The Baton and a Pair of Eyes...

This, is To him who seeks my baton,

Dear runner,

You know not the roads I have tread..
the Pits I have fallen in..
The hands and hearts
that have weaned me back on the path...
to this apparently tumultuous journey
without writ or order.


Yet I shall continue my journey..
as you pick up the baton
from whence i leave it...
The fabric of fate!


The threads abound in all directions...
I know not from whence the fabric begins
...nor ends...and then again..does it matter?


for woven through and through
the string knotting around each other...
melodious memories and myriad melancholies;


The fleeting fabric changes its shape..
sometimes in luscious mounds
and sometimes in lackadaisical vales.
sometimes tenaciously firm and creased
and someitimes lithe and supple.


and Yet, the knots they are constant...
regular, unchanging.. sometimes cruelly systematic.
yes, the fabric will be here.. and i will see you again!


..but will i know, it is you?
will the smiles still remind me
..of the same mounds and vales?

The Long tailed Black Monkey

Narrator: so there was a king who was balding
Listening child: ahan
Narrator: and was loosing his locks fast
Listening child: ahan
Narrator: Stop that ! um.. where was i... yeah ..
and was terrified about the prospect of waking up one day and finding it like the gol gumbaz
Listening child: heh heh
Narrator: so he calls all the medics in the kingdom and says.. find me a cure to this balding.. if u succeed half the kingdom and my daughter's hand in marriage.. otherwise, some thing less dangeous.. like having ur head chopped off
all the medics are terrified.. but they try anyways since they have no choice
and soon month on month, the overal medic population in the kingdom plummets conspicuously
Listening child: ohmygawd chopped off?
no wonder the docs ran away
Narrator: yes..
and no
some of them ran
and others were captured in the borders and chopped off there and then
Listening child: eeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy
that's bad
Narrator: yeeesss..
and mulla was a very clever man in the kingdom who couldnt stand the bloodbath

Narrator: so he decided to teach the king a lesson
Listening child: mulla is?
Narrator: Mulla nasseeruddin
Listening child: okay
Narrator: Sheesh poori.. u have the GK of an earthworm
Listening child: earthworm
Narrator: so he powders rock salt and taints it with eosin [ some thing red in color. use to remove hair in the olden ages]
Listening child: oh crap.. so the hair is gone
maan that mulla must be really brave
Narrator: and takes it to the king and says u have to apply the
ointment twice everyday
and the hair will grow in flowing tresses in one month
but u have to apply 2 times every day
and there is just one condition..
u should not think of the black faced long tailed monkey when u are applying
the king says.. "why woul i think of the abomination of the fellow!.. gimme that.. and u will be under probabation for a month
so Mulla relaxes in the royal palace.. doing gujaals with the court ladies.. and finally 3 days before the due date the king roars from his chambers..
Listening child: black faced long tailed monkey
Narrator: he had woken up that morning and his head was indeed looking like the gol gumbaaazz.. the king calls back Mulla and asks him to explain the meaning of "this" pointing to an exceptionally shiny perecranium
Mulla had to fight down a fiery need to laugh..

Narrator: so he mentally closed his eyes.. as if delving in the depths of dhivya dhrishti...
and opened his eyes.. and asked the king.. did u think of the monkey..
and so it had turned out that every morning, and night, the king would remind himself not to think of the black faced long tailed monkey
Listening child: mmmm and then?

Narrator: and so.. the story goes on to end in favor of Mulla.. he sorts of escapes the meager danger of the guillotine and passes on higher hazards of harmonious matrimony...er ..so to say
Listening child: oh man
how did that happen
just to let him live was a big thing
Narrator: and ambles away dreamily with half the kingdom leaving behind a round faced raja with a long face..
the learning.. which is more important
is that, the more we ordain our minds to abstain from doing some thing.. the more it interests itself in indulging in the very same thing...
Listening Child: zzzzzzzzzz
Narrator: darn! she always does that to me in the end.. when i am telling the moral!
"nighty night sweetheart!

THIS CHRISTMAS...

I was drenched through and through

Mist in the air, Mistletoes on doors...

The Christmas spirit had begun to move

Fierce rain beating against my shoulders

Breath cold and smoking...

Deserted streets, eyes blinded by the incessance,

Desperate and lonely in essence.

My hands held their only hope, only possession

From the slandering torrents outside...

protectively, concealed and unravaged...

Holding it against my coat on the inside,

holding it dear, holding it with care.

Teeth chattering, Feet gone numb, chest convulsing

'Twas as though I needed the hidden rose

and your prevailing pervading thoughts, akin

To survive the cold Christmas,

from your warmth alone that balms up from within

The science of enjoyment

The science of enjoyment,

A paradox in construction

For the Aesthetic,

Demanding the attention of feeling,

How can there be the measure by thinking?

A realm of the brain, for the language of the heart?

Read on, it’s true.

Waves beating on the rocks ashore,

Silence in the very music of the scene,

Dry and musty smell of the mosses,

Delicious orange horizon,

And the puffy evening clouds,

A weary returning boat,

Joy at sight, bliss at experience.

Joy, in solitude, Joy in absence.

Joy? Like a smile and Candlelight,

Joy is strange, Joy has a measure, Joy is a science…

If Unshareable, then UNUSABLE.

The Last Drop

The last drop is the sweetest,
I opened my mouth to the sky
Huge expansive weeping sky...
The final drops telling me stories
telling me that she was going to stop
Stop crying - Solace is a wonderful medicine
It feels lovely to be there, isn't it?
Standing there getting wet in the downpour?
I love being there for you, dear sky...
listening to your worries-
Solace is not in words
But in the pleasure of being there
to see your last tears,
to drink that last drop...

The earth instead

Hey garden, give me not your flowers,
For your every thought reminds me
Of every hue, of those ephemeral beauties...

Give me a handful of the moist earth instead-
It engenders, for centuries, teeming thoughts…
Every type of stately short-lived floral feelings.

Like the flowers from the earth,
Your memories emanate from my timeless love for you.
Though beautiful, memories can perish and perpetuate.

The more forgotten earth wins
every time a passerby admires a flower...
My love too, with every memory

Jaya Jaya Aarati rama Tumhari

It is the song where hanuman is completely in the dark.. no light, no clue and no hope as to where ravana's pushpaka vanam is ...
sorrowfully prayerful.. he prays to his lord and God, Rama.. and even before the prayer completes.. the light from vibheeshana;s kuteer welcomes him..
Vibheeshana is putting his beloved Rama to sleep.. and singing the aaraty song.. and the humble diya light from his hut brilliantly shines as a beacon light.....
As soon as he hears the rama aaraty, hanuman comes rushing to the hut's top and prayerfully listens to the lines.. dripping with devotion.
He then with a full and satisfied mind blesses vibheeshana that harm not comes to him.. and then proceeds to the pushpaka vana
And so, even as the vinashakaale vipareetha budhi stroke comes in and the whole lanka is burning to the ground.. agni is unable to even near visbheeshana's hay hut.. that is the easiest to burn...
Valmiki describes scene as tall rock pillars and golden domes melting in the heat.. and agni;s sheer inability to even touch vibheeshana's hut.. as it stood untouched by the flames.. guarded invisibly by hanuman's blessings..

There are two things that are demonstrated..

The presence of the guru that is beyond physical presence.. and how the help comes even before the problem presents itself.
...and Secondly the prayer that comes in completeness is the best prayer.. we do things in order to get happiness.. but if we do the same things , while already happy and contented, then that is the highest yoga it seems

listen to it when you get the opportunity, not every one gets one...