Sunday, December 31, 2006

Letter

Dear 2006.
During your tenure, I have learnt to honour all that is different from me. I have become a lover, and remain one. I have had good conversations and pleasant sleep.
Thank you very much.
I believe you know your way out.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

prayer

i should not be writing this not even thinking that's what they tell me they who love me and know that pounding my head is the only way to get through but i do see flashes of silver and i turn my head thinking of you in black and grey and a straight head every message could be from you you could be the next person to walk into the shop oh and we don't have the umbrellas now so you wouldn't have to bend ever so slightly and i turn around sometimes and my eyes widen and drop as though it's you but it isn't and they would tell me to work on getting over it and i must i must but i look long and longingly at the parking-spot wanting the bike to be there to walk into my room and find you and see you and see you just to see if i can and i hear old songs why i do like them the green and the dark the quiet and the grand pages pages of this of you burning black waves and your bones blood and trembling nerves the unbuttoning and taking apart all of you i saw the smell of icy orange breath and so cold my pillow i would have you on it nightly without fear sleep is overdone sleep and sleep tiring sleep touch and taste lick and bite dry loose skin yours and at this time only yours gleaming nipples and rough hair and my teeth now all weapons or maybe not i heard the fall building up again

I was composing this post on my way home, and now I've blanked out. Door chhai!!
Things have been plentifully abnormal as always.
My father watched 'Khosla ka Ghosla' and loved it. I've been seeing bikes where there aren't any.
My Christmas lunch was sans alcohol and almost sans meat.
I'm blaming it all on unrequited-love-induced-stupor.

Look what I'm reading right now:

1.Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich
2. Women who Run with Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
3.The Lost Father by Marina Warner
4.The World and Other Places by Jeanette Winterson
5.Several Perceptions by Angela Carter
6.Nothing to Wear, Nothing to Hide by Fay Weldon
7.The Complete Lord of the Rings series
8.The Tao of Relationships by Ray Grigg
9.In Favour of the Sensitive Man: Essays by Anais Nin

......and there's more pending
Joy.

That's all folks!








Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Woman, strapped

sixpence
and I'll be a man
on his way to london
flowering fields
strewn with straw bodies
all on my road

sixpence
and i'd be a belly-dancer
loving my body moves
delighting my blood
in over my head
all on my road

woudn't you give me a sixpence
buy a dream off me
so I could go
get off this stranger's road
see the yellow bricks of the sun
follow the stem of my breath
All on my own road.

For all my loves

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that youll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....i hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin might mean takin chances but theyre worth takin,
Lovin might be a mistake but its worth makin,
Dont let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.I hope you dance....

I hope you dance.(time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

Lee Ann Womack

frenzy

should I stop?
listen to the horns, the fierce whispers
those who scream blood

can I describe
slowly and with
complete
deliberation
the smoothness of the back of your neck
the scar on your chin
where you fell

I see you
reduce you to skin and muscle
hair and bone
the colour of your mouth
reduce is not the word dearest
I see your beauty
I see it madly

in these words
on blank pages
I possess you
I writhe
lest I be gagged with what I say
I can capture you to capture me
forever
but these words
this I
must break and squeeze and ache
and never still.

I've come a long way. I would never have changed an exclamation-mark in my writing before, on someone else's request. I am fierce about my creations.
If you're reading this, I didn't do it for you. I did it so I could keep up the hope that somehow....we could be close again. At least work on it. Twasn't a sacrifice, and you still don't control what I write. I've changed in the hope that this terrible, needless hurting that we're giving each other will stop. The worst of it is, I'm beginning to stop expecting kindness from you.

A 'Singh' among men.

Read this. And this.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

TnT annual sale has begun. The last week has been exhilarating....50 boxes of books to be unpacked, coded and displayed. In my case, 50 boxes of books to be pawed through, cooed over and desired! We're having a Midnight Sale on the 16th with plenty of food going.
Lots of hard work and lots of joy in getting it done.

I haven't written about my Calcutta trip yet. I did everything I had set out for and ended up wishing I could stay longer. At the same time, I wanted to return to Pune. I have a complete life in Pune and a complete life in Calcutta. So while there are tugs and pulls each time I return and turn back, I'm happy looking forward.
Twas rushed, my trip. Time with Ma was good. She's got a complete life in Nerja too. The Cousin is fast-growing, and as delightful as ever. With all the giddiness of her fourteen years, she's got an intelligence and a sense of humour that makes me love her. Not to mention an amazing wardrobe which I raided (yes we wear the same size). The Gestapo...haven't changed. I got them a cell-phone this time. The mere idea was greeted with shrieks and protests. Then when I finally bought it, twas the wrong model, the keys were set too close together, the tone wasn't loud enough......
I watched the first cut of Shampi Mashi's movie. Anuronon, it's called. Starring Rahul Bose, Rituparna, Raima Sen and Rajat Kapoor. Will be releasing sometime early 2007.

Monday, December 04, 2006

This last year has seen me living in a sort-of-stable structure. At least where the Home is concerned.
The Home has many, many spots which suck you in, simply because you're living in it. The funny thing is, I'm learning to like these spots.
Like having having domestic help, and then not having them. Like being almost completely responsible for E. Like realizing the kind of pressure WS gets under and not placating her, instead just making sure that my end of responsibility is help up. I have college, I work part-time. It's true that my Bookshop is no less than Home. And I manage to convey that to my Boss.
Both the Home and TnT are like demanding little kids. Ignore one and it goes to its room and slams the door in your face.
I'm 21 years old. I want to travel and envision Home-spots in beautiful places. I want to know that there is a steady Home-spot to fall into should I want it. I might even be able to make one myself...