This world is so wide that, even if you flitted around and around it, you would never reach the end of it. This blog is a collage of more or less literary and humorous, outlandish or sometimes even serious glimpses at this great wide world.
Bhaswati Ghosh has a series of highly recommendable posts on/with Bengali literature in her At Home, Writing blog. The majority of the texts posted are in her own translation from Bengali.
"Hey! The sun's out." "Quick – catch it before it conceals itself again." Alas, my net failed. Big yellow slipped through the mesh. Some warmth lin- gers.
– Len B.
It's been difficult to catch a glimpse of sun this cold, rainy July...
This poem is a poetified retelling of what happened this morning.
Later on, under the shower, I tried to think of songs having to do with the sun, and came up with the Beatles' "Here comes the sun" and "Don't let the sun catch you crying" (don't know who did that first, but I like the live version by Rickie Lee Jones).
Technical note: For some reason Blogger won't let me enter a title in Firefox. In IE, however, it is possible. All in all, I'm still struggling with IE 7. Who told Microsoft anybody wanted it this way?
He
was
held for
one hundred
and fourteen days by
people who would now and then say
that they might kill him. "It was hard
to imagine going
back to nor-
mal life
a-
gain."
– L. Blumfeld
Note
Today, journalist Alan Johnston was released after almost four months in captivity by the Army of Islam. This seems largely due to mounting pressure exerted on this extremist clan by Hamas.
The 2nd part of this fib is a quote from Alan Johnston after he was freed.
I was going to write a fib on the theme of little sister crying (because my wife's little sister cried for hours after losing a computer password), when the memory of this song popped up in my mind. I'd first heard it sung by Nicky Thomas (a reggae number that came out in 1970), then had it on a record in the version performed by Waylon Jennings, which is much weaker. Anyway, it's a great song about little sister's tears, and I scrapped the idea of writing a fib about it.
Love of the common people
Livin' on free food tickets
Water in the milk from the hole in the roof
Where the rain came through
What can you do?
Tears from little sister cryin'
'Cause she doesn't have a dress without a patch
For the party to go
Oh, but you know she'll get by.
She is livin' in the love of the common people
Smiles from the heart of the family man
Daddy's gonna buy her a dream to cling to
Mama's gonna love her just as much as she can, she can.
It's a good thing you don't have the bus fare
It would fall through the hole in your pocket
And you'd lose it in the snow on the ground
A walking to town to find a job.
Trying to keep your hands warm
But the hole in your shoe let the snow come through
And it chills to the bone, boy
You'd better go home where it's warm.
Where you can live in the love of the common people
Smiles from the heart of the family man
Daddy's gonna buy her a dream to cling to
Mama's gonna love her just as much as she can, she can.
Livin' on dreams ain't easy
But the closer the knit the tighter the fit
And the chills stay away
You take 'em in stride family pride.
You know that faith is your foundation
And with a whole lotta love and a warm conversation
And plenty of prayer
Making you strong where you belong.
Where you can live in the love of the common people
Smiles from the heart of the family man
Daddy's gonna buy her a dream to cling to
Mama's gonna love her just as much as she can, she can...
(Written by Ronnie Wilkins and John Hurley)
Here's the song performed by Nicky Thomas on Youtube – good sound quality, but only a static picture:
The blinds are down, there's a welcomingly mild sun out there. Most people have gone out for lunch. It's peaceful here in the outpost of a gigantic company.
I suffer from time elapse anxiety syndrome (TEA).
Do many people suffer from this disease?
Symptom: feeling that time is slipping by without you getting urgent things done.
This symptom makes me nervous.
Until I succumb to the next "what's so important that it really needs to be done in the overall scheme of things" mood.
It could be worse - it could be like this.
