LIGHTHOUSE IN A GREY WORLD - A PAINTING BY DEEPAK MENON

THIS WAS PAINTED USING ONLY BLACK
WITH ITS MYRIAD SHADES

PRINCESS - a poem by Deepak Menon

PRINCESS
.

Leaning on the window sill
Waiting for her lord she stands,
Grasping the rusted iron grill
With coarse and worn out hands.
.
Now unkempt with streaks of grey
Her once lustrous locks of hair,
Trail in a tail behind her head
Her eyes locked in a fixed stare.
.
Staring at the bend of the dusty road
Willing him to come into sight,
His frail shoulders carrying the load
Manfully in the failing light,
.
Of the tantalisingly descending sun
Slowly vanishing into night's vale,
As though her little frame to shun
At the window leaning weak and frail.
.
A wistful sigh escapes her lips
As a pleasant memory from long ago,
Into her mind gently skips
Of all the joys she chose to forego.
.
When she followed him, so mild and kind
Into the harsh and cruel world outside,
To stand by his side and there to find
Her very own niche in which to hide.
.

Her eyes glisten with a tear unshed
Unblinking, she thinks of her child,
Lost long ago crying for bread
When hard times, her life defiled.
.
Then her face of a sudden is brightened
With a smile of beatific delight,
She stands erect her bearing lightened
As her Lord comes into her sight.
.
All thoughts of her poverty banished
She races down the stairs to greet,
The man who on her, just love lavished
As wearily he trudges up the street.
.
He sees her running, flying towards him
He drops the bag of toys unsold,
As from the streetlight high above him
He is swathed in a halo of gold.
.
His shoulders square out, his head erect
Contentment seeping into his face,
He stretches out his arms towards her
Wrapping her in tender embrace.
.

Some little while later he picks the things
Still holding her, clasped by his side,
The tattered woman and man on golden wings
Their world complete - walk inside........

MAN BRAINS OR WOMANS BRAIN PRICING LIST

BRAINS
     In the hospital the relatives gathered in the waiting room, where   their family member lay gravely ill.
     Finally, the doctor came in looking tired and somber. "I'm afraid I'm   the bearer of bad news," he said as he surveyed the worried faces.
       "The only hope left for your loved one at this time is a brain   transplant. It's an experimental procedure, very risky but it is the only hope."
       "Insurance will cover the procedure, but you will have to pay for the brain   yourselves." The family members sat silent as they absorbed the news.
       After  a great length of time, someone asked, "Well, how much does a brain cost?"
       The doctor quickly responded, "$5,000 for a male brain, and $200 for a  Female brain."
       The moment turned awkward. Men in the room tried not to smile, avoiding eye   contact with the women, but some actually smirked.
     A man, unable to control   his curiosity, blurted out the question everyone wanted to ask, "Why  is the male brain so much more?"
       The doctor smiled at the childish innocence and explained to the entire group, "It's just standard pricing procedure.  We have to mark down the price of the female brains, because they've actually been used."
.
Cheers.

Clock Tower at Dehradun

A beautiful Heritage Symbol of long ago at the
State Capital of the state of Uttaranchal

The Advantages of not knowing all the ways language is used

KETCHUPA woman was trying hard to get the ketchup
to come out of the bottle.
During her struggle the phone rang, so she asked her
4-year-old daughter to answer the phone.
.
"It's the minister,Mommy," the child said to her mother.
.
Then she added to the caller,
"Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now.
She's hitting the bottle."

A REFLECTION BY ME : - WILL MANKIND EVER BE ABLE TO RETAIN THE INNOCENCE OF CHILDHOOD THROUGH ITS SHORT SOJURN ON EARTH?

Kadhai Pleasures - Peanuts

That is a Picture of an Indian Karhai .

It should be made of Iron to be really good.

And it is used in India for cooking virtually

every kind of vegetables, meat, sweetmeats

and snacks. The peanuts you see have been

roasted in hot sand in a Kadhai and believe it

or dont - there is nothing better than eating

this kind of roasted Indian peanut in the chilly

eventide as winter sets in.

SONNET NO 11 by Deepak Menon

SONNET NO 11
By Deepak Menon

Blemishes on Faces, Club Footed Children and Balding Maidens are part
Of jokes that the Gods play on the little two legged creature called Man
Blaming misfortune on the Gods then, and cursing nature from the start
Is but what must come naturally to the sufferers of this diverse clan.
Is there light in the darkness? And what does light look like? Can it be told
By one who is born without the pretty doe(s)s that the poets most admire?
Is there music in silence? And what does music sound like? Can it be told
By one who is one with the silence of eternity and in silence must retire?
Does God wait in the Churches and Mosques and Temples for man to pray?
That he may hear his voice from among the many who howl for Him
Does man have to bow his head and repeat what the holy men tell him say?
So that, he may be accepted by his fellows - filled with pity for him.
    So many questions asked and so many answers sought -Aeons pass
    Yet we imperfect remain, starkly reflected in life’s looking glass!!

THE TATTERED PENNANT - Title Poem of the Book by Deepak Menon

THE TATTERED PENNANT

'Twas nothing but a flash of purest white
Splitting the velvet fabric of the night
That was the passion of those yesteryears
Already fading ere the bird took flight

Yet, in that briefest of interludes with time
With greedy lips while gulping the wine
The meaning of life was revealed in full
Alas! To have tasted the fruit was the crime.

A bittersweet melody was the sentence passed
An everlasting joy - in eternal sorrow masked
Living memories to keep the wreck afloat
In futile search of a golden shore long past

But as a great bard long gone expressed
"Hope rises eternal in the human breast"
So does the lonely mast in an ocean of tears
Flutter its tattered pennant in its foolish quest.

JUMP IF YOU WANT TO REACH ANYWHERE AND THIS IS A PAINTING I MADE - JUMPING WITHOUT PARACHUTE

This is a Hello from Deepak

This was a wonderful painting in the Tibetan Library at Dehradun - so it took a snap - Run Like the Wind from now on

This is a Hello from Deepak

JOY - A proverb by Deepak Menon

JOY

10.1 Joy is the exhalted happiness that transcends all human
emotions. The meeting between two lovers; The vista of corn
ripening in the farmers field; The sight of a child relishing
food; all these give joy. And the greatest joy is the joy that
owes its birth to love.


10.2 To enjoy is to have a ephemeral feeling of pleasure on the
happening of a short lived event. Enjoyment lasts only as long as
the event and does not touch the deeper emotions. Joy permeates
to the very core of ones soul and touches the tenderest chords in
our hearts.


10.3 Is there any joy as intense and as surely destined to
retreat into gloom as the joy of a lover ?

SONNET NO 5 - By Deepak Menon

Ah! The pleasures of the flesh be nothing compared
To the savoring of a morsel when hunger calls
To the solace when in sickness am I tenderly cared
To its soothing touch when the summer rain falls

O! The pain of parting from my true love is naught
Compared to the agony when mine child does cry
Or the feel of his brow when it’s feverish and hot
Or from the glimpse of a tear in mother’s eye

But hunger’s soon forgot till the next meal
And autumn erases memories of the summer rain
A toy stops the cries and the pain soon does heal
Soon forgot is the tear in mother’s eye had lain

....... But my yearning for the tender looks of Love's eyes
....... Is simmering constancy – a glimpse of Paradise!