image outline of a human torso , where clouds form the head and the sun peeping from the cloud.
An Ode to Uncertainty
And why do we strive,
So hard in this life
For an elusive illusion
Called certainty?
When nature, by it's very nature
Is Uncertain.
A moment ago, t'was the sun,
In whose wonderful warmth we basked.
Soon after came the storm
So violent that it ravaged us all.
A sea so serene
So soft, so still
And yet, a mere turn of the tide
Now, waves of vengeful wrath.
A mountain so majestic,
Mysterious and mute
All it took was a moment
An eruption thundered through
Learnings are many
But the learned so few.
Why do we resist
That which is natural and true?
Go with the flow, I say
Living only for the day.
The best of this chaos, let's make,
Embracing all in its wake.
For the only real certainty
Is Uncertainty.
as wheels turn,
and karmas burn
I fervently yearn
to unlearn
for, unless I'm lost, how will I find?
Unless I'm nil, how will I fill?
A Different Cut?
As twilight set,
I began my quest.
In the little clearing,
Outside my nest.
Each fallen twig,
I bent and picked.
Hoping to sire
A nice warm fire.
And then I paused,
For a question crossed:
Will it last for the morrow?
What of others in the same sorrow?
The very next morn,
A little after dawn
A sweet surprise in store!
For the twigs they fell,
Many more!
The trees did sway,
Almost as to say:
While we’re here,
There's no fear
Of the cold getting near.
I gazed in awe,
At natures’ law.
The beauty of life,
Of sharing without strife
And then I paused,
For a question crossed:
Are we a different cut,
That we proudly strut?
Plundering and pillaging,
All on our path
Goaded by greed,
Far in excess of our need.
What once was new is now old
And what is now new will soon be old
And so it goes
With friends and foes
Once a friend, now a foe
And now a friend, but a foe before
Nothing to hold
Nothing to last
Each day is gold
But flowing so fast
Regret not the past
And fret not the future
The moment is now
Let’s make it a wow!
Happy “Now” Year
to all of you!
and i wonder:
is there a flower that smells its own fragrance?
water which quenches its own thirst?
a wind that blows against itself?
a sun that basks in its own warmth?
a tear that cries,
or a joke that laughs at itself?
The Paradox?
Can I be an Extremist?
When it comes to compassion?
A Fanatic?
When it comes to spreading love?
Militant?
When it comes to purging prejudice?
Intolerant?
When it comes to annihilating intolerance?
image astronaut holding a bunch of balloons , but the balloons looks like planets
That which you call a god
By any other name
Is here, and there, and everywhere
Refusing to be cabined, cribbed and confined
To the exclusive claims of petty populations.
That which you call a god
By any other name
Will never ever
condone killings in her name.
That which you call a god
By any other name
Knows only one religion
Its called love
That which you call a god
By any other name
Is very much within
If only you searched.
That which you call a god
By any other name
Chants but one mantra
One is all
And all is one.
Eid Mubarak to one and all!
Imagination: my kind of nation
No borders, No boundaries
No jingoism, No jibes
No wars, no wounds
No insular identity....
Just a passport
stamped with love.
As we sail forth into yet another new year,
let me resolve to be poorer (in possession)
and richer (in freedom from want).
Happy new year to all of you!
Sun rays through the foliage.
Leaves rustle and birds chirp.
A soulful melody that is nature.
The world has not yet woken.
Tis' a wonderful morning that has broken.
I soared as a cloud
And then it rained
I swam as the sea
And then it froze
I glistened as a glacier
And then it thawe
Expanding Horizons
A dollop of dung
In a glass of water
Alas! The water is tainted
And cannot be drunk
A dollop of dung
In the big blue ocean
How insignificant!
Did the dung even drop?
So it is with the mind
The narrower the mind, the greater the taint
Upon the invasion of a woeful woe.
But expand the mind
And you will find
That, much like the ocean
The woe is but a tiny drop
Dissolving into oblivion
In the vastness of the ocean
Am I the dreamer or the dream?
the singer or the song?
the flower or the fragrance?
the player or the played?
the cause or the effect?
the creator or the creation
I am..
that I am
A cold cloudy morn..
the streets forlorn..
I ask:
Am I the singer or the song?
the dreamer or the dream?
the flower or the flagrance?
the question or the answer?
the sun breaks through...
heat and light ensue...
my questions answer themselves...
for, i just am....
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
What lies beneath,
If only I knew.
In wonderment I dwell,
Held as though by a spell.
Till a breeze that blew,
Whispered that I knew.
The wind and the trees,
The birds and the bees.
Me and you,
And a dog named boo.
We're all for one
And one for all.
image torso of a man wearing shirt with a squiggly head
She made a face,
It simply stood
She laughed at it
It simply looked
She wore the finest
..of animal skin
All it wore
Was its own skin
Longing to be
With kith and kin
An iron bar
Between the two
And I wonder:
Who the beauty?
Who the beast?
The darker the night, the brighter the morn.
The lower the plain, the higher the hill.
The louder the city, the quieter the cave.
The sadder the death, the happier the birth.
The blunter the object, the sharper the knife.
The bigger the house, the smaller the heart.
The wetter the sea, the dryer the shore.
The longer the wait, the sweeter the meet.
On Teachers
The best teachers are not those that teach.
But them that trigger a brazen breach!
Not those that force you to learn
But them that spark a serious unlearn!
Ode to Aadhaar
Grass seemed greener on the Aadhaar side
Seduced by its spell, I got taken for a ride
Linking my card, not once but twice
Lulled by its lore and some lies
But soon I found
That Aadhaar was unsound
Privacy breaches and bunglings galore
Data pirates so desperate to score
My unique ID is now up in the air
Open to all, both foul and fair
Yet the “authority” insists that all is well
Link some more…and we’ll all be swell!
To our courts therefore, I now do turn
For privacy, justice, and a little less burn
On Dope...
Dope is finite
But hope is infinite
Don’t do drugs
Get high on hope
On Love...
Tis' no flaw
That we be queer
Love needs no law
Much less a cure!
On lawyers…
If only more lawyers
Adorned non legal layers
Read outside their cases
And dropped out of rat races
How much more fun
this world would become?
For each message of hate
I sent them a message of love.
And for each offering of violence,
I sent them an offering of peace.
Asking: are you and I not the same?
None superior. None inferior.
None an insider. None an outsider.
None with the right god. None with the wrong god.
But part of the same whole.
Nay, the whole itself!
The apple I possess is not a fruit,
and neither is the blackberry that I brandish.
The safari that I’m on transports me to a multitude of
virtual spaces…..
but not to the vast wilderness in distant africa
that I long for.
I make many a power point….
and yet a powerful point continues to elude me.
Excel is no longer an aspirational value, but a program
that continues to befuddle.
Emails expand my communicative reach...
but come with increasing “attachments",
in what is already a desire driven existence.
I open many a “window”,
but can’t seem to get enough fresh air…
Alas, in this tech-ridden world,
"IT....therefore I am"!
image outline of a mountain
I wanted to fix machines,
I became an engineer.
I wanted to fix bodies,
I became a doctor.
I wanted to fix society,
I became a lawyer.
I wanted to fix the nation,
I became a politician.
I wanted to fix matches,
I became a cricketer
All the while forgetting,
That "I" needed a fixing too.
Walk the Talk
They taught us the talk,
Justice, equity and all.
But whither the walk?
To help those in need,
With many mouths to feed.
Our hearts yearn to do,
What our books command us to!
So we strive to set right,
The notoriety of might.
But they ravage and maul State goondas, so tall!
Bruised and maimed,
We return to be shamed?
“How reckless, how trite,
How dare you do what’s right!
Go back to your books.
Grades, moots and all.
As a student, that's your only call!
When you can talk the talk, why walk the walk?
At your notion of justice, we do balk!
The beauty of law is in the book
That's the only place you need to look!”
On Nihad Basheer’s
IDIA ON WHEELS project…..
How do I tell you and them what I see?
The sight, the smell and the feel.
Never had I dreamed,
That I would come so far,
On a path so odd,
On my cycle,
On the road.
It has been a lot of days of cycling,
I have lost count.
But the journey so far has been incredible,
I meet a lot of people on the way,
And I am still grappling with using the right words to respond
To their ‘why not go on the same journey on a
bus? – why cycle?’ question.
I tell them it is because I like to cycle, that it is my passion.
Some understand but some are as astonished as ever.
How do I tell them this is my way of making sense of the
world? – my way of learning?
This is how I hope to grow
and know myself better.
Every day is a struggle.
And I am stronger for the same.
Even content.
Couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Guess this is how I am atlast becoming whole.
On living in the moment…
They asked me to live one moment at a time.
Just as I pondered this profundity,
the moment was gone
Of all the human acts, the toughest of them all:
To dwell in the moment, without dwelling on it!
On changing the name of
the Kempegowda Airport to
Tipu Sultan Airport
What's in a Name?
That which you call Tipu
By any other name,
Would have slaughtered!
For that's what most kings did.
In the days of yore.
When there was no real "India" so to speak!
Striving to spread their dominion,
Propelled by politics
And religious rage too!
Let the airport be!
For it foretells a flight,
A purge of (earthly) prejudices....
Religious, political, parochial....
image ink pot with a feather inside
Coming of Age
Is age a mere number,
Or something of a stumbler?
How would I know?
When I’ve got nothing to show
No laughter, no light,
No parent in sight.
But a soul so kind
On a road did (me) find
Picked up and led,
To an orphanage that fed.
Stayed for some years
But soon there were tears
For I had to make way,
for another child to stay.
On the streets I found
Much fury and sound
Did odd jobs and all,
to find food and stall.
But loved to read and think
And make many a link
Discovered one day
The law and its way
Through an IDIA that came,
with a more inclusive game.
Access, Diversity and all
Elite bastions to fall
Charging me with hope
About the law and its stroke
To fight injustice we see,
and be the best we can be.
But alas,
CLAT said no!
Too old for school you know.
With sadness I find
The law is unkind
Age is a ceiling
For those without feeling.
The name’s Michael Sam
But who gives a damn!
Born without a date
Then left to my fate
Orphaned by parents,
And now by the state.
~ Michael Sam (Feelings my
own; expressed through a
friend. For when the heart
is heavy, words are but few)
Shamnad is the friend
referred to here and
therefore, we have
reproduced this
Pay Up
Dashing to the court
In a mighty fancy sleigh
O'er the case we gloat
Laughing all the way
A bunch of copyright crooks
Been rippin' off our books
What fun it is to sue this chain
In a copyright case again Copyright...
copyright..... copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
Copyright... copyright... copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
Books are not so cheap
And course packs are for keeps
Why then do we sue?
When our authors don't want to..
Why must we be right?
It's all about the fright
These students should just pay...
And throw their case away..
Copyright... copyright..... copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
Copyright.... copyright.... copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
image a balance with a pen nib in the centre
On CLAT petition…
Dear CLAT-Chancellors:
May we please petition thee?
For an exam that's error free
Year after year
It’s come under smear
For no fault of yours
But that of your peers
Who conduct CLAT from scratch
A robust rotating batch
Reinventing the wheel
With so much of zeal
And yet mucking it much
Past experience is such
Two thousand nine
All went fine
Till the paper was leaked
In a scam that reeked
A second paper was done
Quick questions spun
Tricks and treats galore
Leaving students so sore
“Legal aptitude” screamed a heading!
In a section worth shredding
Posing questions, a forty
On the law, oh so lofty!
Sample this: What’s the name of the case?
Where judges bragged their technology base
Holding the law shouldn't lag
But sway with a tech-swag
Where evidence could be taken
Even by videoconferencing
Would you know the answer sir?
Or would this, in you, some dread, stir?
Why test students on the law
When they’ve got 5 years or more?
To learn from you and your peer
At a considerable cost of 3 lakhs per year!
And what of legal “aptitude”?
That heading, you used
Not a single question we found
In this paper so profound.
Just when we thought
The worst of CLAT had been wrought
You continue your swing
More errors you fling
The best though, you saved for last
An online exam and all that.
2015 seemed a boon
But alas, we spoke too soon!
For when the paper finally came
CLAT would never be the same
You tested for knowledge of a cancer protein
Were you serious, or just menacingly mean?
Or did you merely copy and paste
From a medical paper, in bad taste?
Plagiarise, it seems you did
From multiple sources, on the internet grid.
Experts say that more than half your paper
Is likely to fall out of copyright favour!
But t’was not just the copying
Also some serious slopping
A good 40 errors were discovered
By CLAT gurus that gathered.
Many more waiting to be found
In a paper so (un) sound
And yet you refuse to make amends
Stubbornly strutting your arrogance
Rubbishing RTI's, writs and the like
Asking students to take a hike!
What ails? Why this prolonged prick?
When this exam is what makes you tick?
The one filter that accounts for NLU pride
And hides all else there is to hide.
It’s not about the money, is it?
For that can cause quite a fit
Mammon is no doubt mighty
But can also be fleetingly flighty.
We pray you get your act in order
And desist from further fodder.
For all and sundry
Including Babli and Bunty
Have mocked this CLAT
As a jovian jaunt, that's a fact.
They say it’s no better than a lottery
Where skill is trumped by luck and sorcery
Why rely on new law schools each year?
Who start from scratch, causing many a tear.
Do set up a permanent space
And hire experts that amaze
Psychometrists and all
That in test framing, stand tall
Rather than winging this treat of a test
With less than the very best.
Indeed, if justice be the aim of law
Future CLATs must be without flaw.
image ink pot and a feather that made a squiggle
Commons Right
(By Shamnad and John Daniel)
Knowledge is free, so they say
But Intellectual Property will make you pay
That legal spin can't wait to begin
To sue your blues away
So much for collaboration and my artistic salvation
Corporate dissipation has taken my bacon
Gotta sue these blues away
Commons right, let's put IP in its place
Commons right, let's get out of this rat race
Open access and open source –
They're phenomenonal of course, yeah
Let's put IP in its place
Exclusive patents and many, many rights
We've got to stop this sordid, selfish fight
Oh Master Yoda, they're trying to own yoga
Gotta sue these blues away
Commons right, let's put IP in its plac
Commons right, let's get out of this rat race
Open access and open source -
They're phenomenonal of course, yeah
Let's put IP in its place
Open Access Style
Open access style
Access style
Knowledge is free they say,
But what is this I see?
A crazy creature called IP
That’s gone off on a spree
Copyright, Patents
And many many rights
Covering all ….
Well: even yoga..
IP rights….. do you think that they’re bloody right?
IP rights…. Now its’ all about the corporate might….
IP rights….who cares about the authors’ plight?
IP rights….we’ve lost our sight..
We need to break free…..
Need to break fre
From these chains..hey
Break outta now…hey
Create an alternative reality..ty.ty..
Open access style…
Access style….
Ope…ope…ope….ope…open access style…
Access style
Ope..ope…ope..ope…open access style
Hey sexy copy…
Ope.ope.ope…ope…open access style
Hey sexy copy….
Ope…ope…ope….ope…
hey…hey…hey…hey
So what we do now?
Chained as we be
Open up IP
And share it with much glee
Exclusive patents
And many many rights
Lets break it up.
Hell: who’ll take the shot?
Commons’ right…lets stop this sordid selfish fight
Commons’ right….let’s do the thing that’s mighty right
Commons’ right….let’s show that we share and care
Commons’ right….we’ve found our healing prayer….
Collaboration.
That's salvation
Lets do it now..hey
Get outta now..hey
Rein these rights and break us free….free…free
Open access style….
Access style
Ope…ope…ope….ope..open access style…
Access style
Ope…ope…ope..ope…open access style
Hey….sexy copy…..
ope...ope…ope…ope…open access style
Hey….sexy copy….ope…ope...ope…ope.
Hey hey hey..hey …hey
Open source is great
You know that, don't you mate?
Open Softwares’ done
Now to pharma, here we come
It's the sharing norm
IPs but an ancient bomb
Baby lets put IP in its place
And exit this mess of a rat race
Hey sexy copy..
Op...ope.ope ope…open access style
Hey sexy copy
Ope..ope…ope…ope
Hey…hey…hey…hey
open access style..
(Shamnad intended for this to be sung to the tune of ‘Open Gangam Style – but that never happened and instead Shamnad and John Daniel created and recorded the Commons Right jingle)