Darah is Indonesian for "Blood".
The word darah is very close to Dara, Indonesian for Maiden.
Arabic for "to circle" دارَ , or the noun "circle" دائرة.
Bananas for dessert?
We chuckled at the hostess' sense of humor when a massively meaty meal was followed with fat, yellowy, ripe bananas.
Since the husband was appointed head of prophets, the wife's behaviors just seemed to be getting weirder and weirder. First, she gave an out-of-the-blue invitation for a "married ladies only" lunch. Then this lavish meal followed with bananas.
We wink to each other and keep our peace – at least as long that we're still in their home. It's not the first time that our faith in Abe and Sara is tested. It's not the first time that their apparent insanity unfolds more wisdom than most of us would comprehend.
Besides, we love bananas. They're never too sweet or too sour, and no matter how enshrouded is the edible part of the fruit under so thick layers of skin, you can always judge a banana from its skin, making it a reliable and trustworthy fruit.
I was about to take my first banana bite, when the blacksmith's wife came to greet and boisterously hug me. We watched the banana to slip and fall from my hand. She smiled apologetically and offered me another from the table, and walked away to shock the Mayor's wife with yet another one of her earsplitting greetings.
I repeated the ritual of unpeeling another banana. And when I was about to take my first bite, the carpenter's wife nudged my elbow and dropped the fruit from my hand.
The third time's the charm. This time Sara, the hostess herself who shook my elbow until the banana fell from my hand. This time I got mad. Prophets or not, this is crazy.
"Look here, Madam, that was my third. Is there a reason why I should NOT skip dessert and leave? "
She smiled. "Would you eat your bananas unpeeled?"
"I certainly would not!"
"Then neither should your husband." And she, Sara, walked away.
I lost my appetite and left the gathering banana-craved and confused. At home, I found my husband, the soft spoken librarian, and immediately filled him with details of that strange lunch with the married ladies.
He gave me one of his 'you-women-I-can-never-thoroughly-understand!' laughs, took me in his embrace and gently guided my hand to the warmest crook between his legs, "I have something that might curb all and every one of your cravings."
He quickly grew in my hand. From a shy fruit under sheaths of wrinkled skin, to a fat stub that is bloated with desire.
And it struck me clear.
"I think I need to sharpen the kitchen knife."
"What?!" He shrunk. Entirely.
"I think Sara was implying on this," I squeezed my husband's shriveled shaft, oblivious to his yelp. "You men need to be unpeeled before enjoyed."
"Woman, are you out of your mind? Unpeel my manhood with a knife and scar me for life?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, why didn't Abe just tell me so himself?"
"You think you have the balls to do it yourself, husband?" I dropped to my knees and kissed him there, "Be my guest, but I wouldn't bet on your balls if I were you,"
The women were the ones given the order, the men to comply.
This was how men, not only women, began to bleed from between their legs. How circumcision began.
How enjoyment between man and woman had a blood clotted between the sheets, from the days of Abraham and his wife Sara.
Bananas...I just loooove this post! Sharpen the knife? How tempting....
ReplyDeleteCoral,
ReplyDeleteI love your comments, Hon, and not that I'm ungrateful for your presence and attention - you can call me a bitch as much as you wanna after this, but honestly? Everytime I read one of your remarks, I wonder:
"Why, do, you, love, this, post?"
I'm no English Lit graduate, I barely have much English criticism jargon up my sleeve, but you and I know how massively a writer's ego can get over their writings, and this is just me exerting obsessive affection and lashing brutal remarks on my shitload of crap.
In short, I would like to know why, where, who, what and how this post - that spent an entire day to be born here - ever deserved your affection?
Answer thoughtfully, love.
Yours Truly,
H
Ok dear, this is me in my room past my bedtime attempting to explain why,I,like,your,post:
ReplyDeletePart One:
For one thing,it's uhm, titillating for one. In my place especially, the banana is also a jocular symbol of the male organ. The conversations that happen in your piece revolves around the idea or concept that males (symbolized by the male organ which is then symbolized in turn by the banana (ah, that fruit!) and females somehow need each other after all. You may or may not agree with this one, but that's how I see it. The whole thing reminds me of Freud (hahaha, that guy!)
Ok part two comes tomorrow as soon as I get home from work because I don't have time to surf the net in the morning.
Love,
J_____ (a.k.a) coralbead.
*grins*
ReplyDeleteYa, you're right. I didn't look at it like that, that "men and women need each other after all".
And there's a second part to it too? Yay.
A F*kin Kitchen KNIFE!...
ReplyDeleteDon't be so offended. It's not that bad. Where else do women come with ideas? Here, take your pick.
ReplyDeleteOk Hning, here's the Bead trying to get into Literary Critic Mode.... Loading,loading,loading.......
ReplyDeleteI think readers should take a deep breath and make sure that conservative stomachs are prepared to digest the following. I'm warning you, I might jump into psychoanalytic (Freudian strain, perhaps) criticism to dissect the above post. If I do, there's no malice intended, just an English major trying to analyze a piece or art using a set of rules.
In my first comment, I said that "man and woman need each other in the end after all." No matter how we females decry our handicapped status in a world of men, we need them somehow and it is through the reproductive act that our species' survival is secured. (On another note, there are men out there who also feel depressed about being expected to really "make it" in the world. Some guys out there really hate the expectations that society had on them, that they've got to have the world on their shoulders etc. etc. Trust me, I talk to many guys about this. )
Then I was interested in the Abraham and Sara thread. Is this somehow Biblical in a sense? But then I doubt that the circumcision thing really began with them, if I remember right. However, it might be just another product of your writer's juices and whether the allusion is religious or not is up to the writer.
Now for the remark,
"She smiled. "Would you eat your bananas unpeeled?"
"I certainly would not!"
"Then neither should your husband." And she, Sara, walked away."
It definitely yet subtly points to circumcision via the banana hint. I just loved the way it was written (but I'm sure I wouldn't want to eat it unpeeled (no, not the fruit, hahahahaha)at any rate.) By the way did you intend this piece as your own concept of how circumcision came about? It's not unusual for writers anymore to do this, because lots of them had done overhaulings of legends and fairytale stories. I think you should try reading "Mr. Lyon's Courtship" by Angela Carter which is a modern take on Beauty and the Beast if you wish me to demonstrate.
Then there's the banana part again. If my memory doesn't fail me, in Freudian psychoanalytic criticism, women's unconscious/conscious attachment or zeal for pointed objects (bananas, lipsticks, and of course, you-know-what included) is somehow a subconscious hint that women need men. Then if you see some guys collecting mugs,or anything that can contain something, then it also is a subconscious hint. The mug or other object that may be used as a container is symbolic of the female organ. It just proves that men need women too, no matter what they think.
Reading the piece a third time somehow points to an idea that in the most intimate of relationships, we both physically lose something from ourselves so as to consecrate the carnal act. In this case, circumcision for the males and the breaking of the hymen for the females (or it can be menstruation too). The last sentence says it all.
Then the kitchen knife...the unusual twist here is the line, "women were the ones given the order, the men to comply." It may have been your own personal take on the idea of the act of circumcision, but then I leave that to you.
I would have rambled on and on here, but I think this could be enough, otherwise you can beg on your knees for more, Hning, lol. Shitload of crap? I don't think I can write anything like this in a million years!!!!!
I think readers should take a deep breath and make sure that conservative stomachs are prepared to digest...
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, when I prompted you to write more thoughtfully, I honestly was just looking for flaws, areas to correct my craft. So I had my "Bring-'em-on!" attitude when I started reading. I wasn't expecting the thoroughness. Wasn't expecting to be skinned on so many layers. Wasn't expecting to feel so bloated with immense satisfaction.
Not the kind of tough-love I was expecting, but still, it's a nice feeling.
No matter how we females...
I hate admitting it. I have too much foolish pride. But I guess somewhere in the subconscious I do acknowledge the symbiosis between man and women, then just try to feel better about it by picking kitchen knives. *Winks to M. Diken*
The Abraham and Sara thread, and history of circumcision.
It's an understatement that the elders around us as vaults of knowledge; filled with true-and-tested wisdom that can always be recycled and retold into modern daily practice.
The same goes for are those archaic religious texts. In monotheist beliefs (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) Abraham is believed to be one of the earliest prophets after Noah (Peace Be Upon all of these Prophets and their wives whose names I use so casually).
Now, the original story was orally passed on to me by an elder. Whether it's biblical, toraic or quranic, whether he was merely demented or just so old to witness the first circumcisions himself doesn't seem to matter anymore than the fact that - goddamit - women and men are symbiotic in their relationship with each other: The crux of the story is told.
Freudian psychoanalytic criticism.
PAH! That obnoxious bastard! I thought I got over him as soon as I got away with that elitist BA in Psychology, but here you are throwing him back at me, as if it's not enough that the common sense etymology has never been the same since he polluted it with "id".
I love, however, to discover that symbolism is accidentally part of my writing. Biblically speaking (again and evermore) fruits and snakes (and everything held) could symbolize lust for life, knowledge and power.
However you may see it, the way we interpret symbols in myths and religions and stories is what makes them still relevant in our everyday lives. Which is the only way that the Quran and the bible and folklore has survived generations: not only the lessons are universally applicable today, but also because they are wholesome and flexible enough to regenerate and be retold and reinterpreted.
You know what I'm saying? I'm struggling here.
The last sentence says it all.
Yes, and the second installment was predictable, wasn't it? What you said reminded me of something. If the Lord has created me perfect and complete, then where would another person take part in my life had I not sacrificed a part of me, for him to fit?
Then the kitchen knife.
Should I tell you that it came from my absolute genius?
I wish.
But I can't.
It's how the story was told; that the Heavenly order was addressed for the men, but it was the women who campaigned for it. You can only give credit to the Lord for that kind of genius.
...but what about the men who weren't married?
Now, ladies, those were the guys who had the balls.
I can't thank you enough for your thoughtfulness. I always thought that a good writing is the kind that would inspire us to write more. I know from your comment that mine has done its job, and from this response and conversation, I know that you have, too.
Which is why I think you should, you know, really write.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
Rejuvenatedly yours,
H
Hey, glad I somehow made your day! If you weren't expecting to be peeled that way, then know that it's how I dissect works of writing.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had time to write. I teach writing courses and literature and then my superiors have been egging me to write something! But I didn't get it done. My students, instead, took the lead and joined writing contests and conventions themselves. The ideas for writing that I glean from what I see around me are fed to my students, seldom ever used by me.
I'm not a total fan of Freud. But I am a fan of symbolism. It just so happens that I though Freudian psychoanalytic criticism was just the thing for analyzing your piece. Yeah, his theories suck sometimes but they're handy when you need something analyzed in a jiffy.
I'll think about that "you've got to write something bit." Have a nice day.
Hning,
ReplyDeletesweetheart, I may not be able to analyze this with as much detail as you ladies. But I don care who you are, you walk in with a kitchen knife with a grin on your face and your eyez locked on the baby maker... we will jump out the window of a 20 floor building so fast you wont know what happened!
But a paring knife, now we talking!
Hè, hè, hè.... Banana's, and knives, and men's worst nightmares.... :D
ReplyDeleteCoral, :)
ReplyDeleteMehmed,
You made me laugh. Not lol, not LMAO, real, loud and open kind of laughter. Hehe...WHoooshhh!!!
Aafke,
Can they help it? Can't feel sorry for them enough, you know? Penis-envy my royal IndonesianSaudi Ass, that's what I think.
Hning,
ReplyDeleteI am glad :D real laughter is the only true remedy to all.
And yeah Penis Envy, totally dismissed! The study was flawed from the beginning. Actually shows how bias even philosophers/scientists were back in the day. We would not have heard of it but the thought got re-ignited in the US whn women around the 40s and 50s started to do non traditional work, chaps used to say she had "penis-envy."
wht can I say "free word"
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... so that's how men, not only women, began to bleed from between their legs.