Logical reasoning

A Harvard scholar, Mr. Sean Goldstein approaches a learned Rabbi telling him that he has a Doctorate in philosophy, and would now like to learn the Talmud to round off or complete his knowledge. After summing him up for a few minutes, the Rabbi told him " I seriously doubt that you are ready to study Talmud. It's the deepest book of our people. If you wish however I am willing to examine you in logic, and if you pass the test I will teach you Talmud. "

The young man agrees. Rabbi holds up two fingers " Two men come down a chimney. One comes with a clean face and the other comes out with a dirty face. Which one washes his face?

The young man stares at the Rabbi. "Is that a test in Logic?" The Rabbi nods.

"The one with the dirty face washes his face" He answers wearily.

"Wrong. The one with the clean face washes his face. Examine the simple logic. The one with the dirty face looks at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The one with the clean face looks at the one with the dirty face and thinks his face is dirty. So the one with the clean face washes his face."

"Very clever" Says Goldstein. . "Give me another test"

The Rabbi again holds up two fingers " Two men come down a chimney. One comes out with a clean face and the other comes out with a dirty face. which one washes his face?

"We have already established that. The one with the clean face washes his face"

"Wrong. Each one washes his face. Examine the simple logic. The one with the dirty face looks at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The one with the clean face looks at the one with the dirty face and thinks his face is dirty. So the one with the clean face washes his face. When the one with the dirty face sees the one with the clean face washing his face, he also washes his face. So each one washes his face"

"I didn't think of that!" Says Goldstein. " It's shocking to me that I could make an error in logic. Test me again!"

The Rabbi holds up two fingers " Two men come down a chimney. One comes out with a clean face and the other comes out with a dirty face. Which one washes his face?

"Each one washes his face"

"Wrong. Neither one washes his face. Examine the simple logic. The one with the dirty face looks at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The one with the clean face looks at the one with the dirty face and thinks his face is dirty. But when the one with clean face sees that the one with the dirty face doesn't wash his face, he also doesn't wash his face So neither one washes his face"

Goldstein is desperate. "I am qualified to study Talmud. Please give me one more test"

He groans when the Rabbi lifts his two fingers "Two men come down a chimney. One comes out with a clean face and the other comes out with
a dirty face. Which one washes his face?

"Neither one washes his face"

"Wrong. Do you now see, Sean, why Socrates logic is an insufficient basis for studying the Talmud? Tell me, how is it possible for two men to come down the same chimney, and for one to come out with a clean face and the other with a dirty face? Don't you see? The whole question is narishkeit - foolishness - and if you spend your life trying to answers foolish questions, all your answers will be foolish."

Contributed By:
Sumit Kr Chand

Discovering the joys of reading...

Sometimes reading a book compels us to read another one. It starts a chain-reaction. After completing "Sei Somoy" by Sunil Ganguly, I almost set forth to collect everything about 19th Century Kolkata. Thankfuly Sunil attached a list of references and these are still available. I owe my gratitude to those book-shop owners in Kolkata who work somewhat like a co-operative society. I still remember the day when I visited College Street first time way back in '93. I had to just mention the title/author's name and they started the search in earnest. I never felt the same sense of urgency anywhere else. May be its because of the severe competition there.

We like to read books, however I sometimes ponder over the fact that we unknowingly tend to confine our world in a particular set of subjects. Don't we read a particular genre of books? I tried but could not generate interest in varied topics. May be books are comfort food for mind…and there are newspapers and enclycopedias for rest of the spectrum.

We read snippets from different great books in school, but not complete ones. However though the selection was varied, some from Great Authors, most chapters never hinted at the original compilation. That age was best suited for those books!! And then I got hold of a "rapid reader" in Bengali that actually & solely was devoted to do this !! One day I wish to own all those books that Mr Borgohain listed in "Boi Porar Ananda" (The joy of reading books)………...


Posted By: Somabho Bhattacharjya

Kuch to log kahengey......

...or isnt it "unka kaam" any more to 'kehna"???

Over the past few weeks since this space saw daylight, there have been a steady flow of visitors, or so our blogger id tells us. And that's hardly surprising . With our collective PR skills in play (largely involving threats to unsuspecting victims involving cricket bats and their skulls in close juxtaposition, in the event of their not visiting the site) , we expected people to check us out.

But what is surprising indeed is that all of them have preferred to keep a low profile- silent visitors who passed us by without so much as a hello ( or a F@# You, for that matter). A couple of comments from some apparently less reticent readers (or reader, since both were received from anon sources) were all that we had to be content with.

And all this while we were expecting people to talk to us, comment upon our initiative, at least call us names for subjecting them to the tripe we have been unshipping on this space. And what do we get- nothing!! No Sirree,no bouquets and more importantly, no brickbats either- none, zilch, nada!!
So folk, please don't pass us by in silence. We are polite and friendly people , always ready to say "yours too" when you shout "up yours ' to us. Please speak up!!!!!!



And if this good-natured plea to your better senses are not enough to wake you out of your slumbers, please do start taking that cricket bat and skull thing seriously-- its about time too!!



Posted by: Sid

Books for all seasons

Its an old story, the kid was not at all interested in any of the text books of his school. So the mother came up with an idea to give him comics and fairy tales to get him into the habit of reading. We in India don't actually gauge the intelligence of our moms to make a house a home, had they been given due importance and a voice, this country would have been a different place altogether.

Anyways that little brilliance from my mother not only opened an ocean of treasure in front of me, but also has given me a lifelong friend whom I cannot leave and who wont leave me easily under any circumstances. Books are truly a celestial gift to create a path of glory for humankind. They are the tools which would take the race to explore all its hidden unexplored magic. They are there with you for ever.

Posted by Saurav Ranjan Datta


Updated by Sid:
Its a brilliant and astute post from SRD!! We live in a moment of great despair in modern times when the reading habits among the younger populace is at its lowest . And it will be not be far off the mark to say that parents are largely to be blames for this sorry state of affairs. While there are arguments that kids have many more temptations , which are also far more exciting than reading a book in solitude. But that's only half-true. All said and done, its the way the parents shape the taste of their kids that really defines a kid's preference. I do not for a moment suggest that parents should be dictatorial and deprive the kid of picking and choosing his pastimes and hobbies. But I am sure there is a lot to be said in lovingly encouraging a child to the habits that will enrich his life for ever.-as our parents did when we were growing up. They bought us books, they read to us , they stoked our interest by narrating exciting tales from the epics and we just could not resist the temptation to read them in their entirety. That reading can still be exciting to kids is evident from the long queues one notices of children and their parents lining up at bookshops for latest Harry Potter releases. I am sure this passion can be encouraged to spread beyond Harry Potter as well.

Battling the shadow

For many years, I fought valiently for a noble cause, resisting the charge of the internet against good old books.

I grew up on books, and before I knew, they became an addiction. Later they proved to be more addictive than all the dry and liquid stuff consumed at high school and college days. In fact, to think about it, they were soporific (for the uninitiated, that’s sleep inducing) while the books proved to be stimulating.

To me, a large part of the recipe of the stimulation lied, apart from the content, in the process of reading, feeling, touching, and caressing. In fact, a new book often felt like a woman, a new woman in life. You have to handle her carefully, keep your senses open. Because you are reading her for the first time, you have to go slow, sometimes read between the lines. You feel her for the first time; her smell is new to you.

Perhaps, the best way to read her is to go to bed with her, once the initiation is over. Then you lie down with her, hold her really close to your bosom (ok eyes for the older, cant one ever get a little romantic?) and delve deep into her, loosing and finding yourself.

And Chris De Burgh after that, "And then, when it's over, I have tender hands, To hold you through the night, darling, My tender hands will hold you through the night."

I held on to the books and tried to breathe solace to my sad, womanless college days. And then, she changed into her new avatar.

The Internet came, saw and took prisoners. With the rest of the things, books changed to e-books. Reading, like dating, became virtual, open, subject to scrutiny, and untouchable (not in the Indian parlance though, that’s caste system and a whole hog of colonial baggage under the mattress). You no longer walk into a bar (read bookstore), spot her at the corner, eye her for sometime and then tentatively approach her. If you are lucky and skillful enough, conversation rolls on and might turn out to be an all nighter, testing all your skills. Now, you meet over the Internet, believe in what she says about herself ( and vice versa), and both try your best to convert the virtual into realty. And if you are lucky and willing to stoop that low, you two might even make out virtually. UGH.

Reading, no longer is lazing around with that book, carrying it with you all the time, going back to it again and again.. Now you google/yahoo/whatever on the internet, locate it, and read it on the screen, sitting bolt upright all the time. Your posture during work and pleasure becomes identical. You become a robot, a machined baboon. Days of lovemaking is over.

I, like many, revolted. I hung on to my paper books and perhaps even tried to justify my computer ignorance/aversion with my distrust to e/virtual reading materials. So while I saw my friends gathering information in a jiffy, I ploughed through the pile of books. E books were a strict no no, and I used the Internet mainly for sending mails. I felt like a crusader.

Then I changed job and my new job entailed a lot of use of the internet. Soon, I realized what is known as the information superhighway. I mean, I wanted to know about Impressionism and Monet in particular, and Wikipedia zindabad (that’s long live in Hindi). I wanted to know about the major poets of the romantic era, and I can find a list of them along with a list of their selected poems in a jiffy. Now I can take a printout of them and find them in my bookstore. I no longer have to rummage through the whole hog or seek help. That’s how I find the Internet useful. References, cross references and more references. I now use the Internet as the ultimate begetter of lost treasure and sunken ships.

I have struck truce. And it feels good. I still go to bed with a book, but now I know, at least have a vague idea about my latest valentine.

The battle is over.

posted by Ranjan

Preface...The First Step

"Book lovers will understand me,
and they will know too, that part of the pleasure
of a library lies in its very existence."
~ Jan Morris ~

It is with trepidation and loads of apprehension that I pen this post which is supposed to introduce our spanking new blog . When the idea first struck, the immediate responses that our collective minds generated was, in sequential order--
a) Great Idea!! But what are we going to do exactly?
b) Mmmm..all right! But would we be able to sustain it?

The answers were prompt to come
a) We will blog about our greatest passion , a love that we share in equal measure- books
b) We cant know till we start

But still apprehensions kept nagging at our minds regarding feasibility. None of us are professional writers and though yours truly has a blog of his own (which is updated with increasingly erratic frequency), but its a general platform for ranting and raving about everything under the sun( fittingly titled--"Ships and Shoes and Sealing Wax). But the new blog is to be devoted exclusively about our literary pursuits. None of us have any experience of that-- while each of us are quite proficient in our reading prowess, writing was something none of us ever took too seriously, especially book reviews and stuff!! We always thought reviewing books is an art best left to the artists who reveled in it.

However, as further thought was given , full 5 minutes of deep rumination, following conclusions were drawn-
a) A blog is our personal platform and as such we are not accountable to any one other than us , no editors breathing down our neck, no expectant mob of readers ready to pounce on every shred of wisdom(or banality) that we unship on them.
b)We have been reading since our childhood and the love for this quaint habit grows on us with each passing day and season. Surely we will have something to say? Surely we wont be stuck for words while describing something we know intimately? I certainly cant be total strangers to that volume of book that I took to my bed, caressed, loved and explored into till the wee hours ??
c)Who is going to judge the quality of our discussions/reviews/insights into our favourite book? Who is going to turn his nose when we reveal that we loved "The Da Vinci Code" as much as the latest offering from Amitav Ghosh? We own the blog and speak about what we like, dislike-- we can tell exactly why we thought a particular book is a gross waste of precious wood pulp even if the whole world thought it was the best afterlife possible for the forest . This is the space where we speak our minds..

So anybody reading this post must remember that everything written here is merely our thoughts , opinions and expressions. We would love to have as many as we can get of them as well. So if you feel there is something you want to talk about , or want to voice your disagreement or add more to what we speak about , or even start a new topic of your own, please mail us or leave your thoughts on the comments section and we will be delighted to hear from you as well.

Also, for the benefit of the readership( that we may hopefully gather in near future) let me warn again that none of the contributors to this blog are adept at writing and especially so on the topics they will be writing about. They may appear childish, immature, muddle-headed or even at time pose challenge to civilisation as we know it by comparing Shobha De to Salman Rushdie( not that we do, but we just might) . Readers discretion and occasional parental guidance highly recommended.

Best Wishes---
Sid