Via: YourLocalSecurity.com

Click of the Orca

With no beam of light, had ages passed;
the missing Sun left our eyes parched.
Wolves of yore have kindled  fear;
never without a tremble does a second pass.


The Northern Lights do soothe our eyes;
but nothing to douse the howling fear.
The solar wind seldom melts ice;
send us the Sun, we've waited, benumbed, over the worse part of the year.


Frozen Phlegm makes breathing a task;
dilated Pupils grope for light in the dark.
We've seen the silent ocean wear an Icy Mask;
under it, loud Orcas tear a whale apart.























Click of the Orca: the poem is a work of Aditya Mantha

P.S.: I'd love to thank Jugesh's and Hemanshu's Facebook status update which inspired me to ink this poem.

Critique on a Painting

Starry Night ~by Vincent van Gogh

This famous piece of art called The Starry Night is by Vincent van Gogh.
The mood that the entire painting sets is dreamy. The subtle but the fantastic contrast set by the type of strokes used, in spite of the same value(thickness) of the brush used can be seen in Gogh's depiction of objects of natural origin and those, which are man-made.


If you see with a detailed eye, the Cypress bush in the foreground, the rolling hills, the swirling clouds and even the stars are depicted using Rolling strokes of the brush, thus highlighting their flexible and changing nature. While, the Town Center, the houses and other buildings (being man-made) are painted using straight, fast strokes showing their staunch, stubborn nature.


The placement of the Cypress bush in the foreground, the amazing interplay between the dark and light strokes in the same layer, gives a wonderful sense of depth( i.e the 3rd dimension) in this painting.


The stars have a point origin and a bright glow around them. this lends the dreamy effect to the painting. Also, noteworthy is the way he painted  the moon, which has a outer-worldly charm and glow.
Gogh could've painted the bush in the foreground shorter ( than the town center's spire), but he painted it long enough, so that it reaches for the skies, thus giving more importance to nature.

Night Mountain Wind

Craned my neck and saw the full moon.

Shining away with all its glory.

Borrowing all it could from the Sun; 

which was nowhere to be seen so soon.

      Through the dark woods, I waded my way;

      followed and guided by this stray;

      so bright and sketchy, with messy-white a sheen.

As my feet shuffled past the dark shrubbery,

did I realize that alone was not me.

      Twisting and whirling, around itself;

      there was something else; which made its presence felt;

      by sending a chilling wave down my spine.

No, no, not animals; they don't have me scared.

'cause at this time around, we all had the Jungle shared.

In a whistling flow, it gave a gentle bow, 
ruffled the leaves up, and then let them go.

.

The Night Mountain Wind brought the night mountain chill

which threatened the warmth that backed my power of will.

I climbed upon a ridge which itself jutted by

and saw the night valley sing a lullaby.

Night Mountain Wind : poem by Aditya Mantha is work licensed under 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Onslaught of Rain

Earth was heated by the day's sun.

It was sultry, it was stuffy, it made me sweat.

The air became heavy. 

The subtle, ever-so-sweet musky fragrance filled the space.

      Perspiration vanished, 

      Fresh air gushed into my lungs.

      I scanned the heavens, full of hope;

      They had flashed and had sung;

The never-before-seen leaves now sprang up.

The dry dead leaves which lay abandoned,

began dancing in festive circles

      The galloping wind tickled the giggling leaflets;

      from heaven joined their friends, the droplets.

      A cold, moist one fell, and then another;

      and in a cascading avalanche, came a zillion others;

      quenching the thirst left by the sultry weather.

Like a thousand tablas together, they roared.

The Earth was elated to receive the showers;

welcoming the tiny guests like her own seed.

Onslaught of Rain: the poem by Aditya Mantha is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The Bombay Connection

How I keep going from you ..............away.
Once to Vizag, and then twice to ......Chennay.
But I'll keep coming back to you
my dear, my love - My Bombay.


                       It rains here like it does nowhere else;
The clouds casting innumerable........Magic spells;
                      a cup of Cutting................................... Garam Chai,
accompanied by Pakode..................- deep fried;
                      A long walk along the.........................Marine drive;
Get drenched in the rain and then....get dried;
                      Its sheer awesomeness gets me........Petrified;
I hear the wind whistle and listen to it cry.


Flood in the monsoon, 
sweat in the summer it may.

               I'll keep coming back to you - My Bombay.

Veggy Owls

We all know the (K)night Hunters for a host of striking features, like their huge eyes, Noiseless flying and maneuvers, as rodent-eating scary birds and for their Awesome Flexible Neck. Other reasons being their role in Harry Potter series (his pet owl Hedwig), and in the movie Legend of Guardians


I wanted to show these misconceived(to some extent) birds in a new light. Their bright colors, wide sparkling eyes, colorful beaks and vivid feather strokes. I used thick brushes and repetiive brush strokes in order to fill in the white space and give a fade effect.(best displayed by the green hills).
The owls and owlets waking up in the evening sky, getting ready and spurring into activity~ collecting berries, eating and feeding them to the young. Veggie Owls don't prefer giving  regurgitated feed to their young
(I thank my roommate for letting me use his laptop to update this post )

To Save Private Ryan or not to...

Same old thing about a Green Diwali that comes up in the Papers, but of which people don't give shit about.

This note is very Diwali-centered. But its got a lot to do with other important things too.

What happened was that I just commented on one of my friends' Diwali greetings a couple'o days back: About causing less air and sound pollution, especially in the name of Diwali festivities.

And pat came a comment from some random guy, who just felt that we people are free to burst as many crackers and cause as much noise as we can, for the sake of Diwali, as this is what the tradition talks about.

My friends, the Tradition doesn't ask us to cause the undesired pollution, neither does it ask one to disturb ones neighbour, be it human or animal.

The aforementioned Random guy's reasoning goes somewhat like this: The automobiles and the industries, cattle, noisy jets and nuclear reactors are causing enough pollution; and celebrating Diwali as one likes wouldn't make a milligrams difference to the present scenario.*period* It  will!!

This is the kind of attitude we should be wary of. We should consider taking even the small steps towards lessening the chaotic pollution already taking place.

So here it goes again:: Burst less crackers, try causing minimal amount of any kind of pollution, and have a very safe, Prosperous and yes, a green Diwali :)

Old Wood and Young Shoot

What does this picture,....................in your mind ring?
just the blue, green and brown..........of another spring?


The old and wise wood,....................trying to stay alive as it could;
embracing them in its tender shade,...those lively li'l everglades.


It rises, like its will,........................against everything that tries to kill;
it sacrifices its life,.........................to protect its green children from strife.


The old accept their demise as...........the young spring up and rise.

Weeds, we aren't talking about,
only the trees whose trunks are stout, they who feed so many a mouth,
the chirping bird and the humming bee, all find shelter under the branches of the tree.


The gray-bellied clouds betray,...........allowing the scorching sun to flay;
the soil, of its green;........................and the grass, of its sheen.

Sea Dreamer gone Sky Diving

As I soared above the clouds,
just short of touching the sky,
I peeked down in between the clouds,


I was flying above ocean-blue.
From this height I couldn't fathom
the sky-sea barrier nor the ocean's bottom.


From thirty thousand feet I jumped,
with no tether to hang on to life.


The earth and the ocean loved me so much,
they pulled me into an embrace.


Without further ado, I plunged into Ocean-Blue.
Heights turned into depths,
clouds turned into swells of water,
the feather-light feeling turned into lead-weighted pressure,
the feeling rushed in,
the moment I crossed the Horizon.
I thought that now, I did sense,
what they called  Transcendence...

Your mark of Distinction

As I come to think of it which everyone usually does sooner or later at this point of their lives, what do I want to do after this..? 
You have a bachelors degree in your hand. All you think of is about doing a masters abroad or landing a good job. All said and done. What next? Where do you see yourselves after all of this. After you get your preferred degree or get your desired pay packet what will keep you busy? You hope you find your soul-mate and settle in a city of your dreams. You'll have your dream job paying you your dream salary, your soul-mate and your dream children and their welfare. Is that all that you've thought or planned of? What next? 
All you ever planned of will turn into routine. Some might feel satisfied with that. Simple happy life .~full stop. What catches your imagination? Remember being a child? Got any memories? What have you wanted to pursue as a child? All of which were deemed off-limits by the people, society, the events of the later years. Start realizing those dreams. Enjoy your moment by living those dreams. They'll render the painting of your life in a different dimension. A mark of distinction. 

Future of Transportation - ?

Looking for ideas for the future of transportation design. I grope, not in the dark but in the depths of transportation history. Into the very elements which define the need for transportation.
Mass transportation, which enhances businesses, fosters growth in the economy; and then come personal modes- transportation which makes personal mobility a breeze, vehicles and transportation systems designed so that each individual looks forward to using it.
Motion gives joy. And cars are an expression of this joy. Cars have been the focus of automotive design.
Cars are an expression of the individual taste, I know that all the people in the world are different from each other and the industry cannot afford to produce cars matching the taste of each and every person. Cars are an expression of freedom; freedom of movement. At the crack of the fifties, they represented both freedom and power. But then both could not go hand in hand as they lead to exploitation. Because of the air poisoning that they were causing on earth and the depletion of precious fuel, traffic congestion with so many people wanting to express their feelings through their cars; and a whole hoard of problems that burdened most of the lands, especially the cities. Almost all the industries have always got affected whenever there had been a setback in the economic arena. It is perceived that until these economic setbacks, the automobile industry was at its peak. Yes it always was. But these economic setbacks are the driving factor for fostering new design concepts, newer engineering solutions for the newer problems that keep raising their ugly head. After surviving many blows, now it has come to the limit that cannot be exceeded- the death of the I.C. Engine.

Cutting Chai Kid

All she gets is leftover chai and Parle-G.
Yea, she knows the alphabet and it ends with C.
Counting, she knows all from one, two till three;
Yet, she's employed at the dukaan which sells tea.


You'd ask, "what's her job profile?"
She cleans the plates and stacks them in a pile.
Her uncle brings her here after walking two miles.
Yet, she believes in Service with a Smile

She's got her friends, Bantu and Panki;
They don't play with her but give her company,
in cleaning table-tops with with spilled chutney.
(They're the ones who bear the chaiwala's tyranny.)


They've never met other children of their age;
always had to work in this constant bondage.
Of course they're of school-going age;
but will they ever come out of this cage?


Blame their uncle, blame her mother;
for not letting the children know of this joy.
The chai ki dukaan doesn't pay for bread and butter;
And they can't even buy their kids a toy.

Think about this...

Clicked on the way to Matheran, a pristine hill station near Mumbai.


We are too much on the brink of a disaster. But, nature is very flexible. We are paying for the mistakes committed by us in the past but we also have an opportunity to correct or even reverse them. It is not always as it is said" once done, cannot be reversed".

So, in order to reverse this drastic change, we must channelize our energies and direct each and every decision in our life that it balances and nurtures the Natural Way.

All of us think about leaving  wealth, heritage for our children to enjoy. But it is our prime duty to leave for them, an environment in which they can enjoy the most basic of their attributes-life. 
We should leave them not just a heritage but the legacy of a Healthy environment. They must know what pure rain, snow, fresh air mean.

We cannot let our corrupted and polluted actions strangle earth's life, in whatever small way we contribute to it. We might be having the power to do but that does not mean we exploit it, it is like strangling our mother to death.

Rainwater Harvesting

Mumbaikars might be knowing that BMC had decided to cut water supply by 30%. Although the people staying in some housing societies have understood the gravity of the situation and started implementing rainwater harvesting. It needs to be done on a large scale to be very effective. It is big time that the BMC and also the municipalities nationwide (and worldwide too) take up this project. It might solve our water problems.
We have this gift of seasonal monsoon which we don't utilize. If we do, then our domestic water needs can be satisfied, and the lakes of Mumbai can only supply the water for the dry season.

For those who think Rainwater Harvesting to be big, here's another smaller and cheaper alternative. There's a simple mechanical device which is fit into your washroom's flush tank. whenever you push the lever down, all the water doesn't get wasted - only as much as you need.
For more details visit http://www.consultaenterprises.com .
You take the first step and urge others around you to do the same!

A New Point of View

'The Environment' literally means the surrounding that encompasses all biotic and abiotic elements. The point we need to make a note of, is that we should start considering the entire environment as a single living substance comprising of many parts [atmosphere, terra firma, and the hydrosphere (just like the human body)] and which reciprocates every feeling just as any other creature would do (like we suffer from illnesses when one or more parts of our body face some problem). We all know what the problems are and their causes too. If we keep this in mind then we would no longer need an Environment Day to remind us to take care of it.

We must understand that awareness is a time-consuming process, but we should be determined and persevere to get the awareness ball rolling, keeping in mind that it is our responsibility to save what is our only HOME.

Since us, human beings consider ourselves to be the most intelligent and powerful species, it is, but our responsibility to care for Earth because with Power, comes RESPONSIBILITY