8 January 2010

RUSSEL WALLACE

Bought shoes

no no Russel Wallace is not the brand of shoes i boughted.
My friends are urging me to write something today. Lots to write buttoo have no energy to select pictures and edit dem.


oh deeah its raining, so unusual, unseasonal,  i enjoy the rain but its not good for the farmers

i promise i'll respond to all the comments on previous two posts in a few days

Back to the shoes i bought

i think i'll have to walk barefoot in a couple of years as i may not get the kind of shoes i want. Had lot of trouble finding the right pair of shoes as all the shoes were looking like battle ships, aircraft carriers. So huge that i cud play Cricket on them. 

What are these ?

what ?

What do you call these things ?

'Shoes'  said the sales man who seemed to  know i had very little money in my pocket. He was not interested in selling me anything.


Nice elegant shoes for ladies though, thought of settling for one of dem, high heels an all, but you know peepals would stop me an take my pittures wid their mobiles pones and show it to their friends. Man with a beard wearing ladies high heels and walking around.  

Which is da movie  where John Cleese wears dem high heels ?  and dances around da room ?


Out of towners, the new one, only Steve Martin would get ideas like dat, it wasn't there in Jack Lemmon movie. the original Out of Towners.


The ones i liked were way too expensive for me, any way after walking up and down many shops found one soft leather pair of shoes. i normally don't wear my forest trek shows in the city, and the other ones which i bought some months ago were breaking my toe nail.


Back to Russel Wallace. Why Russel Wallace ? Bikkaas he was born today, January 8th.

Alfred Russel Wallace. please look up on Wiki for more information.

Everybody knows Charles Darwin. When you discuss Evolution, you always talk about Darwin. Absolutely no mention of Alfred Russel Wallace who did extensive research and study on the origin of species in Amazon forests, and in tropical rain forests of Malaysia and Indonesia and came to the same conclusions as Darwin did at the same time. 

And not many talk about Herbert Spencer eeda.( 'Survival of the fittest' )

Royal Academy of science pushed Darwin,  the way they Pushed Newton, actually he pushed himself. 
Royal Society i tink, now National Academy ??

They have always been a funny bunch of peepals.

Any way no controversy, everything was buried as the religions of the world were under a new threat. 
Fresh problems for the Vatican. 
This time they were smart. They din make a fool of themselves the way they tried to put a lid on the earth being round, or the Heliocentric theory. Its a long story. 

Added
not many remember Jean Baptiste Lamarck, who was the first to think of a natural order in the origin of species, which later became the theory of evolution.



The other guys born today January 8th are Stephen Hawkins, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Shirley Bassey.


Traveling again, To Kumbakonam for Roshana's wedding. My childhood friend Babu's daughter. A friendship of 50 years, still green. Then on 16th i am going to Karnataka with Sujith.
somewhere in between i'll respond to all the comments, i promise.

Y'know, sitting on the fence is not very comfortable.


there are Bible thumping theists and Darwin Thumping Atheists. i don't belong anywhere


All my love.
Happy New year !



31 comments:

Claudia said...

January 8th is a happy day!

Lots of love.

monsoon dreams said...

Happy new year,dee!any new year resolutions?

JulenaJo said...

Rauf! Welcome back!

I could relate to so much in your new post. I actually laughed aloud at the phrase "Fresh problems for the Vatican." I too feel at times that I don't belong anywhere. Science mind. Art heart. God soul. What a crazy mix! But it is not true that we don't belong anywhere, however. We belong where we are. Good thing. Even if I could decide where else to be, I couldn't pay for the ticket to get there! Namaste!

Anonymous said...

Hope you eventually found wonderfully comfortable shoes?
Hope your computer problems are sorted out?
You have rain
we have snow and I'm getting bored of it!
Enjoy the wedding.
I am very happy because I can look after my new /first grandson
Henry James Schmid
his birthday should have been today like Stephen Hawking and all the smart people
however, he was born before Christmas
and is a little guy but doing well.

Greetings to you across the miles
and love

please take some photos too

freefalling said...

I am worried about you.
Are you sick?
What is wrong with you?
I want to help and try and make you feel better.

DILLIGAF said...

David Bowie - God was born today...;-)


Rain? Try 6 inches of snow old bean!!! Much more fun!

Take care.

(hugs)

4D

fotomurthy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
fotomurthy said...

dude, first thing first, though i dont dig birthdays,

i will "sound-horn-ok" your birthday, assuming u do, :

HBTY + blah + blah + blah.

mr. birthday boy, do cherish the 62nd crown . hope u have major fun. like u always did at other integers :)

btw, these guys also share b'day with you : http://www.brainyhistory.com/daysbirth/birth_january_8.html

oh well, they are humans btw :P

apparently, rains in chennai, in january seems odd rite ?

wtf ! the whole planet is getting odd in the first place, we absolutely are floating over our last-best-thin-luck perhaps.

on personal front, winters in bengaluru is getting a tad more-chilling than it used to be, though the landscape aint that greener.( the default crib in all the indian metros ) guess something to do with the P-word.

enough said,
got to key this before i fade :
miss hugging you, nothing to do with love, warmth & tenderness.
its 20:30 here & the night has started to whisper :)

PS : got something to share, will do so, when i meet the "wicked saint" in person

love.
lots of it.
take good care.

Alicia M B Ballard StudioGaleria said...

Happy Birthday to you dearest of friends!

Delightful account of shoe buying , it has come that I am looking for shoes literally for years lately.

Well, I see you are in good company as birth dates come, no wonder you are so brilliant yourself.

Love it when you write with accent - lol!

Lots of love and hugs

gma said...

Happy Birthday!
No high heels today
only warm socks in the house.
Sitting on the fence tho
leaning over to the Darwin side.

Vagabonde said...

I am a day late wishing you a Happy Birthday – today would have been my grandfather’s birthday – he was a rabble-rouser, today is also Joan Baez’s birthday she is 69 now. But yesterday was your birthday, a good day to be born. Jacques Anquetil was born on 8-January too. You may never have heard about him but when I was growing up in France he was very popular. He won the Tour de France 5 times (in the early 60s.) So have a great year and bring back many pictures from the wedding and other travels. By the way, do they have a bicycle Tour anywhere in India?

Vishesh said...

happy new year :) shoes..well got a perfect pair of sandals :P

Ruth said...

I never heard the name Russel Wallace until you told me, rauf. When I saw the name here again I remembered Charles Wallace, the boy in Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, a children's story about time travel. I like the sort-of connection with your post. She wrote the book as a reaction against Christian piety and was figuring out her own personal theology, at the time she was reading the physics of Einstein and Planck.

I hope the shoes you bought will be comfy on your trek in Karnataka. Did you buy the elegant ladies shoes to wear at the wedding?

PeterParis said...

What a pleasure to read you! Some thruths, a lot of smiling and laughing...! "I don't belong anywhere", I like that! To me it means to be open-minded and I'm sure you are!

Sewmouse said...

Even without pictures your post is interesting. I didn't realize there were others involved in the whole "Origin of Species" thing either. Science was never my long suit.

Hope you are feeling well - and continue to improve!

I share your dislike of shoe-shopping, so when I find a pair that I like, I buy 2 pairs, or sometimes 3 or 4 in different colors so I can rotate them around and make them last longer so I don't have to go buy shoes again soon.

Don't buy the elegant heel shoes. They pinch your toes and put your back out of place!

Anonymous said...

If you feel like a chat sitting on that fence just give a shout and I can slide closer :).

Your friends have wished you a happy birthday..
I am obviously late but hope you had a happy birthday.

Lot of important people born on this day--liked four dinners version the best--God (a.k.a David Bowie) was born today :D

e2d

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Rauf...

Funny how some people doing important work throughout time have fallen through the cracks of our memories, or the cracks of us ever even knowing about them... wonder where we will slide to?...

ShantanuDas said...

Suddenly I realised today your profile has been visited by 10,000+ people!
No wonder why!! If you are able to keep friends for 50 yrs!! then why not!! GOOD JOB!!!
and btw I will ring u just now!!

PeterParis said...

I'm back to answer your question on my blog about Lamarck: Yes, there is a statue of him at the entrance gate of Jardin des Plantes - I will post you a photo. He has also got a street named after him in the Montmartre area!

Shaista said...

Hello Rauf,
A very late, very belated happy birthday, and Happy New Year.
You once commented on one of my poems on Ruth's blog, and said you thought my poem would have sounded better in Urdu :)
I enjoyed your shoe tale, and hope your feet enjoyed the shoes you finally bought.

freefalling said...

I keep coming by to see how you are and to see what you are doing.......

Ruth said...

Happy Birthday, rauf. It's a month since your birthday.

EEEEEEEEE.

Stagg said...

I like shoes very much-I have to control my urges when dealing with shoes!!

STAGG

tweetey30 said...

wow i havent responded to any posts here since December..Yikes..I have really been out of the loop... I stop by but when you dont have a new post up I just reread what you had written but dont comment... Shoes are hard to come buy in comfort even for me here in the states... Well I suppose I need to get my girls home work written out..

wildpic said...

rauf, have posted a post ...

Rins said...

Happy B'day Raufji. Shoes .. good selection matters. a friend of mine fractured her ankle - cause - walking around in bad sneakers!

sonia a. mascaro said...

Hi Rauf,
Just stopping by to say hello!
I hope you have a nice week ahead.

wildpic said...

hi rauf ... got a new post ...

freefalling said...

When are you coming back to us?

Elizabeth said...

Dear Rauf
have not heard from you for ages and ages

miss you stunning posts
saw you posted on Ruth's blog
greetings from too hot New York!!!

May Alek said...

This is a very interesting and beautiful blog. Congratulations!