A View from Light House

WIDE NET

William Wallace Jamieson’s wife Hazel was going to have a baby. Even though the final stage of pregnancy remained six months away, Hazel behaved as though it would be the next day itself. If her husband didn’t pay enough attention to her needs, she refused to talk to him or spend time with him. As this practice began to continue on a daily basis, William Wallace got more and more irritated with his young wife. So one night he went out drinking with two boys of their neighbourhood and stayed out all the night. But when he returned home, early morning, Hazel had vanished. After searching the house inside out for her, William found she had left a letter for him. William swallowed hard on reading it, for Hazel stated that she would no longer put up with him and was going to the river to drown herself.

Upset and anxious, William ran to call his friend Virgil Thomas and insisted they should collect some villagers to assist in the dragging of the river. And as the river dragging party would require a wide net, he decided to collect it from the old local doctor, known as Doc. The two friends then recounted their experiences with Hazel and analysed her behaviour. As they searched for traces of Hazel in the grove amidst the deep interior of woods, William Wallace caught hold of a rabbit, stroked it and argued with his friend who had to remind him that he was out to catch not cotton trails but his missing wife.

Soon the river dragging party headed by William Wallace, Virgil and old Doc, along with the Doyles with their ferocious dogs and four nigger boys followed the path of the old Natchez Trace. It took them through the deep woods and led them down below to the Pearl river. The wide net was cast on to the river, which stretched from one bank to the other and its weights holding it all the way to the bottom. The net caught into it almost all of the river’s store of fishes, weeds, shoes and other things, so Wallace and his companions had to empty the net often, from top to bottom. As Wallace kept on diving to the bottom, he once reached the deepest part of the river. He stayed there for a pretty long time and as he broke on the surface of the river, he felt a deep agony at his heart. Soon it was noon and all felt hungry. So they dragged up the haul onto a wide sandbar, built a fire, cooked and ate the catfish. After having their fill, all of them fell asleep. Then something unexpected occurred before the bewildered river dragging party. William Wallace began to leap up and down excitedly, having hooked a big catfish to his belt buckle. The weather changed, showing signs of an approaching storm. Heavy drops of rain started pouring down, lightning struck trees, sudden currents and whirlpools thronged the river; and Wallace cut his foot walking on a sharp rock. The party decided to retreat to their Dover village, once the storm got over. Towards late afternoon, they reached the road leading to their village patched with tar. The river dragging party entered the village, showing off their catch with pride. Even Wallace Williams gained a profit by selling off his fish for three dollars.

Now, as Wallace returned home after the futile search, he saw a rainbow which seemed like a lady’s summer dress, a faint veil through which the stars showed. To his surprise, the familiar voice of Hazel greeted Wallace from the bedroom. He found Hazel as she was before. After supper, they sat on the front steps for a while, and as Wallace came to know that hazel was hiding and enjoying herself all the while, he turned her up and spanked her. Both of them behaved as if nothing had happened between them. They realized the fact that both needed each other’s company. Though it looked as if Wallace had dragged the river to capture Hazel who now lay smiling in the crook of his arm, it was really Hazel who had captured Wallace in her net. Thus Welty illuminates a universal truth here. It is only through personal loss that one realizes the full worth of a companion or friend.

tears lost

tears i shed all these days

was in vain i know it now

i need them for the days yet to come

oh, where shall i find those lost tears

in all these days i didnt realise

how close i came with friendly ones

how will i feel when all is gone

a loss that is beyond words

the winding path and rosy bushes

the greenish grass and swaying tress

the gurgling river and windy woods

all awoke a fear i ccant tell

the singing birds and crazy hares

the bees and naughty ants

butterflies aucking nectar of life

how could i feel alone with them

yet i shed some tears in days

among them before i realised that

i who cant see all these with my eyes

can see it all with my inner eyes

years made me realise that

i could see all those things

with my minds' within me

without others telling it to me

i feel peace in my mind

knowing that i could see in mind

all that others see with eyes

now i dont say crying, i am blind

Stuff that dreams are made of...

Stuff that dreams are made of...

Inside my mind I found a place,
a beautiful and hallowed space.

When we two parted...

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
colder they kiss,
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow-
If felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me-
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well-
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met-
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

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India's reservation system piercing the spine of deserving people?

The towering of Indis is not Pakistan or China but India itself, its wrong policies, flares strategies and maladministration.The policy of reservation is among the top of such muldies, of course the reservation for diffrent categories is meant for improving the backward categories and aims at bringing them at par with the other well off and well placed section of the society. Candidates seeking jobs oe admissiond against reserved category are usually of petite IQ and adverly lack capability, aplomb, dynamism and talent required by those jobs or courses.

For the talented jobs, virtue cities, genius laments, intelligence bemoans ans calibre screams at the after of reservation. Merit is a substance which is and must be above cost and free from all socio political and ecnomic pressures and prejudices as it plays a vital role in the development of India.

Political situation in Kerala

With the elections nearing, a precarious situation prevails in kerala especially when you take the Marxist party into consideration. There is no doubt that the conflicts within the major parties is going to affect the results if election in a big way. The internal conflicts within the LDF proves to be a boon to UDF who is determined to sieze the seats that they lost int he last election. Last time it was a landslide victory for LDF as they won all seats except one. But now the two groups within LDF being poles apart, the victory in this election seems to be adream for them. On the other hand congress is hoping for a victory not less thatn what the LDF had during the previous election. On the contrary even if the Marxizt party is voted to power, the future of the present CM is very much in doubt as he may not get support from the centre.

The other observation is that BJP may open their account in kerala for the 1st time in this election. Each seat that the Marxist party looses this time is sure to become a question for them for which they may have to hunt hard for an answer. Whith the JDS desciding not to support the ruling faction the future of LDF seems to be shadowed by dark clouds.

As of now the stage is all set for the Congeress to return to power.

Global Financial Crisis

The key question confronting the economy now is the backwash effect of the American or Global Financial Crisis. The current financial turnmoil is rooted to the subprime crisis.

Two kinds of loans are given by the American banks to their people.Prime loans and Subprime loans. Prime loans are given to persons who have thecapability to pay back the loan in time. Subprime loans are those loans that are provided even if the person is not capable to pay back the entire amount. Duing the boom years of the housing sector people took the subprime loans to buy houses. The banks provide huge amount as subprime loans with the eye that, if they didnt pay back the amount, then they can confiscate the flats and sell it at a higher profit. The banks gave the credits with little or no downpayment and without creditr checks.

When the banks took over these flats a situation arose where there were no buyers for these flats. Therefore these became nin performing assets with the banks. Banks ans financial instituitons often repackaged these debts with other high risk debts and sold them to worls wide investors creating financial instruments alled CDOs oe collateralised debt obligations. The serious subprime mortgage crisis began in June 2007 when teo Bear Stearns Hedge funds collapsed.