A Poem- on the lines of Ogden Nash

Was idly surfing blogs when i chanced upon this poem:

whose toads these are i think i knew
his frogs are in the viscous stew
he will not see me stooping here
to launch his toads to frog fondue

the little puss would think it queer
to stop with no frogs to toss near.
between the toads and froggy fling
the farthest frog tossed over the peer.

he gives the slimy newts a swing
as if they are some green plaything
the only other sounds the cheep
of peepers pinned and sent flying

the toads are best found asleep
but i have prodigious frogs to reap
reptiles to throw before i sleep
reptiles to throw before i sleep.

- copyright darby conley, 2004

The J-Walk Experiment

Lets see how this one works as opposed to Technorati, Popdex and the rest.
I think it's laudable and who knows? Maybe more people will read me....

Happy 58th India!

Today is August 15, 2005. India regained independence from England 58 years ago.She was 21 years old when I was born - a country trying to reassert her identity in a world that had changed in myriad ways since she was last a name to be reckoned with.
It's been a long and torturous climb and while she slips and regresses from time to time, she has proved herself fairly doughty and with a never say die attitude.
Yes, there are many issues still remaining to be ironed out, not the least of which is corruption and apathy. There's the ever present specter of a larger than life population explosion. Of fratricide, infanticide,misogyny and a host of other ills.
Yet, I prefer to look at the glass as half full- we have a ways to go...but I have full faith in the fact that we will one day, sooner than we think, become the best of what we can be.The very fact that we have a President who is not a career politician is beautiful. The man is a symbol of the times and for all you non Indians who talk about this being a purely Hindu nation, I say to you- bugger off. We have a Sikh Prime Minister and a Muslim President. The 3 biggest movie stars are Muslim. The reigning heads of Corporate India comprise Jains, Parsis,Christians and Hindus. Yes, there are dipshits who attempt to subvert it all- aided ably by those morons in politics...yet, we persevere.
Yes, we are a nuclear state- so is Pakistan. That doesn't make this a hotspot for tourists and visitors- we happen to live the same lives as millions and billions of others on this planet.We go to work, play, laugh, procreate ( and how!) and manage to do it all without being awakened every morning to color coded alert levels. Life is a mix of the volatile and serene- give me one place on this planet that is not.
We are not perfect- far from it- but we are not the hellhole of poverty, miasma, and religious fundamentalism we are made out to be. If there is one thing I'd like to change about my country, it's the wish that all of us- all Indians, everywhere, need to feel proprietary about our land- not in terms of fighting or warmongering but as Proud Indians.That feeling of pride despite our many faults is what we lack....at the end of the day, we look at what we dont have and not what we do.
Where else would you find so many diverse peoples, cultures and languages- each with a fully rounded script, well documented historicity and it's own grammar and literary wealth?
Where else would you find a marriage between religions that differ in everything but the fundamental truths? This is a land of assimilation, adaptability and absolute regeneration.
Go visit my land- look at it the way you would New York or London or Beijing- not with the veil of bias but as a denizen of a world that breathes the same air. Accept that every place is but a mirror of the human state- it's a mix of the good , the ill, the sublime and the ridiculous.
Say it with pride- I'm an Indian and I'm bloody proud of it.
We are the worlds largest democracy- atleast we know how to count our votes and ballots- and it's a democracy that routinely appears to fail but at the end of the day will pass muster. 5000 years of civilization dont go down just like that.
If Columbus the idiot hadn't made the error of going right where he should have gone left, we wouldnt have to type in EastIndian on every job/ credit/home/school/ application- what the hell is East Indian anyway? Yet, we as the programmers who actually type in that code, are unable to change perceptions.
Maybe it's time we did. Maybe today, as I walk down New York's canyons, I'll finally meet another Indian and we'll hail each other with a "Happy 15th August!" and listen to some Desh being played by Amjad Ali Khan.
Happy Birthday India- may your 59th be the beginning of another glorious 60 years of freedom and democracy.

The HitchHiker Game

Sooeeaaattt...
as wacked out as the tri in penta parts
kya dimaag hai....

Ajmer on my mind

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti- a person I never met- but someone I aspired to. His dargah is at Ajmer- kya banda tha- I used to visit it every month and do my little bit.. Sufism now has become a very New Age concept but for those who actually practice and/or preach it, it's like Hinduism- a way of life, not a religion.
He's on my mind all the time not for my aspirations into spirituality, as it is an intense curiosity into how it works....where do we, as a species rise above the mundanities of life?
A friend of mine y'day told me how he wants to elevate his existence beyond the mundane- the only answer I could give him was that when he seeks a Guru, it will happen. The long answer would have taken too much time which I was unable to get into.
To me , the Gita and Sufism are one and the same..to whit, do what you need to do, the rest takes care of itself.
I met new people y'day and somehow we had the same conversation with my one stop answer to it- do what you have to do- do it well- everything else will sorta sort itself out.
Back to Khwaja- Amir Khusrau composed so many qawwalis for the saint - 600 years later, each stands the test of time. This was the era of Bhakti- an epoch totally Indian- for all you media people out there decrying the so called fundamentalism of Hinduism and Islam- get yourselves one translator/interpreter and you'll see how well the 2 religions are assimilated in the Qawwali. The Bhakti period comprised Hindu, Muslim and Jain poets/philosophers. Amir Khusrau, the man responsible for the evolution of the Sitar, was also a Bhakti guy- not that he would said so. It's apparent in his compositions where for the first time Islamic elements are married to the concept of God as the Male and everyone else, as the Female. Only in India folks, only in India.
We are not just a nation of 7 Eleven aspirees -we are slightly more than that.

Of New Friends

Met some people y'day- spoke to an old friend who called me n my daughter over to a bar downtown.
Didnt realize it would be a gathering of people- thought it was just a smallish group...anyhoo, met new people, remet old friends- all in all a good time.
Problem is...I feel out of step- these are folks who have even lesser to say than I do- yet, they are more tuned into the vicissitudes of life-as-a-single-type-in-NYC than I am. So what's wrong with me?

I-pod drops the ball...

Who would have ever thought that Apple would drop the ball on Ipod patents? Who would have even imagined that Microsoft might now need to be paid by Apple for every Ipod they sell....Gates must be hooting with laughter.... twists of fate seem to always be on his side. Good Karma I guess or someone in God City truly does love him.
Here's my thought tho'- we all know - We as in the so many millions who've bought i-pods in the last 3 years- we know that it wasnt a Microsoft technology to begin with, since Microsoft anyway has this rather sweet reputation of standing on the shoulders of giants blah blah- what I cant digest is how a company as (blank) as Apple fell down on the job- insert adjective in blank space- HOW?

God Speed Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings is no more.
I felt like I had been dealt a body blow...and can only imagine how his family must feel at this moment.
Rarely do we come across someone who embodies our notions of grace, honesty and integrity. In these world weary, cynical and Mammon driven times, this was one media professional who actually came across as the very opposite of what we loathe about the media.
The urbane demeanor, the measured cadence and the richness of detail in his newscasts and reporting always served to underscore the professionalism and sense of integrity.
Being so easy on the eyes too was definitely an asset!
I just saw CNN's reporting on his death- with ex-colleagues who killed him (no pun intended) with that sweetly nasty praise that comes so easily to them. The guy just died for Heavens sake- lay the bitterness at the door and shut up.
Of course he was a hard task master- that is a given if you are a reporter especially one who has credentials up the wazoo. What distinguished him from the Grettas and the Larry Kings was that sense of self and a well presented perception that this man meant what he said. It wasn't the voice of God like Dan Rather or the voice of Doom like Tom Brokaw- it was the voice of a man who had actually undergone what he reported. That sense of truth came across strongly.
My biggest regret is I never met him- I would have liked to- I was actually gearing upto it this summer- it would have been wonderful to have met him and worked under him. In this I let myself down.
So... God Speed Mr. Jennings- your smile, your voice and you will be missed- as you have been since April. I only hope you left this body with some semblance of peace.
As for us, the world is a smaller place without you.

Water under the Bridge- Dumbo in New York

A series of shots in the NYC area called Dumbo- Down Under the Manhattan Bridge-O
The last I was there was about 4 years ago...during a time God seemed to smile. Revisiting brought back the good and the bad- like everything else tho', the sheer timelessness of the bridges makes personal memories seem so much more ephemeral.
Enjoy....

The Princes of Ireland- Edward Rutherfurd- Lit Crit III

Who isn't fascinated by Ireland? It's the land of romantics, lush greenery, leprechauns and booze, punctuated by the whole Protestant vs. Catholic saga, the sheer feyness of the land and of course, those happy go lucky Irish characters in many a novel.
So, when I chanced upon Edward Rutherfurd writing about Ireland,I pounced on it. The author himself, is a Michener-esque type- having written opuses on Sarum, London, Russia etc.
Each of these is a tome, a broad sweep of 3 families (usually) delineated thru the ages. Sarum was spectacular-it was based on the construction of the Salisbury Cathedral and of course Ken Follet liberally helped himself not only to the storyline but the plot process as well in his novel about the making of the Canterbury Cathedral, called The Pillars of The Earth.Burnt me up that did...
Any Hoo....
I started Princes Of Ireland knowing ( and the dust jacket helped) that this as in all others would also be about 3 main familes in Ireland thru the ages.
'twas thus and verily so...sorry 'bout the turn of phrase :)
I expected passages about the lay of the land, what makes it so, the sheer magicalness of it, verdant greenery , the tumultous history of a blood soaked country, and plenty of absolutely devilish and irrestible characters...the book, in its initial chapters delivered this beautifully but then tapered off to this rather soulless and dare I say, tepid fictional historicisation.
What happened? Where did the fey and absolutely charming character of Con become a spiritless retelling of his descendants and bloodlines? Why did Rutherfurd suddenly seem to care less about developing characters and more about retelling the passage of times?
If I wanted to read about that, I'd major in History.
Fiction, especially of the Rutherfurd kind, is characterized by skillfully weaving it with fact. Here, it is replaced by a pallid pen and an an increasingly casual use of words. It's almost like he lost his motivation or his muse midway.
London- the book- was vibrant- I can still recall passages and memories and emotions although I read it eons ago. Every book he has ever written is redolent with the sounds, sights and smells of the times he evokes. This is the one book that does not.
I dont want to read the sequel to this- its supposed to be a 3 book endeavor...hopefully, Rutherfurd will get his joy of storytelling and the skill with it back. I shall ( for the first time) check out the reviews before I read it.
If not, I shall just get back to his earlier books, failing which there's always Neal Stephenson and his novels!

An I for an Eye?

Funnee- Was reading a suggested reading list on someone's website- where it talked about how " Martial Discord" is not one of the top 10 reasons for a divorce....
Occured to me that the I in Marital and Martial is paramount and wholly responsible for the shift in status from one to the other!!!
This of course, is completely apropos of nothing....

Lit Crit II- Blink or be Damned

Blink- or the power of instant judgments ratified by psychology...
Was given the book by my erudite sibling with this statement: " It reminded me of you and the decisions you have (not) taken in life..." The parenthesis is mine- he actually meant it on face value.
Quite a teaser and of course, the ego immediately insists on reading and then systematically refuting every single commonality, if only to prove to myself and him and the rest of the world that I'm not quite the screw up I'm seen as.
Blasted book! It led me down the path of highly painful soul searching and mental affirmations of " Oh God- I did do that, didnt I?" Very humbling...and downright scary.
We all go thru life insisting that we are perceived wrongly by those we love or respect or otherwise want to emulate. How horrible is it to see it shown up so strongly in print?
The book gets it down pat...rapid cognition indeed is less intuition, even less gender based and it does serve to either enhance or educate us depending on how well one interprets it.
Snap judgments- what we always do and what we almost always deny doing. The hottie around the corner, the grocer who's a rude so n so, the kid who spears you with a fork in a crowded restaurant, the parents that allow said kid to run amok in a public place, the 'vibe' you get from a new apartment, person, employer, date.... we'd like to think we are evaluating people on place rather than face value- over analyzing as it were, but somehow it always gets back to that initial meeting...if your gut says something, you either discount it or if you are the kneejerk type, you go with it and then you either get in more trouble or sail away happily.
The book strikes a sweet balance between the dichotomies inherent in each of us. We dont like being judged- yet we do it to others- and then we backtrack... coz we would hate to have it done to us.
The balance lies in learning to trust your instinct , turn a harsh light upon yourself and then make your move.The smart person is the one who doesnt override instinctual reactions under the light of a so called well thought out analysis, but one who has recognized that the trait has a reason- get into the reason and sift thru layers of why and how and why not- your individual likes and dislikes as it were- and then go with the flow.
All of us do it and keep doing it. This is the first book I've read that gives you the roadmap to understanding yourself and your reactions or actions in a much more meaningful manner.
I finally understood that everytime I went against gut instinct, I crashed and burned. The balance lies in figuring out why it happens and what you can do to navigate thru life using rapid cognition and yet, not reacting on a primal level.
I'm reviewing the darn thing and I cant seem to find the words- Malcom Gladwell did find the words- which is why he is the published author and I'm the anonymous blogger drifting in a sargasso sea of squiggles....!
The language of the book is such that even a relative doofus like me would understand- reminds me of another writer- Lyall Watson. He has the same ability to parse thru jargon and serve up his ideas in a language you understand.
Read Blink- and believe me, you would be glad(well) you did.