Spellbound

How can it be? It's just a brunch!

Yet you sit here spellbinding me..

And nobody is watching, except for your eyes

And your sight fills the room

The music that’s playing melts in this moment

And I realize my eyes are not dry..

They say something beautiful, your eyes

Like a lovely song in a language I can’t understand

The music of which only I comprehend

And I don’t wish to memorize the tune

But just the bliss to stay and linger around

In this moment untouched by the world outside

So I beg to borrow some time from all the time I have

to defer the next second not containing this moment

But this moment is so strong and yet light

Like a dove set to take its flight

How do I keep it till this song ends

till your eyes leave mine?

We do the talking through the curves on our face

We walk the lanes of the memories that have just flashed

Only if I could praise; and if at all I could praise

The beauty of what we are going through now, this day

I would write forever and still remain unsated

And to understand the depth of this moment

I will have to seed it in all my dreams

We remain seated next to each other

And I feel as safe as if I were in your arms

We don’t move as if happily paralyzed

Yet I’m living a thousand lives

I don’t know, how you feel and if you understand

But all that your eyes contrive

Is like a dreamy place in a mist

Where I wish to remain endlessly

But you don’t understand

And I would know, if you did

The mirage that your eyes have created

Will do no good to me afterwards, amidst those sands

Tell me if this music will flow

Or is it just a fantasy that I plough?

Rush

We talked, and more often we use to have arguments, unending discussions which used to exhaust our energies but not the content and thoughts fueling our mind. We wrote too, on Microsoft word, on our own tangible old buddy-paper, in diaries and at times we scribbled too on bare walls of our hostel rooms.
Well I’m talking about one of my dearest friends-Pooja Joshi (if I were putting it on facebook, I would have tagged you Pooja!!) whom I recently asked to write a guest post for my blog. And just as I had expected, she came up with a beautiful piece I can decorate my blog with. And here I’m sharing it with you guys.

  
    "Inspired by Each thing I do I rush through so I can do/ something else" - Stephen Dobyns

If I had a single moment to myself each day,
That day would be filled with pain again-
For in that moment I would unquestionably find
That what I'd become is not how I'd begun.

If I had a single chance to take,
That instance would be filled with doubt again-
For in that chance I would not rely,
This what I wanted is not what I need.

If I had a single fibre of courage bestowed,
That strength would slowly waste away
And to that strength I would not hold
For tears taste better to a hopeless soul.

If I had a single hand to hold-
That gesture would be frowned upon,
For in that hand is a touch of kindness-
That guilt would be my ultimate withdrawal.

If I was asked to make a single wish,
That dream I'd seen open eyes would revive,
And in that dream I would want to reside-
For what I rush through is just life.

So don't give me a moment, a chance or courage
Don't lend me a hand or ask for my wish
I don't want to cherish what I can't nourish
I just want to rush through this life.

Image source: http://www.123rf.com

Detachment

If I could fly, if I could fly

Would you spare me the ground, would you?

If I could wish, if I could wish

Would you spare me the truth?

And if I could compose music

Would you spare me the audience?

You see, I don’t know, who you are

But would you spare me the mirror?

And why are you standing here by me

when my world won’t even accommodate your shadow?

And why do you even listen to me,

the words between us would be lost

If there’s a speck of light in this time

let it be suspended here in this frost

for these moments to be warm in our memories

If I could leave, if I could leave

Would you spare me the memories?

These skies offer us nothing

no boundaries between the tenses, past and present, present and future

Yet we look above as if something’s there to look after us

And you wait here in the yellows and oranges of heat and rain

Our dampened feet would just stay in the pool of rain

Tomorrow our feet would dry but the pool would remain

If I could run away, if I could run away

Would you spare me the chase?

I wear a crown of broken thoughts studded with twigs of freedom

And the twin wings of light and dark carry me under the skies

Yet you try to join and understand the broken

The red edges of disjoint thoughts have bled

These stains won’t leave your fingers then

My impression on your world would leave an empty dent

You have already carried yourself too far, all along

If I could hurt myself, if I could hurt myself

Would you spare me the healing?

So offer me an escape, you can’t catch up with me

Let the words and music stay at their own place

Those are not to be carried around; you will lose them and the pace

You would land nowhere and they would offer you no solace

Coz tomorrow is yet to come and you don’t know

The music it would play for you

The words that would splash on the glass of that time

That other pair of feet that would stay in the pool

So buy the space for your future now

Don’t get carried away, the present always decays

What remains belongs to no tense

So If I could stay, if I could stay

Would you spare yourself my company?

image source: http://www.lintcoat.com/tunes/mono-hymn-immortal-wind

A Guest post from Glad2bawoman: Conversation With Myself

This is a guest post from glad2bawoman, a website that specially celebrates the success and freedom of women. With various articles written from the women's perspective and by women, this is surely a step towards furthering the liberation of women in today's era. The following is a poem that captures the transient phase in a journey of a woman and how she is dealing with it by having a conversation with herself. 

"In moments of solitude and even amidst crowd,

I’ve often talked to myself out loud,

And wondered about the myriad things,

The moony tinges and gossamer wings,

Why do I smile smiles that hide a pang of pain,

Why do we calculate life in terms of loss and gain?

Why is freedom reduced to simply a term?

And we live a life, enslaved, worse than a worm.

I stand solitary in this journey, stranded and cold,

No heart to comfort me, no arms to hold,

Walking through this maze, I might find myself,

I’m melting away to oblivion, like the candle-flame,

Dusty and defeated, I lost in this vicious game,

My cries break the dead silence, yet heard by none.

The void within cries out in agony - all said and done.

All that is pent-up within, I want to shout out to the skies,

But sinister shadows choke my voice with lies.

How long shall I walk on, tired and numb, I know not,

The vast unknown lies ahead, yet nothingness is all I’ve got."

For more on Glad2baWoman, visit http://www.glad2bawoman.com/

This Road

This road goes somewhere, I think and so do you

This sky is limitless and so is the time that brews

your grief, your sins, your joy, your deeds

in all those hours that you spent in those pits and at cliffs

You know that you know nothing

And you know that the true may not even exist

You’ve seen everything and yet nothing

So you try to recall and try to dig

You then find a trunk of treasure and gifts, cheers and spit

and those moments that had lasted few seconds,

your hopes and fears that have both throbbed and numbed

You were confident but you don’t know what to believe

You’re tired, you’re torn, you’re in company and yet forlorn

But if I open the doors to the white beaches and blue seas

I know you’ll run towards it with open heart, and free legs and arms

I know it’s just under a layer of dust, your yearn, not torn

In your heart, yes you have a heart, no matter how you are

you carry the energy of life, the sanctity of death

the whispers of eternity, the echoes of your breath

You may not realise what has been seen by your eyes

the ugliness of heinous brutality,

the vividness of kindness and generosity

You may not realise when the blink of your eyes took a longer time

and you missed the drops of reality

that would have livened up the essence of you and your life

The pastures are still green somewhere down this road

that you and I have taken up to explore

the unseen, the unknown, the beauty that we wish to hope

that is still there, not murdered, not raped

and lies naked and clothed at its own wish, with pride and dreams unfettered

where you and I will not step back or fear

But with our eyes squinched, we’ll pause in awe from distance to see

the beauty that is to be loved and not conquered,

before we move ahead feeling blessed and in bliss

Remember that we may know nothing, but we know to hope

We may not have the map, but we know there’s the road..

Life goes on. For those who are feeling pathetic about the inhuman incidents that our minds are repeatedly horrified with, I want to say, that we have to keep moving towards the light, howsoever distant it may be; that we have to keep striving to make our lives better.

The Embrace

“Show it some mercy, it’s burning in flames

The skin of all hopes is melting;

tell me out of this what do you gain?

Shower it with some relief; it’s scorching under the sun

The soothing peach color has turned into brownish red

Tell me how do you plan to resist your misdeeds’ brunt?

Oh well yes, I’m, talking about myself in third person

That’s because you seem to have some grudge against me for some reason!!”

You see, for an artist, stage is a temple, and performance worship

So this pain that I have been talking to, who has got the stage, does not leave

And I tell it that it has to go away

And I have tried to convey the message, but it simply pays no heed

Yes, it swirls around my bed across the hall of nothing

And the dryness in my eyes

tries to sip its beauty and wrath

The tears entering in my ears cheer its performance

But the curtains have to be drawn, and as I doze

This pain, not giving up, then sits next to me, and waits, swinging to and fro….

I do get some relief while I sleep

And I wish the consciousness won’t greet me again

But I guess even if all the wishes would wish for the same

I would still be made to open the door to the pain

And with a smile on my face

To respect the piece of art that pain puts up with such grace

So I decide, why should I fear the fate

Instead I should join the beauty that has come to my gate

and be the excited audience it deserves to have

So with pricked ankles and bare face

And non fancy fabric in which I’m draped

I give it a standing ovation and clap

As if I were standing in the meadows amidst the colors

that are waiting to be refilled, to be shaded darker

Finally overwhelmed by the response, it embraces me with grief

But my suffering then escalates, after all this is the closest I’ve got with the pain

But then satiated with the response, for a while it takes a break

and the needles are plucked out of my veins

I then bid it a good bye with a sad rendition

It leaves but with a bonding condition

That I shall always cheer for every beauty that I come across

I say ‘yes’, immediately, although with the premonition

That it will be back for the greed of applause

Or perhaps, my pessimism is ballooned

and optimism simply pricked and flawed..!!

image source: http://good-wallpapers.com/abstract/1778

Delight

I won’t define management. And there is no definite management style pertaining to any particular kind of organization. What I would rather like to talk about is the ingredients!

Management is like a food item. The different ingredients and the ratio in which they go in the preparation of a dish define the style. It is these styles that draw the differentiating factor.  And of course, the chef, the architect of the style makes the final difference.

Now a dish popular in north India won’t be as popular in other parts of India and vice-versa. Hence the popularity or success of the dish is in congruence with factors involving geography, history, society, religion et al. Similarly, success of management style also depends on the factors stated above and their likes. Of course, the culinary experience has to be implausible and recurrent in nature for which constant innovation has to be encouraged.

Evolution of management style has been as dynamic as water. Societal changes and the final mix have had reflections upon it. Hence the external environment of an organization, which is almost an open system in today’s world of globalization, plays a major decisive role in designing the style and structure of the organization.

The management world is aware of the so called ingredients, some of which are creativity and innovation, ethics and social responsibility, transparency and communication, structuring and restructuring, clear distribution of power.

These ingredients have to be considered in a ratio commensurate to the type of organization; whether it is a start-up or a competitor, a young or middle aged company (according to the age group of employees). Also an organization can be typified according to a company life cycle (CLC) on the lines of product life cycle (PLC).

Another emerging trend that needs to be integrated in organizations is internal branding. The atmosphere in an organization has to be charged with enthusiasm all the time and constant updates and each employee inclusion are needed for the same.

All of us may choose a work profile in an organization for the money and career prospects, but in the long run, what maintains the health of engine of our work life is the feeling of belongingness to the company. And for that respect, identity and subsequent ‘I am important’ phrase has to be pronounced by employees’ minds.

Also a clear division of work has to be maintained within an organization for proper planning, efficient execution and optimized result. One of the road blocks for the drive of UID is unclear division of work. Whether there is a vertical or horizontal hierarchy, or, whether there is a pooled, sequential or reciprocal interdependence seen in an organization, clear allocation of responsibility for work is indispensable.

Authority should not be synonymous with rigidity and bossiness, but assertiveness, confidence and leadership. Whether it’s a top-bottom or bottom-up line of control, the above stated factors remain vital.

Multiple initiatives like organizing cultural and sports events and other employee centred activities should be focussed upon. After all in the highly competitive era that we are facing now, the spotlight must move on from employee retention and satisfaction to employee delight!

Image source: http://wavelengthsblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/the-download-on-delivering-delight/

Foolish you

You are getting nervous, do you know that?

Your gaze is at her but you’re trying hard to look away

Your heart beats are skipping the regular count

It’s not normal, can it be gainsaid?

Your side of garden is full of roses in the times of drought

There are butterflies fluttering spiralling the red hearts in the peak summers

Your days and nights are in direct proportion

to the number of times in your mind she appears

Your wishes are different shades of the same colour

Nod your head if it’s not a usual behaviour

You are telling yourself that telling her won’t do any good

May be you’re right but the truth will still goon

You’re running in circles around your own mind

In your head, your words are hunting you, and they simply never die

You are chasing the squirrel of solution around the tree,

the roots of which simply do not exist

underneath the grounds that you’re standing upon..

The memory of the facts seem to grind your skull

Your heart aches, suffocates, forgets and jumps into the deep dark waters

But soon you heartless feel the empty space within you, in the core

You miss the childlike crazy heart that you wore

The heart that made you a demon, bird and human

You are teased by the lost innocence that you just threw away

And you’re left alone staring blankly into the space

You’re getting pale, do you know that?

You disowned nonchalantly your true colour

as if you have the ability to weave another

Your artificial colour painted on your skin will leave in coming seasons

Your so called love by then, will have deprived you of everything

Foolish you, you gave up your heart just for nothing..

So listen to me, and pay some heed

Whistle the tune of joy, of simple innocence and not greed

Desert the bloody roses of grim soils of the superficial gardens

Unhinge your mind off her; the knot of the troubles will be untied

Rediscover clear skies, and soar your kite of destiny high

The dry cutting pain of the emptied space of your heart

Will be made fertile once again for your lovely heart

And promise it you’ll never give it away just like that..!!

Also, I came across a beautiful song. You may like to listen to it here.

image source: http://www.to-en.gr/Newton/p01_t_en.htm

The Hero

Numb the time and swell it

Let the bloodstream stop and listen to your heartbeats

The moment would pause and history disappear

Let the present throb till it dies of wear and tear…..

Pluck and eat the fruits of anxieties from the garden of future

Stare at the sky and ask it to pour

The greenery that your present needs

Don’t let this time be pricked…

Cheat logic for once in your life

Drive away your child like passions in a car to a beach

Abscond the building of boundaries

Run away… Run away from the daily redundant drudgeries

Grind your emotions and feed them to your heart

Make it beat faster and redder

Kiss the panic and seduce it till it surrenders

Create a house of cards and demolish it…

Dare the stillness to move by an inch

Interview the silence and hear it out for what it speaks

Memorize the conversation that you would have

Retrospect what you and others didn’t convey

Is there a smile, a fury, or any other curve that your lips might make?

Pump this moment with air and make it float

Steer the ship of problems to an unknown island and then flee

Swim back from the widowed waters and don’t turn back

But don’t wait for any welcome, you hero, from the folks of your city

In your mind, just ink a shade darker the route you followed on the waters

Don’t let the defeats, slaughters, injuries make your solid steps falter

Break in the dark and dingy territories

Open the floodgates to deluge the area in the river of spirit

Drop the match stick and paint the city in a colour of orange for a change

Before of course it dies of the colour into ashes

But don’t you rest now, you hero, your work is not yet done

Watch out! There are shadows lurking around to be burnt

Now wake up, you killed all those music-less places of anxieties

The music now soothes you

You won’t look at your life and others’ and extract disparities

The present now awaits you

You won’t look back and fear the curves ahead on your way

The road now awaits you

You won’t weigh your past and future against your blood

The life now awaits you..!

image sources: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/photogalleries/100730-china-oil-spill-dalian-environment-world-pictures/

https://www.facebook.com/islamicquotes

Fighting The Heavyweight

 I love talking. When there’s no one around to talk to, I talk to myself. When there’s something I need to share with someone, and can’t, I talk to myself. And so I love talking.

Most of the times something or other goes on in my mind and so when I cannot talk, I write. So I love writing. I need to pour out my thoughts or else I feel flooded; flooded with my own thoughts.  And floods remind me of nature. I see my thoughts’, my feelings’ reflection in the nature. Those beautiful rains make us either ecstatic or forlorn; may be because we get to see what joy is and what grief is in the form of rains. It is as if there is something inside us which we know exists, but can’t define. I mean those feelings do exist. It’s just that they need to be manifested in some physical form for me to witness them; in a smile on our face for others to see, and in the nature for us to see.

And so I look outside and search for tangible forms of all that is intangible, there inside me to be viewed, appreciated, criticised and analysed by me..!

Words for me are like a mirror. I can see myself. I can read myself and so I can come closer to myself and love myself consciously.

So as I said when there are too much of things going on in one’s mind, it’s better to dispense them. In my case I have to do it. In my third year of college, a professor mistakenly gave me detention (wherein I was barred from sitting through exams) in two of my subjects. It obviously worried me a lot and I knew that there was no use of worrying. But I was not able to control my worrying and was feeling bullied by my thoughts. I tried to emasculate them and so I scribbled the following lines on a rough sheet of paper:

So this moment gains weight

as many thoughts proliferate

This is not the right time

so I ask them to just wait….

But my mind has no place

nowhere to make them stay

and for a while I say,

“Please, these thoughts need some rest with such a pace

that they are incessantly moving at..”

But my plead is caged in a bubble

No one listens and it goes to waste

So I tell my thoughts in order to direct them,

“You have to go far, very far, and so go, segregate..”

And they do so sincerely obeying me

in spite of knowing the fact

that I’m putting them on the wrong track

and that they ought to be together in a group to affect me,

torture me and bully me to their best

They know that I’m trying to mislead them

But they still go on different tracks..!

But how could I underestimate these thoughts

Of course, they follow my order of getting dispersed as they very well know that

they can still gain weight, enough weight

by producing some and orienting other thoughts with each of them

And so, as my efforts go in vain

this moment still gains weight..

Yes, my thoughts mushroomed and at that moment I did get worried to a certain extent, while I was jotting down the above lines, but afterwards, writing it down not just distracted me from my previous state of mind (i.e. the one before writing down the above lines), it also did make me feel better, much better!

And my efforts eventually did not go in vain and the moments felt light.

So, try out this writing exercise and disorient your thoughts whenever they try to appropriate your peace of mind. The thoughts will try their best to club themselves to get powerful, but you have to keep fighting and trust me you will succeed in the end. So don’t let such worrisome thoughts bog you down and after you write, you will feel remarkably well.


image source: http://www.markjonespainter.com/Image%20Pages/Troubled%20Mind.htm