Strength of a PitBullian Mind.....

When I saw this photo of a Pitbull terrier posted by FB friend Sanjeev Hirudayaraj, I was speechless. I went back to it again and again.

The expression was amazing, and I kept wondering what must be going through the mind of the Pitbull.It wasn't a case of all brawn.  There was, it appeared, plenty of brain.

See this page for some more evocative pictures of man's best friend.

(photo by Sanjeev Hirudayaraj)

Fresh from a skirmish
shaking off the dust
and panting
in an adrenaline flood,
I am amazed
and angry,
at what I see...

They call me
a PitBull,
mean ,dangerous,
a dog trained to fight
and attack.

I know some people like that
who train abroad
and attack
the mother country.

Some live within,
and attack
and hurt,
with their dangerous behaviour.

Teachers being caned
by police
in Punjab,

Underage drunk drivers
driving wild
over
homeless sleeping folks,
and then
being gifted bail...

MP's
with a single point
power agenda
wasting money in crores
by holding up Parliament...

Cities
being denied infrastructure
while ten times that
is spent on
issuing newspaper ads
praising
the great departed
in politics...

Those at the top
setting bad behaviour examples
to those looking up

Crores being paid
to someone
to dance with missing clothes
when
there is no money
for hospitals
and police housing.

Yes, I'm trained to fight,
small kids
cry when they see me,
and
as they say,
I am nothing much to look at.

But I have a mind,
I look around
and I am disgusted.

Tell me,
with all this going on ,
is there any reason
I should smile.....

Power Shutdown of Hercules

Blogger friend, travel writer, versatile photographer, and columnist and editor, Lakshmi Sharath, recently visited Jordan. Amman , the capital, is situated on hilly area of north-western Jordan. The city was originally built on seven hills. The Citadel hill of Amman, is home to the Temple of Hercules, which once held a 13 metre statue of Hercules.  All that remains today, amidst the marble pillars and ruined structures of the temple, is  a giant fist of Hercules, lying , clutching the earth, some distance away from a piece of elbow.

Hercules , was a demigod, in the pantheon of ancient Gods , who had very colorful and eventful lives.  To atone for some mindless violence, he was ordered to do some jobs for King of Mycenae, and these, equally revengeful and violent assignments were known as the labors of Hercules.  

Maybe he never learnt a proper lesson.

Maybe we should.

(photograph by Lakshmi Sharath)

High
on a Citadel in Amman
in rippling musculature
he stood
celebrated in his own temple.

Lauded by those
who knew
the labors of Hercules;
all about
killing, trapping,fetching,
getting rid of,rounding up,
and destroying;
lions,boars,bulls, gods,
apples, belts, kings, damsels
and such.

Today,
fallen,
only
his massive fist remains,
tightly clutching
the Earth,
elbow
orphaned
a bit away.

A pointer
that
living is all about
sensible talk,
hand-shakes,
reasoning,
and tolerance,
and those
entities
that abuse this
for selfish power gain,
will experience,
a power shutdown,
and leave them
fallen and scrambling
trying
to hold on
to an earth,
fast slipping through their fingers.