I love them

A prayer, she is a prayer
that I will keep chanting all my life, me - her son.

A blessing, he is a blessing who has made my life worth living, me - his son.

A reflection,  together they are a reflection of god who has never ending lessons, lessons for my enlightenment, me, a novice.

Wish she was still Geeta...

"Geeta, I 'm back from the fields", called Ram. They lived in an anonymous village in Rajasthan. Ram washed his hands, splashed water on his face, chanted the usual evening prayers and then perched atop the only chair in their house. "So, did the 'seths' agree to buy grains at the market price?", enquired Geeta, loosening a glass of water to Ram. "No, they are still insisting for lower rates. I will try in the markets of our near by areas", replied Ram, streching his aching legs again and again. A distressed Geeta walked to the kitchen, wiping up the summer sweat with her silk sari. "Ram, today I 've prepared your favourite 'moong ki daal' with crispy 'papads' ", said Geeta, her face hosting a calm look over a disturbed one. Ram! Ram! wake up, first eat some food and then sleep, urged Geeta. But there was Ram, not respondong to any call. A current travelled through Geeta. She shrieked, she traumatised but kept sprinkling water on his face. He had died. He had an heart attack. Anyhow collecting herself, she ran house to house but it was too late for anything. Tears were not leaving Geeta's eyes. Her face now hosted a dry look, devoid of all liveliness, devoid of everything. Geeta knew what was to follow after those sympathies of the villagers, she knew she was not Geeta anymore,  she was a 'sati', a divine woman who would be travelling straight to heaven and will bring happinessfor her successors and for her village by sacrificing herself to the gods. All of her prophecy accorded with real time. She wore her wedding day dress, she was made to look more beautiful,  actually more than the day when she got her husband. The orchestra had arrived, the funeral pyre had been laid down with Ram resting on it. Geeta had to accompany him, the ambience was saturated with chantings of 'sati' hymns, people, ironically praising and admiring Geeta's sacrifice as she vanished in the flames, crying and shouting till her breath permitted her to. "I 'm with you, my love", her last words tamed all the hymns, all the orchestra.

A loser's words

They thumped fiercely at the door,

That power, a contrast to their weak voice.

The voice of requesting me to ajar the door

Inside was I, in a Maslin of thoughts.

I heard two voices, one was rock,

and the other, a feather.

The rock reminisced me my failure, my defeat,

the feather schlepped my parents’ pleads but

the rock bullied me, compelled me,

As I went breathless, bereft of life.

Lovely gatecrashers

Resting on our old dining chairs,

we watched and awaited India’s win,

dinner waiting for long to be served,

lost all its steam over the plates.

suddenly, gate crashed chilling winds,

wind chimes singing the wind’s strength

they added pseudo as a prefix to summer

and then robbed us of electricity.

isolating the chairs, we marched outside,

into the balcony, into the wind’s empire.

the gatecrashers robbed us again,

this time of our stress, of our forehead’s creases.

the sky clicked our photo, then came a

late capture sound, we revised

light travels faster than sound!

yeah! Wise people in the empire!

they gate crashed our silence,

into our gloomy air,

to cherish us,

to be a part of their celebration.

Preserve the elixir of your life

March 22, World Water Day. It’s ironical that people have still got hues of Holi before water conservation messages have caught their eyes and ears on radio and social networking sites. To all those people, I urge to compensate all the buckets of water they spilled this Holi. Mentioning some statistics, by 2050, we would be left with below 100cu.kms of water with 550cu.kms in 1997 if we remain consistent on our current per capita water consumption. I quote the words of respected MK Gandhi that earth has enough for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed. I know that it’s not out of greed but just irrational use of water that is turning the water bodies narrower. A family of four in my locality has a single water connection and another family of five has two water connections and is a weekly receptor of tanker service. These families need to be shaken hard so that they break out from their comfortable zone to get some reality hiccups. We have a long way to go in mass water conservation and turning passive at the start line will indebt us with 324 bcm of water 2050, so we have to take some quick and well planned steps starting at the lowest level. Inculcating the habit of rational resources’ use in our children from a young age will pacify the thirst of many coming generations. I think that there are two ways through which we can contribute in the water conversation campaign. The first way is to simply use less water but if you have an industrial work domain and can’t scale down the high usage of water then focus more on compensating that high usage. Executing any of the two ways needs a close and detailed analysis of our daily routine or of the complete procedure of work at our workplace. We have to figure out our flaws and then chalk out the conversation manifesto which can be both at the house level and at the society level. Our government has a critical role in water conversation because they have got the power, financial aid and authority to implement the latest techniques and technologies in bulk at different places in our country. It should constantly keep a tab on different conferences and summits to get know-how of various conversation methods and side by side developing water efficient technologies. Other than this, it should periodically roll out awareness drives in collaboration with the young generation. These drives and campaigns should stretch up to the remote areas and should be designed keeping in mind the location and the monetary condition of the people there. Recycling of water is another field awaiting its exploitation for water conversation. We should also bolster our energy production and management to reduce the load on our nature. Natural resource management department should be outsourced to enterprises which specialize in this domain and these enterprises should use cloud service so that they can apply the conversation techniques of one company to another. Hope we succeed in our attempt.

The colorful 17th march

Shouts, whistles, Honey Singh mashups, Holi playlists, water splashes and many more sounds converged together today to shoot the decibel and energy level around me and you, pleasantly high. I have fallen poor of the adjectives to engage your imagery because this atmosphere is a blend of all the synonyms of fun and happiness. The roads appeared to say that this time they were leveled in red tar and not in black, people’s faces covered with colors more than my color box, in number. Holi marks that historical moment when good triumphed over evil, when a true devotee’s belief conquered the pride of an atheist. I wish all the blessings, happiness and also the strength to tackle all the problems of your life for you on this ‘festival of gulal’. 

Happy holi, be safe and remember to compensate the buckets of water you empty today. Have fun.

A lesson from my exams -IV

From now on, I should see you watching movies of Christian bale only. I want you to learn cricket and watch its matches giving up on all your hobbies and leisure activities. 

A very good evening to all of you. What thoughts engaged your mind after reading the above lines or more precisely, orders, commands. You would have felt like a burden if you are not in a habit of the above activities. This is the last way of reinforcement, extinction. When you make a person do or adopt something that you desire without his consent although for his betterment, then you are seen as a dictator by him and you know that dictatorship never has followers. Ironically, the individual will develop hatred or anger for the desired activity or his surroundings and not for you if you actually hold an important position in his life because then he will always try not  to hurt you and will vent his frustration in surroundings and in his social life. Not at all  exaggerating, he will transform into a ‘touch me not’ type, Change his surroundings and he will just succumb down. Extinction has a direct effect on a person’s confidence and  attitude towards life. I hope nobody is enduring an extinction on him/her, talking especially of the child labor in different parts of the world. Please, let our children feel that slavery is just a word in dictionary and nothing else.