On an Idyllic Sunday Afternoon

Propped against the wall I sit

With thoughts that keep fluttering

Momentarily now, looking at the grey clouds

Fluttering in a jiffy to yesterday

of the bright blue sky (yes, GNR)

And then in a trance thinking of tomorrow

How fickle life is; and how strong the character.

Days of the yore that come

With the swat of the PT teacher's whistle string

Turning red the back of our thighs

To the English prose classes; about Kipling and spice

Friends and the tease

Days when we dreamed

of going to college or making it big

College days and ones spent

wooing and occasionally, oh ever so, being

The idealism and fire, the want to be the best

And yet, not miss a moment of fun

Slumbering away those hot summer afternoons

In the library stacks; and being woken up by the Librarian

And aspiring, each day to be healthy, wealthy and gay (sic!)

Toiling the midnight oil

Trying to make our dreams come true

Working each day as if it would never end

And making the most in what Rand

would agree be productive achievement

Never failing sight of the vision

Growing by the day, adding dimensions to life

Getting caught in an abyss becoming

Another Brick In the Wall (the video)

But that's where God comes in and gives me a kick

Says, son, you aren't fit to be mashed to sausage.

So go on, dream, smile, work and enjoy.

But remember, don't let those dreams become your master.

That's when I remember that the constants through our lives remain

Our dreams and our guides.

---------------

Thoughts go out to my parents, teachers, gurus, well-wishers, elders, friends, authors, books, poets on this auspicious day of Guru Poornima. Thank you for all the light you shed on my path.

Realisation

Just realised that the last four blog entries are all verses or literature received from others.

Am I the romantic-coming-out-of-the-closet? Gosh!! Worse still, a plagiarising-romantic-coming-out-of-the-closet!!

Nah, but there's so much to read out there, so much to digest, so much to do. A quiet week in a Buddhist monaestry reading would be the best anti-dote.

But then the thought of the woods being lovely, dark and deep and miles to go before I sleep, a legacy to leave before I retire and pounds to lose before I holiday, all bring me back to reality!!

Go work, Makhija!!

O Me, O Life?

O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill'd with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the struggle ever renew'd;
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here--that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

-Walt Whitman

----
How pessimistic it sounds right in the beginning. And then till one gets to the answer and suddenly the thought changes.

So the verse and so life. It keeps getting tough, weary, frustrating and what not. But persistence and self-belief are the keys.

Not the One to Forward Emails or Use them...

...but here's one that I really liked.

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.
5. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
21. Spend some time alone.

Good luck!!

After a Long Long Time....

On blogger, after ages. Here's one from Nash.

Some people shave before bathing.
And about people who bathe before shaving they are scathing.
While those who bathe before shaving,
Well, they imply that those who shave before bathing are misbehaving.
Suppose you shave before bathing,
well the advantage is that you don't have to make a special job of washing the lather afterwards,
it just floats off with the rest of your accumulations in the tub.
But the disadvantage is that before bathing you skin is hard
and dry and your beard confronts the razor like a grizzly bear defending its cub.
Well then, suppose you bathe before shaving,
well the advantage is that after bathing your skin is soft
and moist and your beard positively begs for the blade.
But the disadvantage is that to get the lather off you have to wash your face all over again at the basin almost immediately after washing in the tub,
which is a duplication of effort that leaves me spotless but dismayed.
The referee reports, gentlemen, that Fate has loaded the dice,
Since your only choice is between walking around all day with a sore chin
or washing your face twice.
So I will now go and get a shave from a smug man in a crisp white coat,
And I will disrupt his smugness by asking him about his private life,
does he bathe before shaving or shave before bathing,
and then I will die either of laughing or of a clean cut throat.

Selected Poems of Ogden Nash - I Wouldn't Have Missed It