Here is yet another episode that I published which you may not be able to listen to.

Photo courtesy: Girma Berta

የማውቃቸው ቃላት ጠፍተውኝ ነው ወይስ ከድሮም የቃላት ሀብታም አልነበርሁም? የሚሰማኝን ስሜት ናፍቆት ብዬ ላሳንሰው አልችልም። ጣሽሀንብሱዝ የሚል ነገር ብዬ በአዲስ ቃል ልጠራው እፈልጋለሁ።

እዚህ አባት አያለሁ። በጎን እና በጎን ካኪ ወረቀት የሸጎጠ። ንጹህ ግን አርጀት ያለ ሱፉን ለብሶ።እግሮቹን ነጠቅ ነጠቅ እያደረገ፣ የጸሀይዋን ማቆልቆል እያየ ወደቤቱ የሚሮጥ። አየዋለሁ። አየዋለሁ። ግን የማየው እሱን አይደለም። አባቴን ነው። ጋሽ ጸጋዬን ነው። ጋሽ ተረፈን ነው። ደም እየመሰለች በምትጠልቅ ጸሀይ ወደቤት የሚገሰግሱ የሰፈሬን አባቶች ነው። ገብቶ በማላውቀው ቋንቋ እያወራ… የማላውቀውን ነገር… ለማላውቃቸው ልጆቹ እንደሚሰጥ አውቀዋለሁ። ግን የማየው የማውቃቸውን የሰፈሬን አባወራዎች ነው። ይሄ ምን ይባላል?ጣሽሀንብሱዝ ብለው ማን ይከሰኛል?


ሞተረኞች አያለሁ። በስራ ላይ። ሊያምታቱኝ ይሞክራሉ። ሊያደናግሩኝ። ከታሪፍ በላይ ሊያስከፍሉኝ። ይከራከሩኛል። ሳውቅባቸው ፈገግ ይላሉ። በላብ የወረዛ ፊታቸውን አያለሁ። ያልደላው እጃቸውን አያለሁ። የቆሸሸ ጫማቸውን አያለሁ።ሞተር ላይ ሲሆኑ የሚጎብጥ ጀርባቸውን አያለሁ። ግን የማየው የሀገሬ ታክሲ ረዳቶችን ነው። ጮኽ ብለው ሲጣሩ የሚወጠር አንገታቸውን ነው። በእጃቸው ሰብስበው የሚይዙትን የብር ኖት ነው። የሳንቲም ክምራቸውን ነው። በር ይመስል የማየው ሁሉ የሚከተኝ ወደሀገሬ ነው። ይሄ ምን ይባላል? ጣሽሀንብሱዝ ብለው ማን ይከሰኛል?


አንድ አይነት የለበሱ ልጃገረዶች አያለሁ። እንዲህ ያለ አለባበስ አላውቅም። መፍለቅለቃቸውን አያለሁ። ጉጉታቸው በፊታቸው ይታየኛል። ይንሾካሾካሉ፤ ይሳሳቃሉ። ሚዜ የሆኑ ይመስለኛል። አዲስ ልብስ እንደለበሱ ያስታውቃሉ። የሚታዩኝ የሀገሬ ልጃገረዶች ናቸው። ዘንጠው የማይጠግቡት። ታይተው የማይጠገቡት። ጠይምነታቸው የሚያበራ። በመንገድ እንደዚህ አይደለም የሚሆኑት? መስኮት ይመስል የማየው ሁሉ የሚያሳየኝ ሀገሬን ነው። ይሄ ምን ይባላል? ጣሽሀንብሱዝ ብለው ማን ይከሰኛል?

ህጻናት አያለሁ። ከየቤታቸው ወጥተው የተኮለኮሉ። ተንኮላቸው አያልቅም። ሳቃቸው አይጠገብም። የቆሸሹ ልብሶቻቸውን ያልተጸዳ ፊታቸውን ይዘው ያሳሳሉ። ላቅፋቸው ልስማቸው እመኛለሁ። የሚታዩኝ ግን እነአቤል ናቸው። መዐት ቤቢ የሚባሉ ልጆች። “ሰው ይለፍ አንተ።” ተባብለው እግር ኳሷቸው የሚያቆሙ። ስለሀገሬ አስባለሁ። እነዚህ ሰዎች ምንም ሳይበድሉኝ። ጣሽሀንብሱዝ ብል ማን ሀይ ባይ አለኝ?
ማን ይከለክለኛል?
@coffeeandscribblings

Reflections on a specific episode of fleabag: 4th episode of coffee and scribblings podcast is here

I rebelled and read 'My brilliant friend' by Ellena Ferrante. It is amazing.


It set something in me that I remember but had long since forgotten. I carried it around everywhere. Reading it on every chance I got.

Would you laugh if I say it reminded me of my childhood? Of friends in children? That I admired immensely. That I wanted to be like.

I haven't read anything that explored friendship this deeply.

Because friendship is complicated.

I had friends that haunted my life. That I thought about a lot... to the point of intoxication.

There are lots of pressures in a child. Of making friends. Of keeping them. Of being a good student. Of being polite. Of not being swayed by the tides of friendship to the point your school becomes secondary. Of not being too immersed in school that you end up forgotten by your friends.

I suffered. I suffered with the idea that my friends are not me. They have their own thoughts and values. And can act in ways I never would have. And can even hurt me.

But I also enjoyed the fruits of friendship. I wrote stories with my friends like Lila and Lenu. I saved up to buy things for them. They saved up to buy things for me. I talked and played for hours.

My little heart couldn't comprehend all this. This book gave me a lot of relief in making me realize that it wasn't just me.

But hey, no one told me it was a quartet. Am I willing to stay with Lina and Lenu into adulthood? I don't know. Maybe it will help unravel something their too.

But good books can also be torturing.

You get what I mean?

I know some of you have read this book. Tell me what you think about it too.

@coffeeandscribblings

There is Amharic wordle!! I loveee wordle and when I meet you for the first time I always show you this little game and try to hook you. 😂 Like the pilot from little prince who shows his boa constrictor drawing. (If you know you know)
And there is an Amharic one!!!
@coffeeandscribblings

የሚገርመኝ ነገር ሆነ።

ፊተኞች ኋለኞች ይሆናሉ፣ ነገርም ይገለባበጣል ሲል የዛሬ አንድ ሺህ አመት ይመስለኝ ነበር። የልጅ ልጄ እና የልጅ ልጅሽ ቦታ ይቀያየሩ ይሆናል ወይ ምናምን።

ሆስፒታል ስንሰራ ነበሩ ሰዎች። የሚጠፉ። የሚጠይቁን ቦታ ካሉበት ቦታ ያለውን ርቀት እያየሁ እኔ ወይኔኔኔኔ እላለሁ። በውስጤ።እንዴት ይሻላል መሰልዎት በዚህ ቀጥታ እየሄዱ ከዛ መጨረሻው ጋር ሲደርሱ ደግሞ ይታጠፉ ወደቀኝ። ከዛ ሰው ይጠይቃሉ ደግሞ።

አንዳንዴ ሲንከራተቱ እያየኋቸው ቋንቋዬን አያውቁም። ቋንቋቸውን አላውቅም። በዚህም ስሄድ አያቸዋለሁ። በዛም ስሄድ አያቸዋለሁ።

ጠጋ እንባባል እና መግባባት አቅቶን ደግሞ እንለያያለን።

ዝም ብለው የሚንከራተቱ አሉ በቃ ትልቅ ሆስፒታል ውስጥ።

ይህን ሁሉ ሆንሁት። በሰው ሀገር። የተጻፉትን ምልክቶች ጠጋ እያልሁ እያየሁ፣ ደግሞ ሰው ስጠይቅ
oh you're very far very far
እያሉኝ።
አንዳንዶች ጥሩ አቅጣጫ በኪንያሩዋንዳ ሲጠቁሙኝ እኔ በእንግሊዝኛ እና በአማርኛ ሳፈጥ።
30 ደቂቃ እና ከዛ በላይ የኪጋሊ ዩኒቨርሰቲ የህክምና ሳይንስ ዩኒቨርስቲ ሆስፒታል ውስጥ ጠፋሁ።

የሚገርመኝ ነገር ሆነ።
@coffeeandscribblings

Here is just an audio of the 5th episode of coffee and scribblings podcast. unedited and without intro and outro to make it a smaller file. I have also shared it on spotify for those who are there. Meanwhile let me get rss feed and figure this thing out.

Years ago, I watched this short film on Gobelins called Duo. I was obsessed with animation those days. And I loved many of the works students at Gobelins did. They were short animation films and simply powerful. I think I love short things a lot. Short stories, short films. Short trips. Short meetings. Short lectures. Things are better when short. They become precise.

Anyways this one is… 3 minutes and 31 seconds.

It is about two acrobats… circus performers. You see them performing and they are marvelous. Just beautiful.

It goes back and forth in time showing the stage and backstage. Behind the stage, we learn that they are breaking the duo and this is their last night.

The music & their performance (they use two red robes that they intricately sew together as they go on in their performance. The performance ends with a drop down of the second artist while the first one holds the robe while she is split and above) creates such a tension of the duo.

You just can feel two people’s relationship which is very much strained. A lot of hurt and disappointment that is just there and unspoken.

I didn’t need to know anything else. I didn't need to know why one is leaving the duo or how the other feels about it. I felt the replaced estrangement of the familiarity. awkwardness .

It is a curse, isn’t it? That you are not the same person with the person you love. That a person you love no matter how much you mean to one another remains another person.

And in reality, you really don’t have much say?

@coffeeandscribblings

Leaving this here.
Rest in peace, Nikki Giovanni
@coffeeandscribblings

ወፎች የሚሰሩት ስራ ሁሉ የሚገርም እንጂ የማይገርም አይደለም። ተመልከቷቸው። ትማሩባቸዋላችሁ። ቁጭ ብሎ ሩቅ ሩቅ ማየትን ጨምሮ።
@coffeeandscribblings

Some writers are
just insanely good. Okay that is not a good description . Rather, they take notice of the most trivial things and what is fascinating is that they actually remember them when they sit down to write.
"She was struggling to push a trolley cursed with an inclination to steer right"
"... saying one should remain loyal to trolleys'.
" ... we made it to the Paris carousel, already crowded with faces grown involuntarily familiar sonce boarding"

This is just paragraph playing little role in the actual thing the guy is trying to tell us. But it just instantly takes us back to airports and the hustle of travelling.

I think that is what good writers do. Take back. Remind you.
I am reading essays in love' by Alain de Botton.
@coffeeandscribblings

ቤት የሚያውቁት እና የሚታወቁበት ቦታ ነው። ሲመለሱበት የተለዩት አይመስልም። እንደጣፋጭ ፍቅረኛ... እንደማትለዋወጥ... እንደክዳን... ድስቱን እንዳገኘ... ቤት ግራ አይገባም።
እጆቼ የሚሰነዘሩበትን ያውቃሉ። እግሮቼ አይደናቀፉም። ምላሴን የሚያንቀው የለም። አልደክምም። አውቀዋለሁ። አወቀችው... አወቃት... የሚሉት እንዲህ ያለውን ፍቅር ሳይሆን አይቀርም።
On coming home

@coffeeandscribblings