20 times 2!

Hey 40, the new 20!

What a charm that you attract

A certain protracted sense of sexiness!

Let you do the denizens of the 20’s go begging for “age-defiance”!

An air of confidence that is around the 40’s...

A composed and cheerful disposition that is all pervasive...

Sends the 20’s out with a shudder with a dropping-jaw!

How awe-inspiring 40 you are,

A rare, serendipitous unit of 10 that you are!

Writers-galore!

Wordsmiths, stalwarts, masters of the pen,

A gathering of sorts, with an awe-inspiring élan

An enriching weekend, without a hesitation

Transport it did, to a mode of meditation!

A meditation: on words and books.

Encompassed by writers

So many, that I could smell the perfume of their ink

I was but an inkling, pinching myself to digest that there is an entire fraternity...

I walked out with a sigh, hoping not to be a blot in the writing-map.

Familiar we are all with the behaviour of a film-star

Off movies, they are a different clan

 What is it like to see a writer, up close?

Oh yeah, loads of dosage of silent, latent, untold passing on of wisdom.

To watch them hold a pen,

To watch them hold a microphone to speak,

Do writers need to be good speakers too?

I gaped at them all with awe.

What they write and quote are their style statements

They do not need any embellishment,

Neither do they really care for any!

Pure immaculate, was the colour of poetry,

Poetry dressed in white kurtha and pyjama

Gulzar sir, must I say more?

Some chose to term a book as product

Market, sales, numbers were the buzz-words,

That it shot up my indignation!

Another session I shall not attend I thought

Thank God, some sense prevailed

That some musings on a literary novel ensued...

A mode of philosophy by the constant traveller,

Took me heavenwards with its admirers sitting by my side

Here’s my favourite writer’s, favourite writer speaking!

Could things have gotten any better?!

This is what happens when you are surrounded by writers,

A great deal of inspiration, supplied in abundance!

A wholesome way of heralding the New Year,

Pumped up with all the necessary fuel

Well-fed I am, through a Lit-Fest that was!

Pixellating into sepia tones

Take a pic, instantly upload it and the entire social world is ready to access it at their finger tips. So easy it has become hasn’t it? The thrill of this 'instantness' sure does get one on a high, and I vouch it aloud by all means. The film rolls are passé; having died a rapid death with technology being digitized by the hour.

Having decided to rewind a little bit through this post, the old world charm of feeling a photograph is timeless. I still recall that our first family cam was a brand called Agfa; luckily, when I googled out to check if the name still existed amongst the current camera producing companies, the name did feature! The camera had a black coarse matte surface finish with an orange button to click. During festivities, my relatives would source for the best of photographers within the family. At the behest of the entire family, this trusted family member, who is supposed to have a thorough know-how of the one and only ‘camera’ that the family owns, dons the hat of the chief event photographer giving a complete coverage. Then the arduous process of giving the camera to a colour-lab and getting them processed ensues. One still had the patience to wait for them to be delivered; for we had the assurance of a gratifying experience at the end of the day. What more, how delightful it used to be when we hold the film negatives right up into the sky and choose what pictures needed to go into print. The quality of the prints back then is commendable too. And how could one forget the tedious process of meticulously tucking each photo into the transparent plastic provision in the complimentary albums provided by the lab?!

As a child, I have had several memorable trips to my paternal uncle’s home wherein our primary pass time used to be that of photo-viewing. He was our official caretaker of family photos; however under one condition: we could not take back home any photographs from his collection; he was strict about that. As a child I used to frown at his sternness, but now I definitely know why.

Despite all the opulence to share and upload instant pictures now, when someone fishes out a sepia-toned picture from their collection and has it uploaded, it’s a wholesome feeling. We suddenly get chasing the route of those pics and would want to know where these pics were all the while! Of course their smart-phone counterparts are here to stay; albeit their charm easily fizzles out. While clicking pictures in the past were reserved for specified occasions, now, we have countless reasons to keep clicking. What more, we have the word selfie (a self shot on a mobile camera) that has even made it all the way to the Oxford Dictionary! So giving all those instagram shots a break, it’s a good feeling once in a while to rewind and soak in some malarum ninaivugal (evergreen memories)...

Employing polyamory

Happily married is jocularly passed off for an oxymoron. Indeed one, in reality. How can one be happy all the time? Happiness is a state of being. Of course marriage comes in the form of a wholesome pack: sharing, caring, of joy and sadness and all its paraphernalia. In quintessence, we’re still the same individuals. A rare fraction cares to respect each other’s individuality while the majority takes things for granted as if it were their birthright. 

Like this popular quote by I don’t know who; “I did not change, I just grew up...!” If only this is understood in its true sense, ah a fairy tale life would be then! The problem arises when people tweak things in accordance to their comfort level. While all of us know that change is the only thing that is constant, it still remains a bitter-pill when it comes to chewing the cud and moving on. 

Who doesn’t enjoy beauty? So where does the question of ‘he/she belonging to someone else’ arise? One’s marital state has nothing to do with this. We enjoy nature, pen poems, sing paeans about its beauty; come on, aren’t we homo-sapiens part of nature too? We could watch and accept an Amitabh Bachan romancing multiple women at a time in reel and real life, all that is in the utopian world though. After all aren’t all the logs of the film-world a reflection of societal mores? So what’s there in walking that extra mile with a good-old boyfriend/girlfriend? Why is it tabooed? Forget polygamy, we human beings are at least poly-amorous. Of course we don’t want to run the risk of multiplying commitments, so just because we like someone other than the knotted-standard who opens the door for us, it does not tantamount to being disloyal. 

Love is but an emotion that sets one free and thinking. The problem arises when we end up doing the thinking for our partners, in the name of LOVE. Two bodies, one soul and all of that is a bunch of bullshit. Get a life! We are first a separate entity by all means then comes any relationship that needs to be tagged along, based on moderation. On top of it all, for goodness’ sake please don’t rate a marriage based on the kids that are produced: for it’s just a by-product. Just because somebody is married with a kid we cannot resolve that life is complete sans any troubles. Little do we realise that it’s a damn Pandora’s Box that opens up! Man watches and plays with his own younger one, and the freaking samsara of life keeps revolving:  punarabi jananam, punarabi maranam. Damn!