Hues of life

By the cherry blossoms, a senile, doddering

Grey-haired; marked by his sagging flesh

With seemingly natural dentures

Shambled his feet awkwardly!

Another mortal being he is

Gust whipped the sweet scent of cherries

Lazily breezing past his cheeks

Gushing, Whizzing, Whirring around

Golden yellow leaves raining

Everything enunciating, ‘’Its spring, again!’’

Crimson hued sun playing peek-a-boo past dusty clouds

Flowery bushes, grassy green outgrowths

Dancing to the sounds of nature

Crystal clear lake brimming with icy water

All Inanimate but yet immortal

Past his feet, rows of marching

Disciplinarian ants each loaded with a colossal lump

Of sugar from the leftover donut

An allegory of all the hardships he’d faced

Marching along thankful for not stomped by – mere mortal

Bright, bubbly kids around with hula-hoops, bats

Sprinting and playing together

Babies on prams enjoying the spring

Poodles and pooches out for a walk;

All brimming with life yet like the old man – mere mortals

The Solitary Weeper

My venture in to blogging side kicked along with it another interest too. Writing poems - Yet another channel to let my madness flow through.

' The Solitary Weeper '

In a distant land, sitting to himself

A young lad’s teary eyes glossy, cold

Lay transfixed at the distant horizon

Motionless and lost in the tranquility of nature

Perturbed by his sudden outburst of tears,

Resting birds fluttered away cooing, cawing;

Wailing only louder in his hoarse baritone

Impulsively kicked the ground hard

Tears rolling down, sore eyes,

Clenched fist and pearly teeth baring

Muttered to his self

Uncanny and broken words

Concealed behind a tender foliage

I yearned to know, ‘What‘d happened! ‘

May be a heartbreak, shattered dreams

Or a fall out with dear ones

For sure, none can help him out

Takes sands of time to get over

Though etched deep in one’s heart

I knew he’d be better!

It ain’t new, I’d been through this

Fairly conversant I were of those

Life ain’t all that easy

Better tide over a good share of trails and tribulations

Making up my mind, quickly retreated

Through the overgrown heath

Treaded the same way back

Got in the crammed tram

I’d be gone forever-

A spider caught in its own web!

So shall the forlorn solitary weeper

With a mended heart,  out of his blues.

                                              

What's the real you ?

Sitting solitary in the gazebo I still was thinking about the late night call from my 12 ‘o clock friend who always confided in me. We talked for almost a while before she quickly interrupted and asked, ‘Can you do me a favour? ’ Now I still was pondering about that and I knew where it was headed. All around the world, many have been a victim of this most abused question and consider them hapless for having been put to such a situation.

This question sometimes is babbled in an attempt to strut and strike a conversation and I consider this one to be the most frequently asked be it in the Lingua Franca or for that matter in any other language or even in sign lingo.

 

Well, I’d categorize people in to two breed, one who readily nod and try being gentle and in an attempt to gain a good impression just fake an intent excitement as if they are all ears to know the mystery shrouded behind King Tut’s enigmatic disappearance and death. They would further become a scapegoat from then on.

While a few genuine ones are someone whom we can always count on. 

The rest, don’t consider them that meek and just curt and right deny that with one or the other reason and immediately apologize so that they are not bitched about later.

While I and a few others try not being overtly modest and humble  or openly  antagonistic and counter them but instead , listen to them and finally come up with a , 'May be , I’d if I can !' So, we fall in to either breed depending on the situation.

So, what’s the real you ?

'' Mozart swapping insults ! ''

It’s a pleasant experience walking through the canopy under the cool shade of the trees and listening to the birdsong of sparrows and getting mesmerized by the pleasing sound it makes.

Plumy Sparrows - Female gazing to start off the duel

But recently , it has been found that instead the sparrows are swapping insults in line with the profanity drawn gasconade of rappers wherein the male sparrows  sing louder to just  prove how macho they are and the tougher terrain they live in , the louder they sing.

Even upcoming hip-hop stars indulge in an one-on-one duel where each of them trade insults and expletives in such a way that it follows the octaves and seem rhythmical against the background music until one of them turns out to be the winner.

Another interesting part is that , a few sing only the ‘ Greatest hits ‘  while the sparrows in sparsely populated areas try their own hands at composing new sounds. As I try to make those peculiar but sweet sound imitating the sparrow, all I could manage with my Barry Crocker voice was  ‘A cacophony of deafening voices.’

I was baffled as to what an insult would constitute to these little plumy creatures ! May be , ‘ Get off my way you pompous braggart !’ or even , ‘ Cocky ‘  that .

Indeed a long weekend

Another sweet breezy evening as I left home , I met a friend of mine with whom I’d talked for a while and later as we departed , I still could remember him telling that , ‘ Dude , Finally a long weekend ! ‘ I cut him short and asked if it were a Compensatory off and he readily answered saying , ‘ Ah , Its Independence Day .’ I foolishly blurted out , Okay , I don’t really keep an account of time anymore as I’m still on a long off .

The thought of that still hovers in my mind . I wonder if people these days just consider our country’s Independence day as another day’s off . The significance August 15 held is unaccountable atleast for us , fellow Indians .

Long time ago , we were all under the grossly ruthless British rule where every step of ours was censored by the erstwhile rulers. We were all gagged and all we could do was to abide by them and the few resenting ones were brutally chastised and a few sent off to the gallows. A few valiant and dauntless couldn’t stand that anymore and then rose the freedom movement where in these courageous invoked and instilled in the rest the seeds of national integrity and the sense of patriotism . This uprisal drastically increased all over India and the subjugated turned against the mighty pistol owning rulers and this led to a turbulent upheaval and the Britishers realized they could no longer rule us and they readily fled like the chaff is carried away by the tempest.

The mood then was infectious and people were in exultance celebrating their independence and it was then India was proclaimed a free republic. That was a moment of pride to every Indian and I still am proud of the great freedom fighters who laid their life to get us the much needed freedom and also to the steel nerved soldiers who now toil day and night to just protect our motherland from any further invasion.

I still fend for the need to study History and needless to say , one really gets a lot of inspiration. I still remember myself pestering my grandma , a Burmese born sexagenarian to tell me stories about the way days were back then . She gets filled with nostalgia as she starts narrating to me and I know why she’d !

This computer era when everyone tricks time and hardly even exchange pleasantries with one another , I can’t expect them to hail in the praise of the brave and courageous every other day but atleast on this one day in a year , it could make a difference.

I don’t deny saying that I like the virtual Captain Planet , Superman and He-man ! But I’d still like the rest to know that they were all brilliant creations of authors/writers who they thought were in line of these very real freedom fighters be it Gandhi or ML King . They were supposed to be an epitome of them. I strongly urge the kids to know about them and their noble deeds .

As an Indian , I’d close this one with a , ‘ Jai Hind !’

A teary tribute

Long long ago even before Computer was born , we humans had started to build machines of malice and destruction . We had heard about the Crusades , WW- I & II and many countless instances of such wars whose repercussions was immense on life on earth. I really wonder how one could be that foolish ! What joy does one experience by slaining others and hoarding everything possible ! Life is about sharing one’s joys and woes and definitely not enjoying at one’s cost . It is Satanic .

I am forced to ask this myself – Is life any better than those dreaded days ages ago ? I knew I would readily nod in disapproval. All the marvelous discoveries did make a difference in our lives and also along with it proliferated the destructive machines and the terror attacks . It now calls for introspection to just stop all these activities and unanimously extend one’s support towards attaining peace all over.

We have had many instances of mass extinction and I seriously wouldn’t want Homo Sapiens to perish and be an exotic creature of yester era . Peace alone can do the magic !

I would like to present a poem which I’d written two years ago , on the 66th Anniversary of Hiroshima & Nagasaki Day and also in the wake of the recent Oslo attacks and Mumbai Serial blasts .

Pristine country of ours , unsullied ,
Through the ages , rose the dictating terrorism
Smoke rising high with blasts frequently everywhere
Red pools of blood trickling against
Innocent shedding away tears

Staining , paralyzing the country’s dignity
These blood sucking terrorists , their ideals satanic
Grappling the people
Have badly crippled the nation
Women and men shedding away drops for their dear ones

Let peace be the word spread all over with its overtaking wings
Let not the world shed tears anymore
Let the insane of the sanest mend their baser ideals
Let not the brandishing swords of peace get tarnished by
Let not the unruly rule over , instead pause and think over

Chirpy children , diligent and old
Lie down cold and dead
Each dead soul a monument
Alerting the rest , terror an act of cowardice
Plunge and thwart it out

Hail for that day when peace alone over rides
Awake , arise ! terrorism ain’t a part of evolution
Let peace and only peace stride over
Let chains of terrorism get waded away
May the wish we all wish come true

Its two years now since I’d written this poem and this period only saw many terror attacks and peace still seems rudimentary and a distant reality ! Let peace not be a mirage anymore .

Hoping for a better world , I sign out hailing , ‘’Peace be unto you , Shalom !’’