Communities and Us

On German television, DW, the other day, I was watching a short feature on how elders of a tribal community in Australia strongly deliberate and weigh the impact of their decisions on as far as seven generations into the future.

Strangely, I'm wondering how none of us, this side of the planet, pay attention to how much our actions could impact our immediate posterity, let alone a few down the line.

Therefore, I wonder if we depict too much of arrogance really - quite unlike, in utter ignorance, like how we think we'd be capable of destroying the world! Silly plums in fools paradise, I say because a fool with a tool is still a fool! 

24

No, not the Jack Bauer, CTU and save the country types - I mean the title!

Really, what do you do when you find yourself at the limitation of time, hideously at that, when surely 24 hours is way too short for all that keeps happening?

For all the organized bit that I think myself to be, or did until now, there is surely a great deal of test happening, even as I write this out. I guess life has a way of putting one's beliefs to the test purely to be able to stretch things to the maximum aimed at making one much more malleable than what is perceived or, worse still, emphatically believed!

I wonder where it was I read a while ago that the thing about time is not managing it, but managing ourselves within it.

Truth, ultimate!

Dateline Chennai

Nik Gowing of the BBC would not be too happy that I chose to title the first part of this post after his popular feature on London, but I couldn't do otherwise, considering this very interesting snippet I chanced upon while sampling some good continental cuisine over the weekend.

This seems to be a very interesting detail of the history of Chennai and how it came to be! The image is compressed and will require a double click plus some degree of magnification to read through, after which one finds a great deal of interesting things about the city in a chronological format. It was worth the read to me and I thought it would make a wonderful Monday morning post, especially after a bit of running around places to get the original paper which was much larger than the standard A4 scanned, and finally ending up cutting it slipshod considering that it wouldn't fit into any flatbed scanner otherwise. Worth the effort, I thought! 

Have a good week ahead folks!

Anya

Anything that results as the coming together of Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey, Ritchie Blackmore and of course Steve Morse can only be known to life as Deep Purple and that for me stands among the most respected music lineups in history. Whilst the glory of such a magnificent creation cannot be articulated within the limitation of this post, I thought, nevertheless, to showcase one of my most admired tracks of Deep Purple here.



Anya, from the 1993 album The Battle Rages On, is a wonderful characterization of the self in the successful quest for purpose, I believe, supplemented strongly by the desire to embark on a journey in the fullest belief that every endeavour is a milestone that needs to be realized, almost always in singularity, propelled by a deeply driven passion originating undoubtedly from the level of the soul, though originally it intends, among other things, to convey traits of a Russian girl by the name Anya!

Ultimate in its rendition of the marvelous guitar, combined by momentary staccato type beats pulsating a feverish state of ecstatic euphoria, I will forever remember this one to be a ballad to be carried a very long way into life! Timeless legend, I'd say!

Incidentally, fellow-blogger and mother of Kareltje and Betsie, among others, is also Anya, who I know is as deeply thrilled listening to Deep Purple, as I am. :-)

The First Session

By some measure, though small, and particularly debatable in the context of the present day, given a large measure of visible lopsidedness, today in history has been witness to perhaps the very first attempts to further a culture of democratic coexistence aimed at achieving a sense of peace and mutual respect in the geo-political scenario that was.

This day, in the year 1946, the United Nations Security Council held its very first session.

Presently, though the situation is far from desired, with many raging battles ongoing, there is a sense of hope that collectively, we, as mature human beings, empowered by reason and discretion, will come to understand the importance of diversity and unity in the same sense that we respect and value ourselves, at least for the sake of our posterity that absolutely needs a supreme sense of security to live in ways that we have always envisioned and endeavoured for our own selves.

Short bursts of spontaneity perhaps, but lengthened implications, well into timelessness? Well, time will tell, and most certainly, only hope will fuel.

Happy Birthday Deepu

I've watched you grow. I've grown up with you. Now I will want to watch you grow up, bigger and better than me.

Love you lots, Deepu! Thank you for being such a wonderful person that you are. Thank you for being you.

Sunday Morning

Not quite, I know. But that's not stopping me make a post on one of the most admired music numbers, for the message of ease, peace and quiet it conveys, all of that in the face of intense adversity. What best than to post it on a Monday morning, I thought! Besides, its been a while since I did a full-fledged music post, but somehow the messages seem to tag well.

Have a wonderful week ahead folks. Stay calm, easy, peaceful and more importantly stay happy.



Footnotes:

"Easy" is a 1977 hit single by Commodores for the Motown label, from their fifth studio album, Commodores.

Written by Commodores lead singer Lionel Richie, the song, a slow ballad with country and western roots, expresses a man's feelings as he ends a relationship. Rather than being depressed about the break-up, he states that he is instead "easy like Sunday morning."

Released in March 1977, "Easy" reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of "Easy" paved the way for similar Richie-composed hit ballads such as "Three Times a Lady", and "Still", and also for Richie's later solo hits.

Faith No More recorded a cover of "Easy" originally as a b-side during the studio sessions for Angel Dust, following its repeated performance during live shows, but was released as the final single to the album in late 1992 - early 1993. It was their highest-charting UK hit, reaching #3, their second Number One single on the Australian charts and their final charting single in the American chart Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #58. It was originally issued on December 29, 1992, on the double A-side single with "Be Aggressive", listed as "I'm Easy", in Europe and over three months later in America on the Songs to Make Love To EP, it was later included on the European version of their album Angel Dust. Other appearances include a 2006 commercial for Levi's Jeans and as the theme tune for the TV program Goals On Sunday.

With inputs from Wikipedia.

Deflating Life?

It seems that somethings that have been bad for a while now are just getting worse!

Couldn't help wincing aloud reading "Food inflation for the week ended December 25 jumped four percentage points to 18.32% on the back of rising onion, tomato, egg, fish, meat and milk prices. This is its highest level in more than a year. And the rising food bill could well be the thin end of the wedge. Food prices have a 14.33% wei-ght in the overall inflation figure. So, when the inflation rate is released on January 15, it is bound to be significantly higher than the 7.48% level last month."

Am quietly wondering if this combined with my 15 hour days are more than enough reasons to ask for a raise!

And as far as action from the Finance Minister is considered, one would be better off waiting for mythical beings to arrive from the very distant world of Zukon, or hey, is this the handiwork of the Trade Federation of Naboo?

Nevertheless, do have a good weekend and stay safe - more importantly, stay happy!

Opening Statements - 2011

I wish you the Love of friends and family...and Peace within your heart....

I wish you Health... So you may enjoy each day in comfort!

I wish you the Beauty of Nature. I wish you Wisdom to choose priorities!

I wish you Generosity so you may share... all good things that come to you!

I wish you Happiness and Joy... And Blessings for the New Year!

I wish you the best of everything... that you so well deserve!

When you are lonely, I wish you Love!

When you are down, I wish you Joy!

When you are troubled, I wish you Peace!

When things seem empty, I wish you Hope!

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous year ahead, one that will bring you peace, happiness, success and cheer in unending measure!

Footnotes:

Opening Statements - 2010

The Ramparts of 2010

Nothing excites me more than the ability to envision the change I want to be in the coming year!

-- In Ooty; on 27/12/2010

At the beginning or rather at the envisioning of the beginning, every year is thought to be similar to the one that passed by. But living through the expanse of that limited time, one comes to understand that only the count of 365 days is similar and that the similarity ends just there! In truth, it is the differences that are a plenty, if anything!

This year too hasn't been any different from the feeling and understanding of that reality! For me, this past year has been very eventful having taken me places and made me feel so much more closer to the purpose of learning that I have always so inherently imposed by belief upon! Nothing, you'd agree, could be more rewarding the ability to learn and learn well, of the realities that exist and how therefore the person would have to comprehend and come to terms with that on an ongoing basis.

For starters, a relocation to Chennai, cloistered well into the Southern face of India, has helped me sort of begin an innings that someday I hope to title as well-rounded in experience. This move has been very exciting and the multitudes of learning thereafter have been a gift that many would never know of, let alone be able to envision and understand! For that purpose, life has been kind, though challenges have been at the door front like ominous signboards screaming apprehensions! But perhaps, if I were to answer the question of what that singularly moving learning lesson was, I would lose little time in being emphatic at the fact that it the test of one's character to be able to remain composed in the face of all adversity while maintaining stoic disposition of what one truly wishes to become as against what one could be forced into exhibiting in temperament, considering circumstances!

Moving to the blog part - It couldn't have been more rewarding this year, particularly for being able to manage it as desired, despite all the hectic schedules. A while ago, someone on Facebook echoed loudly of how much free time I had in possession to which my response has been that "despite however much busy I would be today or in the coming times, I will be sure of never ever being so busy to forgo my passion."

Although, I haven't been able to remain as engaging as I wished to be, on the blog front, I'm very happy to note that Redefining Oblivion has long surpassed the 100 countries readership mark. This year alone, there have been 15,466 page views, 5137 visits and 2787 visitors. I can't thank all of you folks for this priceless support and patronage that makes me feel absolutely wonderful! On the blogger meet front, I have been very fortunate to be able to meet 3 of the finest people in the blog world, an association with whom I will cherish for all time to come.

This coming year, I imagine will be much more structured, in being able to define what it is that we need as against what it is that we are prepared for work for, strictly in the sense of wanting to be a part of a journey of excellence and good that we have always envisioned ourselves to be an integral part of. Let there be no doubt that our journeys are deeply intertwined and purposeful and so also the importance to be true, realistic and always oriented to a culture of excellence, more from within than to be able to see it outside of the self!

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead, one that will most certainly bring you the very best, yet! It is also my prayer that you be blessed with the rationale of being able to be wise, steady, firm and confident in all that you endeavour to do, supported unconditionally by a great deal of courage and conviction, while also believing always that excellence is an ongoing journey and not a destination to arrive at!

Most importantly, may you be blessed with unending measures of happiness and health!

God Bless you and thank you for bringing the light in my life!

Footnotes:

The Ramparts of 2009

Opening Statements - 2010

100th post this year

It gives me immense pleasure to be able to pen my 100th this year and more so of a pleasure to be able to do it from home in Ooty, where I am presently vacationing, watching over the coming days that will herald the turn of this year!

Stark contrasts in almost everything, Chennai and Ooty are poles apart. I guess I will never be acclimatized to the weather here in Ooty despite how many ever years that I have been here or will continue to do so! But I must say I love this peace and quiet, something of a luxury of sorts, to be able to unwind in the calm expanse of nothingness really!

This year has been very special, purposeful and quite meaningful too, having spent sometime doing that I was expected to do and then furthered onto something that I have always wanted to do! There is a sense of excitement and goodness, one that I am reasonably sure will prevail for a long time to come.

But this post is different, in the sense of arriving at a count for the year, since, unlike 2009, this is not the last this year! At 101, please standby for 'the Ramparts of 2010.'

Do have a wonderful holiday season!

A sleighing song tonight!

O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way,
Bells on bob tails ring, making spirits bright,
What fun it is to laugh and sing,
A sleighing song tonight!

Redefining Oblivion wishes you and folks a merry Christmas!

Do have a wonderful and safe holiday season!

Socially networked!

Technology, and it's ability to be all pervasive, never ceases to amaze me, despite however many times I've been a direct user!

Time zones, boundaries, cultures, mindsets and a whole lot of other barriers later, there is one thing that makes me feel awed beyond words - about the feeling of togetherness, even in distance!

To imagine the ability to connect to a loved one and share the workings of life thus far, and listen to the amazingly wonderful bygones of the not so very distant past seems blissful, and what makes it more appealing, is that there is no challenge of time and other supposed significants involved!

I'm not professing that technology replace the good old warm hearted togetherness of face to face, but certainly where that cannot happen, this can be a quick-fix facilitator?

Perhaps, it was wrong, after all, for me to have titled this post the way I left it to be, as opposed to actually naming it more aptly to be the exercise of living together in the world of the handheld! ;-)

This blog, for instance, only one among the many! :-)

Messages from the masters

I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens. 

-- Woody Allen

A wonderful message that landed into my inbox! Thought it worth sharing as we head into the weekend and spend some quality time with ourselves.

"In deep sleep you have no world for you. But you are there in that world. You also feel very comfortable. Only after awakening from sleep do you feel lost for comfort. During waking hours, this sense of identification with body and mind prevails.

This is something new to you. In your sleep there is no ego.

The birth of your individuality with your ego is considered as your birth.

When that individuality of the mind is eliminated what remains is only that of true self.

And, that is the eternal bliss!"

Do have a wonderful and safe weekend!

A Beautiful Boy

13 December 2010
Chennai, India

Dear David

I never will possibly understand what you could have been through over the years, often battling overwhelming odds to ardently shelter your loved one from a destructive force that is almost always all permeating in the mind and the body!

I began reading your account 'Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction' this past weekend and I must tell you how touched I am. One cannot readily imagine the situation of a parent, or a child, who is faced with a situation such as yours, except wonder how telling it would be on the strength of the family to pull through another day, as if that were perhaps the most arduous of tasks ever.

Besides, dealing with a feeling of guilt while maintaining stoic disposition of wanting to control the situation, and yet being unable to successfully chance upon a measure of cure, someone in such a situation must, I believe, be terribly caught in a quandary over being so utterly powerless in the very first place.

Perhaps, the biggest and most commendably courageous step forward, apart from of course, being the person that you were during those telling times, was your remarkable ability in speaking to the world what it was to be who you were, the family included.

Surely, today, all of you are much stronger with the realization that there have been many lessons learnt with the passage of time and I take this opportunity to greatly appreciate the person you are for the unimaginable commitment and courage that you have so characteristically displayed, without a moment of doubt, specifically at a time when all of that would have been so easily impossible!

I'm touched, beyond words and cannot possibly describe how it feels!

Very sincerely,

V. Rakesh

Footnotes: 

Beautiful Boy is about a very moving account of a boy and his addiction to Methamphetamine, narrated in first person by his father.

Operation Rolodex

Life is almost always motivated, for many, by achievements, both in the realm of professional and personal domains! Therefore, also, a great deal of focus and efforts are directed towards achieving that very objective in what can become a terribly ongoing process that never really comes to an end!

But then, to think apart, and to take a few steps backward really, one must pause and every so often subject the self to a meaningful exercise of introspection.

Coming to do just that, I find it is about time that I kicked in 'Operation Rolodex' to my life. Derived from the words 'rolling index' this term is an indicative of a 'rotating file device used to store business contact information.' Now, if that makes you wonder why I chose to use such a quintessentially ubiquitous accessory of work to title my post and the exercise I choose to detail, please be assured that the words, or rather meaning of 'rolling index' is what appealed to me while I thought about the process itself.

Anyhow, summary descriptions apart, the Rolodex of my world is very simple; it is a mission to build a credible and lasting happiness index, or quotient, that ensures, more aptly, that the feeling itself comes from within and lasts for much longer than anything supplemented by an external object or entity! I hope to therefore build a huge positive emotional bank balance as part of my asset capital to last me for a lifetime, which in turn will help me, among other things, also, to build very equitable and positive relationships!

Some inclusions, surely are, including but not limited to, Blogging, Blogger Meets, Calvin & Hobbes, Easy Sunday Mornings, Music, Reading, all of which are aimed to generate the high-fix! :-)

And, what's more? Rolodex is open forum! No Anti-Trust engineering really!

Chennai today

Very rarely do I miss my Monday morning post! So one can imagine the sequence of events that unfolded yesterday, here in Chennai, owing to the rains that were nothing short of being inundating. The sheer spell and the unrelenting barrage took me by surprise! And for someone who is affected by the slightest change of weather, literally, one can imagine how that feels!

Anyhow, that has come to pass and there is a certain state of tranquility that prevails presently. But surely, the episode itself echoes very deep realizations of how minuscule a force we are in the face of an adverse natural circumstance that comes to be!

And then, as Terri Guillemets, wisely stated, 'weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.' I couldn't agree more!

The all time favourites - Movies

Fellow blogger Destination Infinity tagged me a few days ago, in his post titled "My top three movies of all time." Jumping at the chance, especially for the kind of a complete movie buff I am, I was delighted, primarily for being able to make a post of the many wonderful treats I've richly enjoyed so far! Nothing perhaps is more of a pleasure than to catch up on an epic over a quiet Sunday morning, in perfect solitude! So here goes my list, one that is more than the required three, a liberty I've taken owing to the pleasure accorded! :-)

Gandhi - This 1982 biopic, starring Ben Kingsley, picturing the life of a timeless icon is certainly a must watch for the manner in which the story is portrayed. Three words that can at best describe the after-watch feeling; powerful, lasting and evoking! Certainly a collector's item and a timeless classic!

Shawshank Redemption - It is one thing that Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption forms the basis of this epic, and yet quite another of how well the impressive star-cast brought about more than just life on the celluloid. Quite the description of how Tim Robbins and hope are synonymous now, if anything at all. And there is no doubt about the fact that hope drives a man insane!

Schindler's List - If Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's Ark made waves in the literary world, it's marvelous adaptation on screen by Steven Spielberg created nothing short of history! I'm sure many of us who watched the movie were transported into the somber and grizzly world of the Płaszów concentration camp. One man's marvelous tribute "in memory of the more than six million Jews murdered." Couldn't say more!

The Great Escape - Staying with Nazi Germany but viewing the unfolding of events from a very different vantage point, this 1963 epic starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough, among others, is an on-screen adaptation of a book by Paul Brickhill which details the true account of a mass escape from Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp, in Żagań, Poland. Vivid, picturesque in setting and thoroughly well coordinated in the effort of portraying the series of events that took place in exact detail, this creation is an absolutely must watch for any history enthusiast!

The Jungle Book - None but Rudyard Kipling could have told us the tale of the Indian jungle in the way it was done. So, if the names of Mowgli and Sher Khan have become household, it is surely because of the legacy of one man who envisioned the wonders of the Indian outbacks and made efforts to portray its wonders in vivid imagination and detail that would never have been possible by another!

Great Expectations - The story of one man and his love for a woman, and the sequence of events that unfold! All of this wants me so much to read the work of Dickens. I see a great deal of childhood in this and for some reason many a thing so vivid in the mind, yet those that I could never come to terms with. Expectations and them being great are just about two very different things I suppose!

Godfather - The iconic reference to an offer that could never be refused and the kick-thrill to envision a strong rebellious parallel, powerful and discrete, all permeating and inimitably marked in mannerism of a thought, this movie is more than just a tale of a few people and their doings. It perhaps is the mindset of a system that longs to establish a lasting presence in the very ecosystem that democracy has come to roost!

An Unfinished Life - Robert Redford and movie super stardom of supreme excellence are synonymous in more than just many ways of semblance. Iconic, impressive and lasting in the manner of portrayal, I could not settle for one or any, in particular, to be descriptive of that excellence I spoke about. Perhaps, the best way to convey my intent is to make a mention of this super drama that prevails like no other!

Legends of the Fall - Adapted from a novel by Jim Harrison, only Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Aidan Quinn, among others could have fitted best into this super epic detailing the pre-world war I times set in western United States. There are all the elements of togetherness and otherwise detailed in there, of coming together and separation, life and death and a sense of reckoning that is richly unique in the manner portrayed. I guess there could be nothing more powerful and captivating, for the mind and the heart, than the feeling of glossing over bygones that seem so long long ago!

Braveheart - Little can I do in my efforts of trying to separate the identities of Mel Gibson and Sir William Wallace especially for the manner in which the portrayal was made in quest of a purpose that was insanely difficult at the face of mounting adversity. But energy, passion, persistence and perseverance add a great deal of zeal in winning over even the most toughened enemy as is seen, and 'freedom' comes at a rich price 'purified by pain' and often suffered at the hands of betrayal and treachery!

I could go on for miles on just the names, without any of my illustration or interpretation, especially for the fact that there are so many more of these that are iconic and truly characteristic of creative excellence. But I must conclude here, for now, with the understanding that there exists much more in everything than what can actually be told!

Celebrating Calvin & Hobbes

To describe childhood as having been magical is an understatement. In truth, there can be no possible description of childhood! And for those of us who have been fortunate, thanks to a bankable familial structure that remains even now intricately woven around us providing unending comfort and security, yesteryears are moments that are cherished for all time to come!

This post in particular is an articulation of celebrating childhood, or rather the child in us that we eventually come suppress as a result of a failed recognition of what we need to be, as opposed to what it is that we truly need to be, the answer being happy!

So for me, childhood stands singularly apart for one very good and big reason, apart from, of course, the many other wonderful things that went into making it. That one factor, or if I may say avenue, of unending happiness and joy came from William Boyd "Bill" Watterson's epic creation of Calvin & Hobbes, which has to my soul, by far, been the most appealing piece of pictorial literature bearing supreme levels of intellectual excellence, yet so elementary and cheerful. That feeling of bliss, I'm sure you understand, is timeless and shall continue forever! And as this momentously fabulous creation has come to turn 25 (though having ceased to be renewed in 1995), I thought it apt to make a mention of how my childhood has been a celebration of times, thanks to this timeless wonder!

Boy, I cannot tell you how much I admire anthropomorphism, in the way it should be - Just like how it has been depicted as in the case of Hobbes! But just before I close this post, I'll leave you some splendid lines from the mannerisms of an avant-garde post-modern icon, Calvin! :-)

I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.

Pretty convenient how every time I build character, Dad saves a couple hundred dollars

Are you suggesting that this appliance didn't aggravate me with malice aforethought?

Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.

If warped values are the price of a vicarious thrill, so be it!

I try to make everyone's day a little more surreal.

People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world

These are interesting times. We don't trust the government, we don't trust the legal system, we don't trust the media, and we don't trust each other! We've undermined all authority, and with it, the basis for replacing it! It's like a six-year-old's dream come true!

If it was completely different, school would be great.

Leave it to a girl to take the fun out of sex discrimination.

Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?

As a math atheist, I should be excused from this.

This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen ..

I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know.

In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.

That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible.Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.

I like maxims that don't encourage behavior modification.

I wanted to be a neo-deconstructivist but Mom wouldn't let me

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.

A kiss to build a dream on

Introspection is fantastic! It tells you what the mind had envisioned as against that what the heart wanted versus what actually happened. But before you are about to embark upon that quest, make certain what it is that you'd want to be stronger, the head or the heart! And imagination, mind you, can take you far further than comprehended!

A very long time ago, something changed in a manner that I cannot possibly explain! Days seemed as normal as they could be, but the elements were strong, and I found myself whimsically wondering of how I would contend with the wrangling forces hard hitting within the head, as a result of what happened outside of it. And then, there were dreams that the mind persisted for some reason. Walking almost always alone, thankfully, in the expanses of vivid natural picturesque, every moment meant something, something that bore a strange connection to something that I knew nothing of! Heck, must have been surely something!

Curiosity can sometimes get the better of you and unaided, you find yourself going deeper into realms unknown! Time passes by, no doubt, but there is a complete void that it leaves behind, akin to the feeling of work incomplete at the end of every day!

As the evening unfolds, and sweet solitude dawns, there is a heightened perception of what is and not, against what should and not be. Math, I'm sure is easier. But, such is life too! Debates rage, on how and why, often throwing up more questions than answers! And I set to wonder what difference would have been, if I had the moment, for a moment, to make the moment, or something of that sort!

Today, some three decades have come to pass and I cannot term what it is that connection or the lack of it can be termed as. But I do know very strongly that it is not a figment of the imagination. Maybe it all just happened, as it happened, but no denying that it changed a great deal of what life is! There was some kind of gradual gradient like fill-in that I did come to terms with, but the battle is ongoing and pauses are not longer than the need for catching a short breath and exhaling a sigh! Whatever do I call this? Learning? Experience? Or chance?

Surely, no end to efforts in fitting a square into a circle!