The Middle Ground

Dear Champa  The world is tainted by the lies and sins of mankind, yet you continue to bear the weight of Narada’s curse for a single lie you spoke. Fate seems to have been unfair to you, that you should still be punished for a trivial error when Ahalya, Mary Magdalene, Amrapali, Vasavadatta have all been ‘redeemed’ apparently and set free from their humiliations.  The Chameli, mogra and sadafulee, though friendly, simple and innocent, pale in your comparison. They adorn stone idols at temples, the dead at funerals, the barely alive at brothels, you participate neither in the sacred nor profane. When you bloom, your gaze fixed at the moon and stars, there is something about your quiet self-assuredness, that makes one pause for a while and take notice. By embracing your judgment so gracefully and humbly, you set an example for everyone who has been judged and condemned. You became one with the Creator’s purpose for you - to be yourself - fearlessly, unapologetically  May n...

If you are me, you are not a morning person. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, into your head come rushing the events of the previous night in most spectacular detail, then the events of the past week, followed by those of last 5 years, and finally your whole life — all crunched into a script that you are not interested in reading, delivered so abruptly and so unforgivingly as if there was no other way to orient you and set context. As you calm down and make yourself a cup of tea, all you want to do is dodge but fail, then block and say, “ I know this already, just let me be”. You gradually warm yourself up with light exercise and tune into Guided Meditation with Deepak hoping you’ll glide into the day smoothly, knowing all the while that you are not prepared for the harsh sunlight of the post- breakfast till lunch time period. Each day as the sun sets, he returns your superpowers that he takes without your permission every morning — as the moon rises, the muse returns coax...

of hugs and sighs, big sunglasses and smoke (and hash and dope) of friendships to die for (with friends to die with) of kindness and generosity amidst endless laughter and painful tears of anger bottled within (and love doled out by heaps) of loneliness and need, some desires and a little bit of greed of mistakes and learning and the poetry of e.e.cummings of pillion rides and old songs of dreams and celluloid, and a heart full of void of brave love with crazy, stupid men (for a pinch of vermillion and a dead fish) of sincere prayers and elusive peace (and the debt crisis in Greece) of breaths, both lost and found (and caught between kisses) for the sake of life dear, in between and of course, a certain yellow submarine

To all the men in my life who aspire to be saints and ascetics, to every person who advocates inaction or even detachment as the way to stay away from conflicts or struggle, thank you for showing me the other way. But I will not allow your opinions to come in the way of my interests which are absolutely worldly in nature. Because passion for plain awesomeness, cannot exist with non-involvement. For awesomeness shall be my life's goal every moment that I live. I will consider the alternate course only when I will have struggled to have a taste of everything life has to offer today. My struggle will be like the struggle of Man, who has had to do everything by himself to be whatever he is so far. I will work till I bring about change, I will climb the mountains, cross the rivers, laugh through all the tears, love till my heart breaks, be impatient, careless, and funny and love over and over again if I have too. It is only this way that I can do justice to Life. Here's chucki...

I am the Afghanistan that your America has pilfered. I used to be naive before, but since I have understood your cunning I don't trust you. I am the hard work, sincerity and the toil that you crushed and trampled with your cunning and deceit. I am the talent which never saw success because you snatched my opportunity. And so my eyes have become the mirror into which yours can hardly look into. You have beside you a chattering parrot which tries to seek your attention, fluttering its mascara-ed eye lashes and pouting its red beak. You stare outside the window, the least interested while I look on with amusement from the seat behind. If I were with you(instead of the parrot), I would sit by the window; you would want me to, every time. I am that kind of a woman. You waste your time taming a hundred such parrots rather than be with someone like me because between the both of us, I shine. You are definitely polished well, but I shine. I am that g...

(to the loser from venus): let me do the loving while you decide between your options: pretty face or nice ass let me do the reading while you flip playboy pages: plain vanilla with strawberry lips or cocoa butter with choco-chip nips (Shaven smooth or otherwise) let me do the cooking while you regale your friends with phony tales of your bravado (overs pints, ales and barrels of beer) let me do the bread-winning while you memorize match stats (and shag to porn) let me do the forgiving while you cheat everybody in the world let me stand high and haughty (almost like a tree) alone always but never without use unlike you

This post is about a companion in my adventures - easy and daunting, my steed in mucky terrains and smooth, a reliable friend who sometimes remorselessly burns a hole in my pocket - my car, Abhimanyu . As I sit down to collect my thoughts, I smile at the fond memories of the time we spent in each other’s company. 2 years ago, I had enrolled for driving lessons at a local driving school who would take me through the process of obtaining an Indian drivers license along with fixed real -time driving kms/hours. I attended the classes quite regularly - with the instructor beside - the clutch, brake and accelarator shared amicably between us. Sure the car moved along the lanes slowly, and stopped rightly at the signals, but could I drive a car on my own ? I brought this point up during a conversation with the branch manager of my bank who is also a friend - she suggested that it helps greatly if you can practice on your own car everyday for some time. That really set the gears of ...