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Showing posts from 2015

Setopati: Kachin-Gorkhas

Read my travel essay about Burma: "Kachin-Gorkhas," in Setopati, Nepal's digital newspaper. It was published on December 7, 2015.

Setopati: A Visit to the Vihar

Read my travel essay on Burma: "A Visit to the Vihar." It was published in Setopati, Nepal's digital newspaper, on November 30, 2015.

Emanations: 2+2=5

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Read my short story "The Zia Motel" in Emanations, Issue 5.  Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists. ... The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but  the past . If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened" – well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five – well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs.              -- George Orwell, "Looking Back on the Spanish War" (1943) The quote above from editor Carter Kaplan's blog:  http://carterkaplan.blogspot.com/ http://carterkaplan.blogspot.com/2015/11/nazi-theory-indeed-specifically-denies.html ___________________ Two past lives plus two past lives equals five past lives. Two hand grenades plus two hand grenades equals five hand grenades. Two votes plus two votes equals fiv

Setopati: A Visit to Myitkyina

Read my travel essay "A Visit to Myitkyina" in Setopati. Interesting note: Himal South Asia published an abridged version of this essay on October 2011. A day after it appeared online, Burma cancelled the dam contract with China and for the first time since the death of Bogyoke Aung San took the side of the Kachins, with which the state of Myanmar had been at intermittent war for almost 65 years.

Asialyst: Interview regarding the Constitution

Népal : la nouvelle constitution  dans l’oeil des artistes Check out this interview with six artists and writers about Nepal's new Constitution in Asialyst, a new publication. I am featured in the interview. You have to create a username and password to log into the site. Interview by Ingrid Chiron, in French. You can find Asialyst here: https://asialyst.com/fr/2015/10/16/nepal-la-nouvelle-constitution-dans-oeil-des-artistes/

Setopati: Gasoline by Sushma Joshi

   Published in Setopati on: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 10:24:35   See more at: http://setopati.net/blog/10058/Gasoline/#sthash.j2v0XtZg.bUBIIMAI.dpuf It was going to be a nice, relaxed baby shower video shoot in Edison, NJ. I was the videographer. Sammy, originally from South India, was the photographer. Before we drove off, the driver of the rented van, a small, stocky man with an abrupt way of talking, asked Sammy: "Now did you forget anything? Cameras? Directions? Cellphone?" The man was organized, I could tell at first glance. "I got everything," Sammy mumbled. "Per-fact directions? Per-fact directions? It has to be per-fact, otherwise we waste lod-of time." As we cruised down Queens, I asked the driver, "Are you a Sai Bhakta?" A small picture of Shriddi Baba, the previous incarnation of Sai Baba, was on one of the cupholders. Sai Baba, afro-haired guru of the Indian subcontinent, has millions of followers who believe he can pe

Interview in Mongolian

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Ms. Joshi wrote a short story in 1996 that seems to echo the plot of "Force Majeure."

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Strangely enough, Ms. Joshi wrote a short story in 1996 that seems to echo the plot of "Force Majeure." The film, shot by Ruben Östlun, is about a man who leaves his wife when an avalanche descends on a French hotel while the family is on a family trip. Ms. Joshi's story "The Best Sand Painting of the Century" has a similar moment. This is not uncommon for Ms. Joshi, she often finds that her stories get echoed by more famous Western writers and filmmakers with greater access to finance and distribution. Thankfully, "The Best Sand Painting" was published by Emanations in 2012, so she has proof her work predates the Swedish film. The story also appears in her book "The Prediction," published in 2013. Read on... SCENE 11: THE HOTEL             May   we take your coat, madam? The head waiter had on a maroon bow tie and a benevolent smile. A group of young men hovered like a brood of black and white butterflies at his side. They swarmed

ORANGE PEEL

ORANGE PEEL, BY SUSHMA JOSHI I did not think I would live to be 75. But here I am, in 2050, walking through the burning trash piles of Kathmandu, the fine mesh of Super-Medtex face mask failing to keep away the dioxin and the carbon monoxide from my lungs. I draw in that smell of burning plastic with a shudder: I must enter the Pharma Kiosk on the way back home, and take a double dose of asthma spray, and a fifteen minute hook-up to the Easy-Breath Tank. Otherwise I would have to call the ambulance to get me home. The sun sets over the horizon—through the black cloud that hangs overhead perpetually, I can see the sun, like a pale moon, slipping down the mountains. For a moment, the smell feels particularly acrid, as if its weighed down with lead. I feel faint, all of a sudden, and wonder if I panic if I will fall into one of those red, glowing piles of garbage. I can see a body or two, people whose lungs have collapsed as they walked, tossed carelessly amongst the plastic Wai-Wai wrapp

Reviews: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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Its always fun to find reviews of your work online. As I browsed the net on this beautiful morning with the Himalayas shining in the sunshine, I came upon these two. And thought I would share it with you. PageTurners : Wonderfully Short Wednesdays  found me "a bit" boring. It was slow. Nothing happened. He/she also found the illustration of the meditating man to be unrelated to the story. I always wondered why they selected that image to illustrate this story, myself. The Blockade by Sushma Joshi I chose this short story this week because I really liked the picture used to advertised it. I can't help but look at that man meditating with a view like that and wish that I was him. Unfortunately though, the story didn't really do it for me. It based around the blockade of the Nepalese capital by Maoist rebels. Hasta's family and village are starving, so he attempts to find a way of keeping them alive through the blockade. He attempts to find t