Focus on your heart throbs

 

Focus on your heart throbs,

And you will know

When your love is near,

And, who is dear.

Ink is ephemeral, voting ink is not

The lady is requesting for a bottle of the ink in a polling booth to apply to her hair

Because the dye that is available in the market does not last even for a month whereas this ink will last for nearly 4 months! 

I've kept faith

 

I've kept faith:

In country, Guru, and God.

And it has worked.

How the leap year saved the world

 

If 2024 were not a leap year, today (12 April 2024) would be Friday, the 13th. Rest, all of us are wise enough to understand the implications. Of course, some are wise, some are otherwise. 

Another Chance

 

I was too hurried to touch you

When I roamed the Milky Way, my stars,

I was too worried and didn't caress you,

When I sped past you, marigold fields,

I scampered and scurried, before your drops

Could drench me with love, my first rains,

And, I was too drenched to ask for more,

When you loved me just a little,.

Will you give me another chance?

Modern hieroglyphics

 

Are we going back to hieroglyphics? Not exactly hieroglyphics, but more like picture writing. Because hieroglyphics are about phonemes, or sounds: just like the sound of the word 'water' will give you the picture of 'water' in your mind. In social media posts, we are using what we call emoticons. In India, there is an unregulated interpretation of emoticons. I've read that in one occasion in Canada, an emoticon was interpreted by a judge as acquiescing to a business agreement, and a respondent had to pay damages for infringement of a purported business deal as the respondent had posted an emoticon (showing thumbs up) in response to a proposed business plan.

But emoticons can be interpreted differently in different cultures. A 'thumbs up' 👍would be agreement in one culture, and 'angutha dikhaana' in another. Now, 'angutha dikhaana' in Hindi is an idiom that means mocking someone. Similarly, the emoticon of owl would be to show wisdom in one culture, and 'Ullu' in another. 'Ullu' in Hindi is owl, but is also idiomatically used to describe a fool.

Another thing we find today in social media posts - and lately in formal writing - is emphasis given to a sentence by repeating the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence. For example, if you want to shout out how important your question is just print a dozen question marks after your sentence. If you want to show how important or profound your sentence is just add a few exclamation marks after your sentence. In any case, interrobang (!?) is being used like loose change in social media posts these days. And, we also have repetition of a vowel purportedly for emphasis: for example, loooong for very long, etc.

Many social media headings are full of hieroglyphics (read emoticons): some with flowers, followed by bouquets, followed by hearts, followed by what we call smileys. At least, I'm unable to decipher the meaning of such headings.

How will the future generations read such hieroglyphics? Perhaps they will take help of the Sumerians or the millennial generations' limited vocabulary.

Too much love

 

Never enough love

To fill my heart,

So much space

Is there still.

It's my heart's wont

To ask for more.

Heart won't burst

With too much love,

Heart won't hurt

With too much love,

There is no such thing,

As too much love.

फिर प्रलय क्यों आया?

 

फिर प्रलय क्यों आया?

अभी, अभी तो स्पंदन का सृजन  हुआ,

अभी भी आंख से  मोती

दूर तक बिखेरे हुए हैं,

अभी भी ह्रदय लहू लुहान है।

फिर प्रलय क्यों आया?

Why did apocalypse visit again?

Only now the heart beat has birthed,

As yet the pearls from the eyes

Are still scattered far,

The heart is still bloodied,

Why did apocalypse visit again?

The core wish

 

Like all wish,

My wish is a star,

But my wish keeps expanding,

Has become a supernova.

Gyanis say, it will explode

And become a dwarf,

With only the core wish

Remaining.

Will it be too late

To wish for lifetimes of you,

The core wish?

PS: Is thinking about a wish, wishful thinking? Just asking.

Sound of fire

 

Sound of music

Is a sound of fire,

Sound of music

Is a funeral pyre.

Sometime it's the Supernova

Outdoors,

Sometime it is the Picnic

Indoors.

Orient is my world

Today, I found

My East,

At Sunset, I'll find

My West.

Now, oriented with my world.

Orient is my world.

Happy Vernal Equinox

I'm searching for Him too

 

Last I wrote a letter

To the sky,

It was return undelivered:

'Addressee not present',

The note said.

I asked a sage

If God had moved house.

'I don't know,' she said.

'I'm searching for Him too.'

The aisle

 

Between you and me

There is that aisle,

There is that path

To nowhere,

Will I crossover?

Will you crossover?

And, waiting for one of us

To blink,

The flight 

Would have landed.

Brick by brick

You built me with love,

Brick by brick,

And our home,

Brick by brick,

And, you are here,

You are there,

Everywhere.

 

Gossip of the earth and sky

 

One evening,

The earth and the sky

Gossiped at the horizon.

The earth asked the sky,

'What do the clouds seek

Once they cross the horizon?'

The sky said,

'They seek a place

To drop their little drops,

They seek a parched place 

To shower you with love.

'But where do the waters go

Once the rivers cross the horizon?'

Asked the sky then.

'They seek a place to fall,

They seek such a waterfall,

Where the foam rises high,

And becomes one with you'.

The lonely goatherd...and cowherd

 

Most of us have heard the song, 'The lonely goatherd'. Here is the audio track:

The lonely goatherd

But, my point is this: how can a goatherd be lonely when they are surrounded by goats? Don't the goats love the goatherd and keep them company?

As opposed to the goatherd of Sound of Music, a Mahapurush narrated this story of another goatherd (and cowherd) who clearly was not lonely at all:

Many, many years ago, Agastha muni and his disciple were in deep meditation in the Himalayas. Agastha muni came down from the Himalayas and took hermitage in Kerala. His disciple, another accomplished Yogi himself, later went South in search of his Guru.

Once he reached what is now Tamilnadu, he found a herd of cows and goats crying inconsolably in a jungle. Elevated that he was, he found the reason of their grief. The goatherd who had brought them into the jungle for grazing had passed away all of a sudden. This goatherd (and cowherd) had never been lonely. The herd's collective grief knew no bounds. Moved by their crying, the Yogi went into the hollow of a huge tree and gave up his sukshma sharira and entered the body of the goatherd. The goatherd sprang back to life, The cows and goats were very happy and stopped crying. However, he was never the same goatherd thereafter. He started mumbling about Vedanta and other highly elevated spiritual talks. When folks from afar came upon him in the jungle, they asked him his name and identity. The man would only mutter spiritual mumblings. The folks not knowing what to do, named him 'Shri Shepherd', or, 'Tirumular' in Tamil.

Now, the folks found the body of the Yogi in the hollow of the huge tree. Not knowing anything about the deceased. they cremated the body. As would appear, the Yogi now had no way to back to his body and had to lead the rest of his life as Tirumular. When Tirumular -outwardly the deceased shepherd- went home that day, his wife found some strange behaviour in him. He did not go to the cow shed to tend to the cows. Instead, he went straight into a congregation of Sadhus. 

Narrating the story further, the Mahapurush said that Tirumular went on write the Thirumantiram, a collection of about three thousand Tamil verses that are essentially exposition on Vedanta and Shaiva Siddhanta. Among other things, the Mahapurush said that the verses contain how to make Samadhi of a Yogi when a Yogi passes away. 

Set me free

 

When I fall in love,

Arrest my fall,

And let me fly,

I will not stall.

That I, like a Phoenix rise,

If ashes is the price,

Let me be,

Set me free.

Your eyes

 

Your eyes are the mists of the ocean,

Your eyes are the love of the sky,

Your eyes are the depth of the ocean,

Your eyes are the kindness of the sky,

Your eyes are the warmth of all the worlds,

Your eyes are the twinkle of the stars,

Your eyes hold the tears of this world,

Your eyes are to live for, and die for.

March will be gone

 

The Ides of March

Is all but over:

Baisakhi in the clover,

And, Spring in the air.

Bygones be bygones,

One day at a time,

March is on; so, march on,

And, March will be gone,

The leap year

The leap day is a leap of faith

For those on the death row,

The leap day is a day too far

For those waiting for payday.

Anticlockwise Races

I always wondered why races - whether human, cars, or bikes - are always run anticlockwise. Till I found that stairways to heaven are also anti clockwise. It must be easier to reach God in this manner. Given that, we should wonder why clocks run clockwise and not anticlockwise, shouldn't we?

This call will be recorded for training and quality purposes

 

In the IVRS scheme of things, when one is about to get connected to customer support after a lot of Press 1, Press 2, Press 5, etc, there is always a warning: this call will be recorded for training and quality purposes.

What happens if the customer doesn't want to be recorded? Just too bad. They can't register their complaint. 

It's a clever way to record conversation, without getting into legal hassles. Why would a customer want to be part of a Company's training and quality initiatives? Mind you, the customer is not given a copy of the recording. In case the customer is following up on their complaint there is no way that they can hold the Company responsible for any promises/timelines spelt out during previous conversations. So, the recording is only for the Company's sake and use.

How does a customer know that their recordings will not be misused, or become a datapoint of the  delinquent Company? With AI marching ahead without any restraints, voice recordings can easily be manipulated and misused.

Customers need protection against this blatant invasion of privacy and the deceitful way in which Companies record conversations.

Sun is the pearl

 

In the evening,

The sun took a dip in the ocean,

Looking for the pearl,

And, the water went all aglow,

The sun knows now,

That it is the pearl,

And the ocean

Is the oyster.

Earth is scarred with many furrows

 

Earth is scarred with many furrows,

The child wants to stitch the burrows,

But there isn't enough twine to sew,

There aren't enough needles to go.

The wick and the lamp

 

Love is like the twirling wick

That burns itself to spread the light,

And the lamp is like the throbbing heart,

That feels the swell and ebb of  light.

Sometimes when the lamp overflows,

The wick sputters and drowns the light,

Sometimes when the wick burns too low,

It burns, chars, and becomes cinder.

That wish, many eons old

 

When the star beam started 

From light years yonder,

There was a pining,

That it would reach me.

The beam that kissed me today

Was many eons old,

The wish that touched me today,

Was many eons old.

The day after

 

Yesterday was global warming - 

Of hearts, of course.

Today it is business as usual,

Of trying to cool the earth.

What would have been

 

What would have been,

If the stars had stayed on,

If the moon had stayed on,

If the night had stayed on,

If you had stayed on.

While we live, let us live.

 

Take a dip, my friend,

Take it till the water lasts,

Take it while love lasts,

Dum vivimus vivamus:

While we live, let us live.

High frequencies of rumani

 

His love is with ample amplitude,

It's like an aggressive tsunami,

Her love is like tiny microwaves,

With high frequencies of 'rumani'.

rumani: romanticism

Heart brims over

 

My mind is without a thought,

Like the iron before it's wrought,

My lungs carry no breath,

The bellows are perhaps taking a break,

But my heart brims over,

And over, and over.

A warped time machine

 

When she thumbed through her

Long forgotten botany notebook,

Fog blanketed memories came back,

With the dried leaf that she found,

In the folds of her notebook.

He was a memory

Like that skeleton of the leaf,

Frail and distant,

In a warped time machine.

Let all days be Tuesday

 

Tuesday is fuse day,

Of hearts and minds,

Tuesday is dues day,

For God and country.

Let all days be Tuesday.

Emily's Valentine

 

As Valentine day approaches, here's Emily Dickenson's Valentine:

Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,

Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!

 

Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,

For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.

All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,

God hath made nothing single but thee in His world so fair!

The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,

Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun;

The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,

Who will not serve the sovereign, be hanged on fatal tree.

The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,

None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;

The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,

And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;

The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,

And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son.

The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful tune,

The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,

Their spirits meet together, they make their solemn vows,

No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.

The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,

Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;

Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,

And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.

Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,

To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:

Thou art a human solo, a being cold, and lone,

Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap'st what thou hast sown.

Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,

And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?

There's Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,

And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!

Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see

Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree;

Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,

And seize the one thou lovest, nor care for space, or time!

Then bear her to the greenwood, and build for her a bower,

And give her what she asketh, jewel, or bird, or flower --

And bring the fife, and trumpet, and beat upon the drum --

And bid the world Goodmorrow, and go to glory home!

Your're in love, with little hope

 

When your heart is all aflutter,

And your soul is all aglow,

When your eyes mist a little,

And your lips tremble slow,

When your life is all topsy turvy,

And you swoon with little cause,

When all seasons are that of spring,

You're in love, with little hope.

Longing in my sky

 

There is a longing in my sky,

Why isn't my world so high?

That I touch my every cry,

That I soothe my every sigh.

Taking Drill

Someone expressed their feelings in this beautiful post.

I couldn't help but feel that a military cadet takes drill (and Extra Drill punishment) in the drill square to pass their Drill Square  Test and earn a lanyard.
 

Long live the Republic

O full moon of the Eve:

When moonlight melts

From you tonight 

On my country,

Be partial to the

Lonely, dark bunkers

There yonder.

Drench the bunkers,

With sparkling light.

O rising sun

Of the Republic Day:

Be partial to the

Freezing heights yonder,

Give those that cling

To difficult ledges,

And ice-walls

Warmth and hope,

Give them a fistful of you.

Long live the Republic! 

Holiday

 

Till recently I didn't know that my reusable table calendar had an option for the day of the week as HOLIDAY.

After I discovered this, as a retired person, it has become so easy for me to change the dates. I always keep the HOLIDAY option on, whatever the day of the week. And, the good thing is that this really works.

Love dilates like Time

 

Love dilates like Time

When you go away

To another star,

To another Universe.

Love, like the speed of light,

Is the same in all the frames,

I'll age a bit when you return,

Will my Love age too?

Batter

 

What is common among a good dosa batter and a good cricket batter?

Both rise to the occasion.

W0W!

 

Recently, when the 2nd Test between SA and India was going on, the Indian wickets were falling like skittles. It was just W0W!

That's how the ticker below was also showing: W0W.

W0W, or, Wicket No-Run Wicket.

When did the story start?

 

When did the story start?

When was the first star born?

When was the first wish born?

There is a whole galaxy now,

There is a whole universe now,

The wish is now

Bigger than the wisher,

The dream is now

Bigger than the dreamer.

Formula for hard work

 

The formula for hard work is mgh.

The formula for indifferent work is also mgh.

You know where I'm coming from!

Into your Ark

 

Can you hear me

Above the noise?

Can you hear me still

When I have no voice?

Can you see me 

When it is pitch dark?

Then, take me in,

Into your Ark.

Kalendar kwiz: Implementation

One way to solve this would be:

There are a total of 12 faces from 2 cubes.

Since, we require 11 and 22 as dates, we need both 1 and 2 in either cubes. Once 1 and 2 are  imprinted on both the cubes, we are left with 12 - 4 = 8 faces to write the remaining digits. 

Let's start with 0, then. If we imprint 0 on one of the blank faces of the left cube, we need to have 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 on the right cube to have dates 01, 02, 03, 04....09. But, 3 to 9 need another 7 faces. But we have only 4 faces left(after imprinting 1 and 2 on the right cube). So, we need to imprint 0 on both the cubes. This leaves us with total 6 faces: 0,1,2 digits having been already imprinted on each of the cubes.

Now, we have remaining 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 numbers left to write on the cube faces to be enable us to display all possible dates. But these are seven digits as  opposed to total six remaining faces. 

Now, we do a sleight of hand. We use 6 and 9 interchangeably by rotating the cube 180 degrees on the horizontal axis, whenever required.

Then, we have the following digits imprinted on the cubes to cater for all possible dates:

Cube one: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Cube two: 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8

With this configuration all dates (from 01 to 31) can be displayed. We have specifically named the cubes Cube 1 and Cube 2, (and not Left Cube and Right Cube) because they can interchange their positions from left to right. For example, when the zero of Cube two is required on the left, Cube 2 is placed on the left and Cube 1 on the right.

Trivia: At eleven past one today, we have in the Hour Minute Month Day format: 1:11::11:1.

Kalendar Kwiz

 

On the right is my reusable table calendar. On top is the date; in the middle is the day; at the bottom is the month.

The digits that depict the date are imprinted on two identical wooden cubes on top. Each face of each of the cubes has a number imprinted. Here is the question:

What are the digits imprinted on each of the six faces of the cubes so that all possible dates can be displayed?

Love, pray, hate, and envy: how they fare between 'I' and 'you'

I was curious about how the frequency of the phrases 'I love you', 'I hate you', 'I envy you', and 'I pray you' were used in the books and other English material. And, how one phrase fared against the other. This was made easy through Google's Ngram app. The data was from year 1800 to the year 2019. There were some startling, if counter intuitive revelations:

(a) 'I pray you' was way above 'I love you', 'I hate you', 'I envy you' in 1800.

(b) After a few oscillations, in 1845, 'I pray you' started going down; in the same year 'I love you' started going up. The other phrases more or less remained unaltered.

(c) In 1890, 'I love you' and 'I pray you' crossed each other. 'I pray you' would never surpass 'I love you' after that. All other phrases remained unaltered.

(d) In 1975, 'I love you' started accelerating. Other phrases remained almost at the same level.

(e) From 1987, 'I love you' kept moving up. All other phrases reached their nadir.

(f) From 1995, 'I love you' moved North exponentially. 'I hate you' and 'I pray you' also started moving up slowly. 'I envy you' remained at the same level.

(g) At 2016, 'I love you' peaked at 0.001353%. After which it started dropping rapidly.

(h) During 2019, 'I love you' had dropped to 0.0012983%. Distant second was 'I pray you' which outperformed 'I hate you', albeit, only by a bit.

And, Wednesday yearnings

When I find my words,

Will be only talk about you,

When I find my path,

Will be only walk towards you. 

Wednesday prayer

When I find my words,

Will be only talk about You,

When I find my path,

Will be only walk towards You. 

Where do all the calendars go?

 

After the New Year's party,

Where do all the calendars go?

Some yearly diaries still remain,

Still, where do calendars go?

These days there aren't many

That are hung on walls,

Or fill up unfilled places,

In rooms and halls,

Back then, after the New Year's,

We'd cover handed down books,

And the frayed covers,

Would get new, pleasing looks

These days some friends

Ask me to block my calendar,

For their daughter's marriage,

Or, to go to places Down Under,

But how can one block a calendar?

How can one block flowing Time, I ask,

There is no such thing as Time, I know,

Age and Time are just human mask.