Books-Choices & Me

This year I am trying to be a voracious reader, a little diverse as well.I decided to stop all the English Vinglish and start something in Kannada last week. A lot of people had recommended me this book before. 

I am not yet done with the book but so far it has been a great read, usually people write reviews when they finish reading the book but I felt like talking about it today for a different reason. While I flip from page to page I am realizing how much I have missed reading Kannada all these years! Thankfully I can do more than just manage! We Indians are blessed with wonderful languages and we rarely do appreciate our own literature.It is enormously commendable, isn't it?  I have realized my fault, have you? Do share any must reads that you know of ,I will be happy to read :-)

-R.

Full Circle

Tangy Tuesday Picks-Blogadda-July 29th 2014

“Having a place to go is home, having someone to love is family, having both is a blessing”

-Donna Hedges-

This story began with an extraordinary discovery Appa made sitting in the balcony one afternoon of this fortnight “Look! There!” he said, “Where?” I asked. He pointed between the leaves of a young coconut tree which is growing within the compound of the house across the road.  And from then on I had the pleasure of watching a beautiful family of jungle babblers come to become. They went about their daily errands in complete ignorance of being watched. The parents would fly to get food like worms, insects and what not to feed the hungry little ones. And they would open their raw and red beaks widely, each one thinking he or she is chirping louder than the other. It more seemed like they were saying “Mama for me! Me! Me!” What a precious sight and sound that was!

There were three of them in total if I am right, and what ruckus they created especially in the afternoons. On most of the times it was the neighborhood cat lurking around the nest waiting to make them his satiating lunch, and then there were those cloudbursts at odd hours. The nest was made at a very odd place, one strong breeze and they could be down on earth. Despite all this the fledglings always remained protected because one of their parents was always around in the building.

In a matter of few days I saw them perch on the edge of the nest, the mother or father would rush flying from nowhere to keep an eye on their movements. When they could obviously manage themselves they started taking steps, one by one. They made small leaps first on the tree which held their nest, and then they slowly jumped fluttering their wings to the nearby areas, on the bush, on the ground, on the compound and within no time they were out of sight. The nest is all that remains now when it is no longer necessary, with still and spawning memories.

Four years ago I had written this poem: Roots And Wings for the love our parents show us. Only when we bring our focus to certain things in nature we realize some of our blessings, there are messages in everything that is happening around. Even a small reed of grass swaying with the wind has a thing to tell. Now when I look at this empty nest I think of the babblers, “Where have they gone? What have they become?” Maybe I will find another nest by the younger ones somewhere around here again.

I am sure there are many concrete blocks down any road with the same story as this nest. People getting married, having children, bringing them up, looking after them, teaching them, seeing them grow and seeing them go. Isn’t it amazing how life comes in a full circle, even for us humans. Too abstruse I know, maybe that’s what The Big Bang Theory is all about, "we come together to move away" -LIFE !

-R

The b'END'.

Picture Courtesy

He stands strained,staring down a wide new road

While he wonders what one long walk may unfold

The mad men with their wheels run past the wind

Bringing him a fear of getting beaten and skinned

He looks at the jungles around, his home, his pride

But finds nothing for the hunger that kills his stride

A deer here, or a hare there may bring some good

Luck is but hard, even for this czar for some food

Such are the days and so are the nights of the wild

Surprise it isn’t if the meek and the weak are riled

And he is not a coward by blood, nor any mellowed

With bitterness in heart, with a roar that bellowed

He steps in search for some solace in the next bend

A rover zips and in one blink his story meets the end.

-R-

Thursday Challenge #6-Pets

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

-James Herriot-

These photographs are of the pet cemetery at PFA situated in Kengeri, Bangalore.They were taken by a dear friend of mine way back in 2008.I have visited this place with him a couple of times and what touched me most were those words of grief and love on the tombstones.A strange serenity fills this place while many pets here are laid at rest.All the more it made me wonder how beautiful this world would have been if our pets had a lifespan longer than a human friend...

To know more about PFA and their work visit:

• People For Animals-Bangalore
• Deccan Herald-And Here The Pets Rest
• Manorama News-The Week-Good Mourning

To see more of pets, visit this week's TC here.

Have a good day.

-R.

To Man-The Eater

In our jungle bereft,or your zoo of laughing mock

Behind the thicket,near the brook or on the rock

Just count not our poor kindred in mere numbers

We sleep not like how your conscience slumbers

A square meal down the throat is afar from close

Waters quenched our thirst, gone are even those

All that remains are gaping wounds never to heal

With pounding cries and hopes not a wee to feel

What we dread is worse than those bullets or trap

Your follies are too mammoth to forgive or wrap

Sole soul is you who takes more than he can give

And you thinketh you shall forever and ever live

O' man our eater,a day shall come for you to cry

When the Good Lord will scorn and ask you why

Wait not till then and make this home our grave

Remember he is the master and we all his slave!

-R-

PS1: If the earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it marveling at its big pools of water, its little pools, and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the holes in it, and they would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas. The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it sacred because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to pray to it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty, and to wonder how it could be. People would love it and defend it with their lives because they would somehow know that their lives, their own roundness, could be nothing without it. If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter-Joe Miller.


PS2:This poem is submitted for Poetry Potluck-Evolution,Environment And Survival at Jingle Poetry on April 11th 2011.

A Day For Buddy Best,The Brownie Bird

There is a reason why I call the followers of this blog as‘My Sparrows’.Everyone is going to know the secret today for this is their day, the World House Sparrow Day. The Bombay Natural History Society started this wonderful initiative last year.While we talk of tiger conservations and else we have forgotten that we have started deforesting our homes very long ago.When was the last time a sparrow thought of being our guest,lets ask ourselves.We know the answers,don’t we?   

Living in a part of the city which is covered with moderate greenery I am fortunate enough to see these little birds at my window sill and balcony almost everyday.The sparrows who visit me have always been dear to me.I am now used to watching and listening to them for hours.They have been my constant companions,from the chirping alarm at dawn to the twittering whisper at dusk.They talk to me all the time and I really love them.These are the first birds who made good friends with me.And this is why the ones who visit me here with the same love are called‘My Sparrows’.Each one of you is special to me in the same way,I am happy about that.Thank you.

What is bothering is that the sparrows of the world today are without any grains and nests.Once upon a time these were our friendly neighborhood birds and now they are our urban dodos.This is a sorry state of affair receiving not much of attention,but it actually deserves.What we must understand is that sparrows are more than ecological indicators,they are birds wanting to live but we humans don’t let them.They are our first friends and we have deceived them.We are directly responsible for their declining numbers,the various reasons are:

No Home: Owing to urbanization,modern constructions and concrete buildings there is a dearth of nesting sites.Sparrows previously used to nest on rooftops and crevices,these are the little places they ask for and sadly now we do not give them even that.So will we stop building our houses?

No Food: Today all our food comes pre cleaned and in sealed packets.People used to sun dry all grains,but that was ages back.There are no insects to feed on either.No wonder sparrows find it difficult to find the way to our homes.So will we stop buying packed stuff?

Pesticides: The increasing use of pesticides in agriculture is one of the major causes for the disturbance in ecology and sparrows aren’t any spared.So will we stop protecting our crops?

Microwaves: Research has shown that electromagnetic radiation is harmful and affects the breeding of sparrows.So will we stop using our cellphones?

*Attitude:Man is a social animal we say,he used to be very long ago is what I believe because today he is just an 'animal'.In the past pets were considered as our kith and kin,every living being was dear to us.But these days we are busy deciding on which flight to catch or to where,forget making the sparrows fly!Its the TBTC Syndrome again.Conservations,campaigns and anything to do with the green is for the environmentalists,so is our attitude.Until we change this there shall be no wild revolution in its truest sense.So will we change our attitude?

We are not really kind to stop all this,we are the Homo sapiens.We follow the ‘Survival Of The Fittest’ rule way over nature’s limit.But once in a while it is sensible and good on our part to help other living beings survive too.This is something which we really need to do,a little effort and a little time is all that it requires to'be humane'.Here are some suggestions,follow them for there is only good and no harm:

• Place earthen water pots in your balconies and gardens.
• Feed the birds with some grains.
• Keep artificial nest boxes for them to lay eggs.

Passer domesticus

Your buddy best the brownie bird

I am and my wish is not any absurd

For my hunger a little grain or seed

Water on your roofs for me to feed

A nest in between this land and sky

For my frail little kids to rest and fly

Can you give me O' dearest a friend

Or should I sing the song of my end?

-R-

Some useful websites to visit:

• World Sparrow Day
• Ecowalkthetalk-Mohammed Dilawar-World Sparrow Day-March 20th
• Deccan Herald-Where Have All The Sparrows Gone
• TOI-Mission Sparrow Bring Them Back
• TOI-Bring Those Chirps Back To Your Life

Help and have no mind narrow,rise for it is the fall of a sparrow...

-R.

For All The Wild & Blue

C: Hiii!!!Hobbes!Hobbes!!!Have you slept?

H: [ one foot inside the dreamland ]Yawn...yeah...err...NOOO!Tell me...You find time to talk to me when the rest of the world is dead asleep...Argh!

C: Hmpf...Hey listen!My diving classes are starting soon...I paid a twenty..a TWENTY thousand...Hmm...

H:  That’s okay...Don’t worry...I will give you some one day.By the way can I ask for something?The place must be beautiful right with all the blue...Can you get me some nice pictures of things down there?

C : [ bored,bemused,dazed & dumbstruck ]Whattttt!!!Of my down?Really???

H: Haha!!!I don't really mind...pictures of the water down or of anything else down...good night...sleep well champ!

C: You too buddy…ZZZzzz...

This silly conversation happened last night.Very soon Calvin is off to an island for more than a fortnight to learn marine biology,Hobbes is going to giggle thinking of this joke till the boy comes back home.His diving classes have begun.It looks like this trip is going to be interestingly wild for him,like the ones he has had before.Just that it is expected to be filled with lots of blue instead of his favourite,the usual green.The coral reefs shall now be his house and the sea grass his bed.As long as he is in there in the euphotic depths playing with the star fish,jelly fish, sardine,squid,dolphin,shark,turtle,crab,octopus and with every new friend he shall make,Hobbes has a special something rather many things to keep him going.Here they are:

GIFT-1

This Hobbes knows that this isn't happening to this Calvin this time,is this right?;-)

GIFT-2

Hobbes means it!!!


GIFT-3

[Share this with the rest !:-)]
THE DIVE

‘Fear not of the guarding octopus or the sharp shark that may dine

Wild kids come on in my kingdom!’ calls the blue waters of marine

 For to live,learn and explore are dreams big now a fifteen in twine

Plunge they shall with air and light in their hearts to gulp and shine

While they wade through the bay like flappinig fishes set for strive

The reefs shall stand like rocks solid with countless lives in a thrive

Work will soon bring joy like for the bumblebees of the jungle hive

A wish from here for them all,’Have many a sound and happy dive!’

-R-

Under The Greenwood Tree

Our mud hut is quite close to the forests,my mother often sends me there to get wood so that we can make fire.This happened once when I did go for some.The winter months had begun.We needed extra logs to keep us warm in the coldness and it would make her happy if I could get ourselves more, thinking so I walked away making my own path in the thickets deep.The clouds grew darker and the light stopped filtering through them.Dusk crawled in and I finally realized that I was lost.I forgot to look back since I was busy making my stack more huge all the way.

Pitter patter, I heard the rain fall in a hundred drops.It made me think of home.For a moment I stood there in a freeze unaware of what to do in the pitch darkness that surrounded me.But surprisingly fear did not invade me, there was something alluring about the place.I decided to walk more, wherever it took me.My feet turned wet and dirty while my heart was cleaned of all its uneasiness.I knew not where I was, but I was thrilled to become a part of the place.

I reached an open hillock in the middle of which was a towering tree, the greenest I did ever see.She called me with a pleasing stare and pulled me into her light breeze.I ran and stood under her,admiring the welcoming grandeur.When the storms of the skies grew in rage she seemed to lend me all her shade to keep me safe and sound.

Suddenly I heard a whisper in the air saying”Oh little girl, what brings you here?”.I wondered if I heard it right, yes I did.Good heavens she could talk!No wonder her stupefying calmness made me feel special right from the moment my eyes fell on her.I replied”Here for some wood,I did not make many and looks like I have lost my way!But why are you here in the middle of nowhere?".She gave me a smirk and said “Maybe to help you”.

Somehow the drizzling tempest seemed to last, so she let me stay with her through the night and said”Worry not when I am here.You can take my twigs and branches and sleep here till morning.I am a home to many,you are free to make me yours too!”

In relief I sat there on the grass beneath with my back resting on her.We talked about the old tales of the wild and the many weathers that she met in a year.She told me about the lions,the deers,the peacocks,the owls,the butterflies and the many men who rested in her bosom.I was more than glad for having been stranded with her.I heard things that nobody ever could share and I absorbed all that she said.She was content with simple pleasures,nothing of nature troubled her because all her life there was were she belonged. 

Picking the crimson florets I asked her in a bewilderment”What keeps you so fresh,so green,so supple yet so strong?”.She replied with a twinkling smile,

"A pinch of white from your frock O’ pretty dame

Rays of a light yellow from our sun’s fiery flame

A red from my fruits that in the springs do crop

Grey from the clouds that travel on my roof top

A heap of brown from the soil holding my earth

Colors these bring in my life the greenest mirth"

It felt like she knew that I would come one day,for her I was not just another passerby.It made me love her more.Like long lost friends of the forests we sang in the silence of the night making tunes that could wake up the sleeping heaven,hell and the world in between.Time passed like the flowing stream and a beacon of light arrived with the dawn.I could see the way back to my hut,a home I would never want to lose.And touch wood I now had two!I hugged her for the delightful peace and time we spent together.I so wished I could listen and be with her for more.I left thinking in glee and promised her to be back when I am not just lost sooner than some day again.  

-R.

This Day Forever

Grow a sap in your palm for it is a birthday and you,follow your heart and I shall fly in eternity with you…

I laid there with the iced stars looking at a winter sky

A six and twenty days passed as the leaves turned dry

The pixies in aisle then took his name in a sprightly cry

And said thy angel is here ‘round now O’ goodness my!

I walked into him,then a boy just another my next door

A silent something said he brings life and a vision more

Dreams bare waited in a heart for years twelve and four

To meet this pirate who sailed home to reach my shore

I laid there in his arms looking at those fireworks rain

A moon less night and his shivers warmed up my vein
Colors of my skin turned wee scarlet and canary plain                       

Like his whispering bird I flew on those shoulders fain

I saw his happy feet jump on the puddled hill road

A world of mine gleamed in his eyes my only abode

With a river of dreams wild by his side in joy flowed

In the thickets green in search of treasures he strode

I laid there on mallows pink looking at my boy learn

A vow I made to hold his hands in every steep turn

Beyond and after the sun bursts in his last fiery burn

For a light at the end of a tunnel he always did yearn

I shall hold his blessings in my plume if all vile threw

Let the wild sweat on his forehead like drops of dew

An angel of no magic spells is he who made me new

'This day forever' is all I wish him in my prayers few

'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' 

-R.

The Wild Piper

A piper wild set his foot in the woods far that allure
With a tune in heart along the roads of a river pure
Valleys wait in lust amidst the chain of hills to mount
Birds of the skies sing and screech to get in his count

Days and nights he spends in joy of a greenness greet
Frogs in oodles hop by side to kiss those muddy feet
The colours of rainbow with the silvered stars blends
When tiredness creeps inside after all the light ends

The grass is his only bed where he sleeps in no chains
Clouds turn a tender sheet lest winds run in his veins
Rains then drop on leaves one fine morning to wake
And say it is time to turn,for a ride return is to make

Mysteries of the green are yet unknown and unbound
But glad is he for the jungle heard his song and sound
Where every life has a chance he did with peace stay
Tides now take him town from where all his love lay

Trees swing and cry for their friend dear in a farewell
Who carries along their wish to live and stories to tell
Thoughts damp call him as he walks towards his train
He waves back to say "Aye!Shall be back home again!"

-R.

"Landscapes of great wonder and beauty lie under our feet and all around us.They are discovered in tunnels in the ground,the heart of flowers,the hollows of trees,fresh-water ponds seaweed jungles between tides,and even drops of water.Life in these hidden worlds is more startling in reality than anything we can imagine.How could this earth of ours,which is only a speck in the heavens,have so much variety of life,so many curious and exciting creatures?"-Walt Disney.


PS:Submitted on 29-3-2011 for Poetry Potluck(Mon)-Trips,Travels And Vacations at

The Enchanted Wanderer

Once in a while..it is good to help your guardian angel fly...

Trails towards the boundless blue oceans a brook asks my wet feet

When I sit beside her on the green bed of grass feathered beneath

Clouds of cotton white miss their route maps of vast lands as well

I send them far and fast where no raindrops to this day or ever fell

Stops her flight a puffbird to look at me with a worry in great unrest

I tell Oh’lady take a turn two and reach your kids waiting in the nest

The mumbling yellow bees from the hives swarm not any less behind

I show them the flowers on this earth with honey of the sweetest kind

Arrives his majesty looking for his den in the woods dark and deep

Help I shall to make his heart and cross the waters in one giant leap

Gazelles a hundred search for meadows with a hunger of weeks to fill

I graze them in the golden reeds dancing with the winds down the hill

A boy strolls near wishing to belong to this tempest in a peace frame

No traps or gun by his side I find,for he tells the hunt is not his game

He takes me to the mountains and we lay our backs on shivering mist

Joyous spirits that belong to all blends now within like grains for grist

As we sprawl through dusk the stars smile and the skies lose all blue

I wonder and ask if he wandered and lost something in this place new

He smiles into my eyes to say he is here for me and forever shall stay

For he comes to help his angel wild who shows every life a will,a way.

-R. 

Where The Wild Things Are

       

C: Hobbes,you know what!This is getting wonderful night by night,wonder how many earthlings are fortunate like me to dream about lizards creeping beneath their sheets and frogs jumping under their bed,and I actually get to hold them!Beauty aren’t they,what say?

H: Hmm...Your realities are as wild as your perceptions.I am a living proof. 

C: Yeah…that was some knowledge.Hope we catch some tonight! 

H: And then you can make them run on me...by the way am I seeing your new boots down there? 

C: Yep...wonder what makes you ask!  

H: Obvious, I am not seeing the usual mud...get me some this time! 

C: Hobbes, this time it is gonna be fun! New boots, new camera and so much new, there are a sixteen of us you know...can you hear the place calling? 

H: Yeah! Sounds exciting! Shall I come along? In case you need me to carry your rucksack, some water and more food.

C: That will be difficult Hobbes, this time I shall be taking care by myself. 

H: That you have to! You know what Calvin, sometimes I wish I was a real tiger, a real one! Out there in the jungles!

C: Then I would have to save you from those wicked hunters!The current scheme of things seems better,it saves me of work you see,you silly tiger! 

H: Argh!Be a good child and listen to the wild,careful near the swamp and now switch off the lamp!!! 

C: OK!When I am back Hobbes you gotta hear my wild tales,jungle lores and adventure stories...like those of Mr.Corbett,Anderson,Irwin and Morris…Aah... 

H: I wish to!Good night buddy…we are leaving…where life can have real meaning…Yukon Ho!

C: Amen...Good night!

                                       

Forever Free

Stars wafting white call me under their tent while the bees thrum

Go I will,a peace deep I yearn to own more than a little some

Happy is this soul for they heard me cry and let this home chose

A joy now whispers and draws me a moment a breath close

The travel of this life, with no fear or fate I will now embark

Here I come, with hunger for a light in me beyond this dark

Doors of the wild open before my thoughts drift and knock

Treasure and tales I shall find that no living can hide or lock

Stroll I will in these tempting woods till green turns my knee

A place where I am me,a lone in my heart feels forever free


-R. 

Selected But Naturally

A small fetish of watching films and footage showing animals hunting in the jungles and grasslands has heightened in me.I am struck by the wild,naturally.

There were around a hundred of a kind grazing in the vast fields,what looked to me like black polka dots moving hither tither in a golden green background,it was quite breath taking.And crawling stealthily in a corner was a predator waiting for one right moment.She was a big game hunter like her predecessors,paws in position and eyes on her prey she moved closer breathing silently and before long her claws and teeth had ripped the layer of skin from a calf.The herd of wild buffaloes startled by the suddenness of the attack ran reckless and away.But what happened to the chosen one for the day was a ghastly sight to see.Standing under a freeze he seemed to be parting with his life in a strange ease to satisfy someone’s hunger.His ribs lay dripping in blood,and around him was a mother with her three cubs who were pushing each other with little paws and making infantile roars for a fair share of meat. A while ago they were watching her keenly and learning how to hunt it all and live with the laws of nature,splendid.

On an another occasion on air was a great bird soaring in the sky with eyes reflecting a vision far and beyond .She was in search of something.Meanwhile a little hero hopped in,flaunting his fur amidst the scattered bushes of red flowers and rocks on the flat land.She could not help but notice.And the next moment she was seen dipping down,she came close.Frightened by the shadow which fell on his body he ran and hid behind a small crevice.But she was not here to let him go,and before he did expect she pounced on his neck and took the hare away.

A precision of this sort in the ways of the wild is fascinating, more so a feast for the eyes.At the same time it makes me brood over the beautiful uncertainties and the rules on this planet and it turns my mind into a thinking river.It is a wondrous and questionable feeling that amongst the millions of forms of life, we the all and self devouring ones have been favored the best since ages.Why? Are we the fittest? How long will we survive?While we run,nature is at her pace in peace and in patience.Well,I guess she has a plan for each of us beasts.

-R.