merry and all...

merry xmas. happy new year. and all of that. i'm disappearing for a bit. meanwhile i've discovered play-doh!

kandakarnan

in better times his flaming headgear could be spotted from a couple of miles. a cue for everybody to gather their feet in well worn hawaiiiis and rush to kandakarnan’s court.

he hissed and spat and bit off chicken heads. petty kings and marco polo stared on in awe. kandakarnan was master of all.

today, for a god he is exceptionally accommodating. the occasional duck to avoid an overhead telephone cable. the local red party boss is taking his time over an other cuppa. kandakarnan whose fury of yore could burn your house down now has to twiddle his burning thumbs.

temple drummers work up their usual frenzy. ball of fire follows ball of fire. whoops and cries and a golden sickle to brandish. in god’s own country, when the kids don’t sleep, mothers drop kandakarnan's name. move over gabbar.

browne on the #150

browne dons the war paint in another weird departure from sanity. girls giggled. men marveled. the monster from the nadirs of darkness has risen. hair first. meanwhile it's a merry # 150 for me.

d for dzong

winter is in the bones. and i remember a year ago at drukyel dzong. bhutan's last outpost that in medieval times fought away invading chinese millions with a handful of sharp archers.

in their frocky khos, archers lined up behind drukyel dzong's baked walls and aimed and rained arrows on the hordes. that was many centuries ago. today the walls are crumbling under the weight of one too many indian tourists' graffiti onslaught. i love you rani. kemcharan das, patna 1996.
one year later i'm still besotted. with 3 days in paro. when paradise briefly relented a peek. in bhutan something strange touched me.

and it continues to itch.

good lord

that's it. if this is where online videos are headed i'm signing up for president of the armchair travelers of the world.

R.I.P.

evel knievel made one last jump. to the other side.