Robert Pirosh wrote on wanting to become a Hollywood screenwriter

A letter that copywriter Robert Pirosh wrote on wanting to become a Hollywood screenwriter.

Dear Sir:

I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave "V" words,such as Svengali,svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty. I like sullen, crabbed, scowling words, such as skulk, glower, scabby, churl. I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land's-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid. I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon. I like wormy, squirmy, mealy words, such as crawl, blubber, squeal, drip. I like sniggly, chuckling words, such as cowlick, gurgle, bubble and burp.

I like the word screenwriter better than copywriter, so I decided to quit my job in a New York advertising agency and try my luck in Hollywood, but before taking the plunge I went toEurope for a year of study, contemplation and horsing around.

I have just returned and I still like words.

May I have a few with you?


Source: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/ggu6u6 

Phobia of a sort

Each morning, when I wake up, there is a passionate desire and energy in my veins to improve the world and enjoy zillion moments of so-called simple human life. But, it is extremely difficult to make successful plans on any given day and not everything is in our control.

It was bright, and sunny, clear blue sky above somewhere very high in the sky. Looking outside my glassy window, I was just thinking if I would ever make it to the earth and, whenever the whisper was “maybe”, I felt much more terrified. 

This morning was different as I woke up thousands of feet above the ground level hovering, within my airplane’s back seat. There was a flight entertainment system that displayed distance to destination and estimated arrival time, and I was simply looking at it. As a Nepali engineer, the problems that I am trying to solve might not create ‘ripple effect’ in the entire universe, nor will it be covered by major media outlets, and who cares if I am simply terrified 5,000 feet above the ground level. 

I know nobody cares, but I do care about my fear. While flying, I cannot simply hover around and look at the scenic beauty of clouds, but I always find myself mixed between these non-linking thoughts. There is a sense of anxiety while flying, which I was trying to smoothen with my life’s uselessness. Not only am I filled with ‘what if’ questions but also with the sense of tremendous fear and lonesomeness. Some alarming questions that pop-up in my mind: what happens if I die flying; what if I will never land on the ground; what happens to my life’s earnings; what happens to my poor family; who will take care of my beloved wife and what not.

No way, it was not my first flying experience. Many people suffer from the fear of flying. People say that they are fearful when they are inexperienced and when they travel more, it just transforms into a habit, and then they feel less anxious. However, my journey into the air has always just been the opposite. Unlike those who never fear flying, I have been most fearful while flying. There are unnecessary thoughts and feelings that are extremely difficult to eradicate. No one is left alone, either in the sky or on land. Everybody is part of this big Mother Nature, and we have to adjust our feelings based on the changing circumstances and requirements. Some consolation comes from reading recent flight traffic data: more than 30 million people fly every day. Indeed, I am not alone. 

Roosevelt once pointed out that the “only thing we have to fear is the fear itself.” But every time I think of flying modern commercial airlines, I feel humankind has transformed.

Published: The Himalayan Times

Life’s like that

JAN 03 -
When I was a child, they told me that Nepal had big potential in hydropower. Now when I am adult, I realise that what they teach in theory and what is realised in practice are quite contrary. In a country where there the sun smiles all around the year, power cuts and load-shedding have aroused only problems for all. I am frustrated with power cuts. My resolutions are like dark empty muddy vessels. They contain neither water nor air; they are filled with subjective experiences of humankind such as dreams, hopes and aspirations.

Some of my friends have said that they may give up smoking or alcohol, which seems to be rather good news. They also wish to visit luxurious holiday spots like Pokhara or Chitwan. As far as I am concerned, I do not necessarily have any plans. What would I do with my personal plans when problems associated with me and my country are increasing every day? Many can use power backup systems such as inverters, batteries and generators to solve the energy crisis. But for those who cannot afford them, they just have to wait patiently and pray for a miracle.

If you go over religious books, darkness in every scripture is regarded as evil. Darkness is not only mere absence of light, it is presence of light unseen by our eyes. Moreover, what our eyes do not see is always hard to believe. How am I supposed to believe that someday my motherland will have no crisis? Many scholars, scientists and researchers have taught us to live on a moment and enjoy life. The Buddha taught that suffering is inevitable; no one escapes from the burden of suffering. Einstein said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

I think I should go rather easy on whatever comes along in my life. In my opinion, problems and people associated with one’s country are the same. It is important to note that we are not only facing electricity problems but also many social, economic and technological problems. We cannot avoid the problems of our country or our individual problems. I hope that during the year that has just started, we can see some light in the darkness.

A friend asked, “What do I wish for the new year?” And I said, “I wish to learn effectively that life is short so that I will love unconditionally, smile regularly, regret nothing, listen carefully, laugh aloud, live strongly, burn candles, share happiness and waste no time. Most importantly, I also wish the same for everybody and their motherland.”

Posted on: 2012-01-04 09:59

Published: The Kathmandu Post

Writings of Andre Dubus II:

All these truths and quasi-truths…about publishing are finally ephemeral…What is demanding and fulfilling is writing a single word, trying to write le mote juste, as Flaubert said; writing several of them, which become a sentence.

When a writer does that, day after day, working alone with litter encouragement, often with discouragement flowing in the writer’s own blood, and with an occasional rush of excitement... the treasure is on the desk. 

If the manuscript itself, mailed out to the world, where other truths prevail, is never published, the writer will suffer bitterness, sorrow, anger, and more dangerously, despair… 

But the writer who endures and keeps working will finally know that writing the book was something hard and glorious, for at the desk a writer must try to be free of prejudice, and hatred,; strive to be a better human being than the writer normally is, and to do this through concentration on a single word, and then another, and another.

This is splendid work, as worthy and demanding as any, and the will and resilience to do it are good for the writer’s soul.

My First Novel

I just finished writing my first novel named, "The Monk Who Changed My Life..." will be published by Mahaveer publishers in near future. It was nice experience to talk with the character in the Novel.

I do hope that the publishers will do their part of editing, proofreading, structure, and cross-checking appropriately.

I don't know when the book will be available and when they will finalize it but I know for sure that they should publish it.

So thumps up for finishing my first novel. I do hope that my readers will enjoy reading this novel. Let us see how this journey follows.

Weep not for me

Do not weep for me when I no longer dwell
among the wonders of the earth; for my larger
self is free, and my soul rejoices on the other
side of pain…on the other side of darkness.
Do not weep for me, for I am a ray of sunshine
that touches your skin, a tropical breeze
upon your face, the hush of joy within your heart
and the innocence of babes in mothers arms.
I am the hope in a darkened night. And, in your
hour of need, I will be there to comfort you.
I will share your tears, your joys, your fears,
your disappointments and your triumphs.
Do not weep for me, for I am cradled
in the arms of God. I walk with the angels,
and hear the music beyond the stars.
Do not weep for me, for I am within you;
I am peace, love, I am a soft wind that caresses
the flowers. I am the calm that follows a
raging storm. I am an autumns leaf that floats
among the garden of God, and I am pure
white snow that softly falls upon your hand.
Do not weep for me, for I shall never die,
as long as you remember me…
with a smile and a sigh.

iRIP to Steve

Couple of weeks ago, I was reading the biography about Steve. Forget about couple of weeks ago, I was just checking steve’s biography in itunes store for pre-order and after just some 7 hours, I hear this sad news that steve is no more. 

Today is great day not for his death. This is the day when biggest festival is observed in Hindu called, Dashain and on today’s day, one of the greatest iconic figure of computer world is dead. He has reserved his place in the heaven, right from the beginning of his era. A great showman in geeky world, a genius in innovation and informatics, if you will

A man who will not only be remembered for his mind boggling innovation such as, iPod, iTunes, iTouch, iPhone, iPad, iDeath, and iRIP.

Everybody born has to die someday and steve said it right when he said, 

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Good bye Steve, hope to catch you someday…

iRIP.

Earthquake Disaster—Prevention or cure

I am really sorry for all those people who have been severely affected from the very recent 6.8 quake that hit in the capital, as well as in northern Nepal- India border. As, we are all aware from the world news that natural disaster (for example, tsunami in Japan, volcanoes in Iceland, tornadoes in America and whatnot) is happening all over the world.  Millions of people all over the world have been affected with the natural disaster. The bad news is that we cannot do anything about them. But, the good news is that we can take steps to reduce the casualties and injuries caused by them. 

Earthquake does not necessarily cause damages. It is just a shifting of plates beneath the surface of the earth.  What causes damage are the objects that are build on the top of it, and the ways in which, they are designed or build.  The damage is more severe when people start to feel fear and lose their night’s sleep.

In Kathmandu, we have build houses like stray dogs. There are no empty places even for pedestrians. The scattered arrangement of houses and buildings can be best seen from the window of a domestic airliner. Anywhere you go, you can find just materialistic buildings, ranging from small hut to big bungalows. There are old, traditional houses that are not repaired for several hundred years. 

One thing that worries me little is the influx of people from different parts of remote villages to the capital, is rapidly growing daily. We have started to live more, with the less, and there can be great debate on this topic on our expectations from the city, or from Kathmandu-ties living morality. 

Another thing that worries me little is about the recent news on “the end of the world” in 2012. But the NASA scientists based on their scientific facts and understanding has clearly reported that earth will not end in 2012 so we can firmly believe them.  However, scientific knowledge is always limited and we cannot make righteous prediction on the Nature or, the happenings caused by the mother earth.

To minimize casualties of natural disaster is not easy. Since we have limited scientific instruments, and we are lot busy in our own political quagmire—a change in political leaders, an indecisive meetings, providing zero outcome, war of various ideologies, ethnicity and dogmas among different political leaders and pundits. If only we have knowledge prior to natural disaster (e.g. earthquake prediction system) then we can minimize casualties and moreover, we can prepare for it, well-in-advance. 

Some wise man has rightly said that “prevention is better than a cure”. Therefore, being a cyberpunk and reporting a casualty in social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+) is important, what is more important is, to take measures to reduce casualties by making appropriate decision while designing or building your sweet homes.

Center for Internet Addiction: Internet Addiction Among College Students: 10 Star...

Center for Internet Addiction: Internet Addiction Among College Students: 10 Star...: It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a college campus that doesn’t have Internet. College students use the Internet for resea...

The Broken Heart

The good news for Nepal and Nepalese is that we have recruited new PM—again, this time an intellectual PM with a doctoral degree. The bad news is that only three months of extension is given to our new PM to draft a constitution of federal democratic of Nepal.  Like many ordinary Nepalese, I am, too, hopeful that Dr. Baburam Bhattarai will live-up to the people’s expectation.  In the midst of political quagmire, I am writing this for all the broken heart people who fall in trap of being in love and later are heartbroken. According to one simple belief, everybody falls in love once in their life-time.  Some fall in love with politics, other fall in love with religion. Some may also fall in love with literature and some may just never fall in love, like me. It seems that falling in love is quite easy. But, to remain falling entire life-time, is difficult. Pardon me for my not-so-open feelings on love. It is extremely hard to remain in love for longer period of time. Scientific experiments on large number of couples have demonstrated that a stronger relationship may not last more than two years of time.  Like just-living, just being in relationship is not enough. Why? Simply because if you are just being in relationship then there is higher chance that your relationship will break at some point in time. The current data suggests that majority of the people get divorce in later part of their lives, especially in West. The same fact is trending in our developing world, as well. People are starting to live independently. One person loss is another person’s gain and another person who is gaining popularity these days are self-help authors. Thousands of self-help books are sold on happiness, love, relationship, sadness, despair, anxiety, addiction, and dog-mantra and sex guru. However, not everything that is written is based on scientific merit and truthfulness, not everything that we trust can be trusted in our modern tech-savvy society. As our present day activity swings from Facebooking, Tweeing, and YouTubing , every passing seconds many relationships mode is changing from “In a Relationship” to “Single” and vice-versa.  Many news-makers have written on heartbreak, they all report that “escapism” is the good way to deal with the problems of broken relationship but, I don’t agree. Based on my personal experiences, I feel that the problem with the broken-heart lies not merely on psychological level but also on neurological level resulting in depression, anger, frustration, anxiety, stress, suicidal-thoughts, hatred, anguish, loathing etc.  If your heart is broken once, you can try fixing by loving with another person. But if your heart breaks, repeatedly, what solutions do you suggest? Live, die, commit suicide, try more, forget it. Unlike romantic love and heartbreak, in our national politics also, many PM have broken our heart by not drafting the constitution on time, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai is yet another hope, hopefully not the last.

Hope you will come back soon...

Since you are gone, my world is black; I can see only grey
how can human be killed by her heart?
I don't feel like crying, I don't need to pray,
because I don't believe in Jesus or God, and I never will
Everyone got their problems, mine is so far away
how she can still be so close on me?
I miss you, but only for a while
I have felt lot of pain and sorrow,
maybe I'll become numb tomorrow,
'cause there shouldn't be so much feelings.
I've seen these spoiled souls, around me,
but you were never one of those
you don't need to bring me Mountains,
gifts or anything
Just bring yourself back to my arms,
that is more than enough, my only love, my soul
where are you gone all these days?

David Foster Wallace commencement speech

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"

If you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise old fish explaining what water is, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude - but the fact is that, in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death importance. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. So let's get concrete ...

A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here's one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute centre of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic self-centredness, because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much the same for all of us, deep down. It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: there is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute centre of. The world as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real - you get the idea. But please don't worry that I'm getting ready to preach to you about compassion or other-directedness or the so-called "virtues". This is not a matter of virtue - it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centred, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.

By way of example, let's say it's an average day, and you get up in the morning, go to your challenging job, and you work hard for nine or ten hours, and at the end of the day you're tired, and you're stressed out, and all you want is to go home and have a good supper and maybe unwind for a couple of hours and then hit the rack early because you have to get up the next day and do it all again. But then you remember there's no food at home - you haven't had time to shop this week, because of your challenging job - and so now, after work, you have to get in your car and drive to the supermarket. It's the end of the workday, and the traffic's very bad, so getting to the store takes way longer than it should, and when you finally get there the supermarket is very crowded, because of course it's the time of day when all the other people with jobs also try to squeeze in some grocery shopping, and the store's hideously, fluorescently lit, and infused with soul-killing Muzak or corporate pop, and it's pretty much the last place you want to be, but you can't just get in and quickly out: you have to wander all over the huge, overlit store's crowded aisles to find the stuff you want, and you have to manoeuvre your junky cart through all these other tired, hurried people with carts, and of course there are also the glacially slow old people and the spacey people and the kids who all block the aisle and you have to grit your teeth and try to be polite as you ask them to let you by, and eventually, finally, you get all your supper supplies, except now it turns out there aren't enough checkout lanes open even though it's the end-of-the-day rush, so the checkout line is incredibly long, which is stupid and infuriating, but you can't take your fury out on the frantic lady working the register.

Anyway, you finally get to the checkout line's front, and pay for your food, and wait to get your cheque or card authenticated by a machine, and then get told to "Have a nice day" in a voice that is the absolute voice of death, and then you have to take your creepy flimsy plastic bags of groceries in your cart through the crowded, bumpy, littery parking lot, and try to load the bags in your car in such a way that everything doesn't fall out of the bags and roll around in the trunk on the way home, and then you have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intensive rush-hour traffic, etc, etc.

The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing comes in. Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home, and it's going to seem, for all the world, like everybody else is just in my way, and who are all these people in my way? And look at how repulsive most of them are and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem here in the checkout line, or at how annoying and rude it is that people are talking loudly on cell phones in the middle of the line, and look at how deeply unfair this is: I've worked really hard all day and I'm starved and tired and I can't even get home to eat and unwind because of all these stupid goddamn people.

Or if I'm in a more socially conscious form of my default setting, I can spend time in the end-of-the-day traffic jam being angry and disgusted at all the huge, stupid, lane-blocking SUVs and Hummers and V12 pickup trucks burning their wasteful, selfish, 40-gallon tanks of gas, and I can dwell on the fact that the patriotic or religious bumper stickers always seem to be on the biggest, most disgustingly selfish vehicles driven by the ugliest, most inconsiderate and aggressive drivers, who are usually talking on cell phones as they cut people off in order to get just 20 stupid feet ahead in a traffic jam, and I can think about how our children's children will despise us for wasting all the future's fuel and probably screwing up the climate, and how spoiled and stupid and disgusting we all are, and how it all just sucks ...

If I choose to think this way, fine, lots of us do - except that thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic it doesn't have to be a choice. Thinking this way is my natural default setting. It's the automatic, unconscious way that I experience the boring, frustrating, crowded parts of adult life when I'm operating on the automatic, unconscious belief that I am the centre of the world and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world's priorities. The thing is that there are obviously different ways to think about these kinds of situations. In this traffic, all these vehicles stuck and idling in my way: it's not impossible that some of these people in SUVs have been in horrible car accidents in the past and now find driving so traumatic that their therapist has all but ordered them to get a huge, heavy SUV so they can feel safe enough to drive; or that the Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he's trying to rush to the hospital, and he's in a much bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am - it is actually I who am in his way.

Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're "supposed to" think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it's hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you're like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat-out won't want to. But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her little child in the checkout line - maybe she's not usually like this; maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of her husband who's dying of bone cancer, or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the Motor Vehicles Dept who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a nightmarish red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it's also not impossible - it just depends on what you want to consider. If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important - if you want to operate on your default setting - then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying. But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars - compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: the only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.

Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship - be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles - is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things - if they are where you tap real meaning in life - then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already - it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. Worship power - you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart - you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.

The insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the "rat race" - the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.

I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness - awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water."

· Adapted from the commencement speech the author gave to a graduating class at Kenyon College, Ohio

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction

Living on the Edge

Lyrics:

There's something wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes

We're seeing things in a different way
And God knows it ain't His
It sure ain't no surprise
(YA!)

(Chorus)
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edgeWe're livin' on the edge

There's someting wrong with the world today
The lightbulb's gettin' dimmed
There's meltdown in the sky

If you can judge a wise man
By the color of his skin
Then mister, you're a better man than I

(Chorus)
We're Livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself at aaaaaaaall!
Livin' on the edge
You can't stop yourself from faaaaaaaallin'
Livin' on the edge


Tell me what you think about our sit-u-a-tion
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you

If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it wasn't would you still come crawling
Back again - I bet you would my friend
Again & Again & Again & Again & Again

Tell me what you think about our situation
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you

If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it was would you still come crawling
Back again - I bet you would my friend
Again & Again & Again & Again

Something right with the world today
And everybody knows it's wrong
But we can tell 'em no
Or we could let it go
But I would rather be a hanging on

(Chorus)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

(Repeat Chorus)

The destructive male by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I urge a sixteenth amendment, because 'manhood suffrage,' or a man's government, is civil, religious, and social disorganization. The male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish, aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and death. See what a record of blood and cruelty the pages of history reveal! Through what slavery, slaughter, and sacrifice, through what inquisitions and imprisonments, pains and persecutions, black codes and gloomy creeds, the soul of humanity has struggled for the centuries, while mercy has veiled her face and all hearts have been dead alike to love and hope!

The male element has held high carnival thus far; it has fairly run riot from the beginning, overpowering the feminine element everywhere, crushing out all the diviner qualities in human nature, until we know but little of true manhood and womanhood, of the latter comparatively nothing, for it has scarce been recognized as a power until within the last century. Society is but the reflection of man himself, untempered by woman's thought; the hard iron rule we feel alike in the church, the state, and the home. No one need wonder at the disorganization, at the fragmentary condition of everything, when we remember that man, who represents but half a complete being, with but half an idea on every subject, has undertaken the absolute control of all sublunary matters.

People object to the demands of those whom they choose to call the strong-minded, because they say 'the right of suffrage will make the women masculine.' That is just the difficulty in which we are involved today. Though disfranchised, we have few women in the best sense; we have simply so many reflections, varieties, and dilutions of the masculine gender. The strong, natural characteristics of womanhood are repressed and ignored in dependence, for so long as man feeds woman she will try to please the giver and adapt herself to his condition. To keep a foothold in society, woman must be as near like man as possible, reflect his ideas, opinions, virtues, motives, prejudices, and vices. She must respect his statutes, though they strip her of every inalienable right, and conflict with that higher law written by the finger of God on her own soul.

She must look at everything from its dollar-and-cent point of view, or she is a mere romancer. She must accept things as they are and make the best of them. To mourn over the miseries of others, the poverty of the poor, their hardships in jails, prisons, asylums, the horrors of war, cruelty, and brutality in every form, all this would be mere sentimentalizing. To protest against the intrigue, bribery, and corruption of public life, to desire that her sons might follow some business that did not involve lying, cheating, and a hard, grinding selfishness, would be arrant nonsense.

In this way man has been molding woman to his ideas by direct and positive influences, while she, if not a negation, has used indirect means to control him, and in most cases developed the very characteristics both in him and herself that needed repression. And now man himself stands appalled at the results of his own excesses, and mourns in bitterness that falsehood, selfishness, and violence are the law of life. The need of this hour is not territory, gold mines, railroads, or specie payments but a new evangel of womanhood, to exalt purity, virtue, morality, true religion, to lift man up into the higher realms of thought and action.

We ask woman's enfranchisement, as the first step toward the recognition of that essential element in government that can only secure the health, strength, and prosperity of the nation. Whatever is done to lift woman to her true position will help to usher in a new day of peace and perfection for the race.

In speaking of the masculine element, I do not wish to be understood to say that all men are hard, selfish, and brutal, for many of the most beautiful spirits the world has known have been clothed with manhood; but I refer to those characteristics, though often marked in woman, that distinguish what is called the stronger sex. For example, the love of acquisition and conquest, the very pioneers of civilization, when expended on the earth, the sea, the elements, the riches and forces of nature, are powers of destruction when used to subjugate one man to another or to sacrifice nations to ambition.

Here that great conservator of woman's love, if permitted to assert itself, as it naturally would in freedom against oppression, violence, and war, would hold all these destructive forces in check, for woman knows the cost of life better than man does, and not with her consent would one drop of blood ever be shed, one life sacrificed in vain.

With violence and disturbance in the natural world, we see a constant effort to maintain an equilibrium of forces. Nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain and valley, each in its place, to hush the angry winds and waves, balance the extremes of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony, and beauty may reign supreme. There is a striking analogy between matter and mind, and the present disorganization of society warns us that in the dethronement of woman we have let loose the elements of violence and ruin that she only has the power to curb. If the civilization of the age calls for an extension of the suffrage, surely a government of the most virtuous educated men and women would better represent the whole and protect the interests of all than could the representation of either sex alone.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton - 1868

Nowhere to be found

Reflections on the lost cell-phone

My wife recently lost her newly purchased Nokia mobile handset, while using the public transport. But, what is the fuss? Every day, people either lose something or gain

something, and for my wife it was no different — she just lost a mobile handset of about 50k, which I had gifted on her birthday.

No, I am not upset about it; neither had I scolded her as any semi-intelligent husband might have done in such a situation. All right, the big worry is that I am waiting for the lost mobile set to return. As if any wise husband would do, I am waiting for the person who might have found the mobile handset, to return it. It has been a long wait already, and I am still wondering, why the woman operator after dialling into her number says, “the number you have dialled is switched off”. Maybe, the lost mobile phone has been by someone, I mean some human (not monkey), who has voluntarily switched off the mobile phone.

Mobile technology has progressed vastly in recent years. It has been upgraded with performance, battery life, operating system, child safety, camera and what not. Nevertheless, it still lacks traceable technology (suitable enough to find it) when a person loses it involuntarily. On the other hand, consumers do not always necessarily record their phone’s IMEI number —which is a unique manufactured number given for each handset. If this number is known, one might possibly track their expensive handset. I put “possibly” because I am no mobile expert and this in surely not my domain of research.

Some mobile operators also give special services to their customer when they lose their SIM card. After this bitter mobile losing experience, I found that one could visit the mobile service operator’s office and ask for the same SIM card. How can I not bring forth philosophical ideologies of Buddha and our Nepalese stereotype in this context? Why are you saying that you are a Nepalese, if you do not obey the teachings of Buddha? Some of his moral attributes: honesty, loyalty and bravery are three pillars of our Nepalese individualism.

Meanwhile, I do want to make a point on honesty and loyalty. People lose their belongings daily, and those who find them would never like to return them. Why? Never mind, I have to re-consider buying her a new handset.



Published: The Himalayan Times
Editorial section: Topics

Added At:  2011-07-05 10:25 PM

Last Updated At: 2011-07-06 10:25 PM

Intellectual dishonesty

This refers to Mr. Biswas Baral's The plagiarist (June 30).

Plagiarism is a real issue of the world. I do not mean to be disrespectful toward the writer but the truth is that ideas and words are not the same. Ideas are bigger concepts derived from intellectual insight that does not need any words. It can be discussed, revised and recorded in any forms whatsoever. On the contrary, words are always naked.

Having taken bits-and-pieces from some source and naming them does not impair the originality of article, Yet, by simply giving credits to other authors, the writer seems to be valuing himself. Intellectualism comes from accepting and realizing the fact that there are bigger ideas and better individuals working on the tings you would ever have imagined.

Santosh Kalwar

via myrepublica.com

Published: Letter to Editor
04-07-2011
Republica

TB or not TB

This stage in my life is called “taking drugs”. I am taking drugs, not illegal drugs, but medicinal drugs that are vital to eradicate tuberculosis. Wow, good for you, mate, that is what smoking can cause you.

On the one hand, we can always enjoy smoking cigarettes and a number of other drugs like marijuana and other illegal pills and drugs; but on the other hand, this causes severe lung damage.

So be it.

According to my highly acclaimed Finnish doctor, I am now at a stage where my lungs have been infected by bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The good old doctor suggests that the bacteria can be contracted in several ways, not only by smoking fancy cigarettes. You can get it by coming into contact with air droplets from sneezing and coughing by infected people. Despite many causes, I can only point my finger at smoking because that one has lasted for 18 good years. And I know many folks out here who do it for fun and to share the enjoyment or to pass the time. Although I want to recommend stopping or reducing smoking, I fear you will not because I did not too.

Some years ago, I wrote an article in the Post Platform entitled, “I used to smoke”. In the article, I clearly mentioned the ups and downs of smoking; but I think many things have changed since then. Everyday, people smoke, and cigarette companies are bringing out new brands of cigarettes with skillful marketing.

A majority of the people got into the smoking habit at a very young age. When I started, I was just seven or eight years old. Later on, it became an everyday habit (addiction, I would say) with friends admiring the techniques and the beautiful ways in which the smoke would come out of the mouth. Adults too find it rather fascinating when they see Bollywood or Hollywood actors smoking in a movie.

As I can see for myself, mind you, smoking is, was and will be never cool. There is a good old saying in Nepali, “Ki parera janinchha, ki padhera janinchha” (one learns by doing or by reading). I hope that you will learn from my bitter experience that smoking gives more pain in the long term than it does in the short enjoyment of a puff. Our government has also introduced a new regulation banning smoking in several public places that is highly appreciated. Although many pundits would argue about that issue, I personally appreciate the government’s move to ban smoking in public places.

Life teaches us many lessons we need to survive. Among many other lessons, one lesson I have learnt and can never forget wholly is “never smoke again, during my poor and painful lifespan”.

Published: The Kathmandu Post

Source: ekantipur.com
Posted on: 2011-06-24 08:23

A poem

Ding dong the bell !
I have come to tell,
Life is, love is, friendship is,
God is, poet is, ...

Like a passing along of clouds,
While my window opens up, and speaks, aloud
Think passion, and soul searching
Ding dong, not the hell!

She is weeping, and I don't know, what to say,

She is weeping
and I don't know what to say,
she is not talking
and I don't know what to hear,

She stopped loving
and I don't know how to react,
she hates me now,
and I don't know to fight back,

she is sad,
and I don't know why,

family problems are harder to solve,
relationship are most difficult puzzle,
love cannot always treat love

and I don't know what to say,

Should I try trying,
by understanding root cause of
The Problem

Or, should I giver her some space,
As I lay dying in the bed,

I don't know
and I think these women creatures are
never meant to be understood
and never can be ever understood

Maybe, I should just lay dying in the bed
and wish, she will find
lovely, new, humble, problem-free, ever-happy,
laughing, caring and insufferable soul.

But, right now,
She is weeping,
and I don't  know, what to say,