Lord I'm 400 Years From My Home
(So this is a followup of sorts to my previous column in this space - I wrote it as my regular contribution to 3 Quarks Daily.)
Dilip D'Souza: Death Ends Fun
Independent writer, Bombay
The mask does a job
So by the standards of our galaxy and universe, the star Alpha Centauri - actually three stars, but I'll return to that - is very close to us indeed. In fact, of all the billions of stars out there, it is the closest to us Earthlings. Yet that mention should not have you polishing your shoes in anticipation of an imminent visit there.
About staying in position, and understanding
Going to college in rural Rajasthan, I've always felt, was an education. But not so much because of the engineering and so forth I learned (or didn't learn, more like it) there. It was an education, above all, about this country I live in.
To burst or not to burst
There's a particular astronomical phenomenon that we have been observing only for the last couple of decades - and especially frequently in the last five or six years. We observe it, but we don't fully understand it.
All things being inequal
In Bombay, India's largest city, you will find what is frequently called the world's most expensive residence. That edifice belongs to Mukesh Ambani and his family. That man, of course, is routinely at or near the top of lists of the world's richest human beings. I don't have any idea of his worth, but it's a lot.
I Understand You've Been Running From The Man
(Note: I mentioned that I'm starting a new column for 3 Quarks Daily. This was my first effort, which aired last week.)
Sark: Leave and Return
On Sark, you'll find the "Old Hall". It's called that because there's a New (Town) Hall nearby - then again, everything on Sark is nearby - and the Old (Town) Hall is now a cheerful pub/restaurant. "It's got a good chef," said Linda, my host on the island, whereas "the New Hall serves pizza and sandwiches."
Fork in the road
Rule of thumb: when a politician mocks another politician's eating habits, it means he (the first politician) is running scared of him (the second). (Change to she/her as appropriate.)
3QD
June 28
Superb, for an unusually long time
One of the joys of the place I call home is the African tulip tree right outside our balcony. Scientifically, in case you're scratching your chin and wondering, that's Spathodea campanulata. At this time of the year, it is awash with those African tulips, bright red/orange beauties. From certain angles, they resemble bells, which accounts for the campanulata - Latin for "bell-shaped".
Brooding, I am
It's been a few days of constant brooding. Four different tragedies have each imprinted themselves on me. I can't stop turning them over and over in my mind, they leave me with questions I can't answer, emotions I struggle with.
Makes me happy
Just over two weeks ago, we landed in Lisbon, right into the catastrophic electricity shutdown across Spain and Portugal. We had no idea as we landed, of course. Once diembarked, we got on a bus that wound its way towards the terminal building ... and then we were stuck for half an hour. Nobody had any idea what was happening. A few police cars raced past, busy-looking airport staff walked briskly past, but nobody said anything to our driver, let alone the dozens of us passengers.
Four Garins in Paladru
Paladru is a village in southeastern France, not far from the Alps and the Italian border. It sits on the northern tip of the long and pretty Lac de Paladru, site of some pioneering underwater archaeological excavations. The findings are detailed in an elegant little museum, Musée archéologique du lac de Paladru (MALP), on the lakeshore. They show that people have settled in this area going back to the Neolithic era.
Ghosted
Some of you know that I've been in a short story writing course over the last couple of months. Intense, fabulous experience. Now over. The final submission is a 3000-word story. Here it is. I'd love to hear what you think. (This also means that I hope to return to more regular writing here. Hold me to it.)
They think, therefore I am
In mid-March, I got email from a student at my alma mater, BITS Pilani (the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, in Pilani, Rajasthan). This is part of her message:
Twenty. Eighty.
(Backstory: I'm taking a fiction writing course. A couple of weeks ago, one of our assignments was this: "Draft a short story that makes uses of ekphrasis. There is just one stipulation: there must be a moment of ‘stillness’ in your story." I had no idea what "ekphrasis" was before this course: "the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device." So anyway, I used the work of art, above, that hangs on a wall in our house, and wrote what follows.)
No dogs near Yermo
Somewhere near Yermo, California, the top story in the Desert Dispatch that morning says, a woman was attacked by dogs and killed.
Windy. But sometimes not
There's a fascinating website that, by default, shows our Earth "upside-down" from the view we're familiar with. That is, the South Pole is on top, though you can move the image as you wish.
They also sing who only stand and listen
For some months, we've been awoken each morning by the song of a funky little bird called a Fantail Flycatcher. The thing is, we can hear the little fellow(s), but we're never able to actually see him (them) as they sing.
Wildfires and their peculiar science
As I write this, the danger from the fires in Los Angeles seems over and the world has moved on to other tragic disasters. You know: stampede at the Kumbh Mela. Air crash in Washington. Air crash in Philadelphia. Etc.