Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

Cheeniya Sir is just a decade older than me and hence I fall under the category of elderly gents. Civility more than deference is what I believe people like me expect knowing deference is too much to expect.

Frankly, I used to have phobia of responding to your posts initially and it took sometime for me to overcome that phobia. Only your demeanor to coolly interact with inept and lowly personalities (such as Viswa) encouraged me to try out writing to you.

Viswa

 

I hear this too often! Even my close friends are at times afraid of me. You would have sighted that machete slung to my belt. I use that to slay heads of dissent voices and collect those heads as trophies. Machiavelli once said that 'better to be feared than be loved'. I like this dude. I am very reciprocative. If you talk, I talk more; if you tease, I will tease more; if you are playful; I will be more playful; and if you are sarcastic, I will be doubly sarcastic. A lot of people cannot take what they give hence I am wary of the last bit. Rather than make them wince in mutually loaded retaliation, I shrink. As I said, a lot of people cannot take themselves what they toss at others.

I agree with that "civility" in mannered communication but you know Viswa between friends I think one can drop that civility even and just be forthcoming. The style of communication no longer matters. You can either shout or wail but be frank with your terms. You got to take these chances with friends. I am still okay with anything under the civility but anything over that civility like genteelness and subservience irks me more. Lot of people expect outright veneration and any shift from a gratifying tone to a a gruff tone upsets them. Personally, I have seen many people who cannot stomach a harsh exchange. I think between friends it is okay to shout, kick, demonize and vent your frustration. I am not a stickler for proprietary when it comes to amity. In fact I despise when people expect so many niceties in communication. I don't know. I am just thinking loud how much politeness should be built up in informal exchanges. Confession: I, for one, am not too civil with friends which sometimes gets me in trouble with acquaintances/strangers who expect dripping regard and impeccable manners.

I think we exchange infrequent tweets because of our areas of interests. I don't know scriptures and spirituality. I am not familiar with those topics. So, we interact less. Feel free to catch up with me where you can, that machete is a dummy. I like silly banter like Cheeniya's ramble. If one day, Cheeniya decides to write about heavy topics like some civil war raging in an African nation that puts us all at moral risk, I will show myself the door.

 

I understand how drop in civility looks like as we have elected a President who does it everyday. Just kidding. Absolutely. I agree frank communication makes life lot easier among friends. Having experienced working for someone who expected me to be subservient early in my career, my determination to walk away from that trap increased many fold. In fact, my frank and open communication only branded me as a very successful executive in the corporate world.

I recently had a call with a CEO of a company to obtain the right to sell his industry solution for our new business and I asked my son to join as he knows this industry well. When my partner and I were exchanging sweet nothings and danced during the dating process, my son was shooting some direct questions from the point-blank range. This entrepreneur/professor/CEO handled it well as he is at least two decades younger than us. We are old timers who knew how to do business in the old-fashioned way.

I am a quick learner and most of what I learned in my life are from people who are far younger than me. I learn something new everyday. I can handle shout and wail as long as it is frank. Sometimes, the attitude of the old generation shows up involuntarily. Either I can control them or if I make a mistake of demanding gentleness and subservience, I wouldn't hesitate to admit it in an open forum and apologize. I have done that a few times already in IL. Some friends among us can vouch for it.

Viswa

 

No vouch! I take your word. I have known you for enough time that if someone tells me that Viswa screamed and flapped, I might have hard time believing, let alone imagining it.

 

You slacker!

Now you found time to visit E n G. With all that baking, breading, pasta making?, salmon fishing in Yemen, trout fishing in America, growing tomatoes, growing cabbages and trekking along Lewis and Clark expedition, I thought you got lost. Eh, American politics? This is what happens when I send you on a mission to recruit members for E n G. On your return, you the knackered brain, forgets that you have Continental friends who have washed off their hands from American politics long ago.

 

@Gauri03

On Politics

Accha! You think we are better off. We are being mocked everywhere. Are you leaving? We May or May not.

We are those neighbours who throw a farewell party, pack our lock, stock and barrel, pull the car out of the garage, and pedal the gas to realise that the driveway is blocked. We then return, try the next day to be hit by another snag i.e, empty gas. And the next day, we are informed to wait out the bad weather. The neighbourhood is disenchanted with our shenanigans. Arey, yeh log aa rahe hai ya ja rahe hai.

Few years ago, I was in Rome loitering in the airport when an immigration officer walked up to me and inquired, "Are you English?". Somehow, I associate "English" to English physicality and shrugged "No, no." I was neither blonde or brunette. How did he mistake me for English!

He dived closer pointed to my passport, "English, English?"
The muddled me responded, "Yes, yes, English."

If I travel now, I better be prepared to be grilled as "Drohi Saxon? Bewafa Angle? Ungrateful Neighbour? Traitor? Turncoat?"
"Yes, yes, everything!"

That is the reason I keep reminding you that we should leave behind these petty Earthlings and write to those Tralfamadorians to abduct us. With your country on the verge of vaporization and my country on the brink of vandalism, we should get out of the planet while we can.

Recently, I had a chance to read up about best books in North Korea here. These interviews are good as they provide you a rich synopsis of why the books were chosen. Also, check out on Chinese dissent here. I find these themed interviews better than NYT or Guardian reviews. I have downloaded and read only Real Story of Ah-Q (short novel). I particularly liked the Chinese coverage as it touched upon our puzzles theme from the yore in that selection of Romance of the Three Kingdoms from The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. I also found a cartoon series on that epic tale here.





With Chinese censor, NK's threat, America's orange head, Britain's uncertainty, if our abduction plans are rejected, we should implore the Tralfamadorians to take over the planet and call such coup the Second Glorious Revolution.

 

We will miss facpalm goody goody Kaniths .. little bit of recklessness wont harm anyone !

 

Howdy!
Ha ha ha but it still takes two to and !

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