On the Oddlings taking NYC…Part 3: PERFECTION

We got back to the apartment around 2:30 am, and I fell asleep around 3:30 utterly exhausted. Then inexplicably I was awake at 7am and unable to fall back asleep. A quick browse of the internet and MFC showed that indeed, Mika was supposed to be on CNN right then! I was wary of putting on the TV but by then everyone else had awakened for one reason or another so we turned on the idiot box. While we waited (it would turn out to be an hour plus wait) some dozed off again but I couldn’t. Then there he was! Walking into the room to be interviewed by Soledad O’Brien and almost tripping on some cables on the floor (le gasp!) To fully understand the excitement in the room you have to realize that this is the first time 3 of us had seen him live on a TV screen – everything else prior had been streamed online and it had been that long since he’d been on american TV.

Several plans got switched/aborted that day, such as  meeting up with my friend from NY, or again with the one from Vancouver. Also, two of the roomies were not going to the second concert since they couldn’t get tickets.

The morning had a molasses-like quality – everything took forever to do – like packing and getting ready to post stuff to the other oddlings, but eventually we made it to the post office and back. Before heading off to the venue I had some amazing pho from the cafe right below the apartment. That day was starting out, and predicted to remain chilly so this southern girl had to fortify herself.

We parted ways at the subway station – 2 off to the statue of liberty and 2 off to see Mika…again XD. We got to Webster Hall around 1pm and there were about 10 people in line ahead of us, including a couple who was there from 3 am (!) Brave, but not the smartest planners, especially since they booked their return bus at 11 pm and would thus have to leave the concert even before it had ended.There was a very specific moment about half an hour into sitting on the cold steps,the chilly wind penetrating to my bones and staring at the very monotonous stone facade facing us that I wanted to chuck it all in. I was in the capital of the world, my friends scattered within miles and there I was sitting on my frozen ass bored to death.On reflection I guess I also felt the absence of some super fun people I’d met for the first time the night before and who couldn’t make it to this gig for various reasons. Fortunately I got distracted from that plan and eventually forgot about it, especially as we started to engage in conversation with the other queue-ers.

Time was passed by eating sushi, frequent bathroom trips, hilarious conversation and watching the band et al. to-ing and fro-ing. By 7 pm we were allowed in and it was a painless entry. There was no nervous anxiety on my part this time, since everyone had actual tickets. The cold had then numbed all my nerves anyways. I got a much better spot to the right of the stage, just about 5 persons to the center and the barrier was even closer to the stage. Touching it only required extension of the arm. I was standing next to my roomie and an MFC-er I first met in Montreal, and who had quickly become one of my favorite people. My feet felt almost normal. All of this portended very good vibes already for this concert.

The opening act was the same and they did the same routine as far as I could tell, but the crowd didn’t seem as enthusiastic as the night before. They built up a momentum though, and I eventually felt as if I was in a groovy trance club. They had added bunches of small roses and daisies to the ‘altar’ the DJ spun her grooves on and I was sorely tempted to take the roses as a memento after their set, but alas I wasn’t close enough to grab them since they were to my left. Luckily, a girl 2 persons to my left had the same idea so she got a big bunch and shared a smaller bunch with me.  She said she was going to give Mika the roses during a song and I had the immediate idea to shower him with petals from mine at that same moment XD. It needs to be noted that I think of petal showers very highly, and would sometimes do it to myself for no other reason than to feel fabulous 🙂 This needs noting, because I was to learn later that people in the balcony thought I ‘threw’ petals at Mika’s face (!)

The lights dimmed, band entered, then the man himself. After singing Relax, he sat down at the piano and looked transported by bliss. He said he was in a very good mood and though I confess I initially thought the reason was amorous (I can’t help my dirty mind XD) I quickly figured out it was likely because the album had ended its first day of release #1 on the iTunes pop charts. The setlist was the same as the previous day but it felt like a very different concert. During the slow songs I felt as if he was singing in my living room, just for a select group of us – the feeling was that intimate. I felt no other pressure than to fold my arms over the barrier and let the melody wash over me. This was alternated by periods of the best damn club ever, when the floor was shaking and I was raving. Though he was constantly over us, and easily within grab no one touched him gratuitously and I didn’t even feel the need to look at him all the time; full measure was taken of the band at various moments and there were lots of eye closing on my part to fully savor the moment. It was a roller coaster gig filled with a full spectrum of emotions and sensations that left me incredulous by the end. This was the best I’ve ever experienced thus far.

You can spot the roses at the forefront..

On fire!

Singing in the aftermath of the rose petals…

The (in)famous Perez Hilton was in the audience (balcony) and several times during the concert I watched up at him to see he was having an amazing time! After the show he was even tweeting to the Fan club Administrator about ‘arranging’ something :). There was word about us getting to meet Mika or something similar, so we stuck around to see what would play out. Turns out we were ushered up to the VIP area where we had a little chat with one of his U.S PR people and then with the man himself. It was short but sweet.

When we left the Hall we noticed a great many more people than the previous night gathered outside waiting for him to come out, and felt fairly lucky that we didn’t have to compete with them. We went to grab a bite again but in greatly reduced numbers and then sadly and wearily parted ways to various destinations. Safe to say, the people who were going on to the Chicago gig were the envy of the group! XD

We got back to the apartment around 3:30 am and my airport pickup was at 4:15am, so I stayed awake. The rest  – trip to the airport, the  sleepy sad hugs goodbye and the zombie trek through the airport – was a blur. But I made it home safely later that day, semi catatonic but happy as f**k!

Amazing memories, no regrets and can’t wait for my next trip!!

Nasx.

On the Oddlings taking NYC…Mika Gig #1

The next day we were up a little later because we had to wait on the ‘Final Oddling’ to join us. She was coming in from Philly via train which was slightly delayed, so in the interim I planned out the day’s activities and listened to my stomach growl.
She got there safe and sound and it was brilliant to finally meet her, especially since she brought us packages of candy and wonderful knicknacks!

The main event of the day was obviously the concert – the first Mika concert for two of the Oddlings – but due to a messed up situation with presale tickets and not being able to get them until the doors opened etc, we decided not to queue very early since it would likely be pointless. Instead we took the opportunity to explore a little more of the Island.

First stop was breakfast at the Chinese bakery down the street where I experienced a sweet pork bun-thing that shouldn’t have worked as a breakfast item but was so good and so did! Then of course the obligatory Starbucks…Afterwards we set off to Max Brenner’s, a place I was introduced to by my best friend earlier this summer and fell in love with. The theme there is basically the more chocolate the better! It’s like a grown up Wonka factory with amazing concoctions. Thankfully it wasn’t packed and we got seats with ease (this is normally impossible but I guess the early time helped). Let me let the pictures do the talking…

Tiramisu cocktail

Waffle fries dusted with chili and cocoa powder

Just a simple ice cream…

11 am chocolate cocktail never felt so good! I had great plans to get a little alcohol buzz before the gig and this was my first step. Turned out to also be the last step because somewhere along the line I forgot to drink! XD But everyone gave the place a thumbs-up, so that was good. We continued on the sweet tooth train by visiting a Godiva store next. Much delectable-ness was bought for a bargain and that was also good. At this time I got in contact with the other MFC-ers to ascertain their location. I found out they were already in line at the venue and there were 3 other persons in front of them. This made me nervous, but there was nothing I could do about it, since we weren’t scheduled to be there for at least another 3 hours. So I just took deep breaths and hoped the forecast of rain would deter any more queue-ers…

After getting slightly lost, which I take full blame for :), we made it to the next stop: Dylan’s Candy Shop! We were visiting here for 2 reasons -Mika raved about it in 2009 and it was THE candy emporium in NYC…and the Oddlings all love candy a little too much XD Dylan’s did not disappoint – from the shelf entirely devoted to mustache accoutrements and candies to the stairs with candy trapped in layers, it was a wonderland of all things sweet and cavity-forming. We left with lingering hearts…

Mika’s fave candy in a box…

We were supposed to make 2 more stops but time was rapidly dwindling so we had to choose between a Japanese toy store and the Evolution Store. We choose the latter and I’m so glad we did, because it turned out to be a truly amazing place! It’s the go-to place for minerals, taxidermy and other natural history thingys. We walked around in awe and everybody ended up purchasing something this time. Maybe it’s a good thing there are import restrictions, otherwise alligator heads and other oddities would’ve been bought that day XD. Then we were on our way back to the apartment full of nervous energy for the gig.

My friend from Vancouver joined us at the apartment and we all changed into gig gear with Stardust being the ‘theme’. We managed to get glitter on everything so I would say it was a success. We’d bought rain ponchos and umbrellas earlier so we set off to our destination fully prepared. When we got to the venue it was a pleasant jolt seeing Mika’s name up on the marquee and even pleasanter to meet the other MFCers. There were a few new faces but we would quickly get to know them before the night was out. Because of the whole presale situation we stayed at the head of the queue with the others, and I felt guilty about jumping the line, but thankfully no one protested. New Yorkers can be nice after all! XD We passed the time by making up weather-appropriate lyrics to Stardust (new song on the new Mika album) and then proceeding to sing them out loud.

When it started to drizzle a little more we were herded into the bar in the venue and told to form an orderly line. All the Fan Club people were at the head of the line but I was a knot of apprehension  I feared not being on the pre-sale list, I was angry about the mass of people who had come at the last minute and totally ignored the line to crowd the entrance, I was annoyed at the music in the bar; I was just a nervous mess. Turned out I didn’t have that much to worry about, the hard and much-appreciated work of the Fan club moderator ensured all MFC-ers got in first, our names were checked against the pre-sale list and we made it to front row no problem. My best friend and I got separated from the rest and so were to the left of the stage. It wasn’t a bad spot but I knew we won’t get much front row attention since Mika tended to favor his left side and the center. It was my friend’s first Mika gig and first front row. She was bemused by our intensity, but happy to be there I daresay.

The opening act – The Dolls – were actually very interesting and a nice crowd plumper but I was anxious for the main event. Amazingly, about 5 minutes early the show starts and I forget my throbbing feet and intense hunger. For the first half of the show I’m enthralled but eventually the hunger and pain come back and I’m distracted for brief spurts. The show was excellent, with great crowd interaction and much floor shaking (I swore it would cave in at some points), but it wasn’t better than my first gig in Montreal, just different. He employed the use of a choir (who would come to be called the Polka Dot Choir) for the first time, and they were a big success. It was especially endearing (and money-saving! XD) that he picked fans who submitted vids to be in the choir.

At the end of the gig I was happy but limping so sat right there on the floor as the room cleared out. Every one then went down stairs to buy the new merchandise and CDs that were on sale. I wasn’t going to get anything but ended up purchasing 4 CDs as gifts and a tee shirt. Hey, it saved me the trouble of going to Barnes and Noble where I was going to get them anyways! At this point my best friend had had enough and decided to make her way back to Queens. She said she’d had a blast but just wasn’t up to waiting an indeterminate amount of time for him to come out – which was what the rest of us were going to do. I bid her a sad adieu and went outside to wait on the performer.

Fortunately the wait wasn’t long. After getting hassled by security a few times about where we could conglomerate, and after about maybe a 20 minute wait, he came out. He was in a hurry because he had to get up early to be at CNN (we thought he was peddling some misinformation but turns out he was right). He did sign all the proffered items though, including my CD booklet. That it was a small group (maybe 15 persons) helped. I took that opportunity to give him my thank-you present, a 1960 first edition Miguel Street by Nobel prize winning Trinidadian author V.S Naipaul. I told him I heard he collected first Editions and hoped he would like this one; he thanked me with his usual grace, but I just hope he didn’t leave it in his hotel room XD It started to rain again so he was getting hustled away, but not before he was intercepted by a very LOUD and ‘indecorous’ fan who in spite of that ended up getting a picture with him.

Miguel Street…

He drove away and we stood around, giggly and on an endorphin and hunger fueled high. We started drifting aimlessly in search of food and at the next stop light met with the band who were leaving to catch a cab. It was a quick but happy meeting and I told Joy (the backup singer/drummer) how I thought she was reverse-aging (she really is!) She said her secret was baby lotion. 🙂

Eventually we ended up at a Ukrainian restaurant and proceeded to make a joyful mayhem in the place – all 16 of us. Later walking home from the subway, I reflected on how amazing the night turned out and thought it couldn’t possibly get better. I was wrong.

to be continued…..

Nasx!

On the Oddlings taking NYC….part 1

I’ve just returned from NYC. A trip that was supposed to be about seeing Mika in concert turned into something a lot more wonderful and well rounded.

Remember the mention about MFC? Well I originally signed up because I wanted to be the world representative for Barbados and Guyana XD (a title that means nothing really, by the way) and never expected to post much on the forum. Especially as how I didn’t know really how to use the forum! I quickly learned however, and was drawn into conversation and frequent postings by the wit and charm of these many fans scattered all over the world. By April this year, a group of MFC-ers (yes that’s a thing) with loads of time were frequently in MFC chat room (separate from the forum itself) and went on to develop a stronger bond by virtue of being equally foul minded and idle XD I jest of course, what I really meant is that we were especially awesome. We called ourselves the Oddlings and were frustrated by not being able to meet each other in the real world since we lived on different continents. The announcement of TWO mika gigs in NYC sent us into a frenzy of meeting possibility because two of the oddlings are from the states and I could easily travel there. Eventually another oddling (from England!) was able to make the trip, as well as my best friend from Vancouver. Lordy this was gonna be a regular par-tay! And that’s when planning and anticipation became more about quality time with friends and less about Mika XD

But let me hasten to recount my Big Apple adventure…The flight was delayed one hour due to inclement weather, then I spent over an hour in the immigration line at JFK, which was just that slow moving, and then the train into the city had a modified schedule on weeknights. All culminated in me being breathed upon by a very tall stranger in a very crowded shuttle bus, lugging a suitcase, backback and duty free alcohol up several flights of stairs in weather I was not appropriately dressed for, and reaching to my destination at a wonderfully late time to the frantic questing of my worried spouse.

But hey, I got into the apartment we were sharing in Tribeca and finally met these ‘people from the internet’ who I’ve spent so much time with over the last few months and it was all good and worth it! ❤ An unfortunate side effect of the lateness however, was not being able to go partying with my bestie uptown…Sleep came hard and fast to exhausted me that night.

The next day we all awoke early, partly out of excitement and partly because I was being a nag about having an early start for our packed schedule XD. The first thing we did was make a beeline to the 24 hour IHOP. We had massive portions and I had a massive coffee and all was suddenly well with the world…Afterwards we went up to Columbus Circle, then started over to Central Park. At the Southern Entrance to the park there’s a Ferrara kiosk that sells the most divine Canoli. It was a great start for all the walking. There was the NYC marathon happening just then so crossing the street in the park proved to be nerve-wracking but we did it! We would proceed to explore the Carousel, the lake and Strawberry fields. It was a wonderful Sunday to be alive and in Central Park with mild weather and gleeful shouts of  ‘squirrel!’ from one of my companions ever so often…

Stampede of humans…aka NYC marathon

View of the lake

Sitting pretty..and high!

After we left the park, I visited a Tmobile to sort out my telecommunications issues and my 2 companions headed off for the American Museum of Natural History whilst I pursued the decidedly less cultured option of shopping. I went off to Herald Square, hitting up the Forever 21, H&M etc multiple times in different locations and ended up with 4 purchases after 3 hours (!) I know, I’m a very prolific shopper XD During this time I made arrangements with my favorite cousin who lives in NY to meet me and to reunite with my flatmates.

Next stop was Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue. Coming out of the subway onto 5th Avenue was a dazzlingly delightful experience. Most of the time I can be fairly anti-materialistic, but I won’t lie, all those huge bastions of dazzling wealth and prized objects made  me temporarily want to live on 5th Avenue! My attention quickly turned to the more mundane though, as by this time my feet had started to feel as if they were dropping off. I retired to a doorstep to wait on my friends and my cousin and nurse my feet. Turns out one of the friends misinterpreted my directions and walked several blocks in the wrong direction! So the wait continued. It was made pleasant however by finally greeting my lovely cousin. Eventually we were all reunited and proceeded the short distance to the FAO Schwartz flagship – the next stop on our itinerary.

Toyful goodness!

FAO was a delightful wonderland and guess I should be glad my feet were acting up at this point, because otherwise we might never have left. But leave we did, and blessings be upon my cousin’s husband for agreeing to drive us back to the apartment  We were entirely too shattered by then to attempt the subway. Though the madness of NYC traffic made me almost wish we did 🙂

Back at the apartment we dropped off our bags and then went to meet some of the MFC-ers who were also in town for the gig. Point of meeting was the rice pudding palace Rice to Riches in Spring Street. My rice pudding, in spite of the sexy name ‘Sex, Drugs and Rocky Road’ was the least delectable of the rice puddings we had, because it was just too chocolate-y. The others however were amazing! I would highly recommend this place for dessert, whether or not you already love rice pudding. We had a short little chat with the other MFC-ers, then it was back to the apartment and goodbye to my cousin and her hubby 😦 The next day loomed full of promise and excitement.

To be continued…

Nasx!

On Anniversaries and finding color…

There was that sound again. It was a falsetto voice pulled into a prolonged ‘eeeaaaaasssaaayyy’. It was that ad on TNT….again. The singer looked like a mess of curls, a feather belt and not much else. I knew his name but confused him with Tokyo Hotel, probably because both sounded Japanese, and mostly because I’m obviously musically challenged. The sound was intriguing though, and i’m sure I’d heard it somewhere before but couldn’t place it.
Fast forward to a few days later and a quiet moment at work. Hey a clinic isn’t ALWAYS busy…:)I knew the singer’s name, but couldn’t remember the name of the song. Fortunately, a search in Youtube for said name combined with ‘easy’ gave me the correct search result. I can now say that clicking on that video changed my life. It sounds cheesy and trite, but it happens to also be true. Please allow me to explain.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet (because you’re a stranger reading this blog without being directed here, in that case WELCOME! :), the singer I speak of is MIKA – known formally as Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. He of the convoluted lineage I still have problems succinctly explaining to people – born in Lebanon, to American and Lebanese parents, moved to Paris for 9 years, then finally settling down in London, but still travelling on an American Passport. There are many things I would come to learn about this talent-bomb of a man but at the time of very first viewing of that video I was simply dumbstruck by the pure showmanship, exuberance and frankly, Tall Good-looks of him. My first complete listening of the song – Relax, Take it Easy – also instantly cemented it as a favorite. It had a haunting melody, falsetto alternating with a deeply sensual low-tone voice and dark lyrics hidden behind an upbeat rhythm…a multifecta of all things I unknowingly craved in a song. I would proceed to view the video at least a dozen times that evening. At some point, tearing myself away from it long enough to Wikipedia Mika. Two things that especially intrigued me in his entry were the picture of him standing on a drumset, arms akimbo and a quote saying he was bisexual. I guess I knew from the video that any man who could wiggle his hips like that had to be at least bi…:)

From thereon followed the Youtubing of his other vids..I was pleasantly surprised to discover I did in fact know at least 3 of his other songs..then the reading of other internet articles. I constantly butted up with comparisons of him to Freddie Mercury, Elton John etc. I thought I must obviously be missing something in my musically unsophisticated state because I saw nothing but the most tenuous of connections between him and those other performers. I am slightly notorious for developing one night infatuations with various actors, television shows, and singers that involved intense Googling, and consumption of their work that culminates in waking up next day (or next few days) to discover I really couldn’t take in anymore information on  this person, nor did I want to. I suspect that I would’ve had a shortened period of intense ‘obsession’ and settled down to being a ‘regular fan’ quicker if I hadn’t stumbled upon MFC, or maybe not…we’ll never know, because I did stumble onto the Mika Fan Club (MFC) and that totally changed the landscape of my interest in Mika. But more on that later…

After all, why has becoming a fan changed my life again? You know when you’re a child and everything is new and interesting and even a trip to the icecream parlor is exciting? Remember that sense of limitless posiibilities, passion and color your world had? Well my life had started to lack certain substrates in the spectrum of happiness by the time I turned 30. I was in a happy, committed relationship with a fantastic partner, and doing O.K on the professional front, so those boxes of my life were ticked and filled, but something by way of passion was missing…or maybe I’d just reached that stage where one needs a hobby…XD. Either ways, becoming a fan was that outlet, that view back into dreaming and color. The music was a perfect fit, because Mika is nothing if not a melody whore. He never let labelling or genre stop him from catching a beat and so I found music for every mood, filled with colorful stories, a haunting pseudo ballad for the down-times, and feet jerking ones for the dancey times.

Along the way I quickly discovered that the man himself was very worthy of respect, if not adoration. Dyslexic in early school days, he was taken out of school for a while and given music as an alternative. He excelled in it, mostly teaching himself to play the piano by ear and developing a classical music career which he quickly outgrew in his quest to create unchained melody. He writes or co-writes all of his songs, and has proven to be a engaging writer of prose as evidenced from his monthly Italian magazine column. All it takes is one interview to realise he is articulate, introspective, playful, charming, sensitive, funny and knowledgeable. He is not all these things relative to other popstars, but relative to any highly intelligent being. An aberration in today’s popworld. So basically yes, he is awesomeballs. I envy him XD

Now on the anniversary of seeing that video for the very first time, I can count among my ‘accomplishments’ in fandom – winning an autographed CD, chatting with him via live teleconference, seeing one of his best gigs for this summer, meeting/talking/shaking  his hands. I am indeed a ‘lucky bitch’ (his words not mine :).But funnily enough,I take the greatest pleasure in the fellow fans I’ve met and bonded with, either online or at the actual gig. They have also added much color to my life ❤
Anyways, today his new CD – The Origin of Love- comes out in the UK and next week it’s the US. I think it’s the best yet, so I eagerly look forward to even more exciting and wonderful times ahead!

Post Montreal gig…

On fantastical things…Mr. Neil Gaiman!

On the topic of books and writing, I recently discovered the brilliance that is Neil Gaiman and thought I’d share him with you. I knew of some of his famous ‘pieces’ like the movie Coraline which is based on a book of his and I’d heard of the Sandman graphic series but that was about it. I started following him on twitter and he has the most interesting blog posts so I finally sank teeth into some of his material.

The Sandman graphic novel series deserves all the hype I read – it is a superb piece of fantasy/horror storytelling and art. I ‘ve only read the first collected volume – Preludes and Nocturnes – but apparently it gets even better. I can’t wait! The next Gaiman book I read was ‘American gods’. It basically asks the question of what if the gods of different mythologies and times were real people still alive today? Transported to different places in the memories and hearts of people who worship them. And what if there are new gods in the various guises of modern technology and convenience? And there is a war brewing between these old and new gods? The book reads a little like a thriller and a little like a fantasy. It has its slow moments but the language and story are thoroughly engaging with these slightly off tangent vignettes that are scrumptious to the read.

I intend to eventually read his entire body of work. And I highly recommend you give him a whirl too. To get a taste of the man 🙂 listen to this story below:

 

 

Toodles!

Nasx

On the Sly Company of People who Care…A book review

I hesitated long enough to write this review. Mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever written a book review (high school obligatory string of words doesn’t really qualify) and I really want to do this book justice and partially because I am by nature a lazy goon 🙂

By way of preface, let me say I took unusually long to finish this book. Not because I read the kindle edition but because I really wanted to savor it. And then about half way I broke down crying and had to give the wounds a few days to heal.

But to the meat: this is a review of Rahul Bhattarcharya’s ‘The sly company of people who care’. I first heard about it on Facebook last year but the comments weren’t exactly complimentary so I shelved it onto ‘will browse one day’. Then recently a friend did an article on the role on gender in the novel which I found fascinating and so I was determined to read the book.

It chronicles the fictional account of an Indian sportswriter’s year in Guyana, and is divided into three sections with themes I would label  ‘Adventure’,  ‘Introspection’ and ‘Sexy things’, in order. The first section is bursting with wit and entertaining characterizations. It mostly deals with the protagonist settling into his environs and a trek into the Guyana jungle. The second ‘act’ chronicles some more travels, this time on the coast of the country, and offers some exposition on the history of Guyana and the monster that haunts its shores – Racism. I plodded through this part with a mounting sense of anger/shame/dread/sadness until the last emotion overcame me when I read the line “In the years of its rule, Guyana remained the poorest nation on the continent and the second poorest in the hemisphere…in a situation of such hopelessness the basest instincts burn; in Guyana it is race”. Tears came because everything he was saying did not reflect my reality, but was in fact the reality. I think he gave a very concise and insightful little history lesson in a few pages – one which every Guyanese should read. In the last section he meets a girl and they go a-travelling, something about the whole affair remnded me of something Gabriel Garcia Marquez would write, or maybe I’m just imagining things because they travelled to a Latin American country…

Throughout the entire book Bhattacharya’s grasp and relation of the Guyanese creolese language inspires both pride and envy. As a new comer to this language form he does a fantastic job of setting down both its town and country forms; it’s the liberal and unapologetic use of creolese that I find lends the book a lot of it’s joie de vivre. Creolese is not impenetrable to the uninitiated reader, it just requires a bit of deduction and dedication but the book could have benefited from a small glossary. Think I should email the author and volunteer to write one? XD

To sum up, I think Rahul deserved the prizes he has won thus far for this book, it’s an excellent little nugget of a read that I would unreservingly recommend…now go read it!

Nasx