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why the hanukkah story reminds me of madhusudan’s magic pot

Posted on December 13, 2017

actually, there’s no magic involved. both are stories of faith. perhaps the sort of faith that brings miracle. i heard one when i was a child, the other after i got married. as my husband, who is jewish, finished telling me why eight oil lamps are lit on hanukkah, i thought of a tiny pot of yogurt and the tale of madhusudan’s bhar. “bhar” means earthenware pot in bengali, and the sound of “r” at the end is more like…

Film

death of a heart throb

Posted on December 13, 2017

when exactly was it that the word handsome connected to something that actually existed in my world? when did handsome begin to have meaning? when did it leap out of fairy tale, and settle on a real human being? surely it wasn’t when i was only nine? how terrible precocious. but as with children usually, there was no fudging, this was pure instinct. the man indeed was handsome. for almost fifty years now, i’ve not had any reason to change…