Logical Musings of an Absurd Mind
Rescue me from
The web of cerebration
Crushing my innards
Clutching my heart
Maddening my soul
With another bout
Of stifling anxiety!
Thoughts growing
Like tendrils within me
Squeezing, squishing
Body, spirit, inside out
Squirming in my brain
Twisted imagination
Triggering a volcano
Of anguish fear, guilt
The demons they win;
Primeval joy, lost in the din!
Time for strawberry mojitos
Mulberry plucked from trees
Palash flowers and tomatoes
Ablaze with red so deep
Lavender teas, minty greens
Brown delight of cold coffees
Sweet fruits of labor, now
Tangy orange preserves
The sun seeping in nectar
To return from slumber
With full force of summer
Until then let me swing
In the silver hammock
Wherever the wind sways
An open book, still unread
As sparrows make acquaintance
Abuzz on the wings of a bee
Sweet fragrance of jasmine
Intoxicated with the power
Of just being alive, blooming
Until the breeze knocks it off
From its cradle and it lies
In the dust whispering goodbyes
To the flurry seeds in the air
From wildflowers in sidewalks
Destined to carry fairytales
From this corner to the next!
*Palash is a sacred tree in the South Asian subcontinent. It has bright red flowers in early spring and hardly any leaves
Arshia Sattar‘s collection of 18 stories from Hindu mythology is written in the genre of retelling of the myths, as popularized by Devdutt Pattanaik. When I got Garuda and the Serpents from Juggernaut publishers, I was elated to see the beautifully illustrated cover page. The inside of the book revealed more beautiful renditions in bright colors by talented illustrator, Ishan Trivedi, who loves to bring the mythologies to life on canvas. My 11-year old son, an avid reader, was also attracted by the vibrant book cover.
Continue reading “Book Review: Stories from Hindu Mythology for Young Readers”
Whirling in my mind
A collective hallucination
Of spirits guiding me
Towards insanity
I blindly embrace
Sights and sounds
Of each murky thought
A part of me lingers
In the stale past
Seeking answers
From silhouettes
Melting in the mist
Far from sight
Never far from mind!
Delirium descends
On my tired mind
Chaos ascends
In my troubled heart
I crave for solace
In the labriynths
Of my raving madness
My mind blows
Dark dreams explode
Under the pressure
Contained for so long
Now floating free
Infecting the world
With smug audacity!
The short story is a strong but difficult medium. In many ways it is more potent than a novel because it can leave an impact with few words, consuming little time. An observant writer can concoct many stories using everyday themes and images, telling extraordinary tales about ordinary people, evoking emotions and reactions from a diverse readership. In the preface to The Goat Thief, prolific Tamil short story writer, Perumal Murugan, talks about his own tryst with the skill of story writing and how he came to evolve his own style and rendition.
Continue reading “Book Review: Displacement and Desolation in Perumal Murugan’s Characters”
It started with the small blue notepad his mother handed over to him. She was busy in the grocery aisle; he was running around, getting in the way. She ripped out her shopping list and gave the notepad to him to entertain himself. His 6-year old fingers doodled and channeled his tiny self out of trouble.
Waiting in the checkout line, she entertained him by dictating all the items in her shopping cart. He was proud of his first list. He felt almost grown-up that day. After all, writing and list-making was the effortless skill of adults. A notebook became his constant companion.
Continue reading “The List – A Short Story”Social media is exhausting, specially if you are intending to garner an audience or self-promote. There are myriad channels of communication and showcasing; all are craving your attention and content. If you are a writer, artist, or pursuing any creative channel, you are immediately in the snare of the social media octopus. There is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and I am ignorant of so many other channels.
All demand that you place your content in the most presentable way, on each one of them. There is information and design overload – the same content flooding the data stream with tags and hashtags. More than the creative pursuit, it is the pressure of pushing your content into these channels to grab the maximum eyeballs. Social media feeds on your deep FOMO – fear of missing out – in showcasing your content and following the trends.
Continue reading “Social Media and the Problem of Plenty”
