Quick Shopping

Ok people, I have a band now. Yes you heard it right, a band. Not a rubber band, a music band. And it is called Quick Shoppers. Now those of my musical friends who are looking up to the heavens and sighing "Why, why, why", relax.. I am not singing, not playing instruments, not composing music. I am the quick song writer of Quick Shoppers.

At present the band has four members, Rohit Malshe , Anshuman Sharma, Padmini Pidaparthi, and yours truly.

The first song with me as song writer can be found here:
Music by Anshuman and Rohit.
Singer : Rohit Malshe

For more from Quick Shoppers, visit Rohit's YouTube channel at

http://www.youtube.com/user/rmalshe

Yay for Quick Shopping !!!

Reflection

Why did you think
That the one behind the mirror
Is the real you ?
Trapped in an inverted world
Behind a wall that is both a barrier
And your only hope for an identity.

Why did you think
That the one on the other side
Is only a ghost
Trapped in a living world
Yearning for a cocoon to sleep
And dream of a new life.

It only needed a splash
For you to see, it was not a mirror
But just water, that had stopped flowing.

घर की रोटी

सर्दी की एक सुबह थी-

मैं आधी जगी, आधी सोयी सी,

नन्हे हाथों से आँखें मलते हुए,

सुनहरे सपनों में खोयी सी,

माँ को ढूंडने रसोई की ओर,

झूमके चली जैसे सावन में मोर |

माँ बैठी चूल्हे के सामने,

रोटीयां बना रही थी गर्म,

चकला, बेलन, अंगीठी, तवा,

से जादू चला रही थी नर्म,

आग में यूँ जब फूल रहे थे,

सपनों से भरे बादल जैसे,

काले कोयले के लाल आंच पर,

नींद भरे आँखों के काजल जैसे,

मैंने हाथ फैलाकर कहा माँ को,

"मुझे भी आटा, मैं भी रोटी" |

माँ ने मुस्करार एक लोई,

डाली मेरे हाथ में छोटी,

मैंने हाथों के बीच दबाके,

बनाया एक नक्षा सा कोई,

माँ को बोला "इसे भी सेंको,

मैंने भी करनी आज रसोई" |

माँ ने हंसकर मेरे नक्शे को,

बड़े प्यार से तवे पे डाला,

पलट पलट के सेंक कर उसको,

यूँ हलके से थाली में निकला,

फिर झूठ मूठ ही बोली मुझको,

"वाह! बड़ी हो गयी, बिटिया छोटी! "

बड़े दिनों के बाद आज फिर,

एक सर्द सुबह की अंगड़ाई से,

भूले बचपन की गहराई से,

याद आ गयी घर की रोटी ||

Human

You thought, with one blow,

You can take away my innocence.

I thought, with one dream,

I can build my defense.

You thought, with another,

You can take away my dreams,

I thought, that my faith,

Shall mute their dying screams.

You thought, You can stab

At the heart of my faith,

I thought, that in living,

I shall not see its death.

You thought, You can be

As God, as You wanted to,

I thought, I shall forever,

Be more human than You.

Meri twacha (?) se mere umra ka pata hi nahin chalta

I was attending a conference in Chicago last week. My first one too. It was quite an enjoyable and somewhat productive experience. And then there were those rare bloggable moments, here's one of them.

I was in the poster display area, and as usual too much science and too many scientists make me crave coffee (I think that is a universal property of scientists). I kept my badge, which I was really tired of hanging around my neck, in my bag, left my bag in the hall and went to get some coffee. When I returned with the coffee, a guard or whoever it was, who was assigned to stand at the gates of the hall, stopped me. He was an old African American fellow, with small kind eyes, stubby grayish beard, grayish hair, wearing a red jacket. He stooped low near my ear and said very softly but with a slight rebuking tone, "Young lady, where is your badge?". His voice reminded me of old Catholic nuns in my school. I made my best absolutely-apologetic-unmistakably-cute-kitty face (no not the best actually, that I am saving that for when I get caught for drunken driving) and said "Ohh I am sooryyy, I forgot, I left it in my bag :( ". He replied, "A badge is not for keeping in the bag young lady!", the rebuke still palpable in his voice. And then in a yet kinder tone, he went, "Will you promise not to forget it next time, miss". I vigorously shook my head in affirmative with an earnestly-promising-never-to-do-this-again look. He let me go and I went back into the poster display area.

Some half an hour later, my friend and I decided to leave. As we were exiting the hall, I was stopped again by the same guard. I was taken by surprise, when he stopped me again like last time, stooped close to my ears and said with his best (?) i-think-this-is-inappropriate-but-I-gotta-ask look, "Young lady, will you be terribly offended, if I asked you what is your age ?" I greeted this question with the characteristic amusement I usually greet such a question with (I should really really start taking offense at this soon enough), and broke out into a little laughter and said "Oh no, not at all, I am 25!!". And then I heard a little squeal coming from a close by region in space, i had not yet noticed. I looked up to see this guy, also a guard with a red jacket, almost jump up in triumph. He was a frail, delicate fellow, has soft pink lips, very smooth features, his jacket clearly oversize, and his mannerisms clearly effeminate, and I think he was incredibly sweet. He said quite excitedly like a kid, "I told him so, he would not believe, I am a year older than you" (I hadn't asked for that information). The old fella looked despairingly and shook his head in defeat but laughed nevertheless. I was quite amused and said,  "So what is wager ? Can I get a share ?" And we all laughed.

And then the old guy gave me a most indelicate compliment : "Young Lady, I must say, you look quite wonderful for your age"

Yeah :|

:P

Whisper

I wish we,
Me and you,
Would sit up late into the night,
Tell some tales, some stories old,
Whisper in the dark, some secrets true.

I wish we,
Me and you,
Would race up the hill, in frenzied rave,
Would fall panting on the glowing grass,
And watch the heavens blissfully blue.

I wish we,
Me and you,
Would make a snowman, out of the storm,
Catch flakes of wantonly drifting mirth,
In a winter cold, but an ardor new.

I wish we,
Me and you,
Would talk of homes and homelessness,
Would walk on nowhere leading paths,
Would heal some scars, some pains accrued.

But do we,
Me and you,
Exist at all ?  Maybe we do.
Somewhere behind the looking glass,
Where we, you and me, can never be, alas!
But I will have us no closer no far,
I will have you just where you are,
A place where there is no sunbeam, no frost,
A place where I am just the air,
And you are a whisper often lost.

Chemicals in the brain

It was a great morning today, bright, shinny, a bit chilly. You could comfortably bundle up in 2 layers of warm clothing, with your cheeks and nose getting cold, I like that. I was waiting at the bus stop, my mind full of newfangled poetry, about summers and springs and winters, of hope and pain, of songs and dances and then I saw this written in yellow and pink chalk on the side walk, where I was standing

Now your my whole life, now your my whole world. And I just can't believe the way I feel about you girl.
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in and I'll look at you and say, "And I thought I loved you then."

For the first time in some centuries, I did NOT think "chemicals in the brain" when I saw the word "love". I thought it was incredibly sweet of the guy to do that. I imagined the flushing cheeks of the girl, and the kiss that would ensue.

However, long way down my thought process, when I ended up having them break-up and also felt disturbingly sad for them, the chemicals did pop back in :P
Fatality is my hallmark.