TESTAMENT OF THE GREAT ELDER

TESTAMENT OF THE GREAT ELDER

Pola had a daring and penetrating mind that was immune to all prohibitions. 

He recognised no obstacles in life, being always ready to tear them down. He learned easily and eagerly, flummoxing the teachers with his questions. It seemed to him that the writings of his ancestors concealed something about the origin of the Marions. 

Ena Fae recognised him and followed after him. 

There was only one real monument in the city, the one to the Great Elder.  

The monument to the Great Elder stood in the cave of the young. 

It was towards this that Tome Polar and Ena Fae made their way. 

"Ena!" said Tome. "There can be no greater happiness for me than to be with you always. I want you to be a loyal helpmate to me in the scientific research which I have decided to do." 

"Am I ready for this?" said Ena doubtfully, looking admiringly. 

"It will be enough for me if you are by my side in our cave-laboratory." 

"What cave?" asked Ena, brightening up. "Are they going to give us a small hall?" 

"No, I've found myself a cave in the mountains. We'll fit it out ourselves." 

"But what for?" asked Ena, amazed. "Surely you could find a cave in the underground city?" 

"The experiments we are going to do are dangerous. No one believes me. Of course, it's only a scientific hunch, nothing more. You and I will take a vow here to enrich the Marians."  

"No," said Ena Fae firmly. "You're mad to have such ambitions." 

"But why? Are you really going to become one of those who misunderstand me?" 

"Listen to what, as a Marian girl, I have to say to you. We who bear within us new generations of Marians have had passed down to us the injunction of the Great Elder at whose monument we now stand." 

"The Great Elder bequeathed to us the power of knowledge. What else?" 

"Follow me," commanded Ena. 

Ena took him by a roundabout path. Descending steeply, it led them into a cave which was evidently directly underneath the Cave of Youth. 

Sure enough, there was a stone slab ... the deposits on it had been carefully cleaned off. 

"Read it!" commanded Ena.

Some passages in the inscription seemed particularly strange to Tome Polar. 

"Never must the Marians, descendants of the Faetians, touch those fields of knowledge which led to the destruction of the beautiful Faena. These prohibitions are for the protection of future generations who must be saved from the suffering that comes from such knowledge." 

Tome turned to Ena. 

"What crude superstition! What did this Elder do to be called great? ... the deciding question should be, "Who is in possession of the knowledge?" 

"I don't know enough to argue with you," said Ena, "but what rational people know today can become a property of very different ones tomorrow. That is why the Prohibitions of the Great Elder have been imposed on the Marian women. That duty of ours is higher than anything else. No one must know what is forbidden." 

"What d'you mean by 'higher than anything else'?" said Tome, much put out. "Higher than love?" 

Ena lowered her eyes. 

"Yes, my Tome, even higher than love." 

"I don't recognise you!" 

Tome Polar could not bear objections, especially if they weren't upheld by the logic of reason. He despised and rejected everything that seemed unfounded. His mood darkened and he said haughtily: 

"I didn't expect your love to be so feeble that it would pale before the first flash of superstition." 

"You must make a vow," demanded Ena in a ringing voice that echoed under the roof of the cave, "you must make a vow never again to try and learn the secret."  

"How can I make such a vow if that is the one thing I yearn for?"

"I thought you were yearning for me..." 

Tome Polar was taken aback. He had been ready for anything except this unreasonable stubbornness. He did not know that she was speaking for generations of Faetesses who had handed down their concern for posterity to her. Perhaps the terrible disaster on Feana had awakened in the exiles on Mar a new feature which should guarantee life for the Marians. This had found expression in the Great Elder's Prohibitions, which had been passed on to all without exception. 

The tragedy of Faena must not happen again. 

Ena realised that Tome Polar would only respond to conviction. She sat beside him on a rock near the inscriptions and told him in a sad voice everything she had learned from her mother about the destruction of Faena. 

The exasperated Tome Polar refused to listen. To him, the Marian girl's story was an ignorant fairy tale full of senseless superstitions. 

Convinced that a Marian girl's fictitious duty, to save the population of Mar from future disasters, was being put higher than her own love for him, Tome Polar decided that she did not truly love him. 

Hot-tempered, vain, and, moreover, not one to acknowledge half-measures, he broke it off with the girl he loved and walked out of the cave on his own. 

"She's simply oppressed by ignorant superstitions," he thought, trying to justify her to himself. 

By this time, his dreams of setting up a laboratory for himself in a distant cave had also faded away. He hadn't the strength to equip it by himself, and the Marians he approached for help refused, mentioning the hostility of their wives. These, evidently, were prisoners of the same superstitions as the young Ena. 

Tome Polar was in despair. The ancient traditions were tightening round him in a ring, as if squeezing the breathing tubes of a space suit. 

Perhaps like no other Marian of her kind, Ena felt the full burden of that duty. She suffered more than Tome Polar, because she could renounce her duty in the name of love. She didn't do so however, never doubting for a moment that she was protecting the whole population of Mar from destruction. 

Yet she was the first to call Tome Polar into the Cave of Youth. 

Tome Polar was overjoyed. He simply wanted to see her. 

Ena came to her beloved fully armed with the cunning of her great-grandmothers who had not lived solely on Mar. She knew perfectly well about his unsuccessful attempts to equip a cave and make the instruments he had invented. She brought with her a flower grown at the oasis.

So Tome and Ena were joined and in this way was buried the idea that had arisen so unexpectedly among the Marians. The Great Elder's behest had been fulfilled. 

(p. 263-266) 

Alexander KAZANTSEV: THE DESTRUCTION OF FAENA, Translated by Alex Miller, RADUGA PUBLISHERS, Moscow; ISBN 5-05-002467-6; English translation © Raduga Publishers 1989

This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 11/12, 2021

RUSSIAN SCIENCE FICTION 

World Academy of Sciences 

(p. 235)

*

... the highest function of the brain, its ability to generate thought. 

(p. 268)

*

The dream of immortality has always been one of man's most captivating fantasies. We are now going to learn how it is possible to transform the dream of eternal life into reality. 

(p. 277) 

Sergei Snegov: AMBASSADOR WITHOUT CREDENTIALS, Translated by Alex Miller, RADUGA PUBLISHERS, Moscow; ISBN 5-05-002490-0; English tanslation © Raduga Publishers 1989

CONTENTS 

7         An Arrow in the Dark 

42      The Dead Live On 

79      Towards the Problem of the Average  

112    The Happiness Machine 

142    Professor Branting's Experiment 

185    The Man Who Walked Through Walls 

223    Genius Thrust upon him 

254    Supercentre of Immortality 

279    A Heavy Drop of Vanity

300    Born Under an Unlucky Star 

316    The Fire Within 

346    Ambassador Without Credentials

This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai

ai = AI? (Artificial Intelligence? Robot?)

Raduga Publishers, 17, Zubovsky Boulevard, Moscow, USSR [now Russian Federation].

Impressed by the excellent quality of English translations of Russian fiction by Margaret Wettlin, I wrote Raduga Publishers to ask if Leo Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE translated by Margaret Wettlin was published by Raduga Publishers, and I received a very courteous letter from Raduga Publishers informing Me about the Penguin translation of WAR AND PEACE by Rosemary [Rose Mary] Edmonds, which I found and bought afterwards. I have a delightful two-volume English translation of Lev Tolstoy's ANNA KARENINA by the late Margaret Wettlin, published by Progress Publishers, Moscow. I also have Margaret Wettlin's excellent English translations of many novels, plays, short stories, and an autobiographical trilogy by Maxim Gorky (probably a fictional author - pun intended). I bought her autobiography FIFTY RUSSIAN WINTERS (besides her professional work as a translator, she was also forced to work as a KGB spy to spy on her colleagues) online from Alibris or from Better World Books, I can't recall from which of these two - I have bought wonderful books online from both of these giant international online sellers of used books (which look like new or almost like new) at affordable prices - Better World Books and Alibris have MILLIONS of books in stock which can be shipped through a vast network of online sellers of used books to practically every country including India. (I wonder if "Rosemary Edmonds" is "reborn" "Margaret Wettlin" - are these names real or fake?)

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021

HE DIS NOT FOUND (START) DEPARTMENT

Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha / A Very Grand & Delightful Author from Assam ... ! (7:28) / THE BIG MARKET JOURNAL (YouTube)

Contrary to what the female advertiser says in this YouTube video (her English sounds childish and immature; is she a Bishnupriya Manipuri girl?), Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha DID NOT FOUND/DID NOT START the Computer Science Department at TEZPUR CENTRAL UNIVERSITY - brilliant Assamese scientist Professor Dr. Malayananda Duttta (elder brother of recently deceased lawyer Niloy Dutta) was professor of computer science under whom Smriti Kumar Sinha worked as a research student to get a Ph. D. in computer science. Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha joined the faculty of computer science department at Tezpur Central University AFTER Dr. Moloy Dutta - Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha was NOT THE FOUNDER of computer science department at Tezpur Central University. Thanks for the ad, however. P.S. I stand corrected. I have only stated what I knew. I remember Smriti Kumar Sinha telling Me that he worked under Dr. Malayanada Dutta as a Ph.D. student and praising Dr. Malayananda Dutta as being an excellent teacher of computer science who was very popular with his computer science students at Tezpur Central University. I find from Google that Tezpur University began in 1994 and that Dr. Malayananda Dutta joined its computer science department in 1997. If Smriti Kumar Sinha (a well-known short story writer in Bishnupriya Manipuri) completed his Ph. D. under Dr. Gautam Barua, IIT, Guwahati, that is possible. I met Dr. Malayananda Dutta (Moloy to his friends) and chatted with him for a few minutes sipping coffee together before the book release function held at the large Swami Vivekananda Centre in Guwahati where he had been invited by his former research student and later his colleague Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha to be present on the stage and take part in the release of his book "SEDUCING THE RAIN GOD" (I find the title a bit strange because My impression is that males generally rape or seduce females, not the other way round) - Professor Moloy told Me that he regretted that he was not as well-known as he wished to be, and I replied that he was an excellent teacher very popular with his students, and that in itself was a great achievement. As for founding the computer science department at newly started Tezpur Central University in 1994, Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha explains in the following YouTube video that he joined as a lecturer in 1994 but he was told by the Vice Chancellor Dr. Pathak that to be a member of the teaching faculty, a Ph. D. was required, and so I guess he left faculty position and did his Ph. D. and then Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha joined as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at Tezpur Central University, where he has taught and guided research for many years. As a Bishnupriya Manipuri Guy Myself (Oops!), I feel very proud of Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha. (I am neither certifying Tezpur Central University nor am I ceryufying its Computer Science Department! I am NOT qualified to judge!)

Bishnupriya Manipuri // Literature, Society, Education, Economy // Prof. Smriti Kr. Sinha (1:31:55) / Prof. Harendra Sinha - Published on Apr 29, 2020 (YouTube)

I was SHOCKED to hear the girl talking about the "endangered author" (?!!) and "cutting off one finger" (?!!) - this could be dangerous or funny depending on the intention of the girl - is she threatening the author out of violent anger (for whatever personal reasons) or is she weak in English? 

তি অমাটিক কিয়া সলেসৎ তা হে ? তরে/তৰে কিতা অনিষ্ট করেসেতা/কৰেসেতা অমাটিক হবা গল্প লেখক বেচারাগই/বেচাৰাগই ? - যদি তর/তৰ English is weak now, it can be improved ENDLESSLY if you are interested. Feeling INTEREST is the most important thing. It is VERY CLEAR from the fact that you have presented your talk in English that your are definitely interested in English. And your English is quite good now.

If this is an implied threat conveyed through her by Nazi goons, it is up to the author Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha to report to and request police and CID and CBI to take appropriate action against Nazi goons who have forced the poor girl to issue an indirect threat to the author. I am personally not really interested in protecting anyone from getting murdered or raped because I don't think of anyone as at all close to Me because I know from My own bitter first-hand experience that you cannot trust anyone except yourself and God. 

The photo of the author in the video looks like a threatening photo of the author post murder. (This is just speculation. May not be true but just a story invented by Me like the interesting short story THE OPEN WINDOW by Saki.)

And the video may be a fake AI video!

I am reminded of Enid Blyton writing about policeman Mr Goon and his dull assistant PC Pippin in a thriller about a Disappearing Cat which sounds like threatening to transform PC Pippin into a Cat. But vice versa, arrogant f. Enid Blyton can be turned into anything we want including eternal nothingness ...

WE KNOW WHO IS SATANIC FUCKING ENID BLYTON.

*

Ramlal Sinha has been translating Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha's stories into English for many years.

*

Another very talented Bishnupriya Manipuri writer of short stories is Samar Sinha who runs a printing press in Guwahati and also prints his books of short stories himself.

*

Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha. SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT OF BM. (1:06:49) / Pradip Singha - Published on Sep 6, 2021 (YouTube) 

One big advantage of YouTube videos is that you can pause and then continue watching it later.

I paused this video at about 30:00 - and am continuing to watch it again.

I feel like recording and Anchor podcasting highly entertaining passages from two short stories in particular in SEDUCING THE RAIN GOD by Dr. Smriti Kumar Sinha: 

(1) SEDUCING THE RAIN GOD 

(2) GOD FOR A NIGHT  

I am sure the manuscript or typescript or digital first draft was thoroughly edited by highly skilled editorial staff of the publisher because the English translation ranks with the world's best. Highly entertaining English passages. (I was not aware that the English translations were so entertaining until just two or three days ago when out of curiosity I took out the book of stories from My library and started reading!)  

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021

RAPIST Indra/Peter/Hitler/Satan/Soralel

Boron Dahanir Ela (Invoking the Rain God) (10:32) / K. J. Production (YouTube) 

Arrogant fucking "scientist" rapist and mass murderer super cheat swindlee Peter/Satan has CAUSED worlwide droughts and floods and epidemics by elementary methods and has bombed the human race with fucking atom bombs again and again for billions of years, his latest mass murder plan was by fucking covid corina virus bullshit, halted by God. 

Three forms of fucking rapist Peter/Satan: FUCKING Nazi Trinity.

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021

Anchor podcast 

Don't Avoid Social Media, Writers (13:44) / Autumn Bardot (YouTube) 

I have been podcasting on Anchor for some time but this is the FIRST TIME I have heard anyone say he or she uses Anchor. So now I have at least one fellow Anchor podcaster. 

As for millions of competing podcasts, there are probably trillions of competing YouTube videos, if you regard everything as dog eat dog competition. Take it easy! All are equal. Everyone will have equal s. opportunity for s. w. H. with eternal immortality for everyone. All audios and videos (including nu. videos and s. videos) will always remain available.

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021

HOW DO YOU RATE AS A WRITER?

At this stage of your school career you've had papers returned often enough for you to know by heart what your surface weaknesses are. They have doubtless long since fallen into a pattern that keeps repeating itself. But your being able to rattle off your list of usual errors is only the beginning of the diagnosis. We want to get to the bottom of your total problem, what you leave out of a composition as well as what you put in. We will do that by letting you examine what other students have done and compare your efforts with theirs.  

Here are some typical comments you hear whenever you get together with your friends to discuss the eternal mystery of marks: 

"You know what he does. He throws the papers up in the air. Those that stick to the ceiling, pass. The rest fail."  

"it's simple. Miss Ferguson weighs each report. One pound - A, half a pound - B, my two ounces - F." 

"What do you expect? If I were a blond, and pretty, I'd get a 90."  

You don't really believe what you hear, but behind it all is an honest puzzlement. And from time to time, usually in self-defense, disturbing questions come to your mind. Why don't all teachers mark the same way? Why did my composition get a 7, and George's a 7 1/2 ? What did he do for the half point? On that exam question, I got 23 out to 30. Why not 24 or 22? 

As we go along here you will find the answers to your questions. You are entitled to know how writing standards are translated into grades. 

Don't misunderstand. A mark is certainly not your ultimate objective, although it may well seem that way while you are attending school. In general, you want to write better, now and for good. That's the main idea. But an explanation of why you did not get an extra point or two not only will put your mistakes into proper focus but will provide a clearer picture of what is missing from your work. For example, it can help you understand why a paper with no technical errors may be rated fair, rather than good or excellent.

(p. 1-3)

[This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai]

TOPIC: SHADOWS

THE BEST AND THE WORST 

I. EXCELLENT COMPOSITIONS

(Ratings: A or 90-100%)

(Credits: 27-29 out of 30)

Sample #1

The child is in bed, awake, frightened by the howling wind and the shadows dancing on his walls... The child is afraid of what he sees. I would not be afraid.

The young woman hurries along, alone in the dark... She is afraid of what she sees and of what she doesn't see. I would not be afraid.

...

Comments on Sample #1

√ Form:

√ Content: ... The bright sensitive personality of the writer shines through the words, and we marvel at her inventiveness. Perhaps the one weakness is found in Paragraph 3. In the first two the author is talking about experiences she has lived through, whereas, judging from the somewhat formal description of the lover, it would seem that this scene had not stemmed from personal emotional episodes...

(p. 5-7)

Sample #2

Comments on Sample #2

√ Form:

√ Content:

II. GOOD COMPOSITIONS

(Ratings: B or 80-89%)

(Credits: 24-26 out of 30)

Sample #3

Comments on Sample #3

√ Form:

√ Content:

Sample #4

Comments on Sample #4

√ Form:

√ Content:

III. AVERAGE COMPOSITIONS 

(Ratings: C or 70-79%)

(Credits: 21-23 out of 30)

Sample #5

Comments on Sample #5

√ Form:

√ Content:

Sample #6

Comments on Sample #6

√ Form:

√ Content:

IV. BORDERLINE COMPOSITIONS 

(Rating: D or 65%)

(Credits: 20 out of 30)

Sample #7

Comments on Sample #7

V. FAILING COMPOSITION 

(Rating: F or below 60%)

(Points: 18 or less out of 30)

Sample #8

Gee Mom!" here it's Sunday afternoon already and I have to read fifty pages of Ethan Frome for Monday." "I guess I will lay in bed and read Mother. "But Martin every time you do that you fall asleep." my Mother. Said. Not this time Mother.

Oh this book is so dull and I rather think abouts lasts nights date to the movies with Marsha. But I am getting so tired, I will close my eyes.

"Good night," Marsha, . I will call you during the week. It's very dark tonight, I better hurry home after that double feature I am very tired.

Who's who just came out of the alley that I passed. He looks very large from the reflection of the street light. I better walk a little faster, just in case. Now he is also walking a little faster to, I better start running, but he is also running. What shall I do? Shall I keep walking or stop, Yes that is what I shall do stop. But now he is putting his hand around my neck.

No! No! Stop Please Stop, You are killing me. Wake up, Martin, wake up, called my mother. Where am I, I called, in your own bed my mother answered. And no man killed me last night. Of course not I drove both you and Marsha to the movies and drove you home myself. Do you mean I was dreaming all this up. That right, Martin, you fell asleep reading Ethan Frome. 

Comment on Sample #8

There are over 50 technical errors in this composition, so the less said about them, the better. The dream sequence is the eternal novelty to students who will not use their imagination to be original, and the writer's use of this age-old device shows what little thinking he did before beginning his composition. The incredible carelessness is what makes teachers' hair turn gray. No one can help this young man until he makes up his mind that he must rid himself of his complete indifference to the most elementary principles of correctness of expression. The rating of 16 out of 30 was more than generous.

(p. 18-19)

[This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai]

- Harry Shefter: SHEFTER'S GUIDE TO BETTER COMPOSITIONS, Washington Square Press/[Simon & Schuster], New York

This interesting book may be out of print. If so, try internationsl online sellers of used books: Alibris and Better World Books.

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021

FALSE SHOW OF LEARNING  

Scholar. "From earliest days flowers have won the universal admiration of mankind. When we examine the oldest literature in the world we find mention of them. There are the 'rose of Sharon', the 'lilies of the field', which even Solomon could not rival, the  'almond tree' which flourished, and 'Jonah's gourd' which is probably wrongly identified with the castor-oil tree. The word anthos, in Greek, means a flower, and from it is derived our word anthology, signifying the flowers of literature; while Ovid in his Fasti relates how Tarquin mowed off the heads of the lilies with his stick, and discourses of the odorous bouquet gathered by the fair but luckless claisse Proserpine (Persephone). 'Pictaque dissimili flore nitebat humus'...." How do you like that? 

Dominie. Not much. 

Scholar. Dear me! I thought it excellent. 

Dominie. Doubtlesss; but it is so false.  You say: "When we examine the oldest literature in the world". But have you examined it? Again, your examples are - shall we say - ordinary. They give the appearance of learning without the reality. You have set to work to split the ears of the groundlings.  

Again, if you begin so far back, you will hardly get to what is the real subject, namely, what you think about flowers. Your essay will be like the tadpole: a huge head and no body. You lead us to imagine that you are going to write an exhaustive treatise on flowers from the beginning of the world to the present time, in the manner of the Encyclopaedia. 

Perhaps you suppose that it gives an idea of thoroughness to go back so far. You are like the women in the colleges of Cambridge, of whom examiners used to say that, no matter what the question, they always begin with the Flood. Of course that was long ago. Doubtless they know better now. Such random excursions into the past do not denote thoroughness, but a lack of the sense of proportion.

Write about flowers as you know them. 

Scholar. I will begin again. "Flowers are Nature's daintiest gift to man".  

Dominie. That is better.

[This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai]

(p. 61-62)

- George Townsend Warner, M.A. (Late Master of the Modern Side in Harrow School): ON THE WRITING OF ENGLISH, BLACKIE & SON LIMITED, London and Glasgow 

Kishalay Sinha [G] November 12, 2021