Thursday, January 23, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
Mentor
When I looked at the Christmas lights that
year
It’s your special message that I remembered,
Then I thought of choosing a right gift
for you
And couldn’t find anything good enough,
Then on advice from someone I thought wise
I gave you a diary with so many paintings…
Don’t know how you felt about it; free
gift
It was but my friend admonished me so much
But I guess it had nothing to do with my
gift
That you who were so dear went so far away
So far that you are more like a mirage
than real
More like the taste of dreams from
childhood.
I called you my mentor when you were around
Now eons later I still wonder if you liked
my gift.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Night Fears
A dark curtain of a night fell from across the river green
With huge trees that looked like demons to a five
year old.
Then almost twenty years later they came back as
crossroads
And having to face the worst possible mistake in
life.
The nights that followed were all full of fears of
future,
Till you came with your music and took them all
away;
But now that you are also gone, the fears are back
The intense loneliness and the few words once
again.
You with your music could sweep all those fears
away,
You with your love could erase the fears from the
years
Yet you have made the night bleaker and darker,
Wringing away the life that throbbed in these bone
cavities.
The nights of unknown fears of future were much better
Than
these nights of fearful knowledge of separation.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
The Maddadam Trilogy
Margaret
Atwood’s The Maddaddam trilogy that consists of the simultanuels Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood and Maddaddam (2013) explore an extremely
common device in popular science fiction- an apocalypse triggered by
biotechnological and chemical experiments that destroys the rhythm of nature
and produces unforeseen disasters and epidemics such as the Waterless Flood. These
novels are called simultanuels (as opposed to sequels) as they co-exist and
enhance our understanding of the state of life before and after the apocalypse
through the eyes of the narrators Snowman, Ren and Toby.
The
strides made in biotechnology such as genesplicing help scientists create new
species such as wolvogs, liobams and pigeons with human brain tissue added for
intelligence. But the product that starts the epidemic known as the Waterless
Flood is an over-the-counter medicine known as BlyssPlus Pills, supposed to
provide increased sexual satisfaction, protection from sexually transmitted
diseases and to prolong youth. Hidden in the BlyssPlus Pills, is a killer virus
that will spread like the plague and wipe out entire continents altogether.
When
the attacks begin, radio and television stations from across the world report
news of the spreading pandemic. But gradually the stations go dead and cities
cease to exist. Gradually, a handful of people survive along with the
bioengineered Crakers, who are a gentle humanoid species whose skins have
natural insect repellants and whose need for animal protein is minimum. Among
the survivors are Toby, Ren, Amands, Zeb, Jimmy and other Maddaddamites who are
a group of bioterrorists who were bought by Crake in exchange for the
protection of their identities.
The
narrator of -awaited conclusion to the Maddaddam trilogy is Toby, who belonged
to a green cult called God’s Gardeners. She wonders if there is any future for
the human generation:
She’s slipping: she ought to write such things down. Keep a
daily journal, as she did when she was alone…for generations yet unborn as
politicians used to say when they were fishing for extra votes. If there is
anyone in the future that is; and if they’ll be able to read; which, come to
think of it are two big ifs (Atwood,
136).
The
Crakers and the human survivors together create a new set of babies- Kannon,
Rhizomes, Jimadam, Pilaren, Medulla and Oblongata, whose characteristics are
yet to develop. But the wonder of all wonders is that Blackbeard, a Craker
youth learns how to write and records the history of life after the Waterless
Flood and the formation of the new hybrid species from humans and Crakers in
the form of history.
Atwood
uses the trilogy to express her concerns about the environment, the use of
artificially created animal protein, the dangers of biotechnological
experimentation, the hidden dangers of medical corporations and the relations
between the sexes. She concludes on a note of hope through the creation of hybrid
babies who will definitely lead life on earth forward in spite of the Waterless
Flood.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Dying Young
It was always there in me, this thought of dying young.
The tales of talented youth dying much before
They found no use for their
eager dreams,
Kindled a desire of blazing out like a forest fire.
The ones who had done so were many to count:
Long before they reached the age of thirty-three,
Jesus, Shelley, Keats and my own writerly father
Who left so many manuscripts and diaries.
Now, in my thirties, I wonder what made them tick,
What went in their bodies or minds to make them sick
And no longer afraid of lightning or busy roads,
Fresh cylinders or changing a light bulb all myself.
Sometimes I think I might die of laughter or heart-attack
From reading twisted truths on my students’ answer sheets.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Future
The life of hopes and ambitions is not the life you live,
From the cradle the baby is taught to dream and hope
But when the dark and light of youth decide to fight,
It is often darkness which wins and leaves one lost.
For the ones who have won and moved ahead of others,
Who do not share the burden of your past sorrows,
Who measure you by their own measures of success,
Your dreams are a reason to poke fun and laugh at you.
While you plod against life gathering the missing pieces,
Often having to start again after losing so many times,
The victory that would have tasted sweet in dreams,
Being like a mirage that eludes only you every time.
Yet some day the dark would give way to the dawn,
And if God wills, it will be an everlasting sunshine.
Natural
May be we learnt this silence from nature,
From dormant volcanoes that do not show
Any signs of life; but explode into rages
And passions, creating new terrains,
Blending with the waters of the ocean.
This love hides itself behind a wave of silence,
That sweeps away everything in its path,
But is natural like the merge of streams,
Like the blossoming of flowers in arid deserts,
And the sight of birds in the morning.
It springs natural, magical, dream-like
On the food of silence and nothing else.
For words have no
meaning in this love,
And take away the magic
of its silence.
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Couple Goals
We have celebrated our days of togetherness as if each day was a special occasion, gone on adventures in the city, explored new nooks and co...