Sunday, September 10, 2006

Over the telegraph



Earlier, every colliery used to have one of the office watchmen on the Board of Directors. This
durwan was very important. In those days, every time there was an accident in a mine, the Board of Directors was held responsible. So guess who was marched off to jail if the court ordered that a director should be arrested?
The collieries have been around for over a century. Now the CMD of the company that runs the Bhatdih mine says the accident was an eye-opener. Long nap so far.
And no directors have been arrested. Leck-kee durwans, no?

Malegaon sees a sad deterioration in servility. I cannot begin to imagine the grief of these parents. I'd say they were quite restrained. Pity.


Rudrangshu Mukherjee seems to agree with Raj Kumar Hirani. Coming soon (perhaps), a review of Lage Raho Munnabhai. Spoiler - I loved it!

And oh, an expat experiences the realities of indeterminate gender. Perhaps if he hadn't been a Glaswegian, he would have havered on about cultural epiphanies or tolerance. Since he is a Scot, he tells it like it is. Carry on, McDougall.

Mike Selvey quotes Betjeman, then ponders on an anachronism. Lovely lines, too ... "I composed those lines when a summer wind/Was blowing the elm leaves dry". I have a soft spot for the never-never land of the "idyllic English summer" (well yes, I am an Anglophile - tough luck, old fruit) . Apart from Betjeman, there are bits of Larkin, MacNeice, Housman, even the elegiac Brooke, that send me dreaming. Don't tell me that landscape never existed. I've even seen one of those summers, back in 2001 during the Big Dry. (The train lines warped in the heat because the Brits hadn't left expansion gaps. "Silly twits / those Brits.")
I suspect Falstaff, Veena, the Black Mamba (singly and collectively) and Neha would disapprove of my retro preferences. Sod them.

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7 comments:

Falstaff said...

You wrong us. Well, me at least. Okay so I'm not big on Betjeman and don't care much for Brooke, but Larkin is incredible, MacNeice is spotty but brilliant at his best and I must confess to having a bit of a soft spot for Housman. How come your Anglophilia doesn't extend to Ted Hughes though? Also, why the twentieth century bias? If you want poetry that speaks of the never-never land of the idyllic English summer, John Clare is your man.

Rimi said...

I suspect Falstaff, Veena, the Black Mamba (singly and collectively) and Neha would disapprove of my retro preferences. Sod them.

Tsk.

Trying to o'erthrow Amit from the Linkfest King throne, hmm?

Anonymous said...

This is unrelated. I was contacted by that famous Nigerian scammer. So please tell me Anglophile bureaucratic friend, what do I do?

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

Specktre, tried John Clare. Not great.

Rimi, do not assume. Though you may presume.

T Male, read your post. Horrified that you should think I write like your Nigerian friend.

J.A.P.

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