Drat! The book design!--Manuscript found in Accra

Crusader gold-colour font on a dull, dried, matte-finish carmine background with black accents. Could well be a bloody shroud! It conjures up a sense of tantalizing curiosity, mystery, romance, and a smirk of religious scandal and conspiracy. 

You read it, and you get a discourse!

The novel (as it is called) starts off with a Preface and Greeting that places you in the grand theatre of the Crusades--the discovery of papyruses near Nag Hammadi and the author getting access to the manuscript from Accra. 

Then you fall into the thick of events, which is...

Moslems, Christians, and Jews gather at a square in Jerusalem and rally the Copt with questions--tell us about defeat, solitude, pride, change, beauty, love, lost moments, sex, etc. 

The Copt speaks, they prepare for war and death! FIN.

Western Railway

Found this weathered piece of pulp with this poem I had written during University days. Here goes--

Mahim...Bandra...Khar...S'Cruz
Jug-djug-jug-djug
Burnt iron the quivering rails
A spark or two cracking above
Resistance--
It can hardly break down;
I shall not budge.
Wind!
I no care
I feel like a god
Hanging at the pole on the footboard
At my feet, a lady's offering onion peels.
Viva Mumbai!!!

an urban pastoral gone awry

here's a chain of uneditor-like run-on sentence fragments in my attempt to capture the perfectness i felt in the moment...so here goes.

PS. this is not a poem...it's blank verse.

a quarter to six mine eyes ope' fresh
the alarm's still asleep;
i stretch out to the morning grey
'tis cloudy today; the rain's set in
there's a smile on my face--guess it's the rain
fresh ground coffee... now that's my tonic
the exquisite smell lazily strolls peeking in every room
while i sit by my window looking at the world

a rickshaw sputters it's cranky way
now here now gone away
trailing behind the spattering drops
bolstered by crowing and chirps.

i can't figure out how many wing'd dreams
have woken to actually see the day
hidden 'midst leaves of infrequent trees
singing songs for the heck of it :)
a myriad of euphony; a crow's cacophony
the crowing rooster fluffing his breast.

a flurry of rush on the coconut tree
i turn my head and --Jesus!
it's a kingfisher!
I love kingfishers!!
a shock of blue, a dull red, when last did i see one?

i'm back home far away from here
sitting on an eccentric coconut tree trunk
which forgot which way to grow.
hmmmmm....oh fish!
where's it gone?
damn! why do i write! it's gone!
Come back, kingfisher...damn!

why do i write!

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

Summertime it rocks! Summertime it rohhhhhhhlz!
Listening to this while I stare at the cover of Tao of Physics. I wonder when I'm going to finish reading it. Pretty interesting read, though! Pity time doesn't want to stretch itself for my reading! Thank God for travel time--the only time I get for books.
BTW,
the book is not as scary as I thought it would be, what with physics and mysticism holding hands. Capra has spent a few precious pages assuring me that Aaaal is Welll!
The first few chapters are on the branches of eastern religion interspersed with the wisdom of sages and scientist-philosophers.
Good going so far.

That which hurts, instructs...or festers.
Which one do you prefer?

[Ben Franklin and I]

Just a Stray...

Compromise with your dreams, you combust.
You're lucky if embers remain;
Luckier if a light breeze passes;
Luckiest if the flames spring up;
Burn your entire being to be real.

Ooort clouds and Lord Ganesh

Ironic--I work in language services and the only time I get to read a book is in the train, bus or rickshaw. It's a torture, getting to read only a page or half a page a day. Nevertheless, I'm reading. Picked up Gods of War by Ashok Banker the other day...sorry daayyyyzzzz ago and am not even halfway through. I was browsing the sci-fi section at Crossword and came across this one. Let's try an Indian author. Looks like I may have made the wrong choice in author. However, I'll still give it a chance.

The book cover does convey a celestial sense with its glossy blue hues punctuated by concentrated yellow bursts. The assortment of characters till now is mysterious because I haven't reached that part of the book yet--the part where the secrets start peeling away. What I did not like was the political comment by Banker in the Author's Note. I don't know whether it is important to the story. I have decided to read it only after I have read the story. I get suspicious when such comments appear before a work of fiction. Colours the mind and hampers independent imagination.

This is going to take some time to finish. Till then...Cheers!