Sir? Vidia

Yet another review of V. S. Naipaul's authorized biography by Patrick French confirming my initial impression of this man when I read his travelogue, India: A Wounded Civilization (1977).

Now it is clear, just as a Brahmin can smell a lower caste, or a Shia can spot a Sunni, like dogs sniffing each other to keep up the hierarchy, Naipaul is coloured so sadly and deeply that he can do nothing now but be himself -- hateful of his heritage, his pidgin culture and grateful to the western (read White) culture which has awarded him the Nobel Prize and even Knighted him.

His hatred for all things Indian, including himself, was only an inkling for me at the time I read A Wounded Civilization. What's more evident from his autobiography is that Naipaul has not only hated himself and his background but is caught in the chasm between the old and the new (read western) world. Unable to jump to one side or the other, perhaps unable to straddle as many of us do, he is a sad excuse for an Indian, a great writer and completely inhumane to those nearest to him.

So I send to Sir Vidia this poem by Derek Walcott and hope that he will find rest with recognition of who he is:

Love after Love

The time will come when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

I will end with an excerpt from the latest review to come to my attention on Naipaul's recent biography:

The woman's name was Margaret Gooding, and Naipaul met her in 1972 in Buenos Aires. French's new biography of Naipaul, The World Is What It Is, quotes extensively from her letters: unbearable scrawls that read like clinical case studies drawn from the pages of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. She begs, moans, despairs, and pleads for Naipaul's "cruel sexual desires." She calls him her "god," her "black master." Her multiple abortions of his children sicken her, but she offers them up to him as proof of her love and abasement.

And all this sex stuff is only the beginning. Throughout The World Is What It Is Naipaul shows himself arrogant beyond belief, and vile-tempered, and as self-obsessed as a man simpering while he looks at himself in the mirror. His letters and conversation are full of references to "niggers" and dismissals of Africans and dark-skinned Indians.

Found List

20 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on
and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something,
Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It “In.”

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks.
Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions,
Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks,
Write “For Smuggling Diamonds”

7. Finish All Your sentences with
“In Accordance With The Prophecy.”

8. Don t use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is “To Go.”

12. Sing Along At The Opera

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don’t Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends
You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You’re Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name,
“Rock Bottom”.

17. When The Money Comes Out of The ATM, Scream “I Won!, I Won!”


18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling “Run For Your Lives, They’re Loose!!”

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. “Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.”

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity….Send This Juvenille List To Someone in an E-Mail.

'A Transformational Figure'

Fatema's Wedding Reception

Fatema (my niece) looking beautiful at her wedding reception. Click each photograph to enlarge it.







Angelica, Nayla (sp?) and Tarah.

Losses

I have been working in the social service sector for a long time. I have often met clients whom I have found to be personally likable. Sometimes those clients who have given me the hardest time, the biggest challenges, are the ones I end up investing a lot of emotional energy in and working the hardest for.

About a month ago I met a lady who shuffled slowly with her dog on a leash. Her eyes were dull and her face was free from any
affect. When she spoke, she spoke quietly and cried at every one of our meetings. She had just moved into the area for which I am responsible and we naturally circled each other: Me, wondering if she could use my support; Her, eyeing me once in a while...not knowing who I was and why I was in the area so often.

I only knew "Barb" for all of a month....maybe 4-5 meetings. Her apartment lacked a bedroom, had a small kitchen and a small bath with the bed, kitchen table and love seat in the one main room -- a bachelor. A dreary, dark bachelor with virtually nothing to recommend it except that it had 4 walls and a roof and the rent was cheap.

"Barb" died last Friday. Alone. In her bathroom. Probably due to a fall.

I have known a few clients who have died sometime after I stopped working with them. Never have I felt a sense of loss as profound as today. Part of my job is to be able to engage with a client without becoming emotionally tangled in the client's concerns. Indeed, I am almost always working with the goal of discharging the client in mind. Helping but towards independence and not dependence.

"Barb" passed away under circumstances which are not as yet clear to me, and I can't help feeling that I did not do enough to brighten the few moments we had spent together. I can't help feeling that I was only case managing "Barb". We had made an appointment to find a new family doctor, we had made an appointment with her psychiatrist so I could get to know a little bit more about her particular illness. We had talked about accessing funding for a couple of more pieces of furniture. Aside from getting her to fill out a whole bunch of forms and getting to know her a little bit, I did not do much more for her.

"Barb" was sweet, intelligent and had a peculiar insight into her mental illness which made her different from many other clients. I don't think I could have changed the outcome of her passing away...I just regret that I did not show her more kindness.


Photo Credit

Thanksgiving 2008

JR and nieces Sharise (L) and Becky (R)


Brandon...happy, happy!


Sharise as Rihana (2 N's?)


Abdul and Noreen.


Tarah being entertained by Janelle ( who is studying to be a Vet.)


Best shot of the day: Tarah Noor taken by Janelle.


Naomi...couldn't be happier.


Marsh...runnin' tings. Aunty Kalimah and her faux hawk sporting son, Mathew.


Picture of Jordan taken while I stood on a high chair...is there an endocrinologist in the house?


The boys playing a video game on Janelle's new computer.


Rayne, who was awake the whole time (honest) and Kendra.


Becky, or should I say Booty? With Kalimah and Mathew.


Claude, a.k.a. McGyver.


Homer in dazzling yellow.


Pastor Dean (Marsh's brother) minus his signature pork pie hat.

Kendra (again!) with Johnnie.


Oh, Look! Kendra, again!


Abdul, looking relaxed and happy...the second best shot of the day.


Mom Richards, Emmanuel, Kendra (Again, again!) and Dad Richards.


Mom and Dad Richards with my very shy daughter -- Tarah.

The Unwashed Masses

The Wilson Quarterly has a great review of a couple of books which trace the history of cleanliness and ideas of ritual purity. Did you know that "according to one survey, half of the French still don’t bathe daily... but they continue to lead Europe in the consumption of perfumes and cosmetics?"

I wonder what historians of the future will think of all the signs in public washrooms imploring people to wash their hands after using the crapper (potty/throne) and even going so far as to teach people how to wash their hands! I've always found these signs annoyingly paternalistic.

Please remember to floss after reading this article. And no, you don't have to floss all your teeth...just the ones you want to keep.

The End of Race as We Know It

Gerald Early has an interesting article on The Chronicle Review on the question of race, the U.S. presidential race and the use (abuse?) of America’s original sin. To read more follow the link. Below is an excerpt:

But the irony of our anti-Americanism was that it masked our yearning for inclusion, which is why we were attending white colleges and universities in the first place. We grasped an identity of "blackness," of the superficially non-Western, in our confused hunt to fit into somebody's scheme and our reflexive fear that we would certainly not fit into a Western or white scheme. We did not want to be, in James Baldwin's words, "bastards of the West," but the very nature of our identity quest was propelled by the fact that we knew, inescapably, we were just that.

Gerald L. Early is a professor of African and African-American studies and American-culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as director of its Center for the Humanities.

Rest your eyes

Photo Credit

Photos from the weekend at the Oligmullers

A shot of Lesley and Norbert's wonderful home.

Lesley and Norbert's "boat."

Inside the boat...galley?

Auntie Lesley and Tarah, topside.

Norbert and me on the deck...what's that on the floor?

I got a chance to dive in order to search for a fork or knife previously lost by Norbert. Unfortunately, the bottom is at least one-and-a-half feet of silt and find any object with any weight is nearly impossible.

Lesley and the kids on the tube.


Tarah ...what IS that on the deck?

Too funny!

Sharise's "friend" in China (?)

Pepe

A great article on the used clothing trade at reasononline... with some history on the "rag" trade.

Used Textiles

In case you are interested in the used clothing trade flourishing around the world...Oxfam has a report ("The Impact of the second-hand clothing trade on developing countries")on the transfer of used clothing from the first world to the third world. More on this new found interest of mine later.

Weekend at the Oligmuellers

We spent the weekend with our friends Lesley and Norbert at their home near Barrie and on their "boat."

Seth and Tarah had a great time, as did mom and I. Besides cruising the lake, I had the opportunity to get in the water and practice my scuba skills, while searching for a family heirloom which was lost overboard on a previous trip by Norbert and Lesley to the same bay.

Pictures to follow, as life is crazy-busy right now.

By the way, Lesley/Norbert....thank you so much for having us over and treating us to a weekend out of the city!

Kiran Ahluwalia

I am totally digging Kiran Ahluwalia's Kashish. The above photograph is taken from her website and was the cover art for the album. CHECK HER OUT!