The Vagina Monologues – A play

Four ladies in crimson, pose elegantly in red chairs in front. And the crowd laughing their balls off. I realize for a moment I am the only vagina in single piece, others are all paired (couples). Eh.. What the heck! I wink, laugh and roll along with the others.

It wasn’t an act, it was a narration. Something that should have Been. Thanks to Elsner. People, who had just heard the moans of a vagina, now knew them by varying range of frequencies and varying amplitudes, now know them by the emotion they may signify. God there is beauty in the rainbows!

The concept of the play is to put the voice of the vagina forward. These, like ‘women’, remain mysterious to this day. Elsner interviewed women from different professions, ages and races and compiled this funny yet tangy anthology of monologues; involves every kind of humour but with honesty. The ‘vagina’ comes alive in the act.

By nature, the vagina remains hidden and hence its secrets. And this, like truth is better understood when discovered . There’s this part of the play, when the ladies take you through different emotions it involves. Its sacred.. sacred all right. But chuck the sanctity man.Very practically, moods of the play change in a blink-

There is a moment when she is defining the heavy long-awaited emotions of the vagina in Moans, moans of every hue, frequency and amplitude . One when she tells us that they touch and cut her off, is just not what she wants. She hates to be treated like a thing, an object of mindless desire. A moment, when she is reluctant to shave off the hair around her dignity. When she loved to just die in the beauty of his eyes, absorbing the beauty of her vagina. There were so many of those moments, implied but not discussed in the play; A moment, when life stands still at her door when she is to deliver a baby. Time when she is that all powerful, but of course beautiful goddess of sex, where she defines every breath. Still there are times in her life when she is there just for him, seconds meaningful, just because he is in there. Her body, the embodiment of erotica, is the real journey of life from what one can see, to what one can actually believe in.

The humanness in man and the mystery of life is somewhere always related to woman, her feminine ness. Have they ever wondered if men could ever bear the force of hormones, they would be worse. The play encourages women to feel and enjoy and be fearless about her sexuality. This is nature- the minimum they can desire. Recently, I found an interpretation of Hinduism which identifies two aspects of the Devine- The Nature (Shatarupa) and Shiva. Women, you are supposed to treat yourself the best way. The philosophy that worshipped Shiva is primitive (am a follower) but the one that worships Shiva and Shakti together is ‘evolved’.

The beauty that lies in her smile and the sparkle of her eyes is not something that man can understand in one life, unless he is God himself. Not sure a believer but god is a metaphor here. Finally, as we own a bigger heart and a wiser head, we must live by choice , a life without fear and as beautiful as us.

The play is very matured in its thought and presentation. A great piece of art, creativity and imagination.

NCR

In a city like Gurgaon, where anywhere you turn your head you find sunlight struggling to find grass and dust fills the air,all you can see is high rise buildings. Here, infact in and around this region, NCR as we call it, it has been hard to find ‘news’ these days cause its mostly static. The new definition of NCR stands as National Crime Region[erstwhile National Capital Region] more so with the new initiative of TOI- Times Gurgaon.  Theres nothing called good news. Some people would present the rhetoric that theres nothing called good truth- bad truth… yeah whatever, go ahead.

Every other day you can find these ‘typical truths’ juggling across different slots, different quadrants in City pages. Some of these(more eternal ones) like rape- where women of unexpected age group equally get to the hall of fame, murder- mostly hollywood style, psychotic and filmy kind, uproar by the traffic scented and persistently dented
population of Gurgaon, are arranged in a matrix of robberies and vehicle snatching. Funny thing here.. there’s hardly any public transport here; if you reserve a[green ] auto, be ready to get the driver beaten up. And daring the dig-outs on the roads, if you do get a vehicle (any on wheels), the supermen here snatch it at gunpoint.

Hence our definition keeps on changing from NCR to National Crime Region to Murder Capital Region to National Central Rape Region and so on.. The city has become the prodigal son battling to keep its ego and its human antithesis above its originality. While its native lot is respectably much more beautiful than its superficial verdigris, its mall-e-
Bourgeois.

Of Wilderness and Wisdom

There are times when life shrinks down to mere moments. You don’t share them and under the clouds of dust, of time  they grow… like forests. Sometimes in introspection, you see  them.. wanting to be green leaves.. giving a yellow smile, for want of sunshine. Although it rains still, they grow not with the torrent in the drops but with each lightning drawing red across the dark blue sky. The flowers that should have hissed and shied, now resonate the thunder that fills the sky..

And yet again… in other moments when you look above the self, there is a clear dark sky jutted with stars..you wonder, often they reflect your lovely smile and.. and sometimes the dessert within.
Feel the wind ehh.. Go out and dance, catch the lightning from its horns, tear the ear drums, Sing that song again.. Sing that song again..

Mann Toh Karta Hai ..

Mann toh karta hai raatbhar jaagun
zakhme jism darde bayaan
khoone kalam se likh daalun
shor machayega tu kitne, ja tu apni haden dhoond le
peer ke nagmon ko mitane wale
ja tu apni wajah dhoond le
jo har subeh bhujhe har raat jale
us charag ki law ke tale
apne makhbare ki jagah dhoond le
Oh jaane wale
in jheel se gehri aankhon  ka kya
woh galon ke bhanwar
woh ghazal si behki kamar ka kya
jab cheda tha kisi khayal mein tumne
woh aeenaye nazmm , us lafse bemisaal ka kya karoon

Mann toh karta hai, jo aayi thi aandhi
us ke har tinke ko cheer dalun
jal jaaun khud
pathar ko pani bana dalun
ashiqui nahi hai shayar ka nazrana
aye dost
yeh nahi hai saki ka maekhana
sadiyon ki muddat se mile jo
yeh hai fakir ka woh khazana

..

is paemane ko bharte bharte raat beet jaae
inshah allah
woh subeh kabhi na aaye
jab khuda bande se pooche
dikha .. kya chupata hai
dard hoton tale dabata hai?
is chand si soorat ke peeche
seerat mein apne gham dabata hai?
khol seena ki raushan karoon
in zakhmon se kayanat ko
bandagi mein aye peer
peergi mein apna ber chupata hai..

Light Of Darkness

In the light of Darkness

Let the song Prevail..

When to the whispers of a Geisha

My soul will set Sail

I shall be Reborn

To the tune of  Sadness

Where in, the Hell

Bows to Me and bids Goodbye

Tempers its selfless Honour

And screams to My High..

Casteism and Killing for Honour

Recently there has been many cases of ‘killing for honour‘, young people who have married or are in love for that matter. And most of this is happening in our most fertile and rich lands. The cause is simple and right in front of you-
Casteism.  Casteism, hate, divisions… all fine but wait, where does crass violence and cold blooded murder come in? In a land, we all used to be proud of these have become a common occurrence.
Casteism is followed for the wrong reasons in many places but is expressed as violence in very few. What we fail to understand is whereas started for the right reasons, it has mostly been followed for the ‘wrong’.The premises for the
formation of castes has been purely based on ‘Karma’ whereas people follow it solely for its ‘ Dharmic‘ connotations building them out of thin air. When it was made, it was formed so that the experiences, practices, skills and learning a
man gained from his work(karma) could be easily passed on to his progeny so that the coming generations would excel and won’t have to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel. And look how complicated it has become today! A weakness in our society which many have exploited by their quotas, reservations, etc , followed our rules only to deepen the divides.

But as you may see, though some of these areas are counted among the wealthiest states in India, they are not the most educated. Heck, this is the root of the problem! If  this is ‘expected’ here, what do we expect from the other poorer and still ignorant ones? Taking the convicts to jail is just the beginning of the solution and technically is only a symptomal relief. Its like taking a pain killer to calm the pain, when you are internally bleeding , you are still bleeding dude!
Education and awareness are a critical need for the whole nation. The only solution, the only answer. These are not ‘socio-economic’ but ‘social’ issues which should be carefully dealt with. The irony is even some of the very educated
people of the land support it or act helpless by citing its complexity. Whereas it is plain ignorance. If he/she is the pride of the family, her choices should be equally trusted and given a chance to further it. At the end… where is your ‘ honour’ if your ‘pride’ has been ruthlessly crushed ?

KumarSambhavan

A poem about coming to terms or the merging of the Ascetic and the Erotic. The beauty of the story lies in how Parvati attains Shiva through Penance.

Remarkable though, in the whole os the Hindu mythology She is the  only woman who becomes the Goddess, becomes Shakti, the Supreme Power. This is the mystery, called the one of Being and Becoming (Bhava – Bhavani). I believe both are as close as they are fleetingly far. As mentioned in kumarsambhavan, after years of penance, Parvati becomes the great Yogini, the counterpart of Shiva, the great Yogi.

Kumara is an abstract concept – one of descent of the Timeless into Time and Space, of the One, the ungendered Ardhanarishwara. Whereby Parvati  becomes the better half ( ) of Shiva, the beautiful, all powerful Shakti. It is she who brings out the essence of  Creativism, in the ultimate destroyer of the Universe. In Shiva-Shakti one can see a juxtaposition of matter and anti-matter, of being and becoming, of love and destruction, all together, with and without annihilation of the Self.  She proves the idea of being and becoming from Human to God, a form from where you can see through and around at the same time.

Read it cause Kalidas has been at his literary best!

Tide Over Moon

In some corner of the night Sky

The moon is still High

Keeping the winter Alive

While its burning self Glorifies ..

I  know you could burn the World

With all that flare Within

But you chose to stay Away

Lest people find what you have Been ..

I am the light of your Soul

The water, the rush , the Tide

Shine all you want , you Lemony Hole

But you’ll always find me Beside..

Fly away or Behind the trees you Hide

Or in the sky dark bloody and deep you slide

You’ll always find Me Inside..

The MotorCycle Diaries

Going through Che’s Motorcycle Diaries. Wandered away though..

When you are moving and dynamic, you are ofcourse free from ‘civilization’. all civilization and convention emanate from settlements and hence is a bane to the spirit of free will. Spiritual mobility is the source of all creativity, forms the soul of  ‘religion’(not in the traditional sense of the word).

So is it for an individual. The Spirit remarkably changes its ethereal shape in its journey through the shaky extravaganza of time. But for the meadering river that it is, there amazingly might be no direction- where as its moulding self gives it a false sense of orientation – the super dimension… some are lost in this nebula of  colours … others experience the dark matter.

MANTHAN

There are  some mythologies that you can relate your existence… your roots to. Gradually, in course of life you can co-relate and join the dots back to your roots. Its important to know who you are. So here’s the story , roughly, taken from zeenews article.

Samudra Manthan

In Hindu mythology there are several stories behind the origin of the Kumbh fair but the most popular of all traces its origin to the Samudra Manthan – (the churning of the primordial ocean – mentioned in sacred books, the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana).

As per the plot, Lord Indra, the God King once infuriated sage Durvasa for not giving him due respect. Angered, Durvasa Muni cursed Indra and all Devas to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune and making them meek and coward.

Following the curse, Devas were repeatedly defeated by Asuras (demons) led by king Bali, who then gained control of the universe.

Desperate to reclaim their lost glory, the Devas led by Indra sought help from Lord Vishnu. The lord… the all knowing advised them to treat Asuras in a diplomatic manner as given their present condition they could not, in any way, defeat the demons using muscle power.

Vishnu then sent them to Brahma (The Creator), who in turn advised them to churn the primordial sea (Kshir Sagar ) to obtain the elixir of immortality (Amrita). This is referred to as the Samundra Manthan in Hindu scriptures.

However, the churning of primordial sea was an enormous task which the Gods could not accomplish on their own and hence they struck a deal with demons to divide the treasure coming out of the sea. It was proposed that Gods and demons would get the treasures and then come out one by one alternatively.

The Mandara Mountain acted as the churning rod and Vasuki (King of Serpents) was used as a rope for churning. Thus began the great churning with demons holding Vasuki’s head and Gods holding its tail. They pulled on the serpent alternately causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. However, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu in his second incarnation, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his back.

But to the horror of Devas and Asuras alike the first thing to come out as the result of the churning was Halahala (the most vicious and venomous poison), killing many.

As the last resort, both parties prayed to Lord Shiva. He being the supreme one chose to consume the poison to protect the universe.

Gradually, the primordial sea started yielding various treasures like Holy Cow (Kamdhenu), the flying horse; the lyre and the coonch, Lakshmi and Vishwakarma and other items. Finally, Dhanvantari, the divine physician, came out holding the Kumbh or earthen pot filled to the brim with the nectar of life – the immortality elixir (Amrita).

As luck would have it, turn wise, the demons were to get Amrita but the gods wanted to prevent the elixir of immortality to go in the hands of demons at any cost. They knew at that time demons possessed more power and could easily defeat them in a conventional fight; hence they ran away with the Kumbh to hide it some where.

But the demons came to know of the trickery and chased Devas for 12 days and 12 nights. These 12 days of Gods are equivalent to 12 years of Humans. During this chase for the elixir of immortality the drops from Kumbh fell at four places – Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.

Eventually, the Asuras caught up with Devas and snatched away the Amrita Kumbh. But before they could drink it, Lord Vishnu, disguised as an enchantress (Mohini), approached the demons.

The Asuras were so enchanted by the beauty of Mohini that they lost all composure and swooned around her. Seizing the opportunity, Mohini quickly distributed the nectar amongst the Gods.

However, one Asura, Rahu suspected foul play. He disguised himself and joined the queue to receive nectar. Mohini poured him some but soon realised that he was a Asura in disguise and she immediately decapitated him with the Sudarshana Chakra. However, as Rahu had drunk nectar, he did not die but continued to live on as Rahu (the head) and Ketu (the headless body), who are today part of the Navagrahas (nine planets) in Hindu astrology system.

To commemorate this holy event, the Maha Kumbh Mela is celebrated every twelve years at the four sacred places where the drops of nectar fell during twelve days of war between Gods and Asuras.

The fascinating story of Samudra Manthan holds within itself the secret to self-realisation. It represents the divine endeavour of a seeker for nirvana and the path he has to take to achieve his goal – concentration, control over senses and desires, and practice of austerity and sobriety.