Hope is a Good Thing

I am the web, I am the spider, and I am the ignorant fly

In circle of these affairs

I know the beginning, and I know how it ends

But still I hope for better journey in between

Be it a crowded universe or solitary dimension

In the end, I come back to you

Seeking the world which was denied

When all imagined ones shatter on shore of reason

In the name of a Rose

While cleaning my room of adamant cobwebs, empty bottles & old letters

Came across your sketch and a rose once you wore in your hair

The proud flower is now nothing but few old grey petals

But if you have time, you can come and see for yourself

How after all these years, you still steal my heart with one stare

But why go back and get imprisoned in clasp of time

Life is as good as it gets

It is better to hold your sketch than you in my arms

Who knows how our life would have been

I could have betrayed you or you could have betrayed me

Survival of the ‘Married’

The survival value of the God meme in the meme pool results from its great psychological appeal.

                                                                                                       (Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene)

After the idea of God what can have more psychological appeal than idea of marriage.

Over the years, against my better judgment (believe me, I too can think), most of my friends have marched happily to sacrifice their freedom in the altar of marriage. As if the child ego state inside them lured by all the fireworks, hullabaloo of marriage ignores warnings of adult ego state and says ‘qubool hai’.  

The reasoning they gave can be grouped under several clichéd excuses such as parental pressure, time-tested tradition or obligation to evolution etc.

I do not blame them. But I do blame the reasons they gave. I can understand someone marrying for love. But marrying for tradition!

Irrespective of your gender, once you cross the magic age 25, it seems universe starts conspiring against you. Your relatives start bringing proposals of perfect matches, neighbors have a single agenda ‘Why Mr. X’s son/daughter is unmarried till date’, Colleagues have single lunch-table discussion topic ‘When are you getting married’’. Even the neighborhood shopkeeper does not hesitate in asking, ‘When will I get sweets’.

Over the years, movies, novels, TV serials shaped our understanding and made us believe that marriage is the answer to all problems; A Happily Ever After kingdom exists. Rarely someone said ‘Hey dude/dudette, sometimes light at the end of tunnel is not the escape route but the incoming train’. I am not saying that all marriages end ill or there are no happy couples. My only objection being leaving this important matter to chance rather than own choice.

Yes I do understand that not everyone is a born Casanova or Cleopatra and not all have equal opportunity to get that they want. But that doesn’t mean you flip a coin and base your life decision on it.

I know my argument lacks some merit. Man is supposed to be social animal. Individuality is a dangerous idea. Hence our society is not very fond of bachelors or spinsters and they will be seen as abnormalities in a perfect system. Married couples have better access to rented houses, restaurants and even they get discounts for club entries. The ‘Survival of the fittest’ translates to ‘Survival of the married'.

However all matters aside, as an individual we all are curious to take a new step with hope that it will be a welcome change in life. There is always a certain void in our ever-wanting heart for love & happiness that we try to fill by getting into new relationship(s). We are like drowning people; whoever comes in our way we clutch into hoping that we will be saved by him/her.

As Philosopher Michael Sandel once argued that, whatever we might like to think, we are never entirely free, nor would we want to be. The very ties that give our lives meaning also constrain us and it is precisely by constraining us that they give us meaning.

A Good Year

Some moments have lost their direction
Got entangled in your smile
Drunk , they bump into each other
And keep accusing me for a while

My fingers running through your face
Feels like a wild flower singing in the breeze
I don't know the meaning of the song
But will keep listening till I die

Metamorphosis

No longer my heart seek whys and why-not

Or the constant urge to connect the dots

No more I question the dice that rolls; in favor or in odds

I wonder, is this because of excess wine or me becoming wise

Which is ‘a priori’ and which one ‘a posteriori’

Or may be a bit of both, as no one can distinguish

In this metamorphosis of my soul;

I do not know whether to cry aloud or rejoice in silence

As I can feel the rain even the sky is without a single cloud

And so it goes

Today I met a girl in liquor store
In her hand, there was a book titled 'how to save yourself'
And I was half a mind to tell her
To ditch the book and buy another beer

But as usual I kept my silence
To let her understand how it goes in  real world
No matter what you plan or what you do
Knowledge bows before ignorance

And so it goes
The dreams, desires and endless despairs

To the Neighborhood Singer

Like mourning Arwen, she sings of old worlds and lost love
A certain melancholy which no word can capture
As the cacophony of the world wanes
The cold night awakens to listen to her song

Oblivious to the world around her, she sings to lonely stars
And to chained souls bound to their own illusions
Her ethereal voice clears the clouds over the moon
And even in the harsh winter remind flowers to bloom

And one wonders, what is this life
Nothing but someone's song , someone's tune
We all live and die , never knowing what it means
As long as someone remembers us and sings