The mighty little fellow..

"Oh lord of all little things, tell this little thing

to your counterpart for the world of the mightier

that in my next visit to this planet of all

let me be this big fellow who killed me

for I wish to teach him a lesson important

not by returning him his wicked favour

but by showing this human being

what being human is about

With kindness, the lesson of forgiveness

we small things learn sooner

and the lesson he will take a lifetime to learn.

He knew it not this time and took my life,

so let him take a lifetime, but learn atleast at its end!"

"But before I leave this place

so much more his than mine, in his mind

let me utter my last few words

to be heard by my slayer.."

"I lived a life that made no difference

to the place I lived in,

I helped none, nor did I believe

I was making your life less liveable

I could not bite nor did I sting

I made no noises too loud, nor

did I spoil your moments of glory"

"The last time you carried your

loved one in your arms, I was glad

for she clinged onto you with a scream

after watching me scamper across

I was glad I did a thing of good to you..

I was sure I was not going to repeat it though,

however good a thing it was, scaring was scary"

"Now a few moments ago,

when I did not know I was so close,

you gifted me a death so painful!

I wonder if forgiving is such a tough ask

for all mighty beings of your sort!

Was my mistake worth so much brutality?"

"I have been here for so long

from the times of the dinos and the mammoths

and all mighty things that ever shared

this sweet home of all! You came so late,

but with a little more might than me!

And caused me to die a death

so many pals of mine have died!"

"I have gone through your books

that are all as lifeless as you are,

for they don't teach you even

the little things I can tell you

about kindness, forgiving and might!"

"And you helpless brother of my slayer"

the cockroach said, as it turned towards me,

"Glad I 'll be to become the prataganist

of your next passionate scribble.

Glad even more, I 'll be if you are less helpless

the next time you see an event so inhuman!"

and the mighty little fellow breathed his last

before the two belittled mighty fellows!

Of Misfires..

Wondrous the simple mirror;

An innocent piece of polished glass

that knows not how to hide

supreme and invincible as a tide.

The one on it is my truest friend for life

for he is one fellow who would look into the eye,

every time I wish to know my worth.

“Fearless and bold that I was,

now I am not; for I fear

the death of hope, instigated

by the endless gropes to find the pistol

only to misfire, time and again!”

“When my gropes ended soon,

I saw in it a ray of hope,

‘This time I wouldn’t misfire’

But for one thing-

The pistol had no bullets nor did I!”

“The next time, neither did I grope

for too long, nor did I find a pistol not loaded.

‘This time I found a reason to smile’

I held it firm and took aim.

And to my surprise! The target?

Impatience haunts one and all!”

The narration ended; silence restored.

The reply began with a smile,

a smile that left no room for perception.

“Opportunities are seldom patient.

They only push, they don’t knock.

They accept no invitations; nor do they return.

They betray anything but persistent effort!”

“The next time you grope,

patience shall show you the way.

Have twice the number of bullets required

And you’ll find a pistol loaded!

Misfires will happen.

Only until the bulls eye surrenders

to unrelenting determination!”

The happiest moment.. for life..

I remember my first day at school with high-definition clarity. It was an extremely sunny, ‘Madras-ish’ Wednesday morning. The school was a 5-minute walk from home; the distance of the walk on that day however, was about a few light years. There had already been two postponements and my father had made it clear, in extremely precise terms, that any plans of further postponement had been postponed, indefinitely.

I vividly remember the way I was dragged to the place that had given me nightmares for almost a week before the day. Not one face looked familiar. The sight of two elderly women disciplining a bunch of confused kids terrified me. The thought of being a ‘yet-another’ addition to the already helpless group turned me numb. The atmosphere made clear indications of the fact that I was in the process of meeting the first disaster of my life.

As minutes passed by, things did seem to mellow down. The two elderly women who looked hell-bent on disciplining helpless creatures had shown the class some funny pictures and I had actually considered the option of smiling, at least on a couple of instances. I had not completely succeeded in smiling, but I was proud of the fact that I had given it a try. The very thought of my mother coming back soon, to take me home was a decent tranquillizer.

The first sight of my mother after 3 long hours away from her still remains the happiest moment of my life. I can recollect that moment, etched in memory; the first and only occasion in my short span since birth, when I felt like the happiest boy on Earth, yet cried inconsolably. I was too little to understand the emotion, phenomenon or even the cause. All I could do for the next twenty minutes was cry. All the sobs of previous occasions needed just a little bribe to cease – a toffee for minor offences and an ice cream for the slightly major ones. This time however, I was clueless about the classification; I perhaps began to understand the fact that there was life beyond toffees and ice-creams. The place I dreaded the most had already started teaching me lessons!

As years passed by, the typical three-hour spell only grew longer, from 5 hours in the very next year to 8 hours at high school and college; the distances grew too. Now almost nineteen years later, living about 25000 meters away from home, the spell is almost 120 hours long. The precious moment though, has not lost one bit of its sheen!

Welcome back! ( Again! )

Welcome back!

All that has happened in my seemingly routine life since I was here last time:

1 Ubuntu release, 3 of the most beautiful and timely innings of the 1st decade of the new millennium; all by Laxman, an eventful end to the CW Games at New Delhi whose preparations were actually slightly less eventful, one fabulous series of cricket between England and Australia, an expose of the mammoth multi-million dollar 2G scam, two rarest of the rare 5-wicket hauls by Bhajji, one series of breath-taking semester exams, 1 Fedora release, record-breaking results that almost earned me an 'alphabet-patent', a new year celebration, a host of fruitful project-demo's, 2 devilish displays of batting by Yusuf Pathan ( one of them happened to occur just about 3 KM from my home! ), my first spell of 'slog'gy semester holidays since I joined M.Tech, a whole bunch of new peaks conquered by Lord Sachin Tendulkar, a host of bandhs in my native state, a visit by the President of the USA, 2 send-off's; of friends who left Bangalore for jobs, 3 joyous trips to the place that never ceases to fascinate me; Mysore, one interesting travel through the state of Maharashtra, a couple of mind boggling rides through the city streets of Hyderabad, a kick-ass start to a new semester in M.Tech that promises to be another mighty hectic quarter year, a regain of form for Sreesanth ( in both dramatics and some bowling here and there ), a thriller-finish India-SA game to prove the origins of the word 'chokers'.

apart from a host of other more common occurrences like:

a good number of additions to my crush list, a descent number of festivals, a not-very-few number of Bangalor'ish' sun-shines, a good enough number of cool drizzles, a never-enough number of weekend visits to the place I miss the most - my home; at least 5 times as many hefty hogs, a sequence of stinkers at the box office, a less-than-normal number of rides in the Royal BMTC and a close-to-zero number of sleepless nights.... Phew! Quite a big list!

Weird weird world!
This place has got too many permutations for any thing to repeat!
It's got too many forces for any thing to stay static!
Too many options for anything to keep moving for too long,
and too many cycles for any thing to stay away from getting same'y!

An eye of a kid is what keeps things from repeating,
is what prevents any thing from stagnating,
from missing things too dynamic for the human eye,
and from the state of boredom!

The world is new for an eye of a kid!
It's all in the eye, like always!