RAIN ! RAIN !

Oh heavens!!! It started raining after I reached my shed and it kept on pouring. It has been like this always. Whenever it rains, something builds up within me, something that I cannot express in words. When the clouds form a canopy in the sky and declare the arrival of rain, something very subtle and very romantic stirs within me. Given the freedom I would like to dance in the rain, or sit at home, listening to the incessant music of rain. Sometimes I think why rain brings so much of excitement with it. May be some weird people like me connect with nature and existence in a very different way, in the pure state of the whole existence or the universe. Living in an age of science and technology, when man is blindly running after petty things and material happiness, connecting with nature has become a dream. A few days ago I was sitting in the Planetarium with another fifty people. It showed how big this whole existence is and how our sun is only a small star. We are only a solar system and innumerable other solar systems would be existing beyond our belief and imagination. The vastness of the existence makes us realise how small we are, not even a speck of dust are we, yet so involved with the external world that we find our own greatness and even assert it.

In moments of leisure, I often think that one day we will have to leave this physical body and go. This mysterious universe, things inside and beyond it will exist and keep changing slowly, by human standards. We don’t know what lies beyond our planet, what lies beyond our solar system, but we see nature spread all around us in its full glory, but we don’t have time to open our eyes to these. We are busy with our small and petty lives chasing happiness which, in truth, in ever elusive. The mountain ranges, the wide rivers, the streams and waterfalls, the trees, flowers and birds, all these treasures of nature are gifts to us, but we remain entangled with our own egos, ambitions and aspirations, our enjoyments and desires and forget to count nature’s blessings. We have only one life and we don’t know even when our life will be snuffed out. The rolling seas and oceans, sunshine and rain, winter and autumn, birds flying in a formation, the beautiful expressive eyes of animals, the green corn fields, the blazing gulmohar trees in summer, the song of the cuckoo and thousand other beautiful things in nature remind us of God’s existence in numerous forms but we remain so occupied with our small little lives that we forget to communicate with nature.

I have, in my life, got the fortune of viewing the arrival of technology, in the form of refrigerators and televisions, mobile phones computers; have seen how people have drifted away from social bonding and communication towards TVs and computers. We have forgotten about God’s gifts to man. And the result is rising crime, isolation of old people,blind imitation of the west in everything except their work ethics, growing consumerism, loss of love and affection among people. Man has become an island. Still, everything is not lost. There is a possibility of growing with technology. It depends on us on how we use it without compromising on our personal and social relationships and most importantly, our bond with nature. We don’t know what lies beyond this life. So, while life is, let’s go back to our pure state and bond with nature. Let’s go back to floating paper boats in the rain water or collecting hailstones, climbing hills and travelling by boat. Nature’s purity is still intact in some parts of the world. Let’s preserve it before it’s too let to undo the damage. Let’s dance in the rain uninhibited.

The inevitable life

When the sole people

You call your own

Will go, one after the other;

They will go you know,

The house will wear the silence of death,

You can break it though with

The blaring of television or digging deep into

a popular best-seller.

The shapeless will haunt you with their unseen

presence, with their movements

and their old monotonously familiar gestures,

A few distantly known faces will drop in

At times, and you will see and hear

Patches of good life

In their voices and faces.

At the dawn of the night, silence will spread its

blue wings and loneliness will pounce

Upon you like a carnivore,

The faces of the two gardeners

Who nurtured you will flash and flash,

Drowning you in tears.

You will fall asleep towards the end of the night,

Clutching at the image of an insane person

And the distantly visible memories

Of love-soaked moments,

Which time will be trying to snatch away

From your psyche,

The only moments you lived

In transformation of a dream woman

Bustling about doing things for some loved one,

Wearing the wings of undying

and unfathomable love.

The Survivors

It was neither nonchalance nor indifference, just a passive mood. I looked at the people and their words fell on my ears alright, but I paid least attention as there was enough of turmoil going on in my mind. The din in passenger trains is inescapable A hawker came, another came, they kept dropping in as they usually do, in trains. One was talking convincingly; trying to sell some item which he claimed was very cheap in comparison to market price. I forced myself out of the indolence that had set in sync with the movement of the train and my lack of interest in the world around me, and saw that the lady sitting before me was holding a golden coloured watch in her hand and was turning it over and over to checking it was genuine or not. The article looked quite pretty and I was quite surprised to know that it cost only seventy rupees. Then only my eyes went to the seller when he told the lady that the watch will last at least one year and she could throw it afterwards. There was such honesty in his voice and manners that I turned to scrutinize his face closely. He looked a perfect gentleman and was neatly dressed. His face belied nothing; no joy, no sorrow, no anger or mockery.

When the lady showed enough interest in buying the watch, he took out many other articles like bangles, imitation ear rings, ear buds, pens, mirrors etc. In that compartment full of people, articles, which, otherwise, would have appeared completely lacklustre, looked divine. And he kept the surprise up, by bringing out articles, one after the other. Bargaining is an inevitable thing. The man disarmingly relented, yet, told that he didn’t make a lot of money so the customers should be reasonable while buying. The lady’s husband asked him how much he made selling things in trains. He told that he made around six thousand from the trade and had other petty sources too. He further told that recently he had a misfortune that beat him down or his business was going on pretty smooth. On being insisted, he told that he lost his wife recently in an accident. He escaped alive from it but his wife died on the spot. The people in the compartment were shocked to hear that, because nothing in the features of the man revealed that he had had such a terrible loss. He was calm, and went about his work in a very matter-of-fact way. Unconsciously, I kept staring at the man in awe. He looked at me and the other people in the compartment and looked away. There was still nothing in his face to betray that he was sad, only an empathetic heart could see the tears that never flowed or the pain and anguish the person had bottled up inside him at the terrible turn of fate. He was a living example of patience, forbearance, and quiet acceptance of life’s unpredictable twists and turns,

We often are knocked down by the blow of fate, we wail, grumble and whine that God has been very unkind to us, but there are people among us, very ordinary people, who have nothing extraordinary to claim, yet they face life with extraordinary quietness and courage which most of us lack. They are not beaten by the thorns, they stretch their hand towards the rose, and they bleed, yet strive for the flower. Whether they get the rose or not, that’s immaterial. Their immeasurable faith in life is what makes them unique. I was so moved by the predicament of the man and the way he handled it, I almost hoped that we all will be able to carry the huge burden of pain fate sometimes inflicts on our souls, throughout our life, and learn to live with it.

Living twenty four into seven

You have wings?
Want to fly? Fly, but you may get lost among
the tall trees and the floating clouds.

If you fly low, you will be safe.
If you seal your lips, you will live light,
The other path will take you on one
full of pot holes and boulders, and suddenly,
you may discover yourself at a dead end.

Walking under the burning sun is,
too painful,
you may not encounter a shade
a tree can provide,
one you can rest underneath,
Keep to the left, and keep close to the crowd,
Follow others, that's life.

If you dream big, and different,
Just draw in, the people and the rivers, and the darkness,
along with the light,
turn into a whirl pool of love,
Love even those, who discard you as a use and throw pen,
or a used condom, or a ladder to climb to some peak,
and walk away
without scruples or with some
loud justifications for their deeds,
Love them, because they are too weak and crippled
in their souls.

Feel the surge of warmth, from a distance,
Be in the hallow, with a prayer in your lips,
Even though for some moments.
Such moments hardly come by, and lift you a little,
And you breathe in the air that has
a different fragrance.
You have been there and have stretched your hand
during a fall,
Nobody may look back, nobody may remember
that once you had ground your bones and churned your blood
to light a candle when their houses were dark
and their hearts were broken,
while their bodies
were hot and needed a presence.

Your eyes may betray you a whole can of tears
Still smile through the haze
Toil through the day, with the mounds of thoughts,
Weighing you down,
and sleep, waiting for another day,
and another day,
May be a day will come
when you will not have to wait,
for nothing.

Religion and Culture

Whenever I go to Puri, this thought always comes to my mind when I see the flood of people rushing into the temple to get a 'Darshan' of our beloved deities, Lord Jagannath, Bhalabhadra and Subhadra. All these people are driven by beliefs, a faith that the Lord will bless them and save them from all their troubles. After all, life is full of ups and downs, smiles and suffering and it is natural to have a God, a faith, which will keep us hopeful and stable in the time of setbacks and dangers. Not only Hindu people, all religious communities have their own Gods and Goddesses, whether in an idol form or not. Sometimes miraculous things happen, they do happen and we think that God is our saviour.

If we look into the history of civilization, we can know how, from worshiping the elements in Nature, like the Sun,the Moon, the Wind,or Water,we have grown to invent innumerable faiths and beliefs and Gods and Goddesses. They are just woven into the fabric of our life inseparably. But we never remember to think that we have created these Gods and Goddesses, all the celebrations and festivals on our own , in different stages of the growth of human civilization. Yet, we are superstitious and fearful of these so-called religious things that are created by human beings, our forefathers. Surprisingly,I have found science students to be more superstitious than others. What an enigma! I still fail to understand it. It is but natural that women believe in particular ways of worshiping and observation of days in a week as auspicious or inauspicious. Men also do the same. All of us have divided our lives into superstitious days, months or similar time zones that we regard as specific religious days.

Have we ever tried to know if there is any truth behind these man-made religious rituals? Do we ever question whether the people who made these rules were really wise or they simple inserted it into the frame of the society for the sake of power and importance? We simply follow what our ancestors were doing. In the name of Gods our business flourishes, we built enough numbers of temples, churches, Dargahs, and Gurudwaras, but never show that much compassion for the human society that is deprived. poor, illiterate and differentiated.

I am not at all telling that we should stop worshiping our Gods or stop going to religious places. These things enrich our culture and add flavour to our life which otherwise will be too boring. A life full of celebration is a happy life which unites people and hearts. But it is our culture, our rich culture. There is only one religion in this world, that of humanism. If we fast or go vegetarian on certain days of the week, we don't do any good to the underprivileged people of our society. We must go on celebrating our culture , but we should stop confusing it with religion. Humanism is the only religion that can make the world a better place, not fasting or going to religious places or chanting hymns during rituals. We go on fighting and killing people in the name of people, casteism is still prevalent in our society and prevents many hearts from being united. Until we keep confusing religion with culture, we can never truly be liberated. Our culture is our legacy, let's protect and preserve it and let it light up our lives, but let's follow one religion, the religion of HUMANISM.

Our faith is our God, Our God is with us irrespective of our castes, community and faith and we all will be rewarded or punished because of our doings, not because we have angered or pleased some God by missing a ritual or by performing a ritual. Let's start thinking and questioning, Let's not be sheep in a herd, let's take the difficult and unbeaten path rather that the path most of the people follow. Then only our life will be fruitful. After all, we have got only one life. We have no knowledge about afterlife. Hell and Heaven are our own concepts, very-much man-made. We reap as we sow. So, let's do good things or at least don't do bad things in the name of religion.