A poem falls inside the recesses of my mind

Have you ever had a poem stare at the face of your unconscious mind?

Have you ever had a poem nudge you,  just as you were about to fall asleep?

Have you ever had a poem seduce you, in the wee hours of the morning?

Enough to make you get up from the arms of your lover and entrust it on  the lilly white pages of your work book?

Have you ever had a poem pound at the insides of your skull, seething with frustration,

Enamoured with the joy of being and at the same time, mortified with the fear of annihalation?

Have you ever had a poem, shyly stand at the door step of your mind, wishing to enter

Just as the virgin bride standing at the threshold of her groom’s bedroom?

Have you ever had a poem look you in the eyes and laid bare your skull, every thought, every shred of emotion,

Every shade of fear, unscrupulously examined?

Have you ever had a poem, send you shivers of joy?

Have you ever had a poem, that made you tremble, not with fear, but with the unbearable purity of its existence?

Have you ever had a poem, that shook you out of your mindless daily rut,

And made you sit up and ask yourself this ever pertinent question?

What the fuck am I doing with my life?

How green was my valley

Book lovers all over the world will forever remember this epic saga. Richard Lewellyn’s ‘how green was my valley’ is phenomenal, both in a literary sense, as well as in a social context. The gloom of industrialization casts a dark shadow in the lives of the villagers of the valley. A pristine and beautiful place unsullied by the advent of modernity. Richard Lewellyn explores the cultural, economical and to a less obvious extent, the environmental shock that a coal mine can create in the lives of a band of villagers. A truly sensitive potrayal of their lives and their foibles, the innosence of their cultural upbringing oblivious to the machinations of a society hell bent on making money, and not much else. This book should be the vanguard of today’s environmental activists.

On being passionate about diapers and other things

Passion is an oft repeated word in advertising. God help you, if you are new to the industry. Then people will throw this word at you in the corridor, while you are having a brainstorm session or even in the loo. As they say, you will have to live advertising, eat advertising and …yeah you guessed it right…advertising. That’s the kind of passion you need. I, for one, have spent a reasonably good part of my life in advertising, and you know, at this stage of my life, I should gracefully admit that I can’t delude myself into behaving that my ‘passion levels’ are very high. In fact, it is desultorily low. Advertising is a strange business. And, compared to most other options in life,  perhaps there’s no better job. With the possible exception of being a bartender in a South Sea Island resort or running a restaurant in Rio. It is really fun, but to most of us who never made it into page three, let alone, the last page of a local daily, life was ok. Barely ok, I should say. Not that we didn’t had our share of fun. No. But then, it didn’t have the appeal or the ‘oh-my-gosh-did he really win that award’ looks that the more fortunate, or brilliant, among us usually get. By the loads. Admittedly, these guys had passion. They also had the opportunity of being where it matters the most. While we got stuck to the hinterlands. It doesn’t matter whether you are from the hinterland, but it matters a lot where you go from there. And you bloody well go before you become old enough to be NCD, but left with nothing to show in your portfolio. The thing that creative people strut around with like a feather in their cap. It is the sum total of his worth, measured by a few slides of power point.

Why am I saying all this? Out of a creepy feeling that I never made it? Well, it could be very true. But that’s not all, you know. Because after a certain point you will begin to wonder at the futility of it all. I mean, how passionate can you get about, say, sanitary napkins, or diapers? I do not know whether any bloke out there actually get goose bumps at the mere mention of diapers. I, for one, goes into sleep mode immediately. There is a limit to how much you can deceive yourself. The young ‘uns do not find it so hard, I suppose.

On the positive side, there are a lot of categories out there I would love doing too. Liquor, lingerie, book stores, public service, tourism…in that order.

P.S. Maybe sanitary napkins, after all, could be exciting. Or even sexy. It all depends on the idea.

Economics of discontent

Economic cycles are born out of necessity,  just as political movements are. Over a period of time, we saw the advent of ‘the economics of want’ and ‘the economics of plenty’. The economics of plenty was driven by individualism, by free trade and the innate entrepreneurial skill of man which strived through self-actualization to profit himself and thereby, indirectly others. This was the bedrock of economics then and now. Thus was born the age of hedonism. Innovation spawned many things which were dispensable and despite contrarian views, the economics of plenty chose to ignore these ‘lesser evils’ which are nonetheless avoidable. We are now witness to incredible new discoveries in medicine, in science, engineering, biotechnology, nanotechnology and many more disciplines. We have also seen the worst catastrophes, essentially the fall out of our quest for innovation.

Every age has its cycle, its relevance in the scheme of things lasts only till it’s needed. Then it dies a natural death and gives way to new thinking. Today, we can sense a subtle change in the collective psyche of man, a change from the economics of plenty to the economics of discontent. It’s a truism that too much of something good can actually spoil us. ‘Economics of discontent’ is simply that. A contrarian view that is the direct result of hedonism. It is actually a fluid state of politics, which will act as a catalyst to a new world order or a new economy. It will basically act a sieve to identify the good and phase out the bad. But even this very simple exercise is going to lead the world into chaos. Because, as history has unerringly shown, it is only out of chaos that order emerges.

Will we live to see this new world order?

Private diary in a public forum

I have seen zillions of blogs which reveal the personal life of the blogger with alacrity. There was a time when people used to keep a diary to document things that happened to their lives, their feelings, their foibles and their enigmas. These days, they are using blogs for the same purpose. This phenomenon baffles me no end, because unlike a diary kept in the recesses of your own private shelf, a blog is by no means a discreet place where you can hide your feelings and think that they are safe from prying eyes. It’s like casting pearls in a pigsty. I mean, will you share your deepest, darkest thoughts with a stranger? But this is exactly what is happening today. A blogger shares his life without the slightest misgiving or embaressment and in fact, glorifies each lurid detail of his life with uncanny regularity. Of course, there are many exceptions to the rule. Like, you will find many bloggers who turn life’s little happenings into a huge joke and make the whole thing highly entertaining. I have nothing against them. They have a born talent for the bon mot and knows a thing or two about tickling your funny bone.

But to all others who share their drab, melodramatic, tear-jerking detail of life, I have someting to say. Make life easy for yourself. And others.

Oh no, it’s a recession

For some people the recession hit with the force and fury of a tsunami and just as unexpectedly. But just like a tsunami, the warning signs were there for all to see. Only you had to look hard enough and intelligently enough. It was clearly a case of riding an unbridled tiger. And that is what companies like Lehman Bros. did when they began packaging home loans as sophisticated investment tools to resell it in the financial markets. The cash rich economy indulged in a spending spree as if there was no tomorrow. A typical case of the great American dream being realized…on credit! Fast cars, swanky penthouses, long vacations, all on credit. The proverbial straw in the camel’s back had to fall. It was only a question of when and more importantly, by whose hands. Of course, by now even a kid is aware of who is to blame for the current financial conundrum.

 

The recession happened long before it hit us, with the unpredictability of a tsunami. Stock market barons read the tell tale signs correctly and withdrew into the sidelines, like a tiger in the Serengti, watching the bloodbath. History has shown that the recession is only a temporary phase which will pass. This time too, it will. And the growth curve is going to go up with furious intensity. However, unlike the economic growth stories of yesteryears, the next boom will carry an inbuilt time bomb. Nature induced catastrophes that are the indirect result of capitalistic economies. Global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, rising ocean levels are all part of this natural backlash.

 

Like all political philosophies that are evolved out of necessity, capitalism too must die a natural death. The theory of individualism based on the great American dream sounded good, at least on paper and on popular novels like the Fountainhead and Anthem. Because nobody has ever dreamt that, the seemingly endless resources of our beautiful planet will ever run out. Imagine four thousand pounds of metal burning fossil fuels that take millions of years to be created, being driven by a single individual? This is a common enough sight in the developed countries. On that count at least, the Asian countries are not as environmentally insensitive as the west. Take a look at India, here you can find eight people traveling in a car that by western standards will carry only four.

 

The time has come to rethink of a new world order based on the greatest good to the greatest number of people.
A world where plankton eating luxuries are banned. Where efficiency will replace excesses.

The poetry of snow

Recently I read a book by Pamuk and got literally bowled over by its sheer poetry. A compelling read, snow is like a silent melody that tugs at you long after you have put the book down. Set in a remote town called Kars in Istanbul, Snow unfolds the gripping incidents in the book with an ethereal quality. Just as ethereal, mysterious and imminent as a snowfall. The silent snow falling on the once-beautiful town is a mute witness to a conundrum of events like a mysterious outbreak of suicide among women, a political turmoil masterminded by a theatre personality with a sense of the grandoise and a passionate love story that leaves a lasting impression on the mind. Pamuk manages to dance his literary jig hovering on the border of politics and art with rare finesse.

Futures trading in water?

There was a time in the not too distant past when even the shrewdest of entrepreneurs would not have ever dreamed of investing in water. As times change, investment avenues are also changing for the worse. If God’s gift to man can be packaged and tailor made for, let’s say, futures trading even, we need to seriously stop and do some thinking. I shudder to think of that day when perhaps, water will even make the bellwether move on opening bell. A recent Economic Times article pointed out that future-savvy investors are grabbing up water bodies as the Europeans did in the frontier wars of yore. Throughout history the poor had been shortchanged by the foibles of the rich and despite many initiatives by various governments, they continue being handed over the wrong end of the stick. Being deprived of water is so unimaginable a crime even the land sharks of the past would squirm from such a despicable act.

What will our children’s children think of us as a species? Probably they will deplore our sense of intelligence as a form of subverted thinking. But then, modern day shylocks don’t think beyond their time span anyway.

As individuals we need to seriously think and voice our opinions. After all, the beauties of the earth was not meant to be packaged as a derivative that you can buy on opening bell.

A debate with God

Oh God, why did you create this gross fallacy? You who created this wonderful universe from the depths of your thoughts? These gawky, two legged weaklings, who have egos as big as one of your universes? Ah human beings! They claim that you created them in your own image. Now, you and I know that this is far, far from true. However, in every book of religion, in every philosophical treatise these creatures had the audacity to make, they massage their jelly like egos, by hypnotizing themselves into believing that they are the image of your omnipotent self. What nonsense, I must say. As men and women, you created them and allowed them to breed like leeches on the face of this beautiful planet. However, I must compliment you for one thing, you made the women beautiful, and more than anything else, you gave them a little more sense than their blundering counterparts. Why did you create them like food processors? I must say that your machine is outdated, crude and indecent. Best of all is their cocky attitude in believing that they are the most superior of all the creatures on planet earth. Despite their awkwardness, despite their funny accoutrements they call embellishments that they claim, add to their beauty, despite their bungling idiocy, they have the gumption to believe that they were made in your image and likeness. Ah, I have a feeling, that despite your stoic silence, you share my views incontrovertibly. Lastly, you gave them intelligence. Their claim to fame. Their colored feathers on their idiot heads. You and I know that intelligence is a ploy to keep them occupied with their self-obsessed games, like what the supposedly lesser among them do in mental asylums. Let me ask you something? Did you create them accidentally, in a weak moment, when you were drinking in the beauty of the universe that you created, and you thought that perhaps you needed a little amusement?

 

I, for one, am not at all amused. I will come back to you with more thoughts, and this time I need some concrete answers.

 

I know that you are too diplomatic, too well bred, to make a comment. Or is it perhaps because you don’t wish to admit that you made an unpardonable mistake? Ok, I have a brainwave, why not ask your arch enemy, Satan?

 

A conversation with Satan.

Hello there, angel of darkness, what do you have to say about your favorite obsession, human beings?

They are the reason I exist.

I understand, but can’t you at least enlighten me with a few observations you must have made about them?

Ha, ha, you know what, they are even better than I am when it comes to ingenuity.

Sometimes they are quite capable of giving me a run for my money.

And sometimes, the more dastardly of them even makes me go green, not with envy, but with blushing too much.

You know what, despite what the clerics tell you, I don’t have much work. They are too busy debasing themselves that oftentimes, I don’t have to interfere. They do their job much too perfectly, you know.

 

Which makes me really think. I am out of a job, because I can’t bring myself to their level anyway. God knows.

 

 

 

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