Gifts...

The ice on the glowing palm,
the snow on the fiery hearth,silent...
You see in those eyes so deep,
a serene calm, brought by the thunderstorms...
Now the waves are gone,deep into the sea...
Now the clouds have gone high above the mortal's sky...
Lord is asleep in his Mistress' arms,
and Vagabond in shadow of the date palm...
Ye restless mortal unto sea,
Ye ruthless pirate drunk again,
Ye heartless dagger of the Mark...
Now see the shadow of the dark...
The shadow crept inside Yer heart,
those voices silent, ring a chord,
and Ye see that mermaid swim the sea,
Ye see that Triton strike Ye free...
Now oh! ruthless pirate long forgone,
now friend so dear, Ye sure have come;
This is the gift, Winter gives to thee,
the soft ice rests for the softer breath of Ye...
This is the Gift, God has gifted Ye,
snow dwells in thy fiery heart,
calm as a bumbling bee...
- Anyo Shiyen
15/04/2010

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

Meeting of Ladies...

As the waters in sparkling eve,
As the winds blowing in the the darkling scene...
Now I see the beauty,as it rests;
words left behind in the hallway,
sounds forlorn in the alley beneath this nest,
all the words, lost in thoughts,
all the thoughts, lost in feelings,
feelings stop with this tender breath...
August rain falls,
pearls from that lady wearing the pale blue dress...
Now this boy,at the foot of that church rests,
listens, intent, to that flute blowing abreast...
The drops waken, the lively green dress,
and perfume, scent of the elegant lady,
wearing that green-brown dress...
The young lad, lies down, with his head resting,
on the bosom of his mother,
and floats amidst the stream of dreams, unrest...
The young ladies greet,
and the merry lad sings, the songs with that merry zest...
Oh! pray, Lord!, gratitude,
musing, my Lord!, thee blessed me with this sight...
Now let me close my eyes,
and let me relive this sight...
Adieu...
Anyo Shiyen
6/4/2010

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

An attempt in Romanticism...

You seem to me like a distant star,
You seem to me like a stream afar...
You glisten in darkness yet so fine...
Thy face lit,by the moonlight,
shadows those planets nine...
Thy grace,a feline yearns,
thy laughter, beg fairies abroad...
Thy scent blooms to the envy of the
sweetest roses of all...
Hear O! Merry lad,the Lady comes,
covered with heavenly snow on her hem...
Hear O! Ladies,at the country inn...
Her clamour of happy feet,
singing beyond thy din...
Hear O! Father at the Holy Altar,
the Lady comes...
Hear O! Master,
thy daughter runs in the wild...
Untamed and free,
sings songs divine...
Ahoy! Beholder,here she comes...
Walks softly the steps of my door,
on this eve of fall...
Here,she arrives,
I shalt need to tend to her needs...
Daughter of Nature,
here she doth greets,
in mellow fairy voice,and honey-like words,
asks my health and sweet pleasantries...
Pardon my Reader,here I take thy leave,
for the Lady is here,and the candles lit...
Now I shalt go,and in her company try to fit...
-Anyo Shiyen
22/03/10

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

Musings in Solitude...

Those painted shadows walked that moor,
those haunted humans in that dark contour...
I walk this distance,
I shed these tears,
I sigh my despondence onto this night...
It felt so noble,
it felt so true,
and I,unwisely, upon my darkening truth,
sighed again, of content, and, for love..
And I, unwise, shook my girth,
and I, unwise, cried out my pain...
Now I realise, now I know the untrue,
and now I, unwise, accept that truth...
The dead poet sung, that grave old song,
that brave heart said, the ballad wasn't wrong...
And I sit, amused, listening to the folklore,
amused, aye, not at the ballad but at my naivety...
Now I sit, abstruse in my solitude,
now I linger, I durate for the rest of my time here...
Alas! these tears, like the dew from the moon,
these tears fall from the pallor,
and vanish soon...
Now at this dusk, amidst dark slumbering pain,
in this lonely corner,
I see a storm raging, in vain...
Yet Ye know, my friend,
I am trying to let this pass,
I am searching for the rain,
I am looking for the sunlight,
which shall dissolve these tainted shadows of fear...
I wait for the moment,
when I shall cease to be haunted again...
All I say, all I sing,
all my musings, point towards that ray, that light,
and while waiting for this fear to vanish,
to be vanquished...
I pen down my name,
while waiting, in solitude, this is but my game...
This, is but not all the same,
it feels, and rightly so, not very insane,
it feels right, it feels good,
to feel my heart again...

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

On the roadside man's message...

Today I was passing near the High-court,when I saw a man standing in the middle of the crowd holding a banner. The banner read,"Many communities eat cattle as meat,not JUST Muslims..."
There is something in that statement which deals with the specific issue of cornering muslims over the issue of cattle slaughter...
It is true that, Muslims are one of the communities,among innumerable other communities who have cattle as their food,what people here in India fail to realise is the unnecessary pin-pointing of Muslims...
The matter hasn't stopped there,people across the globe,ever since the Islamic extremism has made its point at 9/11,have started to view a human being who follows the path of Islam as a terrorist...
If this day,the menace of the global terrorism as grown to become an international threat,we can't blame just the fanatics,we can't just blame the faulty governments,we can't just blame the war crimes...
There is a bigger fuel which has burnt the engine of religious fanaticism,especially fuelling the Islamic fanaticism,and that fuel has been our attitude...
The way we have cornered a turban wearer,a Muslim,with our eyes of suspicion has force-fed the ranks of Islamic terrorist brigades...
It is our misguided paranoia that has made the Muslims,who would have otherwise been our friends,brothers,take up arms to kill millions of innocents...
If instead of us blaming the whole,novel society of Muslims,if we join hands in accepting the Muslims,who have followed Allah's teachings devoutly,without misguided interpretations of the sacred text of Koran,which teaches peace and brotherhood among all men,I am sure,the forces which try to disrupt our peace,shall shatter...
For once,if We shed our hatred,suspicion and anger,maybe someday,they will follow the suit...
What remains important factor which needs to be taken into account to solve this issue of terrorism,is to not allow those good Muslims, to lose faith on their status in the society,they deserve respect and dignity...
More than I do,or any other non-Muslim does,because they alone have shown the faith,strength and courage to endure the cornering that we have did to them...
They have shown the supreme strength of character to master the anger or frustration and believe in the path of Goodness,in a world filled with antagonistically feeling people...
As Gandhiji rightly said,"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love."

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

On the need for innocence...

And here we go again...
Yes,well today was a decent one,but again I suppose I was caught in a dilemma...

How far is it true that violence is an inevitability?

Well I am caught up in two different conflicting ideals,pacifism and realism...
Great pacifists like Mahatma Gandhi propounded that war is an immature and unnecessary resort to solve a dispute...
I used to have faith in that,but now I see more and more realistically,and have uncomfortably come to perceive that notion to be conflicting and not entirely practicable...
More and more study into the historical,political and the socio-economic conditions of human civilizations show that violence is an inevitability that man resorts to,time and again,to fulfill his goals and ambitions,and also those of his state...
The leaders of the world speak of diplomatic solutions to all the problems,then I don't comprehend the necessity of the frenzy over the arms race,which is gross violation of their own commitments and promises...
Yes,if we question this to one individual,he may reply that he would stop,but he can't trust that others will,and that keeps the one who is ready to stop also to go on...
Till when?
Well,we live in a society which amalgamates all kinds of individuals,democracy as they name it,and in democracy you are bound to have decent citizens and statesmen,but more than the availability of these human assets,you may find an equal or more voluminous amount of the rotten lot,who despite the outcry from the masses to stop this violence,will continue to wreck havoc for their own selfish designs and ends to be met...
What are they driven by but jealousy,hatred,disloyalty,greed,misguided ambition,suspicion and paranoia?
And it is not easy to attain the goal of a peaceful world where all these emotional negativities exist,and till man exists,these emotions will linger,if not in you,in someone next to you at this point of time,and there are really few individuals who have actually mastered these evils which are more deadly than all the nukes put together,and it would be foolhardy to expect every single person in this whole world to actually attain that state of pacifism...
Yes,I do think this is a depressing monologue,I don't mean to say that one must do war,but accept the fact the fact that war is inevitable,to someone,somewhere,at sometime...Although,what one must remember is to be tactful enough to avoid its manifestation in reality for as long as possible,because taking life is easy,but giving it back,impossible...
Yet there exist people who hope,people who think peace is possible,people who have been innocent enough to believe that peace is a permanent solution...
Well,I used to be one among them,but now I am too overwhelmed by contradictory evidences to accept that fact...
Knowledge is a wicked thing,it makes you see things others don't,but it also ends up making you feel things others don't...There is nothing as ghastly,as cunningly disguised a thing as knowledge,because at the time you are in the possession of great truths and realities,you lose something, you lose your freedom,your lose your sense of idealistic well-being and optimism,its always been my perception that cynicism was an unintended by-product of the process of gaining knowledge...
Yet I still feel,all that is good on earth,is in the hands of those few innocent,who believe in those ideals,who have the courage to hope,who have the tact to feel optimistic,who have the strength to be happy and who have the life flowing through there veins which helps them smile...
The earth is still a happy enough place to live in,because of those people,who have embedded a tiny ray of hope in my heart,and gave strength to give this realistic,practical mind a good fight with their idealistic hearts...
As Blake rightly suggests,it is the innocent who pass on from mundane to the realm of God,and it feels right to me, to say,innocence is a synonym for purity of thought and soul...:)

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

On things that go wrong...

When I first spoke,
all was calm,and all seemed blessed,
but now I don't see where it went wrong...
When I thought about the things I see,
all seemed well,all seemed nice,
but now I don't see where it went wrong...
All these years,hope pulled me,
it showed me how one can live,
with one small smile amidst despair,
but now I don't see,how I allowed it to go so wrong...
All those days we lived as friends,
when all those hours we spent near the sea,
I don't think I saw how things could have gone wrong...
But now I sit alone,
bereft and in self-pity,
I pull myself into the dungeons filled with my tears,
and in that lone dark room,
I rake what is left of sane whole mind,
thinking what I did to make it all go wrong...
Now I cry,head in my arms,
thinking,how could I let this darkness creep on,
now I wish that I never wished,
now I wonder
why things have gone so wrong,where did I miss,
where did I not foresee?
Where was I unjust?
and how I let this sorrow seep into me...
For all I know,that,is wrong...
Things do happen,
things do shape,
things do have a way to say their say,
there is no reason to despair,
there is no reason to lose hope,
and one thing that remains,
is a reason to believe,
that the things that go wrong,
will be set right soon,
and one day I will wake,
thinking nothing can go wrong,and so it will remain...

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju