An invitation from the sea

Lying on the sand,
Listening to the roars.
Moving streaks of paint
Visible from the shore.

The wind whispers.
Holding my hands,
And lifting me up.
Mesmerized; I walk towards.

Blinded, I lose my feet,
Ankles, Knees and then the heart.
I am carried further
till there's nothing to see.

Pulled vigorously now,
I decide to let go.
Slowly consumed
In the loving embrace.

I close my eyes,
And see her smile.
"You're tired...
...Sleep a while"

A scream and a jerk.
I see arms, not mine.
Something is said,
Nothing heard.

Carried ashore,
I open my eyes.
It's not the time yet,
As inviting as it maybe.

But someday, she will be mine
And I shall let her take me
Day, when i will accept
The invitation from the sea!!!

Clot or clutter

No direction, no goal

In a black hole

STOP signs all around

Speeding tickets abound

All colors are prettier

But then, green appears

Eyes blind, hands tied

Clogs to stop the ride

Is it a clot or clutter

Death or just a passing matter

A Witness to change

Impatience, Heat, Anger
Restlessness
The need to do
To live
Stories abound
of accomplishments
knowing not...
"The more the world changes
the more it remains the same"

Fighting to change
To make it better or worse
Our eyes are shut
We stand, arms crossed
Staring into nothingness
trying hard to find
Answers
knowing not...
"the more the world changes
the more it remains the same"

Smiling over the hurt
Laughing over tears
Crying with joy
For a lonely togetherness
To love
or to hate
we try to differentiate
knowing not...
"the more the world changes
the more it remains the same"


And then,
I See a face on the street
The wisdom of years
was etched on the face
the lines spoke,
of what the eyes had seen.
And yet they were calm,
knowing...
"the more the world changes
the more it remains the same"

(Inspired by the french saying: "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose",
meaning the more things change, the more they remain the same)

Set free!!

How do you wander
and set sail,
to a land where
there is no need to succeed
or mourn the fail?


How do you kill,
the man inside
and be something more,
a river that flows,
lives, gives and roars?


How do you set free,
the heart,
thats owned by
the mind trained
not to hear, feel or see?


How do you set FREE???
How do you BE free?

Art ??

What is art? And who can be called an artist? What is the job of an artist? A few questions that have racked my brains quite a number of times. Who will have the final say in the given questions? A piece of art may appeal to someone and may totally repel another. 


So, should we and more importantly can we leave the question to the witnesses of art, especially when the witnesses are such varied and have such amazingly contadictory perception for anything art. Who was a better artist, vinci, michelangelo or rembrandt. They all existed in the same era, but still had such different styles. And yet there were people who appreciated them. Moving to a more recent era, Picasso, Van gogh or Goya. Also, with such fast changing definition of art, with the contemporary art (the post modern era) coming in picture, no one can really know or give an exact definition of art. And still we think of all these people to be great artists.


So, if we cannot leave the decision to the witnesses of art. I believe there's just one person who remains, and he is the artist himself. A couple of days back, a phrase got stuck in my mind... 

 "Egotism is the rightful right of every artist". 

 And I think its as true as you and me. An artist should have full freedom to decide on what he wants to create. What he wants to show through what he sees. I as an artist, see something, I perceive it, visualise a story, a tale to say through it, and then I show this story to the people. This should be my and only my right to decide on what I want to show. I feel a piece of art is an expression that has been recreated by the artist.


But why am i suddenly talking about art?Well, its not so much related to the artists I talked about above. It is because I wanted to answer to a question that I have faced myself and have seen a lot of people face. How much editing is accepted in photography? I feel whether a photograph should be photoshopped, edited, cut or pasted is all a photographer's decision. A photographer is an artist and its his decision what he wants to show the people. And when and to what extent he wants to use this right is also his decision. Its about time that the differential treatment meted out to photographers and artists (people who paint, write, act, direct or are associated with any creative field) be erased. I see something and then I visualise something, and its this visualisation that I want to show to people, otherwise I am sure people must have crossed a similar event/place/artefact quite a number of times.


The same photograph may be able to show different moods of mine or the event, by different composition styles, different color patterns or for that matter by keeping different things in focus or out of focus. Each photograph talks as much about the photographer if not more than the story behind it. A photograph is my signature on that event, and I want to keep that unique.


"Egotism is a rightful right of all photographers".

NY 2010

As I had said earlier, I really don't like talking about this topic. But this is not as cliched as it might look like (or is it??). Anyways, this is just a post to observe a few things that happened to me on the 31st of december 2009 and 1st of jan 2010.


31st Dec
1. Never overestimate the number of your guests in a party. You are stuck with the food for next three days.
2. People dance a lot when they are drunk.
3. poochy poochy, is the new tune thats catching up (thanks to ricky).
4. Whether you smoke or not, never bring your arm near the lit end of a cigarette (i said arm, not the fngers).
5. Murphy is present everywhere.




1st Jan
1. Morning walks are fun.
2. Just when u go to sleep, someone calls you to wish you HNY. (point 5 above).
3. Its always good to be in a crowd of interesting people.
4. Lastly, read this quote, which is going to be my motto for the time to come...
    " There will be a lot of people out there, who will tell you that you can't. What you got to do is turn around and say 'Watch me' ".


Have a great new year, and a great time ahead.
I got to do a lot...
watch me. :)

Reunited

I had fallen in love with her the first time I saw her. And then the second visit confirmed it. I was besotted by her, but then we were parted. I moved far away, till the day came, and I was in Rajasthan again.


Rajasthan, how i fell in love with it when i travelled in 2007 (1, 2, 3). The people, the food, the color, the grandeur, the innocent affection, "ram ram sa" everything just captivates you. Rajasthan, today after visiting 6 cities, I can safely call it one of the most beautiful states in India. Infact if you haven't travelled in rajasthan, you haven't seen enough. The story of my third stint in rajasthan...


"When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream."
I got a chance to go to rajasthan utilising my core leaves. Backpacking from Ajmer -> Pushkar -> Jodhpur -> Udaipur
Every city different from the other, still a common thread between them.


Ajmer feels like any other small town with dingy lanes, narrow streets and the small shops almost kissing each other. It was all about the streets. The streets near the dargaah, shouted to keep your shoes for a meagre amount, the streets wanted alms near the holy place, the streets stared at you as you moved with a camera in hand, the street smiled, giggled with you as you tried talking to them. Ajay-meru or Ajmer, the streets know everything, they go everywhere and nowhere.


Pushkar is a salesperson. It sells rajasthan, the culture, the language, the enigma, and if you are bored, it sells you to you. My best of times in rajasthan in the 6 days i spent were in pushkar, and it was short. Liked everything about the place. It sells india to the tourists, the india they want to see. Be it the 1000s of stories related to the gods and godesses, or the vermilion smothered cows, the unkempt mystics or the rajasthani color. Every place was covered with curtains of such bright rainbow colors. Took a long camel ride and ended up listening to the banjaras, their folk show only for me. Pushkar just wins you over and over again.


Marwaris have a taste for food. Jodhpur was a live example for the same. Had lunch with a family, who informed us of how throughout jodhput, there are places famous for certain kind of food. And people who have lived there, and know about these would never even think of going somewhere else. So, if you want to get the gulab jamuns you go to chatarbuj sweets, for makhaniya lassi and mawa kachodi, mishri ram bhandaar, for kachoris and samosa its shahi samose and for omelettes none other than the omelette shop (aka garib hotel).


If you need to travel to Udaipur, you need 3-4 days and keep it at the last. Its a perfect place to unwind yourself, relax and forget about other things. We sadly could not do that, as we had just 2 days in hand. But nevertheless this place doesnot claim to be the best city in the world for nothing. A horse safari, and a bit of town surfing later, we were on our way back.


Rajasthan!!! A state so colourful, so rich, so grand, so mysterious and yet so humble... you feel like returning again and again. :)
I shall. soon!!!

Heal ?

Darkest of the shadows
on today are cast
by the warmth of light
from the recent past.
Opaqueness of time
reduces with every step
but the keel hurts still
reminding of pain
caused by them,
who were given the rights
to willfully destroy.
AND they did.

The need

Not a want to travel,
but the need to be a journey.
stories of which
would be told
for years to come
creating myth
of the nomad heart that
exists in time,
NOW.






Image: Caspar David Friedrich - Wanderer above the sea of fog

500 ka note

Realised today,

A rs 500 note cannot buy you a double egg omelette.
A rs 500 note cannot pay your auto-rickshaw fair.

Sometimes if you stop and think, the only places where a rs 500 note is accepted are the places which have nothing to give us. All the important things in life are either free or F'in cheap.

Someday

The cubicle has bars
with a lock on the dream
I sit in the center
looking at the screen

He calls me up
to give me the news
I did good, I did well
certifying my work
i get some more dirt
that shines on my desk
I did good, I did well

But one day.
Someday
When he would call
I won't respond
With no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone.



She is beautiful
She is lovely
She was the one there
when I was lonely

She turns to the side
to talk
and make plans
I nod my head
and go to sleep
dreaming to strive
for a plan less death
after similar life.

But one day.
Someday.
when she plans tomorrow
I won't nod my head
And with no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone.



I have to earn
coz this is my turn
for the family, for friend
for everyone that spent

They ask for love
with responsibilities
in their turf
They tie me up,
for being a friend
for being a son
for being someone
who has no where to run

But one day.
Someday.
When they seek me up
There won't be no one
With no looking back
I would have run.
I will be gone



I know I can
I believe I will
There is something that
stops me still

I get scared
because I have to choose
There is little to gain
a lot to lose.
I plan to escape
with every night
But morning is the same
mockingly bright

But one day.
Some day.
I would be scared no more
And that day I wont talk
With no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone

Long gone.

Into the wild: A journey within

Day:
I plan, ponder, imagine
A life away
from the city lights
from the blind races

Dark:
I touch, I feel
Listen, run, hide, steal
I strive and live
Travel far and wide
corners of the globe
shout from the sky
Come back content
to die

With dawn:
my mind, my heart, my soul
the confusions ride
I get all lost
when i look inside


Image: Gustave Doré - Harpies

Shakespear and life

Hamlet: To be, or not to be, that's the question.

Life: To be, or not to be.. that's not the question. The question is, if you want to be, why do you want to be? to what extent do you want to be? what else do you want to be? Why only this?...
And in case you don't want to be? Any specific complain with this? What would you want to be then? What is the difference between what you want to be and what you don't want to be? How is that better than what you don't want to be?

Change

Finally sent the official resignation to my manager. Am happy. Am very excited about my new job. Everything has finally started falling into place and started making sense. Changes are good. Will meet new people. Will work with new people. Will explore newer destinations. Can restart and reorganise my life. There's so much good this change has brought. Everything would be new.

???

Life

Cry
Laugh
Hunger
Food
Faces
Voices
Speak
Walk
Run
Read
Write
Watch
Observe
Flowers
Trees
Fields
Plains
Rain
Pain
Sports
Dreams
Books
Career
Women
Love
Lust
Food
Drink
Sex
Money
Travel
People
Family
Ups
Downs
Achievements
Disappointments
Sickness
Health
Dread
Blood
Bed
Dead
...
...
..
.
.
LIFE.

I want to laugh.

Yeah I do. I want to laught at all the people around me. I want to laugh at there faces. Laugh so hard, that i dont need to laugh for another life of mine.

Why?
Coz, they will never be able to understand, that I am different from them. That they will never stop trying to convert me into one of them. That they will get frustrated everytime they don't succeed.