That’s the correct title for Anna Karenina. I can understand why Tolstoy’s publisher’s marketing people axed the idea. Censorship difficulties. Fear of going viral with the wrong demographic: the church, the Tzar, the Cheka. A woman’s name carries a singular focus along with the chance to slap a pretty face on the cover. Enough to … Continue reading Sex vs ...
A voice in my head demands books from far away places. The less I know of the place, the better. The story becomes the peephole into another human experience. Supposedly different, if not alien to my own. Reading Soyinka or maybe Maupassant started it. The experiences are not always fun. Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” terrifies me. … Continue reading Effects of ...
A disturbing number of people are deluded enough to think I’m smart. They gasp at how I “know everything”. When I tell them that I “just Googled it”, the fact doesn’t register. Even among those who know what Google is. The fact is, I’m a keyboard operator who types in their question into Google. Then … Continue reading Google makes me look good and that’s bad →
Sri Lanka is the world’s dominant economic AND military hyperpower. The recent Sinhala/Tamil new year is a reminder of how a small island dangling off a continent reached such heights – Astrology. Astrology is an integral part of Sri Lankan life. It goes beyond its citizens’ auspicious time and horoscope obsessions (outnumbered 3-1 by expatriate … Continue reading Secret of ...
I’m reading Anna Karenina 4 pages a day to avoid reaching its ending. Lost track of when I started. Despite the gaps, I’ve crawled back to the comforting glow of its words. I never expected to read Tolstoy. Thankfully deleting all social media apps from the phone left me with time for better things. Tolstoy … Continue reading Reading Tolstoy during a plague →
Each century has its horrors. When the years have rolled on, COVID and wars of the last two decades will be seen as this century’s minor acts. History is a diabolical author (to paraphrase Alan Furst). I don’t want to think about what the main act will be. What I’ve become aware of the mountain … Continue reading COVID realisations: privilege and primitiveness →
Donald Friend was a frequent artistic collaborator with Geoffry and Bevis Bawa. Donald Friend was a serial paedophile who gloated about his rapes his diaries (see the section under “Links to sources” below). They are sickening to read. There is no ambiguity, “misunderstanding” about what he did. His evil negates the artistic value of his … Continue reading Paedophile Donald ...
Sri Lanka’s vaccine roll out is sabotaged by the founding core purpose of the Sri Lankan state/bureaucracy: looting and killing. The fact that any vaccinating is happening is an act of defiance against the original DNA of the state bureaucracy. British Empire created a state bureaucracy to facilitate looting. The looting involved extracting resources from … Continue reading History sabotaging ...
As with all things, this plague too will pass. You will have to adapt to new post COVID realities. Some of which mean dealing with pre COVID social realities as well. When that happens, this field tested practical guide will come in handy. It involves the slippery process talking to self-proclaimed free-thinkers. You have to … Continue reading Post COVID ...
I started this blog 14 years ago today. It’s been a long decline since the spike of the early years. In the last few, the posting rate went off the cliff. The odd part is that my writing increased. While the blog’s been quiet, I’ve written more words than ever before. It goes into a … Continue reading Post 850 : 14 years of blogging →
I started listening by accident in 2016. In small steps, it changed me over the years. Like greying hair, the changes took time to notice. When I trace those changes to a trigger, an influence, I’m led to this podcast. The first signs were physical. I started feeling refreshed, energised, focused. Free from the chains … Continue reading How a podcast changed my life →
I stopped watching television somewhere in 2018. In 2019 I unplugged short-form social media from my life. Books and podcasts filled the gaps. Of the two, the podcasts have a direct visceral impact. They changed how I see the world. By contrast, books feed the subconscious. Their effect on my mental landscape happens at a … Continue reading Long form podcasts →
I avoid the sounds of the Mridangam and the Ghatam. I am helpless to their pull. My lapses happen when stumbling on a clip on YouTube. I’m mesmerised. Time freezes. I gape slack jawed at the screen. As the demands and schedules of the day shatter around me. I lack words to describe the overpowering … Continue reading Mridangam Ghatam super powers →
COVID19 exposed me to the different ways people perceive reality. Take my relative in the US. Lets call him PhD uncle because he has one. It got him a nice job in a major global organisation where he applies his knowledge. He has prospered in the role. Travels the world with a first world passport. … Continue reading PhD vs @indica : 2 different COVID19 realities →
Here we go again – another role of the dice. My unfortunate habit of reading history and eavesdropping made me a cynic. A kind I’m trying to un-become. It’s not working. Resulting in words that sneer and despair while failing to sound detached and wise. Thoughts that won’t send anything positive into the world. The … Continue reading Pre Election Post →
Wrote the first draft of this post on a manual typewriter. It’s been a while since I did a typewriter post. Which makes writing about the sensations of using a manual – Lettera 22 – an unavoidable topic for the post in this digital age. The lack of a back space key is obvious. The … Continue reading 1st typewriter blog post for 2020 →