A Blustery Sort of Day

My new laptop is a blessing - my desktop having given up the ghost, I was forced to buy a replacement. Now I'm the sort of person who doesn't like to get into too many details , specially if they are technical. So, with minimum fuss, I got a Toshiba home and proceeded to fall in love with it. In fact it's the reason I'm back to blogging after so long.
I'm listening to 'Come Clean' by Hilary Duff - it seems very appropriate for the windy, blustery day it's been all of today. The moment I step outside, the wind grabs at my clothes, hair, eyebrows and tries its best to pluck off one or the other. But it's oh-so-invigorating to walk in the stiff breeze and breathe in lungsful of the monsoon wind. The pigeons aren't too happy, though - talk about ruffled feathers! They look like plump disgruntled cushions with all their feathers blown awry.
I baked Irish soda bread today and it turned out really well - chewy and crusty - seemed like the perfect accompaniment in this weather. With a hot mug of tea, it was perfect. Now, some Bailey's Irish Cream would've been perfect too!
And I indulged in my second favourite occupation today - shopping for clothes.
Now I'm listening to some 'Black Eyed Peas' - funky stuff or 'phunky' stuff , to be accurate, eh?

Haiku : Word Picture Poetry

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry with strict restrictions on the number of syllables. In English, haiku are usually written in three lines that consist of five, seven, and five syllables to resemble the three metrical phrases of a Japanese haiku.

My attempts at haiku :


On the monsoon:

Raindrops drum on glass,
Runnels form patterns in dirt,
Nature’s play unfolds.

Wet roads, slick pavements,
Signals blinking blearily,
Traffic swirls and pools.

Lightning rips the skies,
Clouds rumble ominously,
The heavens weep tears.

Newly washed blue skies,
Rainbow on the horizon,
Where are you, my heart?

On work:

Ties that bind and choke,
Salaries do not feed souls,
But wolves snarl at doors.

A four walled prison,
Desiccated lives and hopes,
Power play and games.

Monsoon Musings

It's monsoon season and out come the dusty umbrellas, the raincoats and the old gumboots from the closets. Eulogized in numerous songs and ballads, the Indian monsoon brings relief to a baking subcontinent after the travails of summer and is the mainstay of the agricultural industry, not to mention the major source of hydel power.
It's raining and you know what they say - it never rains but it pours! And pour it does, reducing roads to slush with evil looking puddles and traffic to an impossibly entangled snarl. Damp clothes, musty homes, late maid-servants, crotchety auto drivers add to all the other woes of the season. On the bright side, however, the garden raises it's weary head and begins to look green and healthy again. When the harsh summer sun leaches the plants of the will to live, they grow depressingly yellow and sickly. The rain brings all the dramatic color back and you can almost see the plants perk up and decide that life's good after all! The patch of no-man's land behind my house is now a confused green tangle of growth with purple Ipomoea dotting it here and there - very colorful!
And when the sun comes out after a bout of heavy rain, everything looks newly washed - even the sky! My pigeons don't care too much about the rain but they look so bedraggled and wet that I wonder what they do when it rains continuously for three days - a rather common occurrence during the Indian monsoon.
Rainy days are also time for warm cookies, puffs or cakes , crisp pakoras or vegetable frittata and cups of steaming tea! Warm razais to snuggle under and a suitably spine-chilling mystery to read - aaahhhh, Heaven!
Right then, it's reality check time, off I go - back to my mundane job and responsibilities - I'll post again later.