Friday, July 27, 2007

Phenomena of Triviality-----Sunday Scribblings

Sunday Scribblings asks us to write about phenomenon.


Villanelle of the Sciences

in my younger days, phenomenon meant scientific
events recurring could be comprehended with proofs
explanations were a plethora with no blatant tricks.

learning those bigger formulae never made me sick
we took those in a stride, uncaring of any spoofs.
in my younger days, phenomenon meant scientific

mind was nurtured with extreme care brick by brick-
stimulation provided for thinking out of the loops
explanations were a plethora with no blatant tricks.

there was nothing in the discipline i could not pick,
knowledge was paramount, never considered goofs
in those good old days, phenomenon meant scientific.

this made commencement of it appealing to click
in psych taking my intelligence beyond the roofs,
explanations were a plethora with no blatant tricks.

paradoxes proved only the rule, learning was quick
certain theories though tricky but followed in groups.
in my younger days, phenomenon meant scientific,
explanations were a plethora with no blatant tricks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a student of science, I am more familiar with the various scientific phenomena. I mugged a few, understood some and hated the rest. I never quite understood how could any event or non-event become a phenomenon.

The word has become synonym with blind following with no rhyme or reason. Mass adulation is a phenomenon now. Blind following borders on insanity and mass hysteria.
We can make or break a person thus. How and why such events occur is hard to say.

In our schools, we tend to call examinations as phenomena, which almost all students and a few teachers hate. This works in a negative way.

A few years back, Indian girls started winning international beauty pageants. Every young girl worth her salt wants to follow their example. I think we can do without this kind of happenings. What we need is more and more girls following women who contributed for the betterment of the society and not just be decorative pieces.

Lately any stupid news becomes breaking news. This has been seen since the emergence of news channels. All want viewers and resort to cheap publicity. The captions are interesting too, titillating the minds of the viewers.

Strange that my mind has started to waver and wander. Is that a signal to stop my rambling?! Is that some kind of omen or a phenomenon? Scientific or otherwise? What say, folks?

Read more phenomena...


41 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it is a sign Gautami. The phenomena known as prompts. Without them, we cannot blog. Our Muses flounder. Give us a sign they say, give us a word to write, I need it.

Is it too late for us?

Rose

xo

Paul said...

So little time, so much to rant about... What would you do if your president were George Dubya?? Only a year and three months left (who's counting...) but he's already done all the damage he possibly could have.

Now don't get me started with the ranting phenomenon...

paisley said...

i believe that we are becoming such a disposable society,, that even true phenomenon will eventually be cast to the way side...

it just may be that we are leaving the last truly tangible accounting of what the people in this world are really like... today.. at this very moment in time.....

~Kathryn~ said...

i always think it is such a shame that young women get sucked in my the phenomena of 'starlets' like paris and britney .. scary really !!!

Sue Seibert said...

It is interesting how words which have always meant one thing can mean the other, or at least the opposite. An old one comes to mind...cool, which was the opposite of warm, when used in the teenage society of the 1950's, meant wonderful, outstanding. I sometimes think we go too far. We saw a production of Coward's Blythe Spirit last night, and the college actors mispronounced many of the words and exchanged them for familiar words that didn't mean the same thing. Our languages are rich, but our education is poor.

BONGO MIRROR said...

Marie Curie.

The more people who are aware of who she was and what she did, the better.

I don't mean to suggest that she be just a female role model. I'm suggesting as a role model for all humans.

Yes. She isn't from where you are. She isn't from where I am either...unless you just think of us both as being on earth.

paris parfait said...

Wonderful poem and you're absolutely right about the phenomenon of surface and superficial being what too many young women want to emulate. It's heartbreaking, particularly since most of them are getting a good education and have real-life examples of strong women to admire. It's the brainwashing of movies, advertisements, etc. putting emphasis on physical beauty. A sad state of affairs for all concerned.

kenju said...

I agree with your idea for young girls. Why do they have to follow in the footsteps of someone merely beautiful and not always intelligent? I think they all need better role models.

Michele sent me.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

There really is an excess of triviality around.

Michele sent me here.

Gill said...

It is really strange the phenomena of our youngsters finding trashy and outrageous admirable. Wonder where it will end?

Anonymous said...

LOL I'm not even going to pretend I know what this post is about - it's way too early for me lol I liked the movie Phenomenon with John Travolta if that counts?? Well sort of - I liked the movie, I hate John Travolta, so I guess I sort of liked the movie. Can't anything be a phenomena??

Anonymous said...

I forgot to say two things:

1. I love the poem, even if I don't understand it lol It's got quite beautiful language in it.

2. Michele sent me to ponder the meaning of phenomena.

Crafty Green Poet said...

it is a sad phenomenon about the young women all wanting to become beauty queens, a sign of how superficial society has become.

sage said...

Good thoughts here Gautami. Beauty pagnents and cable news channels are really one in the same...

Pat said...

'A few years back, Indian girls started winning international beauty pageants. Every young girl worth her salt wants to follow their example. I think we can do without this kind of happenings. What we need is more and more girls following women who contributed for the betterment of the society and not just be decorative pieces.'

I watched Shulpa on Celebrity Big Brother - maybe an example of 'decorative pieces' but I was full of admiration - not just for her beauty, but her grace under foul pressure and her elegant intelligence. Had I been Indian I would have felt pride instead of the shame I did feel at the appalling behaviour of my fellow country women.

I feel strongly we shouldn't dismiss people because they are beautiful.
michele says hi!

Pat said...

PS Am appalled that anyone should dare to tinker with Coward's dialogue! Off with their heads!
See Sue's comment.

gautami tripathy said...

rose: I think you are right. It is a sign that you(we) are getting on with age!
(*runs for her life*)

paul: Oh no! Not dubya! Please spare us..

paisley: Well I thik it is like that. We have forgotten the real stuff and run after superficiality.

~kathryn~: Thats the bane of the present times.

sioux: Phew! What is it you are trying to say?

bongo mirror: I think we all are together in it. Should be standing undivided.

tara: We are enamoured by all the wrong values. We don't see the bigger picture.

kenju: the young girls want instant stardom. Beauty pageants offer that.

Michael K. Althouse said...

Unfortunately, nothing much surprises me anymore. Nothing much strikes me as phenomenal. I don't know if this is bad or good - it just is. Perhaps I have become too jaded. There are, I think, exceptions. I have seen phenomenal sunsets and night skies. I have witnessed the wonder of nature in all her glory. Perhaps all is not so bleak.

Michele sent me,

Mike

Anonymous said...

kenju, jean, juliet, gill, sage, stephanie: Thanks!

PI: I have nothing against beauty. I think ther is a world beyond beauty which these girls refuse to see.

Mr Althouse: I know that th world is never gonna be bleak ever.

Bobkat said...

Oh yes, I couldn't agree more about the news. Another thing I hate about it is the way the news presents the opinions of people as newsworthy when in fact often they are ill informed and have a very narrow perspective on the item being reported. It makes me so angry!

You have touched on such a huge subject here. I think there is nothing wrong with a girl making the most of her beauty, what I hate is the shallowness of the media in treating all women who aren't beautiful as sub standard and that beauty is the only goal worthy of a woman. Women are so much more capable and their many talents should be celebrated as much as their beauty.

Michele sent me to say hello.

Steve said...

Shear Magic!

polona said...

another phenomenal poem :)

too bad trivia are considered phenomena...

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

Gautami,

I agree a thousand percent, young girls today are being taught that beauty is more important than intelligence, respect, integrity and honor.

I feel very strongly about this, it's something I want to change... how to go about it?

They learn from media that beauty is only skin deep, and they are only worth what a man thinks of them. But I musn't get started on THAT soapbox!!!

GRRRR!


Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Anonymous said...

Here in the States they start them off in beauty contests as two & three years old. Some are pageant professional by age 12, having competed in 50 or 60 pageants.
I think it's the worst thing for young girls, and as for all this breaking news - the majority gets on my nerves.
Thanks for a great post.
Love your way with words.
Namaste,
Frances

Anonymous said...

http://blogforth.com/2007/07/29/sunday-scribblings-july-29th/
I linked to one of my other blogs.
My scribble is at the link above.
Sorry,
Frances

MsT said...

wow - not only in america. don't know whether to be saddened by that or feel commiseration. michele says hi.

Paul said...

I agree. A lot of our so called phenomena really do need debasing.

Anonymous said...

I have nothing but admiration for someone who can write a villanelle..and have it make sense! And yes, I know what you mean about so many foolish happenings becoming "manias"...I suppose it has been ever thus, but that doesn't ever make it a good thing.

Good post. :)

Romeo Morningwood said...

We are all in a state of HIGHperbole!!!! It is a global phenomena that is actually accelerating. At this rate every sentence will soon be an exclamation!!!!

We need to stick to the brick by brick approach because once we give the theologians and philosophers a license to utter their fancy schmancy notions off we go into the wild blue yonder and caution is thrown to the wind.

There probably are answers to almost everything but because we are still quite retarded in our understanding about ourselves we don't have enough bricks laid to even ask some of the BIG questions.

As a species on the brink of discovering and improving upon the most brutal and effective methods of eliminating ourselves we should be grateful that some people are even interested in asking WHY.
That is phenomenal!

floots said...

i switched off in so many classes
wish i could have read this then :)

Left-handed Trees... said...

Sigh, it is hard enough coming up through the world as a girl without the obsession of celebs and beauty queens...I agree with you here!

Anonymous said...

Very cool villanele, I like how you linked youth with life being scientific. As you(we) age, life becomes more fluid.

Anonymous said...

You're right, we live in a sensationalist, media driven world and I'm not sure that it will change anytime soon.

Tammy Brierly said...

Wonderful Villanelle! Makes me think of Steven Hawking's black hole. I don't get it but in sharing ALS I pay attention.

Jen at Semantically driven said...

Thanks for posting this for the All Womens carnival this week. I wonder why people are so interested in trivial news and especially the scrolling news at the bottom of screens. I personally can't stand it and don't tend to watch it.

Patricia Singleton said...

Gautami, I am enjoying your Reading Room posts. I hope to be in Puttiparti, India sometime in September or October of this year visiting Sai Baba. I will return to read your Doctrine Of The Bhagavadgita articles.

Annie said...

"Lately any stupid news becomes breaking news. This has been seen since the emergence of news channels. All want viewers and resort to cheap publicity. The captions are interesting too, titillating the minds of the viewers."

You are so right about that , Gautami.

Today we seem to create phenomena where there is none...just for entertainment purposes. it robs us of the child like excitement we could feel over genuine phenomena.

As often happens, your post has given us something to think about. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

It's always interesting to see the evolution of language and words, in particular. Things that are "brilliant" aren't really. "Love" really means "like." We use larger and more grandiose words for the mundane because we need that excitement. Why? Not sure. (That's a question for the social scientists. :-) )

rel said...

gautami,
Phenomenon has been so abused and over used as to have lost the dramatic impact it used to portray.
Nice villenelle by the way ;-)
rel

gP said...

my favourite Gautami poem, ever. You are the teacher of science to the souls.

//paradoxes proved only the rule// - what a line!

Steve Isham said...

We rush from new to new, no time to savour, to ponder -- adicted the rush of this weeks post pressing at our senses. I have not visited for a while but again I am impressed by the way being versed in science serves your verses.