Absinthe

(Absinthe - French word, from the Greek for 'wormwood' - a bitter shrub, also used as a noun to indicate a state or source of grief)

Black and red are the lips of rock

Volcano emerging from the depths

Thrust out of charred earth

A monument to eternity

Green and blue are its frames

A destructive force with a conscience

Ancient slopes richly forested

Framed against a deep blue sky

A monument to infinity

Black and red are the vanishing insides

Setting sun on frozen magma

Empty crater swallowing all light

A monument to nothingness

Green and blue is the pool below

Deep down, almost out of sight
Now still now alive
Unknown waters holding your grief
A monument to now

The Great Indian Tatkal Experience

Act 1

7.15 AM. The parrots and cuckoos had started calling, and the morning newspaper had just landed on our driveway, but the house was still slumbering. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and cursed, “Pick up, you lazy ass!” I waited six rings, put the phone down and went into the kitchen for coffee prepared by woken-solely-for-this-purpose-mum. Typically, my phone rang, out of earshot, and I missed my friend’s call. After playing cellular hide-and-seek for a wasted 10 mins we finally got to one another.

Me: Dude, you do realise we don’t have tickets for our Chennai-Nagpur train tomorrow?

VK: Of course. Tatkal only, no option.

Hm. Should we postpone? … Actually, no, scratch that. Fine. Tatkal. The window is 8-10 right?

Yeah. Cool, I’ll come over to yours at 8, I’ll bring my laptop as well – you have wi-fi right? We will need at least two log-ins to get the tickets.

Ahem… dai, this is why I called at 7.15! I told you yesterday – no internet at home, broadband’s down. I’ll bring my laptop to your place, that ok?

Nope.

Eh?? Wtf? Why not? No… don’t tell me….

Yep. Sorry. Power-cut times at my place are 8-10 this week… Hold on, I got it – dude, we’ll go to your dad’s office. You have two computers and printer, and all that. Sorted.

Gaaaahhhh…nope. Dad’s office is in the same zone as you – 8-10, no power. Haha. I would laugh if this weren’t true.

Nice. Kinda screwed. Ok, internet parlour.

Yes – only option. Aiyo, been ages since I used one! I think there’s one nearby, though it may not be open this early. We might have to scout. Listen – I’ll get my bike, and pick you up in 10 minutes at the end of my street.

15 minutes.

Machan – its 7.30 now. By the time we find a parlour and log-in, it will be 8. We need to be in the tatkal booking system at 8. Cya in 10, bye.

Fine, fine…goodness! Cya.

Act 2

 7.45AM. I dodged early morning joggers, cyclists, cows, proud Tata Nanos and water tankers, with VK riding pillion, looking out  for an internet cafe. My hunch about the first one was right – it was closed. In fact, very permanently closed. VK said he knew one near our ice-cream/chat shop guy, but we didn’t find any there. We drove through the streets behind the temple, but no luck there either. We finally found a shopping mall on the main road and were directed to an internet parlour. Yay!

Me: Hahaha, ahhh, hilarious.

VK: Crazy fellow, what’s up?... Oh.

Hehehehe, the irony! A candle-lit, power-less, internet parlour. We are soooo screwed! Goodbye holiday plans!

Machan, chill, let’s find out.

VK (to a forlorn, sleepy looking man who looked every inch the owner of an internet parlour facing a power-cut): Excuse me, when does the power come back on?

Internet guy: 8 am.

VK: Phew! Thank goodness! It’s…7.52 now.

Me: Good, I need sustenance. 8 minutes – there’s a chai-wala next door.

5 minutes, a chai and a banana later…

Dude – we better go – there’s a queue building to get into that parlour!

Gosh, looks like all of Kilpauk has descended here.

Yeah – it is tatkal time after all!

Act 3

With trepidation we join the ridiculously long queue to get into that tiny parlour. We look around, spot two free PC’s and grab our seats. One, in a corner, barely has place for me to stand, but what the hell, needs must, and all that. Sigh of relief. We boot up our computers, and fish out our IRCTC (online Indian railway reservation) log-in IDs and details.

VK: You have a credit card, right?

Me: Yeah, yeah… borrowed dad’s  – first let’s get into the IRCTC system.

Me: Yes! Woohoo!

VK: Booked??

Haha, very funny. But I have logged in, and selecting trains. You?

Not good. My… computer….just crashed.

Whaaaa? Crap, I’ve been logged out. Must be the whole of India booking tatkal tickets right now. Gaaahh.

Random Guy (sitting next to me): Hi. You are booking tatkal as well?

Me (glaring at potential competition): Yes. Where are you going?

Random Guy: Bangalore. You?

Me: Ah good. Nagpur. Have you logged in?

Random Guy: Yeah… ive even selected my train, but the page is stuck on the user details form.

Me: Ahhh. You’re ahead of us! VK – we need to catch up.

VK: Yeah, yeah. My computer’s still booting up. Give me the passenger details, meanwhile.

10 minutes of silence punctuated by mouse-clicks, frantic keyboard taps and frustrated sighs.

Random Guy: Damn. I got to the payment page, entered my card details, and it crashed!

Me: The computer?

Random Guy: No, no, the internet. Have to log in again now. Torture. You? Any luck?

Me: Hmm, I keep getting stuck on the user form details. Its already 8.20, I don’t even think there’ll be any tickets left after 8.30.

VK: Boo, yeah! Sid, credit card, quick! Grand Trunk Express okay with you?

Me: Dude! Yeah! Hell, I’ll be happy if we can get there sitting on the roof. Stud! You got it? Here, take card, go, go go!

VK: Passenger details, check. Card details, check. Proceed to payment. HDFC Gateway….waiting…not looking good…yeah! Done, and done! Four berths – Grand Trunk Express, tomorrow evening 19.30, booked…. I. Am. The. Man.

Me: Awesomeness! Yeah! (to Random Guy) Any luck, mate?

Random Guy: What, you guys got your tickets? Man, no, I had to start all over again. Bangalore sector is the worst.

Me: Yeah – Bangalore is terrible. Keep trying!

VK and I make a victorious exit and head straight to the nearest restaurant for a well-earned breakfast of coffee and masala dosa. We had just emerged victorious from a trial that millions of Indians go through everyday, a trial where victory is by no means guaranteed, and on which holidays, businesses and journeys depend – the Great Indian Tatkal Experience.

The Moonlit Sun (or Screwing With The Notion Of Objectivity)

The title of my poem, respectful Sirs, is The Moonlit Sun.

The Moonlit Sun? Ha ha, goodness, you must be joking boy, What age do you live in, we are men of science we are and we know better than that, do we not?

Oh, but you are old, old men and poor

That have not the gift of nonsense, beautiful nonsense

Oh, but do try dear Sirs and you shall see him as I do

He stands there, like a battle-ready warrior in his chariot

Eight horses made of fire, of fire and stone and light

Looking up into a star-studded night sky and his face is lit

Not by fire, kind Sirs, nay, but the soft, caressing glow of the Moon.

Tosh, boy, and stupidity! A diamond cannot be scratched as it is the hardest of them all and the Sun cannot be lit, it is the brightest of them all – use your head and get on with it!  

My head, polite Sirs, is where I seek, like all great scientists and poor fools of this age

We have found the particle, did you know, knowledgeable Sirs,

Higg’s boson has been found,

After searches high and low and now the scientists, bless them,

Face questions twice as profound

The answers to which, they shall delightedly tell you, they as yet do not know

For where is the wonder of seeking when all that is sought has been found

And where is the wonder of seeing when all that is to be seen is known!

Oh, open your eyes, obliging Sirs and you shall see him as I do

Tall and dark, a smile upon the lips...

...A discus in the right hand, a conch in the left and the Egyptians call me Ra

I stand here, basking in her light, her beautiful, mellow light

“Mellow coz’ its reflected light, reflected light!” they mutter

Ahhh, reflected light, that may be

But what a beauty, what a beauty is she!

Every night in that exquisite hour

Before the break of dawn (another story, that)

I stand here, the dutiful sun

I would rather bask in her glow (reflected, I know!)

For ever, and ever and more

But she has other places to see

And I shall follow where she goes…

You may think me a fool, wise Sirs

A charge I shall plead guilty to

But use your head, you said, and this is what it sees!

For one magical hour when the stars are all but gone

For one magical hour before his daily run

He stands in his chariot of fire,

A tall man of contented heart,

A smile on his lips and a glow on his face,

The Moonlit Sun.

Tiger - A Follow-up

So, here’s another side to the previous post (http://www.aapukuruvi.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tiger.html). Injured tigers in the wild often turn man-eaters since men are typically easier prey. This brings these tigers into villages. In one such village in south India, a man-eater had killed a woman and was spotted by villagers who promptly called the officials. After a tense chase and some drama, the tiger was hunted down and shot – but not to kill, he was shot with a tranquiliser dart and taken to the local zoo. A stark, stark difference in attitude with the tiger in Cologne. This tiger had killed a woman – not in any attempt to escape – and killing it would therefore have been justified. But the villagers and the officials chose to tranquilise it and send it to a zoo. The headline for this article? “Man-eater tiger of HD Kote caught.” (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/274416/man-eater-tiger-hd-kote.html). It could just as easily have been “Village rid of murdering tiger” but thank goodness it wasn’t!

The other issue here is on my stand with zoos. I have had a lot of discussions with friends (and family!) since the previous post on whether zoos should be abolished. The main arguments for zoos are a)they protect endangered animals that human beings would otherwise kill in the wild and b) they raise awareness amongst the public. I shall answer the second argument first. Raising awareness I think is not as strong an argument nowadays as before – we have excellent cinematic and other visual media that provide us with a wonderful sense of the world these animals live in. In fact, I think it is rather demeaning to see predators being fed, and rather than raising awareness actually diminishes their majesty. This episode presents strong support for the first argument. What happens when a tiger is injured in the wild, by natural causes – is it then alright to ship it to a zoo? In such a case, I accept a zoo can serve as a nursing home – we cannot afford to let an injured tiger die since we have so few of them left, so our only option is to nurse them in a zoo – with a view to releasing them back in the wild if and as soon as possible (this may not be feasible in case of a man-eater since once they taste man-flesh they find that the preferable option!) . Do I still think zoos should be abolished? Yes – as zoos, as tourist attractions that cage healthy animals, they should. Their existence as tourist attractions lets us escape having to make the choice between having animals in the wild and letting them die out. However, I concede they could serve a good purpose as temporary nursing pens - or in this particular case as an old age home, for injured wild animals.

Would love your comments on the fascinating debate this is turning out to be!

Tiger

A tiger recently escaped from Cologne Zoo, in Germany, after killing a keeper, but was shot dead before it could reach the visitor’s enclosure (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10407911). Quick stats from Wiki tell that at a conservative guess there are 4,000 tigers on this planet and 7 point something billion people. That’s 1.75 million people to every tiger on this planet. A kidnapped man’s attempts to escape after shooting his gaolers would be praised as bravery. A man’s fundamental right to freedom. The only situation where this man would have stones flung at him, would be if the rest of the human population were kidnappers. All the headlines for this news article about the tiger read “Tiger escapes, kills keeper.” The headlines could equally have read, “Tiger shot dead while attempting to escape from zoo.” And therein lies my point. Are we a world of kidnappers? Do I have a stand in this? Yes – abolish zoos. The argument that a zoo keeps an animal safe is weak and pathetic. We have laws to keep our animals safe in the wild, we just don’t have the will to do so. Or the guts to say out loud that we don’t need tigers, we don’t need wildlife, we don’t need jungles. In my opinion, humans will survive as a race even if every tree on this planet were cut down. But that is not what I want.

Crystal Ball

She stands alone in the giant hall, the high windows letting in fingers of mellow evening light. She turns so her hands and the object they're holding catch the light. Suddenly there are a thousand stars in the room with her, of a thousand different colours, dancing as if they're being juggled, as the multitude of crystal faces catch the light, play with it and send it back.She stares hypnotised at its thousand faces, at the dancing stars, at the evening light playing hide and seek with the crystals, marvelling at the fragility of this imaginary universe. It looks alive, indescribably beautiful. The stars dip and shudder as she trembles in fear at what she suddenly knows - the price for such beauty is transience.


She watches her hands part. The ball slips through the gap in her palms. She steps back as if stung. The thousand stars race down the walls in slow motion, momentarily painting the notches and cracks in the pillars on their way. After what seems like an eternity she hears a crash that seems to come from far far away. The thousand stars fly across the room and out through the windows like butterflies that have found their freedom.She looks down at her feet, in a mixture of morbid fascination, fear and detachment, at the sharp, jagged shards of crystal lying all around her, a broken cage devoid of light. She stands alone in the giant hall, the high windows letting in fingers of mellow evening light.

Self Promotion

New post, on a new blog - up at www.afullbackpack.blogspot.com - a travel blog I've just started along with Richard, a friend of mine. Do visit and comment! :)