Which road do I travel on?

Led Zepp goes like

"Yes, there are 2 paths you can go by, but in the long run

There's still time to change the road you're on"

While dear Mr. Frost prods on

"TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,   
And sorry I could not travel both...

...Oh, I kept the first for another day!    s
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,   
I doubted if I should ever come back."

Reads both, sighs and says the traveler in me:

"I stood on a path

forking in several paths

Looked all equally green

holding promises of unfulfilled dreams

But none showed themselves for too long

And mysterious were their songs

I stood long, looked far and deep

and then I took the leap

I took the path

caring not for where its destination lay

for paths will cross and fork again

but for what felt more enjoyable to travel that day

and that's all the traveler in me cares for"

p.s. Led zep in his Stairway to Heaven; Robert Frost in his The Road not Taken

p.p.s The traveler in me doesn't get its hands on the steering all the time

p.p.p.s If your mind forces you to read the entire post with Jimmy Page guitar in the background, and makes you sing the poems as if they are a part of the song - you're not the only one!

--  Edit --

Someone pointed out to me that Rebecca Black is also suffering from the same dilemma. 

"Kickin’ in the front seat

Sittin’ in the back seat

Gotta make my mind up

Which seat can I take?"

I can see Robert Frost banging his head against the lovely, dark and deep woods. RIP

On your face, Moon!

Was wondering what Earth and Moon must have been talking yesterday!

Earth to Moon:

Moon Moon
O full Moon

Why are you setting
today so soon

What are you hiding behind
You loon

Why are you not lit today
we had our noon

Did Sun get angry on you
You foolish baboon

Twenty Three and not counting!

I wonder
as I look yonder 
Where have I reached
Where am I headed

I ask 
Is life a lovely journey
or just a mechanical churnery
I would rather it an experiment by mice
Douglas Adams, obviously was wise

I remember
So many days gone past
So many lessons learned
So many days that I enjoyed
and some when I got burned

I hope 
Life is an absolute continuous integration function
What I am learning and experiencing
Keeps getting accumulated under my curve
And I am not just talking about fat

In the end
Life's sheer pure gobberlygoo awesomeness
It's the best story ever told
The only part that I hate about telling it is
first you've to grow old... 

Thanks you folks, friends, family for your wishes and phone calls spread over the 4 days 6 days. They have died down a bit and I am missing them. Thanks you people for your lovely pastries (which I couldn't taste), card and letter, e-mails and thoughtful winter-wear, your texts and FB comments and for just being there. I celebrated this one is the best possible way: by going on a trip! Hell yeah.

p.s. My colleague in office pointed out that he can see greying which I vehemently denied, but I take that as a metaphor that I am growing wiser ;)

Trains and Poetry

Traveling in Train is so much fun. The long journey which winds across several rivers, villages, fields and often mountainous structures is somehow inspiring - especially if you're traveling alone and decide to go and stand on the gate of the train in the night when everyone else has peacefully snuggled into the comfort of their seats and the weather has turned relatively cooler.

The gay winds hits your face, as you cut across the vast emptiness at a breathtaking pace, with Da-Dhinak Na-Dhinak racketing noise screaming at all the passing huts; huts from which only a thin veil of light gleam, as if it is afraid to come out and see the loud monster pass by...shining blindingly bright from its nose, and belching black clouds from the top of its head! 

And then when it starts to drizzle in such condition - you well might very well be damned if you don't try to compose poetry. Howsoever badly words might fail you, even rugged four lines look as if Mirza Galib himself has paid a visit in your head, and when you whisper those lines to yourself - you can't help notice a proud blush pass your face. Here's such a preposterous collection (i.e. you're allowed to laugh at it)

जिंदगी है यह कश्ती कैसी

की मांझी जाने सब

नौका पार लगाए वो

और पूजे ऊपर वाले को सब

चल तो दिया ज़िन्दगी की रह पर

और रोक कर आसुओं को कर रहा हूँ सामना

की पता नहीं बह जाऊंगा उनमें कब

I, The Same Mortal I

In Moments of high inspiration

I am Batman, Spiderman and Hector

Achilles, Nagraj and Logan

I am Capt. Vijyant Thapar, Carl Brashear and Hellen Keller

George Mallory, Wright and Wheeler

I am Tatas, Birlas and Binny Bansal

Ford, Hershey and Toyoda

Crash and Burn

What's swimming...

without holding yourself underwater

long after your breath's gone

and your consciousness undone

until you see the world above

die in slow motion

What's life

I ask,

without heartaches and heartburns!

Words Words Words

I found this on an old torn paper - I am guessing that I wrote this while attending a lecture in my college...

Words, Words, Words

They fly by

Words, Words, Words

My head sighs

Words, Words, Words

Like a screeching nail on the glass

Words, Words, Words

Like a jingle out of its own class

Words, Words, Words

You think you are like a Rhapsody

Words, Words, Words

But let me tell you, you are nothing but noddy

Words, Words, Words

I yawn, I cry

Words, Words, Words

I fear, if I hear, I might die

Words, Words, Words

Please stop them

Words, Words, Words

Banish, burn them

Words, Words, Words

Oh God, why

Words, Words, Words

Given by thy

Words, Words, Words

Witchy, wicked, sly!

For additional scintilla: let me quote Shakespeare -

Polonius

"What do you read, my lord?"

Hamlet
"Words, words, words"

Emotional Baggage

The feeling of not being able to help your friend beyond a point

The feeling of telling lies when you don't want to

The feeling of being lied to, on your face

The feeling of not being able to sit for hours over coffee with people you want to

The feeling of doing what you don't want to, and not doing what you want to

The feeling of not being able to pray at the start of the end and at the end of it

The feeling of not being able to tell people what you want to, when you want to

The feeling of not being able to cry alone, or in front of anyone

...

However, the quote of the day goes to an old journal entry of mine:

It's pointless to feel pointless

....

In Brevity, for clarity - I Love You

All these years

Through joys and tears

I always thought of you

I knew not, what was it

(And then I discovered)

Now in brevity

for the sake of clarity

I Love you

Invictus

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley