Monday 19 April 2010

reverse gear

now that we speak of the foetus
growing in your womb,
suckled by the love of our ancesters,
now that we speak of the sun
and the earth and the planets,
hurtling down the milky way,
of time shrinking to this moment,
let us stop,
take a break,
and consider this:

you and i flow in a linear direction,
from point 'a' to 'b' to 'c',
from a foetus in the womb
to a newborn baby to a bubbling little child
to the time when we were in deep love
to a mom and grandma and then to dust.
how would it be if life were to flow
in the selfsame linear direction on the reverse gear,
from point 'c' to 'b' to 'a',
from dust to grandma to mom and the girl of my dreams
to the bubbling little joy i knew you were in childhood
to the bliss you were as a baby
to the no-mind expanses of a foetus...

hand in hand, dearest,
we swift-sail down the milky way.
see--there is the sun, here the earth
and there the other planets
and a million million twinkling stars.

*****

15 comments:

Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

Sorcerer said...

wow!! thats pretty amazin one sir.

P. Venugopal said...

thanks Arun, Sorcy. i am yet to read the curious case of Benjamin Button. this one is a poor word picture of what i really experienced the other day, sitting alone on the flat roof of my house, mind empty. i felt like a foetus in the womb, linked to the pulse of the whole, feeling the love of the whole flowing into me, if you know what i am speaking about. it lasted only for a few seconds, but after that i was shivering, trembling, for several minutes. and mind you, i was not under the influence of alcohol, it being early morning. i had taken three drinks the previous night, but, surely, you cannot attribute it to that. i was as sober as a bishop.

P. Venugopal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

Something intensely personal, the experience, I understand. I’ve a long way to go to understand it properly. As I started to read the second para, suddenly ‘The Curious Case…’ came to my mind, I read it online recently. As sober as a bishop. Liked that.
Ooh, by the way it’s the ninth day without even a drop of alcohol. Coming Saturday I’ll be going to Kasaragod via Mangalore with a bottle of Antiquity Blue to attend a friend’s wedding. Cheers!

Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

Who clicked the new profile picture? Whoever, they've managed to capture the chubby cuteness of the kid as well as her boundless joy!

P. Venugopal said...

Arun, come to TVM one of these days.
The picture is my granddaughter and daughter, as clicked by my son-in-law.
I liked it so much I put it on my profile, though there is some impropriety doing so, what with the kind of topics in my blog.

Arun Meethale Chirakkal said...

Yeah, I really wish Venu Chettan if I could. In fact, I really want to. I knew that it's your grand daughter. I hope we will meet soon.

subu.ps said...

Out of the box thinking, but you sure is successfull in making the reader think about how it will be if life is in reverse order.

Prabhakar said...

Wonderful!

P. Venugopal said...

thanks, Subu, Prabhakar.

Kalpana said...

Really loved the photograph! wao! Honestly Venuji I was unable to comment for this peice... now after reading your comment I was enlightened :-)

P. Venugopal said...

Neha, my grandchild. My son-in-law is a very fine photographer. He has sent us many more stunning photos.
And, regarding the difficulty in commenting, Kalpana, if you seriously want to become a poet, you should first learn the art of making things totally difficult to understand. Elliot is a classic example. I am sure not even Elliot knew what he was writing about.:-)

ROOTS said...

It was eonderful to read your blog. So you thought like Woody Allen. Best. C

ROOTS said...

It was eonderful to read your blog. So you thought like Woody Allen. Best. C