Category: Culture

Everything cultural that interests me: music, reading, science, arts in general, news, photography…

Compte-rendu de séminaire [en]

Pour ceux que ça intéresse (on peut toujours rêver!), voici le compte-rendu de mon séminaire sur le cosmos chez Maeterlinck.

Bonne lecture…

A Rape in Cyberspace [en]

I’ve just finished reading My Tiny Life: A Rape in Cyberspace. It is long (it’s actually the first chapter of a print-book), well-written, and it is very interesting.

Julian recounts a case of “virtual rape” involving characters in an online community. It shows how much impact “online events” have on the real people behind the keyboards. It also shows an anarchic community struggling to get organized for dealing with the rapist.

In my online life, I have been faced by people who look upon online interaction as an “experiment” – who don’t care about their fellow chatters because they are “not real”. I think this text shows just how wrong these people are.

As an aside, I’m developing another pet peeve: haikus. Don’t get me wrong, I love japanese haikus. But this trend of sticking haikus everywhere on websites is so… “web”. I mean, short attention span and all that.
It’s a bit “easy”.

Grandma and Bagha [en]

Each time I sit down to write one of these Life entries, I think of my Grandma. She lives in England – not that far off but still quite far.
My Grandma is over 70 now, and she logs onto the Internet regularly to visit my website. I know that what she looks for are these little (rare) Life entries.

So today I had two rather long phone calls with England. One with my Grandma – who will hopefully soon be fit to fly over and meet my animals – and one with Somak.

Speaking of animals, Somak told me he received an email from IUCAA with a rather intriguing signature:

When you find life is coming down on you, think of Bagha.

Well, Bagha was quite well known in IUCAA – particularly for breaking into people’s fridges and hanging around the canteen. And obviously, the word has spread that he emigrated from India and is now a lucky Swiss citizen. I’m sure he’ll be glad to learn that his fate helps members of the IUCAA staff lift their spirits during the hard times.

I should be going back to India beginning of August. I’m actually starting to miss India. I have cravings for dreadfully hot Marathi food (the kind of stuff I found simply dreadful when I first tasted it).
I will have a Hindi course in Rishikesh again, and I hope to be able to spend a couple of weeks in Pune before that. That means I’m going to have to work hard to get my October exams ready before I leave ; )

Chick Pea Salad [en]

Whoo! I’d forgotten how nice and easy to prepare this chick pea salad was. I used to do it quite often pre-India.

Here is my no-fuss meal-for-one version of Roshi Razzaq’s original recipe. It’s “Indian” – the kind of Indian you find in western cookery books – and it’s really yummy.

First, stick the following into a tupperware (or any lid-able recipient):

  • 250g cooked chick peas (that’s about one tin)
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh chopped mint and corianders leaves
  • chilli powder (use paprika if you don’t want it strong), salt, ground cumin (the white “asian” variety) – 1/2 teaspoon of each
  • 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger (in little sticks)

Put the lid on, and shake.
Then, add about 200g of cooked potatoes (cut them up!), plus – follow your inspiration – tomato, cucumber, radish, spring onions (I usually end up with tomatos and spring onions, because I’m too lazy to buy everything).
Mix everything up together with some lemon juice – it’s ready!

You’re supposed to serve it with tamarind sauce, on lettuce leaves, with lots of fancy decoration. The tamarind sauce is really nice but a bit troublesome to prepare for one. If you have guests though, do take the trouble.

Bon appétit! – and tell me if you liked it…

Babies [en]

Miss Pea‘s last post about her sleepless baby got me hunting around the web.
In India, I had read this great childcare book of Aleika’s, but unfortunately I forgot the name of the author. I’m happy to say I have dug out all the useful information for you.

The Baby Book was written by William and Martha Sears. They advocate Attachment Parenting – which can be brought down to these main points:

  • breastfeeding
  • responding to baby’s cues
  • wearing the baby
  • sharing sleep

The last point is of course very much frowned upon in our modern western society (by the way, the only one in history to have such a weird conception of child-rearing…). Even when I manage to explain to my friends all the advantages for the baby and the parents, it always comes down to the final question: what about sex?

Dr. Sears’ site has a mine of very interesting information on parenting, of course.
You can also find info and links to articles on the Muslim attachment parenting page, although the site might be a little hard on your eyes and your browser.

Cat and Dog Diet [en]

Yes, I know. Lots about my animals, these days.
Well, coming home from the vet’s, it seems that I’ve been doing the worst thing possible: feeding cat food to the dog and vice-versa.

Cats are pure carnivores. Dogs are omnivores. They need a different diet, and each have very specific protein and vitamin requirements.

So here I am, with my veterinary kitty and doggie foods. It looks expensive, but it’s rather economical: as it is dry, a little goes a long way. And it is good quality.

I guess if the vet feeds that to her animals, and she is neither producing it, nor paid to promote it, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?

Dixit Maeterlinck IV [en]

Notre bonheur dépend, en somme, de notre liberté intérieure.

*

“La vérité ne vaut pas toujours le rêve, mais elle a celà  pour elle qu’elle est vraie.” [cité in]

*

Tout ce qui existe console et raffermit le sage, car la sagesse consiste à  rechercher et à  admettre tout ce qui existe.

Maurice Maeterlinck, La sagesse et la destinée

Dixit Maeterlinck III [en]

L’imbécile intégral n’est jamais irrésolu. Le sage l’est souvent, comme Cicéron il hésite parce qu’il voit trop de choses à  la fois et toutes sur le même plan et dans la même clarté.

*

[…] Chacun a le Dieu qu’il mérite, celui qu’avec le meilleur de son être il parvient à  créer au fond de son coeur.

Dites-moi quel est votre Dieu, ce qu’il fait, ce qu’il dit, ce qu’il pense, comment vous le voyez, je saurai qui vous êtes mieux que si j’avais vécu dix années avec vous.

Maurice Maeterlinck, Avant le grand silence

Dixit Maeterlinck II [en]

On souffre peu de sa souffrance même, on souffre énormément de la manière dont on l’accepte.

*

Vous ne pouvez vous dire heureux que lorsque le bonheur vous a aidé à  gravir des hauteurs d’où vous pouvez le perdre de vue, sans perdre en même temps votre désir de vivre.

Maurice Maeterlinck, La sagesse et la destinée

Dixit Maeterlinck I [en]

La force active d’un événement ne se trouve que dans la manière dont on envisage cet événement.

Maurice Maeterlinck, La sagesse et la destinée