"Wind"

Give it words,
Stick limbs on it,
You won't alter essence.
Whereas the wind-

I'll live gently
As the wind, flying
Over the town,
My chest full of sparrows.

~Shinkichi Takahashi

"Lines"

wake up and try
you're not listening
and neither am i
but it's only a matter of time
before we're walking out the door

sit with me on the bed
and stop pacing and pacing instead
cuz it's only a matter of when
this heart to heart will end

but oh before we go
goodbye safety breaks
goodbye baby clothes
as you describe a straight line through all these rooms

i want you to put your hands on my face
run them over and over and trace
the lines that are starting to indicate
how long i've been in this place

the sun shines all day
on the curb where our valuables lay
waiting all to be taken away
like we brought them in before

stand with me in the den
the white walls and bare carpet again
it was warm now it's empty and dead
and we won't come back again

but oh before we go
goodbye tv trays
goodbye baby clothes
as you describe a straight line through all these rooms
through birthday parties
late night laundry
baby's brides and grooms

i want you to put your hands on my face
run them over and over and trace
the lines that are starting to indicate
how long i have been in this place
the lines that are starting to indicate
how long we've been in this place.

~Okkervil River

Best of Australia

"i carry your heart with me"

i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

~e.e. cummings

"Consummation of Grief"

I even hear the mountains
the way they laugh
up and down their blue sides
and down in the water
the fish cry
and the water
is their tears.
I listen to the water
on nights I drink away
and the sadness becomes so great
I hear it in my clock
it becomes knobs upon my dresser
it becomes paper on the floor
it becomes a shoehorn
a laundry ticket
it becomes
cigarette smoke
climbing a chapel of dark vines. . .
it matters little
very little love is not so bad
or very little life
what counts
is waiting on walls
I was born for this
I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead.

~Charles Bukowski

To Uncle

you were one of best people i'd ever met
it's too late to tell you this now
that i loved your company
and your voice
and the occasional drag from your cigarette
and the way you protected
and looked after them
you will be missed
really be missed
it's the first time i wish that
i could bring someone back
from the dead

love,
jaya

mumbai far-way lives

she's been fretting over work
and he's been writing a lot of poetry
him, he's still the same goof (with a new love!)
and she has just poofed of to delhi, rather mysteriously
and he the tumble bee is all cropped
while she is off to meditation camp
and he ran away from ladakh
while she is soaking in the music of new york
and i am excited to be home soon
to them

Lovely!

Effective

When Aarya doesn't get what he wants, he puts his head to the ground and starts banging it. Disturbing but effective.
At first, Niki and I would freak out. But then we started to ignore him.
So now, he stops after he realizes he and only he is getting hurt.
Imagine this sweet face doing such manipulative things!

my book

almost everyone i know wants to write a book at some point or the other
about them
about their imagination
about globe trotting
about culture
about difficulty
about sex
about the third world
about the first world
about the abstract
about pictures

in poetry
in prose
in random haiku

everyone i know wants to write a book
it's just about time

five more

fingernails

dinner options

how come there isn't a website that tells you what to eat for lunch or dinner?
like a random dish suggestor like "whatdoieat.com" or "suggestsomethingtoeat.com"

ha ha, my mom would sure love that.
something better than this dialog generator: http://www.onfocus.com/eat_generator.asp

Jaya: So, what do you want to eat?
Nikita: I don't know what do you want to eat?
Jaya: I guess I'm not really that hungry.
Nikita: Yeah, me neither.
Jaya: How does Spinach sound?
Nikita: Hmm, we have that a lot.
Jaya: yeah.
Nikita: So you're really not hungry?
Jaya: Well, I could probably eat something.
Nikita: Like what?
Jaya: Just about anything, really.
Nikita: How about Fat?
Jaya: Yeah, I guess that's ok.
Nikita: I don't know now.
Jaya: You don't know? Come on.
Nikita: We could order Chinese.
Jaya: You're too lazy to go out and get food?
Nikita: No, I guess not. Where do you want to go?
Jaya: I was thinking that new Spinach place.
Nikita: That's all the way downtown!
Jaya: It's supposed to be good.
Nikita: I guess I'm just not in the mood.
Jaya: Well, what are you in the mood for?
Nikita: You said just about anything.
Jaya: Anything but Spinach.
Nikita: You suggested that earlier.
Jaya: I did? hmmm.
Nikita: I always feel like Fat, but we never go.
Jaya: That's fine..
Nikita: I guess I'm just not in the mood.
Jaya: Well, I could probably eat something.
Nikita: We could order Chinese.
Jaya: yeah.
Nikita: You said just about anything.
Jaya: I was thinking that new Spinach place.
Nikita: You suggested that earlier.
Jaya: We could flip for it.
Nikita: What are we arguing over?
Jaya: Spinach or hamburgers.
Nikita: heads.
Jaya: I don't have a quarter.
Nikita: Fat.
Jaya: Yeah, I guess that's ok.
Nikita: Let's get a pizza.
Jaya: Yeah, ok.
Nikita: What's your favorite number?
Jaya: 21.

silently, it happened

the revolution

I am Possibility Girl!

Nikhil on Sutasi!

Best of Japan

11 things I loved about Japan!
1. The peaches
2. The order in chaos at the stations
3. The toilets and baths and spas
4. The colours in the city
5. The giant robot
6. Onsen
7. The politeness and hospitality
8. Golden town
9. Akiba
10. The cool products in supermarkets (like nanotechnology toothpaste and micro-fiber mats)
11. The narrow narrow lanes, everywhere!

9 things I didn't love about Japan!
1. The grey and brown and grey and brown and grey and brown spread of buildings
2. The over-politeness
3. Fish eggs
4. Finding Dolphin in the supermarket
5. The history
6. The street signals
7. The unbelievable taxi fare, toll fare, and parking fare
8. The silence in trains
9. The double nature of people