Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Ghost Writer (Satis Shroff)
When I close my eyes,
I see everything in its place
In the kingdom of Nepal.
I see the highest building in Kathmandu,
What looms higher than the Dharara,
Swayambhu, Taleju and Pashupati?
The former King’s Narayanhiti palace,
Built by an architect,
From across the Black Waters.
Therein lived Vishnu,
Whom many Hindus still call:
The unconquerable preserver.
The [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
European Ethnology:
THE RHÖN: WESSIES AND OSSIES (Satis Shroff, Freiburg im Breisgau)
It seemed to me that the Rhön might not have the attractiveness of the Black Forest in southern Germany, but it was, nevertheless, a beautiful area to walk around for it had the most beautiful flora of Germany. And the people [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Love Songs On a Misty Morning (Satis Shroff)
Do You Remember?
On a misty morning at Pokhara,
We sat in a dugout canoe
With our college friends.
The misty veil slowly disappeared.
Mirrored on the torquoise waters
Of the lake Phewa,
Were the virgin white peaks
Crowned by Machhapuchare,
The fish-tailed one.
Placid, serene, majestic,
A moment of magic.
Do you remember?
The love songs [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Memoir: IN THE STREETS OF PRAGUE (Satis Shroff)
‘It’s awfully nice to see you in Czech surroundings’ said my long-lost friend Kundan, as he raised his massive, ornate glass of pivo, the famous black Czech beer. That was in 1976 and the Czechs and Slovaks were a single nation. Kunda Dixit was “Our Man Behind [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
BELLA VENEZIA, MY LOVE (Satis Shroff)
Vive la Venice.
The Serenissima’s long dead,
But the myth of bella Venice lives on,
Created by its native sons:
Canaletto and Guardi,
In the eighteenth century,
With cheerful and festive colours
On canvas.
Venice’s epochal renaissance,
Depicted by painters from northern Europe
And the United States.
Claude Monet’s canvases
Daubed in Venice in 1908,
Only to be followed by Turner.
[...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Category: Short-story DESTINATION NEPAL (Satis Shroff)
“That’s a terrible injustice,” said Raj Rana aloud at the Paddington Station. Mr. Rana was at the station, on his way to Gatwick Airport. From there he had a flight ticket from Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal after long years of service in the British Gurkhas.
“What do [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Catmandu, Darjeeling, discrimination of gurkhas, Gurkhas, gurks, India, Johnny Gurkha, Nepal, yao gurkhali on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Category: Short-story DESTINATION NEPAL (Satis Shroff)
“That’s a terrible injustice,” said Raj Rana aloud at the Paddington Station. Mr. Rana was at the station, on his way to Gatwick Airport. From there he had a flight ticket from Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal after long years of service in the British Gurkhas.
“What do [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
European Ethnology: PAINT ME A FAIRY TALE TOWN (Satis Shroff)
As tradition demands in the Swiss Alps, the cattle were decorated with pine-branches, big bells on their necks, silk roses and, of course, small Swiss flags. After enjoying the freedom of the Alpine meadows in the Flumserbergen, the cows trudged reluctantly again all the way [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Freiburg, Zaringen, Zähringen on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
1000 Years of Zähringen (Satis Shroff)
The ruin of Zähringen’s castle lies on a hillock overlooking the Vale of Dreisam. And the hamlet of Zähringen is a part of Freiburg. Zähringen is 1000 years old, reason enough to celebrate a festival with the inauguration of the Zähringer fountain, which is a tall monolith with a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged gymnasium, hauptschule, modern society, pedagogik, realschule, schoolkids, spassgorillas, teachers on December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Zeitgeistlyrik: Pedagogic Poems:
On Poetry (Satis Shroff)
An established bard motivated me,
A poet from the American mainstream.
Words of praise that soothed
And amused me.
He compared my lyrical fragments
With works of poets
Of whom I’d never heard.
A protest poem about a drunk landlady
Reminded of W. H. Auden.
A ballad about a Gurkha mother
He said: ‘the best of [...]
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