Choices

Deny
Accept.
Going in my mind
Over and over
Me crumbling
Under the weight
Of choice
Of weariness
Of weakness
Not knowing
What I want
None of us really
Knowing what
We want

Locked in
A prison
Of my own making
Chains feel
So nice
Kissed by
Captors
Healing the wounds

Yet knowing
No one to hold
Me when
I escape
No safety net
Other than the cage

Indolence

I choose to stay home
With the books and sheets
Life at my fingertips.
Doing what I want
Even silence if I please.
Lying down; daydreaming
Or at times, no single thought


Probing for meaning of life
Uncluttered by screams,
Shouts, television, telephone
Wanting life to breath
At its own pace

My Obituary

Gautami S Tripathy, Educator, passed away at her residence in Delhi, in the wee hours of 26th August 2005.

Right after her bachelor of education, she had joined the teaching fraternity. She enjoyed teaching and more so loved her pupils. She had a good rapport with her students. She was creative with innovative ways of teaching Mathematics and Sciences. She could teach them the various formulae by correlating those with nursery Rhymes or more popular songs of the prevailing times.

She did a lot of philanthropic work too. She was attached to various NGOs, which dealt with problems of child abuse. She always stood for the rights of the children. She set up street dramas for the awareness of the masses.

She had varied interests. She dabbled in painting. Mostly charcoal sketching and cartoon characters. She had at times tried her hands at oils too. She was a great admirer of grand masters like Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Botticelli and Salvador Dali. For the last few months, she was trying her hands at Surrealistic Painting.

She had written/published a few books on mathematics. She was also into writing poetry and other genres of the written word. She was yet to publish any of her works in this regard.

She had a massive collection of books (8000+). And an enormous collection of music cassettes/ CDs (5000+). She has left all this to a local library.

She had lead a simple enough life. She had fairly achieved what she had wanted to do, in this short span of life. But had one regret of not having being able to do much for those street kids who are abused by all and sundry.

She is survived by her mother, three brothers, nephews, nieces and her dearest pupils whom she had taught all these 14 years.

May her soul rest in peace!

POSSESSED

Hysterical women gyrating
Flailing arms
Dishevelled hair
Muttering, screaming
Shouting incoherently
Rolling their eyes
In mad frenzy
Beaten and ravaged
Tortured and in pain
Exorcised by priests
Of ghosts, invaded souls
Malevolent spirits
Are they possessed?
But in reality
Suffering from
Deep psychological shock
Broken down irreparably
By personal tragedy
Behaving possessed
Is their only escape!

©gautami.tripathy
Aug 23, 2005

Ctrl/Alt/Del

I key in and expunge
Words that gush unreservedly
from my earnest reflections

Too revealing in their
raw passion
and honest fervor

Sliding down my mind
decoded into letters
but exterminated by backspace.

©gautami.tripathy

Even though.....sad thought....

We crib about bad roads
We crib about long power cuts
We crib about water shortage
We crib about dirt and squalor
We crib about safety of our women
We crib about child labour

Even though……..

We spit on the roads
We tamper with the electric meters
We let the water overflow
We throw garbage out of the window
We molest our daughters
We abuse our children

Given half a chance
We will steal, rob and pilfer
So why blame the nation for
Our misdeeds and misdemeanors!

Freedom......Senryus

Waving flags
Independence celebrated
Finally visiting malls!



**********************

Head held high
Patriotism at peak
Casteism rules

Sonia.............Clerihew.....

That Lady Sonia
Gave up the thrown, mamma mia!
But behind the scenes, she rules
Those who think otherwise are fools!!

Independence Day Haiku

Clear blue sky
The Tricolour hoisted high
Jingoism Dancing

Kite Flying

See
Children
Flying the
So beautiful
Kites on the Independence Day

My Nation

My
Country
My Nation
I love you
For your mysticism, spirituality.

Thoughts.............tetracyts

My
Senses
Filled with
Thoughts of you
Walking by my side, never letting go!

Signal of Anguish.......SALVADOR DALI

Liked this. I am simply fascinated by the surrealistic work of Dali. He was one of his kind. His earlier works are much better than the later ones! This one was painted in 1935! Truly anguished!

World of Science, Art and Cricket

Scientific World

Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest
Mendeleev’s natural selection at its wittiest
Michael Faraday harvested electricity
Einstein propagated relativity
Marie Curie discovered radiation
Kekule structured hybridization

World of Art

King of surrealism Salvador Dali
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli
Monet abstracts
Picasso distracts
Mona Lisa smiles
Matisse riles


Cricketing World

Don Bradman; legends made
Rahul Dravid; too staid
Sixer in last ball; Javed Miandad
Looks on Kapil Dev; feeling sad
Steve Waugh; all in awe
Sachin Tendulkar; simply wow!

Changing World

Milton regained Paradise or Lost
As did USSR with Glasnost
On Eliot’s Wasteland
Wright brothers’ airplane land
Reflections of Dante’s Divine Comedy
In Holocaust; the greatest tragedy

World of Mathematics

Newton’s Integration
With Leibniz’s Differentiation
Beauty of Pythagoras theorem
On real number, Peano’s axiom
Euclid’s geometry
Did I forget Al-Tusi’s trigonometry

TRIOLETS

Despair


Feelings of desolation
Life going downhill
No consolation
Feelings of desolation
And depression
It is a bitter pill
Feelings of desolation
Life going downhill


Washed away


Washed away by the rains
Our home and hearth
Causing intense pain
Washed away by the rains
Pavements, roads and drains
Of food, there was dearth
Washed away by the rains
Our home and hearth



Song in my heart


Song in my heart
Happiness galore
You play a part
Song in my heart
It is a good start
Part of the allure
Song in my heart
Happiness galore



Brevity



Brevity plays a role
To cut a long story short
Slashes loopholes
Brevity plays a role
Standing on its sole
Holding fort
Brevity plays a role
To cut a long story short


Profanity

Cut out the profanity
Stick to mysticism
And spirituality
Cut out the profanity
Hold on to piety
Taught by every religion
Cut out the profanity
Stick to mysticism

Shambles

Shambles
All around
Bruised
Lies heart
Battered
Broken body
Destroying
The spirit
Despairing
The mind
Piercing
The very core
Poignant
Thoughts
Tormenting
The soul
Wasting
Away life

Senses

Soft soothing music
Violins playing
The song of my love
Bringing joy
Dreams galore

Sudden Calm
Deafening me
Awakening
Longings
Fire inside
Scalding me
Wanting you


Your nearness
Maddening me
No wisp of wind
Between us

Pure feelings
No words
Sheer bliss
Absolute calm!

Awakened

Star filled night
No clouds in sight
City suffused with light.

With you in my world
Muse in me awakened
In you poetry enclosed

Moonlight reflected
Ocean convoluted

My whole being conflagrated

Longings coming forth
Rising in my heart
Both becoming a single part

No demarcation
Where I end, you begin
My living or dying is not vain

Bloggers Block!!!!!

Got this block! Unable to write! So many thoughts but unable to blog those down!

Mindlessly............

My heart and soul……………..
Lost in the ocean of love for you
Everlastingly plummeting deeper
Suffused by your incessant love...
Hurtled against the edge of eon,
I wait to unite with you
mindlessly………

The Big Bad Wolf

Re-telling the story of “The little Red Riding Hood” with the big bad wolf as its central character! A very simplistic tale for children.

THE BIG BAD WOLF


The wolf had been ill for a week now and in bed. Maybe the hare did not agree with his constitution. It had been old and too hard. He had ignored that and went right on eating it gluttonously! And ended up with upset stomach. And fever!

Now he was hungry but too tired to hunt. So he slowly got up and walked out of his cave to the nearest path. This path was taken by kids who were easy enough to prey upon! As a rule he never hunted on them but today he was too worn-out to care. The wolf sat down hiding behind a bush. After a never-ending wait, he saw a willowing red thing coming towards him. As it came closer, he found that it was a little girl. She looked very chubby. Juicy and succulent. His mouth watered at the very thought. He wanted to pounce but noticed a woodcutter looking his way. Patience, he chided himself. He retreated and took another path following the girl.

“What’s your name, little girl?” He said.

“Little Red Riding Hood.” She said.

“Where are you going?”

“To my grandma’s place who is not well. I am taking her these goodies.”

“Where does she live?”

“In a cottage along this path.”

Now the wolf had a brain wave, (wolves are clever creatures). Why not eat her grandma as well.

“Why don’t you take her a bouquet of wild flowers? She will be very happy to receive those.”

She had forgotten, that her mother had told her not to talk to strangers and not to stop anywhere in between. She went deeper into the woods for wild flowers. So while she was busy collecting flowers, the wolf ran down the path and reached the cottage. He liked what he saw. A very pretty cottage in the middle of a small garden. It was surrounded by tall trees. And flowers were blooming all around. There was a well in one corner. An ideal place to live!

“I will live here right from today. I am sick and tired of that dark, smelly cave of mine.” He thought.” Little did he realize, as soon as he started living here, it would stink too!

He knocked at the door and entered it. Saw the old lady sleeping peacefully. Jumped on her and before she could react, gobbled her up. She was all skin and bones. But it was a respite from that great hunger! Anyway he was going to be rewarded with fresh and luscious flesh of that young girl!

But before that he needed to gear up. He looked around; saw a pretty robe hanging on a peg. He put that on. And lay down on the old lady’s bed. He pulled the covers till his neck and put on a cap too. Thus prepared, he kept on waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.
She came and finding the door open, entered it. Without making a noise, she found a vase for the bouquet of wild flowers. And set the table with the goodies her mother had sent.
The wolf was watching her all the while with half closed eyes. She tiptoed near him. He opened his eyes.

She almost jumped and said “Grandma, your eyes are bigger, and ears too.”

“To see and hear you better, dear,” the wolf said in her grandma’s voice. He could mimic any one in the world! A very useful talent.

“And you teeth are sharp.”

“To eat you better.” Saying this, he jumped on her and in no time he finished her up.

But he had been ill for so long and tired too, he fell asleep.

Now the woodcutter had smelled something fishy and followed the wolf. Extremely late, if I may say so…he had to fight a tiger on the way!!

The woodcutter entered the cottage and found the wolf sleeping and heard lots of noises coming from its so very bloated stomach! He cut it open with his axe, pulled out the girl and her grandma. They were all right but shaken. Through all this, the wolf was deep in slumber land. Little Red Riding Hood filled his stomach with stones and her grandma sewed it up very carefully. They left him there and started off for Red Riding Hood’s place!

The wolf woke up after a long time. He was thirsty. He got up from the bed, wondering why he felt so heavy. He staggered towards the well in the corner of the garden. Put the bucket into it. And saw his stomach sewed up and everything was crystal clear to him. Before he could react, he lost his balance and fell into the well……….

“Why am I being punished? Doesn’t a self respecting hungry wolf deserve any food?” Those were his last thoughts………

……………Glug…glug…glug……….