Not many people I have known have asked my what my favourite poem is. But whenever I have been lucky enough to be asked this, I have always gone on and on about The Old Astronomer to His Pupil by Sarah Williams [1]. I first read it on the awesome Generation Terrorists who only had the first four stanzas up. These are the most famous stanzas, and are commonly thought to be the complete poem, which I think is partly due to the fact that a best-selling anthology of poems called “Best Loved Poems of the American People“, published in 1936, printed these four stanzas without reference to the remaining poem, but also because the lines that end the fourth paragraphs are the poem’s chief claim to fame. Let me reproduce them here:

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

This has to be amongst the most poetically balanced couplets in English literature. Perfect in all respects, the lines work very well on their own, but read in context of the poem, they turn magical. Over the years, I have found different lines from the poem to be more appealing to me at different times, depending on my mindet at that particular juncture, and this remains one of the few poems that I know by heart. These lines are also part of the popular culture in the astronomers’ community in the US, thanks to a paraphrased version of these lines being the epitaph of a nineteenth century astronomer couple, who did a lot to popularise astronomy there.

However, I have failed to find a single page on the internet that shares my enthusiasm for the poem, and have been meaning to write a post about it, annotating the different portions that have impressed me the most, with observations that may just be lost on a first time reader. I hope I can do at least some justice to this onerous task. I am sure to miss a lot of important details, and would appreciate any feedback that is shared on making this post more informative. I have decided to use numbers in brackets to denote places where I have added relevant notes, since I don’t know how to use hyperlinks or even superscript for the purpose of annotation here in WordPress. All the notes are together at the bottom of the page. The poem in its entirety is as below:

Reach me down my Tycho Brahe [2], I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now[3].

Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, ’tis original and true,
And the obliquy of newness [4] may fall bitterly on you.

But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,
What for us are all distractions of men’s fellowship and wiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.

You may tell that German College [5] that their honor comes too late,
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant’s fate.
Though my soul may set in darkness [6], it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.[7]

What, my boy, you are not weeping? You should save your eyes for sight;
You will need them, mine observer, yet for many another night. [8]
I leave none but you, my pupil, unto whom my plans are known.
You “have none but me,” you murmur, and I “leave you quite alone”?

Well then, kiss me, — since my mother left her blessing on my brow,
There has been a something wanting in my nature until now; [9]
I can dimly comprehend it, — that I might have been more kind,
Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.

I “have never failed in kindness”? No, we lived too high for strife,
Calmest coldness was the error which has crept into our life;
But your spirit is untainted, I can dedicate you still
To the service of our science: you will further it? you will!

There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,
To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;
And remember, “Patience, Patience,” is the watchword of a sage,
Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age [10].

I have sown, like Tycho Brahe, that a greater man may reap [11];
But if none should do my reaping, ’twill disturb me in my sleep
So be careful and be faithful, though, like me, you leave no name;
See, my boy, that nothing turn you to the mere pursuit of fame [12].

I must say good-bye, my pupil, for I cannot longer speak;
Draw the curtain back for Venus, ere my vision grows too weak:
It is strange the pearly planet should look red as fiery Mars [14],
God will mercifully guide me on my way amongst the stars.

Notes:
1. I have noticed I always love poems by people called “Sarah”. Two other classics by two other Sara(h)s are here and here.

2. Tycho Brahe has to be among the most colourful and yet one of the most hard working of ancient astronomers. The wiki page is extremely interesting and amply rewards complete reading. Tycho had a very very eventful life, which ended due to a bladder infection because he refused to go to the rest-room after drinking session, as it would have been “a breach of etiquette”. This fact was recorded by none other than Johannes Kepler, who was sort of an assistant to Tycho in the last years before Tycho’s death and who is said to have “usurped” Tycho’s work after his death. Tycho and Kepler have both been covered at length by Carl Sagan in his super-duper best seller, Cosmos (which remains the best science book I have read in my life).

3. I love how the poem assumes a heaven where there would be opportunity to catch up with the greats of the past, who have somehow been unable to keep track of their professions post death. I often amuse myself trying to imagine someone like Bobby Fischer waiting for a Garry Kasparov to kick the bucket, so that he can learn of the latest developments in chess, and maybe play a game or two!

4. What a lovely phrase is ”obloquy of newness”! It was a top contender for the name of this blog, being a phrase which somewhat mirrors the sentiment of a favourite quote of mine.

5. Tycho himself was educated in German colleges, so our mythical old astronomer can also be assumed to have had a similar background. I am not too sure of the influence of German colleges and universities on Renaissance era European scientists. If it was considerable, the old astronomer may not have had much to do with such a college before they decided, much too late, to confer some sort of an award upon him.

6. “Set in Darkness” is the name of a novel by Ian Rankin (just realised how much he looks like Rick Castle!), featuring the excellent Inspector Rebus, who has to be one of my favourite police detectives in contemorary crime fiction.

7. “Set” in darkness. “Rise” in perfect light. “Loved the stars too fondly, to be fearful of the night.” Sigh! Perfection.

8. The poor pupil starts to weep, thinking of the old astronomer’s death. The old man is characteristically brusque and practical. Maybe he wants the pupil to focus on the furthering of their science, so he can learn of the advancements once the pupil passes on. These six stanzas after the famous couplet are extremely touching and it’s a shame not many people know they exist.

9. If these lines were better known, some dumbass critic would have read “homosexual motifs” into it. It is a pet peeve of mine how these idiotic critics often miss the forest in pointing fingers at individual trees.

10. Another favourite couplet. The past two paragraphs capture well the kind of relationship shared by the astronomer and his pupil, which I guess develops between people who work together for long periods of time.

11. Reference to Johannes Kepler. Kepler far outshone Tycho in achievement (a greater man may reap), thanks partly to the meticulousness and vastness of data collected by Tycho (sown like Tycho Brahe), but also due to his use of the telescope. Tycho was the last of the great astronomers to carry out his observations without the aid of a telescope.

12. Noble lines – a Gitaesque directive to focus on the task, rather than the reward (fame, in this case).

13. Lovely symbolism - Venus, the planet of love and beauty, looks like the “fiery” Mars, the planet of war and death. Also makes sense from the physical point of view that the old astronomer, in his last moments, probably in pain and with failing vision should only be able to see his beloved sky dimly and unclearly. Again, an extremely poetic paragraph, made more so by the underlying pathos.

The poem as a whole is a great comfort to me over the years, especially since in the five years of having known of it, I have only started to like it more and more. This, as everyone knows, is a feeling to be treasured, as often favourite books and poems of yesteryear  lose their lustre as the reader experiences and learns new things. This fact is very well brought in this Yahoo! column by Sanjay Sipahimalani.

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Disclaimer: I really am no expert, either on poetry or on astronomy, so do let me know in case there is anything to be added / corrected in the post above.

I am referring to this beautiful poem by William Blake (best known to most people as the writer of the superb The Tyger – thanks to the poem being a favourite of school poetry textbook compilers). The poem in question is called London and it goes like this:

I  wander thro' each  charter'd street,
 Near where the charter'd  Thames  does flow,
 And mark in every face I meet
 Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 

 In every cry of every man,
 In every Infant's cry of fear,
 In every voice, in every ban,
 The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

 How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
 Every black'ning Church appals;
 And the hapless Soldier's sigh
 Runs in blood down Palace walls.

 But most thro' midnight streets I hear
 How the youthful Harlot's curse
 Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
 And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

I don’t really want to critically evaluate this poem (however, there’s a reasonably good “explication” – as they’ve called it – available online). I usually am too lazy to think by myself about the inner meaning of these things – I just end up liking stuff that moves me in some manner – if there is a deep meaning somewhere, so much the better!

In any case, from the title of the post, people familiar with Jaydev’s classic from Muzaffar Ali’s Gaman would have guessed what I’m referring to, after having read the poem above. For people not familiar with the song, here it is:

I have been captivated by the song since the first time I heard it and when I read London, the first thing I thought of was this song. The emotions conveyed in their first stanzas are so similar! Of course, the text veers later, but I believe both, Blake, and the lyricist Shahryar had similar thoughts in their minds when their pens first touched paper. By sheer magic, the feelings were translated into music by Jaydev through singer Suresh Wadkar without losing any of the emotions.

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Speaking of Blake’s Tyger, here’s a brilliant short animation capturing the very essence of the poem, by Brazillian Guilherme Marcondes.

You can download the video in the HQ at the Tyger webpage, here.

As it turns out, the book is a novel about a guy, Rudy Harrington, who is still mourning the loss of his wife, who passed away seven years back. To cut a long story short, he has far from perfect relationships with his three daughters, none of whom are living the life he would have desired for them. One Christmas Eve, he decides to sell his rambling old house in Chicago, and to move to Texas and raise avocados on a twenty-nine-and-a-half acre farm that he buys from the widow of an old friend.

In a quest to try and find an answer to his life’s conundrums, he starts to read an old book of his wife’s, called “Philosophy Made Simple” (an anthology of philosophical thought through the ages, by an imaginary Indian philosopher called Siva Singh), hoping the old Masters will help him find answers to the questions that he is unable to ask himself.

It is a beautiful book, and makes me wonder (not for the first time) at the similarity of the problems that people of all walks of life face. I mean, the particulars are different, but the basic pain areas are so easy to identify with! I find myself nodding along at the thoughts of this man in his fifties, who is living on a farm in Texas, in the late ’60s, and who is a widower with three grown daughters.

My own life could not be more different from his, but some of his conversations with himself and other characters in the book have moved me  to distraction. Sample this:

Forgive me, but my love for my wife was quite a different thing from what you propose. The pleasures you enjoy at Estrella Princesa (a high-class brothel on the other side of the border, in Mexico) is only a rough sketch of true pleasure, like my drawing of Plato’s cave. It is mixed with pain. Only when your soul follows wisdom do you find true pleasure. Most men live like brute animals. They look down and stoop over the ground; they poke their noses under the table; they kick and butt each other with their horns and hooves because they want these animal pleasures. True happiness is only when the soul acts in harmony with virtue.

How true! Then there’s another piece of advice he gets from one of the ladies from the aforesaid brothel:

This is it, Rudy. This is what you are looking for – alegria. The embrace of a woman. And the love of your daughters, your three lovely daughters… Your whole world is full of love, Rudy, and I think you know that. Gratitude is the word that should be on the tip of your tongue. Not ‘I’m worried I’m worried I’m worried,’ but ‘Thank you thank you thank you.’ For your daughters and the good times you shared with your wife, the hot water in your bathroom and this good wine, and these wonderful enchiladas. Don’t be afraid.

It is an accurate reflection of the frame of mind I am in, that these words truly struck a cord somewhere. Rudy seems to be moving along on the same path of self-pity and degeneration that I have taken up lately.

I hope both of us start moving on a trajectory for the better, by the time I reach the end of the book.

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I was particularly captivated by the Spanish word alegria, and looked it up. It means Happiness. Turns out it is also the name of this beautiful song performed by the Cirque du Soleil. Watch!

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The book has rekindled my itch to read Philosophy. Since there has been zero progress on the 12 books I had promised myself I would read this year, I think I will take up Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after I am done with Philosophy.. and have read the mandatory thriller that I make it a point to read as an aperitif between two literary / non – fiction books. I am also just dying to order The Consolation of Philosophy by Alain de Botton from Rediff Books, but so far have been able to control myself. Epictetus would have been proud.

1. Generate an intense craving for egg-curry, circa 8 p.m.

2. Sit on your back-side till about 9:20 p.m., before going for a bath. (Being Sunday, the first bath of the day of course.)

3. Let natural lethargy take over after a long shower, and decide to make egg-Maggi instead. After all, the new curry flavour and boiled eggs would make it as good as egg-curry itself.

4. Goof off while boiling the eggs, forgeting to note the time. Result: soft-boiled eggs.

5. Remind self that soft-boiled eggs can cause Salmonella, E. Coli, and what not.

6. Decide to shallow fry soft-boiled eggs in butter to cook them completely, after the Maggi is ready.

7. Attend to various phone calls while cooking Maggi, causing them to over-boil and become a little too soggy and limp.

8. Dunk some butter in a frying pan (in more quantity than necessary), and put the soft boiled eggs in, cooking them completely, but also mistakenly dropping some egg-shells in.

9. Chuck the now-cooked eggs into the saucepan with the Maggi. Since there’s a lot of butter left in the frying pan, wipe it clean with some noodles, thus effectively cleaning the pan, adding some yummy buttery flavour to the Maggi and also heating some of the already cold noodles.

10. Empty a sachet of Kissan tomato ketchup into the saucepan containing the Maggi and the eggs.

11. Eat with a glass of Kissan grape squash, with gtalk and twitter running in front of you, and the cricket match on the TV by your side.

12. Savour with delight, thinking up the perfect plan to jump-start your languishing blog. The egg-shells make the whole thing crunchy, drawing attention away from the limpness of the noodles.

13. Spend a few minutes thinking about whether it is possible that some Salmonella or E.Coli bacteria had survived on the egg-shells.

14. Blog about the whole thing, in any case.

That’s it.

One IS allowed a small leeway though. All those who take up the TBR challenge can also keep a list of 12 reserves, which they can use to substitute a book on the list if they really can’t get around to reading one of those original books.

Here is my list of books To Be Read in 2010:

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig: Have regrettably read only a portion of this one, and it’s still one of my favourite books of all time. Have been dying to complete it, but dithering over “the perfect mood”, etc.

2. The Virtue of Selfishness – Ayn Rand: Rand has rightly been called the solace of the over-worked. Still, have been bowled over by the little that I have read of this slim volume.

3. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged remain the big blots on my reading career, since everyone else seems to have read them. Shall finish Fountainhead and watch the movie in 2010. Atlas Shrugged shall be tackled in 2011!

4. Gods of War – Ashok K. Banker: Having bought an autographed copy of this new fantasy tome, I have decided to break a long running jinx by reading a book within a year of buying it!

5. The Iliad – Homer: Have bought myself a beautiful edition. Can’t leave it gathering dust for long. Plus it’s step one to reading Ulysses this year. I want to take it in the correct fashion – The Iliad, The Odyssey, and lastly, Ulysses.

6. The Odyssey – Homer: See point 5 above.

7. Ulysses – James Joyce: Need to see if what is repeatedly voted as the best novel of the 20th Century is worth the hype. Plus it seems just the kind of over-complicated, oh-so-literary stuff that I would like! Also see point 5 above.

8. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky: Absolutely loved the 100 odd pages I read sometime in 2008, before going into deep depression. It’s time I put the matter to rest.)

9. Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter Part of my non-fiction quota. Hope to learn better money management from this one.

10. Getting Things Done – David Allen: Have been dying to complete this one and start implementing the magical GTD system, which I hope will miraculously improve my life.

11. I’m OK, You’re OK – Robert Harris: Supposed to be a classic on human relations and behaviour. Has been on the must-read list for long.

12. The Road Less Travelled – M. Scott Peck: Said to be a life altering experience. And God knows my life needs a lot of altering at present. Plus, have really liked the few pages that I have read so far!

That’s that then. The big twelve. Shall post the list of reserves soon. Some of the books are surprisingly well known and plebeian, but I strongly believe I can’t move to a higher level till I go through these “must-reads” first.

How did I know I was “blown away” and not merely “intrigued” or “excited”? Because while I was reading it after a long (and productive, for a change) day at work, the lights went out, and I did something I haven’t done in at least ten years. I picked up the underused flashlight from the side of my bed, clicked it on, and continued reading! It was a wonderful, nostalgic experience. Brought back memories of boarding school, where torches were our most prized possessions and apart from the reluctant visits to the john in the middle of the night (if it was one of those dorms where it wasn’t possible to pee out of the window, snigger..), playing “Catch and Cook” with everyone pointing their torches at the cyling and trying to “catch” the other fellow’s torch-beam, and raiding lockers for food, flashlights were mostly used for reading past lights-out.

Hope the book is as engaging right through to the end, and I can maintain the momentum enough to complete at least one more HP book before going back to a murder mystery (which, by the way, are the silver lining to the dark cloud that is murder, don’t you think? As Govinda / Sanjay Dutt would say: “Murderrr agar na hota, toh mysteryaan na hoti / mysteryon ke bin chalaak detective bhi na hote..” I can go on, but will stop it here.. Quietus!)

I am talking about this wonderful statement made by the Hollywood actor Will Smith, at the 2005 Kid’s Choice Awards, the essence of which I will quote here:

“The key to life is running and reading. When you’re running there is a little person that talks to you. And that little person says to you ‘oh I’m tired! My lungs are about to pop! I’m so hurt! There’s no way I can possibly continue.’ If you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running, you will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life. And the reason that reading is important is because there have been millions and millions of people that have lived before us. There’s no new problem you can have that someone hasn’t already solved and wrote about it in a book.”

(As a part of an interview, same thought elaborated here)

Now that is not a bad message to be giving to kids. I personally swear by both these activities. In fact, I will put reading and running at the top of all other things, if listing out things I derive the most satisfaction from. The world would definitely be a much better place, if everyone did reading and running for 30 minutes every single day.

Though I haven’t been running much these days (because of the rains, mainly), I have definitely been reading a little, so that’s something. Need to re-learn how to finish books I have started and also have to buy a skipping-rope to fill in for  the running during the monsoons.

Today’s must-do list then:

1. Buy a skipping rope

2. Finish the book I am reading (Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban – I know, I’m a bit behind!)

All my life I have managed to do well on a mixture of street-smartness, general likability, and a little hard work. While that still gets me the initial breakthrough in any personal / professional relationship, I have long come to realise that I have the “Secret Ingredient – X”, but the rest of the condiments, and, more importantly, the meat itself, are missing.

It’s not as if I am not trying. I have been putting in long, hard hours at work, have been trying to get my act together on the personal front, be it keeping up with exercise, or reading, or blogging.  But somehow, I am not able to get it into top gear, make it natural, automatic. It is a constant effort and all my good intentions get derailed at the sight of the first pebble on the tracks.

Therefore, the next 30 days are going to be devoted to introspection and hard thinking at all levels. Everyday, I will write down (and hopefully blog about) one minor change in my thinking, or in my working style, or my attitude, that needs to be brought in to take me to the level of perfection that I desire. It needn’t be anything earth-shattering. Just a minor adjustment – course correction – to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Half-way into this year, I have decided that enough is finally enough, and in true MBA style, have set these SMART goals for myself:

1. Read one book a week: Yes. It has been done before. Umpteen number of times by an umpteen number of people. But not my me. At least not on a planned, consistent basis. I used to be a voracious reader at one time with a constant shortage of books. Used to beg friends and relatives to lend me books, as I couldn’t afford so many myself. But in the last 2-3 years, I must have easily bought over a hundred books, and read not more than ten of those. Have read other books from my existing stock and stuff from the library, etc., but the number is not nearly as high as it normally would have been. I could in part blame it on the internet, but not completely. Whatever I am, whatever I know, a large part of that can be attributed to the reading habit, so I am keen to pick up momentum again. I also hope to document my reading on this blog. Which brings me to my Goal # 2..

2. Blog Twice a Week: I have promised myself to put something up here at least two times a week, if not more often. I hope that will build enough momentum for me to become a compulsive blogger over time, because I really want to be prolific. I think I have a lot to say, and though others must surely have said it earlier in better manner, I still want to say those things. It’s a quest for personal growth, through building self-discipline, in a way. And speaking of discipline, Goal # 3 is..

3. Go to the Gym Five Times a Week: This one is crucial for my physical well-being, as over the last few months, I have really been out of shape and have been feeling extremely unhealthy. What with the long office hours and the internet, I sleep pretty late, so waking up early, something I’ve never had a problem with, becomes an effort.  My preferred form of exercise is a jog early in the morning, so in the rainy season, that becomes all the more difficult and a tad dangerous. Hence the gym.

4 & 5. These are too personal, even for an anonymous blog! However, have jotted them somewhere I am going to see everyday, so hopefully will be able to keep them going also.

I will be (deservedly) happy with myself if I am able to accomplish these 5 things in this calendar year. I would have crossed my fingers, but then it would have been difficult to type further. So I will cross my legs instead, mutter a silent prayer, and hope for the best.

Anyhow, to get back to the original line of thought, I refer to the Hymn of Creation primarily because I have been thinking a lot of about motivation today. I have an unbelievable amount of work pending, not doing which will ruin my entire next week, possibly all of April. Most of it is boring data compilation in Excel, which, you would agree, is work most foul. I mean even hard, physical, back-breaking work is better, because it lets one revel in the “dignity of labour” feeling that is anyway so hard to come by these days. So yes, I have been unable to motivate myself to work today even though this shirking has the potential to destroy any remaining aura of dependability that I have managed to protect so far in the eyes of my co-workers (some of whom I genuinely like and don’t want to disappoint) and my boss. (Who’s also amazing. Seriously.)

The Hymn of Creation has a couple of lines which go something like this: 

“Who verily knows and who can here declare it,

whence it was born and whence comes this creation?”

All you have to do is substitute the word “creation” with “motivation” and you will get the full import of my emotions at present. I mean what is it with motivation? Why the hell is it so hard for a reasonably intelligent and usually sensible guy like me to do relatively easy work sitting here in an air-conditioned office, working for a company I love and in a function I was born to excel in? I mean I have been wanting to start blogging for at least 3-4 years now. I had registered this account on WordPress in late February, I think, and have been opening the page and admiring the empty template almost daily since. How is it that I have suddenly gotten rid of my inertia in this matter when more urgent tasks beckon? Why am I still unable to get to the “real” work? I think this is what the creators of concepts like Structured Procrastination are going on and on about. Maybe for some people it is impossible to eat the frog. If faced by a frog we just have to eat, we would procrastinate ourselves to death by starvation (I am assuming one can’t eat anything else till the frog is eaten. If that’s not the case, I’ll take the Maharaja Mac instead, please). 

Not that I am complaining. While the frog sits with dread in his big round eyes, waiting to be eaten, I am up and about, happily chasing any red herrings that care to flit by.