Eyes Speak Lies ...: April 2006

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Wandering In The Morning

Strains of music
Straining to reach the ear
Larks I see
Larks I hear
Standing
Under an old tree
Lonesome
Twigs bent and withering branches
Standing
Under a lamp post
Extinguished
A stranger cycles past
As dew settles on my eye
Standing
Outside
Peeping in through the window
Glassy
In the morning light
Standing
On the middle of the road
As vehicles rush past
Psychedelic visions
Noises
In a swirling motion
A haze
Of countenances
Boring eyes
Pleading eyes
Daring eyes
Of voices
Commanding
Shouting
Requesting
Of smiles
In joy
In pain
In sarcasm
Asking
Demanding
To let go
Yet hold on
To forget
Yet remember
Apathy
Yet
Concern
Walking
A tight rope
In hope
Of a hope
Fragile
Brittle
Yet a hope
To revive
A lost cause
The flowers
Unaware
Bloom
As dawn descends
A ray kisses
The golden skin
Skin on skin
One of a kin
Smile
Yellow and red
White and blue
Carnations
Sprouting on stems
Brown and green
Leaning against
A shoulder
A boulder
Rigid
Adamant
Stolid
Unrelenting
The deepening cracks
Unseen
Unnoticed
The cries
Unheard

Monday, April 24, 2006

Book-Tagged

Okay, it's been a long time since I wrote about books and ever since Amiya tagged herself, I cannot wait any longer to scribble something. So I tag myself from my own blog to write about my biggest passion. Books, what else.

Number of books I own
About 30, I guess.

Number of books lent out to others that never came back
I'm too smart about that (well, actually that's the only thing I'm smart at). I never lend books to people when there's a chance that I might not get them back. The person has to be within my reach at all times during the period he/she has my book(s).

Number of e-books I have
Over 200

Last book I bought
I've been on a book buying spree recently. Last time I went into Om Book Shop at MGF Gurgaon, I came back with:
Ulysses - James Joyce
Dubliners - James Joyce
The Iliad - Homer (translated by Chapman)
Odyssey - Homer (translated by Chapman)
(Had to leave out Divine Comedy by Dante since those people did not have all the three books)

The World Book Fair gave me:
Anna Karenina and Other Short Stories - Leo Tolstoy
Lectures on Psychoanalysis - Sigmund Freud

Last book I was gifted
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy on my birthday by a friend. He's gifted it to me but is yet to courier it since he's been out of money at college for over 5 months. I'm still hoping to get it before my next birthday so that I get another gift on the next one :D

Last book I read
East, West - Salman Rushdie
Chronicle of A Death Foretold - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I'm currently reading...
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Ben Hur - Lew Wallace
Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
(I can read a lot more, simultaneously)

Five books that mean a lot to me

- 'Of Mice and Men' - John Steinbeck
Wonderful, wonderful picturisation of the plight of workers in a capitalist society and the portrayal of emotions of two friends who stick to each other. One of those rare books that talk of male bonding. The end was simply superb. Amazing book.

- 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged' - Ayn Rand
One only wishes that she had written a bit less. Still, she managed to hold me till the end (not a very big achievement since I generally do finish all books), but at times she comes up with this brilliant philosophy of hers that entirely reverses your notions of this world. I still distinctly remember her definition of 'selfish' in The Fountainhead and 'the kind of woman a man desires' in Atlas Shrugged. Her characterisation of Ellsworth Toohey, Peter Keating, Dominique and Guy Francon and Henry Rearden is awesome.

- 'Great Expectations' and 'David Copperfield' - Charles Dickens
A classic storyteller who so beautifully brings out the characters and their innermost conflicts that you don't want to drop the book. The identification with the weaknesses of the characters are too intense. Its nostalgic. My respects to that great, great author.

- 'The Diary of A Young Girl' - Anne Frank
True story of a family that hides in a secret attic during the Nazi attack on Netherland at the time of the Second World War. The girl, Anne Frank, who kept a diary from the age of 13 to 15, when she was taken to a prisoner camp and killed, speaks of the plight of people in the time of war, the hardships they faced as a result of being locke dup in a small place with her childhood going waste. She talks of adolescence and the sexual revelations she goes through, the emotional turmoils, the family fights and a whole lot of other issues. A really touching collection of notes from her diary.

- 'The Third World War' - Humphrey Hawksley
Not many have heard of this book and still less have read it. Huge book. Left me feeling insecure. A gripping sequence of events that lead to the third world war when every country nukes every other country, including our dear own India. The guy made me feel that it could happen the next day.

I CANNOT pass on to the next question without mentioning 'The Lord of The Rings'. A book, a journey, an experience, I fall short of words. The only thing I can say is that it seriously leaves you craving for more. I want to read it over and over again. I'm trying to get my hands on 'The Silmarillion' for some respite but till then, this book will be special. Too special.

Three books I started reading, but never completed

- 'Ignited Minds' - A P J Abdul Kalam
Too instructive/philosophical/ambitious. What the heck. Too boring. Couldn't get beyond the first 10 pages.

- 'Barry Trotter and The Shameless Parody' - Michael Gerber
One word. Gross.

- 'Toxin' - Robin Cook
Not my kind of book.

- 'The monk Who Sold His Ferrari' - Robin S Sharma
Again, books that teach me something, desperately fail to do so.

- 'You Can Win' - Shiv Khera
Simply cannot tolerate these books.

Books that made zero sense to me
- 'Memories Of My Melancholy Whores' - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The intention was good. The desires of an old man of ninety, but could not execute it properly. Ended up with an insipid book.

- 'Veronica Decides To Die' - Paulo Coelho
This book is supposed to be encouraging and is to give you hope to live life. It didn't. Not to me. Coelho doesn't strike chord with me. Reading 'The Alchemist' was a pain. 'Eleven Minutes' was better in that sense.

- 'Who Moved My Cheese' - Spencer Johnson
Good but not so good. Too preachy. I've got an ideological problem with books that preach directly, or tell you how to act.

My most treasured books
Every book I own, though 'Great Expectations' would have to be mentioned separately. I am in love with that book.

People I Tag
Akanksha, are you listening? I think you'll love it.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Rain, O! Rain

Spatters on the soft earth
Fragments of fumes intoxicate
Pouring out its enraged drops
Stinging the naked street, petting the tired feet
The pungent hues in the sky
Scream
Yell
Cry
The clouds blush in agony
Turn crimson in shame
The floodgates hold not any longer
The pain promises to remain
Erodes away the heat
The grass cranes it neck to seek
Drop after drop, to wash its blues
Pale leaves float carelessly
In puddles of despair
A mongrel splashes in the drain
Zenith of ecstasy
Dry remain the parched lips
The rain averted
Dry is the eye
The rainbow opens it serpentine fangs
Delusions of colors galore
Wholesome light
Shattered into seven threads
Precariously hung on each other
The world always finds beauty
In pain that is not theirs
Through tin roofs squeeze
Some drops of hope
Before the hope died
Died the sinews

A solitary drop
That ventures into the dungeons
To satiate the thirst
Of the bubbling anger that boils
Silently
Swells to accommodate more than it is worth
More than it can
For all those that should
Sit back and lean
With scalded hands but masks clean
The drop rises
With burdens of unreaped actions
Of unfulfilled desires
Drunk on sarcasms
Of tears frozen
On dreary music and pelted stones
Snatching away the dearest
The only rule
There are no rules
The puddles dry, leaves are trampled
The pale grass shivers again
The mongrel’s bleary eyes
Persuade
The spineless clouds
The heartless sun
The mirthless wind
To let it rain

To let

The rain

Rain;

Rain
To camouflage his own drops

Sticking on a dirt-smeared face
Melting in the downpour
That released

The shackles
Within.

Swetank

............

Monday, April 17, 2006

I Want

I feel like cryin’ today
Something’s dyin’ today
I wish I could lie in your lap
I wish I could snatch a nap
I feel like a lost kid
In a huge world that hid
Some pleasures that I need
My heart and I plead
Let me have a little fun
My life has just begun
I want a hand to hold
A voice to cajole and scold
A cheek to plant a kiss
Younger days I sorely miss
I want to go back in time
To life of melody and rhyme
I desire a silent noon with mum
A meaningless song to sing and hum
I want those tiresome days
When work filled every place
I want my friend back
Somewhere I lost track
I want to be a kid again
And splash mud in the rain
I want to play those silly games
And give my friends silly names
I want to study hard
I do not seek to be a bard
Lost are the pleasures I want
Plenty of memories come to haunt
Scant are such moments now
I want them back, tell me how?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Night

Ah! there goes a delectable day
Drunken trees howl and sway
The sun withdraws its fiery threads
A melancholy blanket stealthily spreads

The flowers droop, the wind sighs
The wounded darkness silently cries
Solitude writ on every countenance
Misty eyes glaring, shoot a look askance

The moon saunters to the fore
Silver rain, eager to pour
The night resists, darker it is
The shadows dim, death they kiss

Every effort to thwart the light
Brought forth the night’s plight
The moon smiled, shone evermore
Soft, stinging arrows, darkness they tore

It sought to salvage a vestige of esteem
But dawn muted the anguished scream
Tattered robes and tattered pride
Tottering night found no place to hide

Eyes Speak Lies ...