Cycling

Pushing the pedals forward

To stream past the houses, trees, and

The memories that lay hidden

In every corner of my little town

I fell in love with cycling.

My face glistening with sweat and

Eyes shining with the joy

Of suburban independence 

I set out charting my small world

A  little explorer.

Maps were formed by the sightings of 

Friends, foes, or abandoned 

Houses with promises of treasure 

Or some murky past that

Lay waiting for me to uncover.

I charted my rides through lonely 

Streets that lay inviting--

Avenues measured in dim streetlamps

And littered with flowers

All pointing me towards home.

For home wasn't a just single place

The lines on the map of my world

Traced a home wherever

It found joy, wonder, or the warmth

Of a familiar 

Place that helped me grow up a little

With every discovery

Someday, on a rainy evening (Ek Din Brishti Te by Anjan Dutt)

Someday, on a rainy evening 
We’d both forget our umbrellas 
And bump into each other 
Drenched from head to toe
While the traffic vanishes around us
Storefronts down their shutters
Lingering in our heart of hearts
The sweet smell of petrichor

Someday, on a rainy evening 
It’ll all certainly come back to us in a jiffy
Broken promises and forgotten blemishes
Pain that’s sweet and dear
While somewhere a lonely radio
Chimes an old love song
Raindrops slowly turn blue 
Against a greying sky
Someday, someday… 
Someday, on a rainy evening…

A fading poster proudly announces
An old sold-out matinee
And the raindrops will hide
Our tears
Pittar patter…pittar patter…
raindrops…tears

Someday, on a rainy evening 
We’ll finally get caught, you’ll see
Fears, tears, and unspoken despair
Finally washed clean
The moment frozen in time
We won’t be able to run and hide
The roads will all be the same
Just the two of us around…

Someday, on a rainy evening 
We’d both forget our umbrellas 
And bump into each other 
Drenched from head to toe
While the traffic vanishes around us
Storefronts down their shutters
Lingering in our heart of hearts
The sweet smell of petrichor

Someday…someday…
Someday…on a rainy evening…

(Translated by Samarpan Dutta)

Ecalyptus (Debdaru by Kabir Suman)

Even though he’s gone, the touch of his hand on mine 
Will persist like the memories that surrender
Where the lone Eucalyptus 
Bows down its head

Even though he’s gone, a sudden whiff of night jasmine
Turns the morning entirely his own
Remembrances transform 
A moment into eternity

Even though he’s gone, the touch of his hand on mine 
Will persist like the memories that that surrender
Where the lone Eucalyptus 
Bows down its head

Even though he’s gone, the eternal play of ebb and tide
Will not cease to caress the waters of the river
Down a familiar lane I will walk
At one with his memories

Even though he’s gone, he really hasn’t has he?
Like so many who never really leave us
The steamer sets off for the horizon
Sending waves galore to the shore

Even though he’s gone, the touch of his hand on mine 
Will persist like the memories that that surrender
Where the lone Eucalyptus 
Bows down its head

(Translated by Samarpan Dutta)

Wedding Wishes to An Old Friend

Congratulations, dear friend 

On finding love 

That multiplies 

And shines on 

This beautiful day

Of your togetherness

I wish that you fall in love

Again and again

With each other 

And discover 

The tiny little things

That make you, you

History is full of love stories

But may yours be unique 

In metre, rhyme, and chronology

Etched in love and laughter

Yours to live and yours to keep

For ever and ever 

Religion and Fanaticism

This morning a saw a note from my friend Dhurjati in which he expresses his outrage against religious fanaticism. 

He makes a very good point with Weinberg's comment:

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

  --  Steven Weinberg 

Agreeing totally with the above statement, I couldn't help but think of what my take on this was.

Well, to start with, I wasn't sure! I have never been very religious, but I sure enjoyed singing in the school choir, still enjoy carols, love listening to Baul and Sufi music, and absolutely adore the evening Azaan. I also drool about visiting temples, especially the ones that server rich-ghee laddoos (sweets) or khichdi to people who visit :) However, I do not believe in following any set patterns or rituals of having conversations with God--ranging from the "Please see me through this and I'll never ask anything else of you" to the "Hi there" or "Thank you" ones. 

I get it when people feel very strongly about the way they say their prayers, where they say them, and how they say them. To me these are entirely a matter of personal convenience, habit, and preference. Well, maybe not in that exact order but something close. What I don't understand is 'why' or 'how' people think that 'the Almighty/the many powers that be' is commissioned to ensure their betterment at the cost of "the others."

To the best of my limited knowledge, all (human) religions are institutions based on the fundamental promises and tenets of 'faith,' 'love,' and a sense of 'community.' And that doesn't help me figure out this entire "mine's better than yours," or "I don't like you cause you face xyz when you pray" business. If these weren't enough, there are people across religions who are ready to kill, harm, and justify all actions against other human beings in the name of religion.

Religions are nothing but institutions, and there can be no institution that stands on the basis of 'doing evil' or 'causing harm' to other human beings. As a corollary of Weinberg's statement, it has been observed multiple times across history how people have reformed themselves and went on to live a better ( less harmful :) and meaningful life by virtue of their faith in one or the other religion. 

Would you, for that matter, support the killing of another human being just because they support a different football club/nation?

It's the essence of fanaticism to 'justify' harmful, devious actions for a 'greater good' or 'better cause.' And that is what we should condemn, abhor, and criticize. If people tell you otherwise, ask them to get a life and, probably, shake a leg!

Midnight Ramblings

2'o clock in the night...three friends, all at different levels of inebriation, sitting listening to the soundtrack of the movie they just watched (FYI: Wake Up Sid)....

one of them slightly older than the other two....one very happily tapping away at the book on his lap, which by the way is a book on Hinduism and the philosophy of Swami Vivekanada...the other, a sensitive, free spirit, uncharacteristically chirpy and effervescent tonight...sitting relaxed on the chair to the extreme right...

the conversations veer from the characters of the movie they watched most recently to a funny incident a couple hours ago...in the wake of an on-screen conversation around "how's your sex life" a toddler started wailing uncontrollably...

they resolve to spend the night chatting...not to sleep...if at all, crash around 5 or 6 in the morning...what'll they talk about...none of them seem to be in a position to continuously hold conversation around any topic....their conversation keeps veering from topic to topic...with the film being the anchor that keeps it going...

they deliberate if there are any watering holes open around this time...surprisingly, it's the unusually chirpy one that brings up this topic....what if their favorite pub were open ? but they seem to bear the adolescence of the city they live in with amazing stoicness...while the happy one starts humming "Oh Darling," a recent track from a movie they watched a few weeks ago compensates for the lack of melody in his voice...

At this moment...I ask for a story....

a spontaneous hug later...Hinduism lying unattended on the table, he starts jiving to the tune....shit! an unintentional change of track leads to momentary disappointment...but in seconds, we're back on track...the craft of a veteran poet and lyricist find company in a blink-and-you-miss-it embrace, a couple spontaneous steps and the comfort of the bed after a long day....

discussions on creating playlists on iTunes...the fragrance of the soil, fresh after the rains from the land of the erstwhile five rivers and unobtrusive tapping of all six feet in the room...

longing glances from the bed and unfazed concentration on the laptop...time i retired to my room downstairs? while the tempo sears up on iTunes and the search for future members of the current playlist continues, spirits liven up further in the room, perhaps acknowledging the lack of bottled spirits, sigh! and there goes Bob Marley... crying desperately for a sense of history...how i wish people gave history a chance!

unwieldy tresses join the fray with a little orchestration...bob marley's presence notwithstanding...in some corner of the globe, mothers playfully tell their kids their noses could be fixed with a little help from the ubiquitous kitchen, well too,l for the lack of a better word....

well, we all studied history at school...nothing so great about it....so, the eternal lover boy of bollywood easily bypasses Marley and a song he didn't sing but lip-synched to now joins the melangee

desperate pushing back of sleep...unfazed attention to the laptop...a PJ that draws me to the conversation...i quietly slip back...requests of playing tequila sunrise...tired bodies...and confident promises of fighting sleep provide the prelude to The Eagles' famous track....the attention now meanders to the FC Barcelona tee while comic jibes at the lack of nationalism infuse the air....

Now more than ever it seems rich to die/To cease upon the midnight with no pain....long, long ago a sickly poet in a wet, cold part of the world immortalized these lines with his death a few years after penning these lines...well, if not the invocation of death but the celebration of timelessness will live much longer...

i am brought back to the room...the neglected minstrel of the god-forsaken city we all belong to croons away to glory...why is decadence so painfully appealing?...he taught all of us to love the city...cities...and made us sit up to the ballads of the back-alley people...more of him sometime later...god rest his soul in peace...the city with its sights, sounds and people will probably continue to haunt him even after death...

the night eggs me on...we laze around sleepless, while a popular bengali singer weaves his magic,,,for a change, he doesn't ignore the physicality of love...memories of almost forgotten concerts haunt me...invisible threads joining vignettes from the past spread its wings of fancy...i half wish i could be transported to another world....one that i have left behind...

the constraints of the medium of my expression surface in front of me...need to stop typing as my laptop is almost running out of power...well, lamest of all excuses that it is...i probably am too tired to continue this worthless experimentation of a writing exercise...see you later, friend...do drop by sometime....

My New Wallpaper

Created this wallpaper for my Macbook. I have been using Ubuntu Studio via VMware for a week now, and love the power of two OSs on one system.