New Morning

Can't you hear that rooster crowin'?

That Dylan Dunnit! Yes the sly old Jew* got away with the Nobel – for literature at that. So that was literature! I always saw Dylan as a whole lot besides literature. In fact I wasn’t particularly looking for literary value in there. Of course he could barely sing. But heck – literature is a whole lot more than literature! Maybe Mom would have given the Nobel to Pink Floyd for something that goes beyond literature, music and prophecy. Maybe for philosophy? Or political acumen? 

Methinks the Nobel categories need some rethinking.

It’s indeed a New Morning in more ways than one. Kim Raikes posted a comment on Pages. That triggered a new post. That (the Other Pages 20) lies ahead of this one but politely gave this right of way. Karan Vohra is back to being a stylist. And Sridevi Datta is Moonstruck! It augurs well for us all. Meanwhile Ma Durga must be safely in Dhapa – a travesty bigger than the spiteful leak that is threatening to rubbish one of the unique civilizations of Calcutta before anyone can get to know about it. But let’s talk of those visarjans in the Other Pages 20 that gave way to the visarjan (immersion of idol in river) in hand – one of celebration.

For Visarjans are both celebration and grieving. But I am starting to believe that we need to be grieving quite something other than what we have traditionally done, which is the departure of Durga in physical form into the river. These days, the river doesn’t have much work to do. And that’s thanks to the mess we have made. So the Asuras called payloaders have the last laugh at the “remains” of Durga. It isn’t fair. It is entirely against the Shastras in ways that even this rebel can’t reconcile herself to.

But hey, the roosters are crowing like never before. They are celebrating the honor and award of their mentor. He it was who heard them and told us to listen. Meanwhile as they crow in their simple innocence, they who “sowed the wind are reaping the whirlwind”. Dylan’s answers are swirling round and round in a way that no ears can pick up however hard they tune in. Dylan stole the Dylan from another poet. 

Another little known poet picked rage (the original Dylan's sort of rage) and created his own very special lines out of them dedicated to his infant son. His lines taught me to rage. With good rage! Till I tremble myself to rest, each night/afternoon/midmorning when the screams are out of steam.

But something has changed. I did catch an answer or two that was blowing in that wind. And what I heard was “write, dammit!” The rage is no longer a mere lullaby. I am screaming into the keyboard and you guys are getting to read it. And the book is bound to evolve. If nothing else, Pages if skillfully marketed will end up as A Book, though not The Book. But ... The Book is calling me home. Yes that rooster spirit is reaching the right places. So I thank all the Dylans – real and fake – for getting me to do it one way or another. The asura of oozing hands will be laid to rest. The payloader asuras are no respecters of Devas or Asuras. They haul them all off without fear or favor. The great leveler kicks in. I have seen The Great Leveler at work and so have all of us in some form. Work in his mysterious and manifold ways.

I am grateful to Kim for returning safely to Maine. Grateful to Sridevi for adorning each and every one of my pages with a heart. Grateful to Karan for reclaiming his inner stylist. His #inktober is neck and neck with Pages. And that is insanely creditable because he squeezes that in with the demands of one helluva job. 

Run away Sabya Mooks and Bibi Russell! Between Karan and me, you will soon be food for the payloaders. Apologies for naming and faming the whole lot of you friends here. Well as of now you are my exclusive audience for these screams I call Pages. I am grateful to you all for being in my life, in silent mode or otherwise. I have been at the receiving end – with open arms and heart. On with Pages …. Oh and to celebrate the strange ways of the Nobel dudes (duds?) here comes some music aka literature! 

PS – this edition of Pages is loaded with so many references it would turn a scene out of Shakespeare into a red velvet cake. Guidepage to Pages will be available on demand.

PS 2 – I plan to use a Kola Bou as a model and try an array of gamchas out on her. Rather like this scarf installation of yore.

Look created by Karan Vohra. Model Incognita. Clothes from Kanjeevaram and Kolkata street
Please ask Karan how many scarves it takes to make one photoshoot :) <apologies Dylan>

* Please note - I love Jews *

Footnote:  This is a bona fide post created out of a Page from 2016. The morning is still new, hopefully

Listen here for a version of New Morning that is actually SUNG