Rice Ball

A murder of crows,
And one rice ball.
One crow came,
Then came all.
Before the land
Was ploughed or
Sowed, Before the
Grain was
Cooked or soaked,
One crow knew
A ball was made
Roll it would
Without a shade.


Clamour and fight
Crows noisy trait.
“Silence!”
Up they see
The bright Blue sky,
Descends a Raven
Heavy and dark,
Noiseless,
Effortless,
The crow of Might.
As Jackdaws cower,
The Raven thunders,
“For one rotten rice ball?”
Kills them all.


A murder of thoughts,
And one rotten rice ball.
One thought came,
Then came all.

Rainbow Bridge

In the distant clouds
Sails her heart,
Touching rainbows
As they pass.

Rainbows!
The bridge across
To yearning hearts,
Heirs of land.
Hearts that rejoice
In the colours
Of romance
In a distant dance.
To the chasing heart
Colours, they are
Dreams of sand.
On the rainbow bridge
No holds to climb,
Nowhere to stand,
No hopes withstand.

Ah! its fleeting.
The wind blows,
The cloud sails, to
Yet another rainbow bridge.
And the heart of land
Yearns for yet another dance.

Shit happens for no reason

Does our liberation rest in pain? One wonders when pain arrives, "What have I done to beget this?" But in that question lies the assumption that what goes around comes around. In a world that is full of chaos, where there appears little logic, the karmic cause-effect does not exist in the metaphysical realm. Nothing that goes around need necessarily come around. To think that there is coming and going around is to attribute a definite purpose to the world of metaphysical events. World and life has no purpose. But that is a hard truth for the mind to swallow; a mind that constantly seeks theories, explanations and makes meanings. The mind seeks many ways to cope with pain and the karma theory is one such coping mechanism. In words that one may find lighter to understand, "Shit happens to you and there is no karmic reason why it happened to you." You may have delivered shit to someone but that is no reason why it has come back. It happened and you were there.

Pride and Judgment

Once upon a time, a philosopher invented a machine that could measure the 'good deeds' of a man. He had designed it in a way that the machine would start filling with a liquid for every good deed. He wished to test it and took it all over the world. Great saints, do-gooders, and good men of all kind volunteered. They would jump inside the machine, look through a window, and start narrating their good deeds. But no matter how long the list was, the machine did not fill beyond an inch. As a matter of fact, most of these tests were witnessed by millions of people who cheered for their saints. But all in vain. The philosopher always laughed at them. When all good men were tried, the philosopher brought the most despised barbarian of all the lands, who was ready to be executed and pushed him inside the machine. Millions had gathered again to witness the event. The barbarian went inside and shut the window. For a while, nothing happened and then feeble sobs were heard. Lo! The Machine began to fill and overflow. He was filling it with tears of remorse. He was shedding tears for every brutal act of his, that he considered a sin. The philosopher took no time in declaring him the greatest among all men. The millions went mad at the philosopher and made him drink the barbarian's tears and killed him and fed him to dogs. All of a sudden, famine arrived in the land. People had no food and they began to eat everything they could lay hands on. Even the greatest saints turned cannibals. Almost everyone died except those who ate the dogs. In them 'Conscience' was born and the land turned prosperous again. The people then worshipped the dogs, the philosopher, and the barbarian as incarnations of god.

Centuries later, a little boy found the machine and jumped inside it. He shut the window and on the doors of the window was written the words “You will be judged not by your actions, but by your judgment". He opened the window and on the other side of the doors was written "Pride". The philosopher was still laughing.

Slaughtercation

Cows and slaughterhouse,
Children and School.
The butcher's bamboo
Reeks fear Of the
Now Old wise and
Then young fool.
One cruel mountain
And rats skyfull;
Thus begin bloody
Perennial runs where
Rage is hidden
And freedom forbidden.
The martyr's today
In defending yesterday,
The monotony that bred
While tomorrow brews
Of what's dry,
Stale and dead.
Million glorified lies
History, murderers, isms,
But universalism outcast.
Parochial, hypocritical and
Opportunist at heart.
A system of
Abused equity, hailed
Uniformity and lost
Identity, and collectively
Falls on creativity
Guillotine of conformity.
Education this is?
Nay, slaughter en masse!
Say no to assembly,
We ain't weapons
Of your stupid wars.
The dawn be
No more red
saffron or green.
In our alliances
No animals, things,
Race be seen.
Your books be burnt,
Ideas shun and
Shackles broken, We
Condemn your slaughtercation.

Love.

The Abnoxious Copenhagen Deal

The deadlock at Copenhagen got me curious. I wanted to know what is exactly there on the deal that was written and re-written every 35 seconds and why are people objecting to it. So I took the help of an inside man at Copenhagen. The man got me a draft of the deals and what I found was absolutely shocking. The problem was not much in the industrial emission cuts, but in a new 'TarrrPurrr clause' that was included based on a research report from a Lebon prize winning scientific institute on climate change. It was found that the parliament buildings all over the world were major contributors of GHGs (green house gases), especially methane, particularly high during parliamentary sessions. Further research led to the understanding that politicians everywhere are the culprits. Excessive FARTING by politicians has led to an increases in GHG levels and is a major reason behind not only global climate change, but also several other socio-political-economic problems. Hence the deal had put a cap on the abnoxious gas, politicians of developing countries are allowed to emit.
This was definitely biased and preposterous, because it deprived politicians of their fundamental right - 'Right to Fart'. When the politicians of developed nations have farted enough, not only in their own country, but also elsewhere, putting a cap on politicians of emerging economies was found unjustified. Especially some of the top potato producing nations were in a fix. Farting is second nature to parliamentary meetings. Not only that, it was a gross insult to all world citizens who elected these leaders. The question that was asked, "If our leaders are not even allowed to fart, what else are they supposed to do?" Many people also took offence to the fact that students from third grade were asked to write this deal as part of their annual essay writing competition, while the earlier agreed set up was that the students from fifth grade will write it. All the above reasons combined, led to this infamous standoff. However, after an extended late night booze party, the world leaders agreed to scrap the 'TarrrPurrr clause' from the deal, but found a new problem. The deal was written a record three hundred billion times that Copenhagen had already exhausted all its paper reserves and the party was drawing to a close. So, someone suggested that they use toilet paper to ink the final deal and thus it was done. This may be an indication that the world leaders are going to wipe their ass with it.. Finally!

I Pledge

The doors have got eyes. They see you as you close in and open on their own. The smooth and shining granite floor welcomes you as you smile at your own reflection on the tiles. Don’t forget to carry a helmet, lest you may slip and break your head. People are buried in their cushion seats in an air conditioned zone oblivious to the blazing sun outside. Beautiful women in deep blue blazers outnumber the nurses here. You are entering Columbia Asia, a recent addition to the chain of ‘Five Star Hospitals’ springing up at the outskirts of Bangalore. There is no accreditation to the number of stars, but with a small cup of coffee priced at Rs.15 and the same amount of milk priced at Rs.30, you won’t argue. If you belong to the typical middle-class-IT-Indian-insured-by-company, then you know that this is the place for you.

It was a tense moment for our family. My brother was being operated on his left leg for an accident he met with 26 years ago. While the surgeon was busy constructing a blood canal through his leg, I was quietly turning the pages of a day old Deccan Herald education supplement sitting outside the operation theater. Several thoughts over the state of Indian education paraded through my mind and the flow broke every time the doors of the theater opened, only to bring anyone but my brother out. Out of the several breaks I had that day, I clearly remember three.

An old man in his eighties was rejecting all offers for help. Fear and doubt gripped his heart and pain danced all over his face. He abused everyone. It was probably sheer coincidence, but no members of his family were around to help him ease out. The condition of this man represented everything old age stood for: fear, hatred, neglect, and denial. It was not anything like Siddhartha’s moment, but when one looks at old age it is not easy to brush away the feeling that one’s own journey is not in the opposite direction. I was only hoping that as the day comes when I get close to my destination, I should not be ashamed of the journey I made.

Time is just a perception. When you wait for something, it seems like an eternity. The grains of sand seem too big to make it through the small pores. The clock stops ticking and the world is in a perennial state of suspension, while you are the only one moving restlessly. Frustration eats on you and the door opens only to add to your disappointment. A lady in her late thirties made her way out. Her parents have been waiting as long as me. All my disappointment disappeared, as her mother lovingly stroked her head and called her “My Baby”. I had never come across a thirty seven year old baby before that, but love has the power to make anything happen.

Stay in a hospital for a day and you will see more pain than you can handle. Your heart will sink into a valley of depression and you might start feeling that the only truth about this world is sorrow. One needs great courage to reason otherwise and see the world from a different perspective. Slowly, the passageway was filling in with people. They looked more expectant than anxious. The door opened and there was no customary bed and a patient accompanied with a nurse. This time around the nurse carried in her hand a basket and a beautiful baby was glowing inside like a pot of gold. In a flash, my world of pain turned upside down. It is not for nothing that we surround babies. They carry a fountain of joy into this world and we surround so that we could drink from them. This fountain was born on Friday, the 5th of June, 2009. I suddenly realized that it was the world environment day and my heart sunk again.

This little baby gave me joy, but I am going to leave her a burning earth. Green may be a color she will have to do away with. Best things in this world are for free, but I have exploited them beyond use. No costly gifts would mean a thing to the new generation, if we cannot offer them clean air, water and earth. One day this baby will ask of me such questions that I might end up being ashamed of my whole journey and hence I pledged.
I pledged that I will do all that is in my capacity to gift every child that was born on the 5th of June 2009, clean air, abundant water and green earth. I need more people to pack this gift. Will you join me?