THE UN-SMART ONE

-

Desperate they were, to teach me to be smart;
Poor learner that I was, they were at wit’s end.
My folks believed firmly that I had too much soft matter
That  needed to be hardened- to make me worldly wise-
And ‘smart’.

They took me to a vegetable market and pointed out some smarties;
One I saw- a pot bellied- rich looking guy,
In aggressive dialogue with a poor, wizened old lady
(Who must have spent a full day under the scorching sun),
Haggling smartly for a bargain of a couple of rupees.

“Learn smartness from him!”
They pointed out.

Then and there I decided,
Smartness is not for me.
If that be smart, I have no doubt then,
Un-smartness is my choice.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A RUMMY TALE

-
As he lay there, wallowing in stale rum and self-pity, know not how long; The red-eyed monster sprang up suddenly from the brimming liquor; Gulping down a glass of liquid fire, he roared, “Now! Shoot her now!” “She deserves no pity- who has let you down so badly.” Drowning in rum, he attempted to raise his head, Raising placatory hands to his personal devil, “Now, now, let us not go there, so afar! Remember, she used to be my cynosure till week last, It’s just a pity that she was charmed by someone else.” “Beware if you show any mercy to that unfaithful wretch!” Growled the beast, spitting out shards of glass in disgust and adding, “Be a man, take the sharpest knife and plunge it in her heartless heart.” He cried out loud and pleaded with folded hands, “No, no, can’t ever do that, please for Heaven’s sake, go away.” “Then you leave me with no other option,” sighed the monster, Stabbing him straight through the heart. “Cardiac arrest due to excessive sorrow and str
Read more

THE GREAT SCULPTOR JAKANACHARI

-
Image
He was a great sculptor, was legendary Jakanachari; Hence he was known as the immortal Amarashilpi. When his work demanded his attention total, He left home, both dear wife and child- still foetal. Engrossed in creating beautiful sculptures and temple carvings, Jakanachari totally forgot family and other normal cravings. After many years passed, he was assigned a work at Hoysala, An idol to sculpt lovingly for the temple of Chennakesava. When at Belur his beloved handiwork was to be installed, Suddenly, another sculptor, a stranger, on him called. When Dankanachari claimed a flaw in the idol to be there, Jakanchari swore to cut off own hand if any there were. Alas! A flaw was discovered in the marvel, A live frog seen lurking in the navel, After the sculptor sadly cut off his own arm, He realized it was his own son, caused him this harm. Then father and son hugged each other at this loss, And prayed to the Lord this bad time would pas
Read more

A TIMELESS PROPOSAL

-
From childhood, Sujatha had a fascination for adventure, fantasy and sci-fi stories. Now in her early twenties, she still loved to read books or see movies which took her off on a long flight of fancy. She could spend hours dreamily in such pursuits, unlike her smart phone peers. Though she detested conventional travels, she loved the concept of time travel. Her parents, while happy about her not being addicted to the phone and the Net, were also a bit worried about her romantic notions on time travelling, AI etc and tried to gently wean her away towards regular studies, with limited success. Frequently, she would relate the details of the weird dreams she started getting of late. Elves, dwarves, princes and princesses paid nocturnal visits to Sujatha in increasing frequency. While this perturbed her parents further, Varun, her younger brother would tease her, “Didn’t you see any tall handsome prince so far, instead of dwarves and other uglies?” “Anything done in
Read more