/torrid zone shade

in quest for the historical muhammad: update

2009-08-05T20:02:00.003+08:00

(Some Unscientific Notes) The Prophet Jesus as a Starting Point I find it an appropriate starting point to remark that according to my private research the 'historical Jesus' is a near "total myth" (see Acharya S, The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ, 2001). Gautama The Buddha is too – a remarkable disclosure I should think, being as I am so deeply

Shakib Gunn: 12th June 1934 – 17th February 2009

2009-03-12T15:01:00.004+08:00

Shakib Gunn passed away in Singapore during my recent sojourn in India. He was a noble friend. The objective of a Muslim's time on earth is to prepare for success in the Aakhirah, and Shikib understood his personal advent as merely, if essentially a means to this end — "the life hereafter." He scoffed at the popular notion of Enlightenment. Of course he had wished to gain in the virtues of wisdom

At wages undercutting Tamil villagers

2008-08-30T11:53:00.006+08:00

I have based myself in Singapore for about five years. I just moved out from the Geylang area that is swarming with Mainland Chinese whores and construction works racing the clock to rise up more hotels for the moneyed ones. Singapore is rapidly developing a demographic profile equivocal to Abu Dabi where expatriates greatly outnumber the locals. In short, the Mainland Chinese Government's

Ramaya greets Swami

2008-08-15T15:17:00.007+08:00

Ramaya greets him, "Good morning sir. Masala tea now making. Five minutes making." Swami has just come down from his room after a poor nights sleep. He has neither done his yoga nor even bathed. He was up past midnight talking friends in the back of the restaurant before partially arranging the storeroom where he slept. Earlier in the evening a fan had been mounted to allow some circulation of

Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant

2008-08-13T15:13:00.013+08:00

The old Tamil Christian waiter Mariam is as polite as ever at Madras New Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant, 12 Upper Dickson Road. We have known each other for at least fourteen years. In recent times, however, I hardly go there once a year. Though many are the times I stroll along the front to encounter the ever-gracious Mariam standing there to greet me, palms pressed together. "Have you eaten

Le Kim Dung

2008-06-24T13:04:00.001+08:00

I drempt that I met Ms. Le Kim Dung, the gifted pianist who studied at Cal Poly, Pomona in the 1970s.

Abinyana is dead

2008-06-14T10:57:00.001+08:00

After bussing down from Kuala Terengannu this morning, I am resting in the city of Kuantan this evening having bathed at a lovely beach at sundown. Tomorrow I will likely continue south to Mersing, reunite with new friends and perhaps cross over to an offshore Island for a day or two before returning to Singapore. ...The instance again this cooling evening of simply switching on my notebook

Richard Todd with dignified comportment

2008-03-01T13:33:00.000+08:00

I am starting to compose a fictive portrayal of "Richard Todd with dignified comportment" mainly to offset his more likely depiction as Drunk old fart turned somebody's grandmother.Erich Josef Löcherbach will be my next subject. I shall splatter his brains on the walls of some local cachaça joint with a mixed media palette of Roman distemper, acrylic puked chalk and Korean ink.Is that an

learn2text. talKings 2XPeNSIVe !!

2008-02-01T13:27:00.000+08:00

Bin working flatout since rtn frm India. its done. wil look@flights2night. cheapst JetStar S'por-SiemReap. but email PLEASE or learn2text. talKings 2XPeNSIVe !!And listen, I am starting to get entirely too many overseas calls. Finally my writing is being taken seriously. But I'm on what they call a "top up" system, and I have to pay for incoming calls. So please have mercy. I live on a budget of

What is that faith?

2008-01-11T11:03:00.000+08:00

Self-portrait, Jan 9, 2008, The Blue Pumpkin, Siem Reap, Cambodia.A kiss to the one I love. Stay tuned.

red plastic bags

2006-12-17T11:24:00.000+08:00

cloudy laptop toting sunday,sinuous leeching on the filmy recede of a bandwidth of stares at the narrowed credence ofred plastic bags full of coffee and camphor, shifting texts midst the current's tide

twigging defaoite

2006-12-06T14:19:00.000+08:00

Etude Toward Twigging Defaoite's Procedureand life slips by like a field mousenot shaking the grass. (Pound, Lustra)1.Smiles from the Netherlands, rhymes and toys.Smiles from the cropped away heads of photos.Smiles as tickets beneath her bouncyWhat you see you can't forget.Countenanced gently; smooth as the world,Silken boobs on a Sunday morningOver blackened waters of the Central

paint my letters

2006-11-28T14:58:00.000+08:00

In time the wind will come and destroy my lemons.Cy Twombly, Rome 1987Clean slate, brand new page, we're coming across to you.Babble on now, feed that morning winding through the crowd.Coolies sit in style at the dockside waiting for the boat.Where to sail to?Upload, lay it low now; trim those queries well.Wind-up dolls en route to hajj where the weather suits the clothes on.Lemons squeezed

a shard of netting

2006-07-13T12:24:00.000+08:00

That net as castto whatever may be an uncomplicated exegete,a shard of netting presumed and abradedcodicil summonsing filtrate dregs awashin the wavelets lapping stranded:comprehensive pull.

what I need

2006-07-11T20:18:00.000+08:00

I need a brand new 12-inch notebook computer. I need actions not words.

yayori fujio

2006-05-25T09:53:00.000+08:00

I recently dreamt of Yayori Fujio.

grafting plato's shadow play

2006-04-19T17:02:00.000+08:00

I am pleased to announce that my essay "Grafting Plato’s Shadow Play: a spray can version of metaleptic mimesis" has been published in Ashé Journal, Vol 5, Issue 1, 3-33, Winter/Spring 2006. Print editions of all Ashé issues are available from Lulu Press: Lulu.com.

the king never smiles?

2006-04-14T14:58:00.001+08:00

I have just finished reading William Stevenson's very well written The Revolutionary King: The True-life Sequel to "The King and I" (1999). Written in the tones of an authorized biography, Stevenson, it seems, had unprecedented access to the Thai Royal Court and became a true confidant to the Siamese Monarch, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Not only is the book a very good read, it is also

jasmine teapots

2006-04-08T10:35:00.000+08:00

I am seriously getting into proper Chinese tea. Although I still use it mainly as a delectable chaser to my already well-established custom of drinking local-roast coffee – particularly in the morning with toasted bread, Swedish butter and Aussie jam. The old doctor-monk who founded this hermitage, and who passed away seventeen years ago, left a cache of Chinese teapots, some of them outstanding

danish butter & ayaan hirsi ali

2006-03-02T20:35:00.000+08:00

While recently in India I missed my regular sorts of food. So the first thing I did when I returned to Singapore was to purchase a block of Danish butter, which is actually something I had never done before – that is, purchase butter that was made in Denmark – mainly because it's the most expensive. Now I also know that it's the most delicious.*Here's one gutsy and well-reasoned piece by

return from india

2006-02-27T10:13:00.000+08:00

I have just returned from a deeply rejuvenating 23-day trip to southwest India. In the state of Karnataka I found the seaside pilgrimage of Gokarna the most appealing place. I stayed 12 days in a solitary beach hut – fifteen minutes from the town walking north along Main Beach. The relative isolation and the constant sound of waves there made for a blessed private retreat.

kaosan road

2005-12-25T20:45:00.000+08:00

1. JUST BEFORE I LEFT CALABRIA I prayed to the gods for Bala's safe journey. I took the train North and stayed with my mother for a couple of weeks in Rome. There I went through a period of infantile pining. But it wasn't Bala's lips that I found myself craving, neither his tongue, his well-shaped ass, nor the measured rhythms of his pelvic thrusts.I was longing to be close to Kavi again. Was he

he finally comes to settle

2005-12-13T07:06:00.004+08:00

HE FINALLY COMES TO SETTLE in El Sham, a Coptic village on the bank of the Nile, a thirty-minute walk from the town of Luxor, whose important temples he regularly visits. Early mornings are his prime times for hiking and large-format camera work. After the shopping he returns to his room to cook rice and vegetables on a kerosene stove. After lunch, he briefly naps and then sits at his desk with

the plastic caryatid

2005-11-24T10:43:00.000+08:00

BALA LOOKED UP from his battery powered notepad: he noticed the road had suddenly narrowed – headlamps making known indistinct forms through the vapoury midnight air.More...>>

theorematic movement

2005-11-09T11:25:00.001+08:00

STRANGE BEINGS INDEED, and Kavi for sure. His sudden disappearances and reappearances made us all scratch our heads and wonder if he really weren't the fabled Narada Muni in disguise. Narada Muni of Puranic Lore – that celestial vagabond par excellence – that Haley's Comet of wandering rishis streaking through the universe in private orbit in a smooth unbroken concatenation of

two arcing bridges

2005-10-28T22:52:00.001+08:00

Luxor, Lesbos, Tiruchendur... Ploy grew thoughtful as she sipped her steamy double roast Arabica. "He is fixing on sand and sea again. It scares me a little. Somehow, I just don't see him making a comeback. Thailand was just a holiday for Kavi." "Our roving archangel again?" Bala remarked. "Why worry?" "I'm not!... Down deep I'm sure he's in control. As Matsuo Basho centuries before him, Kavi

the dimming light

2005-10-28T14:58:00.000+08:00

THE DIMMING LIGHT of a disappearing sun as the earth turns back to the shadows of night. Sitting on the bank of the Nile at Luxor, reflecting on the orb of the wester-looming moon...in the silent, star-sprinkled dome of infinity; from where we are kept: hostages in a world of color.

bala blinks slowly

2005-10-25T13:20:00.000+08:00

Bala blinks slowly. He isn't very hungry. "But it is a valid point," he nonetheless resumes. "I mean for someone like me. You know, someone who's not too articulate. And who doesn't even like to talk that much." "You mean a voyeur?" she said. "My thematic intrigues have nothing to convey.""Then what about all this recent acclaim for 'the ostinato quality of your tapestry?'" she continued, staring

ploy to geneva

2005-10-21T09:43:00.000+08:00

Ploy to Geneva, again. 'What does she do there?' Bala never asks. She never explains: only sends him notes via fax or email. This morning's for example:Ciao Amore,Will you meet me in Paris? It should be a good laugh! We can drive back to Switzerland together. Please? I can send you the money: if you don't mind. How are things in Belgium?Missing you,PloyPS. Some news just in on Kavi. He says he'll

tax-free zones of awe & inspiration

2005-10-18T15:08:00.000+08:00

(for David & Sabrineh Fideler)"I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED ABOUT KAVI," offered Bala. The espresso maker began to hiss. Then slightly raising his voice, he added: "He's sounding a little banged up if you ask me." Ploy doused the blue flame. "Banged up?" she said. She was puzzled. "I thought only girls got banged up?...Why do you look at me like that? ... My English isn't perfect; so what? I don't know

omsiddhique (2)

2005-10-11T17:23:00.000+08:00

We imagine that a saint is fully at peace with himself as well as with the world he pervades. What is more, we believe that the saint is exceedingly likeable to everyone he comes into contact with. Amazingly the saint engenders no enmity and thereby draws no enemies upon himself... How plausible is this?

infinity's signature

2005-10-06T19:38:00.000+08:00

1. THINGS HOTTED UP WHEN BALA AND PLOY decided to make their way to Europe. And Kavi had a lot to do with this too by managing to coax his sister out of Thailand, which had been her safe haven since 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia. Kavi was already in Boarding School in Italy when his mother and sister just narrowly escaped to live in exile in neighbouring Thailand. That's when

greetings from londonistan

2005-10-03T05:30:00.000+08:00

As for the mood in London these days, "I am fucking terrified!" ... Right. Pretty wicked time to be visiting then, innit. Because the fact of the matter is EVERYONE IS SHIT SCARED. Ya won't find me sitting in mosques around here!...But my mates put up this corker of humour site. Warning: vulgar language. Check it out... http://www.iamfuckingterrified.com/.

paris notebook

2005-10-01T03:18:00.000+08:00

NOW A CERTAIN PRIMORDIAL mystery man has a major role in the saga at hand. We speak of Ploy's congenital twin brother here who normally goes by the name of Kavi (variant of Kabeer). He is also an important contributor to the text. Numerous letters, faxes and emails were passed on to Bala through the agencies of Ploy and her enigmatic, if not certainly beautiful mother. Now much of this material

the hill

2005-09-28T10:27:00.000+08:00

1. THE LOVELY ENGLISH COTTAGE was waiting for me; situated near to the great wooded heath in an area replete with wonderful summer graveyards. * * *Mornings are chilly, compared to Crete, yet sunbeams stream through the small kitchen window. I make a simple breakfast of toast and tea then vaguely plan a hiking route in the general direction of the hill.Day after day I am powerfully drawn to the

a simple braid

2005-09-26T19:59:00.000+08:00

1. PrakritiONCE UPON A TIME there was a small and insignificant hamlet located in one of the northern hilly regions of the tutelary kingdom where a beautiful young woman lived who was pitiably deaf and mute and also insignificant.Now for no apparent reason this woman had no house of her own. She belonged to no family, possessed nothing and therefore slept on pavements, etc.More>>

cutting loose

2005-09-22T21:45:00.000+08:00

1. They had phoned to confirm They had phoned to confirm that the cottage was available. " – Brilliant ! " I can have it to myself till the end of November. I dream of the homey comforts that it promises and the weeks I can spend in personal retreat. I will also be able to catch up on some writing, having recently gathered a lot of sketchy data, which I normally scribble whilst sitting under

calls to prayer

2005-09-21T10:41:00.000+08:00

Sufi, Rasa and Alexander Baumgarten vis-à-vis Explicitly 'Sumptuous' AestheticsThe present item was roused in response to an apparently modest thought-intersection of Dr. Sunthar Visuvalingam and Mr. Ashok Chowgule.Sunthar: "Similarly, I agree with earlier Orientalists that much of the content of Sufism is actually the wholesale Islamic appropriation of pre-existing spiritual traditions."Ashok: "

yogini sabija

2005-09-19T09:21:00.000+08:00

1. CARRYING OUT HIS fey ministrations in a rainbow body like a current of dreams; Kavi sends word from the dusty Kashmiri capital. "Hello out there! – I'm back in the pink! I have presently dispensed with transparent colours and go around with pocketfuls of gemstones instead! I buy them in the markets with crumpled rupees and sell them to the tourists for crisp clean Euros! The Tuesday market is

who is "kafir"?

2005-09-08T21:42:00.000+08:00

"Sain-ji asked: Who is a 'kāfir' (non-believer)? It is the person who sees God as being separate from him or her self."Bom Bole Fakir wrote: "In every instant I am a Kāfir and Muslim.....at least we full-time 'Kāfirs' are honest..... ; )." * * *Appendid notes:1. Kafir (or kāfir; plural Kuffar, kuffār) is an Arabic word meaning "denier" or "concealer." The Turkish form is Gavur. In a religious

idolatry, surrender & the workings of the buddha-cult

2005-09-08T16:10:00.001+08:00

In Sufi tradtion there is an important concept and serious prohibition called shirk khafi, 'subtle polytheism' or 'idol worship.'What is more, according to certain Islamic perspectives, the crux of actually being or becoming a Muslim, pivots on the crucial personal decision, choice or question, 'will one surrender' or not?Here we have an example the coyness of humanity's collective religious

the concept of idolatry

2005-09-05T12:38:00.000+08:00

When I wrote, "I was made to wonder if to any extent our notion of belief (in anything) is actually a gesture of idolatry,"a dear friend responded, asking: "For the sake of clarity...could you try to explain what your concept of "Idolatry" was at that moment?"For starters, "idolatry" from "idol" is derived from Classical Greek eidolon (eiādwlon). Strong's Number 14971 definition is adequate to my

acceptance, choice & belief

2005-09-05T02:58:00.000+08:00

I wrote: "I was made to wonder if to any extent our notion of belief (in anything) is actually a gesture of idolatry." Someone responded, saying: "not if you accept the Koran verse that says (according to three different translations):"Yusufali: I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.Pickthal: I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.Shakira: And I have

belief as a gesture of idolatry

2005-09-04T15:30:00.000+08:00

Someone inquired: "Have you ever discovered, metaphorically speaking, that you were wearing 'clothes' that you were not aware of?" *I walk a lot and give things thought. This question has not been lost on me. After visiting Abdul Gafoor Mosque this morning I was made to wonder if to any extent our notion of belief (in anything) is actually a gesture of idolatry.* * *Cheerful Children photograph

omsiddhique (1)

2005-09-03T21:51:00.000+08:00

Sufi is for me the reflection of saintiness.

nothing worth believing in

2005-09-02T23:26:00.002+08:00

"Would not the outright 'rejection of methodology' still amount to a methodology? " *There was no intended sense of "rejection" in this. Even if one were to find "the Real," what's the point of knowing it? [Again: no rejection, but a philosophical enquiry.] There is nothing worth believing in. I don't care to occupy any position.More plain yet, I am not at all advocating nakedness as a path. It

i don't beleive in anything

2005-09-01T23:23:00.000+08:00

Listening to all this Sufi talk, I'm actually glad I'm not a sufi.I don't believe in anything. My nakedness is not a methodology.* * *Hand painted ceiling of the pink room of the Mud Palace. The rose gathering region of the Tafilalet, South Morroco. Photograph by Peter Sanders, The Peter Sanders Gallery.

sufi, hindutva: proprietary rights

2005-08-29T05:59:00.000+08:00

I just got back to Singapore. Malacca was a very nice caravanserai. From the terrace rooftop at sunset looking out to the straits towards Sumatra: little swallows darting through the sky...A problem with claiming proprietary rights to the use of Sufi crumbles when acknowledging that the term is both noun and adjective. So if something or some one is clearly not a sufi (for example my self), one

in malacca

2005-08-29T05:48:00.000+08:00

It is 6.42 in the evening here on the west coast of Malaysia, in the small city of Malacca. I will hit the coast road and walk 18 mins to Masjid Tengkera (The Tranquerah Mosque). They know me by now. Probably 35 men and boys will show up. Not a single female. They must be amused by this strange blue-eyed American passport holder and also Buddhist priest etc. who comes and sits in the lotus pose

on laubiès’ work

2005-08-11T12:21:00.000+08:00

The Naturalist abstract impressions of Laubiès, spiritual tête of the Cloudist School (Nuagisme). This vague appellation engendered by his critics but too much ignoring his exteriorized plasmas. Wind-blown ash over arid terrains. Anonymous transparencies of loosened stain from the torrid earthen wall.They are the light of quiescent color: his tableaux: shade without tension: toneless shade.

peter kingsley's online bibliography

2005-08-10T21:47:00.000+08:00

Today I had a look at Peter Kingsley's online bibliography. It was Ali Ansari who turned me on to this. I found Kingsley's short piece on Empedocles quite appealing. What a wonderful area of study this is. I would like very much to familiarise myself with his work. But in fact, you know what? Just last week I started to read Claude Addas's Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi. And I

thirty-three degrees north

2005-08-04T15:25:00.000+08:00

I was born in the city of Los Angeles, thirty-three degrees north, same as Baghdad.

all this talk of sherbet heavens

2005-07-21T13:37:00.000+08:00

Life is fantastic. I think the hereafter will be even more fantastic.Still I'm quite distressed by all the anti-Muslim hysteria that is being whipped up in the name of counter-terrorism based on recent terror events that have all the hallmarks of the perversions of thought emanating from Number 10 Downing Street. But no, not the government. These are very inside jobs. And so the term "state

why i like to sit in mosques

2005-07-18T22:47:00.000+08:00

Sundays I normally leave my ashram quite early, about 7.30 a.m. Depending on my schedule, I might typically bus to Little India and breakfast at a secret location. I restrain from mentioning the name of the venue, as I like to retain certain special places for an interesting incognito cover. This is after all the stuff of fiction. After that I would likely go to Abdul Gafoor Mosque. They actually

a grafting of shadow

2005-05-28T08:26:00.000+08:00

Shadow is crucial in the steamy tropics, these sun-drenched amphiscian climes; especially from the ambler's point of view from which portable shade is readily availed in the guise of dark eyewear and a broad UV-resistant parasol. The umbrella though serves an important triple function, mounting its sombre screen rain or shine, and... [more>>].

for robert creeley

2005-05-12T12:23:00.001+08:00

...if "form is nomore than the ex-tension of content" (as theysaid), then 'torRidzone shade' [<=click it]don't fillin applications.

the moon

2005-05-04T10:23:00.000+08:00

(after omar khayam)the moon will be a long timegetting over my grave too...