Darkness and Light series

The Eclipse

 The daily eclipse that shadows the light .

 It darkens all that is bright .

The eclipse of ignorance and hate .

 Of anger and vices .

That eclipse of the mind .

Robs humanity from humankind .

These eclipses are a mere play .

Of shadows that have no substance

yet keep substance at bay .

The sun always shines bright in that time and space .

Where the light of knowledge and positivity is ahead in the race .

For any kind of eclipse is there any room ?

Where the light of kindness and bliss sparkles in full zoom

(inspired by the recent eclipse on 27th July 2018.. but is an eclipse really  so rare ??)

A different God

A different God for men and a difficult one for women .

The one for women needs lot of propitiation.

Probably they need a different God

As they live in their world their own Nation .

Men tread at times on difficult paths

They did look needy .

But had it easy many times .

Frankly it wasn't so heady .

With the help of many Gods .

The walk for women to win and propitiate is on .

Even as the Gaps and differences Continue and new ones are born .

With these differing gods and difficult paths

 Own up

The pain and embarrassment to be on your own .

 To walk hand in hand but at your own pace .

Here the seeds of dissent as they say are sown .

For A woman to own a space in her own mind and outside of it .

Sounds so simple .

Yet doing it gnaws her  bit by bit

Time Is Up

The time for inequality

Is fast ticking

The bomb can explode

The countdown has begun

With a vow here

And a pledge there

The gaps

In income

Recognition, fame

The gap in life itself

The glaring gap

Has become a crater

Now a time to blow it up all

And create a pristine garden

Out of this battlefield

between equality and inequality

but weren’t the battle bugles blown

a long time back???

(on Iceland taking a pledge to remove the income gender gap  & Oprah Winfrey’s  Golden Globe inspirational speech..)

Evolve - As 2017 Speaks To 2018

Evolve I

Like a butterfly

I left the old

Thick protective covers

The river had to flow

The stifling blocks

That stopped the flow

Didn’t exist anymore

It required a nudge

A great push perhaps

But the flow has begun

The butterfly flits

With eagle wings

That were formed

With the push and nudge

 Evolve II

The petals bloomed

The flower blossomed

The dead leaves were blown

Away with the new winds

The change started

The change is on still

Of new blossoms

And new springs

Of the newness that comes

With each new day

Enjoy

Enjoy the tango

The fox trot

As the moves change

As the change itself happens

The new moves

The new steps

That you learnt

The hard way

Go ahead

Now do them

As if no one

Or even the whole world

 is watching you

Live

live the change

don’t die

as it happens

enjoy the flow

sometimes you drown

take help

come out

and flow again

to reach the shores

and perhaps start

for new shores

with all that is required

to stay afloat

and enjoy the swim

and the travel

 thru all known and unknown shores

The  year that was

To soar

To drop the dead wood

To drag

To climb

Move  ahead

With a sprightly walk

To let go

To complete

And move on           

To start afresh

Many things

To continue

With a few

That’s the trail

That I left behind

In 2017

To start a new 2018

Coherent thoughts on Incoherent Situations ..or Vice Versa

A Few Thoughts

Delete

Delete the memories forever

From your hard disk

That are not required

At least try

Learn from them

And discard

Minimal recycling here

But yes wait

Some you keep afloat

Forever or at least for a while

The ones that drive you

Bring a smile

On Ten years(on comleting ten years in an organization)

Clocked  10 years

Of time

Or is it a celebration of time

 That flew, walked, limped slowly

Of few deaths

Of new lives

Of bare survival at times

Of hands that helped

With kind hearts and sharp minds

A  time of new learnings and insights

The essence of a decade

In these few lines!!

A light take on  Indian parenting(based on an airlines announcement )

Take care of your children and personal belongings

So goes an airline announcement

So are children too your personal belongings

Or do they have a personality of their own

Minus their parents

Or do they cling like baggage to their parents

Till the end of the journey

Hues of Life

To climb

To fall

To swing

To hide

To shine

To go underground

To rise

To walk

To run

To fly

The hues

Change

Like the changing days

On office politics

part one

Who is an ally

Who is a friend

Who is a Brutus

Who is what % of an ally

Who is what kind of friend

Friends forever or situational

Laughter with a hiss

Or a loud ringing kind of laughter

The games change

The rules change

Only interests stay permanent forever

Part two

Do I want to be part ally

Part friend

Sometimes Brutus

And then normal

Holding a turbulent storm within

And yet go around with a serene face

A Literary Nook(Katta) At An Equally Literary Society:Sahitya Sahawas

A Literary Nook(Katta) At An Equally Literary Society That Houses Such Great Minds:**Sahitya Sahawas at Kalanagar, Bandra 

**( translated in Marathi as The Home of Literature)

And Literature and creativity does stay and thrive  there as it houses all the leading Marathi and few Hindi litterateurs.Sahitya Sahawas(SS)society was built more than 50 years back. I can confidently say knowing the richness and refinement of Marathi literature that it would have given at least a few Shakespeares to the world!! I am seen here with a proud SS resident, Ashlesha Athavale(journalist, translator, theatre critic and most importantly my old friendJ) at the society Katta(literally translated as a Nook for general chit chat).Ashlesha has even translated a book on the society- Colony written by Siddharth Pardhe.

Siddharth  grew up at SS as his father was the society watchman.He was mentored by all the society residents and has risen well in life. Siddharth’s brother, Ramesh eventually became Sachin Tendulkar’s PA. BTW Sachin along with the literary greats was another famous society resident( his father, Ramesh Tendulkar was a Marathi Literature professor and writer) before moving out a few years back.More about it here..

https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other//articleshow/15863936.cms

The Katta as a concept and structure is the brainchild of the enthusiastic SS residents like Avinash Gowariker(who is a noted film photographer), Ashlesha etc.The women writers would gather at the society Katta(literally the literary Nook now) in the evening and naturally their talks were around literature , current affairs etc. Avinash's wife the Swedish Indian , Shazia Qureshi Gowariker asked them to write an article each and there came the book –KATTYA VARCHYA GAPPA(ie Talks at the Nook and Raj Thackeray has done the book cover) .Ashlesha’s mother, Anuradha Athavale’s article about her litterateur , journalist and even politician husband , Narayan Athavale( he was briefly a Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai) features in this book. Avinash Gowarikerensured that the Katta is adorned with sketches, poems , paintings of the residents. At the time of clicking the photo a young architect Kshitij Bhende had put up his sketches..Basic amenities were further added to the Katta so the senior ladies could sit comfortably and discuss.More about it on Ashlesha Athavale's blog here

http://naturallymumbai.blogspot.in/search?q=sahitya

I have been  visiting this society for more than 25 years and only now did its greatness dawn upon me.What a unique society-Shaitya Sahawas; fascinating Katta concept with its equally extraordinary residents!! As they say in Marathi- a Bhannat idea!!

The Renaisance of Wonder-Books on Films and Satyajit Ray

The Renaissance of Wonder: On the 62 nd anniversary of Pather Panchali and 60th one of the Apu Trilogy.. I read a few  books written by  both the Master himself and a few others

When you are a  Satyajit Ray fan you just don’t stop at watching his films and documentaries .You want to know both – what went behind making these unique films in India and what was going on in the Master’s mind too..

This piece of information is interesting ( from the book, The Master and I) –Satyajit Ray actually mentioned that he took to films as he realized after visiting the historical Ajanta , Ellora sites that all art forms had reached their peak in India and hence he should take up something which was new and untapped .. Now how many would think like this about their profession or vocation!As they say some are really born great to even think on these lines..

My reading list of the past three months…rather randomly chosen

1.       14 Stories that Inspired Ray- as the title suggests these are stories that inspired Ray’s films from writers as diverse as Rabindranath Tagore(mainly), Munshi Premchand, Ray himself .A very compelling collection translated by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

2.       Ray’s Biography by Mary Setton which is a detailed chronicle of this illustrious icon’s life and even traces his family lineage

1.       The Master and I-Soumitro Chatterjee’s has written it straight from the heart and describes his experiences and learnings through  his long association with Ray

4.       Speaking of Films- Ray describes in his inimitable style about the language of films and what inspired him to take to films

5.       Then there’s Nemai Ghosh book titled-Manik Da, Memories of Satyjit Ray.Nemai Ghosh was Ray’s photographer extraordinaire

6.       The most endearing one is The Pather Panchali Sketchbook which has Ray’s sketches of all the sets of Pather Panchali.As we all know he was an excellent artist and would sketch his scenes before hand .. talk of a Director’s vision!!

Mentioning a few books here which I read long time back and am sure all Ray films would have either read them or would like to read them (all written by Satyajit Ray except for one)

1.       Deep Focus - It is about how films have evolved  as an art form and the craft of film making.

2.       My Years with Apu- details  the Apu trilogy replete with nice pictures from all the three films

3.       Our Films, Their Films (I don’t know how many times I have read this book)– where Ray again speaks  as the title suggests about the evolution of films in the Western part of the world & how they have impacted Indian cinema; somewhat unique features of Indian films etc

4.       Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Chidananda Das Gupta(Aparna Sen’s father)-I found this to be one of the most compelling books so far on Ray’s films,but can’t get a copy now..