Thursday, September 28, 2006

GUESSTATORY PLEASURES

“That’s a strange thing”, remarked my companion; “you are the second man today that has used that expression to me.”

“And who was the first?” I asked.

“A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse.”

“By Jove!” I cried; “if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone.”

Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wineglass “You don’t know XX* yet.” He said; “perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion.”

“Why, what is there against him?”

“Oh, I didn’t say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas-an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.”

“A medical student, I suppose?” said I.

“No- I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first class chemist; but as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-way knowledge, which would astonish his professors.”

“Did you never ask him what he was going in for?” I asked.

“No; he is not a man that is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him.”

Thus was described one of the very famous heroes in the history of literature. And thus was formed (by sharing rooms) one of the absolutely famous friendships in literary fiction. A typical dominance-submission relationship. A queer fellow, a cocaine addict, a violin player and a man of keenest observation roughly begins to describe this guy.

We quote him, we’ve definitely heard of him and some of us have extensively read of him. Before I update this post and write a little more about him, any guesses who I am talking about?

XX = Name of hero

P.S.: Googling strictly not allowed :D

Update:

Recently I picked up a complete volume of the novels and stories of Sherlock Holmes. Prior to this I had been acquainted to this fictional character through a few short stories read arbitrarily. Reading this work has been an interesting and quaint journey, but Dr. Watson for some reason holds my attention more than our Holmes chappie. I had decided to do some insightful thinking as to why not the queer Holmes but the absolutely ordinary Watson makes a deeper impression on me. However, I find that I'm too lazy to write about it. In any case I have been less than lazy in clicking a picture of the cover of this book, which in my opinion is done very tastefully. Here it is

Sherlock Holmes

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Another Life





We the weary travelers of the dark
Like the shadowed peaks of snow
In anticipation stood,
Humbled, tired, cold and drained
Waiting for another morning
To restore that which the night had sapped
Waiting for the benevolent sun
Armed with candles of rays
To light the altar of our hearts
As it lit the lamps of snow
To make us alive, to make us glow
Once again…….

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

CHAND



Ye chand kabhi,
Ek angrez ‘tea planter’ lagta hai.
Roz raat ke siyaah ‘suit’ mein,
Apna gora chamakta chehra liye,
Bagaan ke beech guzarti hui,
Wahi raah chalta hai.
Kabhi pedo.n mein chhipta,
Kabhi apne ‘pipe’ ke dhue.ndaar baadalo.n mein gum.

Mai.n aksar usey dekhti hoon,
Apni yaado.n ke patte chunte.
Kabhi to uski nazar, mujh par bhi pade.


More pictures on moon here

Previous related write-ups:
A previous attempt at urdu
The Night
Images

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Raindrop




Glistening upon my window pane
The drop of rain
Beckons
To a refracted reality…

To a realm of humbled buildings,
Their erect forms, bent.
People, crooked and broken,
Hiding behind the fluorescence of twisted synthetic umbrellas.
Trees, melting and liquid
Streets, indefinitely turning, confused,
Misdirecting lost travelers

How potent is this drop of rain
That washes away the facades?
Facades that have survived storms
Of winds and tears…

More pictures on rain here

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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Another Independence Day





Trudging among the corpses of lifeless emotions
Carrying in his bosom the grief of thousand deaths
His feet decayed and infected with pseudo secularism
His crown studded with gems reddened in the blood of martyrs
His head held high in leftover pride
Sadly humming songs of past splendor
Holding his crutches with weak hands
A tired and old Freedom limped past today…..

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Sunday, August 06, 2006

Jaswant (Don't) Singh

Taking calls is becoming increasingly difficult. What with extensive mobile technology. And then taking A Call to Honour? I mean honour is this far off place that calls for a tough journey. But our very own Jassoo is nothing less than the infamous Jassi (of the jaisi koi nahi fame). So…
Jassoo talks of Jasoos. Why? Jas want ing attention some say. A publicity stunt say others. I say that the above ‘mole’ or less fit the bill. So our fellow chooses his Modus operandi by providing some garma-‘Graham’ khabar. Harry Barnes, neighbor’s envoy owner’s ‘pried’, is then sorted out as the soul who will confirm the mole. But then he has a problem with “wrote” memory and says he has no knowledge of the man who wrote the letter. Like Ghalib would have said “Barnes ke dushwar hai har kaam ka aasaa.n hona. But it would not be too far off the mark to conclude that the episode has in it strong raw material for what contributes to political suicide, in this case through self-im-MOLE-ation.
The Congress has decided to call this a breach of privilege for walking the civil edge, which if the parliament house was to be at Juhu, would go down in history as the “Juhu Breach” (My affiliation for the place talks. Forgive it). The PM fed up of this nonsense forcefully says “aaj ki MOLE aqaat bas itni” and reinstates his preference for prime time “Jassi” than any cheap thriller of a Jasoos episode.

For me its A Call To Honourther post and the only mole I can think of in our government is the self proclaimed ‘Mole-I-am Sings Yadav’.

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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Lebanon-Israel Nauseating Attitudes

For me, the saddest moments of this day have been those where I decided to browse youtube.com and came across these videos: Lebanon Israel Facts the Media Isn't Telling You and Teaching children to hate in Palestine and Lebanon

The videos were already upsetting but the comments that followed took it to a new level.
A whole lot of people just hating and spewing bitterness-blind to the fact that a war is not about numbers that they or we killed. We are talking people here. We are talking children dying, being maimed, living as orphans. Innocent children who have no contribution to whats happening to them. Whether they belong to Israel or Lebanon, is immaterial. They are living breathing people. Is it so difficult to understand that? Is the barrier that blinds the fundamentalist thought so impregnable that the obvious is entirely barred from admission into consciousness?

In the same vein, recently I received an email from some self-proclaimed "patriotic" Indian, which stated that Israel ought to be taken as an example. It went on to say "See what they did to Lebanon because two of their soldiers were abducted. And see how we Indians are doing nothing in the face of terrorism". It also said " If you feel patriotic about your country forward this mail. If you too are unconcerned delete it".
If patriotism is killing another country's or community's innocent people because they killed ours, just to get on an equal footing with numbers, I'd rather choose not to be patriotic.

Aren't people who harbour, perpetrate and spread these thoughts not supporting the concept of terrorism? After all what is terrorism but hate translated into aggression. Then aren't all those who want killing already half way down the same road that they intend to fight with.

It is time to change the definitions of ‘they’ v/s ‘us’ to ‘we all’ v/s ‘wrong’, simplistic as this may sound. For long now I have held the belief that before cleaning the system, it is about cleaning the dirt within- cleaning the prejudices and biases that our lesser selves nurture. It is time to grow beyond religion and into a people that fights injustice against man; whether this injustice takes the form of blasts in Mumbai, genocide in Godhra or killings in Israel and Lebanon.

Can Humans support this: