Unmuddlings!!

Hey Folks!...Imagine a moving contraption – say a toy car - which has multiple engines. Different ones for different body parts. Each engine, engineered to keep up with each other….leading to a nice smooth ride. Well at least smooth, when the going is good….lets bring in a small new variable to this hunky dory scenario. Normal wear & tear and minor variations of stress load on different parts can lead to the change in the performance levels of different parts. [Like the same way different cars of the same make end up giving different mileage depending upon driver, route, maintenance etc]. What would this really mean in practical terms? The toy driver and the co-passengers – would need to jostle and we would see a good deal of hustle and bustle. There will be small whirlpool of energies and eddies trying to ruffle the imbalance of different engines. Quite amusing really! Especially, when we are talking about an inanimate contraption. Now lets bring in one more variable. Let the toy ...

Folks....this is an absolutely diff poem.....hadnt written anyting like all those 20 years of writing...in the few doz dittes written....long or short ones........serious or frivlous ones....dunno in which category it ll fall in...i ll categorise n reflect over it in posterity....time u hv a lil smile!!!! As I go deep into my customary reverie I often see the long dark dancing hair Like the cascading waves of the young lover Bess In poem 'The Highwayman' of Alfred Noyes [ http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html ] As the cat nap, starts looseing its grip The hair is more like what we see around Among teens! Bubbly and restive; with a twinkle in the eyes And with eyes wide open; I stare At the crew cropped, 'Alert Hawk'. Ready to pounce upon any flaw With, all elegance and lil nonsense Whichever way it is! The long or short of it, is I love those tresses No end. Feb 23, 2010 [technically Feb 24, 2010!!] New Delhi When i started writing what i wd write..there were two piec...

A very raw poem, straight from in there....something struck me...these thoughts were meandering in my head for the last couple of hours....i didnt want to exercise any finesse to put these ideas elegantly...am more than happy to set it free as it comes out....here it goes... People don’t ever change They just express differently Or they just stop expressing If someone thinks they have changed They know not themselves They are as they always were Their expressions change Their yearnings may change Their connect with themselves can change But not they themselves. They may choose to stop seeing themselves Or maybe they never saw themselves In reality, they get stoked similarly as before Their delight remains the same as before People don’t ever change at the core New Delhi Feb 20, 2010

Soon after alighting from the Shatabdi, the inevitable tete-a-tete ensued with the eager auto driver. Our man flaunting the adorable [nay ‘maast’] flourish in his words, that one gets quickly wont to in Amritsar [infact whole of Punjab]. Thanks to him playing the 'tripadvisor', we checked in into a hotel bang opposite the Golden Temple. I will not elaborate upon the events that led us into that, that has enough masala to qualify as a post in itself. It was 2330 hours by the time we reached our cosy room; but in 10 mins we were out again in the open. Eagerly mingling with the endearingly mildly chilly Amritsar evening. And quite keen to have a peek at the Golden Temple. GT never fails to amaze me – the courtesy, the cleanliness, the camaraderie – as soon as one enters the temple premises. The vibrations reverberate rhythmically. As we walk up and down the stairs – Lo! And behold. The scintillating golden twinkle of the monument and the lilting [can’t help the adjective] reflecti...

As I chug along to Amritsar, I enjoy the train journey for more reasons than one. One, the picturesque green fields that untiringly dot the kilometers. Two, the expectation of enjoying Amritsar. One place somehow I connect really well with – the history and serenity embedded in it. This visit, hopefully I will get a chance to spend sometime with the Golden Temple under lights – this is something I missed last time around. Quite keen to do it this time. Three, and the most importantly, the Indian win over South Africa at the Edens. Really! Worth every bit of the basking with a satiated inward grin. A significant win for reasons beyond the cricket field. I cant help but recollect, the passionate chiding I inflicted my chum for castigating a non-performing Indian cricket team. My argument then was most simple – our national cricket team will be as good as the rest of make the players work a spot in the team. The failure wasn’t the team’s. It was the entire country’s. The argument remains ...

Looking at the last dozen years with closed eyes I see this whirlwind of events fleeting through my mind. Also imprinted is the self evolution from calm and the angst. Seems my salt and pepper hair is not lying. Lot of invisble, almost forgotten small, small things and few indelible visible events and thoughts paint the reverie. Lots of increased self-esteem. Lots of self learning. Who am I? No regrets, no justification. But I do get the feeling of wanting, trying to do too much. Being greedy of latching on to the all the good things of life all at the same time. Without waiting for one to seep in before eyeing the other. Everything good thing is best when savoured well. Enjoying the doing part and not craving for the reaching part. Its like a guy from b-school campus, impatiently changing jobs - every 2 years...to rake in the moolah...and miss the cake. Or a trader who stuffs his shop [n mind] with myriad things and missing out amusedly mulling over that cute lil mouse gnawing blissfu...

Can I not live Not overtlyprotecting A distant non existent Picture perfect future Surrendering The simmering insolvable puzzles To the invisible cosmic wisdom To take over from here Just live in the moment As goodly as I can While I embrace my queer indulgences. And I just dream; another distant dream. Feb 12, 2010. / minor edits feb 14, 2010..on the way to jitm parlakhemundi Completed in BBSR.... this poem is the product of multiple iterations....in the process the initial thoughts might hv slithered out of the mind....and a new meaning may have taken over...maybe when i read it again..i ll feel the essence of the initial thought is lost somewhere...dunno....am actually a bit confused....so easy to loose one's objectivity when one tries to evalute one's own poems...crazy struggele.... cheers!!!! ps - more or less agreeing on this version....think may be a good idea to remove blind faith post...feb 14, 2010 Parlakhemundi

Can I not live life Not planning for the Non existent Picture perfect future Just live in the moment Accomodating quirks and travails Embracing instincts and indulgences And just dreaming. Albeit distantly. Surrendering The constant subliminal search To the beauty of nature Without solving any puzzles For neither my mind nor vision Is capable of solving any one of them. Let the cosmic connectedness Take over from here. Can I not live life Just being a good human being Being happy, every moment. And, hopefully, spreading happiness Feb 12, 2010. Mumbai Airport and On-board IC 169 BBay-BBSR

Keeping life simple, seems So complicated! Either I drown in my errands Akin to an over stuffed boat Or I get too staid Bereft of the fragrant wild berries. Sipping just enough, to relish The lingering aftertaste of ambrosia Is the quest!! Feb 10, 2010. BBSR

God’s Gift As I wonder, Why me? There is an indistinct Quiet calming balm. Is it God’s own way! To walk us our memory lane To re-live the soulful blessed moments. Adorable dear ones Hands clutched Babies pranks Triumphing children And every other awakening. Of the future and past Feb 08, 2010. BBSR

….For sustained and inner happiness one requires on one hand, an absolutely relaxed state of mind which is unfettered from worldly stresses – even though not its pressures and pulls. One the other, continuous positive activities across multiple dimensions [e.g. family, relationships, charity, spiritual, remunerative, financial that can lead to holistic growth and excellence. A cucumber like cool mind that helps us look at the bigger picture at all points in time – something that gives us the necessary space to take on more things and evolve ourselves continuously to internalize and achieve a excellence. That’s the only combination that can give us both peace and a sense of purpose at all points in time. It is important to reiterate, that here we are talking of peace and multi-dimensional purposefulness playing on each other for total excellence. There will be many examples of ‘excellence’ and ‘peace’ without each other – but it is easy picking that in such cases neither the ‘excellence...

Hey c’mon, am not playing the salesman for an English literature workshop – am no good there. I have never myself been a voracious reader by any stretch of imagination. Must have clocked max a 100 books in prose – both fiction and non-fiction – outside my text books. And [if I don’t consider Golden Gate as a books of poems] beyond the Poesy of Poems, Panaroma and the poetry books in Higher Secondary [cant even recollect the name] I have actually read one book of poem [a lovely collection by Gulzar]. Though am planning to read another one soon. That’s the Nobel prize winning effort from the maestro from Shantiniketan [by the way how many people know Shantiniketan boasts of having brought up 3 Nobel Prize winners….and am not kidding….but there was of course only one from Literature]. Btw, there is a collectors edition of Gitanjali with the original manuscript in the stands these days – and is a must but for anyone who once in a while soaks in with delight the incense of traditional symbo...