A psychiatrist inside the mind
Book reading habits have changed. We have come a long way from being asked to read only textbooks and those that supposedly improved our general awareness. Well, writers of fiction are having a field day, you might be tempted to say. But no, we still have a far mightier market for titles that teach one...
A story called Irrfan
A story called Irrfan.A story within a storySurprising layers andLayered surprises,A balance betweenHollywood and Bollywood,Engaging emotions andEmpathizing with intellects.A story resisting tagsThat prop reality onAlchemized happinessYet entertaining peopleIn ways that demand attention.A story that went aroundWith a heart of poetry,Reached out, spread withinAnd swept across borders.The final word to this storyHas found its way intoOther...
Learning the grammar of time
Learning the grammar of time Light and dark patches, unreal hues, Merger of reflections, blurring lines of logic, And photo alteration conversations that refuse To end can disorient. But they must. They will. Art is so much like writing or political unrest. Call each poem a revolution, if you must, But it is in an...
Hear me out, cancer cells
It’s the job of cancer cells to multiply I grant them their rightful high It’s their job to inflict pain I grant them this, though with disdain. But let the mind remain fighting fit Don’t let our thoughts be torpedoed, hit Cancer cells, spare the mind And we’ll weed you out bit by bit. ....
The secrets we keep
Writers love the word why As they know very well that Life without secrets is a lie Readers like pages that reveal The strange and the unknown One by one, like onions to peel And tales that wear mystery Like a shawl or even a mask Carry with them the secret key That one mind...
Even God must be in love with thrillers
Those times when the heart Does the hop, skip, and jump Over chasms where the possibility Includes lava flowing incessantly But there isn’t a single clue around No hisses, no fumes, no heat waves Not even birds giving the game away By their indecision and silence. It is as if God was reading a thriller...
On Reading
A whisper-laden stroll Adrenalin push in the dark Conversation with a mole Flying kiss for a lark… Reading is more than this And those who give it a miss Wouldn’t know that infinity Is a word-filled city! . . . . . . Arvind PasseyWritten on 25 April 2019
The mind is an astronaut in space
Deep within me there are no boundaries.No cacophony of walls are ever built here.No barbed wires separate a smileFrom a caress. Or love from fear.There are no marching bandsNothing here will beat retreats.Heavy boots with nailed solesAren’t ordered to create reverberating treatsThat give birth to tsunamis of emotionsEnding with a blitz of applauding commotions. A...
Between the shadow and the soul
I have taken the title for this review from a line written by Pablo Neruda: ‘I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.’ Poetry is positioned precariously between all that is subjective and what is objective, the expressive and the expressed, or cocooned between...
The pause after a poem is read
The mind reads a poem. And then the being grasps the meaning. This is what we perceive as a pause. And thus the relationship between life and poetry moves slowly from one pause to another. This is one sort of relationship where looking inwards also goes along with phases of looking at everything around you....
The song of the artsy cow
The song of the artsy cow Some say that getting rid of indoor pollution is a fantasy and exists only in fiction, in movies, in government files, and a zealous mind. I disagree. I’ve been taking a lot of positive steps at home and we are probably as far away from pollution and their side-effects...
Loved. Lost. So what? Radha still sings
Loved. Lost. So what? Radha still sings Review of ‘Radha’ by Leena Saldhana Creativity has everything to do with a new perspective… always and invariably. By this definition, the short poems in this collection by Leena Saldhana, are simply charming. I mean, where else would I get Radha that ‘…fyi / They invented Kajal /...
