Illusion of control i.e. The faith in our ability to fix a crisis is often built on:
1. Baseless assumptions. Being either lazy or scared to question our unverified theories or inferences. We love mental inertia.
2. Belief in monocausal explanations. There is never only a single factor that caused something.
3. Biased to think that we are free from bias. We are the irrational apes. We believe in flat earth, mermaids, and witches.
A to B (Poem)
Nothing matters for a public bus
not even the goodbyes and the hellos
the monkish machine barks with
a horn which sounds like
I don’t care, just move away
your dead language and luggage.
On a Friday night
it is more busy than a god
and pissy than a waiting woman.
the master morality of the commoner
cannot mine moral salts from it.
it shows off a it is what it is
attitude and waves at time with old boy stoicism.
Going from A to B should be about
A to B
not seeing murders on the road,
not interviewing 1998 thoughts,
not smoking political cigarettes,
not flirting with 6.5% inflation,
and
not multiplying the debt of your nostalgic debt
while tasting Gaza news in the BBC market.
Knighted night (Poem)
The tumbling down of the sun
assembled a dark emptiness
on which the moon was mourning.
the night was pregnant with
defiant stars and holy comets.
the winds, untamed by cliffs
were snoring in the sky.
the graveyards weary of
field notes of the ghosts and
un-cared flowers
called the cold caravans
for sweet lullabies.
the silence was too loud
to let the body rest.
and the turmoil was too silent
to let the pillow fall.
the blanket was too unruly
to let the thoughts settle.
And the plants
were worn out after
pumping oxygen all day long
from their brittle lungs.
the mist and fog
to thick to cover the wildness of passions
the clouds
too thin to dress the shades of the sky.
-the language of the night
dreams a reality within a reality
till the toilet disturbs your soul.
Heavyweights (Poem)
Under the load
of wisdom
we miss insights.
Under the load
of solitude
we miss love.
Under the load
of illumination
we miss the now.
Under the load
of driving
we miss moving.
Under the load
of deadlines
we miss the divine.
Under the load
of water
we miss the waves.
—Thus spoke the drunken monk.
Pseudo
We choose to behave differently with a lot of people. Over time we split our individuality into bits and pieces, spread across all the social relationships and people we have had interaction with.
And because of this people also have a different perception of who you are. And when this image that they created about you based on your act before them breaks when you function differently and contrary to what they expected, conflicts arise.
People try to revert back to this false image by convincing or apologizing to them instead of honestly communicating who and what they are and the kind of values they stand by.
Slow
Go slow. Reduce the pace.
The only thing you are rushing towards is death. Nothing will change that.
The speedy showers, hasty dressing up, and the gulping down of coffee to save microseconds won’t matter in the end. Take a chill pill.
India, Undefined. (Poem)
All scholarly tongues are silent,
And all the well-read pass the buck
if asked to define India.
Cultures are made anew every morning
Religions redefined again in the afternoon
And spirituality altered for every new moon.
Every street has a fresh social norm
and it’s own intricacies.
Every bystander a philosopher.
And every cow is holy in some sense.
Rivers, trees, stones,
snakes, eagles, dogs,
earth, water, soil, air
all worshipped and none left
in this land.
Snowy Himalayas try to offer truth,
Monasteries, a bit of solitude
and a Gandhi statue non-violence
amidst a billion-plus population.
Modern men and women
carry ancient tags of caste
and millennial identities
in the same bodies.
The threads of
Past, present and the future
bind together
to create a land of no time.
Fate aligned to karma.
Justice tied to power.
and liberty hand in glove
with money.
Politics performing sorcery.
Economy doing yoga.
Science flirting with customs.
Technology with Jugaad.
Administration to connections.
And sports — running between the wickets.
but this is just
one India,
in so many other Indias
in India.
A forever plural nation.
The
What-ness
Why-ness
Where-ness
How-ness
of it all
is breathtakingly
unusual.
Problems
The problems that you encounter more or less define where you are in life. If the delay of Amazon delivery is your biggest problem to worry then it shows our priorities and the state of our living. Bigger problems put you in a different plane which in turn puts us in a different direction and path. Petty problems, petty life. It’s that simple.
Thoughts
The more we live in our heads, the more reality gets twisted and frightens us. Practicing presence and mindfulness helps us witness a less scary and terrifying world. We feel much lighter if we can leave the mind world for a bit. Treat your mind like a gym where you need to go to do some work and after that leave it and lock the damn door.
Mind chatter and your pampering of it trap you and create problems that never existed in the first place.
Aging
As we accumulate grey hair, we should also get multiple interests/hobbies/likings/things we love to do/engagements/pastimes/fancy amusements to make life more interesting, or else couch sitting or armchair thinking will surely prepone death and dullness. If you are passionate about music/poetry/movies/old coins/stamps/documentaries/books or anything else of that sort by 60-70 and do something about them then surely life will have more vigor and passion.
Else we are lost in the gossip of the neighborhood, meaningless political debates, and involved way too much in the lives of grandkids.
Thy Vox 