A dasi’s ode to mighty Mahadev

Source: http://loiscordelia.com/silh_shivanataraja.htm

When flowers lowered their heads,
And their petals embraced one another bashfully,
Blushing, as the flamboyant Sun shone splendidly,
I was born again,
To worship You.

When leaves danced ecstatically,
Threatening to part with their branches
And eagerly merge
With the lashing,
Whipping deluge
Of drenching waters from the sky,
I assumed a tangible form again,
To immerse You in my devoted love.

When pent-up fumes ejaculated from the surface
And raging flames melted the puritanical, frozen ices,
All-consuming, yet soothing,
As fire fused with dew,
I married You,
To serve You,
To offer my sincere renditions
And indulge You,
In sacred communion
Characterized only by unrecognized purity.

I, Your dasi, oh! Mahadeva,
First exposed by Kali’s dasa,
Have performed endless Agamas for You,
Unquestioningly.
From Meghadoot on,
Year after year, eon after eon,
I, identified and glorified
As Devadasi,
As Jogini,
As Mahari,
As Your Akhanda Sowbhagyavati,
Breathed every moment in prayer,
For You, Oh! Mahaan Mahadeva!

With Sadir, with Odissi,
With Shastreeya sangeet
Thundering through my body
I surrendered to You,
Satiating my hunger for Salvation,
Satisfying my soul that pined every moment,
For sacred Salvation.

From Satara to Ujjain,
From Tanjavur to Ellora,
My Nattuvanars roared to my rhythm,
And I, danced to Your cosmic tune,
Oh! Mighty Brihadeeshwara!

Your earned me respect, You earned me a living,
You rescued me from my redundant life.
You made me their good fortune,
You made me auspicious,
You enveloped me by Your temple of love
You bestowed wealth and honour,
Dignity and pride upon me.
You made me a Kalavant,
Oh! Venerable Vachaspati!

Your Mohana Nari, Your Bayadere,
Your Dasi, Oh, my charming Rajah!
I’ve traversed borders, transgressed races,
I’ve cajoled Princes and coaxed Maharanis,
You know, every attempt drew You to me.

You must know, Sarvagna,
I move, Breathe, Perspire, Laugh,
Pray, Sing, Rejoice, Dance, Renounce,
Meditate, Dedicate, Revel, Rest,
Utterly In You.

You let me submit my senses to You,
You let me be captivated by Your might,
You let me complete Me.
Now, allow me to merge with Your supremacy.
Won’t You accept me, Mahadeva?
Won’t You render my salvation?
I of course humbly pray to You,
Delivering my being to Your omniscience,
Again.

adopt your own virtual pet!

Inspiration, from a million sources

A writer’s wordsmithery, a liar’s intrepidity, a thief’s faith, a cop’s vigilance, a mother’s selflessness, a father’s heroism, a teacher’s fortitude, a lawyer’s chutzpah, a vagabond’s thirst for experience, a musician’s marriage to a poet, an actor’s affair with a dancer, a linguist’s liaison with a financier, a priest’s loyalty to his God, a cook’s compassion to serve, a friend’s commitment.

Reading a poem on a rainy afternoon, singing full-throttle on a breezy hilltop, dancing care-free on a sandy beach, hitting the highway on a Friday night, moulding Greek figurines with soft clay, giving in to roaring sea waves, melting ice in bellowing fumes.

An infant’s tiny feet, a baby’s gurgle, a child’s blatant lie, a teenager’s naiveté, a youth’s ambition, a working woman’s pride, a successful man’s sincerity, a woman’s fashion fetish, a man’s quest for power, my granny’s toothless smile, my grandpa’s tales of chivalry.

A sincere prayer, a disarming smile, an honest compliment, a warm hug, a loyal relationship, a fierce commitment, an all-consuming passion, blind love, unflinching courage, success earned, grace in defeat, humility in greatness, enormous self-esteem, fearlessness in loss, inner peace amidst uncertainty, truth over politics, wisdom over shrewdness, generosity over greed.

As I look into my crystal ball…

Workplaces are abuzz with the ‘f’ word. Every company, irrespective of the services it offers, is resonating with the ‘f’ word. Everyone toiling at his workplace for a promotion, a hike, an incentive, is thinking of the ‘f’ word. From ambitious B-School graduates nurturing a luminous career, to CEOs relishing retirement in the Bahamas after leading their companies to enviable pedestals – they’re all obsessed with the ‘f’ word.

Common knowledge tells us that we invest today, to reap benefits in the ‘f’uture, that we upgrade our knowledge to accrue better results in the ‘f’uture, that we innovate to outperform competitors in the ‘f’uture. However, how we go about our businesses to secure that ‘f’uture, will change.

We live in an age, where we look up Iron Maiden, Bengaluru Habba, The International Wine festival or The Skyline Book Fair on Facebook, not Google. We discuss leadership, cloud computing, business schools and fashion photography, and bag jobs on LinkedIn, not Naukri. Sealing deals on paper is passé, virtual agreements are the new, trusted revenue bonds. Social media that was once meant to merely reconnect with friends, is now a professional, employment-generating platform, whose ubiquity cannot be missed. Such being the pace of change in perception of communication and technology, let’s expect the future of work to be steeped in achieving greater speed, more convenience and racier technology. And overarching these developments, will of course be the earnest strife to render sustainable, eco-friendly jobs, in a deteriorating environmental set-up.

Now let’s examine what workplaces will be like. Most importantly, flexibility, freelancing and workplaces fraught with insecurity will determine the future of work. While the former two are palpable, I also choose insecurity, since performance will no longer be gauged on the basis of information collated; the game-changer will be how employees project the right attitude conducive for profitability and productivity, the assessment of which, is understandably subjective.

Further aggravating the employees’ insecurity will be companies scouting for cutting-edge talent and entrepreneurial instincts that will enable collaboration, co-creation and innovation. Jacks of all trades will move aside and experts who will offer specialization and niche services will be ushered in. It will be time to brace up for the marriage of several such niche-service providers. And this communion will go beyond the confines of age, backed up by experience.

Active players in this steady transformation will be women. Yes, they will increasingly occupy more seats of power because they are considered to be more conscientious about what they promise and deliver. Studies from Cambridge University and the University of Pittsburgh suggest that women manage more warily than men do. Companies will be looking for more such women, who will cautiously manage their accounts. This will turn into a win-win situation, for when incentivized for higher productivity, impressive results and impeccable accountability – which women most often are, they feel obliged to remain driven and raise the bar for themselves. Businesses will therefore employ more women, to drive profitability.

With more women at workplaces, introduction of flexible practices to help strike a work-life balance will be inevitable. So, telecommuting, work-from-anywhere and freelancing options will become a norm. And this won’t be confined to women or geographies. Practices of physically logging in and clocking the hours of work invested in drab cubicles will become obsolete, as work will happen on the move. Managers will be able to monitor work virtually, from anywhere. What will follow suit, will be a paradigm shift in the way promotions and successes are measured. Accomplishments will go beyond promotions and success will be attributed not to seniority but to personal gratification. Bruce Tulgan, head of the consulting firm, Rainmaker Thinking and author of Not Everyone Gets a Trophy notes that paying dues, moving up slowly and getting the corner office will become outmoded in ten years. We will have tuned well into that mode by then.

Ten years and beyond, it will be nothing short of a profit-oriented revolution. Maybe Facebook will further revolutionize into the sole platform for businesses of all kind. The new ‘f’ word will no longer be the preoccupation of aspiring B-School graduates or the holidaying CEOs in the Bahamas. The new ‘f’ word will redefine the Shakespearean concept of love and will make the world go round. ‘F’ for future will unabashedly transform into ‘f’ for finance and no one is going to make any bones about it. Every alteration will be made, to meet this end. And that, to put it simply, is the indisputable future of work.

Vision 2020

 

By 2020, I would be much older for one. Actually, a lot older and hopefully, shrewder too. Greys adorning my tresses, reluctant adipose in places I wish it weren’t and clothes in deceptive shades and sizes that defy my age would be my pre-occupation. While that is the banal truth I will be forced to reckon with, my cerebral faculties will be steeped in utter departures from reality.

My obsession with romanticizing, dramatizing and drifting from the unbearable, most humdrum reality will take form and gain recognition the world over. I will be a renowned writer who will ‘Face the Nation’ with Sagarika Ghose – much greater than a certain Bhagat from the hinterlands, really, for my PR agency will be more competent than his. My book titled, ‘Devil of Huge Things’ will be launched and I will take calls from readers, who watch ‘Face The Nation’ on a Tuesday evening. Having unquestioningly nodded to all my responses to their concerns on the devil within us who can be optimally employed to annihilate huge egos, yada yada, they would buy 10 copies each – one for keeps and nine others, mostly utility-based, to soak in the oil dripping off the samosas they gorge every evening after work. 

Having celebrated the roaring success of my epic, I would embark on mastering the sitar. An extremely polite friend once said he dreamt of watching me share the stage with Anoushka Shankar. Right! It requires such polite, too-smitten-to say-the-truth kind of people to say that to me and have me write about it too. But what’s in talking about it, as long as its lunch banter and I’m not caught downing a barrel of Black Label to mourn my wrong career choice, at the stroke of midnight, January 1, 2020.