In dodo's head

Mortal beings that we are, Soon we will turn into ash and dust, And all that will remain of us will be memories. We featured in so many of people's lives. Some in a good way, and in some, bad. Sometimes unintentionally, and sometimes a misunderstanding. We nimbly scoot past souls, Hoping to not topple over the fragile, And yet some rush past, Leaving our hearts in debris. Ah human existence, The epitome of irony.

The pitter patter of raindrops falling onto the ground, A lullaby for the sleepy. Outside, paddy fields have transformed, Into endless lakes of blue. Storms rage on every night, Flashes of light and thunder, Sending my heart into a flutter. April April, won't you end fast, And put an end to my misery.

The Start of Something new, Always an endless trail of new discoveries, A 'Really!' and a 'You too?'. Years on, the novelty fades. And what binds us will be familiarity, A comradeship born out of our shared experiences. And even that will tire us, And we will long to be back to the Start. Back to the Start of Something new.  

This Dussehra/ Durga Puja break found me, with my mother and two friends in the city of Agartala to visit my dad's friend's parents. The visit left quite an impression on me, inducing me to type furiously on this fine wintery Sunday morning. This trip had been long due. They had made my mother promise to visit them atleast once. And while we youngsters were not keen on a place like Agartala for a break, finally the stars aligned for it all to happen, and how glad am I that it did. The sight of them at the airport, tears in their eyes as they waved goodbye left a choke in my throat, tears threatening to well up. Their loneliness and readiness to accept us all as their own leaves me with a rather strong sense of frustration. It just seems so wrong, that in the pursuit of all there is in the world, their kin has left them in an isolated house near the airport to fend for themselves. At some point my mother remarked to them how amazing it was that their kids were so accomplish...

There's something wrong with the society we live in today. We have been poisoned by ugly hatred and intolerance to such an extent that we act out in beastly ways. We spew out our anger at those who can do nothing to defend themselves. Surely this intolerance has stemmed from someplace. Are people born intolerant? Are they induced to become intolerant due to something which happened to them. Solzhenitsyn was rather blunt about the root cause of it. He said- " It's an universal law-- intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” True, perhaps. We see its manifestations almost everywhere now. In the mainland, the ban on beef has showed its ugly side, and the ugly truth that for some hypocrites of the world, the life of a cow is far more costly than that of human beings. The killing of an old man on the suspicion of beef consumption by beating him to dea...

It is as if a concoction of some sort has been added into the water or even air supply of the fabled land the name of which I shall not mention. What else could explain the animalistic tendencies that has been brought out in the masses these days. Pure anger and venom spill out from the mouths which open, while others resort to slingshots and stone pelting. Civilization, where have you fleed to. Humanity, why are you watching silently as these beasts tear each other apart. One for the apparently very noble cause, and the other for the three headed lion emblem bearing the words 'satyameva jayate'. The world weary wonderer can only wonder- will truth ever really triumph?