One one things

TV in England sucks quite royally. It’s probably not worth investing in a TV unless you go on to get digital bc there are just 5 channels and most of the time they show stuff about gardening, cooking (which isn’t all bad, I have a soft spot for ready steady cook), antiques and idiot soap operas where Britain’s ugliest congregate and be dramatic for half an hour and go home. But if you have digital there’s a bit of hope. There’s a new channel called More 4 and they’ve started showing the West Wing!! Now this is an absolute bonus bc West Wing is the only hour long TV drama series that I watch, everything else has failed to capture my attention for 60mins. I first cottoned onto this series in my second year of undergrad when one night my two housemates (avid political scientists) insisted that taking a one hour break from an all nighter is good for one’s health (and one’s essays). Unfortunately that hour turned into 3 hours worth of West Wing, and I was officially hooked (what happened to that essay is a different matter).

The series is set in the West Wing of the White house and is centred around the President Jed Bartlet’s right (and left) hand men (and women). President Bartlet is a former Economics Prof (woohoo!), a Nobel Laureate and is currently in his second term in office. He epitomizes the cool liberal democrat sort of politician, the sort that I find very appealing, specially at this stage in my life. Thankfully Bartlet is more from the Kennedy/Clinton school rather than the Bush school. Bartlet is played by Martin Sheen, and I don’t think they could have found a more convincing and powerful actor for the role, Sheen is absolutely brilliant as Bartlet and I can’t quite imagine anyone else filling the role. The rest of the staff is made up by Leo McGarry, the Chief of Staff, played by John Spencer . Though in yesterday’s episode Leo had to be replaced by CJ (Allison Janey’s character) due to cardiac problems. The deputy Chief of Staff is Josh Lyman played by Bradley Whitford, Josh is slightly idealistic but probably the smartest character after Bartlet. CJ Cregg (Allison Janney) has played the press secretary till yesterday’s episode when she was promoted to chief of staff due to Leo’s illness. So she’s the one who goes and stands in front of the podium in the backdrop of the US emblem, facing the questions of a hundred inquisitive journalists every single hour. Toby Ziegler is the idealistic, short tempered, smart jew played by Richard Schiff . He’s the White House Director of communications, and spends his time writing Bartlet’s speeches and like everyone else putting in his 4 cents worth of political advise to the boss. Finally there’s Charlie Young (Dule Hill) who is Bartlet’s personal aide making sure everything runs smoothly (whilst banging Bartlet’s daughter). Rob Lowe used to play Sam Seaborne as deputy communications secretary but he left the show and became congressman in a hardcore republican district.

The West Wing is probably the most intelligent show going, they come up with some superb plots each time and the acting is usually top notch as well. It’s possibly a bit too America gloryfying, and the actors marginally unrealistic (i mean, how smart and hardworking can ppl get?) but then it’s got to have some drawbacks. Oh and they also don’t have much eye candy, respects to Ms. Janney but she is a bit on the old side. There was however this one time when they recruited a blonde who used to be in CSI if memory serves me well. Even if you’re not into American politics, and I’m not, it’s very very watchable bc the storylines and sub-plots are really interesting, fast paced and at the same time they’re topical. The blend is perfect in my book. Some of the best episodes include the election time ones, the asssassination attempt, Bartlet’s daughter’s kidnapping and the constant threat of them Middle Eastern chaps. They also featured terrorism in schools, the politics of religion, espionage and lots more all mixed with day to day political complications. Unfortunately it’s been really tough trying to get hold of complete West Wing dvd’s in SL and over here they’re pretty expensive. Oh and it’s on more 4 at 9pm on Fridays, so unless one is experiencing a dull night in the show will be missed. Happily enough they have a repeat at 2am, which I watched, despite having a dull night in. But yes, West Wing, watch it, for one hour you’ll be under the illusion that it’s not all bad being under the American hegemony.

P.s.
Speaking of hegemony, I found a fabulous quote about my Masters course. It’s by a dude called David Lake, it goes something like this.. Referring to International Political Economy;
“A half-life of two decades is not bad in a discipline more prone to fads than the fashion industry - I say half-life because our theories are never discarded, just relegated to our graduate syllabi. Nonetheless, consigning the research program to the academic museum to be observed only by incredulous graduate students dressed in more modern garb, is I believe, too premature.”

I have been immersed in various education systems for all but 3 years of my life. From the age of 2 I was in nursery and since then I have spent one year working, the rest of the time I’ve been in schools or universities. One thing that has never been taught to me in all those years is the amount that we can learn from other religions. I’m a Buddhist and studied Buddhism in school whilst the Christian and Muslim kids went for their respective aagam classes. As a result there was always a sense of mystery when it came to other religions. I’d always instinctively feel that “my” religion was superior in some way or another and dismiss the different practices by other religions as being somehow off the mark. Thankfully I grew up and learnt to think and learn for myself. I have a reasonable understanding of Christianity and Islam to a lesser extent. I unfortunately have little or no understanding of Hinduism and Judaism and must do my bit to correct that. This being the month of Ramadan I felt inspired to share a few of my favourite bits of different religions. And also some of my earlier (common) misconceptions that have been corrected, to an extent. They are all my own interpretations of course.

Ramadan - The idea of fasting for a month used to baffle me when I was small. My old Karate class was mainly made up of Muslim kids and I loved Ramadan bc the classes were shorter but I never understood why they’d put themselves through that. We’d all be tired and dying for water but the Muslim kids never drank any. But the idea does seem to have some validity. During that month you understand what it’s like to be in a position of deprivation and would in theory make you more aware of what you have been blessed with and thus be thankful for it. Of course this doesn’t always work in practice but the idea is good.

Confession - My understanding of confession is that according to Catholicism if you confess your sins before God you will be forgiven. There are a few caveats but I can’t remember them off hand. This sounds almost laughably ridiculous but that again depends on how you’d interpret it. The idea behind confession is that you admit to yourself that you have sinned and try to come to terms with it. The hardest part about dealing with a problem is admitting to yourself that there is such a problem. Confession gives you that little push you need. Just bc you confess doesn’t mean you’d be absolved of any sin but it may well have a positive effect on your character in terms of avoiding future sin. Again, this works on paper but not necessarily in practice.

Impermanance - Buddhism is a complex and interesting religion, but if I had to choose one thing from it I would go for its take on the nature of the world we live in. I interpret the Buddha as having had an impressive philosophical insight into our world and understanding the fact that what we experience is not permanant and we can’t take it to the grave with us. This not only refers to “stuff” like cash, goodies, toys, handcuffs and whatever makes you tick really, but also to emotional attachment, achievement and non-material things. What I like to take from Buddhism is the simple message that we shouldn’t over rate these things that seem to play such a central role in our lives, and that we should just see them for what they really are.

Rastafari Herbs - Rastafaris believe that smoking ganja is a spiritual act which clears the mind, brings about peace of mind and that it helps drive the mind towards the path of truth. They also insist that the good plant enjoys the Biblical nod. To quote Wikipedia;
Genesis 1:11 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
Genesis 3:18 “… thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
Proverbs 15:17 “Better is a dinner of herb where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.”
Psalms 104:14 “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.”

Now isn’t that just too cool for school? Also, Dreadlocks are the way to go.

In my book its a good idea to learn what you can from a variety of religions and accept what you think makes sense and leave alone what you’d rather not adhere to (like all that ganja nonsense, i hear it’s frowned upon in most parts). I heard that they’re introducing (or introduced) comparative religious studies in Govt. schools back at home in Sri Lanka, I hope this is true, it would certainly be a step in the right direction.

One of the nice things about being a student is you get random days off without lectures or tutes. You’re technically supposed to catch up on reading and reflect on the material covered, but that doesn’t tend to happen unless exams are knocking on the door. Today is one such day, I’m planning on reading a couple of journal articles this afternoon but till then I’m taking it easy. I put on my Bob Dylan CD and decided to make some preparations for dinner, grilled rainbow trout! I love fish, and back at home I make sure to bring home some Red Mullet or Garoupa every so often. Rainbow Trout isn’t anywhere near as good as Mullet or Garoupa, but beggars can’t be choosers. I just put the fellow to marinate in an assortment of stuff including Nando’s Hot Peri Peri sauce. What I love about cooking is the freedom it gives you to experiment with flavours and come up with new stuff pretty much every time. When I first went to uni for undergrad I didn’t have a clue as to how to cook, since I was in catered accommodation I didn’t think it would matter too much. But that was until I tasted the food. After 3 weeks I had had enough, I think the turning point was when one day for dinner it was Tandoori chicken that was simply boiled chicken in some red colouring. I stopped eating Hall food and resorted to eating seeni sambol sandwiches for dinner and ham sandwiches for breakfast. I lost almost 20 kilos in my first term so I had no choice but to learn to cook, pronto.

Unsurprisingly my first attempts went rather drastically wrong. I still remember my first parippu, I overcooked it and most of it got burnt till the saucepan and lentil grains became one. I tried to boil an egg but didn’t realise that you need to keep it in boiling water for 5 mins, I kept the egg in water over a fire for 5 mins and each time it wasn’t even soft boiled. Wasted many an egg that day. I came back the next term armed with Larich curry mixes and I was on my way. Chicken curries, Pork curries, parippus, bonchi kirata and ala kiri hodis emerged like magic, just cut the stuff up, put the curry mix, some water or coconut milk powder and say abracadabra. In my second year in uni I evolved from the curry mix stage and learnt how to cook using thuna paha and other spices, with practice, a bit of experimentation and a solid cook book, I became better. I cooked for the new Sri Lankan kids who joined that year and every Saturday night there’d be dinner at my place. The variety improved as well, I experimented with Wambotu, Cucumber, Wattakka and other veges along with roast and grilled chicken and pork chops. In my third year I moved in with a couple of Sri Lankans and some Germans and together we came up with some quite decent meals on a regular basis. I learnt to make Roti and pol sambol using dessicated cocounut, PseudoGotukola sambola using watercress leaves and lamb curry. I tried my hand at a few western dishes too and they turned out ok, Pasta with smoked salmon and dill, Spaghetti Bolognaise, baked macaroni and pan fried fish. I tried to become too clever a couple of times and tried making rabbit and pigeon (on separate occassions) and it didn’t turn out too flash. But more often than not cooking didn’t go wrong bc once you got the basics it’s hard to go wrong and you can adapt as you wish, judging flavours by instinct and using your imagination.

Cooking has become more of a hobby than a chore now, it can be relaxing and enjoyable if you got the right mindset. The only annoying part is washing up, but then what are housemates for?

I was at a tute yesterday where we were discussing the role of representative institutions in creating political commitment (party party). One of the questions was how far these institutions can be effective in such a manner in developing nations. A German dude, chubby rosy cheeks and neatly parted blonde hair, blue eyes, make Hitler proud sort, went on to say that in developing nations there isn’t a culture of democracy unlike Western nations who have always opposed totalitarian rule (implying that ppl of developing nations do not oppose totalitarian rule). What a twat. But the sad thing is I couldn’t bring myself to put my hand up and ask him if he honestly believes that Mugabe is thought of as the saviour of all saviours by Zimbabweans. I just couldn’t quite be bothered to waste my breath on him. When I was walking towards the tube station that evening I realised that I seem to have run out of passion in my blood, there’s not much that I care about a hell of a lot. I mean, this is the age when you’re supposed to be brimming with ideals, love, hate and feel everything with passion and fire. I see it in my tutorial group, they’re passionate about everything and have heated arguments, getting all worked up about shit like political economy. Man, imagine what would happen if we started discussing abortion and euthanasia? Shudders. And there I am, sitting, looking bored and staring at my latest doodle of the chap with the odd hair-do (It was a nice doodle btw, he had this mop of shocking blonde hair on his forehead (yeah, what’s with blonde’s in my tute groups? they’re full of them i tell you) a bit like Tin Tin on a day his gel didn’t quite work).

I seem to have skipped that whole stage of youthful exuberence and hopped to uninspired middle age. But then come to think of it I did have my short spans of idealism. I remember in my first year of undergrad I was a Marxist! for one term, but a Marxist nonetheless! Unfortunately my facial hair didn’t grow in an even manner so I couldn’t get me a nice beard and I was too cheap to buy a red cap. All this after reading Marx’s Selected Writings (ed. McLellan). And then in my 2nd year I became a champion for fighting world poverty. I remember writing an e-mail to this guy in Trinity telling him that I’ve decided to dedicate my life to the cause of those less fortunate. He replied saying, “quite.” Soon after I finished uni I wanted to work in a village without any of the modern comforts that I’ve got used to, and I was convinced that money isn’t important and that I can live on 10k a month, easy peasy. But all this lasted about 2 months as well. Today I feel like a middle class center left, moderate, settled individual. (What a wonderful thing euphamisms are, all I’m saying is that I’m boring.) Well I’ve got to run off for a lecture now, another hour of verbal discharge. I need to get laid, non?

ASKED how political coalitions are formed, Germany’s chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, once shot back with a question of his own: “How do porcupines mate?” After a short pause, he then answered it with a grin: “Very slowly.”

Sorry I was just going through The Economist and came across that line, quite funny for a German politician I thought. It’s a Saturday morning and i’m wondering what to do this afternoon when I meet my friend and his girlfriend for lunch at Trafalgar Sq. I’d rather avoid a restaurant chain sort of place like pizza express or Nando’s (though Nando’s is a most reverred place ohm ohm) and would prefer a local place with a bit of character, something unique about it and of course good food. I guess it isn’t easy to find such places without snooping around yourself and accidentally coming across such a place. The other day in Camden town we came across a superb little Vietnamese place which I’d never have found on a website or tour guide. I’m also forever on the look out for little places that play live music in the evenings, a friendly cozy sort of place hidden away from the big loud clubs. Last night I explored Leicester Sq. to an extent and most of the places there are very hyped, loud and in your face clubs and night spots, not really my game. But China Town was nice, we went to a couple of places which being a Friday night were understandably full to the brim. At the first place they asked if we’re willing to share a large table with some strangers, we politely declined and buggered off. I wasn’t about to share a table with a bunch of boisterous smoking ppl. So we carried on, passing Mr. Wu’s restaurant, Mr. Tan’s, Uncle Yim’s etc. etc.. After much walking I thought screw that and we walked into the next restaurant we saw. We asked for a table and were promptly told to follow the waiter and without being asked he laid out the cutlery on a table where there were already 3 ppl! Anyway hunger had the final say so we stayed on without complaint. A fourth man joined our table and promptly planted a kiss on one of the other dude’s lips. His voice was initially very squeaky but it mellowed down as the evening wore along. Those two were very fond of one another, and they showed it. The other couple was an elderly gentleman, possibly 65ish with silver hair, and a youngish girl who I assumed was his daughter. She was well dressed so I figured it must be some sort of celebration. But quite soon the two of them were also kissing, fondling and what not. It was a totally new experience and after the initial amusement (and making a mental note to never bring a date here) we dug into our food that was quite decent. Spare ribs, pork in black bean sauce (haraam haraam!), mushrooms in chinese greens and squid with chillie and salt. I’ve never eaten squid in England before and i was most suspicious but it turned out like a bastardized version of Sri Lanka’s own cuttle fish in hot butter sauce! Nowhere near as good but decent in its own right. I managed to drink a whole pot of Chinese tea and I hope it compensated for some of the excessive quantities of cholestrol I consumed last night. Unfortunately my bladder and I are not quite on talking terms after that.

I quite like China town in London, I like the food and the atmosphere. The crowded streets remind me of Beijing but I think that’s more a psychological connection than anything else. The Crispy Duck Restaurant is a good bet if anyone ventures that way, try and avoid weekend nights bc it packs up big time. The last time I was there 8 ppl ate for 110 quid, consuming two starters, duck, chicken, pork, prawns and lobster! Nobody believes that it was so cheap but it was! After eating way too much we headed out to look at the rest of Leicester Sq. which wasn’t as crowded and buzzing as I last remember but it had great atmosphere nonetheless. I hadn’t noticed the hand marks of famous ppl who had come for openings at the Leicester Sq. Odeon, Hugh Grant has rather small hands, as does Colin Firth. Sir Richard Attenborough on the other hand has bigass hands. Stopped for some dessert at Garfunkel’s, some cake thing with a smallish scoop of vanilla ice cream. Les Miserables is showing at one of the Theatres in Leicester Sq. and that’s one on my long list that I need to start ticking off soon. I was tempted to stop for some coffee at one of the quaint Italian coffee joints but it was getting late, and with the Northen line totally buggered we weren’t too sure about the reliability of the replacement bus services to my side of town, so I headed home, quite tired and much too full for my liking.

Finally we managed to get internet up and running in our flat, no more dodgy internet cafe up the road and no more waiting in line for a computer to free up in the main library. I finally feel like things are settled and that I can get along with all my plans, I’m getting into the rhythm of living in London (if slightly out of it in zone 3) and getting to know my university and how it works and all that. Work has been quite easy paced so far, the material isn’t particularly challenging and I’ve only got something like 5 lectures a week of which one is a basic economics course that I can practically teach, so I’m going to cut that. As a result I’ve had free time on my hands and I rummaged my flatmate’s bookshelf and came across a bit of a gem. What attracted me to it was the cover, it was vivid and colourful but not in the bright glaring sense, more of the earthy, dull colours that I like. They say never judge a book by it’s cover but something about that cover made me think that I’ll probably like it.

It’s called Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and it sort of rang a bell so I started to read. I finished it yesterday and it now ranks right up there with my Carl Mullers as my favourite reads. The amazing thing about that book is the fact that it’s just a story of a young man’s life and his journey through it, nothing flash, no startling murders, no conspiracy theories, no hilarious episodes with Spanish Bulls and no racy encounters of the triple x kind. Just ordinary life. And yet it’s so so readable, she writes beautifully and so many little parts of the story touched a chord in my own life and made me smile to myself thinking hey I know the feeling. It’s amazing how rich a person’s life could be, regardless of how ordinary and mundane it seems at first glance, there are so many stories behind each person, so many incidents that have blended together to shape their lives. The other day on the tube I was thinking that each and every person on the carriage has their own book inside them, full of little anecdotes, funny moments, sad moments and scary moments. In Namesake Gogol Ganguli has a fairly ordinary life of a 2nd generation Indian living in New York, he goes to college, has girlfriends, smokes pot, gets a job, gets married, gets divorced and so on, but Jhumpa Lahiri manages to spin 291 beautiful pages about this life and makes it a most amazing journey. One thing I loved about Namesake was the intimate descriptions of pretty much everything, buildings, faces, streets, day to day activities and even a childbirth, gulp. Since I started reading the book I’ve started to notice so much more about the things I’d normally bypass on a daily basis. The way my arms swing when I walk, a girl stopping in the rain to try and light a cigarette, the faces of ppl on the tube, so many little things that aren’t particularly important but that i’ve started to notice and appreciate, it feels nice. So i’d certainly recommend Namesake to anyone who’s a fan of reading and basically anyone who’s still reading this post without being put off by my long drawn out description

Besides reading i’ve dabbled in some University work this past week and it’s been somewhat of a let down. When I left home I wasn’t hugely depressed bc I was looking forward to getting back into academics and losing some of the responsibility of working and just arsing about in College. But I’ve found myself getting bored and struggling to motivate myself with uni work. I went for my first seminar yesterday about the aims of the study of international political economy (yes, exciting stuff), and i was hoping for a mildly amusing discussion on the synergies between international economics and international relations, but no, the 12 ppl in the room talked about the role of bloody constructivism and post modernism in deciphering the fundamental unit of research in international relations. Yes, I know, wtp? (btw, the p refers to puck, a far nicer word, and closer to home) After about 45 mins of this cock I put my hand up and said that I think they’re both getting at the same thing so why don’t we just get on with it and do something real? (Ok i didn’t say the last part). But seriously, I felt like I was in a room full of ppl with their heads in the clouds talking about something that is of absolutely no use to anyone who doesn’t live in some text book. But then thats academia for you. After working for more than an year tackling real issues, practical problems, I’m finding it difficult to roll up sleeves my and really get into things that will not leave the realm of thought. Anyone who has studied economics will probably remember from information economics Spence’s argument that education acts simply as a signal to employers. I never quite bought this argument but it seems to make more and more sense. What I’ve learnt in uni hasn’t exactly made me fantastic at what I do, it’s helped for sure in terms of confidence, organizing material, working to a plan and under pressure and has greatly improved my skills of analysis and creativity, but at the same time I could have learnt this stuff without going to uni and spending a mint. In the week so far what I’ve learnt is nonsense, and i’m quite sure that by the end of this year i’ll be much the same as when I started it, if slightly thinner. I’m quite aware that I’m doing a Masters so that in my next job application it’ll say Ba Hons, Msc. Hons and i’ll look a hell of a lot prettier to my potential employer. So I play the game, and hopefully will win too!

All in all not the best of starts academically, the course itself has lots of potential and I’m hoping that in the weeks and months to come this will be realised. But the rest of the fun will kick in shortly, this weekend i’m planning on going to Chinatown, Leicester Sq. and Camden town on Sunday, which Anush promises is an experience and a half. I actually went there a couple of days ago and it was extremely cool. There’s a little market with lots of little shops selling clothes with funny things written on them, ethnic jewellery, Goth paraphanalia, many tattoo and piercing studios (yes, many messers Pierce) and most importantly loads and loads of record stores selling new and second hand rare CD’s, records and cassettes, most of which you’d never find in your average HMV or Virgin stores. I love record stores, ever since I read High Fidelity by Hornby I made a mental note that if all else fails i’m going to open one of my own in Colombo and kick Torana’s ass. On that note (pardon the pun) I shall retreat to my room (living room) to get engrossed in Bob Dylan’s autobiography, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me. Please?

I haven’t been able to post in an age bc i’m back in university trying to make myself slightly more attractive in the job market. I haven’t been a student for a year and a quarter and it feels strange to be back in this world. I got to London on the 20th of September and had registration and all sorts of induction things in the first few days. Utter pain having to queue up and listen to lectures where ppl talk patronizingly about the importance of working consistently from the word go and trying to figure out which classes seem mildly less dull than the next. But uni proper started this week and they’ve been kind enough to give us a test today. Apparently it’s not important and requires no preparation besides suggested background reading sent by mail when we got our offers (which I hastily read this morning). The purpose is supposedly to assess each student’s stregnths and weaknesses so that each superviser can advise us accordingly. I thought the test was at 2.30 but it’s at 4.30 so I have 2 hours to kill in the library.

London is big and slightly intimidating at first. I’m used to living in smaller cities and towns so it takes a bit of time to adjust to this new setting. I guess I’m still in the getting settled in stage since we don’t have internet at home yet, have to sort out an Oyster card and there are still a few teething problems in the house. But once things are all in order (hopefully at the end of this week) there’s a lot I’ve got planned. I want to cover as many of the musicals and theartre as possible, the Museums and galleries and try fit in a few rock concerts. At the same time there’s lots of ecclectic food, culture and music on offer in London which would be brilliant to savour over the course of an year.

Thus far it’s been alrite besides a few mishaps such as discovering that our “3 bedroom house” actually had only 2 bedrooms and having to hastily convert the living room, losing my bag on the tube along with my main course text book and having no hot water for the first week and learning to skip back and forth in and out of the cold water shower. But it’s been fun too, getting back into cooking with my housemates, exploring our neighbourhood and the little restaurants near uni (and discovering a nandos close by!!), shopping on Oxford Street, fumbling with DIY desks and cabinets and having poker and movie nights whenever guests drop in.

So far so good. I should be able to post more regularly once internet is up and running at home, it’s an absolute mission trying to find a free computer in the main library. It would probably be prudent of me to go and do a bit more reading before my test so it’s best I be off.