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Mathematics <vs.> Sankari -- A Moonlit Evening's Tale

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by ojaantrik, Mar 5, 2009.

Page 5 of 6
  1. Sep 5, 2011 #41
    Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear oj-da,
    On seeing Sankari's name in the title I came rushing to read the post!!
    Whether you like it or not, the warmth to the unseen Sankari from me, has increased manifold!!
    Why can't a learned man understand what basically a woman wants to hear from her husband in the early days of marriage?
    Though highly literary & beautiful,any woman needs tons & tons of patience to listen to all your words, on a beautiful moonlit night!!
    She said it right:
    I am not your student, understand? I am your wife!"
    Did this not give you an indication of what your pretty wife wanted to hear from you????

    Well, Oj da,
    These men, huh! We need them, we love them, we cannot live without them
    BUT
    if only they understand us & what we want!!
    Well, it is not to be, in many homes!!
     
    Chitvish, Sep 5, 2011
    Chitvish, Sep 5, 2011
    #41
    1 person likes this.
  2. Sep 6, 2011 #42
    satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    OJ-da. thanks for a simply rip roaring laugh first thing this morning. I can well imagine the chagrin of a young wife, who on a moonlit night finds herself in the company of an intellectual for a husband who spouts mathematics and "logic" when he should have been whispering sweet nothings to her. Don't mistake me. My sympathies lie with both her as well as for you.

    What a brilliant start with quotes from the bard of all times. OJ-da, is there is anything you have not read? Reading these write-ups gives me such a tremendous complex. Well you have jogged my memory into sharing something related to this in this forum. Shall do so soon.

    I loved your paradox about the barber, which is thoroughly logical. But what a great example to show how illogical logic and paradoxes can be. (You know OJ-da, this is why mathematics gave me such grief in school. And so did Physics. I could never understand or accept the assumptions that many basic formulae make. Where someone dreamt them up, I could never figure out and no one could explain to me. "Empirical" formulae they were called. "Assume that the value of x is ....." Why the hell should I make any assumptions? What is the value of x? Where did it come from? And then they call mathematics a precise science!!!!! This is the degree of our precision - sorry for spouting nonsense, but that is how it appeared to me). No wonder she was looking all around, just in case she required some help!!!!!

    I can well picturise this conversation before my eyes. And don't blame your wife for it. No, I don't subscribe to that opinion, but I can fully empathize with it and defend her right to feel that way. (I can imagine what Voltaire would have felt when he was purported to have made the quote famously attributed to him).

    Oh, OJ-da, my heart goes out to both of you. :)
     
    satchitananda, Sep 6, 2011
    satchitananda, Sep 6, 2011
    #42
  3. Sep 6, 2011 #43
    ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Chitvish:

    Jaishingha, a character in Tagore's play Visarjan, had cried out in utter dismay: No, no, not anymore! Whenever I feel that I have come near the shore, who is it that pushes me back once again towards the shoreless unknown?

    As I saw your fb to this old worn out post of mine, which Kamalji suggested I re-post (and Cheeniya told me I couldn't except through the artefact of an fb, my own fb for my own post in this case, as it turns out sorrily enough), I felt the same way as Jaishingha. I was assailed by a doubt once again. And I recalled Eliot's immortal lines:

    "And indeed there will be time
    To wonder, 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?'
    Time to turn back and descend the stair,
    ...

    "Do I dare
    Disturb the universe?
    In a minute there is time
    For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

    After making pious promises to myself that this time will be different, this time, come what may, I should not yell and scream, this time I devote myself to art for art's sake, without hoping to reap the fruits of labour, I was on the point of repeating my joker's act once again. Destroy everything and leave.

    I had begun to tell myself in sheer frustration once more:

    "And would it have been worth it, after all,
    After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
    Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
    Would it have been worth while,
    To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
    To have squeezed the universe into a ball
    To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
    To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
    Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all' --
    If one, settling a pillow by her head,
    Should say: 'That is not what I meant at all.
    That is not it, at all.'

    ...

    "I grow old ,,, I grow old ...
    I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."

    I do not know where I am headed. I feel unwanted and just when I feel I have truly understood my situation, someone like you comes along and raises questions I don't know how to answer. How long can this continue dear friend?

    I thank you for understanding the message of my post. I wrote it in self-criticism and from reading you, I realized that the point had not been missed. Thank you once again for being there to save me in distress.

    By the way, Sankari does know about this post! I told her about it the very day I had finished writing it.

    Love.

    oj-da
     
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    #43
  4. Sep 6, 2011 #44
    ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchitananda:

    To tell you frankly, though forced to stick to mathematics and economics throughout my worthless life, I have hated them both. And indeed, I too ask myself, "Why on earth should I suppose x = 4? Why not 17 or 146 for that matter?" No one ever taught me the answer to the question and I in turn spent a whole lifetime repeating this inane statement for my unfortunate students. It is impossible for me to figure out exactly how many times I have tortured students this way!"

    Interesting, bringing up Voltaire I mean. Am I correct in assuming that you are alluding to "The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"? If so, it is my turn to start roaring in laughter!

    Love.

    oj-da
     
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    #44
  5. Sep 6, 2011 #45
    shambavi2000

    shambavi2000 Silver IL'ite

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    hi

    Take a bow Prof Higgins:thumbsup!Why can't a man be more like a woman?

    Why is it that a man never understands the obvious, is doggedly obtuse, is so hopelessly,pathetically,incorrigibly dumb in the affairs of women-no matter what a great macho/brainy genius he is elsewhere, never get a hint even if dropped the size of a bolster:bonk...?:rant

    Which makes me say, the more I see men, the more I love my dog! ( to which my DH says, " 'coz both are lovable, warm and cuddly":)

    Anyway, that was some confession indeed! If that's what you did in the early days of wedlock, man! you have a long list of things to make amends for,I bet! I won't hold you up, but come right back and engage us with more such confessions of a clueless(what else do you call a scholar who can't figure out a wife from a student) genius.
     
    shambavi2000, Sep 6, 2011
    shambavi2000, Sep 6, 2011
    #45
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  6. Sep 6, 2011 #46
    vidchakra

    vidchakra Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear oj da,
    Very lovely post!
    Though I have not seen you I could very well imagine you and your wife sitting under moonlight..
    Your description about infinity made me remember a atory about "infinity" which I read some time back.. It was a story about a mathematics professor who was obsessed with infinity...

    Thanks for sharing this post.. As I always keep telling I am big fan of your writings :)
     
    vidchakra, Sep 6, 2011
    vidchakra, Sep 6, 2011
    #46
  7. Sep 6, 2011 #47
    ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Shambavi:

    Agreed and done. :bowdown

    Some men are obtuse, others are too scared of rejections by the opposite sex. I guess I belong somewhere in the middle. :hide:

    Aha! Your man has the right sense of humour. I wish I could be like him!

    You have spoken the truth. And I did make more confessions once in a while. For example, if you feel so inclined and have the time to waste, I hope you will read a post I put up last year: http://www.indusladies.com/forums/snippets-of-life-non-fiction/107774-ha.html

    Thanks for reading and hopefully fogiving my lapses! :bonk

    Regards.

    oj
     
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    #47
  8. Sep 6, 2011 #48
    ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Vidchakra:

    I like your posts too. Especially the haikus you wrote floored me earlier today.

    Was this Professor Cantor? He was the infinity guy amongst mathematicians. He was fascinated by the arithmetic of infinities!

    Love.

    oj-da
     
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    ojaantrik, Sep 6, 2011
    #48
  9. Sep 7, 2011 #49
    shambavi2000

    shambavi2000 Silver IL'ite

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    dear oj da,

    If I have the inclination, I do make time to do the things that I wish to do (wasn't that HMT's tagline?). And so I did read up 'Ha!' and have posted my fb in that thread. So now it's your turn to take time if so inclined, to read that up.
     
    shambavi2000, Sep 7, 2011
    shambavi2000, Sep 7, 2011
    #49
  10. Sep 7, 2011 #50
    ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Oh thank you Shambavi. Yes, I did note that fb to "Ha" and I did acknowledge it. As I told you there, you now have the whole range of stories involving Sankari and her loony husband!

    Love.

    oj-da
     
    ojaantrik, Sep 7, 2011
    ojaantrik, Sep 7, 2011
    #50
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