Crap

Child Labour. India. Always intended to touch upon this. So, below, is a verse i wrote fairly long ago. A complete debate on child labour, ought to follow this post – hopefully – soon enough..

Ps. I’m rather uncertain as to when this was composed, most probably it was around midnight somewhere in August, 2003. I was fifteen then. So, don’t heed the churlishness in the verse, willya..

Arbit. Just made it up.

as you turned to me,
all i willed for
was to hold on
for now evermore.

then i turned away
as an autumn leaf,
cant hold us, myself,
cant share my grief.

hither i cant stay
coz here is joy,
and i’m condemned
forever to cry.

Pardon the shabbiness. I just wrote whatever came up. Have a quiz in 5 hour’s time, and it’d be suicidal to edit verses (sounds ironical, now that i composed one!).

Blank verse.

Blank? Can’t have a qualification more inept than that.

Blank verse is the one truest form of poetry. Uninhibited. Pure. Never calling for the poet to play around with rhythms and such extravagances. For, poetry, as an expression of the deepest of emotions, has a rhythm of its own. It appeals to anyone and everyone that shares in his bosom, the poet’s own emotions…

Success. Joy. I doubt i’ll ever make a composition as simple, and wonderful, again. B’coz i doubt i’ll ever hate myself as poignantly as i did then.

Success. Joy.

Twas not so far ago,
I was what i wanned be.
If i were to look back
On myself
I’d smile,
O those was the days.
No wont, no need,
Yet, such a fine stead.
Tasted success so young,
It poisoned my veins.
Today, sunk in vanity,
I look to but weep.
But tears won’t flow,
Ebbed by a resolve to resurrect,
That which i oughtta be.
Stand upright once more,
And look back to my time.
This time i look to earn,
What was once mine.
Success. Joy.

Sometimes, i sit up and wonder whether i’ve done anything worthwhile since i wrote the verse (which, by the way, i did in april,’07). And then i realise that i’ve actually achieved something i had not expected, or, for that matter, wanted. Yet, i choose to make the most of it. Play with my destiny (if there ever was a thing such as destiny) by my own rules.

Random thoughts on the We Care initiative launched by IITG. And there’s a nice li’l verse to go with it too…

IIT. Indian Institute Of Technology, Guwahati. That’s where i am currently a student. Recently, they initiated ‘We Care’, a venture through which the students will lend themselves to the cause of bringing joy into not-so-bright lives. An honest attempt at doing good.

Here’s what i’d composed for the same:

She sat there everyday. And he’d gifted a rupee to her bowl daily, for as long as he could remember. Yet the lens-man never saw even a flicker of a smile on her time-ravaged face, save for the one day when he’d pointed his camera at her, and told her that she’d be on the papers the day after.

No one could have surpassed her glee…

Joy is not what we have, it is how we give. A few words, a gentle smile, an ear lent, or simply a hug; often, these can light up a person’s life in ways that a million dollars can’t possibly. And whoever said that you need to be extravagant in compassion? Hence, we embark on this journey, which we’d like to call ‘We Care’, because, we genuinely do. Whence IITGians walk the halls of fame, is it not our duty to lend to the world, our support, no matter how modest, so as to spread a smile or two?

Not a boast, not a blab, and not in the least a selfish endeavour . This is IITG reaching out, for all those that feel deprived.

An orphan needs not a flashy toy,
He longs for a kiss, for care.
The aged need not solitude,
They wish someone be there.
Aids won’t heal if they’re alone,
A pence wont buy a severed leg.
Don’t leave a man in agony bare,
Imagine, if ’twas you there.

Success is hollow, if we can’t do as little as spread love.

Ironically, i’d composed the article so that it may be printed in the brochures that market the Techno-Management Fest of IITG, Techniche2008. Is ‘We Care’ even remotely associated to the underlying theme of the fest, or is yet another noble deed brandished to market and publicise? In all fairness to the organisers (and, i hold atleast one of them in exceptionally high regard), ‘We Care’ is an IITG initiative and people need to be made aware of it, and the fest is the one best method for the same. I can not agree more (on the awareness aspect of it).

They say a brilliant salesman can sell you anything. Well, did my article sell you the idea that this was, indeed, a serious attempt on my institute’s part at doing good? Then yes, i am a brilliant salesman.

The following verse is a master’s expression on how he treated his boy-servant; and why he did so.

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