Fathomless and unbounded
The ravine filled in August
It had rained incessantly for weeks
The mud baked walls had mellowed
How I wished I could hold them close
And prevent them from disintegrating
Evenings stole on me,
Games of a different sort.
Morn...Smoke curtained trees, flowed
Embers from the night's fire
Unsatiated, still glowed
Strangers and kin
A collusion, oblivion
I journeyed to the yore
I have a faint remembrance
Is this how it were before?
Long years have gone by
I cannot look back
Shallow puddles, paper boats
Take them asunder
I am challenged by daunting moats
Fathomless and unbounded
The ravine filled in August
It had poured, night after night
Water streaked walls crumbled
Paper boats, soggy and wet
How I wish I hold them afloat.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Garden City - Parched Throats
The Hindu prints " Not all citizens have access to safe drinking water in Bangalore. Yet the BBMP uses more than 160 lakh litres of borewell water for its parks, medians and junctions everyday"!
Appalling.
Reason - Treated water likely to cost more.
I consumed tap water in my kitchen for 2 days and was down with stomach infection and fever. This forced me to look for bottled water. Most of the people do likewise.
The treatment plants are not located close enough to the parks. They have fancy plans to build new plants, start rainwater harvesting etc. I pray it is accomplished before any further damage. On second thoughts, does it really matter? I can survive on bottled water. Should I be worrying about the thousands I see on the streets and in the slums?
I can afford to move around the town and appreciate the green gardens and well maintained traffic junctions. Do they earn enough to spend Rs 50 on a 20 litres bottle of water?
I would rather like to watch Disney's Tarzan and Jane than worry myself silly over all this.
Appalling.
Reason - Treated water likely to cost more.
I consumed tap water in my kitchen for 2 days and was down with stomach infection and fever. This forced me to look for bottled water. Most of the people do likewise.
The treatment plants are not located close enough to the parks. They have fancy plans to build new plants, start rainwater harvesting etc. I pray it is accomplished before any further damage. On second thoughts, does it really matter? I can survive on bottled water. Should I be worrying about the thousands I see on the streets and in the slums?
I can afford to move around the town and appreciate the green gardens and well maintained traffic junctions. Do they earn enough to spend Rs 50 on a 20 litres bottle of water?
I would rather like to watch Disney's Tarzan and Jane than worry myself silly over all this.
Scarlett
Years back I had read the book "Gone with the Wind". It is a big book and very interesting. Revolves around Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler, Ashley, Melly and a host of others. War, misfortunes, struggles to keep her home Tara alive and losses.
Now I am reading its sequel Scarlett. The book is not very different from the previous. Another set of losses and mishappenings. What keeps me going is the one statement I love about these two books..." I will not think of it now, I will think of it later ".
She is a strong woman. The only good attribute to her. A little crazy and shrewd at times. I do not like her much, nobody does. Some people even pity her. That makes me relent and let her be.
The author Alexandra Ripley writes in a fashion a little different from Margaret mitchell's and sometimes overdoes my favourite line. She has succeeded in doing 'part justice' to the sequel. Anyways sequels never are a match to what the first books are. Good attempt.
Now I am reading its sequel Scarlett. The book is not very different from the previous. Another set of losses and mishappenings. What keeps me going is the one statement I love about these two books..." I will not think of it now, I will think of it later ".
She is a strong woman. The only good attribute to her. A little crazy and shrewd at times. I do not like her much, nobody does. Some people even pity her. That makes me relent and let her be.
The author Alexandra Ripley writes in a fashion a little different from Margaret mitchell's and sometimes overdoes my favourite line. She has succeeded in doing 'part justice' to the sequel. Anyways sequels never are a match to what the first books are. Good attempt.
The Fabled Lake
I touched the surface with my toes
I did not see a ripple
It was glass and stiff
The fabled lake.
I drew my shawl around me
I did not see a warm ray
All beams dropped on it
And disappeared.
I tried to dip a finger
It was cold and grey
I did not feel at home
Formidable and proud, it shone.
Scared, I called out their names
Desperate, I tugged at the binds
They wouldn't take me back
Left where I was, tired
I sat down by the fabled lake.
I did not see a ripple
It was glass and stiff
The fabled lake.
I drew my shawl around me
I did not see a warm ray
All beams dropped on it
And disappeared.
I tried to dip a finger
It was cold and grey
I did not feel at home
Formidable and proud, it shone.
Scared, I called out their names
Desperate, I tugged at the binds
They wouldn't take me back
Left where I was, tired
I sat down by the fabled lake.
Home Alone
"I understand English and Hindi".
"No Eenglish...vonly Kannada"!
"Coconut with 'Malai'"
I get a coconut with water only. On being queried, he explains something in Kannada with a smile on his face, obviously oblivious of what I had asked for.
I left the terrace door ajar last Thursday morning as per the instructions of my landlady. When I came back from work in the evening she was waiting for me at her door steps. In a very difficult mixture of Tamil, English and mime she explained that I should latch the door. I gave up and did not even try to explain, that I had left it open as she had instructed me on the first day (or maybe I had understood her incorrectly - more likely).
I had picked up a road map at the book stall and had studied it for quite sometime, so that I would be able to figure out my way around the city. I had also presumed that if I travel for a while in hired three wheelers I would learn the roads soon, but most of the roads are one way, never do I come back home the way I went out.
It is only when I am home in the evening, with music, a book or magazine in hand and vegetables to pare, sitting on the threshold to my terrace that I feel at home.
I am home alone and I love it.
"No Eenglish...vonly Kannada"!
"Coconut with 'Malai'"
I get a coconut with water only. On being queried, he explains something in Kannada with a smile on his face, obviously oblivious of what I had asked for.
I left the terrace door ajar last Thursday morning as per the instructions of my landlady. When I came back from work in the evening she was waiting for me at her door steps. In a very difficult mixture of Tamil, English and mime she explained that I should latch the door. I gave up and did not even try to explain, that I had left it open as she had instructed me on the first day (or maybe I had understood her incorrectly - more likely).
I had picked up a road map at the book stall and had studied it for quite sometime, so that I would be able to figure out my way around the city. I had also presumed that if I travel for a while in hired three wheelers I would learn the roads soon, but most of the roads are one way, never do I come back home the way I went out.
It is only when I am home in the evening, with music, a book or magazine in hand and vegetables to pare, sitting on the threshold to my terrace that I feel at home.
I am home alone and I love it.
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