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Showing posts from May, 2020

Summer: Colours and Shapes

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 ~ ~ Summers bring in fresh colours and shapes on campus The fetish for brooming has taken a back-seat this season  and these colours and shapes are more pronounced ~ ~  I enjoy walking on these leaves, feel them tickle and caress my naked feet, listen to them crackle as I walk . . .  When I shared this with a friend she responded with these lines by Gulzaar Saab " . . वह सूखा पत्ता उस लकड़ी के पुल पर ही पड़ा था उसे उस पुल पे आने-जाने वाले पैरों का डर था  कुचल दे गा कोई भी, पीस देगा पाँव के नीचे . . " ~ ~  Many of these leaves and flowers are decidedly happy  with each other  If there was a line that would appropriately suit all these fellows being together it is a positive version of  "सब साले मिले हुवे हैं"  ~ ~  Each is special their shadows too have colours  गुलमोहर पीपल  ~ ~  Reminds me of children playing undisturbed Neither adults nor objects appear half as fun  in such topsy-turvy p

Poems, then and now

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Poetry Poems then Some of the initial memories of poems are from my days in school. Few of those poems have since stayed with me, be it the Gujarati poem by Narsinh Mehta I was taught in 3rd standard or the efforts our teacher took to discuss To The Skylark . The later during 9th standard. Schools also made me hate poems. Especially when we had to mug them up for oral examinations. I recall beginning to dislike Rabindranath Tagore. All this despite loving English. Years late when I read more about Tagore I realized how silly a folly it was. And that not many schools, even today, can boast of the spirit to discuss Where the Mind is Without Fear ! I too during days of rising to and falling off love wrote what I then thought was poetry. The other day I came across one and cringed! Poems today  At home During recent times poetry is back in life and how. Raghuvir Sahay aptly puts in in Aaj phir shuru hua   ". . आज फिर शुरू हुआ जीवन आज मैंन

Campus: Some Webs

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* The other day came across cobwebs like I had seldom seen before  Gardener uncle said this was not a seasonal affair Was reminded of Ross Perot,  Life, he said,  is like a cobweb – not an organization chart * Webs along the bark of the neem tree catch its flowers ~ flowers that move with grace of trapeze artist to the background of the stately bark! * मंदिर के बाहर रखी चादर या धुप में सूखने रखा दुपट्टा! * Customized bottle cover Or a beloved's embrace! * Mosquito nets placed over plants Or furniture ( like in earlier films ) covered in white cloth! * Why do we broom away these webs of life and then 'play' a sanitized version using ropes and standing in circles! * Friends discussing the next prey  Or weavers talking of the art! * Such fun they appeared to have ~ the myriad flowers, butterflies, spiders, webs, leaves and all their brethren *