The Boat's Bow, Vembanad, Dec 2016

weight machine man, Mumbai, Nov 2016

Kite @ Office Window (Summing it Up)

Kites have been visiting my present workplace window for a long time now. On rare occasions there are two of them together, never more. Usually, it is a solitary bird visiting. A tangle of wires outside the glass window is like a perch to them. Does their obscure reflection on glass puzzle them endlessly? They stay a while, sometimes fidgety, other times calm, like taking a breather from what we perceive as effortless, wing-still flight. This relentless monsoon, one showcased a spiky moist head, like it had been to a trendy barber.

Apart from usually calm, sedate, eye-sharp bird watching sessions, there have been highlights. Rewards for a distracted, accidental observer. Once, the majestic bird stood there quietly pecking open mouse flesh. A barbaric moment of quiet shock. Another time clawing a bare chicken bone, probably pilfered from the butcher's. On a particular devilish grey day, I saw one swoop down on to the wires in a fierce trajectory. For one breathless second, I thought it would break through glass and carry away prey.

The dusty window, opaque glass, resultant reflection and sealed window does little to improve photograph clarity. But there is still a spread of green among the concrete, the twin roofs of a historic college and spread expanse of sky, cloud in the background. Often the office floor lights and cubicle shapes embed themselves in each picture, make the image a collage of contrasts.

winter grass (Nov 2016)

winter grass
the herd needs
no prodding

(haiku by Snehith Kumbla, World Haiku Review, Naad Anunaad Sep 2016) 

Foggy Tree, Dusty Cat (Oct 31, 2016)

Two Kites & A Dusty Window

Village Cat, Malavli, Sep '16

South Mumbai Street Cats, Aug'16

My Poetry in Poster Art

I am featuring a selection of my poems in poster art, just for kicks. It is great fun to revisit the poems and the feeling, passion and time during which they flowed out on paper. You may view the selection on my blog: Snehith's Poster Art and Other Diversions. 

Bob Dylan turns 75

On May 24, 2016, the multifaceted, enigmatic, 'the man of the thin growl voice', the mesmerizing banyan tree of a songwriter, protest singer, folk-singer, harmonica-round-the-neck man - Bob Dylan, turned 75. If compared to a very commercial Hindi film song sequence, Dylan wears and discards many of his superhero to ordinary man costumes in the space of one song at a time.

Now, we may not call him a free-flowing great singer like Lata Mangeshkar, but the culmination of his wispy voice and sheer power of his elevating songwriting (what beautiful, searing poetry!) makes him sort of a charming, caravan-living, mysterious traveler who sings all that he absorbs from life, whenever one listens to him. Here are the lines from one of the first songs that made him conspicuous, way back in the mid-sixties:

"Blowin' In The Wind"

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind. 

wall graffiti i

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boy vs goat 2

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post afternoon hike

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chandelier

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boy vs goat 1

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parrot on a wire