Prashant Bhatt's notes

We began our friendship through medicine. Then he joined our Reading Group.
Once a week we have food together in The Turkish Restaurant- Adana-1994.
Together we feel the city of Tripoli -the wind which carries many currents.

BEYOND THE IRON CURTAIN

He told me about his years spent in the world behind the Iron Curtain-what life and faith, fasting and medicine was in Bulgaria. He is a Libyan national, living in Tripoli for around 40 years, but originally the family is from Deep South-Sebha region.

He relates to the many changes happening in this region with an eye on what happened after the Berlin wall fell in 1989.He has lived those decades and now lives through the Arab spring and the many layers involved.

Are we living through the Berlin Wall moments of the Arab World?

Or is the story of Shia and Sunni , Israel and Palestine adding a different colour to this complex maze as we see the human suffering in Syria?

Once a week, we have food together at Adana- a Turkish restaurant established in 1994, in front of a park which is not maintained well. The Turkish salad, soup, bread are a background in which we try to engage different currents. This unique member of our Reading Group brings a creative energy into the discussions which add to our feel of the ground.

Together we feel the city of Tripoli -the wind which carries many currents.

A BOOK A WEEK

We summarize a book and its main points and then discuss its relevance.

Ibsen’s Ghosts was a theme for discussion recently.

The basic idea is heredity.

The play grew out of a Bibilical quotation which is the premise-

The sins of the fathers are visited on the children

Every word uttered, every move made, every conflict in the play , comes about because of this premise (1)

The play ends with Mrs.Alving standing a few steps away from her son Oswald with her hands twisted in her hair, staring at him in speechless horror. Oswald sits motionless as before and says- The sun.- – The Sun.

When we opened this theme for discussion using the headings of Phylogeny, Ontogeny and Sociogeny many interesting comments came out which cannot be discussed in open forum.

We concluded with the following words from Fanon’s classic-
Black Skin-White masks

” Every experience, especially if it turns out to be sterile, has to become a component of reality and consequently play a part in the restructuring of this reality. In other words, the patriarchal European family with its flaws, failings, and vices, in close contact with the society we know, produces about thirty percent of neurotics.”(2)

THE ROAD TO TUNIS

“The border between Libya and Tunis is closed again. I have to take my sister for chemotherapy to Tunisia and wonder when this thing will be resolved.”

As our worlds intersect due to medicine, some caring relatives share their stories with me, while some elites show which circuits their minds work in.

In this maze, our Reading Group tries to summarize and discuss some works.

The closing of the border has many layers of truth behind it.

But in the given times , it is better not to go in that direction.
* * *
We began our friendship through medicine. Then he joined our Reading Group.
Once a week we have food together in Adana-1994.
Together we feel the city of Tripoli -the wind which carries many currents.

Notes
(1) Lajos Egris-The Art of Dramatic Writing-Page 4
(2) Fanon, Frantz (2008-09-10). Black Skin, White Masks (p. 32). Grove/Atlantic

Other posts of interest

1.From Kabir to Safir

Exploring Public Domains- From Kabir to Safir