March 08, 2015.
Already since a couple of days I’ve done not much about this project, mainly because of life that got into the way. At yesterday’s party, thrown by my proofreader who writes children books, I had to refrain my other proofreader to declare me the smartest man on the Island. Because that would have been false, since I think that our local veterinarian (who was also at the party) and a couple of other people are smarter; they’re just not writing any essays (anymore). There I met also a funny and clever 70 something year’s old man that people introduced to me as Uncle Herman. He was visiting his niece here on the Island who lives with her Cuban husband into some small, beachside alternative community that is connected to the rest of the Island by a dirt road that meanders over the island’s only hill and who is almost inaccessible during the wet season. The community that lives at the end of that road is not connected to the island’s electricity grid or whatever other utilities. They’re mostly vegans, trying to grow their own food (and marihuana), have small wind generators and live into huts that they construct from branches, palm- or coconut leaves, bamboo and clay. Whatever they cannot produce by themselves, they buy with money they earn from a little sidekick like selling space cakes, chocolate balls (equally doped), handmade jewelry and a little sting as barman or helping out in one of the many dive shops. For the rest of the time, they run their little eco-projects; environmental friendly sewage, turtle breeding station, recycling and art ateliers, etc… Most of them prefer techno music although some of them have their own instruments and they organize on regular intervals jam sessions. They like to be left to their own devices and for most of the island’s habitants (natives, expats and tourists) that’s just fine. Their biggest nuisances come from the local insect colony and crack heads snooping around the whole Island, constantly on the outlook for some opportunity theft.
Some expats have organized a circle of writers who congregate every Thursday morning at a local bar called The Rehab whose patrons proclaim that „Recovery is not an Option”. But I’m too busy with reading and writing to go to such meeting. All the time and attention that I’m not putting into this, goes to my wife, my assigned household tasks and our social agenda.
Summaries
Meanwhile into the Mahabharata, Yudhishthir, the first Indian Emperor fucked up grandly by gambling away his kingdom and wealth into some trumped gamble game with loaded dices and has to go into exile to the jungle for twelve years, leaving his biggest rival, Duryodhan in charge of things. His wife is not the happiest person around and he’s also not very ported with himself, but decided to use the ordeal to turn himself into a better and smarter person. He gets visits from all kinds of people and gods who tell him lengthy stories about the duties of each cast and the rules that govern society, religion, etc…
My Kindle indicates that I’ve been through 1/3rd of the book. The verses require much attention and time. Whenever the editor jumps to a next chapter of verses, he nicely summarizes the action between them into a short narrative. I’ve already made up my mind that the next book will not be another epic poem.
March 10th, 2015.
More Summaries of the Mahabharata. Of course the evil Duryodhan doesn’t want to make place again when after 13 years Yudhishthir claims back his throne; he goes like “To whom will he gamble it away next time?” Yudhishthir of course doesn’t accept a no for answer and start to collect support to take his throne back with force. At the end they fight for 18 days and the good one wins and the bad one dies (together with a lot of other good and bad people). At this point the Mahabharata officially ends but there is a little addendum.
After the war, the shamans advised Yudhishthir to perform a horse sacrifice. This goes as follows; they let a horse loose and run wherever it wants. When it doesn’t get stopped, that means that the ruler of that land is accepting Yudhishthir’s supremacy. When it gets stopped, war follows. When the horse gets back home, it gets sacrificed to the gods and the emperor inhales the smokes of the fire to cleanse him from all sins.
Comments
Although my wife discarded the book as unreadable (because of the verses) I’ve got fun into it once I got into the rhythm. The author/editor by himself has done a great effort to reduce the epics 90.000 verses to 2.000. The magnitude of the Mahabharata is due to the fact that during the ensuing centuries after its conception, religious rules and teachings were added to it by putting them into the mouth of one of the protagonists.
The Maharajagar 