India: Oh Lovely Dawn

I stumbled across a whole bunch of old articles related to India on Time magazine’s website. Here‘s one about Indian independence and the political hue cry that surrounded it:

As the great day approached, Indians thanked their varied gods and rejoiced with special prayers, poems and songs. Poetess Sarojini Naidu set the theme in a radio message: “Oh lovely dawn of freedom that breaks in gold and purple over the ancient capital o . .!”

lessing with Ashes. Even such an agnostic as Jawaharlal Nehru, on the eve of becoming India’s first Prime Minister, fell into the religious spirit. From Tanjore in south India came two emissaries of Sri Amblavana Desigar, head of a sannyasi order of Hindu ascetics. Sri Amblavana thought that Nehru, as first Indian head of a really Indian Government ought, like ancient Hindu kings, to receive the symbol of power and authority from Hindu holy men.

With the emissaries came south India’s most famous player of the nagasaram, a special kind of Indian flute. Like other sannyasis, who abstain from hair-cutting and hair-combing, the two emissaries wore their long hair properly matted and wound round their heads. Their naked chests and foreheads were streaked with sacred ash, blessed by Sri Amblavana. In an ancient Ford, the evening of Aug. 14, they began their slow, solemn progress to Nehru’s house. Ahead walked the flutist, stopping every 100 yards or so to sit on the road and play his flute for about 15 minutes. Another escort bore a large silver platter. On it was the pithambaram (cloth of God), a costly silk fabric with patterns of golden thread.

When at last they reached Nehru’s house, the flutist played while the sannyasis awaited an invitation from Nehru.

Then they entered the house in dignity, fanned by two boys with special fans of deer hair. One sannyasi carried a scepter of gold, five feet long, two inches thick. He sprinkled Nehru with holy water from Tanjore and drew a streak in sacred ash across Nehru’s forehead. Then he wrapped Nehru in the pithambaram and handed him the golden scepter. He also gave Nehru some cooked rice which had been offered that very morning to the dancing god Nataraja in south India, then flown by plane to Delhi.

Later that evening Nehru, and other men who would be India’s new rulers on the morrow, went to the home of Rajendra Prasad, president of the Constituent Assembly. On his back lawn four plantain trees served as pillars for a temporary miniature temple. A roof of fresh green leaves sheltered a holy fire attended by a Brahman priest. There, while several thousand women chanted hymns, the ministers-to-be and constitution-makers passed in front of the priest, who sprinkled holy water on them. The oldest woman placed dots of red powder (for luck) on each man’s forehead.

Tryst with Destiny. Thus dedicated, India’s rulers turned to the secular business of the evening. At 11 o’clock they gathered in the Constituent Assembly Hall, ablaze with the colors of India’s new tricolor flag—orange, white and green. Nehru made an inspired speech: “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge. . . .At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”

And as the twelfth chime of midnight died out, a conch shell, traditional herald of the dawn, sounded raucously through the chamber. Members of the Constituent Assembly rose. Together they pledged themselves “at this solemn moment . . . to the service of India and her people. . . .” Nehru and Prasad struggled through the thousands of rejoicing Indians who had gathered outside to the Viceroy’s House (now called the Governor General’s House) where Viscount Mountbatten, who that day learned he would become an earl, awaited them. There, 32 minutes after Mountbatten had ceased to be a Viceroy,* Nehru and Prasad rather timidly, almost bashfully, told Mountbatten that India’s Constituent Assembly had assumed power and would like him to be Governor General.

The people made it their day. After dawn half a million thronged the green expanse of the Grand Vista and parkways near the Government buildings of New Delhi. Wherever Lord and Lady Mountbatten went that day, their open carriage, drawn by six bay horses, was beset by happy, cheering Indians who swept aside police lines. A Briton received a popular ovation rarely given even to an Indian leader. “Mountbattenji ki jai [Victory to Mountbatten],” they roared, adding the affectionate and respectful suffix “ji” usually reserved for popular Indian leaders.

Now & then Nehru (who sometimes shows the instincts of a traffic policeman) harangued the crowd to be more orderly. Once he espied a European girl caught up in the swirl. She was Pamela Mountbatten, the Governor General’s 18-year-old daughter. Nehru literally slugged his way through the crowd to rescue her, brought her to the platform.

In the Council House the Constituent Assembly heard Mountbatten take the oath as Governor General.†”Regard me as one of yourselves,” he told them, “devoted wholly to the furtherance of India’s interests.” Then he swore in the new Indian Government. Messages of congratulation from over the world were read. The most original was a greeting in verse from Chinese Ambassador Lo Chia-luen. It read:

India be free!

Won’t that be

A Himalayan dream?

How fantastic,

How absurd an idea,

That never occurred to me!

Freedom’s Architect. Mountbattenji drew the biggest applause of the day when he said: “At this historic moment let us not forget all that India owes to Mahatma Gandhi—the architect of her freedom through nonviolence. We miss his presence here today and would have him know how he is in our thoughts.”

The Mahatma, who more than any other one man had brought independence to India, was not in New Delhi on the day of days. He was in troubled Calcutta, mourning because India was still racked by communal hatred. (In the Punjab last week, even more than in Calcutta, communal warfare blazed. Nearly 300 were killed.)

Gandhiji had moved into a Moslem house in Calcutta’s Moslem quarter, which had been assailed by his fellow Hindus. He appealed to Hindus to keep peace. Angry young Hindu fanatics broke up a prayer meeting at his house. For the first time, Indians stoned Gandhi’s house. Gandhi spoke sadly to the crowd: “If you still prefer to use violence, remove me. It is —not me but my corpse that will be taken away from here.”

But on Independence Day even Calcutta’s violence turned to rejoicing. Moslems and Hindus danced together in the streets, were admitted to each others’ mosques and temples. Moslems crowded round Gandhi’s car to shake his hand, and sprinkled him with rosewater. For the disillusioned father of Indian independence, there might be some consolation in the rare cry he heard from Moslem lips: “Mahatma Gandhi Zindabad” (Long Live Gandhi).

*Inl London, the King-Emperor became plain George VI, King of Pakistan and of India (just as he is King of Canada and other dominions beyond the seas). Workmen took down the bronze plate in Whitehall, reading “India Office,” replaced it with a painted wooden sign reading “Commonwealth Relations Office.”

† Another colonial power, France, announced that the 203 square miles on India’s east coast which she still rules will be organized as the five free cities of Pondichery, Karikal, Chander-nagore, Mahe and Yanaon, with locally elected governments, within the French union.

Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize Lecture

Here’s an excerpt from Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize Acceptance speech:

In 1958 I wrote the following:

‘There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.’

…

As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.
The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.

…

But my contention here is that the US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognised as crimes at all. I believe this must be addressed and that the truth has considerable bearing on where the world stands now. Although constrained, to a certain extent, by the existence of the Soviet Union, the United States’ actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked.

Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America’s favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as ‘low intensity conflict’. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued – or beaten to death – the same thing – and your own friends, the military and the great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer.

…

It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It’s a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, ‘the American people’, as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’

…

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they’re interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London.
Death in this context is irrelevant. Both Bush and Blair place death well away on the back burner. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don’t exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. ‘We don’t do body counts,’ said the American general Tommy Franks.

Last Saturday, I was at a pub with my neighbors and friends, having some beers and friendly conversation. All of us were desis- came to the US a couple of years back and have adopted this as the country of residence. I’m not sure exactly how and when we started talking about US politics. My friend was pointing out the general atrocities meted out by the Americans when it comes to other foreign countries. This instigated my neighbor who went on to say “We are not having this conversation. I came for dinner because I want to have some entertaining conversation. I’m not interested in talking to you about this”. It didn’t end there. He denied the fact that racism exists in the US. He denied the fact that having a non-Christian name is not normal in the US. He refused to believe that only recently, African-Americans were lynched in Springfield, MO. I’ve posted an excerpt from Harold Pinter’s speech here, hoping that even if a couple of people read my post, they’ll understand the seriousness of the political situation and become more informed about human rights. If this excerpt has piqued your interest even a little, I would strongly encourage you to watch the complete video or read the entire transcript. Thanks.

Sharing the Finest

What happens when a Pakistani blogger says “Mumbai Attacks…Pakistan? I don’t think so!”

About 600+ people descend on his blog to beat him up virtually. Read here.

Here’s the choicest comment:

Who said Pakistan is not involved in Mumbai attacks? Pakistan role is there in every terrorists attack happend in this world. All Pakistanis are terrorists. If i had a given the chance, I Would prefer to bomd the entire pak. No more pakistan in the world. It’s gone. Even Obama wants to hit the pak, because it is epic center for all terrorist activities. What kind of idiots u r? behaving like sadists. No goal nothing. Killing the innocents is the great thing. There is something fundamental wrong in the Islam. U need to correct it.

Media’s Role in Mumbai’s Terrorist Attacks

I’m getting a little sick in the stomach, seeing Mumbai terror attacks coverage on CNN. Most of the times, their news is “stale”, in comparison to the news posted on Twitter.(Just search for #Mumbai). Citizen journalism is turning out to be more comprehensive, well-timed and exhaustive compared to traditional media. Lots of articles on the net that are talking about the power of twitter and bloggers. Lots of bloggers like Arun Shanbag, Vinu etc. have come into limelight because of their responsible journalism- they care for you and me. News channels cover these events only for their own good, to increase their TRP ratings etc.

I have only been a moderate user of Twitter- a couple of tweets here and there. Nothing more. This incident, however, has changed the way I feel about Twitter. It has the potential of becoming a stronger force to reckon with. A force fueled by ordinary people like you and me.

I came across a nicely put Google spreadsheet that has the list of people who are either injured/dead. My eyes welled up with tears. Two of my friend’s friends at Leopold Cafe and another friend of my friend’s younger brother, who was interning as a chef at Taj Mahal Hotel, were shot dead. I was speechless.

Of course, there are haters who talk about the side effects of Twitter and how lots of Tweets were only rumors. I have only one response to these haters- don’t news channels run their business based on rumors too? What’s new?

People have issued statements saying that “people need to tweet responsibly and stop airing all important news on Twitter; this can be used as a weapon etc”. I understand how this can be dangerous, but complainers need to find a way to deal with it! Restricting the use of social networking sites is tantamount to taking away our freedom of speech.

How many citizens sitting in the comforts of their homes and tweeting away to glory have actually done something (donated blood, tried to find information for people who are yet to hear from their loved ones etc.) is questionable. And I’m sure there are others who think this is a great party and a trendy topic to talk about. Leaving such people aside, I do hope that some good comes out of it.

Related Reading: In Mumbai, Bloggers and Twitter Offer Help to Relatives

Shefaly’s take

On 2008 Presidential Elections

(Source: Babble)

Diwali doesn’t feel like Diwali over here. No diyas. No rangoli. No relatives/neighors visiting. No top to bottom house cleaning. No all-day-long cooking. My only option was to go to a temple, which I did, relunctantly. I checked out the website of the mandir and it said that we need to park our cars at Queeny Park and then take a shuttle to the temple. It was quite cold- around 25F and it’s only October! I didn’t really want to park my car in a park (no puns intended). Since I’d dressed up for the occassion rather painstakingly- donned my new churidar and some make up- I decided to go to the mandir anyway. On my way, I passed through some really rich neighborhoods- houses that will probably cost you millions in California etc. Anyway, more than the display of wealth, the placards that were put outside their lawns/common drives were more interesting. Americans take great pride in their political affiliations and love to publicly display it! Phrases like “I’m a Republican through and through”, “Democrats are the way to go!” are very common. Most of these placards read- no, not Obama-Biden- but McCain Palin! Why? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I live in Missouri where Republicans are generally favored. People are conservative here. Almost all pubs/nightclubs close by 2 am max. Most families go to some or the other Church on Sundays. Lots of Catholics too. Yet again, it might be that these were placards that were planted by rich people. You must have heard Obama telling you- If you earn less than half a million USD every year, you are safe. You won’t see any difference in taxes. If you earn more than that, you’ll see your taxes increase a bit. If you are in the top 5% of the American economy $$$-wise…then you are f@$ked. Okay, he didn’t use this word, but you know what I mean. Chances are that these people probably earn more than half a million USD per year and are against Democrats. Well…why not? If this widely-believed-to-be-Muslim-guy-half-Black-half-white is gonna increase my taxes, why should be get my vote? I like the Beauty and the Beast combo. I like to hear words like “maverick” thrown at me. Drill baby drill!

I waste/spend at least three hours everyday, listening to political analysts on CNN- debating Obama-McCain campaign, how Palin spent $150,000 on her clothes, how she spent $20,000 on her family’s travel, how McCain will lick the asses of the wealthiest people, how he voted for almost 90% of Bush’s policies, how Obama might have something to do with that terrorist Ayers, how Michelle Obama’s dance moves are better than Obama’s, how Obama celebrated his daughter Malia’s 10th birthday in a small hotel room, how he rose from poverty, went to Harvard, took two days off during elections to be with his grandmom, doesn’t have enough experience, Palin is just a beauty queen who can see Russia from her living room window, that she’s been picked by McCain only because she’s pro-choice and because a common American can associate with her condition, with the fact that her youngest child is special, and that her 17 year old daughter Bristol is pregnant and is doing the “right thing” by marrying the boy’s father, who also happens to have a fun MySpace page where he proclaims to be a redneck and says “I don’t want kids!”, who’s name is Levi Johnston and is too scared of his future mom-in-law-maybe-future-VP-or Presi- and gives those horrendous smiles on camera only because she’s holding a gun to his balls and who secretly wishes for her to lose the elections so that he can go home and forget about his goddam marriage, how McCain’s wife is way too pretty and never speaks on camera…Wait a minute! I can go on and on. Does this even matter to me? I can’t even vote here. Haha. When it’s time for US Elections, the entire world watches. Manmohan Singh rushes to get the nuclear deal done before Bush goes away! Who knows what the next President might want?

Obama, in his third Presidential election speech, made a strong case against outsourcing, against Honda, Toyota, Nissan and other German cars that have stolen American consumers, how the American auto companies like Ford and GM are suffering not because of their own wrong-doing, but because of the fact that the Japanese raced ahead! “Let’s get those jobs back to our country…let us buy American!” Where’s free trade gonna go? Even though I like Obama otherwise, this was the part that bothered me quite a bit. As a future President, talks about being proud of America and everything American will always be appreciated, but talks about tarnishing the image of other countries and their goods? Not so much. What happens to the political relations between two countries in such a case? We know what US does with its secret dog, United Kingdom! 🙂

Where is Bush these days? American media has forgotten all about him. No one wants to have anything to do with him anymore. How much worse can it get? The country’s bleeding anyway.

Obama-madness reminds me of the love/respect that this country has/had for John F. Kennedy Jr. Obama might actually be the precise medicine that the doctor prescribed, if not for his experience, then for his sheer charisma and for the breath of fresh air that he brings along. Maybe it’s high time that someone who’s not completely white gets to stay in White House.

I generally don’t care too much about politics, but you need to be here to really feel the fever that’s swept over the entire nation. Fourth of November is next in importance only to Fourth of July this year. ‘Joe the plumber’ might actually stop his plumbing and become a small businessman after all.

I see pictures of Michelle Obama being re-blogged in Tumblr again and again… a simple picture, where she smiles and talks over the phone. But the love that people re-blog it with is nauseating. If not for the leadership that this country needs, then for the mental health of these people, I hope Obama wins this race! She made it a point to wear only a J.Crew dress to the talk show hosted by Jay Leno. She also just “let it slip” that she finds good deals online. Very clever. Extremely subtle. Just where it hurts the most.

And the madness at CNN/FOX news continues. People fight at Larry King Show. They talk their hearts and lungs out when Anderson Cooper asks them a question. Bimbos support bimbos. Smart asses support smart asses. You cannot be independent on these shows, else noone’s interested.

Happy Independence Day

(Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera- Swades)

Happy Independence Day! 🙂

I was with my friends last night, listening to some patriotic songs for a change. And it felt very good. This one friend of mine has a huge flag of India in his living room- quite a change from other desi houses that I visit, where people love putting up an American flag. And yeah, one of my friends started singing Star Spangled Banner. 😐 A colleague in the office proposed the idea of wearing Indian attire today, but I wasn’t too enthusiastic. The last time I wore Indian to a Bhangra party, I felt over dressed in front of others who had worn jeans and tees. The Americans made an effort and did put on colorful salwar kameezes and sexy saris.

My top five Favorite Patriotic songs:

1. Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera
2. Aaao Bachcho Tumhe Sikhaye
3. Nanha Munha Rahi Hoon
4. Vande Mataram (AR Rehman)
5. Mera Rang De Basanti Chola (The Legend of Bhagat Singh)

Which are your top five favorites?

America and Her Little Lamb

I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It’s a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, ‘the American people’, as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’

…

It quite simply doesn’t give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain.

…

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they’re interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London.

Did I pique your interest enough? Please do me a favor and watch Harold Pinter’s Nobel Speech or read it online. It’s well worth your time. What starts off as a slow recollection of his life and works gather momentum and almost explodes with unflinching energy towards the end. There is such tremendous power at the disposal of writers and poets, something that has already been brought to the foray, thanks to Pablo Neruda in his poem I’m Explaining a Few Things. I wish many more would utilize this power to give fuel to their thoughts and guide others in the right direction.

Long Live the Queen

This piece of writing, by the British comedian, John Cleese, (Edit: Refer to the first comment) aptly sums up the ‘problems’ of the United States of America:

Subject: A timely political proclamation from British comedian, John Cleese

To: The citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. (A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed).

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as’favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ‘like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts,and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) — roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth — see what it did for them.

Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.

You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don’t try Rugby –the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God save the Queen!

Because a Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

and because I want to make use of the 3GB space that’s been generously provided by WordPress, here are some funny pics:

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