Creative Writing Tips Across the Atlantic (Shroff/Dobler)

(c) Art by satisshroff,germany 2009






When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.
I've always believed that. So I offer these links for writers in that spirit. Hopefully, you'll find something of use here (Bruce Dobler)


Creative Writing Tips SHROFF/DOBLER (Freiburg/ Iowa) SS 2010:

Satis Shroff is a prolific writer and teaches Creative Writing at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. http://www.zfs.uni-freiburg.de/zfs/dozent/lehrbeauftragte4/index_html/#shroff. He is a lecturer, poet and writer and the published author of five books: Im Schatten des Himalaya (book of poems in German), Through Nepalese Eyes (travelogue), Katmandu, Katmandu (poetry and prose anthology by Nepalese authors, edited by Satis Shroff), and two language books on the Nepalese language for DSE (Deutsche Stiftung für Entwicklungsdienst) & Horlemannverlag. He has written three feature articles in the Munich-based Nelles Verlag’s ‘Nepal’ on the Himalayan Kingdom’s Gurkhas, sacred mountains and Nepalese symbols and on Hinduism in ‘Nepal: Myths & Realities (Book Faith India) and his poem ‘Mental Molotovs’ was published in epd-Entwicklungsdienst (Frankfurt). His lyrical works have been published in literary poetry sites: Slow Trains, International Zeitschrift, World Poetry Society (WPS), New Writing North, Muses Review, The Megaphone, Pen Himalaya, Interpoetry. He is a member of “Writers of Peace,” poets, essayists, novelists (PEN), World Poetry Society (WPS) and The Asian Writer.

Satis Shroff is based in Freiburg (poems, fiction, non-fiction) and also writes on ecological, ethno-medical, culture-ethnological themes. He has studied Zoology and Botany in Nepal, Medicine and Social Sciences in Germany and Creative Writing in Freiburg and the United Kingdom. He describes himself as a mediator between western and eastern cultures and sees his future as a writer and poet. Since literature is one of the most important means of cross-cultural learning, he is dedicated to promoting and creating awareness for Creative Writing and transcultural togetherness in his writings, and in preserving an attitude of Miteinander in this world. He lectures in Basle (Switzerland) and in Germany at the Academy for Medical Professions (University Klinikum Freiburg) and the Center for Key Qualifications (University of Freiburg, where he is a Lehrbeauftragter for Creative Writing and Scientific English at the ZfS Uni Freiburg). Satis Shroff was awarded the German Academic Exchange Prize.

Satis Shroff’s URLS: www.facebook.com/satis.shroff
Flickr: Search for a person Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing ... Satis Shroff - Freiburg, Germany, Germany. 96 items | view his profile ...www.flickr.com/search/people/?q=communicating&m=extras&page=11
www.worldsentinel.com/categories/world/France
www.slowtrains.com/rave_on/rave_on.html
www.star.cityes.org/.../the-official-catalogue-of-the-members-of-w.p.s.-19-july-2006-8-june-2008.html
www.brooklynartproject.ning.com/.../satis-shroff-in-lyrik
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67131
Im Schatten des Himalaya by Satis Shroff in Poetry
Im Schatten des Himalaya by Satis Shroff: Themen der Geschichten und Gedichten sind u.a.: Kampf um Demokratie
(My Nepal: Quo vadis?
www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID...5
www.satisshroff.wordpress.com/ethnomedical-therapy-2008-satis-shroff/
www.searchwarp.com/Author83824.htm
www.jacketflap.com/profile.asp?member=Satis
www.bookmarket.ning.com/profile/satisshroff
www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=911453
www.satisshroff.wordpress.com
www.americanchronicle.com/articles/51877
www.booksie.com/poetry/.../nepal-blues-(satis-shroff)
www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?...
www.boloji.com/places/0039.htm
www.gurkhas.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=187
www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=942415
www.interpoetry.com/satisshroff19.html
www.sonog.com/viewwriting.php
www.asianamericanpoetry.com/show_poem.php?...Satis_Shroff3e016vkamq
www.thepeopleslounge.ning.com/profile/SatisShroff
www.musesreview.org/html/main.php?g2...
www.voicesnet.mobi/mobidisplayonedoc.asp?..
www.satisshroff-zeitgeist.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html


What Satis Shroff has said about Bruce Dobler University of Iowa): Bruce is a great writer who motivates and moves you to the core, and it is a pleasure and honour to talk with him. He has devoted his life to Creative Writing like no other author I know. He’s my teacher and I bless the day I met him. He’s the one who got me writing poems and short stories. I’d been writing articles in the foothills of the Himalayas as a student of Zoology and Botany but it was Bruce who inspired me to write and submit like no one else has done. I think it’s not enough to be a teacher or lecturer at a college or university after acquiring academic credentials and rest on one’s laurels. There are so many complacent MA and PhD holders in Literature but how many of ‘em really actually write books? Bruce Dobler does it and pushes you to your utmost. He inspires, motivates and drives you to carry on writing. Like I told you, a great guy and writer. You must meet him and talk with him. An enriching experience.
Please look up Bruce Dobler for more tips on Creative Writing themes, sites, authors, courses etc.

What others have said about the author:
„Die Schilderungen von Satis Shroff in ‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ sind faszinierend und geben uns die Möglichkeit, unsere Welt mit neuen Augen zu sehen.“ (Alice Grünfelder von Unionsverlag / Limmat Verlag, Zürich).
Satis Shroff writes with intelligence, wit and grace. (Bruce Dobler, Associate Professor in Creative Writing MFA, University of Iowa).
‘Satis Shroff writes political poetry, about the war in Nepal, the sad fate of the Nepalese people, the emergence of neo-fascism in Germany. His bicultural perspective makes his poems rich, full of awe and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. I writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing thus is also a very important one in political terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his poetry.’ (Sandra Sigel, Writer, Germany).
'Brilliant, I enjoyed your poems thoroughly. I can hear the underlying German and Nepali thoughts within your English language. The strictness of the German form mixed with the vividness of your Nepalese mother tongue. An interesting mix. Nepal is a jewel on the Earth’s surface, her majesty and charm should be protected, and yet exposed with dignity through words. You do your country justice and I find your bicultural understanding so unique and a marvel to read.' Reviewed by Heide Poudel in WritersDen.com 6/4/2007.
'The manner in which Satis Shroff writes takes the reader right along with him. Extremely vivid and just enough and the irony of the music. Beautiful prosaic thought and astounding writing.
'Your muscles flex, the nerves flatter, the heart gallops,
As you feel how puny you are,
Among all those incessant and powerful waves.'
“Satis Shroff's writing is refined – pure undistilled.” (Susan Marie, www.Gather.com)
“I was extremely delighted with Satis Shroff’s work. Many people write poetry for years and never obtain the level of artistry that is present in his work. He is an elite poet with an undying passion for poetry.” Nigel Hillary, Publisher, Poetry Division - Noble House U.K.

Copyright © 2009, Satis Shroff (Freiburg)/ Bruce Dobler (Iowa). You may republish this article online provided you keep the byline, the authors’ note, and the active hyperlinks.

Communication
Module: Creative Writing: Poems, Short-stories, Microstories
Lecturer: Satish Shroff, B. Sc (Zoology, Botany), Dipl. Social Sciences, Creative Writing (UK), writer, poet, journalist (The American Chronicle and its affiliated 21 newspapers, USA) and artist.
Max. students: 20
ECTS Points: 4 (100 working hours)

Ziel: The aim of this course is to develop and improve language creativity in English, learn successful writing habits, work on one’s creative impulse, learn basic writing techniques, and develop an idea factory, improve writing skills and try different genres. Whether it’s poetry, short-stories, microstories, fiction or non-fiction, you have to learn the precise use of language and that’s where Creative Writing comes in. If you’ve always wanted to write an anthology or a book, then join us in an atmosphere of mutual respect, tolerance, cooperation and fun in writing.
Creative Writing leads to the critical appreciation of literary works and through it you learn to be a critical writer and a demanding reader. It offers a challenge to the mythology of a writer as a ‘genius.’ The idea of a Creative Writing course, seminar or workshop is nothing new, for writers and poets have in the past such as Lord Byron and Mary Shelley and her husband PB Shelley and Goethe and Schiller have always worked together. It was Ezra Pound who advised TS Eliot to rewrite The Waste Land. I like George Bernard Shaw’s advice: ‘If you do not write for publication, there is little point to writing at all.’
At the end of the course you will get the opportunity to have your submissions (poems, microstories, short-stories printed in an anthology in the internet, if and when, you give your consent (www.zfs.uni-freiburg.de/studium/creativewriting). I think it’s fun to share your creative works.

Inhalt: Every student has to write when he or she studies at the university. In this course we do the basics of writing techniques which can be used for poetry, fiction, non-fiction and short-story and microstory writing.
1. Microstories
2. A Cross-pollination of Forms (Imagery, Inspiration, Poetry)
3. The Interview
4. How to gather stories: Notebooks, Journals, Mining Memory
5. Variety in Your Writing
6.Fiction Techniques in Non-fiction Scientific Writing
7. Dialogue and Plot
8. Writing the Short Story

Zu erbringende Leistungen:
Active participation throughout the course,
writing classwork and homework submissions,
writing exercises during the extended weekend courses,
Hausarbeit at the end of the course (10 pages).

Bemerkungen: Law students are exempted from acquiring performance credits. Knowledge of English literature welcome but not a necessity. Students from all faculties are welcome.

Termine: Fr. 11. Juni 10 16:00 – 19:00 Uhr
Sa. 12. Juni 10 10 :00 – 17 :30 Uhr
Fr. 02 Juli 10 16 :00 – 19 :00 Uhr
Sa. 03.Juli 10 10 :00 – 17 :30 Uhr

Ort : Uni Freiburg
Belegung: ab..................über http://www.zfs.unifreiburg.de/studium/creativewriting

A. Thematische Einordnung und spezifische Inhalte der Veranstaltung
Every student has to write when he or she studies at the university. In this course we do the basics of writing techniques which can be used for poetry, microstory, short-story (fiction, non-fiction) writing.
1. Microstories
2. A Cross-pollination of Forms (Imagery, Inspiration, Poetry)
3. The Interview
4. How to gather stories: Notebooks, Journals, Mining Memory
5. Variety in Your Writing
6.Fiction Techniques in Non-fiction Scientific Writing
7. Dialogue and Plot
8. Writing the Short Story

B. Zentrale Lernziele der Veranstaltung: The central aim of this course is to learn the writing techniques mentioned in the course and as a result, the students should be able to attain a certain amount of proficiency in writing poems, lyrics and texts on their own.

Cognitive learning goals: The students learn that writing is a craft, not an art, and write by forming sentences in their minds, adjusting, writing and discovering how to turn the drab (things in life) into the jewel. The students should learn to set a goal (time management) of publishing their verses or prose either on the internet (www.Lulu.com,www.booksie.com(as PDF) or www.zfs.uni-freiburg.de/studium/creativewriting), as a book or both. The publication helps a student to become a specialist in the field of his or her choice.
Affective learning goals: The students will learn to make the precise use of language through text-revisions, and learn to be critical about texts, learn to edit and improve not only their own texts but also those of other writers. To be emotionally attached to words and to use the appropriate words in the best way, for words conjure images, vivid pictures---whether in poetic scenes or in describing an aesthetic product. That’s what we learn in this course, making use of our cognitive learning goals.

What do I expect from you? The desire to develop yourself and be willing to try different genres in creative writing and take your writing further. The ability to work with concentration. The ability to reflect over the themes that we’ve discussed or treated. Flexibility and a fair amount of working under duress (deadlines of budding and professional authors).

C. Aufgaben und Leistungen, die die Studierenden erbringen
Students are allowed to bring in work in progress
Students should make a presentation
Project (book, anthology or Hausarbeit (academic dissertation, short-story, a collection of poems or microstories or both)
Arbeitsaufwand for students ca. 100 hours.
Method and Competence: The lectures will be combined and activated with methods that have the aim to get more out of a theme through brainstorming, group-puzzle and the use of writing templates (eg. software) and take your writing forward.
We’ll be using different learn methods and social forms like writing on your own, sharing your work with a group and presenting it in a peer-plenum to acquire useful feedback.
We’ll be experimenting with stream of consciousness and the interior monologue to enhance your powers of observation and description by starting a Creative Writing diary till the end of the course and beyond. Oscar Wilde said: ‘I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.’
We’ll find appropriate triggers to gain access to our memories.
We’ll be using the autogenic exercise to go back to your past as though you’re as a child on film.
You will learn how to make your characters lead their inner lives.
You will learn to train your writer’s ear to transform actual speech into carefully crafted dialogue.
You’ll learn to flesh out your story by creating a portfolio for each character. You will understand how much there is to know about a character that you’ve created.
Social Competence: This course will enable and encourage you to learn in a team
Develop the ability to communicate with others and your readers
Show willingness to co-operate with others by reading and commenting on texts of other writers.
The will to solve a conflict when it appears in the writing class.
The ability to get into the thoughts of the other writers and examine their viewpoint by exchanging texts.
The desire to come to an agreement, compromise and look for a mutual solution.

D. Basisliteratur

Allen, R.: Literatur in 5 Minuten. Ein Schnellkurs. Zweitausendeins Frankfurt. 2002.

Bernays. A., Painter, P. : What if? Harper Collins Publishers. New York. 1990.

Millner, C.: Write From the Start. Simon and Schuster. 1992

Stein, S.: Write pro fiction. Das Erfolgsprogramm für Schriftsteller. Zweitausendeins Frankfurt. 2002.

Truss, Lynne.: Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Gotham Books. 2004
www.dobler’s dozen
* * *
Please look below for more interesting information on writers’ resources, prizes, sites, authors etc.
Look up Bruce Dobler for more tips on Creative Writing themes

* * *

PRIZES:
Major new international literary prize announced: English PEN is delighted to learn of the launch of a major new international literary prize - the Man Booker International Prize.  Awarded once every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language, the prize will highlight one writer's continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage. It is good news for the Writers in Translation programme - as well as the reading public - that literature in English translation will be eligible for consideration in what promises to be a very high-profile prize.

PRIZES/Wettbewerb/Competitions:
info@bosch-stiftung.de
kulturamt@heidelberg.de
wissenschaftsministerium@mwk-bw.de
Evang.Buchpreis: dveb@dveb.info
gedok@gedok.de
mail@lcb.de (Lyrik-Debut-Preis)
verein.exil@utanet.at (schreiben zwis. Den Kulturen-Preis)
kuenstlergilde@t-online.de (Lyrikpreis)
Literaturförderung Baden-Württ: akademie@solitude.s.schuttle.de
info@schriftsteller-in-bawue.de
2007 Fish International Poetry Prize - A Fish poetry writing contest - [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
lyrikline [Links]
Nimrod International Literary Journal : Awards
- [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
openPR.de - Pressemitteilung - extremnews.com - Oswald LeWinter ...
Strokestown International Poetry Festival
- [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry: Winners Press Release
- [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry: Shortlist 2005 ...
- [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
The Arvon Foundation - Creative writing courses, taught by ...
- [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]

COURSES:
Arvon Foundation: Residential courses taught by professional authors like Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Andrew Motion at centres in Devon, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Inverness-shire. The courses are open to all and grants are available for people in financial need.
Satis Shroff is a prolific writer and teaches Creative Writing at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany). http://www.zfs.uni-freiburg.de/zfs/dozent/lehrbeauftragte4/index_html/#shroff.

British Council: Literature & Creative Writing :The British Council's online guide to creative courses and summer schools in the UK.
Script Factory: Workshops and course information for people who want to be professional scripwriters.
trAce: Original new media writing, creative online courses, articles and a broad range of resources from Nottingham Trent University. Courses
* * *
Please read my articles: www.facebook.com/satis.shroff
"Please read my articles: http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/168 ".
www.worldsentinel.com/categories/world/France
www.slowtrains.com/rave_on/rave_on.html
www.star.cityes.org/.../the-official-catalogue-of-the-members-of-w.p.s.-19-july-2006-8-june-2008.html
www.brooklynartproject.ning.com/.../satis-shroff-in-lyrik
www. publishedauthors.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user
Please read my articles www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67131
Im Schatten des Himalaya by Satis Shroff in Poetry:
Im Schatten des Himalaya by Satis Shroff: Themen der Geschichten und Gedichten sind ua: Kampf um Demokratie (My Nepal: Quo vadis?
www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID...5
www.satisshroff.wordpress.com/ethnomedical-therapy-2008-satis-shroff/
www.searchwarp.com/Author83824.htm
www.jacketflap.com/profile.asp?member=Satis
www.bookmarket.ning.com/profile/satisshroff
www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=911453
www.satisshroff.wordpress.com
www.americanchronicle.com/articles/51877
www.booksie.com/poetry/.../nepal-blues-(satis-shroff)
www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?...
www.boloji.com/places/0039.htm
www.gurkhas.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=187
www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=942415
www.interpoetry.com/satisshroff19.html
www.sonog.com/viewwriting.php
www.asianamericanpoetry.com/show_poem.php?...Satis_Shroff3e016vkamq
www.thepeopleslounge.ning.com/profile/SatisShroff
www.musesreview.org/html/main.php?g2...
www.voicesnet.mobi/mobidisplayonedoc.asp?..
www.satisshroff-zeitgeist.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html




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My Heart is Nepali (Satis Shroff, Freiburg-Kappel)

A Poem in Nepali (c) By Satis Shroff, Freiburg-Kappel

Himalayas (c) satisshroff


Memoir:

Ludmilla Tüting: “My Heart Is Nepali” (Satis Shroff)

Ludmilla Tüting is a robust, well-read, emancipated, bespectacled Teutonic woman who makes no secret of the fact that she lives in a Berlin Hinterhof (backyard) in Kreuzberg (West Berlin) and yearns to see a horizon, especially with pagoda-silhouettes in the distance. It almost sounds as though Berlin is a city with the lost horizon.

She oscillates between Kathmandu and Berlin, and is very much active in the field of ‘sanfte’(soft)-tourism, which means tourism with insight. She spent her 50th Birthday on 27th of May 1996 with her Nepalese friends in the monastery of Thangpoche. She is concerned about the negative aspects of tourism and write the information-service ‘Tourism Watch’. To potential tourists in the German-speaking world, she’s a Nepal-specialist, who cares about Nepal’s cultural and natural heritage, as is evident through her travel books.

I met her at the Volkerkunde Museum in Freiburg, the metropolis of the south-west Black Forest, and the occasion was one of a series of talks held under the aegis of ‘Contemporary Painting from Nepal’ to promote cultural and religious development in Nepal.

Ludmilla Tüting talked about ‘Fascinating Nepal, the Sunny and Shady Sides’ and belted out slides and information and described Nepal as a wonderful country. And the other theme was: ‘Tourism with Insight isn’t in Demand: the Ecological Damage through Tourism in Nepal’ which was more or less what the interested Nepal-fan will find in ‘Bikas-Binas’, a thought-provoking book on Nepal’s ecological aspects, especially environmental pollution in the Himalayas, published by Ms.Tüting and my college-friend Kunda Dixit, a reputed Nepali journalist, who is the executive director of International Press Service since decades and also the chief editor and publisher of The Nepali Times.

Ms. Tüting’s talk, delivered with what the Germans are wont to call the Berlin-lip (Berlinerschnauze) has a pedagogic and practical value, and she tried not only to show what a tourist from abroad does wrong in Nepal, but also suggested how a tourist should behave and dress in Nepal. All in all, it sounded like the German book of etiquette called ‘Knigge’ for potential travellers to Nepal.

In the past there have been a good many transparency slide-shows and talks under the aegis of the Badische Zeitung, the Freiburger University and the Volkshochschule with jet-set gurus, rimpoches, meditations, experts on ‘boksas and boksis’, shamanism, Tibetan lamaism, tai-chi, taoism, yen-oriented-zen and what-have-yous. It is a fact that every Hans-Rudi-and-Fritz who’s been to Nepal or the Himalayas struts around as an expert on matters pertai­ning to the Home of the Snows.

Some bother to do a bit of background research and some don’t, and the result is a series of howlers. Like the bloke who’d written a thesis on traditions in Nepal and held a slide-show at the University’s eye-clinic auditorium maximum. The pictures of the Nepalese countryside were, as usual, breathtaking. Pokhara, Kathmandu, Jomsom, the Khumbu area and then a slide of Bhimsen’s pillar was shown and our expert quipped, ‘that’s the only mosque in Nepal.’

Or the time a Swabian expedition physician from Stuttgart held a vortrag (talk) at the university’s audi-max (auditorium maximum). A colour-slide of a big group of Nepalese porters flashed across the screen. The porters were shown watching the alpine expedition members eating their sumptuous supper, with every imaginable European dish and the comment was: ‘The Nepalese are used to eating once a day, so they just looked at us while we ate’ (sic). A decent German sitting near me named Dr. Petersen, who was a professor of microbiology, remarked, “Solche Geschmacklosigkeit!” (lack of taste or finesse), but it didn’t seem to disturb our Swabian Himalayan hero. Most Nepalese eat two big meals: at lunch and dinnertime, with quite a few snacks thrown in-between. And when you visit a Nepalese household you’re offered hot tea and snacks too, depending upon the wealth and status of the family.

Every time I heard such unkind, thoughtless remarks I’d groan and my blood pressure would shoot up and my ECG registered tachycardie and I’d probably developed ulcers. Oh, my mucosa. The remedy would be to avoid such stressors in the form of slide-shows, but I couldn’t. I had to tell myself: simmer down, old boy, the scenery is beautiful. And it is. If it weren’t for the ravishing beauty of rural Nepal and Kathmandu Valley’s artistic and cultural treasures...You just had to use ear-plugs (Oxopax) and relish the vistas of Nepal’s splendour: its uniqueness, its smiling people always with what the British call, a stiff upper lip, and what the Germans call ‘sich nie runter kriegen lassen,’ despite the decade old war between the government troops and the Maoists in the past.

Another time a European couple came to my apartment with a thick album full of photo­graphs of images of Gods and Godesses and the ‘experts’ wanted me to identify what, and where, they’d photographed in Nepal, for it was to be published as a pictorial book on the temples of Nepal. Some experts, I thought. The pair looked like the junkies in the Freak Street in the early seventies. Like the legendary Nepalese, one helped where one could, though I had to shake my head after they left.

Ludmilla has been going to Nepal since 1974. However, when you remind her of her ‘globe-trotter’ image in those days, she likes to forget it all, because she’d apparently made some mistakes and has learned from the mistakes of the past. And now ecology seems to be her passion. She wishes to ‘sensitise’ the potential tourists through her slide-shows, TV appearances and bring attention to the Nepalese rules of etiquette so as to feel at home in Nepal, despite the cultural shock and change.

‘Tourists are terrorists’ flashes across the screen, and Ludmilla explains that she’d photo­graphed a graffiti on the Berlin Wall in Kreuzberg. Every time a tourist visits another country, they get a culture shock: the language barrier, the question of mentality, alien customs, and as a result they return to their countries loaded with a lot of prejudices. Then she shows a bus-load of tourists pottering about the Hanuman Dhoka Palace. She says that some of the tourists were angry at her when she photographed them. The tourists seem to reserve the right to photograph every country and its people as something normal, without bo­thering to ask them for permission. “Wir haben schon bezahlt!“ is their line of argument. Doesn’t it smell of cultural imperialism, after the motto: I’ve paid in dollars, marks, francs and yen for the trip, so you natives have to oblige and pose for me. The point is the tourists have paid their travel agencies back in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart or Kathmandu, and not the persons and objects they’re photographing. The payment allows one to land in a country, but how one behaves in a foreign country is another matter.

‘Today it’s possible to go around the world in 18 days’ she says, ‘and everywhere you have people perpetually in a big hurry. She talks about globe-trotters who travel around the on their own, and write books with secret insider tips on how to get the maximum out of a land with the minimum of your money. A poor porter with a mountain of load comprising cooking-utensils appears and that brings Ludmilla to talk about a certain expedition leader’s successful climb to the summit of a Himalayan peak, ‘we’d didn’t have any losses. Only a porter died’. Then she reminds the listeners that the porters don’t have any health-insurance or accident-insurance or pension in the German sense.

‘Funeral-pyres at Pashupatinath are an eternal theme for tourists’, says Ludmilla with a groan, and she describes tourists with camcorders at the ghats. ‘You wouldn’t want a foreign visitor to take the burial ceremony of your near and dear ones, would you?’ asks Ludmilla.

It was interesting to know that there’s a makeshift video-hut at Tatopani along the Jomsom trail for the benefit of the local Nepalese, the trekking-tourists and their porters. ‘I saw ‘Gandhi’ on this trek’ she said, thereby meaning Sir Attenborough’s film. You might even get to see the newest Hollywood and Bollywood films up there. Pico Iyer’s ‘Video Night in Kathmandu’ might still be interesting-reading for the Nepalophile, for he has ‘the knack of recording every shimmy’. A poster advertising ‘Thrilling Animal Sacrifices at Dakshinkali’ apparently from ‘Bikas-Binas’ (development-destruction) made one wonder about the so-called ‘sizzling, romantic, thrilling, action-packed’ box-office cocktails produced in Bollywood’s celluloid, DVD factories.

‘If you want to meet people and get to know them, you have to travel slowly’ says Ludmilla Tüting. Then she talks about the wonders of the polaroid camera at the Nepalese customs office. Men are ruled by toys. She says, ‘If you take a snapshot of a customs officer and hand him the photograph, you’ll pass the barrier with no difficulty.’

Does tourism mean foreign exchange for Nepal? Apparently not, according to her, with imported food from Australia, lighting from Holland, whisky from Scotland, air-conditio­ning from Canada. She shows Pokhara in 1974. Corrugated iron-sheets are being transported on the backs of porters along the Jomsom trail for the construction of small mountain restaurants.

A Gurung woman in her traditional dress, frying tasty circular sel-rotis in her tea-shop in the open-air, appears and good old Ludmilla advises the audience about the advantages of acquiring immunity or fortifying it through gamma-globulin and the advantages of tetanus-shots prior to a trip to the Himalayas.

After the show I went with Ludmilla to a Freiburger tavern named Zum Störchen for a drink and a chat. Toni Hagen, a geologist-turned development-worker from Lenzerheide, who held a double Ph.D. and was billed to talk about the development of Nepal from 1950 to 1987 and the role of developmental-cooperation, also accompanied us. Toni Hagen was a celebrity in Nepal due to his geological pioneer work and publication. Alas, Hagen passed away sometime back after starring in an autobiographical film. Ingrid Kreide, who was in a hurry to return to Cologne, held a lecture on the history of Thanka-painters and the freedom of art in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, and expressed her deep concern regarding the theft of Nepalese temple and ritual objects.

Ludmilla is a name to be reckoned with as a globetrotter, journalist, Nepal-expert in the German speaking world, and she criticises the alternative travel-scene. And she still fights for the rights of the underdogs in South Asia. She was for the Chipko-movement in India and decried the deforestation, ecological damage, fought for human rights of the Tibetans and Nepalese alike, wrote about development and destruction of so-called Third World countries. She once told Edith Kresta, the travel editor of the Tageszeitung (TAZ, Berlin): “My heart is Nepali, the rest is German.” Her base-camp in Catmandu is hotel Vajra run by Sabine Lehmann, a hotel with a theatre flair, and she’s working on a novel on climbing this time. She wants to emulate the characters of James Hilton’s novel The Lost Horizon, wherein people get very old and are not bothered with gerontological problems. She wants to live at least 108 years in this planet. One can only admire and wish her well in her endeavours and pedagogical critique.

Holy Cows,the Soul,Longing for a Day (Satis Shroff)

THE HOLY COWS OF KATHMANDU (Satis Shroff)

Holy cow! The mayor of Kathmandu
Has done it.
Since ancient times a taboo
The free, nonchalant cows
Of Kathmandu were rounded up
In a rodeo by the Nepalese police.
Was it Nandi, Shiva's bull?
Or holy cows?
"They're cattle still," said the mayor.
"Straying cattle are not wanted".

Eighty-eight holy cows
Were auctioned
Not at Sotheby's
But in Kathmandu.
The auction yielded 64,460 rupees
Said the mayor of Kathmandu.

Cows that were a nuisance
To pedestrians and tourists at Thamel.
Cows that provided dung
And four other products:
Milk, yoghurt, butter and urine
For many a hearth.
Cows that gave urine
That the Hindus collected.
Cows that were sacred
And worshipped as the cow-mother.
Cows that were donated
And set free by Brahmins and Chettris
To set themselves free from sins.
Cows that marked the Gaijatra,
An eight-day homage to the dead.

It was a king, according to legend,
Who ordered cows to be set free
By families in mourning
In the streets of Kathmandu,
Patan and Bhaktapur.
To share the bereaved pain of
The death of a beloved prince
And a sad mother and queen.

The children disguised themselves
As grotesque cows and motley figures
And danced to Nepalese music
To make the queen laugh,
And forget her tears.

Even today the bereaved
Families drive their cows
Through the streets of Kathmandu
On the day of Gaijatra:
The festival of the cows.
Despite the ecological control
On the cows of Kathmandu,
Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.

From ancient times
Kings, noblemen, pedestrians
Cyclists, pull-carts, cars,
Scooters and rickshaws,
The traffic snaked around the holy cows.

The umwelt-conscious mayor
Has made up his mind:
The cattle are obstructing the traffic
Long-haired Nepalese youth need a crew-cut
Horse-pulled carts and rickshaws must go.
They worsen sanitation
And environmental problems.
But the carpets and cars must stay.

Elephant-rides remain for the tourists
After all, we've developed
A yen for dollars, francs and marks.
Kathmandu is catching up
With the rest of the world.

Glossary:
Gaijatra: cow-festival in Kathmandu
Umwelt: German word for environment
Braahmins, Chettris: high castes in Hinduism


WHEN THE SOUL LEAVES (Satis Shroff)

Like Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage'
And we've played many different roles in our lives
In various places and scenarios.
As we grow old and ripe, our knowledge of the world grows.
We hold what we cannot see, smell, taste and touch in our memories.
We only have to walk down memory lane
To find the countless faces, places, sights and sounds that we have stored,
To be recalled and retrieved through association
In conversations with others
Or when we contemplate alone.

Why should elderly people be scared of social terror and ageing?
Ageing is a biological phenomenon.
We should be glad that we have lived useful lives,
Filled with good experiences.
The wonderful children that we have created,
The very gems of our genes,
Each so individual in their personalities.
The house we lived in and filled
With love, laughter, songs and music.
The parents and grand-parents, friends and relatives
We have had the time to share with.
But we should be able to assert our exit from this earthly existence
In the manner that we desire,
And not leave it in the hands
Of an intensive life-extension unit.

Let us dwell on common experiences and encounters
That we can take with us,
When the soul leaves the body
And races towards space and becomes unified
With the ever expanding, timeless cosmos.
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LONGING FOR A DAY (Satis Shroff)

She was only ten years old one wintry night,
When her father seized her,
Warmed and satisfied himself
With her growing, glowing, shivering body.
He said in his smelly, hoarse, drunken voice:
'You are mine.
You belong to me.
I'm taking only what's mine.'
She whined, shook and cried, to no avail.
She had no word for it, this nefarious deed.
She told her Mom with tears in her eyes, but she only said,
'Hush, my daughter. This is taboo.
You shouldn't talk about it.
Never tell it to anyone,
For everyone will shun and curse us,
And leave us to starve.'

Despite what my Mom said,
This was my tragic story and it clung to me.
I had to let it out.

Nine months later, I, who was still small, got a child.
The splitting image of my Dad.
Shortly thereafter my Mom died of grief and shame.
Now I was alone with my wretched father.
My son was my solace.
His winning smile help me ease my pain.
He knew not what evil existed in this world,
And that he was created illegally.

I had hope in my helplessness.
I could perhaps mould him to an avenger
Of his mother's disgrace and shame.

I'm waiting for that day.
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Der Verlust des Sohnes einer Mutter (Satis Shroff)

Der Gurkha[1] mit einem gefährlichen Khukuri[2]
Aber kein Feind in Sicht,
Arbeitet für den UNO, und wird erschossen
für Einsätze, die er nicht begreift.
Befehl ist Hukum[3], Hukum ist sein Leben
Johnny Gurkha[4] stirbt noch unter fremdem Himmel.

Er fragt nie warum
Die Politik ist nicht seine Stärke.
Er hat gegen alle gekämpft:
Türken, Tibeter, Italiener, und Inder
Deutsche, Japaner, Chinesen,
Vietnamesen und Argentinier[5].

Loyal bis ans Ende,
Er trauert keinem Verlust nach.
Der Verlust des Sohnes einer Mutter,
Von den Bergen Nepals.

Ihr Großvater starb in Birmas Dschungel
Für die glorreichen Engländer.
Ihr Mann fiel in Mesopotamien,
Sie weiß nicht gegen wen,
Keiner hat es ihr gesagt.
Ihr Bruder ist in Frankreich gefallen,
Gegen die teutonische Reichsarmee.

Sie betet Shiva[6] von den Schneegipfeln an
Für Frieden auf Erden, und ihres Sohnes Wohlbefinden.
Ihr einzige Freude, ihre letzte Hoffnung,
Während sie den Terrassenacker auf einem schroffen Hang bestellt.
Ein Sohn, der ihr half,
Ihre Tränen zu wischen
Und den Schmerz in ihrem mütterlichen Herz zu lindern.

Eine arme Mutter, die mit den Jahreszeiten lebt,
Jahr ein und Jahr aus, hinunter in die Täler schaut
Mit Sehnsucht auf ihren Soldatensohn.

Ein Gurkha ist endlich unterwegs
Man hört es über den Bergen mit einem Geschrei.
Es ist ein Offizier von seiner Batallion.
Ein Brief mit Siegel und ein Pokergesicht
„Ihren Sohn starb im Dienst“, sagt er lakonisch
„Er kämpfte für den Frieden des Landes
Und für die Vereinigten Nationen“.

Eine Welt bricht zusammen
Und kommt zu einem Ende.
Ein Kloß im Hals der Nepali Mutter.
Nicht ein Wort kann sie herausbringen.
Weg ist ihr Sohn, ihr kostbares Juwel.
Ihr einzige Versicherung und ihr Sonnenschein.
In den unfruchtbaren, kargen Bergen,
Und mit ihm ihre Träume
Ein spartanisches Leben, das den Tod bringt.

Glossar:
Gurkha: Nepali Söldner die in der Nepali, indischen und britischen Eliteeinheiten dienen. Sie entstammen vornehmlich den Gurung und Magar, aus dem Westen Nepals sowie den Kirati-Gruppen, den Rai und den Limbu. Auch Tamang, Thakali und Chettris zählen zu ihnen.
Khukuri: Krummes vielzweck Nepali Messer, das nicht nur für rituelle Zwecke gebraucht wird, sondern auch im Nahkampf. „Ayo Gurkhali!“ lautet der furchterregende Schlachtruf der wendigen Gurkhas, die einen legendären Ruf wegen ihrer Geschicklichkeit, sich im Dschungel zu behaupten, geniessen.
Hukum: bedeutet Befehl von Oben (vom König oder der Obrigkeit)
Johnny Gurkha: Eine Bezeichnung für die Nepalis die in Englands Gurkha Einheiten (z.B. King Edward’s Own Gurkha Rifles) dienen. Sie leisten auch heute noch ihren Eid auf die britische Königin und ziehen u. a. vor dem Buckingham Palast als Ehrenwache auf. Britische Gurkhas dienten in Malaysia, Indonesien (Borneo), Hongkong, Brunei, Zypern und neuerdings auch in Kosovo.
Argentinier: 1982 waren die Gurkhas auf dem Falkland Inseln gegen Argentinier eingesetzt worden.
Shiva: Gott der Zerstörung in Hinduismus
___________________________________________________________________



About the Author:

Satis Shroff is a prolific writer and teaches Creative Writing at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. He is a lecturer, poet and writer and the published author of three books on www.Lulu.com: Im Schatten des Himalaya (book of poems in German), Through Nepalese Eyes (travelogue), Katmandu, Katmandu (poetry and prose anthology by Nepalese authors, edited by Satis Shroff). His lyrical works have been published in literary poetry sites: Slow Trains, International Zeitschrift, World Poetry Society (WPS), New Writing North, Muses Review, The Megaphone, Pen Himalaya, Interpoetry. He is a member of “Writers of Peace”, poets, essayists, novelists (PEN), World Poetry Society (WPS) and The Asian Writer. He is based in Freiburg (poems, fiction, non-fiction) and also writes on ecological, ethno-medical, culture-ethnological themes and lectures at the University of Freiburg. He has studied Zoology and Botany in Nepal, Medicine and Social Sciences in Germany and Creative Writing in Freiburg and the United Kingdom. He describes himself as a mediator between western and eastern cultures and sees his future as a writer and poet. Since literature is one of the most important means of cross-cultural learning, he is dedicated to promoting and creating awareness for Creative Writing and transcultural togetherness in his writings, and in preserving an attitude of Miteinander in this world. He lectures in Basle (Switzerland) and in Germany at the Akademie für medizinische Berufe (University Klinikum Freiburg) and the Zentrum für Schlüsselqualifikationen (University of Freiburg where he is a Lehrbeauftragter for Creative Writing). Satis Shroff was awarded the German Academic Exchange Prize.