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Crane on Turtle Candlestick Holder

Flash Fiction
“We are old friends.”
“Hai-hai!”

[Japanese vintage candlestick; source – ebay]

Our blacksmith picked up the mould and studied it. His expressions were not discernible, but the sweat on his forehead highlighted his precision as he poured the molten metal into the mould.

Whilst he worked, many frames, metal shapes – some contorted, some flamboyant – stared at him, acknowledging and appreciating in utter silence.

Our blacksmith, on his way back home, saw a little kid who was standing against a wall along with his friend, wasting time, living.

That little kid whispered something to his friend and they both started following our blacksmith, copying his gait.

A silly game, a random thought, a reason to smile.


Dear reader what does time say?

Time says it is next day.


Every frame, every metal shape was eagerly waiting for our blacksmith. Roller shutter made its habitual noise and our blacksmith entered his workshop, and along with him came his two buddies, those two kids we saw earlier.

Quickly they went and stood next to his grand table, jumping with excitement.

Our blacksmith finally showed them what was now ready in the mould – it was a crane on turtle candlestick holder.

The two kids laughed and so did our blacksmith. He said the crane and the turtle were friends and the kids inquired if he had seen something like that in real.

Our blacksmith nodded and said that when he was their age he went with his father to a lake side and saw a crane standing on a turtle’s back.

Childhood memories capture time that never fades.


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बहानेबाज़ / The Excuse

लिखे चलो लिखे चलो… Keep Writing…
[Source – Pixabay]

ठहर कर कहने की जल्दी मे,
मुझे ज़रा देर हो गई।

बात याद भी रह गई,
और भूल भी गई। 

दरअसल मामला सुलझ कर और भी पेचीदा हो गया है,
ख़ुद को जानने की पहल जो कर बैठी हूँ।

उस दिन जाने की जल्दी न मची होती तो,
सब जान ही गई थी, सब पहचान ही गई थी मैं।

अनगिनत अफ़सानो मे एक और अफसाना सही,
बस कलम ढूंढ लूँ, फिर और कोई बहाना नहीं।


 

Translation –

The Excuse

In a hurry to share it later on,

I delayed it further.

I still remember what it was.

And I also think I have forgotten it.

Indeed the matter has become very simple and thus, very complex,

Maybe because I have decided to know myself.

Only if I was not in a rush to leave,

I would have understood everything.

Amongst all the tales, one more tale will be added

If only I can find my pen, I won’t delay it any longer.


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A Grey Building

Grey!
[Image by Anh Le from Pixabay]

In sickness I lay staring out from the window.

All I could see was a few small trees and one big grey building. Shades of black, patches of dirt… the peeled paint made it look more like a sketch of a building…

A sketch of an old building that has seen eras pass by.

An era that changes almost nothing, but still does. Change that life awaits. Life that holds colours. Colours combine to form black, if it’s light they combine to form white.

Remember the prism experiment? Black and white…and grey. Grey characters say a lot. A grey building says a lot.


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These Red, Blue Jeeps Are The Same Or Are They Not?

Absurd Prose
In Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Image by Aditya Thakur

The Red Jeep said to the Blue Jeep that it was late. What is the point of hurrying if you don’t know where you are going, replied the Blue Jeep.

*  

Sure the circle is round and the track is wide, beautiful vistas stretched within and beyond me, prints are taken, but the journey is not free. 

What is the price you ask? It is different for everybody. Though ultimately all agree to pay, and thus the journey begins. 

But someone must know where I have reached. This guy in blue safety helmet might reveal. 

Hey! Hey! Hey-hey! The man replied not, real the man was not, it was all plastic, just an image. It bounced off voices and that was enough for many. Still is.  

*

The Red Jeep asked the Blue Jeep that if it followed the echoes or not. What is the point of following an echo when you can’t hear your own voice, replied the Blue Jeep.  


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Coffee and Cigarettes

Short Note
Coffee and Cigarettes, an anthology.
[Source – JustWatch]

*

On screen the reality is often dramatized, over emphasised, sometimes underplayed and made loudly fictitious… it is also murdered and often what we see is already dead. To be alive and stay real is not easy; on screen it is tougher. Yet we come across something true all the time.

Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch is one of such films that I find overwhelmingly true. So real and simple that it is difficult, like we all are. I am not talking about the technicalities or even about the film’s theme. I am just happy to feel whatever the film says…

For me it is true and abstract and nonsense and completely real. Just like life is.


8

P.S.- The blogger wrote this short note back in 2014 when she was studying in the film school.


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In Slo-mo Towards the Moon

Poem

A tide of thoughts.
[Source – Pixabay]

*

Walking towards the moon

In slo-mo and riding,

Hiding behind a tide of thoughts

In slo-mo, unaware, unconcerned

About the change that is happening

In slo-mo, now and always,

Carrying in bits the old me, turning

In slo-mo, hoping to see

Something better. Living the life

In slo-mo and looking into the future

Where things are picture-perfect, but moving

In slo-mo. Cracks in the present

For it isn’t that dear, until

In slo-mo I sit with patience and

Breathe, see, feel and realise

That everything is beautiful,

That our mind knows the tricks,

That reality simply is, just like the moon,

Towards which I am walking

In slo-mo, beaming quietly. 

*


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Ellinikí Glóssa

Flash Fiction
Cherubic bookmark.
[Source – Pixabay]

A crumpled piece of paper, resting in an old library book, smoothened by time.

Intrigued by it, Bakul quickly rushed to a corner. She read the words loud and clear ‘Ellinikí Glóssa’.

Unsure of what it means, she fabricated a story– it is a secret message meant for someone. Yes! Beaming like a sunflower beams on seeing the sun, Bakul crossed the corridor, then the stairs. Students saw her and thought, ‘ye to gayi firse’ (she has lost it again).

Bakul looked at you, yes you, the reader and said with dreamy eyes and a wide smile – “Let us find out what the secret message is.

A turn and Bakul bumped into her teacher.

“Sorry Sir”, “Bakul! Be careful girl! And what’s in your hand, what are you up to this time?”, “Sir, Rekha Ma’am is looking for you”, “Quiet Bakul, show me… eh… Ellinikí Glóssa… so now you’re interested in Greek language, hm?”, “Sirrrrr… this is in Greek?”, “Don’t waste your time and submit your assignment by Monday, okay?”

Bakul nodded. Sir turned to leave, then stopped, “Where did you say Rekha Ma’am is… in the staff room?” “Hee-hee-hee”, “Bakul, wait, you silly girl!”

Alone in the corridor, she looked again at you, yes you, the reader (don’t you remember?) and said with starry and mischievous eyes– “Am I interested in Greek Language?” She then winked at you.


Well, she must have found out the answer to this question by now. What do you think?

Anyway, peace out!


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All

Haiku

This is you, deep within.
[Source – Pixabay]

*

Unattached, patiently, freely I go deep  

Within myself and find

That love can transform it all.

*


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Ode to the Book – Easy SUDOKU Puzzles

Literary Nonsense
Su-Do-Ku time, anytime!
[Image by Marie from Pixabay
]

There is a book and it goes by the name

Easy SUDOKU Puzzles, it’s part of a series –

Medium SUDOKU Puzzles, Hard SUDOKU Puzzles.

All I can say is don’t buy the Easy ones.

The reason is damn straightforward,

Easy ones are way too easy and damn

Full of mistakes and it begins from the

Very first page. It makes you feel stingy.

Instead of creative juices flowing in your brain,

You fall asleep on the book and drool all over it

The book then sits eating dust and you forget it

Completely. And when you look at it, you start crying.

Friends might mock you for buying the book -Easy SUDOKU Puzzles;

They will crush your feelings and not understand,

Some will even question you as an individual.

Forget them, forgive yourself and solve the puzzles nevertheless

Or you can write a blog about it and kill the readers,

Oops!

*


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“Only a few arrive at nothing, because the way is long.” – Antonio Porchia

Spirituality

A long journey!
[Source – Pixabay]

To keep walking is hard. Repeatedly dying on the way is a normal occurrence, but no less significant.

What breaks the heart often is not the crude world or a passer-by, but the heart itself. It allows itself to be crushed.

And as funny as it may sound, the truth doesn’t change that the heart also heals itself.  

Let us keep aside the magical part for it blindfolds the ones with sightless minds and talks about reason and logic.

Oh! But that is already done – heart breaks itself and heals itself… very straightforward indeed. Brain, heart, brain, heart… and this is the journey.  

Carrying on kills, but so does not-carrying on; carrying on also gives you a chance to live and to experience the universe. It is a long, long, long journey and then you reach nothing.  

At nothing, you become everything.


Read about Antonio Porchia, the Argentinian poet here.


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