THE NEW AND THE OLD

With every added year there are

new things to do.

New friends to make,

new places to go,

new heights to scale.

It’s all about the new…

What’s old is safe.

What’s new is true!

What’s new is exciting!

What’s old passé.

Familiarity breeds contempt, they say.

Ever wondered why?

Its coz how we are, I say!

We have started to live for change.

We have started to live by change.

Our minds are synced to change.

And we won’t have it any other way.

Change is good.

Change is progress.

Change cleanses.

Change heals.

Why call old gold then?

What’s precious is supposed to matter.

And nothing old matters anymore.

Old clothes, old cellphones, old jobs, old friends, old people…

Our past was our present someday.

And that day what’s now old mattered.

It doesn’t anymore…

Why doesn’t it anymore?

POETRY

Poetry isn’t born in a vacuum.

You don’t just sit one day and decide that you are going to come up with a masterpiece, because when you do, you don’t even come close.

Neither can you sit everyday, pen in hand, and expect to churn out (good) poetry.

You’ve got to go on with life instead; because life itself is the best stimulant.

And when you shall have inspiring moments in your life, you shall have your masterpiece.

It won’t matter then that you can’t write poetry.

Because poetry isn’t about words, it’s about thoughts.

Hardly anyone can claim the distinction of having expressed every thought thought of as thought of, every feeling felt as felt.

But we all do think and feel deeply.

And in those moments, no word-poetry matters; because in those moments poetry was in your thoughts.

And that shall remain the most magical poetry that you shall ever know.

I intended this post to be an article on the crises in Japan. I had already begun arranging my thoughts – details of the quake, the resulting Tsunami, the known extent of damage, the ongoing nuclear crisis, first person accounts and the like. ‘Nothing not already known’ I thought to myself. I didn’t want to write about apocalyptic predictions either. Preaching on man-going-against-nature-and-nature-taking-it’s-revenge wasn’t an option either (Everyone who’s anyone is getting all preachy on Japan!). So I gave up.

Last night I woke up to the realisation that the reason for not having written about the events in Japan was none of the above. I knew I’d have my own story to tell, perhaps I was waiting for it. Last night I found it – As I lay on my bed, I looked back on the last few days. From the moment my Dad had rushed home with the news right until then, Japan had dominated my thoughts. Everything was so surreal to me. An earthquake of that scale, the onslaught of the Tsunami and the looming nuclear crisis. I devoured newspaper articles on Japan, I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV imagery, I couldn’t get enough of the coverage, always wanting more. I couldn’t even understand people who didn’t talk earthquake-Tsunami-nuclear crisis (How could people be so unfeeling? I thought. It could have been here and it could have been them!) It was then that a little voice in my head asked – Do you feel so deeply because it could have been here and it could have been you? When I came up with my answer I was glad I hadn’t written the run-of-the-mill article with facts and analyses and comments. When I came up with my answer I knew that even an attempt at expressing my feelings would fall short because when I came up with my answer I knew that I felt what I did though it may never be here and it may never be me.

Dedicated to each and everyone affected by the quake and resulting Tsunami that hit Japan on the 11^th of March 2011. Dedicated in particular to those 50 faceless and nameless workers who struggled on at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant when the others evacuated and to those who, even as I write, risk their lives to make others’ safe.            

FRIENDSHIP

There's no doubt about what was special about this evening (the 23^rd of February, 2011). It was meeting up with 3 of my closest friends. Even as I write this I ponder upon the word 'friend', I ponder upon the word ‘friendship’. People try to define words like 'friend/friendship' and 'love' and 'life' all the time. To me, they defy definition. Friendship isn't and can never be about certain things alone. It can be about anything, it can be about nothing in particular and everything in general. Today, to me –

Friendship was knowing that the 4 of us would be together after ages. Friendship was in the wait for the others to show up. Friendship was when 3 of us (crouched into the dark corner of our table to not be seen) burst out laughing (and gave ourselves away) at the exasperated expression of our 4^th (very expressive) friend squinting in the dark looking for us. Friendship was when we met and hugged. Friendship was when post-hugs we checked out one another to pass comments and found our topics for the evening – weight (“You sure lost weight doing what you did at that place where you went”), hair (“So this is the new haircut huh” “I’m going to get my hair cut next week” “You didn’t know that she can’t get her hair cut?” “I’m balding (and into bald men)”, bags (“I bought a new bag” “Mine’s the same old” “I saw one like yours” “I’ve never seen this bag of yours”), clothes (“Someone’s all decked-up and looking sexy” “Only you say so” “I’m sure he says so too” “There’s news on the he-and-me front” “You b**ch why am I never in the loop?”). Friendship was when from clothes we had suddenly moved on to boys and when then there was no stopping us. Friendship was when in our attempts at catching-up we started confiding and toasting to our revelations (“I have something personal to tell, 2 things actually” “I topped my class” “I don’t know what I’m going to do in life” “I have a crush”). Friendship was when we giggled out loud when one of us remembered a night of a summer vacation we spent together (much like the one today) that involved a certain Joey-peeing-on-Monica joke. Friendship was when one of us asked whether not feeling something was a problem and the remaining 3 pounced on her and what followed was a long tirade of 3:1 counselling. Friendship was when one of us cornered another in the loo (“Hey, I want to talk about that thing you said back there” “Sure” “I feel this way all the time” “Don’t worry, I do too”). Friendship was in knowing we’d never break our friendship code (“Never tell your boyfriend what your girlfriend tells you about her and her boyfriend” “Hell, never tell anybody”). Friendship was in planning what we’d do this summer (“Go Goa” “Let’s go abroad” “I don’t mind down South, Kerala perhaps” “Let’s go abroad” “I want to go someplace where we can explore” “Let’s go abroad” “Haridwar anyone?” “Haridwar it is”). Friendship was in, first not wanting to spend a bomb on eating (“It’s bloody expensive here”), then in collectively oohing and aahing at the delicious aromas and in finally ordering whatever we wanted anyways. Friendship was in gazing at the huge screen (displaying the Kenya-Pakistan cricket match) and talking all-at-once about cricket (“Let’s watch the crucial Indian team matches together” “Crucial would be India-England, India-S.Africa” “What about India-Pakistan and India-Australia” “They aren’t in the same group, wait they are, no they aren’t, okay nevermind” “I hate Pakistani cricketers, did you see Kamran Akmal’s face?”). Friendship was in glancing at our watches all-at-once and realizing that we had to leave and in having to leave let go of our unfinished conversations for some other day like this. Friendship was in the unspoken thought that some other day like this would probably not happen for a while. Friendship was in walking 1 of our friends to the bus-stop because she had a long ride back to her place. Friendship was in talking loudly (“I love Modern Family” “I love Mitchell and Cameron” “I love their Vietnamese baby”) and giggling foolishly (“You told your mother what?” “Hehe, now that’s funny”) as we waited for the bus (which as it turned out wouldn’t show up at that time and this we learned from the ‘chana-chor-garam wala’). Friendship was in then coaxing an auto-driver to give all 4 of us a ride in his rickshaw. Friendship was in seeing one of our friends (who stays in good old South Bombay and was nervous about train-travel-at-this-hour and whom we coaxed with ‘we suburbians give you our reassurances’) board the train. Friendship was then in the rest of us explaining to our parents that we’d be late because we were ‘nibhaooing’ friendship in first waiting for a bus for our nervous-train-traveller-friend and then seeing her board the train safely. Friendship was in those things that we talked about and did and that it’s fun to talk about and do but not to mention on your blog. Friendship was in those things that definitely happened but I didn’t gather or that I missed mentioning.

Friendship was in the final knowledge that it was an evening well-spent.

Friendship was in nothing in particular and everything in general.

BACK TO BLOGGING

Life comes a full circle. Its one of those lines that strike you as profound but whose truth you must experience to appreciate. Just like when people exclaim 'life's complicated' and you wonder why until the day you find yourself proclaiming those very words. My life (as concerns blogging) has come a full circle. I started writing at the behest (was it really a behest? I'd say more of a suggestion) of a dear friend. Never really thought much about my thoughts until she told me that I must. Talking is all good, writing is another ball game altogether. And I was never good with games (much less ball games). She thought I was decent. And then I thought 'It doesn't matter'. I wanted to write. To hell with whether I'm good at it or not. To hell with worrying as to whether my writing matters or makes a difference to anyone. It makes a difference to me because I write about things that matter to me... And thats what I'd say to anyone who thinks about writing - write not because what you write must matter to others, write because what you write must matter to you, write because you want to write...

And so with the telephone conversation yesterday with my same dear friend I decided 'It's time to write again'. Hopefully, today onwards 'Net Diaries' will be just that - A diary chronicling what mattered to me most that day...

And so this circle is complete...

The next time I'll be going around in a circle I hope I find you again Kruti Trivedi. 

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY

To all of us who've written off our nation's development story as a hopeless end, let this day serve as a constant reminder that decades ago our nation's freedom story was forged only because our forefathers lived in endless hope.

It was this endless hope that made them constantly strive for independence, it was this endless hope that made them entrust power to us, the people.

India is what we've made it to be, what we'll make it to be...

Proud to be Indian.

Jai Hind.

TEARS

Tears do fall so freely

And as they do, they take away

A part of you that will never be

The way it used to be.

They rob you of yourself.

And you never know till its late,

Too late to take back tears

Too late to make amends.

Oh yes, time does rule

over the kingdom of man.

Man must abide & stick by its rules

For time decides what you lose;

And what you get,

Time decides whether you keep.

Tears do fall so freely

And you don’t remain ‘you’.

Each tear takes away something,

Something to keep.

Each tear robs you of joy

And then makes you cry when you are joyous

So perhaps you are compensated that way…

But then, when have compensations

ever made up for human loss?

STAR-GAZING

These tiny little things

that shine from so far away

Are they really

what they are made out to be?

Dead parents at times

and wish-granters at others

Curious have you made us all.

What you are I wonder?

Night after night

As I sit here by my bed

At the skies I gaze

And you never cease to amaze.

For every night you change

And yet you are all the same

Yet something different to me you mean

Every night the way I wanna make you seem…

EMPTINESS

It's a feeling beyond words

This feeling called 'emptiness'

Because it really has nothing to it

And that's what makes it worse...

Not knowing what it means

Not knowing how it makes you feel

Not knowing what is

Not knowing what is to be...

IS THE RECESSION REALLY OVER?

2007-08 saw the onset of what has gone down in the archives of economic history as the longest financial crisis since World War II. Recession had struck the U.S. World economies (including those of the U.K., Japan, China, India and Germany) were floundering owing to reduced liquidity, sector price inflation in food and energy and the U.S. downturn. Production, employment, investment spending, household incomes, business profits, stock markets all plunged while bankruptcies and unemployment rates were at record highs. Governments responded – money supply was increased and so was government spending, taxation was slashed, banks were bailed out.

2009-10 saw proclamations the world over that the worst had passed and recession was at an end. Several luminaries and most commoners begged to differ. When the NBER (the official arbiter of recessions in the U.S.) declared the recession “officially over”, scores of Americans who were either unemployed or underemployed weren’t celebrating. Bollywood-besotted Indians were told that the recession was over when film-star remuneration packages, which had dwindled during the recession, soared through the roof. The Indian commoner, now besotted with working harder than ever just to stay afloat, wasn’t paying attention. “Russia has overcome recession” said Russian PM Vladimir Putin but when he added in the same breath that “This does not mean that the economic crisis in the country is over”, I doubt that even the Russians were buying!  

The critics argued that these were just attempts at infusing false hopes in floundering economies and to substantiate this they cited unemployment rates, retail sales, the possibility of a double dip and political agenda, among other things.

So, is the recession really over? With both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers to this question and no standard measure for an objective analysis, the answer depends really on who you ask. While most economists, policy makers, industrialists and leaders have declared it over (for reasons ranging from academics to politics), the common man can’t help but ask – Have they spoken too soon?

The debate stems from the fact that while academicians consider a recession over when the economy gets back on the recovery path, the common man contends it isn't over until the damage is repaired.

So, while over for all academic (and perhaps, political) purposes, recession stretches on for the common man…