Seasonal Venting

    In this space there should be a picture, and I'm so sorry it isn't here.  (You'll just have to use your imagination.)  If it WERE here, it would show a Malaysian fellow on a rattletrap motorcycle  telling the world where he stands, religiously speaking.  The fellow and I were riding our motorbikes in the same direction at the same time, but, regrettably, my camera was locked up in the back cargo carrier of my bike.  It was the picture that got away!  He had painted every inch of his motorbike (and his T-shirt as well), with colorful phrases in English, all from the Quran  (or Koran), which, by the way, can be translated literally as "the Recitation."  

   Anyway, on the back of his T-shirt he had written across the shoulders, "The Quran says. . ."

and then the rest of his T-shirt, his helmet, his cargo holder, the fenders and every other semi-flat surface of this motorbike told people exactly what the Quran does say, and in English, to boot.  I 'bout had an accident trying to get close enough to him to find out what he thinks I should know about what the Quran says.  Talk about living your religion--he certainly does!

Deepavali Decoration

   Meanwhile, Halloween has come and gone , and I was very surprised to see how popular it is here.  In one  store they had a big "Happy Deepavali" (a very important Hindu festival period) banner hung outside, but everything on view in the store was for Halloween. 

      And, boy, are the decorations here gory and scary!  No smiling, happy Jack-o-Lanterns.   No friendly scarecrows propped up in autumnal fields. Oh, no! Here they seem to have imported only the gory, horrendous aspects of this holiday and whoever makes the displays seems to revel in making them as nasty and dreadful as possible.  Blood and gore, amputated limbs, drunken, fag-smoking skulls and more.   

   






   The skeleton spider here is one I won't forget for a long time to come.  For one thing, it's clever, don't you think?  However, I must confess that the reason I like it is personal, rather than artistic.  There's a lady --  no, a woman -- here who seems to have it in for me and is making my life less than pleasant for reasons I don't completely understand.  (Females and their unlady-like squabbles!)  I've never experienced anything quite like this before in any of the other places I've lived.  Anyway, when I saw this spider, it resonated with me, since it reminds me of her.

   And when I saw this horrific Halloween decoration, I could relate to it very well.  Metaphorically speaking, that's her with the fag sticking out of the corner of the mouth surrounded by booze, and that's me, the head being jerked around, howling in protest.  Doesn't it just tug at your heartstrings?                   

  Happy belated Halloween to you and yours!