An Indian spring of destiny

Year 2014 is a year of destiny for India. As I write this, spring is blooming in the gardens of this great nation and the backyard of our modest homes. We have always hailed the cuckoo as the harbinger of spring. This time, it is also manifesting as the harbinger of change. As the cuckoo spreads melody, incidentally the vast sky reverberates with a clarion call. A battle is round the corner. A battle of ideologies and personalities. A battle of promises and performance. India is going to the polls to decide its next bhagya vidhata (destiny writer).

Poetic winter

I wrote nine poems in Janurary 2014 to mark the completion of nine years of the annual department event at my workplace. I have been part of its organizing committee since the inception of this annual event in 2005. I have a deep emotional connect with the event that touches the lives of 500 employees of our department.

I present five of these poems below.

THE NINTH ROSE

For nine years, I have known you

For nine years, I have loved you.

Thus nine roses I send your way

Nine poems make a special bouquet.

Autumn Diary

The coffee table discussions this autumn in the capital have been pivoting around the torrential rains leading to the Yamuna encroaching into Delhi's 'shores', the shameful state of the Commonwealth Games preparations and the impending verdict on the Ayodhya issue and the associated uncertainties. Inspired by the unprecedented benevolence of the monsoons and engulfed in the contemporary socio-political uncertainties, my mind has been seeking solace in the poetic lanes. A few excerpts from my Autumn diary ... (imported from my Facebook Posts)

September 19 at 11:51pm

Daylong rains render a picturesque autumn evening;
Delhi wears a Parisian look, while a breezy night starts descending.

September 20 at 8:04pm

Climate change activists forgive me,
I say the change is for the better;
The weather had never been so pleasing,
In deserts floods don't matter.

Verses of My Teenage Days

That happens to be the title of my first book. Verses of My Teenage Days is a compilation of the poems composed by me during my teenage years (esp. 1994 - 1999). The poems are interspersed with sketches made by me during my early childhood years (esp 1983 - 85). Conceptualized by my father, Mr. Prabin Choudhury, the book was published by the Himajyoti Educational & Socio-Cultural Trust ( Visit the Trust Website ). Most of the poems had been earlier published in the Assam Tribune, a prestigious English daily of North East India.

A Golden Decade Signs Off

The first decade of the 21st century is signing off today. Signing off with grace. With pride. With dignity. As it leaves the world a better place.

For technology, especially computing technology, this millennium had begun with a threat - the Y2K threat. The world spent humongous amount of wealth to be well prepared to tackle the millennium bug - cost estimates ranging from a few hundreds of billions of dollars to a trillion dollars and more - surely a big number even if we make the most skeptical estimates - of the order of India's GDP at that time. The famous Y2K debate "money well spent versus problem over estimated", has never been put to rest; nevertheless, what is of relevance for our world is that the threat was well mitigated - and that qualifies as a victory to celebrate.

Positive Thinking in Practice

Of late, I have been catching up with some reading. I read Deepak Chopra's "Ageless Body, Timeless Mind", and Stephen Hawking's "The Theory of Everything". Both the books reinforced my strong conviction in oneness of the universe (energy continuum) and the ability of the human consciousness (an integral part of the universe) to leverage the infinite power of the universe towards the achievement of human ambitions.

Economic liberalization & Social attitude transformations

I had lived my childhood in pre-liberalization India in an educated upper middle class nuclear family in Guwahati city. Memories of weekend pastimes include enjoying Doordarshan programs like Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Ramayan, Mahabharat with family, Star Trek, Vikram Betal, Ek-Do-Teen-Chaar and the Famous Five with my brother & our neighbourhood friends; attending art classes at the Artist Guild & taking badminton classes at the Nehru Stadium;

The Incomplete Truth

What you see is what you believe. But unfortunately what you see is not a complete picture of what actually is. Or for that matter, what you hear, what you smell, what you feel with your skin or what you taste with your tongue is not a complete representation of what actually is. The reason being, your five senses operate within the boundaries of their own limitations. You can detect acoustic disturbances or sounds as long as the frequencies lie within the range of 20Hz to 22KHz. But that does not mean that there are no other frequencies floating around. Similarly, the human eye can detect electromagnetic radiations (visible light) as long as the wavelengths of these fall within the range of 380nm (violet) to 750nm (red) - the optical spectrum. But that does not mean there are no other wavelengths floating around. This logic applies also to the other three sensory capabilities namely taste, smell & touch. The way we humans smell, taste or touch is not all about what exists; because we can smell, taste or touch only the way our human anatomy allows us to.

Universal Consciousness propelling an Universal Mission

Have you ever had the eerie realization that you are alive - breathing, seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing, wanting, needing ...? Have you ever tried to look at your palm & fingers and tried to voluntarily stretch them, move them around ... the way you want to? It may sound trivial on the face of it. But underneath it shall speak volumes about your existence, and more so about your consciousness of your existence in this universe.

The Universe in me

It has been quite some time since I spent a Sunday afternoon lazily at home, doing nothing. Today happened to be such a day in many months, when I have neither felt like nor been made to feel like visiting the market place or walking into a cinema hall. Therefore, after lunch, I lay on my bed and tucked myself underneath my cozy quilt and caught up with an old & favourite habit : thinking about the universe.