Skip to main content

The Music in the Background


What seas what mountains what planets
Or a honeymoon cottage on an exotic isle
   with a bride on hire to suck the lust
What car what villa what gadget
Or a smorgasbord spread out in paradise
Where does it end, this pursuit?

How many millions or billions should the bank balance be
How many villas and hectares will this body need
How many parties bacchanalian and rumbustious
Before I hear the music in the background?


Note: This is the first poem I've written in years.  Maybe, when you sit idle with your foot caged in plaster of Paris poetry forces itself into your soul.  I have an excuse, however, for letting poetry make this forceful entry: I was reading something on philosopher Schopenhauer who thought that a man who has no mental life goes greedily from sensation to sensation in search of happiness and at last he/she is conquered by the nemesis of the idle rich or the reckless voluptuary - ennui.
Labels:

Comments

  1. AmitAagFebruary 21, 2013 at 4:32 PM

    A tremendous poem, Matheikal!
    Enormous thought and elan!
    Please keep writing even without POP:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:51 PM

      Thanks, Amit. I must thank both Schopenhauer and T S Eliot - the thought came from the former and the style from the latter.

      Delete
  2. mandakolathurFebruary 21, 2013 at 4:43 PM

    Matheikal,

    Even as I wish to stay away from poetry, my friends try to get me sucked into the vortex ... please :(

    But, when you say something in simple words in non-poetic form, like "idle rich", I do come alive! Are the rich ever idle? Aren't they always trying to become richer??? :))) Just curious. And, I do not understand "reckless voluptuary".


    RE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:55 PM

      Raghuram, it seems you don't read even the non-poetic form carefully enough :) I was quoting (not verbatim) Schopenhauer who died in 1860. The rich were simply idle in those days; the poor did all the work for them! By reckless voluptuary the philosopher meant any person who feasted on sensual delights (like food, drinks, sex...) neglecting "mental life" which only can bring more lasting happiness...

      Delete
  3. Easwar ArumugamFebruary 21, 2013 at 4:59 PM

    Nice poetry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. umashankarFebruary 21, 2013 at 5:18 PM

    'Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga?'

    A Fine piece of disillusionment and yearning for the truth. Refreshed memories of TSE's Marina.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:58 PM

      Yes, Uma, I imitated Eliot's opening lines in 'Marina'. But I must admit I'm flabbergasted by your identifying it so easily.

      Delete
  5. MalinyFebruary 21, 2013 at 5:21 PM

    profound poem written with an edge of irony . Even deplorable is how material wealth is projected as an important measure of worthiness ! The poem points a strong finger at this state of manhood . Keep churning out such brilliant lines sir :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:59 PM

      No, Maliny, I'm not sure I'll stick to poetry. This poem just came like that - out of leisurely meditation which my normal routine will never permit. I work in a residential school, you see.

      Thanks for the appreciation.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2013 at 9:04 AM

    Like!

    ReplyDelete
  7. indu chhibberFebruary 22, 2013 at 11:18 AM

    The message which your poem gives is worth thinking about.We want to be happy but do not know where to look for happiness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 22, 2013 at 3:11 PM

      We are like the woman who searched in the front yard for the ear ring she lost in the kitchen saying there was no light in the kitchen!

      Delete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2013 at 12:21 PM

    Sir, you have a soul in your writing ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. www.lifepartneracademy.comFebruary 22, 2013 at 1:54 PM

    Good attempt. It turned out to be a golden poem with lots of iron in it. LOL! Congrats and keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. PanchaliFebruary 22, 2013 at 7:03 PM

    A poignant one, Matheikal!! Abundance is certainly not something that we acquire... it is something we tune into. It is a state of being! Highly philosophical stuff!..the word 'moksa' came to my mind suddenly.
    Nice one!Keep writing!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2013 at 3:06 PM

      Thanks, Panchali. It's philosophical because it was inspired by Schopenhauer.

      Delete
  11. GokulFebruary 22, 2013 at 10:21 PM

    Good one....

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

Coming-of-Age Poems

Lubna Shibu Book Review Title: Into the Wandering Multiverse Author: Lubna Shibu Publisher: Book Leaf , 2024 Pages: 23 Poetry serves as a profound medium for self-reflection. It offers a canvas where emotions, thoughts, and experiences are distilled into words. Writing poetry is a dive into the depths of one’s consciousness, exploring facets of the poet’s identity and feelings that are often left unspoken. Poets are introverts by nature, I think. Poetry is their way of encountering other people. I was reading Lubna Shibu’s debut anthology of poems while I had a substitution period in a section of grade eleven today at school. One student asked me if she could have a look at the book as I was moving around ensuring discipline while the students were engaged in their regular academic tasks. I gave her the book telling her that the author was a former student in this very classroom just a few years back. I watched the student reading a few poems with some amusement. Then I ask...
8 comments
Read more

How to preach nonviolence

Like most government institutions in India, the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] has also become a gigantic joke. The national surveyors of India’s famed antiquity go around finding all sorts of Hindu relics in Muslim mosques. Like a Shiv Ling [Lord Shiva’s penis] which may in reality be a rotting piece of a Mughal fountain. One of the recent discoveries of Modi’s national surveyors is that Sambhal in UP is the birthplace of Kalki, the tenth incarnation of God Vishnu. I haven’t understood yet whether Kalki was born in Sambhal at some time in India’s great antique history or Kalki is going to be born in Sambhal at some time in the imminent future. What I know is that Kalki is the final incarnation of Vishnu that is going to put an end to the present wicked Kali Yuga led by people like Modi Inc. Kalki will begin the next era, Satya Yuga, the Era of Truth. So he is yet to be born. But a year back, in Feb to be precise, Modi laid the foundation stone of a temple dedicated to Kalk...
12 comments
Read more

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
15 comments
Read more

The Triumph of Godse

Book Discussion Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in order to save Hindus from emasculation. Gandhi was making Hindu men effeminate, incapable of retaliation. Revenge and violence are required of brave men, according to Godse. Gandhi stripped the Hindu men of their bravery and transmuted them into “sheep and goats,” Godse wrote in an article titled ‘Non-resisting tendency accomplished easily by animals.’ Gandhi had to die in order to salvage the manliness of the Hindu men. This argument that formed the foundation of Godse’s self-defence after Gandhi’s assassination was later modified by Narendra Modi et al as: “ Hindu khatre mein hai ,” Hindus are in danger. So Godse has reincarnated now.   Godse’s hatred of non-Hindus has now become the driving force of Hindutva in India. It arose primarily because of the hurt that Godse’s love for his religious community was hurt. His Hindu sentiments were hurt, in other words. Gandhi, Godse, and the minority question is the theme of the...
5 comments
Read more