THE WORLD BOOK DAY

Someone reminded me this morning that today is world book day. I thought one can know a person from the books he has read or written. I thought, however simple a story is, one feels happy when one tells it to others.

I too write in my spare time. I write about our ordinary days. I write about my chance encounter with some extraordinary people, maybe through their writings. Looking into the mirror, I see I am occupying three-fourths of the planet, existing in three phases; switching from one to the other. Often, I look like a bird from the woods, flying in the soaring sky. Often, I look like a bird in a cage, my wings are clipped, and I want to fly.

When I was writing Knowing the Known in 2008, I did not know what I wanted to know. I still don’t know. In the past 14 years, my inventory of books has increased several folds. My reading has enlarged. I have written a few more books to understand life from a much wider perspective.

Knowing the Known is about a journey of self-discovery. The journey of self-discovery creates new avenues for oneself. One of my friends thought the book contains the impressions of my thinking process in the pathway of my journey as an explorer of the depths of myself and as an interpreter of the fabric of my experiences with life. In the collection of essays contained in the book, I tried to weave the basic fabric of life. It is about a teacher who got more from his students than he could give them. The time ‘wasted for not so useful purposes or pursuits’ is not a waste of time. It gives a different kind of sense of fulfilment. The interpretation of gravitation law in the sphere of human relationships is simple: simplify life, the laws of the universe will be simpler. In other words, follow the laws of the universe to simplify life. Rather than being perplexed by the opposites, the attitude of reconciliation helps, as the space between opposites where nothing exists is essential for understanding paradox. The world can be a better place if more upright individuals come to the forefront of public affairs. A humane organization grows when it has the will to grow and survive, when it sees the world beyond its own image. For a person who is dying the most meaningful thing would be to be with the people who recognize in him an essence beyond his body.

I wrote my next book The Better Half in 2012. It is about love, conscience, dreams, myths, senses, silence, hunger, time. It is about the obvious and beyond the obvious. It is about an academic who gets lost. It is about a mother’s love and pride. It is about beautiful people who don’t need make-up. It is about a city that promises to embrace all. It is about a Jivan Sangini who is a one hundred percent Bengali.

For a mother, every child is beautiful, but there are always firsts among equals. The Rising Sun written in 2013 is a collection of short stories. It is about a father who wants to redeem what he lost when he was his son’s age. It is about a drifter’s search for a home. It is about a man’s wandering around a mirage.?It is about the desire of a schoolmaster to open a school in a wasteland. It is about searching for something that is within. It is about a father who simply trusted, never argued, nor defended, nor complained. It is about a grandson’s eagerness to connect with his grandparents. It tried to touch a rising sun to imbibe its spirit, warmth, and glow.

I wrote Neural Suitcase Tells the Tales of Many Minds in 2014. So much goes on inside our neural suitcase. Our beautiful mind presents itself in so many facets, and in multiple dimensions. It is moral, vulnerable, quiet, chaotic, hungry, obese, real, fictional, memorable, forgetful, creative, curious, humorous, tearful, trustworthy, biased, wise, foolish, friendly, hateful, meaningful, blind, and questioning. We need to keep our minds wide open. We need to pack it sensibly, as the world is overloaded with information, and an over-burdened mind generates cognitive stress. In writing this book I have tried to read the mind of others. I have borrowed thoughts of many other beautiful minds. Our questioning mind asks many interesting questions; can there be a perfect mind, why we make deliberate mistakes, why boredom is not for everyone, what is the right dose of grief, should we always hate our enemy, why memories are fabricated, why we are not dishonest, …

Ethics of the Chair (2015) highlights the truths that have guided me in my professional journey. I have known that intentions and outcomes are not always the same, and life is not merely following rigid rules. Small can also be beautiful, and higher laws can’t be explained through worldly laws. Intellect is an essential part of any make-up, and don’t always approach science with the lens of a money lender. And respect the chair you occupy. The book talks about several other issues: Are we happier than our forefathers were? Most compatible are the ideal couple. Intellect is an essential part of any person’s make-up. If you lack talent cultivate power. What is harder, remembering or forgetting? Eyes reveal our true feelings. We argue to justify our own beliefs. Growing old is a personal choice.

Parichit Se Parichay (2015) and Geele Kagaz Par Failte Jalrang (2020) are collection of verses in Hindi. It is about ????? ?? ??? .

The book Mind of an Engineer Volume 1 (2016), Volume 2 (2020) is about the reminiscences, eureka moments, inspirations, challenges, and opportunities in the journey of some professional engineers, and the self-realization and the goals they achieved. The books reflect the way the meaningful mind of an engineer works.

Life sciences along with engineering sciences are playing a leading role in shaping many of our future endeavours in the world of medicine, agriculture, and industry. The book Engineering of Life and Life Technologies (2017) is about the implications of biological engineering in the making of a better world.

The International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS) held its annual convention for the first time in New Delhi, October 13-14, 2015. Its theme was Pathways to Sustainability: Energy, Mobility, and Healthcare engineering. The 3 volume proceedings provide an international forum for discussion and communication of engineering and technological issues of common concern.

Magic of the Morning Sun (2017) is a collection of essays and verses about the bulging truths floating in the world. Here I have tried to reflect and interpret some of my experiences. I have touched various contours of life with the soft fondness of a beautiful past and imagined future.

During the journey called life, I have played many roles, and I have come across many people. In some roles, I have made a mark, in some, I could not reach up to the mark. It is about interpreting the intricacies of human nature. I have dissected my convictions and beliefs. The book Looking into the Mirror, (2017) is about rediscovering the already discovered.

Du Poysar Icche (2018) and Golpokotha Aar Shobder Khela (2019) are a collection of verses in Bengali. Golpokotha also contains a story Thamma Dadu (Bengali translation of one of my stories in Bengali by my wife Indrani Ghosh).

The book School of Upna Life (2019) commemorates 50 years of my graduation in Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute (HBTI) Kanpur, and 25 years of my association with Birla Institute of Scientific Research (BISR), Jaipur. I revisited the thoughts that guided me, recalled the events that changed the course of my life and remembered the people who made me what I am. In the nostalgic frame of mind, I felt the urge to capture the snap-shots of memory before they fade out in the haze of oblivion. The varied experiences that I gathered have given me another dimension to my professional career. I gratefully remember my teachers who so patiently prepared me to take societal responsibilities, among other things, I value in life. They have infused in me the sense of learning to think big, extend the limits of vision, and achieve the ends. I am learning to fly with my feet firmly on the ground. In the book I envisage a school where knowledge is not a burden, learning is not dictation, where incoherence is heard, where mirrors can turn into windows. In this book, I have attempted to trace the footprints from the edge of today to the precincts of yesterday.

Floating images (2019) is a collection of verses in English. Poetry is self-expression. It serves our aesthetic and spiritual needs. I have tried to transform some of my emotions into an assembly of words.

In the book Algorithms of life (2020) I have seen through the window, I have looked into the mirror, and I have imagined through a prism. When nothing works hope works. Hope works when the mind works. The mind works when a neural network works. Mind is the most precious thing we have. It doesn’t allow hopes to die. I made an unknown companion to share some of my thoughts with her. I wrote to her on a ‘whenever-whatever’ basis.

This bi-lingual (Bengali and English) book At Leisure (2021) is about the virtues of leisure. The pandemic has let some amount of wilderness enter our lives. I found the mind works best when on vacation, but I could not go on vacation. Instead, I let my mind roam into the wilderness.?It told me of so many oddities we experience while leading a normal life. Like, it tells the dangers of becoming too transparent. In humility, one finds disguised arrogance.?One comes to know that some can’t be bribed because they are too expensive. Charity is usually done for self-glory. Closer the group, less incentive is there to stir the water. Good listening can be polished indifference. A workaholic isn’t necessarily a valuable employee. You will be fully civilized the day you will spend doing nothing, and not feeling guilty.

Engineering vision technology revolution and optimism (2021) was an opportunity for me to thank my teachers, my peers, and my students on the occasion of the completion of 50 years of my graduation in engineering. Technology wants what life wants. Using technologies, it seems, it is possible to do anything and produce anything. The center of gravity of the engineering profession is shifting. Engineers are expected to understand global issues and the nuances of working in a culturally diverse space. They are expected to appreciate, more than before, the human dimensions of emerging technologies. There are many questions – Are we cultivating the right kind of engineering mindset? What a general engineering toolkit must contain? Are there enough challenging jobs in the manufacturing industry to attract good engineers? Is it right to allow the creation of future elites who have augmented themselves with artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, without inventing a way to manage their superhuman abilities? Can technology improve work-life balance? Is society ready to accept the exponential development challenges? Do we take pride in designing a thing and manufacturing it, as we take pride in packaging it? The book discusses these questions from the perspective of the mindset that defines the contours of life, refines the spirit of life, and designs the vision of life.

My book Thought Islands and Poetry Bridges (2021) is jointly written with my colleague Subimal Sinha Roy. It is an assortment of random thoughts that emerged in the prosaic frame like isolated islands in the sea of the encompassing life. The feeling that these dispersed islands need to be linked to form a comprehensive thought scenario, poetry bridges have been built to complete the composite scenario.

Apna Utsav (2022) is literally about me. Here I have connected the dots between time and space. It is about my people, my cities, my country, my films, and the golden oldies of the yester years. It is about a full moon shining in the night sky, to splay colours. Gratitude is a sentiment and I expressed it most sincerely to the people and places who gave me shelter.

My recent book (2022) No Personal Questions Please! Is about my communication with myself. Imagination is selective transformation and it follows its own form of reality. It has credibility, logic, emotional complexity, and elements of surprise. I sit in the best coffee house - The Mind – with myself and build castles in the thick air of hope.

What is in store for me in my penultimate years? In the initial years, I learned a few tricks to live in the world. In the next fifty years, I lived a life full of joy and surprises. Now, it is time to live peacefully.?Do I know what it means to live peacefully? When I look into the mirror, I see I am not the same person I was 50 or 25 years ago. I remember some of the people I lost. I got to know some people. Did I deserve what I got? Shall I leave a legacy I am proud of? With the passing years have I become more hopeful? What I accumulated all these years, was it worth accumulating? What immaterial wealth remains when one is gone? Would I now become not so useful and less interesting? What would freedom mean to me now??Would I visit the known or the unknown to know me? I will ponder over many such questions in my penultimate years.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploration will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time,” T S Eliot observed. Our search never ceases. We ultimately come to know what is already known. We can't know what is known unless we go through a process of knowing the known. We reach a point. Once we reach our destination, we find it is from where we started our journey. Our stories are about lofty ideals, bright hopes, and dismal failures. We tell stories, keeping some element of surprise and suspense so that the story does not die before it ends.

My first book was about a mediocre who wanted to see beyond what was visible to him. In the intervening years, I have only extended the theme of my first book, Knowing the Known.

Purnendu Ghosh

Jaipur, September 29, 2022