Obituaries

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You may think I am a queer sort of a guy if I confess I read the obituary column first whenever I lay my hands on a copy of "The Economist". Here you will find some of the best of the genre. You may not have even heard about the dead but it is interesting to know how the character is made alive in just a page length. These obituaries are nicely drafted and well-researched. When Boris Yeltsin died, the column wrote :

"...Though Mr Yeltsin was a Communist Party boss, he never turned into Homo sovieticus; he preserved the qualities and sensibilities of a Russian man. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it, he was almost too Russian. He was spontaneous, erratic, frequently drunk, talented, sincere, witty, full-hearted. His hugeness as a character matched the scale of the changes in his country..."

You may like to read the full text here.

See what the column says about Benzir Bhutto:

"... In one debate, an opponent described her father as “a tradesman of some description. A butcher, I gather.” Benazir looked as if she had been slapped in the face. Her father earned this sobriquet from the slaughter in East Pakistan as Bangladesh struggled to be born....

...After her assassination, a handwritten will was produced. Foreseeing her own untimely end, it bequeathed her party, like the dynastic heirloom it has become, to her husband, who said he would pass leadership to their 19-year-old son. For a woman who claimed to be driven by a burning desire to bring democracy to Pakistan, it was a curious legacy..."

You may like to read the full text here.

The New York Times is yet another publication where you get to read good obituaries. When Narsimha Rao died, Amy Waldman wrote..."Not known for his charisma, and loath to give interviews, Mr. Rao was a wily, even ruthless politician capable of outfoxing rivals in a faction-riddled party..." and you may like to read the full text here.

Acharya (P K) Atre was known to write well-remembered obituaries. I also recollect some leaders from "Kesari" Selections penned by none other than Lokamnya Tilak in the honour of the well-known of his times. For somebody who died young after a remarkable contribution, he would write :

मुहूर्तं ज्वलितं श्रेयो नश्चिरं धूमायते

In recent times of course, the name of remarkable obituary writer which easily comes to mind is that of 'Khushwant Singh.' and I have a copy of his 'Death at my my doorstep'

Evolution

The story of how I evolved into an amateur reader of books and articles about evolution and Darwinism, dates back to the 80s. It was the time when I used to frequent the reading rooms of The Asiatic Society of Mumbai. The Natural History Magazine was readily available and Stephen Jay Gould's column "This View Of Life" soon became a "not to be missed" favourite.

The column heading was borrowed from Darwin's famous quote "There is grandeur in this view of life." What made the column interesting was Gould's multi-disciplinary approach and his predilection for literary content. His pages were a treat, linking a concept from one discipline to another from yet another discipline, which made the column immensely content-rich for lay readers like me. His specialization as a paleontologist was certainly his strength but he must have faced severe criticism from his peers for his voyeurism away from his discipline.

And as a happy coincidence, I also found his books like the "Flamingo's Smile" at Strand Book Stall. His column ended with his heroic fight with cancer. The column continued under the same heading for some time but that view of life was not the same.

To anybody who wants to venture into this subject, I would unhesitatingly recommend Stephen Jay Gould. Some of his articles are available on the net and his official site is under construction. Read more about Gould here and here.

आशेची वात

डिसेंबर ते एप्रिल ह्या पाच महिन्यांमध्ये ठाणे जिल्ह्यातील आदिवासी भागातील शाळा ओस पडतात. ह्या शाळांमधील सुमारे 25,000 मुले वीटभट्‌ट्यांवर काम करण्यासाठी जातात. पहाटे दोन वाजता त्यांचा दिवस उजाडतो. कारण दिवसाच्या उन्हात सुकण्यासाठी जास्तीत जास्त विटा तयार करायच्या असतात. वर्षाचे पूर्ण दिवस भरत नाहीत म्हणून चांगल्या शाळा अशा मुलांना प्रवेशच देत नाहीत. ह्या मुलांसाठी "भोंगे' म्हणजे झोपड्या बांधून त्यांच्यासाठी शाळा चालवणाऱ्या "विधायक संसद' ह्या चळवळीची माहिती रमेश पानसे ह्यांच्या "शिक्षण : आनंदक्षण' ह्या पुस्तकात वाचल्यावर "बीएचके' संस्कृतीमधील कोणीही अंतर्मुख झाल्याशिवाय राहणार नाही.

ह्याच पुस्तकात शिक्षणक्षेत्रात वेगळी वाट चोखाळणाऱ्या इतर 11 शाळांची / चळवळींची माहिती आहे. कोल्हापूर येथील लीलाताई पाटील ह्यांचे "शिक्षणाला मुलाकडे ओढून आणणारे' सृजन आनंद विद्यालय, ताणरहित अनौपचारिक शिक्षण देणारे पुण्यातील नारळकर फाऊंडेशनपासून प्रेरणा घेतलेले अक्षरनंदन, मॅक्सिन बर्नसन ह्या बहुभाषाकोविद विदुषीचे प्रकल्पतंत्राने सर्वांगीण स्वयंअध्ययन घडवणारे फलटणमधील कमला निंबकर बालभवन, "वावरण्याचे" स्वातंत्र्य देणारे गोदरेजचे विक्रोळी येथील उदयाचल विद्यालय, स्वतःचे वृत्तपत्र काढणारे कफ परेडच्या "दलित आंबेडनगरमधील' प्रा. रजनी परांजपे आणि बीना लष्करी ह्यांचे डोअरस्टेप स्कूल, कोल्हापूरमध्ये वंचितांना शिक्षण देणारे डॉ. श्रीधर आणि सौ. सुलोचना ह्यांचे तेजस विद्यालय, ताराबाई मोडक, अनुताई वाघ ह्यांच्या कार्यातून साकारलेल्या मुक्त शाळा पद्धतीचे डहाणूतील "ग्राममंगल', शिक्षणातून ग्रामविकास साधणारे राजा आणि रेणू दांडेकरांचे दापोलीचे लोकमान्य टिळक विद्यालय, कोळशाच्या भट्‌ट्यांवर काम करणाऱ्या धनगर-कातकऱ्यांच्या मुलांसाठी राना-डोंगरांमधील "श्रमिक सहयोग' च्या "आत्मविश्वास देणारी शिक्षणपद्धत राबवणाऱ्या' शाळा, अदिवासींच्या "पावरी' भाषेतील साहित्यनिर्मितीला उत्तेजन देणाऱ्या नर्मदा विस्थापितांच्या मुलांना शिक्षण देणाऱ्या "जीवनशाळा', मांजरी-थेऊर परिसरातील ऊसतोडणी कामगारांच्या मुलांना शिकवणाऱ्या ज्ञानप्रबोधिनीच्या "प्रचिती" ने चालविलेल्या 100 दिवसांच्या "साखरशाळा', अशा झगडणाऱ्या आणि आगळ्यावेगळ्या शाळांची माहिती श्री. पानसे ह्यांनी या पुस्तकात दिलेली आहे.

ह्या केवळ वंचितांसाठी काम करणाऱ्या शाळा नसून विविध शैक्षणिक तंत्रे नावीन्यपूर्ण प्रयोगांमधून राबवीत आहेत. प्रस्तावनेमध्ये लेखकाने ह्या शाळांच्या कार्याचे मूल्यमापन "बालकेंद्री शिक्षणाच्या' दृष्टीने केलेले आहे. शिक्षणक्षेत्रात काम करणाऱ्या प्रत्येकाने आवर्जून वाचावे (किमान नजरेखालून घालावे) असे हे पुस्तक आहे.

ह्या पुस्तकाची पहिली आवृत्ती "युनिसेफ" ने प्रकाशित केलेली होती तर दुसरी आवृत्ती "ग्रंथाली"ने प्रकाशित केलेली आहे.

नववर्षाचे संकल्प

नववर्षाचे संकल्प करणे (आणि ते न पाळणे) हे खास मानव्याचे लक्षण आहे म्हणतात. मानवाचा मेंदू उत्क्रांत झालेला असल्याने अशा तऱ्हेचे संकल्प करण्याची बुद्धि त्याला होते (कुत्र्यांचे असे काही संकल्प नसतात). नव्या वर्षाच्या अशा संकल्पांबद्दलचा येथे दिलेला लेख तुम्हालाही आवडेल.