Countries, Nations and States...

It is said that if we dont know history, then we are bound to repeat it... Its wonderful to see how men revel in their ignorance.... I'm sure many of you would read the first statement with a sense of "Hey-I-Know-that, gimme-something-new"..... thats the problem with adages, they are repeated to the point of triviality.... and it never returns to mainstream practicality thereafter....

History is replete with instances of war and strife over riches, land and even silk and spice.... But we, as humans, are destined not to learn anything from history..... even today, we see wars being fought over land and sometimes even over water..... You open the papers on any day and you see filmstars going on "token" hunger strike to protest over river sharing agreement and Tibetans trying desperately to garner much deserved attention to their cause....

The problem such as Tibet, has all the makings of History.... and that need not always be a good news..... It is a study in anthropology as to how man sees a country showing blatant disregard for the sanctity of a fellow nation, and still he keeps quiet; least he antagonizes the powerful infiltrator..... It happened with Germany, France and USSR..... but we still live in a fool's paradise that, that was then.... it'll not happen again.... it'll not happen today...... but when the solid excreta hits the wind circulating apparatus, who is going to stick his head out?...... I hope we dont get an answer to this, 60 yrs down the line, in a history book.....

One more disturbing trend is growing amount of regionalism..... A chance encounter with Political science showed me the difference between a Nation, a State and a Country (I'm not going to make life so easy for you, check wikipedia for further details)...... it seems as if we are living in the same country but in different nations, governed by states having different objectives and private agendas..... some thing like living in an apartment in a housing complex but not caring much about what happens to the neighbours..... or worse still, taking too much interest into their affairs!.... A hundred millionaires in the east coast working in the west coast and vice versa, made USA, a super-power.... It'd have been a different world, had the confederate states actually flourished.... The wealth of a nation is more than the sum total of the wealth of its countrymen.... its about time we understood this well enough to remember it when we need to.....

When everyone thinks that it is any one's job.... and everyone expects everyone to do it..... Nobody does.... I know this because nobody did..... I learnt my lessons.....

Ek soch yeh bhi..

aaj socha ke rishton ke khaate ka byora liya jaye..
aur dekha ke saalon se ghaate me jaa rahe hain..
hamesha zyada diya, aur kum liya..
kabhi pyaar ka deficit hua, to sarkari tareeka apnaya.. aur chhaap diya.. 

sood to ek khwaab hai, yahaan to asal ka bhi chehra nahin dikhta..
karzdaar isi firaaq me hain ke kab unka karz maaf ho jaye..
kya karein?.. yeh muneem dil kuch bhoolta bhi to nahin..
na itni himmat, ki karz wapas maange...
na badhdhappan itna, ki maaf kar de.. 

aaj socha ke rishton ke khaate ka byora liya jaye..
kab tak zindagi ki kaagaz kaali karte rahenge?..  

Mid-term Polls...

One of the toughest job for a writer to do, is to read his/her own work.... Some times you just look at an old essay, letter or a blog in disbelief and say "did I really write this?" which is usually followed by "Why the hell cant I write like this anymore?".... Both are rhetorical questions, by the way..... On the other hand, there is always some work of art which we are not particularly proud of.... hence the adage, "my best is yet to come"...... well, I did the unthinkable over the past few days.... I actually read all my blogs!!!.... and here are my conclusions..... If you think that i've been hard on myself then please let me know... If you think that i've let myself off quite easy then..... ditto.....

1. It is so simple to be difficult, but so difficult to be simple.... I've been using rather esoteric words lately (and i rest my case!)
2. I've been quite judgemental at times... how is a 22 yr old supposed to have undergone so many experiences and how has he made so many firm decisions on how life is? (rhetoric, just for the record)
3. I've yakked a lot about what i've learnt through the experience but i've hardly shared my experience... so you know how much wiser i've become, but dont know from which shade of stupidity did i achieve that enlightenment! (there I go proving my first point again!)
4. I've been rather verbose..... it could've been shorter..... sweeter.....
5. I might try and become a little less altruistic (wordweb, here i come!)
6. I need to loosen up a bit..... I am not an octagenarian writing my memoirs about times immemorial.... a little bit humor always softens the blow!
7. I need to be more regular!..... a post, a day will sound like Doogie Howser M.D.... but i got to be somewhere between here and Doogie...

Let me know if I missed out on anything..... I dunno if i'd be able to incorporate all these points in future.... but I guess, realization is a beginning.... right?

You remember that time....

Life teaches a lot to those willing to learn.... I have learned that all our present worries and problems are, eventually, anecdotes to be recounted in the future.... Think of your first day in school when you thought that life was just not worth living anymore..... or the time when the teacher threatened to fail you, give you a leaving certificate or worse still, call your parents to the school...or all those board exams when the "concerned" uncles and aunties used to make "concerned" enquiries about your "progress" so that you "settle" in life properly.... Aren't all of those just funny anecdotes to be recounted now?

Life is profound... life is abstruse.... Life is not something that can be permanently changed by a single day or an event..... whatever happens, Life goes on.... Life continues through all the emotionally tumultuous breakups and suicide bids and mark sheets.... All it expects from us is to get up, tidy up ourselves, laugh at our folly (so that the people around you don't laugh at you), Make a mental note of what happened and what you will do in future.... and..... move on...... Jump back into the flow of life and let it take you through its course.....

We live in a world where originality is a rarity... all art is, but, inspired from something or someone in the past.... hence, making a slight correction to a wonderful dialogue from the movie, 'Gladiator'..... Misery smiles at all of us, all we can do is... smile back...

Another year....

Another year passes by, another picture on the wall.
a monotonous cycle of summer, rain, winter and fall.
same resolutions, destined to be broken.
Many dreams, still to be woken.

The dream of a promised life,
health, wealth, children and wife;
Is hoped at the end of this strife.
In the dark alleys of moonless night, I grope.
We all live in a constant hope.

Tomorrow will become yesterday in time.
Even Lemonade is but, water, sugar and lime.
Any day is only worth its shame or glory.
when there is a promised future and a forgettable history.

To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme...

Words, now, resemble bricks on a wall,
What was once a ripple in the river.
Pearls of an oyster, indifferent to the strings of tune.
The world still makes sense, when the words don't rhyme.

I say what I mean, the message still goes through.
People need not always follow suit, but I at least did my job.
I might as well have said, "At least my job, I did do".
But the world still makes sense, when the words don't rhyme.

What good did the poet do, that the playwright didn't?
Lives are changed by reason, not rhyme.
To rhyme is vanity. A picture of a lavish spread in front of the starved.
To rhyme is hypocrisy. What rhymes with "rhyme"? sublime? lime? dime?
The world still makes sense, when the words don't rhyme.

We all sense the same, in a different way.
Making sense was never a reason to rhyme.
The world may still make sense, when the words don't rhyme.
But that was never the point.