Taiho's Corner

In the meadow's hidden nooks, Where sparrows shared their secret looks, He glimpsed a spectacle so rare, As if heaven itself ignited the air! With cautious steps on the unearthly field, Through grass that whispered, a beautiful yield, Past the swan-filled lake's serene embrace, He felt a dream, a surreal space. Before him, a vision began to take shape, An essence pristine, draped in a mysterious cape, He reached out, uncertainty in the air, A fragrant breeze, a welcome affair. Then, a blink, and he stood alone in the dawn, The enchanting scene, like a mirage, was gone, Emotions stirred, a gaze to the sky, Love lingered faintly, a memory passing by. Falling once more, he smiled, reflections cast, A solace for a soul that seemed outlast, "Were not all songs, with a touch of gloom, Odes to flowers that failed to bloom?" -------------------------------------------------------------------- NAVIGATION Home

They told me it was blue, I looked at the sky, It certainly had that color, But that was not what it was. They told me it was small, I looked at my kitten, It was cuddly and tiny, But that was not what it was. They told me it was old, I looked at my watch, Sure it was vintage, But that was not what it was. They told me it was a treasure, I had a son, whom I adored, He was my precious..., But that was not what it was. At some point, I began to think, Who told me all those things? What put me on this journey? Who said it was not what it was? -------------------------------------------------------------------- NAVIGATION Home

     "All right, open page 124 of the book, children."      Ms. Rudi was writing something on the whiteboard in the center of the classroom as she announced the instructions. A flurry of shifting books and shuffling pages followed, and she turned back to face the class, the words QUADRATIC FORMULA written on the board.      "Right, today I will be teaching you the quadratic formula. So far, we have had only basic algebraic expressions. This one is a bit more advanced, but it simplifies things a bit...," Ms. Rudi said.      Sitting in the rightmost row of the class, Baran peered into his textbook, and horror flashed in his eyes.      Simplifies things! You must be crazy! Thought Baran, in chagrin.      He peered over his left, at his close friend Amar, and he seemed unfazed. Baran seemed to calm down. He doesn't seem bothered in the least, he thought, and looking back at his textbook, took a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the teacher continued with the lesson and be

        Long ago, mankind used to live in isolated groups in the wilderness of earth, and engaged in hunting and gathering for its subsistence. Almost every activity needed for survival could be performed by every single individual. Yet, for convenience, the various essential tasks were divided among the members of the group or clan, usually at the whim of the clan leader or group of elders. The smallness of the group, however, did not require an elaborate scheme of apportionment of duties and specialization of functions. According to Yuval Noah Harari in his book Sapiens, the size of such hunter-gatherer groups peaked at 150, before it splintered. Everyone could still do everything, yet they found it more suitable in sticking to one particular task and doing it more efficiently.      With the dawn of agriculture, the social units grew bigger than small tribal clans, and the division of labor among the people of such groups also grew more pronounced. Society became more complex, and a

     Zain got up from the sofa after tying his shoes. He picked up his backpack from the shelf across the room in the open kitchen and made his way toward the front door of his house.      A moment later, he was past it and out onto the street. It was a sunny Autumn day, with a slight bit of overcast. Leaves rustled on the pavement, which was otherwise thick with dust. Patches of litter also dotted the street all the way to the road junction several meters away. It was towards here that Zain was looking, hands tightly clenching the straps of his bag, and only a moment after he had exited his home, a bus arrived, its engine howling in the otherwise quiet morning.      The monster of a vehicle screeched to a halt near where Zain was standing, and the door popped open; the bus conductor, a tall, lean man, turned his gaze at him. Zain hopped onto the bus through the steps at the entrance and looked towards the back of the bus, its rows of seats filled with other children, all of whom seeme

     Snap! Snap!      It was 2:30 AM, and the flicker of cameras, accompanied by the equally dimming street light created a surreal atmosphere before the shop. On the pavement of the footpath lay the body of a woman, sprawled face-first on the floor, in a pool of blood. She seemed to be in her twenties, had blonde hair, and was wearing a purple velvet jacket along with what appeared to be a creamy white skirt. By her side lay her purse, its contents partially protruding from it, revealing a mini wallet and pieces of paper. She wore maroon heels. Her right shoe was missing.      Ronald crept up close to the body, and with the glove in his hand lifted up the chin of the woman. Her eyes were still partially open, and she had smears of blood stuck on them. He turned his gaze to her neck, almost on instinct. Her throat had been slashed, rather cleanly, and jutting out of it was a mass of flesh.     Her Larynx.      His brief inquest complete, he carefully shifted the woman’s head back into