Time Is Up

How subtle is this time

It relieves itself

Every hours every minute every second

From the burdens of past

I hear it say that the minute minutes are not long

Jumping between numbers

Testing human patience from point to point

A tick-tock of delay

And it hears you whine

In between spaces

It fills the sheer void

It knows no stopping

Yanks the moment to start, to end

Effortlessly

It deceives its followers

Into thinking there is more of time

Pulls down the curtains

Gently, reminds all

Time Is Up

A Wild Rainy Night

The previous day, when the rains took the earth by surprise, I found myself walking alone in the streets at 10 O’clock in the night, partially protected by my old and debilitated umbrella .

A good friend of mine was leaving the city so we planned to meet before he left for home. After bidding him a goodbye, I walked my way back to my abode, which was a good 1-kilometer walk. The winds were fierce, and the streets were being swept away with dried leaves, twigs and dust. The gaudy restaurants on either side of the road were being shut down in haste. Some ice-cream parlours still kept their business running with couples pleasuring themselves with late night deserts. Small cigarette shops glowed in their tiny spots waiting for the legitimately addicted customers.

I walked down, road after road. Few drops of water poked on my skin, however, I refused to open my umbrella. The rain took over me and left me with no choice—I finally gave in. Battling the winds, I inclined my umbrella against the slanting rains.

Crossing a two-way road, I reached near the divider to go the other side. The endless stream of headlights bothered me more than the downpour—I waited to cross the road for nearly 10 minutes. Cars and cars vomiting out from one side of the road spoiled the beauty of the wild rainy night—but the weather raged back despising humanity.

I seized the opportunity and made a dash to the other side of the road—my umbrella, trying its best to keep the rain away followed me lazily. I turned towards an empty street—and believe me when I say the scene looked enchanting! 

The mystic sodium lamps gave the heavy rains and the wet roads a tint of orange—the colour of fire, yet it soothed my eyes to see the rainfall I could hear the music in the pitter-patter, the rustling of the winds and the solitude in the darkness of the night. There was not a human around—the only one I saw was a man struggling with his mechanical bike that had refrained from starting. A car flashed its artificial light spoiling the atmosphere for a minute or two. Following the street, I entered the lane from where the building that offered me shelter didn’t stand much far.

The lightening roared announcing of its power and traveled miles across the sky cutting the clouds, bringing the night to life. I looked up and felt the rain falling from high up in heavens gently touch my face. The Ashoka trees, which I had never before noticed standing on the sides of the road, swayed like tall giants, dancing and closing in on the dark sea of sky. The view was dangerously beautiful. I was frightened—not by the rains or the wilderness, but by the vastness of the world around me and the power of nature—which I thought I should be. I removed the curtain of plastic sheet protecting me from the purest form of water and drenched myself with the eternal bliss. Nature’s gift so easily available, yet missed by all.

I reached home and had some hot milk with oats. Soon, my blanket welcomed me in its warmth and I fell asleep to the most peaceful sleep I got in days.

P.S – Well, things didn’t happen as perfectly as in a fairy tale. After reaching home, I enjoyed the downpour once again on the terrace, had a cup of milk, of course, watching the rain. My sleep betrayed me because I checked in on my facebook, whatsApp and, then, youtube. When I finally closed my eyes, I realized I had caught a cold.

Live, Don't Just Survive

Another day comes to end

Resting under the fall of the night in a world

Where I and you pretend

We take off our masks and breathe

Seek refuge from the toil of the time

Into the merry of dreams, hearing

Passive voices from worlds that live underneath

Speak to us of time and life

That we think exist in units of seconds and hours

Are a mere mirage—a mist in the labyrinth of life

We walk aimlessly through the maze

Human, what do you think yesterday offered you?

And what will tomorrow bring?

Will you spend that the same way too?

Count, count your time, not on beads or clocks

But, moments of learning, listening, living.

Chant not just the hymns, believe and discover

The spirit in fire, the magic in rocks

Power within you goes waste

Clinging to the world of fame and haste

Speak to the trees, they say a story

Human, you were born naked, you will die the same

Seize a chance until the breath remains

Create stories from the pond of your life

Disperse like seeds and grow to inspire

And if you are lucky, you will hear the earth speak

Of secrets of the Universe that hide in her womb

And you will know this isn’t even real

But, the words will go with you to your tomb

Throw your mask off with the first light

Don’t be that moth stuck to the bright

Climb out of your coffins, you are buried alive

Learn to live rather just survive

Out Of The Box

Image source

Within the box of the world

I speak up the truth

Deduced from a million shreds of my mind

That which went through the circle

And came back learning and seeking something

New, raw and appealing.

Hit by the afterthoughts,

Buffeted by the obligations of world

Forced frozen perceptions

Blinded by the clichés

I follow, you follow, every day

Building my dynamite, locked in the head

Closing the eyes and trying to forget

My visions and dreams burgeoning

Left alone with weak tendrils

Visitors in and out of the box

Whisper strange things—hold and lift you up the ground

Then, let you lose to go down, you drown

In the quicksand of their company

Pictures hung on your wall

Sing a perfect short story

Bygone days, they repeat with repent

Of those who came in and, then, left the box
I strive for life beside them
In the perpetual playground
Blindly following the sun and the moon
The box opens to new, yet, I am nowhere

The morning came as the sun rose again

But, who stayed through the night paved their own way
Repeating the journey, I assure you will too
Next time, traveling in a different land
Shut not the box close
Climb out and breathe

The Conversations

CALL 1

“You didn’t wish me today”, Vidhu exclaimed.

“Ya! Happy Tuesday!” Vishal replied.

“Ya! Same to you!” she retorted back.

“I don’t believe in all this Valentine’s Day and stuff. Plus we have our own day. This day is not needed.”

“I know, even I don’t, but I am not asking for gifts or flowers. I just want you to wish or say you love me.”

“That I say daily, what difference will it make?”

Nothing, but I still wanted you to wish me once. I called you so many times in the morning but you didn’t pick up.”

“I was sleeping. I picked up the call to say so”

“And, then you didn’t wake up until 4pm? That was when your call came”

“I woke up but I slept again”

“Great. That is why I didn’t pick-up your calls and not because I was busy.”

“Oh! So you wanted to do ‘a-tit-for-tat’?”

“Yes! You can’t even say a few words of love. Not even a bit of romance left in you.”

“I told you I don’t believe in this day.”

“Ok. At least wish me now”

“Happy Tuesday!”

“Same to you.”

“You voice is not clear. Could you be louder?”

“I said bye”

“What? Bye? But Why?”

“You can’t hear me. Can you?”

“I will call you later, ok. Can’t hear you properly”

“Bye”

Call Ends

Text Message Sent To Vishal

“I missed you so much. I wanted to hear a few words of affection. I know I hear them every day and it shouldn’t matter be it today or tomorrow. But, was expecting something.. just a few words of love maybe.”

CALL 2

“Hey Hi Vidhu. How are you?”

“I am good Nitish. What about you?”

“I am great. Hey, quickly tell me. Which is your favourite colour?”

“What? What are you getting? No! I don’t want anything. Please.”

“Tell you favourite colour, I am in a hurry. Quick, quick.”

“Hey what are you getting? Please don’t. I really don’t want anything.”

“Tell me the colour fast”

“Purple”

“Don’t worry. Got to go. Bye”

“Ok”

Call Ends

Let's Go Love

Let's meet today

In the heavens of land

That is no more

Stoned in sand

Let's pick up the waves

Over the water bodies of time

And create ripples in the wind

Through the sounds of windchime

Let's fly through the clouds

And play with the milky way

Let's us plunge into the sky of stars

And go that far away

Let's meet in the dreamland 

Where we always hold hands 

And behold each other

Where we don't think what happened

And what might happen further

IC: Vimal's painting, sketches and photography

In This Moment

In this moment I fill up my vessels

From the river whose sources are many

Into the water I dip my pots

And try to collect what all can be

I travel a long way back

To reach my roots to the farther side

From where I come to where I am

Distances never defined my rides

The sun is high; my pace is slow

The pots I carry are too much a load

Yet I walk, hands gripped around the pots

Satisfied, I travel on the right roads

As I reach the site, finding my respite

The load I carry seizes to be

I turn around and find my pot

Leaking all the way, dripping beneath

Image Source

Generation Y ?!

I am worried about today’s generation.    

    Haha! Look! The granny is giving gyan! Must be high on stuff!

Wachya' sayin ??!!?

Coming back..

WE, we feel we are better off today, than our parents. We have better understanding of things around us, be it other person’s ill intentions or our own ways to get a situation in control. We feel we have an experience worth a mention and we can govern our own lives; in fact, live it the way that suits us. We feel more independent, and hence more confident.

The way most see it but won’t accept it is that we are vulnerable. We sniff falsehood like gas leakage from an LPG cylinder. We fail to trust again and again. We maintain personal distances from people, but get them together just for some selfish company. We are scared to be alone but we also stay alone to avoid people. We can’t give favors so we don’t ask for any. Most of us don’t want to be under the debt of favor bank. We happily say ‘See you soon’, but know inside that that time won’t come anytime sooner. We just stay happy in planning things than actually following that plan and achieving something out of it. We are like cow dung, a substance considering itself to be a fuel but never burning the whole lot, mostly wasting away.

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat et cetera, now seems to be a mode for shy people, who can’t come face to face and say a hello, but pop up in a chat, if they hook someone online. These have become platforms to reach people but more to create distances between many, especially between ‘I’ and ‘myself’. We are, well lost!

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Fact: We are lazy. While I know you all quietly agree to it, I present my example to abstain you from feeling bad alone. It took me 1 hour to reach to my laptop to write few words, though it was just an arms distance away from me, though I am glad the effort is paying off.

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Fact: We blame. Because blaming self, hurts the esteem and lowers the confidence. Study a friend around you, a colleague, and a known person for few months if you need a proof. Oh! And don’t forget to study yourself too.

Fact: We pretend to be guilty. What an easy way to win over! ‘Ok! It is my mistake only, I only did wrong. I shouldn’t have cared so much, which is why now I am suffering’

Fact: We are pretentious. We think and make up our own cloud of pretentions. ‘She must be taking her revenge on me, now I told her the truth.’ ‘He cut the call deliberately, I know why!’

Fact: We are fooling ourselves. ‘I will quit smoking, I will! It is easy only, from 10 to 2 cigarettes per day.’ ‘I will meet my friends next weekend, after all where will they go anyways, today I can rest.’’ I will save money tomorrow, what difference will one day make, and now only is the time to expend.’

                                                                               

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Fact: We have Trust issues! After what we prove to others, as a person first, should we really think of giving others chances to trust us.

 But most of all, we are RUNNING! We are Running, from ties, from bonds, from responsibilities, from attachments, from favor banks, from being US!

We are portraying a ‘perfect’ us outside, oh how empty we are on the inside, how empty is our soul, how sad we are, though we laugh and smile everyday over beer, parties, lunch tables and in our offices. How sad…

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All we want is some company, some stories to tell, some to listen, some to make our own and it is surprising how frantically we are doing it all in a wrong way, making it complicated.

• Buying a dress and feeling happy in that moment and when you wear it to show off.
• Purchasing a car and driving everywhere, every day to feel your ability, power and confidence.

Materials that get tarnished, even before a human lifetime completes, are strangely more in demand and trend these days.

• Sex becomes an interesting conversation, a much more interesting affair and love becomes whiff from a romantic Bollywood cinema?
• Economy and Market still don’t effect the number of cigarettes you smoke in a day, or the weekend alcohol plan, it is but a mode to gain empathy in financial crises.
• Blaming the country, government, and corruption while you are throwing that mint cover, on the footpath, after a smoke?
• Having pride in what you have, letting others down, and pointing at their glitches?

Doesn’t something inside us itch and indicate a red-signal, a jump-wave? Like - ‘Hey!

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You! Yes You! What are you doing huh?!’  

Offering a piece of word/good wishes/advises halfheartedly because that makes you look good? Don’t you think the happy birthdays on you facebook account or some good looking horoscopes are a fool’s paradise? Don’t you feel robotized in this world? Who are you now? What you think about yourself? What can you change? How are you are different from the crowd around?

Look! Everyone around is in the same boat! Don’t you know, you need to recognize first yourself and then your value? What is your gift, what is your power in this world? Do we read ourselves yet?

Life is not a competition, it is a game of self-realization, without looking out for rewards.

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It is terrible that we are losing the connection with our conscience that we are not trying to establish it back. We are slowly shutting our human side down and waking up the animal inside us. How negatively pleasing to know our kind is just multiplying somewhere now.

Ta da the Bla Bla talks come to an end.. Thanks for the time

                                                 image source

The Art of Bitching

We meet at least one person in a day who is speaking about somebody but hey not in a good way.

For example: we hear fellow employees of our firms talk,

’He doesn’t know anything properly and orders around like he is the manager. He is our TL (team Lead) not our boss’.

‘She needs the report by today itself. She doesn’t have senses or what? How will we complete it by today? She keeps on wasting time and when deadline comes she starts her drama.’

‘How many times I have told him, he is dumb! You know what he tells me he needs more time, how long will he take who knows, we need the work done in first place and not excuses.’

‘Our manager only knows excel sheets, he is good for nothing He has no idea what is going on in the team.’

It's an Art

We have been in situations where we hear people talk about other people at their backs and witness the same people smile along when in front of them. We have been quiet spectators of the act done knowingly, out of frustration or vengeance. We have also been one of them once in a blue moon.

Oh no! Don’t you say you have never ever done bitching behind their backs, yes you have, you just don’t accept it. It’s acceptable in society, it’s a part of human nature, and we do it without a drop of guilt hanging from our mouths when we speak. It provides contentment, brings relief to our contracting synapses and lets us release a kind of stress or frustration we accumulate inside due to other person’s non-sensible acts.

It better be released by the medium of mouth else it might take the form of revenge through other means.

How many people take revenge? How many?

NO I am not talking about shooting her in the head, but taking an appealing opportunity to deliberately let the person be at a minor loss or little harm.

Everyone!

Nature of Homo sapiens is funny though. We trust and drop in few words in unknown ears, clearing the blockage in our heads but creating one in the heads of those, who are desperately thinking how to let loose of this useless information that they just heard. Say it to whosoever it was intended for!

‘I guess you better know what he told about you last night.’

‘She doesn’t think good of you.’

Wooo-OW! You know what is the best part that comes next?....................SPICES!!

Let me, a no one guarantee you that they play a game of Chinese Whispers where either they end up saying all the extra things to pep up the words they heard from here and there. Or they merely say the exact words that had heard from here and there. This ends up making a hot, spicy khichdi! (please google it).

So now, person X, who told something about person Z to person Y, is in accusation as person Y has told person Z, something too much or a bit too less, probably more than just a, b, c, d, probably the alphanumeric characters too ( # % $ @..) which were never meant or said by person X.

Poor person X; Who knows who takes revenge on whom now?

In another interesting twist: It comes to Person X’s knowledge, what raita(check google)  has been spread by Person Y and Person X is deeply hurt because X confided in Y.

Some people take revenge through words, other do it through deeds while others show it through their work. The last one is the best way out because the first two really waste your time and energy.

Just do it and let your success make noise. Mind You! It’s an applied methodology and the results are promising! Just really mind your own good business.

Person Y would be foolish enough if he/she still trusts you back and they will, because you really didn’t go with the mainstream way of revenge.

Bitching is an art after all, everyone does it. Not everyone can end it well.

Not everyone can end it well

image source:google

Ashes-Ashes

I am ashes ashes

A burnt out fire

Fury dissolved by waters of desire

Fragments frilled out of my bones

Chipped and shaped as liked to be known

I am ashes ashes 

A burnt out fire

Sunken by the promises of a liar

Settled down, my parchment heart

Veined out, dissembled and distort

I am ashes ashes

A burnt out fire

Waxing and waning, trying to acquire

Perfection, perception of a good human

Ways to restore my valour, my reflection

Mauled by soot of expectations

I am ashes ashes

A burnt out fire

Kindled still smoked out of pyre

Fumed and wasted, tired of trying

To spark a connection

Out of a fused out wiring

I am the remains, I am the cinder

I am ashes ashes

I am a burnt out fire

Image source