I was visiting the Big Easy town and had dinner with a friend, in a trendy restaurant overlooking the Old Man river. The day had started hot, sunny and humid; as all the spring days had been to that point. But this time, the forecast was calling for a big storm.
Years after Katrina, there still is a shroud of sadness over the city – with a quarter of houses and businesses still boarded and abandoned. But our dinner was great; in the grand hall of Galvez, with all the tall windows open and the surprisingly cool evening breeze flowing through.
My Spanish friend was describing the items on the menu, half of which were different takes on the main theme of rice-and-fish. Just like us, they seem to have a love of “polo”, but using seafood instead of kebab.
Food talk often leads to culture, and culture to history. So we soon found ourselves musing over Goya and the Napoleonic wars - then Picasso and the civil war. A sad and solemn culture has Spain; with a lot of bottled up frustration, fear and anger … just like us … but with fish instead of kebab.
The chef took her sweet time, yet when it finally arrived, the Paella was exquisite. A steaming fusion of chewy, soft, boiled and sauced. Right then, our show started too!
Like a herd of wild and drunk elephants – gigantic clouds emerged from the southern horizon and boldly took over the setting sun – dominating the flood swollen Mississippi. Whirling winds picked up and next came the lights and colors of lightening – still too far to be heard.
We stopped talking and were simply mesmerized by the approaching giants. They seemed to have come right from Mount Olympus – with Zeus leading the charge and throwing bright spears in every direction. Then the lesser gods joined the battle, and soon the entire landscape was full of thunderous arrows and deafening bombardments.
The waiters were too busy to shut the windows; until the rainy wind rushed in, in earnest, and loudly closed the first one or two. They quickly took the hint and secured us inside that grand glass hall … marveling the battlefield. It was simply the best dinner-and-show that I have ever had.
Sadly, the next day’s paper was full of the not so entertaining photos of the forty North New Orleans houses, which had been destroyed the night before, by the storm’s tornados.
I guess, it is somehow fun to watch the wars and battles … from a distance … with the spectacular bombings and shootings. But I’ve been in them long enough, to know how terrible they are … up close and personal.
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"این جنگ برای ما نعمت است" - امام خمینی
Shazde Asdola MirzaSat Sep 03, 2011 05:46 AM PDT
War is a way of life, for the mad Islamists!
It is not incidental that 90% of the crazy warmongers in the world are Islamists ... it is cause-and-effect.
Exactly, Shazde!
by G. Rahmanian on Sat Sep 03, 2011 05:24 AM PDTTook me years to completely recover from the shocks of the war. I was too busy, though, to go crazy. So, when agents of IR warmongers talk about peace, I say the same thing: "You're not fooling anyone."
Ebi jan
by Shazde Asdola Mirza on Fri Sep 02, 2011 05:36 AM PDTThat quote coming from the biggest warmonger of all time (perhaps the 2nd biggest after Hitler) ... is "priceless".
Sepaas!
امیر ویزویز
Shazde Asdola MirzaSat Sep 10, 2011 06:40 PM PDT
You are not fooling anyone.
Shah, truely a divine human being? LOL!
War and Peace.
by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:05 PM PDTFunny how the west, the USA, France, UK used to spend all their time calling the shah a dictator, a megalomaniac, a western stooge, the despotic tyrant etc etc.
History has a great sense of Justice about it, even as the nominal victor, the west has not been able to buy the words that are written by blood and carved in the stone of the past in order to write history to its favor.
Upon reflection we can see a shah who had a mighty army and never indulged in folly, never invaded Afghanistan, never invaded georgia, never invaded Iraq, never invaded Kuwait, yet all of these countries have been ocuppied by countries that labelled him the dictator. Truly a divine human being.
The Guantanemo and CIA rendition program remind us all the heavy price Iranians pay for listening to hypocrits engaged in deceit. Stuck in their own filth and mess the west will lead humanity towards greater conflict not less until they discover the mistakes of their own past the hard way and resolve them.
.......
by ebi amirhosseini on Thu Sep 01, 2011 08:22 PM PDTIf they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
NAPOLEON
Ebi aka Haaji
Divaneh jan: well said
by Shazde Asdola Mirza on Thu Sep 01, 2011 05:59 PM PDTYes, but even the Non-Westerners have lost so much sense of the world's reality, that many more wars are becoming inevitable.
فرامرز جان
Shazde Asdola MirzaThu Sep 01, 2011 05:53 PM PDT
بلاد عجیبی است این "شهر راحتگیر". منجمله، آب سر بالا میره، و قورباغه ابوعطا میخونه.
But they have the best Paella
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=472fVhQvqAg&feature=related
Shazde Jaan
by Faramarz on Thu Sep 01, 2011 04:59 PM PDTIf your food was saucy and had okra in it then it was Gumbo. But if it was light and had saffron, then it was Paella!
But either way, I am glad that you had fun in the Big Easy!
Distance saves lives
by divaneh on Thu Sep 01, 2011 05:02 PM PDTThanks for another great read Shazde. A very good analogy although rainstorm doesn't get closed to bombstorm. Unfortunately many people in the West have been watching from the distance and have lost the sense of reality.