Rumi

For awhile we lived with people, but we saw no sign in them of the faithfulness we wanted. It's better to hide completely within
as water hides in metal, as fire hides in rock.

~~

Be with those who help your being.
Don't sit with indifferent people, whose breath
comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.
A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.
If you don't try to fly,
and so break yourself apart,
you will be broken open by death,
when it's too late for all you could become.
Leaves get yellow. The tree puts out fresh roots
and makes them green.
Why are you so content with a love that turns you yellow?

~~

....God fixes a passionate desire in you,
and then disappoints you.
God does that a hundred times!
God breaks the wings of one intention
and then gives you another,
cuts the rope of contriving,
so you'll remember your dependence.
But sometimes your plans work out!
You feel fulfilled and in control.
That's because, if you were always failing,
you might give up. But remember,
it is by failures that lovers
stay aware of how they are loved.
Failure is the key
to the kingdom within.
Your prayer should be, "Break the legs
of what I want to happen. Humiliate
my desire. Eat me like candy.
It's spring and finally
I have no will."

~~

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

~~

The cure for pain is in the pain.
Good and bad are mixed. If you don't have both,
you don't belong with us.
When one of us gets lost, is not here, he must be inside us.
There's no place like that anywhere in the world.

~~

Even when you tear its petals off one after another,
the rose keeps laughing and doesn't bend in pain.
"Why should I be afflicted because of a thorn?
It is the thorn which taught me how to laugh."
Whatever you lost through fate,
be certain that it saved you from pain.
A Sheikh was asked: "What is Sufism?"
He said: "To feel joy in the heart when sorrow appears."

~~

This we have now
is not imagination.
This is not
grief or joy.
Not a judging state,
or an elation,
or sadness.
Those come and go.
This is the presence that doesn't

~~

Birdsong brings relief
to my longing
I'm just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!
Please universal soul, practice
some song or something through me!

~~
One who does what the Friend wants done
will never need a friend.
There's a bankruptcy that's pure gain.
The moon stays bright when it
doesn't avoid the night.
A rose's rarest essence
lives in the thorn.

~~

There's courage involved if you want
to become truth. There is a broken-
open place in a lover. Where are
those qualities of bravery and sharp
compassion in this group? What's the
use of old and frozen thought? I want
a howling hurt. This is not a treasury
where gold is stored; this is for copper.
We alchemists look for talent that
can heat up and change. Lukewarm
won't do. Halfhearted holding back,
well-enough getting by? Not here.

Change

I am ever-changing. The more I change, the better I feel. Change offers scope to slip back to the original and discover on the way the journey as it was. Change is life.

Rural tourism has not only helped villages find a place on the tourist map, but also promoted indigenous art forms. My story today.

Indirapuram delights

Delhi Metro has its latest station barely a kilometre from my house. I suddenly realise the importance of owning a house so early in my life. Three years ago when I moved into my house, the green belt across it wore a deserted, junglee look. Now, if you travel in peak hours, you carry strong chances of getting stuck in traffic. The Green belt is being beautified; trees line the streets; there are new traffic signals and aesthetic roundabouts. And, the price of flats has gone up drastically. Statistically, it's making more sense to people to buy homes in the locality I live in. Suddenly, buyers realise it's just 15-16 kilometres from CP and has a swank, clutter-free, signal-free highway as access point to the suburbs.
The room we constructed on our terrace often elicits queries from potential tenants; only we don't want to rent. The year we moved in, the existing rent of the flat equalled half the EMI were were paying for the rent. In three years, it's as much as the EMI. What's more, the area has multiplxes, clubs and malls at every nook and corner, perhaps as much as Gurgaon. Every housing complex built offers swimming pools and jogging tracks, a luxury in south Delhi where people have very limited options. I know a colleague who lives somewhere near Hauz Khas and drives to Siri Fort Auditorium for the swimming lessons. All I have to do is to peddle my way for about 2 kms to the nearest club, which has a neat pool and a gym. I peddle because my flat is in one of the older societies in the area and hence, doesn't have a swimming pool. New apartments are self-sufficient housing clusters.
Schools in the neighbourhood may not be many but they are coming up, esp. preps for children. There is a huge demand, esp. because most buyers are young, well-to-do couples with small children or couples planning children. In the evenings, there is such energy on the roads that it is difficult to believe it was once unsafe to move about after 10 pm.
Even Noida, and I am sorry to say this, can't be any match. And, it's now unaffordable for many - an ex-colleague wanted to buy a flat in my locality but had to move 15 kilometres further because the flats were beyond his budget. Finally, I am not complaining.

I have spared myself the task of building bridges all over again. Humanity demands of us to make and sustain friends. A recent attempt with an ``old friend'' was treated with much cynicism, and I abhor that. When all I see is goodness around me and can find courage to start all over again, I can't allow anyone to darken my spirit with veiled disdain or sarcasm. I just want to look ahead and feel happy. LIfe is too short for bitterness or revenge or pretence at friendships. I would rather admit a stranger in my house than a friend who is a cynic and a doubting thomas.

Last few days have been very eventful, haven't had the time to sum it all up here. Trust me to do that soon.

Here is a nice piece from my fav. journalist who is now a novelist too: Searching for Something good to say about India

Response to rape

I was very delighted to find a mail from Flavia Agnes, direcor of Majlis, today, in response to my story on Rape Counsellors in Mint on Monday.
She said the article inspired her to approach the Mumbai Police with an initiative similar to Swanchetan's (For clarity, read the story.).
I had read her books and several opinion pieces while doing my disseration on rape at the journalism school I went to. I knew she is iconic as far as activism in India on rape goes. So well, her mail shines among all the mails I have received on the story.
Good day.

rape counsellors

The young girl, visibly bruised and shaken, was brought for questioning amid blaring sirens and numerous cops stirred by her sudden appearance. She was reporting a rape on a summer day in 2001 in a police station in central Delhi, where the policemen struggled to make sense of her distress.

In an instant, they went hurling questions at the girl; but she wouldn’t stop sobbing. Their questions to her were intimate and rattling—details on the rape, reconstruction of events leading to the crime, finding witnesses and identifying the accused.
As queries persisted, the girl went hysterical with cries. The investigating officer entrusted to investigate the crime was soon yelling at the victim even as her family members looked on, startled.

Rajat Mitra watched the proceedings with unease. More here.

And, here is an unrelated promotion: Why do we read PG Wodehouse?