should be born either rich or poor. There was no life for a middle class person like him.

Now, dowry is very rampant among Telugus of all classes. From his letter, I"m guessing, he meant rich can afford to pay the dowry and poor because of the obviousness of their poverty are not severely constrained or he could have shamelessly run away from his duty and nobody would have talked. I thought he was not complaining about the irrationality of the dowry system but as a middle class person he was ruing that he was not able to maintain the certain standard of the society. At the end of the day, it was a typical suicide of a person with a sense of failure.

As a middle class by birth person, I always thought I had the best possible class but not a best possible society. It was a society lot better than what all my ancestors inherited but still a society in transition. Though legally it had made all the constraints (including dowry) underground, many people haven't liberated themselves and thus keeping many others in check. Sometimes it strikes you that many don't break any illegal practices because they are very humble people. They just don't want to make others look morally corrupt.

Coming to the suicide letter, I felt bit uncomfortable about the "poor" part. As far as I know, they too try to maintain the standards set by the rich and the middle class. My former housemaid's eldest daughter was killed by her in-laws for not bringing enough dowry. The mother wanted justice for her daughter but the relatives made her to see the pointlessness of the effort. The husband is supposedly happily married now.

Vegetarianism = Discrimination

Via Pharyngula

Even if it's not religiously sanctioned (like in India) the unnatural tendency towards vegetarianism brings out irrational antipathy towards normal eaters. The annoying rejections one encounters during rental house hunt in India is a case in point.

On a different note, Gandhi needed endorsement for his Jain influenced vegetarianism and non-violence principles (as true Indian identity markers) from the people who he thought had reached the pinnacle of human civilization. He obviously found his support from similar faddist crackpot quarters in the UK.

Irrelevant Past - i

A hilarious article in BBC

He believes that the voters' preference for emotional engagement over reasonable argument has allowed the Republican Party to blind them to their own real interests.

The Republicans have learnt how to stoke up resentment against the patronising liberal elite, all those do-gooders who assume they know what poor people ought to be thinking.

Right-wing politics has become a vehicle for channelling this popular anger against intellectual snobs. The result is that many of America's poorest citizens have a deep emotional attachment to a party that serves the interests of its richest.

Reminded me the election during my High School days for the post of school representative. I was campaigning for my friend. Maybe we were part of obedient students. Our opponents just spread the message that we would arrange "special classes"( classes for the subjects that couldn't be completed during school working days and hence to be accommodated during weekends). They won a resounding victory.

Sense of Humour -ii

It beats me that a beautiful story of how a racist attitude leads to redemption could even be selected for national awards. Or was that a moral story about Nigerian drug dealers? Do they really care? Anyway, whatever it is, its open dialogues that go easy on brain makes an anti-subtle person like me proud.

Protagonist: I'm different
Agency manager: I can see you are different
:
Protagonist: I'll rule the fashion world
Agency manager: I can see you'll rule the fashion world

A lot better than Malayali ultra-subtle non-dialoguers.

Devolution - v

Two more papers closely related the one I discussed before have appeared on Science Daily.

The first one is about self-control. According to the study it's contagious. If you think someone with great self-control then you can imbibe that quality. The opposite is also true. I'm not so sure, I suppose that requires you hold that somebody as a model. But that is not very easy to do. Probably, the second paper explains why.

According to this paper, there are people driven by fun and there are people driven by achievement. People driven by fun excel in non-competitive environment and fail in competitive setup. Opposite is true for people driven by achievement. That is a troubling finding. My understanding is that people are driven for fun (dopamine). Any disciplined behaviour is a cultivated one. The losers are the ones without a proper cultivated self-control and discipline.

The way I understood the study (so did Maju), people who love fun and people who love achievement belong to different worlds. 'fun' and 'achievement' are two independent and innate fundamental drives. It's not like all roads lead to dopamine.

Confusing times.

Notes to manju - ii

The humiliation of the female sex is an essential feature of civilization as well as barbarianism. The only difference is that the civilised system raises to a compound, equivocal, ambiguous, hypocritical mode of existence every vice that barbarity practices in the simple form... Nobody is punished more for keeping woman a slave than man himself.

Karl Marx in The Holy Family

I wonder that suffering man belongs to which class.

Approach to Comparative Anthropology - III

Should anthropology involve itself in finding a common underlying theme and social interpretations of data? I think not. Anthropology should only pile up data and do nothing. What is the point? I haven't figured it out.

Devolution - iv

I don't write all my thoughts down. I write the ones that make a coherent reading for myself. But that is not how the thoughts develop. They do bring so many other variables. But the original thought that is developed from my experience has nothing to do with the new thoughts. Probably they are. However, I don't have any real life experiences for new thoughts. So, I can't develop them further. There is always an element of dishonesty when I write my thoughts down. Or when I develop certain models of phenomena based on those thoughts. But am I biased or hypocrite? Certainly not. I write down the thoughts that sound coherent to me and not that make a good reading or gratify me.

Devolution - iii

How can I liberate myself from all the taboos so that I no longer feel fear? How can I create situations that is free of ulterior motives so that I can express myself freely and be accepted without prejudice? Unfortunately, I'm not an empiricist. I do not know how to create my own experiments and gain experience.

I try to imagine. I try to imagine breaking taboos. It is so easy. But the only drawback is I have written scripts for other characters in my imagination.

I try to imagine. I try to imagine the good situations and the bad ones. I pose questions. I find the answers. So far so good. But then it's just a dead end. I don't know whether I have to call it dead end. But it is something like that. I no longer have anything to probe but I haven't arrived at anything.