Destiny Vs Will

Hello my friends my readers! How life is a fabulous mystery? Her Highness ‘Destiny’ really throws a curvy shot at you when you expect it the least! Well, a month ago I started to settle in the new town and my husband went away, then only to be told a few days before he came back that we have to pack the house again and head to our home town for a three months course to achieve  promotional ranks of the army! So again; baggage, packing, mothballs and a temporary school admission for the kid! And so in a weeks time we all are back again to refitting our lives and our routines to a new place!

I have often experienced that ‘Madam Destiny’ has many things up her sleeves, and I must not take her for granted. One day I am thinking of a month long leave and the next minute I think of packing! One day it rains in the morning and my husband cancels coming home and by afternoon the Sun shines and he suddenly arrives?  One day I am sitting alone in a new town and the next day I back to my own home? One day you are climbing a mountain which you have climbed a hundred times before and the other minute you lose your foot hold and fall, one night the petrol prices are normal and the next day they climb up 4 units of money and you start taking your bicycle to work! At one time you are flying high and are the apple of everyone’s eye and the other time you are all alone with a spouse who doesn’t want you and/ or parents who refuse to be involved.

Destiny and Will are like two fighting siblings, each one throws a blow on the other. Though Destiny makes  all the  sudden moves, it is our Will which has to battle it out relentlessly.

If you have a strong ‘Will’ then take ‘Destiny’ by the hand and move on, she just might become your good friend in the end! This is what I have experienced- take it on the chin and strike back aptly! How about you, how do you deal with Madam Destiny?

So  Sip Sip, and think, think, think ,on your hot hot coffee and enjoy the short poem!

Destiny verses Will

I sit in the solitude of the present and see,

How the sunny skies, turn into thundering climes.

I sit in solitude and think of the past, and see,

How happy days turned into sadder nights.

I sit in solitude and try to foresee the future,

How lonely stays will turn into crowded lives,

I sit in solitude and I vow,

That each sudden strike that Destiny tries to give,

Will be ricocheted,  with the Will of mine.

The Gaga Formula

Hello my friends, my readers! Pardon my absence, it was just one of ‘those days’, when you don’t even want to see a computer screen. Well the Formula One race track is on and burning in India. Wow! Is this a sign of progress? I don’t know, if the Formula One driver would just leave Delhi and Greater Noida, and start driving on the ‘highway’ to Uttar Pradesh, they will see how bad the roads are and what fast/rash driving is like! That would be the real Formula One challenge! I think the government has completely lost its ‘formula’ in such a lop sided development. Development means destruction of natural resources, so it’s a balancing act and very few countries have got it right.

Today I am posting a poem which I wrote a very long time ago when the Mumbai- Pune highway/expressway was opened to public and I was travelling over it to go to Mumbai. The poem asks a few questions, I have also used the Shakespear’s ‘honorable men’ type of effect replacing it with ‘beautiful motorway’ (Am trying to be sarcastic). To those who don’t know Pune is a smaller, now rapidly developing town, and Mumbai (Bombay) the already established metro city with politicians, bureaucrats and movie stars.

Check out the race track here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddh_International_Circuit

So sip your hot hot coffee in the cold cold weather and enjoy!

Some Thoughts on the Expressway

We zoom through the highway,

At high speed,

Oh! What a wonderful road it is!

I see the trees and mountains running with us on both sides!

It is a beautiful motorway,

It winds and cuts,

Through the farms ,fields and mountains,

It’s a beautiful motorway!

I see a mountain, amputated in the middle,

To let this beautiful concrete motorway pass,

Some monkeys look at us from the side,

Probably admiring the road and the speed of cars?

Or,

Looking at their brothers and sister driving over the land and trees,

which  once were theirs?

We have lost our tails , but we remain the same,

Only, we now create concrete jungles,

And run from one place to the other,

Climb organizational ladders,

Push each other,

Fight over fruits, trees and stones.

Oh! Here comes a tunnel!

Pierced through the grand brown mountain,

To let this beautiful road through!

The radio plays music and chatter,

We communicate better,

Though we still fight between each other,

What’s the use of a satellite,

if man cannot connect with man?

Whats’s the use of this beautiful road,

If it leads to the biggest slum in Asia?

The trees ,mountain and fields are gone,

Now the concrete trees run with us,

Some tall ,rectangular

with square holes,

Like bodies without souls.

People,cars,smoke,shops,

People, bridges,     lights,     sound,      camera,       action!

I think we have reached the main city?

Some more people!

Here the stars shine bright,

The politicians and bureaucrats have might,

And they fight, plot and fight!

We have lost our tails, but we remain the same.

There are Have Nots and Have Lots.

But there is hope and there are still dreams,

And we are getting close to our destination,

Slowly ,haphazardly,

Slowly, we are moving ahead at least?

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Guess what? Lady Gaga is performing for the after hours party, check out her non outrageous clothes in this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2054722/Lady-Gaga-India-dons-demure-outfit-local-designer-New-Delhi.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Well , Lady Gaga, well done, well done, we love the hairdo in our national colours, maybe you should also auction of your designer collections and send the money to the poor in Uttar Pradesh? Hmmmm…..

Hello my friends, my readers! This time, my thoughts go towards the poem I was editing on poverty( ref to last post). In the new city, I am astonished to see that so much of poverty still remains in our country! We brag about Formula 1 race tracks and multi -specialty hospitals and technology parks coming up, but what about poverty? Why is that swept under the carpet? I wrote the poem watching an impoverished girl on the street, begging and playing around so happily between running cars and speeding bikes! Similarly, now, many years later, I noticed there has been an outbreak of deadly viruses here and it is  due to the stagnant waters after floods and rain, bad hygiene, and poverty.

 Questions: Why can’t the government spray insecticides and provide a better standard of living? Are the poor so used to not doing work that they WANT to live this way at minimum cost? We have families living in our ‘out houses’, with crying children, and mothers working as helpers in our homes and their men- staying in the house-doing NOTHING ! Some don’t even send their children to school. The elder child stays at home to look after the babies. Why so many babies you ask? Well ,the women may have given birth to two daughters and hence wished a son for carrying the family name forward, or they are too poor to get operated, or they think ‘as many hands-as much money’.  

 And what will happen with the petrol prices going up- EVERYONE will be affected! It may soon be cheaper to eat out in a restaurant than at home! ……..And even drinking coffee will be a luxury!!!! So quickly…..grab yourself a hot strong mocha and read the poem below! Do let me know what you think!

At the Traffic Light

As the traffic light turned red, in all the din,

Sat a tiny girl,

With a bare torso,

a sweet smile, milk drop eyes,

and a dark chocolate skin,

With knees to her chin, and

two plastic cups in hand,

All her dreams and thoughts within.

Some saw her through their AC windows,

Some through their helmets and glares,

The horns blared, the traffic snarled

The petrol polluted the air.

The road was her school, her home, her bed hard,

With two plastic cups in hand, she played in her backyard,

One cup on the other, she created her rescue tower,

She looked through the plastic and her dream became sour,

One cup her tower come tumbling down,

In that instant gravity was learned and then she frowned,

She took the fallen cup and hit it with all her might,

She hit, it crackled, she hit it, with her tiny fist tight.

The tower now broken, yet one cup in hand,

She looked at it excitedly and filled it fully with sand,

Thoughts of a sweet drink, yet sand in her hand.

The cup filled with dirt, a cup full of positivity,

The traffic light turned green,

Her thirst was quenched, as she tipped the sand out,

she came back to reality.

Naturally Wired

Hello my readers, my friends!  A new city, a new month and a new thought! Am in the new place and getting visits by the stray cows, monkeys and dogs who probably think my garden is a ‘drive in restaurant’! Well, I don’t bother them too much, I let them chomp on for some time and then drive the visiting creatures away.  Now that we humans have occupied their areas, we have to live with each other in peace. And, I finally watched the movie ‘Avatar’, yes, I waited for it to come on TV! I know, I know, a bit late, but nevertheless I  loved it, a tad slow but it had a good message of what might happen if we don’t live in tandem with nature.

This reminded me of a poem I wrote in frustration. It was a wonderful sunny winter day, when I decided to fine tune a poem on poverty. What kept on bugging me were two helicopters which kept on circling above my head! (My husband was posted in the ‘field area’ of the army-hence the helicopters) There was some VIP visit due, so they were practicing! But in that process they were not only annoying me but also, sleeping babies, and birds which flew in all directions confused! Then, later, I saw cows being stoned and driven away back to their barns as their ‘grazing time’ had ended for the day! I was amazed at how much pressure we give these animals, I never knew that the poor cows had to also follow army timings!!  Then, there came a time when we ladies would freak out when we heard a bell in the middle of the night, only to find out that this ‘wandering bell’ was a large black buffalo who had not returned, and would graze through the night!

So, the poem below was written while working on another one. It speculates on how life would be in the future, I have written it in short sentences, as if a computerized voice is saying the lines.  So have a cup of cold coffee and enjoy! Do let me know what you think!

Naturally Wired

Two helicopters circling above my head,

Oh! I remember, all the birds are dead!

A motor car running on the side,

Oh I remember……all the buffalos have pulled so hard they died!

Acid drops keep falling on my head!

Everywhere pollution has spread!

I am so alone yet I talk all the time?

Oh, I remember……… on my phone and online!

Acidity is burning my insides!

Oh! I remember………………. All vegetation is finished or dried!

Can’t feel any pain or cry?

Oh! I remember………….an artificial heart pumps inside!

]

Why dont you also read what the Fantastic Cow did to the Mayor for her rights- in my 'Blog of Short Stories'-have a look!

Struggle for Freedom

Hello my friends, my readers! On the 15^th of August we celebrated our Independence Day! We are independent since 65 years! That’s not a lot of time, I must say? When did USA get ‘Independence’ 1776? (pls correct me if I am wrong) And now, we are known as the ‘developing country’ of the world and a so called a future ‘Economic Super Power’. Yes, there is development in technology and industry but we have still a long way to become a truly self sufficient developed economy. The competition must not be with any other country but with ourselves. But , there was poverty then and there is still poverty now.

Today in India we are faced with a different type of a struggle – It is the Freedom of the Country from Corruption’. And the lone leader is Anna Hazare, an ex army man who got a calling to help the society. Through his life he has always worked for the people in the most honest possible way.(http://www.annahazare.org/) And now he fights for the ‘Lok Pal’ Bill , the Bill which has been swept under the carpet since 1969(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokpal).In brief, it allows the people of the country not only to question dishonest people but also the elected representatives. Following Gandhi he is following  the ‘non violence and fast to death ‘ method-  a difficult yet successful method. He has the people’s support. And one must wait to see what happens, next. In India we are pen poised to see how history will be written. Do the people win or the government?

Let the men, women and children be honored for the sacrifices they made in getting freedom for this country. I am happy to come from a more secular, socialist and democratic nation. It’s good to be free, isn’t it? So I just hope this time justice and honesty wins and we become the first nation to become the most ‘non corrupt nation’ of the world if nothing else!

On that note enjoy the poem below written on India’s Freedom Struggle. I suggest you put in a bit of crushed cardamom and cloves to your coffee and try the Masala Coffee! Enjoy and do let me know what you think!

Weapons of Freedom

A pinch of salt can save a life,

A pinch of salt can kill,

A fist of salt can free a nation,

Solely on one man’s will.

A length of rope can water fields,

The rope can hoist flags of national zeal,

A rope can tie a noose so tight,

For three braves to be killed.

A meter of white cloth can be spun by hand,

A meter can cover the shame,

Bundles of cloth can be burned on the streets,

or cover those who had fought for the Nations claim.

Salt, rope, and cloth,

Are the weapons for freedom to instill,

Stick, swords, and stones, will always break bones,

With bullets great leaders are killed.

………………………………………………………………

Moments

Hello my friends, my readers! Long time, no write! Well, today I thought I would offer you a poem about all the immeasurable moments in our lives. Get yourself a large mug of coffee with cream if you must, as since I have not written for so long, it might take a while reading!

Well, I am still on vacation! And it’s raining cats and dogs, and I am worried about a flood situation! Not only has the Monsoon set in, we in India faced another one of our yearly routine, of triple bomb blasts which ripped through crowded places and killed a lot of innocent people. And as always, the media is busy and the politicians are doing a lot of blah, blah,( even the statements are getting stale and boring) I am SO tired of hearing the words –‘resilient’, ‘spirit of the people’, ‘the perpetrators will be brought to justice’, ‘US/UN/UK/France condemns the attack’, ’Even we are facing terrorism in our country’, etc, etc, etc.

I, myself, suffered the loss of my grandfather a few days ago, whose health suddenly deteriorated and he breathed his last just a few seconds before I entered the ICU. I was heartbroken that he did not see me coming to meet him, as I thought it was my luck to be in the city on vacation when he was taken ill. I cursed myself as being the worst grandchild in the world, as I left for home. I remembered the whole night all the sweet moments we had shared together , and I dreamt of him smiling at me. But my father then called me the next day, and told me how fortunate I was to not have seen him suffer in the last moments and how I would remember him only as a healthy, happy grandfather. I then felt better, and I let go of him, slowly.

And thus, I realized how life’s moments are precious, and how we have to make the most of them, as you never know what destiny has in store for you in the next moment. Hearing of the bomb blasts and having experienced the loss of a close one, I realized I will have to make each moment of my life count, and not sulk or have any disdain to anyone or for anyone. As I remember from what Mark Antony said, in Shakespear’s classic ,drama ‘Julius Caesar, ’the evil that men do lives after themselves, the good is often intered in the bones’ (this is from memory, kindly check the actual words).

So here is the poem,…… and how about another cup of coffee?

Moment

A moment can last a life time,

A moment can tell all,

A second can be too late,

A glance can make us feel small.

A whisper can say softly, things sweet,

A shout can turn to a brawl,

A touch can cure all sickness,

A hit can make your soul fall.

All we need is a moment,

A moment that says all,

Life goes on and is timeless,

Moments that we cherish and define us,

Are the moments when we make others feel tall.

 Also check out what the Fantastic Cow-Monalisa is up to in her next adventure in My Blog of Short Stories !

The Road I Took

Hello my dear friends, my readers! Those who have been in touch reading my thoughts, may wonder why the sudden virtual silence on this blog since June 5 which was my last post. Well, I am on the road again! My husbands just been posted out of the 'Field Area' to a 'Peace Area' , so I spent the last fifteen days packing the whole house and travelling, and I still have not reached my destination! Hmmm I dont think anyone has, philsophically speaking? Well the movement which we are still in the process of doing did remind me of the very famous poem by Robert Frost- The Not Taken -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(poem), kindly have a look at this beautiful poem, if you have never read it before.

The poem inspired me at times of a lot of stress, during the whole packing process, as at that time I would say to myself ' why did I have to find a guy in the army, why does it have to be so hot, why dont people work efficiently, why do we have to move, why this/that  happened to me etc'Yep, I cribbed!And then just suddeny I read the poem in a book that I was putting inside a trunk and I then started writing a sort of an answer to what Frost wrote. So here goes, I written a part of it in capital letter as a call to all my friends who are a part of my life, its not as great as Robert Frost's poem,but do give it a chance!
Its a long poem so take a hot black coffee and enjoy!

The Road I Took

I took the road unknown and untaken,

Where it leads to I know not,

Where it will go to I know not,        

The end still not in sight,

But my feet are now weathered,

The feet bruised walking over thorns and sharp and sudden stones,

My feet are now hardened,

Now so strong,

No pain is felt,

No thorns now cut,

No stones now poke,

I walk on,

On all the twisted ways and bends to undisclosed days,

I walk,

To a destiny like a maze, I have to find the way out,

Where am I going? I know not.

But , I hope,

Thus I go on this path of life,

A hard and laborious one, I know,

With hope that I will reach my destination,

To where I belong to, to where I will be content?

So, COME  ALONG I

COME!  JOIN ALONG THIS EXPEDITION WITH ME!

COME! WITH YOUR FEET AND MINE, LET’S WALK!

LET OUR PATHS CRISS CROSS AND CUT ACROSS,

THEN I GO MY WAY YOU GO YOURS,

BUT,

Lets enjoy the hard passages together ,

And get through the difficult ways,

 and part,

Like rolling stones we go a long way,

And then on our own destination,

Till the journey ends,

If so,

I will then turn around and look back,

At my start and I will probably laugh,

And I will understand then, that,

All life’s voyages,

Have the same start and the same end,

HA! HA! The journey is timeless, and I will pass the baton on…..

The journey goes on….


I have submitted this poem to the website http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/

Me for the Trees- World Environment Day June 5, 2011

Hello, my readers my friends! Today’s thought and poem is dedicated to the World Environment Day on June 5 2011.I am not writing for any competition but I write with my voice for the trees and for the future generation which depends upon nature.  You would have already noticed how hot it is getting all over India, may be its due to deforestation and building of concrete jungles? If you go around the country you will see especially in the north that a lot of trees are being cut for various commercial purposes, which results in landslides and environmental changes in the region.

Just as God helps those who help themselves, in the same way Nature will help you if you help her to survive! A lot of problems of purer air and water can be solved by planting of more trees, recycling and using environmentally friendly items and following some simple steps in everyday living, for more information on such a concept you can see the TreeHuggers website www.treehugger.com/ , as well as detailed analysis of the environment can be seen at the UNEP website www.unep.org/   or www.unep.org/wed/

So I appeal to you to take some time off from your busy schedule on the 5^th and do something simple like planting a tree or just looking at it from far away and saying a big ‘Thank You!’ , for all the carbon dioxide it is working on each day and night without overtime charges!! So take a cup of coffee with some cardamom and enjoy the poem below! The poem is in two parts; the first part has my voice for the trees and the second the Voices of Trees! Write to me!

Me for the Trees

Oh look, here is our old childhood tree!

And that’s not all, it is made of wood!

The pencil in childhood,

The bed in adulthood,

The stick in our old age,

Slippers of the sage,

In each book and hymn page!

Yet,

We burn! We burn!

We cut, and we burn!

For all the millions to earn!

When will we ever learn?

We are burning our fingers,

We are axing our two feet,

If we burn all the forests down?

How will homes be made and what will we eat?

The Trees don’t speak, but they feel,

Yes, even through their hard teak!

And if they had a voice they would say…….

The Voice of Trees…….

Imagine a world with no trees, just imagine it?

No table to write or discover lands overseas?

No warmth in the cold, no animals in the woods?

No one to give you shade in places where we once stood,

No romance behind us lovely green trees?

No humming of the birds or buzzing of the bees?

No ! You can’t do without us trees!

So please, please, please, don’t cut my roots and my long vines!

Take care of our Earth as our future is entwined!

So please, don’t cut us lovely trees , please!

And such will be their plight as they fall,

We only take but they always give to all,

No wonder! No wonder ,why,

God has made them stand upright and above us all!

Also see my blog of short stories and what the Fantastic Cow is up to now?

The Truth of Beauty

Hello my friends, my readers! Today’s poem is on ‘Beauty’. A poet called Keats once wrote ,’ A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’, as well as the lines ‘ Beauty is truth , truth beauty’. But what does this ‘beauty’ mean to anyone? It is a quality which is subjective. It’s the same as the way in which we pick the best mangoes, that is, we go for color, skin, smell, texture, shape, weight, and still, we can go wrong! Not sweet enough! Well that’s just Gods, way of telling us ‘It is what is in the inside that counts, dear human!’

 Superficially anyone (male, females, and animals) and anything can be beautiful, but Beautiful is what Beautiful does! A batsman can hit a ‘beautiful shot’, a surgeon can do a ‘beautiful surgery’, an average person can do a ‘beautiful deed’, and nature is always beautiful!

We are being sold to beauty, these days! Colors are flashed before us and we are hooked on to what looks good and feels good. The worst place is in the ‘Marriage Market in India’, I was ‘in’ it a few years ago and believe me it’s even tougher than winning a beauty pageant! And yes, most of the times women she/he themselves are the culprits! You hear things like, ‘she is too short, ’He/ She is too tall!’, She/he is not fair, He/she  wears  glasses, He/ She has very less/ too much hair, She/he weighs –Options : too, much, too less,  is too ‘flat’, too ‘beefed up’, too ‘Big’! …….  Help! I think horses have it easier!

Hence the poem below was written, with all of the above in mind. So have a read, grab a cup of lovely ‘black’ coffee, and tell me if the poem was ‘Beautiful’!  Enjoy!

The Truth of Beauty

Some have everything,

Except a lovely face,

No twinkling sea blue eyes,

Or a nose of royal grace,

No ruby lips like strawberry or rose,

or silky smooth soft hair.

No soft skin that glows,

No hands like petal leaves closed,

Or the voice of a nightingale.

But lovely things come with wicked traits,

Stars can fall in the sky,

The sea can gray in spate,

Royalty has its own downturns,

And strawberries can cause rashes on the face,

Roses have their thorns,

For rubies people have killed and lied,

Silk can cut marble and skin,

The nightingale is dark, dark as the black night

Like a book that needs to be read,

Sweet like chewing wheat bread,

A wine to be tasted and enjoyed,

Beautiful like a carpet,

With all its knots cut and tied,

If looks could kill then some can save several lives!

The mirror never lies, but

Beauty is in the beholders eyes,

Is the opinion of the one who is wise.

If you wish to read more on Keats poems from which I have quoted kindly see the following links:

http://www.online-literature.com/keats/463/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_on_a_Grecian_Urn

Wikipedia also does a good analysis on ‘Beauty and the philosophy about it you can do a search on the site. Gandhi too spoke about Beauty and Truth, if anyone is interested kindly see the link below:

http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/gandhiphilosophy/philosophy_truth_truthnbeauty.htm

Also have a look at what Monalisa the Cow is up to in her next adventure in my Blog of Short Stories!

This post was written for a competition for IndiBlogger , Yahoo! India - Dove contest "What does real beauty mean to you?" Do check this link out to know more - http://realbeauty.yahoo.com/

Four Summer Bombs!

Hello my friends, my readers! The Summer times are full on! And all of us are baking in the heat! So much so that even the creative spirit has been lost! Yet there are brave people in this world who are playing football and cricket!! And others are busy bombing NATO tankers and Embassies! Where do they get the energy? Well, I myself have been very wary of opening my lap top to do any kind of internet work! I fear the battery will become so hot that it will burst! I freaked out when my husband told me that he might be coming back! Help! I thought, that would mean real time cooking in the heat and not just Maggi, bread and butter, fruits, etc. So today since the Gods above have been so kind to give us pleasant weather I thought I might do my blogging.

In all this summer the poetry has been in bits and spurts. My friend a poetry writer herself, asked me to write some Haiku. I told her that it is not me! Somehow I cannot restrict myself to3 lines and 3,5,3 syllables! Though I find Haiku poetry really beautiful, but like SRK said in KKHH, its 'not my type'! But what I did manage were four short poems, all written quickly due to being moved with emotion. Was it the summer time blues?

The Hurt, The Soul, The Death, and The Walk are my four summer poetry bombs for you !The first poem was written in sadness of thinking of the past, the second I wrote when I heard that one of the wives of an army officers had lost her husband very suddenly. Yes, we army wives have a sisterhood-if one is saddened all of us are as well. The third is for the person who gave me a bowl of Dhokla's (savory cakes) when I had eaten only bread and butter that night. The simpleness and love in the eyes on giving was just amazing! The fourth was written in mere thinking about the past, present and future and uncertainty. They are all different poem but with a single thread.

So take your cup of cold, cold coffee and ice cream and quickly read the poems below before it get too hot!

The Hurt

The setting Sun sulks,

The Nightingale wails,

And so do the lonely souls,

Is it too late to heal?

The Soul

Go! Simple soul, seek!

Travel over hot ashes and fearful forests,

To the cool oasis of peace.

The  Death

Frenzy and fiery, focused eyes,

The  dry green grass turns wet crimson ,

Gone.

And thus,

In that instant a heart breaks,

In that moment a star  born.

The Walk

In solitude sitting still,

In the shade of the past, then

Tripping over the future,

Treading on the present,

I walk into the sun, and

Wide eyed face,

The unavoidable destiny.

Check out the next adventure of Monalisa the Cow in my blog of short stories!

Also see,  if you wish some articles on how to beat the summer heat and know about the summer blues (yes they exist!) at the following links : http://www.ehow.com/how_2319796_beat-summer-heat.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2096459_beat-summertime-blues.html , http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-12/health/29535420_1_heat-stroke-coconut-water-food-poisoning.

Dream On

Hello, my readers, my friends! More than a week has passed since my last post, and what is new in this world?Hmmmm.... NOTHING! We had our very own 'Mothers Day', there was nothing on the idiot box on that , I suppose Oba MA and Osa MA, was the closest we got to even knowing that it was Mothers Day! What happened to 'Mere pas MA hai'? ( 'I have my Mom', A famous dialogue in an Indian movie- for those who dont know!). I am sure some of our neighbours will be having bad dreams about a 'Amercian Drone Attack'! The media is just 'droning' upon that topic?. Lets forget about that now.

You know, I really dream of the day when there will be no news on TV, I dream of the day when there will be no boundaries in this world, no hate , and only truths shall prevail and the 'meek' shall finally inheriting the earth!When will that happen? Is that a very Utopian dream? I don't know? But yes, I do dream, and I dream a lot! What do they say of dreams? There are your repressed thoughts and desires, or that it is the way in which the mind weeds out the emotions and brings out the logic, when the eyes are closed. I suppose so.
My husband the Doctor would say,' You ate too much, so the gas was disturbing your sleep', Yes, he is my husband and a doctor ,so I get these 'brutally honest' answers! Which I don't like, so I stick to the reasons I like. 

So today, I am posting a very straight forward poem, I write of some intuitive, and recurring dreams that I had got. Again, they DO reflect my repressed thoughts and fears and they did bring out the logic in my thoughts. The first dream in the first verse I got after I got married, and it resembled the place I am staying in now, the second dream was just two days before I got engaged, I saw seven boys that I had met on a stairway, and my husband was the only one who waved to me. The last part is a recurring dream, I get of being followed, maybe due to a childhood spent in a neighbouring country and being continously watched by their intelligence ( Dont ask me 'Why' or' How?', I will have to kill you if I have to tell you!)

For an indepth analysis of dreams look at the following links : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream -this will give you a general view on the various theories, http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/ - this link is simpler to understand see the section on types of dreams, and http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/dream/freud.htm- this site has got good sections on Symbolism and Interpretation- I strongly recommend!

So grab a very hot and strong black coffee and read, and tell me what you think of my dreams and where they fit in the theories!

I Dream

I dream of yellow berries and tall trees,

Tall mountains and deep seas,

People come and some go ,

Some strangers and some I know?

Two stairways going up and down,

I on top and he on down,

I look below and he looks up,

We wave to each other and the dream is up!

Between trees and green vines,

Tall houses on railway lines,

Shadows creep and crouch behind!

I turn around and its wake up time!

Such dreams I get,they come and go,

Some make sense and some I don’t know?

To some strange lands and some strange times,

When my heart breaks or pleasant times,

I dream on.

Do also read what the Monalisa the cow is upto now in my blog of Short Stories!

The Trees in the Abbey

Hello, my readers, my friends! A lot has happened since my last post,,,hmmm....lets seee?...Gadaffi is in trouble, Prince William got married, Osama is dead, Prince William got married,...... the sensex went up, Prince William got married......A chopper crashed in India, Prince William got married, the Queen was wearing yellow?, Prince William got married.  It was more like my child's nursery rhyme: 'Pussycat Pussycat where have you been? I have been to London to see the Queen !'  My gosh, so much of overdose of the wedding! So I shall NOT write on that anymore!
But what I did like about the wedding ceremony ( ok, ok, I am doing it) was that they had trees in the Abbey! Such lovely green trees ! I just hoped they were not uprooted from their natural places for 'The Wedding'.
Trees are so important to us, they provide us most of the things we need in day to day life which we donot appreciate. Most of the world is cutting and hacking down large areas of forests for industries and for creating areas for human settlement. When is it going to stop?
I have often driven around and have seen mountains with bald patches , with  trees which have been lumbered down. From the road they look like amputated arms and legs laying on tall mountains. We are having extreme winters and extreme summers- all due to the abuse of nature. As I go up ahead from where I stay, I see forests burned  for wood. And then the people complain of landslides in the area?
All I want to say is lets appreciate all that God has given us to use. Let us use but not abuse. I just hope that we find some alternative sources of energy, as nuclear energy too is causing danger to people and nature. For detailed information on alternative energy see the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_energy, and to know what is going on currently in the sphere see link  http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/- here you can read about the amazing ability of the Oriental Hornet.
So todays poem is for the tree, my tree in front of my balcony! So grab a mug of coffee with some cream and vanilla and enjoy !

Me and My Tree 

My balcony, my tree and me,

Alone we stand, alone we see,

Quiet in the sunlight,

We dance in the rain,

We do the twist, when strong winds crazily change,

In winter I feel sad, when my tree loses its greens

Its means goodbye to my friends the parrot, the sparrows and bees,

Goodbye to the rustling of the berries and leaves.

                                                            

Yet, my only friend, shows me its spine,

Tells me ‘It’s winter now, but won’t spring bloom good times?’

And thus it teaches me in all my moods, loneliness, happiness and sorrows,

Each day is a day to cherish and look forward for tomorrow.

Also see what is happening to Monalisa the cow- Some more Pictures posted-Enjoy my blog of short stories!

This One Poem for the Men

Hello, my readers, my friends! A lot of people liked the poem on women in my last post. But, then my husbands reaction was : Very nice, that was like Catwomen meets Mother Teresa ( no offence)! How do you know how you ladies are at times and how we have supported you?'

I started thinking and I found that he was right to an extent,its all very nice to pan them and a lot of fun too! But, yes, they are important in our lives! Has anyone written a poem for them? I dont know, if you do know some poet, do let me know! So, I wrote, yes I wrote a poem for our men our husbands, or our boyfriends! I wrote and I wrote, just like the verbal diorreha that we women sometimes have!!! So read my poem below, its again a fun poem! Do let me know what you think, and all the women readers if you can pen a few lines on you own Man do write them in the Comments area, and men who will read this poem let us know your thoughts too!
For an article on the differences between men and women see this link http://www.livescience.com/3808-men-women-differently.html and for some really good quotes see: http://thinkexist.com/quotations/men_and_women/
( they are fun - Like)

So grab a hot nescafe  and read....

Life Without Men

Oh! How life would be bland,

If there was no one to hold us with strong hands?

To pull out chairs,

To give us those stares!

Oh ! how it would be bleak,

If there was no one to listen to us, passively,

as we continuously speak?

Then to calmly tell us their philosophies grand,

Which we will immediately pound  to sand!

Oh! How nights would be boring,

With no loud obnoxious snoring,

Or watching T.V. shows, which we find violent and annoying?

How life would be hard,

If they never gave us, their cars, and also their many credit cards?

Who would be there?

When we bawl over memories of our teddy bear,

Or tolerate our tantrums when we have ‘nothing to wear’?

How life is in a fast pace,

When they keep things in the wrong place,

We redo it again, and again, and again!

Yes, we are like Venus, we turn the opposite way!

And you will never figure us out till the last day!

No chocolate, No flower, no balloons,

Or a special secret night ride!

Who held our hand as we cried as a new bride?

No one to eat what is not tasting right?

Or make up with us after a silly fight?

How they never remember our first date?

Or how we waited,  till they came home late?

Yet, they still wonder waiting in cars, ‘what is it that they do in the beauty parlour for such long hours?’

And they want us to look always like pretty flowers!

Who will pick up our heavy shopping bags ?

Walk like a zombie in the shopping malls?

Or  fall asleep watching ‘Titanic’ in the movie hall?

To stop smoking and start again!

To drink and say ‘last drink dear’ and start again!

No one to keep us on our feet,

To be romantic when we expect it the least,

And I don’t mean just between the sheets!

To encourage us when we are down,

Or to make us smile when we start to frown

Yes , men its true,

We may be really strong women and do just fine without you,

But,

How life would be empty, without our best friends- You!

 Catch up with the Fable of the Fantastic Cow in my blog of Short stories!

The Fable of the Fantastic Cow- Now as a Picture Story!

Hello my friends my readers ! My Blog of Short Story has now got pictures/cartoons which I have drawn, since it is my light hearted blog- go have a look and have a laugh at the cartoons. I hope I will be able to make better drawings though! There was once only one Monalisa- the famous painting, now see mine- Monalisa the Cow in cartoon form! Enjoy!

The Man of the House

And so I stay in this golden cage,

Glittering and shinning to be watched and appreciated,

                   

But,

What am I?

I am the one who nurtures,

I am the one with nature,

Who am I?

I am the one who has been the cause of wars,

I am the one, who remains still,

Unheard, unknown and unspoken.

Where am I?

I am the one in the house,

I work on the fields,

I work in this world.

What do I do?

I do for others with me,

For my neighbors,

For people below me.

What is my nature?

I think from my heart than my mind,

I empathize, I comfort,

I use my natural composition for my gain,

I cry in pain,

Beware!

I can fight and burn my enemies to the ground!

God has made me different from the other kind,

Thank you God!

And let that be,

I want to be me!

I have friends,

But I trust myself the most,

I can sacrifice, tolerate,

Bear the loss of a dear one,

I can calculate, and I can compromise,

I can get work done!

Who am I?

I am the man of the house,

But, I am not,

I am the Woman.

Hello readers my friends! It has been a long time since I have been active on this virtual space, and so I thought I should make it worth your wait! This time I have started the poem first, for you to make your own conclusions of what I am talking about and shock you in the end. I hope I managed to do that to you, all my lady readers!
A little late, but this is my tribute to womens day! I thought about these words, when my husband cribbed about how women officers use their leave to avoid hard assignments in army areas. I could not help but smile at these ladies! Why shouldnt we? But, like our reporter in India Barkha Dutt says: If you want to be like the men than you have to play like the men! And how true it is.

I am a true believer that women can do most things men can do, but I also feel God above has made us different for a reason. We maintain the balance together, mind and heart, strong and weak, intuition and logic, ying and yang, positive and negetive.

There are many who believe that women are very closely connected to nature, due to our reproductive systems and our cycles. There are also some tribes and communities in this world who have switched roles in the community, i.e. women hunt, men stay at home, the physical attributes may change but the difference remains!

And so what happens, to all those mothers and ladies who have done so much and yet remain unknown and unspoken, and unheard? So, this poem is in tribute to all these women, who have bared all and dared all!

Anyone interested in the feminist movement can see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement, it is interesting, you can also search there for Mary Wollstonecraft the mother of Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein, and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as our very own Sarojini Naidu, Pandita Ramabai and Savitribai Phule, and also read Rasundari Devi quote athttp://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/india/indian.pdf
, and if I have missed out on any other great lady, I am sorry, please write to me, if so.

By the way, do you know that the promoters of womens reform in India have been men?

And all the men who will read this post, let me say that we  women all love you, but like we say in India:
 " We are like this only"!


So now,I think you should grab a cup of  cold coffe and enjoy the next adventure of Monalisa in the Fable of the Fantastic Cow, in my blog of short stories above on the right.

Do write to me about any women you admire!