Thursday, November 29, 2012

Brooms


purposefully different
also functionally

politely scorning
their counterpart
vacuum cleaner
kept hidden away from them

Withering


palms
or
feathers

like
everything
does
only
less
beauteously

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Resting



between assignments
humble
utilitarian
friendly
dependable
except when misused

Derelict


who is there
hope residing
growing
in green life

-----------------------
Subhasish Bose wrote:
Old is gold.

My reply:
The picture is a conglomeration of complexity, arousing a multiplicity of emotions, thoughts, anxieties, even fear, that the simplicity of its being gold by virtue of being old, is not contextual.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Journey



such is life
that to know
that you do not know
what it is
you have to live it

even leave eventually
in pain or enervation

a journey where
why and what for
forever are elusive

where the mirage
is the mirage of itself

to believe
in some understanding
is mostly contentious
reprehensible
and unforgiven

as there is no second chance
why not
better not

Suspended


Bureaucracy suspended because it is so beauteous

By the way, how many -cracies are there? Theocracy, democracy, autocracy, plutocracy, kleptocracy, meritocracy.

Is each one considered crazy by the others?

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Waiting


in the garden of innocence

(posted by request of Nancy Gandhi)

Ovum


One-half of most forms of life as we know it on earth
(except those that are unicellular, asexual),
genetically commandeered to go forth towards the fallopian tube, and a meeting with the other half, to be fertilized and create another life.

The above picture is an artistic simulation (apologies). See the photograph of an actual human ovum below:


a human ovum with many sperms (picture credit unknown)


Saturday, November 24, 2012

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Khayyam


a book of verse, yes
no jug of wine
no bough
privacy, quietude
no thou

Mysterious


sunrise or moonset
a forest, an entity
benign or venomous
charred or newly born

best left alone

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Boudoir


the weary moon dreams, a beauty

do come now, it is already night

restless eyes search and are tired
of looking, seeking

let them not wait longer
and in despair
embers of desire
sleep

come before the colours of ardour
fade

as the night which does not wait
will slip away

------
Anonymous wrote:

If I had such an exquisite boudoir to bouder in, I would bury myself there. In fact I'm thinking to change my tag line from kaash Kaashi (if only I were in Kaashi/Banaras) ... to kaash boudoir.

Knowledge


surrounded by impenetrable darkness of ignorance

-----

KNOWLEDGE
LED ME TO THE KNOWLEDGE
OF ITS USELESSNESS

MY UNWISE DISPUTATIONS
OVER THE NATURE OF THINGS
AND THE SCOPE AND EXTENT
OF ALL THINGS IN NATURE
AND THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE
SERENE IN ITS VASTNESS
ABIDING TO ITS NATURE
NOT QUESTING, ASKING, FINDING
NATURALLY BOUND BY
THE UNSPOKEN, UNWRITTEN
UNEXPLAINED LAW
OF THE NATURE OF THINGS
FOR ALL THINGS:
THAT IN THE UNIVERSAL SCHEME
THE NATURE OF THINGS
COULD NOTHING ELSE BUT BE
WHAT IT WAS,
IS, OR WILL BE
WITHOUT THE AID
OF MY KNOWLEDGE OF IT

KNOWLEDGE INFORMS ME
THAT LIFE DID NOT ORIGINATE
NOR DEPEND FOR ITS EXISTENCE
ON INTELLIGENCE OR VOLITION

I KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT KNOWLEDGE NOW
TO ENVY A DOG HIS WAGGING TAIL
AND OFFER ALL INTELLIGENCE IN EXCHANGE FOR IT

--------
Anonymous wrote:

Knowledge: Woh lines to mann mein inscribed hain hi along with the different images you have placed them with at different times particularly with Aurangabad's Buddha. What I liked about the pages yesterday was the disarray which alone suffices to underscore your lines. As if the pages possess the 'knowledge' of the futility of their content just as the thinking mind cannot escape the knowledge of the futility of its own churnings.



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Nautilus


Jules Verne named his fictional submarine Nautilus, which featured in two of his novels (later made into films), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island, after the real, rudimentary, submarine invented by Robert Fulton. The living nautilus is an ancient cephalopod -- see  more about it on Wikipedia.

Flotsam


It had some kind of life in it once, and was part of the elaborate DNA ecosystem. Now it is lifeless.  It will drift,  and probably slowly disintegrate and become part food, part something whatever else; and maybe in its invisible form, come out of our faucet.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Leaning

and finding comfort

Waking's End

The Beta Sleep

That our brain produces electricity has been a boon to mankind, as a great deal of understanding of our physiology, and most emphatically the working of the brain and heart, could be understood by scientists and men of medicine by connectivity to this electrical activity. So much of our research into the functioning of our various systems would not have been understood if this connection had not existed, or been available.

ECG (electro-cardiogram) and EEG (electro-encephalogram), are two of the most vital examples: one lets you pry into the functioning, or otherwise, of the heart; the other, the almighty central control room, the brain.

While studying the brain by connecting several electrodes to key points around it, both on sleeping and wakeful people, many discoveries were made advancing our knowledge of our brains and through it, so much of our bodies.

It was during one of such EEG procedures with a sedated patient, that, after repeated experimentation, understanding of what came to be known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep was discovered. The question then arose as to why, in a person who was not watching, viewing, or involved in any activity, there should be movement within the closed eyes. And the answer was not difficult to find: it arose from being watchful, stirring, etc., in sleep. So then there had to be an activity, and that could come only from a story being played or enacted by the brain. And what else could that be, except dreaming. It was also discovered that during REM sleep, the patient or the subject of the experiment was most restful in terms of other physiological parameters.  This sleep was then named Beta sleep, among other names for other forms of sleep, which were Alpha, Delta, etc.

This was paradoxical, because not all, if not most, dreams are pleasurable; and yet, biologically, man's rhythms are most restful during this turbulence, as evidenced by movement within the closed eyes.

Apart from many other discoveries and nuances that man advanced as knowledge of neurology, neuro-sciences and emanating from there, of entire human physiology, one more science evolved, called bio-feedback, on which, more later.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Twister


A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as twisters. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but they are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are about 250 feet (76 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour (483 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3.2 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).
(From Wikipedia)

Uprooted


Allium sativum

It is repellent as well as beneficial

Fossil

Among the last to last, despite every conceivable handicap and vulnerability

I took this picture from shreds of a leaf, in my hotel room, across the street from the Alipore Zoo (Chidiya-khaana, as it is called in Calcutta).

(from Wikipedia): The Alipore Zoo in India was the home to Adwaita (trans. non-duality), which zoo officials claimed was the oldest living animal until its death on March 23, 2006. Adwaita was an Aldabra giant tortoise brought to India by Lord Wellesley, who handed it over to the Alipur Zoological Gardens in 1875 when the zoo was set up. West Bengal officials said records showed Adwaita was at least 150 years old, but other evidence pointed to 250. Adwaita was said to be the pet of Robert Clive.
-------


To a Box Turtle
JOHN UPDIKE

Size of a small skull, and like a skull segmented, 
of pentagons healed and varnished to form a dome, 
you almost went unnoticed in the meadow, 
among its tall grasses and serrated strawberry leaves 
your mottle of amber and umber effective camouflage.
You were making your way through grave distances, 
your forefeet just barely extended and as dainty as dried 
coelacanth fins, as miniature sea-fans, your black nails 
decadent like a Chinese empress’s, and your head 
a triangular snake-head, eyes ringed with dull gold.
I pick you up. Your imperious head withdraws. 
Your bottom plate, hinged once, presents a No 
with its courteous waxed surface, a marquetry 
of inlaid squares, fine-grained and tinted 
tobacco-brown and the yellow of a pipe smoker’s teeth.
What are you thinking, thus sealed inside yourself? 
My hand must have a smell, a killer’s warmth. 
It holds you upside down, aloft, undignified, 
your leathery person amazed in the floating dark. 
How much pure fear can your wrinkled brain contain?
I put you down. Your tentative, stalk-bending walk 
resumes. The manifold jewel of you melts into grass. 
Power mowers have been cruel to your race, and creatures 
less ornate and unlikely have long gone extinct; 
but nature’s tumults pool to form a giant peace.



Friday, November 16, 2012

Uncommunicative


On the lines which hum with a cacophony of humans round the clock, in millions of voices transmitting messages, gaggle, static sounds, I (sometime in 1972) found it amusing that these two lovebirds were incommunicado. Maybe they were dreaming of cyber-cafes.
----------------------------

Comments:

Or perhaps they were waiting for their turn to talk to Jesus, the Cross, created by the post framework.

I like your projection of irony better.

charu
------------------
Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy said...
WOh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb thi
Yesh shaam bhi ajeeb hain
.....
Jhuki hui nigahon mein
Kahin mera khayaal tha
Dabi dabi haseen mein
Ek haseen sa gulal tha
......
Mein jaanta hoon mera naam
Gunguna rahinhain woh
Mein jaanta hoon mera naam
Gunguna rahinhain woh
Yehi khayal hain mujhe
Ke saath aa rahin hain woh
-------------------------
My reply:


Do dil
do jism
do dishaayen






Inside Geographic




As man explores inside and outside of himself, and equally keenly, his environment and beyond, he unceasingly explores within and towards the core of the earth itself. Something that he does not understand, he learns to respect. What he understands, however, he mostly exploits, uses up, creates turbulence and quakes, and

Whence?
-----------------------
Comments:


Bhai,

Cracking and fracking of shale to extract gas and oil is the perfect example.
Is this not a part of a picture I saw here once before?

charu

---------------------
Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy said...
Public hain yeh sab jaanti hain
Public hain
Aji, Andar kya hain Baahar kya hain
Yeh sab pehachanthi hain......

:-)
---------------------
My reply:


Sab jaankar anjaan hai
Uparwaala chain ki neend so raha hai
Dil lagaakar ham yeh samjhe
Zindagi kya cheez hai


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Salutation


welcome and farewell
to the eternally unstoppable time
past and to arrive
remaining in perpetual motion

Monday, November 12, 2012

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Still


Without air conditioning; or, within.
---
the slowing down, stopping of the breeze
the growing silence within the heart
is the journey ahead
or has it ended

The Nook


and corner. Inviting. Invitation accepted, after the picture was taken. Now it is your turn.

Friday, November 09, 2012

At the End of a Waterfall


but with total certitude, not at the end of water. Even as all life as we know it emerged and is sustained by water in one form or another, when it comes to an end, there will be water. In all probability, the end of life will be by water.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

The Chamber of the Queen Ant


The workers and other ants seem to be on strike, or fasting, or gheraoing.

Those Magnificent Flying Machines


"Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes"  (1965), was a British comedy film produced by Darryl F. Zanuck on a grand scale, which lived up to its promise by becoming very popular and grossing very well at the box office.

The original screenplay written by Ken Annakin and Jack Davies was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing Directly for the Screen (1966). The film was also nominated in the category of Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written.

At the 1966 Golden Globes, the film won Best Motion Picture Actor – Musical/Comedy for Alberto Sordi, as well as being nominated in Best Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy and Most Promising Newcomer – Male for James Fox.

The theme song from the movie:

My rendering of the flying machines does not have men; perhaps because I am a borderline, or full-grown, misanthrope.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

It Eats It


Survival of the fittest.

Rising Fury

(picture taken in Mahabalipuram in 1974)

the storm is here, the storm has risen
unconcerned, merciless, is the sky, nature

how, why, can one live when life is such torment
the lamps of hope have been extinguished
do I see clouds, or is it smoke
fire burns somewhere
could it be my dwelling 
which is being destroyed

--------------------------------------
Aaya toofaan aaya toofaan
be-rahm, be-khabar
hai aasmaan

kaise koi jiye zeher hai zindagi
uthha toofaan uthha toofaan
aash ke sab bujh gaye diye
baadal hai ya dhuaan
 aag lagi kahaan
jalta na ho kahin
mera hi aashiyaan



Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Reaching for the Sky


I am lost
I suppose I always was
Never knew or know
Whether I am on terra firma
Or a star staring down
Tormented by what I see
Down on earth
--------------------



Aye Gham-e-dil Kya Karoon
Singer: Talat Mahmoud 


shahar ki raat aur main naashaad-o-naakaara firoon 
jagamagaati jaagatee, sadakon pe aavaara firoon 

ai gam-e-dil kya karu 
ai vahashat-e-dil kya karu
kya karu, kya karu 
ai gam-e-dil kya karu 

ye roopahali chhaanv ye aakaash par taaron ka jaal 
jaise soofi ka tasavvur, jaise aashiq ka khayaal 
aah lekin kaun samajhe, kaun jaane dil ka haal 
ai gam-e-dil kya karu ... 

raaste mein ruk ke dam loon, ye meri aadat nahi 
laut kar vaapas chala jaaun meri fitarat nahi 
aur koi hamanava mil jaaye ye qismat nahi 
ai gam-e-dil kya karu ... 

ai gam-e-dil kya karu
ai vahashat-e-dil kya karu
kya karoon, kya karu
ai gam-e-dil kya karu

mujhako qismat ne banaya, gandale pani ka kanval 
kak mein mil mil gae sab, arazu ke ye mahal 
kya khabar thi yun meri taqadir jaegi badal 
ai gam-e-dil ... 

ruthane vale kisi, majabur se ruthega kya 
jis tarah qismat ne luta, yun koi lutega kya 
ye mere tute hue dil, aur tu tutega kya 
ai gam-e-dil ... 

Monday, November 05, 2012

Heaven's Thunderbolt


in full utilisation, creating and sustaining a hellish mess.

Gravity's Rainbow


Can gravity create a rainbow? Almost certainly, no; but yes, it can certainly bend it.

Certitude in our knowledge of our universe is embarrassingly small: we know gravity, matter, electricity, light and its speed, and forces which are combinations of one with another or multiple others.

Beyond that, yes, that the universe is infinite, eternal, and never static. Even sound is not elementary, dear Watson: it is only a slave created or let loose by any one of these named forces.


The universe is never static.  Nothing in it ever is; from the Magellanic Cloud to subatomic particles, changes happen in ceaseless cycles.  The universe itself is happening; everything in it is continually happening, without pause, thought, malice, or benevolence.  It happens, within it things happen; in these happenings, another other happenings happen.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Fans



Fighting nature's fury while being its martyrs; in calmer times, providing shelter and gentle breeze from sweltering heat.

Absconding Moon


Or, simply, there are too many, like temptations.

Moon, my heart
Where have you gone
How to find you among so many
Will you forgive me
if I frolic with another

As I wrote this, I thought of a favourite song from the film
Hum Kisi se Kam Nahin (1977). The song was so popular that a stanza was repeated in Shahrukh Khan's film Main Hoon Na (2004):

Chaand mera dil
Chaandni ho tum
Chaand se hai door
Chaandni kahaan
Lautke aana
hai yahin tumko
Ja rahe ho tum
jaao meri jaan

Music: R.D. Burman.
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri. 






--------------------------
Update:

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy wrote: 
"Kahe koyi kuch bhi
Magar Sach yehi hain....

.....ke pathchad ka mausam
Ghadi do ghadi hain

Naye phool kal phir
Dagar mein khilenge
Udaasi bhare din kabhi to dhalenge"

Lovely blogs and photos.

Dil behalaaya huzoor
Best wishes and warm regards
-----------------------------
My reply:

Huzoor:

Sainkdon shukriya
Aap ne hamaari naacheez ko
Pyaar se nawaaza

Pathjhad aaye aur jaaye
Phool khile aur murjhaaye
Aapki dosti ka sahaara ho agar

Hamein aur koi gham nahin

Ramesh Gandhi


Friday, November 02, 2012

Seeing Sharon


Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

Sharon Stone would not mind, but for Honorable Nitin Gadkari, I do not know how much I can write; what I know, though, is that he cannot stop anyone from seeing.

Mughal


In any case, one of them, sighted in an ornate crystal ashtray, with or without a hookah or a rose, as was their custom.

No smoke, no fire, smoke detector blinking above the ashtray.



Mughal-e-Azaam: neither Prithviraj nor Dilip Kumar approving