Mediocrity

He is bobbing like an unnamed cork
in a sea of mediocrity.
And there is a tempest of inanity
thrashing him about.
There's a storm of inefficients
lashing him about.

The behemoth of a system --
A spherical rock-mountain of rigidities,
A juggernaut of ghastly proportions --
It pardons those who abide,
Protects those who lie,
Nurtures those who shirk and
deify its mammoth edifice.

Mediocre is the new norm.
It's the garb of official uniform.
Mediocres love mediocres.
And despise everything out of box.
In the warm, cozy embrace of their likes,
Inefficiency is lulled to sleep
with sugar-coated excuse pills.
Ah! You don't recognise
the efficiency of inefficiency?
Cap your imagination buddy.
Or off to Section '84!

The boulder rolls on inexorably.
Dragging the coins
of the unsuspecting benefactors
in its wake --
They who out of humble reverence,
believe -- Mass Is the New God.

If money is the new token of your worth,
Once, I was afraid to die mediocre,
Today, I'm afraid to live poor.

And I'll Live

A mass of clouds
A grass of rain
A stalk of joy
And a lighter vein..

A shock of heaven
A sheaf of earth
A gust of wind
And a baby's mirth..

A heart of gold
A head of steel
A hand of fate
And a hearty meal..

A house of love
A yard of care
A beach of mates
And a silent prayer..

And I’ll live!

I Am God

The Christians say that it took me seven days to build this world. Actually it was so long back that I don’t remember any more. No, I’m lying. I do remember. But if I reveal it and if it’s more than what humans thought, my workmanship would be suspect. Humans will say, “He took so many days and still he produced such an inferior product!” Or, if it’s less, they will say, “He was in a hurry and he made a mess of it all.” The fact is, the only inferior product I ever produced is the human race. Ok, I’m being judgmental. But hey, being God has its own privileges!

I can build this mess all over again within the blink of a human eye. I am an incessant creator, a restless potter, an untiring sculptor. The cosmos is one of my smaller creations, but a cute one. I like the ‘Earthy’ patch on it. Quite interesting! I didn’t actually plan it that way but it’s nice the way it has come out. Though if you look at it closely, you may be disappointed by its apparent ugliness. Is life on earth really ugly? Do all earthlings really think that way? Do they think I can be blamed for their misfortunes?

I have created billions of life forms all over the universe. That’s my garden patch. Full of life! But these humans think that they are somehow special. Of course, every life form in every galaxy has that right. The special thing about the humans is that I have given them the power to judge. It was an experiment that went haywire and the humans were born—my ‘Frankensteins’. I don’t complain coz they can hardly harm me. But they have reasons to complain against each other and they are doing so. Their intelligence and their judgment allow them to take decisions that are not necessarily for their own good. I created all other animals in a way that they control their numbers automatically. There is a delicate balance in nature. But who the hell told the humans that they could go for an expansion? Must have been what they call the ‘Devil’. But believe me, I’m all alone. There’s no one called the Devil. It’s the humans’ excuse for their own frailties and mistakes.

To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no control over the humans. Maybe over their surroundings, but not on them. I can change their environment, but I can’t change the way they think. I am all-powerful, but not powerful enough to control their minds. That’s what went wrong with the experiment.

[2004]

Jazz and Life

We were there to feel the profundity of life…without feeling insignificant ourselves. On the contrary, Jazz gave us meaning. A sense of place in the middle of all this; a sense of importance of the role we are playing; a sense of hope that there is order behind this seeming chaos; a hope that things will be calm and settled and moving on an even keel, just like Jazz.

The piano and the sax alternated now and dueted now; like two lovers having a lovers’ argument, a passionate flirting of a beautiful lady and a handsome gentleman. A love affair of unending youth that age cannot put a label on.

The drum brush and bass guitar were knocking a steady rhythm that closely mimicked my heart. Or was it the other way round? Now the piano and the drums were talking to each other. Piano talked, drums listened. Drums talked, piano listened. And now they agreed and nodded together. This was the art of conversation at its best.

The Woman across the Street

I leaned on the lamppost with a leisurely bend. I languidly placed the cigarette between my lips and inhaled lightly. And that’s when I saw them—those two perfectly sculpted, beautiful feet. Hugged by extremely feminine, strappy shoes, and leading from slim churidar-clad legs. It took me some time and a lot of curiosity to peel my eyes off those masterpieces and look up to see whom they belonged to. I saw the essence of femininity.

[originally written on 28/06/2004]

Zack and Bill

Zack and Bill 

went up the till 

to fetch a bale of clutter.

Zack yelled down 

and choked his frown 

and Bill came mumbling later.

Does this remind you of some people you know?

The Royal Palace

Once upon a time, there was a great king. He was very powerful and prosperous. So he built a huge palace for himself and his 76 queens. It was a magnificent palace of gold, silver, and precious stones. It was the most beautiful building in the whole of the world. Other kings were jealous of this king's palace and were in awe of its beauty. People used to travel hundreds of miles to come and have a glimpse of this palace. But then, one day, the king became ill. He became weak and could no longer rule. The princes killed the king and fought among themselves. One of them emerged the most powerful after killing all his siblings and crowned himself the king.

The next day he called the royal architect and told him, "You're an incompetent fool, a nincompoop! You don't know design from horse dung! You don't know how to design buildings or palaces! This palace has been made unprofessionally. I want a rework. No, I want to break this palace down and build a new one! Bring me new designs, show me new schedules, give me fresh budgets! But this aberration must go!"

The royal architect was shocked and disheartened. He said,"But sire, it took 21 years to build this palace, it is the most beautiful palace in the world! People from far and wide come to see this magnificent structure. They sing praise of our kingdom and its king. How can you call this heavenly palace ugly?"

The king replied,"Because now I am the King, and what I say is the truth. Do as I say and you'll be richer than you can ever imagine. If you refuse, I'll decimate your entire clan."

The royal architect learned his lesson and decided to rebuild. At least he retained his head and his job.

The Dark Joker

Who won? The script. The Dark Knight was a masterpiece because it was written like one. Not a single word superfluous, not a single take redundant. But more importantly, there was darkness. A lot of darkness of the the world, the soul, humour, sadness, system and resolutions. The action was just the icing. The dialogues and the story were the real stars. Heath Ledger did justice to the script brilliantly. The screenplay and editing were also very good. Had they not shown some efficient editing, it would've been a longer movie for sure. The music! Listen to it once again. The tempo builds with the sinisterness of the scene pushing you to the edge. Wonderful. The Dark Knight touches you in your own dark corners and you dont even know. You ask questions of yourself that you cant even hear. The Joker makes you laugh a nervous laugh as you read "UP". Look at the irony of the humour: Why So Serious? And let it rip.

The Undoing of Communism

The problem with communism is that it imposes standards on human beings that are not biologically backed up. For instance, equality, the basic foundation of communism, is actually just an outcome of human thought and conscience. Human beings are not biologically/naturally geared towards equality. Man's desire to excel above his peers betrays his need to be unequal. So, to achieve this inequality, you can either pull yourself up or push others down or do both simultaneously. It doesn't help that homogeneity is against nature's design.

As opposed to capitalism, which is purely an economic system, communism is an econo-political system. It propounds a way of society, while capitalism just expounds a system for circulating money and value. Capitalism has as its ally, democracy, which is actually the political system that lets capitalism proliferate in the most prudent fashion. Still, because of the overarching nature of communism, the communistic thought has been popular with thinkers and liberal intellectuals over the years.

If humanism is the doing of communism, then human nature has been the undoing of it. When a nation-state is established and governance begins, greed easily overshadows conscience, and misplaced concerns and myopic judgement supplant the basic ethos of communism.

Have you ever wondered how capitalistic consumerism appeals to most of the masses? People may complain about economic inequality, but will sooner indulge in conspicuous/inconspicuous consumerism when they lay their hands on money, than share it with their fellow citizens. "Have money, will shop!"

It all boils down to choice. The history of the evolution of the human species is one of overcoming limitations and inventing options; of struggling to find an alternative to what we've been handed down. It is a history of not being satisfied, itching for improvement, finding an easier, better way, working hard to become lazy and taking the long way to find a short cut. Human beings are naturally attuned to bettering their lot, of wanting to have an option, of wanting to express themselves creatively. This is where communism fails. It simply stifles people. The collective smothers the individual. And that just wont do in the long run.

Democracy, on the other hand, lets the collective and the individual coexist in a kind of an uneasy state of truce. It is aided by capitalism in this effort. While democracy maintains the collective decorum, capitalism lets the individual have choices, options and creative outlets. It is only when capitalism starts playing dirty that the truce falters. Therefore, sometimes democracy has to reprimand capitalism and restore the truce.

It is true that given all circumstances, capitalism can succeed only as long as it does not breach the limits of human sensibilities. Greed, among humans, will be tolerated only so much. People may eat meat, but they still love their pets and appreciate wildlife. Excess of anything is bad. But maintaining that state of equilibrium between greed and conscience is a very delicate affair and an extremely difficult one. As of now, democracy is our best bet. But what's next?

Office Worn

It is not surprising that you tend to remember people's clothes in
your office. Most people have a limited set. Some have a larger set.
Every one wears his clothes on a rotational basis. The idea is to
remove, as much as possible, the memory of that dress from heads of
your colleagues. People don't forget really, but at least they wont
remember it distinctly being worn sometime recently. Is it snobbish?
Pretentious? Persnickety? It is most certainly wide spread. What is
the optimum time before you can repeat a shirt or a saree or a top?
One week? Two weeks? Considering five working days, I would need 10
shirts to have a two-week rotation for each shirt.
Ummmm...ummmm...blah blah blah.