Skip to main content

Desolation


Some gates thrust upon us an impression of desolation. They may be left open, but they don't invite; rather, they repulse.  It's not the Nature with her trees and plants or even its aridity that repulses; it's the gate in such a place; a gate that looks out of place; a gate that doesn't look like a gate!


Take a look around and you realise that you are not alone.  There is another creature that looks forlorn too.  Its company is no consolation.


Nor does it seem interested in your company.  Maybe, it's looking for something to eat.  A little water to drink.  A shelter from the heat of the summer sun in Delhi.  Is it wondering, like you, what we have done to the planet?  Why did we make such a hell out of it?  Why couldn't we get along together like the passengers on a train... knowing that the journey will end anyway?


No, it's not interested in your company.  "Good bye."


PS. All the pictures were taken this afternoon from one of the rear windows of my residence.

Comments

  1. nice clicks and stronger depiction !! :) lucky u .. still have so much greenery and wild life(should i say.. coz i dont see them that often in my part of the country :) ) around your house :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, in a way I'm lucky. Very few people in Delhi can afford the luxury of so much greenery in their backyard.

      Delete
  2. It's so poetic.Like the lovely pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some gates thrust upon us an impression of desolation. They may be left open, but they don't invite; rather, they repulse. - This speaks to me on so many levels. Thank you for the wonderful post today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A beautiful poetic-prose, Matheikal. Yes, human beings are most likely the biggest threat to many animals, so they have reasons to react/ think that way. Nice blog.
    Brilliant pics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Without the humans around, the planet would have been a far better place. But planets too have tragedies to narrate!

      Delete
  5. Humans should have stayed the way they were! as Monkeys! nice pictures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right Jayant. The evolution was not so good for the planet!

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Thanks, Namrota. Hope to see you here more frequently.

      Delete
  7. My takeaway is "Monkey see, monkey not do!"

    I do not believe this is a stand-alone post; I think you took the photographs with the post in mind. Perhaps a series in the offing? Many more photographs where these came from? I am curious.

    I am not exactly sure I agree with sentiments about human beings despoiling nature etc. as espoused in some of the comments. But, that is for a different time and space.

    RE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The post was not at all meant to be about human beings ravaging the nature. You are absolutely right, Raghuram, about that. The very opening sentence of the post sets the theme... and, yes, I have much, much more to say about it. I can (and most probably will) write a book about it...

      Delete
  8. Peaceful coexistence doesn't exist. We have made a hell out of this beautiful planet and each day we are getting worse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People don't want any peaceful coexistence, Saru. Strife is an entertainment!

      Delete

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

Being Christian in BJP’s India

A moment of triumph for India’s women’s cricket team turned unexpectedly into a controversy about religious faith and expression, thanks to some right-wing footsloggers. After her stellar performance in the semi-final of the Wormen’s World Cup (2025), Jemimah Rodrigues thanked Jesus for her achievement. “Jesus fought for me,” she said quoting the Bible: “Stand still and God will fight for you” [1 Samuel 12:16]. Some BJP leaders and their mindless followers took strong exception to that and roiled the religious fervour of the bourgeoning right wing with acerbic remarks. If Ms Rodrigues were a Hindu, she would have thanked her deity: Ram or Hanuman or whoever. Since she is a Christian, she thanked Jesus. What’s wrong in that? If she was a nonbeliever like me, God wouldn’t have topped the list of her benefactors. Religion is a talisman for a lot of people. There’s nothing wrong in imagining that some god sitting in some heaven is taking care of you. In fact, it gives a lot of psychologic...

Hollow Leaders

A century ago, T S Eliot wrote about the hollowness of his countrymen in a poem titled The Hollow Men . The World War I had led to a lot of disillusionment with the collapse of powerful empires and the savagery of the war itself which unleashed barbaric slaughter. The generation that survived was known as the “Lost Generation.” Before the war, Western civilisation was sustained by certain values and principles given by religion, the Enlightenment, and Victorian morality. The war showed that science and technology, which could improve life, had actually produced machine guns, gas warfare, and mass death. Religion became hollow. People became hollow. “We are the hollow men,” Eliot’s poem began. The civilisation looked sophisticated from outside, but it was empty inside. There is a lot of religion today in the world. My country has allegedly become so religious that it decides what you will eat, wear, which god you will pray to, and even the language for communication. The ultimat...

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...

Why India Needs to Reclaim its Liberal Soul

Russia’s Putin announced the demise of liberalism, America’s Trump wrote its obituary, and India’s Modi wielded the death as a political forge that transmuted him into a demigod. We are, unfortunately, passing through an era of so-called “strong leaders” like Putin, Trump, and Modi. A 2024 report based on a 2023 Pew survey found that 67% Indians endorsed a governing system with a “strong leader” who can make decisions without interference from courts or parliament. This support for autocracy was the highest among all surveyed nations and has increased consistently after Modi became the PM. Shockingly, the same 2023 survey found that 72% of Indian respondents expressed a favourable view of military rule. Indians don’t want individual freedom, it seems. We are used to the many gods who incarnated at appropriate times and destroyed evil ( Sambhavami yuge yuge ). Modi is our present divine incarnation. It is the duty of these avatars to conquer evil; hence individual freedom doesn’t ...