Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

If you aspire to be as intelligent as Gauri and as knowledgeable as sokanasanah then you will soon realise in that acquired intelligence and cultivated knowledge that Iravati is no writer. Would it not set forth a paradox of some sort in that triangulation of coveted trinity.

 

I have a grander vision of your swollen heard which won't undermine your beard and looks.
Time! Time! Running behind time! One more reason to retire early in life for fulsome self-indulgence.

 

@Iravati,

It is the other way around. If I have the intelligence of Gauri and knowledge of Soka, I will enjoy your writing even better. You are like Anjaneya not knowing your own strength and when you begin writing, your thoughts flow like a river. Frankly, after Ansuya, your writing is one thing that inspires me every time I visit IL. Whenever Ansuya used to write here, I used to wonder how she constructs sentences to communicate so well.

Now only consolation I have is to communicate with her privately and still enjoy this pleasure when she responds.

Viswa

 

I had almost run off to Holland to become a Suriname-Dutch-desi. They have good health insurance over there.

 

Rihana is another restless and kindred monkey. I like her writing not for any emblematic supremacy but the fluidity and progression she has charted through her wanton undertaking. Her thoughtful content has always been a curve ahead of her peers, nevertheless, her style and self-expression has matured. She has remarkable clarity and strength in her thoughts which she effortlessly transforms into a colloquial and playful voice. I like her for her attitude that comes across in her writing wherein she never jeopardizes a fond relationship with misgivings from an emerging conflict. Writing is less about talking your mind out but it is about brokering your thoughts out to a seemingly unreasonable audience. She does that with élan! Rather, she has evolved to cinch it with élan!

Rihana is gritty and unapologetic, but never unkind. Her competency is bracing and goofy at times. She is introspective and self-motivated which is a hallmark of a work-in-progress soul. Telling you, her writing style would transcend in few years. She is rapidly evolving and experimenting with her stylised notes. You can infer that from the impressive and evolving cadence in her style.

Both Rihana and I are unique (ahem!) here that we discourse with exuberance to an almost missing audience. How do we achieve that? Writing is only an indulgence and not an imperative to us. The day we ourselves take any of our writing seriously, will be the day we are paralysed to express anything. She writes because she wills to fortify her cloudy thoughts into concrete expressions. She is someone who enjoys out-Rihaning herself through this exercise. Her writing has undergone a sea change since I have known her in two shakes of a lamb's tail. I have no doubt that in three shakes she would topple many of us here. So, I better splurge my vanity in this life time. In the next life time, I have an indefatigable and rolled-over competitor who will show me up.

 

I cannot trust you with that. If you transcend to a certain admirable level of intelligence and knowledge, you will see through my shallow and vincible writing. My writing is fashionable only from the outset, but if you poke or bore, the cracks will give way to its unshapely flaws.

On the contrary, I take great pride in parading my weaknesses for they could help someone who is grappling with similar issues to overcome. I am careless with the usage of articles. I mess up propositions. I brutally subjugate and verb-ise even the most uncooperative nouns. I am a prescriptivist grammarian's nightmare. Every writing of mine deserves a retake for I feel that I could have strutted better on another chance. My thoughts that flow like a river are more often than not stymied in the rapids and eddies of my expression. It takes consider time for me to write senseful and formal stuff, like I am trying very hard to attempt now, only to invariably ease out and shift ...ah! nonsense and frivolity are a natural me.

 

Every good writer feels that way. In fact, this is #1 quality of a good writer.

It is the truthfulness and unhindered expressions that are beautiful like the force and swirl in a river.

I will take your lighthearted writing any day if I need to enjoy someone's writing.

Viswa

 

I am impressed with the incidental secular recreational themes: trekking and cycling and hobnobbing with fellow tourers. Quite a spiritual undertaking for people of all (non-) religious propensities to taste a secular awakening along a religious path. I was piqued by the scallop myth.

Two versions of the most common myth about the origin of the symbol concern the death of Saint James, who was martyred by beheading in Jerusalem in 44 AD. According to Spanish legends, he had spent time preaching the gospel in Spain, but returned to Judaea upon seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary on the bank of the Ebro River.

Version 1: After James's death, his disciples shipped his body to the Iberian Peninsula to be buried in what is now Santiago. Off the coast of Spain, a heavy storm hit the ship, and the body was lost to the ocean. After some time, however, it washed ashore undamaged, covered in scallops.

Version 2: After James's death his body was transported by a ship piloted by an angel, back to the Iberian Peninsula to be buried in what is now Santiago. As the ship approached land, a wedding was taking place on shore. The young groom was on horseback, and on seeing the ship approaching, his horse got spooked, and horse and rider plunged into the sea. Through miraculous intervention, the horse and rider emerged from the water alive, covered in seashells.

I liked version#2 with the horse and rider emerging out of a seashell reminiscent of Botticelli musing.

Ok, this might look like I am on a binge watson spree but here's the thing. When the window opens up, schooch in everything that you ever wanted to bark. I wrote an essay on Rihana. It seemed unfair that I didn't write one for you (ahem! my self-indulgence is getting the better of me) over our recent dialogues on romances and rakugos. I enjoy your sideline references. You don't squeal razzle-dazzle but you talk pert and sharp. A lot of us overlap here on how we convey and conduct ourselves but you are a class apart with your wanderings. Have you ever tried your hand as a creative editorial for Atlas Obscura? You will make a killing there with your natural curiosity and witty gigs. I see a semblance between you and those footloose writers who spin factual reportage in style and fun. Don't demur to spread your wings. You have the ability to charm and tickle people with your seemingly absurd but unnaturally well-articulated voice.

 

Sorry is for my stingy connect. Not that anyone is starving for greetings from me but I intend to be expressive, more expressive than my usual self to convey my gratitude. It is, indeed, nice to hear similar views from other fogey writers. Even as I am writing, I am embarrassed by the term “writer” unless it can be repurposed to mean a skittish mongoose on high dopamine who scribbles like that lady ...who that lady ...Fanny Burney who calls herself a scribbler than a writer.

I have heard of similar struggle with airfryer so I am looking forward for Nonya to bludgeon me with her glowing reviews and pictures of her air-fried kurkures. I think air-fryer is a technique more than a tool. You may have to adjust and jiggle it and then tame the beast. I am not going for it straightaway though I delight in fried items as I have no place in my kitchen to stack it. My kitchen is a miniaturised curiosity cabinet with very few small-sized cooking pans which means I may have to stash the jumbo fryer in my bathroom attic and bring it down on the weekends for my fried yearnings.

Knowing me, even if I somehow manage to clear the space to host it, in one shake of a lamb’s tail, I would be disenchanted of its flaming tastes and tuck it back into my bathroom attic. Advantage of owing a compact house is that you think and think and think till your head hurts in case you want to purchase a fancy item for your house, and then finally abandon the thought as your head hurts, and not that the gizmo has failed your stringent evaluation.