Take a deep breath

Inspired by this post on brainpickings.

It is indeed worth pondering that we as a civilisation have lost the ability to live apart from time. Time, not that inexplicable thing which over which tectonic plates move, but time of the red queen sort. Evolution tells us we cannot wait a moment, that we have to keep running. And we run- towards an apparent goal, away from things we despise. Yet, we are always far from where intend to be, and rather too close to where we don’t want to be. Let it be financial goals, or career goals, or even personal goals,  we fail to achieve what we want.

We have come to measure success in weird terms, like the number of houses you have or your bank balance. But, success as a race, as a species should be in our ability to coexist and progress, to live in happiness, with strong health, mental and physical. We define happiness in weird ways, and seek to sooth our despair in vestigial rules, while losing focus on what truly matters. We try to replicate supposed happiness our forefathers had through rituals, or we try to fight it all, and claim that the present is all that matters. But ultimately, very few of us are happy. We lie to ourselves.

We live in fear of failure, as individuals, as a society, as a nation, as a species. Our music reflects this, our movies do, our arts do- everything around us is a tribute to the apparent conquest of our fears, although we never quite do so. Fueled by this, we run, we give in to time; we run till we fall; we run till we end up in a hospital bed and hear that the insurance doesn’t cover our treatment. Our savings for a better future are lost in a supposed cure, and your legacy ends up being a bunch of photographs which fade too fast, because today’s corny capitalism requires things to be perishable.

We have come to view ‘work’ as effective use of time. And for this we try to suck the life out, put our spirits in a cage and lose touch with our better selves. This work is nothing more than being a clog in the system, a merciless martix which we have created and we run. All but a few live outside this, and we chide them as negligent, as far too capricious, and tell ourselves that their happiness is but temporary. We yearn for currency,  whose value changes inexplicably; we yearn for recognition which all too well loses its meaning faster than we seek. We live at such a pace, we live by such precise clocks that all that persists is a vague feeling of uselessness, an insatiable insecurity, prodding us to move on to something better.

Maybe, it is time we take a breath as Neruda says, put things in abeyance like Whitman says. Maybe, it is time as a species we reach out to that part of us which many of us ignore and help ourselves. And from that will stem a recognition of what we have done- the chaos we have created called civilsation. A world of class, of inequalities. If we don’t do something about it, all we would give the future humans is pain, insecurity and nurture the need to destroy it all, in the quest for peace.

The problem we face is not the languages you speak, but the different languages across generations, across cultures, across beliefs. To top that, we fail to listen to each other and scream, and scream, and scream in hope of being heard. In the end, we give in to weapons, we give in to those instruments of fear, to enslave, to shut out what we fail to understand. There’s no pride in what we do, there’s no joy, there is but the war on terror, which we call the war for peace.

 

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I am not a book review bot

Howdy world! I have not turned into a book review writing bot. Blame it all on twitter! I never have the motivation to write a post any more. The blog was once upon a time where after much deliberation, I would write a clearly worded rant. But now of course, the little blue bird and 140 characters rule my life(addiction, you see).

There are a number of factors, which have led to this post. The cherry on top of the black-forest of course is that I met Brainstuck and The Alchemist. Over come with nostalgia and admiration(it was a Harry meets Dumbledore again moment), the little (kid) dinosaur decided that it was time to make an appearance again(much like a renegade school boy, I used to be).

Of course, what exactly I am supposed to write fails me. If only there was a Mississippi(yay! I got the spelling correct for the first time ever!) I would be a Huck Finn,  rescuing a Tom from the clutches of authority and helping him to escape North. As it stands, I am lost in a world of monkeys on typewriter, forever writing the script of you-know-who knows what.

Life, has turned, back flipped, somersaulted and even spun around in a Romanov influenced roulette before being dipped in the spirits of confused responsibility. One thing that hasn’t changed though is that I am still made of the same skin and blood and brains, unscathed by numbers, laws, boredom, accidents and gravity. The world as a maitre patisserie would say is like the sponge layer.

One of the reasons of abandoning ‘blog posts’ probably was that it was the vogue. But the nouveau riche of twitter have with some panache revived the Prime with All Spark-esque memes. And when a silly girl’s post became an overnight sensation much like a boy who think he can sing, it was time to contemplate a return to the not so dark art of writing blog posts.

Blogposts have gained social acceptance faster than Galileo did but twitter has gained social prominence faster than your great granddad who got a OBE did. And prominence is much more tempting than acceptance especially since it is the only way to sate your ego after seeing a 100 million likes on that stupid status update. Nevertheless, a blog is a blog is a blog. A space where your everyday trash can become priceless junk in the future.

Thus I return to being a blogger from a reviewing bot. If I fail to write a post a week feel free to fast and start a campaign on twitter. I shall without fail consider mentioning your efforts.

Until then, so long and lots of Plationic love, yours truly, V.

Smile on!

From photoshopped

From photoshopped

From photoshopped

From photoshopped

in the jaws of death

 

From root

HA,yes,they look very friendly don’t they?

From root

I am in a mood to play prank,well see closer ,closer,come closer to the screen,see the photos! Bhoom! Now you are in there.

From photoshopped

If you can’t read my handwriting: left: Yummy! Humans..I’m lovin it.  right: Walk faster,i want a leg..he he he..

 

You are in trouble for sure! Lol,lets see how you save your self.You have got options here,would you trust these two?

From photoshopped

if you can’t understand my handwriting:Left extreme: dude,that guy is seeing us!! Shall we have a snack? 

centre: Yummy!( thinking)

right: Come here,i will show you the way out 

OR…

From photoshopped

If you can’t understand my handwriting: U r hot…can i kiss u?Don’t worry, i won’t hurt you! Please darling,i will get u a role in CROCKYWOOD! 

Or are you the brave type who will fight your way out?

light write!

Choose either(or both) of the photos below and write whatever you feel like.

w(e)ave a tale

Below are 7 photos.You can write on one ,all or how many ever photos you want.if you choose to use more than one photo,there should be a connection between them…happy w(e)aving….

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

….Teaches….

Cowardice teaches you bravery,
Anger teaches you patience,
greed teaches you poverty,
hate teaches you love,
disrespect teaches you respect,
tears teach you to smile,
depression teaches you elevation,
suppression teaches you emancipation,
failure teaches you success,
death teaches you life,
illusions teach you reality,
misery teaches you joy,
division teaches you unison,
one teaches you unity,
negative teaches you positive,
darkness teaches you light,
black teaches you white,
strife teaches you peace,
humanity teaches you inhumanity,
touchwood or serendipity
you just need to discover
and understand the other.

3 bears and a doggy

i might be cynophobic but this dog here can’t scare me 🙂 see i even shot a picture of him!

this guy thinks he is scary,but well i am bigger 🙂

lol! this is supposed to be a santa bear….but because of the heat in Chennai he decided to try out a new look..

and they all are one happy family 🙂

the tongue i want to know

behold the secrets-
listen to them-
the waves rush at
the sight of you.

what tongue
they speak i do
not know,still
avid they pour
their tale at my
feet.beautiful
it was, but
beyond perception,
i meditated upon
yet nothing sank.
as they saluted
and retreated
i was left with
a feeling that
all that known
was not known
to me and in
search,inspired,
me the seeker
left them to
their peace.
i will return,
one day-
and speak to them
and learn the secrets
that all i always
wanted to know.
sea you still inspire me.

presence felt

it lasted till it did.
the unknown trail
dispersed into the
unknown,its origin
known only to it.
between the clouds,
from the sun,
a message
for all, to cleave
our way.presence
is felt only when absent.