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The awkwardness of being
Sometimes I am A spider Who can’t get used to Its eight unwieldy legs A crab Who can never figure out How to walk straight A butterfly Who darts to and fro The same familiar path like a pendulum A snail Who can never go fast enough To get out of harm’s way Often I… Continue reading
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Death shall not do us part
When he told me that he had found a way to hack reincarnation, I could hardly believe it. To begin with, what did he mean by reincarnation—was he again talking about that crazy notion that we all have lived and will live multiple lives? And what on earth is meant by “hacking” it? I mean,… Continue reading
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Stillness
Orange grey and white Like dots they sit still On a sheet of paper Quiet and steady And as streaks they fly To and fro Like darts or arrows Ready to kill But then begins the dance They move and in their movement They appear to each other As if perfectly still Moving and yet… Continue reading
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दोस्ती
गुज़र चुके हैं जुनून-ए-इश्क़ से कई बार मगर दोस्ती का सुकून बरसों बाद मिला है अंगारों पर चल-चलकर जो ज़ख़्म बटोरे थे आज एक अरसे बाद उनपर मरहम लगा है Continue reading
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I have walked this path before
I have walked this path before I know this trail I know the way this stream bends And I know how these twigs sound As I step on them With my unsteady feet I have seen that tree before I have held that trunk As I made my way across this ancient forest Following the… Continue reading
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Incompletions
A canvas half-painted and abandoned A story half-written and left incomplete A poem begun and not taken to the end A life half-lived seeks completion Continue reading
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My snake-self
1 My name is Nagesh, and I sometimes turn into a snake. I recall the first time it had happened, I was seven years old then, jolted out of sleep by a nightmare I can only faintly recall now. There were many men and something was burning, or was it me that was burning? It… Continue reading
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This pain is not of this life
The pain this heart carries Is not of this life The tears that flow from these eyes Have been flowing for eons and more These clouds that gather around us They usher in that primeval darkness That always comes at their wake Wherever they go This pain is not of this life And these tears… Continue reading
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One step at a time
Walk with me for a moment One small step at a time And before you know we would have walked all eternity Moment by moment One step at a time Not as prisoners of eternity But as free children of time. Continue reading
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The Cosmic Dance
Day after day Night after night The cosmic dance Unfolds and plays How fascinating it is That every tiny speck here Owns the universe And imagines the rest As floating around it In time and space Where every point is the centre And the centre is everywhere The whole is the same as its parts… Continue reading
About Me
Nehaan in Persian means ‘secret’ or ‘hidden.’ In Japanese, the same word means ‘nirvana.’ In these pages, I will make an attempt to explore, and if possible, partly or fully reveal what lies hidden from our view in our day-to-day lives. The path will be characterised by a certain lack of method which I think is characteristic of human intuition. I write and shall continue to write only when inspired to do so. This also means I might occasionally make forays into varied fields such as science, music, philosophy, language, linguistics and poetry, to name a few. I hope this would not put off new readers and tire the old ones! But who am I to complain–even the lovers of fine wine feel repulsed by the first drop and still, quite strangely, dizzy by the last.
Nehaan 