Luna Noctiluca

Snap

2008-12-18T20:22:00.001+05:30

snap!
I could almost hear it,
as the broken cords lay everywhere
like snakes around my feet,
writhing- trying to coil themselves around me.
I kick and scream...try to push them away,
they recoil- but plunge back at me,
jaws snapping poisonously.

Ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
What does one carry back?
These endless ties that weigh us down,
like a snake around one's neck.
Everyday the grip becomes tighter and tighter,
and you are afraid to let go,
the sweet poison that does your wine become.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

She

2008-08-30T22:08:00.001+05:30

She's mad usually, otherwise just bored.
She's quite a brave one, but cries for hurt dogs.
She can cut you to pieces and mend you lovingly
but if you cross her, you'll live *hopefully*.
She'll pounce on you like a wildcat
or cold shoulder you to glory.

She wants a shell of her own,
doesnt realize that she has it,
the black flowers blossoming around her,
a result of the six nights in hell.
Don't look into her eyes when you undress her,
she'll turn you to ice.

Every night a veil comes down,
the eyes hide behind them the spring of her time,
instead she takes you on a trip,
through her narrow, cobbled alleys of winter.
And if you don't mind your way enough,
you reach a point of no return.

For, I too have lost my way,
through the winters of her eyes.
To this day i am haunted by her presence,
searching for the comfort of her gaze.

Teardrops on Fire

2008-08-15T21:03:00.003+05:30

Wants, desires, longings, cravings,
Will they ever cease to be?
The hand outstretched, the sighs sent out,
Will they ever return to me?
The twinge of green, breathed orange,
Will they ever turn blue?
The fingering of a diamond lovingly,
Will the sparkle set me free?
If I sell my soul to devil,
would my desires then be met?
"I want, I want", the song on my lips,
Will it ever find a rest?

August Rush

2008-06-02T00:35:00.002+05:30

Blues and Greens
swirling gently in the breeze
you come up to me
you say,
come take my hand
lets sail away on a song
lets put it all behind us
let your song be mine.

Our fingers meet,
they merely touch
i draw back:wait.
my song...do you hear it?
if i sing it with you
would i come back to it?
would it still remain 'mine'
or would you change the words with time.

Let me find my own song
and hit my highs and lows
let me paint my pinks, my yellows
mix my purples with blues
let my flowers bloom with the deepest reds
let my blacks be the whitest still
let me sing my own song
till i find my August Rush.

Political Furor disrupts DU

2008-05-22T02:02:00.004+05:30

Having grown up listening to thousands of folklores on Indian mythology, the recent violent uproar of ABVP(Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) against A.K Ramanujan’s essay “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation”, which was one of the recommended reading for a course on Ancient Indian Culture in the BA (Honours) programme, shocked the students of Delhi University. After reading books like Ashok Banker’s “Ramayana” (the much lauded series which is also being produced as a cinema) which lends the whole concept a “Lord of The Rings” touch, such hooliganism in the name of religion which compromises with intellectual freedom is unacceptable for the DU students.

On the 26^th of February this year, ABVP (the student wing of RSS) activists ransacked the University History department and manhandled the Head of the Department Prof. Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri. Ramanujan-a widely acclaimed scholar with impeccable academic credentials- had intended in his essay to explain how the Ramayana is interpreted in various ways across India. This however did not suit certain right wing individuals who claim the final authority on Ramayana- namely RSS or their juvenile counterpart-ABVP. They interpreted it to be an essay which is “malicious, capricious, fallacious and offensive to the beliefs of millions of Hindus.” What angered the DU students was the mortifying manner in which it was handled. Around 100 people-who were NOT DU students-gathered outside the School of Social Sciences building, led by the former vice president of the DU Student Union Vikas Dahiya. They had, in a move which is very fishy, informed the media about their delegation and had started vandalizing the department the moment the media arrived there instead of having a proper dialogue. The DU History students, joined by other student union parties, staged a counter rally showing their disapproval for one of the most fascist organizations of India.

The Student Political parties of DU which suddenly come alive during the election period of the academic year are only known to participate cursorily in the movements which the students of the university organize. For example, the protest against the mass molestation of women. And now to top that, these parties are engaging in controversies which strait jacket academic research and scholarly pursuits. Most of the members of these parties do not care one hoot for the welfare of the students or the university but are primarily engaged in promoting their own political careers. Some of these members are involved in fake marksheet scams to procure admissions in bachelor courses of the university so that they can contest for the elections again and again. These members are shamelessly ignorant of most of the facts around them, as one of the ABVP spokespersons displayed when he demanded to meet A.K Ramanujan to abuse him, oblivious of the fact that Mr. Ramanujan has passed away 15 years ago.

Hindu College student Priyanka Singh says, ‘ABVP is unjustified in exploiting religion to gain political mileage’ and this is a sentiment which is shared by hundreds of DU students. Political parties therefore are eyed with suspicion in Delhi University. The attitude of indifference towards these parties is born out of such meaningless controversies. Hence, political parties in the university are nothing but a waste of time, space and huge amounts of funds every year which could otherwise be used for research and development in various fields which is much required in the university. A country which is based on secular democracy should not face such religious crises in the 20^th century. And as members of young India, DU students have decided to take up various issues which the political parties manage to either ignore or end up making a spectacle of.

2008-05-19T16:39:00.000+05:30

I was just going through all my written stuff and I came across this…I had the habit of debating while in school and there was this one inter school competition with a very attractive topic: ‘A woman "unperfected" by the media’. It was a hot and burning topic back then. I remember I used to have periodic bouts of disgust by the various Ads which had women drooling over men in their undies!! Sigh…its still the same but somehow I feel the temperature has fizzled out a bit…Its almost like people have given up protesting and have redirected towards indifference. I still feel strongly about it and was very happy to come across this piece (and I also remember shouting into the mike at that school: poor kids) also…I’m pleasantly surprised to find out that I was always this crazy feminist woman all my life! HAH! So there!! All those guys (and girls) who hate me for my anti-men stance: I don’t give a damn!

Earth’s noblest thing: A woman Perfected.

Earth’s noblest ‘thing’. Today that is how a woman is perceived: a thing, a mere chattel. She is not a living, breathing being but a magic wand to accomplish one’s desires. And this is not coming as mere rants of a crazed old school feminist but as an aggrieved woman who is confused and sad about the path the society is on. Why the ‘noblest thing’, a woman perfected is well on its way to distortion! Let’s take an example from our day to day life. Ah, why not talk about the most hen pecked field: media. If we take a look around, nearly everything under the sun needs a smiling effigy of a woman for its promotion. Why a girl needs to dance out an entire song to sell a pair of shoes, I will never understand! Yes, maybe it’s a treat for your eyes but ultimately we are talking about shoes here! Now if you have to have a girl dance out a song for you to buy a mere object as a shoe, think about what status and importance she holds in your life.

Advertisers often emphasize sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products but research shows that this places an undue pressure on people to focus on their appearance and since everybody cannot have the size zero figure(the anorexic fit that is gripping the nation), it creates low self esteem and increasing death rates. Admit it or not, most of us at sometime or the other while flipping through a magazine or surfing the television have compared ourselves to the models. We have all wanted to like them.

A woman has been reduced to a state of an eye candy, photographs of whose bare backs are used for promotion of cheap B grade flicks. Eyebrows are raised and political agencies shout themselves hoarse against such images but at the end of the day nobody really cares about the humiliation the woman had to go through to end up on that local wall. The point is that these women are doing nothing but degrading themselves and the sad part is that the average teenaged girl finds it pretty neat.

This article does not mean to state that the media has had only a negative on today’s women. In fact it has done some regular miracles for them. But as its human nature to critically examine things first, all these instances and facts flash in front of our eyes and being a part of the female community I feel like boycotting all those people responsible. Honestly, when I see a girl driving herself crazy over a shaving cream or watch an embarrassing spectacle of a woman drooling over men’s underwear, I cant help but shout out ‘what are you doing??!!’

Media has played and always will play the largest source of influence in our lives. In this case, all they can do is show some compassion for half of the world’s population. Making a woman miserable is no show of power anymore. The world is changing. In fact this article might also be outdated. But a message to women who still think skin show is in: Please use your head for once!

p.s.: all the verbal expressions have been of course omitted out (well-duh) and i have edited it a bit but i assure you it was one crazy spectacle a debate! :)

In Memoriam - Becky

2008-05-19T16:01:00.000+05:30

My Becky.My companion with those soft,liquid brown eyes which always seemed to glow with mischief. He came into my life when i badly needed a little doggy friend.....This brown little bundle of joy caused even more excitement than my brand new boudi!!! Needless to say, boudi was his favourite!Becky was the naughtiest dog we had ever set our eyes upon and he had an appetite to match! His arrival into our life was very ceremonious. My friend Tenzin decided it was time for Becky to leave his comfy cozy home and face new challenges in life! And what greater challenge than surviving my mad household! Obviously he had a hard time giving Becky up, anybody would. But I fell in love with Beck the moment i set my eyes on him. I was floored by this puny brown fellow who had his master's expensive Umbro scarf around his neck( expensive tastes he had!). My father, always crazy about dogs, loved him. His paunch became Becky's favourite siesta spot.

Though we always knew that Leo (our first pet-a Doberman) would always be our first love and my trusty sidekick cum companion, Becky became our little baby, loved and pampered by all. He was like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise lifeless household. He would chew up someone's shoe, break a cup, eat up my earrings or destroy an almirah! Mum would passionately declare that 'this dog was to get out that moment' and the next moment she would be cooing all over him and feeding him. My big brother would jump around, run after and pull all sorts of crazy antics with him. My Boudi was the caring big sister. She would defend Becky till eternity and shower him with love. All sorts of baby talk and cute superlatives would then be showered upon him. Becky seemed to be the canine version of those people who would get away with murder by smiling. In his case, it would be a lick and a wag. But when it came to authority, my father's one stern 'BECKY' would make him sit perfectly still with not even his ear twitching! But in two minutes he would be back to his crazy loony antics!He seemed to take after me in that case. He was my baby, someone who would listen patiently to all my woes and answer my totally random questions by cocking his head to one side and blinking. And when i would start ranting and raving and talking to myself, he would saunter in casually and sit in front of me and look on patiently as if telling me: no dear lassie, you are not going crazy,just one of those days you see. Sigh...why are dogs so much more patient than human beings? Becky was another loving pet,just like Leo before him, who would just brighten up my day. Dear Beck, we all miss you and hope you are getting enough birds to chase in your doggy heaven. And we also hope that they have provided you with enough chewy rubber balls and never ending supply of bones. And if you meet Leo up there tell him we miss him everyday as well. :) RIP dear friend.

Hello, Goodbye.

2008-05-18T11:36:00.000+05:30

My dear lord...its exactly one year later that I am touching this blog! Its not as if i wasn't writing or was underground but i realized after the initial spurt of enthusiasm that i was still not ready for this world of exhibitionism! My lunacy driven bouts hence returned to their proper home i.e the pages of my diary. But now that I am wasting away in the excruciating summer heat of Delhi, I feel the itch to put my creative juices into action again and probably cool off a bit. But then after all those irksome tutorials and projects my mind has become vast and blank like the ever expansive ocean...... So I put again on this website whatever little that I tried to write during my hibernation period. Now that the blogging ethics and lessons are learnt I might not feel that weird about sharing some bizarre events of my lunacy driven life and share some thoughts that have come out of the oddity that is me.
Or maybe i'll start tommorrow...hey i told you im lazy!

Confessions of a teenage drama queen

2007-07-27T22:21:00.001+05:30

u kno how u keep planning your life and everything just keeps getting wrong and the whole thing comes out as one messy Bollywood movie thingy!!! a B grade one at that......U know its times like when i hate the nature's bitchiest creation called "Murphy's Law" :if things can go wrong, theres probability that it will go wrong". Well wid me its "even if things cant go wrong, theres all the certainty in this whole wide dear Lords world that IT WILL DEFINITELY go wrong!!" im tryin to make so many plans tht they kip gettin interwoven n collide wid one anudder.....woe is me!!!
note to self:hve to stop wallowing in self pity!!
sometimes i see myself as this relentless drama queen who throws a fit at every tiny thing, goin into sighs n actin bereaved......i some how cnt make myself realise tht i actually did go thru so much pain n hurt which made me act d way i did.....so i try to trivialise things by signing myself up as another teenage drama queen!!! im cleopatra in full throttle action!!! acting out every bit to save my ass!!! hehehe wow im disgusted with myself.....but rly...if u act like whtever hurt u wsnt tht big a deal neway n tht u just overreacted den dosnt it hurt less? cos den whtever happened to u ws just part of this huge play...not real at all....jst smthn u needed to react to because it ws in the script...it ws nothn personal.....it was not real....not real at all.....

poor lost soul....

2007-07-19T21:10:00.000+05:30

thnkn abt wht to write is such a headache!! i somehow end up all blank like a pen gone all dry..... my thoughts become all muddled like the ickey gunk usually found on fountain pens gone wrong!! durin the hols i thot the clg wud provide enough fodder....but ah!! life never seems to disappoint me in proving me wrong! clg is once again, in one word, BORING! so my first day strtd wid me being awaken very very rudely by my alarm clock!!! i had forgotten abt those!!!*sigh* i realized that d days of innocent frolicking were over......wipinhg the gunk out of my eyes i finally prepared myself for a bright new day, a bright new adventure and *aah* a bright new life!! my role as a senior wud be sooo much appreciated!! (so wht if i look like a 12th grader) after making sure n again making sure i looked at least 18 i stepped out for clg.....n d first words i heard at clg were "Walcum to Hindu Calidge....have a rose..." So i looked like a fresher!!!!!! u wud thnk tht aftr endurin one year of mind numbingly hard time they wud at least-NOT give me a rose!!!!!!! but noo....its d first day isnt it? has to go bad....u hve to keep the tradition....anyway....aftr discoverin i ws d first one to arrive(surprise,surprise becos im usually late fr all my regular classes) i wandered around aimlessly not darin even to look at d freshers 'coz the 'R' word these days gives me d creeps too!! den finally i spotted two divine souls from my class...my own class...ppl i knew!!i almost jogged across the street, almost crashin into a bike, and met dem like long lost soulmates.....anyway tht territory is the one which is totally not explored in my life:the social skills one....hve none!! usually am totally dumb whenever a prson wnts to talk to me i go: "huh...uh...yeah...me too" or "really??thts grt!!!" or smtimes no words of wisdom....just a mightily suppresed grin tht ppl actually take as a vicious snarl....phew im tired....mebbe il continue tom....nitey nite

2007-06-30T12:40:00.001+05:30

Darkness and vision
enmeshed into one.
A shadow of a shadow
a picture of nothing.....

The darkness falls, the vision clears,
The pictures start moving,
And lo, there lies a girl below,
her face gently glowing.

A girl without a name,
a dreamer of dreams
a chaser of shadows,
of visions so real.

There she lies juxtaposed,
in light,darkness and dreams.
Of thoughts so out of place
it makes others squirm.

Of flowers and canaries she knows not,
of birds and bees she has not heard.
she knows only of slime and murk,
no sunlight has ever touched her.

Her face, a glassy countenance,
Her cheeks ever so hollow.
She dreams of crossing the dark tunnel,
And see the world above.

But binding her are shackles and chains,
Surrounding her boundaries she dare not cross,
Her sisters lie around her hurt and maimed,
Of men,she just knows they're ugly and gross.

Her words, they betray her,
they always seem so wrong.
Her masters who ridicule her,
Oh! They are a worthy lot!

The battles they had won,
the lives they had taken.
The tales of gratitude,
of those they had forsaken.

The plunders, the loots,
and all the massacres.
The rape of the lock,
of paradise lost.

The girl listened in gruesome-awe,
biting back retorts.
She despised hearing her captor's tales,
but she had learned from before.

Was it so horrible,she wondered,
marred with blood and death?
Was everyone so hungry for blood,
that all that mattered was the sword and sheath?

For she had heard in hushed whispers,
tales from her sisters.
That the land above was full of joy,
that would tear her masters asunder.

Of elves and fairies and brooks
that chuckled with mirth,
rather than the fearful,fire breathing
creatures that seemed to crawl the earth,

The sister whose wondrous tales,
kept her alive,
suddenly one day,
went silent and died

ok then..one of my first attempts at poetry...therefore no rhyme or meter...i know i know...and it seems to be dogged by my very old habit...inability to stop or come up with a good ending......hmm...Hopefully ill find a way to help d girl escape her hell.

Shards of Mirror

2007-06-07T11:09:00.000+05:30

Dooms day.
House of mirth.
Tears Glisten.
the lights fade...

Fall-out shelter.
Broken Hearts.
Four leaved clovers.
Shooting stars.....

Rock music.Resolution.
Che Guevara.
Revolution.
Frustration.

Literature.Love of arts.
Politics. Dirty innuendos.
Gender bias.Capitalist market.
Arts destroyed.

Down n Out

2007-05-28T11:31:00.000+05:30

life has never been this messy before!!! almost as if all the color has faded away....now all that is left are the vulgar and garish shades which blind you instantaneously. been doing the rounds of the hospital...has been a month now....things at home seem poised for world war three. a lot of things are now at stake....my family,my career,my life.(this IS a depressing blog) but theres always light at the end of the tunnel......that is only when nobody seems to be obstructing it...GAH!!!in total soup!!!! no silver lining or four leaved clover or horseshoe to help me out of this one.......Anyhow Seinfeld and Friends are still helping me along and as long as Lewis Carroll helps me seek sense in every nonsensical thing...i will survive....and keep falling through the rabbit hole....