Sunday, July 30, 2017

The Nowhere Path



I am a traveller on the nowhere path
there are no signs of the beginning
nor directions for moving forward
towards the destination
if there is one

I have seen countless travelers
worn out by ecstasy and emptiness
rushing towards mirages
in which to drown

thorns prick me
as I try to pluck some joy
in and out of the journey

both illumination and darkness
have traversed the path with me
and taken turns to confound me

they have not kept me company for long
on the nowhere path

Friday, July 28, 2017

Wind-Blown




the leaf landed

where I sat contemplating
the meaning of life


as I took the picture

suddenly I felt
that its fall


detached from its tether

deadened
aimlessly blown by the breeze


told me a lot



-----------------------

Bhashwati wrote:

Thoughts on
A leaf no more ...

From a shimmering spot of colour 
where light and breeze marry
to a rusted relic of itself,.. 
the leaf's life is all too brief 
as it lies defeated by death.

Just as, shadows of former selves, 
frayed at the edges and weary at the core
discarding all quests for the meaning of life,  
withering away we await,  

the triumph of death

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Harmony



-----------
B wrote: Aap ki tasveer... is located in some other universe because it seems to have no room for or possibility of discord.

The creature from human species is alone. kya conflict karega bechaara aur bovine beings ko to zaroorat nhain conflict ki.

Bhaai chaarse bhaains chaara kar rahe hain.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

The Glory


Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay, 1975

crowning the vast expanse
to the name and the house
it heads: Tata
atop the Gateway to India

Friday, July 21, 2017

Another Day, Another Year in the Life of One Alone in a City, in a Town


ONE, ALONE
IN THE CITY, EARTH
ALL THE TIME -- DAY, NIGHT
SEEKS MEANING OF LIFE, TRUTH --

THESE PATHS
WHICH ARE LONGER
THAN ANY LIFETIME
HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN
ANY DESTINATION TO REACH

DARKER THAN MOONLESS NIGHT
THE WELL OF LIFE
DRAWS SMOKE
INSTEAD OF TEARS
FROM HIS UNSHELTERED EYES

ONE, ALONE
HAS LIVED MANY LIFETIMES
AND ONE MORE YEAR
LET SLIP THROUGH HIS FINGERS
TIMELESS SANDS
OF MEANINGLESSNESS, LIES

NOW WITHOUT REASON TO LIVE
AND INABILITY TO DIE
COUNTS EVERY PASSING MOMENT
AS A YEAR BACKWARD
AND INSTEAD OF THE TRUTH
YEARNS ONLY JUST TO KNOW
HOW LONG
ONEALONE

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Up to the Neck


beauty
if there be
beholder



--------------------
Anonymous wrote:
Perhaps because of the pink hue and the layered folds it seems like an unfolding blossom on a bosom.  
Often i marvel at the sheer aesthetics of a sari, the uncomplicated elegance, the grace with which it enwraps and the effortlessness with which it curves and falls and holds is something else. The other day i was looking at a grandmother walking past my window and i was mesmerised by the way her foot fall would splay the pleats and then collapse again and i realised all over again that the sari is one of the most intelligent things to cover the female form with. It enhances and it enables. But that is an ode to the sari. My ode to the photograph is that with a little bit of light tapered to a shadow, you have captured the beholder's fancy.

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Mahabalipuram Shore Temple, 1975


There are multitudes of pictures of this small temple; but I am posting this because it could not be taken today. The window where I stood was in a building that has been torn down. The area around it, a resort, has been filled with cottages, pools, villas, restaurants; and with so many palm trees that it is difficult even to catch a glimpse of the temple. The temple itself has been partly surrounded with a stone breakwater covered with casuarina trees, to protect it from the pounding of the sea. At the time that this picture was taken, one could walk to the side where the temple jutted out on a miniature peninsula into the sea, hold on to two iron rods with chains attached, and be drenched with the waves which continually splashed up against the temple itself.

The temple is ancient, and will probably endure for some time into the future, but the life around it flickers and changes as quickly and awkwardly as the frames of a silent movie, in grainy black and white.

(Wikipedia on the history of the Shore Temple: http://tinyurl.com/pz9ol87)

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Drowned City


skyscrapers become seascapes, crepuscular

sea-nymphs hourly ring its knell

their residents gilled, breathing
skies of glacial melt, breeding
new life out of the dead land

nothing of it that doth fade,
but hath suffered

the world surprised us





Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Betrayal

(circa 1974)
Duniya mein dhoka aam baat hai
Ab Suraj ko hi dekh lo
Aata hai Kiran ke saath 
Rahta hai Roshni ke saath
Aur aaj Varsha bhadak gayi
To chhip gaya kahin jaake 
Megha ke saath

In this world, betrayal is common;
Take the example of the Sun:
He comes with Kiran* (Rays),
He stays with Roshni* (Light),
And today Varsha* (Rain) has increased,
So, clinging to her, he is hiding somewhere
with Megha* (Cloud).
----------
*These are all women's pretty names in Hindi.

-------------------------
Charu wrote:

While text did not arrive here, it is quite apropos. Not unlike males of our species, eh! Beautiful picture.
-------------------------
Bhashwati wrote:


i dont know whether i should say anything or not because my interpretation is now entirely coloured by the title.

i thumb all your black and white images 
This one has taken on a new meaning because of the title.
There is light and its reflection is brighter BUT it is the dark that dominates the composition. and the dark in my mind has translated into deceit and a cover up for deceit. The original source of light is feeble... the heart hoping against hope that the betrayal is not real.
The reflected light shines brighter because its a mirage and its purpose is to delude the mind. 

All this is connected to the title as i said already.

Actually the composition is an exquisite fragile balance of light dark, dense and transparent, still and flowing.

Sunday, July 09, 2017

In the Eye of Darkness


Light and darkness.

Consider the almost unalterable time in human hours that earth takes in its rotational and revolutionary, magnetic, gravitational forces essentially emanating from the sun, not to count the minutiae of the movements of all solar systems and galaxies, which separate for the living on the planet, in theory equally, light from darkness. 

There are lurking lights like man-made electric and other beams and spreads.

There are also darknesses not naturally endowed or cast, which apparently, in the human mind, far outclass the light by the vindictive malice of their machinations.

Just by chance, is the picture also a human face? See the forehead on top, eyebrows, and dark sockets for eyes, and nose engulfed in flame. Is there an unintended meaning here? The darkness behind the light.

---------------------------
Anonymous wrote:


Baar baar dekhtey huey achaanak samajh aaya what i found disturbing about that photo. It is like beheaded heads sunk in congealed blood and because blood is not something that you are good with, i was disoriented, i find the composition striking and frightening. Because it is a globe kind of curve it looks like the human world is expressing horror at its capacity to self destruct. And the sole purpose of the light seems to be to illuminate the horror rather than driving out the dark. Dont tell anyone but i see more than one face.

Thursday, July 06, 2017

Knit Net


leaf
ahead of fecundity
or

lifeline
teasing, deceitful
short or long
tantalising
false


Sunday, July 02, 2017

Catching the Night Forming Dew



eaves-dropping with eyes

tired
sleepless eyes
piercing the darkness
snooping on
the dew forming
before the first light
of the day

to be trodden upon
to be wiped out

to form again
on another night
perhaps
if its time
has not run out
if time has not
just run out
on everything
away into
oblivion


-----------------------------
Bhashwati commented:

The thought came from the last lines:  

if time has not
just run out
on everything
away into
oblivion
time running out and away into oblivion.

a dew drop is probably among the most ephemeral of nature's phenomena. For sensitive humans its fragile beauty has long embodied the impermanence of life. However one thinks of that impermanence only in comparison to other apparently permanent things when in fact there is no difference at all.   

What else is life but to be wiped out, to form again, and for the cycle to continue until and unto oblivion...the elusive and illusory web of green and mist in the image is translated perfectly in the accompanying text.