the W()RD: Waiting for Tomorrow...

... (April 9) when protest demonstratrations against Georgia's President Mikheil Saakishvili will begin, led by all the opposition parties. Several blog posts I've already entered with future dates, including tomorrow, will continue to upload. I may be returning to Ushguli tomorow or the next day - depends on when the public transport from there to Mestia will make its weekly run. Stay tuned to Georgia's news, readers... and mshvidoba iqos (let there be peace).

the W()RD: Does this mean war?

I realise that "war" is an unpopular word. Also, being far from my home in the Republic of Georgia at the moment, all I can do - like most of the world - is watch or read the news about fierce current clashes between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia. I'm not even going to try to write my feelings about the whole thing here and now, except to say that I'll be returning to Georgia as planned later in August, regardless. It's home.

the W()RD: Not quite 90

"For years I have with reluctant heart withheld from publication this already completed book: my obligation to the living outweighed that to the dead. But now that State Security has seized the manuscript, I have no alternative but to publish it immediately." - the Author

That's as accurate a recollection I can make of the quote on the back cover of my paperback copy of The Gulag Archipelago I by Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn - the book is far from me as I write this. He died of heart failure in his native Russia on Monday, August 4, several months before he was to turn 90. His funeral was yesterday.

I was introduced to the Gulag trilogy at age 14 by my Social studies teacher in Grade 9 in a Canadian school; he died young of cancer several years after that. I started reading it at 17, and though it's heavy going indeed, a through investigation of the history of the USSR's "Corrective Labour Camps" system in the 20th century, I finished it as well, and have read it through several times over the years. It shocked me into awareness that there are places in the world so different from where I live that they might as well be other planets, such might be one's struggle to understand their ways. I determined to visit this place where such a culture of unspoken terror had reigned for so long, to see what its survivors were like. As I was preparing for this, I found and read more of Solzhenitsyn's work - indeed, began collecting all of it, in English and then in Russian. Cancer Ward, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The First Circle, From Under the Rubble, The Red Wheel decalogy, The Oak and the Calf and the rest, they all found their way to me. I did manage to visit the USSR once, as it was collapsing, literally, in August 1991. My photographs of the coup against Gorbachev are to be found on this blog under "USSR". And I moved to Russia for 7 years in September 1992 before carrying on to Azerbaijan and then Georgia.

Visiting Moscow from my St Petersburg home base, I heard that the great Solzhenitsyn was due to arrive in the capital the next day, sometime in late 1993. He had returned to the country which had exiled him after his Nobel Prize win in the 1970s, having said that he would do so once his work, formerly forbidden and distributed only in illegal photocopied samizdat versions, was published openly. A long, slow train journey was to take him home from Russia's east coast some 10 time zones away, with frequent stops along the way to meet people and begin the slow process of reacquainting himself with his motherland. I longed to see him even from a distance in the crowd, but work called me back to Petersburg and I missed his arrival, one of my great regrets in life.

Later, a biography of the great man reduced him to human proportions and allowed me to see him in a more balanced light without diminishing any of his literary greatness. His works continue to stand the test of time, as both art and revelation of the society in which they are set. It does seem to me, however, that he never really found his place in the Russia which welcomed him back - a very different place from the one which had deported and stripped him of Soviet citizenship some decades earlier. He seems to have been quite a supporter of Vladimir Putin in his last years, but the "prophet" and his home had diverged much in their separation.

Solzhenitsyn remains a literary hero to me, the person whose writings sent me to the USSR, in whose countries I have now lived for 16 years. I am ruined for life in the West, though I visit it periodically, as I am currently doing. The largest country in the world continues to change from what it was without ceasing to be as enigmatic as ever. Aleksandr Isayevich, you were the means used to change my life's course.

the w()rd: Welsh singer

Duffy:
http://www.iamduffy.com/index2.html
Check her out. Amazing voice.

the w()rd: New Zimbabwe Link

http://zimbabwesituation.com/
If you don't know why I'm posting this link at this time, get yer head out of the sand and look into the world a bit. Start at the above link.

the w()rd: Hi from Hanmer

As far as I know there are only 3 places in the world named Hanmer. There's one in Ontario, Canada, which I think is the youngest; Hanmer Springs in New Zealand; and then the original, a hamlet in North Wales, UK from which my family hails. I've just been up there for 2 days with my parents (visiting from Canada), staying with the Baronet Sir John, titled head of the family, and Lady Audrey Hanmer, first visit for me since 1990. I shot 4 rolls of film, frames from which will eventually make their way to this blog; but I must return to Georgia in late August and scan them first, so that won't be for a while. Before then, I must get round to posting some more photos from elsewhere to the blog, even if they're old ones. SOON.

the w()rd: UK break

I'm in the UK as of today, with a 6-hour stop in Vilnuis, Lithuania en route as that was the cheapest flight arrangement. Interesting fact: Lithuanian is regarded as the closest of the Indo-European languages to the original language from which they all grew. Vilnius has a beautiful medieval old city, but due to a cellphone accident a day before leaving Tbilisi I'm on this 2-month UK visit without a cellphone while it gets repaired. But I did take a large external hard drive with me, and intend to post some older scanned images from it to the blog. Meanwhile, Ushguli winter '07-08 themes are on hold. Stay tuned for more to follow.

the w()rd: 5000 visitors again...

I have two visitor counters on the blog, unfortunately separated by about 175 people as I added them at different times. So today's the day when the second one, which records countries, will reach 5k hits. When I noted the first counter's 5k here, there were visitors from 73 countries noted on the second one; now it lists 76. Welcome to those of you from Armenia, Colombia and Ghana who've dropped by! Plus the invisible guests from Papua New Guinea, who indicated to me that for some reason their country is included in Australia internet-wise... Anyway, as I noted before, I'm delighted with such a wide group of visitors to the blog! How many other countries can make their way here in the next 5k, I wonder?

This is also my 501st post since the blog began in the spring of 2007.

the w()rd: Ushguli on Squidoo!

HUH?!
Well, go to http://www.squidoo.com/ushguli to see. Trying another way to get the word out about Ushguli.

the w()rd: Ratianis' Ushguli Blog Update

Check out what's new over at http://lileo-ushguli.blogspot.com/
I've added a couple of slideshows from my photos of the guesthouse and the village; and also their new business card and bookmark for you to print for yourself, free, as many copies as you need.

the w()rd: 5k TODAY!

Yes, I was right - today was the big day. Thank you again, all of you. Because of you I keep this thing going. Gush gush.

Here's an idea: Go to http://www.wordcount.org/main.php and play a game. Give yourself a point every time you choose a word which moves further down the scale of use, i.e. score if your words get progressively rarer. Subtract a point every time this is not the case. See how well you know English in this context!

the w()rd: 5000 tomorrow?

Looks like I'll reach that nice round number of viewers, 5x10^3, within the next 24 hours or so. Not much for 13-odd months of this blog's existence, but better than, say, *1*k. Thank you all, from all 73 countries (+ Papua New Guinea coming under Australia!) who have stopped by. More photos and words to follow, from some familiar and some new locations. Stay tuned, faithful 5k.

the w()rd: New Self-Publishing Paradigm!

Check out:
http://www.youpublish.com/referredby/a_hanmer
for the details. Fascinating to see where this will go.

another w()rd: edge

http://www.edge.org/ Go there, too. Fascinating.

the w()rd: Kevin Kelly

Check out his website, www.kk.org Amazing, enthralling, loads to take in. Just GO there.

the W()RD: Magti Mobile Modem!

This is a historic occasion: the first blog entry I'm posting while connected to the internet using my cellphone as my computer's modem! I connected at 0910 Tbilisi time on November 14, 2007, via Magti: http://www.magticom.ge/
This means that I can continue blogging - and generally stay in touch via internet - while in Ushguli for the winter... a dream come true. Not cheap, but worth every tetri.
Currently waiting for the snowed-in road from K'ala to Ushguli to open up - departure imminent, Nov. 16 possible.
Stay tuned!

the W()RD: away 9 days

to Ushguli 9 days, back nov. 4. Stay tuned.

the W()RD: 2500+

In gratitude to my first 2500 viewers, here's the new title bar. Its 10 images are from 4 countries, better showing the diversity of my locations - 4 from Canada and Georgia, 1 each from Venice and Zimbabwe. Unable to be squeezed in were the UK, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Cyprus, the USA, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Romania... not to mention places I visited only by airport, too briefly, or when I was too young to be wielding a camera: Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Dubai, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia.

the W()RD: Can't Wait

I was supposed to upload the new title bar for this blog when my USA viewers' population exceeded that from the Republic of Georgia for the first time. But that may take longer than I thought it would, despite the population of the entire of nation of Georgia being only about 1/70 of that of the whole USA!
So I've decided to change the title bar when the total viewer population (as reported from the first day of the blog) surpasses 2500. Which will be soon.

Another note - welcome to the first viewers from Venezuela and Saudi Arabia! The latter may have been drawn to my blog by a search for the word "Quran", which first appeared here yesterday, the first day that that nation made its appearance.

the W()RD: New Title Bar Coming

Watch out, viewers. As soon as the USA population of you to this blog exceeds that from the Republic of Georgia, I'm going to change the blog's title bar photo. The new one is ready and counting down. Stay tuned.