Tales of the Wanderlust

It is overcast but it would never rain like the trepidation will go unspoken Pieces of broken glass stick together like in one of those unbreakable glasses I grind my teeth and try to scatter them but come back with bruised fingers Its always about others.... or for them, themselves The best words are never said, they are the worst too I walked miles only to discover that it was a circular path Living in desolation would at least keep me grounded The last drop to fill the cup shall never fall Don't even bother what difference does nudity make when no one is around!

As the eclectic smells waft through the air Of salt, sweat and the Cooum river And if the smells of the sea and Jasmine win Yes Machan ; it is Madras you are in! The roaring of machines & blaring of trains With a splash of kollywood and music it rains And if notes of Carnatic rise above the din Yes Machan ; it is Madras you are in! Fluffy soft idlis or hot molaga bajji With piping hot, strong, degree filter coffee   If that’s what the world is having for tiffin Yes Machan ; it is Madras you are in!   Residential flats, Glass Towers, pristine And temples of yore share the sky line If it is Medley of old and new herein   Yes Machan ; it is Madras you are in! Hot, hotter, hottest are the three seasons Blame the humidity and various other reasons If the same warmth is in air and also its men Yes Machan ; it is Madras you are in! No matter where you come here from If you feel at home and always welcome If the cit...

The largest black out in human history, which India faced shall remain the largest for quite some time to come as it is quite impossible to replicate the same anywhere else, unless China also fails in an equal miserable way (the chances of which aren’t remote as China’s demand for power is also more that its capacity to generate). This blackout had left millions stranded in the dark for a long time, there were miner trapped, hospitals disabled. Those who could afford ran their back up systems and could maintain the status quo but what about those who are dependent solely on the power supplied by the government? They had no choice but to suffer silently.   In a typical reactive mode our government is now talking of reforms in the power sector. But one needs to ask what kind of reforms? Privatization? Even if the UPA government gathers enough courage to usher in such changes, at best it would benefit a few large corporates who will walk away filling their coffers at the cost of...

Vibes of victory Over vice brutality & treachery Over exploitation, destruction and treachery. Waves of hope To tide over disasters and diseases To tide over penury and prejudice To tide over oppression and depression . Beaming smiles, Radiant faces Thoughtful eyes and able bodies Unbreakable spirit to keep fighting The internal and external enemies. One finds all of these here – Africa, This is where the mankind came from And this is where the mankind will return to. 

The tantalizing purposelessness The guilt inducing vacuum Sound of piercing chats, confusing piety Desperate Calling out to a misunderstood deity Purple pink sky  The golden yellow lights of bulbs Tug of war between elevation and elation Closure of one more episode of countless lives Fear of safe return And anxiety like that of roosting birds Forewarning of the darkness to come Aching longing for the distant joy Vacillating loyalties Rising royalties for the people who tread the uncharted Neither the light to understand nor the darkness to hide, my sins I hate the twilight, whenever I get the time to think whenever I get the liberty to be myself I hate the twilight.

When I can’t talk to you after a testing day, When I can’t see you roaming around, And feel secure in that natural bond, which tied us together, When I can’t listen to your voice - a soothing reassurance, like a breeze that foretells the arrival of monsoon on a sultry summer evening, I try to hold on to the myriad images in my memories I try to experience them in my mind I try to look into the photos in which we have frozen moments that defined my life. Alas, that only makes me cry As I crave more to hug you tight, to lean on your shoulder to beat, to pinch, to bite you to laugh my heart out with you. Those long walks are gone, The silent evenings are a distant past! The unseen, untold, unforgettable hands of darkness hold me down as I try to jump out of this quick sand. All I see is the huge distance As I try to grab as much as I can from your presence To fill up the vacuum of your absence, I slip down in the abyss as huge tongues fla...

“This cannot be your birthday treat! The meal cost us only 94 Dirhams!” We exclaimed dismayed by the fact that our friend’s birthday treat did not cost him more, even after having a sumptuous three course meal in the famed Jumierah Beach Walk. Just then a bus full of laborers went past us. No one noticed. Well, why would anyone pay attention to a bus that transports people from their camps to place of work (which is a construction site of a big hotel) when you have a parade of BMW, Audi and Ferraris going by? The bus came to a halt just near our table (we were dining outside) and I got a glimpse of people inside. Nothing spectacular, no romanticizing of poverty here, it was a bus full of hardworking, underpaid men. But what disrupted the magnetic field of affluence that prevailed was not their presence but the millions of questions their eyes threw astray while they gawked at the well attired men, those dainty ladies and those spectacular structures which their brethren built and w...

Walk slowly but steadily, there is this light to guide you. Transcend, from illusion to truth from darkness to light realise you are already immortal! Transition is constant, we are changing ever. Determine the direction by looking at this soothing light it will lead you, me, us from lower to higher levels of consciousness from turbulence to benevolence from disturbance to peace from experimental to supra mental! The light glows everywhere within the best and worst of men.

Hear all! No not all, only those who can see things before they happen, only those whose hearts, souls and minds are open. Those of us who don't see numbers but value, those of us who talk with your inner you. Hear all indigo spirits, If you feel your life is a Topsy-turvy Déjà Vu   If you feel that you are Winnie the pooh If you speak fluently an unknown tongue If you seem to grow not old but young Hear those who yearn, To return to the warmth of the mother ship to take the final mission completion trip. Those who search everywhere for a sign, did you forget that the stars are ever benign? Soon Jupiter & Venus shall shine above the horizon Mercury will join the celestial procession. Then the pathway to heaven will be thrown open leading us to the land of twinkling purple sun.

For the past few days a soup has been simmering inside my mind, an eclectic mixture of Objectivism, Laissez Faire Capitalism and Libertarian Socialism. No to mention the anarchist inclinations that makes me take an anti establishment stand. The aroma that arose from that pot was both tantalizing and invigorating. It led to one of those phases in life when one questions everything that is internal, values, attitude, ethics, philosophy and Faith.     But, can faith be questioned? Is it not placed on the pedestal of untouchable sanctity?   The answer that emerged after a prolonged strife is that yes for the former and no for the later. Whoever says that faith is unquestionable is wrong, no two ways about it.   Faith has to be questioned time and again. It is only after going through the furnace of questions do beliefs transform into faith and that why, beliefs can be superstitious but faith never. The more we doubt and interrogate the more pristine it becomes. Actually ...