Paying the Price

This story was written in response to a prompt received during a weekly meet of the writers club Bangalore in December 2020  

Deepak walked into the office at 9.30 AM.As usual he was late He kept his things on the desk in his cubicle. There was no one around. What had happened? Where have all these people gone he wondered. After what appeared to be  ages, which was in fact,  half an hour later, they started to troop in. He called out to his friend Rahul. But he seemed to sort of avoid him or had he not heard him?  When Richa whose cubicle was next to his, came he asked her why everyone had disappeared. She said that a new member has joined the team and the manager had called a meeting to introduce her.  

Oh okay Deepak said casually and then turned around to see the new girl walking in He did not know what hit him. He stared at her unabashedly. No girl had affected him in this manner. The first thing that caught his eye was the gorgeous figure. But once he looked at her face, her beautiful wide dark eyes with velvety eyelashes monopolized all his attention. That was before she flashed her lovely smile that blossomed like a flower radiating in the morning sun.

“Hello I am Chetana”  She stretched her  hand. “ Looks like we didn’t meet at the introductory meeting. I joined this morning as the assistant manager. I have three  years of experience.”

Deepak felt weak in the knees. He found that his mouth had gone dry and he had literally become tongue tied. It was very rare that he was placed in such a situation as he was known as the guy with the gift of the gab. But now, he just managed to nod and say a feeble “Hi”.   

He found his friend  Rahul staring at them  from his cubicle  across the room.  Others had begun to get down to the routine  work of the morning. Rahul ‘s eyes appeared sullen and glowering at the same time; was there also  a tinge of insecurity? Why such an overreaction? he wondered  After all, the girl had only just joined  the office.  However, when he thought of it over at lunch time, he felt he knew why Rahul was behaving the way he was. After all,  Chetana had affected him, knocked the winds out of his sails in the same manner.

 In the four years they had served the company , he could not remember a day when Rahul and he haven’t eaten lunch together. Today however, he said he was busy with some urgent stuff and that he Deepak could go ahead with lunch. Deepak had known Rahul right from their college days and it was a happy event when they both got campus placement in the same company.  Others had got married one after the other. Presently, it was only him and Rahul who were the remaining eligible bachelors in the office. Looks like his dear friend would soon become a foe!  After all, lovely Chetana was too good to lose. He could not imagine a life without having this angel by his side.  “If that is the price, so be it” thought  Deepak as he pushed his plate aside and  got up to return to the routine of the second half  of the work  day. 

Instant Gratification

Good or bad, sensible or foolish 

the need, the desire, craving

or  if you prefer, the malady

of instant gratification is real and alive! 

It is besieging one and all 

some faster, some a little later

but succumb we all do

to the charms of instant gratification  

After all, who wants to wait that long 

in anticipation, expectation 

"Give it to me now" they say

or tell me if I don't fit the bill 

so that I can bask in the happiness

or swallow if a bitter pill, and move on..."  

For all the teachings of the Gita 

exhorting action with no expectations of fruit 

we now live in different times 

why, even a twentieth century born me 

struggle for immunity against

the twenty first century phenomena 

instant gratification!    

I  recited this poem in the 5th  Dignagar International Poetry meet (Online)  fest organized by Shri Gobinda Bishwas on 20th December 2020. 

Intention to Reality

When man started out 

to make the world a better place 

armed with the new tools of engineering 

science, technology, entrepreneurship 

he thought he was doing

the world a favour... 

Years later, we now know 

his contribution is more 

to the disruption of biodiversity

resulting in  problems of habitat loss, 

climate disruption, air pollution

global warming, water pollution 

Greed had long consumed initial intentions

of making world a better place

it was all about the need for wealth 

possessions, image, status 

meaning change in focus to competition 

shareholder interests, extraction, optimization 

biodiversity, universal well being be damned! 

Burying your head in the sand 

outright denial, defensiveness, take you nowhere 

quick action on natural resource conservation 

recycling waste, reusing things  

avoiding use of paper to save trees 

supporting environment friendly practices 

 are all the need of the hour! 

It's all about acting now

before it is too late

yes, Act fast or perish!       

A poetic Bio data

This was an  interesting request by the editor Anju Kishore to write "Poetic Bio data"  by  all  the 45 poets who contributed  to the  4th annual anthology titled "Ruminations" of the India Poetry circle (IPC),- "Confluence- 4"  has  14 poems created  from  few lines contributed by each of the 45  poets.  This is my poetic bio data.

There goes Rajeev

He used to write while in school, college 

the rumble and tumble of day to day living

and working in  the corporate meant 

the old phase was all but  forgotten...   

Eight to ten years back,

he resurfaced, started with prose, 

now writes a lot of poetry too 

loves engaging in his twin passions

of teaching/training,  and writing! 

Couple of books-one each in prose and poetry

and contributions to national & international publications 

to literary groups on FB , Indi-blogger

is  a proud  member of IPC and BPC 

covers  just about all you can tell about him!   

NB:   IPC refers to India Poetry Circle and BPC to Bangalore poetry circle      

IPC also suggested that the poetic Bio of one poet be read by another poet. My bio was read  by poet Padmini Janardhanan  the link to which is given below:-   

https://soundcloud.com/rajeev-moothedath-560354509/mnr-poetic-biobata-recitation-padmini-janardhan-online-audio-convertercom

Best Recipe

The grand recipe to handle dissent

those who disagree with you 

is to call them incompetent fools 

traitors or some other abusive name

doesn't matter which one

the aim being to  discredit them!  

Arrange that this be done from all sides 

by those already agreeing with you 

want more?  - Buy them! troll, arm twist,

entice, whatever it takes for getting

the disagreeing to relent or flee

with the tail between their legs!  

Soon they, and everyone watching

liked caged parrots, wouldn't dare 

to disagree with you! 

Is it the 'best' recipe for success though? 

you bet, it is tried and tested 

at the highest level 

and have struck jackpot each time

so many times now!  

സത്യവും മിഥ്യയും

I recited this Malayalam poem in the second online international multi lingual poetry meet organized by  Kavya Kaumudi on 6th December 2020.

സത്യം , സത്യം ,സത്യം
ആരുടെ സത്യം ? എന്നുടെ സത്യം?
നിങ്ങളുടെ  സത്യം ? 

സത്യമെന്നാൽ  ഒന്നേ ഒന്നോ ?
സത്യം, ഒരേ ഒരു  സത്യം മാത്രമോ ?

കാലത്തിന്  അതീതമോ സത്യം ?
ഇന്നലത്തെ  സത്യം ,ഇന്നത്തെ സത്യം
നാളെയും അതു തന്നെ സത്യമായി കരുതുമോ ?

സത്യ ശീലമെന്നു എടുത്താൽ 
ഇന്നില്ല , ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു പണ്ട്‌ 

മാവേലിയുടെ കാലത്തു മാത്രമെന്നോതുമോ ?

"ഇന്ന് സത്യമേ ഇല്ല" എന്നു  ഓതുമ്പോൾ  ഓർക്കു   
അന്ന് പതിനഞ്ചാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ
കന്നഡ  കവി പുരന്ദർ പാടി
" സത്യവൻതരികെ കാലാവല്ല
ദുഷ്ട ജനരകിതു  സുഭിക്ഷ കാല " 

സത്യം , സത്യം ,സത്യം
ആരുടെ സത്യം ? എന്നുടെ സത്യം?
നിങ്ങളുടെ  സത്യം ? 
സത്യമെന്നുണ്ടോ ?  അല്ല , എല്ലാം മിഥ്യയോ ? 

രാജീവ്  മൂത്തേടത്   

Poet Note:  Poem is about Truth and  delusion/ Sham. Is truth  the same ? yours and mine. Does truth remain the same over time lines or does it change with time? Is there nothing called absolute truth? 

https://soundcloud.com/rajeev-moothedath-560354509/sathyam-poem-recitation-2

Human Container

 

Acid or poison spilling over 

or directed to others from a container 

burns, harms the victim  

but how much more harm 

does it do to the container itself ? 

Human body accumulated with

acids of hate, enmity, prejudice and violence

seemingly helps some vested interests, short term 

but does little for the container itself  

Its destiny of  being destroyed in macabre fashion

long before the natural death

is sealed and dusted the moment

it allowed itself to be used as container...