FREIBURGER ZEITGEISTLITERATURE (Satis Shroff)

THE GURKHAS by Byron Farwell      “ Review: The World Beyond the Mountains (Satis Shroff) Byron Farwell: The Gurkhas, Penguin 1985, London, 317 pages, ISBN o-14-007569-0 ‘The Gurkhas’ is a history of the finest infantrymen in the world who come from a country where ‘It is better to die than to be a coward,’ and where most bear the name Bahadur, which means ‘courageous,’ and who carry out their mission with the help of the deadly, curved kukris. ‘Ayo Gurkhali!’ Here come the Gurkhas! Is a battlecry that makes their enemies in battle wince, and sometimes abandon their weapons to save their dear lives. Younghusband marched unopposed into Lhasa on August 3, 1904 with his Gurkhas. During the Falkland War the Argentines fled when they realized that they were being outflanked by the Gurkhas. Byron Farwell narrative about the Gurkha battalions and their military engagements are enhanced by citations from the books on the same, making it a jolly reading material. T...

Satis Shroff's ZEITGEIST LITERATURE : Savvy Nepalese Literature? (Satis Shroff) : German Translation By Satis Shroff: Der Preis des Fisches (Shivkumar Rai, Kurseong) Nachdem es wolkenbruchartig in Strömen geg...

German Translation By Satis Shroff: Der Preis des Fisches (Shivkumar Rai, Kurseong) Nachdem es wolkenbruchartig in Strömen gegossen hatte, rissen die Wolken auf. Es setzte ein lauer Südwind ein und vertrieb die dünnerwerdenden, weißen Wolkenfetzen. Der Himmel hatte sich aufgeklart und überall sah man einen blauen, wolkenlos blankgefegten Himmel. Alles kam überraschend. Hatte die Natur für eine Weile verrückt gespielt, so war sie jetzt ruhig. Die sonst nur durch Tropfen aus den Wolken gespeisten Bergbäche waren zu Sturzbächen angeschwollen. Das Tosen der Wildbäche, die sich durch die Bergschluchten fraßen, hallte wider. Rane Majhi trat aus seiner Hütte, legte seine rechte Hand schützend über seine Augen und schaute kummervoll zum Himmel. Dann schaute er noch einmal starr auf den reißend gewordenen Fluss. Rane war ein kleiner, stämmiger Mann und trug sehr alte traditionelle Kleidung, eine schwarze Jacke aus Baumwolle und eine Hose. Man muss sagen, obwohl seine Kleidung an...

PAINT ME A FAIRYTALE TOWN (SAtis SHROFF, FREIBURG IM BREISGAU) A damsel with a mobile, Staufen (c) satisshroff                     Schwarzwaldmädel meets girl from Middle Ages, Staufen (c) satisshroff European Ethnology: PAINT ME A FAIRY TALE TOWN (Satis Shroff) As tradition demands in the Swiss Alps, the cattle were decorated with pine-branches, big bells on their necks, silk roses and, of course, small Swiss flags. After enjoying the freedom of the Alpine meadows in the Flumserbergen, the cows trudged reluctantly again all the way to the Valleys---and eventually the stalls in their cowsheds. What a lovely end to the Alpine summer. It was also on Saturday that the Swiss Fastnacht’s symbolic character named Brother Fritschi returned to his homeland Lucern after languishing for eight months in the custody of the Basler merry-makers of Fasnet or Fastnachtlern, as we call ‘em here. Some 250 inhabitants of Central Switzerl...

QUO VADIS EUROPA? Lack of Cooperation & Coordination in Europe (Satis Shroff) The federal government of Germny will reduce its payments to the asylum seekers by changing its asylum law in a 128-page law proposal, and which will be ready before the refugee-summit of the  German states and Länder on September 24,2015. According to the Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, the asylum seekers should receive a travel-ticket or a flight-ticket plus food for the return-trip. This would hold or all refugees, who have come Hungary, Austria, Croatia or Italy and have been registered there. Pro Asyl has criticized that the government makes refugees, who were allowed to enter Germany, without shelter and deprives them from acquiring social benefits.’ On the other hand, refugees who are obliged to leave the country, because their asylum applications have been refused by the authorities shouldn’t be given privileges necessary for a journey back home. Individual cases will be t...

The Refugee Issue: What’s Up in Europe’s Borders? (Satis Shroff) The Europeans are not united regarding the distribution of refugees. An agreement was reached only on the 160,000 refugees. They will be sent to different states within the EU, according to Germany’s Thomas de Maiziere (CDU).  The Middle East  European and Baltic states were against setting a fixed quota for the distribution of refugees. Another summit of the heads of governments and states will soon take place because of the freedom of travel in Europe after the Schengen System is endangered. Germany made it clear that it does not want to take such a big number of refugee. Due to the border checks there’ll be chaos in the European borders. Chancellor Merkel rang Jean-Claude Junker (EU-Commission) and informed him about Germany’s decision to close the border to Austria in accordance with the Schengen system. Brussels was shortly thereafter informed about the decision, which was intended as an...