Moments

The gay pride parade was yesterday! Attended it out of sheer curiosity, it was quite a spectacle! Ok, I understand that it was not quite San Francisco, but hey, this is Texas. The supposedly conservative, homophobic home state of the one and only George W. The fact there is even a parade happening should shock north-easterners and Californians outta their wits!

The website for the thing is http://www.pridehouston.org/. Impressive list of sponsors: Bud light (!), starbucks, chase, clearchannel and what have you. Gives me hope for gay rights in the US. Whodathunkit?

It was definitely wonderful to see all those people out there, the gay, lesbian, and even lotsa families with kids all rainbowed and cheering and having a good time. Lots of really hot-looking chicks too but then (WARNING: I'm-so-single rant about to commence) the GAY pride parade is definitely not the right place for a single straight guy looking for action. Just my luck :(

REFLECTION: 5 years ago in India when I'd nae idea of what any of the letters in GLBT stood for, or the attached concepts, to me cheering my lungs out for a bunch of rainbow-clad floats. Hmmm...things change, I guess.

Been reading this book over the last week "1421: The year China discovered America" after hearing about it on Sepia Mutiny. Talks about a Chinese marine expedition which circumnavigated the world between 1421-23, about a 100 years before Magellan got the idea. Bloody Portuguese cheats! :)

The book makes a lot of claims, and is written in a very Erich von-Daniken style. For those who don't know, Daniken was a mid-20th century author who was a proponent of the aliens-came-down-and-built-pyramids theory i.e. every major architectural achievement of non-European civilizations was of course, impossible without alien help. Sorry, I'd take the Chinese over aliens anyday!

Well, the book demands some leaps of logic and suspension of disbelief, and is probably only partially correct, but is a great page-turner. At the end of it all, I am glad that someone has the guts to be provocative and challenge the traditional Euro-centric views of history. Contributions of other civilations need to be recognized and acknowledged.

Listening to 'Brimful of Asha' by Cornershop as I'm writing this in the radio station. 'Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow...'. Sigh, tell me about it...

R