Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

Thyagu,

Is that how you are nicknamed here? This Sir-ina has a lot to talk to you, and discuss the prospects of recruiting Lakumi in our rambling enterprise. More later.

 

,!!!!!????
Thank you and Regards.

 

On grooming

That is chilling! I have heard similar cases of women losing their lives under the cosmetic knife, like liposuction, in an attempt to get rid of the stubborn fat.

I am bewildered with the self-conscious baldness. In a man, I find baldness very attractive. I don't know why men are conscious about losing hair. In fact, a shining noggin competes with a winsome smile. At my work place, a bald head is a sign-post. Directions are usually spelled out as ...then take a right turn and you will find me with a large and glistening bald head.

I remember that Bold And The Beautiful drama series. It was very bold for its times in India. My friends used to watch. I was baffled with the pairing ...who is dating whom ...you skip few episodes in the serial and the next thing, you find the woman scooped up by another man. I was perennially confused ..who was dating whom in that mega-serial.

 

On Affirmations

When anyone asks me to describe my hometown in a word, I say "sleepy". To many, that is strange. What is a sleepy town?

A sleepy town is one where there is no rush or overdrive to blow away the life in flickering commutes and jet-setting lifestyles like those of the metro cities. People wake up lazy, shamble to work, return home on time, and quietly watch television before hitting the sack. The town drifts in a languor. Today, the sleepy town has transformed into a bustling town, but while I was growing up, it was a hilly and sleepy town.

I read somewhere that Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, then Prussia. He spent his entire life in that town and died in the same birthtown in 1804. He had written all these philosophical treatises from that glorious town. True, brilliant minds have no global limitations. They travel the world in their imaginative mind and reason our existence from a modest abode by rarely setting foot outside their comfort zone.

I partnered in QPQ on a whim. Little did I know that it would be a transformative experience whereby we segue from one topic to another topic with no discretion or sense. Idle rambling is a virtue. There may not be many takers for such fluffy writing but those who indulge in such writing find it fulfilling. It is not the factual writing that I connect to here, but I relate to the taste and temperament of the fanciful writer.

I routinely probe my (now) friends with a question: "What is that one thing which will estrange us in short term or long term?"

The answers range from "workload" to "new social connects" to the proverbial "familiarity breeds contempt". The latter is unnerving, as friends cleave when they get too familiar. The predictions on their intimate behaviour are almost prophetic. People get jaded with such familiarity. There is nothing new to spark. Remoteness is a mirage that protects the fondness. In my case, having intense awareness of the taste and temperament of the other rambler is not stultifying, because of the mercurial nature of QPQ. The talk and topics are ever refreshing even in that familiar tasteful writer.

 

On Mornings

That She Google returned symphony of crazy food!

Hehe! I could not make out the lyrics but the spirit of the song was not lost on me. The frenzy of the early birds to catch the worm.

Here's a song for you in return. Not a morning tune but a slice from the walk of life.

 

On Sufi

KG's writing is melodic and liberating. His book The Prophet is not a decree but a celebration of social and moral life.

I also enjoy Rumi's sayings. He is another Sufi who philosophized on death and the unexceptional ending of our corporeal form.

I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?

Rumi and his followers were instrumental in instituting the Malawi Order of Sufism with its mystique and aesthetic elements. It is interesting to note that while Islam flourished as a prosaic and moral edict of life, the Sufi spin-off emphasised the vocalised and celebratory aspect of Islam like recitals and dhikr. The word "Sufi" itself has a sweet musical whisper to lend credence to that swirling cult.

 

On Vendors

We missed out those good ol' human knife sharpeners. They too announced their arrival with a shrill cry.

We repair blades!
We sharpen knives!
We fix surfaces!
Bring to us your dull objects,
And we will strop them anew.

 

On Creativity

You are blessed! I muddle up the names and the plots of the film ..there there.. a movie where a con woman dupes a Grammarian ..what's the film...no ...no .. not The Lady Eve where she falls in love with a snake researcher, in the film I am talking about she falls in love with a man writing an encyclopaedia ...ah! Ball of Fire.

All screwball comedies are alike with only a subtle variation in burgeoning love. So, I get confused with the Golden Age of Films, that is, 30s and 40s films.

I hear you. Not just the performing arts but the visual arts have also undergone a sea change in creativity. I don't know if that can be called a transcendental surge or a runaway profusion as I don't understand any form of art these days. Have you watched any of the dance shows in India? Last time when I was in India, I happened to watch a kids dance show. The kids were talented. However, I was appalled at the song selection and the choreography. Who in their right mind would let a eight year old dance to a raunchy item song? That too with unsavoury lyrics and overt gestures. What is wrong?

Then, in the next act, in the name of heightened creativity, rather than dance to the tune, the kids were trained to swing their agile bodies like a gymnast. That's no dance. Those kids were graceful and talented. Why would anyone want to blend sporty moves with elegant dance and contaminate a pure form of dance.

I don't understand why these dance-show trainers are getting jarringly experimental so that their teams stand out in the competition. Dance with gymnastic manoeuvres is an aberration and not a modernisation.

 

On Scaremongering

Scare-mongering is a livelihood for charlatans. Doomsday predictors are aplenty. Have you heard of Baba Vanga? She is a prophetic force to be reckoned with until she got the 1994 FIFA World Cup results wrong.

Which reminds me of Paul the Octopus who was a sensation back in 2010 World Cup. The newspapers carried on a special section on Paul's predictions.

His keepers at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, mainly tasked him with predicting the outcomes of international matches in which the German national football team was playing. Paul correctly chose the winning team in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches, and all seven of their matches in the 2010 World Cup—including Germany's third place play-off win over Uruguay on 10 July. He also correctly chose Spain as the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. This totalizes an overall record of 12 correct predictions out of 14: a success rate of approximately 85.7%.

With a success rate of 85.7%, he would have catapulted into a messianic cult had he been alive.

 

On Singing

If advancing age damages one's singing, I look forward to my future and my obnoxious vocalisation. Today, I annoy people with my singing, in future, I can terrorise them with my degenerated voice.

Good query. Birds sing to wake up, they sing in migration, they sing while mating, and they also sing a swan-song as their last outpour. Singing is not their prerogative but pathology. I would imagine that they take to yodeling or scatting in their advanced stage but they never forgo singing.