The Doggerel of Love

Water without motion
Has no meaning;
Human without emotions
Has no being.

Love gets reflected in sweet emotions;
And, becomes the symphony of life
In turn, the respondent gives healing touch of compassion,
Placing you on a pedestal to thrive.

Togetherness unfolds pleasure trove.
Singleness questions: Why to survive?
Love and to be loved make you move,
Confluence of bodies, then to souls, is love sublime.

Fountain mingles river; river confluences with ocean,
Soul permeates the body,
So on and so forth.
Why to live alone?
Someone’s bosom heaves for you on the earth

Sunlight kisses the verdant earth;
Moonbeam lights up the placid lake;
If your love don’t caress someone’s heart,
Why to live alone that looks so fake.

Wind gently strokes the serene sea;
Clouds cuddle in one another’s embrace;
Nectar of flowers is slurped by the bee;
Place your amorous mark on chosen cherubic face.

Choicest creation of the Supreme divine
Why do you sublimate the burning desire?
Let rock to the rhythm divine,
Only the heavy downpour pacifies the fire.

Must give your life a meaning,
If you are born human being.

Shalimar the Clown

Frankly speaking, I haven't read so far Salman Rushdie's latest magnum opus "Shalimar the Clown". But, I came across a review of the book in the September 12, Issue of Outlook magazine. The review was done by none other than Amit Chaudhuri, himself a known Anglophone Indian writer.

Truly in the league of witty literati, Chaudhuri explored the genesis of Indian writing while reviewing with the publication of Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" that inspired almost whole generation of writers and catapulted Indian novelists on the international scene. Quite judiciously, the reviewer averred "Indian writing in English, since Rushdie, has participated in a subtle but significant shift in register in the way India views itself and others: from a once-colonised nation "finding its voice", to quote from V.S. Pritchett’s review of Midnight’s Children, to a player on the world stage with a ‘say’ in the world."

Since then, the reviewer instead of analyzing the book seemingly fumbled and meandered into the narrative style of Indian writing that to him is devoid of values and excitements which had once brought him into the fascinated world of writing. He tried to review the book in the backdrop of the writer’s earlier novels, and found the new novel in the process of making and unmaking, and made a conclusive remark that “Rushdie sounds less like himself than a writer who’s under the compunction to manufacture a ‘major’ work. Somewhere, I feel the reviewer left the readers in lurch and didn’t delve into a taut analysis of the book, which we expect from a writer of his calibre.

Stress Relieving

Stress is a scourge of modern times.
Present in the lives of all and sundry
Affecting people regardless of their stages in life.
All striving hard to get relieved of it, putting life in quandary

Stress is of various kinds-physical, emotional and intellectual;
Modern gizmos actually increasing working habits,
Making extra stress at physical level
Emotional stress disharmonizes human relationships.
Raking moolah become the avowed principle of world material,
Putting stress on philosophical and intellectual bearing.

Within the very letters can be found the answer to STRESS:
S stands for strength: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.
Strength – givers like love, compassion and friendship keep you afresh
Spirituality enhances the inner strength, makes our life peaceful
T stands for thoughts control that help regulate our thoughts, needless and trash

R is for re- design, a readjustment or reorientation in our philosophy,
Forbids us to see the world around with preconceived notion
That enhances our capacity to bear stress without much difficulty.
E stands for erase’ the ego, anger, fear and jealousy are negative emotions,
Leading to mental weakness, causing stress that reduces efficiency.
S is for sharing: share your wealth, knowledge, workload and apprehension
S stands for submit yourself to God, free your mind from the weight of anxieties,
The Almighty will get you free from stress and provide you with peace and relaxation.

Finding A Career In Technology Driven Market

In the age of Information Technology and global economy, every phenomenon is getting changed with alacrity. Technology progresses and challenges everyone to adapt to new ways of living and working. The phrase “24/7” has entered the psyche of everyone right from the CEOs to executives at the lower rung of an organisation. Yes, the world has changed, and changed substantially. What is in vogue today becomes a passing fad tomorrow. New concepts, new technologies, new pursuits, have been churning out in the global economy.
What needs to be done in such a highly competitive field of business? There are a few people, who want to survive rather thrive at any cost and do anything to change the tides flowing against them, are often very competitive by nature, viewing everything as a challenge or competition, well-equipped to survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. But for those of us who are not by nature quite so competitive need to imbibe certain well drawn strategies to be successful in their career pursuits.
What type of career do you dream about? The days of working for the same company for a lifetime are long gone and in some industries having one job for a significant period of time is frowned upon rather than considered an asset. There's no easy answer, but here are some of the key rules that can help us succeed:
Rule 1: Motivation is the sutra of success.
The sutra to understanding personal motivation is to recognize what actually energizes you, what kinds of career, activities, people, and situations are personally stimulating and fulfilling. For Avaneesh Mathur, a business analyst, teamwork and a spirit of innovation are the keys to sustaining motivation. Avaneesh changes careers every three or four years when he feels that his environment is resistant to change. After each job change, he finds himself re-energised by a new set of challenges and teammates.
Surekha Sikri, on the other hand, is energized and motivated by the need to make a contribution. She needs to feel like her work matters and makes a difference. This need convinced Surekha to switch from banking to insurance. Both professions involve a bottom-line mentality, but now she enjoys using her ingenuity and people skills to convince people to go for an insured life.
Rule 2: Success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.
Any spectacular rise takes preparation and hard work. Thomas Edison once remarked that “a genius is a talented person who does his homework.” It’s not enough to be ambitious. The world is filled with ambition. And the path to success is littered with discarded dreams and disillusioned people who never achieved the recognition or success they felt they deserved.
It is a wise saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” There’s a learning curve -- the so-called “journey.” The lessons and skills you learn on the path to accomplishment can be as rewarding as the goal itself.
Indeed, it’s wiser to think in terms of “everyday successes” or little wins, rather than focus on the giant jackpot. Little wins add up to big wins and are more easily achievable. These little victories are the building blocks of a good reputation, the name you acquire for yourself through your work.
Rule 3: Go after your dream
Missions are the values or dreams that drive super achievers to pursue excellence. Even dream jobs can be hard work, but, it does make life much easier when you are doing something you love.
Rule 4: Honour your talents
The more we are able to develop our many intelligences that include linguistic, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, emotional, interpersonal, and interpersonal intelligences, the more capable and evolved we will become. Understanding yourself as a multifaceted individual with many talents and possibilities also enables you to expand your vision of your own career potential.
Many ambitious people don’t invest fully in their own talents. When you commit yourself to developing your full potential, you’ll enjoy the career-building process more because you won’t be focusing exclusively on external rewards. The process of growing and developing all your abilities can be inherently satisfying and allow you to create a unique and meaningful career path.
Rule 5: Manage yourself
You can win the rat race and still be a rat. But if you manage your self well, you can win the rat race without turning into a rat. This involves developing a good working relationship with your thoughts, feelings and actions.
Your feelings can be your ally. Use them to create and accomplish meaningful goals, rather than engage in self-sabotage. Between feeling and productive action lies rational thought. Before acting spontaneously on negative feelings, calm down and then develop and implement an effective action plan.
Rule 6: Take calculated risks
When building a career in the competitive world, you must be willing to take risks to reap the rewards of risks taken. Obviously, this requires knowing how to differentiate real danger from fantasy. Not every stranger is dangerous, nor is every job or career change a high-wire act.
A solution to successful risk-taking is knowing your risk tolerance level. To do that, you must be able to evaluate the possible repercussions of your decisions and live with the worst-case scenario. Let me tell you that what many otherwise ambitious careerists fail to understand is that not taking a risk is also a risk. There’s a risk involved in not trying and along with the risk of failing, there’s the risk of regret. Instead of having risk of regret, better you should take a well calculated risk.
Professionally speaking, your place to stand is where you settle on to plant your feet in the world of work—whether in the courtroom, laboratory, classroom, on stage, or in front of a computer. It’s where you feel comfortable enough to practice your craft, exercise your skill or demonstrate your leadership.
So, imbibe these rules in your perception and day to day activities, if you want to make a niche for yourself in the competitive world. Be alert and flexible in your approach let you find a career of your choice.

Perseverance: Success Mantra

Perseverance is a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity can achieve a glorious success.
---Ambrose Bierce

Romesh tried his hands at starting his transport business that failed ultimately. After re-evaluating his experience, he opened another transport business. Romesh has now chain of transport agencies across the country.

The moral of the anecdote is that one should continue with the vocation one is pursuing, and should not stop trying or making conscious efforts towards one’s pursuit. If you keep trying diligently, dedicatedly, and doggedly you are sure to achieve your goal against all vicissitudes. One never fails in one’s first attempt, and if one keeps trying. As a matter of fact, failure occurs when we quit or stop trying. Do you know what Romesh has which most of us don’t have. Romesh has perseverance – the determination to continue. According to the dictionary, perseverance is an act of persisting in a state, enterprise or undertaking in spite of counter influences, opposition or discouragement.

As it has always been, perseverance is the basic ingredient for success. After several attempts to make the electric light bulb, Thomas Edison said, “I haven’t failed, I’ve identified 10,000 ways that it doesn’t work.” There is an endless list of other great achievers, who found that success inevitably arrives for every person who perseveres.

You may find it difficult to acquire a job of your choice; or, you may find it difficult to succeeding at ventures that present volumes of difficulties. But it is part of the learning process. At the end of the day, people who persevere become successful. Those who earnestly learn from the mistakes committed eventually become successful.

Do you have the instinct to persevere? Or, do you quit or let it go after meeting rejection or difficulties? First, let’s have a quick test to evaluate your Perseverance Quotient. Rate yourself on a scale of one to three, one being low and three being high, on each of the following:

I believe in myself.
I have a fixed notion.
I deal with my limitations.
I pull through from disappointments.
I have the stamina to persist.
I am flexible enough and quickly get adapted to change.
I concentrate and complete assignments at hand.
My goals are consistent with my purpose and values.

Get a total of your scores. The higher your score, the more perseverant you are.


Now, somewhere you feel that you should have more perseverance than what you have at present. You want to be more persistent with your efforts. Of course, you need to work on it to move further in life. You need to imbibe more of perseverance within you to get success. Given are the rules to enhance perseverance within:

Identify your goal. Base it on your mission/passion, needs and abilities. You need to understand why you want your goal and how you and others will benefit.

Clarify your goal in the present. To clarify your goal , you need to write desired outcomes, what you want to accomplish from your targeted aim . In addition, you need to be detailed, specific, and positive.


Be determined to achieve. It is also essential to have the vigour to achieve your purpose, and you have to have determination to achieve it. To achieve your objective, you should outline strategies and timeline . In addition, you must be aware of your resources that can help you attain your ambition, such as people, associations and the Internet.


Develop support systems. You should meet regularly with positive, encouraging people who support your objective and celebrate your achievements. Select other sources of positive reinforcement such as books or tapes with uplifting themes.

Have productive attitudes and behaviors. Don’t dwell in the past, worry about what might happen or view yourself as a victim. Never succumb to negative thoughts.

Remain Optimist. Reinforce the positive in yourself and others. Expect good things. Watch self-talk. Replace negative thoughts or statements with positive ones. Acknowledge your accomplishments. Judge your accomplishments against personal standards of self-improvements. Live in the present.

Have the courage of your convictions. Don’t change for others or compare yourself with others. Develop the will to risk. Don’t worry about what might happen. Don’t fear mistakes and worst. View mistakes as opportunities to grow. Decide whether you could live with the worst or take steps to reduce the chance of it happening.

Reduce negative outcomes. For example, meet successful people who have achieved similar goals. Learn from their mistakes.

Keep a healthy lifestyle. Do care for you mind, body, emotions and spirit. Schedule quiet times to think and reassess. Practise some sort of stress relievers such as deep breathing, exercise, meditation. Get sufficient sleep, eat healthy. Take time for fun and friends.

So, persist with these activities and be focused. Keep in mind that with every “no” of defeat you’re closer to a “yes” of success. If you learn from set-backs and stay determined, success will follow. Every day, at regular intervals, ask yourself whether your activities are helping you attain you’re the ambition. Believe you’ll attain your goal. Just persevere, you can achieve the extraordinary.

The Everlasting Kiss

My darling, so passionate about me; your love
For me never fade.
The only truth of our long-lasting bond
Has to stay.

I have made a tryst with you
One day, I’ll fall for you.
Leaving behind my joy & pain,
My agony & ecstasy, my losses & gains.

No temptation could be bigger than to embrace your heaving bosom.
Who has not been mesmerized by your bewitching charm?
Nobody has the courage to breach your trust and faith.

Tell me-
How could I nerve to refuse the kiss of death?

Why do I write?

Why do I write? Why do I want to write?
Perhaps, I have the impulse to guide
Probably, I don’t have other know-how to survive
But most of the time, I feel the urge to write

I pen the emotion; I make a living out of emotions
I’ve developed an obsessive compulsion
Of observing around me many a thing and phenomenon

Sometimes I recollect, sometimes I let me fly
High and high in the imagination’s sky,
A white broad sheet of paper becomes my canvas to paint
On which pent-up frustrations, sometimes, do defecate
One day, I cast gloom
Other day, I predict bloom

All said and done, I write to defy the fear of mortality
I suffer too, from the pang of immortality

Nostalgia

At the twilight zone of my life
Lived enough, time is just passing by
I see a child lying-down on his mother’s lap
Listening to her crooning with affectionate tap
On his temple, while the dusty smell of raining outside
Sneaking into the nook and cranny of the room inside

The child tugging at her sari’s free end
To let him free to be danced and drenched
In the rain. The bout of nostalgia left me enervated
The child within wept uncontrollably for his mother, long dead

Today, I am father of a grown-up son
In the twilight zone, still searching in him my mother’s lost son

The dirge of mortals

We are plain mortals doomed to be dead
Mortals are forgotten for immortals,
Who keep immortals alive to be cherished by Generation Next
We, the mortals who remember immortals.

Immortality thrives on mortality
Frailties of mortals make you stand apart
Captivated, inspired, enthralled by the lotus’ beauty,
It is the mud, dirt and mirth; adds juice to its birth
Truth prevails at the expense of lies
If there is no black (wrong), how to validate the white (right)

We die unsung to let your fame fly.
We, dwarf, giving every meaning to your height.
Never forget the simple reality
You blossom and bloom out of us.
Immortality piggybacks on mortality
Don’t mitigate our dearth with any fuss