When I'm gone

When I'm gone

will the earth mourn

like my lover forlorn

waiting for his princess

from the grave to return ?

What people call death

I call it ecstasy, for

it frees the soul from

the pettiness of life

which entangles the loveless

morons in the cage of the body,

the body is buried

for fear of putrefaction

as the awakened soul that loves,

and waits for the lover's return.

When I'm gone

let not my lover weep

his heart out o' god

don't give me such vile ears,

but those who are hungry

to listen to my voice, bless them

to live the pain

when I'm gone.

I pray for Love's serenity

let my sweet love create waves

and become the priest of love

when I'm​ gone.

Sabita Sahu

STYLE

                                                       

  

         

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Style is a manner of saying things in literature. It is a stance, an attitude, an individualistic aesthetic code and mode. But beyond literature and arts style is a statement  mostly non-verbal. When Sourav Ganguly  made a century as Captain of Indian Cricket team at MCG the commentators said, Ganguly has made a statement in style. When India's Prime minister Narendra  Modi in his first visit to America  addressed the Indian Diaspora at Madison Square Garden every one including the Political critics went gaga over Modi's style.But Modi's 10 lakh monogrammed suit was considered to be an odd curiosity. Why? Because it did not suit his persona. How then should we define style?

Mannerism, originality and the baroque at times are associated with style.Others think effortless nonchalance defines a man of style. An unorthodox view is that one who is not a conformist and acts in violation of societal norms is a stylish man. A man of social standing throwing witticisms and showing courage to defy set patterns of behavior is also considered stylish but if the attire is outlandish such a person will be the butt end of  ridicule. On the other hand the dress, make up, mannerisms of Raj Kapoor in Shree 420 when he walked the road singing 'Mera Joota Hai Japani' made a different style statement. Wit, satire, self confidence and ethical purity created originality and made the character attractive and stylish. In contrast to the rich and powerful carwallahs he was richer in the refinements of the heart. Style is virtue at its human best.

Many mod women think a garish make up, expensive dress with more exposure of flesh, jewellery and other accessories of snobbish society give a stylish look. Very often they are wrong. No artifcial load of jade and diamonds can ever compete with nature's own endowments. A solitary star in a night sky over which cloud flakes float in lazy motion makes the star more stylish and beautiful than the queen Moon surrounded by her starry fays. What really matters in style is the gracious attitude of the soul and its power to move the onlooker to speculate over the unarticulated human values. If a horse trot or tiger walk does not convey style we should pause to redefine style .A person wears a style not like lipstick but like perfume which is not noticed but sensed.

There are many who believe that every odd is a style.When an actor throws cigarette into the air and catches it by a doglike action in his lips, it is at best a gimmick. Similarly strategic pause in a speech hanging a word in midair raising the eagerness in the audience is not style, it is a mannerism. Style is not a strategy,it is a natural expression of a form which is multidimensional. Style is personality uncultivated. It is never formalized by rehearsals. Style brings to the surface the soul force in its naturalness.

Style is man: that is, what he is within comes out without the crutch of semiotic jargon.

Thoughts for the week

   

 1)  Many people struggle with the idea that they do not belong to the religion they are         born into.

 2)  Man’s world is incomplete in myriad ways.

          

 3)  If your beloved loves the rain, ride the cloud.          

Ascent

Now I want to rise even like

Raging dust, you may laugh

but who cares?

I've to cross the streams

To gather all my dreams

For they are scattered here and there

During the shadowy years

Of hail and snowflakes.

Now no time to shed tears

Nor lament over times gears

As the sun teaches to be warm

Time teaches to be cool and calm.

The way ahead is long with hope

With pitfalls,plains and slopes,

The stretches of fear and bending tide

May return in a hurry to sting and shock

But such fears are now behind me,

I shall march towards the glory of love.

 Sabita sahu

Decision Making

  

                                                                         

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Often people complain of indecisiveness bogging them down.Such persons are advised to consult psychiatrist, especially in America. Indecision is not a mental disorder or an existential dilemma where an individual hangs between life and death. At worst it is lack of courage to face the consequences of one's decision. At best it is postponement of an action to avoid something catastrophic. But in either case it is moral cowardice. The best illustration of indecision in literature is given by Shakespeare in Hamlet. The prince of Denmark wouldn't have been an ambassador of death had he acted immediately after his supernatural exposition to his father's ghost. So many lives could have been spared had he taken the decision. But Hamlet delayed, postponed because he wanted to be equipped, with moral and rational justification for the act as he had a conscience- Thus conscience makes cowards of us all. The converse of indecision is quick and prompt action by taking a decision in a split second. There are many people in history and literature who have been decisive. The best illustration from history is Gandhi whose decisions were judicious yet heroic. He could have organized an armed rebellion in  the company of Subhas Chandra Bose,against the British masters. But he choose the core Indian values of Truth and Non-violence which are more potent and  powerful than the instruments of violence and carved out a different course of history. But one may ask:Was his decision right in agreeing for the partition of India? The two Nation Theory is chasing the sub-continent for the last 70 years like a gory nightmare. Still the end is not in sight.

Any decision taken after due cogitation or off the cuff has consequences whose nature is not predictable as the consequences are revealed at a distant time and space over which the person taking a decision has no control. Should we then think that decisions are pre-destined? Each action in history or in the life of a person has a life of its own. Destiny and free choice of the doer compliment each other when the person acts. But once the arrow is released it develops a pre-destined will of its own.  If the target is hit,the decision is lauded. If it misses the target the doer or archer bites the dust.

But in our normal day to day life we must not procrastinate. Even if the consequences  are predictably disastrous one must act: For inaction  could be more painful. The Kashmir issue is a case in point. Instead of suffering the thousand cuts which Pakistan is giving us we should dare the enemy for a final bout. Decisions have to be taken, however, challenging the consequences be otherwise we will languish in our own stupor.

Thoughts for the week

     

            1)  Democracy will survive if Rule of law is respected.

            2)  Force the unpleasant moment to a critical pitch if you want to be saved from

                 the morose temper of History.

            3)  Love is an eternal prayer that never reaches the ears of the beloved.

Yes I Can

Sabita Sahu

Can I face the world now?

Can I look into the mid-day sun?

Years have rolled by, futile years

Taking me in their fold without bother

To look or laugh at but to churn me up

In fallen dreams and swollen nightmares:

But life has taught me its mystery

Revealing untold stories of sun and shower

Shall I revive and learn the things unborn

To set myself free to receive the newborn?

But Alas! Who will pull me out of this quagmire?

O’God why do I question myself & doubt

What has come as an epiphany I must accept.

It’s now my time to sail the seas

To seek, pursue and fulfill dreams

For sure I’m all set

To face the world now.

Beauty

 

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Is beauty skin-deep ? This question naturally comes to mind when we see advertisements for beauty creams, beauty treatments, beauty parlours  and such like things. If the answer to this question is ‘yes’ we are a generation excelling in superficialities. If the answer is ‘no’ we must ponder over beauty as something more serious and important in life.  The overuse of beauty and beautiful has cheapened the aesthetic values normally associated with beauty. Anything that pleases the visual or auditory sense is beautiful for us – even a dinner or a loud drum beating fatalistic rhythms in a street corner performance of a monkey dance. When you see a film star coaxing people to use a whitening cream you definitely feel that beauty is skin-deep. How many people would see beauty in awe and even fear say in a raging  storm ? Beauty often chases you out of your senses and when senses are suspended the mind perceives, the heart feels a soulfulness in a hair-raising experience.

But normally by beauty we mean a thing, object, experience or scene that pleases our senses, that is, brings to a harmonious balancing of all senses and gives the perceiver a sense of joy. John Keats’ immortal lines – A thing of beauty is a joy for ever / Its loveliness increases / It will never / Pass into nothingness – posit a beautiful truth which time can never falsify. Beauty is a truth, its’ a value and like all great values it transcends the ephemeral levels of reality. Beauty  evokes joy, happiness and makes life worthwhile. The odd, ugly and the eccentric also create beauty as most post-cubism artists have shown. To see beauty even in ugliness is a kind of aesthetic temper available in sensitive human beings. But people of discerning minds would normally agree with Hegel’s view that beauty embodies spirituality in sensual forms. The art form or nature or a woman may evoke sensuality but if the form is devoid of spiritual content beauty will at best be skin-deep. The classical idea of balance, harmony, symmetry and rhythm as the basic essence of beauty is still valid. A form, whether in nature or art, must have the equilibrium of balance, harmony, symmetry and rhythm to create beauty that moves the beholder to an ecstatic height of love: Not passion, soulful love. Beauty is not an object to possess  nor is it a sweet to eat: It is an experience to cherish, with love.

Finally, does beauty lie in the beholder’s eye? Well, yes, provided the beholder has a cognitive universe in his/her mind and soul. 

Thoughts for the week

 

1)   Think of  Cyber defence otherwise civilizations will perish.

2)   Harvest Rain water to overcome Cauvery disputes.

3)   The only thing that grows to contain multitudes is love.