Book review of Asura - The Tale of the Vanquished

Hola everybody!

I would like to share with you a book review of (click on the titile -> ) Asura: The Tale of the Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan. The book is authored by Anand Neelakantan, and reviewed by Prasanth Nair. This review was first published in Complete Wellbeing magazine, Volume VIII, Issue No. 2, December 2013.

Confessions of a Cat Lover

Confessions of a Cat Lover was written for, and first published in Complete Wellbeing magazine, Volume VIII, Issue No.2, December 2013.

The world is polarised between dog-lovers and cat-lovers. While no one likes to find fault with dogs as they are the eternal symbol of best-friendship; cats, unfortunately, are notoriously victimised by the anti-feline. Just last night; I had a big argument with someone I had just met, endangering our budding friendship. The polemical debate? He, a dog-lover and cat-hater, versus I, a cat-worshipper, indifferent to dogs.

The ardent cat lover that I am, it breaks my heart to see how much these gentle beings are misunderstood and subjected to extreme psychoanalysis. The first words of accusation that spurt out of the professed cat-haters being that cats are emblematic of cunningness, stealth, and deceit! Moreover, there is a strong case for why cats are favoured more by women, as I learned to my horror during the argument. As my otherwise-friendly friend put it, women are like cats – they fake affection to go after a fisherman with their tail perked up, and when they gain their prized piece of fish, they turn their backs, flick their tails and strut away in smugness. The fisherman is forgotten, along with his act of kindness, for now the cat has gotten what she wanted. If you haven’t picked up on the analogy already, he was hinting at the ­­capricious nature of women to enchant unsuspecting ‘innocent’ men, catch them in their nets, and cast them away after satisfying themselves with their own version of fish. I had begun to lose track mid-way of the quarrel as to whether we were defending our respective preferred animals at all.

I therefore have to see myself as this defender of cats—and no, that does not entitle you to call me ‘Cat-Woman’. Though, with the incidental alliteration that my name has with my favourite animal, I am sometimes given the sobriquet of “Catty”. I don’t see why these benign creatures should be seen as anything other than divine manifestations of angel-like serenity and beauty. C’mon, they were deified by the Egyptians!

Other than dissecting cats psychologically, including accusing them of being lazy and selfish, dog-lovers [read cat-haters] have this compulsion of dismissing them as good-for- nothing, unlike dogs [the ferocious hounds score brownie points for their knack of assisting mankind with their intense sense of smell, memory, alertness, loyalty, blah-blah].

Objection, my lords and ladies! How can you afford to shut your eyes to all the cleaning up you have to do running after their poop? As for cats, I doubt there is another creature with such an intrinsic sense of cleanliness. What about all the ruckus dogs create with their incessant barking at the hint of a guest at home, not to forget the street-dogs that either rouse you from your slumber, or never let you sleep at all? Case-in-point: I am constantly asked by bewildered friends when I talk on the phone, what I am doing out on the roads or in my balcony at mid-night; and each time I have to tell them that being in the innermost room of my house on the 4^th floor is not sound-proof enough to shut out all the barking coming from the roads.

Cats, on the other hand, are the most peaceful companions for all ages. They radiate a sort of Zen, with their calm demeanour and closed eyes – a picture of pure meditation and tranquillity; you can almost see the halo.

Yes, cats do have a mischievous streak to them! Take the scratches on my arms and legs, for example. I have sometimes noticed the questioning look in strangers’ eyes, wondering if they are signs of domestic abuse. Or when my favourite piece of fried pomfret vanishes into thin air, the second I look away from my plate. Oh, but aren’t these just adorable idiosyncrasies that come along with the package? They bring out the inner strength in me when I face the tirade of censure I receive from my mother when she finds the blanket full of cat-fur, or the freshly mopped floor with little paw-marks of dirt from the garden. Or the hollering I hear from dad when he gets bitten, only because he stepped on mademoiselle’s tail that was so impudently laid right where he placed his foot. Ah, the pleasure of defending my love. Makes a true knight in shining armour out of me, eh?

I must say that a wave of change is now coming. Thanks to Facebook celebrity Grumpy Cat, cats are now being viewed more respectfully, or at least the grumpier versions of them. They are now seen as paragons of sarcasm and in-your-face retorts that I am sure many of you secretly envy them for. They will stand no nonsense, nor bow down to doggish slavery. They are their own masters and command human subservience. The debate of superiority between cats and dogs ends thus-

Dog: Humans feed me, pet me and love me. They must be god.

Cat: Humans feed me, pet me and love me. I must be god!

Obsession Revisited

Now you’re quiescent,

Each time threatening to rearm later

Maliciously you blackmail me

Promising to become greater

It’s a slow poison; killing me ever so slow

Yet without you, I think I’m incomplete.

You are unwanted, but it’s you that I need.

You have grown, now you grow more and flow

In my soul you have made your abode

Don’t let me live in peace, or even without.

You are the vampire, who thirsts for my soul

You are the venom, which spreads in my whole.

You make me writhe, you tease and taunt

Insolence: your word – by which you swear

You stir up a storm inside me

Your power is of no measure

You raise your hood and thunder –

That is your quintessence of pleasure.

You hurt no end,

Never realise what you do

Never care, never bother…

Sink me to the bottom

Of that deep dark ocean

Plunge me to the depths

Of the darkness unseen

Raise me to the stars

Beyond those ever created

Above those empty spaces

Never reached, nor explored.

Down at the bottom, you give me not a breath to breathe

Far up above, you blind me with the height.

Into the deafening silence, never heard before

Into the shattering cacophony, that surrounds all o’er

You take me and tear me

To a million pieces

And again it’s you, who mends me back

To the whole I am.

Not a teardrop to shed,

Not a smile to pass,

Not a feeling of emotion – sweet or sour

You bar me from everything

You bar me from all

Into another world, I find myself fall…

Falling I am, fallen all over

Into another world, now I’m transmitted

I wake from my death

For you've revisited.

Obsession

The heart doesn’t heed

O what a creed

It’s there within

Yes! It lies therein

It’s raging in my core

Keeps saying – once more

I’m trying to quieten it down

It overpowers me sore

The flames are dazzling

O the urge is sizzling

Can’t help it now that I’m sinking in it.

It’s all spinning and twirling

Right down to my soul.

Stable I’m not, just shaken all over

Still it’s just crying for another encore

Trying to fidget, I’m trying to forget

It’s already taken root

Now I can’t fell it down

O it’s curling on my arms

It’s stretching on me all over

Uh! It’s constricting me

Oh! Now pulling apart

From where did you come,

O from where, which breed?

These flames I’m trying to douse

Now they’re creeping to my eyes

They’ve grown heavy and sunken

I can’t see for miles.

The red river is rushing

Its streams are gushing

They’re flowing above gravity

To my head, in insanity

I’m about to fall,

Save me before the end

The blue death is lurking

Trying to plunge into the white road.

Tell me why you came,

Your objective and your aim

Why you hinder me and hold

Don’t allow me to behold

That’s what, exactly why –

The heart doesn’t heed

Why it’s a creed

Because it’s my absolute need

That’s what I’m pursuing –

My aim, my mission

And that’s how it feels

To be struck by obsession.

There's A Place, I know...

The dawn of the day, bathed in golden ray

The heavens that were twinkling

Are now fading away.

They scatter like sparks

Their abode lights with flames bright and mellow

The zephyr takes a start, ready to blow

It’s under their wings, now they wade and flow

The seven-coloured bow pierces the undulating masses

Compelled, they fall, the drops of elixir

The dew drops on the blades now drool and splutter.

The embers are dying,

The blossoms are vying;

The space is confined, now they’re opening wide –

Where coloured wings fly,

Where twittering and buzzing are not limited to the sky.

The splash of colours, intermingling feathers

Seamless as they seem

Tranquil and serene.

Spreading their freshness,

Leaving a trail of effervescence.

The mauve pansies, dangling as if through mid-air,

Laugh with the sunflowers,

Sharing secrets like teenage girls.

The old men – the leaves, in a trance, move in whirls.

The capricious breeze

So abstrusely blows

In the balmy ambience

A bairn sits and adores.

The sensuous cajolery

Like a dandle enraptured

Inspires to fantasise a fantasy.

The rivulet is garrulous

The bairn is immobile,

Beholding the jackdaws that embellish the isle.

The old men are macerated,

The chick lings emancipated.

The rollicking romantic, saunters for naught

Nonchalant a smile, presents each novice he meets.

Nothing abstract a thought;

Only palpable by heart

The anxiety is quiescent, only to rearm later.

The tern is tendentious towards the now turquoise heavens.

The bairn in his vagary, vascillates now and then.

A wavelet of the breeze hits him again.

I want to take you and show you

The land in which I wish to grow,

Not fantasy, not utopian

There’s a place, I know….

Mango Orchard

For  you my love

A green roof is prepared for us

Of foliage thick, lush and tender

No walls to encage, or shut us tight

Just imaginary rooms ‘tween the mango trees

To set us wild, to set us free

And bathe in the sweet scented breeze.

Here is our world, just you and me

To bring alive what we believe

Play our games, call each other names

Drown in our songs and melodies

In this little heaven under the mango trees.

Bite into one, ripe and round

Lick the nectar trickling down

Let your tongue swirl about

Let your soul scream and shout

Feel the golden flesh body

Come partake a bite of me

Come meld under the mango trees.

Distasteful Silence

Of late, Alisha had become quite busy and wasn’t getting as much time to spend with me as she used to before. Mallika and Kavya said they had joined some dance classes, and George had to rush back home every day for his basketball coaching. These are the people I hang out with in college. And now with none of them free anymore, I was getting bored to death. I was also mighty pissed with them for leaving me alone and disappearing all at the same time.

That’s when I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and try and make friends with others in class. They seemed to like me, but did not persist much in conversation. I was beginning to feel loneliness tightening its grip upon me day by day. That’s when, out of the blue, I bumped into Mary from school one fine day. She had been one of my closest pals, but living at two ends of the city had afforded us fewer opportunities of meeting in these past three years. Now as we saw each other unexpectedly across the opposite ends of the road, we ran towards each other with a prolonged and boisterously unending “Hiiiiiiii!!!!!” But the moment we came into each other’s arms’ length, to enter into a hug, her genuine and blissful greeting suddenly cut short, the smile and cheerfulness completely wiped off from her face, and her mouth shut tight. The hug did happen naturally, but something seemed to have dulled her immediately.  The unexpected meeting, which should have lasted at least a half hour, as it used to earlier whenever such surprise encounters between us occurred, was cut short to a matter of few minutes this time. I was really puzzled as to what abrupt transformation had appeared for such a close friend of mine to behave in such an unnatural manner.

The days that followed plunged me into an abyss of forlorn dispiritedness. I felt everybody abandoning me, and little interested in talking to me. Even the landlady Gabriella aunty who chatted hours with me seemed to have become busy like everyone else. I became increasingly despondent. Nobody wanted to talk to me anymore or hangout with me. Why God, what had I done?? I lost sleep thinking over my actions for the past several weeks, even months, and the year gone by. Hours passed into days of introspection and self-questioning. Existential questions began to grow its ugly and dangerous roots inside me. I lost all interest in everything. Stopped talking and meeting others. Don’t really remember when I lost my appetite, was it when I started developing distaste, or did the distastefulness come into my mouth later. My mouth had become so dry by not talking, that the saliva had started thickening when I woke up in the morning. Now my mouth used to open only to release the innumerable burps that kept emanating from me throughout the day.

Finally the holidays arrived and I packed my bags for home. I had been waiting for the vacation so I could just get away from this hell-hole of despair. I found elation overcoming me as I neared home. Slowly the gloomy thoughts were draining away and joyful expectations were clouding my mind. Finally I rang the bell and waited in uncontrollable jubilation. A click sounded and I saw mom’s beaming face arising like the sun from behind the door. “Maaaaaaaa!!!” My delighted call was arrested in its trail, as my mother took a doubleback, eyes squirming and face contorted. The only match to such a dramatic reaction was my own response of popping eyes and stunned face. I wondered what blaze had I brought that threw mom back in such a histrionic fashion. The next sight of my welcome was mom clutching her nose and giving a sheepish smile.

Later that evening, as I reclined in that comfortable chair, I recalled the horrors of the weeks gone by. The turning of faces, the stopping short of smiles, the aborted meetings, the distastefulness of mouth and life. Just when I had started doubting myself, Dentist uncle saved my life.