The Length of my Penis and other concerns

Of late I have been getting a spam mail that promises to increase the length of my penis by four inches. Now I never asked for this in the first place. One must learn to be satisfied with what one has.:-) But the mail comes again and again, alongwith another one about a 25% discount on Viagra. These are, I guess indicative of my demographic. Indian males of my age who have little ( read no ) sexual activity have all these crazy things to worry about. Of course, size is a major male concern across the world, irrespective of country. Of late, the advent of the internet and internet porn has further heightened this. The well endowed gentlemen who appear in this branch of the fine arts often are too well endowed, much to the chagrin of many of the viewers.

Why all this fuss? Penis length, for some, symbolises virility and ultimate maleness. For them, the more of a snake that you have in your trousers, the more of a man you are. However, this is quite a recent phenomenon. In the classical age, in Europe, smaller genitals were considered to be better. One only needs to look at the multitude of statues in marble and stone to study the disproportionately small genitalia of the subjects. Michelangelo's David, for instance. Large frontal parts were considered unrefined and animal. Of late, however, we have returned to and accepted our animal roots. :-)

The word penis is another curiosity. In its Latin root it simply means tail. It started off as a euphemism, a substitute for a word that people were too uncomfortable saying aloud. What the original word was, no one knows. But then, how many people know that? The substitute is now as good as the word - or rather, it is the word.

So why did I write this piece? Three reasons:
1. The mails were so irritating that i wanted to scream.
2. Just for fun, for shocking friends.
3. I just wanted to see how many hits Google will bring me after this. i.e, a short social experiment.

Adios.

Long Post

Finally, a long post. Not quite my nature, but here it is. Mostly random stuff.

First, a bit of untitled poetry.

Yesterday in my dream
I saw you, but dared
not kiss you;
Social convention, propriety
And my image stood in
The way.
Me, the perfect, polite,
law-abiding person,
Who does not break laws
Even in dreams.


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A picture:



I call this Shringaram. What does it translate to in English?

The picture has nothing to do with the poem. It is not intended as an illustration of the poem. It is just a depiction of the rasa Shringara as seen in Kathakali. Why am i saying this?


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After many years i had a rain bath yesterday. It was mostly enjoyable, except for the occasional lightning. Pure, primal pleasure.

Here in Trivandrum the Painkuni festival at Padmanabhaswamy temple concluded recently. Below, a photograph from the festival area.



Sahadeva looks down, rather frightened, as a group of youngsters prepare to peer beneath his clothes.

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Do you believe in foresight? I had two experiences recently.

One night i dreamt of the company Religare. Why Religare? No idea. The word just popped into my dream. The next day there was a fire in some Bangalore building, and guess what? The casualties included employees of Religare. Hmm... Maybe it was pure coincidence.

The other one is not so easy to dismiss. One night i dreamt that my dog was dead, and I was crying. The next morning we discovered him in a well. Not our well, not our neighbour's well, not my neighbour's neighbour's well, but in a house about half a kilometre away. Jumped over the gate, apparently. Luckily he was still alive when we pulled him out. I think he spent some five hours in the water. Extrasensory perception? Who can tell?


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Quotes

1. 'He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice'- A. Einstein.

Sourced from 'Fascism of division of labour' in The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

2. ' Most morality is absence of opportunity'-(Mark Twain?)

3.'The first sign of privilege is always asking, rather than being asked, the questions- never having to self reflect, and possessing, in a sense the luxury of ignorance. For many, privilege is often this unconscious, and it is this lack of consciousness and reflection on which any resistance to change is built.'

from A little book on Men by Rahul Roy, a beautiful book that examines masculinity and its associated cliches.


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Yesterday in the Hindu Literary Review i came across this interesting concept called 'Detective Criticism'. This is the criticism of a detective book on the premise that the killer uncovered by the author is not the true killer, and that the true killer has eluded justice. Elementary, my dear Watson?


From 'Schlock Holmes,ha,ha!' in The Hindu Literary Review.



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I was telling a friend how, right now, I'm at ground zero. Have you heard the expression 'start from scratch'? Well, I think I am pretty much scratch. Or is 'broke' the better expression? For the second time in life i've reached a null point of sorts. The first time was some three years back, but then i had just discovered the null point of all belief, having lost faith not just in god but in man as well. This time around, however, i'm broke in a different, practical sense. It isn't always a nice place to be in. But the good part is, once you reach the lowest point, you can never go any lower. Whichever way you go, it is always up.