City in Wilderness

Godly creatures with gory deeds and their trampled rights
Banana bushes at the road sides to rampage a few nights!
Marauding the city roads amidst the chase being cracked
While danger looms large with fear of life being hacked!

The bulky beasts were at their best in the wooded tract
At Hatisar that was called their home: a mammoth fact!
In the decades past, they were paraded out or hunted down
How they return now trumpeting to claim the town!

An abrupt encounter would cost a human life again
A conflict we say but condone the killer amidst the pain!
Elephant rights are trampled but we dislike a menace;
For their freedom in the woods, we shall bow in reverence!

(Note: the excerpt above is from the captioned poem from the book 'Sunflower and other poems')

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Materials, Materialism and Spirituality

Materials and spirituality are contrast to date,
But, in architecture, the two are together as mates;
We say, to be spiritual one has to be less materialistic
But in spiritual places, this is far from realistic!

Places of worship have so much of material wealth;
It’s stacked in built forms too, perhaps, for history’s health;
Ages old carvings and paintings on best of best materials
Stand the tests of the worst times surreal!

“As material is to the body, spirituality is to soul;
Without a body, the soul cannot achieve its goal!”
Says a pious monk though not in his solemn prayers,
Narrative remains as the time rolls into layers!

It appears that life itself is a major contrast;
Interpretations clear and vague both do last;
A small near a big, a white against a black
A void and a solid, objects do unusually stack!

But, materials and spirituality juxtaposing seems unique,
Or, at least what many think is a relationship oblique;
However, if a soul from a past can influence us to date,
With less physical wealth, spirituality can be our best fate!

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It is almost magical...

It’s almost magical if it appeals to the heart
With glamour becoming a part of the living art;
Expressive spaces with modest colors and play of light
Impressively enhancing the living for day and night!

I wish for rainbows in interiors; broad and soft
As I clamor for glamour to rise nonstop,
I wish for the spacious, lighted and sleek
And for surfaces and facades to prevail and speak!

Elegance in colors, lights or shades,
Enchanting us for many decades;
Uplifting the moods to a new height,
Environments befitting for lives bright!

With architectural glamour in simplest forms
And romanticism infused in the living norms;
Each dawn I wake up energetic and fresh
And at dusk, I retire to bliss and happiness!

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Renovation, restoration, reconstruction and remodeling...

There is a revised drawing on my table
Of an ancestral house unstable;
Nicely done, with colorful legend to indicate
The changes for its most modern fate-
“To be dismantled’, ‘to remain same”
And “new walls” to play the latest game!

And at site, I pulled aside a near-rotten frame
But something else fell apart and down it came;
Opps! The older walls were crumbling down
To be redone and to be finished brown;
Renovation we say but to reconstruction everything sums up
Or restoration is the need but remodeling is what it becomes of!

And, there was also a house on the hill
Partially gutted by fire and in ruins still;
We wanted to rebuild souls with its story
By restoring it to its former form and glory;
Ruins speak aloud to tell the past,
May be we are inviting nostalgia to last;
Generations of memories are cast again and again
That reign forever in every brain

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It is past midnight...

It is past midnight so soon;
From between the hills rises the moon;
I didn't keep awake to watch it though,
I am enjoying its lustrous glow!

The halfmoon looks like my teaspoon,
It stirs my mind out of a cocoon,
While its luminous glow seems to propose
My stay deeper into the night, I suppose!

With the clouds, the moon turns maroon,
The color of demand these days in the saloon;
And there, the moon is only a half balloon
But at unkindest times, a pleasantest boon!

Now, it's dawn so soon,
Half the journey, travels the moon,
It is still a teaspoon though not maroon
With brightly lit blue sky as its cocoon!

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A tree stood at an edge...

A tree stood at an edge of our farm land
As a landmark; firm though not too grand
For a flash of memories of relationship love-hate
And a splash, that was, of bittersweet fate!

The tree is called gante, a local name
And there was another one with the species same
At a water source where I bathed and washed
At dawns, joyfully, with hopes high but soon smashed!

Flowers yellow, attractive and bright;
Big little wild bees searching nectar in dizzy light!
I was wrong to assume that the bees would die;
Poison filled, I suppose, and yet the bees could fly!

Then, as the flower fruited to coconut size,
A langur white dashed in for nature’s prize;
I again assumed that he would die
And, again, I was wrong and I knew not why!

Later, my cattle fed on fallen young leaves;
The poison then did not deceive!
And, yet again, I knew not why the hell broke loose
Till I understood gante and its use and misuse!

For ages, the seeds have been a source of edible oil;
Poison evaporates as we put the raw oil to boil;
As for the landmark, it is indeed a memorable one
With bittersweet taste of love-hate relations bygone!

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The so-called tenders...

The so-called tenders and quotation calls
Have always been of certain shortfalls;
Lowest bidder in terms of price is selected
All others, no matter how best, are rejected

Whether it’s for works, services or supply of goods,
Rule books, latest, may appear to spur the moods
But, at a closer look, it’s old wine in a new bottle
And, for reasons best known to none, systems throttle!

There's my rate passed in time through the gate,
One in envelope marked original, the other marked duplicate,
Both contained in one more called the outer cover
With no bidder identified and sealed with burning rubber

Speaks the chairman about transparency and accountability;
Bid rejected without assigning reasons is no responsibility;
New committee with new members on corridors of power;
The brands of items, however, are not mentioned at this hour!

Page by page, each member signs the documents
As it’s just an opening committee without arguments;
With no one for assessment and award and no fixed date
Each bidder shall be waiting to hear his fate!

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A park: I remain lively...

I remain lively in the neighborhood that I stand,
A peaceful piece at the centre of the buzzing land!
A focus of many structures in the vicinity
And a smart landmark to remain for infinity!

I am fenced for safety on each side,
The cozy town peeps into me to envy my pride;
I belong to everyone in the neighborhood
Young or old visits me to refresh one's mood!

Early morning is the time that pigeons flock to feed,
Then come the monks with the prayer beads
The elderly lot gather in shade and sun
While the evenings are for children for play and fun!

I offer the changes against routines that bog down
Inside homes and offices in a small buzy town;
I provide the best space in time to relax
A small window in space to find the time out!

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The mind is a room...

The mind is a room I guess
Where bubbles of ideas move and press
Shaping little things in one’s own controls
And in layers upon layers as the time rolls!

The mind has the walls I guess
Where issues push to address;
It has no limits unsurpassed
And yet within us heavily massed

The mind has a roof I guess
That blocks the sky for access
But it flies highest at speed of its choice
Evoking a ruthless silence to a pitched voice

The mind has facades I guess
And yet the sight I search is too less;
A door to it is the communication
Built on a hard-rock foundation

The mind is a vast space to function,
Walls are barriers of compulsion;
The roof, a limit capped in hardest times
With facades flowing in rhythmic rhymes!

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A Concept.....

A nucleus of thoughts and notions
Whereby all basics relate to in creations;
A concept revolves centrally and rests as a foundation
With a pulling force for an ultimate exaltation!

The built-form tells stories of an empire
Of structures with deepest purposes to inspire
Keeping concepts of living through history
With the fallen hero or a towering victory

It captures the eras in gold,
Human curiosity and mystery untold
As life evolves through to the present form
With peace as dynamics of the living norm

And, we respond with time for the future
Blending the past and present with architecture,
Creating a multi dimensional time-space
Recording a new trace of living-art in place!

Crazy mind may crack a concept weird and wild
Or it may be just reinventing a far off child,
Oceans apart, bridging a long gap
For, in architecture, ideas are no scrap!

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We say that the husk sells...

We say that husk fetches a higher price
Than the valuable fine grains of rice
Only if a greater role the power of words assume
To confer the husk a better resume!

A curriculum vitae, no doubt, has to speak
And way above others rendering them weak;
Remember all roses are colorfully bright
But the perfumed nectar is the bee’s delight!

Mentioning education, experiences and all that
With takeaways from a previous CV format
To suit new requirements isn’t enough I feel
To ranking a candidate for the required skill!

On a positive note, it’s a matter of communication,
Whereby, a resume is not just a formality or a fashion;
Hope never ends to carry out a project of your choice,
And, the more one works, it could still be, less a voice!

Well, there is a so-called portfolio for architects
As preferences for details vary in many aspects;
Meantime, I have discarded doing my resume long ago,
Spending some time on it could fetch a project though!

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Where do we keep our shoes?

The shoes, all over, make the main door messy
Strewn around, the space is not so dressy;
We walk over to get into a posh apartment
But the entrance speaks of a shoe department!

Another problem is of not finding the shoes,
The pairs are displaced adding to our woes;
So, how do we go about for a tidy living
Or, a small niche at the beginning?

A very few apartments have the shoe spaces,
Right behind the main doors are such places
A rack where one can also hang the keys
Just a small space to be at ease!

Helmets, umbrellas could also go in there
Organizing the space means time to spare;
But what if house plans do not confirm that way
We may still, with interiors, play!

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Importance of being at site

A feasibility report, if it exists, isn’t enough, I feel;
So, a site visit is a must for more issues to peel!
Experience, first hand, the topography of the land
And get to the bottom from the sun to specks of sand!

The contours could be too tricky,
The weather there could also be freaky;
The hills around and the sky dictate as many terms
As the access at the turning could spoil the norms!

Lo! The electric poles are running across the site,
Water source is miles away for a budget plight;
Consider the rain water, even sewer and household waste;
Well, what matters is a design unique, not a copy-paste!

Meanwhile, we may add to the culture of the place
With materials that would contribute to architectural grace;
Skills available around are worth recommending
All for designs that could be wholesomely blending!

Ultimately, there are issues of timelines and cost;
Issues unaddressed at the start bounce back the most
Even the market around holds the project key
Smooth functioning of the works, a must to foresee!

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