Ruchira's Ramblings

It's an extended weekend, guys, so enjoy yourselves. If you can manage it between Ranbir Kapoor and his three girls, do hoist the triocolour on your roof. And yeah, you are supposed to bring it down before sunset, I have a neighbour who keeps the poor flag up for two or three days, sometimes a whole week every January and August- its very patriotic of him, no doubt, but that's not quite the proper way to show it. Then of course I will pray that India gets better politicians who do not disgrace the country at the parliament by behaving like English football fans, and that we get better roads, and that elections be no longer held along the lines of cast, sub-caste and ethnicity, that all the children of India can go to school, that we get more medals at the Olympics, that there be no more bandhs and strikes, that there may be peace in Kashmir and the rest of the country...and when I've finished praying, I'll go back to surfing and telly-watching. Happy Independence Day to...

Sometimes, not so often, but regularly yet The colors disappear. On rain-soaked evenings or cloudy noons My story-telling mind lets me down. And all my selves that never were- All those colorful powerful happening selves I gave myself cease to excite me. The bleakness makes her presence felt Like the constant dripping sound of water Running down an overworked tap. I grope around in the blank grayness To regain my lost fantasies. Am I insane or ill? Why can’t I live as I am? I fear me sometimes- I fear my dreams. And I fear the illusory happiness I run after, My idle imaginations-if they engulf me Or worse: melt away when the future comes- The future of all the extra-ordinary happenings Which I have kept at bay over the years, When it at last arrives and the dreams shatter, Will I be able to live and love? When I finally out-grow my wishful fairy-tales Will I be able to fill in the blanks? P.S: The accompanying picture is a landscape painting by Tim Postell