Open Book

Wondered why I named this blog Open book? Neither did I when I started it. Then a few days ago I wrote this poem which coincidentally also explains the blog name. Well the first part is not exactly a poem, but I don't write poems anyway so it doesn't matter.

Life is an Open Book Exam.
The Lesson is always there- right in front of my eyes.
Written on the face of every person I meet, scattered across my thoughts;
etched in every probe of my conscience,
hidden in every experience,
in every obvious and cryptic coincidence, in every twist of fate.
Scattered across my dreams; in lecture rooms, rain drops, and those pure delightful rays of sunlight.
Across every conversation and every confession.
In everything that went wrong and everything that went just right.
In every pang of guilt or envy, in every feeling of love.
In every insult and every hurt.
In every friend who stabbed and every friendship that could have been but wasn't...

(and now the bit that actually rhymes)

The hard part is to follow,
To do what I know is right.
To have faith in my instincts,
and not give up the fight.

But it's hard to keep the faith
in something I can't see.
Like in God or in the future,
whatever it may be.

What I need is inspiration-
perpetual as the sun.
To always come remind me
of all things to be done.

In search of such a brilliance
so far, I have been fruitless.
Although these diamonds in my path
surely can't be useless?

For inspiration is not found
in great epics or great tales.
It lies in the smallest things in life,
"God lies in the details"

The Terrorists Within

‘Terrorists’ are far more abundant than one might think.
I believe that every dominating or aggressive act aimed at inducing fear for the purpose of asserting authority, gaining respect, profit or revenge is an act of terrorism. So logically, every bully in school is a terrorist and so is every politician making inflammatory speeches.

When this guy said, “I’ll break the arms and legs of anyone who dares to get in the path of my party workers”, people actually clapped and cheered. A few days ago I had seen those very oh-so-noble party workers beating up any and every shopkeeper they came across, in order to force them to shut shop- all for the purpose of ‘showing them who’s boss’. If that’s not terrorism, I don’t know what is.

It’s not the fault of those monkey-see-monkey-do workers though. Heck it’s not even the fault of their twisted leaders. It’s our fault.

Some idiot comes and shouts, “Hey, those people are bad. It’s all their fault. Don’t let them come here and dominate us!” And off we go running behind him, thrashing people and bad-mouthing communities, never sparing a thought as to who is actually being dominated by whom.
We must stop being the puppets of these power hungry politicians. They will say and do just about anything it takes to convince us that they are right. It is our duty to stand firm and let our conscience decide, based in all available facts. These people will only use us and throw us, gaining more power in the meantime.

Let us stop being blindly led by these people, otherwise what is the difference between us and herd animals?

The military will always be there to protect us from armed terrorists, but the above-mentioned form of terrorism will not be gone until we start acting less like cowardly baboons and more like courageous men who do not need to be spoon-fed what is right for them.

Unless we learn to stand on our own feet and stop tolerating these political bullies, we have no right to teach the government or anybody else what they should do.

Awoken by a---Squirrel!

Indian Striped Palm Squirrel- right on my very own coconut tree!
My prelims ended yesterday and so I wasn't really keen on waking up early today. So it was with groggy eyes and a disoriented mind that I spotted the creature. Well actually I heard it first- kak-kaking away at something, raising its tail and flattening its little belly each time. I got my phone out and got a few pics and a video too, although the light was working against me so I couldn't quite capture the beauty of it.

Thermodynamics and green leaves

After consecutively getting bad grades in thermodynamics tests for the last God knows how many times, I think the subject demands some respect; which is why I'm going to write something about it here.

Thermodynamics.Hm. The most basic scientific way of trying to make sense of everything that goes on in the universe. Sounds interesting that way,no? And yet when you study it, you find it's so...so constrained. Every law seems to start with 'It is impossible to...'. By the time you've done with it, you're left with a miserable feeling of how pointless it is to make heat engines and generate any sort of power from nature; because no matter what, you'll always end up losing most of it to nature again, with the added discomfort of making the air a bit warmer and the world a bit dirtier.

Thermodynamics tells you how to make life practical, by taking advantage of this wonderful and once peaceful world that God's given to us fools. We fail to realize that the earth is a closed system and whatever waste we throw away will come back to us; and we won't be able to put it into space because by that time there won't be enough trees to make currency to pay for the space flights. So sooner or later, it's all gonna catch up with us.

Maybe we should all just go back to the caves; with the streams and the flowers, and green leaves covering our privates.

Watching the world deteriorate itself before my eyes, I'm reminded of a poem I read in school and find myself crying out these lines-

"Open the windows, Son, and let me go back to Sun and Air, even sweat and flies and all, but not this. Not this"

I'm so fed up of the 'I got real attitude' lot.
Ha! As if not caring about the world is a great achievement! They write it on T shirts, make communities out of it and flaunt it like a fashion statement. In the obsessive effort of trying to be different, we've only gone from being a part of one group to that of another.
Wouldn't it be better if all of us stopped trying so hard to be different and started to actually be the way we are? Surely then there wouldn't be any need for black nailpaint and eyeliner?
You really think the world has nothing else to do than to applaud and envy you? Wake up!-the world's full of idiots as it is; why join it by screwing up your life in your own special way?

The song "Where is the love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.


What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin'
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love?

Where is the love
Where is the love
Where is the love
The love, the love

It just ain't the same, always unchanged
New days are strange, is the world insane
If love and peace is so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations droppin' bombs
Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones
With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong
In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin'
in
Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends
Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother
A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover
The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love
Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the love, y'all

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love ?

Where is the love
Where is the love
Where is the love
The love, the love

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin'
Selfishness got us followin' our wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema
Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down
There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under
Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love ?

Tell me what was the worst thing about today's wimbledon qualifier which Sania Mirza lost? Her frequent unforced errors? Her forehand not working?What was it? Hmm.....noticed the Indian spectators' "cheers"? "Saniaaaa!......Sania!" Noticed their over exciting expressions at the slightest hint of her winning a point?Why?Why can't we Indians resist going from being supporters to fans to fanatics? OK, she might be the only Indian girl making it big in International Tennis. Do we ever wonder why? Why aren't there more ppl from India in international sporting events?(Except in the religion called cricket,of course).

Days pass by. The Sun rises and sets. The tides come and go. There's earthquakes, floods and famines and people die like bugs. Farmers commit suicides. So do students. Brutal murders, rapes and molestations are no longer shocking.
Saying that the world is going to the dogs, is an insult to dogs.
There you have Osama telling you to sin as a duty to God and here you have politicians telling you to be proud to be a Hindu; Just because you are a Hindu. Reminds me of the monkeys in 'The Jungle Book' who say "We are the most intelligent animals in the Jungle. We all say so. So it must be true!"
But who cares? Who cares as long as there's the IPL, rock music, and 'friends' to jolly around with? Thats what we do, isn't it?- sleep,study,play and chat, chat n chat more about the most obsolete things? What else do we Indians know than to be blind followers,crazy fans, and senseless self-glorifying hypocrites?
So what are yor waiting for?-The 'Hand fo God' to slap you?Or would you rather do that yourself? Whatever you do, do it fast coz the clock's ticking. And remember-"If you're a by-stander, you are not innocent."