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!