The Bazaar

They sell shampoo bars
longer than relationships
You buy bargained promises
heavier than guilt
They sell knowledge
shallower than convexity
You buy enlightenment
darker than sunglasses
They sell conversations
warmer than hunger
You buy solitude
deeper than mines
They sell thoughts
emptier than brains
You buy airtickets
greener than inexperience

You sell mattresses
smaller than their dreams
They buy trends
hotter than red
You sell health
paler than porcelain
They buy bottled water
colder than your neighbours
You sell ideas
sharper than their tongues
They buy flattery
larger than your appetite
You sell expectations
taller than pint glasses (or shards)
They buy debts
deeper than sleep

What is the point, you ask
they say,
it is not a point
it is a black hole.

'Inspired' by e e cummings'  'may i feel said he', sort of. Listen to this.

When it is your turn

As clocks are wound and sundials are adjusted
As calendars are reviewed and days are crossed
As circles battle straight lines
I wish I am a boomerang
And not a satellite.
Happy to bounce back
Than be permanently set into orbit.

I have been away for months together and apologise to anyone who might, shockingly, still be keeping a tab on this space. I am done with a part of my life (I graduated, whoa!) that I shared with this blog. However, I shall try to keep alive this blog. I have also added hyperlinks to two wonderful songs, completely unrelated to the post but certainly worth a listen- Steven Strait's Boomerang and Guster's Satellite. Do listen to them!

Reverse Gear Speed Breaker

No matter what they say,
There is no 'back to square one',
There is no 'turning back the time machine'
Or stitches that don't show and
Scars that vanish (unless you use this*, I am told).
How else would one have
Created something called a
Jigsaw puzzle?

Here's to the New Year.

* Of course you are free to use an alternative.

Frost's Clarification

Of course it is wonderful to pick the road less travelled,
'Because it was grassy and wanted wear'

But where are your tickets?

So I try so hard to keep the rhythm of a train*

Location: outside Bellver Castell, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Dear Sprinter,

In your enthusiasm to not miss the train,
You didn't quite notice the things you trampled upon.

Yours truly,
A peeved tail

*From the Scrubs track, listen already! Jeremy Kay's 'Have It All'.

What Marla Daniels Said*

Location: The MRTS, Madras

Here, it never was about winning
As much as about survival, daily groceries and a bathroom.

Resurrecting the dead is still restrained to Hollywood.

The title is a reference to Season 1, Episode 2 of The Wire. In this Episode ('The Detail'), Lt. Cedric Daniels' wife Marla says- "You cannot lose if you do not play."

***

Mexico's updated drug-related death statistics is 34,612 in the last four years. In the Horn of Africa, "deaths are running at two per 10,000 adults or four per 10,000 children every day" as observed by The Economist. According to the Lancet Survey, there have been 601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths from March 2003 to June 2006 in Iraq. Hi Ho, as Kurt Vonnegut would say.

Sophie's Choice

Berlin! as you can figure from the road signs

if doing this
were to translate as
not doing the other,
if it were as simple as that,
then my dear, i am afraid that
the human race would have been extinct,
out of boredom

ChameleonSpeak

Bremen Dearest

And even in your lies I realise the Truth.
Or it probably is that which makes me realise the Truth.
Like the wise people under trees say,
it is after all the darkness that leads one to the light
if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, right?

I’m lookin’ to the sky to save me*

I know the sky has no location. Dosteovsky drilled that into my head. Nevertheless, I took this picture at the Vrindavan Gardens in Mysore.

There is something quite intriguing about the sun.
For, everytime daylight breaks,
you miraculously find new reasons, to breathe.

[Explosives,pyrotechnic devices,Electro shock weapons, Strike anywhere matches, Flammable gas cylinders, Flammable liquids and solids, Substances liable to spontaneous combustion, Substances that emit flammable gases in contact with water, Oxidising materials such as bleach, peroxides, some fertilisers, etc., Toxic substances are strictly prohibited on this flight. Kindly go through our baggage information for more details.]


*The title is borrowed from Learn to Fly, by the Foo Fighters. Needless to say, the song has absolutely nothing to do with my blog post. It is a mere act of convenience to hide my inability to come up with competent titles. Do listen to the song.

Schizophrenia

They sent me a letter.
It read-

"The best way to accept reality
is to live in it."

I folded it
Put it under my pillow
and went back to sleep.

Dream, for only that can keep you awake in sleep.