The Fiction of truth, the truth of fiction

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

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 grena...

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.

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/

   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...