the Republic...for 60 years!

***

60 years of being the republic means, six decades...

...of being the most diverse nation on the planet. of bearing the weight of the expectations of a billion people. of cutting corners paying and accepting bribes. of making a mockery of our political and judicial system. of bitterly fighting amongst each other in the name of religion, caste and land. of pitting our individual identity against that of the nation. of electing corrupt criminals to our politico out of indifference, ignorance and fear. of exploiting and hurting each other. of ridiculing each others beliefs and values...

60 years of being the republic also means, six decades...

...of saluting our martyrs in absolute honour. of shouldering each other in times of grief. of laughing together. of celebrating together. of praying together. of congratulating each other on a Sachin century. of crooning along together to the tunes of Lata and Mukesh. of wanting to leave to find a better life somewhere else, but of always coming back to reclaim it here. of accepting the generous hospitality of unknown countrymen and of reaching out to others. of being awed at our collective culture. of greedily indulging ourselves to the never-ending culinary delights of this big kitchen from each others plates. of learning the mystic knowledge collected over centuries through folk tales with talking animals. of embracing each other. of always dreaming of success as a nation. of sharing one nation despite our differences and apprehensions...

...today is the completion of 60 years of the Republic of India! but being an Indian lasts forever. and this song is one of the many cherished memories that i grew up with. a truly Indian song of unity and love...

...Happy Republic Day!

if perspectives went downhill in a cart...

...a moment is what it takes for the present to be the past. for everything to become distant. from "when" to "now" to "then" to "back then". such is the nature of time. yesterday seems like a long time ago now. looking back now makes it all seem so distant. where did it all go? all that we can see now is the future. mechanical & shiny, perhaps...

...it all seems like one of those fairy tale beginnings, "a long long time ago" fable. back when everything was seemingly easy. when we were what we wanted to be. back when we changed the world. back when we were the revolution...

...funny part is, "far far away" was never that far away. all it took was a little bit of imagination. the child in us knew it...

***

"i believe that eventually we are all at the right place at the right time. call it 'in retrospect' or 'statistics', what are the chances of it all being otherwise?"

of colors...

..."color me red!"

for more pics visit the photoblog



...would it change anything if i were to be colored red,
instead of black or white or blue?
a single stroke of the palette soaked brush
bestowing to this life a tainted hue.

a different shade,
for a different me...

..."maybe not"

the great sun jester...

photo taken by Gayatri Thangjam. location: Shimla 01/01/10

"sunsets always bring about a change. they are like the heralds of time, summoning the old day back into the recesses of the grand old design from which it emerged in the first place. what is here, must be replaced with something else that shall be here. the night must engulf us and a new day must dawn.

this is the 'one' rule."

...its all a big joke! this daily melee of our days.

***

the clown inside of people's heads...

...you are an absence. you are a vacuum. what celestial rules govern you, i know not clown...

...but i do know that you have a way of filling the spaces inside the head. the quaint ticking of the clock, the gentle reverberating purr of the cat, the warm incense tainted air inside the room, the humming of the fan. they all seem be your pranks to empty the mind of it's thoughts under your comically morose influence. turning the likable nothingness and metamorphosing it into an invisible vortex. you are an insatiable pestilence. consuming everything from the inside out. devouring my thoughts.

the best thing to do is to feed you. do not mistake my generosity with giving up, i simply mean to stuff that hungry face of yours with everything i've got and hope that in doing so i might just choke you. you greedy bastard. make you gasp for air, turn purple and then roll over and die. so eat all you can. consume all the thoughts, the good and the bad. everything from the deepest recesses of my mind. eat till you can eat no more. and then die...

...i shall never run out of thoughts!

***

ps: came across this old picture from the mime days of Silent Call...the rest, as always is a rant against the seemingly insurmountable wall/block/clown/lazy bum inside of my head that prevents me from blogging more often.

in any case, have a fabulous New Year folks!!

sibling differences...

...siblings at times tend to be different. so are my sister and i. it's quite obvious in fact.

...i love my hair! i think that they are the wickedest wildest messiest bonding of Keratine polymers shooting straight out of my brain. and they are growing longer and wilder. just like my thoughts...

...when it comes to my hair, they prefer to come undone no matter what i do to them. but that is how i like it! i am incorrigible!!

***

***

the Great November gig...

Wow!! November flew away. and that too pretty fast...

tread carefully have we, upon the path unknown.
for who knew what awaited the turn
something good, was all we hoped
but unknown it was to us once.

..."wish you were here, my soulful November"

***

ps: images from the month await you all at the photoblog. so please go check them out!

story of two nights...

...

O' gentle Sylph of the glade,
guardian of nectarine cities.
elemental by nature, a woman's soul.
i beseech thee.

unveil to me the beauty i so desire.
the one caressing the fragrant breeze.
worlds underneath her feet,
she is all i seek.

sing me to sleep.
bring me my dreams.



***


born of words, darkness & shadows.
from tales intricately woven tight.

unraveling the mind's flight,
giving wings to my heart's Djinn.
unknown creature of the night,
many are thee.

"Bakhtak!"
listen to me.
thieve me of my sleep,
tonight i need no dreams.

...


for more pictures visit the photoblog.

***

...also find the same post @ Experimental Soup

of glimpses in the dark...

...

...

the dance of the flickering flame
swaying gently hand-in-hand with the breeze.
one bright flicker, one dark shadow
one casting the other, breathing life into each other.

playing a little game with their backs to each other,
one not meant to see the other.
there's glimpses of a beauty hitherto unseen
between the swaying of the flame
between the shadows of the night

one look, one long moment, one small story.

...

***

for more pics visit the photoblog

'seasons greetings' folks...may this year bring with it all the joy and happiness that we deserve. i know that i have been M.I.A for a while now. but then, i always come back. and here i am once again, with stories that need to be told. the Shah of Blah, the storyteller itches to speak all the time...but of late the words have been hard to find. thankfully i can feel them coming back to me.

so i guess i shall see you all soon.

...