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If there has been one visual icon that has timelessly been an integral part of our lives it’s Ganesha.Most popular image on a wedding card or a Diwali greeting, today or several decades earlier would easily be that of the elephant headed Lord Ganesha. Though the image still remains as popular as ever what has constantly changed is its design. Today one gets to see so many new and imaginative iterations of the familiar form. Shapes and designs recognizably Ganesha bless not just traditional lagan patrikas but also car dashboards, show cases, entrances of homes and even art galleries.

What makes this God so cherished? What about him allows us to easily do away the hierarchy that exists between us, the lowly mortals, and the immortal divinity. Something makes Ganesha a lot more accessible than other Gods and Goddesses. Definitely there’s something about Ganesha. No wonder we take liberty to play with his form and welcome him to step out of the Puja room, into the drawing room of our lives.

The answer to this fondly respectful relationship with this semi human elephant God lies in its form, or rather formlessness. The figure of Ganesha defies rigidity. It is an amoeboid structure that can take any shape or form. The malleability of Ganesha lends itself to further designing. The loose shape is like an open canvass always inviting creative participation. That’s why a curvaceous leaf with two innocent eyes drawn on it can very easily resemble the roundedness of Ganesha.

Besides Ganesha being able to lend itself to various shapes and alterations what’s also interesting about him is his ability to remain contemporary timelessly. Ganesha motif is a classic; never out of fashion. Here again the credit goes to the not so sharply defined form. The basic form is not bound by time specific meanings: instead it is open to contextual interpretation. His wholesome curvaceous body without edges provide a sense of prosperity and happiness; an idea that’s entirely motivational.

Another reason why Ganesha as a figure is open to interpretation and further designing is that his basic form is extremely natural and simple. He has a form that’s not worked upon or intricately designed by man. So simple, that often unusually formed fruits and vegetables invite divine associations because of their striking resemblance either with rotund belly or the tubular tusk of Ganesha . The Swastika , a squarish motif embedded with associations of auspiciousness and equally entrenched in our religious culture as Ganesha, because of its rigidity of form does not lend itself to as much designing and modification in round and undefined motifs like Ganesha do. That’s why Om or a curvy leaf, which resemble Ganesha’s body are commonly employed motifs by artists.

The round, ample and undefined shape of Ganesha also suggest his accommodative and unassuming nature. Smiling friendly face and hands full of ladoos make Ganesha seem a happy God who does not wish to impose any strict moral values.

Now how do we relate this with Google. Google’s logo allows the same flexibility as Ganesha’s logo does. Google which is almost considered an essential part of surfer’s life allows its logo to adapt to different cultures and different occasions thus bringing life to the symbol. So be it a Diwali or Halloween it adapts its logo to the occasion and celebrates along with its users. This helps Google in spite of being an American multinational share a flavour of every country where its users are. Another initiative undertaken by Google where it allows children to design their own Google Logo by participating in ‘Doodle 4 Google’ contest and showcase it to world. So this Children’s Day young children came up with their own logo which were as good as any professional agency could have come up with. A brand is considered successful when it enables its users to interact with it. A rigid form because of its beauty or intricacy can invite a gaze of admiration but never participation.. A brand can become immortal only if it reinvents itself and attempts to bond with its users. Both Ganesha and Google are classic examples of how brands and their logos can remain timelessly relevant.

A piece written by one of my close friends, Sandip Chand Sharma.

REST IN PEACE – HOW ‘NOBEL’ WAS THIS IDEA??

An elated Obama heaved a sigh of relieve & muttered the words, “REST IN PEACE!!!” Hold on, did he mean those words to those innumerable victims who were siphoned off from earth by America in America’s International War against terrorism, or did he laugh from inside for the individuals who kept their fingers crossed very long, of course not for Nobel Prize but for social causes?? Well, only the President could tell. But having encountered a grand yet so myopic decision, I wonder if Obama cross-examined self on this saying, “What a nobel idea it was of distributing hope to millions of Americans, down-n-out, but where do I go from here??”

The Nobel Peace Prize committee wanted to give the Alfred Nobel Award (Alfred is watching from heavens) to an individual who could form a yardstick for the world to follow for peace & harmony, to a personality who could muster strength in people by words translated to action. And so Obama was the chosen one. Analysts are of the opinion that this was the way to welcome Obama regime after the tiring, and miscalculated innings played by Bush Administration. Bush’s search for weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq & Afghanistan did create uproar in international community, but does the end justify the means here?

If America was indeed undergoing a serious trouble coupled with recession, & Nobel Peace Prize belongs to global community, then shouldn’t the award really go to people fighting for eternity in Congo, or to Africans who had led the superlative form of malnourished life with all their complaints going unregistered in Doha Rounds? Or in fact to people whose work is best known when they are no longer alive?

I don’t exactly recall how long Nelson Mandela had to wait for the same Peace Award, or for how long Mahatma Gandhi’s recognition was delayed for not giving to an Asian who was dhoti clad for majority of his life, but one thing’s for sure here, Obama’s short and prolific stint did win him the laurels that no other individual dared to achieve laboring for most of his/her life!!!

Mr. Obama’s financial aid to Pakistan to fight Taliban, or against terrorism, or his proliferation of army personnel in Iraq, or his expedition to explore the north reaches of Arctic to tap future potential, if they all sum up for a Nobel Peace Prize, then no wonder every individual on this earth should be given one for doing something or the other wrong in life!!! And the best ones would be the individuals not given this materialistic prize but the recognition by the observant citizens of World.

I really don’t know if President Obama would start his stint now as the President of the masses by action & not just by words, but having put onus on his back, Nobel Committee did accidentally implant the seeds for President to act in future. Only time will tell, whether Obama takes a cue from here or continue to bath in the glory of a Peaceful existence in White House with Nobel Award at the desk and Gandhi Ji’s photo at back looking up to him with the same HOPE he delivered in his speeches!!!

God Bless,

Raghav

Kaminey – Part 2

Wanna read the Part -1 before this, follow it here:

http://rahul-aggarwal.blogspot.com/2009/10/kaminey-hum-dono-judwa-hai.html

This should’ve made directors of Kaminey a bit skeptical had someone told them about Kaminey, the 2^nd, but let’s keep the so-called geniuses of film fraternity at bay from any worries. This Kaminey, Part-2 is the germination of the seeds sown by my mischievous twin, Rahul. I wonder what sort of lives are led by other twins in this world when our both lives are so inter0mingled and yet so exciting.

Coming to the point, I was smiling for having come across Rahul’s blog, because I never thought about penning down our experiences ever!!! And believe me; I really liked the idea as much as each one of you did.

There is no denying the fact that we’ve had so many highs & lows when we were kids, but the best thing was we both could make every damn situation way too humorous when we wanted. Taking baton from the point where Rahul left, I remember the girl he used to hang around with. He always tried keeping it as clandestine as possible from every individual out there. The only thing was Rahul kept this secret in one of our class-mates, who kept all his secrets with me. And Rahul’s girl would keep all her secrets with one of her class-mates (another female), the girl who I used to trust like anything (I mean I would keep my secrets with). Now isn’t that a convoluted pentagon with three males on one side and two females on other when there’s only one couple in between? Well, yes, that’s the way not so filmy Kaminey life is!!! Not that I wanted them not to hang around, but just that I think I was too immature to realize the gravity of a missed date.

Quoting another incident was when Rahul had fallen sick due to yellow fever and was in no condition to attend school especially when exams were approaching. During initial stages when Rahul was suffering from a very high fever, we never thought the thing would aggravate to such a level. So, I employed a strategy where in I would daily attend all the school periods (yes, that’s what we used to call classes then), but with a condition: One day I would attend as Rahul and another day as myself. This would save both of us from any attendance shortages with justification on any day being, “Ma’am/Sir, when I am present here and exams are approaching, we thought may be one of us can attend college to get notes while the other one can sit back home and study alternately!!!”

In this manner, I would continue doing Rahul’s(tweaking things a bit) as well as my homework also. But the day it was confirmed that fever is going to take a heavy toll on Rahul; we had to cut short for fear of not being able to carry this thing way too long. But believe me, it was fun doing it (for all the chicks in school, including his girl kept asking me about him on almost everyday).

Once I remembered when we were in 6^th standard appearing for final semester examinations. History was one of the subjects deadlier than expected and the epitome of Rahul’s misery. J During the exam, as Rahul had already told you, I used to sit in front of him (there were times when teachers used to change our seats for having identical faces). Now during history exam, we had our class-teacher, Joel Sir as an invigilator. A very strict teacher who used to proclaim of looking back when looking ahead through his concave but convex spectacles he wore. Thinking about those glasses still gives a tickle. Half an hour past exam, Rahul sitting at my back, somehow informed me of having a clean memory wash about history chapters and was waiting for me to create some history now. Now, I wondered, was this by any sorts an experiment to challenge the quadruple eyes of Mr.Joel and conquer the cheating arena as a warrior, or an experiment to truly check if I’d loved my brother and was ready to sacrifice his as well as my exam paper on being caught if at all that happens!!! I never really wanted to test my gut skills to unleash a war against those concave but convex glasses for I knew there was not even an ounce present in me. But brother is a brother, and especially when a twin, a brother is a superlative form. Like Rahul said, “life ko jeene ke do tareeke hote hain, short-cut and chotta short-cut”, I took one about which I never bothered to know which one was it!!!

Since we had benches and desks those days, I told him that I’ll continue writing all my answers on answer-sheets and instead of keeping them beneath my examination board, I’ll keep them adjacent to me on the bench where I sat. Idiot felt elated and with 100% confidence (not the one for history answers) agreed in unison. He kept picking the answer sheets from beneath his desk and replacing them with another one after he was done. Sudden lightning-turns by Joel sir would send shivers down my spine. Luckily we both completed exam with a nice effort and scored pretty well when results were out. I don’t know whether Rahul would remember this incident, but I certainly have a smile when ever I think about the whole incident. History was indeed created during history exam!!!

There are in fact innumerable incidents I could go about writing but then there’s a thing I believe, not everything is to be uncovered and not every secret should be discussed with every friend!!!

Enjoy reading,

Raghav Aggarwal

As one of our class-mates tagged Rahul & me once with “Ache Kaminey” (Class 9^th)

Why “tweet” when year long productivity is so important???

The other day a discussion with few classmates ogled at the notorious tweet messages floated by our respected Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Shashi Tharoor. The chit-chat amongst us was as intriguing as the statements put forward by Mr.Tharoor.

One of us was of the opinion that both his tweets were in right light and conveyed a symbolic meaning that can be interpreted only with a good intellect. This was no doubt acceptable but a half of us argued that if you assume a public position where masses look up to you, there is a high degree of responsibility associated while making statements. Especially when someone like Mr. Tharror who’s been a diplomat for most of his life knows the subtleties involved in statements’ formation and execution.

On retrospection, I thought probably, he could have put a disclaimer that all opinions are entirely personal without representation to any ministry or government body. But then, realized that conventional wisdom is always as individual’s take and if you are no-nonsense individual (with a professional representation), you better legitimate your wisdom with public sentiments.

The tweet for replacing Gandhi Ji’s birth Anniversary (Gandhi Jayanti) on 2^nd October with a working day was the most astonishing thing to have come across in recent times. This raises few blatant questions which I would certainly want Mr.Tharoor to answer in continuation of his tweeting obsession:

What levels of productivity do you expect to achieve after working for 365 days a year (excluding Sundays and other holidays)? Do you really expect it to improve? One really don’t need to put on thinking caps to realize that a continuous working culture leads to stress and lower levels of productivity rather. The maximum number of deaths in a less populated country like Japan arises out of work stress, are there any lessons to be learnt here?

If productivity is so important, equally important is efficiency i.e. using the minimum inputs to get the maximum output possible. This is where Austerity in truest form comes into picture dear Sir with devoting less time to cyber public (in form of tweets) and more time for real, striving individuals in state and the country.

As rightly pointed out by a reader of The Hindu newspaper, if working on Gandhi Jayanti is so important to uphold the Father’s principles, how many of us really consider “work is worship” principle of his during our life time when we work on every working day. Isn’t the application of this principle of Mahatma Gandhi important when all other arguments are important as you pointed out Mr.Tharoor?

The greatest anomaly with Mr.Tharoor’s tweets lies in the fact that even if we start working pan country from next year on Gandhi Jayanti, soon the day would come when people would start bypassing this day as any hackneyed day of the year, which in very long run, rather than remembering Gandhiji’s idols & philosophies would only convert into twinge of selective memories long forgotten.

Through this article, I only wish to bring to the fore the message that when you assume power, there comes great responsibility with it (as said in Spiderman movie).And when you are a public figure, you rather weigh every alphabet of your speech before making any statements be it personal or official. All views expressed here are entirely personal with no intentions to hurt anybody’s feelings or opinions.
Regards,
Raghav