This is a place where I write what comes to mind as and when it comes. Welcome to a slice of life, seen through my eyes. Happy reading
This week's episode features The King's Jester by Rabindranath Thakur, which I have read out from an English translation of the anthology Lipika (translated by Joe Winter), which I borrowed from the exhaustive library of Sreeja Mitra, my dear friend.
Enjoy!
The Bilge Master
Jeffrey Archer is an author I have had the pleasure of meeting very briefly. I wanted to do a Jesus themed story since it's Easter. I hope you enjoy this tale! It's called The First Miracle. This is also a shout out to my dear friend Sreeja Mitra, whose birthday it is today.
The Bilge Master
DISCLAIMER: Contains spoilers for a few episodes of Rurouni
Kenshin: Wandering Samurai and Rurouni Kenshin: Legend of Tokyo, the anime
I first met Battousai the Manslayer when I was 12 years old
and I was watching TV at my grandmother’s house. Right from the get go, I was
pulled into the story and only recently did I revisit it with the mature brain
of an adult and needless to say, the anime stirred something in me which
prompts me to write a few lines about it.
The story revolves around the wandering samurai Kenshin
Himura who was an Imperialist assassin in the revolution that preceded the
Meiji era of peace in Japan and such were his exploits on the battlefield that
he earned himself the nom-de-plume of Battousai the Manslayer. However,
once the revolution ended, he sought to lay aside the name Battousai and live a
life of peace. To this end he used a reverse blade sword or a Sakaboto and he
became a wanderer, protecting people from harm. It is in this way that he met
Kaoru Kamiya who ran a dojo which taught the Kamiya Kashin style of
swordsmanship that also focused on protecting people with the sword as opposed
to using the sword to kill.
Kenshin meets a few other characters as he walks on such as
the fighter for hire Sanouske and the child samurai Yahiko as well as Megumi,
the last surviving daughter of a family of distinguished doctors. The one thing
that struck me about Kenshin’s companions is that they never called him
Battousai or Manslayer and that is the first lesson the anime taught me: True
friends will not care about your past.
Kenshin’s Battousai persona first comes awake in his fight
with Jinei where Jinei paralyses Kaoru’s lungs and Kenshin is forced to fight
him and nearly kills him. He breaks Jinei’s elbow and is about to deliver the
killing blow when Kaoru breaks free of the enchantment and stops him. The
danger having passed, Kenshin assumes his normal persona and rushes to Kaoru’s
aid. However, we get a glimpse of just how deadly Battousai was as a swordsman
and we realize that he earned that nickname through spilling blood
indiscriminately.
I was struck with the depth of the protagonist Kenshin
Himura. The two sides of his persona were so different, that it seemed as if
the battle rage changed him totally. However, at the same time, I believed that
Kenshin and the Battousai were the same person. It was not ludicrous. This got
me thinking about the fact that people are not black and white and they are but
shades of grey. Inside each of us is a dark side and a light side- a feral wolf
and a peaceful one and it is up to us which wolf we feed. This holds true for
Kenshin as well.
The Battousai persona rises in Kenshin for the second time
when Hajime Saito comes to the dojo to fight him and find out if he has grown
soft. Kenshin fought on the same battlefield as Saito and therefore is forced to
go all out and thus the Battousai comes alive again. This time the darkness is
a little blacker, the wood a little denser, the fight even more intense and at
one point, I thought Kenshin was at the point of no return. However the
intervention of the police stops Kenshin from staying in the Battousai persona.
It is then that we first hear of Makoto Shishio.
Makoto Shishio, like Kenshin was a fighter in the
revolution. However, he could not bury the manslayer persona and wants to take
over Japan and mould it in his image. This is why he must be stopped and it is up
to Kenshin to do so because Battousai is needed once again. The charm of this
argument did not miss me- use a manslayer to kill a manslayer. Jinei’s last
words to Kenshin before committing hara-kiri were “Once a manslayer, always
a manslayer” after all.
Kenshin accepts the responsibility of stopping Shishio and
to that end he goes back to his master to learn the final technique of the
Hiten Mitsurugi style of swordsmanship- the Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki. At
first, Kenshin’s master refuses to teach him, but relents and trains him. For
one final moment the Battousai persona awakens as Kenshin tells his master that
he does not fear death, if that is what will take for him to learn the
Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki. To this his master’s reply is to sheath his sword
and say that with that attitude he cannot learn the technique at all. His
master gives him one night to introspect and find out what he lacks and Kenshin
uses this chance- his ultimate at redemption to vanquish Battousai the
Manslayer once and for all.
Then as it is with all good vs evil stories, Shishio and
Kenshin duel and Kenshin wins.
What I took away from this anime was that sometimes we need
to face our past and learn from our mistakes in order to become a better
person. We need to face the darkness inside us and make the black parts of our
personas a part of us. We also need to forgive ourselves for crimes we may have
committed and we need to move ahead from the shadows. Kenshin Himura and
Battousai resided in the same man. In the end the man chose to be Kenshin
Himura. Was it easy? Was it hard? Is Kenshin evil? What makes a man evil? What
makes a man good? Do actions really speak louder than words? What qualities
redeem a man? And when life gives you a second chance, what do you do with it?
Are you Battousai or are you Kenshin Himura?
The Bilge Master
A quote I read set me on the trail of this story and I did it for the channel! Presenting The Nameless City by H.P. Lovecraft. What little results about this author my rushed research did is included in the video after the story is told. A link to purchase his work via Amazon is also included.
This is a present for my friend Bijoy whose birthday it is today. It is also an anniversary present for the wonderful couple Rachel and Antonio, whose anniversary was last week. I wish to meet them in person someday on this journey called life. Happy birthday Bijoy and a very warm anniversary wish to the two of you- Antonio and Rachel!
The Bilge Master
This short story is one of my favorite ones and is by Guy de Maupassant, the God of short stories in my opinion. I hope you enjoy it and please watch till the end!
The Bilge Master
Come one and come all to the latest N-N-1. This time I chose the theme "A Picture That Represents Inner Peace to You". I was legit blown away by the quality of entries that came forth.
It was an honor to host this N-N-1 and my sincere thanks to Anju and Norm for letting me do it!
The first person to send me a post was Natalie who writes Wild Rivers Run South. Her post is a poem.
Sunshine and blue skies
The Sun came up this morning.
Again.
I was up to see it,
But didn’t have my camera.
So, I went back inside.
Ate breakfast.
Got my camera.
And went outside to see the blue sky.
There was a time,
When I thought there would be
No more blue skies.
I was wrong.
There is still a deep sadness,
But some of the ache is gone.
And I can see the blue in the sky.
The sun never stopped rising.
Clouds have just been hiding it.
And the blue skies.
But now there has been some clearing.
There will be more clouds,
But not every day.
Sunshine and blue skies are back.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since Ashesh first mentioned the theme to me. There are a lot of things that bring me inner peace. There is music, reading books, watching a good movie, visiting a graveyard, even eating a good meal. But I’ve taken pictures and written about those things before. Then I thought about artwork. We have paintings, posters, and prints hanging in almost every room of our house, and I find myself looking at them each time I enter a room.
Recently I started working on and adding to my stamp collection. I hadn’t touched it since the pandemic shut down most places. When you think about a collection of stamps you realize that it is like going through a miniature art gallery. You have etchings, landscapes, portraits, still lifes, pop art, and probably things that I’m forgetting. If your stamps are used there is a history attached to them, where they came from and where they were bound; the provenance so to speak.
These small pieces of art are accessible to everyone. I’m sure you can find pictures of recent and old stamps on the Internet. Take a look and soothe your inner being.
This N-N-1 posed a great challenge to me. Inner peace has been elusive lately, due to the pandemic and the political and social turmoil. That, and how does one take an outer photograph of inner peace? Hmmm. I had to think about this for several days. And then I realized that the place that allowed me the time to ponder this project was the very place where I have been finding the most inner peace: the YMCA Community Swimming Pool.
I spent the first few months of this pandemic doing nothing. That had to stop. To keep from going insane and becoming too large to fit my clothes, I’m now doing a regular exercise routine for the first time in my life. I can’t control the rest of the world, but I can take charge of my health and wellbeing. At a time when I’m feeling otherwise helpless, this has been a precious gift that I’ve given myself. It’s also a wonderful way to spend quality time with my husband.
This photo is of my swimming exercise equipment. And the fact that it reminds me of the Cookie Monster never fails to make me smile.
Barb Abelhauser
The View from a Drawbridge
We now come to Cristopher LeCompte who is not a blogger, but happens to be married to a blogger (his words, not mine). His entry is given below.
My inner peace is found at home, hidden behind the trees at the end of this rainbow. The stormy spring weather means the daylight hours are growing longer and my dislike of long nights can be subdued for another six months. The large undeveloped park next door is home to coyotes, red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle and countless rabbits hiding in the brambles, hoping to avoid the predators for another day. This location is a personal treasure, my own pathway to inner peace and my escape from the rushing chaos of the surrounding city is literally a walk in the park.
Peace to you.
Cris
And lastly we come to Anju, who was the one who got me into this wonderful project way back when. This is what she has to say and her blog is This Labyrinth I Roam
Being stuck at home for a whole year now because of a global pandemic, I’ve had to come to terms with all the things that I have lost. It’s made me let go of the things I can’t control, and focus, instead, on the that I *can* control.
So, when Ashesh laid out the theme for this N-N-1, I was thrilled. Then, a bit overwhelmed. The date coincided with the busiest week of my life. But what it gave me was a real opportunity to figure out what truly gives me inner peace when things are a bit chaotic.
For me, it’s the little things.
It is an open window when the sun shines. It is the crisp spring breeze that weaves itself into my consciousness when I’m neck deep in black mirrors and deadlines. It is blooming tulips after a long winter, and the smell of warm cinnamon and vanilla candles. It is the unexpected sound of birdsong in the late evening, and the cheeky smile of a stress relief toy puppy (introducing, Herbert Morning!)
This is my inner peace.
And with that, we come to the end of this edition of N-N-1. To those of you who participated, thanks a ton. To those of you willing to participate, get in touch with us ASAP! I personally found this experience very soothing and shall be glad to host another N-N-1 soon!
Stay safe and vigilant.
Until next I come calling
The Bilge Master
