Try a haiku

Haiku is a three line poem of seventeen syllables in all.

Look for Buddha outside your own mind,
and Buddha becomes the devil .
-Dogen

The break up of the syllables is in little lines of 5-7-5 syllables each.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
-Microsoft message probably.

Haiku generally do not use metaphor or obscure imagery, nor do they reflect the feelings or inner life of the poet--at least in an obvious way. It is rather an expression of egolessness in which the poet turns outward to fully experience and capture the essence of being in a particular moment at a particular place.

You rice-field maidens!
The only things not muddy
Are the songs you sing.
-Raizan

Haiku shows us how see into the life of things and gain a glimpse of enlightenment.

The snow of yesterday
That fell like cherry petals
Is water once again
-Gozan

Haiku emphasizes being in the moment.

A sudden shower falls
-and naked I am riding
on a naked horse!
-Issa.

Haiku knows when enough has been said.

How to Write a Chinese Poem

A well-known Japanese poet was asked how to compose a Chinese poem.
"The usual Chinese poem is four lines," he explains. "The first line contains the initial phase; the second line, the continuation of that phase; the third line turns from this subject and begins a new one; and the fourth line brings the first three lines together. A popular Japanese song illustrates this:

Two daughters of a silk merchant live in Kyoto.
The elder is twenty, the younger, eighteen.
A soldier may kill with his sword.
But these girls slay men with their eyes.

I throw it open.......do write a Chinese poem as a guest on my blog.

Alive and Kicking!

A good friend of mine is from a place close to Bihar and takes great pleasure in poking whatever fun he can manage to poke at his worthy neighbours. His work in the rural development sector led him to be posted in a tiny village in Bihar once and he relishes the fact that that stay gives him lots to talk about still.

The other day he told me the story of the Bihari rustic and the funnel. Apparently early, every morning the Bihari villager trots off in all earnestness to the grazing field with a funnel in his hand. Now since we live in a country quite free in it's expression of excretary functions, what with the line of persons along the train tracks eulogized by Mr Naipaul, the "Do not make piss here" signs so generously scattered and the ignorers of the sign even more so, one generally develops a healthy attitude towards nature's functions. This set my imagination racing to how exactly the funnel could serve a purpose.But what I heard was not what I imagined, allow me to share with you the funnel function.

He says that these men wait for the cows nearby to pass through what has been ably digested by their four stomachs in a glorious drop to the ground. As soon as this steaming cake falls to the ground they position their funnels right over it and inhale deeply. The villager unable to afford costlier means has discovered a unique way of getting high, the fresh dung has enough methane to give him a kick which sets him off happily to work.

I personally am of the opinion that if he inhaled the cow's behind itself, he would get a better kick.

Please honk less, turn down your stereos, no crackers during Diwali and try whispering sweet nothings.........

My Mother: M.G Road Barthira Pa?
Automan: Neevu yelli helidrenu barthini Madam!
My mum seats herself happily in the auto, and as they zoom off, she says,
"Yenu neevu ishtu olle mood alli idira? Neevu thumba ollevru ansathe...nim hesrenappa?"
"Srinivas, alle lisence alli hakide nodi"
"O illappa naanu kannadka thakond bandilla"
"Kannaddallu ade, English allu same Madam, Srinivaasss"


My Mother: I am going out today in the evening
My Dad: How come?
My Mother: To buy a suitcase
My Dad: Why is it so important to tell me that you are going to buy toothpaste?