Implicit Self
Images from my soul, dedicated to the world that makes me
TV across the pond: American and British TV shows
This one took a while to get to actually writing about what I had made up my mind for, a long, long time ago. I have indeed lived happily ever after, as far as what I watch on TV. It took no one less than THE Doctor ( tenth incarnate: David Tennant) to finally help me locate the locus of my total partiality towards British TV shows, onto what I like to watch: real acting, real possibilities even though fantastical, real people: even if fictitious, real mystery: not always melodramatic in solution and most important, REALly great storytelling.
Anyone who has watched CSIs, or the other equally tragic-comical crime shows like ‘Criminal mind’, ‘Bones’ will tell you, albeit once they have watched ‘Wire in the blood’ (Robson Green) or ‘Sherlock’ (Cumberbatch) or even ‘Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple'(various), ‘Broadchurch’ (Tennant) to name a few, not only are the former ridiculous hyperinterpretations of crimes that unite hyperbolic writing (hyperscience, timescales and what passes for philosophy) and terrible acting (by supporting and often Lead actors), but also once you watch them you feel like a worst waste of your time was not invented, then of course you watch the local news and change your mind.
I don’t mean to offend anyone, especially since some very talented actors work on American TV, but what can they do? The writing and the stories are so bad that there is nothing that can bring ‘it’ back. Not even Oscar nominated/ winning actors: Gary Sinise or Forest Whitaker. I don’t just mean drama either, despite Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey and Amy Poelher, American sitcoms are ridiculously tedious, if not poor copies of British sitcoms. Even while Parks and Rec is something I look forward to, it cannot hold a candle to anything with Ricky Gervais or Stephen Fry in it. Unfortunately Alec Baldwin never wrote anything and Tina Fey decided to try movies.
Not all British shows are that great, e.g., Luther is quite mediocre, but at least doesn’t last an hour and the stories are far less bizarre. A serious plus is that no one brandishes ten handguns every 10 seconds, a SWAT team and twenty automatics are also rarely seen. Some mini series, despite a great cast are not as great, like Parade’s end (which had Cumberbatch). But for each of that there is Exile (John Simm) and The last enemy (Cumberbatch again). Even the dramatic dramas like The Tudors ( it is not a British production, an Irish one I think, but it is from across the pond and is well edited) are quite well made with eloquent performances.
America doesn’t even try science fiction (and NO, all those vampire shows are not science fiction and while Smallville or Roswell is or was, I will not waste one more word), the sorry sitcom ‘Big Bang theory’ just reasserts how little Americans actually understand (or want to understand) scientists with such horrific stereotypes that would repel most people who know scientists(or God forbid, are scientists themselves), well at least after the first two, reasonably good seasons, despite the dumb blonde being verily worshipped. My main problem is her, and till a point the rest of the cast made up for her, until I simply got bored. I still know people who think it is funny and yes, they do have a legitimate PhD in their cast, but getting a degree never made a good scientist and all of the ones in BBT are supposedly iconic in their fields and yet, I have met several good (great?) scientists who maybe eccentric, but are nothing like Sheldon. Although, he is funny. It is one thing to expect us to laugh at ourselves, which we no doubt would if we could relate it to any aspect of our real life at all: read PhD comics if you are unfortunate enough to be one, have some brain cells and still want to laugh whether you are in or long-out of grad school. It will never succeed as a sitcom here, because will an addict to BBT relate to that image of a real life and its absurdities as a graduate student/scientist?
Whereas, right across the pond Doctor Who, the ultimate- longest running science fiction series ever (according to me) has been popular for decades, uses scientific jargon-simplified, without hesitation. It has its OWN dedicated magazine and literally nothing I say has not been said. Scientists (aliens or otherwise) are actually admired, even if they are evil. I don’t know much about the spinoffs, but every episode of Doctor Who, and The Doctor himself as a character and his allies never ceases to please me. I would take the hope for an actual existing doctor over Santa Claus, Jesus and Ram, ANY DAY. The doctor, despite his powers, is not the one who always saves the day (yes, not America, but also NOT Britain all the time, he saves many worlds and has a real interest in EARTH! the Ood and all secondary-tertiary planets and satellites humans establish themselves in the future). It is often someone quite ordinary, some times his companion, but sometimes, just another human being who is average in everything else, except in that one moment of stupendous courage, brilliance or both ( see the episode ‘Midnight’ when the doctor is nearly ousted by an unknown, mind bending being). It is a real celebration of the average human being, that time and again the Time Lord fawns over calling it the indubitable ‘human spirit’ of wonder and quest for answers and capacity to love and sacrifice. Each episode brilliantly brings together time and space with not a blip in story- telling or character development. Whereas, the ‘quest’ is steadfastly focused towards finding the right husband or wife or lover in comedy or tragedy, in politics or hospitals, in reality shows or celebrity shows on US TV shows. Dysfunctional families with serious issues are often thought to be supremely hilarious, as idolized in ‘Arrested development’ without the undercurrent of poignancy that flows in comedies based on real life challenges like ‘Derek’ (Gervais). Even serious shows on families are terribly dramatized, but those are not my genre of TV anyway, but kill me before I am forced to watch Parenthood by aliens.
Mysteries, whether they are historical, like Foyle’s War (Michael Kitchen), Bletchley circle (Rachael Stirling, Julie Graham and Sophie Rundell), Oxbridge based: Endeavour (Shaun Evans) or Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) ( everyone agrees that Cambridge and Oxford are frozen in time) or contemporary (did I mention Sherlock yet?) Broadchurch (Tennant), Prime Suspect (Helen Mirren), Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) actually get to the nitty gritty, everyday life of the detectives, the politics in a Police department, the actual possibilities and limitations of forensics and no one is shown like they walked out of a magazine cover after 48 sleepless hours. Instead of simply developing eccentricities of the main characters, they are actually given a three dimensional life, philosophy, history, beliefs. The story intricately allows a slow discovery of the victims, the perpetrator and the investigator and how the characters of each define the possibility of a solution, after felling the blind spots and preexisting barriers that prevent even the most brilliant investigators to see clearly. Those characters actually appear to care about what they are doing, not just how they look while they are doing something that is supposed to be ‘it’! And again, did I mention, the (rarely) handsome police officials, especially the DCIs and the DSs do not carry guns. Neither does the Doctor.
There is a reason my heart skips a beat when Netflix suggests something that belongs to the Masterpiece series. The (anti) reason I cringe at How I met your mother ( no, even Barney couldn’t actually save the show). Don’t tell me that Breaking bad wasn’t bad.It wasn’t. Skyler White was the best character in the show according to me (and a Slate article). And it goes a long way to tell you the type of audience American TV shows have, when you see how many people, especially women, profess to hate the only half-decent, strong character that show had. The show was, however, 10 times longer than it needed to be. 5-6 episodes ‘creatively’ edited and directed ( same actors) would have told the story and actually kept it crisp and somewhat realistic. (All those ‘House’ fans.. Hugh Laurie is British and also, a far better comedian than one would imagine him to be and again, every good doctor or even genius is NOT an ass, and is certainly NOT required to be so . The same reason Netflix copied at least the basis, the ideas and the story of the ‘House of cards’ from the original British show. The reason is: they are just brilliantly envisioned and never miss a trick. We do indeed have the best of times on British TV (mostly with, but even without the doctor).
Save London again, I say, Doctor. Women actually want to be a part of something brilliant there and won’t look apologetic or sad for being smart! And that’s at the center of my locus. Women are essential in each of the shows and do not need saving, or salivating to feel good about themselves. All those who think Steven Moffat is a sexist are nuts. Irene Adler should give them an earful. Of course Russel T Davies was thankfully never accused of being one and he wrote most of the 10th doctor’s episodes. The women, have a personality, a functioning mind and they may be attracted to the Doctor, but seriously, any woman with half a brain should be, it is far better than running after the Bachelor or any other sports Jock. Additionally, they actually DO something in the show, and I loved them all. I am sure they will forgive if I have not mentioned them all by name here (saving that for a post on my favorite TV actresses). Although, must mention: Catherine Tate, Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who) and Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle’s war), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) just because they are awesome and Geraldine McEwan who made me love Miss Marple (I am not an Agatha Christie fan, but as the doctor predicts, she may be the best selling novelist of all of time. No one is perfect).
Before the list that follows, let me apologize to everyone for being so biased towards the tenth doctor (David Tennant) and what his personality was to explain Doctor Who, but he is the one I believe in and I don’t really think anyone will actually mind.
The exception that proves the rule (again), an American show: ‘The Killing’, an adaptation of a Danish TV show I believe, now in its fourth and last season, is worth watching, even twice!! It was cancelled by AMC, twice too, so you know that *people* just don’t get it here ( OR I am just way off!) !! It has been saved by Netflix as an ‘original’, has a strong female lead (Mireille Enos) and a most affable character played by the absolutely gorgeous Joel Kinnaman- the Swedish-American actor and my latest obsession. No one does once tweaked, yet sharp; vulnerable but defiant to the end, detective, who, is most definitely not a chauvinist; not even a covert one, better. He admires Linden (Enos) and feels no regret or inferiority. His character (Holder) is even more endearing when he is so completely off the right path of investigation! Human and real. Yes, they finally got it.. too bad only the Netflix freaks like me watch it! As a footnote- there are places in season 1 that do drag, the oft mention foster home experience, is too oft ( if you ‘feel’ me) and some other typical American feels, do reverberate. Although, season 3 with the homeless young, more than makes up for everything.
I should list the shows available on Netflix online: Doctor Who (everything, almost); The last enemy, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple (series), Foyle’s War (except the last season), Wallander(up to date), Endeavour (Episodes and movie), Derek (up to date), Wire in the blood (series), Exile (series) and The Tudors (series) and of course Sherlock (except last season).Broadchurch, Parade’s end can be bought per view to watch on Amazon and Inspector Lewis and Inspector Morse, Sherlock are free on Amazon prime.
Some other series recommendations, if you like Doctor Who (and any of the others mentioned above): The returned (French, with subtitles), Zen (Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino, series on Hulu, set in Italy, but in English), Jeeves and Wooster (the original with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, on Hulu), Orphan Black (Tatiana Maslany, season one on Amazon prime, 2 is pay per view; not on par with any of the above, but still quite good), Kingdom ( Stephen Fry, Netflix), Whitechapel (Rupert Penry-Jones, Netflix and Amazon prime). I recently found Engrenages (Spiral): possibly the best crime show I have ever seen, because of its unique characterization and plot development, not to mention acting and storyline, it is in French but with English subtitles on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.
These narrow lanes….
Seeing yet another unfulfilled promise, this one about narrow streets, I decided to make good at least one. These streets have their own soul and maybe the only ones that do. I can’t watermark them. They would be the same even if I didn’t see them at that moment of time.
A world unto themselves.
Dressing up betel leaves and more
Jhumpa Lahiri mentions betel leaves and a small stall that makes, them in her book: the Lowland. As usual, she can just touch a cord and strike a tune in my brain. It reawakened a familiar image in my mind, similar to the photo above although this photo is of a stall I have only seen once. There must be many I saw throughout my youth in Delhi. Many I passed everyday, that I may never pass by again.
At the corner of a restaurant and house, or at the end of a long line of shops by the bicycle repair shop, betel leaves used to await us. I never liked their bitter taste. My grandmother always had some in her mouth for the longest time with ‘supari’ ( betel or Areca nut). Until someone told her the stuff is carcinogenic and a stimulant ( like most other stimulants), she still chewed some, even when she had one tooth in her mouth, from time to time. She is gone now. The betel stalls are disappearing with the increase in fly overs and malls. Now they do exist as a reminder of what was old Indian ‘charm’ in expensive restaurants and five star hotels. The charm is lost to me and tobacco chewing is actually scientifically proven to be carcinogenic, betel leaves (themselves, not the things that are used to stuff them) are not.
The other two photos were taken quite close to the betel stall, in the famous and very old Chandni Chowk area, where all kinds of Indian clothing and jewellery, FOOD abound. Will all these embroidered fabric borders, just waiting for a fancy dress, find a girl who wants them? Will she wear them and pass by another pan stall, in a fancy restaurant, this time?
Surprising composition
Amazon Voyage: Nature
I gave much thought to the best possible division to my tales about the Amazon expedition and finally decided that it could be divided into nature watch and village visits. Although, that would leave out the part in the boat, which quite enjoyable in itself. But none of these parts are actually separable, we will see how that goes! I am skipping the day we spent sight -seeing in Lima, Peru. However, that is where we met all the people of our group and the expedition leader: Dennis Osorio Magada.
Taking the 2.1/2 hr flight from Lima to Iquitos we landed at the port of our adventure around 7 pm in the evening. While there were mosquitoes, they did not swarm as I had imagined that they would. We were taken to the bus, after positively IDing that our bag(s) had made it. Here Dennis introduced us to our first Naturalist guide: Segundo (second, in Spanish). Dennis said that while he, being Andean in origin may be reserved and introverted, the people of the rainforest do not stop talking once they start. Segundo had grown up at one of the villages in the Amazon basin and welcomed us with his mischievous, hearty laugh and started telling us about the life of the people in Iquitos. Now, a medium sized city. With many motokars (25000 or something) which are basically half motorbike ( Honda is quite popular) and half rickshaw attached (welded; may seat about 2-3, on its own two wheels). There are tiny cars that are cabs and there was a lot of activity on the streets and Segundo said, “It is Saturday, the day for barbecuing. The people of Iquitos like to party on Saturdays after working all week”. It certainly seemed festive, or maybe it was just the eyes that were looking at them, that were!
He asked if we were prepared for the mosquitoes, and while I hate to labeled as fussy or delicate, mosquitoes are my sworn enemies. I immediately put on a full sleeved shirt, and was hardly seen without long pants long sleeves at any time during the trip. We reached La Estrella after an entertaining ride through the city, Segundo was already our friend.
The first look at La Estrella Amazonica took my breath away, it is a cute boat, in person too! On the amazon it is also the newest, not even a year old. We were shown our cabins and found them to be quite luxurious, complete with a pair of bathrobes and writing desk. The bathroom was also of decent size, with a nice shower. Huge bed, at least queen size, probably King. We did have one of the largest rooms at the lower deck. Sliding glass doors led a small balcony with two wicker chairs. Perfect for an evening after dinner, we decided.
Dinner was served at around 7:30 with a welcome drink Pisco Sour- the official drink of Peru. I loved it. Dinner was great, with fish, chicken, rice and fresh salad, unfortunately, it being a 7 day cruise, and all meals being excellent ( and different) I cannot recall any of the dishes specific to days. I will try and list a few in the end, but for a meal, I just enjoyed it and did not take pictures. Ha ha.
Next day was a late morning at 7:30, and we left for our first skiff ride to explore the river edges. Starting with swallows sitting still very close quarters, it was a beautiful ride. I think the first bird we spotted was the drab water tyrant. Our group had a very knowledgeable guest lecturer as well as some seasoned birders. Ed Smith, the guest lecturer is built and maintains the Amazonian exhibit at the Smithsonian zoo. The combined excitement of the naturalist guides, Dennis and Ed was enough to inspire me! Ed was pointing out the trees and everyone kept a look out for birds and other wildlife.
Following lunch and a power nap ( at which time we are assured that all wildlife also naps) we were out again on our skiffs for the evening ride. Other than the day of village visits ( we had two) this was how the day was divided. With live South American music for about 45 min most evenings, as the bonus. If I start about that here, it will not do justice to the title, so I will save that for an appropriate post.
In our trips on the skiff we travelled about 180 miles in and around the Pacaya Samiria reserve for the latter part of the week ( Tuesday to Thursday).
It rarely rained, and even if it did it did not stall our progress directly. We put on our jackets or the ponchos kept on the skiff for that purpose.
Traversing the rivers several families of grey and pink ( not visibly, at some times, but they have a flatter dorsal fin and are larger, so easy enough to tell apart) dolphins. We even spotted a few from our balcony, when we were anchored close to a village.
The most frequently seen hawks were the black collared, roadside and plumbeous hawks. I saw the black collared hawks more from the skiffs and the other two from the boat itself. Caciques, oropendolas (russet backed) were seen building their awesome nests, often sharing trees, with the caciques using the lower branches and the oropendolas the higher ones. The call of the male oropendolas are truly out of this world ( or at least from underneath water), I would love a wind chime or an alarm clock, maybe even a phone ring, that made that sound. Maybe then I will have either one of those in my house ( I do have alarm clocks, I just never use the alarm). White eared jacamars appeared to me to be quite different from the rufus breasted ones we had seen in Trinidad and Tobago, but a very appropriate name.
The distinctive birds of the Amazon, the horned screamer and the hoatzin were nice enough to pose for several decent shots and lengthy observations. The horned screamer is locally called the donkey bird, because of its call. The horn is quite small. We saw a group of about 8-10 of them the horned screamers at the reserve. The macaws on the other hand, were not that nice to us ( or I believe to anyone). I was lucky to see the scarlet ones at quite a distance, but quite clearly. But I only saw the back of the blue and yellow ones. Flocks of parakeets and parrots were common, I saw the orange cheeked clearly, but the rest were silhouettes.
Johnny was very excited to see some tanagers: masked crimson tanager and cream colored woodpeckers. He said the tanager was his favorite, since he was literally jumping, I would not have guessed otherwise. I honestly don’t think I have met someone with such an honest, open and heart warming smile ever before in my life.
Dennis spotted a lettered aracari and a plum throated cotinga ( among other things, included a southern caracara which is not supposed to be seen in those parts).
I was most pleased and for the lack of a better word ( although, I think this one is good enough): enchanted with the tiny monkeys. These were the squirrel monkeys, we saw both common and bolivian, they often run around together in groups. One of them was quite enchanted himself with our laser pointer’s light and came out to the edge to examine it. Lost interest pretty quickly though! They are kept as pets and I would want one! The other monkeys we saw were saddle backed tamarins with a couple of babies in the group and howler monkeys. The howlers were very far and only Segundo knows how he spotted them. They were literally blobs. Even more amazing is spotting the three-toed sloths from miles away, these are very well camouflaged and don’t even move that much. Although, we saw about 3 or 4 and it must have been their time of the week, because two of them were moving!! ( they get down to poop once in a week, otherwise stay true to their name on top of one, looking almost exactly the branch- I need to recall the name of the tree).
On the last day we saw the tiniest monkey of all monkeys in the world: the pygmy marmoset. This one was heard by our skiff driver, and we almost missed it except a helpful village lady confirmed Jhon’s hearing and we turned around and looked some more. He/ she cooperated and really, birder I maybe, but if there were monkeyers, I would immediately enroll. Despite the bad reputations Indian monkeys have!! I mean, they only steal and bite, really.
As for other mammals, there was a small group of tiny bats: long nosed bats, superbly camouflaged by the bark of the tree they chose, close to the water surface. I may be wrong, but I think they fish( let me confirm that). They were also really cute ( and I use that word with a grain of salt in case of animals, in general, all animals are cute, but this is mainly for readers who will relate to the word more! ha ha).
We saw some lizards, these are harder to see, and I spotted one but couldn’t point its location in amongst all the water plants that all looked alike and had no gaps! It had a red back and a green tail, was literally on the surface of the water amongst the hyacinth leaves. The caiman lizard was much more people friendly. I am waiting on Ed’s reply on the final ‘rare’ lizard sighting, a green one with a very long tale. We also saw green iguana and tree iguanas. They are so beautiful ( again, try not be too anthropomorphic). Jhon spotted “something” : a tiger rat snake sitting inside its hole, on a tall tree, while driving his skiff. Yes, you get the picture.
One of the days was the ‘night tour’. Where we got to find our own frog and Segundo caught a caiman, right off the water edge. Apparently they can only bite sideways and don’t as long as there is a light shining on their eyes. I am not a croc’er’ and will never be. Nor a snake catcher, unfortunately. Neither a fisherwoman. On one of our skiff trips we went fishing for piranhas. And yes, if you have read about Piranha fishing on the internet, you know it is complicated. However, I think the most complicated part is choosing the right spot and then knowing that thrashing around with a stick can attract them. For the spot, Segundo picked one and we hacked down some undergrowth and settled on muddier and slower moving waters ( most of the amazon and tributaries are muddy, so I don’t know how he picked the spot, frankly). The least complex were the fishing rods, which were basically sticks with a hook attached. The bait was beef and a lot of people in my boat caught red bellied piranhas. My twin: Cathy, caught the biggest one, and my husband even caught one. That almost mangled another group member ( who I shall not name in case she has forgotten this). I caught nothing, only fed them my bait. However, I did eat one. I liked them and no I did not eat the head ( and I will refrain from why that is something to mention at all, because there is no scientific backing and as I said, I did NOT eat it anyway).
Ed’s plants are something I really spaced out on. Except getting that the epiphyte group of plants that grow on trees but do not take anything from them except a traction point. That too only because I had heard of them before and seen them in Trinidad. We did see some orchids in bloom ( they are many orchids that are epiphytes) and many of the Bromiliad family. I do remember Kapok and Tripalaris trees as well. I think if there is one (MORE) reason I want to go back, it is to actually familiarize myself with plants enough to not call them ‘green trees’. This was a joke between the naturalists: ‘oh ( Johnny OR Segundo) !! he is looking for green trees!’
I have not got to the tierra firme walk,
A list of all flora and fauna seen is not within the scope of this post. However, I should mention that Roy, one of our experienced ( and not Peruvian) birders saw the Forest Falcon: which was a life bird for him. If I hadn’t seen them in Trinidad, most birds were life birds for me.
Implicit Self 
