Haiku#2 - Green

(Image Courtesy - theopenarms.wordpress.com)

Beautiful Indian flag is tricolored,
Saffron represents the vast plains,
White the snow-capped Himalayas,
Green the rich laden forests,
Is it time to change?

This is written for Haiku Heights. The prompt being Green.

This is my interpretation of our glorious flag. I want to believe that Pingali Venkayya, who designed the Indian Flag might have had similar thoughts. Our country is so beautiful and is having Himalayas on one side, Thar desert on the other, the peninsular south which has rich forests. One would fall short of words, if India's natural beauty has to be described.

All this being true, its also true that we are losing the snow capped mountains to Global Warming and all the forests are slowly diminishing. So, this Haiku prompt was thought provoking for me.

I wish we try to retain our country's beauty and not just restrict the beauty to our flag?

Unaffected!!!

Bathing in the rain,
Glistening in the sun,
Droplets on the leaf,
Unaffected by everything, Unattached!

***************************************************************
Writtten for OSI. Prompt - Bathing.
Sincerely wish to be one. Unattached and Unaffected. Can I or will I ever, is the question?

Love, for a beautiful soul

Greed causes desire,
Envy causes spite,
Lust causes anxiety,

Love, cleans,
purify's the soul.
Fill yourself with Love.


Haiku fever has caught on. Written for Haiku Heights.

Soul - Haiku Heights #1

Friendship, Love,
Marriage, Misunderstandings, Missing -
Soul.

Friendships turn into love, and love into marriage. With marriage, comes misunderstandings and that is when many married couples, search for their missing soul. When did it all begin? I mean, when did they start losing their soul, to the meaningless misunderstandings? They realize they were once madly in love. Are they the same couple?

Just a piece of fiction. :)

First attempt at the Haiku Heights. Hope I got it right and people like it.

 Inspired by the theme at

KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI

Krishna needs no introduction. I love Krishna. I like him most as a naughty boy who is stealing butter from every possible house in Vrindavan. Krishna is an attraction. He steals your heart, at the slightest chance.

Krishna is the beauty of this world. Krishna is the music in my soul. Krishna is the soul of my life. Krishna is the smile that heals my heart. Krishna is the love that sweeps me off my feet. Krishna is the reason why I live and he will be the reason, I leave this earth to unite unto him.

Krishna I dont understand all that you do. I scold you sometimes for I cant take anyone for granted but you. Forgive me for my ignorance. Love me as ever. Be with me. Hold my hands and guide me, as a mother would hold her child's.

Celebrating Krishna. Happy Janmashtami.

(Image Courtesy - Internet. Sorry about losing the link)

Walking in the rain

Image courtesy - http://www.inmagine.com/waa004/waa004000003-photo

On a wet July evening,
As the clouds romanced,
Sending down torrential rain,
they walked hand in hand,
loving their first togetherness.
Friends, having found their love,
walking through the orchards,
limitless emotions pouring out,
love glittering in their eyes,
words seemed bitterish.

With daydreams of their future,
not even a thought did differ.
The lovers walked, under one umbrella,
close as ever, embraced by oneness,
praying the rain would never come to a halt.

This piece is written for - short-story-slam-week-23.

Limitless

The sound of a house being torn down,
Called for all walks of people,
Wails of a mother rendered childless,
Howls of a child who lost its home,
Pain and agony seeping through every heart,
Fire devoured a once beautiful home,
shattering their dreams and lives,
An immense damage for no fault,
not theirs nor their forefathers,
a few eyes gazed on for a while,
a few thanking it was not their house,
a few thinking when it would be their turn.
Moments later life moved on, people too,
picking up the abandoned ones,
to give them a new home, a new life.
A war torn country, showed varied glipmses,
of limitless hope and despair.


This was an entry to the 'Sunday Scribblings' - Limitless

Attitude - Oh!! I dont care.

I happened to see this news about Pinki Pramanik and later went to read about her.

Its really sad to hear that she had to undergo all that she did. She has won a few medals for the country in the Commonwealth games and the Asian games. She has represented the country and played on behalf of it. She has been subjected to so much in the last few days. Not only was she taken into custody on rape charges. In the name of a gender test, her nude videos are made available on the internet, making her known for notorious reasons than for her sports acheivements. If not for the fact that she played for our country, didn't she atleast deserve a decent treatment as a married lady, as a human being?

I wish somethings could change in our country with the way we treat our own people? Perhaps my friend was right, we Indians have too much of a dont care attitude, towards every damn thing that happens around us.

Seeing is Believing? Nahhhhh

While its raining outside, relaxing and lots of TV watching was the agenda this weekend. I saw this Airtel ad on TV. A pair of legs with shoes on, staggering along. A manhole is seen and the pair of legs successfully crosses around the manhole. 

I searched a lot to get you people a video of the Ad, but I am unable to find it on youtube. I am pasting another video of the related commercial. May be you can look for the ad I am talking about. It is an Airtel Rising Stars ad.

When I saw this ad, I thought it was a drunk man trying to walk around the manhole. Suddenly the focus of the camera shifts, it shows a boy trying to balance a football on his head. Trying to keep it from falling down.

I was just thinking about my perspective earlier. I felt so silly. Perhaps, life is just what we think it is, right?

Another valuable lesson learnt today. Widen your spectrum, look beyond the horizons, dont judge anything by the face value and be patient, may be we will live to see what life really wanted to offer.

What say?

Hit a block??

Looks like I hit a Writer's block. The more I want to write, it seems like I am moving further away from it. I am not sure, why? Looks like I am not getting enough inspiration. I will surely be back. :)

Penance

In my room, darkness covering every inch of it.
I sit wondering if I would ever see the sunrise
 or the twilight followed by a sunset.

In my room, on a damp, cold and frosty morning,
I sit wondering if I could ever see the deep blue sky
 and the birds chirping high?

In my room, where a whisper would be a racket,
I sit wondering if I could run in the fields
 and shout to hear my voice echo back?

In my room, with just a window and a door,
I sit wondering if I could break through, gain freedom
 and be a happy man again?

In my room, where there is no one but me,
I sit wondering if this is "my room" or is it "my cell"?
 I guess I lived here too long to call it my room.

In my room, filled with deep regret and pain,
I sit wondering if only I had controlled my temper to kill,
 I would have been free and would have had no reason to wonder.

In my room, where I can only repent,
I sit praying God to forgive my sins and hold me close and if possible,
 Give me a chance to live again.

I wrote this for "Carry on Tuesday" - In My Room.

REFLECT ~~~~~~~

I hate, to get more hatred in return.
Same is with love. I am drowned in love, when I love.
Then why do I resist the path of love?

I think ill, to feel more depressed.
Thinking good, I feel elated.
Then what stops me from thinking good?

I indulge in gossip, only to be gossiped about.
Behind my back a thousand people talk.
Then why dont I find pleasure in keeping still?

I tend to blame others, when things go wrong.
Can I count the number of times I got blamed?
Then why dont I stand to face than just run?

I choose to spread love and to think good,
I choose to stay away from gossip and stop blaming.
For Life is a mirror, that just "reflects".


I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings. The prompt was "Reflect".

J.P Park at Mathikere

After a very hectic last week, I was finally free for a relaxing weekend. We went to see the musical fountain in J.P Park in Mathikere. Mathikere is the place I have spent all my childhood days. I have fond memories of this place. Even till date, when I am anywhere close to Malleshwaram or Mathikere, I feel so ecstatic. An attachment, which is tough to explain. Coming back to the musical fountain, it was a very good experience. They announced it was one of the best in South India. It was fun to see water dance to the tunes of some real good songs. We howled and hooted at the performance. We had plans of going to Mahalakshmi Layout, but we could not make it. I love that Hanuman temple there. A huge idol carved on a big blouder. I would want to go there soon.

Anyway, I wanted to share that JP Park - Jayaprakash Narayan Park in Mathikere is a nice place to hang out on a  boring weekend evening. This place is also called the Mini Lalbagh. A good place for children, there are plenty of play things in the Play area. There is a swimming pool, a musical fountain, a very big park to jog or walk. You have benches to sit, overlooking beautiful gardens with some nice models of farmers, animals, children and people installed in them. These models are so close to being real. The ox looked so real, that I was mistaken intially. There are mini pools within, where are huge cat fishes. Many varieties of birds come here every year.

This park also has a "Navagraha" Park, in which small pebbles are laid out on the floor. Walking on this barefoot, it is said to help reduce blood pressure and diabetes. It also has a rock garden.  The pebbles and variety of colored pieces of rocks are used to make a nice little creative zone. Sanjeevini park is also going to be built. I am not sure, what that would comprise.

So, readers if you ever get a chance to go to Mathikere, visit this park. It is recommended.

A Hang Over?

It was a gratifying weekend. Summer is here and stepping out at 10 in the morning gives a good feel of the hot summer Bangalore is facing. Talking about summer, people talk about Mangoes. Some of my friends express their desire to eat a sweet mango this summer. I dont belong to the mango lover's club. However I have a secret summer desire, which I was able to fulfill this weekend. And that is exactly how it was such a nice weekend for me.

My desire was to sleep through the afternoon with the fan running its full speed. Saturday afternoon was satisfyingly hot. After a good meal, my little P fell asleep, watching some cartoon. In the process of putting her to sleep, I also dozed off. The fan was running its full speed and when I woke up it was 5.30 PM. I was so happy to see my secret desire fulfilled. It reminded me of my school days, my summer vacation. Most of the days I used to play, but some days I used to sleep. Those days used to be filled with power cuts. So I remember days when I used to get up drenched in sweat. To just change sides and sleep again. This afternoon sleep was a refresher of my nostalgia.

With a lull mood I woke up and got up to do my activities. An afternoon's sleep leaves me with a "". I dont have the right word to fill in here. I dont know how it feels after you drink and sleep and then get up. But I think I feel that way, after an afternoon's sleep. May be a Hang over??

My pursuit of happiness

A few days back, one of my friend’s introduced me to this site.

I noticed that many of my friends are going through a phase where they are not sure what happiness means to them. This is my own version of “the pursuit of happiness”. Join me if you are interested.

What needs to be done, if I have to be happy? A thought process map.

Will these things make you feel happy?

-          Leading a more disciplined life

-          Spending more time with your loved ones

-          Spending some time with yourself

-          Doing your office work in the allotted time with nothing to carry back home, not even a simple dissatisfaction

-          Have a sense of achievement and fulfillment about each living day

Now let us see how we can achieve the above?

-          Write a timetable. Try to stick to it. There will be days when you cannot be perfect. Forgive yourself and tell yourself you can do better. Don’t punish yourself being angry and frustrated. Just let it be. The sky is not going to fall down, just because you did not reach office at 9.30. Now I will try to get to the nitty-gritty details of what the time table should contain.

o   Set a time to get up, finish your morning routines, cooking, cleaning and reaching office.

o   Set some time aside for doing a little exercise. I have experienced it myself, this makes your whole day energetic. You must have heard about the ”sound mind in a sound body”. So let’s target the body in order to get a sound mind.

o   While at office, just concentrate on work. When you enter office, make a small note of what you want to do today. A goal drives a person. At the end of the day while you fill your timesheet, write down what made you feel good and what did not go well. You know what is the area of improvement to focus on for the next day. Forget about things like the credit and appreciation. You are being paid a handsome salary and you need to work. Money we get at the end of the month is an appreciation in itself. Just remember how much you pay your maid and how many hours she is working and how much demanding you are of her? There is no harm in your organization expecting you to work.

o   There are days, when there is no much work at office. Focus on learning on such days. Set yourself a target on what you don’t know. You might have served for 10 long years, but there are still things that you don’t know. Remember you are never too old to learn.

o   Go home a relaxed person with a sense of achievement that you did something constructive in office.

o   At home, be at home. Relax, unwind and play with your child. She needs you, after a daylong separation. Play with her, like a child. Remove the obstacles and inhibitions. Run and be stupid. Tell her stories or play with her, do what they want you to do.

o   Before winding up, say a small prayer of thanks. Remember to recollect all that went well. Well, if there were bad events, thank that you sailed through a tough day and it is finally ending.

-          Always remember, cooking cleaning and other things will be there always till the last day of your very existence. We have to do all that. There is never going to be an escape. But when things go out of hand, like some day you are getting late because of your kid not obeying you. Just think what is of higher priority, the kid or the work. You know better!

-          You want some time for yourself, everybody needs. Set a target of a few hours every week. Do what interests you in that time. Read, sing, attend classes, learn to do some new things. Do what pleases you the most.

-          If nothing works and you are still depressed, listen to music. Try singing loudly with it. I am sure it will work.

-          In every quarter, plan to go to a trip. At least visit your in-laws. What can be more entertaining?

-          Every weekend, go to a temple, to a shopping mall, to some concert, or a park. It will make you feel you did something different.

-          Acknowledge the fact that you are comfortable to think about quitting what you are doing right now. Be grateful to God for that. Some time back, in the time of our parents, they could not even think of that.

Remember, one bite at a time. I hope all our lives are better some day soon.

A Record of My Mind's - Inconsistent Jabber

I wonder what my life is turning out into? I go to work everyday diligently between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. I work, chat with a few friends at office during tea breaks and lunch breaks. We talk about anything we feel like on that day. There is luckily no rigid rules set for the topic of banter (it would be so boring otherwise). I pick my daughter from the day care. I cook and I clean. I am so tired when I hit the pillow, my husband complains I snore.

This is essentially how my normal day looks. I am so amazed at my ability to do the same mundane things every single day. I appreciate my motivation levels. How do we tune ourselves into a life like this?? There is less likely that there is going to be any change in the way the day will turn out to be. Except for the fights with the managers, handling their erratic behavior is a single challenge that I may face on some days. My husband has his manager to be bugged with. So, when we both return home, its like we have left a battle field and are so happy and greatful to finally be back home.

The work exhausts us completely and we hardly have any energy left to play with the baby. We muster up all our strength and still do a fair justice in playing with her. In the little time that is available, we try to entertain her with some dull tricks. After a day's toil, the mind is in the least creative mode.

I wonder what I could change in my life to make it more interesting. Something to make me look forward to see the following day. Its not like I dont attempt, I do read books, try to do some art work, browse internet. But still it does not make me feel adequate. I still feel something is amiss and the work life is a predominant factor. It gorges into most of the time in the day. Work life balance is not so easy to achieve with 9 hours of being in office.

While I think how to make life interesting, if anybody has ideas, please let me know.

Entering the Year 2012 with a Contest Entry

Happy New Year 2012!! Sorry for being so late to wish you all, but I entered the writer's block for a few days.

With this post, I plan to enter the contest in this wonderful blog that I follow.

The theme was to draw inspiration from one of the artists, she mentions in her blog and do your own creative thing. After some searching and researching, I decided that it was Jamini Roy for me.

I planned to do two of her paintings, in my own version. One using thumb impression and the other is by Pencil sketch. I hope you all enjoy the two of it.

Here are the original versions.

And here are my child friendly versions.

Now, how do I do it?? Here you go -

For the mother and child painting,

• I made a thumb impression and an impression of my index finger with yellow paint.
• I made the eyes and the facial features using black sketch pen.
• The outlining of the face is made with brown sketch pen.
• I filled out the remaining using crayons.

Learning for children -
Using the thumb impression, children can create faces using paint. The inner detailing can be done using sketch pen, once the paint is dry. They can also try doing emoticons using this concept. :)

For the second painting,

• I used a pencil and scribbled all over the page. :) Enjoyed doing this bit thoroughly.
• Then I tore a piece of waste paper and rubbed it on the scribbling. This made the pencil marks smudge and gave an even finishing.
• After that I drew an outline of the face (very lightly, without leaving an impression) with pencil.
• Used an eraser and rubbed the thin pencil outline and made thick boundaries for the erased parts of the sketch.
• Voila, the pencil sketch is ready. :)

Learning for children -
Introducing Pencil sketches and a little bit of shading.

Thanks Shruti for giving me this oppurtunity to do something different and satisfy my creative hunger. :)