Judge!

PC: http://mentirasquetevoucontando.blogs.sapo.pt/

("Critic" is from Greek word "kritikos" meaning "able to judge or discern.")

"Unless we are very, very careful,we doom each other by holding onto images of one another based on preconceptions that are in turn based on indifference to what is other than ourselves.”

  - Psychologist-turned-artist Anne Truitt 

 

The angel and the devil were being critics of human actions -
"It was a good thing."
"No, it was a bad thing."
"But it was the best thing to be done there."
"It was inappropriate to be done there."
"She had the courage to stand against the mob."
"She did not heed to the wisdom of the crowd."
God who was busy playing with the stars asked them - "Why did she do so?"
The angel and devil in unison - "Maybe because...."
God - "Not your assumption of why. But the reality of why."
In unison - "How would we know?"
God - "What were her circumstances which drove her to do so?"
Again in unison - "How would we know?"
God - "Then what she did was good or bad?"
Again in mechanical unison - "How would we....!!!"

सन्नाटा

PC: Myself!

उनके इक लब्ज़ के इंतज़ार करते करते,

सन्नाटे की इतनी आदत हो गयी है की 

उनके लब्ज़ भी शोर सा लगने लगे है ।

(Waiting for a whisper of hers,

I have got so used to silence that

Her whispers too sound like noise.)

ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ....

ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.... 

ಕಡು ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ..... 

ವಿವಿಧ ಛಾಯೆಯ ಕಡು ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ....

ಮಳೆ ಕಾಣದೆ ಒಣಗಿದ ಹಳ್ಳಿ ಬದಿಯ ಮಣ್ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳಲಿ

ಧೂಳೇರಿ ಕಣ್ಮುಚ್ಚಿದಾಗ ಆವರಿಸುವ ಅವಕಾಶ ಕೊರತೆಯ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ವಲಸೆ ಹೊರಟ ಮಗನ ಬೆನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಎದೆ ಭಾರದಿ ಕುಸಿದು,

ಕಂಬನಿ ಇಡುವ ಅವ್ವಂದಿರ ಕಣ್ ಮಂಜಾಗಿಸುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಏಕಾಂತ ಇರುಳುಗಳ, ಭವ್ಯ ಸ್ವಪ್ನಗಳ ನಶೆಭರಿತ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಮೊದಲ ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಮೊದಲ ಸ್ಪರ್ಶದ ಅಮಲಲಿ ಕೌಮಾರ್ಯವು 

ಹಗಲಿನ ನಾಚಿಕೆ ಹೂತಿಟ್ಟು ತನ್ನಳಿವನು ಬಯಸುವಾಗಿನ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ,

ಭಾವ ರಾಗ ಉದ್ವೇಗ ತಳಮಳಗಳನ್ನೆಲ್ಲಾ ಬಿಗಿದಪ್ಪುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಜ್ಞಾನ ವಿವೇಕಗಳ ಮೇರುಕೇಂದ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿನ ಆಲೋಚನೆಯ ಅಭಾವದಿ 

ಜಾತಿ ಪಜೀತಿ ಕಲಹ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಗಳ ಅಂಧಾನುಕರಣೆಯ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಪ್ರಗತಿಯ ಹರಿಕಾರರು, ಕವಿಗಳು-ಕಲಿತವರು ಸೈದ್ಧಾಂತಿಕ ನೆಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ 

ಪ್ರಜ್ವಲ ರಾಮರಾಜ್ಯದ ಹುಸಿ ಕನಸ ತೋರಿಸಿ ಮಸಿ ಬಳೆವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಒಂಟಿ ಕಣಿವೆಗಳ, ಕಾಡುವ, ಬೆಕೋ ಎನ್ನುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಕಾಲದ ಕ್ರೌರ್ಯದಿ ವಿಧವೆಯಾರಾದ ಹೆಣ್ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಮೌನದಿ 

ಭಾವನಿವೇದನೆಗೈಯಲು ಸಾವಕಾಶದಿ ಕೇಳುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ,

ಸತ್ತವರ ಸಾವಿಗೆ ಎಂದೂ ಬದುಕಿಹರ ದೂಡದ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ನಾಗರೀಕ ನಗರ ಪಟ್ಟಣಗಳ ಭೂಗತ ಅಗೋಚರ ಪಶು ಪ್ರವೃತ್ತಿ 

ತನ್ನೊಡನೆ ನಕ್ಕವರ ನಗೆ ಕಸಿದು ಮಾನುಷ ಭರವಸೆ ಕೊಲ್ಲುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಅನಾಮಿಕ ಅಪರಿಚಿತರನ್ನು ಆಪತ್ಭಾಂದವರನ್ನಾಗಿಸುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಕಳ್ಳ ಕಿಡಿಗೇಡಿಗಳ ಮೆರೆಸಿ ಗೌರವಿಸುವ ಸುವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಿತ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಸುಧಾರಣೆಗಳ ಸುಸ್ತು ಪ್ರಗತಿಯಡಿಯಲಿ ನಿರುತ್ಸಾಹಗೊಂಡು 

ಆದರ್ಶವಾದಿಗಳು ಆದರ್ಶಗಳ ಔಚಿತ್ಯವನ್ನೇ ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸುವ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

ಪರೀಕ್ಷಿಸದೆಯೇ, ಪರಾಮರ್ಶಿಸದೆಯೇ ಎಲ್ಲವ ಪ್ರಮಾಣಿಸುವ 

ನಮ್ಮೊಡಲಿನ, ನಮ್ಮಾಲೋಚನೆಗಳ, ನಮ್ಮಾತ್ಮಗಳ ಕತ್ತಲೆಗೆ.

Complainants!

 

That crowd of emotions

Emanating from my heart

Had back then fallen in love,

With that very haunting

Dark beautiful loneliness,

Which seemed to engulf you!

With the passage of time

There have been complaints.

No, not of your loneliness.

Rather, the very lack of it.

The complainants are

The crowd of emotions -

My unsatiated longings,

Longing for that loneliness

Which they killed when they

themselves fell in love with it.

Precious and lost!

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
― Haruki Murakami, 

("Kafka on the Shore")

"You look sad, depressed and lost, why is it so?"
"Because it is precious and I lost it."
"Then come let us go and find it."
"No, let us not find it back."
"Why? Isn't it precious enough to get it back?"
"It is precious now, only because it is lost."
"Ah! One of those which become precious only because they can't be got back."

Afraid

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

- T.S. Eliot, Preface to Harry Crosby, Transit of Venus (1931), p. ix.

It was a gala party. So many guests, all grinning at one another, greeting with joy and at places hugging despite the envy.

At the table in a corner, we three sat boozing after eavesdropping at random tables on a lot of ludicrous gossips.

The angel and the devil too, due to the lack of coherence to discuss any interesting subject as we boozed, took to deliberate on the idea of my marriage.
"How sweet of your human friends, at each table as they greeted you, they were all concerned of your marriage."
"But how does your marriage concern them all? Seems like it is an easy, lazy conversation starter."
"Best to ignore it, we humans just tend to feed on the gossips of others' lives as we loaf around in such parties."

As we had more pegs the angel and the devil too, like those success-coaches, told me to surmount my fear and take a leap of faith.
"Maybe they were all right. You are afraid. Afraid of getting married. And hence succumb and fret your days in loneliness."
"Maybe they were all afraid. Afraid of having to live alone and succumbed to that pressure and surrendered to marriage."
"Maybe like them all, we three are also on a high and unnecessarily philosophizing another civilizational social convention which could well be followed for thousand various reasons in various cases."

ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯೇ, ನೀನೂ ನನ್ನಂತೆ ಪೆಣ್ಣಲ್ತೆ!?

ಖಜುರಾಹೋ ಶಿಲ್ಪಕಲೆ (Erotic Sculptures of Khajuraho)
I wonder if these sculptures question our perceptions and reservations on issues we often dismiss as taboo

ಮೋಹ ಕಾಮದ 

ಕಿಚ್ ನಮ್ಮೊಳತ್ತಿಸಿ,

ನಮಗೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಪ್ರೇಮದ

ದಾಹವಿತ್ತಿ, ಕೌತುಕದ 

ಶೋಧಕ್ಕಿಕಿದೆ!

ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ತನುಗಳು ಸೇರಿ

ಸಂಧಿಸಿ ಸಂಮೋಹಿಸಲು,

ಯಾರೇ ಈಡುಮಾಡಿದರೂ 

ಕುರುಹುಳಿವುದು - ನಾ ಮಾತ್ರ

ಕೌಮಾರ್ಯ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಬಂತೆ!

ಮೂರ್ಲೋಕದೊಳೂ 

ಕೇಳ್ದೆ ಯಾವ ನ್ಯಾಯವಿದು?

ಲೋಕಗಳ್ ಕಳುಹಿದವು

ಇಗೋ ನಿನ್ನೆಡೆಗೆ -

ನೀನವರ ತಾಯನ್ತೆ!

ಇದೆಲ್ಲಿಯ ನ್ಯಾಯವೋ

ಅರಿಯದೀ ಪೆಣ್ತಲೆ. 
ಪೇಳ್ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯೇ,

ನೀನೂ ನನ್ನಂತೆ

ಪೆಣ್ಣಲ್ತೆ!?

(Igniting within us the fires

Of attraction and lust

Planting within us the thirst

Of affection and love

Thou set us on the exploration

Of curiosity!

Whoever nudges our bodies 

To meet in unison and

Thrive in that intimate union,

Evidence remains only to tell

Of my loss of virginity!

I have questioned in all worlds

How fair is this??

The worlds have sent me to

Thou; they all claim

Thou to be their mother!

My female heart is unable

To comprehend this justice.

Tell me O Mother Nature,

Aren't thou too a woman

Like me!?)