All The Colours In Blue

Oh, my lovely dear
will you help me
see
all the colours in blue?

Oh, my lovely dear
can you help
me
see
all the colours in blue?

Oh, my lovely dear
can I ever
see
all the colours in blue?

My lovely dear
can I ever
see
all the colours in you?

Why Me

From million silent wanderings
into aloneness
when God threw me
into loving arms
I did not ask Him
"Why me?"

When a curtain of rain
opened suddenly
peacock danced his lovedance
only for my rain-wet soul
I did not ask Him
"Why me?"

Today like trillions trillions
bodies before me
I lye ailing and waiting for eventual
arm of time clock to come out and touch me
I ask Him wailing
"Why me?"

When He parted me into this world
I did not ask, "Why me?"
When He is welcoming me back
I do ask, "Why me?"
Such is love
Such is Maayaa

झॊका

पिसाच्या दोरीने
वारा देई झोका
झोक्याच्या वाऱ्याने
पतंग झाला माझा

माया आणि मोहिनी
झोका गेला आला
आसक्तिच्या वक्षावरून
पदर असा पडला

xxx Envy

"If a woman says she never had penis envy then probably she had never travelled in a bus for 12 hours with desperate need to pee", wrote a woman in an newspaper article. I can imagine her ordeal. Getting down from a bus on such a occasions I have thanked God for not making me a woman in India. Forget about 12 hours, I have the luxury of not waiting even for minutes.

I was travelling in a bus while reading this article. Reading it made me uncomfortable. I once again asked driver to stop the bus. Relieved, I returned to my seat, feeling comfortable. I started thinking. And the first thing my mind stumbled upon was irony. A gender, with its anatomy and type of dressing, can actually relieve with no exposure waits for hours to find a toilet, howmuch unclean or stinking. While the gender, with its anatomy and type of clothing he wears, goes about doing anywhere and howsoever he wants to.

So the problem obviously not in the lower part of body but somewhere in upper parts, in hearts and minds. Problem is not in the location of organs that developed in evolution, but the problem is in the way the 'evolved' human is perceiving those organs and those locations. Its not only genitals but whole perception of genders.

Lets look at the other side of this coin talk of pride instead of envy. Feeling envious for years and years hasn’t helped much, so why not try feeling proud! Its not enough that a woman here or a woman there feeling proud. Many many women need to feel pride in themselves, they need to come together help each to overcome anxiety and feel good with their own selves. Pride is not something that should be begged for but it’s a thing to be felt and proclaimed. They need to stand up and demand. Demand be it dignity, be it product or whatever. In today's world overflowing with technology and products and gadgets, women have not demanded a single product that would enable them to respond to nature's call in time and with privacy and dignity their present mind set-up requires. Not a single woman designer has found it worthwhile to design such a product, speaks for itself. It explains why envy and not pride.

Talking so much about what women feel and what they should feel, I should also be talking of what men feel. Maybe I will write about 'breast envy' or 'motherhood envy' and may also about 'breast pride' and 'motherhood pride'

Amen

'Hitchhiker's Game', 'Guide' and Games People Live

There is a wonderful story by Czech writer Milan Kundera in which a couple is driving. Journey is long and monotonous. To make it a little interesting, the girls thinks of a game. She would act as a hitchhiker and ask for a lift. And then they would continue like they are two strangers meeting for the first time this way. And the game starts. Both of them don't realize when they have stopped playing a game and the game has started playing with them. For reader it’s a journey through diverse, and often conflicting, human emotions. A drama of real life, temporarily called 'game'.

There was a very famous Hindi movie titled 'Guide'. In this the hero is jailed for a crime. After completing his jail term he is out free and wandering here and there without purpose. He wanders into a famine struck area. The village he walks into is facing total water scarcity and is looking into calamity. His attire, his demeanor make the village take him as some kind of Godman. They had given up all hope from earthly things and were feeling that only divine miracle could save them. He tries to convince them that he is no Godman, on the contrary he is a freed convict. But desperate villagers did not want to let go off their only ray of hope. Looking at their desperation, their absolute haplessness, he relents to act up as Godman. He had not realized that it would be a path of no return. From then on he was a mere pawn in the game that the fate was playing with him.

Keep away these dramatic examples. Unknowingly we give birth to so much of drama. Many a times it starts with noble intention, many times intentions are selfish or mean. Whatever be the intentions, as we start getting more and more engrossed, it becomes more and more difficult to differentiate whats in the game and whats out of it, what is life and what is just a game, who is playing and who is played. Master does not realise when he became slave of his mastery. That’s why Kahlil Gibran has warned freedom seekers to 'be free even from the thought of freedom', lest the thought itself will bind you. Unknowingly you may get enslaved by your obsession of freedom.


Lovely was the game I played
Enchanting was the game I played
Enthralling was the game I played
Enslaving was the game I played
Slave of my own self

wisdom?... Courage? . .whatever. It worked!

These are some of the instances I have heard about, how people have acted in the smog of hatred and suspicion.

First one is of a high-school-aged boy. Those were the days of hindu-muslim riots in India. There were talks all around all the time on this issue, what should be done and what should not be done and all everything. One evening this boy returns home after his evening game of cricket and suddenly says to his mother, "These muslims, all should be sent to Pakistan!". Mother just nods, buying time to probe into him. Then she says,"Okk, if you wish so. Lets start from the ones we know well. May the first one be table maestro Zakir Hussain". The boy was shocked by the name, but quickly recollects himself and says,"No no no. Let him stay back". Mother asks,"Ok, then shall we send Bismillah Khan and stop him from playing his sanai here." Boy says,"No no, he plays wonderfully. Let him stay back". Mother continues,"Then shall we send Sharukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Katarina Kaif?". The boy errupts, "Are you mad Mom? Why should we send these people. I even have katerina's posters on my wall". This wasn't a mother who would give up easily. She persists,"So you want to send ALL the muslims that you select. Ok! Lets look for some more. How about Azaruddin or Zahir Khan". "No No No". yells the boy running out of the room. He decides it is safer to study than talk to Mom on this topic.

Again, it was time of hindu-muslim riots in Mumbai. Red hatred was overflowing all over the city. Weapon weilding mobs were moving around hunting for their prey. Many many citizens hated the hatred, but were either scared or whatever to protest. But there were folks who did muster courage and staked their lives to save many lives. These people not only saved lives right then but also doused the flames of hatred and saved many lives in future. One such person I have heard about is a famous indian cricket opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar. A saffron mob was moving around his locality hunting for prey. Sunil could not take it sitting idle. He is always known to be man of utmost courage on cricket field. Everybody knew what a player he was! But that day he showed what a mettle his character had. He walked out of the house and stood in front of the mob spreading has hands wide and preventing them to move further. The mob shouted at him to move away. He quietly told them to hold down their weapons and quietly return home. They refused and angrily started moving towards him. He was poised and stood fast there, "You will have to kill me first before moving on to anybody." He just kept on looking straight into the eyes of hatred, his wife standing next to him in horror. As had always happened in cricket field, his courage overpowered his opponents. Leader of the mob, turned his eyes down and followers turned their weapons downs. The leader gave a angry look to Sunil Gavaskar and sullenly turned back and started walking home with drooping shoulders. It is rumoured, it is said that this incidence happened. Sunil Gavaskar himself has never uttered a word about it! I wouldnt have known about it if I had not heard it. Now that I have heard it, I am writting it down so that people, who may not get to hear of it, would get to know of it.

Copenhegan

I have put ear plugs in my ears and so am immune to all the hoopla and loudspeaking at Copehegan Environmental Conference. I don’t expect anything other than complete cacophony when so many beurocrats and politicians gather together. (Huge amount of energy is wasted in keeping all of them warm in the freezing Danish winter. Isnt this ironical and representative of the way things are going! Couldn’t they have met at an environment friendly venue in a enviroment friendly way?) All of them are hassling and haggling over amounts of emission cuts without initiating any action at home, as if emission cuts are automatically fall from heaven. So I do not expect anything happening on ground whatever they agree or agree to disagree. Nothing substantive can happen from the current economic scenario which is fundamentally rooted in two notions of 'consume' and 'more'. Both these notions are diametrically opposite to emission cuts.

For too long we have let corporates tell us where our happiness lies in. Looking at the western societies we have come to realize that, beyond a certain level, material comforts do not lead to increase in happiness, rather the opposite happens. We end up loosing any meaning to our living. So if we have a fundamental relook at our lives and lifestyles then we may feel like living differently and maybe that would be immensely environfriendly way of living.
• Instead of buying, Do more (= consume less, enjoy more)
• Participate in the things in our lives (=buy less)
• Experience the joy of putting things to a newer use (=throw away less and recycle more)
• Live with nature (=have seasonal habits, use local stuff than getting things across seven seas, commute less)
• Spend more time with ourselves and with our family and friends (=enjoy the work you are doing, live close to work or find work closer to home, have time in hand to 'do' things)



WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE? HAVE YOU TRIED THIS OUT? WANT TO TRY OUT?