Only as far as I know™...

' Time and tide wait for no man', yet it all depends on us how it moves ahead. 'Butterfly effect', they say. Going through daily events around the world, sometimes I wonder if we ever had any control over anything that happens. It is like we are doomed to make the same mistake over and over again since we always fail to see the bigger picture or we deliberately tune ourselves off from reason. If you know me well enough, you know I'm an optimist at heart. But, maybe it is the corona effect and this is cathartic for me... Circles in Time Forever Scored Memories dull, Emotions swell Only permanence Sole soul knoll Round and round all rhymes go Wicked little gnomes do tarry       Gnawing gnawing knowing…   Circle time, Time, our stoic coach, Stumbling neophytes Round and round we go Blissful herd of ignoramuses Grazing high on Capital Sins   Merry souls would Always scurry bury bury Round and round go sacred carvings Circles in ...

What is Self? The capital ‘I’ That we hold on to, so dearly, Is there any ‘real’ coherent self That we vainly defend Self is but A will-o’-the-wisp A receding wave that never comes back A sandy desert which changes its contour every moment A butterfly that eludes our grasp A constant flux of ideas A construct To Fool……To Divide The Man …….The Woman The West...........……The East The Master .....……The Slave The White........……The Black The Self…........….The Other Self is not one, but many, Self is, but not steady, It evolves with every word we record, Every structure we make, Self is, but not... # Constructs # Self # Identity # Language @ Anu Maheshwari. First Published in 2006 in Panorama Magazine, A TakingITGlobal Publication. 

I waited for you in earnest... Stories I read, tales I spun in my dreams, The love I felt growing each day in anticipation… The day my eyes fell upon you; I knew… Like a moth that flies towards the flame, The snowflake that falls on your fingertips for warmth alone, I forgot the world around I leapt for you with all I had Pure joy lifting me up, raising me above silly ruses… Against aches that held me ransom to worldly values All the love…only love… Bliss… love… if this is what it is Little the rest matters, I will shine bright as the fading star that leaves the sky forlorn again and again… to set my eyes upon true love.  This is what happens when you are away and alone from your love for far too long a time...the seemingly unending separation...memories build up, aches heighten your senses, and a familiar melody, a tune that resonates deep translate into words soon... I love you...I miss you... 

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda “Sometimes good choices are really bad ones, wrapped up in so much fear you can’t even see straight.”  ― Deb Caletti, The Secret Life of Prince Charming At times, there is that momentary overwhelming feeling that everything around you is getting bigger and bigger and like Alice in Wonderland, there is nothing to do but drown in a pool of tears. The current scenario around the world raises some serious doubts about humanity and chances of our survival. So much doubt, fear, hopelessness, distrust, irreverence, and disgust piling up that I wonder at the size of the iceberg below! Although I do play the devil’s advocate, I am an eternal optimist. I sincerely believe that hope is the only thing that can get us through.     Racism, prejudice, and bigotry exists in all forms everywhere.   I know we are knee deep in shit, but it will help us greatly if we can look ...

“ He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera I thought I was done with my rebirth on a sisters’ only voyage to Vietnam, where I felt all my senses come alive once again…I felt light and untethered; full of love and life and a yearning to roam free. But dear Mother Earth, saturated with mankind’s relentless rampage, also had similar realisation about the same time. She also yearned for freedom and rebirth and so the virulent Corona was unleashed upon us locking us down in our very own concrete cages. And while we, her petulant and selfish children are forced to reckon with her rage, most of us are also gaining deep insights on life and what is really important and basic to our lives. Stripped bare off our extravaganzas, we are ‘re’-learning and growing as ...

Darkness or Light In the darkness lies the secret to all that renews The seeds of morrow, buried hopes that sprout wings Although unseen, they need love, care, and faith Without, they shrivel and wither…   All that wanes moves on, Heralding a fresh start and, We scamper, looking for refuge in the dust as it settles. Nature’s “terrible beauty” or “trumpet of prophecy” What is it that resounds around?   Oh, we hear, we hear, Discern or otherwise purblind or evolved Our cages may leave us slow Resistant to growth Festering prejudices We dig shallow graves for humanity… Or We shall overcome As we draw strength from our roots, we light for ancient wisdom for universal brotherhood, trust, and compassion.   And together we march… Away from fear Into the realm of hope… Anu Maheshwari

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera I thought I was done with my rebirth in Vietnam, when I felt all my senses come alive once again…I felt light and untethered. But now that we are in lockdowns, and some of us dry of motivation and ideas, it dawned on me again that rebirth is a process and it needs to happen continually. We need to find inspiration in the routine, and most importantly document and realise our ideas and thoughts through a medium most comfortable to us. Times like these, everything comes to a standstill, the mundane takes over and all of us line up to carry out our tasks like bots.   Few things however knocked on my gates… First, national prejudices; times like these also bring out national prejudices where we indul...

Getting up on Day 7 brought a mixed bag of feelings…excitement for the grand finale tour we had planned, the distressing thought of saying adieu post that, being thankful for the journey that was, and the soft outpouring of love for an awaited reunion with our loved ones at the end of our sojourn… an olla podrida of emotions! Speaking of which, we dashed through our breakfast and packing and checking out formalities, so that we could head out for our last walkabout in Hanoi. We had our return flight in the evening so we decided to make the most of the morning and afternoon. Once again, we relied on Grab to get to the Grand grey-granite Ho Chi Mausoleum at Ba Dinh Square straightaway. We landed there on some sort of public holiday (Lunar Calendar) as there was a huge queue and layered security at the entrance itself. We had gone to the square day before in the evening for a walk and it was quite pleasant and sans the tourist crowd, but we couldn’t enter the mausoleum and other are...

“ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair …, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way …” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Para.1, Line, 1) These contradictions, dichotomies, iniquitousness, unfairness and the travesty of it all…and no, I don’t want to live anywhere but here where I am, in the age where I am. I am under no illusion that the grass is greener anywhere else. There are lot of things I would like to change and experience. However, I am not wistfully dreaming away.   A great loss, a lot of time wasted mulling over things that could be, and finally Vietnam has definitely taught me one thing …LIVE EACH DAY…one day at a time! We all have our dreams, callin...

Saying Adieu to Ha long , a place ‘where the dragon descends’ is quite difficult to spell out here. The place infused me with exceptional amount of positive energy with its beautiful and peaceful vistas. It is not that I haven’t seen beautiful places before but most of them are often marred by some man-made disturbance or the memory of it, except perhaps most of Switzerland. Vietnam was also in the throes of such a tortured past, but the entire community chose to move ahead and build a peaceful home for their present. However, I believe it is unquestionably imperative to remember the past, as those who don’t, are condemned to repeat it. The Vietnamese have also paid tribute to each of their fallen martyrs, as they were re-building their home. One such memorial is Hoa Lo Prison (Maison Centrale). The unnerving stillness of various life-like prison re-constructions can evoke a gamut of emotions subject to our views. The Vietnamese called the place Hoa Lo (Hell’s Hole) and the ...

We made our way back to Hanoi and had planned to spend the day checking out some famous Hanoi old quarter streets known for their wares; Hang Gai [i] (Hemp / Silk Street), and Hang Dau [ii] (Bags and Shoes) in particular. Many of the streets are named after the wares they sell, there is a silver jewellery street, and one that sells only chocolates, one with wooden handmade products like combs, spoons, etc. I forgot the name of the street which sells chocolates but it is on the same street where the famous Bach Ma templ e [iii] is located. Our day was exclusively set for shopping and indulging our taste buds. However, I will pool all our food and drink and shopping recommendations together here.   We started with some street food right besides our homestay [iv] (Hanoi Old Quarter Homestay). We were recommended Bún Dậu Thập Cẩm and but maybe because the rice vermicelli noodle cake was served cold, the sausages and fried tofu were dripping oil and the shrimp paste was qui...