HAVES & NEEDS

Have Food, Need Variety

Have Clothes, Need Style

Have House, Need Re-Furnishing 

Have Bike, Need Re-hauling

Have Car, Need Accessories 

Have Laptop, Need Programs

Have Website, Need Updating

Have Canvases, Need Painting

Have Paintings, Need Sales

Have Videos, Need Editing

Have Photos, Need Framing

Have Frames, Need Hanging

Have Bible, Need Reading

Have Read, Need Revelation 

Have Revelation, Need Surrendering

Have Surrendered, Need Obedience

Have Obedience, Need Grace

Have Grace, Needless to Say

Have Everything, Lack Nothing

"But by the grace of God, I am what I am"

30 Rupees

Arriving home at night, the last thing I expected after parking the car was turning around to find a short man asking me for thirty rupees.

He had a scruffy yet gentle face and spoke with his dignity intact.

Said he was no beggar but a day laborer working on the nearby road.

His eyes were bright and he didn’t reek of alcohol.

His one hand held a bag of sweets as the other pointed to where he had been waiting for his contractor to collect the day’s wages. But with no sign of him, he decided to take a chance on me.

“No I don’t drink” he assured me, “and your money will be returned first thing in the morning”.

I told him to wait as I went upstairs and returned with the change. All the while, not once did I feel I was being conned or lied to. His peaceful countenance had arrested and convinced me.

Later that night I lay in bed wondering – where did he come from? I couldn’t recollect seeing him walk up to us and yet he had appeared as though he had always been there.

What were the sweets for?

Was he about to celebrate something later that night?

Why didn’t the contractor show up?

Will thirty rupees be enough for his dinner?

The following morning I knew I wouldn’t see him again.

Not because he had lied to me, but because he wasn’t from here. 

Overshadow

Vacation Out of Station

Vacation, out of station

To escape the routine

To be in a place we’ve never been

To do things anonymously

To do things glamorously

To see and be seen

In this exotic locality

With all its ancient history

Its cuisine and value for money

Such reasonable deals

Big meals and the best views

Just like they said in the guidebooks

We rush to take a closer look

At all that is overbooked

Collect trophy pictures of locals

In all their grand costumed culture

Never mind on TV its sheer torture

In the name of mid-life education

We nod and plod along

In this unfamiliar situation

German bakery, Italian pizza, French pastry,

American burgers, Israeli falafels, Korean kimchi

Continental or Indian it all starts to taste the same

Same nothing different

Rent a bike, rent a view, rent a friend

Run out of money and the renting ends

A hundred ‘like’s later the photos fade away

Inevitably someone else has had a better stay

Need to get out of station from such a vacation

And be at home in the inner being

Where no cameras can click and go public

Where no money can do its trick

This is where one finds true rest

From the ridiculous race to clear tests and be the best

It’s here that we need a revelation

It’s from here that we venture into an adventure

It’s from this destination that we go out of station

What is Delhi’s Favorite Alphabet?

I’ve had this suspicion all along but could never prove it.

It was just a theory until last week when I went out in search of a barber. Oops, ‘Hairstylist’ as I have oft been corrected.

Unlike barbers, hairstylists hold degrees from institutes run by cosmetic companies. Next time you’re getting a trim, just look around, you’ll spot a framed certificate, and if you ask, you’ll also discover it doesn’t belong to the scissor-happy ‘stylist’ having a go on your scalp.

Anyway, back to my theory. I am walking down this road in Amar Colony and I begin to notice the various hair saloon’s (not shops). First in line is ‘TRENDZ’ then ‘MENZ Saloon’, followed by ‘CRAZE Saloon’ and ‘MAX MENZ’.

In between I notice a parked Santro (you guessed right, fully tinted) with a large “DELHI BOYZ” sticker on the back.

Another signboard tied onto the electric pole says “Permanent & Henna TATOOZ”.

By now I am convinced there is something about the alphabet ‘Z’ that fascinates us in Delhi. Maybe it somehow seals the name. Since there are no alphabets beyond ‘Z’, it’s meant as a subliminal invitation to look no further. Whatever the reason, I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t have named this blog ‘Headrush ARTZ’?

Stuff That

Motorcycles and cars

Drums and cameras – Stuff that!

Painting to be a star

Boy, you’ll go real far – Stuff that!

Lets see those degrees

Tell us about your pedigree – Stuff that!

Be loud, be proud

Gather all that’s around – Stuff that!

Hoard, hoard, hoard and hoard

It’s your only antidote to being bored – Stuff that!

Pleasure, leisure and treasure

Measures if you’re blessed or cursed – Stuff that!

Stuff all that stuff all that stuff

All that stuff

All that stuff

All that stuff

All that stuff

You’ll only get stuck

With all that stuff

THE PARKING GUY

The Parking Guy is king 

With florescent wings

In the M-Block furnace he’s maneuvering

Cars into tiny gaps and corners as the owners 

Begin battling

To save that extra ten Rupees

They find so bloody taxing

“I could give it to that girl begging

Surly she’s more deserving

Though when I saw her last

I kept the note for the parking”

The thing about the Parking Guy

Is that he never asks why

Is it that no one dares

To care about how he makes his living?

Giving most of his earning

To someone used to air-conditioning

Who then gives a share to the MCD as an offering

With his florescent wings he goes about fighting

For a little glance from someone, anyone

Who would recognize him as a human being

If not as their king with florescent wings

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:40