The Contrarian

Why fit in

When 

You Were born 

to 

Stand Out!

~ Dr Seuss

Wishes for a Joyous & Peaceful 2016

Always a night from old to new!
Night and the healing balm of sleep!
Each morn is New Year's morn come true,
Morn of a festival to keep. 

Only a night from old to new;
Only a sleep from night to morn.
The new is but the old come true;
Each sunrise sees a new year born. 

~ Helen Hunt Jackson

What a grand day! What a time for celebration! We

begin again today! We turn the page!

And so, let go of all that you do not wish to carry with you any further:

Any fear, any sadness, any anger, any resentment, any

disappointment, any lament...

let it all go. 

And now, 

using the specialness of this day as a springboard, 

let's get on with Life! 

~ Neale Donald Walsch

A Flower unblown: a Book unread:
  A Tree with fruit unharvested: A Path untrod: a House whose rooms
    Lack yet the heart's divine perfumes:
      A Landscape whose wide border lies
        In silent shade 'neath silent skies:
          A wondrous Fountain yet unsealed:
            A Casket with its gifts concealed:--
              This is the Year that for you waits
                Beyond Tomorrow's mystic gates.

~ Horatio Nelson Powers

Suraj Ki Pahli Kiran Se...

Happy New Year

~ William Ward

Another fresh new year is here . . .

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt, and fear,

To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest . . .

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity

Once more to right some wrongs,

To pray for peace, to plant a tree,

And sing more joyful songs! 

A Starry Starry Night...

To be a star, you must shine your own light, walk your own path, and do not worry about the darkness, for that is when stars shine brightest.

~ Unknown

 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly - or ever - gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/briangreen192120.html#s53vqdECkU7UqAcq.99

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark

Thanks you for your tiny spark,

How could he see where to go,

If you did not twinkle so?

In the dark blue sky you keep,

Often through my curtains peep

For you never shut your eye,

Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark

Lights the traveler in the dark,

Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Kuhu Kuhu Bole Koyaliya...

To The Cuckoo

~ William Wordsworth

O blithe newcomer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice:

O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,

Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear; From hill to hill it seems to pass, At once far off and near.	The same whom in my schoolboy days I listened to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways In bush, and tree, and sky.
Though babbling only to the vale Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours.	To seek thee did I often rove Through woods and on the green; And thou wert still a hope, a love; Still longed for, never seen!
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! Even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery;	And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again.

O blessed Bird! the earth we pace 

Again appears to be 

An unsubstantial, fairy place, 

That is fit home for Thee!

Don't Worry! Be Happy...

Overheard In An Orchard
~ Elizabeth Cheney

"Said the robin to the sparrow,

'I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings 
Rush about and worry so.'

"Said the sparrow to the robin,
'Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.”

Dopahar Ki Dhoop Men..

A Noon Song
~Henry Van Dyke

There are songs for the morning and songs for the night,
For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon;
But who will give praise to the fulness of light,
And sing us a song of the glory of noon?



Oh, the high noon, the clear noon,
The noon with golden crest;
When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turns 
With his face to the way of the west!




How swiftly he rose in the dawn of his strength;
How slowly he crept as the morning wore by;
Ah, steep was the climbing that led him at length
To the height of his throne in the wide summer sky. 



Oh, the long toil, the slow toil,
The toil that may not rest,
Till the sun looks down from his journey's crown,
To the wonderful way of the west! 




Then a quietness falls over meadow and hill,
The wings of the wind in the forest are furled,
The river runs softly, the birds are all still,
The workers are resting all over the world. 



Oh, the good hour, the kind hour,
The hour that calms the breast!
Little inn half-way on the road of the day,
Where it follows the turn to the west! 



There's a plentiful feast in the maple-tree shade,
The lilt of a song to an old-fashioned tune,
The talk of a friend, or the kiss of a maid,
To sweeten the cup that we drink to the noon. 



Oh, the deep noon, the full noon,
Of all the day the best!
When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turns
To his home by the way of the west.

Ek Dhundh Men Jaana Hai...

धुँध

~ साहिर लुधियानवी 

संसार की हर शै का इतना ही फ़साना है

एक धुँध से आना है, एक धुँध में जाना है

ये राह कहाँ से है, ये राह कहाँ तक है

ये राज़ कोई राही समझा है न जाना है

एक पल की पलक पर है, ठहरी हुई ये दुनिया

एक पल के झपकने तक हर खेल सुहाना है

क्या जाने कोई किस पल, किस मोड़ पे क्या बीते

इस राह में ऐ राही, हर मोड़ बहाना है

हम लोग खिलौने हैं, एक ऐसे खिलाड़ी के

जिसको अभी सदियों तक, ये खेल रचाना है

Wishing you Peace & Happiness...forever!

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, 
and remember what peace there may be in silence.



Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; 
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; 
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; Many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.




Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; 
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment 
it is as perennial as the grass.

You are a child of the universe, 
no less than the trees and the stars; 
you have a right to be here. 
And whether or not it is clear to you, 
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.



Therefore be at peace with God, 
whatever you conceive Him to be, 
and whatever your labors and aspirations, 
in the noisy confusion of life 
keep peace with your soul.



With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, 
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
(~ extracts from Desidarata - by Max Ehrmann)

Ek Aag Ka Dariya Hai...

Fireworks                    
~ by Amy Lowell

You hate me and I hate you,

And we are so polite, we two!

But whenever I see you, I burst apart

And scatter the sky with my blazing heart.

In spits and sparkles in stars and balls,

 Buds into roses— and flares, and falls.

Scarlet buttons, and pale green disks,

Silver spirals and asterisks,

Shoot and tremble in a mist

Peppered with mauve and amethyst.

I shine in the window and light up the trees,

And all because I hate you, if you please.

And when you meet me, you rend asunder

And go up in a flaming wonder

Of saffron cubes, and crimson moons,

And wheels all amaranths and maroons.

Golden lozenges and spades,

Arrows of malachites and jades,

Patens of copper, azure sheaves.

As you mount, you flash in the glossy leaves.

Such fireworks as we make, we two!

Because you hate me and I hate you.

Hope...

“Hope” is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —

And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —

I've heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of Me.
~ Emily Dickinson

Barfeeli Sardiyon Men..

Misra Ghalib ka bhi aur Gulzar ka Bhi, 
Par dil ke kisi kone men khayal hum sab ka..

Barfeeli Sardiyon Men, Kisi Bhi Pahad Par
Waadi Men Goonjti Hui, Khamoshiyan Sune
Aankhon Men Bheege Bheege Se, Lamhe Liye Hue
Dil Dhoondhta Hai Phir Wahi Fursat Ke Raat Din

(Image captured of Dhauladhar enroute to Mcleodganj)

Kahin Door... Capture 1: Rang Hai Kesariya Is Bhoomi Ka..

To begin this series, I would love to choose the fabulous Sunset moment that I witnessed from the Fort Kumbhalgarh in Rajasthan. 

Kumbhalgarh was one of the most impregnable fort of Indian history. Apart from a peripheral wall which extends to about 38 km in length, (and is the second longest wall in the world after great wall of China), conquering the fort was made further difficult due to its terrain and the bravery of Mewar warriors. I wonder as to what extent does the valour of Rana Pratap could be attributed to the fact that he was born here. 

While I stood transfixed, watching the setting Sun that evening, the sky soon turned  to the perfect shade of saffron, as if the entire hill was coming ablaze, paying homage to the courageous warriors of Mewar in Kesariya colours.

Across a couple of centuries, few thousands miles and a couple of oceans away, a poet must have seen something similar that evoked these verse: 

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon

  Like a magician extended his golden want o'er the landscape;
    Trinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest
      Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.

                - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline

Shaam Dhale...The Prelude

Surprised seeing some prose here? or is the right word, Alarmed?

Pray, do not be either, because this is just a forward to a particular series within this blog that I am about to start off over here - about the Sunsets.

One of the earliest memories of my childhood has me travelling in a Tonga with my grandmother on a rural-ish road somewhere near Kota, while the evening colours of a setting Sun provided a perfect sepia hue to the moment. Though there is some kind of a foot injury also associated with this, but kyunki hum filmi hain, this moment of flashback too somehow, also has a song associated to it somehow.

Despite my own doubts about the veracity of some parts of this memory, I think this is where my association and fascination with sunsets began.  To me somehow the sky, despite being so bright throughout the day, is never as attractive, dramatic and comfortable as it looks at twilight.  Over the years, at various stages of life, the sunset has always been a constant friend to me, a source of comfort in turbulent moments, a silent companion for my melancholy, adding colour to my romance and has always been there to shar my joyous moments.  

Over the last few years, with photography becoming a hobby & passion, the Sunset has always been one of the constant themes of my images. Be it a vacation with the family, a walk or just birding around, I have been striving to capture the various moods of a setting sun across all seasons. I think it is time for me to share this fascination of mine with all those who have been appreciating my love for nature & literature.

So I request your indulgence as I bring to you a regular montage, of moments, captured or yet to be captured by me, of twilight and sunsets- interspersed with some of the best verses, written over the centuries, by masters of words who, like me, were also enamored by the beauty of a Sunset – but with a difference – they could express it better! I am sure that the days to come, or rather evenings, will give me enough opportunities to bring to you more hues & shades that the nature is able to create as the Sun flows down the horizon.

Before bringing to you the first image, however, I would like to go back to the memory I wrote about – or rather specifically to the song that is somehow associated with that memory - a lovely composition with some wonderful poetry of Anand Bakshi from a movie - Pushpanjali:

Kabhi ruke kabhi chale Radha chori chori
Piya kahe aa, jiya kahe nahi gori
Sham dhale Jamuna kinare kinare
Aaja Radhe aaja tohe Shyam pukare

Song of Radha, The Milkmaid

I carried my curds to the Mathura fair..

How softly the heifers were lowing…

I wanted to cry, “Who will buy

The curds that is white as the clouds in the sky

When the breezes of Shravan are blowing?”

But my heart was so full of your beauty, Beloved,

They laughed as I cried without knowing:

Govinda! Govinda!

Govinda! Govinda!

How softly the river was flowing!

I carried the pots to the Mathura tide…

How gaily the rowers were rowing!

My comrades called, “Ho! Let us dance, let us sing

And wear saffron garments to welcome the spring.

And pluck the new buds that are blowing.”

But my heart was so full of your music, Beloved,

They mocked when I cried without knowing:

Govinda! Govinda!

Govinda! Govinda!

How gaily the river was flowing!

 

I carried my gifts to the Mathura shrine…

How brightly the torches were glowing!

I folded my hands at the altars to pray

“O shining ones guard us by night and by day”

- And loudly the conch shells were blowing.

But my heart was so lost in your worship, Beloved,

They were wroth when I cried without knowing:

Govinda! Govinda!

Govinda! Govinda!

How bright the river was flowing!

~  Sarojini Naidu

Only The Mountain & I..

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I.

~ Li Po