... is where I am as I write this quickie post. I've spent two days with a friend in her "pink palace" -- a rambling house with wonderful light, one husband, two cats and a one-year-old-today baby.
There's so much I could write about but time constraints force me to keep this to the teeniest minimum. I arrived in the US on Friday night, spent that night in Boston with D&D, my niece and new nephew-in-law, traveled the next day to Newport and spent one happy night and day there, before returning to Boston on Sunday. Monday morning I had a very good session at Tufts University, talking to drama students of Prof Sean Edgecombe about my play HARVEST. Monday night I was once more with D&D, and we had an extremely jovial dinner at JOE'S, a high-quality burger restaurant. Tuesday morning I left for Lebanon, NH, intending to spend one night but then got SNOWED IN -- Vermont got two feet of snow -- so I delayed departure and am very grateful for the big friendly home I'm in.
And now I'm going to end this bulletin with a typically bizarre story, encountered on Yahoo News. Enjoy!
YOGI SURVIVES WITHOUT FOOD & WATER
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Feel Good Moment of a Lifetime?
Wow. That's all I can say to this astounding SURVIVAL STORY. The take-home message is: NEVER give up ... but also, if you must drown, do it in a very cold climate.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Eerie Beauty of Iceland's Volcanic Eruption
The Eerie Beauty of Iceland's Volcanic Eruption
The title of this piece is what it was given by TIME Mag. I would've said "dramatic" rather than "eerie". Dramatic, eerie, whatever -- I remember thinking it would've been fantastic to have had cameras trained on the vent say an hour or so before the actual eruption. It would have been the ultimate in fire and ice -- glacier and lava! Yum. Now, if we could only organize a mountain-sized chunk of sugar alongside, we might have cooked up a natural Baked Alaska fit for a giant.
The title of this piece is what it was given by TIME Mag. I would've said "dramatic" rather than "eerie". Dramatic, eerie, whatever -- I remember thinking it would've been fantastic to have had cameras trained on the vent say an hour or so before the actual eruption. It would have been the ultimate in fire and ice -- glacier and lava! Yum. Now, if we could only organize a mountain-sized chunk of sugar alongside, we might have cooked up a natural Baked Alaska fit for a giant.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Down The Dark Alley
This is perhaps a cruel contrast to my last post -- so if it's been a difficult day so far, you may want to click past this one right away -- but it's also got an astonishing and profoundly touching clarity. We all know terrible things happen: sometimes they happen to us, and of course to the millions of people we read about in the press. Here's the Pulitzer Prize winning feature article (2010) that appeared in the Washington Post. About how some of those to whom the worst of the worst has happened deal with the rest of their lives. FATAL DISTRACTION: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? by Gene Weingarten
Thursday, April 08, 2010
A HAPPY Story
Last night a friend dropped by for an after-dinner visit saying he just HAD to do something for a little dog he'd seen lying by the side of the road near his parents' home in Panchsheel. "I heard this low moaning from the side of the road and when I stopped and got down there she was. Poor thing!" A car must have run her over, because at least one her back legs was badly damaged. "It may have happened a day or two ago, because (the leg) was full of maggots and stinking ..."
He lives in Bombay so he couldn't take the poor creature in himself. His neighbour suggested calling the animal ambulance in the morning. But when he got to our house he was still wincing at the thought of leaving the animal alone and suffering all through the night.
"What about FRIENDICOES-SECA?" one of us said.
"Wow! Great idea -- why didn't I think of them right away?" When our friend lived in Delhi, he'd had two wonderful and much loved strays living with him. He had gone to the famous animal shelter under the Defence Colony Flyover whenever he needed help with his dogs.
"Uh-oh, don't have their number though," we said.
"NO problem," said our friend. "I'll just call Just Dial and find out --"
Literally one minute later, there was the number -- well, a list of them, actually -- for Friendicoes, sent by SMS, to our friend's phone. Another couple of minutes later, and after a couple of dud numbers, he got through to Friendicoes and explained the situation. "Do you want me to be there to identify the dog?" he asked, already holding his car keys in hand.
Keep in mind this was maybe 10.15 at night. The friendly voice at the other end said, "No, that's all right. Our night ambulance driver'll go over and collect the dog. All you have to do is tell him where to go. I'll give you his number ..."
Our friend called the number and described exactly where the animal was. Maybe fifteen minutes later he got a call from the driver, saying that he'd found the dog, had taken her in and all was well. We could hear the dog's pathetic whining even without holding the phone to our own ears.
Our friend and one of us decided this was really great. So they drove over to the shelter right away. By that time, the little dog had been registered, her wound dressed and she'd been given a sedative to ease her pain. Our friend had said on the phone that he thought it may be best to put her to sleep, but at the shelter they just smiled and nodded (I wasn't there, so I'm just reporting what I was told).
Today, when I went online to check their site, I realized that they've probably had loads of "hopeless cases" whom they resurrect and find happy homes for! Maybe this little one will be another such story. We made a donation right away, of course. But more than anything else, we came away from the experience feeling an unfamiliar sense of total gladness.
Everything was good: the fact that our friend gave in to his compassionate nature, the fact that Just Dial worked at once, the Friendicoes response and at the end of it all, one little creature saved from a lonely, painful death. Friendicoes was totally uncommercial: making the donation was absolutely voluntary. They go and collect the animal when they get a call; the rest is up to the conscience of the caller.
Yes -- yes -- I KNOW: it was just one dog, just one story.
Right.
But in this sad old world even one story is a miracle.
He lives in Bombay so he couldn't take the poor creature in himself. His neighbour suggested calling the animal ambulance in the morning. But when he got to our house he was still wincing at the thought of leaving the animal alone and suffering all through the night.
"What about FRIENDICOES-SECA?" one of us said.
"Wow! Great idea -- why didn't I think of them right away?" When our friend lived in Delhi, he'd had two wonderful and much loved strays living with him. He had gone to the famous animal shelter under the Defence Colony Flyover whenever he needed help with his dogs.
"Uh-oh, don't have their number though," we said.
"NO problem," said our friend. "I'll just call Just Dial and find out --"
Literally one minute later, there was the number -- well, a list of them, actually -- for Friendicoes, sent by SMS, to our friend's phone. Another couple of minutes later, and after a couple of dud numbers, he got through to Friendicoes and explained the situation. "Do you want me to be there to identify the dog?" he asked, already holding his car keys in hand.
Keep in mind this was maybe 10.15 at night. The friendly voice at the other end said, "No, that's all right. Our night ambulance driver'll go over and collect the dog. All you have to do is tell him where to go. I'll give you his number ..."
Our friend called the number and described exactly where the animal was. Maybe fifteen minutes later he got a call from the driver, saying that he'd found the dog, had taken her in and all was well. We could hear the dog's pathetic whining even without holding the phone to our own ears.
Our friend and one of us decided this was really great. So they drove over to the shelter right away. By that time, the little dog had been registered, her wound dressed and she'd been given a sedative to ease her pain. Our friend had said on the phone that he thought it may be best to put her to sleep, but at the shelter they just smiled and nodded (I wasn't there, so I'm just reporting what I was told).
Today, when I went online to check their site, I realized that they've probably had loads of "hopeless cases" whom they resurrect and find happy homes for! Maybe this little one will be another such story. We made a donation right away, of course. But more than anything else, we came away from the experience feeling an unfamiliar sense of total gladness.
Everything was good: the fact that our friend gave in to his compassionate nature, the fact that Just Dial worked at once, the Friendicoes response and at the end of it all, one little creature saved from a lonely, painful death. Friendicoes was totally uncommercial: making the donation was absolutely voluntary. They go and collect the animal when they get a call; the rest is up to the conscience of the caller.
Yes -- yes -- I KNOW: it was just one dog, just one story.
Right.
But in this sad old world even one story is a miracle.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
SAME & DIFFERENT
Here we go! A link to SAME & DIFFERENT, at Tulika's web-site, now on sale. I am waiting impatiently for my author copies for immediate give away -- the one big thrill of publishing boox is being able to give 'em away!
Oh -- and here's a link to a page at Tulika's Blog where I describe how I did the drawings.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
April Fool's Day TRICK
It's the first of April and time for some magic. I have NO idea how this was done, but I'm guessing major manipulation of space-time and perhaps a pact with the Devil thrown in on the side. This AMAZING TRICK by Chinese Magician LIU QIAN was sent to me by none other than ... AA. Of course.
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