Passion…unbridled

The trouble is, you think you have time.- Buddha

At the risk of being considered out of my mind-

Let me tell you the treasure I’d like to find

Of course it’s not money, that’s too obvious

It’s not true love, though that would be a plus

At the pinnacle of luxury sits in my opinion

Time, in all its luxury, the world its minion

Reeling under a time crunch constantly

Time appears to be a precious commodity

**

Thinking about the luxury of time I remember

Burning  summer afternoons steeped in languor

Tucked in dark corners shielded from sunlight

Engrossed in reading, myself lost in delight..

Or the luxury of time when sprawled in the meadow

Under the starry skies, in the warmth of love aglow

Dreaming the dreams of a new life with each other

Time moved slowly, when we dreamt together..

Or the rare luxury of time on a holiday

Waking up early, before the start of the day

And realizing that there is still time to capture

Some more blinks, sending my heart into rapture

**

These seductive descriptions of time in abundance

Now seldom grace my life with their presence

Each aspect of life follows a regimented schedule

There are no leisurely moments, almost as a rule

Working long hours and being a young mother

Rob me of time, these expenses money does not cover

Excess money is a waste since I cannot enjoy

For lack of time, things that money can buy!

So time is precious, I will reiterate

Its absolute worth I cannot estimate!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be a “good girl” is all she had heard-

It made sense, good is a virtuous word

She did not know that being good came

With strings attached, all the same

The parameters of being good had much to do

With her gender, though she lacked a clue

For in her naive world-view good was defined

By honesty, industry and purity of mind

Regardless of gender, these qualities were universal-

But,

She was not expected  merely to be good, but  a “good girl”

This juxtaposition of words implied so much more

Weighty expectations that she had to endure

**

Good girls should be seen, but not really heard

No uproarious laughter, no loud word

Should escape their mouths, she was told

They should step daintily, not have a stride bold..

Back off quickly in intellectual discourse

Never state their opinions with much force

(Mind you, these rules were for girls who were given

Similar to male counterparts, a liberal education.)

Obeying your elders good upbringing signified

So she suppressed her rebellious streak and complied

Though in front of these rules she could not resign

Herself completely, may be she just was not destined

To be the “good girl” who would in due course transform

Into a well-mannered lady with old-fashioned charm.

**

Raised in a family with ideas fairly modern

Where education was not a subject of discrimination

She eventually ended up highly qualified

In a male-dominated field, which she entered with pride

Though confident in her abilities, she quickly realized

Behaving in her “good girl” ways would be ill-advised-

She would change her walk to a long, confident stride

Speak clearly and loudly, be assertive; she did decide

It was not easy to break the stereotype in which she

Had been typecast for so long, she thought bitterly

At every step she heard her conditioning chide

Her for not being a good girl, letting her manners slide.

**

Progress was slow but she managed to

Keep her head high in her workplace too

Stereotyping was dangerous- she had learnt

She resolved never again to get burnt.

**

 

This is a constant conundrum that I face

Trying to find a comfortable place

Where ambition and satisfaction collide

In parallel lines I see them ride

Focus on one, and that picks up speed

Until the other is instigated by need

Then this one speeds up for a while

Trying to cover that extra mile..

**

 

I’m kept on my toes by ambition

It is what gives me some direction

Leads to sleepless nights, that’s true

As stresses of expectation I accrue..

**

And when my jar is filled to brim

When the lights of joy appear dim

I resolve to put aside my ambition

And be content with my condition.

**

I tell myself I am satisfied

I will be happy where I am, I decide

For a while I feel carefree

Like a weight was lifted off me.

**

Then rises the restless demon

Demanding I resurrect my ambition

Bored with “satisfaction”, I tend to comply

Ambition spurs me to action, I can’t deny.

**

This is the vicious cycle in which I am caught

Satisfaction and ambition, meet they do  not..

I cannot choose one over the other

I shuffle between them, like a fickle lover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haphazardly I wandered through life, feeling rushed

Under the weight of time, constantly crushed

Life gushed past me like a mountain brook

Contrary to the way things should’ve been in my book-

My idyllic life would move like a river in the plain

Meandering slowly around bends, then speeding again

But a time crunch I felt nearly constantly

Sapping my vigor, sucking the enthusiasm out of me

For all my ambitions, time seemed to fall short

Many brilliant projects I was forced to abort

I felt I was trapped in an infinite race

Motionless I would stand, and still lose my place

**

One day the realization dawned on me

I’d rushed all my life, quite fruitlessly

Accumulating nothing along the way except stress

And disappointments in this whole process

Simultaneously, though, I did realize

A solution for this problem I had to devise-

I made deliberate attempts to slow myself down

Be mindful of each moment, not let myself drown

In the chaos of random synaptic connections

I let go my glorified ideas of perfection

**

I slowed down and noticed the world pass by

Savoring most moments, not letting them fly

The river of my life was no longer a brook-

A leisurely meanderer it became, just like in my book. 

 

 

 

Rhythm and Chaos, free spirits two

On a whim decided to

Compete with each other just to see

Who between them could more swiftly

Traverse the breadth of the Galaxy

Each one set out determinedly

With aplomb and audacity

Confident in their capacity

To out-maneuver the other one

Journeying through the galaxy was much fun..

**

Now Rhythm had her course all charted out

She glided through the path without a doubt

Gracefully, steadily, each step predictable

In stride and cadence, precise and measurable

Through light-years of travel she followed a pattern

Weaving her way gracefully through every turn

Calm as the ocean at low tide she remained

Her emotions never wavered or changed.

**

While Chaos set out with just a general vision

Of her journey, no map to lead her to her destination

She stumbled through obstacles, crashed and collided

Transformed herself , new ideas to worlds she provided

Rode high on the tides of exhilaration; ebbed with the low

Influenced by surroundings, she went with the flow

Her emotions ran raw and high fairly often

It was a roller-coaster ride throughout, no path was even.

**

Rhythm reached her destination, the location precise

At the diametrically opposite point of the galaxy; she was wise

To plant a flag firmly in the nebula that explained

The exact co-ordinates of her end location, and proclaimed

The exact time in which her journey was completed

She did not see Chaos, she considered her defeated.

**

Meanwhile Chaos in her laissez-faire manner had reached

An undiscovered corner of the galaxy, its virginity not breached

She stood there admiring the beauty of this new place

She had almost forgotten about the frivolous race

**

God had been following with great interest

He was the self-appointed  judge of this contest

He found that both Rhythm and Chaos had taken

The same amount of time for completion, down to the second

The total distance traveled did not vary by even a fraction

Both had discovered different areas in opposite directions

But at diametrically opposite ends of the galaxy

Thus both achieved the same, as you see

So He announced the result of the competition

As a tie between the two, after due consideration

**

As an unhappy Rhythm tried to voice her concern

Over misunderstanding, quite out of turn

God turned to both and decided to explain

How each was right in her own domain.

“Without Rhythm, there would be no life anywhere

For who could live if Sun decided to disappear 

 

Life is designed around the absolute predictability

Of days, nights, seasons, reassuring in their immutability..

While Chaos is the restless curiosity that resides 

Within human beings, it flows with the tides

Always on the lookout for novel experiences

New ideas, new emotions to satiate the senses

Without Chaos, the world would not have progressed

Humans would be cavemen, in animal skins dressed

While Rhythm provides the backbone for progress

Chaos accomplishes new feats by virtue of restlessness

**

So they went their merry way, each contented

With her place in the universe, as was intended.

****

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was taught about God when I was young

Many hymns in His praise I had sung

Was taught to fold my hands and pray

At the start and the end of my day

It was easy to whisper without comprehension

A prayer I was taught, but difficult to pay attention

Over the years I got conditioned to pray

 

For the Almighty to show me the way

Whenever I felt the pangs of fear

Whenever my loved ones were not near

Prayer was a means of distraction

Especially during times of fearful inaction

**

I do not know when I got desensitized

To the effects of prayer, but somewhere I realized

I could not pray even in stressful situations

I could not close my eyes and exercise patience

 

As a physician when I met with illness and death

I became a skeptic, in prayer I lost all faith

**

 

Faced with a personal tragedy one day

In desperation I invoked God and tried to pray

It was not easy, I could not concentrate

At first, but I persisted, I was desperate

An inner calm finally descended on me

A silver lining to dark clouds I could see

**

For prayer is not for God but for mortals like me

To calm us, give confidence in times of misery

To loosen the strings that bind us to fear

From the web of emotions, prayer can our mind clear.

 

 

 

 

 

We are a species of intelligence superior

With the audacity to transform nature-

We take freely from the earth its treasures

And modify them aggressively for our pleasures.

*

The fruits of the earth are not always perfect

We know it, but why should we this fact accept

The food we eat should epitomize perfection

For which we have created genetic modification

*

So we get used to fruits bigger and juicier

They all look the same, not one is peculiar

Our breads are much softer and fluffier

Thanks to hybridization over the years..

*

We have taken fossil fuels freely from earth

They are like liquid gold in their worth

Our carbon footprints have increased in size

And global warming is making the oceans rise…

*

 

How can I not mention destructive nuclear power

Genetic mutations are caused by radioactive showers

The soil is poisoned for eons to come-

This is regarded as success by some..

*

 

But every infringement exacts a price

The earth has been suffering, it’s not always nice

Thus unpredictable weather patterns we see

Hail from an earth disappointed in humanity

*

We need to remember we cannot bite

The hand that feeds us, or else it would fight

In retaliation- cataclysmic events might occur

We need to stop this mindless plunder!