Love at its rough edge

Love is an all encompassing subject.While nearly everything under the sky and above it has been described associated with love and that i do not claim to have anything dramatically new and novel the fact remains that love is one human achievement that we should be proud of.French literary legend Guy Du Maupassant said “Humans would have been just as primitive as the other animals in this world if they had not discovered love." Love offsets a lot of gruesome things we humans do.It is love which makes us essentially human after all.I have often been intrigued by this subject and that thought process has resulted in a few creative products in the form of poems.These poems which i am sharing though may seem a result of personal experience they are not necessarily so since I have taken considerable poetic liberty and of course the observations of my dear friends’ relationships to base these.These poems were written quite a long time ago as the dates will reveal but this subject continues to intrigue even now…

Lovestruck

The lips seem to quiver,
The heart pounds away,
Then you knew,you were in love.
For that's the lover's way.

Your eyes will focus on one,
And the rest will become hazy.
Rules in love don't apply,you gather,
Because your world is going crazy.

The heart wants to talk,but the lips don't move.
The mind yearns to touch, but the hands decline.
And time shall move,but you don't flinch.
And eyes did meet,but you forgot the line.

Silence speaks words sometimes,
Which we are ill-endowed to hear.
For love requires not language,
But only a lover's ear.

You begin to sing and you learn to dance,
You listen to music in a delightful trance.
You discover the different ways to laugh and smile,
To please your love,you will go an extra mile.

You remember the first touch on your hand.
You remember that first kiss.
You remember the first glance towards you.
And the first time the other did you miss.

Love is a strange being indeed,
Under its shadow,you feel your life depend.
Only one shall capture your dreams,
In whose arms, you wish your life to end.

Raghuraj S. Hegde

22nd July,2004

They kissed that night

They sat.......shivering,
The dusk set in, just as the sun.
And along with the night,came the cold,
The punishing winds with a hint of rain.
So they came closer,but both willed to.
A touch became a hug and a hug something more.
His heart was beating louder,
Her's was too.....
Their future was uncertain,
And their past unknown.
But in the present,they saw life's beauty:
There is too much suffering in this world,
And our hearts too brittle to bear.
But despite all things.....
There is still romance left in this world.
Beauty defies the ignorant eye,
Music eludes the occupied mind,
But search for true beauty in this world,
And unconditional love you shall find.
These thoughts stirred them both,
In turmoil their minds pressed,
Which turned up with feelings.....
They did not intend nor will.
And then it happened,
As they became one,
No one mattered,Not even God!
Life meant more,more than mortals can know.
How blessed humans are,
For they have love that shelters all.
How beautiful that sight was,
As they kissed that night.

Raghuraj S. Hegde

4th June, 2006

Passion is a rare thing!

Today Dr. Richard Litwin, a cornea specialist from California who is a pioneer in introducing lens implant based cataract surgery in India and Nepal came to our institution to talk about cataract surgery in developing countries especially in a historical perspective.One of the things he said was "Cataract surgery is hypnotising, so much so that the more you perform surgeries the more you feel like doing more.It comes to a point when you start wondering what will happen to you if you stop operating and will your life be the same without cataract surgery" This man is nearly 75 yrs old but the passion with which he spoke about cataract surgery was amazing.Even at this age when he spoke about cataract surgery and its various economical and technological hurdles there's was a spark in his eye and a delight in his voice.I love seeing people who are passionate about their work.I confess to a bit of nostalgia today.I saw the same kind of enthusiasm in my school chemistry teacher the late Dr. David Chatterjee Ph.D .He spoke with so much energy when he gave his chemistry lectures that I learnt an important lesson in life: If you do something passionately it is bound to touch someone and in time everyone. I loved chemistry because of Dr. Chatterjee for he showed me how beautiful the world of chemistry looked to him.It is no less a tribute to him that he invariably pops up in conversation whenever i meet my classmates during school reunions.That's how much influence he had on our psyche.I've always craved for that kind of influence and i realise that people like Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Litwick hold their power of their passion for their work to mould our collective mindsets.I wish that in time I shall have a similar influence on people's thoughts.

Raghuraj S. Hegde

The riots of division

The Ayodhya ciders burn......

When the babri masjid demolition happened I was an eight year old kid and all that it meant to me was 2 weeks vacation from school.But now 17yrs later the ashes have been blown up with the Liberhan report.I can now truly understand the graveness of that incident.It serves little purpose now of course other than the fact that it conclusively establishes history and connects them to the appropriate culprits.But what hurts me a lot is that the people responsible for it don't have one ounce of remorse.This fact is seen quite clearly by Kalyan Singh's statement after the report that he does not repent that the Babri masjid was demolished which fueled riots all over India.He even went on to say Dec 6,1992 was a day of national pride.Well I would say Mr. Kalyan Singh that you are wrong! Dec 6th, 1992 was one of the most shameful days in Indian History post independence.

Religion is the opium of the masses said Karl Marx.I guess that's what it is because religion makes people do things without reasoning sometimes like madmen high on opium.The people cease to be human and i wonder where these people lose their humanity.The ayodya riots,the mumbai riots,the post-godhra riots and innumerable lesser known riots which though smaller in scale are just as shameful have always proved the narrow mindedness of religious fundamentalism.What saddens me is all this hostility serves no other purpose than to divide people.How does it matter whether there is a ram temple in the place where he was born or not ?(of course who can conclusively prove that ram was actually born in that very place?)and at the end of such a horrible bloodbath these very people who propagated such unbridled hatred should ask themselves whether it was even worth it.Ironically those very hypocrites who were at the forefront of such communalism are projected as heroes.LK Advani was the prime ministerial candidate in the last election.Narendra Modi won by the biggest victory margin in history immediately after the post-godhra riots.hence we need to realise that somewhere in these riots there is a strong stench of public support to such gruesome acts.These politicians play the communal card since they are targeting those very people who vote.Why did Bal Thakarey and now Raj Thakarey gain supporters?It is this narrow mindedness that's preventing us from progressing.In our country before you are called INDIAN you will be known by your state,religion,caste,whether you are SC/ST/OBC/GEN merit,your wealth and many just categories.It is in this division that politicians find refuge and create differences to suit their political ambitions.

They say Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was innocent in the ayodya and godhra episodes.But no he can't be.You cannot call yourself the leader unless you are responsible for all the mistakes of the people whom you lead.If he chose to continue in the same party despite all this without even punishing those guilty then he is just as reproachable as any of them.He failed as a leader(during ayodya) and he failed as a prime minister(during Godhra) so he has to be responsible.we can see how things are when movies like parzania and firaaq are banned in Gujarat and the central govt has nothing to say about it.These movies show the fear that dominated those dark days when i wished i should not have had a religion.

I'm not saying that other countries don't have such problems.Even the USA have problems like race,religion and terrorism just like us.Africa also has civil war raging through most part of it but why cant we be different from these people.In other words we need to find out why we should be proud to be called Indians when we too are behaving like uncivilised beasts.

I have never been religious since the time i can remember.I realised very early in life that the biggest service you can do is to find happiness yourself and then share that happiness everywhere else.We should do good not because some GOD will punish us if we don't but we should do it so that we find joy in being ourselves.You are not in this world to burn some temple,mosque or church.you are not in this world to damage theatres,offices or monuments in the name of upholding some irrelevant falsehood called indian values.If we should show the world that Indians have values i feel we should start with tolerance.I tend to believe there should be a Higher Power or probably even a GOD but the more I see people getting killed in the name of faith the more I feel religion is the wrong choice we made.

 

This link might shed light over the grey areas of the Ayodya battlefields:

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/12/10/ayodhya-the-battle-for-indias-soul-the-complete-story/

Raghuraj S Hegde