A Neonate's Reflections

Sadness

2010-10-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

A melting avalanche moves inside

promising a liberating deluge

of past misery, settled as

deep furrows between the brows

but just a drop rolls out.

Regressive growth

2010-05-13T02:54:00.000-07:00

In the splendid randomness
of a starry evening sky,
I bring upon myself,
the misery of shapes and patterns.
Having traded off open curiosity
for the burden of crippling wisdom,
this life will know again, the
futility of limiting the boundless.

Acquired Morality

2010-01-04T03:29:00.000-08:00

The hypnotic moral pendulum sways -
right and wrong.
Sometimes you chase the guilty shadows away;
sometimes they swallow you.

Forgiveness

2009-09-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

One Idyllic afternoon,
an assembly of assorted
roses, lillies and other magicians
tried many a trick on me,
to convince.

I sat there unmoved.

A flash of nonchalant glance;
I saw them plotting in a huddle.
When the gentle rain,
seated on affable breeze
(unleashed by them)
decended on my face,
I couldnt help, but,
forgive this world of all its sins.

Being a leader.....

2009-07-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is the era of employee empowerment.

One day all top guys in my company got together and decided to empower us. You know only too well that these are the same guys who have been sleeping on the concept of succession planning (literally) for over a decade. The youngest of the senior lot has spent two years in the company post retirement thanks to extensions. These extensions have been nicknamed “service unto death” pacts.

So, one day I found myself travelling to Hotel Sea princess to attend a training programme on Leadership. I had told myself that if the program was going to chew on the dead rubber well masticated spit of a topic “Difference between Leadership and Management” (that I had to put up with many times during such occasions earlier) I’d throw something at the faculty. Her lucky day that it turned out to be, she escaped unhurt.

I initially was active hungrily pouncing on conceptual errors in their presentation but soon gave up. I was then settling comfortably into a trance (lectures always do that to me) that carried my mind beautifully over the well recorded and often accessed memories of my darling’s nautankies when Mr.Pandey* suddenly raised his tightly clenched fist and announced, “I have the power”. The lady who had been eloquently lecturing us on leadership was stunned by the intervention and another faculty who had thus far been a quiet observer erupted into loud laughter but quickly stifled it. But the lecturing lady quickly gathered herself to follow the training protocol, clause 1 of which reads that if someone acted silly or oversmart, he has to be encouraged. This incident left others wondering if they should do something as nauseatingly pretentious and earn brownie points.

See, I don’t really mind becoming a leader. Just don’t put me in the company of such people!

*Names haven’t been changed to intrude privacy.

Nostalgia

2009-01-30T23:56:00.000-08:00

Dated Albums
are reminders;
of our perpertual divergence
from happiness.

Ripples

2008-11-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes,
talking to you
is like throwing stones
into a still pond
and watching the ripples
in me.

A Flashback

2008-09-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

Now and then, I take her
on a walk back in time,
holding her velvet hands.
As the gears move the reel
of my life, she chooses an
age, quite distant.

The day he learnt butterflies
were to be held gently and
the captured ones, tightly
held on to small stones.
All the jars in the shelf
had been explored, his tongue
had taken tamarind’s brown.
As it grew dark, the full moon
had left fewer than hundred stars,
each one was touched and counted.
Then, slumber had swallowed curiosity.

Now, as she presses his
sprouting fingers to her lips,
she strokes his unkempt hair,
he curls up in her lap,
trousers wet.

P.S: Happy Anniversary, dear. Many more happy ones to follow.

Tremors

2008-07-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Of late, calamities
mark my day.

An avalanche of cheer
wakes me up.
I get washed ashore,
now and then
by a deluge of delirium.
Or a whirlwind of euphoria
toys with me.

But, I’ll remember
that day for the tremors
she brought.

You belong to me

2008-06-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have said enough.
Now, my dignified silence
will keep us company.
So, a fleeting glance,
most endearing,
or a tentative touch
(followed by an unfelt apology)
should mean,
I love you most.

That sinking feeling....

2008-05-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

The last few rays
of gloomy crimson recede;
like a friend who has
given much but cannot
anymore dutifully so.
I am the begger, who
never had to ask.

Its going to get dark,
very dark.

Awaiting salvation

2008-05-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

A morning, tranquil and pleasant
in the garden,
one cannot help but
notice and assume that
the butterfly, blithe and bright
still glued to the flower
by slumber, must have
hovered over its choices,
(like my hand does, over
a multiple choice question)
to choose from a multitude
the bloom right with,
a colour that matches
well with its flaps' hues,
a scent that brings love,
and a stunning view of
the romantic light.

To spread gloom over
this amusing imagination,
almost in the same breathe,
the mind does waver
to ponder over the scene's
impermanence, of decrepitude
and death, of the cruel paradox
of extreme level, that life is.
Or apparently so.

That, a reason drives everything,
(though hackneyed and banal)
does seem to suggest that
the hologram that life is,
offers a meaning
for the right sight only,
apparently.

Lets hope some dawn
will bring light with it;
even if not a halo o'er my head, brings
Unbound compassion sans the suffering.

P.S: Thanks to this post

Growing up II

2008-05-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

When you wake up with a bad mood, the whole damn world conspires against you. And you spend the day returning people's smile with an impolite nod or a blank stare, being reticent and being excessively aggressive in the TT room. And the mood follows you like a terrible stink wherever you go.

Its strange when you look back and realise that your very meticulously planned actions seem to be nothing but a fool's handiwork now. The merit of the actions are now suddenly absent. But unfortunately somebody has already judged you in the light of what you did. Its like the wrong answer you give in an Interview room with all confidence only to realise it the moment you step out of the room. You cant really do anything now, can you? Except, of course, an incisive catharsis.

Wisdom usually dawns upon you at the unlikeliest moment. Today, when I had a mouthful of rice and curry, the moment of realisation came - When you find an expensive show-piece, keep away from it.

Lesson learnt.

Mirror

2008-05-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

One mirror, many reflections.

They sit on extreme corners
of the personality map.
Different people;
Intimidating Winners
with flamboyant styles;
Abominable hunchbacks
bearing the burden of the past;
Romantic young men
with winsome smiles;
Diffident eyes
that cant meet yours.

I meet them all everyday,
just looking into the mirror.

One life, many lives.

The Cafe

2008-04-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

She's the one,
I watch her
when she's looking away.
I watch
her hands speak
when she does,
her springy hair
vascillate with the breeze
and her smile,
oh! her smile-
my eyes are now rivetted.

Then, coffee spills
on my trance.

This day that age...

2008-03-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

On the high throne

seated with poise

aided by her courtesan

The Royal Queen is amused

not by the jester's wit

but by her accomplice's

gossip bits!

What is life?

2008-03-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Life defined.

The secret kiss

2008-03-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Queen of my muse,

what dreams accompany you

as you close your wide eyes?

Do you charm unsubdued kings

to eternal submission?

Or do wonderous magicians

wave their magic wands?

Do the stars share

their celestial secrets?

For, I need to know why,

when you are deep asleep

I kiss your rosy lips

and you dont seem to know.

Go away

2008-03-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

Brick one,I hate him.
Brick two,I hate her.
One Brick
for every face
I hate.

It is almost done,
the wall around me.

Nostalgia

2007-12-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

An intoxicating evening,
we digress to the cliff
after school.

Higher and higher
she swings
and her shrieks of excitement
echo from the dark interiors
of the cave.

Sun retires.
Random sprinkles emerge.
In the vastness
she locates her star;
and assigns one to me.

She makes triangles
and lines in the sky.
Waits for a star to fall
to make a wish.
My eyes never leave her.

She talks,I listen.
She makes me promise
that I'd marry her
when we grow up.
I obey.

Memories linger still,
after six decades.

Dear Diary

2007-12-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

My first kiss
held no warmth.
Our tongues dint meet.
I dint feel his warm breathe.
Neither did he give
a bear hug.

I kissed a snowman,
but I still blushed.

- inspired by the photograph of a girl kissing a snowman

Will miss you

2007-11-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

Next few dawns
arent going to break in your embrace.

Until life resumes again
I'll mostly revisit
and partly plan
my raunchy pranks.

And my parting kiss
may make you faint.

- inspired by my best friend's love life

Serendipity

2007-09-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Whenever an apple falls on me,
I invent a new.....

.....expletive!

The Painter's fault

2007-07-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

A few strokes,
on the canvas.
The picture hasn’t come well.

Let me –
go back to the womb
and start afresh.

Detached

2007-07-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dusk- it is my terrace time.

The playground is visible
quite far away.
A coin at an arms distance
fully eclipses the ground.

The ground is crowded.
The scene is muted
but for occasional shrieks.
Hundred different games,
overlapping boundaries.

There is a gentle breeze here.
A lone crow swings with the branch.
Sun in its drowning glory, and
A portion of the sky is red.

Life is beautiful from a distance.

Loss

2006-12-12T01:36:00.000-08:00

'There is life after death'-
I now know after you said,"No".

Love

2006-12-03T03:56:00.000-08:00

Rose petals strewn all around;
“She does, she doesn’t, she does...”
One by one they fall.
When the last petal says, “She doesn’t”,
I decide to go for best of three.

Apple

2006-11-29T06:39:00.000-08:00

Today, we shall listen to a snippet relating how close The Regular Joe came to ETERNAL Fame and how Fate, like it always does, snatched the opportunity from the very deserving Joe.

On 9 July 1667, The Regular Joe started from home, as usual, with his herd of cattle. He counted them-3 browns, 5 blacks and 8 whites. Quite a handful for someone of the Regular Joe’s age but he always rejoiced in exceeding expectations. So, off he started towards the greens. Letting the cows graze, he reclined beneath a tree, an APPLE tree.

Yes. It happened. An apple fell on him.

The Regular Joe sat up with a start. He paused for a moment; he tilted his face thoughtfully, which he does only when he is struck by something phenomenal. What caused this? How could this have possibly happened? What can explain this? The Regular Joe’s mind was racing-it never rested without an answer. The Regular Joe then looked to his right and left (which he does when he doesn’t know an answer). And instinctively he looked up and immediately realized what could have possibly caused it.

Damn the monkeys…

The Regular Joe gives up on life

2006-10-26T04:47:00.000-07:00

For quite sometime now,
It has been like this;
Profound grimness shroud my heart,
Perpetual misery chokes my throat.
from Orange to shades of deep blue
my capricious mood fluctuates.
Life appears to be a blurry dream
nothing around has a reason nor rhyme.
For some strange reason I drag on
Living life wishing this was the last day.

It started when a random thought struck me-
"Why do I do what I do?"

The Defining Moment

2006-08-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

For quite sometime, I have been under tremendous pressure to define myself. Many thanks to ORKUT. No, not like the descriptive, elaborate ones usually on display but concise. After much deliberation this is what I arrived at:

SQRT (-2)

I am complex and irrational.

I dont know what to type here

2006-08-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

Fanciful shapes
Whimsically changing now and then,
The clouds float
From my left to right.

Perched on the window,
Poking my head out,
I wait for the cloud,
Numbered one less than ten.

The Exorcist

2006-08-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

The nightmares became more frequent. Seemingly unconnected images - An abandoned well shrouded by creepers; the chopped head of a hen shuddering to death in a pool of blood; a galloping horse; a deserted house and the gory face that shocks him into waking up. He first dismissed them as silly. A stint in the Army, albeit brief, had taught him better than to believe in the existence of ghosts. But the eerie regularity of the dreams made him take things seriously. What puzzled him more was the painful feeling in his abdomen that seemed to worsen day by day. While he outwardly rubbished the idea of a connection between his bizarre dreams and his physical discomfort, he subconsciously sensed a link.

After much deliberation he decided to do what he’d been dismissing as stupid- approach an exorcist. A brief research yielded the desired information. In the outskirts of the town there was a copse where an experienced exorcist was believed to be living. The myth was that he was 400 years old and that he had vowed to exorcise all the demons from this world in retaliation to his mother’s supposed murder by a demon. He apparently stayed isolated from the outside world and had no relatives. Anyone wanting to avail his services had to leave a goat tied to a particular tree in the thicket along with a piece of one’s clothing. If the exorcist was pleased, he’d do what was necessary. Having gathered the information, he finally decided to give it a try.

On a new moon day, he left for the woods with a goat, a piece of cloth and a torch. When he reached the periphery of the copse it was pitch dark and the trees were perfectly still as if in mourning. He could hear wolves howling far away that tempted him to turn back and run away from there. The torch cast eerie shadows of the trees and many times he was scared by his own footsteps. The darkness devoured the faint light emitted by the torch like hungry lions. But he held himself together. He slowly inched towards the tree. The goat, by now, having sensed something wrong, bleating wildly, started running amok. He was briefly stunned by the turn of events but recovered quickly. In one leap he caught the goat by its hind legs and forced it to submission. When he finally gained possession of the animal and turned towards the tree, his heart congealed. Standing there right in front of him was a lean figure that emerged from the darkness to reveal its fragile form. The man seemed to be in his nineties. No wonder he was believed to be 400 years old. He wore a garland of large beads with a skeleton head as the pendant and held a staff in his hand. The decrepit man motioned him to follow.

After about ten minutes of stumbling about in the darkness, they suddenly arrived at a clearing at the center of which there was a hut. Inside, the sacrificial fire was raging. The exorcist didn’t speak a word. Unmindful of the visitor’s presence, he started performing the rituals at the end of which the slain goat was offered to the sacrificial fire. Finally shifting his attention to the visitor, he sprinkled holy water on him from a jar.

Apparently the ritual was complete. The visitor then thought it wise to leave even though he was skeptical about the effect. There was no indication of anything happening to him when the ritual was in progress except that the pain in his stomach was becoming unbearable. His return journey saw him run throughout, stopping briefly a few times only to check if beasts were chasing him. And when he finally reached home his legs gave away. He slumped on his bed tired from the nerve-wracking experience. His eyes drooped involuntarily in spite of his pain. And then the images started flashing in his inward eye. Then he stirred and turned to his side.

He let out a loud long fart. The ghost was banished forever.

Milestone Moments

2006-08-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

The Joe reads: Life is not a matter of milestones but of moments.

The Joe thinks: Oh?

The Joe is lost in thought for a while. He is still for a few seconds. He seems to be in a meditative trance. He then sits up. He appears to be getting ready for an ordeal. Apparently under the influence of the newly gained wisdom he walks determinedly towards the mirror.

He then looks into HIS eyes and says, “ Life is not a matter…”

"Loser", comes back the echo.

Gimme more

2006-08-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

Folks, there is reason to cheer.

I have finally figured out what I need. I am feeling elated now and slightly tired too for it was no easy task. Now I am trying to come to terms with what I’ve found out.

Lend me your ears. Even from the very early days, since I was perpetually in an unhappy state of mind I ventured to devise a way to mitigate the throat choking sadness that had almost clouded my spirit. Many Sundays were spent wondering what had happened to me at all. Demons of the past chased me in my nightmares too. After all that transpired, I consider it an achievement to be able to pinpoint and say this is all I need in my life and nothing else.

A gentle reassurance.

A Special Occasion

2006-07-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

If you are a general knowledge buff you’ll know that there have been many girls in The Regular Joe’s life. And that last week The Joe achieved a personal landmark.

Ever since I learnt to differentiate between the genders, I should admit, I have been impressed by the fairer one. And if you’re ready to believe let me tell you that also I maintain a diary containing the names of all such girls.

Please let me explain. I have set certain minimum standards for the entries. Like the girl that captured my heart should have occupied my mind space for a minimum of 1 week and that she should have consciously smiled at me at least once. Those who narrowly missed on the eligibility criteria will find a mention in the appendix. And girls who satisfy these stringent entry conditions are further classified based on the extent of intimacy I enjoyed in the relationship. There are perfumed pages in the diary. There are bookmarked ones and there are normal ones too.

I also add tiny snippets of information against each name that are meant to stimulate nostalgia. Let me read out the snippet recorded against girl number 23. It goes like, “I proposed to this girl after watching Titanic thrice”. And the girl number 33 will always be special. The snippet reads,”This girl caught me watching her eat a delicious looking piece of cake. She then split it into two halves, gave one to me and her dog rejected the other. She was beautiful.”

For those who have been following the thread closely let me add-my dear diary had its perfumed fiftieth entry last week.

Undo

2006-06-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

After I was told that a sound knowledge of mathematics is absolutely essential for Salvation I decided too seek professional help. Having hitherto maintained a safe distance from anything that even involved addition and subtraction, I considered myself unfortunate. This was sheer bias and the playfield was not level. But nevertheless, as is my wont I braced myself for the challenge. They say the Regular Joe loves challenges. I disagree; I crave for them.

As was eventually discovered, it wasn’t easy. But I made rapid strides. I ingeniously discovered that one could use one's fingers for speedy calculation, which is stylishly referred to as 'Vedic Mathematics'. Needless to say that I was far ahead of my contemporaries in single digit addition. But subtraction proved to be a bit tricky since that required one to remember numbers in the reverse order too. But with all modesty, I would like to say that with the help of memory cards, memory plus and computers I overcame my shortcomings. Those days saw my emergence as adult prodigy.

But what ensued was unexpected. A change in my personality. My perspective. My language. The grand and poetic 'sans' that used to nonchalantly slip out of my tongue was replaced by the emphatic 'minus'. All qualitative descriptions were carefully weeded out and I developed a penchant to express everything in terms of numbers. Things* that previously elicited fantasies and spurred my imagination then reminded me of two successive neither positive nor negative numbers. Such was the profound impact, Mathematics had on my psyche.

After my inroads into mathematics, Physics was the next obvious choice.

With laurels tucked up my sleeve, You may wonder what I am up to these days. I am currently involved in correcting the mistakes of my previous birth.

E=mc2+1 is the correct relation. Apologies.

*The kinky side of The Regular Joe has been revealed here.

Playing Host

2006-06-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

When my company decided to send me to represent the company in an exhibition, I intuitively realized that I was going to embarrass myself in a way that I'd remember for long. My left eye started twitching as it does whenever my existence is threatened. What my employers dint know was that I suffered from acute stage fright. And that I was Xenophobic.

The roster sheet announced that I’d play ‘host’ on Monday and Tuesday. The parasite that I’ve been all my life, I found it pretty amusing.

All was well until the first visitor came, no, until he spoke. He had been quietly going through the display for sometime. And then he asked. His question seemed to be well rehearsed. Must have practiced it inside.

There were at least eight different directions in which I could have run.

Obviously I was baffled. But I just smiled; just smiled, with the trademark innocent Joe’s look as accompaniment. The astute visitor soon realized that I had nothing to offer other than my winsome smile. But he was mistaken. I gave him the Brochures; and the mint box. He deserved it.

For all that I had to go through, it was worth it. I got a red tie with the company logo on it for going.

Spammed out!

2006-05-31T01:03:00.000-07:00

The Regular Joe revels in solitude.

While my predominant nature is to stay away from loquacious counterparts, I tend to seek Quality Company when I occasionally decide to break the spell of loneliness. A bout of socialization is absolutely necessary to maintain the equilibrium. When I step out of this social hibernation, the urge to communicate is uncontrollable. And if you have thought about it, that’s when I blog too. The last time I emerged out of the shadows, I was, as usual, thoroughly famished. Hungry for communication from my pet pals, I checked out my electronic mail portals with hopeful anticipation.

Much to my disappointment, there were none to satiate my thirst for a timely dose of correspondence. A pained realisation that I'd been spammed out of my friends' lives during my absence dawned on me.

Not the one to give up easily, I pressed the magical button F5.At the top of mails read and re-read, stood this most welcome mail. The author had chosen to be identified as 'sugargirl_050' and had a very provocative subject that cooed with naughty implications,

'Hey, wanna chat?'.

Needless to say, I was moved to tears. This female, whoever she was, touched the Joe's heart by her most humanitarian gesture.

These days along with the sugargirl, Eliseo Webb, Derick Alston, Josiah, PoetsPassion, Mohammed Knutson, Tom Tripp, Ruthie Hobson et al keep me in good humour. Yes, at times they sound irrelevant, replying to mails I never sent, but at least they make an effort.

Update: Shortly after I published this thanksgiving,Poetspassion carried a 'message from Kellogs enquiring your health' mail.Now,isnt that touching?

Growing up

2006-05-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

It leaves me totally baffled when I think how apparently small and seemingly insignificant occurrences have left a profound and lasting impression in this malleable mind. Had life been a bollywood movie, the same would have had all dramatic accompaniments like, say, close-up shots from at least eight different angles or a 360 degree camera swirl capturing all the emotions with a suitably exaggerated intensity.

But such incidents that cause paradigm shifts in your perception of people around you happen but sans any fanfare or even little noise. While the sensory organs get satiated with the immediate offerings, the sub-conscious mind patiently records the data, classifies them, extrapolates, infers and formulates theories.

As someone who is sensitive enough to be influence-prone throughout this continuum of change that is called life, such aforementioned incidents have been aplenty.Like, when I was in college, how the ten-minute video clipping had culled my innocence forever.

Emotional vortex

2006-05-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

The turbulence that invariably accompanies transition has to be overcome.This too shall pass and there is still hope.

Regular Joe's regular day

2006-04-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

With nothing much to write,
think hard enough though I might,
I shall venture to say,
What makes the regular joe's day.

In twenty three summers that I've seen,
Never the early riser I've been.
With a sword aloft,I ride the horse
And slay the demon (read boss).

And so goes my routine dream,
Where the joe reigns supreme.
joe's love,when the princess seeks,
the chain of slumber breaks.

An encounter with water,the skin doth refrain,
the mere thought sends chills down the spine.
The deo bought from the retail store,
On second thoughts,I spray more.

An insipid breakfast of paratha,aloo and cabbage;
Positive thinking-wow,its better than garbage!
And so begins another day,
'God!help me through this',I pray.

Being destiny's favorite playtoy,
My job was fate's cruel ploy.
With the thing thats called a boss
work is never a bed of rose.

As I pretend to browse the file,
frustration builds when time plays snail.
Many a times the eyes look,
at the most motionless thing,the clock.

Eons later,we call it a day.
By then the mood is most grey.
Back to room,its time to go,
With the flow,the stone has to go.

Bedtime - catharsis and introspection.
another day marked by utter inaction.
using mine and friends' fingers
I count my failures.

By now,nostalgic and bereft of hope
I pursue my dreams and complete the loop.

Anticipation

2006-04-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

Thomas Anderson is leads a double life. To most people, he's a hard-working computer programmer who holds down a nine-to-five job for a major software corporation. But, in the privacy of his home, he's a hacker named Neo who is "guilty of virtually every computer crime [there's] a law for." Neo is dissatisfied with his existence, and, while he's groping for a meaning to it, he is contacted by a mysterious computer presence known as Morpheus. "Wake up Neo," a printout on his monitor screen reads. "The Matrix has you. Follow the white rabbit." And so begins an amazing odyssey for Neo.

Oscar leads a normal life.His moment of reckoning comes the day he is mistakenly supposed to have killed a shark.He then shoots to immediate stardom and becomes the 'protector' of the reef.

Harry who has been drilling for oil all his life is asked by his government to drill a hole where no man has drilled before. A massive meteor is ripping through our solar system heading straight for us, big enough to wipe out all life on Earth, it must be stopped.Harry goes on to do it much to the gratitude of the whole humankind.

I am waiting for that fleeting moment of glory. I am feeling compelled to justify my existence.

THe Bouquet Tragedy

2006-04-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

'The perfect day for romance',
Said the day's prediction.
Thrilled by cupid's glance,
Thanked for the divine benediction.

A brief flashback -
I had seen a human rose
In the bazaar, few days back
All beauty packed in one face!

Striking a stylish stance
I sent my eyes behind the Miss.
Longed only for a fleeting glance,
Was never greedy for a kiss.

Haunted, by romance ,and beset
Enduring love I did possess.
Fearing the violence it may beget,
never had the courage to profess.

For,she had a brother,elder and reckless,
He seemed to have energy in excess.
Hence this blithe spirit was taken aback.
End flashback.

Now with hope new and zeal fresh,
I saw a chance;
Call it love or crush,
To carry forward and enhance.

With brain cells not adequately grey,
Planning was ever a strife.
Neverthless desired to be in the fray,
Believing,an idea could change my life.

In troubled times I turn to my pal.
In love matters,he was an ace
After a gentle stroll,
ruled that I was a novice.

O'er a steaming cup o' coffee,
On romance,he gave many a funda,
With a pencil and eraser (dust free)
Added point by point to my agenda.

'Wipe that stupid grin off the face',he said.
'Take bath before you meet',he advised.
'Your hair is too long',he observed.
lengthy locks,it seems,girls despised.

The choicest bouquet I bought
In each flower and petal,stuck my heart.
Hundred different attire I had to try,
before settling for a suit and a bow-tie.

Like an arrow,I set off
At her entrance had to call off!
For,in clear words,he dint tell,
Whether I sh'd softly knock the door,or ring the bell.