Answering questions for a (wise) friend, etc.

For starters, the friend in question rightly said that you choose your critics when you choose your friends. But that's hardly the reason why I refer to him as wise. He also showed me the stupidity behind disbelief in god. Of course, I hope that he has moved beyond agnosticism himself. (I don't think there should be any confusion here, but one can never be sure these days. He did not make me a believer, no, he made me an agnostic. And by beyond agnosticism, I refer to simply not giving a fuck about god's existence.)

The poem in my last post was written not too long back... in fact, it was in February this year. So that is my current opinion, so as to say. I enjoy education, like we all enjoy so many pointless things. I also enjoy it because it keeps you away from work (in the organised fashion of being an employee etc). Problem with education is that it "opens the mind" to all these possibilities, which even while being completely contradictory, seem equally "logically" or "rationally" appealing. You can stretch certain "ground-breaking" theories to prove just about anything. That is what I have tried to convey in the poem as well.

As for rules of poetry... what rules? I have heard of notions like metres and other such 'esoteric' jargon, but I have never really bothered much with those ever. Unless of course while trying to compose a haiku or a limerick or some such, but I don't really do that much (usually for exclusively private consumption). Blank verse, or free verse (which is what I indulge in; blank verse has some metric technicality involved) is a different deal altogether, but again, I have never given it much thought, other than making a choice between writing that or prose. I don't think writing should follow any rules since it is meant to be written in your own style, reflecting your own chutzpah. And if you need to copy someone else's, please get a life.

So now that that is out the way... whew! I got a little ambitious and tried writing a poem in Hindi. Actually, I wrote a couple of them many years back, when I was about 15 or so, and this reminds me that I should see if I can still find them. But anyway, here is what I came up with now, and I have to say, I am not entirely dissatisfied with the result. Of course, for you Hindi-illiterate people out there, I will post a translation as well. I call it अंत भला तो सब भला

विशाल रेगिस्तान, थकी हुई साँसें
चिलचिलाती धूप, दो बेचारे प्यासे
मंज़िल का कोई नामोनिशान नहीं
यहाँ है शरीर लेकिन दिमाग कहीं
अकेला तरुवर अपनी छाया बिछाए
मृगतृष्णा अपना कपट दिखाए
रेत का समुद्र में रेत की लहर
दयालु भगवान का प्यारा कहर
मौत की लम्बी नींद की छोटी पुकार
अब क्या फ़ायदा, सारे यतन हैं बेकार

Now for the Anglophone version. Again, I will keep the translation as literal as possible, even though it will mean venturing (unwillingly this time) in the territory of free verse. The name, however, is simple enough to do. "All is well that ends well"

vast desert, tired breaths
scorching sunshine, two miserable parched folks
no sign of the destination
the body is here but the mind elsewhere
lone tree spreading its shade
mirage displays its deceit
wave of sand in the sea of sand
generous god's lovely curse
small cry of the long sleep of death
what use now, all effort is futile

Doesn't read half as well in English. But that wasn't quite the idea anyway.