At the worlds end

A poor man am I
The end of my time is nigh
I recollect my early days as a wee lad
scrounging for food by the pier, alone and sad
the sailors came to dock with their ships
full of tales and rum and sprit, going on about their trips
and soon I began of dream of treasure and adventure
I decided what I wanted to be then - a wee sailor
so as a stowaway I crept into the Santa Maria
a big ship, the most beautiful in the area
I hid behind the barrels of food and then smiled
I waved goodbye to the cheering crowd and looked at the ocean blue and wide
I was alone but not unloved
I had my friends the wave of the ocean the sun and the cloud
the lull of the ocean caused me to fall asleep
that was when I was discovered and thrown in front of the captain in a heap
under his stern eye, I begged and cried
I promised to work hard, and wanted to be a sailor going beyond the high tide

The Captain did not make much of a fuss
the noble and brave captain Christopher Columbus
said he would not punish me nor would he pay
he would put me to work and then find a way
so I scrubbed the galley and the floor and manned the ropes
I helped the cook, tidied the brig and polished the oaks
The crew was pleased and they shared their rum by the night
when the moon shined on the waters and the stars were bright
I was a sailor my heart ablaze with glory, our flag was fluttering in the breeze
we were sailing to a foreign land across the high seas
in hope that we will reach quickly to India and see
its richness its spices, its gold and its splendid beauty

But the storm came one night with a sudden speed
the ship rocked treacherously with the high waves and the fierce breeze
I strained at the mast of the ship to steady the failing rope
and praying for survival and hoping against hope
the captain as strong as the storm urged us on
we struggled against the angry gods until the break of dawn
the clouds drifted apart and sunlight broke free
the moments of death had passed by me
we broke into a hoarse victory song
and the ship sailed on and on
One fine day on the mast was I, keeping watch
with dreams of riches and drinking from a bottle of scotch
when I suddenly saw a bird fly over the ship
a colorful and unknown bird making a quick trip
it soon flew away, I glanced in the direction and my heart skipped a beat
I savored the sight for a moment and then my date with history I did meet
'land ahoy!!' I shouted and shouted and screamt
Ahead of us was the vision we had dreamt

The moment is revisited over the years and across centuries
by every lad and lady studying american history
some moments are etched in time and memories forever
some adventures and journeys are far more precious than treasures
Mankind had made a discovery that day
in the form of a poor sailor from far far away

Dancing the Sun Dance

A paradigm unchanging, unblemished and fair
with a bearing so pale and rare,
cynosure of all eyes,
rapture that nobody denies.
A society trapped in the idea of beauty,
the mindset instilled for generations with a sense of degenerate duty.
A land seduced by the glimmer of gold
and pale skin bringing whiffs of worldly satisfaction untold,
A land where the sun sends its fiery blessing everyday,
A land where from the sun society people shy away.
Erase your program come out and dance,
forget you culture and with life take a chance.
The sun is as real as the ground we stand
forget you trepidation and dance to a merry band.
We are who we are not the melanin or the gold,
You govern your life not the traditions untold.
the sun dance is forgotten and buried away,
the sun dance must be remembered by you and me today.
courage is what you embody when you dream to be,
and dull and sad is what the society thinks you deserve to be.
be a free mind and don't think about everything you hear and say,
then you might just feel the sun dance and your sprint jingle and sway.

A tribute to Dennis Ritchie the 1.0 programmer

An era has gone silently by,
quietly and without any hue and cry
An era where a universe was born
as real as the green fields and real as the breaking dawn

The universe started slowly it then became a B
and then the architect of the universe made it so clear that we could C
we saw and we still C how robust and multi dimensioned that universe can be

The mad hatter would also be surprised to C
how seamlessly that universe blends into reality
C was the pioneer in programming languages, created by Dennis Ritchie
it is an abstract enitity, a nonliving thing which feeds you and me
and several hundred thousands in this century

the father of modern programming has gone on to see
another universe leaving behind his rich and compiling and running legacy
how would life be I wonder, for everybody
without the memory allocators, the classloaders, the servers and the boundless possibility
that we muggles harness from the brainwaves of the developer Dennis Ritchie..
In a world of expanding functionality, the king of the world was He

Holiday in Paradise

silence but for a beautiful song
on a calm river stretching ahead far and long
slight drizzle in the air
smell of roses and jasmines everywhere
mild sunlight filtering through a grey-white cloud
The boat silently moving forward splashing merrily away
a moderate breeze making its way through this beautiful day

When you can hear your heart beat loud and clear
and the quiet companionship of your near and dear
when you feel the tension seep away from your being
when you close you eyes and cannot dream a better dream

When you feel you have made a mark
when your mind rejoicing after leaving a tunnel behind, gloomy and dark
when you are one with the world around you
when you are contented with the tree of life you planted and grew
when you have the knowledge that the future will be
as beautiful as the scenery you see

Forests creeping alongside the river
being with people you know and love
thinking how happy you are makes you shiver
you know that the river must come to an end
all journeys tend to have that disturbing trend

But why lament about good things coming to an end
when there are better things hidden to be found at every river bend
the holiday must as always stop one day
but why worry when your mind can file the memories away

The human brain

This thought process is a reaction to the book 'Phantoms in the Brain' by VS Ramachandran. We smile when we are happy, think when we are in a mood to contemplate and agonize when we are negative or depressed. All these chains of unending and constantly fluctuating thoughts are a result of our mind or actually speaking our brain. Our brain mulls Shakespear, admires beautiful places and people, calculates based on self determined formulae and parameters. It integrates our vision our sense of hearing our touch and our emotions. It defines every moment we live in and decides our actions and reactions and everything else we can think of.Why puzzle about the meaning of life and wonder if aliens and cropcircles are real when we have the greatest mystery and creation of all time sitting in our heads!

It is said that the Upanishads, ancient texts which contain boundless wisdom was mostly transferred from Master to puplil through speech but before that there was an ancient and forgotten era when the transfer happened through exchange of thoughts.Like when the bluetooth device on you phone connects to the bluetooth on the person close to you, so you can transfer pictures to his/her phone. Imagine - like John Lennon said, if that were to happen with your thoughts.Imagine if the human brain remembered the forgotton habit before if evolved by which it could also process thoughts along with sounds smells and sight. Technology will be rendered useless.If you had control, you can just think of a person and transmit your ideas accross. You can save lives, multiply exponentially your productivity and change the very face of the planet.
Whew! my brain wanted me to stop writing the various insane scenarios which would come up and analyze them. Guess it has a mechanism to prevent Bheja Fry (Bheja - brain).
 Whatever we ever do, however we define ourselves is upto the brain. That is probably the reason why self help books might help. We say - I am a person. That is how the brain defines ourself. The definition itself is a thought from the brain.The definition is a result of thoughts. Therefore I am a result of my thoughts. Thoughts involve thinking. I therefore think. (Duh..I know what you our thinking. Q.E.D. Descartes all over again. As though that famous line ever changed anything..yawnnn.) I am going to say it anyway.  I think, therefore I am..whatever I thought I am, er.. I think. But Admit it. That one line he said gives way to a whole philosophy and school of thinking. One more thing you have imposed on your brain by reading this.But just think of this: You think, you live. You stop thinking, you are not alive.
 Ok Time has passed. The human brain is a strain on the human brain. Stopping now..Fullstop '.'     

When the bough breaks

The London Riots, The Libyan Liberation, The Indian Protest against corruption all had one thing in common. It involved crowds of ordinary citizens. Whatever the motive was, they all shared a common emotion which became a movement leaving the respective governments alarmed and the whole world surprised.
It is written in many ancient texts that the unified thoughts of several people can bring about drastic changes, topple civilizations, create heros and shift paradigms. Indeed the mentality of the masses is what has caused and is causing change to break dams which have taken years to create. Destruction is the other dark side of creation and this idea is especially applicable to the social norms and taboos which are prevalent in a certain era. 

As a child I have always perceived politics as a playground for people with selfish and narrow agendas and a very very tiny portion of my generation in India would have dream't of being part of the legislative machinery of our great country. We have heard of rumored scandals and accusations of horrific social and financial magnitude which has led us to perhaps unfairly believe that politics involves only money and no patriotism.And the recently heavily circulated facts which the foreign banks released seemed like that last straw which confirmed all our subconciously built up anger.  

In today's fast paced world of innovations and race for good jobs and middle class happiness, majority of the people supporting the Gandhian Anna Hazaare either lead or are geared up to lead super busy lives trying to maximise their savings and fight against the inflation and rising gold prices while trying to strike a balance between traditional Indian way of life and the new malls and magic of the foreign habits which have been creeping into our lives and have now become a rooted part of it. What will we who burn midnight electricity find as the worst possible outrage a person can commit? getting easy and effortless money and making more every day offcourse. We all said loudly and emphatically that we are against corruption but can we swear that we have not ourselves at some point in time unwilliingly or unknowingly contributed to it?

But thats ok.All said and done on all the social networks, media channels and fasting grounds involving all sorts of emotions has resulted in a Bill to be tabled and passed.A victory for all sides of the drama. Will this Bill cause a paradigm shift? Will the British who went on a rampage find a better circumstance to lead their lives? will the people of Libya have better leadership? Only time will tell.

What these incidents do prove is that the people who bow their heads and do their daily business for years do one day look up and speak out when they feel they are persecuted even if it is in a very slight and indirect way. The leaders of the world should listen to the voice of the crowd and feel the pulse of the land he/she is ruling and accept the unexpressed views and troubles of the people. Education and a well balanced social structure will ensure that The voice is cultured and civil and not brutal. A beautiful vision of tomorrow will create ambitions and manufacture dreams in all the growing populace and a happy nation will result. Money is indeed just paper at the end of the day. If the money is made to create roads and schools and jobs by visionary leaders and not just sit in a dark vault of a bank the nation will be healthy and glowing and beautiful.

Lets all try making our nation beautiful.After all, what is life for if not for being happy and making people happy.  :) 

The rise the fall

heros and villians, good and bad
right and wrong are like the ebb and flow of the tide
The world of philosophy turns round and round,
just like the rotation of the sky and the ground.
we dont feel it or cant see it, but we know
the change is sure and slow

ideas are like waves in time,
the right of today is the wrong of tomorrow
the reason for yesterdays joy is todays sorrow
the mind is like a beautiful bay
clear and calm yesterday and stormy today
it is upto the heart to weather the change we see
we all handle our lives differently

What is the world we ask, the meaning of life
a collection of beautiful moments like the grains of sand on a desertland
or a journey on a long winding road with no guidelines or signs
but then why think all this why care
when the waves rise high and winds cry
how when what why
why we live and how we die

Mid Year Musings

Cricket: India won,
but IPL, and therefore cricket stopped being fun.
World: Obama killed Osama
but that hasn't stopped the terrorists or the drama
India: economy seems at a high
but prices continues to hit the sky
World: Japan shook like a leaf,
the waves, the quakes, the radiation continue to give it grief
TN: government was voted out
only democracy has won without any doubt
World: William married Kate
finally after a long wait
Films were made,many failed
Ipad, Kindle and Skype was sold
laptops and mp3 have become old

Sai Baba is believed to have died.
everyone including god cried.
people smiled, people lied,
It rained, It poured, It shined
IT crowd continued to grow, continued to grind
gold became costlier, character became cheaper.
paradigms changed, values flickered and fell
Things are precious only if they sell

The world grows hotter
tempers grow shorter
people doing happy things all around
though adjectives are no longer as descriptive as they sound 

The world is changing and so am I
without a pause to wonder how or why
the future is locked by time as its key,
its story too blurred to read or see
I hope it contains chocolates, happiness, treasures, peace and love
A life full of meaning, enlightenment, beauty  and wealth
Tomorrow must surely be different from today
In a more colorful and profoundly better way

Moonbathing

As I lay awake beside the window on the floor.
staring at the big full moon
A feeling of peace crept over me..
and I made my way to the door.

The terrace was silent, surrounded by trees
but not a leaf moved though there was a silent breeze
the world was asleep and covered with a silvery light
like a fairy had decided to magically light up the night

The moon was responsible for the silvery hue
The city lights were off and the stars were few
I felt magic around me, setting off invisible fireworks all around
and the dull red stone reflecting moonlight from the ground

The stage was set, an imaginary dance I could cleary see
and the sound of singing rivers and cheering trees added to the melody
the wind picked up things were swirling in the air
tonight was somehow special and rare.

I stood for long staring at the sky
daily life's problems disappeared and I wondered why
I never noticed how the moon can make things glow
and pick you up when you are feeling low

I slept on the terrace soaking in the light, moonbathing
my senses filled with sparkles and tingles as I lay
the moonlight took all the tension and dust away
I was ready to face another day

Every full moon while clocks tick and people snore
magic comes alive and magical creatures soar
while the world sleeps, beauty comes alive
does a hop, a jingle and a jive

I woke up when the sun rose again
It was another day, another cycle must go by
I must go to work..but moonbathing was great I think and sigh.