Was
it really so hard for you to be real? I spent my time counting stars,
writing letters that I never posted, sipping coffee that was already too
cold. Just not the right temperature. Just never the right temperament.
I spent my time walking on tiles, careful to place my awkward feet
right in between, careful not to touch the boundaries. Always too
careful not to touch the boundaries. I wish you had been more prudent
about my obsessiveness. But you went right ahead and spilled water over
the lines I had drawn. Now I don't know where my heart lies, nor my
mind. I don't pay heed to your words, or mine. There's no way to make
out one thing from the other; the sweet words from the poisonous; the
real from illusion; the hot from the cold. I burnt my hand. But the
coffee had already grown cold. The cigarette you carried around was
finally put off and now the butt lies like a big black spot on my little
blank life. I had begged for years, it makes me happy that you finally
put it off. I envy you your shallowness dear. I have come to realize it
is a terrible thing to dig deeper meaning into things that mean so
little and are tossed aside by the rest.
The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
The room is full of the cries of a baby, loud enough to match the splattering of the rain on the window panes outside. A little angel brought down into a world already hurling towards emotional destruction. Outside, there lie stacks of stones – towers assembled carefully in prayer. The hint of a disturbance is all it would take to dismantle them. To tear apart the families of the hands' that placed them atop each other.
Now, she wears clammy clothing that stays damp for days. A shy tuck of hair behind the ear; a lunar voice throwing venomous insults, filling the empty sky's ears; a permanent sort of shadow casts her face - dusty with a caked layer of fear and anguish. No secrets to reveal and tears that have almost lost their fluidity. She tries to struggle inside the house on the off chance of dreamy nights - her nook for days when the rain is just not stopping; the most real thing she possesses. But there is a long, long queue outside that little hut. There are a million in line, ahead of her. God’s mighty army; those grown up angels. Or a forgotten debris of the crushed hope of countless? They light up what is left of their lives, and hold it up. Will the flame quicken? Or spiral towards its end, blown out by the stirring wind.
The tiny one inside cries out, and it seems like for now, the world is still intact.
Now, she wears clammy clothing that stays damp for days. A shy tuck of hair behind the ear; a lunar voice throwing venomous insults, filling the empty sky's ears; a permanent sort of shadow casts her face - dusty with a caked layer of fear and anguish. No secrets to reveal and tears that have almost lost their fluidity. She tries to struggle inside the house on the off chance of dreamy nights - her nook for days when the rain is just not stopping; the most real thing she possesses. But there is a long, long queue outside that little hut. There are a million in line, ahead of her. God’s mighty army; those grown up angels. Or a forgotten debris of the crushed hope of countless? They light up what is left of their lives, and hold it up. Will the flame quicken? Or spiral towards its end, blown out by the stirring wind.
The tiny one inside cries out, and it seems like for now, the world is still intact.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Listen
The Chinese (Red) String Theory is based on this simple proverb:
‘An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break.’
I loved ‘The Lunchbox’ for multiple reasons. To state one – the anticipation of
a letter, of what the returned lunchbox container would contain, a woman’s joy
at seeing it empty, her courage in thanking the receiver of her sincere cooking
for having liked her food, unconventional friendships, the slow discovery of
another’s secrets – these things to me are what, for an eloquent word, magic
is. In a world where most of us continuously look for glamour, are attracted by
glitz and out of the world things, extreme highs or lows, where we despise
ordinary things – it is a movie which wonderfully makes you long to be simple,
to regain the ability to be made happy by small things, to believe in kinship
and the power of honest thoughts. It makes one nostalgic for written notes,
labours of love; for pieces of paper to hang on to as keepsakes.
Most of all, it lets you believe that there is someone among the 7 billion people in the world, despite the messy maps created by those unskilled at drawing borders, who longs to hear what you have to say; it lets you believe in the Red String Theory.
"Listen. Some things Nino, some things are like this. Pay attention to them. What the whiff of dried bouquet in the air tells you, what soothes you amidst the blinding lights on the road. Pay attention to the things you miss in half beats.
Imagine. You are the empress of a wild kingdom. Let the castle of your heart be unguarded because what would life be without crenellations, without a risky angle?"
Most of all, it lets you believe that there is someone among the 7 billion people in the world, despite the messy maps created by those unskilled at drawing borders, who longs to hear what you have to say; it lets you believe in the Red String Theory.
"Listen. Some things Nino, some things are like this. Pay attention to them. What the whiff of dried bouquet in the air tells you, what soothes you amidst the blinding lights on the road. Pay attention to the things you miss in half beats.
Imagine. You are the empress of a wild kingdom. Let the castle of your heart be unguarded because what would life be without crenellations, without a risky angle?"
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Of power-cuts and things
The lights go out; fans slowly churn to a halt while you sit
and try to breathe in this insufferable heat. There is a tear shaped drop
trickling down the sides of your face, beside your rouged cheeks, it is close
to the hollow of your ear. You smell like salt. There is a scream forming in
your gut, knotting itself up into a tight cluster and rising like smoke, almost
reaching your throat now. But you gulp and push it back down with your tongue
with the patience born out of the indifference you have so diligently
cultivated. You close your eyes, turning your sight inwards but all you can
comprehend is the sun’s blinding light that strikes your face like a sharp,
focused slap. There is a pile of unwashed clothes lying on the bed next to you,
and a pot of red Poinsettia. You scoot to sit down on the floor and press your
palm against the tiles, trying to absorb some of its coolness and letting it
travel up. You think of fire, you feel exhausted. You’re walking at the extreme
side of the road, the edge. That’s the way you like walking, always a brave
heart. In your head, you break into a sprint, so fast that you leave behind
everything you have ever detested. This feud isn’t even original; you are the
retold story of a thousand men, once more. You have been trying to suspend
judgement but this doesn’t feel like summer, it can’t be.
You take the plant out to water it. It is strange how your our mind ascribes metaphors to memories and events. The smell of wet mud, and you think of mangoes, summer school holidays at your grandma’s house.
You take the plant out to water it. It is strange how your our mind ascribes metaphors to memories and events. The smell of wet mud, and you think of mangoes, summer school holidays at your grandma’s house.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Of strange tales
You
vagabond, gypsy, wanderer
you nomad, you homeless man
with a pocket full of change that has wavering value
I remember you carried around your neck : a key
and smelled of bubble-gum
the scent of which found home in my nose
when you buried your face in my hair and inhaled sharply
the spasmodic sigh of a man who I had thought could never be shocked
It is said your life span is proportional to the number of breaths you take
You believed left over tea leaves predict the future
and studied my palm for hours to find a way home
Across three generations, I was famed as the lady with poise
only you knew I could not drink and walk without spilling and stumbling
On nights like these, I need to be writing stories like yours
striking off and scrawling again those little details
about how you only slept in houses with red bricks
and Erhu- the Chinese violin that was the secret of your music
With the fatal morning, comes the memory of your voice
and the light of sense goes out
I turn towards the well-placed envelopes; good intentions
and think about how despite ourselves
we manage to knot up the things we love most
As I sift through each day, so desperate and hungry
I remember you told me that a tortoise breathes 4 times a minute
and lives to be one fifty
I breathe slowly
sometimes it is bound to be a long wait
Is it any wonder then, that the scorching sand
reminds me of you?
you nomad, you homeless man
with a pocket full of change that has wavering value
I remember you carried around your neck : a key
and smelled of bubble-gum
the scent of which found home in my nose
when you buried your face in my hair and inhaled sharply
the spasmodic sigh of a man who I had thought could never be shocked
It is said your life span is proportional to the number of breaths you take
You believed left over tea leaves predict the future
and studied my palm for hours to find a way home
Across three generations, I was famed as the lady with poise
only you knew I could not drink and walk without spilling and stumbling
On nights like these, I need to be writing stories like yours
striking off and scrawling again those little details
about how you only slept in houses with red bricks
and Erhu- the Chinese violin that was the secret of your music
With the fatal morning, comes the memory of your voice
and the light of sense goes out
I turn towards the well-placed envelopes; good intentions
and think about how despite ourselves
we manage to knot up the things we love most
As I sift through each day, so desperate and hungry
I remember you told me that a tortoise breathes 4 times a minute
and lives to be one fifty
I breathe slowly
sometimes it is bound to be a long wait
Is it any wonder then, that the scorching sand
reminds me of you?
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
A sliced apple lay on the kitchen counter, already brown
from prolonged contact with oxygen. And next to it sat an upright canvas; paint
spilled across it in joyful aggression, and a torn corner. As if somebody had
left in a hurry, maybe after having received a phone call. Out of
uncontrollable eagerness or some unfortunate tragedy, one could not tell. Outside,
a lanky boy, ran as fast as his knobby knees would carry him, flowers in hand
and a shiny wrapper in tow, the smell of daisies trailing. There had been
better days to be wrong, But never a wrong day to try to be right. His crooked
teeth had been chewing on time for too long. Today, it was time to run.
She walked briskly; sharp sounds on the paved floor. Turned left on to a narrow, dingy alley, and was startled a little to find a reflection in the glass windows of the corner shop staring back at her. Wind kissed hair, chapped face, eyes wet with unshed tears and unbuttoned coat. But she had flowers in her hat.
Yellow daisies.
She walked briskly; sharp sounds on the paved floor. Turned left on to a narrow, dingy alley, and was startled a little to find a reflection in the glass windows of the corner shop staring back at her. Wind kissed hair, chapped face, eyes wet with unshed tears and unbuttoned coat. But she had flowers in her hat.
Yellow daisies.
She paused for a bit, and thought about the art of
forgetting; About rusted monkey bars; covered with moss because of lack of use,
left to dry in the winter sun. It was part of the gruelling and obsessive
scrutiny of everything that came under her nose that she had recently taken up;
inspecting life with a microscope in hand. She started to climb up the steps,
and then suddenly exhausted, knelt down, feet covered with shadows.
In her sober sadness, she thought yet again of all the promises she had made over the years. Mostly, life was these untraceable patterns of simplicity but it was clear that everyone knew that promises came from fear. Fear of those crests of marvellous elation and the troughs of colossal disappointment. And this bumpy ride of uneven highs and lows left her slightly bruised.
As she unlocked the door and stepped inside, her gaze was drawn to the dress lying on the rug, half spilling out of the gift wrapped packet she had received it in. It almost brought a smile to her face. Unwrapping that gift, she had in a flash of thought, felt like she was unwrapping darkness. And the seven lined poem on the clumsily torn yellow paper, eloquent in its desire to wrench her away from the wedge of unmoving, unflinching stone that she was driving herself into.
In her sober sadness, she thought yet again of all the promises she had made over the years. Mostly, life was these untraceable patterns of simplicity but it was clear that everyone knew that promises came from fear. Fear of those crests of marvellous elation and the troughs of colossal disappointment. And this bumpy ride of uneven highs and lows left her slightly bruised.
As she unlocked the door and stepped inside, her gaze was drawn to the dress lying on the rug, half spilling out of the gift wrapped packet she had received it in. It almost brought a smile to her face. Unwrapping that gift, she had in a flash of thought, felt like she was unwrapping darkness. And the seven lined poem on the clumsily torn yellow paper, eloquent in its desire to wrench her away from the wedge of unmoving, unflinching stone that she was driving herself into.
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