The Daily Bow-Wow

Upon reaching home, I blew on the horn. The gates promptly swung in. Kale was on his hindlegs. He gave an smart but affectionate salute as I eased the Skoda in.

As I stepped out, I heard his claws tap behind me as he dashed up.

Mutt on, braw. K chha hero? I barked. Same old, same old. Kale replied, wagging, and thrusting his snout towards my face. As I bent down, I could feel his rough warmth as he liberally applied his tongue across my cheeks. Did you bring the anti-tick shampoo? He asked. I made a sheepish face.

Oh, dog! How many nights do I have to howl to get some attention around here? He walked away dejectedly.

KALCHA! I hollered. I just saw his mistress hiding behind the guava tree. What did I say last night? He trotted over, sat on his ass, and gazed at my face. His perpetually sad eyes and the overall imploring look quickly chased away my anger, as I used the last ounce of the emotion to show disgust. Make sure she is out by morning tomorrow, I said as I headed upstairs. And if I see any aftermath of a party, hell will be you.

---
The day was past evening, and was way into the nighting routine. As I booted off my laptop, I noticed that Kale had already started conversing with his neighbors. All I could do was just embarrassingly listen as he pitched in his woes in the communal barker multilogues.

I grabbed the concoction in the tumbler marked 'For Kale', opened the windows, aimed and threw at the direction of Kale's voice. I could hear his silent claw-taps as he apparently dodged the incoming splash. That shushed him for a while, though. As I peered down to inspect my score, I could see the reflector in his eyes beaming back the torch light at me. Are you in a barky mood today. I shouted. Keep it under thirty. And wipe off that smirk. You're really gonna get it if else.

Dogs. Do you own them, or do they own you?

Testing

While the day was evening out, I cradled my glass and swayed my hips.

Senseless at Lajana

It was (one of) the best party ever. The dj was operating in the terrace. And he was blissfully avoiding all the cliche songs (e.g., none of the 'Chandu ki chachi' or 'Just chill, just chill'). The alcohol was flowing comfortably. The Radisson logo in the background- I didnt even realize it for quite a while. Amit was there for Bhangra, although the DJ deigned to play only 'Tutak Tutak'... which was good enough for us to euphorically flail our limbs about.

The Aela was the ultimate. It was probably 70% spirit. A few drops landed on my wrists, which created cool spots by the quick evaporations. We could only have 2 shots of it- that also, only in sips. But we had countless bottles of beer, which made our night.

The dinner was tasty, but my taste buds could not grasp the phenomenon. Besides, we were with a few other Newars. We had a tummy-splitting bout of Newari vulgar/non-vulgar talks. That promptly digested my ingestions :)

Those of you who could have been at the party, but wasn't. Too bad. You missed one hell of a party. An equivalent of a minute of mourning for you.

I still feel the glow of Aela in my stomach. The visions of good things in the night are still fresh in my mind. The fact that I survived a test in the afternoon is only like a Deja Vu.

Two Great Minds

DeeArr Shakti Rana asked us to do a review on A Beautiful Mind and Citizen Kane for the next class. I thought why not blog it.

It is interesting that we got to write a review of these two biographies juxtaposed against each other. For watching them together spawns a few additional emotions.

Citizen Kane is a story of a man who 'gagged on a silver spoon', and who was largely disoriented in life, especially during his later years, primarily because he did not have sufficient challenge to face. He dreamt that one day he could own the country, and make people do what he wanted. Or in the words of the scripter, "...could make them love him". He succeeds as far as controlling people's opinions by the newspaper that he ran (He starts the Cuban war, for instance.). But his theory runs aground when he could not shape a simple woman (that he marries) into an opera star. And his public image takes a drastic turn on the night of his most famous campaign speech (see below) to run as a governer- when his rival exposes his extramarital affair with the opera singer to the public. So Kane tragically meets his ultimate fate, the realization that the public does not sway at his fancy. And he spends the rest of his life in his 'Xanadu' palace that is full of statues but still hauntingly empty. I think his collection of statues signifies something, like his irresistible desire to own people.

Kane had an arresting personality, and always had a knack of saying the words he wanted to say at the right time. That made him charismatic and able to make compelling speeches. The most famous one was when he was giving a campaign speech as a governor:

Campaigner: There is only one man who can rid the politics of this State of the evil domination of Boss Jim Gettys. I am speaking of Charles Foster Kane, the fighting liberal, the friend of the working man, the next Governor of this State, who entered upon this campaign...
Kane: with one purpose only: to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy, of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine -- now in complete control of the government of this State! I made no campaign promises, because until a few weeks ago I had no hope of being elected.
Now, however, I have something more than a hope. And Jim Gettys -- Jim Gettys has something less than a chance. Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected. Now I can afford to make some promises!
The working man -- The working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The decent, ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the the underfed!
Well, I'd make my promises now if I weren't too busy arranging to keep them.
Here's one promise I'll make, and boss Jim Gettys knows I'll keep it: My first official act as Governor of this State will be to appoint a Special District Attorney to arrange for the indictment, prosecution, and conviction of Boss Jim W. Gettys!

A Beautiful Mind is the story of John Nash, who apparently had very few to start with. He was very unsocial, and committed all the gaucherie. He was also very adamant and proud, and faced tremendous ordeals. He battles his external and internal challenges (he is schizophrenic) and finally emerges victorious.

The two stories run in a few similar parallels. Both Kane and Nash are most sure of only themselves. They both had very original thoughts and disregarded the traditional wisdom. Also, both were intense in their personality and were quite 'gifted' with something that later turned out to be curses, and ravaged their lives.

Do you believe in Religion?

Religion is just a made up story. It came out because man is a thinker. He is never satisfied with what he's got. He wonders about the sky, the sun, the war, the killings, the unfairness, and all the unexplicable things. And he cannot handle the truth and so tries to rationalize the imperfections in the world. Why did God kill good people? Because those loved by God die young. Why was Jesus crucified? Because he stood the trial of the sins of humanity. Why do people kill people? Coz they're ignorant of God's godly ways.
Religion didn't create music. Nor did it build temples or cathedrals. People did. Religion didnt create any order. Or maintained peace. Rather, it even justified killings. It's what crusades and Jihads are all about. Christianity justified the calculated acts of violence of so many royal mischiefs, especially in the Medieval times. Christianity also justified imperialism as acts of 'saving souls'. Isn't that worse than ethnic cleansing and genocides, that being a global phenomenon?
Siddhartha Gautam became a Buddha. But he was never a deity. People made that up. You want to know why religion has all the illustrious stories? To make it an attractive package so that people are lured to adopt it, of course. It is one of the most perverse marketing campaign that people have bought so far. It is so funny how Buddhism's different variants came about. It started out as the old classical 'Hinayana'. Then some Buddhist council thought it was too difficult for people to 'comprehend', so they revitalized the formula, and came up with a better package, 'Mahayana Buddhism' which 'involved the people more'... so it applied more to people's lives... get it? it is just a made up thing, like a packaged and marketed product, to quell your uncertainty of the unknown. It is nothing more than a baseless theory without a hypothesis.
It all starts out with a story of a deep thinker/philosopher who came upon some realization of how pain works. His disciples and their disciples think that this teaching is so important that they go to great lengths to force others to realize that the teachings are very important... like weave stories about how Buddha was born, how he took 7 steps right upon birth, how he defeated Maya, the rakshasa, etc etc. I call that pure selfishness and presumptuous, but oh well, it's just one guy's opinion, right?
And by the way, have you come across the Ten Commandments yet? Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife... sounds more like a rule book at a school, don't you think? And the first commandment says "I am the Lord, your God. You shall have no other gods besides Me". How do we know?
Here is my simple philosophy. Maybe I will one day be celebrated and revered as a deity. Or some rascal has already thought about this and is already deified. Anyway, here it goes: I believe that the universe and our lives are there since a loong long time back, which occured purely by chance. So maybe randomness is what people called god. Anyway, so we have a life time. You have one shot. You dont get reincarnated after you die. And there is no heaven or hell. And you don't have an eternal soul. All you have is your body and your thinking power. That is the only logical explanation about everything... the killings, the degradations, the pains, etc.
Thank you for listening. That is my grasp of philosophy :)

Some Must-See English Movies

Citizen Kane (1941)
The Sound of Music

Stanley Kubrick's:
Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Orange
The Shining
2001: A Space Odyssey
Full Metal Jacket

bourne identity and supremacy (i thought the assassin in bourne supremacy.... forgot his name, was 'solidddd'- great fight sequences and car chases, once again)

Quentin Tarantino's:
Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill vol. 1

Raising Arizona (By Farelly Brothers)

Jack Black's comedies- Shallow Hal, School of Rock; this guy is an awesome comedian, and a great singer, I found out (school of rock)

Dr. No (James Bond)
Donnie Darko
Spartacus
Arthur (the one with Clive Owen; awesome script, since it relates of Arthur's legend as markedly different from the popular myth... that he served the roman army and gained only 'minor victories'; didn't show merlin as a pure wizard, but proficient in some dark magical powers, and Arthur's archery-capable army really came from his love's armies. etc, etc.)
Troy
Cold Mountain

Invincible Sci-Fis:
The Matrix (part 1 only)
Terminator 1-3
Alien (part 1 only)
2001: A Space Odyssey
E.T. (Although I only liked Drew Barrymore's part in it)
A. I.

But then, my list is dynamic... it changes constantly... and there are innumerable more that are really worth watching...

I have a Blog Fan!

Do I deserve it? Well, it is hard to say... But listen, when she moves... my, she's a balmy breeze on the hottest day...

She's totally devoted to me, and I always get her undivided attention. She does not speak much, but she likes to purr a tune in a monotone as I blog, and it soothes my nerves. She's such a pretty cool thing, that I love her dearly.

Oh, by the way, we live together... She is Chinese and cannot speak Nepali yet. She is tiny, but has one HOT figure! The way she gracefully moves her arms, it's just electrifying. Call us 'made for each other', but I just know what buttons to push, and she starts responding in an awesome way... And I like to set her on the computer table while I blog, so that I am less than a feet from her face.

But I guess happiness don't last. Last night, she broke up on me :(

Yeah. Sad, isn't it? I had to call an electrician to get her repaired...

She might not have a heart... but she's told me that she's still a fan, although she can never be a HUGE fan...