Parso kya hua maloom??

OK... A small excursion to the reality admist the dreamy and lofty world of poetry...

It's about 10 mins of walk from where the bus stops to my home. It had just rained that friday evening. Rains are quite common in Bangalore (especially in May.. dont ask me why!). I got down from the bus at about 7 PM, and started walking from the bus, feeling relieved that finally, I am going to my place by the shortest path. There are so many T-junctions in Bangalore that if you miss your lane, you will end up going twice the distance... obviously, not every city is as intuitive as Hyd!

And know what?? There was a huge water-body right in my path. I couldnt see the road for a distance! Ok.... so what do I do? I search for an alternative route. Nope! all roads to the other side are submerged under Indra's fury (or actually Bangalore's inefficient open-drain system, but then Indra has been blamed so many times in our mythology that it seems he takes these accusations better than Bangaloreans do!). So seeing no other way, I remove myself to a side of the road and start wading through the water--biggest mistake! Again the open-drain effect! Now, I am in almost thigh-deep water. hmm...
A minor setback though! Strategy rethought-- this time, I started going right through the middle of the road. This worked. I got to the other side in about 10 mins (which might have taken about 2 mins usually).

Spirits soared and I was actually sort of happy about that incident which my mind had already started blowing up into a huge adventure--"Wow! Now, even I can tell others how I braved flash floods in Bang!" Well, the elation lasted only a while.

A little background will help the readers here--
I am staying with my undergrad (CBIT) friend in the room upstairs. He was presently out of station, and his elder brother's family was staying here for the weekend. They were presently not at home.

Back to our story--
When I reached my place and unlocked the door, it wouldnt open! I tried pushing it a bit, but clearly, it was locked from the inside. ..Shit!
Then it started raining again... Shittier!
And then, the power went off.. Shittiest!!
With my jeans and shoes already drenched with the drainage water.. there was little I could do... Went to the bakery nearby, ate something, and then spent sometime in the Ganapathi temple opposite to my place, mosquitoes performing the function of "shruthi box." Not a good feeling... nobody to call, no place literally to stay away from the rain, and the temple was to be closed by 8 in the night. I started to curse my fate, my luck, and those people living at my place. How could they lock the door from the inside? Dont they know I live there?

After a while, when the power supply was restored, I spent sometime at the internet cafe (The musicindiaonline player wouldnt work there, so I couldnt listen to classical ... but thats a minor event). At about 10 PM, I called my place, and they were back-- Thank God! My friend's sis-in-law took the call.

"Hi, this is Kedar.. I had come home by 7 actually, but the door was locked from the inside, so I couldnt get in."
"Oh.. but we didnt even go upstairs" (yeah right!).
"Oh, then may be I locked it by mistake" (you can see how desperate I was to get in!).
"Oh ok.. I will unlock it."
"Thanks."

So I came home... I went straight upstairs, but found the door still locked... what the ___??
Anyways, the lady called me in from her door. I went in. She told me the door wasnt locked at all.. I suggested, may be its bolted at the bottom. She allowed me to go up through the inside and find out whats wrong. I went up to see what exactly was wrong--To my surprise, the door was really unlocked-- I pulled it a little harder and vola! It opened! It was stuck because of rain! It was clearly one of the most flabbergasting, jaw-dropping events of my life in Bang! All this "taapatrayam" for nothing?? All that time spent cursing my fate... for nothing... you stupid ass! fool! nincompoop!

I can still clearly see (perhaps as clearly as Frodo saw the eye watching him when he was near Oroduin) the lady's face when I told her what actually happened. Hatha Vidhi!! All I could think of saying was---

"Swalpa adjust maadi!"

Kedar.

After I was alone in my room, I had a really good laugh about the whole thing, and celebrated my "story" by watching maaya bazaar.. again!

Siva Pujaku

"Siva Pujaku chigurinchina" is one song in the movie Swarnakamalam that I really identify with. Set (mostly) in raga Valachi, it symbolises a person's efforts to bring a talented woman to the right path.

I liked the first stanza so very much though all I could do was to translate it to the firangi language! Its been more than one and a half year now.

So here goes:

Padamara Padagalapai Merise Taaralakai
Raathrini Varinchake Sandhaya Sundari
Tuurupu vedikapai Vekuva Narthakivai
Dhaathrini Muripinche Kaanthulu Chindani

Nee kadalika chaitanyapu sreekaaram kaani!
Nirunchina HrudayaravaLi Omkaaram kaani!

And my take:

Lured by the glitter of stars
Upon the crests of the west
Do not espouse the night,
O fair maiden of twilight!

Be the awakening dance
Upon the altar of the East
And send forth such radiance
That'd hold the world in trance.

Let your movement become the genesis of awakening!
And dormant rhythm of the heart, the eternal sonance!

The Lone Tower

The Lone Tower

Lone tower, bright and tall
Over the planes of the world
Ever alone, yet never lonely,
At peace with the world.

Doves dwelling in his chambers—
Doves not few, many—
Many more perch and fly away
Without fear or despair.

Yet, a time there was, quite different,
When the tower was dwarfed
Amidst titans, engaged in higher purposes
Lonely in the crowd, the tower could only look on.

Crows and vultures feasting
On the leftovers of titans
An occasional dove aspiring for the tower
Chased away by vicious calls.

Years rolled away,
The storm of time, blinding all—
Many a thing, changed,
And many a lesson, taught.

And when the tower opened his eyes,
The world was strangely fair and new,
Fresher was the breeze, and farther, the sight.
And the titans—None were there!

Yet, there they were—
Only, too small to be seen.
Whether they shrunk, or he grew,
A new era was come.

A single dove, the tower’s love
Descended onto the roof—
Relief! Comfort! Merriment! Elation!
Luminescence! Enlightenment!

--Kedar.

Note: "Search for a Lost Dream" and "The Lone Tower" were revealed to me on the same night. Of course, I modified them a little bit later. If the lost dream had some rhyming, this one has absolutely none.

Search For A Lost Dream

Search For A Lost Dream

O forgotten Orchard of my Lost Dream!
I invoke thee—
Come to life! Come to life!
I invoke thee!

I reminisce—
The swaying branch, The Mellow Shade,
The Yellow Blossom, and The Red Fruit.
Yes! I do remember The Trickling Rivulet!
And The Vine beside, Laden, also!
Birds—Yellow and Green, Black and Blue,
Chirping away Gossips of all hue;
Squirrels chasing Unseen Foes,
Caching Berries, ever on toes
Gourmet Butterflies, colouring the scene,
Drunk Crickets, lazy and lean;
An Unknown Tune, always chiming,
With my ecstasy, always rhyming,

O Gaia, Fairest! Thy child yearns for Thee!
Once more to Thy Bosom, wilt Thou not lift me?
Never again, shall I forget thee,
I shall spend my life hallowing the reverie!

Apology—Accept my apology!
Heed to my plea—
Pardon me! Pardon me!
Allow me in! Allow me in!
Grace me again! Grace me again!
I invoke thee!
--Kedar.

The Amazing Keats

So Junta.. this is it! I mean it.. this really IS it! I dare you to feel this way if you aver that you ever loved someone in your life! I double dare you...!!

To Fanny

I cry your mercy--pity--love--aye, love!
Merciful love that tantalizes not,
One-thoughted, never-wandering, guileless love,
Unmasked, and being seen--without a blot!
O! let me have thee whole,--all--all--be mine!
That shape, that fairness, that sweet minor zest
Of love, your kiss--those hands, those eyes divine,
That warm, white, lucent, million-pleasured breast,--
Yourself--your soul--in pity give me all,
Withhold no atom's atom or I die,
Or living on perhaps, your wretched thrall,
Forget, in the mist of idle misery,
Life's purposes,--the palate of my mind
Losing its gust, and my ambition blind!
--John Keats

Keats's passionate feverish love for the flirtatious Fanny Brown (apt name considering her character!) in his failing years erupted in the guise of this poem. He was only in his early twenties when he wrote this poem and twenty-six when he died.

Osmania biscuit V "Le Nallakunta connection"

"Strange!!" roared Kasturi Satyanarayana in "Aha Na Pellanta" which became the regional chant of AP for sometime. After so many years another personality said it in exactly the same way when he discovered something truly fascinating! There may be a scientific explanation for it, but he doesnt care, whats fascinating is fascinating, and thats it!

Good ol' Lingam is at it again!

He discovered that--
everybody who is living in Hyderabad, has or had a relative in nallakunta area.

And he argued with 12 people and finally proved by the sheer force of the conviction in his voice and of course, Osmania biscuit (which could convince 11 of them that he was right!). If someone said he doesnt have one there, Lingam argued that he may not know of that relative at all, or that he might be dead. No way around that logic. Some learned person even suggested that his discovery wasnt a particularly great one, since Nallakunta is one of the older and central areas of Hyderabd, and lots of people want to settle there, but he wouldnt listen.

I heard he is even planning to publish his discovery in a journal. I hope his osmania biscuit will make him see the truth...not "his" truth... but "the" truth... atleast once in a while.

Kedar.