IMAGE: AMITAV GHOSH, A GUEST AT THE UBUD WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL
This is an interesting interview by with author Amitav Ghosh by ABC’s Michael Cathcart. In the discussions, Ghosh talks about his life and his work, but he also points out a very important aspect of story-telling; how a language or culture can dominate a story.
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta, an Oxford graduate.; his life and work span countries and cultures.
In this program ABC (Australia) talked to Ghosh about what he has sensed in the ways in which people and cultures mix and adapt, especially with storytelling and his passion for telling the untold story. Often, in Amitav’s view, the colonial narratives are so often deaf to hearing particular voices.
ABC spoke to Ghosh about his novels The Hungry Tide (2004), and Sea of Poppies (2008) which are the first two absorbing instalments of the Ibis trilogy set in the port town and on the high seas between India and China.
Over two weeks ago, I was very honoured to be nominated by Kathleen from KBailey373 blog for A Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am very grateful to accept this award from Kathleen who has only been following my blog for a month. At the end of last year I was also nominated by Steve from Life in Russia for this award, but unfortunately, I had too much on and was ill, and did not attend to the requirements of the award. To Kathleen and Steve – a sincere thanks for finding something to inspire you from my blog. It means a lot to me. I have linked both blogs so you can visit and enjoy stories in KBailey373 and Life in Russia.
Blogging is fun, but not often easy. It is hard to know what appeals to readers. After a year of blogging, I am slowly getting the idea of what not to post. Unfortunately some of the “not to post” are what I believe in, for example, the climate exchange issues. Thank you for continuing to read and supporting this blog despite your preferences. Thank you for pointing out my errors, I like that.
On WordPress, I have come to treasure the work of many fellow bloggers. I told a friend yesterday that I have some great my readers and bloggers who have now become friends. This friendship inspires me to write or posts something good in each posts. I may not have pleased every reader in every post, but I try my best. I have learnt more from others in the blogging community. WordPress has a large community of amazing people with interesting stories. I am a student of life and each time I come to blog world, I get very excited. I know I will learn something new. Thank you very much friends for inspiring me too in your content, comments and readership.
To meet the requirement of the award, I must;
Display the award on your blog.
Link back to the person who nominated you.
State 7 things about yourself.
Nominate 15 bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations.
Seven things about me
I almost drowned at the age of 10 during a fishing trip. It was in a flooded Busu, one of the fastest flowing river, several kilometres from our village (in Lae, PNG). My uncle flung the fishing net into the river, caught me and pulled me up. (I am a good swimmer by the way).
I have lived in Brisbane, Australia for 10 years. Where we live used to be a pineapple plantation and there is an 18th century cemetery behind us, separated by my neighbour’s house.
When I was in Year 10, in high school, I was nominated to represent our school and compete in a national high school speech competition. It was sponsored by the Lions Club, (a charity and youth advocate). I gave a speech about the History of Lae Town, my town and how my people first came to settle on that land. I won some cash and $500 worth of books for my high school, the Busu Provincial High School. (It doesn’t sound like much now, but it was a lot then – 1980).
I had straight blonde hair when I was a child. The more my grandmother cut my hair (so it would be an afro like hers) my hair curled. Now I have large dark curls.
My crazy hair.
Fish is my favourite food.
I love birds and can watch them for hours.
I was told by two doctors I was having a baby girl before I had my second son, now 16. We named ‘her’ Nisha until at birth. He had no name for two days. He became Christopher Eric Harris on the third day.
……………………..
Here are come of the blogs that inspire me for various reasons, mostly personally. They are not in any particular order of preference. I enjoy reading these blogs because of their rich and in-depth content and the each writer’s dedication and enthusiasm in sharing, exchange and helping others. Sorry if I did not list you here, I can only list 15.
An artist transforms written words on paper into work of art you can touch.
Jennifer’s practice focuses on creating work from paper; by bonding, waxing, trapping and stitching she produces unusual paper ‘fabrics’, which are used to explore the ‘remaking’ of household objects. The papers are treated as if cloth, with the main technique employed being stitch; a contemporary twist on traditional textiles. The papers themselves serve as both the inspiration and the media for my work, with the narrative of the books and papers suggesting the forms. Jennifer tends to find items then investigate a way in which they can be reused and transformed; giving new life to things that would otherwise go unloved or be thrown away.
I found this short documentary made by Planet Doc and presented in Spanish. I tried to watch it and work out what the narrator is saying (without the sub-titles). Don’t worry, for you, there are English sub-titles. There is a sequel to this film which I can post later. I believe a cultural heritage of a person can influence what they value is important and how they present that value in a story. There were certain practices of intangible cultures from Papua New Guinea island tribes presented in this film. It stretched from the Trobriand Islands to the islands of New Britain. I don’t understand what the language (Spanish) the narrator is speaking, but watching the pictures, and knowing the culture, I can see what he is trying to show. Perhaps some Spanish speakers here can figure it out what the narrator is trying to say about the shell money he is showing , from both island traditions.
This is the magic of story-telling. Simply, what you can show your readers. As good writers, we need every possible word that can draw a picture well in our reader’s mind.
I have found these stories very fascinating. One story is about the Japanese monks and the other story is about ancient Chinese statues and an interesting discovery.
Scattered throughout Northern Japan around the Yamagata Prefecture are two dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu, who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. The practice was first pioneered by a priest named Kuukai over 1000 years ago at the temple complex of Mount Koya, in Wakayama prefecture. Kuukai was founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, which is the sect that came up with the idea of enlightenment through physical punishment. A successful mummification took upwards of ten years. It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only between 16 and 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date.
The elaborate process started with 1,000 days of eating a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another thousand days and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls. Read more
Here is another story relating to the same.
Researchers at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands made a shocking discovery when they imaged an ancient Chinese statue and found a nearly 1,000-year-old mummy inside.
Sitting in the lotus position, the mummy fits within the statue perfectly.
“On the outside, it looks like a large statue of Buddha,” the museum said in a release. “Scan research has shown that on the inside, it is the mummy of a Buddhist monk who lived around the year 1100.”
Here is a documentary (49 mins) by Tadashi Shimada about the Birds of Paradise, one of my favourite creatures on earth.
New Guinea is a true garden of Eden for birds. Some of the most unique are birds of paradise. With plenty of food such as nuts and fruits and very few natural predators, they’ve been able to leisurely hone their courting skills. The ribbon-tailed astrapia flaps its long white tail feathers, while the blue bird-of-paradise unfurls its feathers to create a pulsating eye-like shape. Since they live deep in the jungle, their courtship displays have long been steeped in mystery. Tadashi Shimada, a wildlife photographer who’s made numerous visits to New Guinea over the years, has for the first time ever captured images of the blue bird-of-paradise’s courting behavior. This program delves into the fascinating world of these beautiful and mysterious birds.
Published on Jun 25, 2014 – For more please visit NHK World.
I really enjoyed this video and as one of the viewers, Bob Bobowiz commented, “Let’s face it. He’s a poet. He found another form than words but it still is poetry.”
Reuben is a very talented kinetic artist, who transforms solid mechanical parts into beautiful organic and fluid kinetic movements. In this PopTech presentation he shows his fascinating process with beautiful insight.
Will posting chapters and parts of your book on your blog take away from your publishing success?
I have been told often that I should save more of my blog posts to include in my memoir. Usually this advice comes from people who love and care for me. I really appreciate that concern. I know this concern was not expressed for the fear of copyright, although I should be concern about that too; I am told I am ‘giving away’ a section of writing that may be building up tension or crucial to the climax of a chapter or even the memoir itself.
We choose what we share on our blogs. I know I could be just giving away the important parts in my memoir without realising it, but as I write the story evolves. I also feel the need to challenge my self even more by improving that story after I have posted it. Often I feel that if I re-write as much as I can, I like it more and the story becomes another story – an even better story. I remember things and add them. I show what I am saying better, with the right words. I enjoy details, sound, smell, how it feels and colours. When I re-write often, I speak the English word better, because it is not my first language and I need the practice. This may sound confusing, but it is about the evolution of the story and how the story journeys through its form until it becomes the one invention I and hopefully the editor is satisfied with.
I am grateful for the good advice, and without being too cocky, I must admit, my other fault lies in wanting to share immediately. My enthusiasm and thrill of a draft completion leads to, the need to read the story to someone. I want to tell the story. This may not be what other aspiring authors do. And, I am not advising anyone on what they should do with their potential best-seller. I wanted to make a point that whatever bits and pieces you read of my memoir is a piece of the story. I hope by the time I complete the memoir, I would still offer you a whole story and not six chapters of what I have left – from blog posts. Perhaps some of the blogger/author friends can share in the comments, how they manage this issue. Now, I have another story to tell…..
Recently through my friend and fellow WordPress blogger hiMe, I found another Papua New Guinea/Australia woman writer, June Perkins. As we bloggers do, we socialise while we write. For me to find a wantok, someone from your place, it is quite special. Perkin’s work has been published on Australia Broadcasting Commission(ABC Open) that hiMe writes for. Once hiMe gave me the link and I reached out, it did not take long for June to come to the meeting place – this blog.
I am very happy to get to know June (virtually) and read some of her stories. It is also wonderful to find stories between us that have similarities and that common place. Reading through June’s posts, I found this piece of writing and I was thrilled that it was related to my post tonight about how much is too much to share on blogs. I hope you enjoy June’s post and have time to visit June Perkins‘ blog in the future.
A possible cover for an upcoming book – bringing my poetry on Art and Spirituality together – June Perkins
My blog is the place where the journey to my books has begun.
I have fed them continuously like journals with drafts and polished works.
Blogs have helped me make writing, remembering, reflecting and imagining a regular practice.
Blogs have encouraged me to make photography a regular practice.
Through reading other blogs I have found storytellers, poets, writers, travellers, film makers, and people who want to bring peace to the world through art. These people have inspired me with their journeys, writing, and photographs in their blogs.
Blogs have helped me so much so that when I have lived in the outer/country, I sometimes felt cut off from this larger creative world.
Blogs helped me heal from the damage of a cyclone to my old home and become a community journalist.
My own blogs have become a resource, full of roughly cut books. They have become archives for my family and friends to search our shared history.
Now I begin another journey. On this one, I take the rough cuts and unstructured writings shared the blogs and begin to place them into book structures.
It is time for me to polish more.
I move beyond the relatively free form of my blog and start to create anthologies and memoirs with sections, and chapters, and titles. I edit my blogs and add and subtract from them.
I create new pieces to connect blogs posts, and put them in these books, and save up for when they go public. They are held back from my blog to be surprises. My blog increasingly becomes a place for sharing the process of what I am up too rather than the final product.
The most inspiring things about blogs are:
1- The way they can potentially connect with the writer with readers and invite an immediate response.
2- The way blogs can respond to national and international events in the moment.
3- Their cheap access to a publishing platform for many in the world.
4- Their global reach.
5- Their capacity to build an audience for an emerging storyteller.
The challenges of a blog can be:
1- Blogging becomes addictive. You keep feeding your blog and not get on with sending off works for publication.
2- You share work you could or should be publishing as a book or article.
3- Copyright protection.
4-Some blogs focus too much on sales and not enough on content or connection. These blogs concentrate more on sale pitches and some are scammers.
5-Blogging can be challenging to build a large audience for your blog, and requires time, good quality content and social skills.
I will still blog when I have something I don’t want to forget, or something that moves my heart, or maybe a photo to share, but now I truly have to share a little less on my blog, and make you some SURPRISES.
I believe love is the greatest and the most powerful emotion of all emotions we feel as human beings. Every person needs love in whatever form they can get. If we have love from our children, friends, lovers or partner, and some from pets, (or blog readers), love is the one thing that would make us feel good about ourselves. I truly believe love makes us better people. In this application, the love I am referring to is the romantic kind. I also hope I am interpreting this challenge the right way.
In a recent Valentine’s Day Challenge, my friend MillieThom nominated me to write ten four-word phrases about LOVE. The phrases must represent what I believe is love. Then, I must state one favorite love quote from a book, a movie or a famous person and then tag ten other bloggers to do the challenge as well. I have nominated a dozen. I believe that love is important to all of us – friends, readers and writers. It is a good challenge for poets and romance writers but as writers in general, we all would have or will experience and write about love at some point, so if I nominate you, have a go! as we say in Australia.
Here are my ten, four word phrases about LOVE:
Love is . . .
….. magic without spoken words
……a temptress at play
……an arrow of doom
……seeing quicksand at work
…….a work of art
….. soft strings in tangle
……knowing, hearts can open
……a devil in disguise
……a wild, crazy emotion
……soars when hearts entwine
…….a song of hearts
Image: Public domain
Now for my favourite love quote – (I can’t do a short phrase for love)
A love message from Bob Marley.
“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley
Image: Public domain
I have nominated a dozen love messengers. I could have done more, but I was told to do ten. Have fun!
ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN AND ARABIC SUBTITLES AVAILABLE A short-film from Perception Pictures.
A man returns to the Midwestern farm of his childhood on a desperate mission to unearth the horrifying truth of what landed there in the summer of 1960.
![Sokushinbutsu4[4]](https://tribalmystic.me/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/sokushinbutsu44.jpg)
Tribalmystic Stories 