Sunday, October 09, 2005

earth shaking



I'm sitting on a rickety cot
in a village on the outskirts of New Delhi
tapping away at this computer when I feel the cot under me tremble a little. Having lived for a while in Shillong, in the earthquake zone of northern India, I'm familiar with this tremor and instinctively look at a bottle of water placed across the room. Sure enough, it's undulating. The movement lasts for about ten seconds, nothing really alarming.

The family downstairs are busy with their daily hores, stuff that village people do at about nine thirty on a Saturday morning, and I call out to them... there's just been an earthquake... look at the water in your kitchen vessels, and they are amazed that the earth could have trembled and they were unaware of the fact.

A few minutes FM stations break in with the news that a government meeting in Chandigarh hasbeen disrupted because of the tremor, the Prime Minister was moved out of the building. An hour later, the earthquake is on the national and international news headlines... the earth shook in Kashmir, .. that much disputed piece of land in the Himalayas that has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan; Kashmir- [Cashmere]- an issue that has rocked several hundred sessions of the Indian Parliament -- once again the Kahmir shook and literally, the tremors were felt in New Delhi.

The devastation and loss of precious human lives accompany any natural disaster. and once again, the media feeds us with stories of death, of struggle, and of heroism.

Maybe, tragedies like this one are sent to us so that we can prove to ourselves that we are not just mere thinking animals, that there rests within us what is known as an eternal soul, a ruh, an atman, and that we frail human creatures can rise beyond our narrow confines of self and up to the occasion and perform acts of selflesness and courage for the well-being of others....

Saturday, October 08, 2005

c'est la vie



While on a trip through thecrowded streets of Patna
in the province of Bihar, India .... this vendor caught my eye
and so I stopped to talk to him

turns out he left his village when he was ten
because there was nothing to eat...

no future
and now this small roadside trolley
gives him some sense of security
and hope for the days to come
when just perhaps, he'll own a cigarette stall of his own one day.....

Friday, October 07, 2005

Far Pavilions


There's so much i dream of doing
There's so many roads to travel
there's a whole lot of life out there

And here am I...
hopeful
ambitious
serene
doubtful
poised on the treshold
of life

[a young man of 15 in a Delhi village]

'The Invaders'



Coming by night, furtively, one by one
They infiltrate according to the Plan,
Their orders memorized and their disguise
Impenetrable.

With the rising sun
Our citizens welcome them.
Nobody can
Think that such charming creatures might be spies.

So feeble, so helpless, no one could suspect
They come to make this commonwealth their prey;
So few, they pose no threat; their cohort grows
So imperceptibly that we neglect
To notice how it musters day by day
And, unalarmed, we watch as they impose
Themselves, make friends in all directions, take
Impressions of all keys.

They gain access
To all our secrets; learn to speak our tongue
Like natives; profit by each false move we make;
Work on our weaknesses; observe and guess
The sources of power and study them to be strong.

And when it happens, there will be no fuss,
No streets running with blood, no barricade.

We shall simply wake one morning to discover,
As those who ruled this city before us
Found by each door a headstone and a spade,
That a new generation has taken over.

-- A. D. Hope

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Me uncensored Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 03, 2005

blowing in the wind


How many roads must a man walk down
before you can call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail
before she can sleep in the sand?

How many years must the cannon-balls fly
before they're forever banned?

-The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind
the answer is blowing in the wind......

How many years will it take till we know
that too many people have died???

-of hate related crimes
-of neglect
-of prejudice
-of the results of blind religious fanatics
-of cancer
-of HIV releted causes
-of neglect
-of apathy
-of sheer ignorance?

the answer my friend
is blowing in the wind......

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Dismembering Gandhi



The second of October
The birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
so widely known for his philosphy of non-violence

and the morning news
bombings in Bali
Students shot and curfew imposed in the Indian State of Meghalaya
and dozens of Income tax officers arrested for corruption

today thousands of India politicians
will pay lip-service
to 'the father of the nation'

amidst poverty accelerated
by human made disasters
political opportunism
and naked greed
Independence, Gandhi said, would only dawn
when the tears of the poorest of India's poor
could be wiped away

Howvere there are no tears left
the eyes of the poor have dried up
their mouths are too parched to speak

Saturday, October 01, 2005

didn't start the fire


Didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world was turning...

Somebody told me yesterday:

I never asked to be different
I never asked the Lord to make me somebody
Who falls in love with another of his own sex
I never wanted to be called 'fag', 'queer', 'chakka'
I never wanted to have limp wrists and a dancing eyebrow

I just wanted to be alive
To have friends
To be one of the guys
To grow up and get married
To be accepted and loved by my family


I didn't start the fire
Then why do you
Why burn me at the stake???