Prashant Bhatt's notes

 

One definition of maturity is the closing off of possibility. If one becomes a captain of a ship, then one cannot be a mathematician or an astronomer. This issue is addressed in Joseph Conrad’s novel-Shadow Lines.

The writer Jeff Goins suggested that one tries writing a letter to one’s kids or one’s younger self. In the previous entry, as part of the walking-reading group, I sketched a walk through Tripoli with Joyce’s Leopold Bloom.

 See entry https://prashantbhatt.com/2014/01/06/was-the-clown-blooms-son/

This is part of Tripoli Reading Group , which has evolved over the years in many directions through the changes which take place in this region.

See blog-

Enrich your life with a read a day

Enrich Your life with a Read a day

and related posts-

https://prashantbhatt.com/tag/tripoli-reading-group/

 

SHADOWS

 

The “Shadow Lines” by Conrad, who is more famously known for his “Heart of Darkness” is an adventure partnership. Two characters of unequal qualities band together to survive some catastrophe. It is a radical vision of human community dissolved in its smallest possible unit, one older and one younger man. Together they face the myth of individual heroic adventures and realize the sure terrible limitations of their humanity.

 

THE GENEROUS IMPOTENCE OF FATHERHOOD

 

As a father, one closes off some possibilities for one’s individual self, while letting those opportunities grow for one’s children and family. This is also described as the “Generous impotence of Fatherhood”. In individualistic cultures this complexity would be contradictory and yet, as one looks back over the years, one realizes the growth through the growth of others.

 

“Will they realize what you are doing?” one friend, an accountant by profession, a person who deals with money-matters and knows many intimate details of feuds challenged me.

 

“Not till they become parents themselves, ” I answered.

 

For more detailed versions..see blogs-Father’s Day Walk

 

2012-  https://prashantbhatt.com/2012/06/19/fathers-day-walk/

 

2013-  https://prashantbhatt.com/2013/06/19/fathers-walk-review/

 

GODPARENT

 

Adopting a child as a “God Parent” was a concept I came to know a bit better after having interacted with some persons from Europe. This adds a different dimension to one’s life, and the meaning of communion, partnership and the shadows-long and short which one finds in these possibilities were an enriching experience.

 

Last graduation day of the Filipino school of Tripoli, I went and attended the ceremony as a special occasion. It was the graduation ceremony of a boy who I had first come to know at the pre-school stage. Now he is taller than me and a handsome young man. As we prayed together at the Church at Dahra, I came to know that one of the priests is also a Physics teacher.

 

REMEMBERING KURTZ- OF CONRAD’S HEART OF DARKNESS

 

Coming to Conrad’s more famous example of “Heart of Darkness” , one way to read the relation between  Marlow and Kurtz is that of a younger man seeking the older Kurtz as the link to a possibility of evil in all human beings. We can examine this in greater detail in later posts. The character Kurtz when included in a “letter to one’s younger self” opens up many possibilities…

TAKEWAYS

–          Try to partner with someone younger

 

–          Maintain a joint journal of such walks and talks together

 

 

–          Try discussing a book and its underlying messages

 

The rich characters of Conrad’s “Shadow Lines” and “Heart of Darkness” can be a good starting point. This can be an interesting mentoring relationship in which there is growth for both parties concerned.

END NOTE

“All of Europe went into creating Kurtz”…the symbolic significance of these lines of Conrad in examining the monster Kurtz cannot be over-emphasized in today’s world.

                       

* * *

Part of the 500 words a day challenge by writer -Jeff Goins.           

http://goinswriter.com/my500words/

For a diarist the interesting thing will be being selective

 

 

Did Bloom discover common factors of similarity between their respective

like and unlike reactions to experience?

                                                                        James Joyce-Ulysses

 

Balconies and theater-Roman City of Sabratha-
many lovely hours spent reading, walking here by the sea

Winter evenings are best suited to walking cities. The –Time Balcony- can be a place where anyone can be invited. One friend decided to write a letter to the caretaker of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. For me, it would be interesting to call in Joyce’s Bloom. According to some literary critics the character of Leopold Bloom is –the “Presiding Figure” of all 20^th century literature.

“There is no character in literature we know more intimately than Bloom…”

…..humiliated at his work as a salesman both by the persons to whom he tried to sell products, and also by the company for which he worked, Bloom would tolerate these things for the sake of his family and then, when he would return home, he would face humiliation from his wife.”

A WALK FROM PASAOTI

            Every Tripoli veteran knows where Pasaoti is.

Different persons tell different things about the quarters of the expatriate workers , mainly from medical sector.

 All are free to surmise as per their contexts, temperaments and experiences.

One veteran says- “Your Tripoli life baptism takes place in Pasaoti”

            Walking through the city of Tripoli from Pasaoti has a charm of its own.

Watching the city-scape, or planes (military) land in Mehtiga airbase or listening to songs sung in different languages in the balconies of Pasaoti made me reflect further on the words of Joyce

“Did Bloom discover common factors of similarity between their respective like and unlike reactions to experience?”

INTIMATE ENCOUNTERS-MASS OBSERVATION

            What humiliations does an expatriate worker face? Many are the life-stories one hears, and though now they say Pasaoti is not what it used to be, one hears many intimate stories here.  Was it always like this? Winter walks through Tripoli have had a different charm over the decades. The walk to the St.Francis church at Dahra and the prayers and aspirations of different workers from across continents led to many conversations..and the development of the “Mass Observation group”

INTER-INDIVIDUAL RELATIONS

The scene in which Bloom enters a church and sits in the back row, observing people in prayer. Not joining in the “body of Christ” but just observing this intimate encounter is a visitation one can encounter in many creative ways on a Tripoli Winter evening. These inter-individual relations come into sharp focus in these walks by the Mediterranean. Here is where we decided to write a letter to Bloom from our side..and reflect on the following words

” He reflected that the progressive extension of the field of individual development and experience was regressively accompanied by a restriction of the converse domain of interindividual relations. As in what ways?”

DAY 3 OF THE SECOND TRIPOLI UPRISING

            This winter,  one reflects on the years gone by. The first uprising was brutally suppressed in February. By August the people were prepared.

On the third day of the Tripoli uprising, I saw a mild-mannered but very courageous colleague of mine, a surgeon and teacher, walk along the yet deserted roads.

“There is some trouble at the Ras-Hassan crossing.Do not go in that direction,” he told me, while busying himself with patients.

 For over a month, ever since August 20 uprising of Tripoli, he has rendered free service to all those who came, and he does not want to be named for it. I took him to my house and told him to select a painting as a momento. He walked across the many varied framed compositions, ranging from Company period of Indian art to Impressionists of France, Cubism, Surrealism and other art movements and then settled down for a painting of Charles Frederick de Brocktorff depicting a Library

SEE BLOG-UNPACKING AND PACKING MY LIBRARY

 

https://prashantbhatt.com/2011/10/05/unpacking-and-packing-my-library/

 

WINTER READS…WAS THE CLOWN BLOOM’S SON…

As one walks a few more steps on a Tripoli winter, going through a few pages of Joyce’s epic and sees some teenagers whom one had seen as toddlers..one remembers one’s follies and experiences and asks

“Was the clown Bloom’s son? 

* * *

Part of the 500 words a day challenge by writer -Jeff Goins.

My 500 Words: A Writing Challenge

For a diarist the interesting thing will be being selective