Cliché

The long shadows of twilight long past..a dim memory...

Light is no longer welcome in this room...
nor is life.

The phones have been switched off...the doors locked...the windows shaded.
All that remains is me.
sitting on my throne of broken dreams and shattered sanity...
unmoving as the cobwebs gently caress my limbs
a new embrace...a much gentler embrace

As the body decays, the mind is set free of frivolous thoughts
It blossoms and expands
reaching out across the lands and beyond them
Set free from physical limitations
It begins a new journey

Every word from every line above is a cliché, in my mind... a typical ranting.. but then, whats wrong with that ?

An industrial fairy tale

Finally decided to post this....been sitting on my desktop for too long....
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Once upon a time…long long Looonnngggg ago… in a land not far from here…
There existed an industrial wasteland… a dilapidated skeleton of a city…

And in this city, there lived a princess.
And in the wonderfully green outskirts… there lived a frog.

Let’s have a look at this rather wonderful frog first…
Imagine a perfectly normal frog….green mottled and slimy… with a marked penchant for large irradiated flies…
But ! on second glance… not a normal frog at all…

After all, how many frogs do we see walking upright, wearing a top hat, smoking a cigarillo… reading “the complete works of ShakySpears” and listening to an xpod** ?
( **for the techno geeks… an xpod is similar to an ipod in every way except for its near limitless memory…due to the fact that its hard drive is located mainly in hyperspace and is connected to the player via a small localized wormhole )

Well, our rather well read and technically cool frog is sauntering down a country lane, immersed in his book, with not a care in the world***
(***apart from the afore mentioned irradiated flies… which were wrecking havoc in the pseudo spatial gaming parlors…but that’s a story for another day)
When suddenly, a sweet singing stops him dead in his tracks… and the book drops to the damp ground, unnoticed… the froggie rock blaring from his headphones forgotten…
Quietly he creeps around the corner and see’s a vision of beauty lighting up the blasted landscape.

She’s sitting in her six-legged monkey drawn carriage, gently fanning herself while singing the sweetest melody the frog had ever heard from a cybernetically enhanced throat….

Ol’ Frog takes a swig from his hip flask, screws up his dutch courage….and hops across to the princess…

He looks up at the princess and asks “ croak croak croakty croak ?”

“Excuse me, Sir Frog… let me switch on my universal translator”
Click..whirr..click click whirr….
“Now, would you repeat yourself ?”

The frog clears his throat and once again pipes up…
“ My dear lady… would you, by any chance, happen to be a princess ?”

The princess looks down her extremely long nose at the tiny frog, while sticking her chin up into the air at a haughty angle ****
(****this mysterious trick of looking down on someone while sticking one’s chin in the air is a trick mastered only by women and the University of Blecklespeck long ago went bankrupt trying to solve it)

“Why, Sir frog, I shall, for this once, forgive your ignorance… putting it down to you being a simple country oaf”
“I am the Princess of 99”

Frog gaped at her..awestruck
Although he had no clue as to what a princess of 99 was supposed to be, it seemed suitably impressive for his purposes….

Bowing low, he murmurs “ forgive my insolence, O honored Princess of 99… your praises have long been sung far and wide across the land”

“ya right” she replies… somehow managing to look exotic even while frowning…
“do you know..frog legs are considered a delicacy in certain circles ?”

“umm…well…umm” his face going pale.

She sniggered…”Be at ease, Sir Frog…..am just fucking with u”

“oh well.. heh…nice one” still pale.

“So, el froggo… whatcha want ?”

“Weeeelllll…there’s this legend in our family that been handed down generation by generation….that we were once rather handsome humans and belonged to a great family of scientists but a genetic experiment gone wrong turned us into frogs….and only a kiss from a princess can cure this”.
“ewww…I hope you don’t expect me to… ??”
“I was hoping so”
The princess sat back thoughtfully…. Maybe something could be gained from this..
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ooops...coz that'll be it till post 21st Jan... seems my clients have forgotten there's a recission going on....and my bosses have suddenly remembered there is one...sigh....
well....i can tell u that this will not end as expected....but many exciting things are yet to happen to froggie....
ps - thanks to CG for the inspiring this story......

My Friend

She is my friend and is with me nearly all the time....

She always joins me when I drink, and we get along just fine.....

Nobody has ever seen her, Im the only one.....

Seemingly I must be mad but insanity is fun.....

Doctors say she's just a figment of my twisted mind....but her eyes haunt me all the time....

If they cant see her they must be going blind

Two men dressed in white collected me two days ago....They said there's only room for one and she cant go....

I cant even ring her cause she doesn't have a phone.....Hasnt got a home

Life is very gloomy in my little padded cell.....Its a shame there wasnt room for her as well.....

HUMBUG !!!!

'Twas the night before Christmas - Old Santa was pissed,
He cussed out the elves and threw down his list.
Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks,
I have good mind to scrap the whole works.

I've busted my ass for damn near a year,
Instead of "Thanks Santa" - what do I hear?
The old lady bitches cause I work late at night,
The elves want more money - The reindeer all fight.

Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids,
Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS.
And just when I thought that things would get better,
Those assholes from IRS sent me a letter.

They say I owe taxes - if that ain't damn funny,
Who the hell ever sent Santa Claus any money?
And the kids these days - they all are the pits,
They want the impossible... Those mean little shits.

I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds,
Assembling dolls... Their arms, legs and heads.
I made a ton of yo yo's - No request for them,
They want computers and robots... they think I'm IBM!

If you think thats bad... just picture this,
Try holding those brats... with their pants full of piss.
They pull on my nose - they grab at my beard,
And if I don't smile... the parents think I'm weird.

Flying through the air... dodging the trees,
Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees.
I'm quitting this job... there's just no enjoyment,
I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment.

There's no Christmas this year...now you know the reason,
I found me a blonde... I'm going SOUTH for the season!!

A dream

He leaned back in his chair…. Looking on quietly… unable to tear his eyes away even for a second…
Looking at her as she lay curled up against the huge pillow… eyes closed… peace written all over her face…
She looked so much younger….dwarfed against that huge cushion… he could almost see the reflection of the child she had been….the worry lines around her eyes seemed to fade as she smiled…
He wondered what she was dreaming…. Would he be in those dreams ?

His smile faded as he realized… it would soon be time to wake her up…
There were others who had a greater claim to her time than he did… and they would soon begin wondering where she was…
She had come to him directly from the airport… and he feared the questioning “raised eyebrow” looks they would get…
Well…it would be faced when the time came… something had to be done…

Until then… it was time to end the dreams…

the seeking

They walked across the endless plains… no destination in mind
No destination….
But with a purpose firmly etched in their minds
With a hope of meeting their destiny and embracing it…
They walked….
Heedless of the hot sands and the cool grasses
Headless of shady forests and towering ruins….
They walked….
Their passing disturbed shadows and the beasts stirred…. Watching from a far with malevolent eyes…

Chasing the darkness which seemed to flee… forever a step ahead… but always tantalizingly within reach…They walked….

Stumbling upon a page from the past

Tinkering around… visiting a few blogs… I came across a familiar name….
A name I haven’t thought about for a long time…and on the rare occasions I do remember…it’s with disdain tempered by a pinch of confusion.
But once that name was synonymous with every thought…with every plan for the future…

Interestingly…I expected to read this person’s blog and feel a rush of memories flood in… but that just did not happen…
As I read on…into older and older posts…looking for something I could identify with… I came to realize… that if what this person has written reflects the true personality, then I never knew or understood who this person actually was.
Not in one single post could I see “my version” of that person….

Was I simply blind ? or was I misled ?

In a way, it’s a relief…
And in some others… a disappointment

Sometimes I think I have a perverse desire to dig into the past and bring up questions like ….How ? Why ? and all that… I guess many of us do that…
Either way… it’s a chapter well left buried…

Of gods and men....

I recently read an article with the above title and it struck me as quite pretinent.... are we, as indians, truly as proud of our diversity as we tell the tourists ? Or is is just another tag line for the globalising India... "Unity in Diversity" yey !!... while nursing in our hearts contempt for those weird accented foreigners who somehow became part of "OUR" india.I doubt there are many among us who have not used reagionalism or religion to vent on those "Intellectually pseudo bongs" or those "Rude and uncouth punjabis" and so on and so forth... the best of us have done it...
Gods were once icons of hope...prosperity...love...now all they represent ( whether we admit it or not ) is hate. well..."now" is of course not the apt word...its been going on for centuries...around the world...but i would like to think we'ed have evolved as humans by now.... instead we seem to be degenerating into the dark ages once again.
Being a staunch supporter of globalisation and a firm believer in capitalism.... I think these are the religions that will see us through and not the million or so "almighties".
The poor man is screwed either ways...so might as well make the most of it...

YOUR FIRED !!!

Hmm…”firing” seems to be the frayed and over used buzz word of the day….
Whether we look at it in the context of pink slips with an image of Donald Trump pointing at us and telling us to fuck off…( at least that’s the image that comes to my mind )
Or we look at it in the context of what’s been on television the past week…. “firing at Taj” “more firing at Oberoi” “a little more firing at CST” “yet more firing at Nariman House”
…yes…I am starting to get sick of the word…
But this is not yet another rant against the unjust world , corrupt politicians and our ineptness at being decent human beings…I guess we’ve all posted to our blogs…discussed it in office…sent patriotic emails ad nauseam…
My dilemma has more of a personal…selfish nature…
I feel as if I’m sitting in this ivory tower watching these events pass me by as if on a television screen…
Me ? I can never get fired. Me ? terrorists are never going to attack ME ! these things only happen to strangers…
I find myself in a situation in which I am unable to care about these strangers as I am “expected” to do… sure I make the appropriate comments….pay lip service to whatever is considered to be the “in thing” but all I think is..yawn…so what’s new ?
I wonder how long I’ll be able to insulate myself from the world ? I don’t even know if it’s a good or bad thing…. But there it is… and no apologies..

giving up....

He turned off the television….no longer able to make sense of the swimming images in front of him.
Shaking his head to rid it of the strange cobwebs that had settled there, he got up and wandered around the dark apartment.
His body seemed heavier than ever…. Like dragging around a dead weight tied to the ankles…. He knew the weight could be shaken off and the cobwebs cleared…. He had done it before… hypnotizing himself with happy thoughts of times gone by….and fantasies of times to come….
But today was different…. He could feel it….he felt himself loosing the struggle to maintain the façade…even in his own mind…. He was tired of fooling himself.
After a few aimless circuits of all the rooms…. He made up his mind… or more accurately….he simply gave in…to what seemed inevitable
After all, who would blame him? All the justifications were right there, he thought.
Now, after giving up the struggle, he felt more at ease with the mists surrounding his mind……a fog that dimmed out reality settled on him.
“Best if I turn my phone off…. Don’t want anything to spoil the mood” he told himself…. One of his last lucid thoughts… and eager to be gone, at that.
He had what he needed… he always did… and he collected the things together and kept them on the table in front of him…neatly, in order of how he would need to use them….the process seemed natural….like a ritual done hundreds of time….
Peace would finally be his….. It would no longer matter what happened…he smiled as he realized… he simply did not have to care any longer.
The darkness came, creeping over him, giving him the comfort he craved, and he pulled it over him, like a child pulling its security blanket…
He smiled then….and a single tear rolled down one eye….