"How small is the earth and confined, watched and followed by the persistent horizons.
The light like a cage has shut out the dark eternity and the hours hop and cry within its barrier" -Tagore
'the tyranny of light'
'the freedom of darkness'
These metaphors sound contrary to popular poetic sensibilities, our literature abounds with references where light symbolizes all that is positive(freedom) and darkness is the connotation for everything that is negative(shackles).
But is light really the freedom that we seek or is it the oppressor that we are yet to fathom?
"The division of days and nights is not for me, not that of months and years. For me, the stream of time has stopped, on whose waves dances the world- like straws and twigs. In this dark cave, I am alone, merged in myself, and the eternal light is still, like a mountain lake afraid of its own depth. Water oozes and drips from the cracks, and in the pools float the ancient frogs. I sit chanting the incantation of nothingness. The worlds limits recede, line after line. the stars like sparks of fire flown from the anvil of time are extinct. I took shelter in the darkness, the castle of the infinite and fought the deceitful light,day after day, till it lost all its weapons and lay powerless at my feet."- Tagore
It is a joy to experience someone else's imagination when you are 250 feet below the earth's surface in the longest cave system in the world.
It is a joy to give in and experience a moment of complete cool darkness after fighting it at every step..
It is a joy to may be partially understand what someone meant behind a bunch of beautiful lines..
This stream of consciousness was inspired by a trip to the Mammoth Caves National Park in KY. It was my first cave experience and between all the factual details about geography, geology, history, zoology and chemistry I had Tagore's poetry giving me company!
A shout-out to Nashville, it has the best music scene I have experienced and I am sure no other city can come anywhere close.The evening started with a live piano rendition of 'American Pie'-Don McLean followed by 'Brown-eyed girl' Van Morrison, 'Wanted Dead or Alive'-Bon Jovi, 'Leaving on the jet plane'-John Denver, rich dose of country- Country girl(shake it for me)/ Walking in Memphis.. and the list goes on.. Actually I was sold with the first song itself :)
The light like a cage has shut out the dark eternity and the hours hop and cry within its barrier" -Tagore
'the tyranny of light'
'the freedom of darkness'
These metaphors sound contrary to popular poetic sensibilities, our literature abounds with references where light symbolizes all that is positive(freedom) and darkness is the connotation for everything that is negative(shackles).
But is light really the freedom that we seek or is it the oppressor that we are yet to fathom?
"The division of days and nights is not for me, not that of months and years. For me, the stream of time has stopped, on whose waves dances the world- like straws and twigs. In this dark cave, I am alone, merged in myself, and the eternal light is still, like a mountain lake afraid of its own depth. Water oozes and drips from the cracks, and in the pools float the ancient frogs. I sit chanting the incantation of nothingness. The worlds limits recede, line after line. the stars like sparks of fire flown from the anvil of time are extinct. I took shelter in the darkness, the castle of the infinite and fought the deceitful light,day after day, till it lost all its weapons and lay powerless at my feet."- Tagore
It is a joy to experience someone else's imagination when you are 250 feet below the earth's surface in the longest cave system in the world.
It is a joy to give in and experience a moment of complete cool darkness after fighting it at every step..
It is a joy to may be partially understand what someone meant behind a bunch of beautiful lines..
This stream of consciousness was inspired by a trip to the Mammoth Caves National Park in KY. It was my first cave experience and between all the factual details about geography, geology, history, zoology and chemistry I had Tagore's poetry giving me company!
Source: National Geographic
A shout-out to Nashville, it has the best music scene I have experienced and I am sure no other city can come anywhere close.The evening started with a live piano rendition of 'American Pie'-Don McLean followed by 'Brown-eyed girl' Van Morrison, 'Wanted Dead or Alive'-Bon Jovi, 'Leaving on the jet plane'-John Denver, rich dose of country- Country girl(shake it for me)/ Walking in Memphis.. and the list goes on.. Actually I was sold with the first song itself :)
Also this was my second road trip and I again relived the green routes and the freedom of speed..
I wonder if Tagore ever pondered on this aspect of freedom..!!
