Monday, December 26, 2011

Black


A smile played upon my lips.
The tablet in the chieftain’s hand
Held my name upon its face.
Today I was the chosen one
To take food to the demon.
To his cave of black and bones     
Wherefrom none ever returned .

Endless lines of carts filled with meat
Grain and fruit far as the eye could see
It would feed him for the year
He would let the village live in peace
For centuries the pact had held
A year's food , oxen and a man we'd send
To satisfy his craving for fresh meat

I said my last goodbyes,
Many tears many cried
Many blessed but not one prayed
For those who went never came again.
No weapon we were allowed
Least we stir the demon's wrath
And bring destruction upon us all.

But I was never one to go down
Without a bloody fight.
I'd built my own cart,
Poisoned sword and blades
Hidden out of sight.
I would kill him
Take him by surprise.

Crack of a whip, I was on my way.
Four days to journey, I took one less.
Slumbering I would catch the beast.
And put an end to his misery.
Abandoned the carts, as they carried on.         
Mile deep into his realm
He'd laid a trap, just as I’d thought

A fiery hammer crushed my cart
As the caravan stopped in the narrow path
The oxen panicked but they were stuck
A minion came out from the muck
To check the damage he had wrecked 
I made short work of him with my blade
He was dead before he could wail


My heart in my mouth, I entered the cave
My years of training all for this day
He would never rear his ugly head again
A shock greeted me as I entered the cave
The demon was stuffed, and hung from a nail
A book upon a table then disclosed
The minion had been the demon for fifty years.

The man from my village I’d just slain
Had lived my moment when he was my age
I closed my eyes in pained relief
The demon was gone, or was he?
I heaved the hammer back into the wall
A year before it would once more fall
A smile played upon my lips,
As I inspected my new place.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Quick question....

The liberating line of thought discussed in "In Flesh", is something I believe we all have indulged in at some point or the other in our respective lives.

Allow me to elaborate.

Belief in and the ensuing surrender to a higher power, is really liberating, and "empowering" because it allows us to go on and live our lives and have someone to run to incase of trouble.

I think most of us can fondly recall the comfort of having Mommy to run back to incase any situation required assistance beyond our forever limited resources. Then we grew up. And Mommy was not as much on call anymore. Could be because we were finally embarrassed to go back crying for every splinter in our finger. Could be because we were not really proud of the actions that led to us needing help. Could be because we were now in Mommy's shoes ourselves, and hence responsible full time for fixing someone's life. Of course there is a fourth possibility, and a fifth but I shall not go there. Bottom line or "net net" as a certain someone says, now what? Who do we turn to? Here begins the spiral.

We invent (or lately, just start subscribing to) the Almighty. And to reach out we pray. He answers a prayer (Of course! He's all merciful) , or doesn't (He moves in mysterious ways or the more popular "Uske ghar me der hai andher nahi" etc. etc.). Things that happen around us, and are not in our control, are also classified conveniently into the two buckets of explanation. We, in our desperation to be comforted, and in essence, shun responsibility for our actions (or inaction) and their outcomes (or the lack of them), compromise on the certainty of Mommy’s response to the consolation that there will be a response sometimes. Though there may never be one.

I can go on about the arrangement (and I will, same place, another time), but I think we’re all too familiar with it. We have all been living that setup since the day we were born.

All I ask is this: Would it make you happier, if fact was that (letting bygones be bygones) what you do is all that counts, and  save the uncertainty inherent to this world no intelligent omnipotent being is consciously trying to sabotage or assist you or anyone? That the whole thing is a façade, no different from the constant ‘c’ we add to mathematical equations that don’t add up on their own – a  convenient, comforting explanation for yet unexplained phenomenon?

In other words, would you be happy to know it’s a fair fight?  I know I would.

In flesh

In Flesh

Arguments and discussions
Debates and deliberations
Dialogues and altercations
Research and inquiry
Scrutiny and investigation
All because the circumstances
Conveniently prevented
Any sort of experimentation

All the books and the flyers
The temples and the symbols
The men and their sermons
Describe a whole world
The Occult and the spiritual
The esoteric the paranormal
The right and the wrong
The God and the Devil

Beat my head against the wall
Many a year down the crapper
Swinging this way then that
Abused both cigarettes
And a lot of the inhaler
Worked hard getting over both
Trying to make up my mind
One way or the other for sure

One rainy day I gave up on it
I was done chasing the ghost
That's when it was revealed to me
It was delightfully simple really
I saw the devil in flesh and blood
he made an offer I couldn't refuse
Goosebumps as it all came to me
The words were 'care for a smoke?

Monday, December 19, 2011

Introduction

Thus begins a new chapter in my life. Hope it will turn out to be as significant for you as well.
Let me start by setting the context - A die hard engineering beemaari - I admit, but one I enjoy thoroughly.

I'm about to write in a public forum, for the public. It is not going to be ramblings or catharsis.It is not therapy, well not for me any way. It is not my diary.

I will write on my terms. The language will be as chaste as possible, with respect to the grammar and spelling. Please feel free to slaughter me if I falter in that regard.The vocabulary however, will not be restricted or censored. I will use words which I deem most appropriate and hence the blog will have its share of expletives and any language I care to utilize.
It goes without saying, immature audiences (of all ages) would do well to steer clear, since the language, no matter how unseemly, will be a pale shadow of the content.

That much I promise.

Every post as a rule will be an original piece of work (even more so now that I have noticed blogger won't let me paste even my own stuff), unless stated otherwise.

Here's to extensive debates and heated discussions, epiphanies and revelations.
Cheers!