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Thursday, March 14, 2013

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

That one word

Bibesy is one word, if I had to choose from 20 obsolete english words that should make a comeback. It brings mind to pipasa. An Indian word very close in meaning to it. Dictionary is a cousin of encyclopaedia.

I too was plunged into a Hindi class after I switched schools 2 months after the school year. Until then I was learning two letter words - memorizing them - na la = nal (tap). And then I am in a class where the whole book is full of Hindi words.

One of the poems in Hindi, was about naveenatha (novelty) - like the newness of the life in spring. The trees outside were all grey barks, thin and thick. When noises of that of a rat jumping woke me up, I didnt realise the call of the rain. The leaves new and green heard it, earlier than me.

In high school, we cried to remember the dates of lives of writers and now we search all about them.

How does a teacher feel introducing metaphors to a class. I was all ears for my first idiom (the car) broke down in Bushman lesson.

paryay vachan. Synonyms.

Make your own sentences.

Word from the dictionary: Mafra. into a tweet story

The bat wings firm on the ground - push up stance. Wake up said the librarian. You have work to do. Insects to chew. At the Mafra library.

Start thinking about court as a place to pay, you forget that it is also where judges go.

Why frogs need Magainin.

Write a Magalogue

Magatama, half of the whole. Yin or yang. Looks like a cashew. Regalia of Japan. The other two - sword and mirror. Mirror stood for wisdom. Narcissus should have become Solomon. Mirror test.

Adarsa - mirror - perfect in likeness of reflection. Ideal. Idol. To want to be like them.








Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Heard books




My friend is reading this book and told me of another


I took the easy route and watched it on pbs. String theory bringing all the dimensions in Eschers sketches to screen.

Another




Code to enter

From world literatures travel writing, I stopped at The lonely planet guide to my apartment.

Orientation:

As you enter, watch your step. Thats my show slipping out the door. Generating that tuft of wool is my daughter's favourite time pass. You have 3 degrees of freedom from here, actually four if you havent taken your first step in. To the left for the hungry, straight on for nature calls and the right for company.

What to bring:

If you like movies not available on Netflix bring your favourite DVDS and a DVD player.
Sambhar, if you love it.
Get your own ear buds. We might soon banish them.

When to Go:

Best time, middle of the weekend, if we are not at the library, center of the arts or any other time promised on the phone.

Local Customs:

Baby hurdles. We like to keep you on your toes. So look out for toys.

Health

Dust is retained for vintage. Allergics, Get your SARS cap on.

Society and Culture


Women travellers

Number of avaliable men: 0

Dangers and Annoyances

For the reasons understood to the maintenance team AC in one room aged faster than the rest of the apartment.

Volunteer organizations
Needed helpers for spring cleaning
Vacuum lifters.
Organizers after spring cleaning.


Things to see and do
Check out the ladysfinger, chilli , tomato and eggplants. Few of them are for aesthetic enhancement.
Gallery of found, gifted objects, decorations on the walls.
Rare books from the library sale.


Places to Eat
Indian, Indian with Italian ingredients

Night life
The leaking and hyper flush will be your constant company.

Sports and Outdoor activities:
Laundry, Gardening, sunbathing

Excursions
In few years, baby can give a guided tour of her room

Mule Rental
If you are an infant or a toddler, you can get a rocker or a stroller ride

Wildlife
Chatty hummingbirds, wild cats that have been self potty trained to poop in our backyard.


Sunday, March 10, 2013

real Stories from those who make them up




Kurt Andersen in Going south brings up Depth charge wile talking of a drink. Drinks and Car Bomb. The author admits that he is not able to recall all the details. with that, he lends credibility to an age old memory even though its a big no to say that you dont remember anything to your reader. But you can wake up and find yourself in  The Mountain mine and not recall where you are. All those vacation places, where you wonder what would it be like to stay there, assuming that place is not open to the ravages of modernity. I have thought of a life in Nainital. 

Among Saudi sands, Keija Parssinen finds the yard and house of her childhood smaller than she remembered. After college, when I went to my grandparents place, the long walk that the fields seemed to be at, were all very close. No wonder the old game goes on Are we there yet and its few more steps away. I have seen an aerial view of Dubai landing in. Does that count towards knowing the place from the most vantage point possible? And from there, I saw the Fountain Hills in action. 

The travelers at some point relate to the places they have been to like they would with lovers.

You cant go to that country (India) and not have your relationship to colour change.- Sophie Cunningham

To those who would awaken makes you want to round up your whole writing into a one, continuous flow.

hone after something

Description

Page 14 of Barely south April 2012,
and grip my open palm like landing along
with the image of doves just released that take to flight
express more than the sum of words.

The motion would be hard to explain, but once you think from the bird's action and put in all that you know about a perch, it becomes vivid.

While reading the beginning of Regeneration at Mukti, it pulls the reader in with all the details of the house. As a reader, you give all your senses to build that picture in your mind.

When I read a short story by Steve fisher in Triquarterly, when the narrator talks of windows opening around, my scene had tiny windows opening out of the narrators biceps.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Constrain that tap

100 word story  challenge.




I tried writing a small story of an incident that the photo prompt of bed sheets reminded me of. It was launching into a bio while what i wanted to capture was how gifts aid in categorizing memories. I managed to kill the project and realise that it s hard to write in 100 words.

A bedsheet fading. Maroon in color with thread work from Rajasthan. From a best friend in college. Before I left to USA for higher education. But I havent been to her hometown in college. No, its from the time we were roommates for about a year and less. Week days only. Weekends were when I put the Encyclopedia of Great Literature from the office library to work. 

But the format is a good exercise to make your journaling and memoiring spiffy.

How the world came to be


The world is a sphere
Did it begin as the splice with
the biggest radius

And then
a faux garden well
The igloo with no door
closing in

The upturned basket
now ready to bear
The rest of the world


Making your cardboard tree

I have been into too much Family art lately with family away - soon to reunite. I wonder if I should spend time with family or go for that How to write for a special occasion of a family member workshop. And then Tempe center of arts offers:


Family Art Workshop with Mitch Fry
Cardboard Trees

TCA exhibiting artist Mitch Fry will bring recycled pieces of wood and cardboard for children and adults to create small tree sculptures reminiscent of his own work. Fry began a career as a designer and manufacturer of custom residential, commercial and retail furnishings which has spanned more than 33 years. Today he works on large and small scale sculptures and commissions and especially enjoys working with wood and found materials.


Mitch fry


On the left is my tree having blown in the wind. On the right is my sister's interpretation of tree. When I entered the gallery, I could see all the material for the workshop on a table and then works on the walls by various artists. When Tempe rubber dams burst, they didnt know they would be becoming placeholders for artists. Julie Anand's Long print with white background matching the wall lent the found objects a 3D quality. If you are a walker, hoarder of things you find on those walks, then you will relate to her work. I have a stone, a seed, a five rupee note (now that put the meaning right back to 'Early to rise, early to bed  makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise.). Some other works broke out of their medium by installing a partly burnt wood from the recent largest fire, here in AZ. Local artists rose to the Green revolution challenge.

The piece that looks curly headed is my sun/clouds all in one. Today is Shivaratri. In Rudra, Lord shiva is said to be sun. My sister wanted blue for the water. And 'Purple' sheet was added to the materials for sunset. Lord Shiva is depicted purple/blue.

While reading Julie Anand's Q&A about 'What do you learn from students', I was reminded of the meaning that I had just read of shanti mantra om sahana vavatu that we recited everyday at school.








Wednesday, March 6, 2013

What they say

On writing
Some more on writing
Novelists-ebooks challenge fiction rules - Wow. No chapter book. GPS aware books reminds of Chandramukhi Tamil movie with its 'ra ra' Telugu song. When adapted into other regional language, the foreignness of the song was maintained wrt to the language of the whole movie.
There is a joke in Telugu about an object bought in foreign where it only turns out to be 'made in India' brought from a foreign country. Or how about that broken time translation I do to the 'what time is it now in India'. I get the numbers right but not the am/pm.

A persian saying - Dont misjudge pepper by its size.

Writing is like cooking
Writing tips
How to write
Liberating the essay
To spark creativity
Seven rules for managing creative people
Author website tips
Writing tips
blogging tips for authors



Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Find the total area

Survey officer,
a maths problem continued:
found an irregular land
He had split the place
into parts with axial
and spines each forming
a shape whose area
could be easily calculated
by the basic formulas
Then you add them up.

Dictionary

I like tea. More tea, more like. There was some left in the kettle. I waited for my cup to finish. And then there was none. All evaporated by the heat the kettle was on

Boustrophedon.

The Indian plough
rectangular a has
wooden base
on sit to
kids and tired
it on squat teenagers
while the ox
on carry

A colour for a thing

Why are the barks green
or sky blue
Rainbow eucalyptus
would make them all alike
and  that we would not
like

But there are
rainbow trees
in places you havent been
labs of the nature