The current issue of Wordnet (Jan. 19, 2012) carries yet another apologia by Deepak Mehta where he ridicules the folks who criticize his ill advised and often wrong use of English words in his writings published under the pompous heading WorldNet. The term wordnet itself is a copyrighted word and it has nothing to do with the digest or articles that Deepak Mehta publishes in that section.
More over he distracts his readers to an issue that is not even a part of the criticism that is leveled against him for his wrong headed use and insistence on using English words in his columns.
In the issue of Wordnet (Jan. 12, 2012 ) Deepak Mehta reproduces the list of countries that use English language. So far good. But none of his critics have complained about use of English by any one individual or a country. The criticism is against improper and needless use of English words in Gujarati language by the Gujarati media and particularly by Deepak Mehta.
Once again, let me restate that the words Wordnet and Bookmark are copyrighted words and each time Deepak Mehta uses these terms he infringes on some one's intellectual property.
Now some one please tell me what is the meaning of In Memorial where in he writes about the gravesite of Jack London. It seems like he intended In Memoriam.
Let me share a more interesting fact about the death of Jack London. On the night of Nov.22nd he suffered acute pain from the kidney stone. The pain being unbearable, he reached for medicine and before he could take it he died. It is as simple as that... Jack London did write about suicides in some of his novels and if he wanted to quickly end his life he could have used the loaded revolver that he kept near his bed. A shot from it would have ended his pain and relieved him from the misery of kidney stone. He would not have taken morphine death from which is relatively slow when compared to a shot from a revolver.
There is another problem with the story. Jack London was NOT buried under the lava rock as our so called scholar Deepak Math implies (see his use of the word કબર. Jack London was cremated as per his wishes. His second wife too was cremated. The ashes of Jack London were carried in a copper urn that was placed in a cement sarcophagus that was buried there. The place is not too far from his cottage. The lava rock was intended to be used in the building of the cottage but the architect could not use it because of the large size of the rock. The rock had to be dragged by using four horses and placed over the spot where his mortal ashes were buried. And this is not the first time he has erred or provided inaccurate information. So much about truth and accuracy in Deepakbhai's writings.
Here is how writer Dale Walker describes the death and burial of Jack's ashes in his article titled Wolf Dying,
He was cremated, his ashes placed in a copper urn. The funeral was simple, as he wished, with a short oration, the reading of William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis," one of Jack's favorite poems, and a poem written for the occasion by George Sterling containing the lines:
Unhearing heart, whose patience was so long!
Unresting mind, so hungry for the truth!
Now hast thou rest, gentle one and strong,
Dead like a lordly lion in its youth.
On Sunday the 26th Sterling brought the urn back to the ranch where Charmian decorated it with ferns and primroses. The burial place had been selected by Jack years before, a knoll about a half-mile downhill from the cottage he and Charmian shared. There were already graves there, marked by plain wooden crosses, of two pioneer children, David Greenlaw, who died in 1876, the year of Jack's birth, and Lillie Greenlaw, who followed her brother in death a year later. London loved the silent place amidst brush and flowers and shaded by tall oaks and redwoods, and told Charmian, "If I should beat you to it, I wouldn't mind if you laid my ashes on the knoll where the Greenlaw children are buried. And roll over me a red boulder from the ruins of Wolf House."
The burial was unceremonial, attended by Charmin, Eliza and her son, a few of the ranch employees and old friends such as George Sterling. The copper urn was placed in the ground, sealed within a cement sarcophagus, and, as Sterling wrote, "Amid the profound silence of the on-lookers, a huge boulder—a great block of red lava long-pitted by time and enriched by the moss of uncounted years—was urged by roller and crowbar above the sepulcher."
Jack London's second wife Charmian died in 1955. Her cremated remains were also buried under that boulder.
Jack London's “Credo” -
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them, I shall use my time."– Jack London 1876-1916
Deepak Mehta seems to be stubborn like a mule. Perhaps I am insulting mule by comparing it to Deepak Mehta.
How one wishes some one (hint - His Editor at the Mumbai Samachar) yanks out the Wordnet section from under his feet ( Deepak Mehta) or forces Deepak Mehta to check his writing for errors and in accurate information or have some one else check his writing before it goes to the press. Is this too much to expect from the editor of a historic Gujarati newspaper?
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