Age old glory

Forever, forever, I roam free
In this land ordained for me
With no fear, with no shame
I walk amidst the rubbles
That speak of age old glory.

Well, the land of age old glory is what India has become. A land whose history is unconvincing, the date of origin is non pertaining, and yet claiming possibility for the eldest of civilizations. People tend to run away from analysing our history as there are so many names that repeat and yet carry no distinguishing character leaving events and dates confused. The poets have written many a verses and still one is unable to take them on their word for, they might have written what was needed of them instead of what history needed.
With all the discussions, one still is unable to throw all such history out the window as everything stands on doubt, meaning they could be either way - true or false.
Some staunchly believe in what has been transcribed while some believe in the doubts raised by some others.
With all these confusion, only one thing is certain - the land sure did have a rich culture and civilization. And so, for a moment let us forget the origins and just accept that we had a good rich culture.

And now....
My friend with an assurance new says that he hates Indians as they cheat the most. A taxi driver in Singapore shouts at a man who jay walks on the road - "Bloody Indian" (though the man might have been Chinese), another friend wants to donate money for charity but feels that all the charity organisations in India only make money for the organisers pocket.
And the comments are all what I observed from others, and as to myself - "it is pretty obvious that the politicians are number one enemies and the people working in government offices are so corrupt that they would one day break the back bone of India".

The above thoughts project an image so dark as to suggest that India reeks. Does that mean we have no positives? what about IT? What about service industry?
But heck, did our freedom fighters die to get us the tag of "service industry"?
I did take the meaning too literally there and forgive me for that, but yet....
There recently was an exhibition in Germany of the software industries and the outcome was; India had only 50 stalls, meaning only 50 companies that dared to exhibit there product development capabilities while China and Taiwan were leaps and bounds ahead.
S what industrial revolution are we boasting off?
Our GDP grows fast but so does inflation, do you see much benefit - I don't..
And lets not even get into the culture scenario - people now say that our culture is tending closer to the western culture and it is a long known story that western culture is just a diplomatic way of saying no culture....

So where do we stand? and how?

I cannot bear to stand with my head hanging low and so I go around saying -

Forever, forever, I roam free
In this land ordained for me
With no fear, with no shame
I walk amidst the rubbles
That speak of age old glory.

Hope some day we can add a "Present day" next to the word glory there.

Self Introspection

Was recently chatting with my friend, no not the online Internet chat, but the straight person to person chat. it was about what I write and how I come across through my words. guess I have known it for long, but it still was surprising to hear me being called gloomy from what I write.

I have forever been trying to be the optimistic guy who revels in the thought that come what may, the job will get done, come what hardship may I would sail through with the bare minimum of scratches.

That is what I am(or am I?), and still I heard some one call me gloomy.

So, does Gloominess and optimism go together?... it sounds insane to even put them two in the same sentence. And I always have written what I feel deep down inside.. (forget the attempts of romance in poems.. they were for fun).

All this has left me bemused.

I now pose as a contradiction to myself. Optimistic guy with a stream of gloominess running parallel, and for sure one is the surface and the other the depths of my nature. From what I believe in my writing, it seems that gloominess is what runs and I impose a positivism on top to overcome the gloom. I do not like being gloomy.

If that is true, well I am in some trouble and I got to convert the optimism into real.

But all things go smooth now and all the internal turmoils do not affect life as such. Guess I would soon have to come back to the introspection and get myself sorted out, but I shall wait a little longer.

And somewhere down there, deep in my heart I guess I like the gloominess that resides in me. the gloominess that could tend to become dark and envelope the sanity of my mind with its tentacles. Perverse it seems, but hell, not many around are like that and am sure with the positive outlook that I impose, I shall surely be able to utilise the darkness for something worthwhile....

And yet... could I really do that.....

Yet another article finishing with "yet...." this is turning out into a problem, have to get rid of this and start moving towards more positive and conclusive discussions...... I shall wait for that to happen too....

Greed

The river of blood chimes through
The ravaged lands once so true
The raven alone now watches
The rising sun amidst burning torches.

Evil smiles through the face of the pretty
Ever searing eyes behold this horror gritty
Even self – she saunters along
Evidence sure of a soul pillaged long.

Wink of her eyes – men killed
Will of hers alone they now obeyed
Well of all their desires she was
Wise old men none to point the abyss


Now she admires her power cruel
Never scenic and in this she reviles
Nearer Styx, now this place drifts
No sun shall ever be seen here adrift.
.
Greed is what some call her
Generous is she in this world once dear
Game is she – a contagious one
Guard is she of evil’s own domain.

* Conditions Apply

Wandering in the desert of pain
I reach an oasis - sporting -
"Money for Fame" - a beautiful hoarding.
With a wanton desire, born of boredom
I write my name in the sand grain.

With a whoosh and a whash
The water wriggles in chaotic thrash
And slowly emerges a mermaind plain.
Hands she me then a pot of gold chains,
To my thrill born of egoistic disdain.























Suddenly with the same whoosh and whash
The desert turns into the lucifer's own lair
And shiver run down my body already gone lame.
Tiny letters spring out of the hoarding
A shimmering star followed by
"Conditions Apply"...
"Beware, money for fame but also
Bondage to Devils own whimsical games."

Marriage...

Marriage... how many discussions have happened on this and how many of them remain inconclusive. Guess that is why even the scriptures allowed for different types of marriages (gandharva vivaha and such .. err i don't remember the names).

It is a matter of the hearts - this is something that people commonly accept and there seems to be often not many doubts regarding this. There are voices that say "not just hearts but practicality", however these are few in number. A marriage is loads of trouble concentrated into the few months or preparation that goes in to it. No, don't say no yet.. listen me out completely.

There are predominantly two kinds of marriage happening now (at least in India). The arranged marriage and the love marriage.

The arranged marriage is turning out of fashion - people do not accept the ritual of tieing the knot and then falling in love. there logic goes - how do i marry the person who i do not know? or "Come on! love is spontaneous and when it happens it happens and i cannot walk out of it". There are many more points of view to, but i am only taking a glimpse into the marriage setup here, so we wont go real deep.

The love marriage is in vogue - it gives the youngsters the chance to know the person before they commit for there life (it is a different matter that the life of the marriage is often small compared to the participants thanks to divorce). And well, one cannot talk much of this kind of marriage as this seems to be impulsive and so cannot be often defined with words. at least, that is what the participants say.

Now both of these put across trouble - could be as simple as a misunderstanding between the couple and the parents (love marriage) or the problems between relatives or the event itself where the people involved give way for their ego and go berserk over an insult that happened in the chaotic atmosphere there.

Thus one marriage generally result in a high tension.

These cannot be avoided it seems.

However there is one point that I think about often.

The sentence - "I am the one who is going to get married and only I can have a say - so if i have fallen in love with a person then there should exist no force stopping me"

How fair is this statement?

Assuming we still have the Indian-ness in our culture (a slight bit at least), how is a marriage an individuals event? Agreed the bride and the groom are the main characters.. but how many more are involved? If it was an individual event of personal choice, the event itself should happen as happens a date - with an environment where only the pair is involved and they alone relish the moments. But we don't see that happen, arranged marriage or not, it is generally an extravaganza. The grandeur is often in direct proportion to what the people involved can spend.

Thus the event is turned into a social affair. Then how is one to claim the private personal status the above statement claims?

It is understood that the bride and groom are going to share a very intimate and personal life... but the personal moments are not the only moments of life. So how does one claim the status?

In an Indian scenario (and often in foreign scenarios too) a person after falling in love with one does not generally cut ties with his existing relations. Thus if the better half truly has to be that - the better half, then the better half also has to maintain the same relationships. a compatibility between the all the relations, at lest the important (parents, brothers/sisters) need exist. Else, the marriage would just turn into a nightmare simply because the better half is not compatible with the people your half likes. Ideally speaking it would be like a split personality character with one being comfortable with some people and the other uncomfortable. This would cause a struggle not only between the relations but also between the personalities - simplified - between the couple.

So there exists every chance for a life to get miserable despite the love between the two.

One has to pause here - "if one loves another - then would not all these wrinkles be ironed out?"

Well, but that is a double edged sword and both of them are going to feel the same way with chances for the rift to only widen. even if that does not happen, the statement that i discuss was a statement that came out of a supreme individual consciousness, and in this compromise the individual-ness collapses.... not only between the couples(which is understandable and acceptable) but between the people who are related to the couple too....

So what validity would that statement have?

I do not want to discuss the moral right of a man to go for a love marriage, i only question the sanity of that statement?

And if that statement does not contain the sanity required, then one does have no right to go against all his relatives wishes to marry the one of his choice.

If by any chance one is going to say that his Bond with his pair is divine and true and the most important and thus negates the love of his parents.... what of such a man? A man who is ready to cut the bond of genes and blood and childhood - how long would he sustain the bond that developed by the logic of the mind and the say of the heart alone? With science itself changing its logic often and the saints themselves changing there stances, of what strength is his this new logic of his love?

My logic says that - a man who breaks bond with his parents or compromises there situation and gets there blessing to only find that there blessing was forced and not voluntary for the sake of his logic of the heart - love, can always break the bond with his loved one to for another impulsive understanding that his heart might impound.

And yet.. my logic might change too.... could it not.. after all no logic remains unchanged... and yet.... as of now....