Lake Assad and Melancholy

Friday evening we got to lake Assad. It was immense to say the least. It looked like a sea. Which is why maybe it made me feel melancholic. So here I was trying to analyse why? Was it because I had an overkill of seas/beaches as a child? I mean I do remember holiday after holiday being spent in goa/ daman/ ullal etc, and of course there was the infamous jellyfish. Then there was the Goa trip from RV, which was a bit wierd because of the feeling that we didnt know when we would see a lot of people again. Of course there was the other thing as well.

At the same time, looking at the lake was quite calming, I will admit. The weekend was absolutely perfect, what with the Euphrates, the ruins and the amazing sunset at Lake Assad.

Fringe Musings # 2

over the last three days i have seen three very different one woman/man plays. The first was about Rachel Carson, well actually it was her ghost telling us her story, and its relevance in 2008. the second one was about this girl in her mid twenties i guess, who has bipolar disorder. The third was about the Iraqi immigrant and how he is not accepted as part of mainstream society. I enjoyed them for very different reasons.
The first one was a throwback to memories of doing EVS in RV, and of the passionate person I once used to be instead of the cynic I have now turned into. The woman was really good, and the play itself was well written. All of them in fact were very well written.
The third one was relevant to the society i am living in at the moment. I guess it is true that however comfortable I feel here I will be an outsider. So I guess my quest for finding a place where I am at peace with myself continues. maybe, just maybe it might be Damascus.
Now, the second one. I almost didn't by the ticket for this. I thought it might be hard. Parts were actually quite funny. But, I felt something, something that is perhaps better left unsaid.

-----------------
In a way this blog is quite tragic. There. Just had to say it.

Fringe Musings

So, its been a really long time since I posted. But in the last few days, have seen 3 plays that have been really good, and have each made me think about certain issues.

On Thursday, despite getting on the wrong bus and getting lost, managed to reach Traverse on time. (Quite like Traverse there is something nice about it). The play was 'Free Outgoing'. It is written by Anupama Chandrasekhar, and is inspired I think by the DPS MMS case. I was intrigued because The Times described it as 'Pacey and absorbing… Strikingly conveys the opposition at the heart of modern India.' I am usually skeptical of things that provoke such responses, but this play was really very good, and for me raised two issues. The first had to do with the scavenger mentality of media in India. And the second was really to do with morality and what is right. It just made me about how my family would react if I found myself in a unexpected situation (not an MMS of course, because I would never let that happen, but something unexpected nonetheless). I like to think that I come from a liberarl family. But, I do wonder if these liberal values would stand strong when they need to be applied to one's own backyard. Its always easier to preach than to practice, and sometimes I feel like my family is full of preachers and no practicers.

of Baudrillard, and some things Egyptian

well... being the monkey of a pretentious student, some stuff rubs off on me. i find pleasure in flicking through the pages of that dreaded Norton, which hasn't been touched for a year. and i came upon Baudrillard. Some fun stuff... really. 'The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it.' So there is nothing real, only representations of it. So that means I, Bandy, do not exist outwith* the various representations of me. I guess there is no essential me. Phew... at least know I know that there is no such thing as what I really am, which means that I don't have to fear about not being myself!!!

* I've finally found a use for this word, which is considered a proper word in Scotland, used in official Uni notices etc... Until today I never thought it had a use.


.....

Have been finding the Egyptian within myself lately. I must've been a Pharaoh in my last life, or at least a Pharaoh's pet monkey. They probably would have mummified monkeys as well. I really want to be mummified. So first I found Smurf at my flat party who'd seen the mummies in the Cairo museum and been to Alexandria and everything. Then i made koshary on Sunday... which turned out to be quite yum, and i borrowed the DVD of yacoubian building today. finally i went to hear Nawaal el Sadaawi speak today, who was just brilliant.

'Creativity comes when you worship and trust your own mind'. that's going to be my motto now.

....

Not the PERFECT beginning

So... i told myself... no more sentimental crap on the blog. I mean thats why at the hint of a button i killed the old one and created a new identity.. hoping very dearly that the people i want to read this, don't ever find it.



But, here I am, being sentimental all over again, and all coz of a song. dammit.



why is it that one song can bring back a whole lifetime of memories, and yet I can't tell anyone that it does. And they think that nothing bothers me.



Pandora's box. innit?