thesocratespot: AAUW : Chapter LXXX : The journey through Pakistan...

thesocratespot: AAUW : Chapter LXXX : The journey through Pakistan...: Annie liked the wobble of the train, the way it shook her shoulders, as she sat reading her Dostoyevsky. Rosie was sleeping and so w...

AAUW : Chapter LXXX : The journey through Pakistan to Istanbul

Annie liked the wobble of the train, the way it shook her shoulders, as she sat reading her Dostoyevsky.

Rosie was sleeping and so was Daniel. These were long days. Travelling across some of the most untravelled zones of the world. Pakistan was an experience she cherished, she had a mix of people, some so good she thought you could give your life for them, others so erudite ( quoting, Ghalib, Khusrau, Qayyam they were virtual encyclopaedias of Islamic thought and literature ) and there were others Aristocrats proud of their legacy with a large Diaspora living outside Pakistan – England, Dubai, Americas even France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium they were all over and that too for nearly 2 centuries – Annie loved Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar – reminded her so much of her days in Calcutta.

Stiff, crowded, smell of food all over, intellectual, fun loving and people and people and people – one could just sit and watch people. Except Islamabad - that reminded her so much about cold war and its menacing military mystiques - But her heart was more inclined to find the soul of the muslim rebel, she wanted to know the mind, the motivation and get to the root of the angst burning – what made them so dangerous ? so suicidal ? so misanthropists?

That’s when she met Zahir.

Zahir was a son of a rich Pakistani family that hailed from Baluchistan but settled in Sindh in Pakistani Punjab. He was a research scholar on Islamic thought and literature, young, impressionable but handsome when he had an argument.

Zahir was tall, very fair, thick long black hair, sharp nose a prominent jaw, lean physic that he carried off very casually. He knew the effect that he had on people but he preferred to keep a very low profile. 

Preferred debates and a solution to – what he called the 5^th war of the Roses .

Zahir, like Annie and Daneil and Rossie , was a world wide traveller – had explored several cultures and was well versed with English, Spanish, German and French. He could speak world literature like others spoke about tea and coffee.

Annie knew that if ever she had anyone who could get to understand her urge to understand the root of ‘muslim angst’ ( a research project she had identified as a part of her new book ) then it could be Zahir.                     

Annie, Daniel, Rossie had invited Zahir to travel along with them to Istanbul. Since Zahir had other engagements he promised meet them at the Istanbul University.

Where Daniel was also contracted to perform and manage a fusion music symphony of Turkish sufi music artist and the Royal Philharmonic band from UK – recreating the story of the Balkans.

They built Istanbul after all.

Zahir was excited and had queried isn’t that forgotten history ? ever since Istanbul was seized by the Ottomans ?       

Daniel in his own quite style just smiled, looking at Annie.

thesocratespot: AAUW : Chapter LXX : Relationship is a Journey, th...

thesocratespot: AAUW : Chapter LXX : Relationship is a Journey, th...: Rosie and Annie were on a trip across what was organised as a walk through the world of Islamic art and Literature. They were travelling a...

AAUW : Chapter LXX : Relationship is a Journey, they may have accidents

Rosie and Annie were on a trip across what was organised as a walk through the world of Islamic art and Literature. They were travelling across Pakistan ( Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar & Islamabad ) , then onto Quetta and Kabul, moving through Mongolia, Turkeministan before ending up in Turkey.  

It was a long journey, but both had agreed to travel by road rather than fly. They entered Pakistan, their first leg, through the Wagah border. Their agents had arranged a series of Litt., fests for them to participate enroute.

They had invited Daniel too. But Daniel accepted to only perform his musical output across select cities that Rosie and Annie were visiting, refused to travel by road.       

Invariably Annie pushed Rosie and Daniel to discuss anything and everything while she made notes – during one such session Annie pushed them to discuss ‘Spiritualism’ – just when they were visiting the Babar’s tomb in Kabul - and to her delight the debate soon became an animated conversation.  

Rosie : The thing about human relationships is that they are all frail and filled with potential accidents. You meet, you love, you laugh, you even cook together – all fine, sooner or later, you may face an accident capable of changing the entire equation. Suddenly the truth is you are no longer compatible, this could be as sudden as the way your relationship started in the very first place – most relationships start with an accident and abruptly with an accident.

Daniel : But, one may ask about Mom & Dad ? they have been married for 50 years ? and still manage a smile ? well, they just have quietly survived several such accidents and yet said , so what ? let’s keep walking.

Rosie : But then that of relationship is a dying breed.

Daniel : Bold, passionate, rebellious, experimental with a sense of revolt and anger built in. Rules are broken, promises are susceptible to subterfuge, faith, loyalty, trust become theoretical  – but no matter what when it comes to commitment of survival – the unsaid rule is we are in it together and we will walk together – if not holding hands – at least sleeping in the same room, together.

Rosie : Materialism is a strange bedfellow among married couples but its corollary is even more strange.  

Daniel : And then there’s spirituality.

Rosie : ( Smiling ) In a material world, spirituality is like a coffee shop. It’s like Starbucks without coffee but replaced with Yoga or a Choir – spirituality too is packaged in the hands of a stylista - the guru is a rock star, an expert gymnast, good at mouthing popular rhetoric, she has a make up room, an air-conditioned vanity van, a fair bit of abracadabra and she makes all the right noises, grooms herself well, has no problems wearing a Rolex, relaxing by the 5 star pool, nursing a vodka shot or visiting the local pub with her disciples just to ensure she has a huge following – she thrives on demagoguery and exploiting stereotypes – all in the name of god.

Daniel : For the uninitiated, that’s a scam. For the guru and the disciples it’s materialism at work. Spirituality is but an excuse.

Rosie : So what is it? Is there anything called true spirituality ?

Daniel : Spirituality used to be a sacred space

Rosie : Ok

Daniel : It was a mechanism of discovering the divine

Annie : Hmmm ( both turn around and smile at her )

Rosie : Divine is such a collective cacophony ! What’s divine really ?

Daniel : In my opinion there’s divine about divine. The feeling is as good as Stephen Hawking theorising the galaxy using physics or a rhetorical yogi expounding the mystery of the Universe – except Stephen Hawking spends hours and years to research, work out mathematical theorems and challenge stalwarts of quantum Physics to develop a new theory of the Universe with no real material expectations.

The Yogi guru’s simply carry out a series of gymnastic exercises and some very contemporary rhetoric to ensure they have a fairly large access to the material world.                       

To me someone like Stephen Hawking is probably is more spiritual than the even the greatest of the great spiritual guru.

Annie : Why are most spiritual gurus so effeminate ? so pancy and so self righteous ? so full of themselves ? why do spiritual gurus detest dissent ? Why do they hate critics? Hate questions about their personality or character ? why do they always end up as sexual predators ?

Rosie looked at Daniel and waited for his reply

Daniel : Position of power can be a great aphrodisiac. And the role of naïve human’s in search of enlightenment can manifest itself into a sort of ‘ spiritual concubinism’ – the devotee and guru turning lovers is but a natural benefit for both.          

Rosie : ( taking a cue from Daniel )

So essentially the spiritual guru is a polygamous, sex addict. Has charisma, rhetoric, gymnastic expertise along with power.

In such an environment is the devotee or are the devotees willing lambs ?

Daniel : Beyond doubt

That's when Annie announced to her Husband Rosie and her dear friend Daniel that she was soon to join a Reiki group once she returns to India - both Rosie and Daneil were too stunned to react. 

AAUW: Chapter LXV : Pappillon

Eavesdropping on a conversation between 2 people. C’mon join me, let’s play god.  

Hola  

Hola ( sleepy )

Como estas ?

Asi Asi

y? tu ?

Mui Bien

Wow

Hahaha

Wot ? ( English )

Est aburidda

Uh oh

Que puedo hacer porti ?

Nada

Oh por que ?

Nada

Por que ??

Nada nada

Que haces ? tey ayudo?

( silence )

Hola hola ? hay algun problema ?

( silence )

Esta tu mujer te late ?

Hahahaha

Hehehe    

 Nada mas hahaha…  

thesocratespot: thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensia...

thesocratespot: thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensia...: thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensian Monologue : The sound of a mosque in the backdrop And a man Getting out of a creak...

thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensian Monologue

thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensian Monologue: The sound of a mosque in the backdrop And a man Getting out of a creaky bed. Ah! Fuck ! Why did I wake up? ask me how much I d...

AAUW: Chapter LXIV : The Dickensian Monologue

The sound of a mosque

in the backdrop

And a man

Getting out of a creaky bed.

Ah! Fuck !

Why did I wake up?

ask me how much I dread to wake up these days?

No, no its not about the mosque … no …

you know especially when the household goes quiet ?

you wake up alone not knowing what to do

after the initial morning rigmaroles

with sounds of people getting ready to go to office?

You are jobless and others are not

Susan and Harry had already left to work.

I woke up since I couldn’t control my shit.

In my head.

Why do you have to wake up ?

when you don’t have a fucking reason to ? wake up?  

But you wake up when you can’t control

your morning shit.  

In the head.

All along I hear a large number of other voices

trying to make themselves heard in the background

She was primary among them

That voice calling out a name ‘Sam’ ( with a longish ‘a’ )

followed by a question

‘you there’ ?

The sound keeps fading in

and fading out

there is also a voice

of a very young girl child

talking ( maybe over mobile phone ? )

in Hindi

repeatedly asking the question

‘ab kya hua?

Kya hum adventure pey nahi jaarey ?

this little girl child’s voice

too keeps fading in

and fading out

and merges with other noises

in the backdrop

most of the sounds are feminine

except one lone male voice

other than mine

I’m the protagonist

In this Dickensian monologue

all voices only call out

one name ‘Sam’

with different intonations

I sit on my potty

Wondering

Why did i wake up ?

thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter : LXIII : question everything, ridic...

thesocratespot: AAUW: Chapter : LXIII : question everything, ridic...: "en est tous des sauvages" went the poster - a wooden board - left dangling on a hanging man's chest On the movie scre...

AAUW: Chapter : LXIII : question everything, ridicule everything ... my dear Aristotle, dearest Aristophanes

"en est tous des sauvages"
went the poster -
a wooden board -
left dangling
on a hanging man's
chest

On the movie screen
they chose french
as the
sauvages

the vicitm
a pawnee

he was left hanging
on a tree branch
so high

yet
the image of the
hanging man's body
seemed to make
each one of us
cringe
looking at the hanging
body

Feel ashamed, low
depraved.

Depraved
of the one quality
we all are striving for

civility
respect
dignity
to every human
we meet
every stranger
we cross
every life
form we encounter

And yet
we are failing
and failing
and failing

despite 2 milleniums
2 MILLENIUMS !!!
2000 YEARS !!!

Of our civilisation !!

we still have within us
pockets
that are as backward
or sometimes
even worse
than what we were
2000
years ago

we still have people
leaders
thinkers
faithfull
believers
who want
nothing short
of
annihilation

wither brother ?

how long ?

AAUW Chapter LXII : death of ideology = death of philosophy ? - Annie & Rosie chat

Rosie : wither , huh? ok!

literature ? it has survived( Pamuk & Co are certainly working hard ) they seem to have a fair supply of angst to grind ... and cinema ? oh! Cinema has , it has (oh awesomely) ... and what about the muses and bards ? what about poetry ? Oh! Poetry too ! man poetry !!! too ! to a certain extent managed the darwinian crisis;

But philosophy ? ... tch tch tch ...poor, poor Philosophy ...poor...poor...philo... hmmm... its dead man, dead !

Don't agree ? well tell me something - whatever , wherever can we find a contemporary Socrates, Plato, Descartes , Kant or even say a Aurobindo, a UG or Jiddu ?? at least a 'Gibran?

Annie : No chance!

Rosie : but hey! hang on ... somehow i have a feeling its actually something else ...something much more complex that's at work ... ok let me enlighten you guys ... philosophy has always been distinctly lead by 'Sociology' and 'Sociology' in turn was the surrogate mother of what we have come to call as 'ideology' ...

But wither ideology ? ideologies ????

Annie : Dead man! Dead !!!!

Marx & Engels man!! you guys may have had it a little skewed but even skewed ideologies can spawn great philosphy ...

Rosie : But what happens when even skewed ideologies (i am talking about birth of new 'thought', thoughts that are capable of ...) too is dead? ( ok,skewed fundamentalism or skewed hegemony is not equivalent to the kind of skewed ideology i am referring to )...and no, no lets not talk about technology and dotcom and facebook etc.,) ...

Annie : So, why ? how? how did we come to this ...?

Could it be attributed to a certain lack of "any" new sociological crisis ? ( or you may even term it as a super successful form of some good quality super wool thrown on all the worlds senses that seems to be at work )?

but we do have several crisis ...war, strife, terrorism, fundamentalism and so on - almost like what it was - but yet ...hmmm...yet ...'philosophical thought' ? DEAD .

And this despite Sociology thriving...(we are as didived as we always were) ...but ...what the ??? we are still face to face with a crisis ...a social crisis...

The death of philosophy ? am i sounding judgemental ?

Rosie : maybe ... but something certainly is at work and something else is certainly dead .

And the corollary - could be a little more worrisome - the demise may also mean that human mind is completely dead too ! hmmm yeah ...totally ...nothing new is true - nothing true is new !!!

Annie : hahahaha 

thesocratespot: Ode to man

thesocratespot: Ode to man: Ultimately is man the answer ? to all of mankinds problems ? issues? I am the adventurer the explorer and I'm the one taking ...

Ode to man

Ultimately is man the answer ?
to all of mankinds problems ?

issues?

I am the adventurer
the explorer
and
I'm the one
taking the risks

I walk the peak
no mountain
can speak

Alaska

Here I come

I travel to the South pole
and then tomorrow
I'm walking to the North
pole

I will face blizzards
fight the grizzly's
combat death

Like a revenant
return

I will

brave the ocean
surivive a storm
starve to feed
fight to elevate

Like a revenant
i return
i will

Fly beyond
to walk on the moon
then land on Mars

return

I will

Like a revenant
I keep
my spirit alive

Free will

But never allow a moment
to stop exploring

Is man the
greatest ?

Greater than
his mother ?
his love?
his heart ?

Is man's passion
at the bottom of
progress ?

At the bottom
 of life ?

When death comes
I already know
how to live

on raw meat
fight nature
beat vengeance
burn money
and yet spare
the planet ?