Literary Safari

No, I’m not referring to Slumdog Millionaire’s sweep at the Oscars last night (though I will take this opportunity to say that I did have a feeling this would happen back in November when I wrote about it here)!

I’m referring to our six word Valentine contest of a few weeks ago.  Thanks to all of you who played and took the time to share your brief memoirs of real-life love. Reading them as they rolled in over Valentine’s Day weekend reminded me of the many hues and shades of love – from emotional to humorous – that exist and how this annual holiday is (thankfully) not all about roses and chocolates.

Food plays a big part in love of all kinds.

There was Jeff’s:

I picked up a happy meal.

And Ankur’s:

Eating baklava together, no gifts necessary.

Love is also about daily routines and the mundane, as in Bry’s:

Your incessant snores lull me to sleep.

And Maria’s:

Morning warm; you open your eyes.

Love is so much about optimism, as Prasant’s showed:

Hopeful. Heartend. I’m still here.

It is also a source of beautiful metaphors like the one in Debbie’s entry:

Buoyant, we rock, but stay afloat.

The winner of the six-word memoir of love contest, however, is the one which struck our guest judge Anita Jain the most. It came from Fuse # 8 who wrote:

His librarian movie? He married one.

These six words allowed Jain – who did not know any of the contestants or read their entries alongside their names – to imagine a larger context and story. In her judge’s comments, she wrote that she “saw it as a reference to a man’s fantasy of the sexy librarian — which in a way is ultimately about men’s view of women as either Madonnas or whores and in an ideal world, both at the same time. To me, it’s a comment on that and how as much as the world has changed, and women have gained equality in so many realms, this male perception of women is something we modern women still have to struggle against.”

Congratulations to Fuse # 8 for making a V-Day impression, and for telling a story that can be read in so many different ways. That, I suppose is one of the qualities of powerful storytelling. In fact, that is what, I think, makes these six-word memoirs such a little jewel of a genre. They provide a glimpse of the writer’s experience and then, allow the reader to imagine the rest.

Submit your six word love memoir here and enter to win a free copy of Six Word Memoirs of Love and Heartbreak, courtesy of SMITH magazine. Our guest judge will be Anita Jain, author of “Marrying Anita,” a memoir about her search for love in contemporary India which the New York Times calls ” a thoughtful, incisive exploration of the nature of connection.” Deadline: Midnight, February 16, 2009.

So, I’m not usually one to make a big hoopla about Valentine’s Day, but I’ll make an exception this year.

I opened my mail last week to find an envelope from HarperPerennial. Inside was my very own personal copy of a pocket-sized paperback (4X6, a little smaller in size than your average Valentine’s Day Card, but chock full of so many more wishes!) Six Word Memoirs of Love and Heartbreak: From Writers Famous and Obscure which features my very own six word memoir on page13:

Sleeping, our foreheads touch. Fates mingle.

This book is the second offering from SMITH Magazine whose initial invite to writers two years ago was a simple one (inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn): Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words? The submissions poured in like crazy and soon enough they had published theNYT bestselling Not Quite What I Was Planning.

In the introduction to Love and Heartbreak, the editors Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith write:

As we’ve sifted through piles of briefly encapsulated lives, we’ve seen themes emerge … By far the most common thread, however, is love. Passionate love, parental love, platonic love–it seemed to be the most universally life-changing factor for storytellers of every age, background and worldview.

This book celebrates life in all its shades of red–a valentine, if you will, to every kind of love. But it’s also a nod to love’s evil twin: heartache.

Indeed, many of the memoirs in Love and Heartbreak focus on the latter, but since Cupid’s Day is on the horizon, let’s flex our writing muscles by taking a whirl at penning a six-word memoir on love, whatever that may mean to you. Consider it your Valentine. Post it here in the comments section, then go to sixwordmemoirs.com and share it with the readers and editors of SMITH magazine. You never know. It may end up in a book someday. The “best” memoir submitted in the comments section will win a free copy of this book, courtesy of SMITH magazine.

I’ll leave you with this some of my favorite “Valentines” and a book trailer for inspiration.

We belly laugh every single day. – Michelle Ottey
My life’s accomplishments? Sanity and you. – Elisabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
Bachelor visits library, books wife (Nonfiction). – Michael Perry
It helps to label the books. – Juan Antonio del Rosario
Hired me. Fired me. Married me. – Julie Klam
True love is a nephew’s hug. – Alison Schulak-Moore (in honor of my nephew’s 2nd birthday today!)
Cynical New Yorker convinced of soulmate. – Kate Hamill
It’s just a matter of luck. – Ayelet Waldman

Oh, and if you happen to be in town on the 14th (I won’t), maybe you’ll want to check out this event: February 14, NYC, Housing Works Bookstore, 8pm. The Valentine’s Day Personal Media Mixer & Confessional Culture Variety Show : PostSecret, Found Magazine, Mortified, and Cassette From My Ex join with SMITH Magazine for a very special evening to benefit Housing Works. Buy tickets here.

OK, so what’s your six-word memoir of love? Deadline: Midnight, February 16, 2009.

Originally published at Sepia Mutiny on February 1, 2009 .

We’ve heard bout Bollywood Obama and I’ve written about the Japanese town of Obama’s boppy theme song “Obama is beautiful world.” Now, a couple of young musicians in Surat, Gujarat—Chirag Thakker, Jayesh Gandhi and Anita Sharma—have welcomed Obama into their hearts with this catchy song that praises our new president.

We have dedicated this song to Obama and uploaded it on Youtube, so that the world could see our attempts to honor him. His down-to-earth personality, faith in Lord Ganesha and great respect for Mahatma Gandhi made us feel that he is very close to us,” said Chirag, adding that they have used names of Lord Ganesha and Gandhi in the song. [full story]

The song has elements of a bhajan, or devotional song, but also features the djembe, which the artists chose to include in honor of Obama’s African heritage (even though the djembe is West African, not Kenyan!). The video is granted, a bit amateur, but it also has subtitles (so that Obama can understand it) and was shot in various parts of Surat, including the banks of the Tapi river and the city’s municipal gardens. Overall, the three artists devoted three months to it from start to finish.

I was going to wrap up this entry, but then found this Punjabi poem by California based poet and singer Pashaura Singh Dhillon. I was moved. But then again, I get weepy pretty easily these days.

Whether or not you’ve personally had your fill of odes to Obama , I can’t help but remain fascinated by the worldwide responses to the idea of his leadership. The way I look at it, for a long time, I felt like people were looking around and saying, “I don’t see a world leader I feel good about” and now, there’s a spirit of optimism and a person who represents possibility that is inspiring art, music, and perhaps, even, action. That’s a good thing, even if it isn’t clear right now whether he’ll live up to all his promises.