DAILY PHOTO: Inside Mysore Palace

DAILY PHOTO: Mysuru Rail Museum Exhibits

PROMPT: Technology

What technology would you be better off without, why?

That’s a tough question. While not a Luddite, I do think there are a number of technologies that are out of control, figuratively (or may – literally – become so.) But that doesn’t mean I think they should be gone altogether (it just makes me wishful that people can find a way to moderate their use.)

I’ll go with nuclear weapons, the one technology whose only use lies in not being used. I choose them because they result in low-level existential dread and inflated tax bills. [There is the argument that they may have staved off a colossal Third World War, but one can also argue that two really shitty wars in rapid succession led to institutions (e.g. UN agencies & permanent alliances) and approaches (e.g. low-intensity proxy wars) to avert such a war as well (Those things also being extremely expensive, but not so much with the existential dread.)]

PROMPT: Hardest Decision

What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?

Probably to leave a job. Because it was a move from stability, security, and respectability to… not.

Meerkat [Lyric Poem]

The Meerkat stands, right and proper,
Like a skeptical eavesdropper.
Its spine aligned and eyes all wide
As if to say, "I know you lied!"

DAILY PHOTO: Chikka Gadiyara, Mysuru

DAILY PHOTO: Melaka from Bukit Cuna

Bud Struggle [Haiku]

tight bud opens: 
imperceptible struggle
to unpack beauty.

Snail [Lyric Poem]

Oh my! I am so very awed
by this mighty l’il gastropod.
Its moves make taiji masters seem rushed,
but it lugs a house without being crushed.

DAILY PHOTO: Ship Displays from Melaka Museums

Cheng Ho Cultural Museum (A museum dedicated to the famous Chinese Admiral Zheng He)
Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
Maritime Museum of Melaka (Flor de la Mar)