DECEMBER 2025: The World Through Words – MASTERPIECE.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is MASTERPIECE.

One may wonder if a word that can universally evoke a sense of awe and admiration must necessarily be a piece of a masterly work only in literature and the fine arts.

‘Not necessarily!’, would be the response of hundreds of connoisseurs of extraordinary works of art such as paintings, sculptures, music, dance and other endeavors of human passion. They would happily engage in endless debates as to what they would consider as a masterpiece.

But what or who exactly defines a masterpiece? Will the international space station that has been orbiting this planet for over 25 years be considered as one, now that it is getting outdates and will be decommissioned in 2030!

A thing of beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, they say.

It is my considered view that a masterpiece can be found in the most unusual places, if only one makes an open-minded effort to look for it.

A masterpiece can also be something that has to do with just an idea that has been creatively expressed across many mediums and over a lengthy period. Take for example the following sequence of words:

Moustache; Argument; Simple; Taste; Exact; Rest; Part; Interest; Excess; Cheese; Elementary

Yes, evidently there is a masterpiece in them. But why do these words really matter when we are discussing a masterpiece?

Let me help by drawing your attention to the fact that these are the random monthly words that featured in ‘The World Through Words’!

Call it a clever coincidence. Accuse me of cheating about the randomness bit. But the words were indeed random, even if their first letters were not, I confess! Even if you end up considering my defense as weak, wouldn’t you still agree with me that it is certainly a masterpiece of planning a blog post.

Wishing you all a great last month in 2025. You have been very encouraging, and I promise to come up with a new series of posts for 2026. 

NOVEMBER 2025: The World Through Words – ELEMENTARY.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is ELEMENTARY.

If there is any doubt that a phrase has been popularized in English fiction, one needs to look no further than to recall “Elementary, my dear Watson” that Sherlock Holmes often said to his biographer and dear friend.

That phrase, so humorously used, and indeed the word elementary itself, have been a cause of inferiority complex in many.

Innocuous as it may sound, something elementary is scathingly indicative that it is essentially simple and fundamental to be reasoned out, and the absence of understanding what is being referred to, suggests a lacuna in intelligence!

Culturally, most human societies, and especially those of the East have strongly believed in the five natural substances - earth, water, fire, air, and ether - as elementary or foundational substances of human existence.

Interestingly, right through the spectrum of human societies, five other elementary aspects – values/beliefs, languages, symbols, norms and rituals - have defined the structure of their cultures and have glued their civilizational bonds.

With this word having so much to brag about, one may be excused for not further expounding on such aspects, but to bask in the most elemental quality of having a good laugh at it – the smile made all the more warm when one considers the precious elements.

Gold and Silver haven't seen each other since elementary school. They decided to meet up at a bar. Silver walks in and sees his old friend and calls out to him.

"Aey, you?"

Gold gets excited and shouts back, "Aey, ji!"

OCTOBER 2025: The World Through Words – CHEESE.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is CHEESE.

Charles de Gaulle, the nationalist French President is known to have wondered “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”

Well, even as turophiles (tur-uh-file – cheese lover) disagree with that French statesman, many may still find it interesting to know that cheese is much more than a popular food!

Historically, cheese (especially the parmesan variety) has had a financial use dating back to at least 1200 CE, serving as a form of wealth and a medium of exchange in some contexts. The value of the compact, aged cheese and the lengthy maturation process (up to two years or more) made it a suitable form of collateral for financial institutions.

In modern times too, cheese as currency is a practice that some regional banks in Italy still accept, based on a long-standing system where farmers can receive cash loans against deposits of their cheese with the bank, which then stores and ages them in their warehouses, while retaining them as collateral. This innovative system provides crucial liquidity to dairy farmers, bridging the financial gap between the production of cheese and its eventual sale to consumers.

Cheese has played an unintentional but effective role (the Swiss Cheese bidding process) in the public procurement processes of governments and corporations that are keen to showcase their perceived neutrality in ensuring a fair competition for public infrastructure and large service projects.  

And one may wonder how all children have to be cajoled to eat cheese, but who would have thought that The Tiger Who Ate Too Much Cheese is a children's story about a tiger's unusual dietary indulgence!

Cheese, it must be admitted, continues to exert so much influence in our daily lives. How else can we explain the following phrases!

She is a Big Cheese – an important or powerful person.

Say Cheese – phrase used to make people smile for a photograph.

The Cheese stands alone – someone isolated or left alone.

He always sports a Cheesy grin – exaggerated or insincere smile.

Now that’s a Cheesy joke – a silly, corny or overly sentimental joke.

Smile like a Cheshire Cat – to smile broadly or smugly.

That’s the way the cheese crumbles – things don’t always go as planned.

All said and done, is there any better excuse for all our unexplained idiosyncrasies than to just say that between us, we are like cheese and chalk!

SEPTEMBER 2025: The World Through Words – EXCESS.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is EXCESS.

It is often said that if there is one thing that can commonly describe civilizations across millennia, it is the widespread excess of all kinds that were celebrated when these societies were at their zenith.

Think of the excesses in the Roman Empire. The glorification of widespread political corruption, the extravagant displays of wealth by its elites, military overspending as a strategy for geographical expansion, violent public spectacles such as the gladiatorial conquests and the practices of gluttony and decadent lifestyles were plainly normative.

Middle Eastern history seemed to have its own versions. The rise and fall of the Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians often involved brutal conquests and subjugation excesses.

Excesses in South Asian civilizations often involved extreme social stratification and the application of mindless cultural interventions by the invaders.

Western civilizations across both sides of the Atlantic have also been no strangers to excesses. Even as recently as in the nineteenth and twentieth century America, material extravagance of the Gilded Age, the unchecked consumerist society and the unilateral gains of the capitalist model of economic growth ensured the exponential rise of profligacy from an equally fast shifting of the moral compass.

With such a background across the ages and the continents, it should not come as a surprise that excessive consideration is being attributed here to this word!

Excess is too much of something, like big-time overindulgence.

Philosophers, literary giants and political commentators, all seem to have had excessive concerns about the excesses of human beings.

Plato suggested that excess of liberty, whether it lies in the state or in individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. 

Nietzsche cautioned that the mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.

Dickens concluded that vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!

Oscar Wilde though had a different point of view. To him, moderation is a fatal thing and that nothing succeeds like excess.

Will Durant believed that every form of government tends to perish by an excess of its own principle.

The Tamil saint poet Tiruvalluvar has advised both rulers and the common man to conquer with forbearance all the excesses of insolence. Other verses in the Tirukural suggest moderation in food and financial habits, warns rulers on the ills of excessive taxation and links excessive love for dishonest gains to everlasting pain.

But I am sure that unlike such excessive caution that these people have expressed, an excess of humor should always be welcomed.

Back in the day, excessive use of commas was considered a very serious crime. That view usually resulted in a long sentence.

A friend of mine got jailed for excessive hay production. I had to bale the farmer out.

Eggs have recently been added to the endangered species list. Due to excessive poaching.

AUGUST 2025: The World Through Words – INTEREST.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is INTEREST.

What could possibly be so interesting about a word that buries (inter) in itself, the remaining portion (rest)?

Well, the answers are many.

Think of family interests, nation-first interests, business sectoral interests, religious interests – Groups of individuals have been united because of their common concerns. In contrast, a false promise or a wrong interpretation of these common interests ended up as inter-generational disputes or ideological chasms, and have led to acrimonious wars.

A liking, or a propensity for a contrarian understanding of nature and human psychology – religious institutions have taken some extreme steps when dealing with such novel interests. Often, they have used proscription, bans, falsehoods and more to retaliate!

Most of us find it difficult to acknowledge when we act selfishly, but when one pursues self-interest, without regard for others, then the world can be a very miserable place for those of us who are not smart.

Interestingly, individuals like you and me are not just excited but have also been obsessed on many matters of curiosity (pursuit of interest).

Interest payments for moneys lent, the interest of investors for handsome returns – the world of finance has always oiled the progress of trade and commerce between communities and nation-states. Understanding and mastering the complex logic and mathematics behind some of the modern banking and insurance products may not be as simple as Shylock’s (a pound of flesh for a pound), but they could turn out to be as deadly! In some instances, individual families and entire communities have been wiped out for not being able to repay usurious terms of interest. 

JULY 2025: The World Through Words – PART.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is PART.

Under its seemingly innocuous surface, this simple word is a powerful reminder of how human beings bonded or fought with each other over the millennia. It is perhaps the primary reason for the rise of the movement to mainstream DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in all human endeavors.

Just look at the following examples for the word’s usage and it becomes evident as to why the whole is never a sum of the parts, but much more!

Piston rings are part of the engine system; for every part of pesticide, use ten parts of water – here the inference is that a part is one of the pieces, areas, periods, things, that together with others forms the whole of something; some, but not all of something.

She played the part of Marie in the film. - a role or character in a play or a film.

Are you from the coastal parts? – here the reference is to a region or area.

She hates being parted from her child while at work. – the suggestion here is to leave or go away from somebody; to separate people or things.

His lips were slightly parted; She parts her hair in the middle -  to indicate a separation of closely-aligned parts.

He is part German part Swede - not completely one thing and not completely another.

And then there are these other words that not only draw their roots from the word part, but give it a strength of additional character.

Partial – not complete; portion of something; somewhat fond of;

Partisan – strong supporter; prejudiced in favor of a particular cause;

Particular – singled out member or class in a larger group; in contrast to a universal quality.

All put together, humans have a mostly mixed emotion when it comes to the part about parting ways. To many it may evoke a sense of melancholy, but to others it is a matter of joy, finally!

Why did the numbers zero and two, part ways? Because someone came between them. (0-1-2)!

To those with a philosophical bent of mind, though:

Nothing is part of everything and everything is part of something.

And to those amongst us who are itching to set the world on its correct path:

The trouble with problem-solving is that we seldom make the shift from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.

JUNE 2025: The World Through Words – REST.

Words have traditionally been the backbone of intelligent communications. Some researchers suggest that humans began using spoken words, anywhere between 50000 and 70000 years ago. Words then were often just a collation of sounds, but they seemed to have served their purpose. How they managed their communications in their worlds so long ago can only be imagined!

Today, in the second millennium of the common era, as per Ethnologue, which is a language catalogue and resource site, there are around 7111 languages in the world (not including dialects, sign languages) with an estimated 840 million words.

And with such a surfeit of languages and words, our world should naturally (if not certainly!) be a very interesting one for those of us who will only take some time from our busy routines, to peek into the world of words.

This time, the random word that has surfaced is REST.

Let us start with Rest as with reference to periods when we Relax and Refresh.

The cultural context of rest varies significantly across different societies and time periods.

Rest can be viewed as a necessity for well-being or as a sign of laziness or self-indulgence, depending on the cultural values.

In some cultures (broadly identified as collectivist cultures), where group harmony and achievement are highly valued, and emphasis is placed on work and productivity, rest might be seen as selfish or unproductive, potentially leading to social disapproval or feelings of shame.  

In others (broadly identified as individualistic cultures), where personal autonomy and self-expression are emphasized, rest may be more readily accepted for recharging and to maintain well-being.

In traditional societies, Rest is often viewed as a natural and necessary part of life, allowing individuals to recover from physical labor and from social activities. It is integral to mental health too!

Across most of the world, Rest is often integrated into cultural rituals, celebrations, and holidays, providing a period of respite and reflection.

The "right to rest" is a recognized human right, adequately defined in international declarations like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various regional texts. In India, the right to rest is understood within the context of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty, encompassing the right to peaceful living, decent environment, sleep, and leisure.

Let us now look at Rest as with reference to ‘Remaining or Balance’ part of a wider domain.

Here too, the socio-cultural context plays a significant role in the way, the word is interpreted. Often this may lead to funny situations or plain confusion. Sample a few:

The Communist party leader has boasted that Russia is planning to build a base on the moon. The idea is that astronauts will live there permanently. When they were asked if they really wanted to spend the rest of their lives in a barren, lifeless, empty landscape, the Russians said..."No. That's why we want to go to the moon."

After release from solitary confinement, the prisoner spent the rest of his jail time planning for his next jailbreak!

The teacher spent the rest of her rest-time in grading the students on their test.

How can the dead politician rest in peace, if his tombstone continues to be vandalized by the rest of his detractors?

Google’s recent announcement that the Gulf of Mexico becomes the Gulf of America for the US, but will remain unaltered for the ‘rest of the world.’

Or when the BBC news reader announces ‘For viewers around the world and those across the UK, this is the BBC.’ So, is the viewer from the rest of the world a different species from those in the UK?

Rest assured that this word will find place in the lexicon, as one of the many that makes the English language an interesting one.