Hazel Eyes

I had but lost my lust for life,
I had, until I saw you.

Cupid's pointy arrow struck,
but lo, what wound was this!

The heart was pierced,
and yet I stood - swollen, smiling!

I had not lived,
until I lived in your love.

You smiled and the dark night vanished,
you called sweetheart and loneliness was banished.

The world was suddenly so much more beautiful,
The people in it, so much more caring.

Your love changed me,
Your love gave me courage.

Now I smile at the change you have wrought,
Now I find myself more forgiving and understanding.

Would that I could have your love forever,
My Dearest Puppykins!

Lost Library

The British Council Library, Mumbai is set to close its physical premises this year-end. It'll shift to an online avatar. No more browsing and spending time immersed in the company of books. Personally I think it's a great loss. My father used to cite it as an example of serendipity. He would be looking to research a subject and serendipitiously find a really good book on the very topic, on the returned books counter. You don't even have to consciously look for it. Sometimes a book 'attracts' you to itself and happens to be the very subject that interests you greatly. I had that experience (again) today.

The returns counter, to me, is a source for tapping into the collective consciousness of the reading public. It has the pulse of what interests people. A more refined subset of wants and desires, than is reflected by Google's Zeitgeist.
Besides nothing beats the advantage of sitting down with an armload of books and poring over their pages, till you find the perfect book. Now we can have home delivery from an online catalogue. But we won't know what we're asking for untill we read it!
A sad turn of events in the life of a great social institution.

Death is....

A faithful lover,
playfully she flirts, hiding behind a curtain,
patiently she watches, as I carry on my work.

'times she'll dart out, her velvet scarf flying,
tickling the nape of my neck, reminding me of her presence.

Yet patiently she waits,
knowing our love is eternal,
content that the day will come,
when I'll throw my worries to the wind and embrace her,

And I rest easy, safe in the knowledge that
she will always be there for me,

Death, the most beautiful of lovers!
Slender and pale, with a face that silences the noise all around,
Beauty that makes you shiver in anticipation, a gaze that holds you spellbound.

Someday I'll cast off the burdens of this world and rush into her arms.
And she'll embrace me with teary eyes and a bright smile,
happy that I came home to her, and I'd kiss her tenderly.

Until that day, she waits!
Death! The most faithful of lovers!

Trend spotting: Back-Office services

The year has seen recession-hit companies sell captive business
process units. Ostensibly to shore up the balance sheet & concentrate
on their core business. Citigroup, Aviva, AIG among others and more to
come.
BPO vendors lap up these captives for inorganic expansion of service
offering, geographies & domains served and client-baskets.
Here's a fundamental problem waiting to be solved. On the one hand
there is a huge appetite for back-office (BO) - the non-core
'plumbing' in every company. Never mind the sale of captive BO units.
That only highlights the other side of the coin. One can no more
accurately predict the cycles in business & economy. Demand for BO
services may spike in good times & will certainly be restrained in the
bad.

A prayer - for relationships

Dear God,
Grant me the ability to realize when someone close to me is living in
anxiety - over present or future. Help me reassure them that no matter
what life may bear, I will always stand by them - good times and bad.
Grant me the wisdom to understand that relationships are difficult -
they test the closest bonds the most. Give me the strength of
character to always believe in the other person and boulder my resolve
to never give up on them. May I always treat the other as a part of me
and never disown them. May I never hold back my affection and thereby
condemn them to pain in life.

Thoughts of sadness and new experiences

Woke up and was thinking while brushing, at about the exact moment, 6:10 am
marks one month to the day and minute that changed our lives.
One of those numb moments you pass through in a sense of stupor,
yet tinged with sadness.

Today was also the first time I exercised my franchise as a voter.
Why? The conscience feels lighter -- you perceive yourself as making a difference, even if the difference is only to your conscience.
I generally revile politicians as bandicoots who loot funds in collusion with works contractors, with the victor decided by the morally shifty sections of society.

What surprised me was the absence of queues.
Booth opened at 7 and I was there at 7:10.
Four booths at my polling station, with just one vote cast prior to me at my assigned booth.
Walked in, a duty officer verified my name in the voter list (with four other political party observers doing the same), checked my photo id (passport), and announced both presumably for the benefit of the observers. He then made an entry in the list of votes at the booth, and took my signature, and motioned me to EVM, to which the on duty officer had released a single ballot using the control unit.

Took a few seconds for me to locate my candidate on the EVM.
Pressed the button, an LED next to the nominee went red and a loud beep resounded --
my vote was cast.

the lone wolf mourns

the heart cries, the tears roll
the soul burns, but life must go on.
for those who survive, will i labour
to love and no more withhold,
for death has taught me
no more to take for granted
what is best and beautiful in my life.