Struggle

There is a failed attempt to contain pressurized gold which shoots out of openings in palms. There is a piece of dark cloth blown away by the violence of burst. Loose strands of the hairs dangle oblivious to action below. A dark calm sea below looks at the struggle petrified………………………

Molten Gold

.....
It began with diffusion of gold spreading and dissipating down. The contaminated azure though soon overwhelmed yellow tinge. Deep dark mercury covered the bottom in bland geometric rectangle. In the interface stood silhouette of a breathtaking cluster of trees lonely and uncared. In the background the profile of mountains was barely visible. The picture has been taken in an inspired moment....................



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Tolerance

I think people by and large are same everywhere. The facade of tolerance in people is only so much deep until there is just the whiff of threat to their cozy existence. Haven’t there been cases of vigilante justice in the aftermath of 9/11! And how old is the Second World War!

The only religions that were tolerant were those which did not believe in proselytisation and this primarily due to their monumental smugness about the superiority of their faith।

Any reference to past for the purpose of comparison is bogus; the parameters of existence were totally different. Tolerance comes from a sense of security about not being overwhelmed by an alien philosophy we are not used and which could alter our life style. We, in general, hate life style alteration and would like to maintain status quo merely because it is a situation we are coping with no matter how bad it is. For this precise reason we fear ‘Death’ because it means certain alteration in life style. Deep down we all, if not believe at least crave for continuation of existence.

Haqeeqat-e-Muntzar

This Allama Iqbal sh'er is slightly altered :

कभी ऐ हकी़क़त-ऐ-मुन्तज़र नज़र आ लिबास-ऐ-मजाज़ में
के हज़ारों सजदे उमड़ पड़े हैं मेरी जबीं -ऐ -नियाज़ में

हकी़क़त-ऐ-मुन्तज़र - unfolding fate
मजाज़ - manifest
लिबास-ऐ-मजाज़ - show up in physical form

original :

"के हज़ारों सजदे तड़प रहे हैं मेरी जबीं -ऐ -नियाज़ में "

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गौरय्या

गौरय्या जाने कहाँ फना हो गयी हैं
शायद मुझे देख कर निहां हो गयी हैं
इक वक़्त ऐसा था
हर सू इनका चर्चा था
आशिअना था हर रोशनदान
नीम, आम या फिर बरगद का पेड़
तन्हाई में भी रहता था कुछ शोर
भोर होते ही बढ़ता था जोर
सींक के टुकड़े और सूखी घास
बन जाता इतने में ही आवास
फ़िज़ा कुछ गर्म हो गयी है
गौरय्या जाने कहाँ खो गई है

---- काली हवा

The Collapse of Lehmann Brothers & Dawn of Exclusivity Economy!

The collapse of Lehmann Brothers brings into focus how fragile modern economics systems have become. In the past value of an article was based on the perception of its utility and availability. The perception of value was much more tied down to ground than merely on a sense of exclusivity. Gold and land were always valued for rarity and utility respectively however all that changed in modern age. Take for example a 100 million dollars Rembrandt original; from purely functional point of view its utility as a work of art to provide a sense of exhilaration is only slightly better than a good fake worth some 500 dollars yet the 100 million dollar price tag for original has basis on value appreciation and our desire for the exclusivity. The same paradigm applies to stock values and currencies. The problem is that perception of value in modern times is a kind of bubble; while it lasts the returns are prodigious and when it collapses the fall is immediate and abysmal.

In old days the economic down turns were mostly due to wars and famines where as in modern age the down turns are cyclical, quite irrelevant to natural causes though may bring forward such a cyclical phenomenon. The basis of cyclical nature of economy is purely in are inability to correctly calibrate our response to supply and demand. When the demand rises investment is poured into manufacturing which with time over shoots the demand and generates surplus inventory and when this happens investment dries up in manufacturing so there is down turn but natural incremental demand again dries up inventory and manufacturing capacities setting off yet another cycle of investment.

We are in an age of cyclical economy!

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ONEIROLOGY (Study of Dreams)

We seem to interpret everything that is not properly understood and which have some kind of patterns; the lines in palms, the forehead, the tipping of cards, movement of planets, constellations, placement of numbers etc and also dreams. This is because of our innate fascination to have a glimpse of unfolding future. The random occurrence of events in nature and not the most efficient way of rewarding the best gives hope to everyone to obtain best out of life and the world.

Working of dreams are not well understood so far but we may know more about them with passage of time, however for the time being occult interprets them to know future while rational minds interprets it just a play of mind. Do animals dream? They do, even without the advantage of language they dream about fights for territory and of being chased by predators etc. We have much more elaborate dreams, some simple some very complex mostly playing out events from life but sometimes bizarre scenes play out in our dreams having no connection with conscious mind. We have no control over our dreams; when, how and what will be played out in our dreams. We remember nightmares because intensity of such dreams seeps out of the subconscious to conscious and wakes us up abruptly. Do dreams have message?

Who knows! They could be giving signs of failing health or mental fatigue or just telling us to slow down in life.

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