Catch 22s

I was speaking to Jason today. And after the usual crap Indians making acquaintances with inquisitive Americans have to put up with, you know, wanting to know where you originally come from in India and what language you speak, which ultimately and never failingly leads to " Why don't you Tamil folks speak Hindi?"..
Yea, that went for almost an hour. That was because, for a change, instead of cutting the long story short with a simple "Its a long story, Jason " i embarked on the details of Karunanidhi, MGR, their beginnings, anti- Hindi-isms et al. In case you haven't noticed, there is a catch-22 right here. How could it be a long story if you can finish it with a " Its a long story buddy."

Anyway, after this and that (which happens to be the title of my blog, and which i have finally used), he asked me how often i flew back to India to be with family and friends. I told hiim " Not very much" and he asked why not?

Here is where the second catch-22 comes into context. When you are a student, you have time to blow, endless vacation time, but no money to fly home. But when you make a job and you are assured of steady money, you have no vacation time and cant go home, though you have the money. I hadn't thought of this beforehand, but it came out the minute he asked me. He is a perennial catch, i thought, even as i was explaining it to him. I was darn proud of myself for saying that and making the connection to that ultimate novel before he did.

In fact, it is only fair that i should. I am reading that novel right now. I am at that stage where Yossarian wins a medal of honor and dresses himself to receive the medal in just moccassins. I love that Yossarian !!!

Catch-22s 'flying' all over the place.

Oh yeah, as a matter of fact, came to know that Joseph Heller, when he originally wrote catch 22, had named it as catch-18. He had to rename it because Leon Uris' MILA 18 had hit the book stands just before his catch 22 did. And that was another very good book.