Love, is hatred…

Without you, everything is nothing,
Earth has no green, nature has no zing,
Rivers come to a standstill and the sea doesn’t sing.
The day is night and the night so long…
Seconds are decades, days forlorn.
Trees are just wood, leaves brown.
The flowers have no fragrance, petals easily crumble.
Birds don’t chirp, animals aren’t loyal,
Children don’t play, humans aren’t humble.

Without you, the wind is vacuum and the air solid.
The sky is out of reach and clouds aren’t personified;
Every drop of rain is acidic;
Every lightening strikes like a stick.
There’s no anticipation when the bells ring,
Be it temple’s, phone’s or door’s.
There’s no help from ounces of beer,
Friends don’t seem to cheer,
There's nothing to be liked on Facebook,
No one else is a better hook.

Without you, music has no melody,
A blockbuster is only a documentary.
Sweets are so sour; there's no tang in the pani puri!
The brain is rudimentary,
Science is illogical, art eerie.
There’s no reasoning, no reverie.
Poetry is mathematics, mathematics poetry.

Without you, jewels are merely stones,
House is not a home.
Medicine seems to be killing, and the poison healing.
God is elusive and the devil all-pervading.
Water smokes and oxygen chokes,
Food makes me skinny, the heart skips a beat.
Lungs just seem to expire; there's no ground under my feet.
Blood boils, veins erupt and the arteries slowly leak.

Without you, beacon misguides, teacher teaches crime,
Brother has no charm, father has no arm,
Mother’s touch is no longer warm.
Without you, I am tattered, buried, bruised and jolted,
I am trapped, caught, caged and agitated.

Without you, I am just not me,
Anonymous, aloof, exposed yet hazy
I am venal, filthy, fictional and ghostly.
No religion is sacred, Humanity is betrayed.
Without you, Love, is hatred…

P.S.: This work is purely fictional.

- Dr. Priteesh S. Chotai
(21st January 2011)

Sand at my feet...

He did not like to disappoint his subconscious. But it was a perfect paradise in disguise. He was fast asleep. The other night, it was at its best. One which every man would yearn for. A dream never seen before.

He would always sit in his bungalow and watch his plantations grow without any watering. Even if they did need some moisture, the clouds used to shiver and shower on his commands, whenever he wanted them to, wherever he wanted them to. The scarecrow would be continuously in motion through the farm to keep the crows at bay. The bullocks would plough the earth on their own. They had to sign the cheques too.

Then there were birds which used to seed the ploughed land, through the extremes of their food pipe. The sheepdog also gathered the wool. The harvest went straight to the kitchen and was not allowed to come out uncooked. Evenings were just great. Canines and felines were made to sing and horses had to do the percussion. Working out was effortless too. He just had to complete 2 push-ups and his muscles seemed all ready for an international competition. His lamp was running out of oil. But it dint bother him much. It would glow even without the oil.

For reading, he just had to flip through the pages of any book. He felt really knowledgeable after doing that. He had completed reading over 50000 books now and he could answer anything he was asked. He was almost a sage. But he never understood why people having different faiths have similar morphology. Why many carry hatred and deceit in them even though they are physically fit. Why people choose not to walk on sand. And why the grass always looks greener on the other side.

He dint have to run behind the chickens. They surrendered and stopped evading whenever he wanted some flesh. They also delivered him boiled and peppered eggs regularly. The grass always looked greener on the other side. He was green with envy when he saw that his neighbour’s farm looked greener. How could his plants grow faster, when he was the one who had worked harder? He ordered the red cow for some mango milk shake. He craved for some drink. He crushed some sugarcane and drew a few glasses of beer from them. The weed rolled itself into a paper. The maid unclogged the chimney.

He asked his mother’s subconscious to surrender to her, and ordered 50 kilograms of sleep for her. He ordered the undertaker to bury all the alarms.

Morning brought the sunshine. His door was being knocked melodiously. It was the cows. They had brought some milk for him. He was really tired of all this now, as he had worked really hard. But he just sat on his chair, watching his friend’s farm grow faster than his. He wanted to put in more effort. The city was calling him. He called up his teacher in college.

“Your journals and assignments are completed by me. I have also written a leave application for you and submitted it to the office. So what if it slipped out of your mind? The college is also offering you a scholarship for your constructive holidaying. It will set a great example for our students. Please accept it for the good.”

“Madam, you are saying this because the grass always looks greener on the other side. Ask me about it. Isn’t it looking greener to you on my side? I want to come back. Moreover, it is very difficult to walk on sand.”

Next day, huge flamingos fled him to his city.

The sound of the alarm was deafening. It always challenged his subconscious.

“Good morning beta!”

“Good morning Mom! Mom, why does the grass always look greener on the other side?”

She took a pause and answered with a grin on her face, as if she had seen everything what he had. “Because somebody wants you to take up the challenge and make yours look greener. Look at your alarm. Doesn’t it always take up the challenge against your subconscious?”

“Mom, where are my crutches?”

The time was sprinting, but he took up the challenge.

The Planet of Apes

Independence: When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.
-Carl Sandburg

Once upon a time, when humans were still monkeys, there already existed a much powerful and highly evolved form of primates on The Jupiter. As the restless and sprinting time passed by, the humans evolved into what they are and the Apes on The Jupiter became more advanced and their technology and machinery more sophisticated. They pitied humans, and to a certain extent were a bit shameful, as their brothers were not able to cope with tremors, global warming, waves, volcanoes, wars, viruses, etc. They wondered whether there were any other forces involved in their evolution as self-limiting, self-destroying and selfish beings. Yet they wondered why they were called “The Social Homo Sapiens Sapiens”. After a series of unfortunate events, the Apes were desperately waiting for a good change to occur for their cousins. Finally, when everything seemed to go haywire, they decided to offer Humans a helping hand. But the Humans did nothing unusual by turning the opportunity down.

“We, as mammals, have a come a long way. We have evolved into the most intelligent beings on earth, and probably the Universe as well. Whatever we’ve been through was not able to destroy us, unlike other beings, which either eat their own fellows or are vulnerable to nothing but death, whenever they are in crisis. And thus, could no longer hope to establish as concrete a civilisation, as ours. Although we’ve seen times which let us down, we had that will, which helped us to rise above all situations. From conquering all creatures of the planet, to finding sound answers for potentially dangerous diseases, we have proved that no other life force can be as superior, as paramount, as omnipotent and as impeccable as The Human beings themselves. Our tame animals, lame creatures, from the smallest to the largest, silently and helplessly sacrifice themselves for the betterment of Humans and the Humanity.

Years after years, we’ve been successful in maximising the comforts in life, making this globe smaller and time is not too far, when we will conquer life itself. Knowledge so immense, so in-depth, so vast, from the smallest division of the matter to the largest solar bodies, which the Apes can only remotely dream of achieving. What really makes us strongest is the N-Power, which can destroy any…………………………………any extraterrestrial invasion.”

The Apes realising that the task ahead is an impracticable and impervious one to their efforts, only just cared to reply in a pessimistic and sarcastic way-

“Our dear brothers, we really admire your perseverance, dedication and intelligence, which makes you what you are. But what will the Mother Earth think when she is left with no option, except to accept the disastrous human creations on herself. And the already scarce land on her is further divided into pieces. Whom will she shower her blessings on, when her own children betray her in the name of religion? It seems when you get used to your daily chores, a feeling of boredom and depression creeps in. You tend to break away from your domain and act in an utterly undisciplined manner. Surprisingly the female counterparts invade shopping malls and other half of your species invades others’ homes. Some of them even go on to invade other countries.

Never did we experience the soothing air-conditioned rooms, nor the pleasurable and engrossing entertainment equipment, nor the exhilarating speed of fossil fuel operated vehicles, or the unexpected, unforeseen and such varied climatic changes, or the ever accumulating and immortal “plastic” gadgets, the penetrating affection of the almighty Sun, the affectionate warmth of The Mother Earth, just enough to melt the polar ice, the abundantly filled and over flowing seas, the stupefying and mesmerising perfume of industrialisation, the sooty fog on a tender morning, and the steadily flowing dark rivers. Never did we see a sweet, crumbled up little child, embracing The Jupiter, like we see on every other street on The Mother Earth. We never saw lakhs of innocent people losing their lives, because of few men in patriotic attire, but a treasonous and traitorous heart inside. And we definitely did not come across any species characterised by members who eat their own fellows.

We always believed that Humans exhibited ‘Humanity’, a quality that makes one and all feel good. But now we are compelled to accept ‘Humanity’ as a word with two meanings. One, which your present day species exhibit and the other, which exists in many of your holy books. The cranium that you possess is no doubt larger than us, but inside it seems so shallow. And now, we can already see your tailbone growing stronger again.”