Here I would like to introduce you people to the concept of patterns, let’s start with the definition: An arrangement or order discernible in objects, actions, ideas, situations, etc. Simply put it means the commonness behind the things. To quote an example, let us start with a word to which I was introduced when I was studying for GRE, the word is macabre .It means something that is gruesome, grisly, grim, gory, morbid, grim, ghastly, hideous, horrific, horrible, horrifying, horrid, horrendous, terrifying, frightening, frightful, fearsome, shocking, dreadful, appalling, loathsome, repugnant, repulsive, sickening. I am sorry to be verbose at this point but it is my duty to explain to you the whole range of meanings of this word.
Let us avoid digressing away from the main point, so as it happened I was in Aurangabad for getting my university transcripts. Because of the typical bureaucracy the person in charge told me to come back at 3:00 pm to collect the transcripts. So to avoid going back to my home (8 kms away from university) I decided to do some time pass and went to a historical site by the name “Biwi ka maqbara”.
Just as I was roaming around in the monument, some string comparing algorithms were running in my subconscious mind and they returned “1” to my conscious part of brain. And I literally blurted out that; the words macabre and maqbara must be in someway related to each other. So I finished up my work at the university went home and looked up the roots of those words, and voila, wikipedia had an article about the word “Macabre”, in which it was written that one of the suggested origin of the word is the Arabic word “Maqbara”. It seems superfluous to say this, but anyways the word “Maqbara” means “a cemetery”. Both the words have to do with death, gruesome things. Macabre which is purported to be of French origin (the exact origin of the word is still not known). Well it cannot be known for certain whether the two words are exactly related or not, but to me the fact that they sound so much similar, their meanings are so much similar is good enough. I can give many such examples in which words have traveled many miles and have found place in the other languages. But I would consciously avoid doing same, as it will spoil all the fun behind looking up the words and in turn finding patterns behind them.
I had once said, “In every stone there is a beautiful sculpture”; the question is that are we aware of it. So in sum I would like to say that the best way to look at this world is to keep your eyes open for such similarities and patterns. By my own experience I can say that by being conscious about the similarities and patterns you would have a better understanding of the things around you. In plain words it is another way of appreciating the beauty (used in a broader sense) around you. So keep your eyes open!Please feel free to post your comments below.
Regards,
V
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary. Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2 comments:
Good stuff!
Great beginning!
All the best. :)
good observations and analogies...
Post a Comment