Weekend Saga!

For all the weekdays' pain, weekend is worth the wait. This is the time of the week when you start believing in the world-is-a-nice-place shit. But once it arrives, you are as clueless as the moon in the sky. You want to make the best of it considering the fact that it is too little, too precious. After all, two days can’t stand against five days, democratically speaking.

Yet, you want to make it worthwhile with your plans and whatnot. You don’t want to lose it for nothing. Some go holidaying, some visit their friends and relatives, some treat themselves with luxury and some just sleep and watch movies. By the way, I belong to the last category. And my excuse is utter lethargy to try anything that has to do with stepping out of the door. Let’s just say, I’m lazy against my wish on weekends and hardworking against my wish on weekdays. Wishful life, yes.

Well, most of us believe in the liberation weekend stands for. And lot more. But not all of us end up good with the allotted time before a reality called Monday steps in. Moreover, Saturday and Sunday always seems to be in a hurry. Time plots a conspiracy against us poor proles. After all, weekdays are never appears to be in a rush to commit suicide or hebdomadal resurrection.

When I was in school, Sunday meant a lot to me. Today, I can’t figure out when exactly Saturday ends and Sunday begins and Monday sneaks. Most of the blame will squarely fall on my godforsaken graveyard shift job. If you don’t sleep well during working days, you’ll be narcoleptic during weekend and won’t even care about losing free time on dreamland. And when you wake up, there’ll be hardly anything to do other than log onto social networking sites or watch movie after movie after movie. You just don’t care anymore and start pretending there are worse things in life than not knowing what to spend your weekends on.

Yes, you can get productive too. Like visit a salon and get a bad haircut or something. And then wonder whether your haircut is more boring than your weekend.

See, frankly, these are losers’ talk. A brainful person won’t bury oneself under huge expectations. S/he will simply enjoy the weekend in the best possible way.

The bottom-line is they won’t crib on lost time when they go back to work on Monday whereas for the apathetic idiots, the only highlight of their weekend will be spending more time on Twitter or Facebook or other Internet boons. But then again, you can’t judge the social networkers by the time they spent on tweeting or facebooking. To be fair, with every passing weekend, trying to convince yourself life doesn't suck depends entirely on your mind. Nothing else.

Do you feel a sharp ting in your head? If yes, its enlightenment. If not, enjoy your weekend.

Poems.

mute lanes
I’ve seen some places
where dreams are sold
tears are bargained
smiles are stored,
where hopes are built
aims dropped and prayers failed
like a smile shroud in darkness too
like hearts do
nowhere to escape, nowhere to go
with nothing left to prove,
peaceful days are all left behind
once you cross this line
call it a bliss or a curse
never again you'll find yourself sane,
these words are just a drop
of endless stories untold;
I’ve seen some places
where dreams are sold.


wish was there a world
Wish was there a world
with no boundaries to share
no borders to cross
no anthems to sing
no false glorious tales to remember
no cold songs to render
no paper to buy or sell
no coins to make a sound
no tears wasted on time,
where hatred paid no fear
or wrongs had a way of its own
none lost in rage or pride
no lines drawn between genders,
colors to celebrate, not to discriminate
lifeless' life in art
nature to love and be loved,
no wars to run, no leaders shunned
no bullets to eat, no worries to meet
kids will smile on our streets.

Burmese Connections

OK. This is historical. No, I’m not talking about Obama’s India visit. I’m referring to Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in Myanmar. And with her release comes the freedom to imagine democracy and all the goodness that it supposedly promises. She was awarded Nobel Peace Prize 20 years ago and has been mostly under arrest since for raising her voice against dictatorship that engulfs her nation even today.

When Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in Robben Island prison and then went on to become the first black President of South Africa, there was worldspread jubilation. The reason was pretty simple. Here was a man who with his strong convictions and non-violent methods led a nation against apartheid. And today, looking at the way South Africa is holding a prominent place on geopolitical canvas, one can conclude that it was worth such a long struggle.

Suu Kyi’s devotion to her cause has been timeless but her release doesn’t contain the magnitude Mandela’s did. She has a long way to go now. Military junta is in no mood to concede power and let democracy flourish. That isn’t going to happen too soon but every positive sign is welcome and her cherished democratic voice behooves aspiration, not only in Asia but also across the planet. No wonder, everyone from POTUS to U.K. PM expressed their happiness and are looking forward to concrete political transformation.

It’s pretty obvious by now that Indian government don’t give a damn about democracy in Myanmar. Our foreign minister’s restrained comment on Suu Kyi’s release speaks volume of the catch-22 we are in. Of course, we’ve got our foreign policies too, which keenly demands closer ties with the infamous junta who apparently ensure us security cooperation on North-East front. But we shouldn’t overlook at the sentiments here. After all, its not about some cheap thrill baam-boom photo-op leader. We are talking about a lady who was once handed a choice between her ailing husband abroad and her nation. She chose the latter.

After attaining independence, India was a nation full of issues but had morality at the right place – on top. As of today, we are still in the thick of gigantic problems but our priorities are not the same. In spite of Myanmar being our instant neighbor, we haven’t extended the support Suu Kyi’s fight deserves and needs.

India is the world’s largest functioning democracy and it’s a shame to see ourselves dragging feet on core human rights issues. We can always escape debate by pointing towards domestic shortcomings but for a nation aspiring to be in-the-not-so-distant-future superpower, its time we got our moral math right.