You pulled me in
rescued me from that unsettling sea
but the rope you used was tattered
and it was thrown with intent for me
the passionate tune you played
distracted me from your chaotic ways
a bittersweet defeat
I was smiling before you brought me down
Spinning spinning
Heart pumping speeding
Blushing and blood rushing
I loved it
Never wanting to regain balance
And you were holding me so tight
With open hands
Eventually you lost grip
No, you just let go
I was thrown into that ocean once again
You silently sailed away and left me unanswered
Drowning in my mistake
My heart slowing slowly all so deceiving
It broke within me and I stopped breathing
You saved me with false valiancy
Then let me sink because the water too covers your face
Once my hero, now my heartbreak
by Alchemy Sole
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Fruit Gathering
The Cloud said to me, "I vanish"; the Night said, "I plunge into the fiery dawn."
The Pain said, "I remain in deep silence as his footprint."
"I die into the fulness," said my life to me.
The Earth said, "My lights kiss your thoughts every moment."
"The days pass," Love said, "but I wait for you."
Death said, "I ply the boat of your life across the sea."
Tagore (Fruit-Gathering)
What a Story!
I've nothing, nothing to comment on this story! I'm in the awe of it and in no mood to come out of it. Have a read here, and join my awe. :-)
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2005/
The Last Leaf - one of the O Henry's short stories!
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2005/
The Last Leaf - one of the O Henry's short stories!
Courage..
Completed a telugu novel, just few moments back. Had tough time reading it, as I always do when the protagonist is a spineless confused soul, unable to decide about himself and the world around. What prompted me to complete the novel was that the fella, at some point, he started analyzing and understanding what's with him that makes his life hell. And the best of the part of the novel is the ending. Btw, the book is Alpajeevi by RaaVi Sastri, for ppl who are interested.
The afterword by the author had an interesting quote:
"Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other."
Boswell: Life
I can't agree more! And the book will linger long in my mind, at least because of this quote.
The afterword by the author had an interesting quote:
"Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other."
Boswell: Life
I can't agree more! And the book will linger long in my mind, at least because of this quote.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Books v. Cigarettes
It was an unexpected call for a B'day party. Very common with me, to forget the special days and dates, so it comes as no surprise for anybody. The lunch was planned to be in City Center. The only reason, if ever I get excited to visit a mall is that there might be a possibility to spend a while in bookstore. (Honestly, I like the elaborate lunches too ;-) ) Since there was no possibility of sneaking in time when guest at a party, was there with least excitement.
Luckily for me, and not so luckily for many ravenous guys around, we were asked to wait. That is when I literally ran to Crosswords and straight to the classic sections. Wanted to pick, Tagore's My Life in my words, which was not to be there in the whole lot of new collection. I've been quite impressed by the collection of classics at these place. Italo Calvino's book was what I was looking for, when my eyes caught the title "Books v. Cigarettes". George Orwell's name next to the title exhilarated. Never heard about it, a quick browse of the book, helped me accrete the exhilirtion. Marcel Proust's My Reading Days was the other unkown book I fetched.
Having the books on my desk was like having a very close friend waiting for you in the reception of your office and you caught up in an ineffectual meeting. Thankfully, time passes! The moment I was back home, I just couldn't wait for a moment to stop myself from the book. Opened, this particular one, my hands round it, my eyes all busy collecting the black letters on the white page, mind engaged with the thoughts behind the letters and the constant smile on my lips. It got a li'l over my head at times, with no intention of complaints though. The intense conversations were with: a writer at places, a disappointed ex-book salesperson, an obligated book reviewer, a lucky enough patient in a Latin hospital and the best part, a school kid with all insecurities.
One of the reasons why I hook so much to the presence of books is that, the "listener" in me is at work. No, I'm not silent in it. As a matter of fact, it's me whole completes the conversation :-) At times, you meet some people during travel, absolute strangers, yet you strike the chord and keep talking about all the things or the earth. And you just keep listening to them, sometimes excited, sometimes bored, sometimes with wavering mind but most of the times very interested. The experience of the book as more or less the same for me! "I loved it!" is the statement the usually comes to my rescue.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Feminism..
Had I not been tagged on the topic of Feminism, I'd never blog about this. It is one of the topics I'm most confused about and wonder how much my cumbersome writing adds to the chaos. Mahi, this is just for you.
Before I even start writing about Feminism, let me introduce the kind of person I'm.
This was two years back I guess, fresh in my first job, was juggling with the heavy equipment that I was supposed to work on. Quite over-ambitiously tried to place a weighty server from one end of the room to the other. One of my colleagues, who was keenly watching me until then, came running to help me and had he not been that prompt, I would have surely injured my hand. Instead of thanking him for the favour, almost took to him saying, "It was my work, why the hell you wanna come my way?" He was startled enough, but then knowing me pulled me into a conversation..
"So.. you don't help me. Even when you are struggling, I shouldn't be helping you?"
"Yes, that is supposedly my work and I'd do that. You needn't bother!"
"So.. you think women and men are equal?"
"I don't know all that. All I'm sure is if someone wants paying me less, just because I'm gal, I'd.. I'd.. whatever.. I'll never accept that and would fight with them. When in office, you and I are same, if that was what you were looking for!"
"Then, why do women need reservation?"
" I don't know.. I'm always against that, all kinds of reservation to that matter. I never wanted it, you know.. go and ask people who fight for it, not me."
"Okay.. I had the same question to my sister and she answered that, wanna know?"
"hmmm.."
"She says that, though men and women are equal and we have to accept that as a fact, women were left behind for various reasons, be it socio, economic sphere or anywhere. For them to come forward and match men shoulder to shoulder, they need some special attention or help now. And these reservations are exactly there in to enable women get out of their shells and prove themselves.."
He did say a lot many things, the bottom line being reservations are helpful in narrowing the differences between the males and females.
Now, the other reason I cited this conversation is that, at that moment and also a long while after that, I never thought I should be called a feminist. It took sometime for me to know what is not feminism and I'm still very unsure of what it is.
What's not feminism?
Then, what is it about? Fundamental principles:
Forgetting all these terminology for sometime, here are my serious suggestions for the 20-somethings of the 21st century.
Before I even start writing about Feminism, let me introduce the kind of person I'm.
This was two years back I guess, fresh in my first job, was juggling with the heavy equipment that I was supposed to work on. Quite over-ambitiously tried to place a weighty server from one end of the room to the other. One of my colleagues, who was keenly watching me until then, came running to help me and had he not been that prompt, I would have surely injured my hand. Instead of thanking him for the favour, almost took to him saying, "It was my work, why the hell you wanna come my way?" He was startled enough, but then knowing me pulled me into a conversation..
"So.. you don't help me. Even when you are struggling, I shouldn't be helping you?"
"Yes, that is supposedly my work and I'd do that. You needn't bother!"
"So.. you think women and men are equal?"
"I don't know all that. All I'm sure is if someone wants paying me less, just because I'm gal, I'd.. I'd.. whatever.. I'll never accept that and would fight with them. When in office, you and I are same, if that was what you were looking for!"
"Then, why do women need reservation?"
" I don't know.. I'm always against that, all kinds of reservation to that matter. I never wanted it, you know.. go and ask people who fight for it, not me."
"Okay.. I had the same question to my sister and she answered that, wanna know?"
"hmmm.."
"She says that, though men and women are equal and we have to accept that as a fact, women were left behind for various reasons, be it socio, economic sphere or anywhere. For them to come forward and match men shoulder to shoulder, they need some special attention or help now. And these reservations are exactly there in to enable women get out of their shells and prove themselves.."
He did say a lot many things, the bottom line being reservations are helpful in narrowing the differences between the males and females.
Now, the other reason I cited this conversation is that, at that moment and also a long while after that, I never thought I should be called a feminist. It took sometime for me to know what is not feminism and I'm still very unsure of what it is.
What's not feminism?
- It is not an "anti-men" philosophy. If you are feminist, it doesn't mean you've to necessarily hate men. And if you can empathize with men, befriend them, that won't stop you from being tagged as feminist. Simply put, it is NOT "fight against men."
- Feminism isn't an "antonym" for chauvinism. Chauvinism is a more or less a cultural trait, whereas the former was a "movement" against the cultural trait.
Then, what is it about? Fundamental principles:
- Men and women are equal
- There is systemic and systematic oppression of women imposed by the society.
- Women need to stand up for themselves because no one else would do it for them - not their father, husband or son.
Forgetting all these terminology for sometime, here are my serious suggestions for the 20-somethings of the 21st century.
- Follow you heart, do what you wanna do. And while following heart so religiously, don't let the mind wander. Make sure it gets to the business as well.
- Better restrict the generalization of your experiences. Don't ever go on saying, "all gals are like this.." or "men will be men" kind of statements. They do no good, and everyone person is special in many ways. Be it a gal or a guy. There is only one "me" and only one "you". Note that.
- Respect others on merit of their personality. I've seen people running away from "lady" bosses. Be sure when you are doing that is what I can suggest.
- It hardly matters you being tagged as "feminist" or not. All matters is what you think about yourself and how you wanna go about life.
Ahem.. Sachin spoiled me too..
My day has been full of cricket. Having nothing to work at work, I've been mostly in cricinfo site. And sharing the "wows.. oohs.. aahs" with people in (gtalk) and around (me). So.. India won, won convincingly enough. That's good news, but the post isn't about that.
Out of the blue, I dug out my gmail chats to find out the link recommended by a friend, sometime back. He stated it pretty clearly that it was about the way we group watching cricket, it was by Siddhartha Vidhyanathan, that it is a must read and a lot other things. Being busy at that point of time, just kept it away. The only thing I do with something postponed is to postpone. Now the news is, I READ it! ;-)
And the bad part of the news is that I feel like talking / blogging / writing about it, just as Siddhartha did. But how to start and where all to touch, wish walking down the memory lane was easy. So, what I'm gonna do now is, just copy, paste few of the lines that I loved in the post.
Sachin Tendulkar spoilt us. He commanded that we sit in front of the television sets. He ensured we got late with homework, he took care of our lunch-break discussions. He was not all that much older than us, and some of us naïve schoolboys thought we would achieve similar feats when we were 16. We got to 16 and continued to struggle with homework.
For me, he was more than all this. (Just like he's for everyone else too.) Being in an all-gals school, and talking about him all through day, I was kinda "pick the odd". Hero was supposedly Shahrukh or Aamir, only few had an idea of Sachin, thanks to his endorsements. Atleast during the 96 WC that I found hard to share the excitement at School. Things then changed, cricket penetrated so deep into everybody's life, that like it or not, you had to live with it.Thankfully, gained a lot of friends just because of cricket. To date, if I've prayed it was for Sachin Tendulkar. I pray whenever he plays. I prayed for his health, for the serious backache he had halfway through career. Was li'l grown up, but yet worried a lot for his tennis elbow. And I prayed hard, that he shouldn't be part of any scams and scandals.Had he been associated with any of these, my trust about humans would have shattered forever.
I never ever tried to emulate him, for the simple reason that I was never keen on playing the sport. I seriously wonder, why couldn't Sachin inspire me to pick up the bat. But the lessons he taught, were all helpful in making me better person. What amazes me is the "BALANCE" he achieves, be it on the field and off it. Watching him bat is like heaven. I desparately wanted to whistle for his super shots. Alas, that's something I can't practice. That way, he leaves with me a sense of nonaccomplishment.
Did Sachin spoil me or not? Without him, my childhood would have been deprived of much joy and happiness. Not sure if Sachin's retirement would mark an end to the first quarter of my life or any such things, but surely he's the one who would let the child in me intact. Which means, I can be a kid whenever I feel like and that way, yeah.. he did spoil me. It's tough for people around to handle me as a kid, and when going gets tough, people just start complaining. ;-)
(This is "half baked" stuff from me. Supposed to be posted on Nov 17th! Untimely too.. )
Out of the blue, I dug out my gmail chats to find out the link recommended by a friend, sometime back. He stated it pretty clearly that it was about the way we group watching cricket, it was by Siddhartha Vidhyanathan, that it is a must read and a lot other things. Being busy at that point of time, just kept it away. The only thing I do with something postponed is to postpone. Now the news is, I READ it! ;-)
And the bad part of the news is that I feel like talking / blogging / writing about it, just as Siddhartha did. But how to start and where all to touch, wish walking down the memory lane was easy. So, what I'm gonna do now is, just copy, paste few of the lines that I loved in the post.
Sachin Tendulkar spoilt us. He commanded that we sit in front of the television sets. He ensured we got late with homework, he took care of our lunch-break discussions. He was not all that much older than us, and some of us naïve schoolboys thought we would achieve similar feats when we were 16. We got to 16 and continued to struggle with homework.
For me, he was more than all this. (Just like he's for everyone else too.) Being in an all-gals school, and talking about him all through day, I was kinda "pick the odd". Hero was supposedly Shahrukh or Aamir, only few had an idea of Sachin, thanks to his endorsements. Atleast during the 96 WC that I found hard to share the excitement at School. Things then changed, cricket penetrated so deep into everybody's life, that like it or not, you had to live with it.Thankfully, gained a lot of friends just because of cricket. To date, if I've prayed it was for Sachin Tendulkar. I pray whenever he plays. I prayed for his health, for the serious backache he had halfway through career. Was li'l grown up, but yet worried a lot for his tennis elbow. And I prayed hard, that he shouldn't be part of any scams and scandals.Had he been associated with any of these, my trust about humans would have shattered forever.
I never ever tried to emulate him, for the simple reason that I was never keen on playing the sport. I seriously wonder, why couldn't Sachin inspire me to pick up the bat. But the lessons he taught, were all helpful in making me better person. What amazes me is the "BALANCE" he achieves, be it on the field and off it. Watching him bat is like heaven. I desparately wanted to whistle for his super shots. Alas, that's something I can't practice. That way, he leaves with me a sense of nonaccomplishment.
Did Sachin spoil me or not? Without him, my childhood would have been deprived of much joy and happiness. Not sure if Sachin's retirement would mark an end to the first quarter of my life or any such things, but surely he's the one who would let the child in me intact. Which means, I can be a kid whenever I feel like and that way, yeah.. he did spoil me. It's tough for people around to handle me as a kid, and when going gets tough, people just start complaining. ;-)
(This is "half baked" stuff from me. Supposed to be posted on Nov 17th! Untimely too.. )