Puzzled Dreams

The whole world has turned a 360 degree turn and each and every human is at the risk of it right now. Yes, COVID - the new sensation of health and concern is out here.  We, as humankind, are facing at a situation, where the most challenging and dangerous health hazard has confronted us and we are all at nothing less than, at the mercy of it. There are millions affected because of this pandemic across the world, countries are suffering, population has been affected and economies have crippled because of COVID. It's said that every country has been taken backwards by almost 2 decades because of this - economically, and it will take years to recover from this. As multiple nations suffer through this lockdown, we can only sit and witness what these turn of events are going to bring ahead for us. Let's hope that we all come out of this with nothing but - survival!

Ever stared out of a window, And wondered what's going on? With the world and it's humans, Cryptic and greedy together. Where you wish to see oceans Of people and their faces All you get to see is, the short sighted Drought of emotions and expressions Evolution has hit us hard Like a rock on our heads Thinking less, panicking high Cuddled with fairies of despair Cryptic with their acoustics Of slow sirens and screams Afraid that the end might come, Yet questioning, "why are thou so far?" They shall give to no one, Lest everyone becomes anyone Clutches becoming tighter, Breaths skipping faster Clouds cluster as black smokes Borders become obsolete You curse the air around With what are we all bound? I sit with my cup of tea, wondering When shall the darkness disappear I sip from my cup of tea, pondering Should it actually clear at all?

They say it's okay The silence, is normal For it doesn't hurt anyone Lest it shall trouble none. The doldrums of time Keep beating itself, as one Never ending rhythm of Deep thoughts and tunes Our friend, the mirror Tells us stories of laughter In the silence, which shadows The storm inside us. We are for ever, by them They are, for themselves In the darkness of loneliness We are all one. The greenery, feels black The sunshine, dims dark The night is our dear friend Yet the darkness, doesn't help If help us, you possibly can't Understand us, you at least shall We live with our silences, in Our own mute wind chimes It's hard, to go by Smiling, yet burning inside Cause no one knows, that you're Living, yet dying inside. -- P.S: An inspiration and dedication to the very recently watched movie - Joker - enacted exceptionally by Joaquin Phoenix, and a marvellous story. More than the comic character, it's a great lot amount on ...

We all had workspaces/laboratories in schools, where we did our wholehearted experiments (call them beaker breaking incidents). There were ones for chemistry (with all those weird shaped glass vessels), physics (with all those callipers and meters), biology (dissections, eew!). Ah, so much some of us dreaded those days when the time table had them scheduled! For some reason, today I remembered those days. I don't know whether it was a certain flash of visual, which brought back that memory, but it anyway flashed across. We didn't know how much of conviction and concentration we had back in those days, but the times spent in those halls were special. Those days when we were all dressed in our disciplined lab coats, carrying those rough records and fair record books. It was always a pain, to maintain writing those records, but it was funny at the same time. We were all doing the same work, repeating it, to the fair record, and surprisingly, no one complained! Strange things ...

It's the beginning of another year, and the calendars are up. With new hopes, and new aspirations, we start afresh, to welcome another set of 365 days. Whenever a new year comes round the corner, it's always time for resolutions, and new decisions to make. We always look out for a change in lifestyle, and a different course of action to follow. We look out for new habits to take forward, basically - a new self for us. Let's hope this year also takes forward this way, and brings in new times and courses for us to develop ourselves. Cheers!

The time of the year When the curtain close is near The days have begun counting So you can start a new beginning Stories of the days past Will keep rewinding fast As the dawn of the year arises And a bundle of new hopes rises Odd days of despair, shall Find their wholesome pair For memories shall dwell deep More than what we shall keep. Refresh, for new things await Happiness, we shall bait Turn the pages of the old book Shut them, as we pull the hook Days are metrics of time Just as we count our own dime Emotions are tickets for others Ride, they can, who bothers. But we will persevere Until the darkness is severe Then, we shall light the lamp To emerge ahead as a champ!

As I sit within these walls Those thoughts, the mind recalls Craving for that cosy hand With that familiar blue band The shadows in the moonlight Search for the bright sunlight That once existed, for long Without any inhibitions, forlorn The breeze sings in midnight Though the clock waits for the light With the miles crossing by But the moon floats, as its own alibi The walks sing their ballads Out when they call, the nomads Those who belong to this world Yet, while they lie all curved Along the streets, they speak Of stories which call them a freak Smile along they do with might When others smirk at their sight Forget those who are bemoan Running behinds dreams flown Chasing peaks which are unreachable Carrying loads pretty unbearable A day shall come, long-drawn When the time will dawn Upon them with a light so bright Fight, they shall, with all their might.

This should start off with a basic question - When was the last time you wrote? No, not on the keyboard exercise, but the actual pen and paper thing? Can't remember? Well, then you should probably read this. These are times, where we do a lot of work on our digital devices. The massive reports which we prepare for work, the various excel sheets that we drool upon during our work times, the blogs we write, the posts we like and love - all of it. We scroll through many articles on the net, type in comments. Our tweets, our posts, everything is digital now. So at this time, let's make it a point to revamp and think the time when we used to write a lot of papers during our school time? Feels nostalgic, right? That's the thing with pen and paper, they are becoming nostalgic. Even though, they are always present around us. I work as a sales professional, and most of my time is spent in front of my laptop, as part of work. And most often, all these devices have become our...

among the stars which sing the songs of nature exists a hidden melody of that of the Moon the ones hidden behind clouds and sneaking past the wind singing in the glory of tales unknown to the ears of the nomads their only solace is the Moon receding their solitude opening its arms with the cold breeze and the shining stars only the Moon knows their story witnessing unbiased, uncharted stories only in their experience invisible to the mobile, yet sedentary some plead to others, some request an occupation is at the behest a living which is not their choice rather compulsion of society sleep, they do Under the moonlight For their next day Will repeat this discourse Another path, another story A different set of hands that will flourish Lest they render themselves broken Moving on to the next shadow of light.

  While closing the miles With at most sincerity Comes the responsibility Of staying true to yourself. Tales of people from everywhere And talks of everything  around The audience differs in whole But speaks a single language The journey speaks of oneness And of various adventures Of countless days and The numerous nights A singularity speaks Unknowingly sings its own song Of common dialects And permanent topics A train has its own identity From source to destination And carries along with it A prevalent culture through its people. Every traveller who joins the journey Becomes part of those verses Of miles and of hours Numerous, yet single in magnitude.

It's the beginning of another year. Another 365 days, with hope of good times, and lots of smiles ahead. Unlike the years before, 2017 was a mix of many things. It stood apart from the years before, in terms of the learning which it has imparted. Most often, the learning which you carry along, takes you to a different path altogether. It changes you, and starts to define you to an extent, that you live by those lessons as testaments. The twists and turns in your life, which keep you grounded, also help you to see things from a different perspective. Perception, which is always something changing with experience, imparts certain ideologies, which you start following for your life. Along time, you learn to forgive. The mistakes which you come across your life, the ones that you do, and also the ones that are done to you, you learn let them go, by learning to forgive those mistakes. Then you sit and realise that, life often doesn't turn up as you want to. That's how it wo...

Through those steps of solace Rise the moments of despair Speaking of one unanswered question "Why?" When the nights blind away With those chirps of silent pray From the crickets humming their way "Why?" For, those dark corners Seldom return a face to mark The happiness reveals with a big "Why?" And under the lights We picture our doomed agony Like shadows in perceptions of "Why?" Often, we turn around and look Behind our steps of grace To picture the realm of safety "Why?" Fear, the detestation from reality For those who keep onto it Often keep repeating endlessly "Why?" The time of redemption arises With moments of glory in dreams A glimpse of light again, a change "Why not?"

On a fine Saturday evening, I decided to catch up with a late night movie. Not too mainstream, not too popular either. It came up as a random strike in the mind, and when I checked up online, it was playing at a suitable time. A few couple of finger tip punches later, I was heading for the 9-pm show, technically called the Second Show (which I still don’t get by what logic that name has been come up). Two-and-a-half hours later, I step out, with a smile on my face. The reason – unknown for its existence. The movie did go well (for those who would like to know). Probably, there was this brimming lot of energy within, which felt good, for the least. Right after the moment I was out of the gates of a movie hall, it struck. Just at the steps of the movie hall, I saw a set of cops standing beside their official ride. The mission – only they knew, and I didn’t bother. I was mesmerised by the sight which I had in front of me. With the vast span of road in front, practically empty at...

The ambience of the hall is of joy and happiness, with the whole gathering smiling and glittering. There are smiles everywhere, the bride and groom are happy on stage, and everyone has this feeling of fulfilling their objective for the day. The camera pans up to the wedding scene. The bride and the groom have tied the knot, and exchanged garlands, and are enjoying their official step towards spending a life together. This feels like a climax scene lift-off from a Bollywood movie, but in reality, is somewhat vaguely what happens at every wedding. The scene is calm, till now. The professional photographers for the function have been calm and quiet all this while. They were happy flashing their torches and light exposure equipment into the wide ambiance and capture the happy moments of all those who were present there. And just as the main custom of tying the knots has been done; they get into a frantic nature. Their only mission then becomes – to get candid photographs of the bri...

It was started off as just another Whatsapp group, but fortunately it ended up as something which materialized into a get-together. With couple of months of planning lead by our very own planning commision head, Mr. S, a trip to Ooty, worked out for the long weekend clubbed with Labor Day. The agenda was clear: A visit to our alma mater, a drive through the valleys of Ooty, and an overnight stay, and then the return day after - and yes, celebrating Mr. A’s homecoming as well. The plan looked simple, but the eagerness towards it wasn’t such. It had been a long time ever since the whole of Troublers (yes! that’s the name of our group), had sat down together, and talked like there wasn’t an end to the world. And The Trip was surely going to be a mark up for that. For me, it happened to be a rush through with missing out on the first day to The Trip. So after the hiccups with the month end closure and between the hurried heartbeats decrypting the excitement into smiles, I boarded t...

We are a species. A collection of people, who strive to make this world, a better place to live in. Well, at least, that's what we are believed to be on course. For some reason, out of all these different species in this world, we have 'supposedly' been given the highest intellectual capacity. Apparently, all that needs to be flushed down the drains! It's only when we travel the world, or the country for that matter, that we discover how actually it's all a cocoon. A shell of freedom, where in only few can crawl in. The lack of choices, where - having no choice, is the only choice, becomes the primary stratagem. When many of us delve inside the opulence of metro cities in this world, we often fail to consider that it's just a meager percentage of the cities existing in this world. A major portion of the society is still lurking in the darkness, waiting for that last crumb of bread which will take them out of their misery. The expectations are always ther...

The various miles through the tracks, across numerous destinations, capsule into a great journey. All throughout the ride, the core thing which drives it through, are those people which breathe with the journey. And that pulse is the basic necessity of every journey. A gentle, yet required heartbeat for maintaining the sanctity of the ride. Whenever I travel in a train, the best thing to notice and to learn from, are the people in that train. In our country, trains are a famous locomotive, and it ends up being the precursor to various dreams, sometimes nightmares and a handful yet pleasing list of wonders. Every train, essentially has it's source and destination, for what we miss to notice is, that these end points evolve one thing -  a Culture. We have trains traversing through different corners of the country, and still for some trains, its possible to recognize them just by a look, and not by their name plate. Some stand out with their generosity, their devotional capacit...

It's been a while since I've put my fingers to the task, but it feels good to be back. This time, I'm along the lines of Batman - yet, a little into philosophy though. Yes, I'm talking about the Night (without the 'K'). Often we are moving from one place to another, as part of work, or as part of our personal chores. And almost all the cases, the mode of transport are our favorite Buses and Trains, which we rely on, more trustfully even than our own toothbrush! So during one such various tours, the thought struck me that a wider population is being 'in transit' during the night hours. Some taking hours in single digits, and some in double. The reason for destinations may be many, for family, for work or be it anything. Amid the rush, there dwells a night life! Across these nights, several interesting caricatures surface with their own stories. There's the lady who has drawn the beds early, settled in her comfort zone. There's the...

It often so happens that amidst our frequent and not-so-frequent journeys, we come across several of the very common bus stations across the country. Some of them freeze a frame in our mind for their grandiose, and some for their normalcy. Yet, with all the variety, it is mostly a transit point for a journey, either to or fro! But in between all the honking of buses, the regular calls for passengers and the race for a seat, there’s a lot that buzzes around this place. The business, the chatter, the romance, the desperation, all situations blending into one big consensus. A consensus of our existence between the speed of our lives and of the humanely things that we often fail to cherish. Set in for a pause and take a look around when you’re there. The epiphany which strikes you would be amazing! Though not all bus stations get that blessing, but some have the luxury of chairs. On one set, you’ll find an family come to send off their elderly parents, explaining them to be careful and h...

The ever imaginative and captivating, super-human world, always leaves us awestruck. The beings of superior qualities stand out of the crowd, often taking the role of saviors of humanity. And thus begins the adoration, admiration and sometimes an extrapolated - infatuation - for all the _____Man and the _______Woman genre, and a hoard of others with fancy names speaking of power and other qualities! Does the superiority really matter?! It's quite natural to wonder, what if WE, yes, we Homo Sapiens had the exact super powers? Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly in the air? Wouldn't it be superficial to be strong and move things just with your tiny little finger? YES! Isn't it? NOPE. In fact, we would have been insulting and depriving ourselves of our own intelligence. Being a species having super powers, would have stopped us from thinking of numerous inventions in this world - fire, cars, wheels, etc. etc. Primarily, because we wouldn't NEED it. Want to go f...