Let's Pledge To Save Our Environment

                             

The clouds, the blue sky and the mighty mountain,

The lakes, the rivulets and the roaring fountain,

The spring breeze, the rains and the summer loo,

The colours of flowers or the lovely rainbow view,

Dew drops on the grass, the snow over the land,

The tides in oceans and the shore with its sand,

The vast multitude of insects, animals and birds,

All are subsets of nature, saying a million words.

Right from the time we set foot on this Earth,

All of us realize what our environment's worth.

We get all the energy from our very surrounding,

The warmth, the breeze, the rains and the lighting.

But as we grow up, our concerns visibly diminish,

We contaminate our environment, we act foolish.

Our knowledge falls apart, we forget the love,

Our eyes no more see the contamination above.

Our acts cause a depletion of nature's beauty,

We kill the mother, oblivious of our real duty.

They say whatever dies eventually goes to nature,

Is this where we wish to go in the coming future?

It is our responsibility to protect and preserve,

The assets of our environment and its rich reserve,

So that one day we can stand up and say to the world,

'We did it. Do others still need to be taught and told?'

Come on, let's learn to reuse, recycle and reduce,

Come on, let's help a vital resource to reproduce.

Together we all can make a significant difference,

We can convey the message about nature's essence,

And each of us can take a step forward to building,

A better earth; a greener and safer place for living.

It's our responsibility towards our own Mother Earth,

Who has been taking care of us, ever since our birth.

[I had compiled this poem as part of World Environment Day celebrations in TCS, Synergy Park, Hyderabad; last month. It got me the first prize.]

I Wish To Die Another Day... Part II

Our man gradually started feeling like a God's child. Someone who had everything coming his way, without even moderate risks taken. Now he could contemplate the result of an undertaking before it even came to concept. He had now realized that whatever risks he would take, he would end up being right and exact. These things didn’t keep him happy. He had long forgotten the fragrance of success- the one that comes after a couple of failures. He would often demand answers from God in his prayers. "Oh Holy Sire, why have you given me more than what I had asked you? I just wanted to know the date of my death. Why have you made my life predictable in all ways? Though I have everything now, I am not fully happy because You have rendered my life bland."

Several more years passed. And now our man was quite old. He had become a very famous figure now. He had his own successful business and his brand had travelled far and wide in these years. This meant that he had some really wide fame and acclaim now. So our renowned man was selected for a prestigious world-wide award for his efforts that was to be conferred upon him in a very big gathering of international figures amidst huge pomp and show. The night before this very big day, for which he had flew three thousand miles from his country to another, he was all excited on the prospect of the felicitation. His efforts had finally been paid. All these years of his diligent hard work was now being showcased in front of the world. As he retired to his slumber that night, he had a very strange dream.

He was walking into thick white clouds. There was nothing around except this white mist. After walking, what seemed to be some hundred miles, he finally reached a big iron gate that was indeed the gate that led to heaven. He kept walking. No one stopped him; no one demanded to know why he was there. It seemed to him as if he was some kind of a special guest who had been given all privileges. Slowly he walked stopping every ten or fifteen yards to check if he had reached God’s abode. After another long walk, he finally made it to the place where mortals could hardly ever go. It was God’s residence- the dwelling of the Sculptor-of-all-that-has-ever-existed. He was escorted inside by a couple of beautiful angels. And as he entered the immaculate dwelling, he saw his very God in front of him. The man watched Him with awe-struck eyes. God- in His supreme being, stood in front of this mortal human who had made his way to this place the second time in his lifetime.

Without wasting any more time, God spoke in a voice that echoed to every nook and corner of the entire span of the universe. "Welcome to my abode son. It was upon my request that you have been disturbed in your slumber and brought all the way to Heaven. I had to stop the God of Dreams in his pursuit of showing you your own idea of the forthcoming event that you are so very eager to be a part of. You had already started seeing the same in your dreams but there is something more vital that explains this urgency". The man stood motionless. He didn’t know what to say to God- the One who had gifted him his voice. He had no remembrance absolutely of any previous rendezvous with the Master. Soon God spoke again. "Son, I have had rendered you oblivious of your last encounter with me in my abode that happened several Earth years ago. But there is one thing that you have always been cognizant of, which though you seem to have forgotten now as I speak. You had come to me once to know the date of your death and I had bestowed the knowledge upon you. Today I have summoned you to remind you that the day has finally arrived. You have lived your life. Now you must die. Your next role on Earth has already been finalized. You will be born as a different human in few days’ time. Meanwhile I, the Master of Earth; Hell and Heaven, have decided that you will spend the intermediate time here in Heaven, as a reward for all the good that you have done onto your family and to the world during this lifespan of yours. Son, I do hereby invite you to be my guest for some days before you embark again on your duty to serve Mother Earth".

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The man’s body froze. He couldn’t move now even if he wanted to. His eyes were wide open and he stared at God point blank. His face had lost its colour and he looked dead already. There was silence all around and each moment that passed seemed to have left an era behind. Finally God had to interrupt. "Speak your heart child. Go ahead. You are my special guest for today". And so slowly our man spoke. "Oh Almighty, oh Supreme Lord, I have indeed forgotten about the revelation that I had several years back. In the last twenty five years that have gone by, I have been very busy devoting my entire time to the success of mankind in all totality. I never had time to think about my own life, leave alone thinking about death. And after all these years of concentrated effort, I now stand at the juncture of getting a recognition for all that I have done- a true reward that will surpass all material rewards that I have so far received. And so I am shocked to learn that the day of my death has arrived and I have to surrender myself to you. Oh Master-of-all-that-seems-impossible, I don’t want to reside in Heaven after death. Could you instead grant me few more days of life in return? Then send me to Hell. I shall happily endure Hell thereafter. Please Father, grant me few more days of life so that I can actually taste the sweet fruit of success after all these years of up-and-coming".

Hearing the man’s request, God laughed. And as He laughed, loud thunders ripped the surrounding off its silence. Then he spoke in a stern voice, "Son, I have my own ways of governing over the life that I have created. To all that is living, I grant a fair share of happiness and an equivalent share of pain. I decide for each living being, the times of happiness and the occurrences of pain. I had, in my best of knowledge, done the same justice for you. But you weren’t satisfied with your lot. Your only understanding was that a person can be happy only after knowing their exact lifespan. So I had to listen to your prayers and then make amends in the life that I had planned for you. And now, when the time has arrived, you have no chance to ask me for more life. You had enough time to be happy and taste success but you never did. Now there is nothing that I can do for you. As is my understanding, you mortal humans ought to live each day of your life the way I open it for you. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad. I can’t go change my rules for every individual that seeks me in his prayers. Go back son; I haven’t made death painful for you- something that you may regard as another reward for your good deeds. You will die of a mild heart attack in some time from now. Go back to your world. Go take your last breaths. I shall meet you again soon."

The man had started crying by now. He cried like an infant. He got down on his knees and tore upon his hairs. He cried as he pleaded, "Please God... I wish to die another day"...

The next morning, everyone found him dead on his bed. No scars, no injuries. Just as the man had been assured of. He had died an easy death. Later that day, he was awarded posthumously for being the great man that he had been in his lifetime.

Death doesn't bargain.    -August Strindberg, The Dance of Death

I Wish To Die Another Day... Part I

There was once a man who lived somewhere on the face of earth and who had a very strong desire to meet God at least once in his lifetime. Now this man had everything to lead a happy life- a job that had respect, money that was substantial, a newly wedded wife, siblings that he loved and who loved him back, parents who still pampered him with goodies, friends who could die for him, boss who was closer than a friend, a house that could be said a miniature mansion and whatever else you could think of.

But still he wasn't happy the effect to which he should have been. His friends would often call him 'Mr. You've-got-everything' or 'Mr. Luckiest' but he would ward them off saying 'of what use is all this, if I don't know whether I shall survive long enough to relish them'. Not even once could his friends make out his logic. They would only feel that 'a person who doesn't acknowledge is a person who doesn't deserve'.

One night when our man was fast asleep, he dreamt having gone to God's abode. He requested the sentry at Heaven's gate to allow him to meet God because "no other soul on earth has ever been so compulsive to meet Him". The sentry allowed him after mentioning the do's and dont's followed inside the premises. The man walked and walked far into God's abode anticipating to see the Father of Heaven at any moment. Having walked several miles into the place that was immaculately white, he finally beheld steps that went up to an exquisite throne and was supposed to be God's seat. Angels surrounded the throne in perfect harmony and our man knew that God had to be there.

Before he could think of climbing the first step, he heard a voice that echoed far and wide. "Stay where you are son. These steps mark the minimum distance between mankind and Me. No one can tread upon them". The voice was God's. The man, having finally realized his God, stepped back and looked earnestly into the mist that surrounded the throne. And moments later, he saw a figure taking shape. There was God himself in His supreme being sitting in front of the man. He smiled at the human evidently congratulating him for having come this far with his determination. Meanwhile our mortal human stared at Him awe-struck. Soon God said "Son, you don't have enough time here. If you keep on staring at my immortal being like this, years will pass on Earth and when you go back you shall witness a different era with nothing that you ever witnessed, present around you. So say what you have to say, ask for more luxuries if you need, and then go back to where you belong".

This broke the man's silence. He knew he couldn't stay there till eternity. So finally he spoke- "Oh mighty Father, oh Almighty that dwells in heaven, oh Creator of everything that has ever existed in this universe and beyond, I just want to know the date when I shall die. That's all I wish to ask you". God was surprised. He was amazed that one human that he sculptured could come to Him one day and make such a wish. He asked "Why do you wish to know the date of your death? Don't you know death never comes informed?" to which the man replied "Oh Holy Sire, I know this is a strange wish but I request you to bestow this knowledge onto me. You have given me every comfort in life. But what if I die tomorrow? Without having enjoyed all that you have put in my basket? Oh Master of Earth, Hell and Heaven, I need to know what time I have in my hands so that, I can put your gifts to the best possible use and enjoy my stay on the planet". So God understood his logic now. He smirked at Himself for having made such a creature. Nevertheless, the man standing at the foot of the stairs was His child and it was His duty to grant him something that he so keenly wanted. So He said "So be it my child. Go back to your dwelling. When you shall wake up the next morning, a date will flash across your mind as the first thought of the day and that, will be the day of your death. You have my blessings son". And then there was a thick mist all around. The next moment the man found himself draped in white linen up till his face having woken up from his deep slumber.

******************************************************************************

Our protagonist got up and sat straight. There were droplets of sweat on his forehead. He definitely had a very deep sleep. The insides of his head ached. May be because he had an intensified dream. But before he could reckon what had happened in his dream the previous night, suddenly a date 'flashed across' his mind. It happened suddenly. It surprised him to be remembering a future date the moment he got up from his sleep. It didn’t make any sense to him- nothing at all. Seconds later, the man was pondering on the date. The date was someday forty-five years later- forty-five years! The world might as well end within that period. There might be another world war that would be ninety per cent nuclear; there might be extensive meltdown of polar glaciers causing global havoc; there might be tsunamis that would wipe out the earth of its living matter. No one knows what is going to happen the next second. So, of what significance is a date so future in time and why did it have to come to his mind now? Our man thought impatiently, trying to recall if this had anything to do with his slumber. The more he brooded, the more impatient he became.

But soon enough, the light dawned upon him. He could finally remember his dream and the incidents that had taken place. He could finally imbibe the metaphorical significance of the date. 'The world will be good for at least another forty-five years'- he said to himself. Because he knew what the date meant. He knew why he had a mysterious smile on his face now. He knew he had no dream last night. He had done what no other mortal had ever done or could ever do. He met God in his dreams and as it turned out, it was a real meeting. He was glad now. He was, in fact, very happy. His perseverance had paid off. Now his life had a meaning. He got what he wanted. He met God and came back to earth fully alive and he even got what he wished. It was a date that he wanted God to reveal. And now he knew it- the day he would die.

So over the next few weeks, the man was very happy with himself and his life. Now he enjoyed his luxuries; he loved his dear ones all the more; he allowed his parents to pamper him; he smiled with content when his friends called him the luckiest and he made sure his wife also felt she was the luckiest woman on earth. He would wake up smiling every morning saying to himself, 'I don’t have time to frown at the world. I just don’t have the time to feel the weight of the world. Be happy and make others happy'. He would take risks only to prove to his own self that he couldn’t die sooner than the date he knew. In the initial days of his revelation, he was both apprehensive and passionate when he did things that involved a lot of risk. Apprehensive, because he doubted his survival in the most obvious attempts of suicide. Passionate, because each attempt that he took, strongly reassured the thing that he had been enlightened of, thereby renewing his vigour for the next try.

The very second day after that dream, the man bought a bottle of poison and poured its contents down his throat. That was his first test to check the legitimacy of the date. Nothing happened. The contents passed out in his urine just the way they had entered his body. The man was amazed. He thought the miracle happened because he did the act in secret. So the next time, he informed his friends that he is planning to jump off a high cliff. He was sure he couldn’t just stay afloat on air just like that. He assumed that he might sustain serious injuries but wouldn’t die. A hundred people gathered in awe to watch the man’s dare devilry. People talked and gossiped about him. They even pitied his decision as they believed he would die soon leaving everything behind. But the moment he tried risking it, local cops arrived and took him in custody. However he tried, they didn’t release him as it was considered illegal on the part of a citizen to attempt something like that, which had the sure outcome of death, unless the concerned person showed evidence of proper arrangements taken to prevent a likely death. Poor soul, he couldn’t let them know of his bargain with God. And even if he had, he would have managed nothing more than scorn in everyone’s eyes.

Days rolled by and our man was seen with absolutely no worries. He wouldn't worry about his prosperity, he wouldn't worry about his occupation and he wouldn't worry about the next future second because all he knew was that whatever he did, however he did he would just not die before 'that day'.

Now our man drove his car at top speed even in crowded areas. He never worried about an accident. It had been long since he had had a physical injury. It seemed to him that apart from revealing the date of his death, God had also bestowed upon him the boon of not getting hurt. Some or the other phenomenon would happen every time he went close to hurting himself and he would miraculously escape the idea. People on the road would magically give him way every time he gave a throttle on his accelerator. No one ever got hurt in his experiments and least of all, he himself. From petty risks- cutting vegetables with eyes closed to moderate risks-handling electrical equipment with wet hands to severe ones-trying to drown himself in a river, he never succeeded in any of his ventures. As he had observed in every case, some miracle would happen without fail before he experienced even the slightest agony. As months passed, he realized that all the minor injuries he had suffered during this whole time were those that happened accidentally- without any of his deliberate-death-causing strategies involved.

Meanwhile, he prospered a great deal in his work. His fame increased each day as being the most industrious person in the department. He now worked with a fearless attitude and it yielded amazing results on every occasion. His wealth increased substantially now; his property grew several fold; his children gloated of their father's immense success and dare-devilry; his wife could now be seen wearing the best of jewels; the man also had time now for his friends; they partied on weekends; our man became more charitable- his donations doubled and then trebled; All that he had ever wished for had now come true for him. But after all this, was he happy?

No he was not.

When You Start Earning

It's the 17th of March 2012. I am already into the sixth month of my professional life. Today out of the blue, I felt like writing about things that I have been through in these five months of my job.


The eighty odd days of training that I underwent with my company gave me glimpses of all moods of life. I was ecstatic one day- when I witnessed several of my college buddies staying in and around my abode; I was very happy on one particular day- when I was put in the highest category for my oral competency; I was moderately happy on a special day- when I greedily devoured on crispy KFC with my pals doing the same around me; I felt deep satisfaction on one occasion- when I was in visible limelight in my learning group and I received considerable attention; I felt mundane on one gloomy day- when, after working for about ten days in a week, the day was still a Thursday; I was displeased. Oh yes I was- when I lost a tie gifted by a very close friend; I was grieved- when I realized I had accidentally broken my guitar; I suffered excruciating pain- when my cough persisted through a month and a half; And I felt homesick a lot many times too. There were many more things that I felt. But this should suffice for now.


The journey through things said above and even more was clearly not a smooth sail. Although I was happy for the greater part, I did see days when I struggled to smile, let alone laugh and make merry. A JOB is a test that evaluates you on whether you are a 'Jackass Or Brave' kind of person. And this test is neither supposed to end on any fortunate day and nor does it keep yielding the same result for a particular person throughout. And the blood-sucking employers out there who have the reputation of providing employment at large are more interested when you turn out to be a jackass in their eyes- so that they can push you to lows from where you can never come up, but whilst showing that they are actually trying to motivate you to climb the ladder of success. By 'success', well, they mean the stage where your pain nerves become dumb and unresponsive to any further magnitude of agony and you start accepting the same as part of a mundane lifestyle.


Being in a job is so fittingly different from being those smart lads back in days of college. There are things that you must have hardly bothered about, being students. A job, however, demands all those things from you and you eventually end up doing them anyhow. Sometimes, with a great deal of scorn. I will enlist some of them for my readers:

1. Absenteeism: Who wouldn't have enjoyed those amazing mass-bunks back in college? It used to be such fun to bunk classes and spend time elsewhere. But a job hardly gives you that opportunity. You are expected to come and serve on all working days and furnish a proper reason if you happen to disobey.

2. Procrastination: One thing that your supervisor or boss wouldn't want you to do the slightest is to procrastinate. You do all your work at the right time and your superior feels he has had a lucky day at office.

3. Punctuality: You are expected to be punctual enough to be in your office before the arrival of your superiors. Leaving at close of day, however, doesn't normally demand your punctuality. The more late you leave, generally the better.

4. Multitasking: If you thought multitasking is when you sip your coffee while watching an interesting game of cricket and simultaneously chatting with pals over internet, you'd be an object of jest in your job premises. You are expected to do your work with brilliance whilst monitoring whether your team member has encountered some problem, whether someone somewhere or anywhere inside the office building has an issue you could help with, whether your superior is in need of something and s/he is expecting someone to get that for her/him, whether the ceiling above leaks, whether the current Government should topple, whether Israel and Iran should call it a day, whether people on earth should really consider staying on Mars a better option and anything and everything.

5. Two Distinct Sexes: A female employee has the privilege of leaving early because of the simple reason that she is female. A male employee, on the other hand, might be asked to do the leftover work of a female colleague and might not be permitted to demand an explanation for the same. Two employees of different sexes cannot suck from two straws that go into the same glass of juice or for that matter do anything of this sort inside the office premises, what with the known fact that they are buddies right from Kindergarten. This again for the simple reason that, there are two distinct sexes on earth.
At least, you wouldn't have bothered in your college had someone pointed out but now you might as well stop talking to the other person fearing your job's in jeopardy.

How easy it is in this world to become a parasite on another being and continue getting all nourishment from the latter without really bothering about your life beyond that! But when you 'stand on your own feet', you have to disengage yourself from your parasitic parent and make yourself fit for a similar parasite. You start realizing your responsibilities and setting up goals in life. Not all of them are met though. And though your life is actually not finished when you start earning (and in some cases, it just begins), yet when you look back at the days when you were students, you invariably feel like saying: 'those were the days, I was perhaps in heaven'.

Notwithstanding blues of working, a job is indeed something mandatory in life. It's nature's way of pointing out 'you are solely responsible for your sustenance'. So complaining is never the solution. You have to keep moving on. Godspeed.

Disclaimer: - These are my views on how a job generally appears to a grad fresh out of college. I won't mind or take offence if you tend to differ.

A Thing About Thinking

There are things that never leave your thoughts. It's like however you try to focus on things away from such thoughts, they invariably come back again and again to either haunt or please or worry you depending upon their type.

These thoughts usually are of varied nature and contexts. Some might actually keep you happy when they peep your mind which, most often than not, means that you will stay gladly distracted from your work. Yet another type would give you pain and agony and you would always wish you had better have any other thing going on in your mind than that one yet you succumb to the same every time.

There is one more type that, when it comes, takes you to a different world- possible or impossible, real or fantasy, future or sci-fi- and you start seeing yourself and/or people related to you in a separate universe with whatever you had ever imagined about you or them, coming visibly true. Such thoughts are variously called as dreams or daydreams or imaginations or fantasies depending upon how possible or impossible is that 'universe'. It is safe to assert that our thinker, prior to thinking anything, assumes the age old saying of 'nothing is impossible'.

There is a category of erotic thoughts that normally juveniles fall prey to. Such thoughts are known to disturb the hormonal levels within the body. And so these thoughts, so deep rooted into the physiology, give adolescents an unknown pleasure and an urge to see the imagined things coming true.

Thoughts of revenge or avenge are a dangerous type. Sometimes way too dangerous to comprehend. These thoughts have the might to take over a man's conscience and drive him to do things that he wouldn't have done under all levels of sanity. The person, a victim of this type, is always disturbed in his thoughts, trying to think of possible ways-plans, plots, conspiracies, you name it- to get his/her enemy annihilated to some self-assumed-extreme extent and trying  to be happy/contented later at the thought of success.

I really don't know what is poetic thinking. Should I say it's a separate category altogether? Because I have personally never been able to comprehend the thought process of an acclaimed poet. By acclaimed poet I mean someone who indeed writes poetic verses and not someone like me who can very well choose rhyming sentences and club a couple of them up together and call it a poem. So what do poets think of when they are idle? Do they ever sit idle at all? You answer these questions for me. Poets have their own way of thinking, even though the same falls into any said category.

Now coming to the writers category. This is the category where I more or less place myself and feel some pride in doing so. It's like if this category is a nation then I am an island floating in the international waters bordering the country that, in cases of dispute, can be proved to belong to the particular nation. Pardon my poor imagery. I will elaborate this thought type a bit more. This is an interesting type (yeah, I am prejudiced). Say for instance, I have to describe one incident that had really been amusing and the audience had literally rolled on the floor laughing. Then a writer not only thinks of the entire scenario that had occurred but also thinks of possible ways by which s/he can put the entire thing in writing so that the amusing part doesn't get withered the slightest. Thus, the different touch in a writer's thinking lies invariably in the word 'readers'. Writers always have their readers in mind while writing on anything. Anything that doesn't interest the readers is a waste even though it is one of the writer's masterpieces.

Nerds and geeks and philosophers have their own niche in this thinking world. On one hand where nerds and geeks think of devising some formula, algorithm or principle that, after several phases of debates; tests; amends; more debates; more tests; more amends, is finally approved and the effect of which is realized some twenty five years later when the name of the person appears in the 'Who invented/discovered what' chapter of General Knowledge books, on the other hand, philosophers rake their brains trying to find out solutions to problems of mankind that prevail at large and eventually come out with one. Some get lucky when their thoughts and philosophies travel wide and they get national to international recognition for their work whilst others go so far as reading their names in books as "Tom and Dick were strong opponents of this ideology but ultimately they had to give way to Harry's widely accepted law".

Both the types of people I mentioned above, however, think of changing the world in some way or the other. And sooner or later, these people are referred to as revolutionaries. I don't have any problem with such people. So if you are one of them, I don't intend to offend you. In fact, it is because of such people that the world is worth living at present.

So what am I thinking now? Am I thinking about thinkers? My readers must have felt by now that I have become so weary of this world that I didn't get anything to think about and waving aside all the things that I said earlier about readers being first priority, I have now started to bore them with some ugly piece of essay. Well, it's only that I am in my office library now and I obviously have nothing to do. So going by instincts, I brought out a sheet of paper and started putting words onto it. Because this has always been something that has helped me while my time away. And if you intend to know why I chose such a topic to write, it's because there is this one thought that I am unable to get off my mind. Nothing very significant though. It's about one particular scene in an American series that I have started watching recently. A prisoner is threatened to disclose certain vital information and when he doesn't acknowledge, the villain, a fellow prisoner, cuts off three fingers from his left foot with a garden cutter. I am not being able to stop myself from brooding about the amount of pain that a person would feel if such a thing were to happen with him.

So amidst my deep ponders I don't know when this thought ended up becoming the writer's type!

Thanks for your patience readers. You are welcome to share your 'thoughts' on this :-)

-Originally hand written on Monday, January 23 2012