Two Singing Stars from America; Roy Rogers and Gene Autry

When I was a boy the comics of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger and Gene Autry with his horse Champion did the rounds of our classrooms. They were both stupendous characters and were what we term as ‘Cowboy singing stars’. They played their roles to perfection and both sang some lovely country hits that still do the rounds of bars in the mid west and east in the United States.

Gene Autry Gene Autry married, but he had no children, but he remained faithful till his wife died in 1981. Rogers himself departed in 1998 and is remembered as one of the most versatile stars of the west on Hollywood screen. His more famous Christmas songs are still sung like ‘Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer.’ Gene was a cowboy star and carved a name for himself both on the radio, the TV and films. He for decades was one of the richest stars of Hollywood. For 10 years he starred in TV serials and endeared himself to the public. Roy Rogers

Parallel to Gene Autry was Roy Rogers. He also expired in 1998 and that signaled the end of an age of Hollywood. Roy Rogers with his horse trigger and wife Dale Evans career ran parallel to Gene Autry. He was last seen active in early 1990 Oscar awards function. Both men were inducted into Hollywood’s legendary Singing stars hall of fame. My preference was for Gene Autry who in his films and comics followed a strict code of conduct. He was clear; help children and women and never shoot first at an opponent and never in the back. Last Word

Both Roy Rogers and Gene Autry are part of history and Hollywood is the richer for these stars that lit the screen with action and songs for 5 decades. That’s some achievement!

The Roman Poet Ovid : Love, Sex and Rape

The Roman Empire is one of the largest and most enduring empires. It spanned a gigantic area from France to Asia Minor. It also produced a retinue of classical writers and philosophers. One of the classical poets of this period is Ovid. This man was born in 43 BC in Rome. This was during the reign of Augustus. Many consider this as the golden age of Rome. It was a period when the Roman empire consolidated and many artists and poets emerged. One of these was Ovid who is recognized as one of the immortals as far as verse is considered. His relationship with Augustus was not very happy. It is possible he was implicated for lovong a high class Roman girl. Many conjecture that this girl was relayed to Augustus or his daughter. But Ovid wad exiled from Rome by Augustus. Ovid died at the age of 57 or 58 in 15-17AD. But in his span of 58 years Ovid created some lovely poetry.

In the modern age Ovid is recognized as the last of the classical poets of the Roman era.

Ovid wrote a number of books with verses. His'Art of love` is a stand out verse. Ovid describes love and allows the reader to infer about rape with his verses on the `Gaze.` Ovid was of the view that a rape can only commence after a man gazes at a woman. A gaze by a man in which he takes stock of the woman for carnal knowledge is the beginning of rape. Ovid himself does not describe the rape in his verses, but as a master poet leaves it to the imagination of the reader.

 This is classical poetry and proves that Ovid was a master of the verse. His other works are Heroides, Amores and Ars Amatoria, and o Metamorphoses, Ovid wrote other works as well, but his forte was poetry and verse. There is no doubt he wad the pulse of poetry creation in his grip. Ovid was perhaps a great lover himself. Ther is no doubt that to write love poetry an element of personal experience is always a great help. Ovid died at the age of perhaps 56 or 58. Despite a relatively short span Ovid is recognized as one of the great romantic poets from the classical age from Rome

The Sense of Smell and Sex

Sometime back I had read of a party in New York where the sense of smell dictated partners an dtheir choice. The nuts and bolts was something like this. in an exclusive gathering T Shirts of girl were put in a large open carton and the men were expected to pick up the T Shirt of girl and smell it and make a choice. The host would flash the biodata of the man on a large screen and in case the girl was happy with it, the matter would proceed forward and the two could meet and date. On my visit to Mumbai from Singapore I was pleasently surprised to recieve an invitation for a similar party at his private residense. I attended in my best attire with my blazer sporting my airforce emblem. I handed my bio to my host who announced the rollicking game to begin with a dash of whiskey doing the rounds. There were 15 girls and an equal number of men for this gala occassion.

I spent some time pondering what to do and soon decided to be part of the party. I went to the carton and picked up some T shirts and tried to smell teh aorma. franly I could not detect any odor that could appeal to me. I picked up a blue T Sirt and smelled it. It had a lot of perfume sprayed and it was of small size. Somehoe I liked the arma of teh shirt and signalled my assent. My bio was flashed on the makeship screen and in 30 seconds a girl rushed forward. I was pleasently surprised she was from Assam a state I love and have spent quite a few years there during my stint in the Air Force.

It was a rolicking party and I wonder whether smell has some effect on the sexual relationship between a man and a woman. Maybe there is something and this is one field of study that can be explored by social scientists.

The Concept of Houries or Celestial Beauties in Islam

lims consider the Koran as the word of God. Its contents are sacred. Chapter 52-56 of the Koran specifies a reward for the true believers: men who follow all the injunctions as lay down by Allah and the Koran. These rewards are in the form of Houris or beautiful and spotless virgins. The Koran specifies that these women await at the gates of paradise to give pleasure to the faithful.

The Koran does not lay down any numbers, but the Hadiths’ specify that their number is 72. The Koran says that these houris or celestial nymphs are hairless except for the eyebrows and the head. The Houris characteristics are described in detail and are all feminine. The Koran specifies that in addition to the Houris, an unspecified number of boys will also be available. Among the characteristics of the houris is their celestial quality of being eternal virgins. In that they will re-grow their hymens after each intercourse. They are supposed to be buxom with breasts that do not droop or sag. The concept of the Houris is unique in Islam. The nearest equivalent is the angel in Christianity and the Apsara in Hinduism. The Apsara are also celestial maidens who dance and sing for the believers. But the Angels and Apsara do not have any relation to physical pleasures, which is the purpose of the Houris.

The houris are an inviolable concept in Islam and they are a reward to the faithful who have spent a lifetime in service of Islam and obeyed all the injunctions as laid down. The Koran says that all those who die as a martyr to the faith will be rewarded with these houris.

The concept of the houris is terrific motivator in Islam and many young men have been motivated to kill themselves with the dream of Houris. It must be understood that Islam has a strong mystical tradition which places these heavenly delights in the context of ecstatic awareness of God.