Tales of the Wanderlust

The wails of her younger sister wake up Anju. ‘Don’t sleep like a buffalo, get up and attend to your sister’ screamed her grandmother, in between her bouts of cough, caused by the oven than burns damp firewood. Anju got up, rolled her mat, picked up her younger sister and soothed her. She had a couple of hours before she goes to Rathi madam’s house to wash clothes and clean vessels. Today, madam had asked her to come early. Her son, daughter in law and grand children have come from New York. She is planning a special lunch. Anju always liked the family, as they are nice generous people. Anju knew that she will get some money, chocolates and so she was looking forward to her work today.  There was a lot of work to be done, the now Americanized daughter in law of Rathi madam felt guilty about how people were treated in our country. She gave Anju 100 rupees as bonus! Anju thought she should buy some trinkets for her and medicines for grandmother. The rest she has to give to gran...

Something is pulling my soul from me Like how my amma pulls a small ball of dough from a bigger one, Like how the earth was pulled from the sun, Or the moon was pulled from the earth. Every night, the sky searches for me, to whisper a thrilling plan If only, I come out of my house. Millions of rain drops wait to fall on my cheeks, If only, I peep out of my umbrella. Thousand blades of grass wait to kiss my feet If only, I step out of my shoes. The paper boats I made and let sail as a child, Have reached the streams of my future and are waiting for me to board. I will cross the seven seas and conquer lands beyond, If only, I Wake up.

The colours on the canvas fade slowly As the winds of life erode the surface Of my our imaginary worlds Those worlds that are made and destroyed By wills and fancies – ironically not mine! For solace we can fall back on Karma, Honestly where will civilizations be  if not for these philosophies? Well, for some, dreams are like bubble wrap, Meant less for nurturing, more for bursting Either for the pleasure of others Or for ourselves, as we have nothing better to do! But thanks to those fancies we beggars can ride once in a while.

Don’t call me a drunkard; I drink to be honest The world kills the candid men; you either lie or die Spirits make us blurt out the harshest of the bitter truths Hence listen, sober fools Often the protagonist and the hero of a tale are different The protagonist is destined to be, but to be a hero is a matter of choice The protagonist shoulders the responsibility because the hero bears the burden The protagonist was because the heroes rose Sadly, the heroes are forgotten as the legends are propagated No one knows which is inherent and which you absorbed over the years Tales are a grotesque mixture of innocence and vile astuteness They now spread rigor mortis slowly into inspiration Should I fight or should I love the death of the spirit The answer glows as the warmth spreads Leave the coils and be a free soul eternally And hence I drink and strive to peel off the layers to reveal the reality Don’t call me drunkard; I d...

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...

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.

  Waiting for the summer rains, unaware that it would never come. Spinning out thousand  tales not knowing where they came from.   Fighting over a packet of maggie or nibbling half a 5 star for hours nothing was exclusively yours or mine the little we had was always ours.   Choosing a tinkle that has to be read now the happiness of having saved rupees ten in the old plastic dabba with a hole life was pure, pristine and simple then.   Come rains off we went to watch with glee and it was best viewed from the hall. who would sit which side of Johari’s window who gets to see the way the rains fall.   Both of us perched on its narrow sill, though unfathomable we did it, but how? Have we out grown it or has the world, Pinky, become too small for our love.

Take off your ear studs And start shaving daily. Keep your eyebrows knotted And stop moving gaily. Can you see in black & white? Can you worship your chores? Do you keep singing always? It’s rude to knock on the doors. A lieutenant cannot speak He should be all eyes and ears. Wait till you get three stars So silence for three years. Understand if I yell at you it’s only a correction, Ah did I tell you? you need to change your vision. Now the silly child within asks,  ‘Where is the bearded uncle, Who used to dance like possessed, And sing a song at will?’

Convoluted mathematical derivations seem simple before the turns of destiny which is unravelled unrivalled. If we have the magic key that opens every door honey  the challenge is to find the key hole now. Fate does not make you weaker instead it keeps getting smarter. The neural network of the universe is ever updating every move that can possible be conceived by human every thought that is still covered in the mental placenta is a mere variable in the universal equation. If in doubts destiny lets you win, experiments with you and learns skills which will be used against you. Still man lives on, the one who knows this and the one who doesn’t. He runs behind the solution of this equation which the universe has not yet finished and hence he will live on. As yet another night fades into a pale dawn It rekindles lost forsaken hopes. But still we look forward to it. Cheers to life. The most effective narcotic known to mankind yet.......

Once I get tired of running hither thither I might sit down and look up. Realising that I have been only running in circles all along and as a confounded schizophrenic might stare at you. I might want to pour out all the contradictions in me I would want to sleep to make up for these restless nights. Like the skin shedding its toxins while healing My mind shall let go of all its sins. Then it might dawn on me how great life is and how callously I have squandered it. This dawn of greatness shall spread the light of humility Then my heart will be filled with remorse For all those things I never did and I will never do. If at that time if I seek solace, refuge in you Don’t turn me away Narahari! Let me just soak in your infinite love And let me just be……..

When all decisions in life is determined by others can you even call it your own? If everything is predestined and karma all powerful why even placate the Gods? We all should lead lives as it pleases us but what happens when your pleasure lies in pleasing others? If neither questions nor answers come from inside Why bother thinking at all? Well all said and done, one has two choices either to live in the illusion that we determine our lives or accept & resent that we are mere spectators of the grand play called ‘la vie’.

Faith is not believing that God will solve all my problems; It is all about trusting that even his not solving is for my good. Confidence is not just being sure that you can It is all about understanding that even if you can’t you don’t lose much. Strength is not about winning time and again It is all about being complacent, knowing that you fought hard. Life is not just crossing hurdles after hurdles It is all about getting up with a heave and moving towards the next one. Hope is not anticipating good times It is all about the conviction that even this will pass.

                Sita Lakshmi was in her late sixties. Her exact age did not matter anymore, not to her at least, all she did was lie down all the day and wait to be woken up by her son for being fed or being bathed or for being cleaned. ‘ Madhava ’ she would call out irrespective of him being inside the house or not ‘ give me some water, my throat is parched ’. More often she fell back to sleep forgetting to have water and wait till her son comes home.                 Madhavan, 32, unmarried, was working in a local grocery store. He made sure that he visited home thrice during his work timings from the shop, to take care of his mother. This has become a routine since Sita Lakshmi was affected by Alzheimer's. He had no qualms about this. His mother has done so much for them and she has gone through so much and the least he could do was ...