A humming word

Poetry that urges you to write is qualified as good poetry. But poetry that compels you to write leaving your chores behind is great poetry. That’s what Gulzar Saab is all about. Selected poems by Gulzar (tr. by Pavan Verma) is an effective read. The variety in the subjects and the varied lengths leaves you gasping for more. It is like a beautiful love letter on a rainy day that you wish to read and re-read till the words soak inside of you. Sample this: Meaning From the square,  through the mandi,  past the market  Along the red street floats the paper boat  Helpless, bobbing about in the unclaimed,  orphaned waters of the rain  In the wanton streets of the town, frightened,  it asks: If every boat has a shore  Will I too have mine? Gulzar Saab dabbles in pain, humor, love, books as easily as he writes about his daughter, whom he fondly calls: Bosky, his friends and his mentors. The earnest lines in the poem:1857 will boil you...

Trevor Noah is one of us. He fumbles and makes mistakes. He is whiplashed. He is terrified of his father. He lived a life of penury.  Trevor Noah is one of us. He makes silly assumptions in romantic alliances. He thinks less of himself. He has lived a harsh life.  Trevor Noah is one of us. He feels terrified but feels happy too. He lived a life of pain and still does. Trevor Noah is not one of us. His father and mother have never lived together. He was born during apartheid when inter-racial sex was a crime. (Thus the title: Born a Crime) ** The best part of the book: 1. The many tales of Trevor Noah that are filled with humor and sarcasm.  The incidents are painful but Noah make sures you have a hearty laugh.  Eg: His failed romances, metric dance (prom), tales of car breakage, his cd business..etc  2. His mother, Patricia.  The way a son treats his mother speaks about his character and Patricia is no less than a hero in th...

Recently, I watched the film “Room” inspired by the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. It was based on several incidents of captivity and kidnapping from real life. Five-year-old Jack narrates the story from his own perspective.   He is introduced to the world outside through a television set, a skylight and his Ma. Jack doesn’t know anything else. He draws on the walls and is keenly interested in the outer space. Inside the room, Ma and Jack have spent years of their life, held captive by “Old Nick”. Old Nick had kidnapped Ma when she was 19 years old and he regularly sexually abuses her. Jack is the product of this abuse. Old Nick loses his job and worried that he might kill her and Jack, Ma trains Jack with an escape plan. She tells him that the world is much wider outside. Jack is unable to fathom that the television set people live beyond the television too. It takes him days of training to understand the plan. Finally, one fortunate day, Ma executes the...

The snow covered streets Dogs walk with their owners Decorations, unlit and Toys and stuffed mickeys shivering in the balconies Hurried devouts cleaning their snowed up cars Squirrels and Hares still in their hideouts wish each other a Merry Christmas

The needle pierced her body  And his art touched her soul She bore the pain  Like a mother elephant would  The artist etched a baby elephant  The little trunk and the innocent eyes  Before the baby saw the trees fall  and  Deep pits with no food  Was that painful or  the needle that etched the creation ? 

Deers live in our condos now— they don’t pay any rent or maintenance. We froze in the tunnel during our drives; the phone signals gave up on us and then the dogs and the babies chuckled. God hears their voices and used his magic wand to freeze us. He was tired of fulfilling the grownups wishes.