My Lake ... My Hope

My balcony gives me a view of a small , in fact a mini lake. Beyond the lake there is a school ground. This lake is dotted with small bushes and fallen tree branches and tall wild grass. Occasionally black ducks fly into the lake and would be mostly accompanied by cranes. The flow, the level of water and its color changes based on each season.

This stream used to flow towards a bigger lake some 100 m away. For some reason, this flow was cut by the people. So during monsoon, our 'mini' lake overflows. But, the presence of a water body near my home, made me happy. Also, it was the bustling place for many living creatures.

My kitchen windows too opens to this lake and gave me the pleasure of watching various types of birds, ducks, flowers on the wild grass, water shining in the sun's rays etc;

It was on such one afternoon I found out that, it is also becoming a dump yard for the people who passes by this lake. I saw a swanky SUV stopping on its way and the gentleman who was inside dumping some plastic bag into it. The other day, it was the workers at the school ground who dumped waste into this lake.

Gradually the lake started stinking and I had to close my windows. During monsoon, this water got into the roads and it became a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Even cattle and dogs were reluctant to have the water. People hated the sight of this lake and avoided walking by the side. I even thought of shifting from that flat. But, nobody took any initiative to clean that messy lake.

Time went by, seasons changed, windows remained closed, birds flew away, flowers withered, grass dried. But no one responded. It was then various contagious diseases started gripping the city. Corporation workers arrived and started cleaning the water. The lake started recovering from the damages made by us. Birds came in and life sprouted there again.

This whole event made me think that why I shut my windows against this lake, just like me running away from issues around me. I enjoyed its beauty and the chirruping of birds, but couldn't extend my help to it. When we were school kids, we were more close to nature, at least in classrooms we used to study about science, reason behind rain, effects of pollution,etc; This made us think then, that we should do something good for the world when we grow up. But, when we grow up and is capable of doing something good, we tend to forget all those. We remembers more of our expected salary figures, tax cuts, etc;

Are we not the same school kids who yearned to grow up and independent so that we can help our country and nature? Yes , we are . So friends let us not shut our windows against issues. Let's be those small kids again and accomplish what we wanted to do then.

Let the nature flourish in every corner and let's inspire our next generation.

Lovers & Friends

Feb 14, 2009
We decided to go for a stroll at the nearby handicrafts exhibition center cum garden (Shiplaramam) and then to have a nice Barbecue. Feb 14th has lost its charm in India due to the protests made by various activists, attack on girls at the pub, forced marriages of couples found in parks, beaches, etc; Most of my friends decided to celebrate the Valentine’s day on the next weekend as they were afraid of attacks. On the other hand we were very confident as we are married for 1.5 years. Though, I was very confident my hands automatically kept more 'sindhoor' on my forehead. Yup I got stamped!!!! We reached the exhibition center, a security guard at the entrance stared at us and called us. He then told “Sorry sir, friends and lovers are not allowed!!" We were shocked. First of all we are married and secondly we found it as discrimination in democratic India! We told him that we are married and then proceeded to the ticket counter. The lady at the counter repeated the security guard's words “Friends and Lovers Not allowed" This time we both lost our temper and told them that this is discrimination. She intervened and told “I am doing my duty sir".

This incident fuelled my thoughts on various discriminations happening in our country, be it cast or creed or sexual orientations or 'lovers'. Our country requires people's attention on various matters such as poverty, unemployment, etc; But , people have their focus on other's private life such as these. How come we allow a set of people to roam around in the city and beat young girls going to pubs or teenagers at a park? Who are these moral police? What are their qualifications? It is our right to be with a person whom we are comfortable with. It is a person's freedom to decide whether or not to go to any pubs. Doing these kind of moral policing will not help anybody. I heard politicians saying that pubs are not part of our culture. Then what is our culture? Is it allowing a hub of slums to grow in our country? Is it allowing terrorists to fool our security guards and hamper our lives? Is it leaving our girls for immoral trafficking? Is it beating the ladies and barring their freedom? Is it slaving thousands of villagers by not giving education or electricity at their villages? Is it granting liceneces to liquor shops and pubs more than that of hospitals and schools and involving in bribary? Is it discarding the developments of government hospitals and schools?

If these moral police who generally consists of uneducated and unemployed youth is trying to achieve anything for their country, then they should open their eyes and see the real issues in India. Why can’t they form a network containing informers from various parts of our country, who can inform the police if they see anything suspicious going on.
Why can’t they bring up issues such as education of underprivileged children or health services for senior citizens? If they are trying to bring in the values and if they vision the values mentioned in the epics, then I plead them to read our epics and show me the chapter where it is written to beat young girls and where it is written about banning friends and lovers from visiting a park.

We don’t need any moral police. This is India, democratic country with laws, judiciary in place. Nobody can buy as by showing political gimmicks, Beware!!!

Summer Showers

I found out this poem recently when I was cleaning my shelf.. I

was thinking that I had lost it long ago... I wrote this when I was a student and that time my favorite topic for poems was rain..

The road was nothing, but

a tattered black ribbon.

And, the wind was blowing

in a rush to dry us more.

We were then sitting on that bench

which watches the horizon at its best.

My eyes met his, but my

love couldn't flow into them.

As it was dry as my trembling lips

and as dense as the silence between us.

I wished to touch him, but

I had to hold my waving hair.

We wished to sit closer

but, the sweat had wetted our arms.

I saw him hiding a rose

behind his pocket, close to his chest.

But, it had lost more of its colour

than of its freshness.

Thus each second struggled

to make its way beyond our hold.

I was patting him gently

and I saw , a group of clouds

moving in the sky.

The wind was gentle

and was more as a breeze,

which had come to our lives