My battlefield!

Every child has eyes full of dreams, till life catches up!

As I fancy a look back to my school days, before the advent of the smart phones and readily available internet. Where evenings were spent outdoors, and watching television was rationed to few hours a day. A trip down this memory lane ripens the image of rushing to get my autograph book filled and filling in the same for my friends. We were all a bright bunch of kids, full of life, full of smiles, ready to take the next big leap.


The autograph books had various columns, and most of us filled them up so thoughtfully. The innocence of that age still leaves me in awe. One of those columns was 'ambition', a word worth pondering for many more years to come. There were a lot of my friends who fancied becoming a pilot, an astronaut, a singer, an actor, a doctor, an engineer, a cricketer, a scientist etc... And, as I look back at those moments, a deep sense of nostalgia engulfs my being.

Time reigned supreme, and everyone is busy with their own lives, working in cubicles differing only in their sizes, and busy collecting and writing off cheques! Every new day is a minefield of opportunities, where we tread so carefully that we often forget filling in the column called 'ambition'.

Ambition drives us to explore ourselves, the uncharted territory which can only be explored by the person himself/herself. Many of us, lose ourselves as we grow. Yet, we slowly find our way through various life-times and experiences.

Over the years, I have explored, discovered and rediscovered myself in many beautiful ways. And every once in a while, I explore the remains of a cricket enthusiast in me, it transforms me back into that young lanky kid who was utterly passionate about the game and would run his heart out for the team.

Luckily for me, my friend captured a few moments from our latest weekend match, where I was scheming for my next delivery. I had bowled a short one and the batsman edged it for a boundary, it is a state of utter helplessness for a bowler when an edge finds the rope. For the next ball, I ran in hard, with the ball gripped rather too firmly between my fingers and as I let it out a yard quicker, the batsman was on 44, he walked across to play it square and got trapped as the bowl skid and kept low. It was my first, and only wicket for the day after a barrage of nicks and edges that saw the boundary ropes rather too often. We went on to chase down the target of 190 without a hitch, all thanks to my teammate who sent the opposing team on a leather hunt. All in all, it was a satisfying game.

Every game brings with it an opportunity to learn and experience new things, cricket has been a game which always takes me back in time, when we played our hearts out in spite of the odds.......!

Photo courtesy: Varun Chugh
http://www.outlineofphotography.com/

"The Woman"....... !

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” 

~ Sherlock Holmes

In the show, Sherlock is the genius who possesses an exquisite degree of observation and deduces what would have just gone amiss in a sea of things . Yet, a naked Irene Adler pushes him to the limits of his science of deduction . 

Our brains are tuned to connect nakedness with a lot of worldly things, and we often forget that we are all born sans clothes, au naturel . It is the beauty of being naked, the epitome of physical vulnerability that teaches us a lot of things . As nakedness drives the body vulnerable, love drives the soul . 'Love' the four simple letters which resonate with the deepest of our emotions . Have you ever wondered what love really means to you? Is it the warmth that you get from the naked entangled body of a fellow human being? Is it the warmth that you feel in the embrace of a loved one? Is it the warmth of the tears that smudge your eyes when you miss a dear soul? Is it the warmth in your heart when you smile to yourself for the first time in days or years? 'Love' with all its simplicity is the most complex word ever created . Annals and annals of texts have been written through out human history, to forge a shape for this word, yet everything falls short .

The most engaging of stories have chronicled various ballads between lovers... Where the lovers promise each other an eternity of love in this temporal world . The most certainly uncertain parameter in this context is time . Does love truly evade the concept of time? I will leave it to the mercy of lovers, for a person himself/herself would be the better judge . Coming back to the show, the character of Irene is 'Sher-locked' and stands vulnerable as her fortress crumbles . What Sherlock feels for Irene is shrouded in mystery, who outplayed whom in the great game is left to the interpretation of the audience . Yet, at the end we see Sherlock with a smirk on his face and murmuring to himself "The Woman.... the woman" . 

"Sex: Male/Female"

Valar Morghulis - All men must die!
Valar Dohaeris - All men must serve!

These two phrases have caught on like wild fire since the screening of the last season of Game of Thrones. I was pondering over these and wondering what men really stand for!

Men and Women are equally vulnerable, for men let their ego get the better of them and women their emotions. Isn't it such a grand design? Trying to comprehend an unbiased version of the intricacies of this grand design threw me at many a crossroads over the years. "Why do we do the things we do?"

Though I am not a history scholar, I believe the society is an organism which has been brooding over the question of sexes for as long as human evolution. In this modern day, has this organism figured out which is the stronger or the weaker of the sexes; or has it complicated the issue even further? We start branding the image of sex, religion, race, culture etc. the very moment a baby throws itself out on this planet. All hail, for we are mere mortals! Yet the Gods haven't excused themselves of such differences.

Neither the Gods nor Mortals can survive a generation longer without the balance of the sexes; we all need it to let this society thrive. The fad for equality has been trending in the modern day; aren't we equal in birth and death? We all come from the same mothers' womb and fade into the same eternity as life passes out of our bodies. Every application/form that we fill asks us for out sex; can't we do away with that? "Why do we do the things we do?"

There might be a day into the future, where human evolution grows by leaps and bounds, and realizes the importance of a perfect balance. Thus, doing away with sex completely and creating a human being with a combination of "XYX" chromosomes. This might do away with a lot of strife that the world faces today........ or not?   

On the road!

Travelling has always amused me in the most amazing of ways, it is often tiring and leaves one exasperated , yet wanting for more . Every trip opens ajar a whole world of possibilities and lets you explore new domains that arise with each mile . A solo trip into unknown territories has always been at the back of my mind for years , the constant adrenaline rush of what lies ahead is worth the push . And the gravity of that push led me to drive through fields and valleys , hills and deserts , and through countrysides and cities . I found myself dosing off in parking lots of deserted petrol stations , smiling like a baby as I watched the rising sun through corn fields , getting lost (thanks to the GPS) , chatting off with strangers , and meeting old friends and making new ones . As John Keats once said , "A thing of beauty is a joy forever..." and every thought of the pristine beauty does fill my senses with a dose of high grade cocaine . As the journey continues , I realized that every journey gives rise to a new one , and many a times the journey is within . A solo trip , gives one the enormous space and time to explore all the things that matter and all the things that are amiss , each mile increases the yearning for a close one and adds value to the quality of time that we spend on this planet . I have always recommended , and will always suggest to anyone ;  fight your inhibitions and go on a solo trip to unknown lands , forget sticking to a plan and let the things flow.... you never know what you might discover!

Pictures from my trip.....

Amalgamation

I have wandered in silence through the lonely night,

I have wandered with diligence through the misty light.

I stay afloat the mortal ways,

I stay afloat the moral gays.

I stand the sweet nectar rays of the moon so bright,

I stand the sweat and scorching rays of the sun so high.

I smile through my unbearable pain,

I smile at my extreme joyous gain.

I push myself as I see the end so nigh,

I push myself to bend the latest sigh.

I live to love the purple gaze,

I live to solve the penultimate maze.

I feel the blood in a beating heart so dear,

I feel the blood in my hand striking fear.

I love to live with thy beautiful grace,

And,

I’ll love to live a life with a gentle embrace.

~Pancha Janya~

Strom in a Tea Cup

I question, and I will keep questioning till the end of my existence, because knowledge is my birth right and the only true right that I stand by.
People will get embarrassed, they will detest me, loathe me and even beat me up but they will never touch my soul. The core of my very life force, built and nurtured by the knowledge within and surrounding me. My words will be lit by the fire of revolution, the revolution of thoughts and deeds, I will question the beliefs on which the generations of humanity have feasted without regret or understanding. It is the time for an era of thinkers to emerge, who shall guide the rays of idealism from being extinguished by the sands of mediocrity and ineptitude. The moment arises over the period of human history where each wise soul shall face the greatest barrier of overcoming the very sight of the image that hindered the growth of existence. The illusion which binds us with such impregnable chains will be shattered in the dawn of the new world order. People will fall, beliefs will be challenged and all the illusions will be dissolved but the ideas which run the nature shall remain and be cast into an emblem which shall serve and guide hundreds of genera that are yet to come.
In this inevitable moment of my puny existence, I will question neither the matter nor the space but the brilliance of the nature and its manifestation over this entire universe, from a bean to the limits of all comprehensibility!

My ode to a Philosopher....
~Pancha Janya~

Shooting Stars!

We are all made of star stuff,

Hydrogen fuses to Helium and continues till heavier elements form,

And every cosmic collision provides rare and heavier elements.

The sky holds a challenge.

The skies hold the life.

The cosmos rule our bodies,

The cosmos rule our minds,

Our bodies rule the cosmos,

Our minds rule the life.

A dashing streak of light,

When the star stuff shines forth bright,

We believe in wishes,

We believe in life.

As it falls to the earth,

It adds to our earth,

The journey, the experience,

Of a twinkling and a shining star,

The life outside our life.

And we teach our kids,

make a simple wish,

and your wish shall be done,

Quick! make a simple wish,

A shooting star falls from its life.

I sit at my window,

And watch a streak of bright light,

But I do not wish,

Lest my wish shall be done.

And thus a shooting star gave me my life.

We are all made from star stuff,

Let wishes give you life,

A streak of bright smile,

A heart as big as the cosmos,

and a beautiful life full of life!

~Pancha Janya~