A building next to mine remains
A lonely villa of floors three
I count to this day of all I see
Are closed windows of balconies.
Who might live inside, Florence
Some lonesome person none have met?
Or do windows speak of silence
From dawn through to sunset?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Pedantic snippet
A lecture was so misunderstood that it might have been clearer had the lecturer lectured backwards.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
An arbitrary quest for perfection
I happened to overhear a discussion on the hazards of communication. It occurred to me a bit later that communication itself is a hazard albeit, a necessary one. When we communicate ordinary events we use plain words to direct the course of events so as to obtain preferable results. On many occasions though, words have an untenable effect on actions. But words can compensate for the limitations of action and even substitute them when mobility hits a road block.
Supposing you have to explain the meanings of objects, you may be able to explain them even effortlessly through actions. Simple states of mind such as basic emotions can be expressed through body language but there are, you will find, complex states of mind which you cannot express through actions. Even if you try to, you may realize your potential to be a slapstick comedian. Then it strikes you that you simply need words to communicate quickly.
New words, I think load you with novel behaviour and faculties of perception that may not have found place in your sphere of experience had you not been exposed to them. As your vocabulary increases you start experiencing subtle sensations that you can capture only through words. You cannot escape through ignorance because even if you ignore words, they will find you being the converse of what I have said. Either you get verbal exposure or you get experiential exposure thus making verbal suicide impossible.
It is a known fact or thesis that through words you can more or less affect the course of events. You can expose hypocrisy with powerful vocabulary more easily than you can through action whose practical consequences are unaffordable. Words convey through the medium of time and pictures through the medium of space.
But you also seek to perfect through words. With surplus verbal exposure the accurate usage of words can be so overpowering as to take precedence over actions and facts. You realize that perfection through words is that which is evoked, meaning, you experience perfection after verbal usage because of the power that is packed in the words. This power is an auditory impact. Factually though, nothing is perfected. You begin with a quest for factual perfection but end up achieving verbal accuracy only. Such perfection evades facts as facts are limited and arbitrary, both of which are bound by time.
Mood swings with melodies
(Sitigotyo)
Strings of harmony delight my soul composed play,
The songs of inert seasons make a lovely day
The mood swings with melodies touching gentle hearts,
I play them repeatedly to minute contrasts.
Lovely music that once was sinks in my mind's eye,
Through poetry of vision words begin to fly
The sweet nectar of honey could be no more sweet,
Floating beats of love fusing my music beneath.
I sense the magic in air when all is quiet,
Where there is heart for contrasts there is no riot
To human space gives music a longed for life need,
There can be no distinction where no one can bleed.
I attain through these string notes much sought for silence,
I hum in my secret ear tunes of elegance
Sing not do I through my voice thy music I keep,
Tunes fade away in whispers till mind preys on sleep.
Strings of harmony delight my soul composed play,
The songs of inert seasons make a lovely day
The mood swings with melodies touching gentle hearts,
I play them repeatedly to minute contrasts.
Lovely music that once was sinks in my mind's eye,
Through poetry of vision words begin to fly
The sweet nectar of honey could be no more sweet,
Floating beats of love fusing my music beneath.
I sense the magic in air when all is quiet,
Where there is heart for contrasts there is no riot
To human space gives music a longed for life need,
There can be no distinction where no one can bleed.
I attain through these string notes much sought for silence,
I hum in my secret ear tunes of elegance
Sing not do I through my voice thy music I keep,
Tunes fade away in whispers till mind preys on sleep.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
A Pirate with a Soft Corner
(Sitigotyo)
Kept love hidden in blue sea you treasure away,
I rest in silent motion as you gently sway,
Please reveal to me your chest sailing seven seas,
Like sweet petals of a rose you dance to the breeze.
Kept love hidden in blue sea you treasure away,
I rest in silent motion as you gently sway,
Please reveal to me your chest sailing seven seas,
Like sweet petals of a rose you dance to the breeze.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Have I written this one before?
Familiarity is not usually a cause for concern as long as it is attained by objective memory. Objective memory is the memory in public space. If your memory follows a sequence from cognition to recognition then your memory can never throw you off guard. It is only when the process of becoming familiar and the state of being familiar(familiarity) materialize without time lapse that you call it an out of the ordinary experience.
You feel that no experience or sensory perception is new and whatever is happening has already happened; you can remember it as though ‘today’ was ‘yesterday’ meaning the present that is supposedly new belongs to the past. Novelty in quality is lost because the so called new experience is mapped to a similar experience in the past. Novelty in actuality is lost to similarity in quality. Misplaced similarity is familiarity.
You feel compelled to process every experience right from an abstract emotional transaction to obscure and common place sensations. At some point your mind, the reservoir of experiences, gets overwhelmed by the volume of what it has stored. So it is the memory of a sensation that is recollected and confused with the memory of the experience. The memory of a prick for example is confused with the memory of a pin. You have felt both before. Even if in reality you are experiencing a unique prick of a unique pin for the first time, the sensation is the same, painful and irritatingly shocking.
Supposing, the memory of experiences in the public space is a reservoir of events and in the process the reservoir also stores all reactions to the events in the same place then it is quite possible to confuse sensation with experience. The example of a pin is a common place one. Even in the case of more powerful instances of emotional impact the model is the same. It can also take a more abstract form, where, in public space you are learning a concept for the first time but you just get a strange feeling within that you have already learnt it before in exactly the same circumstances. It is possible to map concepts so quickly that you do not notice your participation in a cognitive pattern.
So this maybe about memory in the private space which in public space is declared impossible. But the common sense paradigm relies heavily on the sequence of outcomes. You cannot possibly call an experience new if you are absolutely sure that you have experienced it before. Your reaction may change if that be the case. You aren’t sure so that’s why you find it strange and incongruent with the so called reality.
The sensation of an experience is more or less the same for all experiences of a similar nature so it is highly possible to confuse sensation of an experience that you are about to surpass with the memory of habitual reactions to similar experiences in your past.
“I’ve had this prick before is too common place to receive importance” but “I have a strange feeling that I have met him before in the same place and same time and exactly under the same circumstances” is not. It is because of confusion in your consciousness that you mistake revolution for rotation.
-Ajay Seshadri
You feel that no experience or sensory perception is new and whatever is happening has already happened; you can remember it as though ‘today’ was ‘yesterday’ meaning the present that is supposedly new belongs to the past. Novelty in quality is lost because the so called new experience is mapped to a similar experience in the past. Novelty in actuality is lost to similarity in quality. Misplaced similarity is familiarity.
You feel compelled to process every experience right from an abstract emotional transaction to obscure and common place sensations. At some point your mind, the reservoir of experiences, gets overwhelmed by the volume of what it has stored. So it is the memory of a sensation that is recollected and confused with the memory of the experience. The memory of a prick for example is confused with the memory of a pin. You have felt both before. Even if in reality you are experiencing a unique prick of a unique pin for the first time, the sensation is the same, painful and irritatingly shocking.
Supposing, the memory of experiences in the public space is a reservoir of events and in the process the reservoir also stores all reactions to the events in the same place then it is quite possible to confuse sensation with experience. The example of a pin is a common place one. Even in the case of more powerful instances of emotional impact the model is the same. It can also take a more abstract form, where, in public space you are learning a concept for the first time but you just get a strange feeling within that you have already learnt it before in exactly the same circumstances. It is possible to map concepts so quickly that you do not notice your participation in a cognitive pattern.
So this maybe about memory in the private space which in public space is declared impossible. But the common sense paradigm relies heavily on the sequence of outcomes. You cannot possibly call an experience new if you are absolutely sure that you have experienced it before. Your reaction may change if that be the case. You aren’t sure so that’s why you find it strange and incongruent with the so called reality.
The sensation of an experience is more or less the same for all experiences of a similar nature so it is highly possible to confuse sensation of an experience that you are about to surpass with the memory of habitual reactions to similar experiences in your past.
“I’ve had this prick before is too common place to receive importance” but “I have a strange feeling that I have met him before in the same place and same time and exactly under the same circumstances” is not. It is because of confusion in your consciousness that you mistake revolution for rotation.
-Ajay Seshadri
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
The Power of Intuition
Interpretation comes to man naturally only because he has allowed it to flourish. It is a matter of habit to judge, assess and claim. You are denied the privilege of an empty mind. An empty mind is like a reservoir without fluid. It isn’t something to be achieved. To attempt to attain it would lead to an illusion of conceptualizing emptiness. It is rather self-defeating. You will do to look at it as a concept like nothingness or maybe infinity in the sense that you can’t quantify it. Only in that sense will it serve as a specimen or an object of analysis. The analysis would no doubt prove futile if we build a revolving thought process on it or should I say obsess on it. There is nothing to consume in the first place. What can thought derive out of emptiness? You may only experience it. Mind cannot be empty. Either mind persists or there is emptiness. An empty mind qualifies nothing. What is the purpose of this article then? It is certainly not about negating thought. I stand to view the root cause of its meditation. The root cause is the habit of interpretation. You learn to interpret by the scientific method that you are taught to employ, right from the day you got initiated into education. Science does not teach us telepathy. You are left to guess the thoughts of the other individual. But why is it then that we still tend to interpret in the dark horizon of uncertainty when science cannot penetrate into it? The answer lies in the belief that life is predominantly logical. We rely on logic so heavily that in our quest to find solutions to metaphysical puzzles, so to say we perceive and study it the way we study material objects. Our dependency on logic is one of the reasons for our interpretational tendency. The other strikes me quite obviously to be an emotional dependency on science for answers to the mysteries of the unknown and probably even the unknowable. By unknowable I simply mean that it is not in the realm of knowledge.
Other people’s impressions of us matter to us a lot. It puts tremendous pressure on man when his survival is dependent on the opinions of his superiors or authorities; let us say in the work place. What your boss thinks about you seems to you to be vital to your growth. Every message that he conveys to you, every word that he utters however vague it may be affects you and you tend to catch on to it and correlate it to yourself. You take personal meanings of ambiguous statements that he makes apart from the direct statements he makes about you. Let us suppose he doesn’t talk to you much in a particular day, your anxiety about whether he may be angry with you may manifest in your mind in the form of doubts. You will not be content with doubts. You are desperate to reach conclusions. You then take the worst probable case and believe it as though it were the truth. You assume therefore that he is upset with you, which you think is the reason for his silence. You know rationally that you cannot conclude based on one of events, so you tell yourself ,”My intuition tells me that there is something wrong and I have to stay on guard.” You may even go to the extent of preparing for the worst possible outcome. When your boss calls you, your anxiety haunts you. You are in a temporary spell of the fear of what might happen. He surprises you by saying, “I had a meeting; it didn’t go off well. That has sort of spoilt my mood. You appear to be worried today. Do you want to share anything with me?” Your anxiety transforms into exhilarating relief. What you call intuition here is the signals that you sensed through external behaviour which you perceived. You then draw conclusions based on the signals because you cannot escape the discomfort caused by your emotions. It is a crisis of emotions and not intuition. The problem with intuition is that it is vague. Intuition is helpful in certain circumstances where our experience comes to our aid when we are dealing with difficult problems. It gives us the confidence in times of uncertainty but it is really your habit of interpreting a present experience with some experience in the past and you think that it may yield the same results. It may not always be the case. But the heart connects where the mind decays and you feel that there is something in it for you. This is an eager anxiety to escape uncertainty. So what would be confidence in a situation where we have nothing to lose gets converted into signals of danger when you get into a situation where a loss may be costly. We need to remind ourselves in both the situations that by verification we can arrive at certainty. Then after confirmation of our doubts we will be favourably disposed to act accordingly.
Emptiness is the result of complete thought. When a thought is incomplete the mind cannot be empty.
Other people’s impressions of us matter to us a lot. It puts tremendous pressure on man when his survival is dependent on the opinions of his superiors or authorities; let us say in the work place. What your boss thinks about you seems to you to be vital to your growth. Every message that he conveys to you, every word that he utters however vague it may be affects you and you tend to catch on to it and correlate it to yourself. You take personal meanings of ambiguous statements that he makes apart from the direct statements he makes about you. Let us suppose he doesn’t talk to you much in a particular day, your anxiety about whether he may be angry with you may manifest in your mind in the form of doubts. You will not be content with doubts. You are desperate to reach conclusions. You then take the worst probable case and believe it as though it were the truth. You assume therefore that he is upset with you, which you think is the reason for his silence. You know rationally that you cannot conclude based on one of events, so you tell yourself ,”My intuition tells me that there is something wrong and I have to stay on guard.” You may even go to the extent of preparing for the worst possible outcome. When your boss calls you, your anxiety haunts you. You are in a temporary spell of the fear of what might happen. He surprises you by saying, “I had a meeting; it didn’t go off well. That has sort of spoilt my mood. You appear to be worried today. Do you want to share anything with me?” Your anxiety transforms into exhilarating relief. What you call intuition here is the signals that you sensed through external behaviour which you perceived. You then draw conclusions based on the signals because you cannot escape the discomfort caused by your emotions. It is a crisis of emotions and not intuition. The problem with intuition is that it is vague. Intuition is helpful in certain circumstances where our experience comes to our aid when we are dealing with difficult problems. It gives us the confidence in times of uncertainty but it is really your habit of interpreting a present experience with some experience in the past and you think that it may yield the same results. It may not always be the case. But the heart connects where the mind decays and you feel that there is something in it for you. This is an eager anxiety to escape uncertainty. So what would be confidence in a situation where we have nothing to lose gets converted into signals of danger when you get into a situation where a loss may be costly. We need to remind ourselves in both the situations that by verification we can arrive at certainty. Then after confirmation of our doubts we will be favourably disposed to act accordingly.
Emptiness is the result of complete thought. When a thought is incomplete the mind cannot be empty.
The Silent Killer
There is only the age of decadence and the ‘taking for granted’. Admitted, taking for granted at times is inevitable but life would be elegant to the individual and those around if what is taken for granted is examined. Right from our childhood in schools we are taught to compete and the utter nakedness of competition becomes apparent in later life.
A child who has achieved distinction as a consequence, will grow up to have a favourable opinion about the system as long as achievement is consistently maintained. A child who fails continuously will naturally be disposed to rebuke at the faults of the system. No one has any consideration for this unfortunate soul who is face to face with psychological failure and nothingness.
All of us desire with wantonness that there should be the so called ‘lesser individuals’. The system respects achievers and forces the non-achievers or underachievers into a gloomy feeling of stifling inadequacy. Parents of achievers in general, look down upon those with difficulties. The underachiever is seen as a nuisance to society therefore not respected. The child feels distraught and suppresses it till it develops into a preserved wrath. The flame is kept burning by constant censure. Everywhere he goes, heads turn away and his sincerity, which once was music, now transforms into rebellion.
What happens to this individual no one knows; no one is in the least bit concerned. The enemy of society is made by others; the being of authenticity is made by one self. The child as he grows up to be an adult has to make himself. How does he do that? He does it by looking around for people who are in a similar predicament. If he finds nobody ready to confess the sheltered forlornness, then the dormant volcano, which once was, manifests in the difference that he has made of himself. He sees no philosophy worth pursuing because he finds all philosophies to be merely tranquilizers. What he needs is to give a sentient expression to his preserved rebellion. This rebellion of his has made a choice to be subtle in his expression of wrath so that a concern for his movement is established.
There is no collective consciousness that can sabotage his existence. He understands that society is an intangible illusion. Through commitment to his anguish and rebellion he finds his peace of mind restored. His carefree words and thoughts stem from his experience of being sidelined all his life. One learns from such a phenomenon the dullness and the decadence of the spirit of the age. Only when we look at our assumptions closely we begin to experience a feeling of undying empathy for ‘the silent killer’. What we have long taken for granted has to finally erupt.
A child who has achieved distinction as a consequence, will grow up to have a favourable opinion about the system as long as achievement is consistently maintained. A child who fails continuously will naturally be disposed to rebuke at the faults of the system. No one has any consideration for this unfortunate soul who is face to face with psychological failure and nothingness.
All of us desire with wantonness that there should be the so called ‘lesser individuals’. The system respects achievers and forces the non-achievers or underachievers into a gloomy feeling of stifling inadequacy. Parents of achievers in general, look down upon those with difficulties. The underachiever is seen as a nuisance to society therefore not respected. The child feels distraught and suppresses it till it develops into a preserved wrath. The flame is kept burning by constant censure. Everywhere he goes, heads turn away and his sincerity, which once was music, now transforms into rebellion.
What happens to this individual no one knows; no one is in the least bit concerned. The enemy of society is made by others; the being of authenticity is made by one self. The child as he grows up to be an adult has to make himself. How does he do that? He does it by looking around for people who are in a similar predicament. If he finds nobody ready to confess the sheltered forlornness, then the dormant volcano, which once was, manifests in the difference that he has made of himself. He sees no philosophy worth pursuing because he finds all philosophies to be merely tranquilizers. What he needs is to give a sentient expression to his preserved rebellion. This rebellion of his has made a choice to be subtle in his expression of wrath so that a concern for his movement is established.
There is no collective consciousness that can sabotage his existence. He understands that society is an intangible illusion. Through commitment to his anguish and rebellion he finds his peace of mind restored. His carefree words and thoughts stem from his experience of being sidelined all his life. One learns from such a phenomenon the dullness and the decadence of the spirit of the age. Only when we look at our assumptions closely we begin to experience a feeling of undying empathy for ‘the silent killer’. What we have long taken for granted has to finally erupt.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
An Unknown Friendship
A dear friend has come back,
Thrilled I am to meet his smile
With some recollections wild.
My words are all my mind share,
Filled with triffles as always,
Puzzles me his laughter mild!
I corrode thinking alone,
My friend who was an island,
Now is with me to sing songs.
We play a soft melody,
That catches by the fire,
Lost friendship quick time prolongs!
Take me with joy my close friend,
To the courtyard of your dorm,
I dare say my words I crush
In the evening of the dawn,
We are happy let it be,
The blood frozen to the rush!
He senses all my feelings,
Welcomes me flashes in speech,
I shall take you along friend.
From the green hills of fresh joy,
We left for the instant sea,
Where shells of life deeply blend!
Thrilled I am to meet his smile
With some recollections wild.
My words are all my mind share,
Filled with triffles as always,
Puzzles me his laughter mild!
I corrode thinking alone,
My friend who was an island,
Now is with me to sing songs.
We play a soft melody,
That catches by the fire,
Lost friendship quick time prolongs!
Take me with joy my close friend,
To the courtyard of your dorm,
I dare say my words I crush
In the evening of the dawn,
We are happy let it be,
The blood frozen to the rush!
He senses all my feelings,
Welcomes me flashes in speech,
I shall take you along friend.
From the green hills of fresh joy,
We left for the instant sea,
Where shells of life deeply blend!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Phlegmatic Being
The present shall become past
This moment can give way fast,
To some with hope they don't want
Letting go for some they can't,
This moment bleeds life in haste
So its bliss being can taste;
One who enjoys current trend
Finds all rivers slowly bend,
To a sea that levels all
The waves that rise also fall,
One who detests this moment
Wants to end its element;
To a sea that lends surprise
The waves that fall also rise,
Like a ship that thou shall sway;
Your being blessed anyway!
This moment can give way fast,
To some with hope they don't want
Letting go for some they can't,
This moment bleeds life in haste
So its bliss being can taste;
One who enjoys current trend
Finds all rivers slowly bend,
To a sea that levels all
The waves that rise also fall,
One who detests this moment
Wants to end its element;
To a sea that lends surprise
The waves that fall also rise,
Like a ship that thou shall sway;
Your being blessed anyway!
Tanka
Thoughts of a free life,
Is freedom in mind complete?
A meaningless strife;
No freedom is incomplete;
Thought is Truth in a retreat.
Is freedom in mind complete?
A meaningless strife;
No freedom is incomplete;
Thought is Truth in a retreat.
Linguistic Chaos(four liner)
You have "Lost"
What you have gained;
You have "Negated"
What you have obtained.
What you have gained;
You have "Negated"
What you have obtained.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
A Time for Jokes
The purpose of a Sunday is to stand and stare.
For me it's Monday through Friday.
Limerick
Everyone took me too seriously,
I was just trying to be funny,
No matter how hard I tried,
Everyone cried,
I gave them a run for their money.
A one line joke
Once upon a time there was paradise on earth.
For me it's Monday through Friday.
Limerick
Everyone took me too seriously,
I was just trying to be funny,
No matter how hard I tried,
Everyone cried,
I gave them a run for their money.
A one line joke
Once upon a time there was paradise on earth.
Art Movies - A Timeless Genre
Off-beat movies with a message have a profound impact on the individual. An interesting story line captivates us undoubtedly but the essence of spreading awareness through a movie will give it the immeasurable value of a shooting star. Producers are not without a passion for Art movies. They may not be pot boilers but the desire to express and convey the bitter realities that we all have to face at the individual level is growing intensely. The individual of a group, nation and the world spots a ray of hope in the path of struggle. The advantage art movies have is that even viewers who are not movie buffs will be able to relate to them at a personal level. Learning then becomes a real and transparent experience through the gift of this genre. Even for someone like me who doesn’t watch many movies, there is an awakening that redefines my perception. A movie that is timeless has this sterling quality.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Garfield’s charitable critic
Cartoons have in them embedded so much life, much more than what meets the eye. What about Garfield? Does he just belong to the animation world or is he a figment of the blessed lazy mind of the real world? Let’s face it. We feel the way Garfield does in times of distraught conclusions drawn from the undesirable experiences of our lives. We can’t be Garfield forever because of the flashes of hope and optimism that energize us into action. Optimism and pessimism are parts of the vicious circle that one is inclined to call life. So what is one to do when experience controls the traffic of mankind? You may simplify your predicament by saying that when you hit low you would take up reading Garfield comic strips to take refuge in cynicism. When you feel energized you can choose to be active. But Garfield will tell you, it’s not that simple. Garfield’s way of life is very difficult to imbibe because for one you need an extraordinary sense of humour that is cynically bent and you need to maintain your cynicism even in times that tempt the normal man into optimism. So you need to sleep not only when there is little hope but also when life is beautiful. It is what Garfield would call the approach of one-sided equanimity.
Having your food on the plate presents a problem for sure for Garfield will eat it. There is no uncertainty there. Not only will Garfield continue to put on weight, you will thank your lucky stars for losing yours. But Garfield will be quick to point out that you are starving and remind you that starving is a pain not worth the substitution. Solution to this menace could be to introduce another pet named Odie. You will begin to learn that being Jon is by far the easiest job on earth. Jokes apart the two pets are among the most lovable characters in comic literature. They will make you smile for a while so that you relax. Garfield will want to see you relax. You may be on the brink of finding the most penetrative answers to the most mind boggling questions but Garfield has no ear for them. Garfield is not seeking. You then learn from him that the end of seeking is the beginning of enlightenment. You cannot hopefully turn to Odie because his ears are deaf to all your phrases. He will simply duck and let your phrases blow above his head.
That Garfield would like Mornings better if they started later epitomizes a great irony. There is the natural in the irony for morning represents routine, rush and discipline and obviously some of us who do not fit in the established order at all too well will wish for it to start much later or to never start in the first place. This is ironic for if it were the case then mornings are not mornings. We would have to assign a different label. The wit Garfield employs very often is on these lines. He plays more with both linguistics and logic. It is this trait that makes Garfield unintentionally creative. Garfield has a non-verbal rapport with Jon and other friends around. Although it is non-verbal it makes for a solid union or relationship. The absurd pranks that he continues to play on the idiosyncrasies of Jon and others may be interpreted to be attempts to get the reader to spot the pitfalls of seriousness and the illusion of sincerity. Garfield may be sardonic but he is never too slow to track Jon’s psychology.
Garfield has no real hopes of Jon getting a date but it is as though he passes pessimistic remarks to get Jon to prove him wrong. Odie is not spared either but Garfield gets practical with Odie because Odie lacks sophisticated communication. All his jokes are action oriented without too much energy spent on sarcastic commentary of which he is the master, no doubt. Garfield gets stimulated by visuals and converts them into witty verbal enterprise, a rare trait at the cost of perennial inactivity. He does not face many situations but within the limited range of his exposure, he gets you digging at the lighter side of life which is incidentally the caustic side of it. The settings are simple and punch lines are quick without time to think in between lines and when he finishes what he has to think, you just begin to laugh or chuckle, so Garfield gives you no time for confrontation.
So when you feel lonely, low and disappointed with the way life is turning out for you, it would be a rewarding idea to have a pet like Garfield who reminds you that life is just too precious to be spent without sleeping. He is a different cat as you will observe, different from all other cats so life’s debacles are miniscule when compared to the pranks and antics of the one and only “Garfield”.
By Ajay Seshadri
Having your food on the plate presents a problem for sure for Garfield will eat it. There is no uncertainty there. Not only will Garfield continue to put on weight, you will thank your lucky stars for losing yours. But Garfield will be quick to point out that you are starving and remind you that starving is a pain not worth the substitution. Solution to this menace could be to introduce another pet named Odie. You will begin to learn that being Jon is by far the easiest job on earth. Jokes apart the two pets are among the most lovable characters in comic literature. They will make you smile for a while so that you relax. Garfield will want to see you relax. You may be on the brink of finding the most penetrative answers to the most mind boggling questions but Garfield has no ear for them. Garfield is not seeking. You then learn from him that the end of seeking is the beginning of enlightenment. You cannot hopefully turn to Odie because his ears are deaf to all your phrases. He will simply duck and let your phrases blow above his head.
That Garfield would like Mornings better if they started later epitomizes a great irony. There is the natural in the irony for morning represents routine, rush and discipline and obviously some of us who do not fit in the established order at all too well will wish for it to start much later or to never start in the first place. This is ironic for if it were the case then mornings are not mornings. We would have to assign a different label. The wit Garfield employs very often is on these lines. He plays more with both linguistics and logic. It is this trait that makes Garfield unintentionally creative. Garfield has a non-verbal rapport with Jon and other friends around. Although it is non-verbal it makes for a solid union or relationship. The absurd pranks that he continues to play on the idiosyncrasies of Jon and others may be interpreted to be attempts to get the reader to spot the pitfalls of seriousness and the illusion of sincerity. Garfield may be sardonic but he is never too slow to track Jon’s psychology.
Garfield has no real hopes of Jon getting a date but it is as though he passes pessimistic remarks to get Jon to prove him wrong. Odie is not spared either but Garfield gets practical with Odie because Odie lacks sophisticated communication. All his jokes are action oriented without too much energy spent on sarcastic commentary of which he is the master, no doubt. Garfield gets stimulated by visuals and converts them into witty verbal enterprise, a rare trait at the cost of perennial inactivity. He does not face many situations but within the limited range of his exposure, he gets you digging at the lighter side of life which is incidentally the caustic side of it. The settings are simple and punch lines are quick without time to think in between lines and when he finishes what he has to think, you just begin to laugh or chuckle, so Garfield gives you no time for confrontation.
So when you feel lonely, low and disappointed with the way life is turning out for you, it would be a rewarding idea to have a pet like Garfield who reminds you that life is just too precious to be spent without sleeping. He is a different cat as you will observe, different from all other cats so life’s debacles are miniscule when compared to the pranks and antics of the one and only “Garfield”.
By Ajay Seshadri
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