THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER

Status Update

Dawn or Dusk

First to check

No exception

Obsession Or Compulsion 

Cancerous or benign 

Status is mine

Mystery or Suspense 

No history to prepence

Probe failed

Mystery it's not

2 playing the part

Duet in Stage

Audience none

Suspense none

Basic instinct 

Very succinct

Subtle for Stalking

A hint in order

Bigger picture 

Role playing 

Kinky or innocent 

REALITY

25. REALITY

Past  Mirage

Future fluid

Present Is

Life not an exam

Preparation irrational 

Predictions Notional

Broken Rhythm 

Order of the Universe 

Expectation humiliation 

Awareness Intelligent

Fear Deterrent 

Sorrow ends when 

Hunger starts

From unknown 

To unknown 

Life an interval

Screen a Dream

Experience cumulative 

Application  understanding 

Forever Nothing.

DHARAMJI

Headmaster’s son

Skipped class

Entered theater

Life to Alter

Matinee show Shaheed

Worshipped Dilip Kumar

Like many before

 Dreamt about Movies

Like a few followed up

Won Filmfare talent Contest 

Frontier Mail to Bombay

Promised film stalled after start

Struggled even for a bit part

Anonymous in stature

Mononymous in Name

Debut in 1960

Finally part of filmdom

Small role 

Mentor Arjun Hingorani

For a princely sum of fifty and a cup of tea

LEGENDS

 Borg and Connors

Fire and Ice

Scandinavian kid

Mid Western  boy

Opposites in Personalities

Opponents in the Game

Playing hands a mirror image

Similar in goal

Immortality in Glory

Each standing in anothers path.

Inherited a Club Sport

One hundred years old

Turned tides in a decade

To bequeath an International One

Compounding of fans

Beats the Market index

If were a stock

Buffett would have Invested

Soros Traded Long

Return on Investment

Calculator would show an Error

It would require a Computer

Stadiums to Capacity

Individual sport

Never seen before

Television rating

Team sports behind

Brands Endorsed

Sales Skyrocketed

Whoever called it a Sport

Every Stadium bec...

PANCHAM

The Prince of Tripura

Prince of Music

Only child of Sachin Dev

A king amongst composers

Was born Rahul Dev

Toddler cried in 5 notes

Hence named Pancham

 Livelihood in Music

Like fish to Water

Tabla and Harmonica

Learnt playing in order

Compose for movies

Ready for the struggle

Breaking in impossible

Dream remain a dream

Assisted father

A legend peak of career

To fill in the coffers

Nobody knew

What he had to offer

Insults swallowed

Rejections followed

Years in limbo                       

Acted in cameo

Waited in the wings till

Vijay Anand offeres Teesri Manzil

Supported by giants

Dazzling Score brok...

STRIKING OUT

Content with means

Elegance than luxury

Worthy more than respectable

Refined instead of fashion

Wealthy not rich

Think quietly

Act frankly

Talk gently

Bear cheerfully

Face all bravely

Hurry never

Opportunity closer

Spiritual growth

Take care of future

JKD

Glory in Giving

Gratitude is Gangster

Growth in Adapting

Heart with content

Mind empty

Expressing yourself

Self Constant

Image redundant

Fake it Make it

Second Nature

Process not result

Ready not tense

Dont Think Dont Dream

Spiritual insight

Will make it hit itself

A COMMON BREED

Objectivist Epistemology Followed correctly

Ayn Rand on a grand stand

Impressed the impressionable

Idea far from noble

Followed by people

Survival the key

Results there to see

Applied to life

Ladder to growth

Ladder only a tool

Ends up the fool

Personal growth the motto

Humans as steps

Let the world beware

Empathy and kindness rare

Claiming victim

Does not solve the problem

Crucifixion complex and self pity

Better if invited earlier

To the gates of the Almighty

THE WAY

Looking ahead

Looking behind

Road ahead

Memories behind

Aware and Prefe3sent

Wallow and Past

Adapt on the highwa y

Rigid on the dead end

Sub concious clean

Optimism and Faith

Sub conscious dirty

Low esteem and self pity

BAMBOO

Survival of the fittest

Misunderstood as the strongest

Flexibility is the key

Says Master Lee

Optimism Positivity

Fuel for the heart

Past and Negativity

Opium for the brain

Do not get stuck

Opines Chuck

Worry adds and remains

Curbs growth

Simplicity is brilliance

Feel the resonance

Transplant the sub conciousness

Gratitude Compassion Love

Required steroids

Kills Toxic Destructive Thought

Vibration and Energy

Honor and respectability

Channel and feel

Easiest Mantra to heal

TWO CLOWNS

The High and the Mighty 

Tough and Brawny

The Slow and the dead

Bereft inert and wasted

Two sides of the same coin.

Happy the haughty

Unleashes the bully,

deeming the other worthless.

Tearing the soul brutal.

Play the game of the top dog and underdog.

Both are clowns,neither realising the futility of  this wasted exercise.

Pin the underdog on his physical gesticulation and mental indisposition.

Alone or in a group all are of a similar type.

Lynch the fall guy .

Stooge, scapegoat , victim and prey he becomes

To the vanity he succumbs.

Technique pretty as picnic.

Humour at his fraility,

Sock his security.

Convey substance right,

Lock him in tight.

Prepense a Wrong,

Twist his arm.

Snap and he reacts

He imitates your act

It's a...

FRIENDSHIP

We search our souls,

When we find a lacking .

Luckiest is one who finds a mate.

First thing in life,

Others can wait.

Before us we see in the movies, houses and classrooms.

Acquaintance that blossoms ,

Watered by the desire of companionship.

Progressing on the steps of associate ,ally and friend.

On the foundation laid by

Chemistry and Camaraderie,

Cemented finally as a buddy.

Search and find,

Make and Bind,

Defined and Designed.

Roads taken commonly.

None are right.

This is not an art or combat.

A soul mate is never found.

Union that's Spiritual .

By defenition boundless.

Rare by the numbers.

Lucky are the finders.

Male Bonding  it is christened.

Blessing I would reason.

Chinaman's chance to happen.

Grace in plent...

SUNSET

My Epitaph will read

Here lies one helluva lucky fellow

For all the times he fell drowned and buried himself,partly due to his own doings and partly due to the unknown

Still managed to have his head above water breathing ,had food on his table and had friends who'd speak highly of him.

The cause and effect he never really understood.

I want to keep my boots up on my porch and gaze at the evening shade ,as it gives way to the bright lit moon and as the noisy streets blends slowly into the Silence of Darkness illuminated by the light from the Sky and the glittering stars

As the darkness and silence blends into one

I will be waiting for the man upstairs to tell me that my time is up.

The surrounding nature will take notice of a rocking chair that continues to move at the pace of the wind ,with no one in it

And realize There goes another one

HEAVEN

Four times a week

Matinee Evening or Night.

A trip to the movies .

Was a guarantee

As I call to mind.

A bijou of a place

Standing in queue

Counting the heads ahead.

Fervently praying for a seat

Looking at the marquee.

Stars name Starring in.

Ticket in hand

Was Disneyland.

Next stop was the poster

Mammoth in size

In awe would analyze.

Eyes sharp as laser.

Focus on the credits

Memorizing the artists.

Row didn't matter

Insistent but on an aisle seat.

The view seemed better

A quirk I never got over.

Always early and looking at the watch

Eagerly waiting for the curtains to part.

Commercials and Government Propaganda.

Enduring the two was hard.

Trailer was theaters choice.

If shown there was no greater joy.

I NEVER SANG FOR MY BROTHER

The younger brother must pay for the pleasures of her elder brother

Said Jane Austen.

She overshot the mark by far.

13 considered an unlucky number .the number of years between me and my brother.

Heard from my mother about his visits to the hospital

By blood  a brother

Caring,  a father.

Shepherding a Godfather.

An alumni, his reputation 

Got me admission

Into a school

Of great reputation.

Trips to school

Sitting on the back of his bullet

Oldest memories i can recall

Never have I felt safest.

Falling sick  became a   habit .

Month long stays at the infirmary.

An annual practice.

Jaundice  Typhoid and Tonsils

Flat feet and almost blind

Visits to the doctor a daily grind.

N...

TEACHER

Ignorance is innocence.

Learning is a Virtue.

One who bridges this gap,

Is the Guru.

Teacher the most revered word in the dictionary.

Shares knowledge,

An act divine.

Enlightens the mind.

Discipline Ethics Integrity

He initiates.

Lasts us a lifetime 

Readies us for the future

Indebted we are forever.

Expresses no fear or favour.

Exactly like the law of Nature.

Judges our progress.

Merit is lauded.

Faults are Criticized.

Goal being Growth.

Ready to solve.

Until we evolve.

Parts Wisdom.

Shows Direction.

Guides with a firm hand.

Travels along till we Stand. 

Aspiration Ambition a never ending list.

Guide you he will 

Self doubt he mitigates

Confidence he enthuses

Impude...

PATH

Myriad of religions.

Unique in its philosophy.

Man gets inducted at birth.

Misconception of which ,there's no dearth.

Devotees aplenty in search of divinity.

Possessing only of Sanctity.

Every criterion has an exclusion.

Creation is no exception.

Athiest is the name given

Believe he does not 

Rational being his requirement.

Disproving becomes his disposition.

Agnost hangs in the middle.

Has no struggle, for he

Neither accepts or denies

Religion straddles between Ritual and Spiritual.

One says you are not dual.

Other says it's Mutual.

You are a sinner claims one.

Life of submission is the only path to Salvation.

Faith and Logic.

Foes as far as it goes.

Faith an emotion.

Driven by devotion.

Rational fuelled by denial.

Incompet...

REFLECTION

I reflect upon my infancy living a life of fear and boredom

Had a brother who was a decade senior

Who was nothing short of a mentor

Fear drove me to the movies searching and yearning for stars

Who I found in abundance and what was absent in my soul was present in their role

Testosterone filled powder keg scenes blitzkrieg in front of me.

Mere Images they weren't 

As real as reality was

The line dissolved as I vicariously fought the villains of my life 

My mind wars were in full throttle 

Me emerging the victor Unaware that imagination was making me the victim 

Decades it took to draw the line again 

Reality was reborn 

And rickety split was leading a life of fear and boredom

Boredom took me in search of humans

None had humanity exploited my inadequacy again I went as perceptible w...

DESERVE

If life is an equation.

Why aren't the results coherent.

If life is random

Why do we try to fathom?

If life is pre ordained ,

Why do we procastinate?

Life is unfair says one.

It is never to none.

Table your mumbo jumbo.

Balance them with your prudence.

Life will make sense.

Decision has choice.

Action is one.

Alternative action is a non existent phenomena.

Life is a straight line.

Doesn't run in parallels

What if ? Is the most asked question.

The only puzzle for which there can be no resolve.

It seems as easy as grease on wheels.

To make s cow fly is infetestinal.

Finding answer for that is futile.

For you cannot act twice at the same point of departure.

ANOTHER BROTHER

Another brother to my brother.

Addressing him as I do.

Steam engine loaded with coal

The carriages about to roll

Year was 79.

I was all of 9.

Was acquainted with Chandy

Immediately realized was  life and soul .

An original at the core.

Older by years,

Could never make me his peer.

Charming And Friendly

Why would I be treated differently?

Video games or American Consulate

Was fortunate.

Impossible made Possible.

Intention as always noble.

40 years since 

Never mentioned once

Showed the Class.

Dapper Astute and Suave

Watched with Awe.

Can one be all

If your Chandy it's not a Crystal ball.

Since Eighty One.

Decades passed one by one.

I am Fifty one.

Promise made to my brother undone.

 Be like...