Wednesday, April 14, 2010

One Crazy Thing


A friend of mine recently asked me if there was one crazy thing in my life that I wanted to do. I was sitting on a balcony. I gave her a stock reply saying there was no such thing. Frankly, I am in the business of looking smart. There was nothing else I could have said. Well, actually I did say something.
I gave away my real answer by looking at the ledge for the briefest instance.
The craziest thing I have ever wanted to do – was jump from that ledge, 4 floors above the ground. It seems crazy in most human senses. All I wanted was to feel the soft, sweet wind kissing me gently, leaving them tousled, moving towards the Earth to rest in her loving embrace. An embrace that has such a finality that there is no adjective to describe it other than dead. And then there is death herself. Cold as a ice, waiting like a temptress. Indeed, alluring to some.
Man’s fixation with the Lady in Black is legendary. Many great literary works and artistic endeavours have been inspired by The Great Unknown. Be it John Donne’s timeless Divine Sonnet X that boldly drags Death from its pedestal to Longfellow’s The Reaper and the Flowers that tries optimism.  Death inspired In Memoriam by Tennyson, one of the finest pieces of English literature of times bygone. More recently, W.H. Auden produced ‘Funeral Blues’, one of the contemporary classics and my personal favourite. Another interesting poem is The Ballade of Suicide by G.K. Chesterton which takes a rather unconventional view to Death.
Death fascinates us. The idea of an unknown surely must tempt people (or is it just me?). We fear it. Most of us do. Death can have a pretty polarizing effect on people. Admittedly, I haven’t seen my share of the world as yet. But, I have had three light brushes. Not entirely satisfying for forming impressions. After all isn’t it just another experience? The fact that it is invariably the last one adds to the allure.
On November 22, 1963, along with Aldous Huxley, John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis arrived at the end of their life. The only reason for the euphemism is what Lewis said regarding Death.
Personally, I admire Aldous Huxley. On his deathbed, unable to speak, Huxley made a written request to his wife for "LSD, 100 µg, intramuscular".
He famously said once, “A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumor”.
“If we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a ''wandering to find home,'' why should we not look forward to the arrival?”
Both the above quotes capture humankind’s general attitude towards Death – to get over it believing that there is better to come.
But the third guy, John F. Kennedy, said it better, “The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of the final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy”.
There are many more experiences to be had. Many more crazy things to do. Miles to go before I slip on some banana peel.
Maybe, I won’t go over the ledge, after all.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Top 10 lists - You Know A Wizard


Top ten signs You Know A Wizard -

10. He does not normally enter a room through the door.

9. You say,"Do you think your assignments are going to write themselves?" and then They DO.

8. He gets busted 'prospecting' for snowy owls.

7. Has the word 'lumos' written under the light switch

6.
His favorite excuse is that "his hippogriff ate his assignment".

5. Everytime he walks into an electronic store, the toaster tries to mount the oven.

4. He collects plugs.

3. He loves talking to friends on the 'fellytone'.

2. He wears shiny red satin robes - Let's just hope he is just a wizard.

1. You hear him talk about polishing his wand in the bathroom.

Friday, April 2, 2010

The Rhyme of The Hill Witch

If you come to our village, I hope you Don’t get eaten by the Hill Witch
She lives just yonder the foliage; Oh you don't want to hear about the Evil Bitch,
She has prodigious strength And the speed of a Gazelle
She has zero style but Imports cosmetics from Brazil

My Nanna, saw her once taking away a boy who wouldn’t eat his Vegetables
She changed him to a horse and kept him in her Stables,
She’s a shriveled crone, 1000 years old One look turns you to Stone
Then she gorges on your living brain; Through the Bone

She lives in the crooked tree on the hill and has a pet Bear
She might be ugly but she wears a Versace gown the ladies Swear
She once happened to change a Woman into a Cow
Her husband said Not much of a Change, Anyhow

She flies on her skeleton broom, Grinning like a Goblin
And she walks on her stump toes, Cloppin an' Hobblin
She makes a mean unicorn soup And loves a Gremlayn Stew
But what she really craves for is some cold Mountain Dew

Now you take care intrepid wanderer, you may think me Silly
But over this road lies the path that crosses the witch Hilly,
She is on a Diet the village folk Says
Don't stray Or you might see the End of Days.