“Our Deepest Fear” 4 December, 2007

I read this recently on a wall hanging at Mt Tamborine. Even if you’re not into God, I think there is still something inspirational to take from it:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel unsure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Marianne Williamson

Shantaram 4 November, 2007

I first heard about the book Shantaram from a number of travellers in Kolkata in India last year. I thought that it must be a good book for backpackers to lug the 933-page paperback around a big country.

I resisted the trend of buying it and reading it in India (after all, I was still struggling to get through City of Joy at that time), but then I ended up with a copy of Shantaram from a traveller I briefly met before he was moving on to another destination.

Books for sale in stals and bookshops in India (except for the big Western-style air-conditioned ones) are all on display in clear plastic slips. I understood why when I acquired this copy of Shantaram.

Although it has dust and dirt caked into the cover, and although its pages are difficult to separate from the thick hot air of India, I love this copy of the book as its condition reminds me of one of the things I struggled with in India – how to move about without getting dust and dirt up my fingernails and stuck to my sunscreen covered skin.

The author brings alive the weight that India puts on the senses

He describes, almost perfectly,

The people, his experiences and

The deepness of his thoughts and philosophies on life.

Fate

Luck

Love

Crime

Pain

Violence

Murder.

Of all of these,

He’s keen on love.

An Aussie guy who escapes from prison and travels to India

Pretends to be a Kiwi,

Acts an American in times of war

And gives no secrets,

Not even when he thinks he’ll die or

To the woman whose eyes he compares to the ocean.

The guy who got done

For crime

Then escaped to a life of Mafia crime.

Constantly, throughout the 933 pages, the description of his experiences

Made my heart pound,

Produced tears on my cheeks

And made me laugh.

He even made me feel sorry for him,

This guy whose conviction led him to more crime.

All this, but as he says,

Love permeates.

It’s present in names and places

Time and spaces

It’s what binds us humans together,

And when there’s nothing left

Like in this guy’s life,

When he left his family, heart and country,

When the woman in his life was something different,

When there’s nowhere to live but in the slum,

There was still love.

It doesn’t matter if the lines between truth and story blur, because

“With every human heartbeat,

is a universe of possibilities.”

The Diary of a Nobody 23 July, 2007

No, it’s not about me – it’s about Mr Pooter, his wife Carrie, their son Lupin and their ups in their suburban life in England.

Published in 1892, this is the fictional journal of Mr Charles Pooter. He’s an easy going kinda guy with concern for his wife and son. He spends much of the journal describing the comings and goings of his mates Cummings and Gowing, along with the dinner parties they attend and his office dramas.

It also provides an insight into everyday life in the late 1800s – communicating by post (delivered at least twice a day – oh England still does that!), getting around by horse and carriage and friends dropping by in the evening without announcement.

Said to be the inspiration for the excellent The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, The Diary of a Nobody is highly entertaining, making the reader roar with laughter alongside Mr and Mrs Pooter. Recommended as a read aloud bed-time story.

The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith

Oxford University Press, 1995

ISBN 0-19-282404-X

Pirates Ahoy! 3 July, 2007

Birthday Boy received a Pocket Book of Pirates on the weekend, with some interesting stuff, including:

- Top Ten Real Pirates
- Top Ten Fictional Pirates
- Pirate Dictionary
- Pirate Jokes
(eg. Pirate one: “That be a fine looking hook and peg leg ye got for yerself.”
Pirate two: “I should think so, they cost me an arm and a leg!”)
- Pirate Recipes
- Top Ten Secret Celebrity Pirates
(eg. Michael Bolton – how can we be lovers if we can’t be pirates?)
- Pirate Chat-up Lines
(eg. Arrrr me name’s Roger, wanna make me jolly?)
- Pirate Insults
- Personality Test
(It tells me I’m far too lovely for cold-blooded murder, robbery and hard-drinking. They might be wrong on that last one though… Birthday Boy is considered an urban pirate.)

When Birthday Boy was flicking through his new Pocket Book of Pirates, he saw that on the back of the book, it had been categorised as “humour”. He said, “It’s more of a reference book.”

This is someone who’s serious about pirates!

PS. There’s a section on how to work out your own pirate name – let me know if you’re keen to find out what yours is and I’ll let you know!