Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
13.10.2008 - Just another date in the annals of history?
The Delhi blasts happened hours ago, and once again humanity has taken a backseat in the entire quagmire of terror, politics and ideologies. As innocent people pay the price for the acts of a particular set of people with a particular mind-set, the politicians seem to have no qualms about fanning the flames of hatred merely to bolster their vote bank. At the end of the day, what are you achieving if you’re in power or not when the country is reeling under a series of blasts and terror attacks?
It’s amazing that the Center is spending its time debating over whether or not a stringent anti-terror law is required. In the wake of the Gujarat blasts, the Gujarat government had been pushing for a state anti-terrorism law in order to combat the problem. Even the National security advisor had advised the Centre to allow the law but the Centre of course thought otherwise. According to them the proposed law was too similar to the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) which was previously in force in the country. Since there were gross human rights violations on the pretext of that Act until it was eventually repealed, the Centre thinks it prudent for the law not to be allowed. This reasoning is fundamentally flawed because it smack of the Executive’s lack of confidence in the enforcement of a legislation which ultimately is the responsibility of the executive itself. If judges are wary of the enforcement of legislation, it is still excusable. But the executive itself throwing its arms up in helplessness at its own corruption is the end of an efficient government. If that is their attitude, how do they expect the country to have any confidence in them?
But also apparent is the politics that the UPA is trying to play. Opposing the anti-terrorism law would earn them brownie points with huge pockets of Islamic voters in the country. Also, the Gujarat government is headed by the opposition and hence it is almost a given that the government would oppose anything productive that is sought to be done by them. Of course the BJP too is not losing the opportunity to make the UPA look bad saying that all the blasts are because of their lack of efficiency.
I think its high time we set aside our differences at least in order to avert such catastrophes. At the end of the day, human life is lost and that cant be another cause for our leaders to play the blame game. If stringent laws have to be passed to combat the situation, so be it. Ensuring that such laws are not misused is the prerogative of the government and the possibility of such misuse cannot be an excuse for meekly letting terrorists get away. I hope this day does not merely pass us by as another day in the annals of history.
It’s amazing that the Center is spending its time debating over whether or not a stringent anti-terror law is required. In the wake of the Gujarat blasts, the Gujarat government had been pushing for a state anti-terrorism law in order to combat the problem. Even the National security advisor had advised the Centre to allow the law but the Centre of course thought otherwise. According to them the proposed law was too similar to the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) which was previously in force in the country. Since there were gross human rights violations on the pretext of that Act until it was eventually repealed, the Centre thinks it prudent for the law not to be allowed. This reasoning is fundamentally flawed because it smack of the Executive’s lack of confidence in the enforcement of a legislation which ultimately is the responsibility of the executive itself. If judges are wary of the enforcement of legislation, it is still excusable. But the executive itself throwing its arms up in helplessness at its own corruption is the end of an efficient government. If that is their attitude, how do they expect the country to have any confidence in them?
But also apparent is the politics that the UPA is trying to play. Opposing the anti-terrorism law would earn them brownie points with huge pockets of Islamic voters in the country. Also, the Gujarat government is headed by the opposition and hence it is almost a given that the government would oppose anything productive that is sought to be done by them. Of course the BJP too is not losing the opportunity to make the UPA look bad saying that all the blasts are because of their lack of efficiency.
I think its high time we set aside our differences at least in order to avert such catastrophes. At the end of the day, human life is lost and that cant be another cause for our leaders to play the blame game. If stringent laws have to be passed to combat the situation, so be it. Ensuring that such laws are not misused is the prerogative of the government and the possibility of such misuse cannot be an excuse for meekly letting terrorists get away. I hope this day does not merely pass us by as another day in the annals of history.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Random insights
It’s the season of rains and turncoats. As lightening strikes and illuminates the deceit and its minions and sardonic laughter thunders around us, we worry about the world. But those flashes also reveal the deceit in the dark night. But the days progress and the rains do too. Slowly I stop cringing at the lightening and begin to see that its merely a sign of the times. There is no malice and no ill-will. All there is, is a primal instinct to support oneself stripped of all altruism. One must look for greener pastures, and that’s what they are all doing. In purely innocent selfishness. How can there be turncoats when there is no loyalty anymore? How can there be seasons when the rains have turned perennial?
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Curtains
A pale yellow seeps through
The drawn curtain,
Falls on the black brown bed
That becomes a couch by day
Where I sit and listen to the silence
Lonely as a pearl
Hiding behind the broken remnants of its oyster.
Music plays in the background
As I delay the moment further
When I shall have to succumb
To the inevitable,
And draw the curtains.
The drawn curtain,
Falls on the black brown bed
That becomes a couch by day
Where I sit and listen to the silence
Lonely as a pearl
Hiding behind the broken remnants of its oyster.
Music plays in the background
As I delay the moment further
When I shall have to succumb
To the inevitable,
And draw the curtains.
And I Miss You Too...
The time for tears has gone by,
The good times have gone too.
A half-alive make-believe life is what this is-
The façade of joy, the pretence of moving on.
The lonely feeling returns to bite
Like frost in the winter
And our lost laughter echoes in the frigid silence.
I still smile and say to you,
I’m getting by, that I’m good.
And you have to shatter it all
Into a million shards of glass
With a little sniff
As I hear my grief in your shaking voice.
Oh the cruelty of time and distance
Can take the childhood out of us.
The good times have gone too.
A half-alive make-believe life is what this is-
The façade of joy, the pretence of moving on.
The lonely feeling returns to bite
Like frost in the winter
And our lost laughter echoes in the frigid silence.
I still smile and say to you,
I’m getting by, that I’m good.
And you have to shatter it all
Into a million shards of glass
With a little sniff
As I hear my grief in your shaking voice.
Oh the cruelty of time and distance
Can take the childhood out of us.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
The Last Laugh
The Last laugh
I broke out that day
From my own prison
And my own life.
I had to go have a great time
And drown my sorrows.
I down the drinks,
One by one, I drink ‘em down:
The walls around me seem to disintegrate
And I have to give vent to so many things:
I’m cool, I’m smart, I look great, I’m a good guy,
I deserve a better life-
And I laugh at it all, at myself,
At the drink glinting in my hand
Like the devil’s own eye.
It was to be my last laugh.
And then I lost it totally.
The walls were simply not visible
I was so free, I was an animal…
Then blackness.
Today, I awaken to a bleaker blackness.
The walls I’d painstakingly built around myself are gone
And I’m small and defenseless as a mouse.
My ruined life is shattered
One final time.
Its the last beating it can take.
As I become aware of the stinging truth
I thump my fists on the wall
Shout myself hoarse.
In that one sane moment of clarity I feel grief, anger, pain all at once.
Oh how ironical that the world finally believes I’m insane.
Its sunk in finally
And I’m walking out
On them and on myself,
On the five wasted years,
On the place that turned me into this.
No I’ve been turned out like a dog.
Where will I go now?
The iron gates that I jumped free of many a time
Are finally being opened with the civility that a man deserves.
But in their eyes, I’m not a man anymore.
I broke out that day
From my own prison
And my own life.
I had to go have a great time
And drown my sorrows.
I down the drinks,
One by one, I drink ‘em down:
The walls around me seem to disintegrate
And I have to give vent to so many things:
I’m cool, I’m smart, I look great, I’m a good guy,
I deserve a better life-
And I laugh at it all, at myself,
At the drink glinting in my hand
Like the devil’s own eye.
It was to be my last laugh.
And then I lost it totally.
The walls were simply not visible
I was so free, I was an animal…
Then blackness.
Today, I awaken to a bleaker blackness.
The walls I’d painstakingly built around myself are gone
And I’m small and defenseless as a mouse.
My ruined life is shattered
One final time.
Its the last beating it can take.
As I become aware of the stinging truth
I thump my fists on the wall
Shout myself hoarse.
In that one sane moment of clarity I feel grief, anger, pain all at once.
Oh how ironical that the world finally believes I’m insane.
Its sunk in finally
And I’m walking out
On them and on myself,
On the five wasted years,
On the place that turned me into this.
No I’ve been turned out like a dog.
Where will I go now?
The iron gates that I jumped free of many a time
Are finally being opened with the civility that a man deserves.
But in their eyes, I’m not a man anymore.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Dance of dust
(Its been a really long time since i published anything out here. There were a million different factors contributing to this. How does it matter? Its just brilliantly refreshing to be back.)
I’m flailing from within
And conventional jargon fails me.
Thoughts strewn within
Seem to rise up and dance
When I catch a glimpse.
Like dust in the sunlight.
That proud mane hangs down your neck
As you stride past with not a care in the world.
Exacting your own sweet justice,
Living your own sweet life.
Unconcerned that it looks like a ruin
From the other side of the world.
Ah with that glance I see you,
Your pain and your pride.
Living high on that tower must hurt.
But you lord over it.
Magnificently.
Yawning down at the world
And all the dust you’ve stirred.
I’m flailing from within
And conventional jargon fails me.
Thoughts strewn within
Seem to rise up and dance
When I catch a glimpse.
Like dust in the sunlight.
That proud mane hangs down your neck
As you stride past with not a care in the world.
Exacting your own sweet justice,
Living your own sweet life.
Unconcerned that it looks like a ruin
From the other side of the world.
Ah with that glance I see you,
Your pain and your pride.
Living high on that tower must hurt.
But you lord over it.
Magnificently.
Yawning down at the world
And all the dust you’ve stirred.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
The Pact
On his deathly pale face
Etched in red gashes
Are the sins of a million years.
His pallor lights the moonless sky
And spirits awaken with his cry.
He shut his eyes to avoid
Their translucent light
And kneels in fright
Of them his masters.
His thoughts fly back
Of a sudden flutter
To the day when he drank the blood
And swore to be their secret keeper.
Flashes of the fateful day
Hit his consciencelessness.
As yellow light faded into black
And a paler yellow struck,
Three humans dressed in red robes
Transgressed to the realm of evil.
He was but a tool to them.
An eager boy seeking immortality
And transmortal access to bygone souls
All a wonderous adventure then.
They signed their unholy pact all of them.
Ajaat (undead), Kaal (death) and Narak (hell)
Three pronged nether world, they wanted to control.
They bled him out to the last drop which dripped into
The great connecting ocean of the dark.
His sallow skin, stretched onto the hollow bones
And his pupils sunk within to shut the light.
They merely laughed as he drank their blood
Felt it choke and burn him
And killed something within.
For the final exit, he had to swear
Allegience to them three
And lost his soul to them.
A million years pass.
The sins have changed the land
Where rishis (saints) once walked.
The pure nature rituals are now
Torture games of awakening dead
And lurking soulless men
Sucking at happiness and ingesting peace.
A million pieces it has become now.
Magic is gone and cynicism grows.
Waiting for the latency to fill
And this our land, the last one, to merge
Into the dark three neither worlds.
Today he has been summoned
To complete the act.
That he’s promised minion years back
In a blood pact.
The three spirits smile at him
And tell him to bleed again
The darkest blood there is
And submerge the good earth
In its ephemeral surge.
They promise him possession
Of souls at will.
The memories pain him-
He knows pain now.
Every black moment of hell, death and undeath
Implodes in him
As another piece of earth breaks off from the divine order.
A million years of pain.
And now he can bleed it all and fuse into the darkness
Immune to the pain.
But he cant do it one time more
This time he knows the nature of sins
As their secret keeper, has lost his own soul to it.
But he trembles
At their sight.
He will be punished for this one moment
Of hesitation.
The weakened gods will never help, he knows.
Ajaat digs his claws into his chest
As Kaal holds him back.
Narak pulls out the intestines.
The pain sears within.
The furnce suddenly cools
And a cool wind blows.
The spirts take refuge
As a bright yellow light pierces
The canopy.
He has tarried a moment too long.
The moment of the pact has passed.
Spell broken, the blood ocean dries.
And darkness is overcome.
Spirits vanquished.
He sits lonely and awaits his fate.
The Gods only smile
And applaud his moment’s courage.
The tortured rishis rise again
-Fire, water, air, and earth –
Nature asks not for atonement.
Epics speak his name, say his suffering,
Praise his faltering moment
That broke the pact.
Etched in red gashes
Are the sins of a million years.
His pallor lights the moonless sky
And spirits awaken with his cry.
He shut his eyes to avoid
Their translucent light
And kneels in fright
Of them his masters.
His thoughts fly back
Of a sudden flutter
To the day when he drank the blood
And swore to be their secret keeper.
Flashes of the fateful day
Hit his consciencelessness.
As yellow light faded into black
And a paler yellow struck,
Three humans dressed in red robes
Transgressed to the realm of evil.
He was but a tool to them.
An eager boy seeking immortality
And transmortal access to bygone souls
All a wonderous adventure then.
They signed their unholy pact all of them.
Ajaat (undead), Kaal (death) and Narak (hell)
Three pronged nether world, they wanted to control.
They bled him out to the last drop which dripped into
The great connecting ocean of the dark.
His sallow skin, stretched onto the hollow bones
And his pupils sunk within to shut the light.
They merely laughed as he drank their blood
Felt it choke and burn him
And killed something within.
For the final exit, he had to swear
Allegience to them three
And lost his soul to them.
A million years pass.
The sins have changed the land
Where rishis (saints) once walked.
The pure nature rituals are now
Torture games of awakening dead
And lurking soulless men
Sucking at happiness and ingesting peace.
A million pieces it has become now.
Magic is gone and cynicism grows.
Waiting for the latency to fill
And this our land, the last one, to merge
Into the dark three neither worlds.
Today he has been summoned
To complete the act.
That he’s promised minion years back
In a blood pact.
The three spirits smile at him
And tell him to bleed again
The darkest blood there is
And submerge the good earth
In its ephemeral surge.
They promise him possession
Of souls at will.
The memories pain him-
He knows pain now.
Every black moment of hell, death and undeath
Implodes in him
As another piece of earth breaks off from the divine order.
A million years of pain.
And now he can bleed it all and fuse into the darkness
Immune to the pain.
But he cant do it one time more
This time he knows the nature of sins
As their secret keeper, has lost his own soul to it.
But he trembles
At their sight.
He will be punished for this one moment
Of hesitation.
The weakened gods will never help, he knows.
Ajaat digs his claws into his chest
As Kaal holds him back.
Narak pulls out the intestines.
The pain sears within.
The furnce suddenly cools
And a cool wind blows.
The spirts take refuge
As a bright yellow light pierces
The canopy.
He has tarried a moment too long.
The moment of the pact has passed.
Spell broken, the blood ocean dries.
And darkness is overcome.
Spirits vanquished.
He sits lonely and awaits his fate.
The Gods only smile
And applaud his moment’s courage.
The tortured rishis rise again
-Fire, water, air, and earth –
Nature asks not for atonement.
Epics speak his name, say his suffering,
Praise his faltering moment
That broke the pact.
Prison Break - Not a 'by the book' review - just some thoughts
Prison Break. What makes it such a dandy to watch and such an addiction? Well two hot heros for a start. Pretty girl to boot. Good boys forced to turn bad in the bad bad world. Is that what intersets us? Nope. I think it all boils down to, cliche'd as it may sound, charactar. The father is anti-establishment and anti-President who as as it happens is the 'bad guy (gal) in power'. The elder son gets se-up for a murder he did'nt commit. His brother, the one with brains, gets convicted just to break out with his brother. You get me? Sacrifice for brother, with a few stunt arguments thrown in. Add a little prison inmate politics and racial slurs and you have yourself a pt-boiler. When they do break out, there's action that keeps you riveted. then sacrifices aplenty that bring tears to any hard dude's eyes. The brothers and their girls - they sacrifice everything they have for the love of each other. The President, the guys above her and the dirt within the Fibbies make for a lovely political saga in themselves.
At the end of two seasons, we all love it and cant wait for more.
At the end of two seasons, we all love it and cant wait for more.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
A Parting Gift
The words are boiling over
Flowing out like molten lava
On the great canyon
That never was.
Two years.
You know what that means?
Two years of friendship wasted
Two years of experiences tasted
Together
Probably meant nothing to you.
You disgust me
(If it matters anymore.)
I watch the canyon crumble
Under the weight of my realisation
And wonder if such crassness
Will contaminate my poetry.
Well, it has.
An unstructured swollen mass:
Effluence of wated emothions.
Poetry gone bad.
Its my parting gift to you.
Flowing out like molten lava
On the great canyon
That never was.
Two years.
You know what that means?
Two years of friendship wasted
Two years of experiences tasted
Together
Probably meant nothing to you.
You disgust me
(If it matters anymore.)
I watch the canyon crumble
Under the weight of my realisation
And wonder if such crassness
Will contaminate my poetry.
Well, it has.
An unstructured swollen mass:
Effluence of wated emothions.
Poetry gone bad.
Its my parting gift to you.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Lawyer, Teacher, Shakespeare
Lawyer, Teacher, Shakespeare
Drenched in 'greatness'
Squandering pauses
Bellowing verses
Whimsical lameness
Idiosyncracies of eccentric brilliance.
Walking encyclopedia,
Spouting cases, citations, trivia;
Silly tantrums galore
Never once mellow.
We can but stare and laugh
To be told off, (yes he can be tough).
The class's his stage
But many a dramatis personae emerge
(To mime and mimic his glare, his rage)
When he leaves after the allotted hour.
Pure entertainment,
But he seems to forget.
This is a classroom
Not a courtroom
Enaction.
There's lawyer and there's teacher
But never did both blend
To give Shakespeare
As did he.
Drenched in 'greatness'
Squandering pauses
Bellowing verses
Whimsical lameness
Idiosyncracies of eccentric brilliance.
Walking encyclopedia,
Spouting cases, citations, trivia;
Silly tantrums galore
Never once mellow.
We can but stare and laugh
To be told off, (yes he can be tough).
The class's his stage
But many a dramatis personae emerge
(To mime and mimic his glare, his rage)
When he leaves after the allotted hour.
Pure entertainment,
But he seems to forget.
This is a classroom
Not a courtroom
Enaction.
There's lawyer and there's teacher
But never did both blend
To give Shakespeare
As did he.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Magician
A million things
Do I conjure
With wandless wit
And hatless trick.
Magician of words
I cast my spell
Into poetry and prose.
Alas! the magic is stilted
With writer's bane
Mystic tastes and myraid expenses
Obscure the magic.
Do I conjure
With wandless wit
And hatless trick.
Magician of words
I cast my spell
Into poetry and prose.
Alas! the magic is stilted
With writer's bane
Mystic tastes and myraid expenses
Obscure the magic.
Writer's Soliloquy
There's so much to say
I struggle with it;
It's gotta be right
It's gotta be me.
But when its done
I'm liberated.
That too dies shortly;
And then what?
Just the pain of being
An unread writer lingers.
I struggle with it;
It's gotta be right
It's gotta be me.
But when its done
I'm liberated.
That too dies shortly;
And then what?
Just the pain of being
An unread writer lingers.
Crowds
Crowds crowd you,
At every end they maul you,
With baring teeth and greet you.
One breath of lonesome air
Is all I ask of you.
At every end they maul you,
With baring teeth and greet you.
One breath of lonesome air
Is all I ask of you.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The Nagging Ache
The nagging ache
Recurs-
Chores attended to,
Gossip all around,
I do as they do.
Oh for Godssake
Its back.
Trappings of the day
Some gotten,
Others on the way…
Yet something’s forgotten
And its nagging me
Again.
It eludes me
The musical note
As discordant beats
Teach us by rote.
Ok now I’ve stopped to think:
What’s my thing?
The ache persists.
It taunts.
Clears the mists
That haunts
The happy peoples
With no nagging aches.
Recurs-
Chores attended to,
Gossip all around,
I do as they do.
Oh for Godssake
Its back.
Trappings of the day
Some gotten,
Others on the way…
Yet something’s forgotten
And its nagging me
Again.
It eludes me
The musical note
As discordant beats
Teach us by rote.
Ok now I’ve stopped to think:
What’s my thing?
The ache persists.
It taunts.
Clears the mists
That haunts
The happy peoples
With no nagging aches.
A Speck in Time
A singl speck
In the universe of time...
I exist in that minute
To tell my story,
To live my life,
To leave my mark.
A million poets before me,
Have come and gone.
They left:
Some in dejection,
Some with glory.
They too were but a speck
And me, another speck
Beyond which, we part ways...
Me and my words.
Why would anyone care
To remember?
Why would a revolving globe
Pause for a mere speck?
In the universe of time...
I exist in that minute
To tell my story,
To live my life,
To leave my mark.
A million poets before me,
Have come and gone.
They left:
Some in dejection,
Some with glory.
They too were but a speck
And me, another speck
Beyond which, we part ways...
Me and my words.
Why would anyone care
To remember?
Why would a revolving globe
Pause for a mere speck?
Some Reflections on Life
Some Reflections on Life
Children, love, beauty
Jargon for happiness...
I see your impish innocence
And can't trouble to pause
Your questions are tactless.
I have placs to go.
And ye mustard flowers and red gulmohors
Nature's beauty at its best
But we need to deal with many a beast
Of a mightier law.
Love, frailest passion
Ensconed in myth and delusion
Jilters abound,
Pain - the ultimate regulation.
What are we, cash counting hounds?
(Hard language is not to condemn or berate-
-That's not my job-
But state.)
We slave our asses
Benumbed by the glitter of acceptance
Yet we remain minions
Of destiny where neither jargon shall hold.
Children, love, beauty
Jargon for happiness...
I see your impish innocence
And can't trouble to pause
Your questions are tactless.
I have placs to go.
And ye mustard flowers and red gulmohors
Nature's beauty at its best
But we need to deal with many a beast
Of a mightier law.
Love, frailest passion
Ensconed in myth and delusion
Jilters abound,
Pain - the ultimate regulation.
What are we, cash counting hounds?
(Hard language is not to condemn or berate-
-That's not my job-
But state.)
We slave our asses
Benumbed by the glitter of acceptance
Yet we remain minions
Of destiny where neither jargon shall hold.
Friday, August 31, 2007
....thoughts penned in deep frustration
My senses heightened,
Body smoothened,
I stand poised and ready;
I feel the crackle of energy;
-Maybe just a bone snapping-
Nothing really matters
But the progress.
Is there progress?
Progressing owards what?
I suddenly can't remember
What it was.
The once enchanting pull,
Now a faint murmur,
Dies in my ears.
Defeated before the battle,
Lost without a cause,
I could die the worst meaningless death,
Or I could crawl out
And live the worst meaningless life.
Body smoothened,
I stand poised and ready;
I feel the crackle of energy;
-Maybe just a bone snapping-
Nothing really matters
But the progress.
Is there progress?
Progressing owards what?
I suddenly can't remember
What it was.
The once enchanting pull,
Now a faint murmur,
Dies in my ears.
Defeated before the battle,
Lost without a cause,
I could die the worst meaningless death,
Or I could crawl out
And live the worst meaningless life.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Nerd's Day Out
“Sir, we have return waves from one of the syncs.” Dr. Knott did not even bother looking up. New recruits were always hyperventilating about small signal disturbances. He was currently very busy mapping the Silicate stalactite element detected 800 metres within the core of Planet Ranger. The new recruit could wait for all he cared. He couldn’t even remember the kid’s name. Brink was not in the least hurt by Dr. Knott’s indifference. In fact, he did not even notice it. The crackle of the return waves was far too thrilling. He tried to tune the Grynkophanks – a device invented about a decade ago to sense extra planetorial life forms. Of course it beeped and twanged all day mostly sensing far off galactic movements and other irrelevant signals. That was precisely why new recruits were dumped in the Grankophanx room – (a) no one else wanted to work there and (b) to train them to channel out external noise and concentrate on the job at hand ( their wives could really testify for the success rate). But these signals seemed to be coming from some whwere within the Milky Way itself. It was a gut feeling. But of course, it was written in stone that a scientist should never rely on gut feelings. Dilemma solved.
So Brink tried to get back to the Silicate stalactite density he was researching on for Dr. Knott. But the humming sound kept growing louder till it attained the quality of a voice but he could not decipher what it was saying. He immediately began punching keys and doing mental arithmetic to figure out the decibel index and location index ratio so as to identify the location. None of the permutations seemed to be working. Since Dr. Knott was so uninterested, he decided that this baby was going to be his. He could smell the Nobel prize already.
*******************
“Archer point reporting,” Begus Grunt snapped. When would the infernal chief deign to respond? The contact could die any moment. Luca Penny, his secretary, smiled invitingly at him. “This is not the time for Godssakes!” He was hysteric now. Her smile remained intact. He could break her goddamn jaw. No one took him seriously. First, they put him in charge of some silly blue-green planet that no one but Mudrock even bothered studying. And now when he had managed to make a break even in the most useless job, it wasn’t even acknowledged. No work ethic left in Planet Crete. What else could be expected if Zipcus was in charge, he thought bitterly.
“Archer Point still exists?” A lazy voice chuckled back. “ Damn you Zipcus,” Begus fumed under his breath. Luca loved to see Zipcus all frustrated. It turned her on. “I have been single handedly manning the woebegone station and watching all these years for some sign of intelligence and finally made contact. Do you want me to break it so you can go back to leisure?” “Sarcasm has always been his forte,” Luca grinned to herself. “ Yes, good idea,” and Zipcus hung up. Begus jaw dropped in disbelief. It was at this point that Luca decided that Zipcus was’nt that hot afterall. “Ok Archer Point. Joke Over. If the contact is still there, you might as well still carry it on. Get your fat ass down here so we can hold an extraordinary meeting and put the issue to vote.” Begus couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Catching sight of Luca, he decided to lose it completely. “ Now you listen to me Zipcus. Call Mudrock and get all the information about earth that will be essential in deciding he threat / friend value ratio.” “ Agreed. (chuckle)” and the line went dead. What else could the bugger do, thought Begus angrily. He did’nt know the first thing about running a planet let alone handle potential threats.
Begus was suddenly distracted by the jangling of bells. Luca jumped to the earth control. “ Boss, the earth dude is making contact too.”
Oops. Time for a quick beaurocracy free decision.
***************************
Brink was ecstatic. One of his many guesses had struck gold. Double edged contact. He was going to converse with an alien. Of course it was Dr. Knott’s fault that he hadn’t taken him seriously.
“Human?” Begus bellowed.
“ Correct.” Nervous but firm.
“ Can you visit? We can exchange data and benefit from each other.” Standard textbook after-contact conversation.
“ Sure. We’ll send an envoy. His name is Brink.” Quick thinking from an ambitious scientist.
“ Pick up radiation will be there in a moment. Get the guy near the signal.”
For the first time, Brink had second thoughts. What if he died in transit, or worse in a new planet without even the assurance of a posthumous Nobel prize? But the time for that was long gone. He felt a thousand invisible rays burn into his cells. He was losing consciousness. He kept trying to figure out what sort of rays would transport him between planets. Consciouness erased.
Brain cells awaken a little. Ah! Purple hall. Long table. Could be earth. But no, I’m in a new planet. A whole sentence! I must be totally intact. The multiplicant of uncertainties is a constant and falls to definable levels only at Big Hollow conditions. Remember basic physics. Beautiful.
“Shut up.” Mudrock screamed.
“ Come now Mudrock, don’t alienate him. He’s an envoy.” Zypcus chimed.
“ Oh yes… diplomatic immunity and all you know,” blubbered Brink.
“Sorry?” Zypcus and Begus chorus.
“ Some legal bullshit. Irrelavant.” Mudrock, the Earth expert dismissed. It was Mudrock’s defining moment. A life’s worth of research would now come to light. He would kick some ass. He had prepared a list of basic questions to begin with based on which they would map the guy’s brain.
He cleared his throat. “ Brink? How many meals do you people have per day?”
Brink was zonked. He had never been speechless in any of his viva exams in college. But meals? When was the last time he had eaten a meal? “ I have nutrition bars you know, to save time.” Mudrock snorted in disgust.
“ Are you married?”
“ I suppose so.”
“What’s your wife’s name?”
Brink thought for three minutes. Begus wanted to slap the guy. Did he think that was important intelligence that could’nt be given away?
“I can’t remember,” Brink stammered.
Mudrock decided to give it another shot. “ What do you enjoy most?”
Bink brightened. “ The principles of secondary transition of crest-trough convolution have by far been the most interesting. The first principle…”
Zypcus banged the hammer on his table. It was what he always did when proceedings in General Body meetings got unmanageable. Now he had a lunatic in his meeting room.
Mudrock sighed. Brain mapping it is then.
***********************************
“Analysis?” Zypcus asked, suddenly alert. He had decided that Earthlings were some sort of lunatic race with no streak of positive in them. according to Zypcus a man who did not appreciate women, and enjoyed work was someone you just could not trust. There, Begus agreed. Luca had been his only salvation during the years of inaction at the solitary earth station. Mudrock walked into the room seething. “What do those humans think? They’ve sent us a goddamn robot. Do they think we’re not even worth a human envoy? We’ll show em’. Declare war or something.”
“ Calm down Mudrock,” Zypcus thundered. “ But the guy looked human to me. I mean no wires, machines. Are they so advanced as to make humanoids?” Begus could not but agree with Zypcus, for once in his life. Mudrock threw his head back and laughed. Nice and loud. Before the other two could order his execution, he restrained himself and whispered calmly, “ Oh not a real robot. Just a human version of one. They call them ‘nerds’. These guys are born human but due to a little gene deformity and behavioural disfigurement, they maldevelop into social losers and functional winners. So they are put into laboratories where they are more than happy to live.”
“ In fact a robot is modeled on a nerd.”
Zypcus and Begus were speechless.
Finally Zypcus collected himself. “ Begus, stay put. Inform us if any non-nerd makes contact.” “ Mudrock, do everything you can to ensure this nerd gene is prevented from ever appearing in Planet Crete.” He looked at Luca who had been sitting silently and taking down minutes. “ Luca, take Bring with you and teach him to remember your name.”
So Brink tried to get back to the Silicate stalactite density he was researching on for Dr. Knott. But the humming sound kept growing louder till it attained the quality of a voice but he could not decipher what it was saying. He immediately began punching keys and doing mental arithmetic to figure out the decibel index and location index ratio so as to identify the location. None of the permutations seemed to be working. Since Dr. Knott was so uninterested, he decided that this baby was going to be his. He could smell the Nobel prize already.
*******************
“Archer point reporting,” Begus Grunt snapped. When would the infernal chief deign to respond? The contact could die any moment. Luca Penny, his secretary, smiled invitingly at him. “This is not the time for Godssakes!” He was hysteric now. Her smile remained intact. He could break her goddamn jaw. No one took him seriously. First, they put him in charge of some silly blue-green planet that no one but Mudrock even bothered studying. And now when he had managed to make a break even in the most useless job, it wasn’t even acknowledged. No work ethic left in Planet Crete. What else could be expected if Zipcus was in charge, he thought bitterly.
“Archer Point still exists?” A lazy voice chuckled back. “ Damn you Zipcus,” Begus fumed under his breath. Luca loved to see Zipcus all frustrated. It turned her on. “I have been single handedly manning the woebegone station and watching all these years for some sign of intelligence and finally made contact. Do you want me to break it so you can go back to leisure?” “Sarcasm has always been his forte,” Luca grinned to herself. “ Yes, good idea,” and Zipcus hung up. Begus jaw dropped in disbelief. It was at this point that Luca decided that Zipcus was’nt that hot afterall. “Ok Archer Point. Joke Over. If the contact is still there, you might as well still carry it on. Get your fat ass down here so we can hold an extraordinary meeting and put the issue to vote.” Begus couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Catching sight of Luca, he decided to lose it completely. “ Now you listen to me Zipcus. Call Mudrock and get all the information about earth that will be essential in deciding he threat / friend value ratio.” “ Agreed. (chuckle)” and the line went dead. What else could the bugger do, thought Begus angrily. He did’nt know the first thing about running a planet let alone handle potential threats.
Begus was suddenly distracted by the jangling of bells. Luca jumped to the earth control. “ Boss, the earth dude is making contact too.”
Oops. Time for a quick beaurocracy free decision.
***************************
Brink was ecstatic. One of his many guesses had struck gold. Double edged contact. He was going to converse with an alien. Of course it was Dr. Knott’s fault that he hadn’t taken him seriously.
“Human?” Begus bellowed.
“ Correct.” Nervous but firm.
“ Can you visit? We can exchange data and benefit from each other.” Standard textbook after-contact conversation.
“ Sure. We’ll send an envoy. His name is Brink.” Quick thinking from an ambitious scientist.
“ Pick up radiation will be there in a moment. Get the guy near the signal.”
For the first time, Brink had second thoughts. What if he died in transit, or worse in a new planet without even the assurance of a posthumous Nobel prize? But the time for that was long gone. He felt a thousand invisible rays burn into his cells. He was losing consciousness. He kept trying to figure out what sort of rays would transport him between planets. Consciouness erased.
Brain cells awaken a little. Ah! Purple hall. Long table. Could be earth. But no, I’m in a new planet. A whole sentence! I must be totally intact. The multiplicant of uncertainties is a constant and falls to definable levels only at Big Hollow conditions. Remember basic physics. Beautiful.
“Shut up.” Mudrock screamed.
“ Come now Mudrock, don’t alienate him. He’s an envoy.” Zypcus chimed.
“ Oh yes… diplomatic immunity and all you know,” blubbered Brink.
“Sorry?” Zypcus and Begus chorus.
“ Some legal bullshit. Irrelavant.” Mudrock, the Earth expert dismissed. It was Mudrock’s defining moment. A life’s worth of research would now come to light. He would kick some ass. He had prepared a list of basic questions to begin with based on which they would map the guy’s brain.
He cleared his throat. “ Brink? How many meals do you people have per day?”
Brink was zonked. He had never been speechless in any of his viva exams in college. But meals? When was the last time he had eaten a meal? “ I have nutrition bars you know, to save time.” Mudrock snorted in disgust.
“ Are you married?”
“ I suppose so.”
“What’s your wife’s name?”
Brink thought for three minutes. Begus wanted to slap the guy. Did he think that was important intelligence that could’nt be given away?
“I can’t remember,” Brink stammered.
Mudrock decided to give it another shot. “ What do you enjoy most?”
Bink brightened. “ The principles of secondary transition of crest-trough convolution have by far been the most interesting. The first principle…”
Zypcus banged the hammer on his table. It was what he always did when proceedings in General Body meetings got unmanageable. Now he had a lunatic in his meeting room.
Mudrock sighed. Brain mapping it is then.
***********************************
“Analysis?” Zypcus asked, suddenly alert. He had decided that Earthlings were some sort of lunatic race with no streak of positive in them. according to Zypcus a man who did not appreciate women, and enjoyed work was someone you just could not trust. There, Begus agreed. Luca had been his only salvation during the years of inaction at the solitary earth station. Mudrock walked into the room seething. “What do those humans think? They’ve sent us a goddamn robot. Do they think we’re not even worth a human envoy? We’ll show em’. Declare war or something.”
“ Calm down Mudrock,” Zypcus thundered. “ But the guy looked human to me. I mean no wires, machines. Are they so advanced as to make humanoids?” Begus could not but agree with Zypcus, for once in his life. Mudrock threw his head back and laughed. Nice and loud. Before the other two could order his execution, he restrained himself and whispered calmly, “ Oh not a real robot. Just a human version of one. They call them ‘nerds’. These guys are born human but due to a little gene deformity and behavioural disfigurement, they maldevelop into social losers and functional winners. So they are put into laboratories where they are more than happy to live.”
“ In fact a robot is modeled on a nerd.”
Zypcus and Begus were speechless.
Finally Zypcus collected himself. “ Begus, stay put. Inform us if any non-nerd makes contact.” “ Mudrock, do everything you can to ensure this nerd gene is prevented from ever appearing in Planet Crete.” He looked at Luca who had been sitting silently and taking down minutes. “ Luca, take Bring with you and teach him to remember your name.”
Sunday, August 26, 2007
One Afternoon...
Sunshine spills through the window
Retreating with a gentle afterglow
Lightens up my room:
Finds these stray thoughts,
Makes them sparkle;
Threads 'em together,
Makes 'em mingle;
Random moments attain meaning:
The world an imperfect paradise,
We rave and rant and we calm down;
A circus with many a clown,
We see the irony and manage sad smiles.
As our ambitions grow,
We determine to walk extra miles;
Some rare moments that move
We feel the knot in one throat;
So many feelings,
Define the person that we are;
In that one sunlit moment,
I see the person I am.
Retreating with a gentle afterglow
Lightens up my room:
Finds these stray thoughts,
Makes them sparkle;
Threads 'em together,
Makes 'em mingle;
Random moments attain meaning:
The world an imperfect paradise,
We rave and rant and we calm down;
A circus with many a clown,
We see the irony and manage sad smiles.
As our ambitions grow,
We determine to walk extra miles;
Some rare moments that move
We feel the knot in one throat;
So many feelings,
Define the person that we are;
In that one sunlit moment,
I see the person I am.
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