In Limbo 2

  Shivoham in watercolors  am i burning or is it the world  churning? breaths lost at the crossway of here and then cry out for love... taste of the uncreated lingers within plastered reality words slice the  air, silence slashes it. am I burning on a pyre of scrawny fantasies or is it the world churning? women in yellow  and gold make kolams  with rice  powder, flowers garland their hair: stains of fragrance bury the soughing  of a broken heart. am i burning in the coolness of the koël's two-note song or is it the world churning? the night reeling, summer stillness, the eighth moon held in the month of Chaitra...  swirls of van gogh suffocate vision blindfold dreams am I burning  in the oppressive  rhythm of the clocking hour or is it the world churning? is it the world churning  or is it me, burning?

' The gas cylinder'- that is how I commonly refer to the  natural gas/LPG container stored in a locked cabinet outside the house. A pipe connects it to the two-burner stove in the kitchen. It is the lifeline of the culinary excursions I launch myself on, on a daily basis for both sustenance and gastronomical purposes; myself and millions of middle-class populace in this part of the world. While 54 percent of India still uses firewood/charcoal/ c owdung for cooking, the urban middle class India relies mainly on LPG, with 60 percent of it being hauled in from Qatar and 40 percent generated locally. In fact,  80,000 tons of LPG, loaded on two freight ships, escorted by 6 navy ships, risked the perils of a raging war to reach India on 17th of March. It was just enough to meet the country's one-day demand! The import of such a basic commodity as that of cooking fuel vis-à-vis the numbers, statistics and geographical constraints it entails is mind-boggling. And, this was brought ...

It seems unjustified to be writing about anything but the state of the world at a juncture when it lies embroiled in unprecedented conflict and turmoil.  Wars being waged with the sole objective to paralyze economies and gain control are devoid of ideologies,  principles and therefore duplicity. Thankfully, 'Diplomacy for the sake of diplomacy' has  been extradited from the international arena. Instead, unscrupulous attitudes epitomizing the age-old euphemism 'my way or the highway' have taken the centre stage, which is regrettable, but at least not beguiling.  Ali Khameni, the Supreme leader of Iran is killed along with 42 others of his entourage. There is jubilation on the streets, and there is also a sea of people advancing like a pillar of strength even as they mourn the death of their leader by foreign powers with vested interests.  Claims are being made vis-à-vis the number of war casualties from all fronts. Videos of  U.S. soldiers solemnly carrying ...