Life & Death!

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Just reposting an extract of my earlier work from back in August 2011. A cousin passed away recently – absolutely no vices, no symptoms, no whatever! One fine day he just comes home and drops! Hospitalized and then you learn too soon he’s passed. Makes you wonder of the frailty of Life! Nothing can make you more philosophical about Life than Death Itself! Hence the below lines:

Its true even in this Time & Space,
The indelible lie that Life is just a Race;
A Blind one too for money & for fame,
And to each person - his own game,

So hold your horses and just take a pause
To consider the fact of stones rolling with no moss,
And one fine day to wake up & find
Lost chances galore & memories left behind.
The earth goes around without remorse,
Staying still & steady on its course;

And Life laughs at our efforts vain,
To navigate Its turns and stay on par
Playing for minimum loss & maximum gain,
With the sure knowledge that we all are,
Even as It plays us out in grand pantomime
Destined to lose the battle with Time!!

Good Lord, why do I pray?
If Death is just an ordinary Day
In the calendars of those who wept,
for words unsaid and promises unkept,
for a better time that’s already passed,
And for a better memory to forever last!

So we go on with counting our pebbles & stones,
Refusing to let our minds be open & see,
That Life is more than just bricks & bones,
Know this Truth & set yourself Free!!

RIP, Charan!

For Tattered Flags!

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They know not the joys of returning home,

Those that have not been to battle before!

Or felt the depth of the battle scars,

Nor worried what Tomorrow’s got in store!

They ain’t heard the widows’ cries

As their men fight their wars unknown,

Or felt the courage of a warrior who tries

Gamely to win a battle alone!

Ain’t tasted the sweetness of Victory’s Kiss,

Nor felt the pain of their brothers biting the dust;

And not the pride of raising high their tattered flags,

And walking on Earth with Honor as Mankind must!

Karma!

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The thirsty eyes scour the limitless skies

In earnest wait for a  magical day

To lift the gloom of terror and lies,

Or the promise of a blessing on its way!

But the mortal fools with their daily grind

Don’t see the folly of their mundane lives,

That Life is just a Wheel turning blind

A merry go-round – departing soon as It arrives!

Even as the faithful few meet with Triumph & Disaster

Not realizing they’re just two sides of the same coin,

With the fickle hope that both serve the same Master,

But one leaves another - destined never to join!

The tears will dry some even as smiles will fade,

Thus is the way with Life’s story!

Flattering to deceive that you have it made,

Only to end up with – some dust, some glory!

Only one person can master this game,

Neither a moment soon, and never too late,

It’s the man who answers to your name,

Who can make you the King of your Fate!

AMAZE-d yet?

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Amaze

Through the dull days & its dreary ways,

Life takes on a different curve

Through deserted roads & empty space,

Purpose has a different master to serve

When Life seems just a meaningless Race,

To those who desire, nay! Those who deserve!

But then a magic moment makes its case,

Spinning a dream for those hopeless eyes,

As it dazzles strong to bemuse & bedaze,

Even as those eyes dare to look up the skies!

The wise men may say Luck flies with the strong,

But it might turn out to be just one of those days,

When it don’t matter who’s right or wrong,

‘Cuz Destiny never loses its power to AMAZE!

Spinning the wheel!

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On the birth anniversary of the biggest spinner from India (think “charkha”), Pakistan 'spin' Australia out! 

Coffee / Tea diplomacy

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It finally happened! I got offered a choice of coffee or tea in a meeting that was convened to discuss how to reduce the expenses for coffee / tea. It’s a wonder nobody noticed the irony of the situation.

I, of course, politely declined!

10 things about Chennai!

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The 10 things that Chennai taught me in the last 3 years I have been here:

1.       Learning to say ‘macha’ and ‘machi’. For someone from up north where a dude = bandha and a dudette = bandhi, it would be a long time before I could roll out the machas and the machis so very irreverently. But I did master it – for a short period though it were.

2.       The temples! Where else in India would piety and devotion stand on such an exalted pedestal? The fervor of the morning prayer chants and the pot-bellied priests all contribute to a picture of old worldly charm of a different age that you yearn for and keep coming back for more. Then of course there is the sculptural significance!

 3.       Watching a Rajini flick on the first day. Yeah – Endhiran!  No punch dialogues! But then a Rajini flick on a first day in Chennai is a Rajini flick no less!

4.      A guy here can easily boast “Mine is longer!” to another guy, and nobody raises an eyebrow. Of course, we are talking of names here. What were you thinking? Mine is Jagannathan S Veeravalli. Try beating that. 

5.       The beaches! All those summer vacations of yore made memorable  by the maamis, atthais, chittis, perimmas etc, each of who would pinch your cheek and remark “yenna theriyalaya?” had that one great redeemer. A visit to the beach! No summer vacation was anywhere close to being called perfect unless you made that walk along the beach. Slippers removed and the sand beneath your feet! Yep! The very same crowded beach - with panjumittai and sundal sellers and the yucky garbage strewn here & there. But then…

6.      Rediscovering Ilayaraja! For every AR Rahman “up yours” moment back in Mumbai & Delhi as a slap in the faces of the smug arrogant Bollywood “myuzhik die-rectors”, Ilayaraja has always been in danger of being relegated to a status of ‘greatness in posterity’. But no… not when you picked the timeless strains of “Raja Raja Sozhan Naan” blaring out of the car radio on the way to work. Driving was never so refreshing! Then when the most basic IR tunes from some long obscure films hook you in again and again, you know there’s some magic in the air. Rahman rocks! Ilayaraja rules! Period!

7.       The “Yo” in Chennai is so much more bad-ass and classy than the “Yo” in the English language. Don’t believe me? Just go to any local market in Chennai and watch the vegetable vendor lady at work and the way she shouts “Yo!”

8.      Chennai Super Kings! For the firstest time ever, I saw myself slowly gravitating towards a team that had Sachin in its opposition. Sachin Tendulkar in the opposition! (there I said it)! Every CSK v/s MI game, the loyalties were strictly divided. Sachin’s team was first favorite and then everyone else followed. But then Dhoni hit that massive six out of the stadium in IPL 5! Under pressure! And there we all went “whistle podu!” Cricket will always be that Sachin Tendulkar game for life. But throw in Dhoni’s massive sixes plus Bhajji in Sachin’s team – and you have enough reason not to want to support Sachin’s MI.

9.      The Chennai Kutchery season! Margazhi maasam heralds the kutchery season. Even if you don’t spend any money at all on any of the tickets, you still do get to watch one or two of these events. So far removed from anything else in any other city – this is the one calendar event that makes Chennai unique! And if you still don’t know your raagams and the thaalams, no worry! Enjoy it just for the sheer kitsch value it provides.

10.    The “zha” in the “vazhapazham”! Here’s where it truly counts! If you want to put your head up in Chennai and be counted as a true-blue Tamilian / Thamizhan, you need to roll out the “zha”s effortlessly. The only parallel in any other language I can think of is the “lla” in Marathi. Without the “zha” as part of your vocabulary you are just another ignorant buffoon from elsewhere!

So how has your city changed you?

Awakenings!

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nāthe naḥ puruṣottame tri-jagatāḿ ekādhipe cetasā

sevye svasya padasya dātari pare nārāyaṇe tiṣṭhati

yaḿ kañcit puruṣādhamaḿ katipaya-grāmeśam alpārtha-daḿ

sevāyai mṛgayāmahe naram aho mūḍhā varākā vayam

Our master, the Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa, who alone rules the three worlds, whom one can serve in meditation, and who happily shares His personal domain, is manifest before us. Yet still we beg for the service of some minor lord of a few villages, some lowly man who can only meagerly reward us. Alas, what foolish wretches we are!

------ Mukundamala Verse 17 (courtesy  http://vedabase.net/mm/17/en)

Sourced from the Net: 

“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” 
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid

“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” 

― Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die

“Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All thing pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it strives for. He who has God Finds he lacks nothing:God alone suffices.”

St. Teresa of Avila quotes (Spanish Nun, Mystic and Writer, 1515-1582)

Superman, Superman, whither art thou?

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Life & cricket was so complicated before that particular name cropped up in all our lives – Sachin Tendulkar. A child prodigy at 15, everybody had heard of him and contributed their two bits on whether he should make it to the West Indies tour in 1989 not really caring how he would fare in future. Kapil Dev still ruled Indian cricket hearts and there was no place for anybody else. And then the Abdul Qadir over happened. Then the tour to New Zealand happened. England followed. By the time the Australia tour came up, the Mumbai tabloid ‘Mid day’ had already branded him ‘Ton’dulkar though India lost dismally and Merv Hughes became every Indian cricket lover’s bugbear (“too cocky, too flamboyant!”) But one truth was established by that time.

Superman was born!!

And from then on, it did not matter whether India won or not. Cricket became the ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ game (at least for me). Sachin Tendulkar came, saw and conquered. The promises of higher achievements made sure that there was always a heavy air of expectation whenever he walked onto the field donning his helmet and wielding a bat. Most times it was pulsating and what was magical was that one knew there were people in diverse parts of the country who fraternized in the same unifying emotion. It would be nigh impossible to imagine another mortal man who could do THAT to so many people at the same time and in the same way. He succeeded in single-handedly forcing so many people to hold their hearts when watching any match. Sachin Tendulkar did that & more with style, élan and a lot of dignity. I remember a test match in Mumbai against Australia. Sachin was not out overnight and when my cousin & I entered the stadium on the 4th day, there was only one player, one chant and only one mantra – Sachin. Even without actually talking to people, you could feel it in the very air of the stadium. The noise was deafening and even reticent people were willing to lose themselves and be part of the same infectious energy.

Harbinger of a billion hopes – he walked into the hearts of a billion Indians time and again with his exploits. Sachin had become so iconic that one tended to remember personal happenings in one’s life around Sachin Tendulkar moments. “When he hit Abdul Qadir for those 27 runs in one over, I was picnicking with friends in Alibag”. “My neighbour had that accident two days after the India Pakistan World Cup match where Sachin square cut Shoaib for a six…I think it was March 1, 2003.” Bingo!!

Maybe he does not fight 10 people at a time and win the heroine. Maybe he cannot mouth those Rajini dialogues. But just give him a bat and a helmet and have him walk out in a packed stadium and try denying the passion that he arouses in a billion hearts.

There are still some of us who wish that maybe if Indian cricket had not got its current match savers, we could still have had Sachin in his purest avatar – a mortal trying to snatch at glory, a neophyte warrior involved in a gladiatorial contest, a real life superhero making impossible targets seem real. We all have been part of this journey from prodigy to superstar to icon and these memories will always be part of Life so long as we live. Maybe he is not as exciting as earlier; maybe he is not dominating as earlier, maybe with age and injury he has lost a bit of his touch. But for all those sensational moments through his teens and twenties, for making an entire generation look beyond Bachchan, for making middleclass values look ultra-cool, Sachin Tendulkar – take a bow.

After all even superheroes are allowed to fail at times, even demigods are frail and all idols are mortal too…but Sachin Tendulkar? Naah…no way!

Garbled ramblings

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As it happens sometimes, someone starts a debate unwittingly. You get drawn into it inspite of the lack of time due to your everyday machiavellian struggles in office, maybe just coz the debate does force you to pause for a moment to think, maybe coz the debate just ranks a tad above mindless, just having that wee more pull to engage your attention and your time. In that spirit comes this piece from a friend who is going through a slightly see-saw time in her life and my take on it.

Am I a good person? I struggle with this question all the time. I'm not even sure why its important to me. But it is. I wud like to know that I am a good person. I dont think I do anything that would put me in the bad-evil category though.

But why does one have to be good anyway? I dunno. And what makes a good person anyway? I try to be honest and truthful. But I may still lie, not to harm people but to get out of situations. Small white lies, they call them. I try to help people when I can. I will even donate money now and then.

I definitely want to be in the good category. Does being honest make me good? Do I have to help people? How much?

Do I have to live simply and/or modestly? I give up non-vegetarian food, I quit smoking, and I quit drinking. Does living modestly cover this up?

Is it okay for me to eat and drink well when I know there are people in the world who dont get anything to eat? It surely doesnt help them, right? Or do I have to send money to charities that would provide them with food as well as live modestly? How often? Does a donation I made a year ago cover me still? Does it make me a bad person if I claim it as a tax deduction?

And what about cursing/swearing? If I swear all the time does that make me lose points? What about alcohol and sex? Do we get classified in 'good' or 'bad' based on our sex life? What about pornography? How does that figure in? And what about sex-for-money? Is it okay to pay for it? Or give it for money? What are the rules here?

Anyway, I suppose that's where religion comes in. Codes. Religions provide a code to make it easy. But the problem with religious codes is that we cant determine which is the truly divinely given one.

So do we make our own code? A secular code? Hmm... this leads us into sociological mores and all that. Hmm... interesting.

Why does it have to be so complicated? Wudnt it be much easier if we could be told everything - namely who created us and what he, she or it wants us to do. Give us proof of ownership and a book of rules.

My take:

You just feel 'moral goodness' thru an instrument called conscience - judging everything around you using that barometer.

However somewhere down the line, the more boundaries you conquer..the more blurred the lines become between good & bad, since the boundaries you have conquered have given an impetus to other targets in life. Maybe then it becomes okay to sacrifice integrity at the altar of ambition. Maybe then it becomes okay just to tell that extra set of lies to save somebody's life, to help a friend in need, to set birds free, to save wildlife from extinction & many such noble causes since the causes are "noble" to you & hence better (again judgmental) causes. Then maybe somewhere again down that track, when you are going a little too fast you think about whether its worth it to do those things that you have been doing and probably change your mind on whats good & whats not. But the fact remains that there is a silent consensus on whats good that even a baby would know. Its like knowing tings like pain, laughing, sweet, dark etc. You do not need to explain this in detail to KG kids, or do we? Thats why people find books like Fountainhead very appealing.

Your take?

Brahma - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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If the red slayer think he slays; Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near; Shadow and sunlight are the same,
The vanished gods to me appear; And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out; When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt; And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode, And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good! Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

And so was the holy religion blasphemed by RW Emerson writing about an alleged heretic Hindu experience way back in the mid nineteenth century. But you know the old dough on how free souls find their own path;their own destiny & their own destination. India celebrated its Republic day recently. This poem reflects the spirit of a free thinking individual as well as the spirituality of the country quite well.

Fountainhead & Roark

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Fountainhead has been a strong teenage influence and has always been the title of my CV. These lines sum up why Howard Roark has such an impact on impressionable minds. Its all bombastic heroism in terms of style and termed "objectivist" in terms of content. Ironic!! But there you have it!

'I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need.'

'I wished to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others. It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.'

'I wished to come here and say that the integrity of a man's creative work is of greater importance than any charitable endeavor. Those of you who do not understand this are the men who're destroying the world.'

'I wished to come here and state my terms. I do not care to exist on any others.'

'To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul, would you understand why that's much harder.

The pièce-de-résistance for me (oh heck... I am a sucker for hyperbole too..I guess)

'Love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don't know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who've never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you've felt what it means to love as you and I know it - total passion for the total height - you're incapable of anything less.'

- Howard Roark in Fountainhead

There was a time - G'n'R

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Old but abz "kick-ass" ditty from Axl Rose. Been listening to it many times over the last few days. Matches my mood to the T. T as in "There was a Time".

Broken glass and cigarettes,
writing on the wall,
it was a bargain for the summer,
and I thought I had it all.
I was the one who gave you everything,
the one who took the fall,
you were the one who would do anything,
the one who can't recall.

Where she was while she was sleeping,
in another woman's bed,
or the doctors or the lawyers,
or a stranger that she met.
If there's nothing I can gain from this,
or anything at all,
it'd be the knowledge that ya gave me,
when I thought I'd heard it all.

It was a long time for you,
it was a long time for me,
it'd be a long time for anyone,
but looks like it's meant to be.

Social class and registers,
cocaine in the hall,
all the way from California,
on the way to your next call
to those non-negotiations,
to simulate a call,
all the bad of learning evils and
your ways around the laws
that keep you UP AND sitting pretty,
on a pedestal of MEN
and now you're sleeping like an angel,
near the man who you give head

If there's something I can make of this,
or anything at all,
it'd be the devil hates a loser and
you thought you had it all.

It was a wrong time for you,
it was a wrong time for me,
it was the wrong time for everyone
but looks like I’ve got to see for myself

If I could go back in time to the place
in my soul, there all alone,
lonely tear drops,
ooh, are calling you.
but I don't wanna know it now,
'cause knowing you it won't it change a damn thing.
but there was a time.

yeah, there was a time,
didn't wanna know it all,
didn't wanna know it all and
I don't wanna know it now,

yeah, there was a time,
didn't wanna know it all,
didn't wanna know it all and
I don't wanna know it now,

Oh, I would do anything for you,
there was a time,
I would do anything for you,
oh, I would do anything for you,
there was a time.

My own domain!

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No rising dawn, no dark of night;
No shadows dancing in the bright sunlight;

No fear of loss, no fear of pain;
As I walk my own domain!

No scorching Sun can stop the Me;
No desert mirages, deceiving eyes that see;

No thunder, lightning or falling rain;
As I walk my own domain!

No friends, no foes, no kith or kin;
No vice or virtue nor devilish sin;

No bombs nor bullets to drive me insane;
No repentant past to put a stain;
No glum defeat nor glory in gain;
As I walk my own domain!!

A Never Ending Game

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Mere mortals as we are, how can we fathom your Play?
As foolishly we seek to immortalize our Name,
Time rolls on through Yesterday & Today,
And Death is just a pause in a never ending game!!

Rebels without a pause!!

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Deluded as we are, how do You save the day?
For each Man is “right” in his mind, so how do you make him pay
For all his sins , when there’s no moment to pause
In the Race run everyday, we are all rebels without a cause!!

Benjarong!!

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Given a chance to choose a good eatout in Chennai for exotic fare (exotic being Chinese veg, Thai veg or continental veg - in that order) I must confess to being slightly stumped. The idea was to have a good time over lunch with a friend and the easiest one to decide on was “Mainland China” (too predictable, wot? And of course a peck on the chef’s forehead with words like “the best Chinese I have tasted …..” was hardly my idea of breaking bread with a friend).

Then I remembered having passed by this Thai restaurant several times on my way to office . Seemed correctly discreet and refined in terms of location and ambience from the outside.

“Benjarong” - with such an exotic sounding name conjuring up images of some Oriental getaway, I got cracking on the good ol’ net across the “burrps” and “smacks” of the virtual world and learned that the joint’s got an enviable reputation to boot. Talking to friends who raved about the place, we decided that Benjarong – it must be.

As I entered the place with just that wee bit of hesitation, I noticed that the place looked quite smallish to me in terms of space and also a bit shorn of lighting (not sure if it helps the ambience). But then I was also greeted by a beautiful reclining Buddha statue and some other Thai curios in the waiting room. With some time to go before my friend arrived, I gleaned more of the Thai couple that runs the place.

The main course started off with their customary Thai appetizer – an array of side dishes with the main attraction being the spinach leaves (as explained by our attendant) stuffed with peanuts, jaggery pasted and dry coconut crumbs. Though I had heard of this speciality, I wasn’t too sure – me being of the “if grass is for cows, leaves are for the orangutans” fame. Ditto for my partner. But then it wasn’t all that bad and we quite liked it. So on we moved to the next course – weren’t helped by the fact that the waiters seemed just a little preoccupied with themselves – they seemed almost relieved to learn that we could converse in Hindi – but of course that didn’t help improve communication either. Of course, we ordered the customary Thai curries with some fried rice – time teases my memory but I think we ordered the Tom Yum Soup as well. But then again, as luck would have it, I couldn’t quite finish the dish by itself. Tasted all too familiar to me and not the mouth watering, tongue smacking, palate tickling fare that I had settled in for. Maybe some other time – with a better setting and a better ambience, it would be right. But for now, it was so Benja-“wrong”!!

THE (W)HOLE TRUTH OF LIFE

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‘Tis a hollow lie often hung out as true,
Incessant harping gives it a shape anew,
That its true even in this Time & Space,
The indelible lie that Life is just a Race;
A Blind one too for money & for fame,
And to each person - his own game,

So hold your horses and just take a pause
To consider the fact of stones rolling with no moss,
And one fine day to wake up & find
Lost chances galore & memories left behind.
The earth goes around without remorse,
Staying still & steady on its course;

And Life laughs at our efforts vain,
To navigate Its turns and stay on par
Playing for minimum loss & maximum gain,
With the sure knowledge that we all are,
Even as It plays us out in grand pantomime
Destined to lose the battle with Time!!

Good Lord, why do I pray?
If Death is just an ordinary Day
In the calendars of those who wept,
for words unsaid and promises unkept,
for a better time that’s already passed,
And for a better memory to forever last!

So we go on with counting our pebbles & stones,
Refusing to let our minds be open & see,
That Life is more than just bricks & bones,
Know this Truth & set yourself Free!!

GOD BLESS!!

We didn't start the fire!!

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We didn’t start the fire..it was always burning since the world’s been turning ….we didn’t start the fire!!!

Marriages are now TV shows
Dimpi just got a “reality” dose
Rahul M beat her black & blue
Wait there’s more to come
‘Coz now Rakhi S is married too!!

Then of course there’s this CWG bloke
“Suresh Kalmadi?” – oh what a joke!!
The people though didn’t find it funny
That our man simply blew up lotsa money
On leaking roofs and rainy grounds,
And used equipment for a quarter million pounds!!

Which brings us to another sticky wicket
And a sham called IPL and a game called “Cricket” !! (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)
M/s Humpty Dumpty, I mean, M/s Modi & Pawar,
Turned the game into a bidding war

“Pawar Modi sat on the IPL
Pawar Modi gave the TV stations hell
And now all the twitter followers and all the Facebook fans
Cannot make Modi the IPL ‘czar’ again!!”

So everybody’s in the “Game” for Fame
And who cares a damn if The nation’s shamed…

And then we bring you the other “news”
As stale as the waste in yesterday’s refuse!!

Of Kashmir burning yet again,
And leaving a trail of blood & pain,
Of the solar Tsunami and never ending rain
And Lalit Modi and what his lawyer’s sayin’
Of Tharoor driving SM Krishna insane
And the shortage of water and rotting foodgrain!!
Of the India SL Test affected by rain,
And Sachin scoring a century again!! (yawwwwwn…)

Of MS Dhoni and his new bride,
And Maoist Naxals running wild,
Of how the two warring Senas lied,
About the North Indians spreading malaria awide!
Of bribes and RS MPs crossing sides,
And Amit Shah finding a place to hide!!
Of Saina being India’s pride,
And SM Krishna being taken for a ride!! (literally)

Of twitter wars and party nights,
And Bombay’s flooded with mosquito bites
Of gang rapes in metros and the violation of rights,
Of the growing Mumbai mafia gang might!!

Of the Indo Pak talks, and the Qureshi – Krishna farce
And in replies to Krishna, of Qureshi saying “Kiss my a..e?”

“Ba Ba Qureshi, have you got Dawood?
Yes, Sir & No, Sir!! Of course, all this is bull!!
Telling lies all the time, telling lies is our game!!
Of course we don’t shelter Osama too, who lives down in the plains!! (oops!!)”

And dear reader, if you think this tomfoolery’s over, please do not be pained!!
In this age of “anything sells”, just sit back on your couch & be entertained!!

Angel - Amma, Devi, Mata

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My second in the trilogy after ‘Avatar – Faith, Delusion & Salvation’. All of this has been inspired by a flurry of visits to several temples over the last month or so, the last visit being designed by Providence – the Jeevandani temple in Virar, Mumbai. On our drive , we had passed a temple on a hillock with the Sanskrit words “Om” splendidly carved out of the green grass of the hills. Wondering whether we would get to visit the temple – given the distance and the time factor plus we had no idea how to reach it. As Luck would have it, the person we were visiting was not available for the next 4 hours and we were advised by him over phone to visit the same temple for a darshan of the Devi.

The first letters of each stanza spell out the 3 names by which the Goddess is fondly worshipped – Amma, Devi & Mata.

Angel – Amma, Devi, Mata

Are You that Angel, from your mouth spitting Fire?
Maybe the Serpent that hisses to scare,
Marking the end of each dark desire,
And threatening to lay deep secrets threadbare?

Diva, are You enchanting Your own Dance,
Even as the demigods stare with untempered Awe?
Verily a Goddess lost in Your own trance,
Inspiring the Life Force to become Primal Law!!

Mere mortals as we are, how can we fathom your Play?
As foolishly we seek to immortalize our Name,

Time rolls relentlessly through yesterdays & todays,
And Death is just a pause in a never ending game!!

Aum...!!