TheMindCreative FEBRUARY 2015
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Editors’sNote
Other than a few creative pursuits, I have spent many years of my life studying mathematics. Strangely, I have found that beyond a certain level, the imagination needed for mathematical ideas are akin to those needed for the arts. During those years of intense mathematical studies, one of the figures who fired my imagination was the unbelievable autodidact mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The cover story in this issue is dedicated to the intriguing life of Ramanujan.
Cartoonist’s Corner section features a special feature on Laxman and some his very interesting works.
This issue also has it’s other regular ‘corners’ including a short story by the legendary writer Guy de Maupassant; one of the pioneers of the modern short story. This issue features some excellent poems by Swati Singh Sambyal and the artworks of an extraordinary talent that I came across on Facebook in my quest for unearthing skills Vipin Alex Jacob. I am confident that the readers will get immense enjoyment from his works that hold so much promise. A new section (The Musician’s Corner) has now Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was the been added. creator of the immortal fictional detective and logician Sherlock The exciting news is that the Holmes, was himself a great believer readers can now access the in the occult and mysticism. The magazine on mobile devices from Essayist’s Corner in this issue features its website (and in fact, you might the strange case of the Cottingley be reading this issue right now on fairies that the cynical reader might a smart phone or tablet). I am also enjoy. This is about two girls who in the process of designing an ‘app’ claimed to have come upon fairies in for Android and Apple devices that the woods in Cottingley and whose you would be able to download on ‘experiences' were firmly endorsed by your mobile devices in order to Doyle himself! access the magazine. India lost an icon recently - a giant Happy reading!! among cartoonists who was often referred to as “the pied piper of Delhi” - the redoubtable R.K. Laxman. The 2
In This Issue 5
Srinivasa Ramanujan The Saga Of A Genius
14 The Essayist’s Corner The Curious Case Of The Cottingley Fairies
24 The Artist’s Corner With Vipin Alex Jacob
31 The Foodie’s Corner Weird Food Delicacies
41 The Cartoonist’s Corner R.K. Laxman - ‘The Pied Pip[er of Delhi’
58 The Fiction Writer’s Corner Two Little Soldiers
51 The Musician’s Corner The Tale Of The Harmonium
68 The Poet’s Corner
By Guy de Maupassant
Poems by 3
Swati Singh Sambyal
Contributors Vipin Alex Jacob
works as a Visual development artist at Mark Animation in Toronto, Canada. Most of his work experience comprises of doing ‘character and look development’ and the creation of 3D Models and Environments. He started his career in India working with studios like Maya Entertainment Ltd, Prana Studios and Krayon Pictures, thereafter moving to Canada and working with Intelligent Creatures, Optix Digital and Mark Animation. Some of the more exciting projects that he has been a part of, was working on Disney's TinkerBell, Weinstein's Unstable Fables and BBC Documentary- "The Hidden Life of the Cell", among many others. LINKS:
http://www.storyweaverz.blogspot.ca/ https://www.facebook.com/VipinAlexJacob
Swati Singh Sambyal
is an environmental researcher, poet, blogger and a freelance writer. She is a published author of "Painted", a book of 43 contemporary poems. She is passionate about life, people, music, words and places and is trying hard to bridge the gap between the life’s chores and the unusuality that resides in her. In her own words, this is a journey
Guy de Maupassant
(5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements (outcomes). Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870's, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece. 4
Srinivasa Ramanjunan The saga of a genius 5
On a January morning in 1913, Prof. G.H. Hardy at Cambridge received a 10 page letter from Srinivasaa Ramanujan, a 23-year old unknown shipping clerk from Madras, India. The ten-page letter contained about 120 statements of theorems on infinite series, improper integrals, continued fractions, and other complex theorems pertaining to number theory. Initially, attributing the letter to be from a crank, Prof. Hardy disregarded the contents for a while. However, certain elements of the complex equations in the letter forced him to have a second look at the contents with his collaborator J. E. Littlewood and it did not take them long to realise the authenticity of the claims. In Hardy’s own words, the results “must be true because, if they were not true, no one would have had the imagination to invent them”. Hardy’s decision to travel to India and bring Ramanjujan to England possibly turned the course of mathematics and the ensuing collaboration between the two has gone down as a unique event in the history of mathematics. Today, G. H. Hardy (a mathematical prodigy himself) is known more for his adoption and mentoring of the self-taught Indian mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was born in 1887 in South India. He showed enormous promise as a young school student and won many academic prizes in high school. When he completed high school he took a competitive examination and based on his excellent performance, was offered a scholarship to a local college, the Government College at Kumbakonan. At the age of 16, he came across a book titled A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics (written as a coaching reference for school students in England for the difficult Tripos examinations). For Ramanujan, this book provided a burst of inspiration and ignited his fierce interest in mathematics. He soon set about working on the results described in the book and went well beyond the contents of the book. There was, however, a downside to his newfound interest. His total obsession with mathematics was disastrous for his academic career. He ignored and showed disinterest in all other subjects and failed his college exams repeatedly. He lost his scholarship and soon dropped out of college. 6
The house in which Ramanujan lived in Kumbakonam has been bought by SASTRA University and is being preserved as a museum.
Ramanujan’s legendary notebooks Ramanujan’s mother
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During this period, an interaction between Ramanujan and a close friend by the name of Sandow that has been documented by several authors highlights the state of Ramanujan’s mind and his financial condition in India: Sandow: Ramanju, they all call you a genius. Ramanujan: What! Me, a genius! Look at my elbow, it will tell you the story. Sandow: What’s all this, Ramanju? Why is it so rough and black? Ramanujan: My elbow is now rough and blackened in making a genius out of me! Night and day, I do my calculations on a slate and it slows me down when I use a rag to wipe the slate. Instead, I wipe the slate almost every few minutes with my elbow. Sandow: You are a mountain of industry. Why use a slate when you have to do so many calculations? Why not use paper? Ramanujan: When food itself is a problem, how can I find money for paper? I may require four reams of paper every month.
Ramanujan was from a very poor family and his dropping out of college put him in a very perilous situation. He had no money and neither a college degree to back him up. His time was spent in filling countless notebooks with his mathematical ‘discoveries’ and constantly looking for patrons for his work. For his day to day living, he depended on charities from friends. Fortunately. He was awarded a small subsidy by the Indian mathematician Ramachandra Rao and that allowed him to devote more time to mathematics. However, financial pressures soon forced him to get a job as a clerk at the Madras Port Trust; a job that he manged to acquire through friends. During that period, he married a nine year old bride by the name of Janakiammal on 14th July 1909.
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In the 1911, the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society published a 17-page paper by Ramanujan (on the topic of Bernoulli numbers). Since mathematicians in India still doubted his authenticity, Ramanjunan, at the behest of his friends, wrote to several mathematicians in Cambridge. He found success on his third attempt when he wrote to Professor G. H. Hardy.
Ramanujan’s handwritten mathematical works Hardy validated the work of Ramanujan with great enthusiasm and Hardy’s endorsement worked immediate miracles for Ramanujan. He (Ramanujan) gained a noteworthy status amongst his peers and was soon offered the position of a research scholar at the University of Madras. Within a short span of time, Ramanujan started getting a salary that was nearly double his remuneration as a clerk. However, recognising the elements of a genius, Hardy was determined to bring Ramanujan to England and sent the latter an invitation to Cambridge. Ramanujan's mother resisted at first driven by superstition and religious beliefs, but finally gave in. In March 1914, Ramanujan boarded a ship for England. 9
Ramanujan (center) at Cambridge Ramanujan's arrival at Cambridge was the beginning of successful five-year collaboration with Hardy. During their work together, Hardy found that their methodologies were vastly different and in Hardy’s own words, Ramanujan “arrived at a result by a process of mingled argument, intuition, and induction, of which he was entirely unable to give any coherent account.” Hardy, who was a known exponent of formal and rigor in analysis, was however astounded by Ramanujan's uncanny intuition in manipulating infinite series, continued fractions, and other complex aspects of number theory. Based on his observations, Hardy once made the comment: "I have never met his equal, and can compare him only with Euler or Jacobi." Ramanjunan’s stay in England was a boon to the world of mathematics and in turn, he gained a reputation that he had yearned for so much in his life. Cambridge granted him a Bachelor of Science degree "by research" in 1916, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (the first Indian to be so honoured) in 1918. However, the climate of England and the culture from which 10
he was so alienated, ultimately took its toll on him both mentally and physically. The English winters and his low-energy vegetarian diet had a detrimental effect on his already frail health and in 1917 he was hospitalised. Eventually, Ramanujan also succumbed to bouts of depression and even attempted suicide at one time. By late 1918 his health had improved slightly and he returned to India in 1919. But his health failed again, and he died at the age of 33. His wife Janaki, who lived lonely years during his stay at London, joined him in Madras on his return and nursed him till his untimely death on April 26, 1920.
Those who are mathematically inclined might find this quite interesting A remarkable mathematical formula that resulted from the Hardy-Ramanujan collaboration relates to the ‘partition of a positive integer (a non-fraction number) which says that p(n) = 5 which means that the number n can be expressed as five different summations of positive numbers, regardless of order. For example, p(4) = 5 because the number 4 can be expressed or partitioned in five different ways: 1+1+1+1, 1+1+2, 2+2, 1+3, or 4 While this problem was originally studied by the pioneering mathematician and physicist Euler, Ramanujan and Hardy with an explicit formula that could calculate the partitions for any integer.
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Prof. Hardy (left) and Ramanujan in London
Ramanujan’s wife Janaki in 1994 12
Some work, found string
of Ramnujan’s original and sometimes unconventional have inspired vast amounts of further research and have applications in fields as diverse as crystallography and theory.
A common anecdote about Ramanujan during his last days relates how Hardy arrived at Ramanujan's house in a cab numbered 1729. He then mentioned to Ramanujan that the number seemed to be very uninteresting. In reply, Ramanujan is said to have remarked immediately that, in fact, the number was an extremely interesting number mathematically, since it was the smallest number representable as a sum of two cubes in two different ways. This derivation is shown below: 1729 can be expressed as 13 + 123 or as 93 + 103 The number 1729 is now referred to as the Hardy-Ramanujan number and numbers with is particular property are also referred to as the "taxicab numbers". There are estimations that Ramanujan speculated upon or provided proofs for over 3,000 such theorems, identities and equations. Hardy, on the other, lived on till the age of 70. When asked in an interview what his greatest contribution to mathematics was, Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the discovery of Ramanujan, and even called their collaboration "the one romantic incident in my life". After Ramanujan died, Hardy strongly urged that Ramanujan's notebooks be edited and published. Ramanujan’s extraordinary abilities and achievements can be best summed up a remark made by Michio Kaku, a Japanese American theoretical physicist, tenured professor and co-creator of string field theory: “Srinivasa Ramanujan was the strangest man in all of mathematics, probably in the entire history of science. He has been compared to a bursting supernova, illuminating the darkest, most profound corners of mathematics, before being tragically struck down by tuberculosis at the age of 33.” 13
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The Curious Case of the Cottingley Fairies 15
The 1917 photographs In mid-1917, nine-year-old Frances Griffiths and her mother, both newly arrived in the UK from South Africa, were staying with Frances Griffiths' aunt in the village of Cottingley in West Yorkshire; Elsie was then 16 years old. The two girls often played together beside the brook at the bottom of the garden, much to their mothers' annoyance, because they frequently came back with wet feet and clothes. Frances and Elsie said they only went to the beck to see the fairies, and to prove it, Elsie borrowed her father's camera, a Midg quarter-plate. The girls then apparently returned about 30 minutes later, in, what was described as, a "triumphant" mood. Elsie's father, Arthur, was a keen amateur photographer himself and had his own darkroom. The picture on the photographic plate that he developed showed Frances behind a bush in the foreground, on which four fairies appeared to be dancing. Two months later the girls borrowed his camera again, and this time returned with a photograph of Elsie sitting on the lawn holding out her hand to a 30 cm gnome. While Arthur thought the photos to be "nothing but a prank", his Cottingley Beck, where Frances wife Polly believed the photographs to be and Elsie claimed to have authentic. seen the fairies
The photographs became public in mid-1919, after Elsie's mother showed the photographs at a meeting of the Theosophical Society in Bradford. As a result, the photographs were displayed at the Society's annual conference in Harrogate a few months later, where they came to the attention of a leading member of the Society, Edward Gardner. Later he wrote: “.... the fact that two young girls had not only been able to see fairies, which others had done, but had actually for the first time ever been able to materialise them at a density sufficient for their images to be recorded on a photographic plate, 16
The first of the five photographs, taken by Elsie Wright in 1917, shows Frances Griffiths with the alleged fairies.
meant that it was possible that the next cycle of evolution was underway.” Initial examinations When Gardner sent the prints along with the original glass-plate negatives to Harold Snelling, a photography expert, the latter’s opinion was that "the two negatives are entirely genuine, unfaked photographs ... [with] no trace whatsoever of studio work involving card or paper models". Author and prominent spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle learned about the photographs from the editor of the publication Light (a magazine for spiritualists). During this period, Doyle had been commissioned by The Strand Magazine to write an article on fairies for their Christmas issue and the manifestation of the ‘fairy photographs’ fitted in perfectly with his project. Doyle contacted Gardner in June 1920 to determine the background to the photographs, and wrote to Elsie and her father to request permission from the latter to use the prints in his article. Arthur Wright was "obviously impressed" that Doyle was involved, and gave his permission for publication, but he refused payment on 17
gave his permission for publication, but he refused payment on the grounds that, if genuine, the images should not be "soiled" by money. Interestingly, Gardner and Doyle sought a second expert opinion from the photographic company Kodak, who, after examining the photographs, stated that the photographs "showed no signs of being faked" and they concluded that "this could not be taken as conclusive evidence ... that they were authentic photographs of fairies". Kodak also declined to issue a certificate of authenticity. The prints were also examined by another photographic company, Ilford, who reported unequivocally that there was "some evidence of faking". The 1920 photographs Doyle, who was preoccupied with organising an imminent lecture tour of Australia in July 1920, sent Gardner to meet the Wright family. Frances was by then living with her parents in Scarborough, but Elsie's father told Gardner that he had been so certain the photographs were fakes that while the girls were away he searched their bedroom and the area around the stream, looking for scraps of pictures or cut-outs, but found nothing "incriminating".
The second of the five photographs, showing Elsie with a winged gnome Gardner, who believed the Wright family to be honest and respectable and wanted to place the matter of the photographs' authenticity beyond doubt, returned to Cottingley at the end of July with two Kodak Cameo cameras and 24 secretly marked photographic plates. These cameras were then given to the two girls during their school summer holiday, to allow them to take more photographs of the fairies. 18
Frances and the Leaping Fairy in the third photograph
The third Photograph Fairy Offering Posy of Harebells to Elsie
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The girls, who insisted on being alone with the fairies, then apparently came back with several photographs, two of which appeared to show fairies. These two photographs (shown on the previous page), show Frances in profile with a winged fairy close by her nose and Elsie with a fairy either hovering or tiptoeing on a branch, and offering her a flower. Two days later the girls took the last picture, Fairies and Their Sun-Bath (shown on the next page). When an excited Gardner sent an "ecstatic" telegram to Doyle (then in Melbourne), Doyle wrote back: “My heart was gladdened when out here in far Australia I had your note and the three wonderful pictures which are confirmatory of our published results. When our fairies are admitted other psychic phenomena will find a more ready acceptance ... We have had continued messages at séances for some time that a visible sign was coming through.” Publication and reaction In December 1920, Doyle's article in The Strand contained two high resolution prints of the 1917 photographs. The magazine sold out within days of its publication. Doyle who was a staunch spiritualist, hoped that if the photographs convinced the public of the existence of fairies, then they might more readily accept other psychic phenomena. The ensuing press coverages were not very encouraging and sometimes even made a mockery of the photographs. The Sydney newspaper Truth on 5 January 1921 expressed the view: "For the true explanation of these fairy photographs what is wanted is not the knowledge of occult phenomena but knowledge of children." and Major John Hall-Edwards, the pioneer of medical X-ray treatments in Britain noted “On the evidence I have no hesitation in saying that these photographs could have been "faked"….” In 1921, Doyle used the photographs in a second article and also in his 1922 book “The Coming of the Fairies”. Once again, the photographs were received with mixed credulity and some sceptics noted that the fairies "looked suspiciously like the traditional fairies of nursery tales" and that they had "very fashionable hairstyles". 20
The fifth and final photograph - Fairies and Their Sunbath Gardner's final visit Gardner made a final visit to Cottingley in August 1921 with cameras and photographic plates for Frances and Elsie, accompanied by the clairvoyant Geoffrey Hodson. This time around, there were no evidence or photographs of fairies. By then, Elsie and Frances were tired of the whole fairy business. Years later Elsie and Frances admitted that they "played along" with Hodson "out of mischief", and that they considered him "a fake".
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Later investigations
Frances and Elsie 1917
Public interest in the Cottingley Fairies gradually subsided after 1921. Elsie and Frances eventually married and lived abroad for many years. In 1966, a reporter from the Daily Express newspaper traced Elsie, who was by then back in England. The media subsequently once again became interested in Frances and Elsie's photographs and in 1971, BBC television's Nationwide programme investigated the case. Elsie stuck to her story: "I've told you that they're photographs of figments of our imagination, and that's what I'm sticking to".
However, during an interview in 1976 by journalist Austin Mitchell, Elsie and Frances agreed that "a rational person doesn't see fairies", but they refused to accept that they had fabricated the photographs. Many experts including internationally renowned magician and sceptic James Randi, a team from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and Geoffrey Crawley, editor of the British Journal of Photography labelled the photographs as fakes. Confessions In 1983, the cousins admitted in an article published in the magazine The Unexplained, that the photographs had been faked, although both maintained that they had actually seen fairies. Strangely, the cousins disagreed about the fifth and final photograph. Elsie maintained it was a fake but Frances insisted that it was genuine. In an interview given in the early 1980’s Frances said: “It was a wet Saturday afternoon and we were just mooching about with our cameras and Elsie had nothing prepared. I saw these fairies building up in the grasses and just aimed the camera and took a photograph.” In a 1985 TV interview, Frances said: "I never even thought of it as being a fraud – it was just Elsie and I having a bit of fun and I can't understand to this day why they were taken in – they wanted to be taken in.” 22
Subsequent hstory Frances died in 1986, and Elsie in 1988. Prints of their photographs of the fairies, along with a few other items including a first edition of Doyle's book The Coming of the Fairies, were sold at auction in London for £21,620 in 1998. That same year, Geoffrey Crawley sold his Cottingley Fairy material to the National Museum of Film, Photography and Television where it is still on display. The glass photographic plates were bought for £6,000 by an unnamed buyer at a London auction held in 2001. The first edition of Frances' memoirs , published in 2009, under the title Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies, contains correspondence, sometimes "bitter", between Elsie and Frances. In one letter, dated 1983, Frances wrote: “I hated those photographs from the age of 16 when Mr Gardner presented me with a bunch of flowers and wanted me to sit on the platform [at a Theosophical Society meeting] with him. I realised what I was in for if I did not keep myself hidden.”
Elsie and Frances and the original camera used in the photographs 23
WITH
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About Vipin Alex Jacob I came upon Vipin’s work on Facebook and was immediately impressed with the clarity of emotions and expressions that he is able to induce into his characters. The ability to do this without writing or saying much in a caricature or cartoon, is a unique and rare ability in artists. His marvellous use of colour combinations in his work is another feature that I found most interesting. I believe that Vipin needs much more attention that he is currently getting and I sincerely hope that the readers of this ezine will forward his works to other readers. My personal opinion (for whatever it is worth) is that I have stumbled upon an artist with an amazing talent and the ability to go very far in life with his abilities and skills. This is what Vipin says about his work: “I approach all my artworks as an avenue for story-telling and love to set the mood and colours to define it. Everything from getting the right expression, pose or shape of the characters in the scene are key elements. Each of my artwork is a stage and my characters are actors that help to drive the story. “ Avijit Sarkar Editor
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This Is The Day 26
Silent Place 27
Summer Playdate
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Sup 29
Yapster
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Weird Food Delicacies 32
It is indeed true that one person’s normal food habits might be another person’s nightmare. There are many strange foods and recipes available around the world but there are a few foods that are definitely weird and possibly bizarre in the eyes of the ‘normal’ food lovers. These dishes may not be on the wish list of every food connoisseur, but they are consumed with gusto and relished by many across the world. Here are a few such dishes
Bird’s Nest Soup - China
Yes! Birds’ nests are edible – at least that’s what the Chinese think. They use Swifts’ nests to make this soup, known as the ‘Caviar of the East’. Interestingly, Swiftlets make their nests not out of twigs and leaves but predominantly out of saliva. Their saliva that makes the soup have its unique gelatinous, rubbery texture and the soup is reputedly one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The high price comes from the fact that this bird builds its nest during breeding season over a period of 35 days and nests can only be harvested around three times a year. Moreover, the nests are typically built in coastal caves and collecting them is a treacherous 33
process involving climbing and nimble skill. With an increase in demand for birds nest soup however, manmade nesting sites are often constructed. Hong Kong and the US are the largest importers of birds’ nests and a bowl of soup can cost around $30 to $100, whilst a kilo of nest can cost between $2,000 and $10,000. The soup has been a tradition for centuries and is believed to be nutritious in proteins and minerals and apparently has aphrodisiac qualities.
Fried Tarantulas - Cambodia
These enormous spiders that you can buy on the streets of Skuon, Cambodia, are served fried whole – legs, fangs and all. They were first discovered by starving Cambodians in the bloody, brutal days of the Khmer Rouge rule and have gone from being the vital sustenance of these people to a delicacy that tourists come from far and wide to try. Busloads of people stop at the markets of Skuon to try these delicacies which have now become the source of fame and fortune for many locals. They cost only a few cents and supposedly the taste is delicious when pan fried with a bit of garlic and salt; crispy on the outside with a gooey body on the inside.
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Puffer Fish - Japan
The Puffer fish or fugu is known for its poison (the insides contain todrotoxin, which is 1,250 times stronger than cyanide) and yet is considered to be one of the most sought-after delicacies in Japan. However, only expert chefs in certain licensed restaurants are allowed to prepare and serve this rather precarious fish. It might also help to know that unless the fish is prepared and cooked properly, its ingestion might lead to one getting paralysed whilst still conscious and eventual dying from asphyxiation since there are no known antidotes.
Balut - Philippines
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This dish from the Philippines is unique because it is made from fertilised eggs that are boiled just before they are due to hatch. As a result, the yolk oozes out followed by a chicken (or duck) foetus. The eggs are cooked when the foetus is anywhere from 17 days to 21 days depending on your preference. Mind you, if the egg is older, the foetus begins to have a beak, claws, bones and feathers! Although the description of Balut mind seem to be quite repellent for many readers, in the Filipino culture the dish is enormously popular. Like many other exotic dishes around the world, the Balut is also widely believed to boost libido and is also considered to be a protein laden healthy snack. It is served with with a pinch of salt, lemon juice, black pepper and coriander and sometimes with chili and vinegar. The Balut lover will tell you that the best way to eat this is to crack open the egg, sip the broth and then eat the yolk and foetus; accompanied by a glass of cold beer.
Casu Marzu - Sardinia
This is a variety of cheese with a difference. It is full of insect larvae. In fact the name “Casu Marzu” means ‘rotten cheese’ and is often commonly referred to as ‘maggot cheese.’ For health reasons, this cheese is now banned but can still be procured on the black market in Sardinia and Italy. The cheese is made from sheep’s milk cheese which has the larvae of the cheese fly (Piophila casei) introduced into it. Fermentation occurs as the larvae digest the cheese fats and the texture becomes very soft 36
with some liquid seeping out. The cheese has to be apparently eaten when the maggots are still alive because when they are dead it is considered to be toxic! Health issues have arisen in relation to Casu Marzu, including reports of allergic reactions resulting out of the consumption of the cheese that is in an advanced toxic state.
Surstromming - Sweden
Sweden’s Surstomming is fermented Baltic herring and can be found on supermarket shelves all over the country. The herring is caught in spring just before it starts spawning and is then fermented in barrels for one to two months before being tinned where the fermentation continues for several months. The cans often bulge during shipping and storage because of the continued fermentation process. so much so that certain airlines have in fact banned these cans from being taken on flights, as they consider the pressurized cans to be potentially dangerous. When the can is opened the smell is overpowering due to the advanced fermentation of the fish. It is usually eaten with a type of flat crispy bread and boiled potatoes. Sometimes people drink milk with it.
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Sannakji- Korea
Sannakji is a dish from Korea and is made from live octopus. The octopus is cut into pieces whilst still alive, lightly seasoned with sesame oil and served immediately whilst the tentacles can still be seen squirming on the plate! It is an interesting dish because the tentacles stick to any surface they touch. This means you actually have to fight with your food before you can devour it and savour its taste. The first hurdle is to get the tentacles off your chopsticks, and once the octopus is in your mouth it can stick to your teeth, the roof of your mouth and your tongue due to the suction of the tentacles. Koreans however find this to be a gastronomically enjoyable experience. Be careful when you swallow this before chewing properly because the suction cups stick to the mouth or throat and can result in choking.
Kopi Luwak - Indonesia
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Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and possibly one of the most expensive gourmet coffee beans in the world. However there is a catch. It is made from the excrements of an Indonesian cat-like creature called the Luwak; an animal that eats only the ripest coffee cherries but is unable to digest beans inside them which come out whole in its excrement. Indonesians insist the resultant coffee beans are unique because the stomach acids and enzymes that perform the fermentation of the beans give the coffee a special aroma. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago and has an expensive price tag of anywhere between US $120 – $300 per pound.
Puffin Heart - Iceland
The puffin is often referred to as the ‘clown of the ocean’ or ‘sea parrot’ and with its colourful beak and clumsy behaviour, is considered an adorable bird. In Iceland, however, these seabirds have been a source of sustenance for Icelanders on the islands for centuries and ‘sky fishing’ is a popular sport (specially in the Westman Islands) that involves catching these low flying birds in a big net. The heart of a puffin is eaten raw whilst it is still warm in traditional Icelandic delicacy. The puffin’s neck is first broken and then the bird is skinned. After that, the fresh heart is eaten raw. Mind you, this is considered to be a sought-after delicacy and often also smoked, grilled or pan-fried. 39
Snake Wine - Vietnam
Many inhabitants of Vietnam believe that Snake Wine (a bottle of rice wine with a venomous snake inside) has medicinal values. The snake is left soaked for a few months in rice wine to allow for the poison to dissolve in the wine. The ethanol makes the venom inactive. It is slightly pinkish in colour as a result of the blood from the snake. Although it originated in Vietnam, it has now spread to other parts of South East Asia and Southern China. A different variety called the Snake Blood Wine is prepared by slicing the belly of the snake to let the blood drain into the wine which is then served immediately.
Refernce: http://www.bootsnall.com/ Photo credits: Bird’s Nest Soup: http://www.chinesecookingrecipes.net/ Fried Tarantulas: http://www.blacktomato.com/ Fugu: http://www.jamiechuaofficial.com/ Balut http://www.kawalingpinoy.com/ Casu Marzu: http://geniuscook.com/ Surstromming: http://commons.wikimedia.org/ Sannakji: wenitasya.wordpress.com Kopi Luwak: http://bintantimur.blogspot.com.au/ Puffin: nicholasngkw on Flickr Snake wine by Rob Sheridan on Flickr 40
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“The Pied Piper of Delhi” 42
On 26th Jaunary 2015, millions of fans and the world of cartoonists lost one of its immortals with the passing away of Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman (or R.K. Laxman as he is known to the world). Laxman was born on 24th October 1921 in the city of Mysore in India and from his humble beginnings he rose to the status of arguably the most iconic cartoonist from India with a fan following so large that he was often referred to as the “Pied Piper of Delhi” It is said that the young Laxman used to be engrossed in the illustrations in magazines like Strand, Punch and Tit-Bits and very soon, he started drawing figures and caricatures of his teachers on the floor, doors and walls of his house. In his autobiography, Laxman wrote: “I drew objects that caught my eye outside the window of my room – the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-like creatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, of course, a number of crows in various postures on the rooftops of the buildings opposite.” Incredible as it sounds, Laxman did not go any art school for a formal degree. Instead he learnt his developed his extraordinary skills all by himself. After high school, Laxman did apply to the J. J. School of Art in Mumbai. However, the dean of the school wrote to him that his drawings lacked "the kind of talent to qualify for enrolment in our institution as a student". He was refused admission. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued his freelance artistic activities and contributed cartoons to Swarajya and to an animated film. His earliest works appeared in a few newspapers and magazines like Swarajya and Blitz. More importantly, while still at college, he started illustrating for his elder brother and renowned writer R. K. Narayan's stories in various publications, while continuing to draw political cartoons for local newspapers. In 1940, Laxman moved to Mumbai and in 1947 he joined The Times of India, beginning a career as a cartoonist at the newspaper that spanned over fifty years. His character, the "Common Man" (created in 1957) featured daily on the frontpage cartoon strip “You Said It” of the newspaper and developed 43
a cult following in India. Through his cartoons, he provided the reader with astute (and often unique) observations about India’s political and social turmoils, trials and tribulations. He was the recipient of numerous prestigious national and international awards. References and Images: The Times of India and http://zaindude.blogspot.com.au/
The Common Man - the character that immortalised R.K. Laxman 44
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The Musician’s Corner 51
The Tale Of The Harmonium 52
A musical instrument that produces sound by the virtue of air flowing past a vibrating reed, is called a “free-reed” instrument. The air pressure is generated either by breath or through the use of bellows. The pump organ or harmonium is a free-reed musical instrument built with bellows to pump the air into the reeds. A professor of psychology at Copenhagen by the name of Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein is credited for building the first free-reed instrument in the Western world. This was in 1780. Later, a harmonium like instrument called the “orgue expressif” was demonstrated by Gabriel Joseph Grenié in 1810. However, it was the French inventor Alexandre Debain who improved Grenié’s design of the instrument and gave it the name ‘harmonium’ that he patented in 1840. Strangely enough, a French mechanic who immigrated to America during these years conceived the idea of a similar instrument but based on suction of air through the reeds. It is also interesting to note that an instrument called the ‘harmoniflute’ was designed between 1850-1860 in France that had hand bellows, unlike previous models that had foot pedals for the bellows.
Grenié’s Orgue Expressif
Victorian Pump Organ 53
Debain’s Harmonium The popularity of the harmonium reached its peak in the 19th and 20th century in the Western world and was widely used in smaller churches. Harmoniums were also widely used in the colonies of European powers since they were easier to transport than pianos and pipe organs. A wide variety of harmoniums were constructed during this period including varieties that used pedals or electrical pumps for the air flow. The largest producer of harmoniums was a company by the name of Estey which ceased its production in the mid 1950’s while some companies in Italy continued production till 1970’s. However, the harmonium had arrived in India through missionaries in the nineteenth century. The portability of the instrument made it quite popular in the country. However, two factors forced a change in the structure of the harmonium in India. 54
Most Indian traditional music is melodic and not harmonic. This means that the music played on an instrument like the harmonium needed the use of only one hand and the other hand was not needed (as in the piano) to play structured chords. The second factor was that most varieties of traditional Indian music are performed with the performers sitting on the floor. These two aspects of Indian music forced the harmonium to be redesigned to its current shape and structure as is widely used in India, that allows the harmonium to be played with one hand, sitting on the floor while the other hand is used to pump the bellows. The redesign also incorporated other interesting and clever features like “drone stops” and a scale changing mechanism. This design, which is now an integral part of the Indian harmonium, was created by Dwarkanath Ghosh in the city of Calcutta. He was in fact inspired by the design of the original French ‘Harmoniflutes’ that were designed in France.
French Harmoniflute During its early days in India, the harmonium was widely used in Marathi and Parsee theatre. Today, the harmonium is possibly the most widely accompaniment musical instrument used in India specially for the traditional forms of music. Interestingly, the connoisseurs of pure Indian classical music still still look down 55
An Old Indian Harmonium upon the harmonium because it is not able to produce slides (‘meends’) between notes and is also incapable of producing micro-tones (‘shrutis’) that are used in Indian classical musical styles. Even then, the harmonium has been widely used as an accompaniment by many legendary classical musicians in India.
An Modern Indian ‘Scale Changer’ Harmonium 56
Source/References: Wikipaedia, http://www.indianmirror.com/ http://www.indianmirror.com/ ‘The Harmonium in North Indian Music’ - a treatise on the instrument by Birjit Abels http://fr.harmonium.wikia.com/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/ http://hhshribholanathjimemories.blogspot.com.au/ Cover page image by: Vishal Mishra – Deviant Art: http://vishalmisra.deviantart.com/art/Harmonium-player-188898992
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Two Little By Anton Chekov Soldiers By Guy de Maupassant
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Every Sunday, as soon as they were free, the little soldiers would go for a walk. They turned to the right on leaving the barracks, crossed Courbevoie with rapid strides, as though on a forced march; then, as the houses grew scarcer, they slowed down and followed the dusty road which leads to Bezons. They were small and thin, lost in their ill-fitting capes, too large and too long, whose sleeves covered their hands; their ample red trousers fell in folds around their ankles. Under the high, stiff shako one could just barely perceive two thin, hollow-cheeked Breton faces, with their calm, naive blue eyes. They never spoke during their journey, going straight before them, the same idea in each one's mind taking the place of conversation. For at the entrance of the little forest of Champioux they had found a spot which reminded them of home, and they did not feel happy anywhere else. At the crossing of the Colombes and Chatou roads, when they arrived under the trees, they would take off their heavy, oppressive headgear and wipe their foreheads. They always stopped for a while on the bridge at Bezons, and looked at the Seine. They stood there several minutes, bending over the railing, watching the white sails, which perhaps reminded them of their home, and of the fishing smacks leaving for the open. As soon as they had crossed the Seine, they would purchase provisions at the delicatessen, the baker's, and the wine merchant's. A piece of bologna, four cents' worth of bread, and a quart of wine, made up the luncheon which they carried away, wrapped up in their handkerchiefs. But as soon as they were out of the village their gait would slacken and they would begin to talk.
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Before them was a plain with a few clumps of trees, which led to the woods, a little forest which seemed to remind them of that other forest at Kermarivan. The wheat and oat fields bordered on the narrow path, and Jean Kerderen said each time to Luc Le Ganidec: "It's just like home, just like Plounivon." "Yes, it's just like home." And they went on, side by side, their minds full of dim memories of home. They saw the fields, the hedges, the forests, and beaches. Each time they stopped near a large stone on the edge of the private estate, because it reminded them of the dolmen of Locneuven. As soon as they reached the first clump of trees, Luc Le Ganidec would cut off a small stick, and, whittling it slowly, would walk on, thinking of the folks at home. Jean Kerderen carried the provisions. From time to time Luc would mention a name, or allude to some boyish prank which would give them food for plenty of thought. And the home country, so dear and so distant, would little by little gain possession of their minds, sending them back through space, to the well-known forms and noises, to the familiar scenery, with the fragrance of its green fields and sea air. They no longer noticed the smells of the city. And in their dreams they saw their friends leaving, perhaps forever, for the dangerous fishing grounds. They were walking slowly, Luc Le Ganidec and Jean Kerderen, contented and sad, haunted by a sweet sorrow, the slow and penetrating sorrow of a captive animal which remembers the days of its freedom. 61
And when Luc had finished whittling his stick, they came to a little nook, where every Sunday they took their meal. They found the two bricks, which they had hidden in a hedge, and they made a little fire of dry branches and roasted their sausages on the ends of their knives. When their last crumb of bread had been eaten and the last drop of wine had been drunk, they stretched themselves out on the grass side by side, without speaking, their half-closed eyes looking away in the distance, their hands clasped as in prayer, their red-trousered legs mingling with the bright colors of the wild flowers. Towards noon they glanced, from time to time, towards the village of Bezons, for the dairy maid would soon be coming. Every Sunday she would pass in front of them on the way to milk her cow, the only cow in the neighborhood which was sent out to pasture. Soon they would see the girl, coming through the fields, and it pleased them to watch the sparkling sunbeams reflected from her shining pail. They never spoke of her. They were just glad to see her, without understanding why. She was a tall, strapping girl, freckled and tanned by the open air—a girl typical of the Parisian suburbs. Once, on noticing that they were always sitting in the same place, she said to them: "Do you always come here?" Luc Le Ganidec, more daring than his friend, stammered: "Yes, we come here for our rest." 62
That was all. But the following Sunday, on seeing them, she smiled with the kindly smile of a woman who understood their shyness, and she asked: "What are you doing here? Are you watching the grass grow?" Luc, cheered up, smiled: "P'raps." She continued: "It's not growing fast, is it?" He answered, still laughing: "Not exactly." She went on. But when she came back with her pail full of milk, she stopped before them and said: "Want some? It will remind you of home." She had, perhaps instinctively, guessed and touched the right spot. Both were moved. Then not without difficulty, she poured some milk into the bottle in which they had brought their wine. Luc started to drink, carefully watching lest he should take more than his share. Then he passed the bottle to Jean. She stood before them, her hands on her hips, her pail at her feet, enjoying the pleasure that she was giving them. Then she went on, saying: "Well, bye-bye until next Sunday!" For a long time they watched her tall form as it receded in the distance, blending with the background, and finally disappeared. The following week as they left the barracks, Jean said to Luc: "Don't you think we ought to buy her something good?" They were sorely perplexed by the problem of choosing something to bring to the dairy maid. Luc was in favor of bringing her some chitterlings; but Jean, who had a sweet tooth, thought that candy would be the best thing. He won, and so they went to a grocery to buy two sous' worth, of red and white candies. This time they ate more quickly than usual, excited by anticipation. Jean was the first one to notice her. "There she is," he said; and Luc answered: "Yes, there she is." She smiled when she saw them, and cried: "Well, how are you to-day?" 63
They both answered together: "All right! How's everything with you?" Then she started to talk of simple things which might interest them; of the weather, of the crops, of her masters. They didn't dare to offer their candies, which were slowly melting in Jean's pocket. Finally Luc, growing bolder, murmured: "We have brought you something." She asked: "Let's see it." Then Jean, blushing to the tips of his ears, reached in his pocket, and drawing out the little paper bag, handed it to her. She began to eat the little sweet dainties. The two soldiers sat in front of her, moved and delighted. At last she went to do her milking, and when she came back she again gave them some milk. They thought of her all through the week and often spoke of her. The following Sunday she sat beside them for a longer time. 64
The three of them sat there, side by side, their eyes looking far away in the distance, their hands clasped over their knees, and they told each other little incidents and little details of the villages where they were born, while the cow, waiting to be milked, stretched her heavy head toward the girl and mooed. Soon the girl consented to eat with them and to take a sip of wine. Often she brought them plums pocket, for plums were now ripe. Her presence enlivened the little Breton soldiers, who chattered away like two birds. One Tuesday something unusual happened to Luc Le Ganidec; he asked for leave and did not return until ten o'clock at night. Jean, worried and racked his brain to account for his friend's having obtained leave. The following Friday, Luc borrowed ten sons from one of his friends, and once more asked and obtained leave for several hours. When he started out with Jean on Sunday he seemed queer, disturbed, changed. Kerderen did not understand; he vaguely suspected something, but he could not guess what it might be. They went straight to the usual place, and lunched slowly. Neither was was hungry. Soon the girl appeared. They watched her approach as they always did. When she was near, Luc arose and went towards her. She placed her pail on the ground and kissed him. She kissed him passionately, throwing her arms around his neck, without paying attention to Jean, without even noticing that he was there. Poor Jean was dazed, so dazed that he could not understand. His
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His mind was upset and his heart broken, without his even realizing why. Then the girl sat down beside Luc, and they started to chat. Jean was not looking at them. He understood now why his friend had gone out twice during the week. He felt the pain and the sting which treachery and deceit leave in their wake. Luc and the girl went together to attend to the cow. Jean followed them with his eyes. He saw them disappear side by side, the red trousers of his friend making a scarlet spot against the white road. It was Luc who sank the stake to which the cow was tethered. The girl stooped down to milk the cow, while he absent-mindedly stroked the animal's glossy neck. Then they left the pail in the grass and disappeared in the woods. Jean could no longer see anything but the wall of leaves through which they had passed. He was unmanned so that he did not have strength to stand. He stayed there, motionless, bewildered and grieving - simple, passionate grief. He wanted to weep, to run away, to hide somewhere, never to see anyone again. Then he saw them coming back again. They were walking slowly, hand in hand, as village lovers do. Luc was carrying the pail. After kissing him again, the girl went on, nodding carelessly to Jean. She did not offer him any milk that day. The two little soldiers sat side by side, motionless as always, silent and quiet, their calm faces in no way betraying the trouble in their hearts. The sun shone down on them. From time to time they could hear the plaintive lowing of the cow. At the usual time they arose to return. Luc was whittling a stick. Jean carried the empty bottle. He left it at the wine merchant's in Bezons. Then they stopped on the bridge, as they did every Sunday, and watched the water flowing by. 66
Jean leaned over the railing, farther and farther, as though he had seen something in the stream which hypnotized him. Luc said to him: "What's the matter? Do you want a drink?" He had hardly said the last word when Jean's head carried away the rest of his body, and the little blue and red soldier fell like a shot and disappeared in the water. Luc, paralyzed with horror, tried vainly to shout for help. In the distance he saw something move; then his friend's head bobbed up out of the water only to disappear again. Farther down he again noticed a hand, just one hand, which again went out of sight. That was all. The boatmen who had rushed to the scene found the body that day. Luc ran back to the barracks, crazed, and with eyes and voice full of tears, he related the accident: "He leaned—he—he was leaning —so far over—that his head carried him away—and—he—fell —he fell——" Emotion choked him so that he could say no more. If he had only known.
Images created by Avijit Sarkar from the film “The Two Little Soldiers” the ITV series "The Short Story".
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SWATI SINGH SAMBYAL 68
Snow laden By Swati Singh Sambyal “The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?” This quote by J.B Priestley perfectly sums up the expression snow. I would like to term snow as an expression because it invokes in us feelings. Some may relate to snow as a memory; that eventful kiss or separation or a nostalgia struck moment with somebody. While some may relate to it as the advent of magic- doesn’t everything looks whimsical and dream-like when it snows? And some find the after snow time gloomy and depressing. Snow is an expression of happiness and sadness. Many philosophers, poets, painters and artists have woven some of their best works witnessing snow. I love snow. I am not that privileged in terms of my location to witness snow but I tried to make something possible for myself this winter. I wanted to write about snow. But how do you write about snow without ever witnessing it. I found a way out. I asked friends, people distant to send me their pictures of snowfall. Most of them were beautiful pictures. Of leaves covered with snow; of snow-laden branches; of cars and almost everything in snow- all white and pristine. The next job was to weave a person in my head. Somebody who is wandering in snow and weaving lines, somebody who is leaving footprints behind in the whiteness of it. And I found my ‘somebody’: a traveller who is walking in snow in different parts of the globe and penning down his thoughts. No specific reason why I wanted my protagonist to be a ‘HE’. But this time a ‘HE’ suited well to the theme. The pictures are from Norway. I thank the ones who did efforts to send me these. And the traveller ‘me’ writes on the following pages….
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On a cold winter morning On a cold winter morning the traveler looked outside the window. Inches of snow. "Were they snow laden trees or just a tree made of snow?" There was sunshine after days of darkness. And this sunshine was hope for the traveler. It reminded him of days when he had hated the sun... Of days when he despised it. But now, sun was happiness and a feeling of belonging in the nowhere land. Sun was memories of the rivers birds and old unsung songs. On a cold winter morning the traveler looked at the sky and thought of his beyond self; What and where would he be in the times to come? He wondered. The snowflakes were falling on his bare hands And in that moment, 70
he thought of her. Her was his being. The one he held on to‌ Like he held to the time on his hands.
On a cold winter morning, The traveler left his footprints behind; Of his un belonging to this land And his belonging to the somewhere so far.
Dream on The sun could not pierce inside the thick branches... But it could easily pierce inside the naked snow covered ones. The traveller was perplexed; The traveller was not fearless today. Something was eating him; Like his soul consuming himself... Just like the sun consuming the snow. It was a relative phenomenon. Seeing the snow disappear... And seeing something inside of him disappearing. The sun only for a few hours... couldn't melt the snow entirely... The traveller looked at the few leaves holding on to the branches... Did he wish to be held? Yes! By whom he wondered? 71
The traveller walked back home. In the nothingness of his day and everything of his night of thoughts... fear and utmost of Dreams.
Silence after the storm The day after the snow storm was a silent day. Just like after the storm in the traveler's heart. It did ache badly that day. Like something was not right! But today was calm. Today was like the days when you know what you know. The traveler looked outside the window. Outside his comfort zone. He knew he had to reach out... Branch out... And that he loved this storm. For it gave him a morning of answers.
Photographs: Hilde Sundt Sk책lev책g and Gina Anita Torpengen 72
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All original works used in this magazine are for educational purposes and for viewing by readers. These works are not, in any way, to be used for commercial reasons or for profit. 73