Tales of Perfection...

It was a casual discussion with friends, when one talk led to another and we drifted from quizzing each other on capitals, currencies, to histories, to the Raj, and to Gandhi. And often had such discussions ended in quite a dismal denouement. With a number of varied notions on the Father of the Nation, the Mahatma stands as an inarticulate dartboard for the public to opine on him. Opinion is genuine, opinion is a thought, agreed, and that keeps the Earth spinning. But it should be contained enough and not let go hay way as kamikaze pots of pitch tarnishing the stature of many a great men.

The man under the lens showed the world a path of love and peace. Many who let their angst on his deeds, may as well have been correct, should refrain from derogating him. Bhagat Singh could have dodged the gallows, claim many, had Gandhi wished. Gandhi, again lash many, slept with several girls at his ashram. First things first, the political cauldron of the first half of 1900s was simmering, with a hundred of angles and views. Deliberate acts as we think today, could well have been circumstantial or inevitable then in the interest of the masses. Secondly, of all the claims and charges being authentic, one must weigh his contributions to his shortcomings. He was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, like any person one of us, who sacrificed his career, family and life for the people of his country. He wasn’t alone of his ilk, but he was the instrument of independence – a war sans bloodshed! So much is he revered by all around the globe, that the slaves in USA, for the past many centuries, were treated humane soon when they adopted his methods.

So this prompts us to turn reflective, and one should accept the fact that all things beautiful have a sordid tale behind them. Just as a rose has thorns any success story isn’t bereft of pangs of horror, deceit, corruption, or all of them at one point or the other, is it large or a miniscule part. Its Earthy and human that breaks every man, situation or thing existing into the good and the bad. Even an atom – the smallest possible breakup scientifically, has a mass of proton (+) and electrons (-) around it. So who was Gandhi? Or for that matter the person sitting next to me, when nature itself defines the positive and negative together? The onus lies on us to enjoy the virtues and bask in the sun, or to keep lamenting of the vices of the person, cribbing of the rain.

Nature apart, even God couldn’t hold back to display the truth of the earth, when he walked in human form. Even Ram couldn’t, or was not allowed to (circumstantially) trust the purest woman, his wife.

ABC of Exams...

Jumping with glee, unaware of the repercussions

I was taken aback; shit! Examinations…

Each alphabet of the word has a different comprehension,

Each viewing angle causes such an altercation.

E-stands for endless studies, just to start,

As if horizons pushed back with no mark.

Marks? Is the serious question to get an answer for;

But questions on such a gamut of topics are countless and more.

Xerox copies strewn here and there,

A loose sheet of diag.; screamed I, “came out from where?”

Last day, my incomplete work invites the bundle of Photostat;

“50paisa per page bhaiya, it’s such a towering stack.”

A - Apple/atoms/Archimedes/abacus/antennas, Anxiety!

“Ab kya hoga?” is I sigh with all my lost gaiety.

Never thought I this, a week before the exams commenced.

Endless phone calls for solace now, dial a friend I, when tensed.

Mind in confusion to learn this or that,

With losing hours on the clock, nervous I sat.

Unit 4 is half, Unit 6 left. What about the 1^st unit?

Calculating my time, all my nails I bit.

I calls for interaction of subjects one into another.

“#^*&@ that’s FRS and EMF is a different subject all together.”

‘Last moment’ does the trick, I rub the chin, mind perplexed.

A firm decision, the concept belongs to this and not the next.

Non-stop studies, if it helps, are the last resort.

Syllabi outstripping the time, quite mundane chores we abort.

Bathing, shaving is luxury; two square meals are all.

Lucky are those who sleep four hours, for that’s called a ball.

A – This one stands for admonishes and not anxiety.

After our souls, our parents and teachers, for our state is such a pity.

“Kept on telling you to study, you never paid heed.”

Cycles of scolds and consoles are all that, now, breed.

Try, try, try again is the mantra.

Keep on trying till you get the funda.

Endless discussions till I finally understand it all,

Questions, doubts and revisions over the phone fall!

I is now incomplete tasks to be done.

For the left up pages in the notebook I run.

Consultancy is on a all time high,

Movement of books is all one can see by.

Overnight scanning, burning the midnight oil.

It’s not merely a phrase, for we indeed toil.

Day and night, sleep doesn’t divide.

It’s a nap of two hours, where our fears confide.

N – Now I get no N for this…

Aftermath of exams is all this and bliss.

I can grasp no more, think no more…

All the best to all if examinations knock your door.!