Note on a Picture

Eager, shy, self-conscious, in control- so many hues of  beauty on display.

All of you are creations favourite, for, to be able to add colourfulness to colour, luminescence to light, tenderness to softness, melody to music, divine form to fabric- by wearing it, and meaning and means ( everything for you, and from you) to existence, are ultimate blessings that you all possess  (A burden too! For you bear, therefore, you also have to nurture). Feminine is the essence of everything that is beautiful; without you nothing can ever be beautiful.

All of you ( women) are the mirrors to our souls, only through you we can locate the joy and happiness in us ( men).

And, two of you my boys!, you are doing a great job guarding what is most precious. As I can see you have the flanks well covered, with right posture ( hands in the pockets). Blushing a little less though, may perhaps be more appropriate to the job undertaken, unless, of course, serving with smile is part of the job contract.

-Pulastya 

Eyes.....

To be “Lucky” is to discover beauty;
to wander on Facebook and end up admiring your photograph-
a beauty event that shrinks time between two distinct moments-
one before it, and one after it- and make them one.
And, what so captivated me in the picture were two lotuses!
How lovely they were-
a thousand times more flower than flowers could ever be,
They engulfed me in a tenderness, even without kissing them,
and made me radiant in light of life, pouring out of them;
though they were merely an image,
but of unimaginable beauty;
And, when, long after, senses returned
and my asphyxiated body resumed breathing,
I realised, they were eyes.

Your eyes,
glowing in the sun of your life giving smile.

Your eyes,
transcend time and space,
for they are perfect-
nothing of them lost in the translation of picture,
or, it is that I have discovered them only in my imagination, through your picture.

-Pulastya

Eyes..

“To be Lucky” is to discover beauty; to wander on Facebook and end up admiring your photograph- a beauty event that shrinks time in to two dots- one before it, and one after it. And, what so captivated me in the picture were two roses! How lovely they were-a thousand times more flower than roses could ever be. They engulfed me in tenderness even without kissing them, and made me radiant in light of life, pouring out of them; though they were merely an image, but of unimaginable beauty. And, when, long after, senses returned and my asphyxiated body resumed breathing, I realised, they were eyes. Your eyes, glowing in the sun of your life giving smile. 

On Narcissism

The thought ‘ I am beautiful’ is the beginning of everything. It is the seed. Love grows from it. Love, the perspective that is the only way to make sense of reality of life, love, a light emitted to reflect and make world visible to you without its cruelties. To emit love you have to love your self first; you love self you love the world. And, ’I am beautiful’ is beginning of it all.

What is narcissism if not sharing your beauty with mirror. In mirror souls become visible. The reflection you see there is actually soul of your beauty becoming visible. And, what beauty is more worthy if not the one which infuses life into  a shiny piece of molten sand by giving it a soul. You make mirror alive with your beauty.

I suspect the greatest narcissist of all would be someone we call “God”; how else would you explain his power to give life, and ability for limitless love.

-Pulastya

To a lonely Cypress, atop a rock by the beach:

O! lonely Cypress, from your vantage point atop of this mighty rock that rises like a toe nail of sea, you watch over the world. And, what is it that you have not seen! You have seen the heart of this very rock, where your roots have made their beginnings- Your seed is an essence of infinite emptiness of stone filled with nothing but itself. But, even emptiness is not devoid of time; in fact nothing holds time better than emptiness. And stagnant time, like water- which perhaps is a condensed form of time, stinks; giving away an unbearable stench called loneliness. So, eventually, and inevitably, when this empty rock felt lonely, amidst the pulsating life of sea and shore, and began to long for life, a tear rolled down its stoned face and turned in to a seed, your seed Cypress!

The power of death lies in an instant. In that one moment it is the most powerful. But, except for that one moment, rest of the time is a tool in the hands of life. And life is an indefatigable artist, with delicate hands and intricate fingers and eyes of a lover who can sense longing for him self in the slightest of weariness of beloved and is more than willing to plant the kiss of life. Your lonely existence in the heart of a rock is a proof of that Cypress; and, for the same reason, rest assured that your loneliness is also not everlasting, there is another longing for life hidden somewhere nearby is waiting for that kiss of life. It has to be, for life’s supremacy over death is the ultimate truth of the existence on Earth, and there is no other way of upholding that truth.

And being a child of life’s ultimate yearning for itself has its own reward Cypress. Lonely though you may be- and no doubt it may enhance your pain a thousand time- you in your birth itself have known the desire in its purest form. And, so, you know that at the cores all desires are laced with love, and cores of all love is tainted by desire. So, you affectionately smile on land and sea who are lying side by side in those still nights, hand in hand with fingers interlaced, watching stars with contentment, only occasionally stirred by gentle breeze of playfulness. You have also dance filled with voyeuristic passion, and I don't judge you for that, when sea storms the land, passionate and fiery, and land receives it moaning; and for days together in unremitting wetness they make love. Earth quivering, shaking, embracing the eager and aggressive sea without fear- of love bites, and sea rolling and churning, swelling and falling, as a man making love should. You have also shared, with same joyfulness, the subsequent weary tiredness of ravaged but radiant earth breathing deeply and humming from inside, and placid contentment of sea, who would keep feeling larger than itself for many days to come- for that's the proof that at the core of desire lies love, for it is love’s property to make recipient feel larger than self.

So, despite your endless loneliness, there is at least one way in which you are truly blessed Cypress, for heightened sensitivity to desire, passion, and love are unique gifts of loneliness.

-Pulastya

Your effect on me....

In your eyes
burning ever so intensely
a fire,
passion it is: eternal sun, on inexhaustible fuel of lust for life....

On your lips
quivering ever so restlessly
a thirst,
desire it is: ocean, wanting to be seeded with life…

And rest of you
generous and laden with fruits
of youth,
blessing it is: earth, lying in complete surrender…

This is how you elevate my imagination,
you do to me what windstorm does to a speck of dust:
make it see the world from a higher perspective.

-Pulastya

Letter to a Young colleague....

Well, this morning what caught my attention was your DP, in that small circle of a space that the FB messenger provides for DPs, with that flowery top of yours and that wire meshed feathery summer hat, the image that came to my mind was of a butterfly atop a flower in bloom, and your smile further added to the effervescence of happy thoughts which might have coaxed my eyes to see the world more colourful and  wild, sitting in a concrete jungle. And thus I got curious to know how such a delighting person feels from inside. Overall, a trespassing in to someone's private space, more so in case of a lady- as private is more private there, but than as they say  curiosity is sometimes it's own master.

Being human who won't delight in the praise, however unfounded it may be, specially when it comes in form of idolisation; and so am I. Though, with difficulty, I can not forget that idol in the temple is elevated to its status by the essential need of man to visualise in physical form even the most personal and intimate of their own strengths; otherwise that idol is nothing more than a carved stone ( and even the carving is done by another human being). 

Carrier growth, above the level of basics, is nothing but being at the right place at right time. So it's not the time spent on it which is important but those few moments when a fearless decision is made ( me moving to a fledgling bank was one such decision, and at that time it was difficult to figure out if it was brave or foolish one- all such terms, brave or foolish, always lean back on crutches of hindsight to stand up). 

Strong personality, to share a secret with you, is nothing but to know all you flaws in advance and practice to hide them well, even when you have many of them. In essence, between confidence and bravado, it is closer to bravado. 

Congrats on your promotion. Please be assured that all of it is based on you deserving it. If I deserve thank for anything linked to it is for not messing up with my duty and not overlooking the deserving. Congratulations again, and enjoy it thoroughly for whatever it is worth. Also, therefore, it should be yourself who should come first in your thoughts after a promotion; I would be equally delighted being second.

Please always feel free to say/or message. Nothing of my reaction should dissuade you, because you are entitled to relay a message solely for your own pleasure; I talk to god all the time and never hear back- and perhaps thankfully so because the kind of stuff I talk with him, if he ever chooses to respond back, he is bound to kick my ass for all the crap I throw on him assuming that I have the brains to actually have a conversation with him. But, in our case there is no doubt about that parity and I will be delighted to receive, and respond to my best.

Ups and downs are how life makes sense. It is the gap between two consecutive up and down which measure the life lived. All ups, or all downs, will never make sense as life. The small trick though is to find something which you can do completely alone for your own pleasure ( in my case reading does that).

Pleasant state of mind is good. As I sometime suspect that happiness is more about state of being, rather than meaning of thing, and, therefore, can be improved by practice, and if you can add little foolishness to it even the requirement of practice goes down significantly. So keep practicing and don't be afraid of being foolish.

Well, knowing about other's life experience does help, only to the extent that it prepares you to get the maximum from your own life experience, like preparing the lesson the previous night for next day's class.

As for your Sunday mood, I am truly delighted to have added to it; hope it has augmented the joy of whatever your senses are delighted to receive for pleasure- the food, the drink, the music, the solitude, friends, or a combination thereof.

May joy be always in the driver’s seat in you..

Watching with delight,

I