Tipsy? That’s not me..

A subtle mist, golden brown
Thinned by the earthy babble,
Of the world going down.
I give them a smile they can’t see
Are they smashed or is it just me?

I stare at the other side, it
Looks blue, it looks yellow
Reminds me of memories that
Make me feel mellow.
Life hardly makes sense. I hope
That’s the way it will always be.
‘Cause what’s the fun in it if
It’s not crazy, tardy and tipsy.

P.S.: A work of fiction written in a sober state. Seriously....

Blues and symptoms of “The Trooper”..

We screamed, we jumped, we got sloshed and we were blessed. But what about the morning which creeps in?

An amazing rock concert hangover symptoms:

• A soothing strain engulfs the back of the neck to the end of the spine.
• An excruciating cramp is felt in the heels where every step brings out a snapshot of last night.
• Ears and mind still buzz with guitar riffs.
• People have to speak a decilbel louder to make themselves heard.
• The heart still beats in the same rhythm of the woofer.
• A mocking smile appears on your face every time an ignorant life form comes across.
• You just can’t get rid off the smile.
• Somewhere in you, a crazier plan for the next concert creeps in.
  

Even better than the real thing..

Phew!! At last, Hope arrives after 5 years of listening to the sham of wannabe Alt Rock bands. Will No Line on the Horizon bring back the glory days of rock?

Well, the gods of Dublin do have their mysterious ways and I am nobody to question them.

Benares's Romantics

After reading “The Romantics” by Pankaj Mishra I have been wondering how this book managed to stay away from the best-sellers' shelves and from the pirated book-stalls.

It’s a wonderfully written tale of the narrator “Samar” who comes to the city of Benares and is pushed into the world of some foreigners who have come there to spiritually enlighten themselves. The book shows a beautiful and ironic picture of the confusions and realizations of the expatriates in the country mixed with the Samar’s curiosity and awkwardness towards these aliens and their life. The book proceeds, taking Samar to Pondicherry for a while where he meets his father who then sends him to Dharamshala. All this while he tries to come to terms with the past and make a sense of his life. The story ends in Benares again where he comes one last time to face the past he had left behind. The very nature of the three places played an important role in Samar's life. The hustle bustle of Benares represent the restlessness Samar felt in the new world. Pondicherry made him realize what he had left behind and sort of help him in his transition to everything which came later. During the seven years, the silence and serenity of Dharamshala makes him lose himself in the memories of the past and the realities of life's expectations.

I believe this book puts Pankaj Mishra in same league with Amitav Ghosh and Jhumpa Lahiri not because of how good they write but because of their capacity to take a part of one ordinary man’s journey through life and make it look extra ordinary and truly beautiful. Being his first novel he doesn’t gives any signs of immaturity, the credit of which goes to the fact that he has written two travellogues and is also a regular writer in Nytimes Opinion columns. He is very lyrical in his narration and gives a beautiful picture of Benares. It’s so good that one can’t help imagining being in the city himself. I would say the story ends up provoking a thought that we all go through these similar extra-ordinary situations and gradually morph into what we truly are today just like Samar did. It also made me realize that there is an amazing story in all of us, it just looks deceptively ordinary.