Reflection

It was no longer tamed

By the wrath of the of the hot star

The beach had died down

Setting all chains apart

Adorned a silver tiara

Let the agility to a cease

The streets were quiet

The dogs fast asleep

'twas me and only me

In the serene company of a glowing light

Bathing in the metallic sea

Rustling breeze in my hair

I couldn't be less carefree

We walked a thousand miles

Atleast what it seemed like

Amidst the settled chatter

Of the men of the sea

Unaware of a material world

Bored by the boundaries of the earth

Lunatics, in search of peace

Who stopped only when they saw

What their souls had been searching for

There it was,

In pitch darkness

Only our legs could sense it,

The patterns of the Tatami

Only our eyes could hear it,

The patterns of the diamond designs

Only our ears could see it,

Rustling stories of the waves

Only our souls could now rest

As our bodies sank into the rough land

It was me and my reflection

The flame and the fire

Burning beautifully in the strongest winds

Seeking the shape of the breeze

To strengthen its own

Two of a kind

Began on a journey

To each of their own

My reflection and me

My reflection and me..

Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vlumi/19608875846/in/album-72157650630382969/

Being the nature, shaken and broken, yet..

The burden was just pulled off
Sudden freedom, not what I was expecting
Just like how your lungs will breathe
If given pure oxygen
I stood still
Spiralling deep into the void with my naked eyes
My brain spinning thoughts faster than time
Faster than the speed of light
The grey carpet on the floor became
A canvas for the hungry whore
Processing how would I return
More than 2800 entries in SQL query
Oh my god, did I spill a secret?
Oh wait, I think I am smelling the next round again
Damn, no its only the mint flavored regular
Anyway, where were we?
There are so many threads running
My heart was racing
Yet I painted pictures
Of the glory I will wear
I didn't want to move
Because I didn't know
If my body could balance itself
In the presence of zero gravity
Left to its will
Next moment courage rushed in
Illusion, he said..
I went into an art illusion
Tripping my thoughts
On an orange blog
Oh no, there I go faster than my fingers again
So courage rushed in,
Heavy metal played
I decided to sway my head to the right
I felt as if I am falling
But I decided to take the leap of faith
So free I felt
Free-er than the white pigeon
I wonder
If it makes you barge all closed gates
Like a greedy big black dog
Hounding for its prey
Why is called being stoned?

P.S: being the nature, shaken, broken yet only being not complaining like a stone.

Chinese Temple Tour - Longshan Temple Taipei!

A kind Taiwanese man, approached me to explain the rituals at a Chinese temple in Taipei, Taiwan called Longshan Temple when he saw the curiosity on my face.

Needless to say, it was an amazing experience where he told me in detail, what to do, how to do, and why to do so. I have tried to explain this in the following presentation:



Leave your comments below on the virtual tour!

Stories

Stories,

We spend our lives telling them

Once upon a time

About you, about him

About her, about people

About this, and that

Stories,

We look for them

They make our lives interesting

Events, accidents, memories, 

We want to bash into one

Stories,

We want to recite them

Again and again

To our children,

To our grandchildren

Till they remember them

And they recite them

To their children and grandchildren

Stories,

They are so good

We wish they never end

So gripping

You want to hear 

A little bit more

Stories,

Some bring laughter

Some tears

Anger. Lust. Greed. Rush.

They are so powerful

But isn't that what a great story does?

They make us feel

Make us believe

What we stand for

What we fight for

What we live for

What we lived for..

Once upon a time,

Stories,

Are like diamonds

Precious and pure,

They really are with us forever

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vlumi/21917338780/

The moon and you

Often it is much easier said than done

To accept the changes around you

Accept them graciously as a part of fun

For life which hates being a dead heartbeat

Meet new crossroads and fresh intersections

Pause for a while, think, re-evaluate, decide

Choose between the paths new and old ones

With the fear of guilt that cloud the dark gray sky above

The flickering quivering lights on the street

Make you wonder if this is a signal or a sign

To add the ups and downs to a live heartbeat

And then you question since when you adopted superstitions

You are running out this invaluable time

Dawn is so close, make up your mind quick

Wasting this moment, nothing is a bigger crime

A position where no regret can be afforded

You see far, try to envision what it will be like

A small source of illumination is all you see

But the same on the counterpart, you lose your psyche

It seems *exactly* the same, what will you do now?

Nothing seems the same, nothing at all, none

Even the stars have lost their shine

And one by one, the journey its companions

But this delta is the only motivation long lost

Just to keep your heart reassured, you want that one thing

Which tells you things haven’t changed, it’s just an illusion

And that’s when you looked up in the sky, to gaze

At the moon which was, has been and will be the only constant

Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vlumi/21763773181/in/photostream/

A home in Osaka

I got an email stating that my flight from Osaka to Fukuoka got cancelled 15 minutes before I was about to check out from the hotel. I rescheduled it to the next day, but this also meant I had to now extend my stay in Osaka. I booked a hotel on agoda.com and set out to check-in there.

Since it was a "cheap" hotel, I almost had reached the outskirts of the city. After asking for the location atleast five times, I managed to see the building (rather, a bungalow). An old lady opened the door, and let me in. She asked me to remove my shoes outside and gave me a clean set of slippers to use inside the house. Yes, it was a house, belonging to the old lady, where she rented out rooms to guests to make money. She started looking for my booking in her spreadsheet. It wasn't there!

I had made the booking only an hour ago, and her spreadsheet had not been updated. The real trouble began now - she did not speak English, none at all. Her only words were "No English. Chinese? Nihongo?". I nod. She opened up her messaging service and called her daughter, she didn't answer. She called her son, he didn't answer. Apparently they knew English. I tried translate on Google to tell her that I made the payment an hour ago, ask your son to update the sheet. She couldn't understand the translate. After calling a lot of people, who did their best by using Google Translate, nobody reached a conclusion. Her son had to update the spreadsheet, which he didn't and now he wasn't available.

Finally after a struggle of lots of translations and nobody understanding anything, her son called, and updated the spreadsheet about an hour and half post my arrival. She got really apologetic, folded her hands, and apologized a lot in Chinese/Japanese or whatever it was. She gave me keys to my room and showed me around to make me comfortable.

I was bored in the evening. I thought I'd sit with her for a while in the living room. She was watching some Japanese TV channel who were broadcasting how shrines are made. She noticed my anklet and asked me about it. I translated silver in Japanese and she understood. Then we started talking cultures. I showed her pictures from India, how women dress up. It was crazy dumb charades. We both used sign language as the only means of communication. I showed her our festivals in pictures and some vegetarian food! She couldn't believe the variety we can have for vegetarians!

It was her turn next. She was from Taiwan, she told me. She googled for pictures and showed me some shrines and how things are done. Then she showed me pictures of her family and asked me about mine. I showed her my sketches and she recognized Dalai Lama, Micheal Jackson and a few others. She kissed my hands as a sign of appreciation. We added each other on Facebook, and she wrote "Thank You in Chinese" on my wall. Further she gave me this beautiful keyring. Further when she learnt my family is back in India, she asked me to call her mama! :)

She kissed my eyes and said "Beautiful". I was touched. I went back to my room. I was shaken with the amount of love she showered on me. I opened my bag, found my notebook and my pencil and started sketching her!

When I gave her the completed sketch, she went to her attic, got a glass frame, and hanged the picture framed on her wall. It was just so amazing to see it up there! She wouldn't stop chanting a lot of words in Chinese! She kept thanking me and hugging me, and then I went back to sleep in a while.

Next morning when I was about to leave, she hugged me many times again. I had some plastic covers in my hand, she ran inside to get me a bag to keep them in. I politely refused, knowing I can't give it back to her again. She hugged me again. She said the three magical words: "I love you". And hugged me even more. As dramatic as this seems, the moment got emotional. When I bent to tie my shoe laces, she held my hand, sat down and started tying them herself. When I pulled myself back, she pointed at herself and said, "mama". And tied them into a neat bow. She hugged me an I love you again and we bid goodbye.

She came till the train station to see me off, and showed me the figure "3500" on my hand. That was the amount I paid for the room. She crossed it and wrote "2500". We hugged again, and I left. I guess I have a home in Osaka!

Here is what she wrote as a comment by sharing my profile picture to her friends:

TLDR? Check out the Instagram Story here.

It comes at a cost

They wake up cursing their mother's voice

He snoozes his alarm till he no longer has the time to bathe

They get served hot piping breakfast and milk

He gulps the piece of stale bread down his throat

They meet with their friends to travel together

He waits for the timezone to allow him to call his

They gossip about their office politics

Here he is, trying to appear less foreign

As they open their lunchbox, the aroma lingers

He counts his money to decide if he wants to eat

They surprise their girlfriends with river boat cruises

He stands by the coast wishing for his girl to hold his hand

They have dinner together, staring into each other's eyes

He sends her a picture of the food he cooked himself

They give goodnight kisses pressing their lips against each other

He tells her he misses her over the messenger

And then they said to him

You live a life many dream of