Love wasn't easy in the good ol' days.
When she asked for a #lullaby, I croaked, "Sleep..hello...who's that...ah, it's you...well, my love..." (in front of a queue outside the lone phone booth on campus).
Then, she wanted my photo. I got over-exposed in the dark room.
#vss365
Caste/class system's crazy.
One who works is #inferior
To one kissing ass.
#haikufeels
He sleeps little when she is out late – working or traveling alone, in #taxis, on trains. Media fed fuel to that flaming fear.
Every day, he expects policemen at his door, ‘Sir, your wife has been murdered.’
They might suspect him when he shows little surprise.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-perfect-couple.html
Before every school exam, I had to: watch sunrise; then, listen to 'Joe le #taxi ' by Vanessa Paradis.
For one disastrous exam, the tape got stuck before Vanessa could soothe my nerves.
Of course, I don't believe in superstitions now.
I can't find a cassette player.
#vss365
Oh! My teenage years!
Quit the #drama!
Seven year itch it was!
Quite literally,
After washing own clothes;
Quite torrid,
After Love and Lust
(both Sex,
life in imperfect hormone-y);
Quite miserable,
After friend's death,
the first adult thought,
‘Better you than me.’
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/09/silly-about-grave-matters.html
"I make them place both hands, with fingers splayed, on a table. Using a stiletto, I try to poke between the fingers with increasing rapidity. I am not really good at it."
"Arjun, your turn."
"I love..."
The group did not let me finish. Even #antisocials have ethics.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/01/inconsequential.html
I fell in love because of #spell-ing.
"The past tense of read is r-e-a-d," the teacher said.
"Oh no, it's r-e-d," yours truly protested.
Swapna smirked. Josephine too. Winston followed those two brats.
In Class 2, I fell in love with, "Betrayal, thy name is friend."
#vss365
Just another day
When words and thoughts hide behind
#Liquid barricades.
There's a flood coming.
I build a wall with nothing.
The price paid for love.
Let me not deceive,
It's not the mirage I chase,
It's the memory.
#vss365
"How can you joke about this?"
"I'm not joking."
"This is not a serial killer's work."
"Then, what is it?"
"This is a fight for justice, for democracy, for human rights."
"Yupp, those are the words of every popular serial killer."
#vsspic
The problem with love -
In #spite of the lessons learned,
One's ready to fail/fall.
#haikufeels
Last things first - yes, we fell in love and hope to live happily ever after; no, there are no tricks or #twists in the tale.
I fell in love with Nikki and Isaac captured Nina's heart.
Nikki and Isaac got married.
Nina and I are left with that hope.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2018/10/twice-bitten-once-shy.html
Girlfriend's electric!
Lone hair on my skull stands up
When she touches me.
What else stands erect,
You might want to know, I'm sure,
To trip guiltless fuse.
It's a love story,
Fit for haiku or senryu.
Renew'ble she ain't.
#vss365
According to the special theory of relativity wrt relationships, every action will be viewed relative to the actions of an ex suitably glorified or even fictitious.
That ensures:
1. something will #pop up for one to think/sulk about;
2. one can be unhappy with others.
#vss365
Infuriated,
Equally #pleased, to find her
On my balcony.
#haikufeels
"It is my lady, O, it is my love!"
"Ay me!"
"O speak again."
"O Dumbo, Dumbo! Hush, Dumbo!"
"Shall I speak more, or hear this?"
"What's in a name? Plenty. Dumbo by any other name I shall not recognize."
"Call me that, my love."
#ModernJulietAndRomeo
Memory fails me.
Not the everlasting #cwtch
From birth to ash, sachh.
#haiku ?
#senryu ?
#MultipleLingo
#WritingCommunity
#vss365
“I've to be the one who knows the way –
A serious wit or a man of steel,
I should treat you like my image,
My words should rest with gravity,
You will speak while you hear little;
Why do I have to be the #saviour?”
“Stereotypes & misconceptions, thy name is man!"
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/12/4-deal.html
Unselfish loving,
With my head between your legs.
Or was I hiding?
#haiku ?
#senryu ?
#WritingCommunity
On that, our, beach. She stood next to me, hands by her side. Memory of a touch. Her palm on mine, her fingers returning my squeeze. We stood there for a long while, silent, till dark. We moved away from that #entrance to a future together, back to avoiding each other.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/12/touch.html
I thought long about love
And the mind games I would #play,
When I'm not in love.
#vss365
#haiku ?
#senryu ?
Sun: a lady said, "The love of my life."
Mon: a note, "My #dark knight."
Tue & Thurs: calls, "I love you."
Wed: rest day. Even wife did not scare me with ILU.
Fri: a fax, "Come!"
Sat: "I love you," I said to a stranger. "Me too," the tired reply.
#GlobalLoveWeekRIP
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/11/lovely-games.html
"Her #dark hair straying across that beauteous face,
Black eyes filled dim, tear-stained..."
"Well?"
"This a love poem for me?"
"Yupp."
"Ye ol' patriarchal wimp who thinks we are weak!"
"Gal, you don't have to be so cruel."
"Don't call me girl. Where's my coffee?"
#vss365
I will love you well
If you can surprise me once.
You can't kick me out!
#senryu ?
#haiku ?
#WritingCommunity
Love knocked at my door.
I watched an ill-fated kite.
Chose the lonely joy.
#haikufeels
#senryu
#haiku
#WritingCommunity
while you suck in last breath,
let me whisper the pleasant truth:
a joke it was, between you and me,
when we did time, timed it didn’t we?
shall i comfort you,
that i will think of you,
but, why lie?
we are friends,
not meant to care,
are we, my #pale friend?
#vss365
from
https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2010/03/not-meant-to-care-my-friend.html
The little girl was wearing a gaudy dress. She was not smiling. There was lipstick on her mouth, cheap makeup on her face.
‘Her mother is in the ward, thrashed black and blue...' Vishnu managed to say through clenched teeth. His hands were trembling.
A man entered the hospital compound. He stood near the entrance, staring at the little girl.
‘So, there you are, you rascal. Didn’t I tell you to stay put at the resort? And I had to learn from the guests that you had run away, you good for nothing.’
Vishnu charged, flinging himself against Suresh, catching the man unawares and the two went down in a heap. They rolled in the dusty courtyard, grappling for a hold, scratching, gouging and trading body blows.
At first, Vishnu managed to use his agility and small build to parry and evade. The bigger man rushed Vishnu and crashed into him in a flying tackle. Vishnu fell over backwards and his head hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Suresh walked towards a small garden patch, dislodged a heavy rock from the garden’s boundary and came back with that. He gave Vishnu’s chest another kick. Then the brute squatted on one knee, raised the stone, ready to crush the skull before him.
‘Enough…!’
Suresh moved away from Vishnu. He dropped the rock.
Natarajan went up to the prone figure of Vishnu. He studied the bloodied face and beaten body with a great deal of amusement and satisfaction. He prodded Vishnu’s body with a foot.
‘You should stick to your pens and books, useless wimp,’
Natarajan walked up to Suresh. For a man so slight, his backhand slap seemed to have surprising power. The brute moved back and it was rather remarkable watching that bigger man fall to his knees, sniveling, crying and begging for mercy.
‘You want mercy…?’ Natarajan asked before giving the kneeling man another resounding slap.
Natarajan turned away and shifted his attention to Vishnu. The hate or dislike was still there on that face but there was something else too; maybe, that’s what respect for one’s enemy looks like. Under the watchful eyes of the doctor, Vishnu was taken inside on a stretcher.
Natarajan’s eyes then shifted to the tiny form of the girl who had watched the whole episode impassively. His shoulders stooped and his eyes looked wearier than usual. He ran his hands over his face and hair, as if he was trying to rub away some ache there. He then turned around and walked away from there, head bowed, shoulders drooping and with heavy steps.
I do not know what happened to that little flower girl in Kadalil.
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/11/flower-girl.html
‘Flowers for temple. Fresh from mountains. Only fifty rupees.’
'Those flowers are from behind the shop,' I said after the tourists left.
‘They don’t have a problem. I don’t. Why do you have a problem?’ the girl said.
God, save the #lambent glow around her, I prayed.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/11/flower-girl.html
(More from Kadalil.)
I waited at my seat outside the tea-stall watching the same old play on the same old stage. Life went on as usual. Like clockwork, the drunkard appeared outside the bar around ten in the only way he could face the world any day, swaying and inebriated. His wife too entered the scene at the right cue. The pleading gave way to loud wailing and the beating of the chest and the head ensued, as if by rote, and his slap too. It was all too much for me. I just couldn’t allow that show to go on.
I got up from my seat and approached the couple. I shouted at the man and gave him the full sermon within me. It took a while for him to shift his dazed drunken gaze towards me. He looked at me as if I was a madman. I focused on the man and I did not notice when his wife stopped wailing. I should have kept an eye on that aggrieved party and I realized that quickly when my back suffered a barrage of hard slaps.
I turned around to face her flailing arms. She multitasked effectively, beating, shouting loudly and berating me. She accused me of abusing her and trying to harm her dear life, namely, her husband.
It was my turn to have a dazed look. A highly amused crowd gathered around us.
The woman refused to give up, and even seemed to gain in volume and indignation. I kept on moving backwards, trying to avoid her. I tried to reason with her. Or to be factually right, as I started on that endeavor that frail woman gave me a firm shove.
I, along with my reasoning, went into free fall. I tripped and fell back into a shallow pit by the side of the road. It wasn’t much of a fall and I should have escaped with just an injured mind. But, caught unawares, I landed heavily and clumsily, feeling every pebble that greeted my backside and worse, twisted my ankle too.
It would have been better if I had hit my head and passed out with a concussion. I would not have had to see that woman’s rather happy face before she walked away with her equally blissful comrade-in-arms. The crowd didn’t give up that easily. I really tickled their funny bone.
On the day of the quarter moon, men of my village Kadalil (In The Sea) chase an outsider. Only 3 were killed in the last 1 year.
Long back, before the beach turned red with #blood, a scoundrel from nowhere killed an aristocrat raping a lady. We have not forgiven him.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/12/buried-gods.html
We were comfortably numb.
"I love you, guys. (Hic)"
"What's love?"
"Great sex on the table, good food in bed."
"Care! Responsibility!"
"Allows dreams."
"Deep. (Hic)"
"O Lila!"
"The #ghost we loved."
"If only..."
"Those eyes, lips.."
"Isn't Lila my wife? (Hic)"
#vss365
The trip started late because of those despicable kids from the #north.
At the first stop, the easterners took their time smooching. Idiots!
We nearly helped a family from the west go down at Suicide Point.
At the end, they scowled at me, "Monkey from the south!"
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/04/story-tellers-sabbatical.html
From dusk till dawn,
haunting Memory beckons me;
with moving images
in black-and-white or colour;
speeding on highways,
shuffling into alleys,
groping for an exit in a cul-de-sac –
while I trip on psychedelic ecstasy
of a #kiss I cannot forget...
#vss365
from
https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2010/09/only-one-that-remains.html
I gave her my medical report. I will forget her tears, I guess. Her beautiful eyes?
I told her I might forget her. That I have always loved her. I joked that I might forget that too soon.
She did not say anything. Or, maybe, she did.
The #shadow-s are lengthening.
#vss365
from
https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2013/02/before-dark.html
Told you I love you,
When the sun was not yet gone,
Before #shadow-s left.
#vss365
#haiku ?
#senryu ?
#poetry ?
#WritingCommunity
Do you have a scream?
Caged within your mind?
Choking each breath?
Clogging life?
Don’t you have that scream?
Or, are you the #shadow of nothing?
#vss365
from
https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2010/05/scream-within.html
"Hush, class, hush! Swapna, what is the full form of news?"
"Ma'am, it is north, east, #west, south."
"Very good."
"Ma'am...?"
"Yes, Arjun?"
"Ma'am, now it's nincompoop, egghead, woodenhead, simpleton."
"And who told you that?"
"Swapna."
"Ma'am, I did not."
#vss365
My wife is a movie buff.
When I proposed marriage to her, she said, "What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship..."
When she proposed marriage to me, "I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse."
First night, she said, "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?"
Second night, "May the Force be with you."
Third night, "Say hi to my little fellow."
Fourth night, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape."
When she faked it, "Oh...Oh god...Ooo Oh God...Oh...Oh...Oh...Oh God...Oh yeah right there Oh! Oh...Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes...Oh...Oh...Yes Yes Yes....Oh...Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes...Oh...Oh... Oh...Oh God Oh... Oh... Huh..."
When she did not, “Yippee-ki-yay...”
When I did not, "Rosebud."
When I walked into a room with my wife, mother and mother-in-law, she whistled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly final duel music.
When she delivered the first kid, "Here's looking at you, kid."
Second kid, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
When we met my ex at a restaurant, she said, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
When she ordered, "I’ll have what she’s having."
When they went to powder their nose, she whispered to me, "I'm having an old friend for dinner."
When I protested, she said, "I'll be back."
When she returned alone, "I see dead people."
Back home, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
That night, "You can't handle the truth."
Next morning, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
#fiction
‘Is he dead?’
‘Yeah. Was he in our class?’
‘Yupp, he was like this even then.’
‘Dead even then?’
‘Damn! Right before lunch.’
I felt like saying, ‘Well, I am the #soul of the party.’
Or, ‘Add spirit to your group.’
I should not have spoiled the school reunion.
#vss365
from
https://gatheredthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-reunion.html
I have written
only once
with no dream of audience -
Words and scenes
filled
those winter hols
(with JPS and Glenfiddich too).
I have made love
only once
with no dream of future -
Trust and pleasure
peaked
that blurred season
(before life went #south forever).
#vss365
I knew the good days wouldn't last.
The #vss365 prompt is once again
Absent in my 'Dictionary for Kindergarten'.
Should I take umbrage at my friends
who still weave such lovely threads?
Creatures of the #Umbra, unite!
You have nothing to lose
But your...what?
Screaming
whining wallowing
cheering fawning –
enough!
#Light-s off
for that stretched
wretched
dredged up play.
Truth denied
senses in chains
for a painful old fantasy –
enough!
To give to get
to live the common way
to hope to dream
say goodbye silently.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/05/saying-goodbye-silently.html
I was sixteen when it was found.
Researchers studied DNA, found we had little in common with siblings or parents.
Some life of some yesterday, #ash or six feet deep, chose to park its soul/DNA/whatever in us.
Sis Aryan, mother African, I Iban and wife Chengiz Khan.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/01/afterlife.html
There was this photo in '#Ambit of Senses'.
On a bed with creased sheet, a woman lies on her side. Facing me.
I know her.
I returned to that every day of the exhibition. Others too.
An old lady brought a friend.
“Look, it’s him.”
“It’s an empty bed. Let’s go.”
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-photo.html
I confess to the priest –
To redeem, escape.
The priest smiles at the ruse –
To revive my life.
I see her everywhere –
A pair, to share, care.
She smiles at the daydream –
To resurrect love.
I smile at bare life –
To bear chanceless void.
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/05/confession.html
"Swapna, give me a sentence with #whelve."
"Ma'am, you always give her easy stuff and keep the tough ones for me."
"Arjun, I gave you the simplest."
"Ma'am, you gave me B-O-A-T-S-W-A-I-N."
"You can't even pronounce it right."
"This world isn't right for real men!"
#vss365
The day he lost his job,
She fought with her boss.
At home,
She muttered #lummox,
He heard flummox,
Said, babe, you're right.
Later,
They laughed
Over that
Or
Forgot that
Or
Used that
Or
Let it fester.
If
Together
Or
Not.
Love
=
Indifference
+-
Random Events.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-equation.html
Playlist from hermetically packed past:
Song for whatshername;
Monica joins Bruce on stage;
Footloose in school;
Dirty dancing with Babe;
Veiled one sexting with songs;
(No song for the other? No #grift? Why?);
Boy band from childhood one;
Rotterdam?!?!?
Then, we died.
#vss365
2023-2073 : The First Golden Era of Martian Rule
Human beings on Ma (aka Earth) experienced freedom without fear of retribution.
But, not even a #quibble was allowed about who was superior/inferior. Thus, religion, caste, gods/demons and most ideologies became history.
#vss365
The last scene of 'The Last Dance' (now showing on Roadway):
[Kris kisses a PYT passionately. Sue watches them with disgust.]
Kris [to Sue]: Why are you still here?
[Sue turns and walks off stage.]
Kris [to PYT]: You too better go.
[PYT leaves.]
[Kris faces the audience. Closes his eyes. Sways to background music. He tries a dance step. Stumbles. He tries again. He throws away the crutches. He stands still, on his one remaining leg. Bends, sways, turns, twirls, flips, pirouettes. The music stops.]
[He goes off script. His moves gather pace, near suicidal.]
[Silence. Even from the audience.]
[Sue returns. Watches his death dance. Approaches him. Slaps him. Hard. Again. Thrice.]
Kris: Why did you...?
Sue: Why do you...?
Kris: I want you...to live. To be happy...successful. Not nursing a dying...
Sue: I want love. Not happiness.
Kris: Don't be an idiot.
Sue: Look who's talking.
[Curtain falls. Silence. Even from the audience.]
[The young man who was Kris whispers, "Did the audience leave?" The lady called Sue replies, "Hush, the mic is still on."]
[Somewhere, on or off stage, someone says, "Fuccc...the last dance!" Someone replies, "Got the title right." Another adds, "That PYT...ooh la la! Who wouldn't dance like that after a kiss like that?"]
#drama
#fiction
Sometimes I feel like a #tokoloshe,
A long way from you, a long way from trouble.
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost burnt,
And a long, long way from you, a long way from trouble.
True deceiver,
A long, long way from any mischief,
A long, long way from any fun.
#cheating
#vss365
(Fill in the extra lines and sing this to the tune of 'Sometimes I feel like a motherless child'.)
I have felt at home
In bars and casinos.
With people like me,
Bare, not pretending.
No idiot talks of freedom
Or glory or fcuking love.
We #dilly-dally, without shame,
Between bets and shots.
With dead eyes with dead hopes,
We admit how wasted we are.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2021/12/bars-and-casinos.html
"How do we catch the serial killers in our group?"
"Elementary, my dear. Use #oleander as the #vss365 prompt."
He gazed at the lush fields; pregnant grey clouds; and, the mist settling like a #diaphanous veil over the hills.
He abruptly shifted his attention to his notebook. Curiosity or a sense of duty made the Librarian check on his activity.
‘How I wish I had not,’ she said.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2012/06/because-of-rain.html
"How much is this?"
"100 yen."
"Give it for $10."
"No, 100 yen, fixed."
"Come on, it's worth only $10."
"Ok 90 yen."
"No way. $10 or I walk."
"Fine."
"These people have no idea about the value of stuff."
#vss365
Long ago, there was a man called I who lived in a world of thoughts. Voiceless, faceless, nameless speech #bubbles followed him wherever he went.
When I made love, I ignored the dissatisfied thoughts, origin unknown.
Then, one speech bubble crept in, ‘I will kill...’
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/02/thoughts-of-man-called-i_23.html
Life is simpler with such words:
#Hiraeth
Hygge
Lagom
Schadenfreude
Vorfreude
Waldeinsamkeil
Eunoia
Sitzpinkler
Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung
Pazhamvizhungi
#vss365
‘If this doesn’t work out, the parting of ways should be amicable.’
‘Ok. I too have a request. Let’s leave the past alone.’
I had hoped to share the past and the future, for #catharsis of the self.
‘Both sides...?’
She raised an eyebrow.
A month later, we got married.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/05/seconds.html
A few months before the markets crashed, he sold his over-priced stocks. The market-#savvy move was based on: one should not have something one does not understand.
Shankar used his new wealth to build a house.
Then, he married a suitable woman.
He too went bust.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/02/is-this-blog-about.html
"Tell me a four letter word to which one can add any vowel at the end to make a new word."
"Fund...
Funda
Funde
#Fundi
Fundo
Fundu"
"Swapna, two of those are slang, I think. But, good try. Anyone else?"
"Fu..."
"No, Arjun, don't even think of it."
#vss365
It is the #season for parties.
A lovely time, a lonely time.
With loved ones, one or the other.
With friends, perfect or expendables.
Excuses to say or hear.
Uninvited, bitter or not.
Names to note or cross.
It is the season for parties.
A lonely time, a lovely time.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/12/parties.html
Apologies for my absence. I was arrested while waiting for the #bar at Betty's Legs to open.
"What's the charge?" I asked the four walls of my gaol.
No reply.
"Kafkaesque," I muttered.
"Writer?" a shadow asked.
"Solicitor."
"What's in a name if it #smells the same?"
#vss365
I was searching for my roots. Found a letter.
'Have you wondered why I left you?...'
I did not read further. I burned it on my palm, hardly feeling the #burn. It was like doing the last rites.
It’s their story, not mine to tell. Will I ever talk about why I left you?
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-i-left-you.html
I was spoiled for choice,
My spirits high,
Rhythm and #meter right.
Then, that cursed doorbell.
A friend of the past,
Grey, gloom-mantled,
Came to say goodbye.
I wish him luck (damn him!), race him out.
I lost lines of love,
The damned poem gone
For a guy called I.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-visitor.html
I got to know the HR policy of my new office in a crowded lift.
Another new guy stood next to the lady from HR. He started groping her. I saw her hand jerk upwards. He coughed, spluttered, eyes filled up, #block-ed his own scream. She had pulled his butt-crack hair.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/09/problem-to-state.html
What will you remember
When a life ends
The stories of valiant deeds
The false #transient notes
Will you dream
Of another’s face
With lingering memories
Suitably mummified
A puppet to stick pins
A convenient prop
Best not to know
What you will remember.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/05/remembrances.html
What would this life be – in the promised hundred – if this be the remembered one?
Born to be one, the heart to pound alone – betrayal, pain, illusions: none!
Any company but #solitude be folly, any thought but oneself is just to be sorry.
#vss365
from
https://discardedthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2009/10/releasing-blood.html
My July vacation? Being the chaperon of religious girls in bikinis who talk about their boyfriend isn’t a break! OK, I need not have been the recluse or the talkative social bore. Ah! It's good to be in the arms of #Solitude before she changes her name to Loneliness.
#vss365
from
https://discardedthoughts-swapna.blogspot.com/2009/07/from-cargese-to-akathumuri.html
