THE YEAR THAT WAS...

"Old order changeth yielding place to new
and God fulfills himself in many ways,
lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
"Ullysses" by Lord Tennyson.

Old must make way for the new but will the new be any better?
What are people excited about when there's so much chaos all around. I wonder what everyone's hopes are at this trying time.
2008 witnessed the Financial Crunch, bombings and massacres that left thousands homeless, pennyless and hopeless.Many went to the extent of taking their lives; our very own city was witness to the latter. Natural calamities worsened the situation further. The year that was,has changed history in so many ways, both positive and negative.
In the United States of America, people elected their first black president, Barrack Obama , the 44th in line. That definitely was a positive, epoch making, history- recreating feat.
However, not all changes were worth applauding.
In my own country, The Taj , one of the most prestigious hotel in the land's Business capital became a battlefield for the blood-thirsty. Today, it's walls speak of the horror coloured in blood, 'Innocent Blood'.
And that's not all, there's more to add to the woe. Here in the Middle East, the Gaza Strip is a 'Blood Bath', it has been so for a fortnight now and any hope for reconciliation is a far cry.

'I just can't read the papers today ,
'cause a child, child, child , he was murdered today".

These lines from Sineod O' Conor's song keeps ringing in my ears everytime I look at the front page of the news daily.

The atrocities are beyond a layman's power of understanding and comprehension.
I look around and keep wondering at men's trivialities. The feeling of 'Universal Brotherhood ' must have been coined out of the blue to exist only in theory . These days I find so many reasons to wonder about...

Matter of a FLING!

See how the storm carries us to endless shores and the latest storm affecting our planet is the SHOE STORM. The shoe companies are lucky that way, right time for a Booming Business!
The world is in awe for the Shoe Martyr with everyone following the new freedom of expression. The news paper reads of 'shoe throwing', 'shoe pointing', shoe showing', 'shoe flinging', 'shoe… err , err , well I need to brush up my vocabulary here.
It's the Shoe's world and shoes are here to make it BIG. It's in keeping with the saying, 'there's a time and place for everything'. This seems to be the right time for SHOES.

And 'flinging shoes' is the most sought for profession. Only make sure your socks are not holed and the shoes are CLARKS or HUSH PUPPIES, or ROCK PORT or CALVIN KLEIN or KENNETH COLE or …you can add to the list of brands.
Yes, brand matters!

Untitled

The longing, the waiting, the whining and the pining…
The swelling of the lump in the throat,
It worsens with time and these are bad times.
Where words are just words you hurl at people.
And people are stereotypes; far too mechanical and automatic.
With brains like the PlUG IN that's devoid of feeling.

BUG

There's a bug infesting the system of my being.
Numbing my limbs,
Cracking my bones,
Breaking me to parts,
Making me-
NULL AND VOID.

That bug is a human bug,
A thinking bug,
A pounding-heart bug,
That's -
Profoundly STEELY,
Extraordinarily RIGID,
Inhumanly STOIC.

WINTER SPLASHES!

'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.'

Hey, guys, join me in celebrating the third blissful showers on our very own plains. Yes, in the UAE they are 'showers of blessing'.The mighty splashes, the rolling thunder and even the dark black clouds are a sight to behold! The minute I hear the pitter-patter, I head straight to the balcony to watch the raindrop form a pool .At once I begin to compare the difference!
Had it been my hometown, there'd soon be chirpy birds bathing in them. In the lush green hills where I belong,the rain is incessant, monotonous and a wreck causing calamities one after another. Come monsoon and the paper reads of devastating landslides, road blockade and power cuts. Concrete houses are carried away like as if they were 'paper made'.Babies, birds and animals die in plenty. It's an epidemic contaminatiing air, water, wind, mind and soul.People dread it and I'm one among them.
The irony therefore is; what is a treat in one place is a disaster in the other. While people in the desert pray for the rain, in my hometown they crave for sunshine.
It is said, while in Rome be like the Romans and that's what my intention is at the moment. Nothing lasts forever, therefore, now that the rain is here, I'll dance in it, feel it in my vein ,let it penetrate into the very heart of my being ,savour it,so that this momentary bliss will see me through the sultry, dry, arid summer.

The Stocking

No, I'm not referring to 'Bloomsbury Blue Stocking', not at this time of the year. It's the fluffy RED stocking instead that hangs on every mantelpiece for Santa who comes dashing through the snow to gift us all. It's the season of giving and receiving and we have our expectations.
We do deserve the most cherished gift, that'll take us up the flight to CLOUD NINE. Oh, how I love to be loved!!! :)
Now, talking of gifts.....hmm, I wonder what Santa has in mind for me.(????)

This year I'm in the mood for something different ; I'm quite done with perfume, books, jewelry, bags and shoes. NO,not even a ticket to the World's best Destination, none of these worldy 'stuff' for me!

This year I want a LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD
Now, is that too much for a generous gift?
Let's leave it open ended.

VIRTUAL DEATH

Death comes in varieties these days and yes, you have the option of choice. Many times you hear people say, 'Oh, I'm dead' or 'Oh, I'm dying'but then you see them as fit as a fiddle . So what sort of death was that?, you begin to wonder.
In todays' world, one can die living, that's the most modern version of dying.This is THE DEATH of a New Era, the Post-Modern Death of a Post-Modern Time. .. all in keeping with the time. Man and his progressive ways has gone on to conquer death too, a feat worth noting.
Life is all about wondering, speculating, figuring; it's a bafflement, actually. It beats you all the time, infact,every single time. You can't outdo it, that's not how it's meant to be. Just as every cloud has a silver lining, every smile has a sorrow. That smile is a camouflage of the sorrw embedded within. That sorrow must be hidden lest man begins to ridicule.
Life therefore is a vicious cycle of living and dying; the day you are born , you are entangled in this mesh.
In your desperate effort to make ends meet, you die, not once but a million times. You die all sorts of deaths , experience and survive it all. Your living is Virtual Dying but you live it. These deaths mould and shape your personality and how is this experience defined by the world at large?
Well, it's called, 'GROWTH'.Your virtual death is your growth. Every experience generates unanswerable questions. You question because you are baffled, but that's only short lived, the bafflement is temporary. Very soon you become immune. Yes, immunity, is the healing power. You become immune to the countless deaths you experience and as if to say you haven't had enough, you go on living.
LIFE is this, my friend.