The Mind Creative FEBRUARY 2015

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1 FEBRUARY 2015 TheMindCreative

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A magazine by Avijit Sarkar - about all things creative!

Transcript of The Mind Creative FEBRUARY 2015

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FEBRUARY 2015

TheMindCreative

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E Nditors’sote

Other than a few creativepursuits, I have spentmany years of my lifestudying mathematics.Strangely, I have foundthat beyond a certainlevel, the imaginationneeded for mathematicalideas are akin to thoseneeded for the arts.

During those years of intensemathematical studies, one of thefigures who fired my imagination wasthe unbelievable autodidactmathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.The cover story in this issue isdedicated to the intriguing life ofRamanujan.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was thecreator of the immortal fictionaldetective and logician SherlockHolmes, was himself a great believerin the occult and mysticism. TheEssayist’s Corner in this issue featuresthe strange case of the Cottingleyfairies that the cynical reader mightenjoy. This is about two girls whoclaimed to have come upon fairies inthe woods in Cottingley and whose‘experiences' were firmly endorsed byDoyle himself!

India lost an icon recently - a giantamong cartoonists who was oftenreferred to as “the pied piper of Delhi”- the redoubtable R.K. Laxman. The

Cartoonist’s Corner section featuresa special feature on Laxman andsome his very interesting works.

This issue also has it’s other regular‘corners’ including a short story bythe legendary writer Guy deMaupassant; one of the pioneers ofthe modern short story. This issuefeatures some excellent poems bySwati Singh Sambyal and theartworks of an extraordinary talentthat I came across on Facebook inmy quest for unearthing skills -Vipin Alex Jacob. I am confidentthat the readers will get immenseenjoyment from his works that holdso much promise. A new section(The Musician’s Corner) has nowbeen added.

The exciting news is that thereaders can now access themagazine on mobile devices fromits website (and in fact, you mightbe reading this issue right now ona smart phone or tablet). I am alsoin the process of designing an ‘app’for Android and Apple devices thatyou would be able to download onyour mobile devices in order toaccess the magazine.Happy reading!!

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31 The Foodie’sCornerWeird FoodDelicacies

24 The Artist’sCorner

With Vipin Alex Jacob

In This Issue

14 TheEssayist’sCornerThe Curious CaseOf The CottingleyFairies

41 TheCartoonist’sCornerR.K. Laxman - ‘The PiedPip[er of Delhi’

51 TheMusician’sCornerThe Tale Of TheHarmonium

5 SrinivasaRamanujanThe Saga Of A Genius

58 The FictionWriter’s CornerTwo Little Soldiers

By Guy de Maupassant68 The Poet’s

CornerPoems by

Swati SinghSambyal

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ContributorsVipin Alex Jacob works as a Visualdevelopment artist at Mark Animation in Toronto,Canada. Most of his work experience comprises ofdoing ‘character and look development’ and thecreation of 3D Models and Environments. Hestarted his career in India working with studios

like Maya Entertainment Ltd, Prana Studios and Krayon Pictures,thereafter moving to Canada and working with IntelligentCreatures, Optix Digital and Mark Animation. Some of the moreexciting projects that he has been a part of, was working onDisney's TinkerBell, Weinstein's Unstable Fables and BBCDocumentary- "The Hidden Life of the Cell", among many others.

LINKS: http://www.storyweaverz.blogspot.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/VipinAlexJacob

Swati Singh Sambyal is an environmentalresearcher, poet, blogger and a freelance writer.She is a published author of "Painted", a book of43 contemporary poems. She is passionate aboutlife, people, music, words and places and is tryinghard to bridge the gap between the life’s choresand the unusuality that resides in her. In her own

words, this is a journey

Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6July 1893) was a popular French writer, consid-ered one of the fathers of the modern short storyand one of the form's finest exponents. Maupas-sant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories arecharacterized by economy of style and efficient,effortless dénouements (outcomes). Many are setduring the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870's,describing the futility of war and the innocent

civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, arepermanently changed by their experiences. He wrote some 300short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume ofverse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat",1880), is often considered his masterpiece.

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Srinivasa RamanjunanThe saga of a genius

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On a January morning in 1913, Prof. G.H. Hardy at Cambridgereceived a 10 page letter from Srinivasaa Ramanujan, a 23-yearold unknown shipping clerk from Madras, India. The ten-pageletter contained about 120 statements of theorems on infiniteseries, improper integrals, continued fractions, and othercomplex theorems pertaining to number theory. Initially,attributing the letter to be from a crank, Prof. Hardy disregardedthe contents for a while. However, certain elements of thecomplex equations in the letter forced him to have a second lookat the contents with his collaborator J. E. Littlewood and it did nottake them long to realise the authenticity of the claims. In Hardy’sown words, the results “must be true because, if they were nottrue, no one would have had the imagination to invent them”.

Hardy’s decision to travel to India and bring Ramanjujan toEngland possibly turned the course of mathematics and theensuing collaboration between the two has gone down as aunique event in the history of mathematics. Today, G. H. Hardy(a mathematical prodigy himself) is known more for his adoptionand mentoring of the self-taught Indian mathematical genius,Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Ramanujan was born in 1887 in South India. He showedenormous promise as a young school student and won manyacademic prizes in high school. When he completed high schoolhe took a competitive examination and based on his excellentperformance, was offered a scholarship to a local college, theGovernment College at Kumbakonan. At the age of 16, he cameacross a book titled A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure andApplied Mathematics (written as a coaching reference for schoolstudents in England for the difficult Tripos examinations). ForRamanujan, this book provided a burst of inspiration and ignitedhis fierce interest in mathematics. He soon set about working onthe results described in the book and went well beyond thecontents of the book. There was, however, a downside to hisnewfound interest. His total obsession with mathematics wasdisastrous for his academic career. He ignored and showeddisinterest in all other subjects and failed his college examsrepeatedly. He lost his scholarship and soon dropped out of college.

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The house in which Ramanujan lived in Kumbakonam has been bought bySASTRA University and is being preserved as a museum.

Ramanujan’s mother

Ramanujan’s legendary notebooks

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During this period, an interaction between Ramanujan and a closefriend by the name of Sandow that has been documented byseveral authors highlights the state of Ramanujan’s mind and hisfinancial condition in India:

Sandow: Ramanju, they all call you a genius.

Ramanujan: What! Me, a genius! Look at my elbow, it will tell youthe story.

Sandow: What’s all this, Ramanju? Why is it so rough and black?

Ramanujan: My elbow is now rough and blackened in making agenius out of me! Night and day, I do my calculations on a slateand it slows me down when I use a rag to wipe the slate. Instead,I wipe the slate almost every few minutes with my elbow.

Sandow: You are a mountain of industry. Why use a slate whenyou have to do so many calculations? Why not use paper?

Ramanujan: When food itself is a problem, how can I find moneyfor paper? I may require four reams of paper every month.

Ramanujan was from a very poor family and his dropping out ofcollege put him in a very perilous situation. He had no money andneither a college degree to back him up. His time was spent infilling countless notebooks with his mathematical ‘discoveries’and constantly looking for patrons for his work. For his day to dayliving, he depended on charities from friends. Fortunately. He wasawarded a small subsidy by the Indian mathematicianRamachandra Rao and that allowed him to devote more time tomathematics. However, financial pressures soon forced him to geta job as a clerk at the Madras Port Trust; a job that he mangedto acquire through friends. During that period, he married a nineyear old bride by the name of Janakiammal on 14th July 1909.

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In the 1911, the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Societypublished a 17-page paper by Ramanujan (on the topic ofBernoulli numbers). Since mathematicians in India still doubtedhis authenticity, Ramanjunan, at the behest of his friends, wroteto several mathematicians in Cambridge. He found success on histhird attempt when he wrote to Professor G. H. Hardy.

Ramanujan’s handwritten mathematical works

Hardy validated the work of Ramanujan with great enthusiasmand Hardy’s endorsement worked immediate miracles forRamanujan. He (Ramanujan) gained a noteworthy statusamongst his peers and was soon offered the position of a researchscholar at the University of Madras. Within a short span of time,Ramanujan started getting a salary that was nearly double hisremuneration as a clerk. However, recognising the elements of agenius, Hardy was determined to bring Ramanujan to Englandand sent the latter an invitation to Cambridge. Ramanujan'smother resisted at first driven by superstition and religiousbeliefs, but finally gave in. In March 1914, Ramanujan boarded aship for England.

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Ramanujan (center) at Cambridge

Ramanujan's arrival at Cambridge was the beginning ofsuccessful five-year collaboration with Hardy. During their worktogether, Hardy found that their methodologies were vastlydifferent and in Hardy’s own words, Ramanujan “arrived at aresult by a process of mingled argument, intuition, and induction,of which he was entirely unable to give any coherent account.”Hardy, who was a known exponent of formal and rigor in analysis,was however astounded by Ramanujan's uncanny intuition inmanipulating infinite series, continued fractions, and othercomplex aspects of number theory. Based on his observations,Hardy once made the comment: "I have never met his equal, andcan compare him only with Euler or Jacobi."

Ramanjunan’s stay in England was a boon to the world ofmathematics and in turn, he gained a reputation that he hadyearned for so much in his life. Cambridge granted him a Bachelorof Science degree "by research" in 1916, and he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (the first Indian to be so honoured) in1918. However, the climate of England and the culture from which

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he was so alienated, ultimately took its toll on him both mentallyand physically. The English winters and his low-energy vegetariandiet had a detrimental effect on his already frail health and in1917 he was hospitalised. Eventually, Ramanujan alsosuccumbed to bouts of depression and even attempted suicide atone time. By late 1918 his health had improved slightly and hereturned to India in 1919. But his health failed again, and he diedat the age of 33. His wife Janaki, who lived lonely years duringhis stay at London, joined him in Madras on his return and nursedhim till his untimely death on April 26, 1920.

Those who are mathematically inclined might find thisquite interesting

A remarkable mathematical formula that resulted from theHardy-Ramanujan collaboration relates to the ‘partition of a

positive integer (a non-fraction number) which says that p(n)= 5 which means that the number n can be expressed as fivedifferent summations of positive numbers, regardless of order.

For example, p(4) = 5 because the number 4 can beexpressed or partitioned in five different ways: 1+1+1+1,

1+1+2, 2+2, 1+3, or 4

While this problem was originally studied by the pioneeringmathematician and physicist Euler, Ramanujan and Hardy

with an explicit formula that could calculate the partitions forany integer.

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Prof. Hardy (left) and Ramanujan in London

Ramanujan’s wife Janaki in 1994

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Some of Ramnujan’s original and sometimes unconventionalwork, have inspired vast amounts of further research and havefound applications in fields as diverse as crystallography andstring theory.

A common anecdote about Ramanujan during his last daysrelates how Hardy arrived at Ramanujan's house in a cabnumbered 1729. He then mentioned to Ramanujan that thenumber seemed to be very uninteresting. In reply, Ramanujanis said to have remarked immediately that, in fact, the numberwas an extremely interesting number mathematically, since itwas the smallest number representable as a sum of two cubesin two different ways. This derivation is shown below:

1729 can be expressed as 13 + 123

or as 93 + 103

The number 1729 is now referred to as the Hardy-Ramanujannumber and numbers with is particular property are alsoreferred to as the "taxicab numbers". There are estimations thatRamanujan speculated upon or provided proofs for over 3,000such theorems, identities and equations.

Hardy, on the other, lived on till the age of 70. When asked in aninterview what his greatest contribution to mathematics was,Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the discovery ofRamanujan, and even called their collaboration "the oneromantic incident in my life". After Ramanujan died, Hardystrongly urged that Ramanujan's notebooks be edited andpublished.

Ramanujan’s extraordinary abilities and achievements can bebest summed up a remark made by Michio Kaku, a JapaneseAmerican theoretical physicist, tenured professor and co-creatorof string field theory: “Srinivasa Ramanujan was the strangestman in all of mathematics, probably in the entire history ofscience. He has been compared to a bursting supernova,illuminating the darkest, most profound corners of mathematics,before being tragically struck down by tuberculosis at the age of33.”

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TheCurious Case

of theCottingley

Fairies

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The 1917 photographsIn mid-1917, nine-year-old Frances Griffiths and her mother,both newly arrived in the UK from South Africa, were stayingwith Frances Griffiths' aunt in the village of Cottingley  in WestYorkshire; Elsie was then 16 years old. The two girls often playedtogether beside the brook at the bottom of the garden, much totheir mothers' annoyance, because they frequently came backwith wet feet and clothes. Frances and Elsie said they only wentto the beck to see the fairies, and to prove it, Elsie borrowed herfather's camera, a Midg quarter-plate. The girls then apparentlyreturned about 30 minutes later, in, what was described as, a"triumphant" mood.

Elsie's father, Arthur, was a keen amateurphotographer himself and had his owndarkroom. The picture onthe photographic plate that he developedshowed Frances behind a bush in theforeground, on which four fairies appearedto be dancing. Two months later the girlsborrowed his camera again, and this timereturned with a photograph of Elsie sittingon the lawn holding out her hand to a30  cm gnome. While Arthur thought thephotos to be "nothing but a prank",  hiswife Polly believed the photographs to beauthentic.

Cottingley Beck, where Francesand Elsie claimed to have

seen the fairies

The photographs became public in mid-1919, after Elsie'smother showed the photographs at a meeting ofthe  Theosophical Society  in Bradford. As a result, thephotographs were displayed at the Society's annual conferencein Harrogate a few months later, where they came to theattention of a leading member of the Society, Edward Gardner.Later he wrote: “.... the fact that two young girls had not onlybeen able to see fairies, which others had done, but had actuallyfor the first time ever been able to materialise them at a densitysufficient for their images to be recorded on a photographic plate,

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The first of the five photographs, taken by Elsie Wright in 1917,shows Frances Griffiths with the alleged fairies.

meant that it was possible that the next cycle of evolution wasunderway.”

Initial examinationsWhen Gardner sent the prints along with the original glass-platenegatives to Harold Snelling, a photography expert, the latter’sopinion was that "the two negatives are entirely genuine, unfakedphotographs  ... [with] no trace whatsoever of studio workinvolving card or paper models".Author and prominent spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle learnedabout the photographs from the editor of the publication Light (amagazine for spiritualists). During this period, Doyle had beencommissioned by The Strand Magazine  to write an article onfairies for their Christmas issue and the manifestation of the ‘fairyphotographs’ fitted in perfectly with his project. Doyle contactedGardner in June 1920 to determine the background to thephotographs, and wrote to Elsie and her father to requestpermission from the latter to use the prints in his article. ArthurWright was "obviously impressed" that Doyle was involved, andgave his permission for publication, but he refused payment on

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gave his permission for publication, but he refused payment onthe grounds that, if genuine, the images should not be "soiled" bymoney.

Interestingly, Gardner and Doyle sought a second expert opinionfrom the photographic company Kodak, who, after examining thephotographs, stated that the photographs "showed no signs ofbeing faked" and they concluded that "this could not be taken asconclusive evidence ... that they were authentic photographs offairies". Kodak also declined to issue a certificate of authenticity.The prints were also examined by another photographiccompany,  Ilford, who reported unequivocally that there was"some evidence of faking".

The 1920 photographsDoyle, who was preoccupied withorganising an imminent lecturetour of Australia in July 1920,sent Gardner to meet the Wrightfamily. Frances was by then livingwith her parents in Scarborough,but Elsie's father told Gardnerthat he had been so certain thephotographs were fakes thatwhile the girls were away hesearched their bedroom and thearea around the stream, lookingfor scraps of pictures or cut-outs,but found nothing "incriminating".

Gardner, who believed the Wright family to be honest andrespectable and wanted to place the matter of the photographs'authenticity beyond doubt, returned to Cottingley at the end ofJuly with two Kodak Cameo cameras and 24  secretly markedphotographic plates. These cameras were then given to the twogirls during their school summer holiday, to allow them to takemore photographs of the fairies.

The second of the five photographs,showing Elsie with a winged gnome

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Frances and the LeapingFairy in the third

photograph

The third Photograph -Fairy Offering

Posy of Harebells toElsie

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The girls, who insisted on being alone with the fairies, thenapparently came back with several photographs, two of whichappeared to show fairies. These two photographs (shown on theprevious page), show Frances in profile with a winged fairy closeby her nose and Elsie with a fairy either hovering or tiptoeing ona branch, and offering her a flower. Two days later the girls tookthe last picture, Fairies and Their Sun-Bath (shown on the nextpage).When an excited Gardner sent an "ecstatic" telegram to Doyle(then in Melbourne), Doyle wrote back: “My heart was gladdenedwhen out here in far Australia I had your note and the threewonderful pictures which are confirmatory of our publishedresults. When our fairies are admitted other psychic phenomenawill find a more ready acceptance  ... We have had continuedmessages at séances for some time that a visible sign wascoming through.”

Publication and reaction

In December 1920, Doyle's article in The Strand contained twohigh resolution prints of the 1917 photographs. The magazinesold out within days of its publication. Doyle who was a staunchspiritualist, hoped that if the photographs convinced the publicof the existence of fairies, then they might more readily acceptother psychic phenomena.The ensuing press coverages were not very encouraging andsometimes even made a mockery of the photographs. TheSydney newspaper Truth on 5 January 1921 expressed the view:"For the true explanation of these fairy photographs what iswanted is not the knowledge of occult phenomena butknowledge of children." and Major John Hall-Edwards, thepioneer of  medical X-ray treatments  in Britain noted “On theevidence I have no hesitation in saying that these photographscould have been "faked"….” In 1921, Doyle used thephotographs in a second article and also in his 1922 book “TheComing of the Fairies”. Once again, the photographs werereceived with mixed credulity and some sceptics noted that thefairies "looked suspiciously like the traditional fairies of nurserytales" and that they had "very fashionable hairstyles".

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The fifth and final photograph - Fairies and Their Sunbath

Gardner's final visitGardner made a final visit to Cottingley in August 1921 withcameras and photographic plates for Frances and Elsie,accompanied by the clairvoyant  Geoffrey Hodson. This timearound, there were no evidence or photographs of fairies. Bythen, Elsie and Frances were tired of the whole fairy business.Years later Elsie and Frances admitted that they "played along"with Hodson "out of mischief", and that they considered him "afake".

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Later investigations

Public interest in the Cottingley Fairies graduallysubsided after 1921. Elsie and Frances eventuallymarried and lived abroad for many years. In 1966,a reporter from the Daily Express  newspapertraced Elsie, who was by then back in England.The media subsequently once again becameinterested in Frances and Elsie's photographs andin 1971, BBC television's Nationwide programmeinvestigated the case. Elsie stuck to her story:"I've told you that they're photographs of figmentsof our imagination, and that's what I'm stickingto".Frances and Elsie

1917However, during an interview in 1976 by journalist Austin Mitchell,Elsie and Frances agreed that "a rational person doesn't seefairies", but they refused to accept that they had fabricated thephotographs.  Many experts including internationally renownedmagician and sceptic James Randi, a team from the Committee forthe Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal andGeoffrey Crawley, editor of the British Journal of Photographylabelled the photographs as fakes.

Confessions

In 1983, the cousins admitted in an article published in themagazine The Unexplained, that the photographs had been faked,although both maintained that they had actually seen fairies.Strangely, the cousins disagreed about the fifth and finalphotograph. Elsie maintained it was a fake but Frances insisted thatit was genuine. In an interview given in the early 1980’s Francessaid: “It was a wet Saturday afternoon and we were just moochingabout with our cameras and Elsie had nothing prepared. I sawthese fairies building up in the grasses and just aimed the cameraand took a photograph.”

In a 1985 TV interview, Frances said: "I never even thought of itas being a fraud – it was just Elsie and I having a bit of fun and Ican't understand to this day why they were taken in – they wantedto be taken in.”

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Subsequent hstoryFrances died in 1986, and Elsie in 1988.  Prints of theirphotographs of the fairies, along with a few other items includinga first edition of Doyle's book The Coming of the Fairies, were soldat auction in London for £21,620 in 1998. That same year,Geoffrey Crawley sold his Cottingley Fairy material to the NationalMuseum of Film, Photography and Television where it is still ondisplay. The glass photographic plates were bought for £6,000 byan unnamed buyer at a London auction held in 2001.The first edition of Frances' memoirs , published in 2009, underthe title Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies,  containscorrespondence, sometimes "bitter", between Elsie and Frances.In one letter, dated 1983, Frances wrote: “I hated thosephotographs from the age of 16 when Mr Gardner presented mewith a bunch of flowers and wanted me to sit on the platform [ata Theosophical Society meeting] with him. I realised what I wasin for if I did not keep myself hidden.”

Elsie and Frances and the original camera used in the photographs

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About Vipin Alex JacobI came upon Vipin’s work on Facebook and was immediatelyimpressed with the clarity of emotions and expressions that he isable to induce into his characters. The ability to do this withoutwriting or saying much in a caricature or cartoon, is a unique andrare ability in artists. His marvellous use of colour combinationsin his work is another feature that I found most interesting. Ibelieve that Vipin needs much more attention that he is currentlygetting and I sincerely hope that the readers of this ezine willforward his works to other readers. My personal opinion (forwhatever it is worth) is that I have stumbled upon an artist withan amazing talent and the ability to go very far in life with hisabilities and skills.

This is what Vipin says about his work: “I approach all myartworks as an avenue for story-telling and love to set the moodand colours to define it. Everything from getting the rightexpression, pose or shape of the characters in the scene are keyelements. Each of my artwork is a stage and my characters areactors that help to drive the story. “

Avijit Sarkar

Editor

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This Is The Day

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27Silent Place

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Summer Playdate

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Sup

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Yapster

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WeirdFood

Delicacies

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It is indeed true that one person’s normal food habits might beanother person’s nightmare. There are many strange foods andrecipes available around the world but there are a few foods thatare definitely weird and possibly bizarre in the eyes of the‘normal’ food lovers. These dishes may not be on the wish list ofevery food connoisseur, but they are consumed with gusto andrelished by many across the world.

Here are a few such dishes

Bird’s Nest Soup - China

Yes! Birds’ nests are edible – at least that’s what the Chinesethink. They use Swifts’ nests to make this soup, known as the‘Caviar of the East’. Interestingly, Swiftlets make their nests notout of twigs and leaves but predominantly out of saliva. Theirsaliva that makes the soup have its unique gelatinous, rubberytexture and the soup is reputedly one of the most expensiveanimal products consumed by humans. The high price comesfrom the fact that this bird builds its nest during breeding seasonover a period of 35 days and nests can only be harvested aroundthree times a year. Moreover, the nests are typically built incoastal caves and collecting them is a treacherous

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process involving climbing and nimble skill.

With an increase in demand for birds nest soup however,manmade nesting sites are often constructed. Hong Kong and theUS are the largest importers of birds’ nests and a bowl of soupcan cost around $30 to $100, whilst a kilo of nest can costbetween $2,000 and $10,000. The soup has been a tradition forcenturies and is believed to be nutritious in proteins and mineralsand apparently has aphrodisiac qualities.

These enormous spiders that you can buy on the streets ofSkuon, Cambodia, are served fried whole – legs, fangs and all.They were first discovered by starving Cambodians in the bloody,brutal days of the Khmer Rouge rule and have gone from beingthe vital sustenance of these people to a delicacy that touristscome from far and wide to try.

Busloads of people stop at the markets of Skuon to try thesedelicacies which have now become the source of fame and fortunefor many locals. They cost only a few cents and supposedly thetaste is delicious when pan fried with a bit of garlic and salt;crispy on the outside with a gooey body on the inside.

Fried Tarantulas - Cambodia

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The Puffer fish or fugu is known for its poison (the insides containtodrotoxin, which is 1,250 times stronger than cyanide) and yet isconsidered to be one of the most sought-after delicacies in Japan.However, only expert chefs in certain licensed restaurants areallowed to prepare and serve this rather precarious fish. It mightalso help to know that unless the fish is prepared and cookedproperly, its ingestion might lead to one getting paralysed whilststill conscious and eventual dying from asphyxiation since thereare no known antidotes.

Puffer Fish - Japan

Balut - Philippines

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This dish from the Philippines is unique because it is made fromfertilised eggs that are boiled just before they are due to hatch. Asa result, the yolk oozes out followed by a chicken (or duck) foetus.The eggs are cooked when the foetus is anywhere from 17 days to21 days depending on your preference. Mind you, if the egg isolder, the foetus begins to have a beak, claws, bones and feathers!

Although the description of Balut mind seem to be quite repellentfor many readers, in the Filipino culture the dish is enormouslypopular. Like many other exotic dishes around the world, the Balutis also widely believed to boost libido and is also considered to bea protein laden healthy snack. It is served with with a pinch of salt,lemon juice, black pepper and coriander and sometimes with chiliand vinegar. The Balut lover will tell you that the best way to eatthis is to crack open the egg, sip the broth and then eat the yolkand foetus; accompanied by a glass of cold beer.

Casu Marzu - Sardinia

This is a variety of cheese with a difference. It is full of insectlarvae. In fact the name “Casu Marzu” means ‘rotten cheese’ andis often commonly referred to as ‘maggot cheese.’ For healthreasons, this cheese is now banned but can still be procured onthe black market in Sardinia and Italy. The cheese is made fromsheep’s milk cheese which has the larvae of the cheese fly(Piophila casei) introduced into it. Fermentation occurs as thelarvae digest the cheese fats and the texture becomes very soft

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with some liquid seeping out. The cheese has to be apparentlyeaten when the maggots are still alive because when they aredead it is considered to be toxic!

Health issues have arisen in relation to Casu Marzu, includingreports of allergic reactions resulting out of the consumption ofthe cheese that is in an advanced toxic state.

Surstromming - Sweden

Sweden’s Surstomming is fermented Baltic herring and can befound on supermarket shelves all over the country.

The herring is caught in spring just before it starts spawning andis then fermented in barrels for one to two months before beingtinned where the fermentation continues for several months. Thecans often bulge during shipping and storage because of thecontinued fermentation process. so much so that certain airlineshave in fact banned these cans from being taken on flights, asthey consider the pressurized cans to be potentially dangerous.

When the can is opened the smell is overpowering due to theadvanced fermentation of the fish. It is usually eaten with a typeof flat crispy bread and boiled potatoes. Sometimes people drinkmilk with it.

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Sannakji- Korea

Sannakji is a dish from Korea and is made from live octopus. Theoctopus is cut into pieces whilst still alive, lightly seasoned withsesame oil and served immediately whilst the tentacles can stillbe seen squirming on the plate!

It is an interesting dish because the tentacles stick to any surfacethey touch. This means you actually have to fight with your foodbefore you can devour it and savour its taste.

The first hurdle is to get the tentacles off your chopsticks, andonce the octopus is in your mouth it can stick to your teeth, theroof of your mouth and your tongue due to the suction of thetentacles. Koreans however find this to be a gastronomicallyenjoyable experience. Be careful when you swallow this beforechewing properly because the suction cups stick to the mouth orthroat and can result in choking.

Kopi Luwak - Indonesia

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Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and possibly one of the mostexpensive gourmet coffee beans in the world. However there is acatch. It is made from the excrements of an Indonesian cat-likecreature called the Luwak; an animal that eats only the ripestcoffee cherries but is unable to digest beans inside them whichcome out whole in its excrement. Indonesians insist the resultantcoffee beans are unique because the stomach acids and enzymesthat perform the fermentation of the beans give the coffee aspecial aroma.

This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java andSulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago and has an expensiveprice tag of anywhere between US $120 – $300 per pound.

Puffin Heart - Iceland

The puffin is often referred to as the ‘clown of the ocean’ or ‘seaparrot’ and with its colourful beak and clumsy behaviour, isconsidered an adorable bird. In Iceland, however, these seabirdshave been a source of sustenance for Icelanders on the islandsfor centuries and ‘sky fishing’ is a popular sport (specially in theWestman Islands) that involves catching these low flying birds ina big net. The heart of a puffin is eaten raw whilst it is still warmin traditional Icelandic delicacy.

The puffin’s neck is first broken and then the bird is skinned. Afterthat, the fresh heart is eaten raw. Mind you, this is considered tobe a sought-after delicacy and often also smoked, grilled orpan-fried.

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Snake Wine - Vietnam

Many inhabitants of Vietnam believe that Snake Wine (a bottle ofrice wine with a venomous snake inside) has medicinal values.

The snake is left soaked for a few months in rice wine to allow forthe poison to dissolve in the wine. The ethanol makes the venominactive. It is slightly pinkish in colour as a result of the bloodfrom the snake. Although it originated in Vietnam, it has nowspread to other parts of South East Asia and Southern China. Adifferent variety called the Snake Blood Wine is prepared byslicing the belly of the snake to let the blood drain into the winewhich is then served immediately.

Refernce: http://www.bootsnall.com/

Photo credits: Bird’s Nest Soup: http://www.chinesecookingrecipes.net/Fried Tarantulas: http://www.blacktomato.com/ Fugu:http://www.jamiechuaofficial.com/ Baluthttp://www.kawalingpinoy.com/ Casu Marzu: http://geniuscook.com/Surstromming: http://commons.wikimedia.org/ Sannakji:wenitasya.wordpress.com Kopi Luwak:http://bintantimur.blogspot.com.au/ Puffin: nicholasngkw on FlickrSnake wine by Rob Sheridan on Flickr

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“The Pied Piper of Delhi”

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On 26th Jaunary 2015, millions of fans and the world ofcartoonists lost one of its immortals with the passing away ofRasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman (or R.K. Laxman as he isknown to the world). Laxman was born on 24th October 1921 inthe city of Mysore in India and from his humble beginnings herose to the status of arguably the most iconic cartoonist fromIndia with a fan following so large that he was often referred toas the “Pied Piper of Delhi”

It is said that the young Laxman used to be engrossed in theillustrations in magazines like Strand, Punch and Tit-Bits and verysoon, he started drawing figures and caricatures of his teacherson the floor, doors and walls of his house. In his autobiography,Laxman wrote: “I drew objects that caught my eye outside thewindow of my room – the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-likecreatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, ofcourse, a number of crows in various postures on the rooftops ofthe buildings opposite.”

Incredible as it sounds, Laxman did not go any art school for aformal degree. Instead he learnt his developed his extraordinaryskills all by himself. After high school, Laxman did apply to the J.J. School of Art in Mumbai. However, the dean of the school wroteto him that his drawings lacked "the kind of talent to qualify forenrolment in our institution as a student". He was refusedadmission. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree fromthe  University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued hisfreelance artistic activities and contributed cartoonsto Swarajya and to an animated film. His earliest works appearedin a few newspapers and magazines like Swarajya and Blitz. Moreimportantly, while still at college, he started illustrating for hiselder brother and renowned writer R. K. Narayan's storiesin various publications, while continuing to draw political cartoonsfor local newspapers.

In 1940, Laxman moved to Mumbai and in 1947 he joined TheTimes of India, beginning a career as a cartoonist at thenewspaper that spanned over fifty years. His character, the"Common Man" (created in 1957) featured daily on the front-page cartoon strip “You Said It” of the newspaper and developed

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a cult following in India. Through his cartoons, he provided thereader with astute (and often unique) observations about India’spolitical and social turmoils, trials and tribulations.

He was the recipient of numerous prestigious national andinternational awards.

References and Images: The Times of India and http://zaindude.blogspot.com.au/

The Common Man - the character that immortalised R.K. Laxman

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The TaleOf

The Harmonium

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A musical instrument that produces sound by the virtue of airflowing past a vibrating reed, is called a “free-reed” instrument.The air pressure is generated either by breath or through the useof bellows. The pump organ or harmonium is a free-reed musicalinstrument built with bellows to pump the air into the reeds.

A professor of psychology at Copenhagen by the name ofChristian Gottlieb Kratzenstein is credited for building the firstfree-reed instrument in the Western world. This was in 1780.Later, a harmonium like instrument called the “orgue expressif”was demonstrated by Gabriel Joseph Grenié in 1810. However, itwas the French inventor Alexandre Debain who improved Grenié’sdesign of the instrument and gave it the name ‘harmonium’ thathe patented in 1840. Strangely enough, a French mechanic whoimmigrated to America during these years conceived the idea ofa similar instrument but based on suction of air through thereeds. It is also interesting to note that an instrument called the‘harmoniflute’ was designed between 1850-1860 in France thathad hand bellows, unlike previous models that had foot pedals forthe bellows.

Grenié’s Orgue Expressif

Victorian Pump Organ

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Debain’s Harmonium

The popularity of the harmonium reached its peak in the 19th and20th century in the Western world and was widely used in smallerchurches. Harmoniums were also widely used in the colonies ofEuropean powers since they were easier to transport than pianosand pipe organs. A wide variety of harmoniums were constructedduring this period including varieties that used pedals or electricalpumps for the air flow. The largest producer of harmoniums wasa company by the name of Estey which ceased its production inthe mid 1950’s while some companies in Italy continuedproduction till 1970’s.

However, the harmonium had arrived in India throughmissionaries in the nineteenth century. The portability of theinstrument made it quite popular in the country. However, twofactors forced a change in the structure of the harmonium inIndia.

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Most Indian traditional music is melodic and not harmonic. Thismeans that the music played on an instrument like the harmoniumneeded the use of only one hand and the other hand was notneeded (as in the piano) to play structured chords. The secondfactor was that most varieties of traditional Indian music areperformed with the performers sitting on the floor. These twoaspects of Indian music forced the harmonium to be redesignedto its current shape and structure as is widely used in India, thatallows the harmonium to be played with one hand, sitting on thefloor while the other hand is used to pump the bellows. Theredesign also incorporated other interesting and clever featureslike “drone stops” and a scale changing mechanism. This design,which is now an integral part of the Indian harmonium, wascreated by Dwarkanath Ghosh in the city of Calcutta. He was infact inspired by the design of the original French ‘Harmoniflutes’that were designed in France.

French Harmoniflute

During its early days in India, the harmonium was widely used inMarathi and Parsee theatre. Today, the harmonium is possibly themost widely accompaniment musical instrument used in Indiaspecially for the traditional forms of music. Interestingly, theconnoisseurs of pure Indian classical music still still look down

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An Old Indian Harmonium

upon the harmonium because it is not able to produce slides(‘meends’) between notes and is also incapable of producingmicro-tones (‘shrutis’) that are used in Indian classical musicalstyles. Even then, the harmonium has been widely used as anaccompaniment by many legendary classical musicians in India.

An Modern Indian ‘Scale Changer’ Harmonium

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Source/References: Wikipaedia, http://www.indianmirror.com/http://www.indianmirror.com/‘The Harmonium in North Indian Music’ - a treatise on the instrument byBirjit Abelshttp://fr.harmonium.wikia.com/http://commons.wikimedia.org/http://hhshribholanathjimemories.blogspot.com.au/

Cover page image by: Vishal Mishra – Deviant Art:http://vishalmisra.deviantart.com/art/Harmonium-player-188898992

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By Anton Chekov

Two LittleSoldiers

By Guy de Maupassant

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Every Sunday, as soon as they were free, the little soldiers wouldgo for a walk. They turned to the right on leaving the barracks,crossed Courbevoie with rapid strides, as though on a forcedmarch; then, as the houses grew scarcer, they slowed down andfollowed the dusty road which leads to Bezons.

They were small and thin, lost in their ill-fitting capes, too largeand too long, whose sleeves covered their hands; their ample redtrousers fell in folds around their ankles. Under the high, stiffshako one could just barely perceive two thin, hollow-cheekedBreton faces, with their calm, naive blue eyes. They never spokeduring their journey, going straight before them, the same ideain each one's mind taking the place of conversation. For at theentrance of the little forest of Champioux they had found a spotwhich reminded them of home, and they did not feel happyanywhere else.

At the crossing of the Colombes and Chatou roads, when theyarrived under the trees, they would take off their heavy,oppressive headgear and wipe their foreheads.

They always stopped for a while on the bridge at Bezons, andlooked at the Seine. They stood there several minutes, bendingover the railing, watching the white sails, which perhapsreminded them of their home, and of the fishing smacks leavingfor the open.

As soon as they had crossed the Seine, they would purchaseprovisions at the delicatessen, the baker's, and the winemerchant's. A piece of bologna, four cents' worth of bread, and aquart of wine, made up the luncheon which they carried away,wrapped up in their handkerchiefs. But as soon as they were outof the village their gait would slacken and they would begin totalk.

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And they went on, side by side, their minds full of dim memoriesof home. They saw the fields, the hedges, the forests, and beaches.

Each time they stopped near a large stone on the edge of theprivate estate, because it reminded them of the dolmen ofLocneuven.

As soon as they reached the first clump of trees, Luc Le Ganidecwould cut off a small stick, and, whittling it slowly, would walk on,thinking of the folks at home.

Jean Kerderen carried the provisions.

From time to time Luc would mention a name, or allude to someboyish prank which would give them food for plenty of thought.And the home country, so dear and so distant, would little by littlegain possession of their minds, sending them back through space,to the well-known forms and noises, to the familiar scenery, withthe fragrance of its green fields and sea air. They no longer noticedthe smells of the city. And in their dreams they saw their friendsleaving, perhaps forever, for the dangerous fishing grounds.

They were walking slowly, Luc Le Ganidec and Jean Kerderen,contented and sad, haunted by a sweet sorrow, the slow andpenetrating sorrow of a captive animal which remembers the daysof its freedom.

Before them was a plainwith a few clumps of trees,which led to the woods, alittle forest which seemedto remind them of thatother forest at Kermarivan.The wheat and oat fieldsbordered on the narrowpath, and Jean Kerderensaid each time to Luc LeGanidec:

"It's just like home, justlike Plounivon."

"Yes, it's just like home."

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And when Luc had finished whittling his stick, they came to a littlenook, where every Sunday they took their meal. They found thetwo bricks, which they had hidden in a hedge, and they made alittle fire of dry branches and roasted their sausages on the endsof their knives.

When their last crumb of bread had been eaten and the last dropof wine had been drunk, they stretched themselves out on thegrass side by side, without speaking, their half-closed eyeslooking away in the distance, their hands clasped as in prayer,their red-trousered legs mingling with the bright colors of the wildflowers.

Towards noon they glanced, from time to time, towards thevillage of Bezons, for the dairy maid would soon be coming. EverySunday she would pass in front of them on the way to milk hercow, the only cow in the neighborhood which was sent out topasture.

Soon they would see the girl,coming through the fields,and it pleased them to watchthe sparkling sunbeamsreflected from her shiningpail. They never spoke of her.They were just glad to seeher, without understandingwhy.

She was a tall, strapping girl,freckled and tanned by theopen air—a girl typical of theParisian suburbs.

Once, on noticing that theywere always sitting in the

same place, she said to them:

"Do you always come here?"

Luc Le Ganidec, more daring than his friend, stammered:

"Yes, we come here for our rest."

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That was all. But the following Sunday, on seeing them, she smiledwith the kindly smile of a woman who understood their shyness,and she asked:

"What are you doing here? Are you watching the grass grow?"

Luc, cheered up, smiled: "P'raps."

She continued: "It's not growing fast, is it?"

He answered, still laughing: "Not exactly."

She went on. But when she came back with her pail full of milk,she stopped before them and said:

"Want some? It will remind you of home."

She had, perhaps instinctively, guessed and touched the right spot.

Both were moved. Then not without difficulty, she poured somemilk into the bottle in which they had brought their wine. Lucstarted to drink, carefully watching lest he should take more thanhis share. Then he passed the bottle to Jean. She stood beforethem, her hands on her hips, her pail at her feet, enjoying thepleasure that she was giving them. Then she went on, saying:"Well, bye-bye until next Sunday!"

For a long time they watched her tall form as it receded in thedistance, blending with the background, and finally disappeared.

The following week as they left the barracks, Jean said to Luc:

"Don't you think we ought to buy her something good?"

They were sorely perplexed by the problem of choosing somethingto bring to the dairy maid. Luc was in favor of bringing her somechitterlings; but Jean, who had a sweet tooth, thought that candywould be the best thing. He won, and so they went to a grocery tobuy two sous' worth, of red and white candies.

This time they ate more quickly than usual, excited by anticipation.

Jean was the first one to notice her. "There she is," he said; andLuc answered: "Yes, there she is."

She smiled when she saw them, and cried:

"Well, how are you to-day?"

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They both answered together:

"All right! How's everything with you?"

Then she started to talk of simple things which might interestthem; of the weather, of the crops, of her masters.

They didn't dare to offer their candies, which were slowly meltingin Jean's pocket. Finally Luc, growing bolder, murmured:

"We have brought you something."

She asked: "Let's see it."

Then Jean, blushing to the tips of his ears, reached in his pocket,and drawing out the little paper bag, handed it to her.

She began to eat the little sweet dainties. The two soldiers satin front of her, moved and delighted.

At last she went to do her milking, and when she came back sheagain gave them some milk.

They thought of her all through the week and often spoke of her.The following Sunday she sat beside them for a longer time.

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The three of them sat there, side by side, their eyes looking faraway in the distance, their hands clasped over their knees, andthey told each other little incidents and little details of the villageswhere they were born, while the cow, waiting to be milked,stretched her heavy head toward the girl and mooed.

Soon the girl consented to eat with them and to take a sip ofwine. Often she brought them plums pocket, for plums were nowripe. Her presence enlivened the little Breton soldiers, whochattered away like two birds.

One Tuesday something unusual happened to Luc Le Ganidec; heasked for leave and did not return until ten o'clock at night.

Jean, worried and racked his brain toaccount for his friend's havingobtained leave.

The following Friday, Luc borrowedten sons from one of his friends, andonce more asked and obtained leavefor several hours.

When he started out with Jean onSunday he seemed queer, disturbed,changed. Kerderen did notunderstand; he vaguely suspectedsomething, but he could not guesswhat it might be.

They went straight to the usual place,and lunched slowly. Neither was

was hungry.

Soon the girl appeared. They watched her approach as theyalways did. When she was near, Luc arose and went towards her.She placed her pail on the ground and kissed him. She kissed himpassionately, throwing her arms around his neck, without payingattention to Jean, without even noticing that he was there.

Poor Jean was dazed, so dazed that he could not understand. His

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His mind was upset and his heart broken, without his evenrealizing why.

Then the girl sat down beside Luc, and they started to chat.

Jean was not looking at them. He understood now why his friendhad gone out twice during the week. He felt the pain and the stingwhich treachery and deceit leave in their wake.

Luc and the girl went together to attend to the cow.

Jean followed them with his eyes. He saw them disappear side byside, the red trousers of his friend making a scarlet spot againstthe white road. It was Luc who sank the stake to which the cowwas tethered. The girl stooped down to milk the cow, while heabsent-mindedly stroked the animal's glossy neck. Then they leftthe pail in the grass and disappeared in the woods.

Jean could no longer see anything but the wall of leaves throughwhich they had passed. He was unmanned so that he did not havestrength to stand. He stayed there, motionless, bewildered andgrieving - simple, passionate grief. He wanted to weep, to runaway, to hide somewhere, never to see anyone again.

Then he saw them coming back again. They were walking slowly,hand in hand, as village lovers do. Luc was carrying the pail.

After kissing him again, the girl went on, nodding carelessly toJean. She did not offer him any milk that day.

The two little soldiers sat side by side, motionless as always,silent and quiet, their calm faces in no way betraying the troublein their hearts. The sun shone down on them. From time to timethey could hear the plaintive lowing of the cow. At the usual timethey arose to return.

Luc was whittling a stick. Jean carried the empty bottle. He left itat the wine merchant's in Bezons. Then they stopped on thebridge, as they did every Sunday, and watched the water flowingby.

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Jean leaned over the railing, farther and farther, as though he hadseen something in the stream which hypnotized him. Luc said tohim:

"What's the matter? Do you want a drink?"

again went out of sight. That was all.

The boatmen who had rushed to the scene found the body thatday.

Luc ran back to the barracks, crazed, and with eyes and voice fullof tears, he related the accident: "He leaned—he—he was leaning—so far over—that his head carried him away—and—he—fell —hefell——"

Emotion choked him so that he could say no more. If he had onlyknown.

Images created by Avijit Sarkar from the film “The Two Little Soldiers” -the ITV series "The Short Story".

He had hardly said the last wordwhen Jean's head carried away therest of his body, and the little blueand red soldier fell like a shot anddisappeared in the water.

Luc, paralyzed with horror, triedvainly to shout for help. In thedistance he saw something move;then his friend's head bobbed upout of the water only to disappearagain.

Farther down he again noticed ahand, just one hand, which

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SWATI SINGH SAMBYAL68

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Snow ladenBy

Swati Singh Sambyal

“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quitedifferent, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to befound?” This quote by J.B Priestley perfectly sums up theexpression snow.

I would like to term snow as an expression because it invokes inus feelings. Some may relate to snow as a memory; that eventfulkiss or separation or a nostalgia struck moment with somebody.While some may relate to it as the advent of magic- doesn’teverything looks whimsical and dream-like when it snows? Andsome find the after snow time gloomy and depressing. Snow isan expression of happiness and sadness. Many philosophers,poets, painters and artists have woven some of their best workswitnessing snow.

I love snow. I am not that privileged in terms of my location towitness snow but I tried to make something possible for myselfthis winter. I wanted to write about snow. But how do you writeabout snow without ever witnessing it. I found a way out. I askedfriends, people distant to send me their pictures of snowfall. Mostof them were beautiful pictures. Of leaves covered with snow; ofsnow-laden branches; of cars and almost everything in snow- allwhite and pristine. The next job was to weave a person in myhead. Somebody who is wandering in snow and weaving lines,somebody who is leaving footprints behind in the whiteness of it.And I found my ‘somebody’: a traveller who is walking in snow indifferent parts of the globe and penning down his thoughts. Nospecific reason why I wanted my protagonist to be a ‘HE’. But thistime a ‘HE’ suited well to the theme. The pictures are fromNorway. I thank the ones who did efforts to send me these. Andthe traveller ‘me’ writes on the following pages….

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On a cold winter morning

On a cold winter morningthe travelerlooked outside the window.Inches of snow."Were they snow laden treesor just a tree made of snow?"

There was sunshine after days of darkness.And this sunshine was hopefor the traveler.It reminded him of dayswhen he had hated the sun...Of days when he despised it.But now,sun was happinessand a feeling of belongingin the nowhere land.Sun was memoriesof the riversbirdsand old unsung songs.

On a cold winter morningthe travelerlooked at the skyand thought of his beyond self;What and where would he bein the times to come?

He wondered.

The snowflakes were falling on his barehands

And in that moment,

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he thought of her.

Her was his being.

The one he held on to…

Like he held to the time

on his hands.

On a cold winter morning,

The traveler left his footprints behind;

Of his un belonging to this land

And his belonging to the

somewhere so far.

Dream on

The sun could not pierce insidethe thick branches...But it could easily pierce inside the nakedsnow covered ones.The traveller was perplexed;The traveller was not fearless today.Something was eating him;Like his soul consuming himself...Just like the sun consuming the snow.It was a relative phenomenon.Seeing the snow disappear...And seeing something inside of him disappearing.

The sun only for a few hours...couldn't melt the snow entirely...The traveller looked at the few leavesholding on to the branches...Did he wish to be held?Yes!By whom he wondered?

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The traveller walked back home.In the nothingness of his dayand everything of his nightof thoughts...fearand utmost ofDreams.

Silence after the storm

The day after the snow storm was a silent day.Just like after the storm in the traveler's heart.It did ache badly that day.Like something was not right!But today was calm.Today was like the dayswhen you knowwhat you know.

The traveler looked outside the window.Outside his comfort zone.He knew he had to reach out...Branch out...And that he loved this storm.For it gave him a morning of answers.

Photographs: Hilde Sundt Skålevåg and Gina Anita Torpengen

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The Mind Creative

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All original works used in this magazine are for educational purposesand for viewing by readers. These works are not, in any way, to be

used for commercial reasons or for profit.