Shishukunj

When the lord of the sky finally sets,
His kingdom splits into two large clefts,
Comes the princess, with her train of blue,
Ready to set the stars anew,
An ember of dawn, her brother resists,
And with a spark of yellow, her throat he slits,
A fight for dominance, a game till the end,
As with a manner of colours, the sky is painted,
Mother moon sits and does lament,
Forever they argue, a message of disharmony is sent!
Ah, mother moon, how would you know,
Of the feelings within us as we gaze upon the show,
The beauty and radiance of how the colours go and grow,
Bold and bright or smooth and mellow!
Finally the brother abandons his glow,
Hides behind the clouds, with his father he goes,
Mother and daughter for now rule the night,
But with the next sunset, we shall begin the fight!

Egg Buns

Warm, crispy pastries simmered on a burner at the back of Paramita’s courtyard. She was a young woman who lived amongst the mountains in the small village of Sampat, and she was never free at midday. The devout lady had taken it upon herself to visit the Buddhist monastery every day, and offer her food to the monks.
Being orphaned as a young girl, at any rate, making a good life for herself was challenging, but the village people had taken pity on her. She was raised in the small temple, and allowed to sleep in the local inn, which was run by someone who knew her late mother. Every night, when the village adults and children would gather at the temple to stare at the stars, she would ask the other children, “I don’t have two parents like yours, do I?”, with a sad expression on her face. The monks would overhear and always tell her, “Daughter Paramita, that is because the entire village is your family.”
Paramita covered her face with a shawl, as now that she had attained womanhood, the monks were forbidden from looking at her. Gathering up her plate of egg buns and vegetables, she walked through the village, smiling at the children and greeting the adults. Almost everyone knew her, and the entire community gave her affection and a sense of belonging.
Having reached the monastery, Paramita took off her shoes and entered. The monks were waiting for food to be offered, and as always, she was the first to arrive. She placed her plate before the monks, and said, “Father and brothers, please accept this food.”
Father Hanh, an aging monk who had been middle-aged during Paramita’s childhood, smiled. “My dear daughter, you bring us our meals almost every day. I can sense your sincerity and your pure heart. I assure you, someday, all of the goodwill and prayers mixed into your egg buns shall come back to bless you.”
Paramita’s mind felt at peace after hearing the words of the old monk, but she didn’t really believe in his words. After all, she was an orphan whose parents had left her nothing. She’d never had a stroke of good luck. She had a good heart and tried to be the best version of herself she could be, but she never expected any reward for it. Bowing before the statue of the Buddha, she left the monastery, her mind on the subject of whether she had locked the goat pen or not.
Years passed after this incident. Paramita entered the middle-age of her life, and Father Hanh died a blessed, peaceful death, surrounded by the brother monks. Life went on as usual in her little cottage, until the officials came.
Builders, construction workers, and government officials arrived in the village and announced that Sampat was now government land, and would be used for mining purposes. People were thrown out of their houses, children were left homeless, and the entire community was ripped out by the roots. The men even went so far as to destroy the monastery and temple, and cut down the trees in the gardens that Father Hanh had deeply loved.
The peaceful people of Sampat weren’t even provided homes and money as compensation. They were forced down the mountain and made to work in factories that poisoned the earth and created a thin haze across the once-clear sky. Paramita fled her own factory, and was now living on the streets, tired and hungry.
One evening, she leaned against a street light and groaned, her body almost succumbing to pain, when she felt something warm against her foot. It was…a basket of egg buns? She reached down and bit into one, relishing the warmth and comfort of the food. She took another, and another, from the seemingly endless basket, until the fire of her stomach was extinguished. Her heart filled with a strange kind of warmth, the kind that she hadn’t felt since she lost Sampat. The kind that touches your soul when someone is watching over you.
She gazed up at the sky, smiling, when she saw the face of a monk in the stars. A monk who had once told her that her goodwill would come back to her. A monk who was watching her from above, his hands raised in blessing.

Moments in Stillness

Guitar- ‘Strings of Colour’

Giraffe- ‘Tall thoughts’

Rose- ‘Petal’s Blush’

Boat- ‘Last Sail’

Steel With A Soul

A heavy rusty saviour,
With a fancy gold handle,
A sharp handy blade,
Waiting to come into action!

Screaming the word danger,
As it swings in the air,
Pierces fear into the foes,
While chopping off heads and toes!

It’s not always a deadly thing,
For it really saves our lives,
It fends off the deadly enemies,
As for failing to do so, Oh please!

When the sword emerges victorious,
The people of the kingdom dance with joy,
“Hail to the fearless sword”
They shout out loud!

Oh my, so many people gathered around me,
Praising my handle as well as my body,
There’s just one thing I want to tell them all,
“Don’t you worry, I’ve got your life!”

Spilt Milk

She opened her fridge and spilled some milk
The fridge remained ajar, the floor remained dirty
Yet she was frozen, unable to move, stuck in a trance
With her head lost in a daze
As misty memories began to clear up in the horizon of her mind
She was waiting for something
For that familiar voice
Nagging and advising
Telling her to “be careful”, “be responsible”, “clean the mess up”
But also “listen to me” and “it will be okay”
The voice that once clung to her ears now evaporated
The motherly love long gone
Fading like the smell of milk spilled into cold air.

Among, Not With

Only Me

I set the table just for three,
Mom, dad, and only me.

No older hand to show me the way,
No younger voice who begs me to stay.

Life may be peaceful and the space is wide,
But there’s room for one more on my side.

No one to blame when things go wrong,
I shall hum my own two-person song.

They joke that I can never share,
But they forget that there’s no one there.

Though I stand alone in line,
Every step I take is always mine…

Among, Not With

I laugh when they laugh, agree when they speak,
I follow them awkwardly like I’m part of the streak.
In the pictures I’m there, but just out of frame,
The ghost of the group, lost in the game.

Their references fly away, I just play along,
Like an echo pretending to know the song.
I smile on their cue, I clap to their beat,
But I’m not the one they’re hoping to meet.

I’m the silence that fills the cracks in their plans,
I am the afterthought, written in half hearted, faint hands.
They say, “We’re all friends,” with a grin so wide,
Yet I walk just beside them, not quite inside.

I’m always the backup plan when others bail,
The name they forget, the friend they fail.
Just a filler seat at a crowded table,
Present, polite, just available.

Not ridiculed, not shunned, just passed by with grace,
The filler that rounds out the friend-shaped space.
I am not part of their plans, not one they applaud,
Just someone they call when they’re feeling odd.

I wonder if they’d notice if I’m gone one day,
Or if I’d just fade in the usual way.
Still I smile, still I stay, still I try,
Hoping one day they’ll ask me why.

Why I feel like the puzzle that doesn’t fit,
Why I am the person they omit.
But don’t you dare think that this is the worst part,
It’s being with people who don’t know your heart.

Black Holes

Space is arguably one of the most fascinating things in the universe. In the wide space, there are things known as black holes, holes that can literally eat you alive! One of the key parts of these bodies is what is referred to as their event horizon. So today, I’m going to elaborate upon them. Enjoy the ride!
I think we all know what the boundary of place is-Let’s take countries as an example. If you enter a country, you are now inside of it, and you can’t exit without some cost, you will probably need some form of identification and need to go by plane. Now the event horizon is a certain boundary of a black hole-except there is no identification to escape it. Once you enter the event horizon, there is no escaping, you are literally freezed in time. (Oh yea, I forgot to add-the event horizon is USUALLY perfectly spherical)
Woah! Let’s understand that last point. What is the meaning of “Freezing in time” So this touches a weird but fascinating topic.
(Keep in mind- Gravitational Time Dilation – The stronger gravity is, the slower time passes relative to someone farther away from that gravity.
Gravity is EXTREMELY intense in a black hole- especially near the event horizon)
Let me explain this from another perspective-Imagine that you’re watching a spacecraft being sucked in by a black hole (let’s say you have a very powerful telescope). The spacecraft is nearing the event horizon at the point when you’re looking at it. Since gravity is so intense at this point, the spacecraft would seem to move slower and slower, until it seems to just stop or freeze in time.
Now that was your perspective from where you observed it.
But if you were in the spaceship, you have actually not frozen, you are moving deeper in the black hole in a matter of seconds, though you can’t send any signals now.
(Shift in perspective-you are now viewing the spacecraft, once it seems to have frozen in time) Now here is something astonishing-when you see the spaceship “freeze in time”, it won’t be too long until you won’t be able to see the aircraft at all.
Why, you ask?
Well this is one of the strangest things about blackholes.
Due to the intense gravity of black holes, it literally stretches light-something known as gravitational redshift happens.
First the rocket will appear to change colour- it will become red, redder- than infrared (invisible to your eyes), then a whole series of others-until you can’t see it anymore, not because the light has disappeared, but because it has stretched so much that your eyes or the telescope cannot detect it anymore.
(Important Notes-
-it is possible to see gravitational redshift, as long as it isn’t too extreme, in this case it is too extreme to see the light.
– if an object has not yet reached the event horizon, it can still potentially escape the black hole by sending signals or using any power it has. However, none of this is possible if the object has entered/crossed the event horizon.
-gravitational redshift and gravitational time dilation are only from the perspective of the viewer (you). Looking at the object’s (in this case-rockets) perspective, all things seem normal. (There will obviously be a huge difference in other aspects of the ship.)
IMPORTANT QUESTION
Why can’t an object escape the event horizon?
Ans. Due to the intense gravitational pull or the black hole at the point, escaping is out of the equation.
-REPEATING AGAIN- if an object enters the event horizon, it can NOT come out. No matter what. It can’t send signals, use power, NOTHING. Remember that.)
WHY IS IT CALLED THE EVENT HORIZON?
I don’t know about you but whenever I come across a term or definition, the first thing I do is find its meaning and why the certain occurrence was given that specific name. So, Let’s break down this term-
Event-Any occurrence in the universe (Example-A flash of light, an asteroid crashing on the earth; heck even moving your pencil!)
Horizon-the limits of your knowledge or experience OR a limit beyond which you cannot see. (Note- Yes, there is another meaning of the term horizon, however this is the one relating to the topic.)
Smashing/correlating these terms together, we get that when something in the universe crosses the event horizon, its events (its future) becomes unknown or invisible to all of the outside world till the end of time.
Therefore, it is a place where no information from the inside can reach the outside. It’s literally the horizon of events.
(Notes-
-The event horizon is a point of no return
-No information from the inside can reach the outside
-It is the horizon of events)
HOW BIG IS THE EVENT HORIZON?
All black holes are not of the same size. Therefore, nor is their event horizon.
For scientific and research purposes, it is necessary to find out the size of event horizons of various black holes.
(I think this is obvious now, but I will state it just in case-
Smaller the black hole, smaller the event horizon,
Bigger the black hole, bigger the event horizon)
So to calculate the size of any event horizon, there is an equation that we use-
rs=2GM/C2
(C2=CxC)
This equation is the Schwarzschild radius, an equation that was left unsolved by Albert Einstein and later solved by Karl Schwarzschild, leading to the name of the equation.
Now this equation is very, very complex. So, what I will do is explain the formulae briefly so you can know the basics, as knowing the depths of the equation is not necessary to understand the concept (It might also be quite boring for some of you)
Let us break down the different meanings of all the jumbled letters in this equation-
G- G is a number that tells us the strength of the gravity between two objects.
DID YOU KNOW?
If G were just a little bit up or down from where it is, we would not have stars and other fascinating things, we could even float off the earth!
In simple words- it tells us the gravitational force of the universe.
M- M is how much mass the black hole contains. Think of it as all the stuff the black hole has swallowed.
C- C is the speed of light- also known as the fastest thing we know!
Now, a question that you may ask yourself is-
“How are we supposed to know the value of G and M? It is not like we can weigh the universe-or black holes.
The answer, I will once again explain in brief, nothing detailed-
Let’s start with G, the strength of gravity of the universe.
We actually measure G from here on Earth, using many, many clever experiments conducted by scientists of course!
As I said earlier, G is the same everywhere in the universe, not only on Earth.
Let’s move on to M- the amount of Mass a black hole contains.
We obviously can’t measure the weight of a black hole, but we can use a bit of physics and data from surrounding objects to get a pretty close estimate.
As we know, black holes are invisible.
So if stars and/or other celestial bodies are rapidly revolving around something invisible-Its most probably a black hole!
(Another question you may ask is “Why do celestial bodies need to revolve around something invisible rapidly or fast for it to be a black hole?
The answer is that if the celestial bodies don’t move fast enough, they too will be sucked in by the black hole.
This is derived from 2-3 physics concepts (there is no official concept) that basically says
The stronger the gravity, the faster something has to move to stay in orbit.)
So, by watching how fast the celestial bodies move around the black hole, scientists can pretty closely calculate the gravity and thus find out the weight of the black hole.
It’s kind of how you could try to calculate the weight of an elephant by watching the way grass shakes whenever it moves.
Now, you may ask-how the heck do scientists do that?
The answers are in use of..PHYSICS!
This may seem a bit confusing but if you apply certain complex formulas you will eventually be able to calculate M.
So, once scientists have all three variables, they find out the size of the event horizon using the given formulae. Here is the general idea-
The bigger the mass of the black hole is, the bigger its event horizon.
Light speed and gravity just decide how it all comes together!
Possible Question-
Why do celestial bodies even orbit black holes in the first place?
Imagine you’re a star. You spot a black hole, and you can’t just run away. The not-so amazing gravity doesn’t allow that (BOO HOO)
Would you rather orbit it and save your life-though you will have to be very careful about how close you orbit, because you could get consumed by the hole if you’re too close, (In other words-still be scared for life about accidentally falling in) – or get consumed by it? (PS-Ignore what I said in the bracket, it isn’t meant to change your answer.)
I’ll let you decide the answer to that question.
And that’s how to calculate the size of the event horizon! Insane, right?
Well, that’s all for now, so I’m signing out. If you like this essay of mine, I’ll try to do the same with another essential part of black holes, their singularity. Until then, Adios my friends!

For Anne Gregory – A Perspective

My commentary on ‘For Anne Gregory’ by William Butler Yeats
The poem discusses the topic of love. Love arising from a “young man in despair” and why all he’d ever fall for would be the female’s (Anne’s) golden lovely hair and appearance, not her, her personality. The point arises that the man is young, therefore presumably naive and in despair, therefore hopeless. Does such an immature person deserve the interpretation of being seen in love?
Worse, Anne focuses on the concept of being loved by a man of such sort (for he is labeled as common) to an extent that she’s ready to degrade and undermine herself, ready to make her personality the spotlight of her being, when she should be able to live as herself, letting her beauty be another ornament.
Mother Abbess (The Sound of Music) once said “The love of a man and woman is holy too”, so why? Why is it implied that only God has the potential to love you for who you are? Surely, God is the one who knows you, the real you, but that doesn’t mean that humans are incapable of reaching that extent. Does knowing someone head to toe, past to future define love? Is knowing all you need? For the question arises, what is love?
I’ll try, but sincerely, words are mere. Love is the wind that blows from one to another with scents and history until they are one, it’s unheard and unseen by all others incapable of understanding, the color of their eyes staring into their pools, long enough to merge. Be one. The souls are so well acquainted, they need no words to express themselves, a silence singing everywhere.
And it’s everything, respect, unwavering support, memories, smiles, tears, hope, humanity, poetry, art, dance, nature, life.
Yet, it’s nothing. For what “all” is, is nothing at once. (God?)
So love is larger, love is surrender and victory, love is truce, allies, love leaves only one kingdom, of not an “I” or a “you”, of “us”. It can never come down to a word, a person, a poem, an analysis. And so the interpretation wanders as I hope Anne can go out in the world and feel it, for that is love.

Eclipse of Color

One in a Million

I asked the girl who rode the Moon, and asked what she had seen,
She answered with a couplet which was poetic like a dream.
She told me about the stormy seas where ships would take their last breath,
She told me about the peaceful stream that flowed from the west.
She told me about the scorching desert where camels ruled the lands,
She told me about the freezing ones with white as the colour of their sands.
She told about the wars infinite which were happening in the world which was ours,
The earth which once was lush and green was now being engulfed by the demon of war.

She told me about the air, grey,
Which covered our planet, which once was happy, healthy, blue-green and gay.
She told me how the Earth looked covered by the shadows of evil:
The planet which once looked bubbly and lively,
Now looked grief-stricken, depressed and full of misery.
She told me how the planet had been, voice dripping with nostalgia:

Glorious creatures roaming the place,
Beautiful birds chirping and dancing with grace.
Alas! The only song heard now, was of violence and disgrace.
She told me about a dream she had seen,
Filled with excitement, she had seemed.
She told me about a peaceful paradise,
Where humans had already opened their eyes.
She asked me to take an oath that day,
To spread the message, she gave.
We need to work hard to save the day,
After all, one in a million is the planet in which we stay.