Words are Weariness

These days the happenings in the Financial Markets are more thrilling than any Hollywood or Bollywood block buster and more tear-jerking than the art films of Bengali cinema of yesteryear. Greece is teetering on the precipice of sovereign default of repayment of loan to IMF. Greece has been struggling for some time with its External debt standing at 177% of its GDP. As an economy it has not been growing and with the dollar strengthening against the Euro the debt has grown larger in the recent months in dollar terms. Greece has been living beyond its means, a small country which has about half the population of Mumbai had accumulated debt to the extent of 3 5 0 billion dollars. An aging population, more than liberal social benefits, retirement pension starting from 48 years, no manufacturing and high-cost tourism denominated in Euro characterized the economy of Greece. More shockingly, the country admitted that it has been falsifying its annual budgetary deficit...

A word smith from Srilanka I have seen from experience that best writing comes from the lands riven by contradictions and strife. You can see that in sub-continental literature, whether from India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. One of my favourite Srilankan Tamil writers is S. Ponnudurai, generally known by the abbreviated name 'S.Po'. S.Po was born in 1932 in the Jaffna peninsula in a small village called Nallur. He studied in Madras Christian College, Madras and graduated in English literature. He went to work in Nigeria in 1962 as an English teacher and left that country when sectarian clashes convulsed the African state. He migrated to Australia thereafter. Frequently, he spent years in India where from he wrote and published novels and short stories. I have a special liking for his short stories. Often the stories will be entwined in strands of both hope and angst which will make you reflect on the irony of the situation. His 'The Elephant Story...