Live...

This earth is mine,
every part of it.
And it is yours too.
I don't belong anywhere
yet I belong everywhere.
The vastness has space
for you and me to live,
though you may not believe.
An imaginary line drawn
on a land which may move
with a jolt of a quake
or an eruption,
separates you from me.
The most random occurrence
in the world,
birth,
can it give the right to own?
The beauty of human life,
every thought,
every relationship,
every feeling,
a lifetime of moments,
can it end in a moment?
A mother knows the pain
of creating a life.
You know the joy
of ending it.

Adrenaline

Screeching noise
and warning signs,
acute curves
and narrow roads,
every turn was better
every sound was good.
Blaring music
and funny banter,
confidence in the machine
and the ability to maneuver,
steep slopes
and rock walls,
a brake too late,
speed too high.
A second close to death,
but a fence in the place
of the slope or the rock.
A lesson not to believe too much.

The One

Mystic of a name
Magic of a new start
Romance of a date
Love of a life time.

Slowness of time
Madness of distance
Overlap of thoughts
Layers of strength.

Depth of emotion
Lightness of life
Speed of events
Vastness of joy.

Eyes didn't lie.
Heart didn't cheat
Words didn't leave
but speechless I am.

A Child?

Backwards through reality
in the twisted sense
of time.
Flashes of brilliance
followed by awe
and sense of inevitable blankness.
Synchronized play of lights
in a bigger sequence
incomprehensible and illogical.
A sense of presence
in the events and people
and yet floating around
in a different dimension
away from all.
A dance on tiny feet,
random and innocent,
shy and untalented,
copied and wrong.
White light,
broken solutions,
a hint and they are gone.

Stepping up to you.

I was special, a lucky omen.
My birth coincided with your rise.
I grew with the all the love.
Straight were your deeds and words.
An honesty and integrity
never equaled.
You taught me not to lie,
not to be afraid
when there is nothing to hide.
The honor of life.
The unwritten code.

With the power of words
and the power of the past,
you rose.
Hard work and confidence.
A born salesman.
Too many people believed you.
Luxury and carelessness came in.
Values and honesty went out.

Fall from the pedestal was hard.
All of us went down with you.
The right and the wrong,
Not through your words
but your life.
Spectacularly close to success,
but excruciatingly far.
Your ways didn't change.
The hypocrisy was too much
for me to ignore.

Living a king's life
when you had nothing
that you own.
Majesty which comes from the stride,
not the money.

Always young and open
to learn new life.
A wonderful, restless, beautiful, contrived,
intelligent and clever mind that you had
which you wasted on a life
that could have been bigger and better.
And who am I to judge?

Can I ever step into those big shoes,
see the things you saw
and do the things you did
and still not give up on the face
of an epic failure?
Regardless of what becomes of me,
a lesson was there to be learned.
My life would be an answer to yours.
And mine would be a question
which would be judged and answered by time.

Heroes!

I had very few heroes in my life. The common factor has been the ability of these heroes to be the best in their chosen profession or path. Except for my Dad, I never cared about what these heroes were outside their chosen field. I never cared about their personal lives. I never tried to meet any of my heroes. I never proclaimed that I am a fan. It is just a silent acknowledgment of their greatness and my own way of exhibiting my admiration by trying to be the best in my chosen field or anything else I do in my every day life.

Dad: My first hero was my Dad. He deserves a separate post. My life has seen so much of him. I would take years to understand the effect of my observations about his life. I wouldn't say he is the best Dad in the world. But I would say that he led his life on his own terms. With another toss of a coin and a bit of luck on his side, he would have reached the peak. But the abyss and the peak are right next to each other and can only be understood by the people who try to climb and fall. Salute!

Mom: If family is a profession, my mom excelled in it. Her sacrifices are infinite. She went to any extent to keep her children away from all the trouble. She valiantly took all the pain and gave us comfort. She didn't care about her health and life in the process. Such is the dedication she showed towards her chosen path. Salute!

Sachin Tendulkar: Outside of the cricket stadium, he may not be my hero. But once he steps into his cricketing shoes, I worship him. At that level of expertise about cricket and the skill to execute every shot in the book to perfection, he ranks on the top of my list of heroes. Aamir Khan mentioned in his blog about his experience of watching 20-20 final with Sachin. He has stated that Sachin could predict every ball bowled. He could exactly say what it would be: shorter one, slower ball, yorker, googly, doosra, good length, over pitched etc. My heroes are not rated on any other characteristic other than their expertise in their field and their ability to be always the best. Salute!

A.R.Rahman: In a rare interview given by him after his National award winning film, Roja, he said "Music should be deep. If it is a dance number, it should make you move. If it is a soft song, it should make you cry. And it should be different every time". And this man has delivered. And he continues to do it. Every song is different and deep. Salute!

Stephen Hawking: I couldn't think of words to describe my feeling for this person. With his body, I wouldn't have survived for a few hours. And here he is, struggling with the basics of life and yet scaling new heights in quantum physics. "God plays dice and throws it in a place where we cannot see." - Stephen Hawking ended his book, A brief history of time, with those famous lines. Truly, Stephen Hawking is a special throw of dice. Salute!

Steve Jobs: Outside of electronics, he may be an arrogant dude. But when it comes to design and marketing of cool electronic gadgets, he has no parallel. This man is a fighter. He rose from the ashes to reclaim Apple and take it to the top again. He rose from his own health issues and gave us iPhone which redefines everything that is assumed about a phone. He is a maverick. He is a genius. He is the best in his field. Salute!

Unnamed faces: There are fields which are not visible to the world. But there are so many people who dedicate their lives for a chosen path and be the best in them. They go unnoticed. They live for their own happiness. And in the process, they create better lives for many others. Salute!

Aunt: She is deaf. Her husband abuses her. He doesn't work. She struggled in all odd jobs to keep her family of three children afloat. She is dedicated to her family more than my Mom. She is an example for how not to lose heart in trying circumstances and how not to give up. Salute!

This list will continue to grow. Also I want to be on my own list of heroes. That would make my life.

Happiness

Every moment can be cherished.
It doesn't matter who you are.
Nor does it where you are.
It doesn't matter with whom.
No matter what you are doing,
happiness is not a destination.

Its time!

The dull regret of reality
and the boredom of truth.
Where are all the dreams?
Where is the joy
and fascination of the vivid
imagination of hundred years ahead.
Where did science fiction
and Isaac Asimov go?

Why don't I think
about stars anymore?
Did Pluto actually lose
its planet status?
Was that the latest
news about space?
How about the quantum mechanics
and pulsars?

The little universe
where I used to travel
faster than light has disappeared.
Mundane tasks and fleeting moments
of joy have taken its place.
Where did the enormous appetite for books go?

Reality is interesting
in its own way.
It proves my relevance.
When death comes,
it doesn't matter
how many ideas I had.
What matters is how many
I have implemented.

Here, there and everywhere!

We passed by a long time back,
without knowing what each other meant.
Later we passed by, again.
This time you evoked a sense of familiarity.
Later, we met.
We greeted each other.
We were uncertain about each other.
Then, we started knowing more.
I started seeing you in more places, I visit.
I was comfortable with you, then.
Later, we became closer.
You started getting into my life.
I started referring to you in conversations.
You became a part of my life.
Then, later, I passed by another again.
And the whole cycle continued.
Infinite were the variations.
Unlimited were the options.
I was amazed to find how you fit
into complex situations.
And how you provide solace
to the suffering souls.
And how you inspire and motivate.
Your power could break a heart
in a second,
or make that heart to remember
you forever.
I found the magic of you.
Words are friends
and you were one.

And next time, think before talking!

Aroma of the basmati,
lightness of the banter,
eagerness to fit in,
a blank moment,
an innocent comment,
all round laughter
and a warm adieu
to the wonderful evening.

An instant before the comment,
a small thought about it,
too close she was,
I thought,
to mind me,
too much did she know,
to doubt me.

Another evening,
another week,
a normal call
with a sad message.
The comment was too personal,
may be because of too much
closeness.

Some time away
to think about it.
Too close we were
to ever express
the real depth.
Beauty is in not saying it aloud
that you are special
and this friendship is sacred.

And it was just a stupid joke
gone all wrong.

To play to win

To stand in the path
of certain defeat,
and to think
about play and life
and decide that
to play to win
is real play
and all other play
is not play.

To play the best
and to never give up
in the face of defeat
and to pull off a victory
when world says
that it is impossible.

Whoever said play is just play,
winning or losing doesn't matter,
has lost before play.

To win
and applaud the rival
for his effort,
to lose
and know that
one never gave up
till the end.

To get up
the next day
and get ready for
another fight.

To keep winning
in the purest sense
of the word,
is never giving up.

And it's 7:00 AM again!!

Time never gives up.
Every day is a battle
to keep it still.
Relentless is it's pursuit.

It is contradictory.
More it is
when we do less.
Less it is
when we do more.

It keeps taking it's toll.
When we look back,
it seems that it has been too soon.
And when we look forward,
it seems a long way.
When we look at it,
it stays still.
When we look away,
it runs ahead.

It has moments which
come at us at a blinding speed
to make us notice and admire
its sheer power,
while it has some
which refuse to get over.

When we wake up to realize
that it is another day,
we know that there weren't
many where we made our way.

Yet that special day is always
on the horizon,
waiting to happen
and change our life
in such a wonderful way.

And that special day gets over
and another one shows up
in this journey
to the destination
to which we will never lose our way.

Are you free?

Freedom from the past,
Known stereotypes,
First impressions,
Old memories,
Regrets and close chances,
New notions,
Blind beliefs,
Fear of the new,
Uneasiness of hate,
Rationalizing the indulgences,
Misplaced sense of importance,
Heaviness of ego,
Irrational logic,
Outward sweetness,
Unnecessary pride,
Baseless feeling of ownership,
True freedom is not outside.

Do you hear it?

It drowns the thought
into the depths of sweetness,
lifts the spirits to the infinite,
brings back flashes of events,
lifts nature to the conscious,
defies definitions and genres,
keeps the tradition and the modern alive,
arrives with the season,
frees the occasions of ennui,
takes the mind on a journey,
commits strangers on a common mission,
keeps a part of brain to itself,
makes the pulse rise high
to the beats which race through the nerves.
A common language of hearts
like the universal smile,
a dance of sound and silence,
rhythm and melody,
pitch and harmony,
love and hate,
and a myriad other feelings
and events,
Music takes humans beyond known horizons.

That's why

Words last forever.
Life after death.
Strangers connect.
Inspire and learn.
Happiness in comments.
Love of limelight.
To have an opinion
and a place of mine.
Long periods of silence.
Sudden spurts of energy.
Unknown readers.
Known critics.
Blank mind.
Depth of emotion.
The secrecy of pen names.
No faces.
Why do I write?
I write for me
and you.
Sometimes I don't
and I don't know why.

Nirvana

Disjoint levels of thought,
multiple vantage points,
variety of conclusions,
all sound and true.
Many directions to follow,
starkly different destinations,
right and wrong interlace
and fade away.
A bird's eye view
and a microscopic one,
the devil in the details
and the one in the overview,
worries of the minuscule
and the fear of choices.
Everyday life,
ultimate ambition,
hunger for food
and hunger for knowledge,
Middle lines
and mediocrity.

They don't

Staring back with all honesty,
being as real as life and death,
breaking all resolve,
inspiring a raw smile,
or a quick dance,
or a miniature facial circus,
being someone we avoid with all might
just to get back every day and night,
making us realize our true nature
and the inability to change it,
reminding the smallest of flaws,
judging every move,
killing all fear to live
and all courage to die,
Mirrors - both material and human,
don't lie.

Office Politics

Plastic smiles galore,
back stabbing at close range,
Seething anger within,
Sweet words outside,
pleasure to watch hypocrisy and histrionics,
side by side.

Joke or Joker?

Back when I was a kid,
You were too big to imagine.
Made long trips
to be in your presence.
It always felt weird.
Something absurd.
You were supposed to be everywhere
watching everything.
Yet when we wanted to meet you,
we had to queue up.
You were above and beyond
all doubt.
Blind faith.
You were beyond all knowledge.
Reason stood no chance
to understand your infinite power.
Questions were hushed up.
Answers were rare.
People kill each other in your name.
But what can we say,
you are omniscient.
Foolishness has limits.
But when it is you,
there can be none.
Little did I know,
we created you,
the best variable ever,
a joker card which can fit
in every gap science cannot fill,
a drug more addictive than any other,
billions have been hallucinating,
for thousands of years,
millions have died in your name,
millions will,
while you remain invisible
without any proof.
I cannot blame you
Because you don't exist.
When Man wanted to hide his ignorance
he named it God.