The Mundane Artist

When I opened my Facebook memories notification dated July 2 nd , I did not expect to find a memory that was of one of my best friends posting about how we were always out on this date, from two years ago. I took a screenshot of it and forwarded it to my best friends. Both of them showcased a desire for that status to still hold true. My best friends and I have been in a long-distance friendship for more than a decade. Yet, we have been best friends for more than a decade too. I shifted to another country ten years ago. Then when I shifted to India for higher studies, I was finally in the same state as them, but alas, not the same city. It was the closest I had been with them for a while, and honestly, I would take this than being in a completely different country, again. Long-distance friendships are hard. I know how dreadful I feel when I leave for college, knowing I will not be able to see these two homo sapiens who fill my life with so much joy for days, weeks or months. ...

"There is one benefit, though, that outshines all others. It's 'bonding', a transcendent emotional experience that is uniquely a woman's. When an infant suckles, when it feels the nourishment—life, itself—flowing from you, and associates it with your closeness, your warmth, the perfume of your body, your touch, the light in your eyes, the embracing and the cuddling, a bond is forged that can enrich your life, and the life of your child, all your lives. It's the bond of love." -Feed Your Kids Bright by Francine Prince and Harold Prince, PhD. 

I think of you as I stand here; The flow of a river has never been this serene. I remember looking at Beas river when I visited Manali. I looked from the balcony of my hotel window, a good distance away and yet, The ferocity of the river frightened me. Now I stand at the edge of the river And I have never been at peace as I am now. Is this some magic that you have cast through your words? Or is it my bias that is dictating my feelings? We will let it be. I hold it in my hand; The thing that is your solace. I wish you were here today. It is real, this day. The Jhelum looks “so clean, so ultramarine”. The day I came to know you, I promised you that I will take you home, Didn’t I? I promised you I will not let Kashmir be abandoned in the mailbox, And here we are, I fulfilled my promise. Now here we are, This is YOUR home! This is where you belong. I hold your solace, the postcard from Kashmir. I know your soul is buried dee...

"...and while there may not be a book in every one of us, there is so often a damned good short story." - Jeffrey Archer, And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer. 

"Ghazal The only language of loss left in the world is Arabic- These words were said to me in a language not Arabic. Ancestors, you've left me a plot in the family graveyard- Why must I look, in your eyes, for prayers in Arabic? Majnoon, his clothes ripped, still weeps for Laila. O, this is the madness of the desert, his crazy Arabic. Who listens to Ishmael? Even now he cries out: Abraham, throw away your knives, recite a psalm in Arabic. From exile Mahmoud Darwish writes to the world: You'll all pass between the fleeting words of Arabic. The sky is stunned, it's become a ceiling of stone. I tell you it must weep. So kneel, pray for rain in Arabic. At an exhibition of miniatures, such delicate calligraphy: Kashmiri paisleys tied into the golden hair of Arabic! The Koran prophesied a fire of men and stones. Well, it's all now come true, as it was said in the Arabic. When Lorca died, they left the balconies open and saw: his qasidas  braide...

Hyperbole  West opened  East ran to South.  East-West left timidly; they could have done well.  but  South chances  the king of hearts.  this is no exaggeration one declarer in a thousand would succeed  West neither led nor shifted  to  East. 

"midnight blue"  navy -blue navy unobtrusive dark blue  a down-to-earthness

"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great." - The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Aries:  work                 family  a whirl- wind romance                  empty        lone- ly lost and dissipated. 

Sunrise                Sunset  Moonrise               Moonset 

Collision  A collision of  Sunday and Monday  braked just a short distance  beyond the signal

when we shifted to this land, complaints and formal letters creating traffic jams without permission. it has been more than six months we have not received a reply, and they call us illegal.

attack  the bodies (are)  known to attacks. 

Super Cup  final round; ready; neighbouring teams; under floodlights. 

"NATURAL RESOURCES  4.  Could you imagine a world of women only,   the interviewer asked. Can you imagine   a world where women are absent. (He believed he was joking.) Yet I have to imagine  at one and the same moment, both. Because  I live in both. Can you imagine,   the interviewer asked, a world of men?   (He thought he was joking.) If so, then,   a world where men are absent? Absently, wearily, I answered: Yes." -The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich (Poems 1974 - 1977). 

She opened the tap at the basin and rinsed her hands. She pulled out a tissue paper and wiped her hands. As she did, she saw someone in the mirror. It was the reflection of her. That person she had wanted to see her for a long time. A wave of shock and surprise swept over her and she froze with the damp tissue paper still in her hand. Her eyes were wide and her mouth fell open. "Close your mouth while you can.You do not want me to see you drool," the reflection talked. "Err.. sure," she said. "Do you know who I am?" asked the reflection. She didn't answer. For a few seconds, no one spoke. "Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, dead? "Oh I am," the reflection said dismissively. The girl squinted her eyes trying to find logic in the reflection's statement. "If I turn around, will you disappear?" the girl asked. "Why don't you try turning around?" the reflection asked back. "Bu...