The Red Poem

First, let me apologize for being so callous about my next post. It's true that I was hectic, occupied and pre-occupied, but due diligence should have been given to the blog in spite of all these lame excuses. For me, the thought of a post bubbles-up only when I find time for own-self. The only time I had for myself in this past month turned to be the time I drive from home to office and back. In spite of the shimmering heat of Chennai aggravated by the annoying traffic, I was able to conceptualize a flurry of posts and their skeleton. However, when I plunged into the work, everything evaporated, only to be left with the guilt of not having materialized those bubbles into a beautiful post.

Many thanks to Priya, Dawn, Vishesh and Mystic for their concern. Inspired by them, I share a poem that I wrote last week, for a team of 200 that my wife was heading for her company's family day. As a part of the Maui Hikers team's publicity campaign, my wife asked a poem on Red, the colour of the team. The poem was required to have attributes of Power and Action and I got the crux from the good old "Gimme Red" Eveready Advertisement. This poem got crystallized while I was driving from home to office. I concluded that, it's worth sharing the poem, when I heard that many people liked it -:)

Gimme Red
Gimme Red
The sunset dusk
In crimson Red

Gimme Red
Gimme Red
The human blood
In scarlet Red

Live-in Red
Live-in Red
The caution saves
In Striking Red

Live-in Red
Live-in Red
Passion and Love
At heart is Red

Being Red
Being Red
Tulips and Roses
Beauty in Red

Being Red
Being Red
Strength and Courage
In flaming Red

Love you Red
Love you Red
Maui Hikers
House is Red

The bird on the tree

A friend asked me the meaning of the picture I have posted in my profile. It is strange that, we, as human beings have grown used to look for reason, rationale and logic in understanding anything and our mind has become so calculative that, even a thing of beauty is measured using some quantitative method. We fail to accept things that are beyond human understanding and brand them as irrational, illogical, abstract and what not. For some reason, I had a reason while posting that picture and the answer was handy when I heard the question.

Mundaka Upanishad depicts its very essence through a parable narrated in verse of 4 lines.

A bird is sitting on an immense tree having innumerable branches and huge foliage. The branches were laden with fruits of different sizes, shapes and stages of ripening. The lone bird chirped and jumped from one branch to another. The sweet taste of fruits made him happy, and his eyes sparkled with contentment and joy. His breast swelled up with the pride of having discovered and enjoyed the sweet fruits.

But soon, the bird tasted a bitter fruit and his joy turned sour; his ego deflated. Again it tasted some sweet fruits and rejoiced with happiness and pride. Again, some fruits turned out to be bitter and the bird was feeling miserable and helpless. Cursing the whole tree, the bird pondered, “All this is useless; there is no happiness or joy in these fruits. I don't want any of them.' Ah! The glorious feeling of discrimination and renunciation occupied his heart.

He looked hither and thither, and his eyes caught sight of a calm and serene looking bird sitting at the top of the tree. That Bird appeared to be in state of meditation, golden effulgence radiating from His countenance that illumined the whole tree including our little bird. Later, the bird realized that, the bird sitting on the top branch is just the reflection of himself in the divine form.

The picture is just the representation of my aspiring soul. My friend was convinced. May be this story would fit into the lives of most of us. How about you? Can you fit yourself as this bird?