My 55 word story..,

I'm looking through archives of her blog. I find that I have been tagged a loooong time ago. Anyhoo., here is my take.

Color to B&W

The changes seem unmindful, yet somehow cognitive. All those instances, that characterized the scripts of earlier stages, go into safe preservation. As if bound by unseen strings, heart and mind, treat special moments and mundane acts alike. Life is like a dreamless sleep. It’s tough, but pays to understand that ups and down are inevitable.

They say, what comes around, goes around (I really dont know exactly what this means). I now tag Nandhu, Sangy, Vidhya, Rajesh, Deepak, Harini and anybody who is willing to write a story/poem on a title 'Reigning Man' containing the idea within 50 sentence/phrase. Happy writing, folks.

Now and then..,

I once wrote something on a piece of paper. I sent it across to you and you returned it, un-creased and unread. I did not give up. I did not want to give up. I roamed around with the intention of handing over that letter to you. You regarded it as a blank note, but I was prepared to write so many of such letters.

I was obsessed with it. I carried it along where ever I went. It was like blind person having a map to the destination. That piece was a huge burden, yet, I found means to talk and feel about it. I had hardly participated in the you-give-yours and I-will-give-mine kind of exchange carnivals and had no clue about any of them either. All the same when I found myself on one such occasion I perfectly knew what I wanted and understood what I was doing, and expressed all in that paper. Yet the understanding was limited to me, as you had no idea as to the happenings. You were busy to notice the transformations; and if u did notice, even accidentally, you dismissed them with an airy wave of your hand and a sneer. I remained in your path and somehow you seemed to miss me on your ways.

I joked, I cried and I even dreamt about the situation. Nevertheless, I never gave up on the letter, believing you would one day reach out your hands to take the it from me. I thought you just needed some time to see the truth behind my decisions. I figured you would feel the warmth of my yearnings and relent. I imagined that some day you would find the words in my songs and sing along. I conceived that you are waiting for the right color to come along, to paint my canvas. I convinced myself that sometimes even your silence fitted well in my poems. I reveled in the petrichor and chill rains that your glance in my wake brought along. I broke down when you did scold me, but I built myself up again seeing you smile.

Life was like the unformed dream, where you would desperately want something to happen but the thoughts take their own form. The letter was an integral part of all things; it had seen it all. But, the determination gradually started waning. How much ever I found it difficult and disquieting to let go, something inside of me stared to inch away from the hold of that letter. Should I have pleaded more? Should I have read it out aloud for you and the world to hear? Should I have presented it in a more glamorous form? I don’t know what I did wrong? Or did I do it overtly correct? I had formed up questions for you. ‘When will the flowers bloom in your garden? Is your canvas painted in colors? Do you recognize the earthly smell of tears? Can you tell apart the happy and sad tunes of the birds? Has the sea waves ever caressed your feet and exchanged secrets?’ Or did I delve too much into the realms of imagination and mere fantasy to have expected all this from you? Did I keep facing the wrong directions when I ought to have looked elsewhere? Is it my fault that I did all those?

Time rolled over and we got washed away to different shores. The main became the void. The words must have faded off. And now, when you want to have a look at what was ever written, I seem to have lost that piece of paper. Must be around the time, I completely lost you. Could it be that, the paper understood it is irrelevant when the intent is itself lost, and got lost itself?

In the background : Lyrics Tune

சிருங்கார ரசம்..,

தீர்த்தக் கரையினிலே - தெற்கு மூலையில்
செண்பகத் தோட்டத்திலே,
பார்த்திருந்தால் வருவேன் - வெண்ணிலாவிலே
பாங்கியோ டென்று சொன்னாய்.
வார்த்தை தவறிவிட்டாய் - அடி கண்ணம்மா!
மார்பு துடிக்கு தடீ!
பார்த்த விடத்திலெல்லாம் - உன்னைப்போலவே
பாவை தெரியு தடீ! ...

மேனி கொதிக்கு தடீ! - தலை சுற்றியே
வேதனை செய்கு தடீ!
வானி லிடத்தை யெல்லாம் - இந்த வெண்ணிலா
வந்து தழுவுது பார்!
மோனத் திருக்கு தடீ! இந்த வையகம்
மூழ்கித் துயிலினிலே,
நானொருவன் மட்டிலும் - பிரி வென்பதோர்
நகரத் துழலுவதோ? ...

கடுமை யுடைய தடீ! - எந்த நேரமும்
காவலுன் மாளிகையில்;
அடிமை புகுந்த பின்னும் - எண்ணும்போது நான்
அங்கு வருவதற் கில்லை;
கொடுமை பொறுக்க வில்லை - கட்டுங் காவலும்
கூடிக் கிடக்கு தங்கே;
நடுமை யரசி யவள் - எதற்காகவோ
நாணிக் குலைந்திடுவாள். ...

கூடிப் பிரியாமலே - ஓரி ரவெலாம்
கொஞ்சிக் குலவி யங்கே,
ஆடி விளை யாடியே, - உன்றன் மேனியை
ஆயிரங்கோடி முறை
நாடித் தழுவி மனக் - குறை தீர்ந்து நான்
நல்ல களி யெய்தியே,
பாடிப் பரவசமாய் - நிற்கவே தவம்
பண்ணிய தில்லை யடி! ...

-பாரதி

(Source: Click here)

I am Love..,

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

(Mary Frye)

TOW (un) importance

‘Hi dear!!’ Hus enters the house, looking tired.
‘mm’ replies Wi and goes back to her work in the kitchen, even without a formality glance.
After freshening up, Hus comes in for a mug of coffee, and finds it already on the table. He picks it up and walks to Wi and asks ‘Wassup??’
‘Nothing.’ Wi is short.
Hus, apparently not picking up the cue form Wi’s tone, playfully says, ‘How boring, is your life??’
As if Wi was waiting for such a moment, roughly says, ‘Care to make it a bit interesting??’
Hus, by now immersed in watching the highlights of the day’s match, without looking up asks, ‘What?’
Wi gives him one angry stare and turns her back to him. Only now realizing something was not quite right, Hus asks again ‘Wassup??’
‘You tell...’ asks Wi.
‘Usual day, at work! Its only Tuesday, and I am already wishing it is weekend’ explains Hus.
‘Hmmm, then how was yesterday??’ shot back Wi.
Now clearly frustrated, Hus snubs, ‘What about yesterday. It was okay. Just like any other day. Why do you ask?’
Wi boils over, ‘Why do I ask?? You want to know why I ask? First ask yourself that...you know I am not someone who says or asks anything without any reason. Right?’
‘Yea!’ slowly answers Hus. ‘But unless you tell me what’s bothering you, how can I know, what it is about’
‘Oh! So you want me to share things with you now? You want me to share things?? How about you, setting an example for that?? How about you start sharing things with me first, and then expect me to share things with you!’ Wi explodes.
All that Hus hears is a lot of share and yet is clueless to what he might have done to get such an outburst from her. But Wi is still going on, ‘ …the minute we start to hide things from each other, then what is the point in this relationship? Okay, now you might say that you did not do it intentionally. Whatever it maybe, intentional or unintentional, petty or huge, that’s no reason not to share and discuss things between us? Isn’t it??? How could you not tell it to me? How would I have felt to hear about it from someone else, when I should be the one to have heard it first- from ‘you’! Listen, I cannot make you want to tell me things. It should come from you; on your own. Its things like these that matter the most. And its things like these that when neglected upsets me the most. And it was not like it is today’s news for you to appoint blame on me - that I did not give you enough time to say it. ’
All this while Hus is squeezing his brains to find that one thing he has had missed from telling her. And then it strikes him. ‘Are you talking about the employee-of-the-year nomination at office?' It has been communicated to him last Friday. The weekend enthu has totally driven that from his mind and he has completely forgotten about that. ‘I totally forgot about it, dear. Promise! I didn’t want to keep it from you. Moreover it is just nomination. Normal, unimportant and common! Its not like I have won or anything; and now that would definitely be worth mentioning’ Wi seems to want more of an explanation. Hus says ‘Sorry. Sorry??’ And that seems to do the trick and she is relaxing a bit
A few minutes later, ‘Today something very embarrassing happened when I was talking to my cousin sister' Hus tries to ease the mood now.
‘Hmmm?’ questions Wi.
‘You know right, how I feel about the tele-marketers?’ saying Hus looks up to see Wi nodding her head, and he continues, ‘So when we were chitchatting, Poonam got one such call and she was very patient and answered the person very politely. When she was off the phone, I told her, I generally don’t put up with such people and I kept going on and on about how its all a waste of time and such.’
‘Oh wait, don’t you know their daughter is working for one such tele-marketing concern???’ asks Wi.
‘You know???’ asks Hus in return.
‘Ya, Poonam told me about it. She had called and informed like a month ago' coolly replies Wi.
‘Ah! It’s nice news! Why didn’t you tell me??’ asks a rather confused and a bit angry Hus.
‘Well, you know…it’s…it just slipped out of mind’ Wi says with a matter-of-fact look.
(Hus waves his hand in exasperation and is ready to retort back ‘You should have told me!You had a month's time’ But he checks himself in the nick of time as he knows only too well, that the next word he utters would trigger off another argument.)
‘Sigh!!!’ sighs Hus.