choice checkers
The last week of October was delightful. I was at home, on leave, with nothing particular to do. Every night, before going to sleep, I would play a few games of 'choice checkers' with my son, Andrew Veda.

In checkers if a checker can be captured, it must be captured; and if the checkers have no square to move to, then the game is lost. Choice checkers, on the other hand, is more like chess offering you choice. I would like to popularise choice checkers and hence have evolved a set of rules. Study them, arise and play the game!

Laws Of Choice Checkers
By Nirmaldasan

1. The board has eight rows (ranks) and eight columns (files). Each rank and file are alternately coloured black and white. The board is so placed that the dark square is on the left-hand corner. The ranks are numbered 1 to 8 and the files are lettered 'a' to 'h' to help record the moves of the game.

2. Choice checkers is played only on the dark squares between eight white checkers and eight black checkers. The whites are placed on the dark squares of ranks 1 and 2. The blacks are placed similarly but on ranks 7 and 8.

3. A checker can move only forward to the next square in any one of the diagonals it is placed. It cannot move to an occupied square. But if that square is occupied by the enemy, the checker can capture the piece by jumping over to the empty square beyond it along the diagonal. A checker can make multiple jumps in a single move along many diagonals if alternate squares are occupied by the enemy. Jumps are not mandatory, hence the name choice checkers.

4. Checkers become kings when they reach the last rank. Kings can move/jump both forward and backward.

5. A jumping checker cannot continue to jump as a king in the same move. It cannot jump twice over the same piece.

6. White makes the first move.

7. A game ends in a win if all the opponent's pieces are captured. It is a draw if the opponent's pieces are locked. A piece is said to be locked if it cannot move/jump to an empty square when it is its turn to move. A player can claim a draw if no jump occurs in thirty moves.

20 years with the muse
My first poem was written in 1984, probably in June. That means I have been with the Muse for 20 years. That is quite a long time.

What have I done these two decades? Check out my web site!

a measure of beauty
It is flattering to note that my name appears in the references section of an article on aesthetics that appeared in Science News Online (week of May 22).

My article 'Measuring Aesthetics' appeared in the Education Plus supplement of The Hindu in February.
http://www.hindu.com/edu/2004/02/23/stories/2004022300160400.htm

A Measure Of Beauty
Ivars Peterson

Mathematician George David Birkhoff (1884?1944) is best known for his work on differential equations and dynamics. His ergodic theorem gave the kinetic theory of gases a rigorous basis. He solved important problems in celestial mechanics and made contributions to the mathematical foundations of relativity theory and quantum mechanics.

Read on ...
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040522/mathtrek.asp

short story
One of my short stories titled The Way Of Providence has appeared in Crimson Feet, January-February 2004 issue. I have reproduced it in my web page. Take this link to go directly to the story https://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan/twop.html

education plus
Here are links to my articles in the Education Plus supplement of The Hindu.

Measuring Aesthetics

Ideas And The Digital Age

I hope to get more published. Wish me good luck.

web poetics
The semantics of poetry is dependent on the medium through which it is expressed. Poetry of the oral tradition is very different from that of print. Likewise, poetry on the web is also governed by the scope and limitations of the medium.

Two persons, I think, have put the new medium to good use. The first person is Ana Maria Uribe. Check out the poetry in her site: http://amuribe.tripod.com/anipoems.html

The other person is Charlie Koscak: http://www.vaxxine.com/koscak/poemindex.htm

Are there any more of their tribe?

reasonings of a mortal
"I am a christian by birth. A vedantin by choice. And a hypocrite by nature."

That is how 'Reasonings Of A Mortal', my jettisoned autobiography, begins. But I couldn't bring it to a fruitful end because somewhere down the line I lost faith in the infallibility of reason. However, I continue to put reason to good use.

That quote -- the cleverness of it -- thrilled me so much that I had the cheek to make it my e-mail signature, sometime in 1998. After reading it, my friend Auspin sent me this stunning response:

"Dear Nirmaldasan,
Of course! no doubt you are a hypocrite. But see, there is nothing big or great or chivalrous in being a vedantin hypocrite. When it is so glaring of how worse a hypocrite you are, why the hell you pretend to be very frank enough to air it out. Because we don't everyday call you a hypocrite, it doesn't mean we accept you anyway better than a hypocrite."

I promptly removed the signature.

persona data
Others may call it bio-data or resume or curriculum vitae. But I call it persona data. Persona is a mask that a person wears. A person wears several masks. In fact, the person is the sum total or convergence of personae.

In vedanta, the person is likened to an onion. You can go on peeling it till you are left with nothing. Likewise, there is no person without the personae. To know the person, you need to know the personae. The name is not the person, but a persona. Hence persona data.

imperfect aesthetic
Perfection is an aesthetic goal. Alexander Pope used to revise his poems. It is also said that all great writing are in fact rewriting. But what do you do with stuff which are imperfect? Will you have the heart and courage to destroy them?

Imperfection can also be an aesthetic goal. This is the imperfect aesthetic. There was a time when I used to collect stamps. I had a separate album for damaged stamps. Imperfect things can also give perfect delight.

Many years ago I destroyed what I thought were imperfect poems. I have no regrets. But had I not destroyed them, I could have revised them now and made them perfect, fulfilling the tenet of the imperfect aesthetic.

literary trivia & curiosities
I have just web-published a second enlarged edition of Literary Trivia & Curiosities. Check it out at https://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan/trivia.html