Karpagam gardens

So , I went on a walk today.

Roads which  once bustled with robust activity

The Covid addled streets were empty.

I was in search of a pharmacy

Which sells Coca Cola.

Yes , I am well aware of the irony.

 

As I was walking in the main road

I saw an ambulance racing past me.

I always worry a bit about my oldest relatives

After I see that despicable life saving vehicle.

Gave a mental prayer.

Alas! A van with an empty ice box followed it.

 

Mood properly ruined,

I whispered curses to myself and

Switched to a tiny lane,

Hoping for calmness rather calamity

In smaller streets.

 

That’s when I heard a loud male voice

Shouting with all his lungs in hindi,

On how she had tortured him for the past 2 months

On very damn thing!

And it reverberated through the streets

Even when I was fast walking away..

 

Now thoroughly pissed with myself

For not just staying home and

Running out of stamina

I reached the end of the street.

There I saw a couple play badminton

Like we are in the middle of some summer holidays

And thought maybe corona IS

A vacation for the rich.

 

My cynical view was somewhat defeated

When I was nearing the pharmacy

And saw this cute cat

Stretching itself in the middle of the road.

Maybe all will be fine if I just chilled a bit

And stop constantly worrying so much?

 

Maybe peace is something to search inwards for

In the turbulent waves of my heart

Rather than in the rosy exteriors of my neigborhood?

Happy with my midstreet epiphany

I bought some aerated slow poison and

delicious diabetic inducing treats

and made my way back home.

 

 

 

 

She knew

He was so good for her they said. She should be lucky to have him. He was successful in his career , he was caring , he claimed to love her very much , he constantly kept complimenting her. Constantly. He was her caste. He was a true gentleman. He always said the right things. But beneath that seemingly perfect man was an actual asshole waiting to burst out. He however never showed it. But she could feel it in her bones. The way he said things which she wanted to hear. The way his lips curled down sometimes when he was getting bothered but chose not to show. The way he made every decisions hers and basked in the radiance of his magnanimity. The way he loved playing victim. Constantly making her the villain with his actions and not words. The signs were so subtle sometimes she thought she was imagining them. No one would believe her even if she told. Her own mom was smitten by him. But she knew.

 #abusivemen #ministories #theyknow #theyknowthatweknow #mentalhealth #meredithgrey #instastories 

A trip through October

                                                                                              

So September ended

And someone woke me up

As previously promised

~ Oh! The ever painful pinky

Always randomly hitting stuff

And bringing up pent up sh*t

Aren’t you supposed to be a secret? ~

I tear the daily calendar sheets

And suddenly here we are…

There is more torn than less to tear

IT IS OCTOBER

The month of Mahatma Gandhi

A magnificent man who

Truly walked the walk

All the way to Dandi

And paved the way

Towards democracy

with secularism ,

He took a bullet for it too.

#respect

Then comes navratri

9 days of steaming hot culture

Which defines  South India for you.

Sundals , ancient dolls and Carnatic music

All wrapped in a silk saree

That is golu for you.

 And to cap it all off

We have the crowning jewel of Indian culture

DIWALI – the festival of lights

The big boom of crackers,

The smell of ghee emanation from all the delicious sweets

*Ah all the calories

I already feel fat now*

The colour popping from all the traditional clothes

Can make even a blind man shy

This is India at its most glorious

All are invited

With family

Please RSVP!

I tear more sheets

and

The month is over now!

Absolutely no work done

I carry around a few more kgs

And a bucketload of memories J

Written for PU's Pantry of poetry proses : October prompt. This is my october for you :) added prose in poetry form to justify the prompt :P 

Join the fun. How is your typical october?

Seven Superstitions

  When I conducted a poll on my blog group for a suitable topic to write on, I was surprised that ‘superstitious beliefs’ emerged as a frontrunner. Of course there was the ever enticing ‘ How to flirt with girls: For men’ giving equal competition to it.Since I believe in Non obvious topics , I choose this one.

The poster girl of superstitions

You can find my How to not flirt with girls -> Here. You can find my ancient post on superstitions  Here. This post is a rehash of sorts of that post.

Before listing out some whacky superstitions let us ponder about the idea itself. Even the most unreligious and logical looking person sometimes hold pretty weird superstitions. The rationale seems to be  ‘why tempt fate?’. People used to the random uncontrollable pulls of life and nature try to bring some semblance of sanity with their own dose of insanity. Fear of the worst case scenario and the guilt which will definitely hit us if we proceed anyways and fail, also serve as pretty strong factors for holding superstitions.

I feel that superstitions or any habit for that matter are alright as long as they don’t impair our already dysfunctional lives. Like Harry duping Ron into believing he had drunk liquid luck , superstitions help us believe that all will be well and even if we failed it was not for want of effort on our part.  

That being said lets proceed with this semi listicle on Some Superstitions which I felt need to be mentioned.

     1)    

  Like the movie ‘chain kulii ki main kulii’ rightly showed, cricket is a fertile ground for superstitions to sprout from in our country. In this movie we have our protagonist who believes in his ‘magic’ bat only to know in the climax that it is he who is special. Cricket is a game of confidence and sledging and batting collapses, a little liquid courage did no one any harm. However, it is a different ball game for poor spectators who can sadly not control the cricketing proceedings. This leads to crazy situations when some people don’t watch the match they love for the sake of their team’s victory or banish others from watching it and sometimes make people stand in the exact positions when lady luck struck.

    2)     

Now imagine the rural scenario of agriculture dictated by the vagaries of nature. How can we be surprised that these people are the most superstitious? If I was a farmer in India I would probably wet the fields with my tears. It is no surprise that they tend to have the most ‘primitive’ superstitions like animal sacrifices and are the most vehement followers of faith and religion. You cannot survive without beliefs in these areas of activity.

   3)   

   That might explain why the most corrupt , cut a share to god in the name of faith. It is their own superstitious belief that they are making a deal with forces above. The tirupati coffers tell their own tales.

   4)      Talking of whacky superstitions , I read this book called ‘ When girls dare’ long back. One memory that stays clearly in my head when a girl really needs her violet color undie to win but it has gone for laundry! So what does she do? Of course wear a red and blue one and win the race :D

   5)     A surgeon's scrub cap

Only one purpose for this pic

    6)      Irksome ones which make no sense at all in this century :-

·         Wash hair at home after cutting hair even if they gave u a hair wash at the parlour ( borders on casteism if u ask me)       

·         Reach the house from the back door after coming back from a funeral. And bathe.

7 7)  

  Reserving the worst one for the last. Untouchability practiced in the name of menstruation in certain houses. Apparently a 3 day vacation for women from housework , it is actually very demeaning . You cannot touch anyone , the clothes and utensils you touch are impure and this practice silently continues to day in many households. While I do know some women who use it well to get out of social situations it is an absolutely disgusting superstition to still follow in the 21^st century. 

    What is the whackiest/ most ridiculous superstition you hold or have heard of?

                                                                                             

The First Dosa

I would like to thank all my readers - new and old - for the constant support and feedback. Steady Meanderings has gained a new lease of life because of you all. You guys are my biggest blessing! :)

Okay that sounded so cheesy and so unlike me :P

Listening to feedback is very crucial  feel and I have been getting requests to revert back to my long articles and short stories. But you see the problem is that, once you cross over to poetry which is so quaint and beautiful , prose feels cumbersome ugly and crass. If  I can make my point in 50 lovely words , why stretch it out to a 500 inconsequential ones?
What I am saying is that I used to be a story teller but now I've now become a writer. I have been giving importance to style over substance and I know that is not the best thing to happen to me. So I will try to balance both and I am committing to that by registering it here.
Since a cross over from poetry to prose is not the easiest thing ever , I'm going to try to capture the stream of conscious thoughts that's flowing through my head right now.
We all have to start somewhere right?

This post's soul feels this way

The heavy poetry hangover is palpable but please bear with me.
My mom says that the first dosa is always bad. But only if you get done with it , you can move on to better crispy ones :) and that is what this post is attempting to do. Scratch the pan before making more delicious things.

 Blessing Midweek Motif - I have become an avid participant of the poets united's midweek prompts. There is nothing more satisfying for a writer than to find a community of like minded souls sharing their work and mutual appreciation :)
The midweek motif for this week is 'blessing' and like I said in the beginning readers are my biggest blessing.

" More often than not we rarely spot the blessings we have been awarded from the almighty nature. Sometimes because we don't recognise the almighty but most times because we don't know that they are a blessing. We are too afraid to open the gift life has awarded us. Especially since life loves handing out Jackfruits. Prickly on the outside but oh so sweet on the inside. "

"Some people may have had cheap jackfruit off the road. A cursing in a blessing disguise. Wolf in sheep's clothing if you may call it. And so when the real fruit of our labour comes along we are too afraid to taste them .What a shame"  ( I had a bad experience with it when i was 8. Now i have a lifelong aversion)

" Moving away from the now overused Jackfruit metaphor , sometimes we are not aware that we possess is a blessing. Only when we lose or afraid we are going to lose it , that goddamn curse turns out to be your bestie bff blessing,"

 " If you never ever do find out your blessings from your curses , may god save you. "

No post is complete without a ruby meme :D

My convoluted message is that 

1) Spot thy blessings asap

2) Cherish them

3) Don't be a complaining mona 

4) This can be in relation to people , incidents , the seemingly shitty  sucky trick life life played on you. 

Iwilltakethisoppurtunity to Thank Srishti Swati  and Raju / Mona Darling aka Rajeshwari for being there always. If i put myself through what i put you both through , I would have unfriend AND block myself. Thank you for ending up in ILS by accident and making my life so much better ^_^

I would love to put a pic up , but fearing gaudiness I am not putting up. 

If this post nothing to you , take my peace offering :- 

 

 

Okay bye.