Aakashaiko Kaalo Baadal- Journey with a Nepali Folk Song

The day I heard this song I fell for it. One of the most melodious folk songs from the culturally rich Nepal. I searched for the singer, writer and the musician and to my surprise found them all to be one, Sri Tulasi Parajuli. Though I could talk to him over phone, all our plans to meet fell through for various other pressing engagements. And at last on 5^th August, 2012 my dream came true. We met and he sang the same song for me. We had tea together and I relished every moment of togetherness. He transliterated the song for me with an autograph.

 

I am posting it here on my blog for all music lovers and as a small token of my love and adoration for Sri Tulasi Parajuli.

Tulasiji, I would carry your song throughout my life as a precious gift from this beautiful country. Thank you.

Aakashaiko Kaalo Baadal….. Paani Paryo Jhamma Jhamma

Madaluko Taalaima…. Nachou Aaja Chamma Chamma

Maiti Raajai Samjhi Aayou ………Pardosako Maato Samjhera

Ramailo yo Vetaimaa…Nachou Aaja Chamma Chamma

(Aakashaiko..)

Voli Kasle Dekheko Hunchha Marincha ki Bachincha Lai Lai

Samjana nai Mitho Huncha Juni Juni Saachinchha Lai Lai

Yehi Mitho Samjhanale… Dukha peera Sabhai Boolera

Pardesha Bata Samjhi Aaye Afnai Pyaro mato Samjhera

(Akashaiko..)

Birsiyou Ki Maiti Raja Jhaure Ra Maruni Bhaka

Sarangi ko Mitho Dhund Murchunga Ra Bina Yo Baja

Samjhanale Sadhai Tanchha Nepali Man Muhar Hasi lo

Hamilai ta Lagchha ni Lai Lai Afnai Gauko Pani Rasilo

(Akashaiko..)

You can listen to the song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp77I6-Nifc

                                                          - by Santhosh Kumar Kana

WE WAIT

We are classified

The new arrival, the best seller, the self-help, fiction, non-fiction, travel etc.

We are basically words covered or presented in various forms

You come and peer at us

Kids come excited and some of us are out of the rack in no time

Some of you do nothing but go through us reading our titles

Like a bachelor going through the matrimonials

Some of you ignore most of us and go only to the best sellers

Some of us, the classics, gather dust and you hardly pick us out

We wait, for you, readers

You make the difference.

                                        -by Santhosh Kumar Kana
This poem has been published in the esteemed webjournal, MUSE INDIA (issue 49 May-June 2013):
http://museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=49&id=4219

WHAT ATTRACTED ME AT MUMBAI

-A hypocritical story

It was during a boring seminar at Kanjur Marg that Arundhati madam showed me her anthology of poems that depict an unquenchable thirst amidst the life in Delhi.

Extreme heat.

I could see madam’s AC corolla car waiting out when I walked to the mess for lunch. Her driver opened the door for her.

With two of my colleagues I went out in the evening to Gateway of India and the city. Since I found going by bus would be cheaper I insisted on it. They convinced me on share taxi.

Renovation at the Gateway of India. It was getting dark slowly.

I bargained and bought an ear ring for my wife from a shop near Taj Hotel. Fifty rupees!! When the purse opened its mouth, I could see a yellow five hundred rupees and a white hundred!! Since I was on “roaming”, I had told my wife that I would stick to SMS only and at times a missed call!! Had to roam a lot in search of BSNL Oxygen!

Taj, like a huge tower of light before me! People clad in suit getting in and many leaving in their posh cars! Half clad and with coloured locks, dames enter. What a structure!!!! A touch would suffice. I found it hard to resist the temptation. If at all I could spend a life like this enjoying all the pleasures!!!

 

 

The dim yellow light gave a distant glimpse of the decked walls and tables.

Extreme hunger!!

No book below two hundred on the footpath. SHAME, two hundred and fifty!

No dark skin entered MacDonald’s.

“Don’t you want to buy anything else?” asked Chaudhary sir from Jodhpur.

“No, not now”

Ram sir from Pune and Chaudhary sir bargained for leather bags. Then to an electronic shop. Chaudhary sir wanted Digital voice recorder. What is it? I had the maiden glance at it.

A girl explained the product in the familiar voice of those customer care girls. Same speed.

My hunger grew intense.

For some reason, Chaudhary sir didn’t buy it.

I should have a laptop, home theatre. Rooms with dim yellow lights. AC corolla car, driver opening the door for me….

Speed.

Dozed off in the taxi for a while.

After supper in the mess I returned to my room. Turned off the lights and lay down. Gentle breeze came in as I kept the window open.

Feeling low. Sour grapes! So angry and frustrated! Got up and turned on the lights.

Wrote a short story about plight of the poor roaming around the traffic points and outside MacDonald’s. Titled it as “What attracted me at Mumbai”. After all, those poor folks were the ones who dominated my thoughts all through the evening!!!!! I put the story in an enevelope, wrote the address of a magazine. As soon as I reach home, I would post it. Let people read and learn how honestly I care for the poor!!!

Emptied the last few drops from Aquafina. Lights off.                   
                                                                         –by Santhosh Kumar Kana

SLEEP

 

Sleep, a photographer

Adjusting your position a little, tilting your head a little, “ok, ready!”

Sleep, a dentist

Ahh, open your mouth, show your teeth!!

Sleep

The philanthropist who brings co-travellers closer

A comedian who makes you make all kinds of faces

Sleep

Can be a turning point at a turn on the road

Sleep

Proclaims the ultimate emptiness of all material pursuits

A fitting reply to all the boring lectures and precepts

Liquor that bends a straight sitting person

Sleep

The lap of peace after all the leaps.

                                                                                                 -by Santhosh Kumar Kana

THE STARRY NIGHT OF HIS ROOM

There is no language for the known. The time since I met him at his home in Nileswar, North Kerala, where he welcomed me to his home and heart with his shy smile, we needed no introduction for each other. Though he played an active role in my engagement, he always carried these unassuming shoulders in the events he managed. He had seen the emptiness beyond all luxuries and activities that gave him a spiritual charm. Our conversations, though very few, were never about the mundane and I always loved to be a listener to him. He would talk about his inseparable attachment with his mother he lost in his school days and his dream to have a house of his own. The words would come out only in the gaps between each puff he took from the cigarettes.

 “In those days, we had just one or two thieves in our village and everybody knew him/them. But now things have changed”

he would share his insights on the first floor balcony where we both sat and had beer. During one of those moments we shared he took me to his bedroom and closed the windows, turned off the lights and asked me to look up. I looked at the ceiling and a “Wow” came out of me as I saw a starry sky. We both laughed at the wonder. He smiled like a child who was complimented for a painting he made.

 “This is how I sleep here. I have got this painting done on the ceiling so that when I lie down I can feel the universe though I am confined physically to this room”.

I walked into his room last week and found him there among one of the stars glittering, giving me his ethereal smile!!!

Love you Vijayetan

RIP

By Santhosh Kumar Kana

On My Wall....My facebook graffiti

All said and done, Facebook is a stress buster. Write a thought that eats you, post a pic, share a link you get comments and likes and you feel secure for being taken care of. A time when my blog posts needed an easy way to reach more readers, I found facebook wall an excellent way out. Here I am listing thoughts I have been sharing on my facebook wall. Wall has a great significance in our society. I remember walls in my home town getting renewed with new posts or paintings every festive or electoral season. Some walls had only advertisements and some film posters. Walls have united us for a social event though walls metaphorically have divided us. “Deewaron dar pe naksh banana se kya mila…” by Mehdi Hassan is a favourite of mine. Many private walls carried “stick no bills” and the instruction was something very English to us those days. There were times when some walls were used for anti-social activities or for an anonymous critique of a social injustice. Many walls carried the moisture of urine and some supported the tipsy and many became a safe haunt of the romantic. Some gathered moss and weed and the old words were hidden. I wouldn’t repeat “Walls too have ears”, I would say “Walls too have voice”. Each one is looking for a wall of expression to reach out to many, to be heard, thought about and cared for. I found my facebook wall giving a facelift to many minds. My facebook wall made me converse my thoughts with the unseen listener and I felt relieved when I found their “like”s and comments. Unlike in Frost’s “Mending Wall”, here walls do not divide, they bridge. My wall is my private public space, my soliloquy that keeps me secure in my solitude and loneliness. My joy, my pain, my loss, and my gain everything that I would like to vent out finds the most attended spot, my facebook wall.  

All my wall posts are my original thoughts and writings and the copy right is solely mine.

• THE BIGGEST LIBRARY IN THE WORLD IS THE HUMAN MIND
• IF YOU SLEEP OVER YOUR DREAMS, YOU WAKE UP WITH NOTHING
• CONSISTENT OPTIMISM IS THE SIGN OF A SHALLOW MIND
• THERE IS NOTHING MORE DECEPTIVE THAN TRUTH
• I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE FOR OTHERS, BUT FOR ME YOU ARE MY MOST SPECIAL, INCOMPLETE MASTERPIECE
• THE DEEPROOTED NOTION IN ME OF A GOOD, GRATEFUL, LOYAL AND JUST WORLD MAKES ME SOCIALLY MALADJUSTED
• A SAINT CAN NEVER BE A POET
• THE MOMENT A POET IS SANE, HE/SHE CEASES TO BE A POET
• IN A RELATIONSHIP, IT DOESN’T MATTER IF TWO PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT, BUT IT DEFINITELY MATTERS IF ONE OF THEM IS “INDIFFERENT”
• IN KERALA, YOU FIND INTELLECTUALS WHOSE PAIN IS MERELY THEORETICAL
• LOVE IS ONLY FOR MATURED PEOPLE
• I HAVE ALWAYS FELT SAD AND LOST WHEN I SAW THE FAILURE OF SOME PEOPLE WHO ONCE WANTED TO BE SOMEBODY IN VARIOUS FIELDS
• I AM A GOODLUCK CHARM TO PEOPLE. WHEN I SAY IT, IT SOUNDS LIKE BOASTING BUT WHEN THEY DON’T SAY IT, IT IS PAINFUL
• I WOULD LOVE TRAFFIC JAM IF I HAVE TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH MY LOVED ONE IN A CAR
• SOME PEOPLE CAN ACCEPT AND DIGEST ANYTHING EXCEPT OTHER’S HAPPINESS
• AN UNKNOWN SADNESS GRIPS, THE FINGERS DON’T FEEL THE TOUCH, WORDS ARE SOULLESS, THE FEET DO NOT FEEL THE GROUND.. YOU ARE THERE, STILL I DON’T FEEL YOU.
• LOVE BRINGS OUT THE BEST, WORST, THE HOLY, THE UGLY, THE MEAN IN YOU. LOVE TEARS APART ALL YOUR PRETENSIONS
• AT TIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A CHEF WHO HAS PREPARED ALL THE DELICIOUS DISHES FOR A PARTY BUT THE APPRECIATION GOES TO THE HOST AND EVERY OTHER PERSON
• WHEN YOU FALL IN LOVE, IT IS YOUR EGO THAT FALLS
• LIFE IS AN OPEN PRISON
• A QUESTION TRANSFORMS YOU WHEN IT BECOMES A QUEST
• I like VAT............... Value Added TEACHING!!
• THOSE WHO ARE SHOCKED AT YOUR POPULARITY ARE THE ONES WHO UNDERESTIMATED YOU
• SOME FAIL TO REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT AND DIFFERENT YOU ARE, JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO THEM
• WHEN YOU INVITE TROUBLE, BE HOSPITABLE

The Elusive

How can you be like the boundless sea?

How can you be like the autumn grove?

How can you be the silent, dull winter nights?

How can you be the elusive meaning of a favorite poem?

How can you be my eerie obsession?

How can you be an ever new obscurity?

How to name you?

You are my pain, my love, my depression, my anger and my emptiness.

-by Santhosh Kumar Kana