Reflections

“Do you think there is anything in this life that is permanent? “Yes” “I am serious, what?” “You yourself” “Not true, we change constantly” “ But you're still always with yourself throughout your life. YOU are permanent, your thought is not. YOU are permanent, your ideas are not. YOU are permanent, your ideals are not. ” “YOU Human? Akanksha? Body? Mind? Soul?” “Whatever defines YOU. If it's one of the above, then maybe that. Whatever defines you at a given stage, is YOU.The YOU stays, the definitions change. New things keep defining YOU.” When we talk about permanence, there are essentially two aspects to it: Permanence of Existence and Permanence of Form. While the former is really quite “permanent”, the latter is not. That is, Existence so to say is permanent, while form is mostly not. To elucidate, the existence of a human soul is permanent (if we go by the concept of human souls that move from one body to another at th...

Yes, but here I am alone. A wave builds up, perhaps it says its name, I don’t understand, it mutters, humps in its load of movement and foam and withdraws. Who can I ask what it said to me? Who among the waves can I name? And I wait. Once again the clearness approached, the soft numbers rose in foam and I didn’t know what to call them. So they whispered away, seeped into the mouth of the sand. Time obliterated all lips with the patience of shadow and the orange kiss of summer. I stayed alone, unable to respond to what the world was obviously offering me, listening to that richness spreading itself, the mysterious grapes of salt, love unknown, and in the fading day only a rumor remained, further away each time, until everything that was able to changed itself into silence. P.S. One reason why I really like Neruda is because I share the same love for the Sea with him. This poem describes in the best possible way, the thoughts I have each time I think a...

The India habitat Centre has always been a place that never ceases to bring some food for thought in one form or another. Today, it was the play Court Martial, written by Swadesh Deepak and performed by the famous Asmita Theatre group. The play essentially deals with the social stigma attached to a member of the lower caste who serves In the Indian army who is being tried for murder of a fellow army man.  Through the course of the trial, the play proves to us that Truth is not what is just visible at face value. Truth is not one sided. Perhaps, unlike a coin truth does not just have two sides, but many. This is brought about beautifully by the end of the play which is extremely well written. Asmita’s enactment of the play was like an icing to the already well written play wherein the intensity of the scenes brought goose pimples to many. When I am writing about Court Martial, it is essential I mention this fact about it’s much celebrated Sangeet Natak Academi Award win...

The Invictus, a movie based on the book “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation”, starring Morgan Freeman is a delight to watch. Now, I am not going to write much about it. No reviews here, no comments. Just two things I want to share from the movie: The thing that touches me most in the movie is the lesson in Forgiveness that is imparted by the subtle action of not repeating the same intolerance and cycle of fear against those who had earlier oppressed the South Africans, the so-called “whites”. In the words of Nelson Mandela from the movie: “Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.” Perhaps forgiveness is a difficult thing to do, or maybe not. Do we always forgive others for doing wrong to us? Or do we just bury the wrong deep inside somewhere in our mind without really tackling it? So that each time we are faced with the same situation or the same person, the buried ghosts come up to u...

She sits in the corner of the room And watches me from there, With her arms clasped around her folded knees And her hair tightly tied up in a bun Her eyes devoid of any emotion And her face nauseatingly pale. Her lips never move Only sometimes they curl, To form the crooked devilish smile. And yet her eyes have the same hollowness, The same characteristic emptiness, In the depth of which you could fall, And never return how hard you try. You try too hard to come out, Because you don’t want to stay there, Those eyes remind you of the past, Of the mistakes you made, Of those you could have avoided, Of the people loved, Of the people lost, Of decisions made, Of those that were made for you. I know she is looking at me, Waiting for me to look back, And acknowledge her presence, The presence that I feel every moment of the day, And yet never acknowledge, I run away from it, Run to the nature’s embrace, To waters so deep and pure...

Lately, I have taken to a new habit. Actually, just renewed an old habit. But, it seems so old now that it actually feels like a new one! Yes, quite contradictory. But, if you put yourself in my place, you’ll know what I am talking about. It isn’t new for us to take up a habit with vengeance and then in the humdrum of life, somehow unwillingly (and sometimes obnoxiously) just give it up. Anyhow, so I started my routine of physical exercise. More like, restarted it. Just in a different form. Owing to the lack of access (and my laziness to go to a far off place) to a basketball court, I have taken to jogging with quite a vengeance. I could very easily give credit to a month long exam schedule for making my conviction to run approximately 4 km in exactly 28 minutes, along with some not so difficult warm up exercises. Well, that was just me boasting! Getting to the whole point of this post (which by the way is just a random rant), Lodhi Gardens is another beautiful place in New Delh...

Waking Dream I Amongst the thousand waking dreams, There is a favorite I have, In that dream I see, You and I, We are the sailors of the night, You, the navigator of our crescent ship, I, your faithful companion. Together, we sail through the night sky, There is no end, For everything moves around in a circle, The circle I call equilibrium. As we pass the stars, I notice a tiara of stars around my head. Amazed, I look up at you, And I see you smiling, The smile that says, “It’s a gift from me, keep it!” We move ahead, Determined to find our destination, Our love drives our determination, And belief in each other drives us to move ahead. We reach Saturn, Together, we glide over its rings, You hold my hand tight, And I know you will always be there for me. My white gown now shines With the subtle hues of the rings. I kiss you on your cheek and thank you for the gift! Our journey through the night, Is filled with love, h...