Pssssst
didnt you hear? the Caretaker Government is a ruse, a nefarious Jamat e Islami plot to force Bangladesh into an Islamofascist future where our fundamental rights to screw around in the dark will not be sustained and promoted.
evidence! I dont need evidence, i can intuit everything, and besides cant you see, its blindingly obvious, its clear as crystal the Caretakers are destroying the 2 main parties.
What to you mean i cant see past my nose, and im being emotional over the incarceration and so stepping up the propaganda war on religion?
29.7.07
20.7.07
Abdur Rob Khan is no more
So i was asking after this old journo(Bangladesh Observer) i had met in Sirajganj a few years ago, and it turns out that he has passed on. Innalillahi wa inna illayhi rajiun.
I spoke at length with him once and he recounted a lot of the local history with me, from when he was involved with the AL during the war, to Ismail Huseyn Shirazi who sounds like a rare religious man of much repute, the torture and murder of nonbengalis in Sirajganj Jail and other irresponsible and inflaming actions by bengalis at the time. These were confirmed elsewhere in the town much to the distress of another old dudes son-who-was-too-young-to-have-ever-been-witness-to-the-events who was having trouble accomotading some new phenomena to his own historical model.
He was unafraid to 'complement' the official narrative with his experiences, maybe because be was old and noone would act against him, maybe also because his spine was quite firm and he felt it important to transmit the memory.
I spoke at length with him once and he recounted a lot of the local history with me, from when he was involved with the AL during the war, to Ismail Huseyn Shirazi who sounds like a rare religious man of much repute, the torture and murder of nonbengalis in Sirajganj Jail and other irresponsible and inflaming actions by bengalis at the time. These were confirmed elsewhere in the town much to the distress of another old dudes son-who-was-too-young-to-have-ever-been-witness-to-the-events who was having trouble accomotading some new phenomena to his own historical model.
He was unafraid to 'complement' the official narrative with his experiences, maybe because be was old and noone would act against him, maybe also because his spine was quite firm and he felt it important to transmit the memory.
Who's Human Rights?
Certainly not those of the dead and discriminated of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
I guess posh Islamabadis regard the recent arrival of the less well groomed, 'rustic' and religiously convicted people in their city as a pest control issue. The numbers of city people recommending big forceful action on the news channels was really saddening. This is a city that has many mosques, but few mosque goers from a certain part of the population. Where in a post death milad that section will be socialising and exchanging business cards and another section reciting Quran, Dhikr and eating, with very few in between.
It is hard to know what really went on and picking apart sequences and escalations of events by remote through the distorting twisted prism of the media is not my favourite past time.
One question i do have is whether this was a case of 'foreign'(not my definition, Ummah is Ummah) fighters proving themselves to be a hopeless liability yet again, bringing ruin on their hosts. Here is an interesting write up by on the Late Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi. --> http://www.slate.com/id/2170251/
He was a student at the Quaid-e-Azam University(English Lit?!?), apparently the best 'secular one' in that country. This doesnt fit into the stereotype and will no doubt spell fear and trouble for islamic leaning thinkers there at the moment.
What really bites about these Muslim-on-Muslim conflicts is our inability to solve them, or learn from bitter experience that this is not in our interests and exactly what 'those who do not wish us a blossoming time' are after.
Mushy has really made even more problems for himself, his own soldiers are endangered throughout the country. Weirdly he seems like the only thing standing between the various social elements which all seem to be pulling in a different direction.
I guess posh Islamabadis regard the recent arrival of the less well groomed, 'rustic' and religiously convicted people in their city as a pest control issue. The numbers of city people recommending big forceful action on the news channels was really saddening. This is a city that has many mosques, but few mosque goers from a certain part of the population. Where in a post death milad that section will be socialising and exchanging business cards and another section reciting Quran, Dhikr and eating, with very few in between.
It is hard to know what really went on and picking apart sequences and escalations of events by remote through the distorting twisted prism of the media is not my favourite past time.
One question i do have is whether this was a case of 'foreign'(not my definition, Ummah is Ummah) fighters proving themselves to be a hopeless liability yet again, bringing ruin on their hosts. Here is an interesting write up by on the Late Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi. --> http://www.slate.com/id/2170251/
He was a student at the Quaid-e-Azam University(English Lit?!?), apparently the best 'secular one' in that country. This doesnt fit into the stereotype and will no doubt spell fear and trouble for islamic leaning thinkers there at the moment.
What really bites about these Muslim-on-Muslim conflicts is our inability to solve them, or learn from bitter experience that this is not in our interests and exactly what 'those who do not wish us a blossoming time' are after.
Mushy has really made even more problems for himself, his own soldiers are endangered throughout the country. Weirdly he seems like the only thing standing between the various social elements which all seem to be pulling in a different direction.
Tranformers, Robots Compromised
Saw the Transformers film a few days ago, it was silly to say the least, the teenage boy character was too annoying by far, and the human role was given too much emphasis. At times it felt more like the most puke inducing moments of the Herbie films of years gone by.
The effects were stunning though, i dont remember much of the original cartoon but as far as i do remember the best thing about the franchise were those toys that would transform(robot to car, plane or even tape recorder), not the plot or artwork. The live action was reminiscant of times engaged in imaginary battles with nappy-chums, silly piece of articulated plastic in hand and vocal FX engaged.
Philosophically i have a problem with the leader of the autobots, Optimus Prime, being a gas guzzling lorry engine thingemy. A really stupid choice of authority, graceless, dirty, dependant of oil, slow and hardly agile. The middle east referencing (the military base that was initially attacked) was to be expected from a US corporate product so I wont read too much into it, neither would it be worthwhile elaborating about the sorry excuse for 'humour' invoked.
They really could have done more with it, especially as those of us who played with said objects of questionable value are 'grown up' now.
The effects were stunning though, i dont remember much of the original cartoon but as far as i do remember the best thing about the franchise were those toys that would transform(robot to car, plane or even tape recorder), not the plot or artwork. The live action was reminiscant of times engaged in imaginary battles with nappy-chums, silly piece of articulated plastic in hand and vocal FX engaged.
Philosophically i have a problem with the leader of the autobots, Optimus Prime, being a gas guzzling lorry engine thingemy. A really stupid choice of authority, graceless, dirty, dependant of oil, slow and hardly agile. The middle east referencing (the military base that was initially attacked) was to be expected from a US corporate product so I wont read too much into it, neither would it be worthwhile elaborating about the sorry excuse for 'humour' invoked.
They really could have done more with it, especially as those of us who played with said objects of questionable value are 'grown up' now.
7.7.07
Not in our name
As per tradition, i never seem to be at home when bombs go off in either desh or the uk.
Normally the mediatised environment immediately after an attack is publicly very demanding of Muslim Apology or Condemnation (Apology by another name i feel). As if that achieves anything concrete or otherwise.
This time the event happened, 'failed', simultaneously implicated a highly skilled group of public servants (doctors) and took place following Labour's Regime change and the well published khalafi-to-neocon conversions and confessional statements of Ed Hussain and Mr Butt.
An intriguing initiative then emerges. It's Muslim, called Muslims United and bears the slogan 'Not in our Name' ...wait for the roll call...
The 1) Conservative Muslim Forum, 2) Islamic Releif, 3) The Islamic Society of Britain and some 4) muslim medics and dentists group. So it 1) wants to get ahead, 2) is lovely, 3) middle class and 4) skilled.
cute, hope it works though not an easy task. I'm confident that these folks have some groovy moves and are going to be proactive.
Normally the mediatised environment immediately after an attack is publicly very demanding of Muslim Apology or Condemnation (Apology by another name i feel). As if that achieves anything concrete or otherwise.
This time the event happened, 'failed', simultaneously implicated a highly skilled group of public servants (doctors) and took place following Labour's Regime change and the well published khalafi-to-neocon conversions and confessional statements of Ed Hussain and Mr Butt.
An intriguing initiative then emerges. It's Muslim, called Muslims United and bears the slogan 'Not in our Name' ...wait for the roll call...
The 1) Conservative Muslim Forum, 2) Islamic Releif, 3) The Islamic Society of Britain and some 4) muslim medics and dentists group. So it 1) wants to get ahead, 2) is lovely, 3) middle class and 4) skilled.
cute, hope it works though not an easy task. I'm confident that these folks have some groovy moves and are going to be proactive.
Where on Earth is the BNP?
Grr... I need to interview some district presidents of political parties... and none of the BNP (Bangladesh, not British) seem to be around in any useful shape or form, they have all disappeared or are in jail or have cases pending and don't want to talk.
How dare they disrupt my sampling regime!
Not that the other parties are too fussed. I really do get annoyed by the Awami types, I'm asking them about opinions on a specific matter, and all they want to do is go on and on about themselves, what committees they are on and which countries they have been to. There is a problem of self love here i feel, i saw it in a field site where a wannabe MP named a ladies college after himself(not his mother, not his father, not his granny, not a religious nor a political figure) and several years down the line staff members (the staff student ratio is 1:3!!) wonder why the institution didn't get accreditation from the last govt.
Claiming credit for infrastructural work is not an entirely accurate affair either. Theres this set of river revetments which were actually built to prevent the Jamuna combining with the Bangali and screwing up the down stream Jamuna bridge configuration(billion dollar investment). This doesn't however stop the Bogra -> BNP -> spatial favoritism (or local service) commonsense that is spun around these structures.
Anyway, taste aside there is one constant that I'm finding, they are all flabbergasted by the presence of alcohol and drugs in the society today.
There is a big difference between the Awami League sensibility of the banani-gulshan group and the rest of the country. Indulge my caricature for a few moments. The former considers itself liberal, prints 'relationship advice' in its publications, writes of alcohol consumption as an individual choice and regards moral objections as bigoted. The latter loves their Bongobondhu, has a values set that is similar to the norm and isn't really all that aware of how silly the secular position is from the point of view of religion, they are also well aware of the atheism lurking behind some of their comrades secularism and very aware(too much?!?) of the hypocrisies present historically and presently in the more.. religious version of the nationalism
For example, and i'm interpolating here, the latter group 'got' the point behind the MoU with one of the splinters of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlish. Whilst the former, who are aligned to a harder core seculo-banglavision became vexed. The latter 'get' the point about Nobel Winner Dr Yunus being an 'interest-eater', but the former, who are further away from rural realities and enchanted by development speak. The latter hold a big grudge against the Americans for spoiling bongobondhus BAKSALite plan for self sufficient economic revival (which i'm very interested in exploring the theory and perception of), the former are for all intents and purposes American. The latter sit on maddrassa committees and try to improve them, whilst the former promote the secularisation of the education process.
So theres cooperation between to groups of the society that have very different views and experiences of the world. One copies down ideas and constructs the foreign cover, the other provides the grass roots and the numerical legitimacy, and The Loving Memory of Bongobondhu is the glue.
Its the morally decent element with foresight that i have most hopes for. Will they come to the fore in the next government or will the more boring powerplay electioneering dominate?
How dare they disrupt my sampling regime!
Not that the other parties are too fussed. I really do get annoyed by the Awami types, I'm asking them about opinions on a specific matter, and all they want to do is go on and on about themselves, what committees they are on and which countries they have been to. There is a problem of self love here i feel, i saw it in a field site where a wannabe MP named a ladies college after himself(not his mother, not his father, not his granny, not a religious nor a political figure) and several years down the line staff members (the staff student ratio is 1:3!!) wonder why the institution didn't get accreditation from the last govt.
Claiming credit for infrastructural work is not an entirely accurate affair either. Theres this set of river revetments which were actually built to prevent the Jamuna combining with the Bangali and screwing up the down stream Jamuna bridge configuration(billion dollar investment). This doesn't however stop the Bogra -> BNP -> spatial favoritism (or local service) commonsense that is spun around these structures.
Anyway, taste aside there is one constant that I'm finding, they are all flabbergasted by the presence of alcohol and drugs in the society today.
There is a big difference between the Awami League sensibility of the banani-gulshan group and the rest of the country. Indulge my caricature for a few moments. The former considers itself liberal, prints 'relationship advice' in its publications, writes of alcohol consumption as an individual choice and regards moral objections as bigoted. The latter loves their Bongobondhu, has a values set that is similar to the norm and isn't really all that aware of how silly the secular position is from the point of view of religion, they are also well aware of the atheism lurking behind some of their comrades secularism and very aware(too much?!?) of the hypocrisies present historically and presently in the more.. religious version of the nationalism
For example, and i'm interpolating here, the latter group 'got' the point behind the MoU with one of the splinters of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlish. Whilst the former, who are aligned to a harder core seculo-banglavision became vexed. The latter 'get' the point about Nobel Winner Dr Yunus being an 'interest-eater', but the former, who are further away from rural realities and enchanted by development speak. The latter hold a big grudge against the Americans for spoiling bongobondhus BAKSALite plan for self sufficient economic revival (which i'm very interested in exploring the theory and perception of), the former are for all intents and purposes American. The latter sit on maddrassa committees and try to improve them, whilst the former promote the secularisation of the education process.
So theres cooperation between to groups of the society that have very different views and experiences of the world. One copies down ideas and constructs the foreign cover, the other provides the grass roots and the numerical legitimacy, and The Loving Memory of Bongobondhu is the glue.
Its the morally decent element with foresight that i have most hopes for. Will they come to the fore in the next government or will the more boring powerplay electioneering dominate?
25.6.07
Nuclear Power for Bangladesh?
There was a news report that the emergency government will build a nuclear reactor to meet the appalling shortfall in electricity throughout the country, a problem which emasculates small and medium business and human life, causes riots and is heavily politicised and bureaucratised.
Googling around i found this Daily Star article from 2001, in the last days of the last awami league government. Unless there has been some creativity in the government, we might be forgiven to assume temporarily that what they are talking about a 600MW beast in Isarwardi (developed from a plan in the Ayub Khan period). The IAEA have been over this so its 'halal' by them.
This is an exciting development, one which could inject a little masculinity into the country or ruin a large part of it.
I think of all those highly skilled posts that will be filled by amazing people who up until now have only had a piddly 3 MW research reactor and medical remit to play with. Its mind bending to think that there is a government with some ambition in this department. In my time as a student dinosaur i have met so many brainy deshi physicists, talents destined to advance the human race, but alas not the Bangladeshi one. This is good news in that respect, there may be a destination for some of their genius.
I expect the NGO-development complex will scream and shout against such a plan. Yes, I can see it right now... 'We applaud the governments resolve to address the power crisis, but we wish we were consulted and that there is community participation and gender consideration in this matter.'
yes of course. participatory particle physics!
No seriously, a human being would have to be insane not to urge caution. I want to know what CS Karim's (Physicist, CTG Advisor and ex director of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission) thinking is on the matter.
I realise that;
- we never really had that much gas in the first place.
- we never negotiated properly with the companies that game to extract it and that a lot of it has dissipated into the atmosphere while we take ages to do absolutely anything.
- politicians seized upon the coal issue and exploited it to vent their angst against the government.
- diversification is a good idea, that CO2 emissions reductions are not a matter for us as the priority is adaptation not mitigation.
- renewables at present are no good at generating significant amounts in a centralised manner to any degree of unidimensional economic efficiency.
But what i worry is that given successive governments jealous disregard for each others initiatives, that any funding cut, foolish politicisation of the issue or lunacy will lead to great harm. I also cant fathom why the south koreans would consider financing 60% of it.
If the government is going to spend a billion bucks or so on a single project. Is this really the right one? does this mean the Padma Bridge will be delayed? that other infrastructural wounds and hazard mitigation will be dropped for now? Is the bangladesh military able to protect a nuclear reactor? Won't the power development board totally screw the whole thing up?
Of course there is no link between atheism and secularism!
Some events put a grin on my face that takes a while do subside. In a country where there are a lot of people abusing the Muslim ethic of avoiding questioning someones iman, creating the impression that 'anything goes' in terms of organisational activity we have the launch of a platform for those who have abandoned their religion, and furthermore of it being promoted by the Secular Society. Tactically one could not make this up!
Secularism itself strikes me as a faith, (set of rather bitter beliefs) in of itself but without the devotional gorgeousness of religions, their rootedness, the spirituality, the history, the community and the transformative quality. Allah guide them to something better!
"NSS(National Secular Society) supports the launch of the Ex-Muslim Council of Britain
The Ex-Muslim Council of Britain was launched this week on a wave of good wishes and congratulations at an inspiring event at the House of Commons in Westminster.
Maryam Namazie, the NSS’s Secularist of the Year for 2005, is the voice of the London chapter of an organisation that is making waves throughout Europe. Following on from Mina Ahadi’s high-profile launch of the German Council of Ex-Muslims, other groups have sprung up all over Europe. It is clear that there is a need for an organisation that encourages people from a Muslim background who are uncomfortable being defined by a religion they may have abandoned.....
We hope that thousands – maybe even millions - of other Muslims around the world will hear the message of Maryam, Mina, Mahin and all the others who have been brave enough to be the first to say: I will not be defined by my religion, I will not be put into a box that limits my humanity and renders me powerless.".
Yahya Birt as usual has something interesting to say. (the only good muslim is an exmuslim)
Then there is The South Asian Fudge, where 'Secularism does not mean the absence of religion' or 'Religion should have nothing to do with politics' from the class of people who have been taught or discovered very little about Islam.
This stance might get you votes amongst the ritual followers and those oppressed by the allegedly religious forces but nevertheless wont get you very far past your own immediate interest and your real enemy's fishing net. It has been rendered into the common sense quite artificially in places like Bangladesh, through repetition, national ritual and demonisation of other arrangements. Thankfully i think the trend is decaying in desh.
The expectation is that as soon as people start wising up to the implications of secularism on religious life, policy, science and education the multi directional social equilibrium will shift in favour of faithfulness, trust and values. That is so long as rationality is increased in the system. Lustful lack of self control, consumerism, racialism and untempered individualism are some of the inhibiting factors.
Id like to set up a unit for the study of secularisms and atheisms. focusing on the relationships and experiences of conversion to in a range of regional, national, community and individual circumstances. This, for the beleiver at least is as big a research priority as figuring out the links between foolish religios sounding policies and violent crime.
Why?
Religion is the first maqasid (objective) of the sharia. and order matters. then comes life, intellect, dignity and property.
Secularism itself strikes me as a faith, (set of rather bitter beliefs) in of itself but without the devotional gorgeousness of religions, their rootedness, the spirituality, the history, the community and the transformative quality. Allah guide them to something better!
"NSS(National Secular Society) supports the launch of the Ex-Muslim Council of Britain
The Ex-Muslim Council of Britain was launched this week on a wave of good wishes and congratulations at an inspiring event at the House of Commons in Westminster.
Maryam Namazie, the NSS’s Secularist of the Year for 2005, is the voice of the London chapter of an organisation that is making waves throughout Europe. Following on from Mina Ahadi’s high-profile launch of the German Council of Ex-Muslims, other groups have sprung up all over Europe. It is clear that there is a need for an organisation that encourages people from a Muslim background who are uncomfortable being defined by a religion they may have abandoned.....
We hope that thousands – maybe even millions - of other Muslims around the world will hear the message of Maryam, Mina, Mahin and all the others who have been brave enough to be the first to say: I will not be defined by my religion, I will not be put into a box that limits my humanity and renders me powerless.".
Yahya Birt as usual has something interesting to say. (the only good muslim is an exmuslim)
Then there is The South Asian Fudge, where 'Secularism does not mean the absence of religion' or 'Religion should have nothing to do with politics' from the class of people who have been taught or discovered very little about Islam.
This stance might get you votes amongst the ritual followers and those oppressed by the allegedly religious forces but nevertheless wont get you very far past your own immediate interest and your real enemy's fishing net. It has been rendered into the common sense quite artificially in places like Bangladesh, through repetition, national ritual and demonisation of other arrangements. Thankfully i think the trend is decaying in desh.
The expectation is that as soon as people start wising up to the implications of secularism on religious life, policy, science and education the multi directional social equilibrium will shift in favour of faithfulness, trust and values. That is so long as rationality is increased in the system. Lustful lack of self control, consumerism, racialism and untempered individualism are some of the inhibiting factors.
Id like to set up a unit for the study of secularisms and atheisms. focusing on the relationships and experiences of conversion to in a range of regional, national, community and individual circumstances. This, for the beleiver at least is as big a research priority as figuring out the links between foolish religios sounding policies and violent crime.
Why?
Religion is the first maqasid (objective) of the sharia. and order matters. then comes life, intellect, dignity and property.
22.6.07
Warblings, not even bullet points
So more than half of my interviews are done.
Asking the questions and then resisting the urge to interrupt my (un)lucky respondents is tough. Keeping to the focal points of the interrogation whilst allowing these time generous folks to vent their spleens is too.
Funny how the question where I'm asking if they can think of any questions about the X hazard (i was fishing for nascent autonomous ganj research policy) regularly garnered a firm 'we want physical protection' demand. Not a group of vulnerable people looking for development lollipops to suck on then.
Now for the 'harder to get ones', unfortunately a lot of the political characters are now in jail
Why are the deputy commissioners (DCs - one for each of desh's 64 districts) and the government secretaries of the various ministries changed with such foolish frequency? how are they expected to understand anything?
Why does so much public engineering happen in the flood season?
Asking the questions and then resisting the urge to interrupt my (un)lucky respondents is tough. Keeping to the focal points of the interrogation whilst allowing these time generous folks to vent their spleens is too.
Funny how the question where I'm asking if they can think of any questions about the X hazard (i was fishing for nascent autonomous ganj research policy) regularly garnered a firm 'we want physical protection' demand. Not a group of vulnerable people looking for development lollipops to suck on then.
Now for the 'harder to get ones', unfortunately a lot of the political characters are now in jail
Why are the deputy commissioners (DCs - one for each of desh's 64 districts) and the government secretaries of the various ministries changed with such foolish frequency? how are they expected to understand anything?
Why does so much public engineering happen in the flood season?
Met a Muktijuddho veteran who was also a JI dude. I asked him... 'dont the Awami Leaguers call you a razakar?' (lit. volunteer, but local pejorative denoting treachery and vile things). He chuckled, and said.. 'no.... well some of them, some of the time, when they are REALLY angry'.
Another war veteran reflected 'Bangladesh has developed alot since Liberation, but our character has become ruined.' Time for the construction of an Akhaqi Bangladeshi methinks, The science of practical ethics reconstituted for this time and place, codified by very competant scholarly authorities of theory and practice. Then seeded into the public bloodstream a la Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi's Behesti Zewar.
Another aside aside, made contact with a ladies taleem circle in a ganj. The Maulana's publication still circulating! I wonder how dissapointed he would be if he could see the rats pachcha we have made... the muslim quam of India... maybe even amazed that nobody seems to have superceded his work.
Why don't even the madrassa educated people get the maslaha-jonnoshartho equivalence?
How comes so many politicians are presently behind the bars of Bangladeshi jails, but not a single engineer?
How can somebody simultaneously be a multiply imprisoned journalist and the district publicitymeistar of a front line political party and an EU research fellow on the question of whether the XXXX Jute Mill is feasible?
Is a confessional media exactly what Bangladesh needs or is it just not a very Asian valued(dignity, privacy, respect) means of feedback? Whats better? What can we practice that is better? Where are the lines between bearing witness to the truth, breaching trust, professionally selling information and being one of those ghoulish native informants? What am i?
Does Ed Hussain think this cuts the mustard?
Is there any peace in Dhaka?
Whats with the daytime mosquitoes?
Given the leaking of apparent interrogation recordings of detained politicians and their droogs, will people here show greater discernment in their choice of leadership?
Why is there such an absence of the Fazlul Huqs, the Maulana Bhashanis, the Suhrawardhis, the NAPs in the corporate media in this country? Why are they trying to make us forget and engineer a chosen memory?
Picked up an interesting prog rock album by a band called Adhar, they seem to have a playful guitarist and a singer well acquainted with raag and ghazal vibes (R'n'G!!!). Check it out.
Now that Gordon Brown looks set to replace Bliar's junta, will i feel less ashamed of the government and establishment of the land where I was born and raised and have spent nearly all of my days?
Why do the rich steal so regularly and in such large amounts and to such detriment to the public interest? Is it justice that they be merely contained in rooms whilst those who suffered for their foolishness and wrongdoing lumber on?
Why do the evil live for so long? Is Allah giving them an opportunity to repent and undo their bad works ? ... it cant just be that they can afford better health care. They really do make their dunya their paradise.
Reflecting on whats happening in Somalia and in Palestine and the brazen supression of movements of selfconciously Islamic character there, even in the most desperate situations (years of anarchy/occupation). There is disturbingly 'dog-in-the-mangery' and mean about the behaviour of the temporary, temporally bound worldy powers that be and the compliant natives that wannabe.
30.5.07
The Sultan's New Armour
In the east, there was a land where the travellers were wayward; they built their shops here and there wherever they pleased and built wonky, bumpy roads that made no civic sense. They hid behind women, to them the sight of a withering lady breaking her back building roads or operating machinery to make clothes for the settled folks in the west was the epitome of empowerment. They had made a mockery of their religion, its vocabulary was now a word used in the same breath as an STD, a slogan or any vile socially retarding factor.
In this land The Fools ruled the roost. The Fools had an aptitude for enfooling the travellers in the land. They played upon the traveller’s difficulties, marketing them in other lands as poverty, all to collect a few chips. You see poker was their game of choice and there were only two players in the game that mattered all that much, The Grunts and The Ogres.
One day a new Sultan spoilt the plans of The Ogres and The Grunts and took the throne in a diplomatic coup, courtesy of the palace guards and some of the settled folks over in the west. Ironically this was much to the traveller’s relief, the travellers you see were a divided, confused and confusing bunch. He told them how he would treat their waywardness and set up a fairer poker game.
He huffed and he puffed and he blew a lot of houses down, but in his haste he fell prey to the grudges of some of the fools and his huffing brought ruin upon many of the travellers. The travellers had grown accustomed to paying tribute to the Head of the Ogres and the Head of the Grunts, The Sultan though to himself, “If I were to make these creatures disappear I wonder what would happen?” What happened was that a few interested poker players in the settled lands to the west ganged up on him.
Undeterred he next thought that he could set up an alternative party of fools and marketed this idea among the second rate Grunts and Ogres. This would, he imagined, test the loyalties of Gruntkind and Ogrekind and offer them a path to redemption.
The Sultan’s viziers were a motley crew, some had tried to be Grunts then Ogres but failed to win enough chips from the travellers to sit at the poker table. Some had spent their lives accumulating chips quite happily spending them converting travellers, while others had spent most of their lives trying to avoid enfoolment. Here they were playing cards without really understanding the rules of the game. It was a time of much learning and foolishness.
The Sultan’s guards were essentially what kept him on the throne. They weren’t too bright but did have some good intentions and administrative discipline. Here is an example of the kind of idea that would emanate from their minds.
As the travellers were wayward, they needed to be shown the straight path. A new uniform was suggested, so armouries and tailors across the land were ordered to make new garments. They set upon this task with glee, finding new inspiration in this empowering environment. Shoes and shirts of iron were made and a magnetised monorail designed to help the travellers to the straight path.
But it chaffed.
The chaffing was reminiscent of garments that the travellers’ fathers’ and grandfathers’ had worn before. However they could not quite remember as The Grunts and The Ogres had spend a lot of effort in erasing history and writing themselves up quite splendidly in its place. The weight and the poor articulation of the new armour made it difficult to move, both physically and mentally. Perhaps one blessing was that they could not move too far in a wayward direction, but for travellers in the habit of running people in circles for a living this was very annoying.
Both the rich and the poor travellers found that the chaffing led to bleeding and they weren’t sure that they had enough clotting agent in their system to grow any further. The rich occasionally protested at their own bleeding, pointing at the wounds of the poor to complete their intellectually self-satisfying indignation.
Some of the more playful travellers analysed the monorail and did not like its destination point, they found that there they would be like able to wander around and continue making a mess of things and benefiting from the confusion in between. The Elves had been driven quite paranoid by the passing of time and were now were content just to survive, they had nearly all died out, been driven out or humiliated by The Ogres and The Grunts. Never mind The Elves.
The guard’s game of choice was golf…
In this land The Fools ruled the roost. The Fools had an aptitude for enfooling the travellers in the land. They played upon the traveller’s difficulties, marketing them in other lands as poverty, all to collect a few chips. You see poker was their game of choice and there were only two players in the game that mattered all that much, The Grunts and The Ogres.
One day a new Sultan spoilt the plans of The Ogres and The Grunts and took the throne in a diplomatic coup, courtesy of the palace guards and some of the settled folks over in the west. Ironically this was much to the traveller’s relief, the travellers you see were a divided, confused and confusing bunch. He told them how he would treat their waywardness and set up a fairer poker game.
He huffed and he puffed and he blew a lot of houses down, but in his haste he fell prey to the grudges of some of the fools and his huffing brought ruin upon many of the travellers. The travellers had grown accustomed to paying tribute to the Head of the Ogres and the Head of the Grunts, The Sultan though to himself, “If I were to make these creatures disappear I wonder what would happen?” What happened was that a few interested poker players in the settled lands to the west ganged up on him.
Undeterred he next thought that he could set up an alternative party of fools and marketed this idea among the second rate Grunts and Ogres. This would, he imagined, test the loyalties of Gruntkind and Ogrekind and offer them a path to redemption.
The Sultan’s viziers were a motley crew, some had tried to be Grunts then Ogres but failed to win enough chips from the travellers to sit at the poker table. Some had spent their lives accumulating chips quite happily spending them converting travellers, while others had spent most of their lives trying to avoid enfoolment. Here they were playing cards without really understanding the rules of the game. It was a time of much learning and foolishness.
The Sultan’s guards were essentially what kept him on the throne. They weren’t too bright but did have some good intentions and administrative discipline. Here is an example of the kind of idea that would emanate from their minds.
As the travellers were wayward, they needed to be shown the straight path. A new uniform was suggested, so armouries and tailors across the land were ordered to make new garments. They set upon this task with glee, finding new inspiration in this empowering environment. Shoes and shirts of iron were made and a magnetised monorail designed to help the travellers to the straight path.
But it chaffed.
The chaffing was reminiscent of garments that the travellers’ fathers’ and grandfathers’ had worn before. However they could not quite remember as The Grunts and The Ogres had spend a lot of effort in erasing history and writing themselves up quite splendidly in its place. The weight and the poor articulation of the new armour made it difficult to move, both physically and mentally. Perhaps one blessing was that they could not move too far in a wayward direction, but for travellers in the habit of running people in circles for a living this was very annoying.
Both the rich and the poor travellers found that the chaffing led to bleeding and they weren’t sure that they had enough clotting agent in their system to grow any further. The rich occasionally protested at their own bleeding, pointing at the wounds of the poor to complete their intellectually self-satisfying indignation.
Some of the more playful travellers analysed the monorail and did not like its destination point, they found that there they would be like able to wander around and continue making a mess of things and benefiting from the confusion in between. The Elves had been driven quite paranoid by the passing of time and were now were content just to survive, they had nearly all died out, been driven out or humiliated by The Ogres and The Grunts. Never mind The Elves.
The guard’s game of choice was golf…
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