Another Day in the Sun....

Blogger friend Magiceye, posted this visual of Bandra(east) near the Railway Station, in his Saturday Photohunt series, corresponding to the subject -"Ripped". 

Bandra, considered the most "happening" western suburb of Mumbai, has another side to it, on the eastern side, where things are happening as well. For some, with a lot of ambition, making-do, grabbing of opportunity, and a never-say-die attitude in the face of an almost minimal set of resources for living.

And its a toss up on who learns more; those living a dream life in the far away ivory towers, or those who live trying to polish their minds, in the sun,  every day, in difficult situations.

(photograph by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)

A tired slogging mind,
but with
visions of dreams
far away
in the distance;
now obsessed
with
clearing a space
to make a window
to the outside......

Sometimes,
loosely covered,
blue in doubt,
sometimes
allowing a partial peek,
sometimes
a blurred sliding glass
pulled over it
in shame.

Yet,
sometimes
amidst closed
and locked attitudes,
a stray ray of sunlight
falls upon the window...


An urge
to educate the mind
often arises,
but is kept in place
by planned corrugated attitudes.

Sometimes though,
in the face of all this,
the mind gives up,
draws
all its strengths
back into a corner,
and says,
"So much turmoil here,
I'll keep my Vaastushastra***
to myself,
down here
on the ground...."

*** Vaastushastra :   The Indian traditional science of designing & building a house.

Sun Soliloquies....

So many of my blogger friends participate in something called Skywatch Friday, and post wonderful pictures from around the world.

Closer to home, we have Magiceye, who revels in the Mumbai skies. For more of his work, check here.

One such, a disturbed setting sun, as seen from Bandra East.

(Bandra is a northern suburb of Mumbai, off Mumbai's western coastline, where much development is happening, in the form of Sea Link Bridges for the higher motoring classes, and Skywalks on the east side for the hoi-polloi. Much below, people continue to get their little joys from sitting on the rocks near the sea, or watching the trains zoom around, as they sit outside their one room tenements, while some others toast each other with champagne and crib about the airconditioning....)


(photograph by magiceye/damembal)
Peering wishfully,
from above the
dusty trees,
staying put
in the sky,
filled
with dark foreboding,
He watches
the empty
Bandra East skywalk,
the gutted slums below,
humanity
pouring out
of stuffed trains,
and then wonders
about
the
San Francisco clone
Sea link,
where paid travels
in four swanky wheels
are OK,
but pedestrians
on two feet
are barred;
and
a city
where
hi fi
mingling
and entangling,
in
entry fee clubs
is applauded,
but
two,
out to
meet each other
in
their only open space
on the rocks,
cause an arrest.

He looks
upward at the sky,
moving away
from
the threatening clouds.

A last glance over the trees,
and its time to drown
the depression
in the salty
waters,
to try again
tomorrow...