Dew drops

Fresh as the morning dew,

on fragrant petals of delicate hue..

Refreshing as the gentle breeze,

setting the tree leaves fluttering..

Soothing as the notes of flute,

coming from treaded routes..

Persistent as the waves of ocean blue,

crashing and re-surging anew..

Warm and enchanting as the rising sun,

making the blue sky crimson..

'Memories' and memories of days gone by,

days of cries and those of smiles..

I know i have left those days miles behind

but just as I say these lines, 

their memories flood me from all around!

This is again a poem that I wrote sometime back and given the image I just pulled it out of my diary and used it here.

creative input:srk

Gray..

This is one quote that I read way back in school perhaps it was class 8 or a class or two earlier. A fellow batch mate had used the following quote in one of her Hindi essays or may be some magazine write up. A little fuzzy about the exact source, and the exact words but this is what I remember:
“Roshni ne digh-bhramit  jitna kiya, kya kabhi andheroon ne utna kiya?
Raah ho sandesh kuch aise mile.. aaj tak bhatakte hai kafile..

It is strange how the light of affluence, money, and power leads men more astray than the dark drudgery of poverty and deprivation. Although the latter also leads men to do deplorable things, it’s the intoxication of light that is more potent in blinding people towards the right way.
Again sometimes we are able to see things more clearly when the lights go out. When we are in a corner by  ourselves, it is then that the friends we make, our relationships, the good  & the bad we do everything reveals itself , which the light outside had concealed so far.

It is perhaps the irony of these lines that has stayed with me over the years. We always give light a positive connotation. It is symbolic of everything that is upright in the world.  It is symbolic of hope, of inspiration, of courage, of a well-fought fight, and of numerous other metaphors that poets and novels need to create meaningful quotes in their tomes of literature.  Then again  I read the following lines in one of the plays written by Tagore that again made me look at darkness in a new light.

“How small is this earth and confined, watched and followed by the persistent horizons. The trees, houses, and crowd of things are pressing upon my eyes. The light, like a cage, has shut out the dark eternity; and the hours hop and cry within its barriers, like prisoned birds. But why are these noisy men rushing on, and for what purpose? They seem always afraid of missing something, the something that never comes to their hands.”

The image of darkness as that of infinite freedom and the light as the martinet struck a chord somewhere. Without taking a philosophical viewpoint,  I just thought of how the restful night looks like a little freedom after running the errands of the day. The light did seem as the hard taskmaster who walks around with a schedule and a watch in hand, and we run always afraid of missing something..

Somehow it is thoughts like this that make the boundaries of black and white fade into a little shade of gray. I have not really been able to keep my sides on a number of issues that confront us in life. It would be a lot easier if we could call out the dark from the light.  However the confrontations continue and the blurred gray is all I see on a second look..
The above image does justice to my argument with its somewhat gray/grey treatment. Interestingly the word gray/grey again has a different acceptable spelling depending on where you are in the English speaking world. So i wonder who really gets the last laugh the black, the white(light) or the capricious gray/grey!!

creative input: srk

It helps..

It helps if you have a kaju barfi at 2:30a.m. to lull you into sleep..
It helps if someone says you are doing fine when you are abysmally holding the float and swimming your life out and not moving forward an inch..
It helps if you sleepwalk into a bus early in the morning and there is a sympathetic and gracious smile greeting you at the other end..
It helps if you strike an instant comradeship with the person next door who is also sheepishly trying to figure out something that the entire world(but the two of you)knows..


It helps if someone keeps his promise to you even when you have forgotten..
It helps if someone buys you a little gift when he comes back from a long trip..
It helps if someone gets you a cup of frozen yogurt just to make the crappy day melt away..
It helps if someone remembers you on your birthday without the obvious facebook reminders..

Just wondering how much i have done my share to make someone else's day take an upside curve. You sure have to earn your kaju barfi at 2:30am at night :) Because there sure are devils, and they will come visiting you some night and keep you from sleeping. One of the devil that I know of(haunts me frequently), is someone who goes by the name 'hunger pangs', funny thing how it effects me (it makes me hungry,poetic,philosophical, cranky.. but up tops-hungry!!!!)

Sun and shadows part-II

" That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns and flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one such memorable day.."- Great Expectation, Charles Dickens.

I have a deep fondness for this book, and many a times in life the lines from this book seem to just play out in my life or may be I chose to see it that ways. I would say these words were just apt exactly a year ago. It was a memorable day that stood apart from the rest 364days. ‘In the long chain of iron or gold of thorns and flowers’ that bound me for a year that was the first link. However it is the poignancy of the end that resonates even more strongly for me. It’s a good bye with a certain warmth that is hard to miss.

 “And will continue friends apart,’ said Estella.
I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her. .."- Great Expectation, Charles Dickens.

This post is exactly a year after the sun and shadows post, at times you just need someone else’s words to say the same thing. Well perhaps it would look weird to even say the same thing again but then for some people this is their own way to honor that ‘link’ and then gently break free and say goodbye…
Simply put it’s not easy for me to say goodbye!

Memories

Incidentally I cannot look at the geraniums without the memories of monkeys playing havoc around the geranium flower pots back at home in Nainital. Early in the morning looking outside the window from my study table I could see the shadow of the four legged devil walking on the railing, his gait giving away his evil intention. Apparently other than my clairvoyance(distracted glances from books to the window outside), my neighbors dog's war-cry barking was a clear give away.

The monkeys loved to uproot and eat the supple geranium stems, pluck away the flowered stem and carry them away with them. I could swear that every time they uprooted a stem they threw one in the direction of the barking dog to mock him. The sly monkeys tried to irritate the dog by grinning at him from our veranda railing.It was a brutal sight and my mother use to be most miserable after the morning carnage.

Just then when you'd think it was a triangle-the geranium flowers, the dog and the monkeys..the lame fourth leg would come hobbling with a stick in hand to shoo away the monkeys. Yes that was me, fear stricken and shivering.. just peering outside from the door and running back in, just at the least sign of movement in my direction. My mom wanted me to be the brave warrior and vanquish the monkeys. There was my brother's hockey stick kept by the corner of the door and since the walking distance from the kitchen to the veranda outside was an unfair advantage to the enemy, I was expected to play the 'defense'.

I have all the nightmarish memories, top of the list would be this monkey who coolly picked up an ornate bowl shaped cactus pot and dropped it down the second floor in response to my raising my stick in his direction. So arrogantly relaxed, it was as if he had just muttered  a cold and cheeky Oops!, after purposely dropping the pot. But he was not prepared for the ear splitting scream that I gave after a numb one second and ran inside the house. I rattled him completely and all his brethren for the next few days. Score!
My mother, brother and my father each played the defense all through the years that we lived in Nainital.

Then came the two years that my family was practically away from Nainital and the geraniums survived just fine without the watch-out. Guess the monkeys needed our attention even more than they liked the geraniums. The monkeys did give my mom some smiles when they left the stems from a neighbors prided geranium collection on our veranda. Geraniums are stem-planted and the monkey 'cuttings' had a higher success rate!
All these memories of the geraniums, monkeys, morning study hours are just as fresh and vivid for me. One small stimuli and stories come bubbling out. I wonder if it happens to everyone or is it just me?

Summertime Blues..

I googled an article on marketing automation.. and this is what I find, perfect echo of Monday blues accentuated with Summertime blues.. Oh google thou art a mind reader!

I'm gonna raise a fuss,
I'm gonna raise a holler
About a work'in'all summer
just to earn a Dollar...


Every time I call my baby
And try to get a date..
My boss says,
'No dice son', you gotta work late'..


Sometime I wonder
what I'm gonna do..
But there aren't no cure
for the summertime blues...


Eddie Cochran

Creation at work

Collecting sea shells from the grains of sand,
Sands spread over miles of land,
Glistening gleefully, in golden rays of sun
Presenting a spectacle so delectable, so fun..


Each shell unique in itself
Each with a story to tell
Each alive with the song of creation,
With alacrity deep in heart..
I stoop to collect these souvenirs left on land


Some were big, some small, some just pieces..
some played in the surging waters while others lay still..
some wore the milky whiteness of the foaming waves,
some bore the earthly tinge of churned sand grains..


I 'll carry these shells with me
With me to the the unknown lands,
I'll always treasure..
This treasure from the ocean deep,
This gift from the depths of time..
A sublime symbol of creation at work..


Another one of an old poem, The apt image should have been a sea shell, this image could render itself for footprints in the sand.. or memories. May be later..

creative inputs srk!

Who is the prop?

 The Nari or the Nariyal?- Kannada conundrum

 No comment! Chennai super Macha..,

"Beta tumhaare daant to 'moti' jaise chamak rahe hai.."

This is one is from my neighborhood in Hyd.

The North Indian edition will come out soon, hamare cameraman ab wahan pahuch chuke hai..
creative inputs srk!

A Question/ A dialogue

The questions that always beg answers are why the blog, why the post, why the slow churn out or why the fast (if that was humanely possible then may be the question)

The latest would have to be who is sr?

Well it feels flattering to at least have people ask those questions. Because the truth is, the reason of the blog is ‘the questions’. However the greedy people that we are, we just don’t want the questions we want ‘the dialogue.’ We want to converse through the blog, speak of the things that make us think, laugh, annoyed, amused…. whatever. Things that affect us in someway- make us take a photograph or use up some more of the ever filling out written space..

We collected the ammunition over the years and kept it in our closet for a while, but it needs both inside and outside motivation to keep the engine running for long. Moreover I was just filling out diaries that my mom thought would be suffice for my dowry! And Rana (sr) had done the entire creative circle of morphing her friend’s faces into just the most ugly people around, made videos, made ‘so’ married pictures for some others.

Therefore I needed to turn into an environmentalist, put the diary sellers out of business and make some spare space for my dowry and she needed a better outlet of her visual prowess and her keen eye for images and angles.

We decided to join forces (a sacred college pact) and do something interesting at least for the while it seemed like.  She is the visual person and I tire people with my compulsive verbiage.  We both force our friends and family to read the blog and blackmail them to becoming members, this is how we moved up the count of 10 from 8 (the last two were blackmail candidates- open admission).

We haven’t decided on the themes that we want to explore, it’s been all poetic random musing so far. But we hope to do a special South movie posters edition because we really wasted our digital camera reel (I know it doesn’t exist) on taking the pictures of all these ridiculous movie posters during one of our Bangalore meetups, and that would offer a change in mood. Another golden reason, for once i'll have no random musings stirring anywhere, they are just a visual joy!

So till the time we figure out what we really want to do, we might just bully you into reading our blogs and sometimes-even force a comment out of people (that is more of my doing than hers). Voluntary feedbacks are always welcome as well.

Going back to the initial question, who is sr? She is Shobha Rana :P (& now I’m dead)


From SR: YES SK, You are in deep

(Since I'm more of visual person)

Set her free!

In a small little home by the riverside
Lived a small girl an innocent child
She was lovely and bright,
She loved everyone and never lied

She looked after her younger brother
She fed the cattle green fodder
She walked for miles to fetch pots of water
She cooked the meals and cleaned the litter
But she was never sent to school like her brother

She wept and cried and fell asleep..
And envisioned a world of her dreams

A small school with gentle teachers around
Books and toys and fun friends around
Studying and playing all happy and glad
She smiled..
her eyes brightened, she felt a sense of pride..

She pictured a beautiful home..
Made of bricks of care and cemented with love..
A happy family of her own..
She smiled
Her eyes brightened, she felt a sense of warmth..

Let her dreams see a new dawn..
Let her lips sing the song of freedom..
Let her smiles reflect a new hope..
Set her free! Set her free!!

This poem was originally written in 2001 for my brother for some 'girl child day celebration' assignment in school!

creative inputs srk!

All on the shore..

A victory capture: "Sometimes they just put the 'red' flag on the shore to make it a picturesque capture for the shutterbugs! "

A rightful/unrightful place: "And sometimes they leave the beer bottle metal caps on the shores

Ironically with all the financial troubles ailing the parent company it sure seems to convey the sense-biting the dust(or the sand)-- a rightful place?

creative inputs:srk!

Doors..

"हज़ारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले

बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले।.."

This thought just crossed my mind when I looked at the picture for some reason. There are many oppurtunities and doors we seek, some open with a grand welcome and some remain closed and we keep peering and pushing to make our way in...

We glance around to see if someone is watching..and then knock and call out to see if someone will respond,

We glance around to make sure no one is watching..and then pull at the lock to see if we can force it open,

Interestingly the left corner has a wooden panel missing, so one can coop his hands together to make it easier for the eye to survey inside. Mystery kills us, we are just the poeple who want to know, want to see how life looks like from the inside. We are the seekers..

We are the romaticists who can feel the past years in the fading colors, the falling paint, the rust imprints of the waters and the dried leaves. We can picture our own story about the poeple who once lived there and left the place for good (atleast that's what we hope)..

It is interestingly how the past and the future both intrigue us, that romance has a charm stronger than the pragmatic present.. atleast for some of us..

creative input:srk!

Pahad..

Bhai's unfinished painting.

Earlier i used to showoff his guitar skills when my friends used to come over and now his paintings as well.
Way to go bhai, proud of you always!

And the finished version with some green tress around and a house in the snow!

Seasons Change...

...And so do we..

I never knew i could feel so dead about you
I always believed that seasons change.
I always believed that 'we' change, 
but something inside tells me,
that the end is near this time
and nothing is going to change from here.


I glide through time and space so fast,
that everything else fades out..
I hear the noises in my head so loud,
that everything else fades out..
I waited for a change so long,
that every hope has now faded out..
and nothing is going to change from here
is all i can hear myself repeating..


I believed,
I fought,
I lost,
I cried,
I fought each time for a change..
but it was always a flicker,
and I never saw the light
I fought each time for you..
And then you tell me, 
you never believed in the fight..
I never knew i could feel so dead about you
but I know now, nothing is changing from here


Not all seasons change
Not all fights win battles
Not all promises last
Not all hopes see light
Sometimes when things stop to change
you just end up feeling so dead inside...

This is a rather grim interpretation of the image but sometimes the most beautiful things around evoke the most grim feelings..

creative inputs: srk!

Enjoy this moment...

.......this moment is life

"Life is but a day,

A fragile dew drop on its perilous way

A laughing school boy without grief or care

riding the springy branches of an elm"- John Keats

Taking cue from the above captured picture, I take the liberty to create a modified version of Keats

"Life is but a day,

A fragile rain drop on its perilous way

A cheeky school girl without grief or care

dancing in the first showers of the rain

swirling her umbrella to create the rainbows

splashing the waters on the face of the shy bushes by the roadside

raising her head to talk straight to the clouds above..

Ah.. i miss that conversation

Ah..i miss the rain..

Ah.. i miss you- 'the carefree life'!

Creative Inputs: SRK

Memorial Travel II

"When you seek it, you cannot find it.."

I have found this statement weirdly true in a lot of life's situations. When I go to watch a much acclaimed movie, or read a highly recommended book, or simply order my favorite drink many a times my own high expectations belie the joy of experiencing certain things.

Wisconsin trip on the contrary was a surprise experience. It was one of those things you get into with no mental image and register everything with a fresh perspective as you go along. I can recall vividly how I shivered sitting along the side of the lake inwardly remembering the similar cold Naini breeze. Every time I drove into Nainital from the warm plains, there would be this one turn along the road where I would shiver suddenly as the cold fresh wind from the lake would just hit me right across. The shiver isn't just a reflex to the chill in the breeze for me its an acknowledgement of familiarity. I refused to put on a jacket because that chill refreshed mental images of my hometown. And a nostalgic person like me savors even the goose-bumpy associations!

What is the perfect treat after shivering in the cold? no brainer-its food and chai!

What if you can get momo's with chilli chutney. Kathal(jackfruit) sabzi and Kadii chawal in a authentic Nepali restaurant. I think the picture alongside conveys my expressions completely. I was overjoyed, overwhelmed (although no tears). Twice I have been labelled a Nepali to my deep chagrin, but this food made me a convert. I felt a deep kinship with Nepali's around the world after eating this food!
Food just fosters new loyalties, its the easiest way to the heart!
We roamed around Madison through the night and the next day was another surprise.

We drove into Wisconsin Dells. All the frozen woods of winter were verdant and green this time of the year. All the sleepy people lazing in their warm apartments in winter were out on the roads with their fancy boats. It was my first rendezvous with water sports. Hello waters we meet again, but this time I'm not sitting by your side in a pensive mood, I am going to run around and race right across you. I will create waves and feel the waters spray across my face at 40mph. It was good fun, unfortunately I have no 'in-action' pictures but the picturesque landscape and the thrill of racing was a wonderful experience. The only downside was the sacrifice of  the bunch of hair when I combed after that 'hair raising' experience!

A lovely margarita cheese pizza with a local brewed awesome beer completed my day and I was safely escorted back to my abode in Champaign.

The day ended on a high note with my brother doing us proud with a 95% in CBSE exam. So a proud sister in a happy mood prayed for success for his little brother in whatever he does in life.
Amen!
(sorry i can't keep a serious face when we are together, crazy reality!)

Memorial travel

The travel was on Memorial Day so technically its memorial travel, it was good fun, good food and good memories too so it goes to the blog. It all started with no planning, no clue about the itinerary, all I knew was that I would be travelling with friends and acquaintances back from engineering days.
Places and people are an interesting combination. Some places are fun because of the people you are around with. How you discover a new place depends to an extent on the company you have around.
You sometimes see people in a whole new light when you are at a new place. ‘Holiday goggles’-looking at everything with a relaxed cheerful demeanor or the other variant ‘Graduation goggles’ –looking nostalgically at all the good memories of past years also play their own sweet role.

So post the initial philosophizing, I should now talk about the travel. It was Chicago-Madison-Wisconsin Dells. It’s a little difficult to comprehend how places change with season here. Under the summer sun you can never imagine the winter chill. Seeing the winter frost you can never imagine lush green trees and gurgling waters. I had little expectations from Wisconsin as I had seen it all frozen, cold and deserted in the winters. My imagination had not conceived beautiful lakes, drives through green trees, gently meandering green slopes and so many people around! So it was a pleasant surprise.

Starting from Champaign I had some known and some surprise company. Coming this far you are already far beyond your comfort zone so all you want is to have a good time with the people around.
The small town people from Champaign (i.e. me) need to refocus in the big city with the tall buildings, lights, traffic and the crowds. However it’s a quick reflex and you reconnect with the city almost in a blink! So it was a quick walk around the Chicago Lake, then off to Hardrock cafe, dinner at a fancy Indian place and then all the way up to Hancock towers. Chicago and the city lights every time I see I still love the sight.

The next day was a rendezvous with an old college friend. It was a good surprise to meet her after so many years and again it wasn’t planned it just happened. We walked and tried to talk loudly over the sound of the passing Memorial Day parade band. Had a Chinese lunch while remembering the awesome Chinese food places in CP, Delhi. I was again at the Chicago bean, taking the usual pictures. I wonder if I am ever going to see the day when I walk along the bean without having an impulse to take pictures. The interesting piece about the Chicago bean is that it was designed by an architect of Indian origin. We just take this vicarious pleasure in his accidental identity. The design is around the theme of what a building can give to the onlooker, so magnanimously it reflects back your own image with the entire Chicago skyline as the backdrop along with all the many people who flock to take their own pictures. It’s definitely an interesting concept. (Reference source: fellow traveler).
With this the Chicago lap came to an end and I started off for the Wisconsin sojourn.

I’ll post the Wisconsin travelogue in the next blog because I am done with my part time here, have got to meet a professor and then head for my internship. Just writing it down to remind myself that it a long day after an early morning and unfortunately life is not one happy vacation like the blog post above!