INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

“He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The United Nations (UN) International Mother Language Day celebrates language variety and diversity worldwide annually on this day, February 21st. The day was chosen as it commemorates the killing of four students on February 21st, 1952 in Bangladesh, because they campaigned to officially use their mother language, Bengali, in Bangladesh. It is a public holiday in Bangladesh, where it is also known as Shohid Dibôsh, or Shahid Day. People lay flowers at Shahid Minar (The Martyr’s Monument), they purchase glass bangles for themselves or female relatives; eat a festive meal and organise parties. Also it is on this day that prizes are awarded or literary competitions are hosted. It is a time to celebrate Bangladesh’s culture and the Bengali language.

At the partition of India in 1947, the Bengal province was divided according to the predominant religions of the inhabitants. The western part became part of India and the eastern part became a province of Pakistan known as East Bengal and later East Pakistan. However, there was economic, cultural and lingual friction between East and West Pakistan. These tensions became critical in 1948 when Pakistan’s government declared that Urdu was the sole national language of both West and East Pakistan. This sparked protests amongst the Bengali-speaking majority in East Pakistan. The government outlawed the protests but on February 21, 1952, students at the University of Dhaka and other activists organised a protest. Later that day, the police opened fire at the demonstrators and killed four students. These students’ deaths in fighting for the right to use their mother language are now remembered on International Mother Language Day.

The unrest continued as Bengali speakers campaigned for the right to use their mother language. Bengali became an official language in Pakistan on February 29, 1956. Following the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Bangladesh became an independent country with Bengali as its official language. The Shahid Minar (Martyrs’ Monument) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, pays homage to the four demonstrators killed in 1952. The monument was built three times. The first time it was built on February 22nd-23rd in 1952 but the police and army destroyed it within a few days. Construction the second time started in November 1957, but the introduction of martial law stopped construction work and it was destroyed during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The third version of the Shahid Minar was built to similar plans as the second version. It consists of four standing marble frames and a larger double marble frame with a slanted top portion. The frames are constructed from marble and stand on a stage, which is raised about four meters above the ground. The four frames represent the four men who died on February 21, 1952, and the double frame represents their mothers and country. Replicas of the Shahid Minar have been constructed worldwide where people from Bangladesh have settled, particularly in London and Oldham in the United Kingdom.

An International Mother Language Day monument was erected at Ashfield Park in Sydney, Australia, on February 19th, 2006. It consists of a slab of slate mounted vertically on a raised platform. There are stylized images of the Shahid Minar and the globe on the face of the stone. There are also the words "we will remember the martyrs of 21st February" in English and Bengali and words in five alphabets to represent mother languages on five continents where people live.

On November 17th, 1999, UNESCO proclaimed February 21 to be International Mother Language Day and it was first observed on February 21st, 2000. Each year the celebrations around International Mother Language Day concentrate on a particular theme. On International Mother Language Day the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UN agencies participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity. They also encourage people to maintain their knowledge of their mother language while learning and using more than one language. Governments and non-governmental organizations may use the day to announce policies to encourage language learning and support.

The Linguapax Institute, in Barcelona, Spain, aims to preserve and promote linguistic diversity globally. The institute presents the Linguapax Prize on International Mother Language Day each year. The prize is for those who have made outstanding work in linguistic diversity or multilingual education.

Here is Sonia, singing a Bangla song: “Oneek Shadonar Pore”.

OBESITY

“Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork.” - English Proverb

The addiction of people to junk food and obesity is one of the new epidemics that seems to be plaguing more and more people in western-type nations around the world. Yesterday I saw a story on satellite TV news of a 42-year-old woman in Greece who weighed over 300 kg (660 lb)! She had not left her home for 11 years and finally she had to be taken to hospital by an emergency medical team (helped by the fire brigade) as she had an acute medical condition that threatened her life.

Although this is an extreme example, it highlights the problem and makes us focus on a health issue that will become increasingly important in years ahead. Obesity is defined as an excess proportion of total body fat. Someone is considered to be obese when their weight is 20% or more above normal weight range. “Morbid obesity” means that a person is either 50%-100% over the normal weight range and is sufficiently overweight to severely interfere with health or normal functioning of the body.

Obesity occurs when a person consumes more calories than they burn. For many people this means they eat too much and exercise too little. But there are other factors that also play a role in obesity, such as age, genetics, psychological problems, illness, medication, environment and gender. These factors are all collectively less important and less frequently implicated in obesity than the most common pair: Eating too much and exercising too little. As we age, this problem becomes accentuated as our metabolism slows down and even though we may eat the same as we did when we were younger, we put on weight.

One of the most distressing aspects of obesity may be the emotional suffering it causes in the obese person. Most Western societies place great emphasis on physical appearance, often equating attractiveness with slimness or muscularity. In addition, many people wrongly stereotype obese people as gluttonous, lazy, dull-witted, or all of these. However, more and more evidence contradicts this assumption. Obese people often face prejudice or discrimination at work, at school, while looking for a job, and in social situations. Feelings of rejection, shame, or depression are common amongst them. People should consult their doctor if they are having emotional problems related to obesity, or need help losing weight.

Even if you are within the normal weight range or even if you are less than 20% over the normal weight range, and you have a “potbelly” or “spare tire”, you carry more fat in and around your abdominal organs. Fat in your abdomen increases your risk of many of the serious conditions associated with obesity. Women's waist measurement should fall below 89 cm (35 inches). Men’s should be less than 102 cm (40 inches). If you have a large waist circumference, you should talk to your doctor about how you can lose weight.

Sensible eating habits, not drinking too much alcohol, avoiding fattening foods, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, regular exercise, reduction of stress, meditation, yoga, adequate hydration and a good social life all help to fight obesity.

OF RELIGION, TRADITIONS, FOOD & MODERN SOCIETY

“One does evil enough when one does nothing good.” - German Proverb

Today for those of the Greek Orthodox faith it is “Pork Thursday” or Tsiknopémpti (literally, “smell-of-cooking-meat-Thursday”). This name is given to this particular Thursday by the Greek Orthodox people, as on this day all the faithful must eat meat (usually pork). The meat-eating festivities continue on Saturday and Sunday this week, representing the last dietary fling before the Great Lent.

A similar custom used to be observed in Britain in the old pre-secularisation days: Shrove Monday (the day before Mardi Gras - Pancake Tuesday), was also called Collop Monday, meaning the day on which the meat forbidden during Lent had to be consumed in the form of “collops” or “rashers”. Mutton collops or bacon collops were eaten on this day together with eggs. Merry making and the playing of practical jokes was also a custom on the Shrovetide days. Carnival as such was not celebrated in England.

Generally on this day in Greece, families gather together and have great feasts with much drinking, carousing, dancing and masquerading. This masquerading is part of Apokriés (Carnival), which represents the last opportunity before the next 48 days, which are devoted to fasting, contemplation, prayer and a cleansing of both body and soul before the Easter Holiday. Note that in the Orthodox faith one has to fast even on Sundays during Lent, whereas in the Western churches, fasting is relaxed on Sundays, even during Lent.

When one thinks about it, fasting as a religious observance is widespread throughout the world and is a tradition in many different religions. It is attuned very much to the farming and agricultural seasonal cycles and makes allowance for periods when animals and animal products must be put to other uses except as food (for example, hatching of chicks from eggs, the allowance of calves and lambs to be fed with their mothers milk, etc). On another level, the abstinence from many of the rich animal product dietary elements allows the body to be cleansed and detoxified and has a very beneficial effect on health. All of these religious observances were borne out of hundreds and hundreds of years of observation and ritualisation of much empirical knowledge.

It is in these days of plenty, of the loss of traditions and of the lack of religious observance that we forget these important lifestyle choices, rites and ceremonies - to our detriment. Our life is becoming more and more centred on surfeit, instant gratification of our basest desires (be they linked to gluttony, lust or envy) and a routine that makes each day of the year resemble one another. Who would have thought several years ago that one could shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year? Who would have thought in the past that we could buy fresh tomatoes or cherries in the midst of winter or have apples year-round, or have meat every day? Who could have thought that we could spend a fortune on clothes, shoes on a regular basis, even though we had not worn out (and repaired several times the clothes and shoes we had)? Who could have thought that our whole existence can become centred on consumerism with some people actually becoming physically sick unless they can buy “things” every day? “Things” they may never even use nor actually need…

In the meantime this fixation on consumption and selfish instant gratification has changed our society in all sorts of ways, some gross and easily observed, some more subtle, but all the more dangerous because of that. We are losing so much in our modern society of what was good and pure and honest. It makes me now appreciate why some closed religious groups like Orthodox Jews, strict Muslims, the Amish are trying to preserve centuries-old traditions against the rising tide of secularisation, consumerism, erosion of some of the basic human values and the rise of the individual’s rights and demands, to the detriment of the community as whole.

The economic downturn may force many people to re-examine their lifestyle, their priorities, their life choices and their basic wants and needs as individuals as well as members of a family, a community, a national or geographic group, or even as citizens of the world. Amidst all of the concerns and the negativity expressed in relation to the recession, we may benefit in the longer term from such an experience. Add to that climate change, terrorism, massive shifts in populations, increasing crime rates, dwindling natural resources, increased competition for living space and standard of living, and we may have a much wiser generation growing up in the next ten years or so. Or we may see quite the opposite – the complete and utter breakdown of Western civilisation as we know it…

What do you think?

RENAISSANCE

“Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” - Voltaire

Love can be such difficult emotion to describe, especially when one considers its myriad of forms and the varieties of the contexts it can be expressed in. Even the love between people who share a life together, can have many shades and tints, the hue of which is determined b the relationship they share. We all love our parents, our children, the rest of our family, our dog, our cat, our friends. The love we all yearn for, however, is that between two partners in a relationship that transforms two former strangers into a couple who share all and whose two separate fleshes become one…

Renaissance

I’ll be reborn,
Like a drooping snowdrop flower
Peeking from a cover of snow;
Like a pure white lamb in Spring;
Like an emerald blade of grass,
From dark, dank soil emergent.

I’ll be resurrected,
Like the swollen seed sprouting;
Like a gentle wave on quiet shore
When it’s stirred by the zephyr;
Like the first star, bright,
On velvet twilit sky of evening.

I’ll become free,
Like prisoner released from an unjust confinement;
Like mist of the valley
When it’s caressed by rising sun;
Like the bird that soars so high
When first released from its cage.

I’ll be redeemed,
Like a promise finally fulfilled;
Like a sin confessed and forgiven;
Like the pure metal released from ore
Under the purifying flame of fire;
Like a dusty road washed clean by a rain shower.

I’ll be comforted,
Like a traveller who at last
Sees his welcoming home shore;
Like a desert wanderer, who sick of mirages
Finally arrives at the real oasis,
Like an orphan who can feel a mother’s love.

I’ll be reborn,
I’ll be resurrected,
I’ll become free,
I’ll be redeemed,
I’ll be comforted,
I’ll live my wasted life over,
When you come into it…

STARRY-EYED

“I've loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night” – Galileo Galilei

Have you ever stood beneath a clear night sky out in the countryside somewhere, away from the glare of city lights, hearing only the quiet sounds of the night? The chirp of a cricket, the hoot of an owl, mysterious rustlings of undergrowth and the occasional swish of the wind in the tree boughs? Have you gazed up at the immense sky strewn with flashing stars, sparkling like gemstones, traced out the constellations, observed a planet or two, looked at the great river of the milky way? I have had this experience may a time, but perhaps nowhere as awe-inspiring as in the Australian Outback, where the solitary location, the knowledge that the any other human being is probably more than 200, 300 kilometres away, and also of course, the perfect conditions for viewing the starry sky.

One feels very small and insignificant in this type of situation, with the great inverted bowl made of deep blue velvet and embroidered with thousands of diamonds. The earth around one seems to be an endless plain and the night sounds soon fade into one’s subconscious so that one can hear perhaps what the ancients called the “music of the spheres”… The glittering light show above one’s head is awesome and terrifying in its enormity, when one considers the infinity of distances radiating outward into outer space, the amazing knowledge that some of the light beams that strike one’s retina have been travelling for millions upon millions of years.

The night sky and the stars have fascinated human beings ever since they developed a consciousness of the world around them and their place in it. Is it small wonder that they chose to populate the sky with their gods as soon as they had conceived of the idea of the divine? The heavens above inspire and terrify us; we look upwards in prayer and consternation; we fear the unknown above and our awe is mirrored in our fascination with all things to do with space. Astrology came long before astronomy, and scientific method still has not managed to slay the beasts of the zodiac.

On January 15th this year, astronomers from around the globe gathered in Paris and celebrated the official beginning of the International Year of Astronomy, 2009 (IYA2009). It is no coincidence that this year also happens to be the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the telescope. 400 years ago, in the University of Padua in Italy, professor Galileo Galilei, a precocious Italian of relatively modest achievement, had the bright idea of turning a modified spyglass toward the night sky. What he saw forever shattered the ancient Earth-centered cosmos. Galileo very nearly risked the wrath of the Catholic Church and excommunication, and it was grudgingly that he recanted his revolutionary ideas, all the while muttering under his breath that the “earth did indeed move around the sun” (against the geocentric ideas of the Church at that time).

In honour of some of the famous astronomers of the past, here listed, IYA2009 will be a good year for the cosmos!

Aristarchus of Samos (Greece 310 BC - ca. 230 BC);
Claudius Ptolemaeus (Alexandria, after AD 83–c.168);
Nicolaus Copernicus (Poland 1473 - 1543);
Tycho Brahe (Scania, Denmark 1546 - 1601);
Galileo Galilei (Arcetri, Tuscany, Italy 1564 - 1642);
Johannes Kepler (Germany 1571 - 1630);
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (Genoa, Italy 1625 - 1712);
Christiaan Huygens (The Hague, Netherlands 1629 - 1695);
Sir Isaac Newton (England 1643 - 1727);
Sir John Frederick William Herschel (Berkshire, England 1792 - 1871);
Percival Lawrence Lowell (1855 - 1916);
George Ellery Hale (USA 1868 - 1938);
Edwin Powell Hubble (USA 1889 - 1953);
Clyde William Tombaugh (1906 - 1997)
Vera (Cooper) Rubin (USA 1928 -);

THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE!

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” - e.e. cummings

At the weekend we watched a British comedy series on DVD. We certainly needed a little bit of a laugh and this was just the right thing to do it. I had not seen this when it was broadcast on TV, and as it was on special at our video store I bought it simply because I liked the blurb on the back. It is “The Worst Week of My Life” (2004), a well written and acted British farce that delivers the type of light-hearted humour that one expects from the country that knows how to laugh at itself.

The premise of the series is very simple: It is only a week before the wedding of Mel (Sarah Alexander) and Howard (Ben Miller) and there are hundred and one things to take care of. Well, of course everything that can go wrong does and Howard gets himself into progressively hotter and hotter water. It is nothing new, you may think, it’s been done before (remember “Meet the Parents” of 2000?). However, it is strangely novel and refreshing and there is a laugh a minute guaranteed, even more of you see it as the bit of fluff that it is.

The comedy here, sure enough, sometimes is quite predictable (and that is when one cringes for poor Howard…), but at other times the jokes come in from left field and one cannot help but dissolve into full belly laughs. The other benefit is that there is no canned laughter in the soundtrack (I really dislike that!) and one can spontaneously and naturally laugh when one feels like it, instead of being compelled to by the cue card.

The bride-to-be’s upper class parents can’t stand the sight of poor Howard and much of the humour is derived from his devious ways of trying to ingratiate himself into their good favours. However, in the course of just one week he crawls into bed and gropes his future mother-in-law, accidentally throws the family dog into a cement mixer while it’s on, destroys a valuable painting and injures (nearly fatally) the beloved grandmother. And while he thought he had almost won them over, his own father turns up, sexually involved with a lap dancer with as much class as a public toilet.

Well, it’s not Ibsen nor is it Molière, but it’s not pretending to be anything else except an amusing television sitcom. I believe a sequel or two has been made (post nuptials). We needed to laugh last weekend and this was just the thing. Maybe we wouldn’t have found it as funny under other circumstances, but seeing there was quite a bit of emotional charging during the past week, this was wonderful. Have a look at it if you lay your hands on it, you will be quite amused!

ART SUNDAY - EVENING SHADOWS

“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

For Art Sunday today, a painting from the Art Gallery of South Australia, which I saw last time visited Adelaide. It is H.J. Johnstone’s “Evening Shadows – Backwater of the Murray”, painted in 1880. This was the first acquisition of the Art Gallery of South Australia. “Evening Shadows” is also Australia's most copied work of art. Not only did Johnstone paint at least four versions himself; it was also painted by students in Adelaide around the 1890s and early 1900s as an art school exercise. More than 90 copies of the painting (made by both skilled artists and enthusiastic amateurs) are known to exist.

This is a large oil painting (120.6 cm x 184.1 cm) depicting a twilight scene on the backwaters of the Murray River (Australia’s longest river), in the late 19th century. The fading light has almost turned the giant red river gums that dominate the scene into silhouettes, exaggerating the bulk of their trunks and the twisted angles of their limbs. Two aborigines are sitting alongside a bark hut and a campfire, while a mysterious third person is about to cross a fallen tree that spans the river to join them. This is an apparently timeless, pre-British colonial scene; however, a small clue, the blanket around the shoulders of the old man, reveals that contact between indigenous people and British colonists has occurred. The nagging thought that this small group of people might be all that remains of an entire community alters the meaning and mood of this striking image. This could be an illustration from an antipodean horror story.

It is an excellent example of an approach to landscape painting popular in Australia in the later 19th century, known as “picturesque landscape” this style of painting involved capturing the moods of nature through dramatic interpretations of remarkable natural motifs such as waterfalls, mountains and rivers. It also demonstrates the way in which European models of picturesque landscape painting were adapted by Australian colonial artists to offer city audiences dramatic interpretations of the Australian bush - by the late 19th century, Australia had become one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with most of its population concentrated in the coastal capital cities; even so, many city dwellers still identified with the bush, including Johnstone, who romanticised it for this audience

It is a significant work by Johnstone, a painter and photographer who established a reputation as a painter of picturesque views - depictions of the tranquil waters of the Murray, Goulburn and Murrumbidgee rivers form the greater part of his output; majestic red river gums often featured in his landscapes, which were frequently populated with Indigenous people, or British explorers and pioneers.

It is an outstanding example of the way in which some artists working in the late 19th century combined photographic realism with symbolism. Twilight, no matter how realistically depicted, often represented the end of something. In this particular painting it is the Australian aborigines, who were assumed at the time to be on the brink of extinction. “Evening shadows” further alludes to this notion through the powerful sense of stillness created by the mirror-smooth water and the gathering gloom
Enjoy your week!

BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST, THAN...

“Take away love and our earth is a tomb.” - Robert Browning
Happy Valentines’ Day!

VALENTINE'S EVE

“Ah me! Love can not be cured by herbs.” – Ovid

On Valentine’s Eve, lots were drawn for Valentines in Northern England and Southern Scotland. Equal numbers of maids and bachelors assembled together and each wrote their name on a slip of paper. The girls names were put into one bag, the boys in another. Each boy then draws from the girls’ bag and each girl from the boys’ bag. At the end of this, there is a choice between two Valentines; generally one prefers the name one draws to the one that has drawn them. However, if the same names are drawn by a couple, then surely they will marry.

Alternative means of prognosticating a potential mate is to write each candidate’s name on a slip of paper and roll each slip of paper in a little ball of clay. Put the clay balls in a basin and pour water on them. The first to rise to the surface will contain the name of your Valentine.

And what to drink on such a night of fun while the wild weather rages outside?

MULLED WINE

Ingredients
4 cupfuls dry claret
2 sticks of cinammon
12 cloves
3 heaped tablespoonfuls caster sugar
1 cupful of brandy
pared peel of one lemon; freshly ground nutmeg

Method
Heat the claret slowly and stir in the cinammon, cloves, sugar, brandy and lemon peel. Stir until almost boiling (do not boil!). Pour into warmed pewter mugs and dust with nutmeg.

Enjoy your weekend!

COURAGE, ALTRUISM, HOPE

“Optimism is the foundation of courage.” - Nicholas Murray Butler

We are thankful today as the weather has been kind the last few days and this has greatly helped firefighters in the fire-affected areas. Some rain has made the job of fighting the still burning fires a little easier. However, the weekend and next week promises a return to the hot, dry conditions and this has everyone of us worried. The raw wounds in everyone’s psyche cannot take another tragedy of the sort we are dealing with at the moment. And there are warnings aplenty that we have not seen the end of the fire season.

While the news has been horrific, some remarkable stories of courage, determination, selflessness, heroism and compassion are now emerging. While I have been focusing on the negative aspects of these bushfires for the past few days, today I would like to pay tribute to those individuals, many of them volunteers, many of them simple everyday people who have responded in the face of a great crisis with a magnitude of spirit and true selflessness to help fellow human beings.

The first of course are the volunteer firefighters of the Country Fire Authority (CFA). They have been right at the forefront of the bushfires from the very first moments the flames started licking the tinder-dry bush. Since then they have worked tirelessly with almost no breaks, risking life and limb to save their fellow human beings, homes, the bushland, the hapless native animals and the farm animals that were also threatened. These are remarkable people that deserve a medal for their altruism and heroism.

So many stories are coming in now of ordinary people that were forced by circumstance to do extraordinary things. People sacrificing everything to save not only their home and family, but also to aid complete strangers in need. Human beings can be remarkable in this respect and there are countless examples of such actions in history where one person risks their own life to save that of their fellows. Australians are a rare breed and when the going gets tough, a fighting spirit stirs and together with a tough attitude achieves great things.

Now, in the wake of the horror, those countless volunteers, give freely of their time to help the victims rebuild their lives. So many people that have gathered around the survivors to help them with donations of food, tents, blankets, clothes, furniture, money are there where they are needed to do the right thing. Great disasters show us also this face of humanity, that part of the human psyche that can truly be considered to be divine. This is the face of the altruist.

altruism |ˈaltroōˌizəm|noun
The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others: Some may choose to work with vulnerable elderly people out of altruism.
• Zoology behaviour of an animal that benefits another at its own expense.
DERIVATIVES
altruist |ˈøltrəwəst| |ˈølˈtruəst| noun
altruistic |ˌaltroōˈistik| |ˈøltrəˈwɪstɪk| |ˈølˈtruˈɪstɪk| |altrʊˈɪstɪk| adjective
altruistically |ˈøltrəˈwɪst1k(ə)li| |ˈølˈtruˈɪst1k(ə)li| |altrʊˈɪstɪk(ə)li| adverb
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from French altruisme, from Italian altrui ‘somebody else,’ from Latin alteri huic ‘to this other.’

THE BURNING FIRE

“We circle in the night and we are devoured by fire.” - Heraclitus of Ephesus

The bushfires continue to burn and threaten more townships, destroy more bushland and are poised to involve Melbourne’s water catchment areas. If this happens, our dwindling water supplies and the drought will no doubt cause greater hardship and even more propensity to fire. Things are terrible now, but unfortunately they will get even worse…

More property, wildlife and human lives are still threatened by over 20 fires that still burn. We are living through hellish, nightmarish times made all the more horrific from the knowledge that some fiends out there are lighting more fires. There has been an outcry to repeal our arson laws and sentence these murderers as severely as they deserve. How can any human being be failed to be moved by the senseless destruction unleashed by the sickening perversity of the firebug?

The Burning Fire
The fire, it burns
The smoke, it chokes.
Trees become torches,
Houses vapourise.

In walls of hellish heat
There is no time to scream,
The flames, they run
The fire, it scorches.

A tremulous hand
Strikes yet another match
Excitement barely contained;
A laugh as the crackle
Announces the demon’s arrival.

A crying child,
A mother, helpless;
A father watching
Unable to stop death,
Powerless to fight.

The fire, it kills
The smoke, it strangles.
Animals carbonise,
Vegetation, now ash.

A glint of crazed eyes
A slavering mouth
Delights in the destruction,
Oblivious to the hell
He has unleashed.

Cars overcome by flames,
Families incinerated.
Homes, now smouldering ruins,
Gardens, now scorched earth
Lives extinguished as fires still burn.

The wind, it fans the flames
The drought, it makes tinder of our homes.
Lives lost, lives destroyed, lives unlived
As the arsonist strikes yet another match.

BUSHFIRES UPDATE

“Death is for many of us the gate of hell; but we are inside on the way out, not outside on the way in.” - George Bernard Shaw

The immensity of the disaster that our bushfires have wrought is interfering with carrying on as normal, although we are all desperately trying to keep on going. Most people are doing something in order to help the victims of the blazes, be it a donation of money or blood ($13 million has been donated already), doing volunteer work, organising help in terms of donations of tents, clothing, food or doing what they can at work or community in order to raise money or help.

The death toll has risen to 173 people this morning, but unfortunately, this is expected to climb even higher as police and fire crews move through the devastated landscape and sift through rubble and ash. The pictures coming back form towns like Marysville and Strathewen are heart-wrenching, these two places already having yielded the remains of 45 people and having been literally obliterated from the map as over 95% of all buildings have been razed to the ground.

Disasters such as these reveal the very worst and they very best in people. The police are investigating arson in many of the destroyed areas and our Prime Minister has characterised these sub-humans as “mass murderers”. Our neighbouring state, New South Wales is currently reviewing arson laws and I think that the time is ripe for a nation-wide revision of these laws and the introduction of more severe sentences to deal with offenders. The Police Commissioner has initiated a massive operation to apprehend the arsonists and our Premier has announced that a Royal Commission will investigate the circumstances surrounding the bushfires and possibly look at redrafting official government and CFA policies regarding the “ stay and defend or evacuate” directives.

Most of the towns affected by the fires were idyllic spots amongst the bushland, with towering, magnificent eucalypts around the town and beautiful native flora undergrowth. These forests provided many an opportunity for bushwalks, encounters with the plentiful wildlife and a respite from the urban hustle and bustle. There, where the creeks trickled in amongst the fern gullies and the cries of the birds provided a constant natural symphony, now only ash and burnt-out stumps of trees. There, where thriving communities were welcoming visitors with their country hospitality and smiling faces, now only rubble and utter devastation. There, where the city folk could go and visit their relatives and friends now only a tragic notice that their loved ones either perished in the flames in a horrible death or that they are still missing…

The present threat to Healesville about 50 km to Melbourne’s Northeast is especially worrying for us, as we have friends living there. They are doing their utmost to protect their property, but have already packed bags, just in case they need to evacuate. This is a terrible feeling, firstly what to pack in a couple of bags, knowing that all that you leave behind may be destroyed by the flames? Then, waiting, listening to the latest bulletins phoning neighbours, relative, friends to tell them that you are ready to leave your home. Healesville is another beautiful town on the outskirts of Melbourne and home to the famous Sanctuary of native wildlife. The toll on the animals, both wild fauna and farm animals in these bushfires must not be forgotten either…

Even as I write this, more than twenty fires keep on burning around Melbourne. Exhausted fire crews are continuing their fight against the bushfires and are relieved by crews that have flown in form neighbouring states, ACT, NSW, Tasmania. New Zealand fire crews have made themselves available and volunteers are also helping as much as possible. Cooler temperatures around the low 20˚C mark are helping also. However, by the end of the week the hot weather will return and firebugs may become active once again, despite the horror of the pictures that their actions reveal. Within each human being there is devil and an angel. Each one of us hovers on the razor thin edge that separates these conflicting identities, and any one of us totter and fall in the abyss of evil or climb tenuously and laboriously to reach the side of the good.

BUSHFIRE TRAGEDY

“The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.” - Thomas Carlyle

The magnitude of the bushfire tragedy is beginning to hit home, even as we woke up to a cool morning in Melbourne. Yesterday we were aware of several large fires still burning out of control around Melbourne and to the Northeast and East, despite the cool change following the 45˚C temperatures of last Saturday. Although we expected the cool change to help in fighting the fires, the immensity of the blazes and the tinder-dry state of the bushland has made the fire-fighting situation extremely difficult.

This morning I was listening to the news bulletin on the radio and the death toll was 108 as at 6am, making this the deadliest natural disaster in Victoria’s history. Unfortunately, many people are still missing and the death will continue to rise. At least 750 homes have been completely destroyed and more than 330,000 hectares of bushland burnt out, some of the fires expected to continue burning for weeks ahead. We are hoping now for some decent rain that will help the efforts of the fire crews who have been fighting the blazes heroically.

Fire alarms have been going off incessantly and as I jot this down I can hear them outside my window, here in the City. Fire trucks are going by, and I can only imagine what it must be like in the areas hard hit. The television is showing some truly hellish images and the people who has survived are in a state of shock. Scores of injured and burnt people are being nursed in hospitals across the state and emergency services are being stretched tot heir limit. One of our staff here at the College has lost her house in Kingslake just to the north of Melbourne and we are all rallying around our staff (more of whom will doubtlessly by affected) by starting a special fund to help them in the immediate future. We are also helping the community by organising various activities that members of the public can join and help by donating money and goods.

It is times like these that one realizes that we humans are a big family and we need to help each other out as much as we can. Today it is my turn to help you, tomorrow it may be your turn to help me. As people look upon the burnt our shells of their homes and cars, as ash has replaced the gardens and trees that surrounded their homes, as they take stock of all they have lost, it becomes important to realise what our priorities are, what is truly of value to us. Forget the possessions, the things, even those that are irreplaceable… People and feelings are the only that matters. This is driven deep into our consciousness as we see those people that have lost members of their family, friends, neighbours to the flames.

Human lives lost to the hellish flames remind of us of the importance of the people that surround us. People whom we take for granted on daily basis. A partner that we’ve argued with just yesterday, parents that we haven’t called on the telephone for a few weeks, children that have moved form home and we haven’t seen communicated meaningfully with for a while. Family, friends, those who matter to us. Think of the things that have been left undone, things that have been unsaid, interactions and relationships that are now irretrievably lost to those 108 people now dead and the thousands of survivors around them who will miss them terribly.

This terrible calamity has affected me profoundly and here at work, everyone feels the same way. The talk this morning is of nothing else and we are activating in order to help our fellow workers affected by the fires, but also the community. I am proud to live in a country where this community spirit is still alive and where people still feel strongly about helping one another and contributing to the community in which we all live.

Here are few links that will really make you aware of what we are going through:
Video report, including the PM’s and premier’s visit to the affected areas:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=1341467&cl=11932952&src=y7lifestyle&ch=

The really mind-numbing news that arsonists may be at work in some of the bushfire sites is one of the worst possible things that I can think of:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5308078/vic-bushfire-areas-declared-crime-scenes/

A well-known and loved retired newsreader, Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree perished in the flames at Kingslake:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5307959/tributes-newsman-naylor-wife/

Some photographs of the fires:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/gallery/-/5307153/

ABC News site:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/09/2485712.htm

The Australian Red Cross, Bushfires Appeal donation site:
http://www.redcross.org.au/howyoucanhelp_donationopt.htm

I hope that things in your part of the world are better. Hug your spouse, partner, family members, friends and tell them how much they mean to you. Ring your family and friends who are far from you and tell them how much you love them… We shouldn’t wait for a natural disaster to remind us to do these things…

MICHELANGELO

“I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.” - Voltaire

Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement” fresco in the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican is one of the greatest works of art of Western civilisation. The scope of the work, its immense scale, its striking iconography and the brilliance of its execution is surety enough of the genius of the artist, however, it also attests to the line of development of Western art through the centuries to its culmination in the Italy of Michelangelo.

One cannot fail but to be struck dumb with admiration as one enters the Sistine Chapel and is surrounded by the magnificence of the images on ceiling and walls. The biblical days of the Revelation are illustrated on the wall behind the altar while all around one, are the rest of the stories competing for prominence in this pictorial rendition of the Bible. For me, it is one of the highlights of visiting Rome and I always make time to visit the Vatican, its museums, St Peter and the Papal Apartments.



Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, to give his full name, 1475-1564) was considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, and ever since then he has been held to be one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. Although the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are probably the best known of his works today, the artist thought of himself primarily as a sculptor. His practice of several arts, however, was not unusual in his time, when all of them were thought of as based on design, or drawing. Michelangelo worked in marble sculpture all his life and in the other arts only during certain periods. The high regard for the Sistine ceiling is partly a reflection of the greater attention paid to painting in the 20th century and partly, too, because many of the artist’s works in other media remain unfinished.
Have a good week!

DIES IRAE

“Your own property is concerned when your neighbor's house is on fire.” - Horace


The heat has been stifling today, with Melbourne recording its hottest-ever February day, with the temperature in the city reaching 46 degrees Celsius at 2:27 pm. I was driving into the City at 4:30 pm and even with the air conditioning going at full blast, it was warm in the car. The City skyline was half-obscured by a beige pall of dust, and the hot wind lashed the trees mercilessly.

Fires are burning across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, with tens of thousands of fire fighters on stand-by across all three states. The fire in Bunyip State Park is within a few kilometres of major transmission lines that feed power to our city and we are wondering if we shall have electricity through the night. Meanwhile, many townships are being evacuated, some houses lost in the flames, others strangely spared…

A strange apocalyptic feeling as I was driving through the deserted streets with the dead leaves being whipped up by the wind, the dust laden air, the hazy atmosphere, the sickly yellow-brown light and the all-consuming heat. The music that came into mind was Verdi’s “Dies Irae” from his Requiem:

Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.

Day of wrath, day that
will dissolve the world into burning coals,
as David bore witness with the Sibyl…



A cool change was to come through this evening, but it fizzled with a few scattered drops of rain and with the temperature remaining at 30 degrees Celsius. Unless a stronger change comes through overnight, I doubt whether we shall have the cooler day predicted for tomorrow. I am looking out through my window at the moment and the wind has died down. The moon almost full is overhead and a strange smell of dust and heat makes this summer a terrible one.

Here is Karl Jenkins’ “Song of Tears”.



I hope you are having better luck with the weather in your part of the world.
Enjoy your weekend…

FISH-AND-CHIPS

“May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it.” - Irish Blessing

I have just returned from Adelaide where I was for work and flying home on the plane, the arid, sere landscape of our landscape here in Victoria was obvious in its most extreme and awesome extent. Tomorrow we are expecting a temperature of 43˚C and then another hot day on Sunday before cooler weather arrives next week. We may have had a long winter last year and a cool summer to begin with in December, but we are certainly feeling the heat now. Adelaide usually has weather hotter than Melbourne but the landscape seemed slightly less dry than here, mainly because of the bore water many people access and the irrigation from the Murray and Torrens Rivers.

During my stay in Adelaide I had an excellent meal in a little café, which comprised of an old Australian (and British) standard, “Fish-and-Chips”. The good part about it was that the fish was very fresh and was King George whiting (this is a rather expensive fish that is usually served in the better restaurants) rather than the “Flake”, “Cod”, “Butterfish”, etc (served in most fish-and-chipperies). Here is some information about this delectable fish, taken from the Fish Victoria site.

The scientific name for this fish is Sillaginodes punctata and it can be fished in most temperate waters around Australia, with good catches in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and New South Wales. One can have a hard time finding this fish in the markets as it is snapped up by the restauranteurs, on account of it being the largest and best tasting of the whiting family, easily filetted and easily cooked. And of course, this means that usually when one wants to eat it, one has to go out and have it rather than cooking it for oneself at home.

For a sea-girt nation like Britain (and Australia, of course), the popularity of “Fish-and-chips” is hardly surprising. Fish tends to be a staple food of these sea-girt and sea-going nations. The popularity of the potato ever since it came from the New World is also hardly surprising, given its nutritiousness and ease of cultivation. The happy combination of chipped potatoes and battered fish all fried in fat is perhaps the thing that the British should be thanked for, but this is disputed and the Germans, Scandinavians and the Irish claim the dish as their own also.

The eating of “Fish-and-chips” is widespread in Australia, especially so on Fridays, a relic of the fasting days when people used to take any notice of them. The meal was traditionally wrapped in newspaper at the shop, but nowadays, white butcher’s paper is substituted. Vinegar and plenty of salt are served with the meal, although nowadays the gourmet influence dictates an accompaniment of Tartare sauce and lemon. The animal fat that the fish and chips were fried in has now been substituted by vegetable oil, much to the disgust of the purists, but the cholesterol spectre has been to blame for this and most people are chastened by its mention…

Enjoy your weekend!

MEMEMISSION

“A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.” - Benjamin Franklin

Jan Elle, through Jacqui has completed a meme that relates to seven weird facts about oneself. The rules are that:
1) You link to the blog of the person where you saw this meme last; 2) You write your list of seven weird facts about yourself; 3) You tag seven other people on your list to do this meme and link to their blogs; 4) Let each person that you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog…
So here goes:

Fact 1: Although I am of Greek origin I absolutely detest and loathe black olives and feta cheese. I have never eaten them and if they are present in food, I avoid the food like the plague. Apparently this occurred even in my infancy, and weirder still, my paternal grandfather had the same aversion to these two foodstuffs. Even weirder is the fact that I love all other kinds of cheese and I will eat green olives! Go figure…
Fact 2: I adore variety. In all things. For example when I am asked “how do you take your coffee?”, I answer that firstly, I will not always have coffee, sometimes I like tea; and even when I do have coffee, sometimes I like a heavily sweetened cappuccino, other times the strongest double espresso without any sugar. Did I say that I may also order a Greek coffee or a Viennese coffee, or a macchiato or an affogato?

Fact 3: I only need about 5 hours sleep a night. Sleeping in for me at the weekend generally means I sleep for 5 and half hours… I think that when I die I’ll sleep for a very long time, so why waste time sleeping when I am alive?

Fact 4: I am a very patient man, usually very forgiving, tactful, tolerant and willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. I tend to forgive easily, turn a blind eye and generally take things lightly. However, if I find that I am taken advantage of or if people try to diddle me, I can blow up like a volcano. “Beware the ire of a patient man”, they say and it’s certainly true in my case.

Fact 5: I am a technology junkie! I love new gadgets, electronic wizardry, new inventions, wonderful new devices and innovative bits of seemingly magical technology.

Fact 6: I love old things, especially old maps, old books, old paintings, drawings, letters, notes, photographs. I could spend a lot of time in antique shops looking for these things, or simply looking at them. It’s heaven when I chance upon an exhibition of old illuminated manuscripts – I love them!

Fact 7: I am generally quite punctual and deliver on time, however, I have a great many projects going all at the same time, so very often I leave things till the last minute. Oddly the quality doesn’t suffer. It has caused some consternation with other people in my teams, though…

I’ll follow Jan Elle’s example and will not nominate specific people to complete this meme, but rather leave it to you, the readers to do this meme, should you choose to do so…

Also, seeing it’s Word Thursday, here is what meme means and where it’s derived from:

meme |mēm| noun Biology
An element of a culture or system of behaviour that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by non-genetic means, especially by imitation.
DERIVATIVES
memetic |mēˈmetik; mə-| adjective
ORIGIN 1970s: from Greek mimēma ‘that which is imitated,’ on the pattern of gene.

DIVORCE

“It is not marriage that fails; it is people that fail. All that marriage does is to show people up.” - Harry Emerson Fosdick

I spoke to a friend I hadn’t heard from for quite a few months, today. Life had caused us to drift apart from the time we were at University, but I had been in touch with him on and off throughout the years, had been to his wedding, had met his family, his lovely two children. The marriage had definitely been a love match and the pair was one that gave the impression of a marriage made in heaven. He said to me that he was getting a divorce. I was rather surprised as I thought they were a couple that would age together, still in love in their gray years…

I asked him what had brought them to splitting apart. Had there been affairs? Another man another woman? Did they experience difficulties of any kind? He though a while and in his silence over the telephone I could hear the cogs of his brain turning, engaging, slipping into gears, finally causing him to whisper quietly, somewhat at a loss:
“Well, you know, nothing happened… Nothing happened, anymore. It kind of fizzled out, it died a slow death, not with a bang but with a whimper…”

How many of us develop a relationship and tie a knot around it firmly, securely, seemingly to last forever. And yet in how many cases that knot is severed, or carefully cut… In how many cases one of the partners deftly slips out of it, stealthily, with an imperceptible facility … And in how many cases the knot simply frays, the silken rope fades, ages, turns to dust and crumbles, as it did in this case! The words uttered quietly by my friend inspired me to write this poem:

As Time Passes

As time passes, I remember how:
We used to share a single bed
And laugh as we squeezed so close together
That our breaths would synchronise;
And our hearts would beat in syntony,
As each heartbeat would fall into the other.

As time passes, I remember how:
Our hands would clasp each other
And through the sense of touch our souls
Would mingle through the skin;
And our chemistries would share reactions
In the test tubes of our sweaty palms.

As time passes, I remember how:
We would share a simple meal
And the food was made delicious
As we poured happiness on it –
Better than the richest sauce,
Our joy, a condiment better than the rarest spice.

As time passes, I remember how:
Our lips would thirst for kisses ceaselessly
And our mingling breaths would communicate
Our innermost desires, our thoughts, our hopes…
Our eyes, though closed, would clearly
See into the depths of each other’s soul.

Now, we share the broad expanse of a large bed
And touching is rarely anything but accidental.

Now, our hands may hold each other every once in a while,
But our dry palms are arid places for the excursions of our souls.

Now, every meal a rich repast: Caviar, champagne…
But we may as well be eating cardboard.

Now, our lips are locked closed, imprisoning our souls,
And our eyes wide open, barely acknowledge each other’s presence
When circumstances would have us pretend to kiss…

RETREAT

“To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.” - Ben Jonson

The last couple of days I have been taking part in an Academic Retreat. This is a type of mini-conference where academic staff of our institution come together from our campuses all over Australia and discuss important topics. We have presenters who lead the discussion, various hands-on activities, group workshops and also some social activities that facilitate team-building and help the staff to get to know one another. These sorts of activities can be a great waste of time or alternatively one of the best ways to identify current issues, develop strategic plans, achieve results and effect changes in an organisation.

I am glad to say that our retreat was an example of the latter. It was on the general theme of “Assessment in Higher Education” with special emphasis on some specific topics. I was very pleased with the way that things panned out, the great majority of our presenters were very effective and their talks were inspiring, generated a lot of discussion, and were very much outcomes focused.

One of the most satisfying things that I saw happening during the two days of the retreat was the degree of open communication that was occurring between colleagues who are normally separated by great geographical distances. As always of course, meeting someone face to face is much more conducive to that special communication which just isn’t there when one is emailing, talking on the phone or even when video-conferencing. Even people who had some axes to grind or were not getting along on the best of terms were on their best behaviour and made an effort to collaborate and exchange a friendly word.

Last night we all had dinner together and a drink, with much convivial conversation, which surprisingly elaborated on the discussions of the day session, rather than on pleasantries and witty repartee. These dinner exchanges inspired my session this morning where I was able to address some of the issues raised by the attendees at the dinner, much to their satisfaction. One always can be at an advantageous position if one takes the time to stop talking and actively listen to what others are saying.

We were able to conclude this day’s session by considering various issues raised, discussing them and constituting three working parties which would look at the three most important topics and over the next few weeks meet in order to resolve the problems that we identified as being fundamental with our processes. It was quite a satisfying two days and all staff that took part found their time well spent. I ended up rather hoarse and a bit of a sore throat as I had done much talking and it has been quite a bit of time since I was lecturing for a few hours on end…

What are your experiences of work conferences and retreats? Good bad or indifferent?

KIAROSTAMI

“To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” - William Shakespeare

Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian director who shot to world-wide prominence in the 90s after his films reached the West through the arthouse circuit, culminating with the award of the Palme D’ Or in the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 with his film “Taste of Cherry”. I had not seen any of this director’s film and this last weekend we watched two. “Taste of Cherry” and his 2002 film, “Ten”. Kiarostami has received rave reviews and movie critics adore his movie-making which they see as succeeding Godard’s and Bergman’s. We were looking forward to watching his movies and I was rather glad to have got hold of a triple pack, “Taste of Cherry” (1997), “The Wind will Carry Us” (1999) and “Ten” (2002).

It was not a good experience… Firstly, let me say that Mr Kiarostami has a car fetish. Secondly, he likes improvised scripts and dialogues, thirdly, he loves long shots where nothing happens and the viewer’s mind begins to wander to more interesting things that have nothing to do with whatever doesn’t happen on the screen. The other thing that the audience is meant to applaud is his “honesty” and his consideration of the “profundity of everyday existence”, the “allegory of his sparse plots” and the “innovative direction”. Alas, then, I am philistine… Both of the films we watched were boring, self-indulgent and annoyingly trite, which were inflated to epic proportions through cheap devices.

Firstly, “Ten” as we watched this first. A young divorced woman, taxi-driver, has ten encounters in her taxi. The curious thing is that none of them seem to be paying passengers. The camera is static and the angles boring (this is meant to be arty) and the conversations mildly vexing to highly annoying. The characters are highly unlikeable and the window that the film opens into their lives, one wishes it had remained shut. The son of the taxi driver is a spoiled brat, the woman herself is phlegmatically selfish and her passengers are insipid or commonplace. The film is meant to be a snapshot of the life of common women in Tehran, but it comes across as tedious and uninvolving. There is no courage nor wit, no humour nor true depth of feeling (even in the scenes where tearful women confess broken hearts and broken relationships). The director is clinical and far removed from his subjects and the film displays as much pathos as a rotting potato on a compost heap.

Nevertheless, this was a somewhat palatable film and one that one could give the benefit of the doubt to. All directors have flops, so surely the masterpiece “Taste of Cherry” had to vindicate the director’s excellent credentials and surely it would worthy of the Palme D’ Or it won at Cannes, right? WRONG! There is a Greek proverb that says: “When you go to the place where reputedly there are lots of cherries, take with you a small basket”… Nowhere was this more apt than in this boring film “Taste of Cherry” where a trite pseudophilosophy is milked for all it’s worth.

Let me put it this way, if you like Paulo Coehlo, you’ll probably like this film. It’s the same appeal to the universal triteness that is phony and manufactured to pander to the new age sensibilities of a reactionary counter-culture and pseudo-intellectual crowd who couldn’t be bothered to read real philosophy but rather wanted predigested, processed junk soul food for their mind. These are the brash and audacious amongst us who have the audacity to clothe the Emmpero in imaginary rich vestments. We all geegaw, oooh and aaah, admiring the non-existent rich clothes until the innocent child walks by and speaks the honest truth: “The Emperor has no clothes on…”.

The film is about the meaning of life (I think). A suicidal man drives around trying to get someone to bury him after he commits suicide. Incessant driving around a dusty and deserted hilly terrain is interspersed with tiresome dialogue where he seemingly tries to proposition other men by offering them money to “do a little something” for him. The director thinks he has achieved a major coup when he reveals to us the man is looking of someone to bury him when he is dead. First the man tries to get a quarry worker to help him, but the man threatens to hit him (these are the working classes, and the refusal is meant to represent that work is not that which keeps alive). Next he meets a young soldier who also refuses the promise of money on completion of the interment (this meant to signify the strength of the armed forces and how they don’t hold the answer of existence). Next comes a seminarian (who represents religion and this too fails to answer the key question). Finally a man who works in a natural history museum agrees to help the man, but all the while tries to discourage him by telling him that the taste of cherry is worth remaining alive for. This is nature and nature alone holds the key to our existence and has the power to preserve our life.

Really tedious stuff, said before, filmed before, written about before and so much better than this. We felt so cheated by this film, especially by the ending (if you think what I described is bad, just wait till you see the ending!). A waste of a precious 90 minutes of our lives. See this film at your peril. If you are an arthouse snob, it will make your day. If you are an ordinary person, an educated layperson, a thinking person, a well-read person, you will probably see through this artifice and join me in crying out: “It’s not silken ribbons, but rather strands of seaweed” Mr Kiarostami is trying to peddle to us.

I’ll rest my case with an interview with the director himself:
http://brightlightsfilm.com/55/kiarostamitv.htm