Borders are but Lines

The earth, at the time of its origin, must have been just a place – just ‘one’ place – plants, creatures, land, water, and all. As humans evolved, we started drawing lines – lines of division. We divided ourselves into different lands, religions, cultures, colours, languages and whatnot. We called continents by different names and divided them into nations, states, districts, etc. The land was divided by invisible lines, with visible physical markings of course. And what’s more, we divided the waters too. We called the oceans and seas by different names.

These borders are but lines. Thanks to the human desire for power and profit, we crossed the lines, which we ourselves had drawn. We erased and defined the lines over and over again through the centuries. Somewhere along the way, we forgot we were part of the earth. We felt we were supervisors and controllers of the earth. Things had come to such a pass that we were heading for a rude awakening from our stupor. And we have. We have awakened from the stupor we had fallen into. We have woken up to find new lines of division. And this time they are not drawn by us. They are drawn by a small, tiny virus.

The continents, nations, states, and cities, and their names are not relevant anymore. The entire world is now divided into three – red, orange and green. These zones are forever variable. The lines may fade at any time and reappear in different places. Those places that were known as green could become orange or red in a matter of minutes. And that shouldn’t make any difference to most of us, as we are better off confined within our own four walls.

So also have the languages evolved. Languages are mere words to speak our minds, to communicate. Human minds across the earth are all the same. They are happy, sorrowful, angry or whatever in the same way for the same reasons. Just like the borders, the languages have also merged to form new ones. Today humans speak the same language the world over. The words they speak may be different, but they all mean the same – ‘Stay home’, ‘stay safe’, ‘stay sanitized’, etc.

We are now similar even in the way we dress. A dress is what we choose to wear to suit mainly our life, style and the climate. Today we may choose to wear different kinds of clothes, but we make sure we wear a mask too. That takes care of our appearance, colour, etc. Now, don’t we look like we belong to the same planet?

The earth has gone back to becoming just ‘one’ place after all. It took this tiny, invisible thing to bring us together. It may be tiny, but it wields a lot of power. It may be invisible, but it’s present everywhere. And the lines, or the borders, drawn are such that they vary every minute. They are in such a fluid state that we need to watch the TV every day the first thing in the morning, and several times through the day, to find out which zone we actually belong to at that specific moment. Red, orange or green?

[As published on https://indusscrolls.com/borders-are-but-lines/]

Fare

PC:prabhatkhabar.com

Who erased

the diners’ names

from these food grains?

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[Another lockdown tragedy. “Sixteen migrant labourers, who were trying to return to their home State Madhya Pradesh on foot, were killed on Friday when a goods train ran over them…From initial reports, it appears that they started walking on Thursday evening from Jalna and after walking 40 km and exhausted by their journey, decided to rest on the track, where they fell asleep. They were planning to walk to Bhusaval but tragedy struck.” (May 08, 2020 – thehindu.com)]

Lockdown: The Questions Unlocked

The lockdown continues. Unfortunately, the uncertainty also continues – of our lives, our health, our jobs. Fortunately, the majority of us have started thinking positively, as evidenced by the social media, perhaps because we have no other go. Those of us who have a little something on our platter have learnt to count our blessings by looking at those who are, sadly, left with nothing. I belong to the former group – at least to date. While I am counting my blessings, this lockdown also poses countless questions in my mind. The answers, we already know.

It all began with a visit to the hospital. The outpatient waiting area, which used to overflow with patients and their families, wore a deserted look. What happens during lockdown to all those patients who would otherwise throng the OP waiting rooms of hospitals? At least some of them would have recovered without a medical consult? Maybe what they needed was just a bit of rest after all? Perhaps it’s high time that we dig up the homely remedies that our grandparents taught us but we refused to learn? Perhaps we have finally learnt our lesson?

My wardrobe – the one for my ‘better’ clothes – has not been opened for a long time. That could be the case with a lot of people. This leads to another question. Just how large should our wardrobes be to keep us looking ‘decent’ and ‘appropriate’, while maintaining the ‘image’ that we think we have so carefully put in place? Who cares about this image anyway? How many times do you look at yourself in the mirror nowadays? So we have, and we always had, enough to give away (at least a few) to those less privileged than us?

That leads to another question. How much shopping do we actually need to do? And how much food, healthy or otherwise, do we actually need to satiate our hunger or craving for indulgence? So we have, and we always had, enough to feed (at least a few) who are needy and hungry?

The skills, the talents we were born with – how much time do we spend to nurture them, considering they are also our blessings? Not everyone is born a singer, dancer, writer, artist, or sportsperson. Haven’t we all ignored our inherent talents in our rush towards the so-called success? And at last we realise the success that we built up over years can be wiped away by a tiny virus in a matter of days.

And what about that holiday we so badly wanted with our family, but we saved the money instead? And the time we could have spent with our loved ones, but we worked instead? The questions are umpteen. Of course, there are reasons why we did what we did. But there are some things that we could have done a bit more and some that we could have done a bit less.

Finally, we find that today nature is a better place, with the human beings properly locked up and the rest of the beings let free. We find that the flora and fauna are thriving, but not humans. Perhaps we are wrong there. Humans are also part of nature. Humans belong to nature. This is something that we forgot in this long journey of existence. If the plants and animals are happy, surely we should be happy too? Surely we should be thriving too? Have we missed something here? Perhaps we have. Humans are a thinking species. They are able to think and make their choices. It’s up to us to think, very deeply, and make the right choices. It’s up to us to review the three S’s in our lives – the surpluses, the savings, and the sacrifices. What exactly is ‘less’ and what is ‘more’? What are we saving for? Who are we sacrificing for? Perhaps this lockdown has given us a chance to think about the fourth S – about living in ‘sync’ with nature. About living in sync with who we truly are. 

[As published on Indus Scrolls: https://indusscrolls.com/lockdown-the-questions-unlocked/]

Looking Within to See Beyond

Looking Within and Beyond by V. V. B. Rama Rao is certainly a collection of poems that will make the readers look within themselves and beyond the world around them. With the poems presenting a panorama of expressions, one is acutely conscious of the poet’s emotions in response to the world around him and, many a time, his response to himself.

The first poem, Beauty and the Feast, is full of devotion to the Supreme where the poet concludes, “What is saundarya if it doesn’t bless one with bhakti!” In The Seer’s Eye, where the Seer says that vultures “with crooked beaks” will be “transformed into white doves”, the poet is confidently optimistic. The lines “Swishing under walkers’ morning feet/Searing freezing breeze/Sieved through flannel sleeves” are testimonies to the poet’s sensitive perception which makes him see the subtlest of the subtle things around him.

Down-to-Earth is a medley of emotions, but this reader’s mind was filled with a lingering ache, which might resonate in every reader’s heart, by the lines thrown so casually amidst the array of emotions:

Many times a day
See I my mother, unexpectedly, tired and wan
In a milling crowd on the street, eyes downcast
Treading slowly, a balancing act: a fall may spell ruin
Reaching the mill in time, a feat, a miracle, everyday

Sometimes there is a detached observation of people as in the poem, Look Within:

A mask is not the face
We see masks, only masks
Not always the faces.
A face can wear many a mask.
....
Some have only masks – no face at all.

The poem, Morbidity, is full of empathy where the poet talks of the patient whose “day breaks without dawn” and “night falls without twilight or dusk,” whose “world shrinks to fourteen by fourteen” and “the window opens when the weather condescends”.

The poet’s in-depth understanding of the scriptures is reflected in poems such as Being. He throws light on how “experience is transient” and “realization everlasting”. He emphasises the need to reconcile with yourself, “never falling out with ‘that’” and “making peace with yourself”. He is unwavering in his conviction when he ends the poem with, “I’d be at peace with myself”.

Asking for the moon (figuratively or otherwise) is the ultimate one could ask for. But the poet surprises you when he shakes even the moon from its pedestal when he writes, “I don’t ask for the moon/For, who knows, when mountains move/She might come down!” in the poem Asking for the Moon. And then he makes you sit up and face ground reality – “The Mahatma has to come again/For another righteous hungry silence/For a poor man anger is suicidal/In people’s rule, not all people share the pinch/Not all have the needed punch” in Fighting Back.

“For another righteous hungry silence” – this is a line that has packed into it not only the great phenomenon, the Mahatma, but also the essence of a whole era of India’s struggle for independence. The poet can be quite sarcastic too as he says “Three jeers for Demonocracy”. In the poem “What I Believe”, the poet is, again, a seeker.

The leela is not that of the instrument
It is the wielder – not always believed
That does it.
Do you know the wielder, I don’t know.

As one reads through the poems in Looking Within and Beyond, one feels one is slowly but steadily guided from the ‘basic and material’ to the ‘higher and spiritual’ realms. Hurry up, Please, It’s Time resounds with a kind of calm resignation.

When conscience spews disgust at yourself
When looking back becomes painful
When it dawns that the clock cannot be set back
When no amends are possible
When you want to die and you cannot.
When you don’t wish to live but pulling on is imperative
When you trudge alone, along stormy, murky rank-smelling
paths.
Realize the past cannot be brushed away.

Bedside seems to be an autobiographical poem. A Sigh and Relief is thought provoking – None has power all along/Waves that surge retreat too/Living goes on/Nothing remains. Memory seems to be a very casual poem until it concludes.

It flashes for no reason at all
A whiff of a thing forgotten long ago
From the distant insignificant past
...
A memory may not have any purpose.

The poet again and again, through his lines, compels you to think. And to what end?

Acquisition of Jnana is the goal
Think, think, think!
– Till mundane things fade
Then may emanate radiance
Slowly, slowly, steadily.

The above are the lines from the poem Coming of Age. The poet is sometimes cynical as in Strategic?! (“Hearts are in great need/But not a seller yet/Strategies can be worked out in a jiffy/God save the intending seller”) and sometimes sarcastic, or even bitter, as in In a Dust Haze (“Contented citizenry make the sky clear and blue/Endure – swallow the bitter – show sweetness/That’s all we can do and should do – to stay alive.”)

The poet’s command of various languages is clear in his style of writing. He uses apt phrases in different languages to add flavour to the subjects his poems deal with. Let me conclude with two of his poems that reveal the essence of poetry – his poetry. While Kittening and Penning is about the ecstatic high in the creation of poetry, Poetic Sensibility is about the sheer experience of enjoying poetry.

Imagination, ever extant and breathing
Needs a spur – call it a spark divine
An inspiration – frenzy too,
Orgasmic feeling of satiety,
The radiance of a rapturous thought. (Kittening and Penning)

Not just – either sweet or savory
Never for munching, gulping or gobbling
Never is that to be hurried
It’s like a kid’s licking a lozenge to stay long
Nectar on the sweet-heart’s lips (Poetic Sensibility)

V. V. B. Rama Rao’s collection of poems is exactly like that lozenge the kid licks and rolls in his mouth ever reluctant to swallow, for, one wouldn’t want to hurry through its sweet and savoury flavours.

[As published in boloji.com]

Footprints

Pic Courtesy: Krishna Das

Footprints

Two small pairs of feet

toddling, tottering,

falling one over the other,

chasing one another,

but always running together

into far stretches of time

alas go different ways,

one leaves a steady trail

on the golden sands

of the world beaches,

the other runs helter-skelter

on the local terrain.

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