Radished on a Train and Some More
Pink on the outside and shiny white on the inside, the little olive-shaped radishes glistened in the bowl that the laoban’s (boss’s) wife placed before me. I dithered for a moment before I picked one and placed it gingerly into my mouth.
Radishes have always brought back bad memories and for years I haven’t touched anything that included them. I mean, I wouldn’t touch any food that had the faintest hint of radish.
I must have been ten and I was on a train with my younger brother and sister on our way back home from school in Jaipur in western India. Our mother’s aunt was on the train with us. Each time the train stopped at a station she would buy something from the hawkers - fruits, tea, the odd snacks and radishes. We sniggered each time she got off, her ample derriere on her short frame swinging wildly from the exercise, a picture that her sweetest smile cannot erase from our joint memories - in part because of itself and in part because of the radishes.
She bought a bunch of squeaky white, nearly foot long, juicy-looking radishes. And, before that train started from the station, she had buried her teeth into the juicy flesh of one. The three of us politely declined her offer, preferring more interesting food than those radishes.
Minutes later she let go a very satisfied burp and we all gasped, almost choking in the aftermath of her happiness. We pulled all the windows of the carriage open and walked as far away as we could from her when the second burp followed and then a third…She couldn’t stop burping and all we could do was choke…and since that memorable day radishes have been a strict no-no for me and my brother. My sister fell prey to its seductive charm some time ago but still desists from letting herself go after it, choosing to restrict herself to a small share.
Brother and I have been unrelenting in our resolve to keep far away from anything radish.
But, today, I fell prey to its olive-shaped, pink-hued avatar in far-away China. I must have had a bit more than my mother’s aunt did that fateful day on a train from Jaipur. And, I am burping, too…but, thankfully, there are no children around to kill me with a disgusted look nor is there any one else who will learn from me never to indulge in the pleasures of radish-flesh. I wonder if the air around me smells as poisoned as it did on that train…i wonder if Chinese radish is as sweet to smell as it is to taste…
Rajesh Kanoi (Jack) is a published writer, now living and working in China. Many of his short-stories, poems and articles have been published, including a book of short-stories, ‘From China With Love’ (Lipstick Publishing).
The day my computer died
I’ve always been a skeptic when it comes to technology,
especially computers and the Information Age. I used to think it
was crazy how people would put their total faith into a machine,
some even more so than in their faith in humanity. Human beings
are flawed, imperfect creatures. I say this in a positive way
because if humanity were completely positive and perfect we
would have nothing to learn, and life would lose its vitality
and mystery. Computers come from the same universal reality as
humanity, so I believe that we should look at technology in a
similar context. Computers are not infallible pieces of nature’s
perfection.
I’ve come to learn that computers are great tools for human
society. They can be functional in innumerable areas of everyday
existence, helping to simplify many aspects of our lives.
However, as today I discovered my computer had ‘died’ after a
lightning strike had hit my house and subsequent power surge,
the realization came that a complete faith in our progressive
technology is simply not practical. I’m not saying that like the
Luddites of the early era of industrialization we need to
destroy this stuff, I’m just saying that we must realize that
like all things in life, technology can and will become sick and
die on occasion. Working at an Internet Web Hosting company I
have been witness to many of these illnesses, and it has been
very fortunate that human ‘doctors’ have been present to
undertake surgery.
It’s a real bummer when something goes wrong, but these
occurrences are necessary in a space-time continuum that is in
constant flux. If you are a spiritual person, you might say that
there’s only one thing in life to have unwavering faith in:
Magical existence itself. You might be asking yourself by now,
‘What is this guy talking about?’ I think I’m just rationalizing
the death of my newfound ‘friend’. I’m coming to the point where
I understand my old fears were irrational and unfounded, as most
fears generally are. However, I’m also wondering about these
people out there who have more faith in computers than human
beings. For instance, I know of a man who says that he would
rather fly in an airplane under automatic pilot instead of the
real thing. Human pilots can get drunk the night before and be
depressed and hung over right? Whereas computers are completely
rational, unemotional and unable to partake in activities deemed
by most as unsavory.
The sad fact is computers can break and die. Maybe we need to
find a happy medium where inorganic and organic intelligence
work in tandem, so that if one half of the partnership fails,
the other half can always compensate. Let me tell you I’m quite
sad right now, but hey ’shit happens’. I just hope that the
’shit’ isn’t your plane landing in the ocean because of a
computer that’s had too much vodka the night before.