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| Saturday, January 20, 2007 |
| Art Buchwald goes – in his inimitable style |
Art Buchwald, 81, world-famous newspaper columnist, died of kidney failure on Wednesday at his son's home in Washington, the United States, his family announced on Friday.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Buchwald punched the high and mighty, tinged with humour, in his enormously famous and popular column, which he wrote for over half a century.
At one point, Buchwald's column was syndicated to over 550 newspapers worldwide. He also published more than 30 books.
The year 2006 was bad for him. Kidney and vascular problems forced doctors to amputate one of his legs just below the knee in January. Buchwald refused to have dialysis.
In February 2006, he entered Washington Home and Community Hospices, which he described as "a place where you go when you want to go."
But by July, despite his physicians' predictions, Buchwald left the hospice. "Instead of going straight upstairs, I am going to Martha's Vineyard," he had written.
He finished his last book, Too Soon to Say Goodbye, there, and it was published in November, 2006.
Buchwald kept his sense of humor until he slipped into coma just before he died, said his long-time friend and Washington Post Vice-President at-Large Benjamin Bradlee.
"I just don't want to die the same day Castro dies," Buchwald had told his friends, Bradlee said.
The celebrated political satirist, even in death, was his humorous self: "Hi, I'm Art Buchwald and I just died," he announced with a grin, in a video posted on The New York Times website.
Buchwald had recorded this eerie video interview last summer, to be shown after his death.
Death and dying became fodder for the column that he continued to write through 2006, dwelling on the topic as regularly as politicians, scandals and news of the day.
Before death and dying became part of his columns, politics was his pet point. He said his favorite US President was Richard Nixon, "whose delusions made for rich satirical material." "I worship the very quicksand he walks on," Buchwald had quipped.
Buchwald also wrote about his bouts with mental disorders with a candidness that won him new fans around the United States. He had been hospitalised for clinical depression in 1963 and for manic depression in 1987.
Both episodes nearly drove him to suicide, he said. He joked to friends that if he had a third bout of depression, "I will be inducted in the Bipolar Hall of Fame."
Art Buchwald is survived by three children – Joel Buchwald, Connie Marks and Jennifer Buchwald – and two sisters and five grandchildren.Labels: culture |
posted by a correspondent @ 9:36 PM   |
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| Thursday, January 04, 2007 |
| Ardh Kumbh in Allahabad |
70 million expected to take holy dip in the Ganges
All roads lead to Allahabad as the Ardh Kumbh is here. The largest confluence of devotees will see close to 70 million people coming together over the next six weeks for a dip in the holy Ganges. The mission is to wash away their sins.
The event happening in the next six week period in Allahabad is the Ardh Kumbh Mela. This festival falls midway between the Maha Kumbh Mela celebrated once in every 12 years.
Hindus believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges during the festivals cleanses devotees of sin and accelerate their path toward nirvana.
Orgnaisers have said that millions of devotees from around the country and abroad are expected to visit Allahabad through the 42-day event. Of these 42 days, seven of them carry special privileges and crowds are expected to be more on these days. The opening day on January 3 is expected to draw about five million people. However the biggest crowds of around 25 million people will be seen on Mauni Amavasya day, which falls on January 19.
The government machinery is hands full with the work on making arrangements and ensuring logistics., he said. Managing people and amenities at the site of the holy confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati will be the biggest task the government wuld be undertaking at the start of the new year.
Records reveal that the Maha Kumbh Mela of 1989 had attracted 15 million devotees. The confluence made its entry into the Guinness Book of Records for being the largest gathering of human beings with a single mission. The numbers were bettered by the festival in 2001 which drew around 70 million pilgrims.
According to old experts and old timers, Allahabad holds the distinction of being right at the centre of the earth and rays of the sun fall directly on this spot and generate unique minerals in the water at the holy sangam.Labels: culture, religion |
| posted by a correspondent @ 1:58 AM |
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