Reflections of Truth

Riot of Colors

This is the first post that isn't a personal experience, but an output of pure imagination.

Once upon a rainy night , there was brewing a stormy fight
When it finally was dawn, Sun was ready to get on.
But he was not the only one awake, for he heard a distant quake.
As he peered through droplets of rain, he saw an arc of light under strain.

Colors of the rainbow were arguing, as to who was the most engaging.
Bragging was the name of the game, each laying their own claim to fame.

Said Violet at the top of the arc , "I'm the leader of the pack"
"And don't forget my other mark, as a beautiful flower of lilac"

Indigo was unable to contain, for it was its turn to maintain
"I'm no stranger to flora either I guess, and I yield dyes as a bonus

Blue was mighty pleased with itself, knowing it had a lot to yelp
"I'm the blue blood of aristocracy, I'm the blue mood of melancholy"
"I'm the blue movie of impropriety, I'm the true blue of loyalty"
"Even our backdrop - why, is the blue blue sky"

Green turned itself with envy, but knew it too had plenty
"If its a question of variety, you'll find me in every sphere of activity"
"Environment to vegetation, balanced diet to outdoor recreation"
"Human naivete and innocence, there is no match for my presence"

Yellow jeered mockingly, it couldn't take the others kindly
"Sunflowers or ripe lemons, pages of aging books or yellow journalism"
"People dread me as jaundice, in case any of you didn't notice"
"Oh you simple common folk, accept I'm as good as egg yolk"

Orange felt a seed of self-doubt, but all the same went about
"I'm probably the most useful, doubling up as a fruit as well

Red was smug, knowing it was about to pull the plug
"Blood or cherries, tomatoes or rubies"
"To rage or danger, I'm no stranger"
"Embarrassment or communism, I exemplify all of them"

Sun was growing concerned, finding each boast more absurd
The shades were in no good mood, nor would they end their feud
And on it went this madness, casting a pall of dark sadness
Each hue left the rest ostracized, leaving the light truly polarized

Mercifully this didn't last, for each tint missed the next closest
Along came a piece of glass, in truth a prism it was
The light ray was relieved, for help had arrived
Although there was no rain, the colors were together again

May be here is a lesson, for all of us to discern
To believe in unity, and stop being petty.

Heckling

Call it the cessation of early excitement or plain laziness, there is no sane reason for having abandoned blogging over the past few weeks. Anyway its good to decant the bottled up thoughts, so here I go:

Fruit Punch

"What the heck do you think are you doing ?" I whipped around to locate the source of the sassy comment. A wizened oldman was looking at me with a bemused expression on his face and a toothless grin robbing the words of all offence. In spite of my initial reaction, I couldn't help but smile. He was a guava vendor near the court where I play badminton. He continued, "Going away without buying. I've come all the way only because you are a regular." We both knew it was a lie because it was only my second time at that court. Nice try, he ought to be teaching marketing strategies in B schools I thought as I headed back home.

Maid in India

"What the heck do you think are you doing ?" My clearly startled maid said in a hushed tone."You gave me such a fright" she said as I limped towards the bathroom. After an exhausting hour of badminton with a hot shower in mind, I wasn't prepared either to bump into her. How was I to know she was washing clothes there. I mumbled an apology and retracted to my room.

After a while, still feeling abashed at having ambushed her, I thought I'll make amends with smalltalk. So I walked up to her in the kitchen and announced that my wife had gone to America for a month. "Amrikka ?" she asked blankly. I was lost, I just assumed everyone knew what it meant. We were staring at each other hoping the other would comprehend our dilemma. She said finally "Gaon gayi hai ?" I admitted that it was indeed the case. "Phir tum yahan kya kar rahe ho?" I gave up. It wasn't going to be my day so decided to go for a drive.

Al(ar)ms

"What the heck do you think are you doing ?" This time it was I who muttered angrily. I was waiting at a traffic signal when this mendicant turned up by my side. It was a hot day so I had the window up and ac running. I am generally ambivalent about encouraging beggars, but at times give alms when it is kids or invalids or old people. I most certainly don't take kindly to able-bodied cadgers like this one, demanding money. I ignored her while she increasingly got prickly at my lack of charity.The next thing I heard as the light turned green was a screeching sound of the beggar making a perfect oval on my window glass with a shining one rupee coin. She had her revenge.

Home-o-nims

Ward we-erred-nest

Eye no their ease know weigh annie-won ken reed dis four eh lawn tie-'em we-thought feel-ink law-st our way-axed. Inn fat eye vent ma-ad trine two fined home-o-fawns four itch off d wards inn dis posed. Jest ann-otter we-erred-oh eggs-per-mint. Eye wonted two sea ho mulch lawn-gur ken eye make dis pair-hawk-raf lassed.

Knot bard dat eye yam a-bull two fined in-off two get inn-two d sick-and. Butt wee both no nov dat eye yam jest drag-in eat horn buy righting noun-cense. May bee eye shooed tri two narrate eh storey dis weigh, sou hear eat ease:

Ones a-pawn eh tie-em, their wars eh doh-barman. D and.

Eye hoop ewe gat d shot tail. Weigh-ell eats sum-thin eye jest rim-am-bird end day-fin-at-lee knot mei own, butt were-th in-off techs four dis posed.

Eye maid ewes off eggs-sting caw-man now-uns our wards two right dawn too parse off won ward ate tie-ems. Itch pa dhow ease steel meanie-full.

Few !!!

What's in a name ?

Title Rationale

We do seem to hit it off splendidly. Me and this Shakespeare guy. How else do you explain his musings fitting the topics I'm penning so well ? Lest you fear this is going to be a harangue on linguistic exploration and etymology of words and phrases, let me reassure that I merely meant to throw some light on the mystery surrounding my blog's name.

I've been asked a few times now by people who can't decide if crossword is just a random word I picked up or does it stand for something more - like short for crossing of words, an alleged pun or a reference to the book store chain given I'm an avid reader. Its neither. I just named it after my favorite pastime - that of solving crosswords.

The title is probably cryptic - my preferred type of crossword. It thrills me that there is an air of unknown about my blog this explanation notwithstanding. But its good to discover there are additional connotations though I didn't think of them. May be one of these days I'll post a puzzle here for people to have a crack at.