jabberwocky

Screams as the skin tore
a sliver of blood-bright and blue
the tear, that giant pearl sized bundle of moss
set the whole generation roaring

the blade turned brown
the blood of decay
the pigsty now a flowerpot
the blue roses mock the earth
of its bloodletting years

hybrid sensations moved swiftly
the paramour turned wife for
respectability
stinking sweat and colourful blood stains that blush

Conversations

Sleep laden eyes
light ridden night
calm and gentle
thoughts and feelings
in the quiet of the blackness
a sudden ring, a sound, an awakening
everything stops, the hand reaches out
the words in the ear
whispered somethings, quiet manythings
serious thought flows
and silly laughter follows
sometimes for hours
seldom in minutes
then it crawls on us
time overtakes
sleep till first light
and then we will commune again

AHA--AT Ranga Shankara-Summer
Pinty is a super creature, good actor, damn good with children with 2 lovely brats of her own. '
Should be good.........


As a first step towards reaching out to children, Ranga Shankara announces a theatre workshop this summer, to be conducted by Pinty Rao.
Over the last few years, Rao has established herself as an assertive and result-oriented theatre educator for children. An actress since she is fifteen (Ondanondu Kaladalli, Geeta, Naga Mandala, etc), Rao worked as an Assistant Director on Shankar Nag’s Malgudi Days. Story telling and Process Work Facilitation are her other areas of work.

There will be two batches of the workshop – April 6th to 15th, and April 20th to 29th. Participating children should be between nine and 12 years of age. Classes will be conducted everyday between 10 AM to 12 Noon at Ranga Shankara, J P Nagar II Phase. Each batch will admit 20 children. The course fee is Rs. 1000.
Registration will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Applications will be accepted at Ranga Shankara on 18th and 19th of March, from 11 AM and 5 PM. The fee of Rs. 1000 should be paid in cash at the time of registration, along with an age proof. Application forms will be distributed on those days at the theatre, one per head.
The workshop will give the children an opportunity to understand how theatre works and a chance to peek into the world-class facilities at Ranga Shankara. The course is also designed to help children drop inhibitions and learn to articulate.

blue chads
true blue
happy me
with my bumble bee

flower unfolds
leaves look prim
food and love
on the same plate grin

Androcles

Long, long ago
so long ago
that no body know
how long ago

There lived a king
and his palace
he had a slave
called Androcles

I forget the rest of it
but it was story about a slave being thrown to a lion
a popular sport of those times
Christians? not really sure
but i knew the first 8 lines byheart and would
recite it like a poem. for a long time.

Sameer in Cannes..

I hope so.. i really really hope so
if there is anyonei want to watch on tv
walking down the carpet and waving to people
its sameer sheikh...what fun.

and so Naseer's film.. yun hota.. kyon hota..
aisa hota, kaisa hota... etc etc.. (this hindu stuff i tell you)
is getting a Cannes release i believe.

What super super fun.....
too much---and imagine its Sameer's debut film.
wowowowowowowoowowowoowoowooowwooowowoeeeeeeee
so yun/kyon/ will debut there and sammy will
wear his best tux and wave to the camera...
yippie--yippie....................................................

miss eating french toast with him
and miss fighting with him.
sensible, sensitive brute he was
now film ishtar and all.
lovely creature.. and so much fun.

From savitri to Cannes.... with nice stopoves
with smell and ursula.. good boy.
one special koshy's beef burger coming up for you.

Munish Gone--10th March 2006
Heavenly fathers Club

In the middle of the Theatre Festival
three of us found a way to sneak out
for an ice-cream every afternoon
cake fudge most of the days
except when it was pritham's turn
then tho.. we had to eat bright pink and orange
horror concoctions.

one day in woody's munish suddenly says
'three of us have one thing in common,"
pritham and i look up and wait....
and after a brief pause,... he says
"all our three fathers are up."

quite startled.. we just stare for 3 seconds and then burst out laughing
we laugh and laugh and laugh endlessly... we kind of formed a club
lunches, dinners, plays, movies, coffee, even shopping.. crib sessions endlessly
and now film star to be has gone off

once he and i were sitting in k and meghna joins us,
he says something stupid and meghna says, "don't your parents mind?"
he says, mom doesn't and dad is dead and up.
meghna is a bit stunned and doesnt' know what to say
she looks at me.. and he says, "don't look at her,
her father is also dead and up.. with my father..and
in case you don't know... pritham's father is also up
and atul's father, and sheeba's father as well... i crack up and start
laughing. Meghna walks off... says we are disgusting .

The last message he sent me at 1.30 last night said
"if not for our fathers, our friendship would not have blossomed."
crazy kat, mild cassanova, stupid goonk, mad punju, but truly smart..
though the tried hard to pretend not to be...
munish sharma. soon to be event manager, then television star, and then movie star

taiwan poocha---or begining

Vinod papa was still asking for cats and dogs
It started one day, just like that
he asked mi for a dog or a cat
hee hee.. i knew better, by then i had given up
asking, but he was persistent

so finally mi gets him a poster
of that dark brown almost orange coloured cat
the one that is staring at the gold fish in the bowl
poor vinod didn't have a chance.

he fell for it like crazy
everyday he used to wait for mi to come back
and ask her for the cat
finally smart mi came up with a story

this cat was from taiwan--taiwan poocha
and someone from the office was bringing it
so that meant it could come slowly
taiwan was very far off

vinod waited and waited and waited
it took him atleast a year to understand that
the poocha from taiwan was never coming
good lesson learnt the hard way

we never really asked for pets after this
the poocha from taiwan taught us a good lesson
we learnt much later that those poochas actually
come from persia and have nothing to do with taiwan

puppy saga iii.

With great fanfare and after a lot of thought
hardpressed for originality, we named him puppy
he wasn't that. or he could have been
we were never sure of how old he was
he could have been four months old or four years
a nice bright brown, his most discerning feature
was his face.. he had a wolf-shaped face
his muzzle extended in a square cut from his face
he was very squarish to being with
but he was smart.. not like other street dogs
he was suave, and somewhat of a smooth operator
everyone on the street wanted to own a piece of puppy
he got good breakfasts, lunches and dinner
even some milk now and then, stolen from homes
he made the streets look cool, with his regal stance
the only thing undignified about him was his name
poor puppy.
we soon found out how a street dog looked so good
turned out he wasn't a street dog after all
he was a pet in the street across.
One day they saw him eat shit on the street,
they were brahmins or jains or some other sect
that didn't tolerate this kind of nonsense
they threw him out
and he came to our road and was quickly embraced
we tied a satin ribbon around his neck
so that the pound woudn't catch him and electorcute him

but even puppy had his limits, when the time came he died
in the gutter, not died but was very sick.
and then paul our neighbour came and yelled at everyone
because he was sleeping in front of their house
said we encouraged strays, fed them and then abondoned
them when they were sick and dying.

Not knowing what to do, we telephoned mi
she sent someone from the office
by then puppy was dead
the van came and took him away to
bury or throw , we never found out
we lived in a colony, and couldnt bury dogs there.
and no one wanted to be part of it
including us.. puppy was good only alive.

then came rosie-the street dog; mangy weak cur we adopted her, named her and looked after her
rosie, rosie, rosie.. tch tch tich... tch tch.. we called out every night after dinner.. to give her the left overs.
And, no matter where she was.. next lane, a block away..she came bounding, leaping over short compound walls and jumping across fences.On sundays, we left a lot of meat on our bones during dinner, so that rosie could get it.
rosie had many babies.. and we looked after them all...One rainy morning she gave birth to four pups..they all looked cute as usual
after a couple of weeks we realised something
3 were fine.. there was a lone guy with useless hind legs
when he walked.. the hind legs dragged on lifelessly behind him thin, weak legs... maybe dog polio.
then the rains came.. he slept in the gutterwe thought he would get washed awaywe cried and begged,
could we bring just that one lame guy home
well... what did we expect.. it was NO as usual
so after the murderous rain stopped vinod and I ran out to look and...believe it or not..
floating in the muddy waters lame duck was alive..well... mi felt bad too..
and gave us an old bedsheet for him we took him out..
put him in a dry spot in ourcompound and wrapped him in the bedsheet after some time the idiot left the place and was sitting in the muddy gutter with the bed sheet entangled between his hind legs..
all wet and dirty
well coming back to future perfect... which it never is anyway
lame duck died.we found him dead one morning
sukanya, latha, shanti, ammi, seena, vinod and i
we all cried for a while, poked him with stick,
checked hundred times for heartbeat...
and so on and so forth.at 2 in the afternoon we decided to give him a fitting burial all of us together.
we carried him on a plate to the empty groundwe dug a hole..
all of us got to dig and then we lowered him in...
all of us put little mud on topand then we put flowers we had brought..
lose flowerswhen the hole was almost covered.. only the last bit was left
all the girls howled one last howl.. like we see relatives of dead peopledo in real live and in the movies...
same-same we did.The we prayed all of usthen we sang a kannada song one that all of us knew
then seena and ammi went to their house and got us one glass of fresh milk(they had 5 cows)
we poured the milk on the newly dug earth and cried again.
Then I made a speech.. i said.. lame duck was our friend and we will never forget that he is buried here and that every year
for as long as we lived we would come on that day, from where ever in the world we were and pay homage to our friend
and pour milk on his grave.
needless to say that was the first and the last time the ceremony took place.
next year puppy wandered into our streets and lives

childhood and more.



When i see kids with dogs and cats
I wonder why my parents never even gave it a second thought
I remember begging and begging.. for a dogI gave up soon enough.
Then it was Vinod's turn..he begged and begged and pleaded and cried
My mother got us a squirrel,
which the street cat killed in one shot
we got the squirrel out of its mouth of course,and even gave it a whack on the head
We buried it near the tankbehind the house at 141 ,
We cried, vinod and i,and put a rose on the spot.
We had a rose bush then...but still............
.then mi got us two coloured birds called lovebirds..
in a cagewe never fancied those..
then when vinod got wheezing, someone told mi to set the birds free
and thatwheezing would go.
birds went wheezing didn't.
that was the end of animal farm at home.

Crysta
'
Just like Vicky was not short for Vikram
Crysta is not short for anything.
crysta is an animal..not just a dog
she is a maandhi, a bit of a praandhi too

you scratch her and she will show you what ecstacy means to a dog
and when you tire and stop.. she'll guide your hand again.
if you resist.. she will position her neck against your raise foot and
shake her head against your leg and be rubbed or scratched by default
she found ways to work around the system.

Crysta was as inelegant and as clumsy as vicky was smart and regal
crysta was also quite ugly.....
and she got nice and fat.
typical street variety that.

In an other day and place we troubled her
just that once... it was for the country.. so
its excused.
uday, vinod, sarita and I
suddenly switched on the TV and we are getting
thalped .. NatWest Trophy.. England.
Yuvraj is out...
looks bleak.. who is Kaif?

we crowd around the tv, aunty gives us murukku
and discuss our eventual defeat
crysta jumps on the teapoy
kaif hits a four
crysta jumps off
kaif almost gets bowled
heart beats accelerate
kaif can't connect bat with ball
four deliveries down
crysta jumps on the teapoy
no ball called
next delivery... kaif hits four
and then two.
crysta goes down
no runs scored off the next 3 deliveries...
we pull crysta onto the teapoy.. and hold her there
kaif hits four.... and four.... and four
and the rest is history.. it took somtime --nearly an hour
crysta was edgy and nervous.. and everytime we screamed for a four
she got so nervous.. she almost had a nervous breakdown.
but we held her down...till the end of the match.. till it was all over
till yuvraj came running to jump on kaif.. till they fell on the ground
the whoel of india celebrated.. they think it was kaif...
we know its crysta.

Pet Peeve

Why is it called a Pet peeve?
whatever be the reason, last week i discovered a pet peeve
only, this one had to do with a pet; not mine but almost like
vicky died , if that wasn't bad enough.. we didn't know where to bury him.

A much loved dead dog with no place to go.. its horrible
Between the five of us.. we made about a dozen calls each, calling activist friends
animal welfare groups, names in the directory... blah blah and more blah
NOTHING.
Then Sharath got wind of the PFA cemetry on Mysore Road after Raja rajeshwari Nagar
They went and it was done.
Now, since everything from blood banks to gaming centers are listed in city guides, and websites and stuff like that
how come vets, animal clinics, and pet cemetries or crematoriums are unheard of?

Vicky and I
After a never ending childhood of wanting pets and not getting them(thanks to working parents)
vinod and I had steered ourselves to not being overtly demonstrative towards dogs and cats..
the first dog that we got somewhat close to... was vicky.
sarita and sharat's dog; we first made his acquaintance in 1991-that was a long time ago.
vicky was young and robust and used to run like the wind(or so we said)
a nice strange mix of ash and brown.. vicky had the look of a good pedigree gone wonky
I remember the day vicky barked at carlton saldanah(the neighbourhood sporststar), and i told him
"it won't bite," and he almost bit my head off with..."that's what they ALL say till the bugger bites your hand off."
I disowned vicky then by... "well he's not my dog. i was only trying to help." Emply words.. for vicky followed me, wagging his tale..
while i busy trying to look like we had never met, because carlton was glaring at me!!

Vicky was different from other dogs.. he never begged for food at the bakery. which was a constant with every other dog
no matter what breed or royal lineage they claimed
anyway the gist of the matter is that sharath, sarita, vinod and I spent some time together last sunday morning
after a long , long time.. we really don't have that kind of time anymore.. we have time for everything else.. except for
spending time together... all of us.
anyway coming back to the gist that was... it was again an event of sorts.. Vicky died last sunday.
We knew we had it coming for a while now.. he's been ill on and off..had a couple of operations..
but was okay. He was bloody old by dog standards.. 16. When people asked us how old he was and when we told them
they had that special look in their eyes.. which meant... "time up" some even told us.."dogs live only till 12 so he will die soon!"
this is when indian society doesn't seem quaint and sweet and culturaly sound. Sound is a complete misnomer.. even my mom had asked me countless times how old he was.. and told me in great detail that dogs lived only upto the age of 12..
she would never say that about an aunt or an uncle who was 60 or 70..
well is this not a crib about mi, there are too many of those.
So... we got this call and vinod and i ran out, came back took bike out..
it was bloody hot.. so we ran back in took glasses and cell phones.. some glamour for vicky
and went over..
the usual.. aunty was crying , sharath was organising something, preeti was around, sarita red rimmed eyes.
vinod, sharath, sarita and preeti went to a pet cemetry and buried him.
there are countless pictures of the ash coloured, hairy vicky in our house
he was the closest we came to having our own.
we fed him when sarita's folks were out of town and those two disappeared and didn't come back on time
we gave him milk and break and wondered if he liked it.
we sat with him on the stone outside our house.. all four of eyes..... he heard our stories, we tolerated his bark..
he was territorial(in his youth), we were happy to have him walk with us
he would growl at all the unpleasant specimens who walked past us.
he was good fun.
do dogs become angles? do they have a heaven and hell?
its difficult to imagine vicky with white wings and halo
and he's no angel. really.
he didn't even like to be kissed and hugged and petted..
he a mind of his own,
so vicky.. stay away from those holy joe types and find your own haraami friends
bite madhu rao's irritating pomeranian if you find it
and as for that pesky caeser... shred him to bits and use his fur to make a pillow...
have fun.... lots of bones and endless running space to you.
run fast... like the mini cheetah that we always thought you were
doggy peace.