At least, home as my Jewish forefathers would have it. I remember having an argument in school once. A Jewish girl refused to accept that I was a Hare Krishna. If, as I truthfully claimed, my mum was originally Jewish, then I was too. Despite my protests that I’d never celebrated a Jewish festival in [...]
Entries from December 2008
December 24, 2008
The Season Divine
Another Christmas season is passing. I used to look forward to this time of year incredibly as a child, but after about sixteen, it began to mean less and less to me. Of course, part of that is natural – not being Christian (but having a Christmas tree and presents) and not being Jewish (but [...]
December 18, 2008
Strings and Birdsong
I came across this beautiful piece of art today on the blog of Guruseva. I love everything about it, from the expression on the face of the violinist, to the bird sitting in the corner. Is she playing to the bird, or accompanying him as he sings? Even the all pervasive curling background is a [...]
December 18, 2008
All I Do Is Read and Write
I’ve been writing the most brain destroying essay for the last eight days. Here’s a sample:
The necessity of the Co-operative principle, being central to Gricean theory, is often disputed by theorists. Relevance Theory, as proposed and outlined by Sperber and Wilson (1995) does not ascribe to this idea of co-operation in communication being the focal [...]
December 10, 2008
The Sacred, The Profane, and Frosty the Snowman.
On Sunday I had the great fortune to attend a jugalbandhi (duet) concert by one of my favourite Carnatic singers – Bombay Jayashri, and an equally great counterpart from the Hindustani tradition – Shubha Mudgal. I’ve been listening to their music for a long time, so it was really exciting to have the chance to [...]
December 10, 2008
Winter Epiphany
Crossing the frozen field, hard ground and wheat stubble
We chant these sacred names, each syllable clothed in a cloud of vapour.
A pause, and then:
‘This is real life!’ my Dad says.
‘This is real life. Everything else is just maintenance.’
Photo by Berit.
December 6, 2008
Out of Africa (and into the cold).
It’s a miracle of modern travel that you can start out an evening in the summer heat of Johannesburg, and thirteen hours later, be in the big, dark refrigerated embrace of the English winter. To top it off, I came home to find our central heating broken, so I’ve been wandering around the house in [...]
