We are odd, we know it
We flamboyantly show it
You may laugh and snicker at us
You notice us nevertheless!
Batman’s car and helicopter- at the Helicopter Museum, West Chester, PA
Witch in panic? At Yankee Candle Village, Deerfield, MA
5 Day Black and White Photograph Challenge: Day Five
Grapevine, Napa Valley, California
Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Green River
The green waters of the river
Are for me like my life’s mirror
Life reflected in the water’s flow
At times rapid, at times slow,
Plunging forward in a waterfall
Like my response to a challenging call
Or weighed down by silt, lying stagnant
Like the drudgery of life, hope dormant
Carving its way through hills and valleys
Like I navigate through life’s alleys
Absorbing the weight of the soil on its way
Like I absorb experiences each day
Merging in the ocean at the end of its path
Like I shall return to the earth at last.
At Ausable Chasm, Adirondacks, New York
A creek in Glacier National Park, Montana
The meandering Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
5 Day Black and White Photograph Challenge: Day Four
View of Lake Tahoe, California
Touch
The touch that sent
Ripples through me
Was it an accident
Or was it meant to be
A wordless expression
Of love so profound
That simmering passion
Had an outlet found…
The touch that sent me
In the throes of torment
All by myself and silently
I tried to decipher what it had meant
Was it a guileless gesture?
While lovesick and dazed
I tried to treasure
The touch that had left me amazed.
With my heart I can swear
That this physical contact
My soul it did tear
It left nothing of me intact
The fire that this touch ignited
Burnt with a fierce intensity
The passion that this touch had incited
Threatened to destroy my sanity.
Then, at the peak of my yearning
Relief and succour came to me
You answered the question burning
Declaring your love so elegantly.
Years later, I still crave
The touch that started it all
Ardent memories I have saved
Of that mutual encounter so small.
Weekly photo challenge: symmetry
Waterfall at the Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas
Symmetry of an orchid
Colosseum at Rome
5 Day Black and White Photograph Challenge: Day Three
All right, I could not play for 2 days because I worked for 40 hours straight…
I am back with my entry for day 3.
Tranquil sea at Vieques, Puerto Rico
Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge: 2015 Week #6
Here are my entries for my favorite challenge-
All roads lead to the sea- in a resort at Hamilton, Bermuda
Walking beside Niagara Falls, New York
The desert sun beating down, Las Vegas, Nevada
Corridor through a Hindu temple in New Jersey
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Let’s Go Fly a Kite
Fly away, at the end of the string
Fly away, at the start of spring
Up, up, up and away
In the cool breeze you may sway
Feel the freedom of a lie
Though you soar in the sky
Your fate is linked to my skill
With one tug of the string I can kill
Your towering ambition to fly
Until then, you may rise high.
These photographs were taken at the Berkeley Kite Festival, California.
The prize
-Bhagwad Gita
When I was young I was taught
To go on working without a thought
Wasted on the fruits of my labor
Fortune, I was told, would favor
Me if I could make a distinction
Between anticipated results and actions.
Why then can I not apply
This principle even though I try
Why can I not avert my eyes
From the distant gleaming prize?
Just focus on giving each job my best
Lay all expectations of outcomes to rest.
When did I acquire this greed,
How did the prize become a need?
Anticipation of results eroding slowly
Into my work imperceptibly
Sucking out of work all happiness
Making the journey so tedious
By focusing on the final destination,
That focus turning into an obsession.
***
A new vocation did I find
Complex enough to challenge my mind
With no definite end in sight
No temptation of a prize to fight
All I had was the work at hand
I plunged into it, my future unplanned
Rejuvenated, I discovered my passion
In bringing my arduous task to fruition.
My journey was suddenly satisfying
When for the prize I was not trying.
More happiness, though was in the wake,
When at the end, as icing on the cake
A huge prize I won as my reward
For toiling away and working hard!
5 Day Black and White Photograph Challenge: Day Two
Here’s my entry for today:
Reflection in a tranquil lake
Fate
You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.
-French proverb
My fate with you was intertwined
To be with you I was destined
Try as I did to fight my fate
Tempting time to stand still and wait
While I dabbled in waters new
Swimming aimlessly, without a clue
Waiting for the shore to come in sight
As I stubbornly continued to fight
The trail ahead blazed just for me,
Turning a blind eye constantly.
Audaciously I thought I could steer
My fate away from directions clear
I had established in my mind
Wishful thinking could leave my fate behind..
What I then did not realize
Later it came as quite a surprise
When all said and done, you and I
Came together, I understood why
Fate had decreed events this way-
‘Cause this is what my heart would say..
I had ruthlessly crushed its voice
Beneath my mind’s archaic choice.
In the end the stars were aligned
Such that my heart won over my mind!
Passion...unbridled 
