Vagrant Meander

In the world we see today, mathematics stands for specific generalisations, absolute truth based on empirical data and testable principles falling in the domain of science while Philosophy deals with abstract theorising, conflicting rational views and contested principles falling in the domain of humanities. Mathematics seems to have grown out of our material needs (how much meat should be hunted given that it turns bad in x days) while Philosophy seems rooted in our morals and conscience trying to give meaning to human existence and its values. But are these domains so different? One of my friends used to draw concentric circles writing knowledge in the smallest one illustrating how all knowledge started from one common point and then, started branching out in different specialisations (so, the second one might be Science and Humanities with third as its various streams and so on), thus somehow creating his own ‘Big Bang’. He would sit in his pressed kurta in the veranda on...

Out of a beautiful dream, I am plunged into a nightmare. “Where’s the booty?” A tall lanky man asks. He is hiding behind a veil. I see around. There are three of them all with their faces hidden. None of them is particularly well built unlike me. I can take them on. After all, I wouldn’t part with the booty so easily. I can feel my racing pulse, my pumping heart, my throbbing veins. I can feel the sweat on my forehead. I can also feel something else. The cool metal. My heart stops racing. The gun has a calming effect on me. “Where’s the booty?” the tall lanky man asks again shoving the gun against my forehead as if he wouldn’t need to fire a bullet to kill me but would rather pierce me with the gun. I point towards the sky. One of them hauls himself on the bed and in one jerk severs the fan from the roof. And there it is. Wrapped in a paper four gleaming white gems inside the canopy. It has been six months since I saw them. No, I couldn’t part with them so easily. I got a b...