Poem Uncertain

As if,

the vendor didn't stall,
a parking unparked,
landmarks unmarked,
milestones crossed over
on the back of a rover.

A fish market quitened
when all the fishes flew away
into the beaks of all the crows
who dropped them into a pot,
so the water just overflowed.

Dead exchanged graves
for a change of epitaph
or a change of visitors.
Dying to hear a laugh
some spirits escaped
to a comedy club
which was shut;
everyone was afraid
to stand-up.

Clean Sweep

people like us - who sweep a floor
like we do - we do it because
we like to. it is not the usual way.
the water is in excess.
specially when the water is in excess,
and the assistant sweeper is making a fuss
about it, but the main sweeper sweeps on,
and on, and away
- the frantic cries and calls,
the practicalities of it all.

climbing upstairs head bowed,
an excess of water appeared,
and around it some drama -
two pairs of moving feet,
buckets, moppers, and mopping
- in soft strokes.

Farmers, Cauvery Calling

Munnekolala Lake Park, Bengaluru

It was 13 years ago when economist S. Janakarajan formed the Cauvery Family - a non-political initiative by farmers, engineers, hydrologists, and economists across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (TN) in an attempt to find a ‘lasting solution’ to the 125 year old inter-state Cauvery water dispute. 

Almost a decade later, in 2012, they came close to a breakthrough. Five formulas were shortlisted of which one was nearly finalized to resolve the issue. Lack of government support stalled any progress and the Family was caught between the rigmarole and the red-tapism of Indian government.

---x---

Read the full article here as it was first published in sbcltr.

Disruption

"Will it rain?",
they have asked me,
breaking silence,
when all this time
it was the both of us
who watched the clouds
float and change colors.

How do I know?
So I guess yes,
and no.

I have been right
half the time.

Whenever it didn't rain,
we didn't even
realize the clouds
floated by
and we had discussed them
for a while.

The rains however
always added weight
to our dialogue about how
the clouds weren't here
just to pass by
without as much a thunder,
and how we forgot
to carry umbrellas,
where will we hide,
where from the tea,
and what next.

In Kashmir

जब जन्नत थी यहाँ
वो ज़माना कबका गया
आज तो आग है, जलते मकान हैं
लाल चौक पर काला झंडा मेहरबान है
खौफ में जीते इंसान हैं,
डर नहीं खौफ I

Where the mind is with fear
how is the head held high?
And if it is, is it afraid to die?
Or speak?
Khalid and Kanhaiya,
It's not what they say, it's why.
How every other day,
a top militant dies
in Kashmir.

And if Indian army is any better,
it must have killed more, and so
more than the Army and Bhakts
someone should be angry
in Kashmir.

Web 1,2,3 point .. oh no.

FightTheTPP @Wikileaks on 13 Oct, 2015

TV fed us with whatever it wanted to, Shaktiman or Chitrahaar, we gulped it down with joy. Enter Internet and we liked it more, for its variety, class, and the choice to watch what we wanted to. So today, the American TV viewers have moved from 'cord-cutters' to 'cord-nevers', and broadcasters offered them this choice to sustain their own businesses.

"… arrange with telcos to give away bandwidth" "telcos may bundle internet access with voice by restricting it to a few hundred megabytes rather than to a few websites". We are not traveling on Indian Railways. As the open letter points out, 'Neutrality Violations have Started Already' - ".. all discriminatory practices by ISPs are forbidden, including zero-rating, throttling, blocking, paid prioritization, toll-gating.." I didn't know there was a term for it (throttling) as my 'Cisco & ex-Reliance' friend explained, "Haan! Danda upar-neeche karte hain (Yes! We manipulate the signal)." We laughed.

Silence and Jokes Apart

Rape is a natural phenomenon, common in the animal kingdom. The female animal adapts in these ways - (1) submission (2) changing habitat (3) forming alliances (4) resistance (5) developing bodily protection. But a raped female animal doesn't commit suicide, she moves on, and rest of the animal kingdom neither shames nor cares. But kingdom of the most advanced – the human – shames a raped female and doesn’t care. 

It’s a very old story - be it Draupadi’s Cheer Haran or Seeta’s Agni Pariksha. Yudhishtir questioned Draupadi even after her death, while Sita asked for death herself. Where was god? Or does it really help those who help themselves?

Taxpayer's Palace in the Sky

- Public Sector Under-achings of India.

So what’s new about civil aviation in India? Or what’s old, considering it is celebrating 100 years since its inception in 1911 when the first commercial flight was flown by a French pilot Henri Pequet from Allahabad to Nain on 18th February. It was a Humber Bi-plane, a humble beginning for a nation which is waiting in line to realize its dream of flying the Dreamliners. The 58 day long agitation by Air India pilots over rights to fly the aircraft has concluded with the abolishment of the IPG, some travel benefits, and a 25% salary cut for employees due to losing PLIs. Five and a half years since the merger Air India has suffered total losses of over Rs. 28, 046 crore, and even today according to the MoCA, 74% of the integration process is complete, but manpower integration - the most important is still pending.