The dawn

Winds churning at great speed,
Lightening adding to the aura of creed,
The rain camouflaging the tears,
The cold freezing the fears.

One thought to just let go,
Guzzle salty water in full flow,
Sinking to the bottom of the ocean,
Troubles evanesce through the motion.

The ambitious future flashing in a trice,
Hope brightening up the eyes,
But ends up descrying the vast ocean near and beyond,
Making current location an obvious end point.

Spots of life boats now and then,
Obvious to thee but not to them,
The latest one few meters at best,
But no one on board to throw the Mae West.

The rise of the new day,
Should have brought new sanguinity and gay,
But reminiscence of past unfair days,
Leading to nothing but despair to face.

The last of the options gone long ago,
Forcing you to finally let go,
Spiraling down the epicenter in a rapid plummet,
No time to regret, nothing to lament.

Suddenly a hand bends down offering help,
No life left to grab, due to vanishing pep,
Series of splashes heard at a distant,
The noises waking me up in an instant.

Jazz my day!

Jazz - A genre of popular music that originated in New Orleans around 1900 and developed through increasingly complex styles. Jazz, as we know, has been evolving over the last century and continues to mesmerize people.

‘Fireflies’ introduced me to my first live Jazz music and that was the night when I got totally engrossed in its music style. HFT, a jazz trio from Delhi performed live on that day and left the crowd spell bound. So when I heard about the Jazz Utsav festival, I was all ready to go!

The event at Bangalore was held at the Chowdiah Memorial hall. The expectations were sky high. The build up and anticipation was at its peak. It was a three hour event and the first one and a half hour was one of the most boring music I had ever heard. Not that it was completely bad, but just that the expectations were high and the music was too monotonous for comfort. Murcof, Talvin & Truffaz were the performers and Talvin behind tubla atleast made the performance bearable.

After the break it was the turn of Larry Carlton to take the centre stage. Eighteen-time Grammy nominee, three-time Grammy winner, Larry Carlton played wonderfully. It compensated for the first half of the concert. Added to his great guitar skills, the co-guitarist were too good while the drummer was just plain awesome. Overall the team delivered a beautiful performance and made sure people don’t go back home disappointed.

The concert has made me gear up for two of the most eagerly awaited events – Bryan Adams Concert and Fireflies-2011, both of which is happening on consecutive weekends in February! Now that week would be really something!

Demanding Gratification!

After dropping my friend back home, I saw this person tapping the window of my car begging for money. I am not the kind who donates money, especially to people who begs at junctions, but that day was different. I removed a 10 rupee note and gave it to his extended hand.

I don’t know what I was expecting from the gesture but to be honest I didn’t feel anything. Why is ‘no feeling’ disappointing?

Why do people give alms? Isn’t it some kind of a trade or a transaction between two people? The person giving alms expects gratitude, expects happiness in helping someone, or expects that smile/reaction from the other person, while the person receiving alms expects money for showing that reaction, for making the giver feel happy about it. But why was it that I felt indifferent to the entire process?

Why is it that we do what we do? What do our actions speak about us? Where does it all lead us? What is the end goal? - Gratification! The actions, reactions, non-actions all in one way or other searching in its own unique way for ‘gratification’.

At what point of time do we expect gratification? Do we indulge in short-term ones or long-term ones? One which involves a short cut or a longer definite path? Should one expect gratification when one initiates a task or an action, or while executing it or when one completes it?

Completion? When does one decide a task is completed or not?

It’s the intention that matters? It’s the participation that matters? It’s the journey that matters? Whom are we fooling?