Unlived Lives of Ours
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Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore is undoubtedly the most important polymath of Bengal. [1] He wrote prolifically, painted, preached pacifism, questioned well-established values, and brought Bengali literature to modernity. He had an unusual amount of foresight about how history would unfold. He preached anti-nationalism even before WWII started. Tagore and Modernity Some might argue that modern Bengali…
Humpty Dumpty and his Infallible Fall
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king's horses and all the king's men, Couldn't put Humpty together again. The fall took Mr Dumpty's breath away! Actually, in his entire life, that is, these four lines, he never suspected the fall. He knew wall rhymes with sall , mall , pall , even crawl (never thought of crawling on the wall as well as falling from it). But…
নিস্তার
[!quote-with-source] জীবনানন্দ দাশ হে সময়গ্রন্থি, হে সূর্য, হে মাঘনিশীথের কোকিল, হে স্মৃতি, হে হিম হাওয়া, আমাকে জাগাতে চাও কেন। মরে গেলে কবিরা অনিন্দ্যসুন্দর হয়। কবিরা হয় প্লেটোনিক আইডিয়াল , পিথাগোরিয়ান সলিডস্ । মরে গেলে কবিরা বাতিঘরের মত মহাকাশে জ্বলতে থাকে নিউট্রন স্টার । মরে গেলে, শুনেছি, অত্যুজ্জ্বল হয়েছে কবিরা আগেও। মরে গেলে কবিরা হয় অর্ধনারীশ্বর । নয়ত, হঠাৎ নৃসিংহের মত কালের স্ফটিক ভেঙে…
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
This is an autobiographical work; therefore, what the author was thinking is much more important than the literary quality. But again, all a writer can do is write themselves. So this is also about the style. What I found about him reading this one is that Hemingway is a man deeply embedded in reality. A person who likes people, cats, dogs, and children, and wants to write a really good story.…
Faust Part One by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
[!WARNING] A note on caution… The following review is written without reading Part Two of this work, where I hope Faust will find some closure. A bet between God and the Devil. A shrewdness beyond comprehension to the mind of a man. A tragedy. If only this were the case, the oldest of all stories of Christianity, then Goethe probably wouldn't have ventured to write Faust. Faust is a blueprint. A…
Faust Part One by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Faust Part One Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Trans. Bayard Taylor II: Before the City-gate Page: 48 (21.62%) @ 21 Jul 2026 03:09:38 AM One impulse art thou conscious of, at best; O, never seek to know the other! Two souls, alas! reside within my breast, And each withdraws from, and repels, its brother. [!stylish] Stylish III: The Study - Faust Page: 54 (24.32%) @ 21 Jul 2026 03:15:42 AM 'Tis…
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
A History of Reading Alberto Manguel The Last Page Time: 2021-09-01 13:50 I too soon discovered that one doesn’t simply read Crime and Punishment or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. One reads a certain edition, a specific copy,recognizable by the roughness or smoothness of its paper, by its scent, by a slight tear on page 72 and a coffee ring on the right-hand corner of the back cover. The…
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa Preface [1917?] Page 15 @ 09 May 2022 10:10 PM For Vicente Guedes, being self-aware was an art and a morality; dreaming was a religion. 1 [1913?] Page 15 @ 09 May 2022 10:12 PM My body sets my soul shivering with cold, not the cold that exists in space, but the cold of me being that space … Page 15 @ 09 May 2022 10:23 PM All pleasure is a vice because seeking…
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway Miss Stein Instructs Page: 10 (6.80%) @ 22 Jun 2026 03:48:15 PM The trees were sculpture without their leaves when you were reconciled to them, [!stylish] Stylish "…when you were reconciled to them", such a nice notion. Page: 11 (7.48%) @ 22 Jun 2026 03:52:08 PM “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one…
Yours Truly
Here, beloved, at this very moment, let me present to you, MY BEING! … there. Oh, read it to me— The inaudible, the interval. It has a timbre like a column of light, yet if you call it a colour— it must be pitch black. Let's punctuate this, holding my being at check; Let me give it to you piecemeal. , , . Now, you can pause. Now you can think about how to utter this emptiness. But how to utter any…
Understood
Person 1: This and this, and that and that…. understood? Person 2: Yes Teacher: [A complicated theory explained…] understood? Person 2 : Yes Unless a topic is extremely alien to us or of unfathomable complexity relative to our knowledge, we tend to respond positively as the second person did. Let's take a close look at our endeavour to understand. [!INFO] Understand (Verb) to know the meaning of…
Boox NeoReader_ Rich Annotations
Reading is never really only reading, at least to me. It comes with an arsenal of cerebral processes— analysis, deduction, deconstruction… the usual lot. And, it is of paramount importance to me that I retain my thoughts and mood of those times. Hence, my emphasis on how much metadata I can store in the annotations I collect from a bvolved about the same annotation. I want to refer to them with as…
Differance
[!tldr] TL;DR Derrida introduced Differance (notice the a instead of e ) as a concept of creating differences over time. It is temporal. While TL;DR s are good in the short term and nice to know, and will get us some nerd points in society, to understand the importance of this concept, one has to not only read this 24-page essay, but also a substantial part of the materials mentioned there. So, on…
Boox to Obsidian_ Highlights and Annotations from Boox Cloud
[!fail] Superseded A superior approach has been introduced in Boox NeoReader: Rich Annotations Problem One can easily export highlights and annotations from NeoReader [1] as txt file. However, it has some very important downsides: It provides very minimal metadata, nothing more than page number, chapter, and time. One can choose between multiple highlighting styles while reading(e.g. highlight,…
Boox to Obsidian_ Rich Annotation Export from Boox Cloud
[!fail] Superseded A superior approach has been introduced in Boox NeoReader: Rich Annotations Many like me , have already noticed that annotations exported as text or HTML from Boox devices are inadequate at best. They lack context. Previously, I tried to make the situation better by adding some context in the notes . It works, but it is very cumbersome to handle. But I found a better way. First,…
How to integrate Saleor JWT in Nuxt 3
Saleor uses JWT Authentication , which is very easy to integrate in Nuxt. Call the login API, get the token, and call the onLogin in NuxtApollo . Straightforward, isn't it? The real challenge is to secure the Refresh Token. Ideally, Refresh Tokens are sensitive and should be stored in secure HTTP cookies ; they shouldn't be transported to the frontend JavaScript at all. Implementation %%{ init: {…
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky Consider one of your senses, not even the most important one— vision, but a minor one like smell, gone! Imagine a world of smell barred from you. Not reading Dostoevsky is just like that, not developing a sense. And, his final novel, his magnum opus— The Brothers Karamazov , branches out new senses and intellectual capacities like an energetic sprout in your mind. This book is…
From Hell by Alan Moore Eddie Campbell Pete Mullins
Food for thought for sure, From Hell is a complex piece of work with many layers of human emotions, expressions, and delusions. One thing I particularly like about Alan Moore is his all-pervading kindness to everyone he presents in his works, both villains and heroes, victims and criminals. So, we see Sir William Gull— a genius, a murderer, deranged to many but sure of his superiority, only found…
Remembrance of Things Past
I started reading this book with much scepticism on my part. The volume of the work (4200 pages) is in itself prohibitive since I get too little time to read, and I prefer non-fiction more. Now, my reading is often a public act; people regularly ask me what I am reading. That is easy to answer. However, some of them are readers themselves. Often, they follow up with a question to know what I am…
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Consider one of your senses, not even the most important one— vision, but a minor one like smell, gone! Imagine a world of smell barred from you. Not reading Dostoevsky is just like that, not developing a sense.
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky Chapter 5 - Elders Page: 37 (5.08%) @ 14 Jun 2025 11:54:02 PM Add to this that he was partly a young man of our time—that is, honest by nature, demanding the truth, seeking it and believing in it, and in that belief demanding immediate participation in it with all the strength of his soul; demanding an immediate deed, with an unfailing desire to sacrifice…
All Roads Start and End in Me
Bashō Asked me to join in. I picked up my bag and my sandals. We went through the mountains and valleys towards Kyoto. The narrow road to the interior, it is called. Interior to my being. Along the way, Dostoyevsky, a veritable madman, joined our party. We met Attar along the way, Fanā to his bone. All my friends are quite mad, to be honest. In a Tasca in Lisbon, we met Pessoa and Jibanananda . We…
The Shelf
These are all the books (and notes) I've been mentioning in this garden. Cover Title Notes Tags "Differance" Notes: Differance by Jacques Derrida #philosophy #Phenomenology 1984 Notes: - #book #dystopian #novel #fascism 21 Lessons for the 21st Century Notes: - #history #pop A History of Reading Notes: A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel #bestreads #history A Little Larger Than the Entire…
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I have read quite a few #dystopian novels. Some of them are the archetypes of this genre. NONE have moved me as much as Fahrenheit 451 did. A significant part of such affectation is personal. In my life spanning three decades, reading is the most consistent thing. Yes, I have a society (primarily consisting of my wife and long-dead writers). Yes, I have had enough diversions like gaming in…
AI and Time
As humans, not only do we quantify (e.g. 1 hour) and label time (e.g. 17th February 2026, 2:26 AM), we perceive it as a flow , and our consciousness flowing with it. Time is crucial for every human experience. We perceive reality as a smooth experience. By smooth, I mean consecutive, and infinitely divisible. Yes, we frequently forget and confuse events. But we never experience the gap between any…
Pothole
How I wish for an accident! A slip on the stairs, or an ankle sprain in a pothole. Or, a merely innocent one. How I wish for an accident, not in the realm of sensations, but in the absence of existence. Such is a lament of mine. We perceive reality as a smooth experience. By smooth, I mean consecutive, and infinitely divisible. Yes, we frequently forget and confuse events. But we never experience…
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
Being and Time Martin Heidegger Introduction: The Exposition of the Question of the Meaning of Being Chapter One. The Necessity, Structure, and Priority of the Question of the Meaning of Being § 2. The Formal Structure of the Question of Being Time：2021-02-20 07:07 Every questioning is a seeking. Every seeking takes its lead beforehand from what is sought. Questioning is a knowing search for…
Differance by Jacques Derrida
Differance Jacques Derrida «DIFFERANCE» Page: 1 (4.17%) @ 19 Mar 2026 02:12:14 AM In the one case “to differ” signifies nonidentity; in the other case it signifies the order of the same. [!quote] Quotable/Concept/General Idea By same, did he meant order of the same entity, or, order of the signification of nonidentity? Page: 2 (8.33%) @ 19 Mar 2026 10:38:12 PM Differance is neither a word nor a…
KOReader to Obsidian
Previously, I used KOReader 's notes and highlight export function to export as markdown and store them in my Obsidian vault (I've contributed to its development too). I export with styles so that they give me context later. It is very convenient. However, sometimes, it is also hard to read. In Obsidian, we have callouts which are not standard markdown, and therefore, are not a good candidate to…
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa has a special place in my mind, which is exactly like he wanted— an enigma, an impenetrable castle. Pessoa is mostly introspective. He brings everything from the depth of his being. Not only that, whenever he expresses anything of the real world he will distort it, absurdify it to bring an imagery unimaginable. Pessoa's patience is something I admire much. He wrote The Book of…
Animal Farm by George Orwell
It starts as a fairy tale. A successful revolution led by animals. They are getting cozy in their newfound freedom. No one could've asked for a revolution so swift and effective. Then, the meekness, the urge to follow returns to the most. A few became a new oligarchy, a new master, but shrewder in nature, oppressors who use the language of the oppressed against them: Animal Farm by George Orwell…
Power_ Mon Amour
[!quote-with-source] Warren Ellis (Castlevania S04E10) — Strength and power are different. You wanted strength. Carmilla wanted power. — In the end, yes. That's what it turned into. Which is what ruined my life. Power. Big, international, non-diplomatic, projected power is something else. It lends you more might, but it doesn't have the utilities of strength. It lays eggs in you. It becomes a…
The Handmaid_s Tale by Margaret Atwood
While I was reading this book, I was immersed in the story. Great writers, I think, craft so well that they completely hide their craftsmanship, allowing us to see the creation only. They don't show off how intelligent they are. Now, after finishing it, after letting all of it sink in my mind, I can see what a great writer she is. She has a profound knowledge of dystopian society. What sort of…
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan Prologue: The Orphan’s File Page: 20 (4.45%) @ 12 Jul 2025 03:58:06 AM Who are we? The answer to this question is not only one of the tasks, but the task of science. [!stylish] Stylish: by Erwin Schrödinger (Science and Humanism) 6 Us and Them Page: 116 (27.36%) @ 29 Nov 2025 02:12:06 AM In the annals of primate ethics, there are some accounts…
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Who are we? The answer to this question is not only one of the tasks, but the task of science. As stated by Erwin Schrödinger in Science and Humanism . This sets the tone of this book. This is an evolutionary journey of self-searching guided by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. What I like about this pair of authors, and why I keep coming back to them, is their sense of…
Thought Is Your Enemy Conversations With U.G. Krishnamurti by U.G. Krishnamurti
This is the sort of book that disturbs you. I sought after this kind of book. To appreciate Krishnamurti, one has to understand the environment surrounding him. In his time, the Occident felt that the Orient had much to offer in terms of spirituality, esoteric philosophy, etc. Gurus of various calibre, some are surprisingly insightful, and most are captivating preached various theories of…
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates Literature is anguish. It is also the fourth wall of a comic panel. It is also the sky beyond the roof, a ship deck in a storm. It is a hammer that must put a blow right into our self-assurance. And, the Ta-Nehisi Coates I have read do just that. About a year back, I met a middle-aged person. The now ongoing Palestine conflict has just started back then. That person…
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury PART ONE: 09 Apr 2022 03:31 PM Picture it. Nineteenth-century man with his horses, dogs, carts, slow motion. Then, in the twentieth century, speed up your camera. Books cut shorter. Condensations, Digests. Tabloids. Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending. " "Snap ending. " Mildred nodded. "Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill…
Gödel, Escher, Bach_ An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Douglas R. Hofstadter [!WARNING] OCR-ed text These annotations contain OCR-ed texts. Minor inaccuracies are expected. Preface Page: 6 (0.73%) @ 16 Mar 2025 06:12:31 PM In a word, GEB is a very personal attempt to say how it is that animate beings can come out of inanimate matter. What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless…
Being a Connoisseur
[!INFO] Connoisseur (noun) One who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties. A Second Prize? Till I was 20, I dabbled in many arts. I did theatre and recitation, I painted and was quite good at it, I started learning violin and then the life happened… I got accolades, even unexpectedly, for recitation and painting. I was a budding amateur with possibilities according to all my…
1984 by George Orwell
1984 is not only a dystopian novel. It is a political statement, the culmination of life-long experience of George Orwell. This deals with the inner working of power, the corruption it accompanies. And these are not made-up ideas. Orwell faced this in his life in Spain , saw it lurking under the apparently gentle Communist Party members of England, and explored it quite well in the Animal Farm…
What I Believe by Bertrand Russell
` [!note] Notes and Highlights What I Believe [!info] About What I Believe by Bertrand Russell Along with Why I Am Not a Christian, this essay must rank as the most articulate example of Russell's famed atheism. It is also one of the most notorious. Used as evidence in a 1940 court case in which Russell was declared unfit to teach college-level philosophy, What I Believe was to become one of his…
Treat It Gentle by Sidney Bechet
প্রথমেই যে বিষয়ে সাবধানতা প্রয়োজন সেটা হচ্ছে এই বইতে হয়ত কিছু ঘটনা একটু রঙচঙে করে বলা। কিন্তু তা কিছু ঘটনাই। তা বাদে, ঠিক-ভুল জানি না, তবে মিউজিক সম্পর্কে, র্যাগটাইম ও জ্যাজ সম্পর্কে সিডনি বেশেটের বেশ স্বচ্ছ একটা দর্শন আছে। বস্তুত, সেইজন্যেই বইটা বেশি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। সিডনি বেশেট জ্যাজের পাইওনিয়ারদের একজন বলা চলে। কিন্তু মিউজিকের প্রতি তার ডেডিকেশন এত উঁচুতে যে বেশিদিন কোথাও একটানা কাজ আর তার…
The Craft of Dying by Lyn H. Lofland
What Is the Book Is About? Like the prolonged helplessness of its young, like bisexual reproduction, the inevitable fact of death provides one of the great parameters of the human condition. It can neither be “believed” nor “magicked” nor “scienced” away. That is basically the justification of Thanatology , the subject of this book. The writer covered a lot of her contemporary ground— briefly, but…
On Death
Death is possibly my most favourite topic to muse. Perhaps, because I know next to nothing about it, and that enables me to think about it with the utmost freedom. Death is also, I think, the most pervasive of all motifs found in any culture and all. Our inquiry to know death lead us to various branches of knowledge and literature throughout the ages. Inquiry begets myths as much as wisdom.…
A Mountain Willow
[!quote-with-source] Matsuo Bashō With a warbler for a soul, it sleeps peacefully, this mountain willow It takes a mountain willow with a warbler for a soul to write a poem [1] like this. Imagine being a weeping willow— slender, almost economical in its existence. Imagine growing over the years, atop a mountain, from a sprout to a deciduous giant— understanding transience as if you are composed of…
Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings
Notes & Highlights: Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings Matsuo Bashō (Translated by Sam Hamill) Translator’s Introduction Time：2021-06-26 16:18 Ki-no-Tsurayuki’s co-compiler of the Kokinshū, Mibu-no-Tadamine (868–965), introduced another new term to the Japanese critical canon by praising a quality in certain poems which he called yūgen, a word borrowed from Chinese Buddhist writingto…
A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti
This book is very concentrated in its form. Myriad ideas got traversed simultaneously— some from historical incidents, some are pure stories, and some are stories about stories— all intertwined to craft a truly musical offering. So, what is this book about? Art, literature, music, war, destruction, wastage of human life… But, above all, this is a book about hope, about hope and goodness that…
General System Theory by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
This book neither dives deep into the subject nor is a textbook. It is more of an overview of the subject and a survey of the state of its development. In various branches of science, we encounter systems regularly. Von Bertalanffy defines systems [1] as such: A system can be defined as a set of elements standing in interrelations. Interrelation means that elements, p, stand in relations, R, so…