Ragpickers of the Mind

A sight,  routinely seen during the course of the day in any big city, more so in Mumbai, where some one's trash could be someone else's find of the day.  Trudging around, collecting the city's discards, lugging stuff around to finally dump it all together; not before appraising the contents.

She does this, the cleaning of other people's dirt, day after day, with no protective gear for herself;  probably just a protective thought in her mind, for her kids, for whom she must work at this job...

Typically, those creating dirt like this, are also good at creating dirt within themselves, physically and mentally.  

My friend Magiceye  captured this and posted it as part of the 365project.org 

Rampant
lipidicious waste,
blobs of polymers,
discarding of excesses
of everything in life
except
evil avaricious thoughts,
and
she does her rounds,
daily,
augmenting it all
bag by 10 micron bag
on her
tolerant shoulders,
so our
paths in life
remain unclogged and clean.

And we,
who have so much,
perhaps too much,
indulge senselessly
in those avaricious thoughts,
to thoughtlessly
greedily imbibe
everything
that looks and tastes good,
in life,
without looking inside.

Lipidy wall-scratchy blobs,
wildly roaming
in the body ,
sometimes clogging it all,
and
then rampant
bloody fights
and
expensive angio-flights
in an  ambitious mind.

Pharmaceutical Ragpickers
may be found
at a huge cost
for the body,
but
does anyone know
about
Ragpickers
for the Troubled and Misguided Mind?

Black Brilliance....

My timeline on FB today is studded with so many wonderful photographs, posted by folks from all over the world, (thanks to a family member obsessed by photography).

And then comes this very perceptive click , from my FB friend,  engineer and fellow collaborator on Madness Mandali's  Kavikala,  Satish Suggala  .

Amazing capture !    Then again,  not so amazing, because that's how things are around everywhere you look ......

(This brilliant photograph by Satish Suggala)

Such a perceptive click;

How the future looks
for the girl
hit with acid;

The state of mind
of the raped Noida girl
identified 
and unlawfully
named by the cops;

The blank eyes
of an Aji
whose free cataract operation
failed;

The way the
side road was at night
when the masked goons attacked;

How the textbook looked
to the 5th class boy
studying nights
when
the last candle gave out
during planned load shedding
in his village;

The color of the humor
when the planning commission
begs you
to enjoy and live
on Rs 26/32 a day;

And finally,
the color of the crores,
confiscated in UP elections,
stashed in Switzerland,
and
lining the deep pockets
of those
who wear power-white.

Prize winning photo indeed !

Doorways of the Mind (edited)

This visual, captured by blogger friend Sangeeta Khanna , while cycling across the Ladakhi landscape as part of the Kullu Kahrdung La MTB Cycle expedition, would possibly stand as a beacon of hope, for those unfortunate ones, who have lost all the color in their lives.

It is also a shining example , of how things are never black and white. How we must never give up hope, no matter how tough the environment.

Nature has a way of bringing a smile into your lives.


(photograph by Sangeeta Khanna)
Tough and wizened,
facing personal calamities
like a rock,
she lives,
facing each day,
unwavering
in a biting North wind,
with a lot of
hope,
good sense,
and
fortitude.

Papering over some cracks
with
an unwavering belief,
that
be it aeons later,
but,
the little one
will return.

She nudges
happily,
the little grasses
around her,
and cleanses her face
with some serious scrubbing
till it shines.

The flowers of hope
that
had been blooming,
now
hang over the door.

An old grandma
welcomes you,
to step in
through
the
Doorways of her Mind.


Edited to add : Sangeeta herself is an accomplished research botanist, wonderful blogger, homemaker, and also a poet. Do read her totally amazing take on this same visual on her own blogpost "The Himalayas conspired.... "

Lady GaGa in the mountains

Two intrepid blogger friends, IHM and Sangeeta Khanna, recently participated in a Women's (actually, Girls') Himalayan MTB Cycle Expedition from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, to Khardung La , 37 kms north of Leh, in the Ladakh region. Organized by the Youth Hostels Association of India.

Some brilliant photos here .

This is a view from what is called Rani Nala ( the Queen's Stream), on the way to Rohtang Pass. All of the broken white is hard ice, covered with dust. The visual had an unexplained "lip" formation, and with so many modern ladies cycling past smartly on their mountain bikes, some thoughts began buzzing in my mind.

A poem happened. Paththari bai (`Lady Stone') should really now be Barfani Bai (`The Ice Maiden')..... but I always tend to look below the ice for the mind of the Lady ...


(photo by Sangeeta Khanna)

Paththari Bai,
although a grand dowager,
having lived centuries,
still looks
like a mountain beauty
who does lifetime facials
with Beas Water***
smashed pebbles,
and mashed pears.

But some things have changed.

She's been trying
"Fair and Lovely" ****
and Lakme lipstick
that comes
in double tubes.

It doesn't agree,
and her face
has broken
into patches
of hard white,
around puffed lips.

She watches
civilization drifting
up and down
the roads.

And I think she
has been
listening
to some ladies talk....


***The river Beas
**** A fairness cream marketed by Unilever in India to benefit , not the women, but their own coffers, thanks to the national obsession with "fairness".

Mind and Body

Blogger friend Magiceye titled this visual "Bulls at peace", when he posted it . This is possibly a close up of the bulls taken at Harne Beach in the Kokan coast of Maharashtra, where the days catch is auctioned/sold/bought and possibly the crates lugged away for retailing at some market, by bullock cart, some distance away.

There is an intriguing expression on the animals' face.

Something that says, this is my lot, mine is not to question why and crib, but to do my job sincerely and without thinking of reward, and with a minimum of excitement.

I cant help feeling, that as much as the animal shames us in the way it follows the philosophy outlined in the Bhagwad Gita ie ("do your duty(work) to the best of your ability, without thinking of the fruits of your labour. ") , there must be a fleeting thought of something else passing through its bovine but possibly exalted mind ....

(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)
Tied
and yoked
in a biped world,
the milk of their kindness
abused
by
greedy dairies
and
avaricious hormones,
helplessly
passing it on
to the calves....

Watching
the so called
evolved bipeds
haggling over
creatures they defeat
in the evolution stakes,
no matter how small.

They stand,
with dedicated looks,
upholding
the philosophy
of the BhagwadGita,
Nishkaam Karma,***
Ma Faleshu Kadaachana....****

Take a deep breath,
eyes front,
wait till the fish crates,
haggled and auctioned,
are loaded'
and
the crack of a whip.

Its time to step up
and
keep going,
the mind of a sthitapradnya******
in the body
of a cow.


*** The literal meaning of nishkama karma is "desireless action," action performed with indifference to the outcome.

**** "Keep doing your karma without worrying about or expecting rewards for your labour"

******Shri Krishna’s ideal human being is Sthitapradnya. Pradnya is mind, intellect, wisdom. Sthita means stable. Sthitapradnya is a person whose mind has stabilized. Whether he has faith in the divine is immaterial, as long as he is in a state of equilibrium while facing the ups and downs of life.

Inside Outside......

Srushti Mandar Rao, is a young artist I saw recently through a friends posting on FB. She has a wonderful website here. She also blogs at :

http://worldbeyondcolours.blogspot.com/
http://asensitiveartist.blogspot.com/
http://fondoffood.blogspot.com/p/srushti-recipes.html

Do visit her Official FaceBook Fan page here, and click on LIKE !

Currently planning is on for exhibiting her works in Mumbai. She has a series of art works under categories like "Faces", and "Body and Mind" and so on. Hope you enjoy them all .

In the meanwhile, here is one of her pieces that got me intrigued.....

(painting by Srushti Mandar Rao)







Is this
a creative,
but enclosed
one ,
looking out
thru a mind window,
dreaming about
bringing
colors in
our dull lives ?




Or
is it
about
a free me,
outside,
agonizing
about
how to liberate
a mind,
lost
in
its own prison,
somnolent,
on carpets
of colors ?

Stormy Quiet

A wonderful shot of the ocean at the Maldives island, with the perturbations of a marine population, probably caused by the disturbance of a passing bunch of tourists, peering with their cameras, while the boat spews forth stuff.... my friend Ganesh Balaraman has several more photographs here.


(photograph by Ganesh)
Beneath the calm,
placid,
orderly waters
of the mind
as seen by the others
from a distance,
there lies
closer,
a
traumatic
tumult
of thoughts,
bubbling,
tumbling ,
dashing against
jumping doubts;
some rippling
up to the surface.

A real friend
bends
to ask
and help.

Others stare
far away
at the orderly calm
on the surface,
secretly wondering
at the antecedents
of those causing the tumult;
These are called politicians.

The Soaring Mind

The quality of any flight, is undeniably enhanced by the silence of its landing. Quiet, clean and purposeful, in gratitude, to the One that makes it all possible.

A great visual by Kavi Arasu, for starting of , what could be a great year for all. You can read his amazing accompanying post, nay, invocation, here.

(photo by Kavi Arasu)

A leap
powered
by an endlessly
practiced belief,
day after day,
perfecting the approach.

Facing the Sun,
up on the toes,
palms high up together,
buoyant in good wishes,
sinews glistening
in praise of strength,
he soars.




And then,
he bends his knees,
and
bows his head
in gratitude
to those that
he calls his own,
balancing
his euphoria,
with palms outstretched

So many soar,
so many leap,
and so many
talk about it.

But the ones
you remember the most
are the ones
who
quietly
sharply
make
the return entry
cutting through
the crowd
without
disturbing the water
all around.


.

Fog on the mind

In reaction to a wonderful photopost by Sylvia .

(photos by Sylvia Kirkwood)

Late winter
of life,
Cloudy brain
plaques
fogging the brain;
I stand tall
and green
in the mist
In support
of those with
lost leaves....



Sometimes
I am alone,
sometimes
struggling with
others
on a woody slope
alzeimerishly....

A gust of wind
lifts the mist,
warm yellows
and browns of fall
decorating
the heights
of my mind....

And
the fence and lawn
resplendent
in shining dew,
appears familiar....

Memories flood back;
I am not alone..

The way out....

Embellished with gold
as she is,
Streaks in silver glisten
On her tresses,
falling across her face,
As do her unshed tears;
The house of two score years,
sheds its own.
Walls had ears,
but the words pierced
and hurt more,
and thinned them to a grid

Like a marauding monkey
swinging wild on a branch ,
His words fly around and stop
He watches,
His joy in her trauma,
And her limbs cringe and tighten
Withdrawing inwards ,
defiantly stiff.
There are no words
But she has seen the gleam
in the taunting eye...

Lungs packed, a sense of fear,
she even suspects her sleep,
her food.
Sitting at the window, staring
at the palm tree
which has witnessed all.

A barren life,
hers;
Devoid of heart,
fruitless,
his.

A deep breath,
a few more days,
She feels the lump
sometimes at her breast,
sometimes in her throat,
Saying yes
to the radiation
they say she needs;
And she feels
a lightness, of being
her own woman,
confident.
Something
to finally ,
happily,
terminally,
radiate away from him.