Visthar in the wasteland

We all went for a picnic to this place called Visthar. It was a beautiful place and my favorite part was the conference hall - straw rool and cool marble flooring. We sat on the floor, bright sunshine outside..serene was the word. And while we talked, we were given introductions to the place. And to read such poems in such an environment is calming. I copy -

For that which is boundless in you
Abides in the mansion of the sky;
Whose door is the morning mist,
And whose windows are the songs
And the silence of the night
Kahlil Gibran

We must sleep with open eyes
we must dream with our hands
we must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course,
of the sun dreaming its worlds...
We must dream backward, towards the source...
we must find the lost word dream inwardly and also outwardly
Octavio Paz

To love.
To be loved.
To never forget your own significance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence and
the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places.
To pursue beauty to its lair.
To never simplify what is complicated
or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch.
To try and understand.
To never look away.
And never, never to forget.
Arundhati Roy

Atonement

I have been waxing eloquent about this movie for days now. I saw it first about a month back and it has left a huge mark on me. It's one of those stories that are honest and show you the worst about yourself so you can change.

*****

I never made that journey to Balham. So the scene in which I confess to them is invented, imagined. And, in fact, could never have happened... .because Robbie Turner died of septicaemia at Bray Dunes on the first of June 1940, the last day of the evacuation...and I was never able to put things right with my sister Cecilia....because she was killed on the 15th of October, 1940 by the bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains above Balham tube station. So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness.

*****

Just do as I have asked of you. Write it all down. Just the truth. No rhymes, no embellishments, no adjectives. And then leave us be.

*****

Dearest Cecilia, the story can resume. The one I had been planning on that evening walk. I can become again the man who once crossed the Surrey park at dusk, in my best suit, swaggering on the promise of life. The man who, with the clarity of passion, made love to you in the library. The story can resume. I will return. Find you, love you, marry you and live without shame.

*****

DO NOT QUIT

Inspirational. It used to be displayed in my school...somewhere near the toilets. I remember reading it and thinking I had never heard anything that was so inspiring in so few words. I saw this again after 5 years...and I copy -

DON'T QUIT
When things go wrong as they sometimes will.
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must; but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tints of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worst that you mus'nt quit.