Fall

Like leaves falling before their time
Like flowers snatched
and shredded into a million pieces
A mother, a child, a father, a son
Charred to death
Wedding rings stolen from the ashes
Lay a rose, shed a tear
As the bells toll,
Question humanity and never forget,
The day orange turned into red.

(A poem I wrote after watching the Dutch memorial services for the #MH17 victims).

Image courtesy: Getty Images. 

Sad Eyes and Walking Away

As you walk by on roads in India, you may or may not see poor people depending upon whether you are in a plush locality or not. However, it isn't hard to see an animal invariably.

There are so many kinds of animals - cows, donkeys, dogs, buffalos, goats. There are so many of them. They all have one thing in common - the sad eyes. Many of them are frail. They have stones thrown at them. They scavenge for food in the garbage tins. Their abject state - both physically and mentally breaks my heart every time I see them. A lot of them have their heads down as they stand. Is it because of fear or sadness or just a posture, I don't know.

I was walking by the famous Rajwada in Indore and I saw a few camels standing. Their mouths were tightly fastened with a cloth. I talked with one of the camel owners and asked him to treat the poor animal well as he earns him his living. I walked away after that as I was not willing to have a conversation. I do not think he would agree with my point of treating the animal with a respect which we as humans have no right to take away.

On another day, when taking photos of animals in Mirzapur, a man stopped me. He yelled to stop me, infact, though I was walking pretty slowly. I turned back. He asked me if I was going to publish the photographs of the cow near the garbage in a newspaper. I told him that animals also have lives, they shouldn't be treated poorly by us humans. He listened, looked into my eyes. Again, I walked away.

PS - There is a law for fining and imprisonment in extreme cases for cruelty against animals. However, the malaise requires a change of mindset. The situation is abysmal. 

A New Start to Blogging

Fifteen years is light years in the interwebs. That is how long it will be soon since the term blog was first used in April, 1999. Blogging started a few years before that. Today, blogging is on the decline and micro-blogging in the form of twitter is the easier, faster and crisper medium.

Still, there are quality blogs which exist. Gideon Haigh, one of the best cricket writers around, updates Cuts and Glances quite regularly nowadays. A few months ago, he dissected an article written by Indian broadcaster and journalist Harsha Bhogle, titled Harsher Bhogle. It was not just an analysis of a piece -  it was a debate of about what cricket administrators are doing versus what they should be doing, ideally, according to Haigh. 

While cricket pieces abound in news papers and online publications, the informality of a blog lets one penetrate through the crevices. For writers and people who love to write, a blog is like a canvas is for a painter.

I have loved the medium for more than a decade now. For almost a decade in that, I have blogged on sports in Sportolysis. In A Blue Plate, I wish to explore more than just sports. Dictionary.com defines blue plate as - 

A plate, often decorated with a blue willow pattern, divided by ridges into sections for holding apart several kinds of food.

I will explore things I cherish - cricket, cinema, travelling, photography and of course, writing, in all of that. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I will writing it.