Darkness and Light series

Darkness and light

The light was always there

Darkness has just covered

The brightness

The dark rays

Covered the light

Giving an illusion

That light is over

It took

Time and patience

And perhaps an eternal hope

To unearth the hidden light

On change and changing

At times

I even befriend the darkness

Knowing well

The light

Lies hidden

In the arms of darkness

Time’s up

The time to show raw power

To weaken our resolve

To reduce us

To just Figurines of our physical self

To put us in pigeon holes

In fact to create those round and square holes

For different sizes

Is really up

To put us through

Lot of ordeal

Seen and Unseen

For fruits

That are commonplace and ordinary

Yet seem extraordinary for us

That time now will be far behind

As the timekeepers and clocks have changed

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!!