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New Indian Express
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Films, literature, paintings, and musical notes drenched in the rains
Drench words Think rains, and for many avid readers, a book that swiftly comes to mind would be Chasing the Monsoon: A modern pilgrimage through India by Alexander Frater. The book chronicles the author's journey across India in pursuit of the rain, delving into its impact on society, culture, and politics. Rain, as a literary device, recurs with compelling symbolism across genres and cultures. In Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun, rain is tied to the reappearance of Shimamoto, Hajime's childhood sweetheart. Every time she enters the narrative, they are associated with rain. In One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, there's a line that goes: 'It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days.' The torrential rain begins from the night of the massacre of banana workers and it continues, it serves as a symbolic cleansing, and reshaping the town of Macondo. In The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield, set in the fictional Indian city of Ranchipur, monsoon arrives with devastating floods, and through the destruction comes a transformation. The key characters in particular reevaluate their lives and relationships as they begin to re-prioritise what, and who, is important to them. Rain inspired poems can't go without mentioning Rain by Edward Thomas. He uses the weather to set the mood of his wartime poem that captures solitude and mortality. Some other picks are Song for the Rainy Season' by Elizabeth Bishop, A Line -Storm Song by Robert Frost, and The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore. In Malayalam, Rathrimazha by Sugathakumari, Mazha Pusthakam by Tony Chittetukalam, Mazhakaalam by Anvar Ali, and Thoraamazha by Rafeeq Ahamad are some works that rush to mind.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ebbw Vale: Retired miner celebrates 103rd birthday with party
A 103rd birthday party has been thrown for a man believed to be one of the oldest retired miners in the "Ginger" Parsons, from Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, started in the pit just before his 14th birthday and spent 50 years working at the coal colleagues, family and friends joined Ginger today for the birthday said the secret to living so long is he "never argued with anyone" or "made any enemies". Ginger said: "I remember my first day saying to the manager, 'can I work with my uncle?' He said you're only 14 and you're not very big. I told a friend, 'he says I'm too small and too young'."He said he was told to tell the manager "I'm taller than you", to which the manager said "okay, start Monday".Ginger said: "I worked there six days a week for 50 years."He started at the Marine Colliery in Cwm 90 years ago, first above ground but then at the coalface when he turned the mid-1970s Ginger nearly died after a heavy fall which left him trapped underground. But his team, including Christopher 'Bamba' Wiliams, went back to dig Ginger Williams said: "We dug him out and made a stretcher from some timber to carry him out of the pit. I shouted to him 'are you ok Ginger?' and he shouted back 'Bamba, I'm okay'. We then took him to Neville Hall was offered a management position but told bosses "you keep the pencil, I'll keep my shovel!". He finally hung up the shovel at 65 years old."They used to call me the music man and I use to sing all the time," Ginger said. "I was the first person in Cwm to have a microphone and that made me popular, all the girls wanted me."I use to sing South of the Border, Mexico way. That was my favourite."He said the secret of living to 103 is that he "loved everybody in Cwm and I never argued with anyone and never made any enemies".
