afternoon lethargy

summer air 

snares another one 

to sleep  

See! I am so happy!

A very Facebook infliction, this is mainly an attempt to impress upon our friends in the online world that - I am having the time of my lifetime! Simple, straight truth and self reflection has no place here, this is a world of brand new disguises for a brand new day.

So the first impression is the continuous replacement of profile pictures showcasing us in various stages of delirious joy. Then there are the enlightened comments on the secrets of happiness, that are usually responded to by our more wise counterparts, either in agreement or mockery. Too much of anything, they say; from alcohol to sex to work is injurious, and this exercise in narcissism has similar effects.

The YOU world
You seem to be the centre of everything, every word and every action of the world around you. Any passing comment seems to be passed on you. A joke at some distant office corner, seems to be directed at you. You become the observed, and soon your actions attain, involuntarily, modes to please the outside world. Laughter that you are not a part of irks you somehow, such that you end up making up your own fiction. You. You. You.

De-addiction
Posting on your Facebook wall again and again, "I will not use Facebook for stupid things again."

Seclusion, a quiet corner for yourself in the morning dipped in exercise is good cure. We mean self-development and nurturing time for blooming creativity. The more one finds time for things one is not paid to do and yet enjoys, without a care for what the world thinks about the same, the more the feeling that, somewhere, a flower blooms...   

summer blooming

 

You are on TV!

So do you want to be on TV too? Then throw or aim an object on someone who is already on TV. Or, fling an egg. Whatever you do, make sure that the object is harmless, disgusting and provocative at the same time. Ensure also, that the object is large enough to be caught by that ubiquitous red blinking circle that news channels use. Practice your act, such that the action is caught clear in slow motion, if not in real time.

You think this is all a joke? Well, the man who attempted to throw a slipper on 'someone who was already on TV' has his name on the photo caption of the main story in today's newspaper. He will soon tie-up with a footwear company for the brand of FLING FREE slippers. There will also be a new Facebook page and website that will promote similar throw-friendly footwear along with XL size catapults to help them along. So much for a slipper, so much for 24-hour news channels.

24x7?
That, in a sane world, the day's important news, all that we need to know, can be encapsulated in two to three hours or less. Inversely, channels keep stretching a bit of material, making up for everything but the truth. That is when, even those who throw slippers make it on TV, inexplicably, as it seems....                

break from revelry

24/3/2011
On Rangpanchami, the Maharashtrain day for the festival of colours, a couple of musicians break away from a boisterous crowd to quench their thirst, even as summer sets in...  

APR 15, Jaipur: Desultory Clicks

Birds rest on a thankfully overcast day in Jaipur

The observatory at Jantar Mantar  

Umpteen earthern glasses awaiting to be filled with 'kullad lassi'

summer shedding

summer 

a tree braces for new

clothes   

fruit slayer

collected, cut,
crushed, decimated,
served cold   

Travel Dairies (APR 10 -17): Chronology

Feeding Time

canine friend

gets its staying

rations...

ZZZZZZ......

a tired day

the sky his earth

when he awakes

study time

evening

school lessons

rewritten, read loud 

tea time

drowsy afternoon,

a cup waterfalls

to a saucer pool