I am sorry, folks. I give up. I am tired of pretending. And it is in best interests of all involved to get it straight: I am neither John Updike nor Steve McCurry.
The declaration takes megatons of load off my heart like a miracle and allows me to extol the virtues of the latest undergarments acquired by me, as also to post photographs of the same. That I can still keep you interested, not being Nicole Kidman, should be less intriguing than black holes.
One of my loyal readers, sick of waiting, called me the other day, “What, man! Tsunami, earthquake, nuclear catastrophe in Japan, India wins the World Cup, blood-curdling violence in Libya, the grand victory of Anna Hazare…. but no new post? Shall I unsubscribe to your blog?”
You may or may not unsubscribe to my blog, my friend. It doesn’t make a serious difference to the sum total of the universe! You will find a hundred posts on the tsunami and the earthquake that pulverized life in Japan. It only reinforces the ultimate truth that visits all living beings. Death will descend upon each, no matter how mighty or destitute one is. And it does not subscribe to a time schedule. Ironically, however, tragedy and true hardships unfold for those spared by the cruel hands of such God-forsaken calamities.
Whoever thought Fukushima will become the third ‘N’ word after Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan? But you know what could be more tragic than that? People in your own motherland turning you away like lepers! Folks in nearby cities like Tsukuba have been asking the hapless evacuees of Fukushima, the new forbidden city, to prove that they have no radioactive substance clinging to their cloths, skin, hair and private parts! Hotels and inns are simply asking those having Fukushima number plates stamped on their backsides to get lost!
And to write of a World Cup that the Men in Blue all but donated to those from immediately down under? What had overtaken that swashbuckling tormentor of the fiercest bowlers of the Earth, Virender Sehwag? And that Demi-God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, whose dream it was to earn the World Cup for Mother India before he could lay his armour to rest? What had possessed him? 18 runs for the dream of your lifetime?
And should I wait for the day when the power of Anna Hazare turns to acrid ash in the mouth of the believers?
But how all this makes life easier for me! When forces of such magnitude fail, I am, after all, just one grain amongst the storm, devoid of substance in my posts and photographs.
I recently crept up that great anthill of humanity called Shimla, seeking tranquility and indulgence in photography, but this was all I could manage…. Please remember, however, before you press that unsubscribe button, I may still write that great post someday that would do Hemingway proud; I may still come up with that landscape shot someday that would make Ansel Adams wince under his epitaph!
Postscript: Anna Hazare is a peace activist, a follower of M. K. Gandhi. He underwent many fasts to oppose rampant corruption in India. He failed. Corruption lives.
One Grain Amongst the Storm 
Thanks to your friend who pestered you to write! Good read 🙂
Giribala, your kind words are the manna for a desperate blogger like me!
Why the blues friend? There are times like this when we feel the futility of it all. But remember this too will pass away. And you will write that great post yet. come to think of it, what is wrong with this one? 🙂
PS Does this explain your absence from my blog or is that the posts are not worth a comment? :))
Zephyr, March has this deeply unsettling effect on me. As a kid, it used to be the annual trial-by-fire which has persisted with me in my present life as a banker. Nonetheless, I’m back! (Or at least, methinks I’m back!) So expect a few asinine reaction to your posts soon.
This one post is worth ten post by lesser mortals!
waiting for your great post 😉
by the great 2nd picture is excellent!
@Alka: Thanks a ton, Alka. It certainly feels better to be a greater mortal!
@Daniel: That’s a ruse I use to attract unsuspecting folks! Thanks for approving the 2nd photo.
tooo modest shud i say?! I mean this is actually a wonderful post, all things in twined in one…what more would lazy readers like me ask for? ( though i m a first timer reader of ur blog) 😛 and this one could surely make hemingway’s father proud…hemingway could be satisfied some other day maybe? keep writing 🙂
Sarah, I consider myself fortunate to have earned your readership.
Very sad to hear the tragedy on people in Fukushima, really liked that photograph of Christ Church in Shimla, Really like your style of writing and I would never unsubscribe from your blog. 🙂
If you think we’d have behaved any differently in the face of a similar tragedy, think again.
And thanks for the assurance.
US – you are a magician with words aint you! you in your own style, which is very enamoring, have so politely answered the reader. I have to say it again even at cost of repetition, you could call yourself a poet or a photographer and we woudn’t know or even care to know. Your photographs and your words are as delectable as they can be.
Thanks for coming back on blog and coming back to Mumbai as well. I am hoping to get the privilege of meeting you soon!
Thanks for such kind words. We we’ll surely meet soon.
nominated u
http://factsandnonsense.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/some-nomination/
Well, win some, lose some, I suppose. I just subscribed to your blog and am following you on Twitter now.
Actually, he didn’t quit after that! Thank you for subscribing, Kris.
I guess you can’t be everything to everyone all the time. You’re also not a puppet, dancing to the needs of others. Just always do the best you can and that’s good enough. ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison’.
Thank you for those soothing words, RPD!
Alas US, you are correct of course – to subscribe or not to subscribe – that is the question; but `…doesn’t make a serious difference to the sum total of the universe!’
It does however make a difference to our personal growth by being selective with our intake, & the time perusing your magical prose is always time well spent.
Cheers, ic
Ian, thank you for that gorgeous compliment! And I wish to say the same to you.