why this amazement
why this naivete?
The first pat of love
resembled that dream
impossible, rare, exquisite!
tender as heart,
light as thought you seemed
The pride it gave,
warrior at the feet,
pleading for a glance,a feint smile,
world forgotten, lowered bow
lovelorn, unsure,
homologating his feelings
blood writ letters and tears
This was the time
You could ask him for Sun
The air, the moon
life,death or any clime
Alas! folly of love
forgot to see
Life in every death
in every surrender
we are all dying like this blossom
without sun in a luxurious room
Love dies too
When she rose
in love, in acceptance
wanton desires of body
saw him walk away
load of dead on his shoulders
waiting in decorated garden of hope
someday blossom may pass this way.
Breathing,alone is not life O lord
Neither does heart ache
nor do the sleeves get wet anymore
Splinters of glass dreams, waking eyes,
Pain, tears, fear of abandonment
flowing waters, dissolving banks
I am living, I am no more
Friday, August 05, 2011
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
I will join them, the souls
Before I slip into unconsciousness
Give me one more chance at bliss
I will be soft & gentle
Let the pain give me one more kiss
This endless vigil
of the pathway, the door
against sea and the window grime
hoping to see your face
One more time
Eyes are tiring over
will they win? perhaps.
They still wonder, wander,
feeling the souls of dead,
floating in hospital room,
keeping an eye on the living,
death is not what I dread
crawling on all fours
to sip that elixir of life,
reminiscing when i used to be strong
Heart, eyes & the vigil
humming that old song.
soon enough
I will join them, the souls.
soon enough I shall walk
the alleys of time
"We shall miss nothing
except each other".
This endless vigil
of the pathway, the door
Voices from distant
some other life, perhaps.
"Chand chura ke laya hoon
Chal baithen church ke peeche"
Give me one more chance at bliss
I will be soft & gentle
Let the pain give me one more kiss
This endless vigil
of the pathway, the door
against sea and the window grime
hoping to see your face
One more time
Eyes are tiring over
will they win? perhaps.
They still wonder, wander,
feeling the souls of dead,
floating in hospital room,
keeping an eye on the living,
death is not what I dread
crawling on all fours
to sip that elixir of life,
reminiscing when i used to be strong
Heart, eyes & the vigil
humming that old song.
soon enough
I will join them, the souls.
soon enough I shall walk
the alleys of time
"We shall miss nothing
except each other".
This endless vigil
of the pathway, the door
Voices from distant
some other life, perhaps.
"Chand chura ke laya hoon
Chal baithen church ke peeche"
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Time for alternate currencies
"The paper system being founded on public confidence and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to great and sudden fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure and the wages of labor unsteady and uncertain.
The corporations which create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community.
The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public. Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. (its where a career in banking inevitably leads)
It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government."
How prophetic these words sound today even after some 100's of years.
American president Andrew Jackson
For a change I wanted to start with something said more than 100 year back and how relevant it has become today. This 'Quantitative easing' , "Toilet economics' as far as i would like to describe it will lead to balance sheet recession. In that scenario corporates would look to retire debt rather than have focus on profits even if the interest rate continues to hover around 0%. They will not borrow money for expansion but use the cash flow for retiring debt and make the balance sheet healthy. Such is the nature of beast leading to the slowdown in economic activity (that is happening in West).
For months the Fed purchased hundreds of billions of dollars of Treasury debt, enabling the US government to fund its profligate deficit spending, push the national debt to its limit, and further devalue the dollar. Confidence in the dollar is plummeting, confidence in the euro has been shattered by the European bond crisis, and beleaguered consumers and investors are slowly but surely awakening to the fact that government-issued currencies do not hold their value.
Currency is sound only when it is recognized and accepted as such by individuals, through the actions of the market, without coercion. Throughout history, gold and silver have been the two commodities that have most fully satisfied the requirements of sound money. This is why people around the world are flocking once again to gold and silver as a store of value to replace their rapidly depreciating paper currencies. Even central banks have come to their senses and have begun to stock up on gold once again.
With a burning inflation of 10% + in India, we are already shafted. I refuse to believe this CONgress theory of supply side issues. It is largely driven by the failure of Indian government to control profiteering and breakdown of governance. The government monopoly on the issuance of money is purely a method of central control over the economy. If you can be forced to accept the government's increasingly devalued rupee, there is no limit to how far the government will go to debauch the currency. Anyone who attempts to create a market based currency – meaning a currency with real value as determined by markets – threatens to embarrass the federal government and expose the folly of our fiat monetary system. So the government will destroy competition through its usual tools of arrest, confiscation, and incarceration but the time has to come to create local currnecies - Village, Town level.
At the end the currency works on the principal of trust and without coercion
The corporations which create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community.
The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public. Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. (its where a career in banking inevitably leads)
It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government."
How prophetic these words sound today even after some 100's of years.
American president Andrew Jackson
For a change I wanted to start with something said more than 100 year back and how relevant it has become today. This 'Quantitative easing' , "Toilet economics' as far as i would like to describe it will lead to balance sheet recession. In that scenario corporates would look to retire debt rather than have focus on profits even if the interest rate continues to hover around 0%. They will not borrow money for expansion but use the cash flow for retiring debt and make the balance sheet healthy. Such is the nature of beast leading to the slowdown in economic activity (that is happening in West).
For months the Fed purchased hundreds of billions of dollars of Treasury debt, enabling the US government to fund its profligate deficit spending, push the national debt to its limit, and further devalue the dollar. Confidence in the dollar is plummeting, confidence in the euro has been shattered by the European bond crisis, and beleaguered consumers and investors are slowly but surely awakening to the fact that government-issued currencies do not hold their value.
Currency is sound only when it is recognized and accepted as such by individuals, through the actions of the market, without coercion. Throughout history, gold and silver have been the two commodities that have most fully satisfied the requirements of sound money. This is why people around the world are flocking once again to gold and silver as a store of value to replace their rapidly depreciating paper currencies. Even central banks have come to their senses and have begun to stock up on gold once again.
With a burning inflation of 10% + in India, we are already shafted. I refuse to believe this CONgress theory of supply side issues. It is largely driven by the failure of Indian government to control profiteering and breakdown of governance. The government monopoly on the issuance of money is purely a method of central control over the economy. If you can be forced to accept the government's increasingly devalued rupee, there is no limit to how far the government will go to debauch the currency. Anyone who attempts to create a market based currency – meaning a currency with real value as determined by markets – threatens to embarrass the federal government and expose the folly of our fiat monetary system. So the government will destroy competition through its usual tools of arrest, confiscation, and incarceration but the time has to come to create local currnecies - Village, Town level.
At the end the currency works on the principal of trust and without coercion
Monday, August 01, 2011
"Sisters & Brother"
It's been 118 years that the great man descended on American consciousness with these famous opening words at the Parliament of the World’s Religions at Chicago in 1893. He addressed his audience as “Sisters and Brothers of America” and proceeded to introduce them to the dharma — the Sanatana Dharma which is also known as Hinduism.
Unfortunately, in today's western events dominated history, in addition to the criminal apathy,sorry hatred of the ruling establishment towards Sanatan thought, we simply remember this day as anniversary of WTC attacks. We must remember this day for the simplicity and great confidence with which Vivekanand opened the world's eyes towards the inherent wisdom and philosophical thought of Bharat.
Here’s bit from that speech.
"I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal..."
Our revered Manmohan singh off-course has different ideas. He wants to introduce 'Communal Violence bill' on this day to demonise the Sanatanis as perpetrators of violence.
Unfortunately, in today's western events dominated history, in addition to the criminal apathy,sorry hatred of the ruling establishment towards Sanatan thought, we simply remember this day as anniversary of WTC attacks. We must remember this day for the simplicity and great confidence with which Vivekanand opened the world's eyes towards the inherent wisdom and philosophical thought of Bharat.
Here’s bit from that speech.
"I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal..."
Our revered Manmohan singh off-course has different ideas. He wants to introduce 'Communal Violence bill' on this day to demonise the Sanatanis as perpetrators of violence.