We pass through the darkness of all nights, in anticipation of the few brilliant hours. You march along, merrily, balking once a while trying to figure out the few moments which define your life.

For when you gaze at them, the celestial bodies tell you there are no chains. You sparse those moments in the time web, by belittling the time remnant. If only, we had the luxury of of our elite moments, extended all through life...

The Blind Moment

Crystal in dark, myself for hours,
Eons of those phase I may bore;
How many affectionate ‘Bon Jours’,
One more radian, torch to roar.

Egged on or falling ahead, am I?
Oblique destiny breaks, not often;
To contemplate or be nonchalant,
Later, tint glow and clime of the place.

Dots scribbling or not on the satin,
My eyes seek the answers, just in
All epoch, they stare back at me;
Not saying, sands of life are free.

Blister they come, take by surprise,
For cover, conscience camouflages;
So pure, bits of thee many infinite,
I just wait, my moments of flashes.

Stars fade, but sun rises...

One High School Speech

A couple of years back, I was invited to my high school to address the secondary section students, on

'The Impact of Internet on Students'

I was asked to end my essay on a positive note. I say this because, I had ended my speech with a typical cliched statement. So I went back a few years, and delivered one, as I would write one for an examination. Here are the exact words, that the unlucky bunch of kids had to hear from me...

"Several years ago, Pythagoras and Galileo said that the ‘The World is round’. After eons now, Tom Friedman concludes or rather begins by saying that ‘The World is flat’ in his book ‘The World is flat’. And he goes on to show how the technological advancements have ushered in a collaborative communication framework making the world flatter and flatter, day by day. And as the base of all this, stands the pillar and lynchpin called as ‘Internet’. Every era has kept mankind under control, but for the current ‘Information Era’, where Man has been able to conquer all the information looming large, over him and yet craving to capture more. So let us see what the ‘Internet’ actually is and how it has impacted us and more so the students.

In simple terms, we can consider the ‘Internet’ as a network of millions of computers interconnected and easily accessible. The definition will still hold, if we replace the term ‘Computer’ with the term ‘Information Mines’. The single most impact of the internet has been quick and easy access to unfathomable information. All other benefits are mere tributaries of this feature. We can divide the ‘Impact of internet on Students’ into three major slices: Usage, Academic impact and socio-economic impact and then analyze the pros and cons of these units.

A decade or so ago, not many students were addicted to the internet. There was too much overhead in terms of cost and too less returns, to take the plunge in. But come this decade, and as Steve Jones, (Senior Research Professor of Pew Internet Research Project) proves it, 86% of today’s students have internet facility. Because it takes close to nothing to be online and the returns are way too high. This affinity has not been forced, but is a result of the benefits the Internet has to offer. Thus the fast gained high Usage goes to prove that, first and foremost, the impact has been a positive one. The Usage can be further classified based on its purpose. The major ones being ‘Accessing and Transferring Information’, ‘Communicating professionally and socially’, ‘Entertainment and leisure’ etc.

The academic impact has been overwhelming. Students now have access to all the online libraries and research institutions of the world. A topic of knowledge has innumerable pages of documentation, all at a distance of few clicks. He is no more limited to the confines of one single book. Distance education programs have benefited students remotely. Access to latest news and releases has kept them in pace with the world. The domain of an average student has increased so much in terms of knowledge on various subjects. Be it History, Geography, Literature, Science, Cosmos, Mythology, Sports, Events and happenings, political affairs and anything under the sun, search engines like Google and Yahoo have aggregated all the information into a single page and linked it up. A student hungry for knowledge could not have asked for more.

Communication is the most visible impact of the internet. Today, a student can sit in a virtual classroom (as simple as a well equipped computer at your place) and be connected to an audio-visual classroom in the States, which pulls out notes from around the libraries in the world, has professors commenting from other parts of the world. This ease of communication is what internet has to offer us. A student can opt to communicate online with a professor for queries and assistance, thereby breaking the communication barrier that arises in most cases for a face to face conversation. Assignments can be given and received online, reference materials and study notes can be easily traded because of the file sharing facility provided by Internet. Instant messengers though used socially more, can be effectively used to simulate a quick face to face conversation. Online blogs and mailing sites have enhanced his written communication skills and expression of speech.

Coming to Entertainment and Leisure, there is no denying the fact that Music and video sharing has got the student community hooked onto the cyber world forever. Instant messengers have increased his social spectrum of friends. Online community sites for friends have kept him close to all his comrades. And most importantly, the entertainment facet of Internet has provided the much needed respite and stress busting pill, every student in this competitive arena needs. Apparently, the leisurely aspect of internet may look like having a major impact and occupying the brunt of his time. However as Steve Jones shows in his statistics, only 23% of the total impact of internet is for Entertainment and leisure. This is taking into account the fact, that a little time put in for academic purposes holds far more value than double the time put in for other purposes.

Socially, there was a time when parents were bothered, not because of what their children knew, but how they knew it. Yes we are talking about Sexual awareness. The debate is still on, as to Sex education should be part of the academic curriculum or not. The internet has been most valuable in this respect, as it has nurtured the curiosity of the youth by providing him with the correct information and also not letting him go astray in his quest. There is no better medium to ensure awareness about AIDS and other sexual diseases. Today, students are mature enough at a young age to grasp the awareness about such things, which need to be imprinted early in young minds. This contributes to better psychological behavior as the youth today don’t resort to covert means.

Any discussion on the impact of internet is incomplete without the two major risks it has brought along with it. There is easy access to obscene content, probably a worst threat than online frauds. However, the Internet only helps us access an ocean of knowledge. Man decides what the ocean contains and more importantly what he seeks and makes out of it. This world was never full of Jesus Christs even without the internet. So there is no point discussing the negative impact of internet, since Science does not know good and evil, but only Man does.

Hence due to the positive impact of internet, today’s students who are future entrepreneurs and business managers will know how to gain knowledge, collaborate work, communicate effectively and be successful. Today a student, tomorrow a champion…"

The Real Find

In this world, realistically very few things happen in your life. Some good and some bad. But the amazing thing with human beings is visualization. Our mind can think what we want to experience. (Probably the reason why human beings do what they end up doing)

I don't know when is the time, when you are in between a crowd of million and receiving a standing ovation. But our mind can non-chalantly think of the instance with pin-point details. The real (relative) occurence of this event may not matter to the neurons. But it is just that trivial (at least it looks like) power that we possess to think, imagine, visualize which is fascinating if seen with a child's eye. Some words on that....

Visualize

Imagination, the keyword and the dream world’s lynchpin,
Crown one of the Ideas, entertain and make it the King;
Thoughts are immortal, enduring Ideas are eternal,
Hardly a wonder then, The Man is evolution’s Kernel.

Revives possible but improbable things, does Imagination,
Merging reality and pseudo-world of fiction, till saturation;
Waiting till the dreams manifest to realization,
If not, then encourages, what remains is still fascination.

Realizes everything, seemingly hazy in this illumined World,
Derives happiness in the Matrix world, what is the threshold?
When it returns from the exciting world, land of fantasy,
Learns, though a Bed of Roses, Life is not full of ecstasy.

What it gained in Falsity was, the possible Experience in Reality,
Can never Realize it in Reality, and hence the Pleasure in Falsity;
Mind ‘O Mind! What a wonderful creation you are!!!!
Distant and endless boundaries, to you seem so near.

Big bang to destruction: Genesis to Timeless Eternity,
Dreams and Ideas, Achievements due to them, achieve perpetuity;
Credit to enclose Time and Immortality goes to the “MIND”,
Oh Man! You should be Proud of it as that is your Real Find ……..

He knows the Way

My first Villanelle on Man vs. Man.....
This was probably written in mid June of 2006, I believe.
I assume I was fresh from Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, when these words were jotted down. Here we go...

And sipping the cup, He reflects on the rancorous travails of the dale,
Surpassing senses, they inflict on themselves and Him the squalor;
But His intransigent and rapier soul, keeps Him heroic in the tale.

Expediting the evil, on the thrust of such Atlases, they abet and sail,
Notching the ‘Produce’ vulpine way, opted for ordeal against valor
And sipping the cup, He reflects on the rancorous travails of the dale,

For the unyielding mind, the Loners faced the scorn of the pale
To degrade the spirits, imperiled with countless incubus and failure,
But His intransigent and rapier soul, keeps Him heroic in the tale.

For the light in Him, never refuses to illumine his Self and Soul,
The wrong doctrine has still failed to render itself without the armor,
And sipping the cup, He reflects on the rancorous travails of the dale,

The Vista musters both moments, permitting them to fiercely wrangle
The Guardians and Parasites deceive to hide His spirit of oleander,
But His intransigent and rapier soul, keeps Him heroic in the tale.

Being ‘The One’ than ‘a one’ means He is not one to rail and hale,
Glancing to thee, He feels the worth of ‘The One’s’ surfeit galore.
And sipping the cup, He reflects on the rancorous travails of the dale,
But His intransigent and rapier soul, keeps Him heroic in the tale.

It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man’s proper stature—and the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning—and it is those few that I have always sought to address.

The rest are no concern of mine; it is not me or 'The Fountainhead' that they will betray: it is their own souls.

-- Ayn Rand

Beauty Unadorned

A poem based on a scene where an Emperor sees one of Nature's glimpses...

The walls, glimmered with jade and precious stone mounds,
The Red Fort was a latticed beauty of several pounds;
The charismatic Jamuna ran close to the Fort’s Heart,
The astounding scene moved the Emperor, on the rampart.

A Moment to cherish, treasure, preserve was the prolific scene,
To have the pavilion on its side, the Emperor was keen ‘o keen;
Preserving the fleeting glimpse of Eternity, thanking the Lords,
“If there be a Heaven on Earth, it is this, it is this”, were his words.

Like a sweet secret and whistling –

thrush emerging from a dark forest,
Call’em raindrops on a sunflower, first rain fragrance,

they’re Gorgeous;
Dew drops on lustrous grass, child’s grin,

compensating for Heaven,
On Nature’s miraculous lessons, shafts of sunlight,

Man can revel.

With discouragement and flagging spirits,

He stood along the seafront,
Gentle breeze and great crashing waves

provided the mood’s preferment;
Whenever he felt alone and alone, losing

his composure to depression,
The captured coalescence of sky, earth n sea,

refined, revived his emotion.

Time, Place and Eternity, the elements

came to provide the touching delight,
The stillness of movement, the chatter of timeless silence,

cheers the soul’s plight;
The Spirit of Happiness, the unseen

morals of Nature, comes round and round,
A sole glimpse was phenomenal pleasure,

so imagine the entire world Beyond………..

Analogous Sports..

These are the sports that we can relate to the happenings around us.
My train of thoughts on analogy presents me with one more blog......

1. BULL FIGHTING.
The Venue, the Stock Market building on dalal Street. Played by
Men in Bush Shirts. Plenty of blood and Gore. The Richest
Matador ------- a certain H. MEHTA.

2. OBSTACLE RACE.
Created and jointly by the BMC, MTNL, BEST, RTO, the Ration Card
Office and every other Government Body.
Cannot be won by anyone.

3. SQUASH.
A Life and Death, survival of the Fittest, First come Last out,
Last in first out , serve game played on Local Trains . Especially
Hectic when going anywhere anytime.

4. MUSICAL CHAIRS.
A Political game. Very popular among Parties all over. No
Music required. Only Seats.

5. DODGE’ EM CARS.
No more an indoor game for Children. Now an outdoor game played by adults behaving like children on the Roads of Bombay.

6. TU TU .
Not to be confused with the Rustic and Energetic ‘Hu Tu Tu’.
In this static sport the Player bends over and Clears his Throat.
Renowned the world over, for this Sport.

7. PASSING THE PARCEL
A two Player Indoor game.Usually Played under a Table.
Very quick Sleight of hand. Both Players sit down.

The Parcel is passed and the Two Players leave. Game over.
The Results happen elsewhere.

We are still a developing Country?

The Unswerving Friend

Me to my Solitude

So it’s you poignantly mocking at me for a long time,
Awaiting my return to you, I can see the wry smile;
Confused to know, that you are wicked or good,
Still I am not sure who you are, under the hood.

Watching my fidelity and treachery with you, I feel
You can anytime be avenged by being with me;
Ecstatic but ignorant of that I am, when with you,
Irony that somehow I want to run away from you.

I realize your worth when good times abandon me,
Yet with a false mask, I pretend I don’t need you;
You are as calm, knowing I am as fragile as a glass,
I am hopeless, pity that you overestimate my class.

I think you know all the things I wanted to,
Know about being in solace with myself and thee;
Maybe you see perfidy in times to come from me,
And so you hesitate to reveal the legacy to me.

I feel you are vexed when I forget the trace of you,
So easily I betray you, when comfort is in front of me;
Still someone deep inside me keeps looking for you,
And why do I feel he’s always incomplete without you.

I look for you in the philosophies of the world,
I seek you in the still silence, impudent and cold;
For once I believed you are the ‘Silence’ within me,
How wrong I was, the ‘Silence’ is just a part of you.

I traced you to my deepest of thoughts in reflection,
I thought you are in my head ready with premonitions;
I saw you manifesting and sensed you in my realizations
I know they hold nothing of you, all are misconceptions.

When all have left me, I know you will still be with me,
And then I see myself being set free and with thee;
Oh I have taken you too much for granted, I am sorry,
I realize this in your need, as the comfort in my vicinity.

I have treated you as a third person, but a part of mine
And saw you as my last refuge and throw of the dice;
That you are my most unswerving friend, seldom did I know,
Oh I am blessed enough that you are always there for me!

Why do you love me so much?

The Greeting Card

As WC Fields paraphrases, “Reminds me of my Safari in Africa. For several days, we had to live on nothing but Food and Water… just because someone forgot the corkscrew.”

Jack had a rough time for a few days in 2 years, when he dared to forget her birthday. James never understood how that reigned as the most important event in a girl’s mind, the fact that a man must remember some important days. And some could include her birthday, wedding day, and the day when your mother-in-law grew the wisdom tooth, the puppy day, Winnie the pooh day, Winnie’s t-shirt’s first laundry day, first date, last date and all dates in between. Standing in the greetings card shop, James had the thoughts whirling in his head.

Jack and James started out as college mates. And this was the eighth year of their friendship. Jack was looking annoyed, since a scan for forty minutes hardly yielded a card, even close to something he was looking for. And James’ mockery was pissing him off. “Boss, the day you tie the knot, all these will boomerang on you”, said Jack in a frowning tone. James balked, shrugged and gave his characteristic smile. The smile was absolutely reminiscent of a magician who will take care of such instances without any hassles. Jack knew that James had joined the elite band of once optimistic men, who thought they would retain control of their lives even after finding the institution. Jack was one of them.

James was staring at a particular section of cards for a long time. He noticed that, at this pace, Jack would end up selecting a card the next day.

“You aren’t getting anywhere, quarry man.” said James on his friend’s diligence. “All you will end up with is a set of blank cards with varied designs”. “And why would the card companies do that?” asked Jack.

“Because they don’t have any more phrases and sweet candy words for relationships, which have grown complicated over the years. It is almost like playing cupid has deprived them of half their employee base, who don’t know what to think more. They may probably give up on text and leave it to the grabber.” “Give us the bucks, take the designed paper and you write what you want. We give up.”

Finally James plucked out a couple of random cards and handed it to Jack. “Just get on with it. Hand picking isn’t taking us far, snail boy. And these have all the things that would get out a ‘So cute….’ from a girl.” Jack went through both of them, gave a wry smile for one of them and snapped the other back to James. Jack then pretended to browse through some more cards, and finally decided to start moving to the checkout counter.

At that time, Jack got a ring on his cell, and just answered to her that he would be late from work. Not wanting her to know, what he was up to. James grabbed the souvenirs and asked Jack to meet him outside. James finished the card work with his card, and met Jack outside with his racing engine. Jack was wondering why James was looking disinterested all through.

The first page had beautiful Marigold, Lily, Daisies and Jasmines spread and accompanied by an angel. The message followed, “Let the most beautiful person in this world with a soul hold the most beautiful thing in this world without a soul. What’s the earth with all its Art, verse, Music, worth- Compared with love found, gained and kept? Happy Birthday, my Angel!” The page also bore a candle-light dinner with a bottle of Guinness. “So cute it is…..” She was overwhelmed at probably 3 things. First that Jack actually remembered the day, and he could actually pretend to hide it and lastly he had the sense to pick up a good card. Jack was happy to see her happy and looked at James on her words. James looked upwards averting Jack.

Jack stepped inside for quickly freshening up. Meanwhile, James was toddling towards her, and she was wondering why he had nothing in his hands. “Good evening, empress”, said James. She knew that the word was his way of addressing her as a ‘Princess’ and ‘Emperor’ or a Dictator put together. “So weren’t you aware of Jack’s pretence?” That was her way of asking why he was empty-handed. “Got that question, senorita”, said James with a glint.

James snapped back a card from behind his shirt, taking her by surprise. It had a picture of a “Glass filled with Guinness”, accompanied by pores using which you could hold the glass. The other side read, “No cakes, no flowers and no angels. Be it Sunshine or Snowfall, I have got just one thing to offer to myself and you on all occasions, the Beer. Happy Birthday!”

She laughed at it, and knew that, that was the last card a girl would like. But the only card, someone like James would pick up. All this while, Jack was standing beside them, observing this. He shook his head, and said “The name is James”. He was always like this. He also knew that, these were the exact two cards that James had plucked out randomly. After all, they were not so random.

She interrupted, “And where is the real Dinner and Guinness pack?” “Tonight”, said Jack.
James picked up his overcoat and left saying, “Have a great time, R&J”. They knew he was always the snappy one-liner guy.