Lovestory

He was no epic hero of the ancient times. Just an ordinary guy with a habit of dragging his feet. At times, he looked so bedraggled that people might stare at him. He looked as if his life was a tiresome journey with his tousled hair and sleepy eyes. Yet when he walked into the room, her eyes lit up in a smile as if he meant the world to her. It was with her heart that he rummaged his tousled hair, bite his ear and whispered sweet nothings into them. Her body craved for him, to take him out for coffee, make out with him while there was still a little life left in it. This desire for his love and the knowledge of him made her long for the day when he would be his. But for a while, one smile was enough and her heart was bouyant and flew up in the air in circles.

She was like a butterfly most of the time but in the growing years, she had grown more and more heavy at heart that she forgot how to smile. Outwardly, nobody noticed the flaws in her- she had the gentlest word and the perfect smile. In her thirties, she suffered from a sense of emptiness that gnawed inside her. Her soul was dead and she had forgotten how to be the perfect fool in love. But with him, she felt like she can conquer the whole world and she wanted to be with him at any cost. But what prevented her from articulating this desire was her reticence to speak out these in words. But when he smiled at her, it was as if the whole world turned upside down just for her. Like the dance of the peacock before the rains, her heart danced in anticipation of meeting him. 

 

Pensiamento Fantastico: Silent Spring

Rachel Carson is a marine biologist who wrote books and pamphlets on natural resources and conservation of the environment. She has already written a series of books on the sea such as Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea. However, her Silent Spring published in 1962 was a turning point in environmental studies because of its harsh criticism of the excessive use of pesticides in farming. 

She ushered in a significant change in environmental studies with the publication of her Silent Spring. This was published in serialised form in the New Yorker and later in the form of a book. It is about the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation on the environment . 

The title highlights the silence that come over nature as the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird species have become extinct.The writer speaks of a springtime world that has become completely silent and no birdsongs are heard anywhere. 

Carson pointed out that the reason for this destruction of the environment in the United States was the uncontrolled use of organic pesticides such as DDT, aldrin and dieldrin used to control pest insects in agriculture. Though these compounds led to agricultural benefits, they posed serious threats to animal and human life as Carson proves by giving scientific evidence. 

She gives several examples of how the pesticides such as DDT, aldrin and dieldrin has managed to get into the human food chain largely through aerial spraying. She speaks of the large-scale contamination of the waterbodies in several places and the subsequent entry of these compounds into human and animal bodies. She gives the example of an egg that a child eats, which might contain traces of these compounds from the grain that the mother hen ate for its food. 

The harmful effects of these chemicals on humans and animals ranged from genetic mutation to cancer. However, what she predicted was the complete extinction of many bird species as a result of using pesticides. Moreover, she was of the view that the pests of the future might be resistant to these chemicals and might even result in species mutations. 

This book was a clarion call for greater awareness about the great destruction that human beings were causing to the Earth and its natural cycles. Though there was much protest from the chemical companies, Carson’s Silent Spring is a key text in environmental studies because it led to the banning of DDT in the US and to a greater awareness about the consequences of using deadly pesticides on the environment. It gradually led to the development of an ecocentric attitude in the latter half of the twentieth century.

www.nytimes.com

www.etsy.com

www.britannica.com

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Poetic justice

Children who are always told what to do,
Who don't really know what they really want.

The storms within and the tears they hide;
The boomerang comes back in slow time.

The impossible

I think the hue and cry is about nothing.
You and I are not impossible.
You and I are too too different to be
Possible.

Heaven& Hell

You have raised heaven and hell
To get the things that you want.

Justice, equality, wages, voice
But never have sought a love.

For years it's been given up
And written away in verses.
An old dog of a heart asks now
Couldn't you've saved it all up?

The image once in the mirror
Was a bold warrior in armour
With no worthy cause to fight for
With no war worth winning.

Yes, it could have lived peacefully
Than the miss the one already gone.

Water Dog

To define oneself, one needs so many words
To define oneself, one needs so many roles.
Elemental water, loyal as a dog in chinese era
Strong and enduring like a lion of the zodiac.

For years, this elemental water needed vessels;
For years, it worshipped you with its loyalty.
Now you are no longer here to define me
I flow again with the wanderlust of a dreamer.

Not that I need this persuasion of soft words
Not that I need this melting of strong wills;
For even without a single word or glance
This lonely wanderer and his song are mine.

For it's from these shores that he drifted off
And to this loyal heart that he'll come home.

Bakra

The lies that you tell
The magic of ulta-pulta
Has brought us here
Where we are.

Learning the ropes
To evade responsibilities
To whine perpetually
For what you get.

May be you deserve
Far more than this;
But you need a bakra
To hang your sins on.

The questions to trap
Shows your real self.

Miracle

A miracle has happened.
A mountain has moved
And a new terrain is here.

In the midst of all this
I felt your hand hold mine
And tell me not to worry.

Days

Where you went hiding those days?
I see the images, I see the shadows
Wasted in fully crowded courts
Without any possible consolation.

What did you speak of? Only my ears
Never heard or did I feel it right, to ask
But one snippet of a story brings smiles
While one bad word shocks me so much.

You must have felt the same one day,
Though I didn't know the reason yet.
The lives are all entwined without
Knowing the why, when, what or how.

But when I find but one missing piece
I celebrate with more love than ever.

Earth Day

Win-win

PIC: Tumblr

Sometimes, your soul might be weary;
But the eyes are focused on the road; 
And a hurdle crossed makes you happy
Not at once, in degrees as it kicks in. 

Harmony

Numbness

This was a path this heart had long forgotten;
Yet you taught me how to tread this again.
In this twilight, you have disappeared quietly
Just when I thought the dawn was so near. 

Tell me why this heart doesn't beat the same way,
Why it does not feel the same way it did with you.
The dream was so beautiful though I asked nothing,
Yet there was a magical aura that surrounded us.

Under the stars, there was a beautiful unwritten story,
Everyday, in those countless dreams we wove in words,
Though you and I never saw each other in reality
Nor did I ever get a chance to know your name or face.

In a few weeks' time you had won over this heart,
Brought back its music and then disappeared again.

Abundance

Mother Earth

Beauty

Haven

Life

The Grasp of Your Hand

Decisiveness

Sunshine

Mother Earth

Contentment

Rain

A cup of comfort

When I drink you in like my cup of coffee;

With a little milk to bring in the right colour,

Strong flavoured robusta with sugar added,

In my large brown mug, with a tome in hand.

When I drink you in like my cup of coffee;

With slices of brown bread slightly toasted,

A little marmalade and butter thinly spread,

As I read the current tome that I’m reading.

When I drink you in like my cup of coffee;

I dream of your eyes that drank my desire,

My eyes stay on the page and the storyline

But my heart falls back on our little fantasy.

For another day, when I drink you like coffee,

When you sip my desire your eyes only on me.

Happy New Year

You

You come when your thought flashes my mind-
Your smile as you lean against my shoulders,
Or the way your face crinkles when you see,
The red henna pattern I'd made on my palm.

Your warm body as you lie curling against mine
As the rain pitter patters on the tin roof outside,
The lazy rainy mornings when we often run late
To greet more sunshine in our open wide arms.

Your moist lips that scrawl on my soft cheeks,
Your rough fingers that taunt my every desire,
Your cruel gaze that stirs me from deep within
In the soft ochre light of our dawns and dusks.

It's when I am set, all ready for this twilight,
That you seek me again with your warm eyes.

Woman

I have my ebbs
And my tides;
I change
My nature,
With the moon.
Yet my love
For you dearest
Comes back
In full circle.

A Subtle Truth

The universe

Heart

Love

Desire

Rebellion

You took me for an obedient being one day, when you saw me obey every single word of my master. Not that this heart does not know rebellion, it knew how to burn down worlds in its fury or even bring down the mighty, in its good old days.

It once knew how to fly past the countless mazes even though that meant it had to carry charred wings throughout its later life. It knew how to live without a word of love or encouragement  and yet to look at criticism with equanimity.

Now,  I have lost my belief in prayers for they move no mountains or molehills but has not lost its habit of recognising miracles placed in its way.

Skywriting

Will you leave me
A sign, a few lines
Here and there
Utter words to bring
Me back to life.

Bring you back here
Bring you back here
Once again again
A crumble inside
A broken heart.

Never knew I'd find
Again myself caught
In a world of strife
Where thoughts are
Spelt in skywriting.

Where the misery
Of meetings partings
Leaving behind
Botched goodbyes
Have histories

When the sense sinks
Bores into this parting
That says of silences
I realise that you were mine
For so long and I didn't care

A warrior of light

A warrior is as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.When people gather to talk, he does not judge the behaviour of others; he knows that darkness uses an invisible net to spread its evil. This net catches any snippet of information floating in the air and transforms it into the intrigue and envy that infest the human soul.

Thus, everything that is said about someone reaches the ears of the enemies of that person, augmented by the dark weight of poison and malice.

For this reason, when the warrior speaks of his brother's opinions, he imagines that his brother is there present, listening to what he is saying.

Merry Christmas

Message in a Bottle

You drink me with your eyes
Your slices of brown bread
Your mugs of black coffee

You think of yesterdays
Worry about tomorrows
While there is only the now

Wrapped is the present,
This time where dreams
Reign over reason.

Forget the lies of snow,
Forget the lies of words
Think only of the now.

Rush not stay steady
Drink your coffee black
Your eyes on me...

The power of a smile

Children's day

Happiness

Happiness