in the moment

#APoetAtHeart

its no easy job
making up your mind
whether the purpose of life
is minimising suffering
or maximising happiness
or even whether one is different from the other
perhaps the absence of suffering is happiness
and the absence of happiness is suffering
then there are moments when suffering brings joy
and others when the price of happiness is suffering
so between the two
i stand confused
wondering whether
i should accept
each moment
for what it brings
and let the mind
be simply guided
by its contents
(priya)

surfeit

#APoetAtHeart

It rained last night
The syngonium is gleaming
The madumalti smiles
The sweet basil is fragrance epitomised
Alas , my adeniums are not looking as pleased
The floods , the floods , they piteously cry
As water seeps down to the roots
softly killing them before they can even ask why
So it is with life
Joy is a welcome device
to keep one alive
Except when a surfeit beguiles
(priya )

butterflies

#APoetAtHeart
their white wings still aflutter
they perch awhile on the amaryllis
and are gone in an eyelid's blink
do we thus chase joys
or spread cheer
(priya)

piety

I believe in no God
You believe in The One
I abide by no rules or rituals
laid down in books
Your life is circumscribed by one
I believe I will become the dust from
which I arose
You believe in punishment and reward
and Heaven
We eat and dress differently
Speak different languages when we describe
women's roles and duties
Yet I cannot believe that He who made
you and me
Meant us to wield swords and bricks and daggers
against each other
No, that cannot be His definition of piety.
(priya)
3.10.2015

heart's foe (translation)

barbaadi e dil jabr nahin Faiz kisi ka
vo dushman e jaan hai toh bhula kyon nahin dete
(Faiz)

who can coerce you to break your own heart
if your heart's foe he be, consign him to the past
(trans: priya)

Following one's heart

It seems like a dream out of an ancient, hoary past that I once wanted to be a lawyer. I thought it'd be the best way of setting right the innumerable ills of the world we live in because what underlies much of the suffering we see round us is injustice.

My parents had other plans and I fell in with those plans and became a civil servant. However, my fascination for the world of lawyers and courts and justice rendered through the magical knowledge and skills of the practitioners of law never quite left me. When my children were old enough to leave me a little time after my duties at home and office were discharged, I returned to writers like John Grisham. Now that I am on a sabbatical and have even more time on my hands, I avidly watch crime and legal thrillers.

Of course, I no longer view the legal profession through the same rose tinted glasses that I once did. I do know that its reality is so much harsher than even my current construct that I may well shrink from it if now given the opportunity to practice law.

That isn't the point of this post, however.

Its the fact that I did not follow my heart where choice of career was concerned-----and I have no regrets.

My children look amused when I tell them that , its very important for them to have the freedom to follow their hearts. All I want them to know is this ----- it isn't what one does that brings one joy so much as how one does what one does ----- anything done with complete involvement of the heart and mind, with no expectation of reward, but only with the desire to do it as well as one possibly can brings joy as surely as a plant well tended bears flowers and fruit.

Music for the soul

It was exactly 10 years ago that I first discovered Mozart, and Western classical music. Hindi film music, ghazals, some Punjabi folk, and a little of Western country and pop music was all that I had heard till that moment. I was on a flight to Singapore and because it was my first international flight ever, I was struggling to get the personal entertainment system into the Hindi movie viewing mode. I failed and settled instead for the Western classical music option and spent the whole flight enthralled by the music, electing not to let even tea ( to which I am addicted) interrupt the smooth flow. I skipped the meal, did not sleep a wink, and by the time we landed in Singapore, I had fallen in love with a music genre that's been my constant companion since. 

I still can barely distinguish between composers, I can't correctly pronounce half the names, I cannot define sonata and andante and adagio and allegro and all the other mysterious sounding titles, but the music touches my soul and that is all I care about!

Over the years, I have discovered Celtic music , contemporary country music, and thanks to my son, a lot of jazz, some opera, and even "thinking" rap. 

Having opened my heart to Western classical music, I have also let in Hindustani classical music and devotional music.

Sometimes, Facebook friends tag me when they upload music and that's been my route to hearing and savouring music I wouldn't have known existed. 

And yet, there is so much music in the world that I have not and never will hear that it makes me marvel at the creative genius of the human mind, and how we dishonour it when we get jingoistic about a particular language or art form or craft ------ all of them are manifestations of the same genius that has brought this amazing, beautiful world into existence.