You think English is easy? - Forwards # 4

You think English is easy??? 

(Pic - Courtesy Google)

(Thanks to Dilesh Jain for sharing)

Read to the end . . . a new twist

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce .

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; w e warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred o r more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so........it is time to shut UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:


What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P


NB: I studied in South Point School in Calcutta during my childhood (1955-59) and we had two remarkable English teachers; Mr Utpal Dutt & Mr Vishwanathan. They were both wonderful teachers of the Queen's Language, the former had also achieved a very important place in the theater and cine world; do read more about his achievements by clicking here. While teaching if he ever came across any such anomalies in the language ... this is the way it would go:
Utpal Dutt (in his usual booming voice): "BECAUSE!?"
Class (in unison), "ENGLISH IS A MAD LANGUAGE!!!"

Miss BIT (1963) – Chapter 12 - My memoirs of BIT Mesra (1963-1968)

I am sure the title of the post would have intrigued you – as you all are aware that there were no girl students in BIT even many years after 1963. No we did not venture to include the daughters of staff members for the title.

1963 was the year we had joined as freshers and as mentioned in my Chapter 1 of the memoirs - “Ragging”. Some of the more innovative and more imaginative of our seniors had an informal selection of a Miss BIT (from the male students of our batch). The crowned princess was a boy from Nepal – name withheld.

Kareena - not Miss BIT

He did not have a 36-24-36 figure – as a matter of fact he had a fairly masculine figure – but had a very feminine face. In spite of his 18+ age he did not have any hair growth on his face and was as chikna as one can be... ☺. It is indeed sad that I do not have a photo of his beautiful face but this is the closest image that I could find resembling him – of course this is Kareena Kapoor and not him. He also had a dimple on his chin.

He was effeminate in quite a few ways and would invariably cover his head with a scarf and pretend to walk with a girly swagger – he was a fun person. A wee bit quick and short tempered, would never take any nonsense from anybody. 

With his head covered and little bit of hair showing under the front of the scarf – he really did look quite sweet.

His only woe was his absence of facial hair.

The market had a product by the name of Silvikrin – it came in two varieties. One was the "Hair Dressing" (a suspension) and the second was “Pure Silvikrin” - which was supposed to help for falling hair or a receding hairline. As a matter of fact – it is still available in the market. It used to be a small bottle about 150ml fitted with a dropper in the lid and a brown coloured liquid. Was fairly expensive - hence the dropper - for its quantity. 

Our dear friend – somehow was advised to use that, to augment his facial hair and that boy would religiously massage the tonic on his face …. alas, it did not help. Thus our Miss BIT(1963) remained crowned till the end of his stay in BIT.

We have lost touch of our Miss BIT(1963) and if anyone has a picture – or knows of his where about, please share the information with us, we would be happy to add one more member in the Alumni. A search of Facebook / Google led me to about 40 plus persons with the same name (by the way - most of them were females) – many without any photos, so am stuck. So help me friends...

MUST YOU “FORWARD”? - Random Thoughts # 7

I was a person who used to forward every "forward" that I got in my mail box. Feedback from some who really care has made me think – and hopefully, change for the better.

Most of us just send forwards without giving a second thought. There are a lot of inherent dangers, nuisance and the like in forwards. Apart from that the "bulk forwards" do have a tendency to increase the internet traffic to a multi-fold level and also CLOG the net. Long term effects of this clogging are mind boggling. 

If sending the mail was a chargeable service based on either the number of mails or the amount of data sent, ask yourself – “would I still send a particular mail or forward?”, even if the charge was a mere 1 cent/pence/paisa per mail or per KB of data? Only send the mail where you can honestly say “YES” to this question.

Before you decide to send a forward do give some thought to the following and do take the precautions listed.

Many forwards have a built in message of promoting some religious or ethnic group, a business venture, downgrading a rival business or another community or religion, or even evoke some patriotic feeling.

Remember while forwarding any material or content that fits in any of the above categories – you are advertising or selling on someone's behalf (without any remuneration and without your desire to do so) and you are are being manipulated and used as a tool.

Examples of such forwards are:

i. The mail is being tracked by an agency – say AOL, and who will pay a few pennies for the every forwarded mail – maybe for the treatment of some small girl suffering from leukaemia etc.

ii. McDonald's or some other multinational is condemned for practices or quality, obviously the vested interest of a rival.

iii. Cheap Chinese/Indian goods are condemned for practices followed in manufacture – or for contents going into the goods or even for cruelty on animals and the like, again vested interests.

iv. There are beautiful power point presentations which generally show good sayings but end up preaching Christianity or God in the messages.

v. Then you have forwards of links to YouTube of videos which again could be preaching any of those things mentioned above.


vi. We often come across forwards which appear to be historical, but a little google search can often tell us that they are fabricated; this has been noticed lately and have been often created by the Hindu fundamentalists condemning British, Muslims and the like. 

However, then there is another category of forwards that pass on jokes, humorous anecdotes or stories and the like – often they are old stories re-circulated. In either case they are good stories at times. 

Restrict your forwards to these and send to select few who will appreciate them. It is very important: what you forward to whom. Your judgement, discretion and common sense are very important for the judgement. Never use a mass mailing list – else you also be sending it to the person who sent it to you in the first place.

A better option is to put these forwards on a blog – if you have one – as it leaves reader with the option of reading it without flooding his inbox. OR if you are on facebook - put your stuff in the "Notes" head.

There is a very important cardinal rule that must be followed when you do send a 'forward' to a group of people. NEVER, I repeat NEVER put their names in the “To” or “CC” rows. You must put their names in “BCC” - else you are making all your contacts vulnerable to hackers, spammers and the like.


If you still have that itch of pressing the 'forward' button - join us on the facebook group "DAFT DEFINITIONS, KRAZY FACTS, FORWARDs, TRIVIA". You can put your forwards there; you can upload videos, pics, links and not be spamming.

LET US ALL RESOLVE THAT WE WOULD MINIMIZE SENDING FORWARDS.

Okay – take care... Happy Forwarding.

A tip to those at the receiving end: Create a separate “in box” for the mail which contain “FW” or “FWD” in the subject line – so that it does not clutter up with the rest of your mail. Outlook Express/Outlook have these options. Google mail has started a beta version of a “Priority In box” – check it out.

Shikar & Shikari, the Hunt – Chapter 11 - My memoirs of BIT Mesra (1963-1968)

When I was in the 4th year – a good friend of mine, Subin Verma, suggested going on a hunt or a shikar. He had been on hunts before and he knew what he was talking about. It would be my first experience. It was planned as a two day trip – essential condition to accompany him was that one had to be a non-vegetarian as we would have to live off our kill. 
Subin had advised us to wear our workshop khakis as there were no jeans in those days (atleast none of us owned any), and canvas shoes (no sophisticated footwear like that of the present day was available). I had a pair of the Bata's “Jungle Boots” as they were called and I found this the most appropriate occasion for using them. The boots were an olive green ankle high contraption which took about 5 minutes to put on. The jungle boots were also a part of the standard issue of our army jawans in those days.

Subin being awarded a gold medal in Tanzania

for killing a man-eating lion (Recent pic of Subin)

Four of us – including Subin – set out by bus from Ranchi. We were headed to forest area in Sarju Block, Palamau District. We reached our first stop – the house of a forest officer, who was to arrange the gun(s), spotlight, place to stay and a jeep. Phones were rare and he had no info of our coming. The helpful Forest Officer somehow managed to arrange a logging truck. All the other items were available with him. He had a 12 bore gun – they are the ones which used cartridges of different categories, eg., Birdshot, Light Game(LG), Medium Game (MG) etc. etc. He had only three cartridges with him – one Bird Shot and two LG. The Bird Shot has about 200 small pellets in it, the LG has 6 pellets – large enough to kill or injure a reasonably sized game. Am not sure whether same norms are being used today – with so much sophistication in weapons and ammo. So packed with our gear – we set out for the forest guest house where we were going to be accommodated. 

The Marauder & Man-Eater

Jungle Boots - Bata

After dark we set out in the rickety truck on the bumpy forest roads, connecting the spotlight from the truck's battery. Since there was plenty of room, Subin had the good sense to take along an orderly, who was equipped with a torch and an axe. With the truck bouncing, like a boat in rough sea, on the bumpy terrain and we holding on to its wooden sides – were getting splinters in our hands. It was quite an experience. For a long time the only animals we spotted were rabbits. After about a few hours of being on the jungle paths, referred to as the 'trail' – we spotted a barking deer – that's a small variety of deer, also called Muntjak or Kakad; its almost the size of small dog or a spaniel – its alarm call resembles the bark of a dog, hence the name. Subin took aim and fired.

Our rickety truck

The ear shattering shot resounded in the silent jungle and the animal just crumbled to the ground. We had our orderly haul it into the truck, and we decided to roam a bit more. After about an hour or so the deer was writhing in pain and was not dead – in spite of the fact the all the 6 pellets had entered the neck and head area. We could have used the second LG cartridge to end its troubles – but Subin decided against it – being low on ammo. He told the orderly to use his axe instead. That ended the poor beast's agony – but it also converted one of our group – Kuldeep Kalavar – to instant vegetarianism, unable to eat the kill. We returned back around dawn – without spotting any more game. The were plenty of rabbits, foxes and some jungle cats, but no animal for the shikar.

12 Bore Gun

We were supposed to return that day but with no good kill to take home – we voted to stay an additional night. Our lunch and dinner was made of Barking deer and we had to get some potatoes from a nearby village, for our dear friend who had become vegetarian.

So again we set out in the night after dinner. Today we managed to spot our first kill fairly soon – it was a full grown Sambar deer, it had no antlers – so probably a female. Subin made sure that there were no calves around, otherwise he would have not killed the female. He was a damn good shot and he got it straight through the heart. We did not have any problem or issue like we had had the previous night. 

12 Bore Cartridges

Next morning we set off on the return trip. On the way we spotted a flock of green pigeons (fakta - in Hindi). Wirh one bird shot still available, Subin allowed me to shoot. We bagged one fakta, and carried it to the Forest Officer's home, where his wife cooked it for breakfast - delicious...

The deer we had got was almost the size of the Indian cow. It must have been about 600 lbs. It got skinned in the nearby village and was brought to the FO's house. We carried about 200 lbs of meat – in a big jute sack with us when we returned to college; the rest of the meat had been given to the villagers and helpers by the FO, to have a feast.

Barking Deer

The neighborhood meat canteen was really useful – the entire meat was cooked and he was given instructions to serve it free to who ever wanted it, first come first served – as long as it would last. Word spread quickly and it all got consumed within the next day.

Sambar Deer - courtesy Wikimedia

Four of us were not able to forget the trip and were constantly reminded of it for at least 2 more weeks – as we had to keep pulling out splinters of wood from all the nooks and corners of our bodies, which we had manged to pick up – especially as we would lie down on the wooden floor of the truck during our return to the base. We had managed to pick them up from the wooden sides and floor of the truck while negotiating the bumpy jungle roads.

Subin is now settled in the US; we are still in touch and meet sometimes. Shikar is one of his  passions and his house is full of trophies - mostly hunted in Africa. His trophies and his wide range of latest guns adorn most of the walls in his home. It would not be out of place to mention that he is a very well known shikari in the African continent and he had been specifically invited to Tanzania for help in getting the marauding and man-eating lion, this lion had already killed 40 natives and one seasoned hunter before he fell to Subin's bullet.

(Thanks Subin for sharing your photographs of the trophies and gold medal, click here if you wish to contact Subin)

Are you getting CONNED? - Random thoughts#6

Most of us have a tendency to buy expensive stuff. There is a myth which makes us believe, "that if its more expensive its got to be better." Sadly, it may not be true in many cases. 

You can say the same for most branded** stuff. While the branded goods do maintain a good quality level - but is it worth paying for it through your nose? In engineering and manufacturing we have – what we call an acceptable level of quality control. The manufacturers do not wish to achieve perfection in quality – but they manufacture to an acceptable level that strikes a balance between the cost of production and quality. This is specially applicable for mass produced goods. If this was not done - all products of a middle class household would be out of reach  for them. A good example - a good quality brand of ceiling fan today that costs around Rs 1400-1700, could cost about 10 times if the quality level was made such that it could last and perform for a life time.

(** branded - the implication here is of the upmarket, luxury and expensive brands. For example Citizen, Seiko, Titan etc. are quality brands for watches, and they maintain a good level of quality - but they would not fit the label whereas Omega, Raymond Weil, Chopard, Rado and Patek Philippe etc. would called the branded ones for this purpose)..

The prices of branded products have absolutely no rational relation to the cost of production, but have managed to psyche the buyer and have created an image of aristocracy and give the message that he/she "has arrived", if he is seen sporting such products. All those who believe in the rat race will naturally scoff at what I have to say - but you must remember that it is your own hard-earned money, and you should have the right to decide how to utilize it; do not give that right to a 'brand'.

Let me come back to the main subject of getting conned...

Here is a part of an actual web page of the Amazon.com. Read the customer reviews below and you will be able to appreciate the gullibility of the individual, no further comments are required.

HDMI CABLE 2M (6 FEET)

FROM DVI GEAR

List Price:

$39.99

Price:

$2.20

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Ships from and sold by UnitedIntegral

86 new or used available from $0.01

Average customer review: 

Product Description

Hdmi cable Provides the most reliable signal transfer the purest picture.Unlike most HDMI cables, Inspire Audio video cables use individual, shielded twisted pair wires for unsurpassed video signal.

Product Details

Color: black

Model: POTHHDMIH2M1

Dimensions: 1.08" h x 1.08" w x 72.00" l, .24 pounds

Native resolution: 1080p

Features

HDMI audio / video cables are ATC certifie

Provides the most reliable signal transfer for the purest picture.

Unlike most HDMI cables, Inspire Audio video cables use individual, shielded twisted pair wires for unsurpassed video signal.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Why pay out the wazoo when you can get this cable?!?!

"OK - here's the story. I was going to buy a Toshiba HDTV. I had picked it out already and was ready to purchase it and that was when I found a promotion at a local retailer that if I bought a Toshiba HDTV then I can get $200 off of any of the Toshiba HD DVD players. The HDA2 was normally $399 but was on sale for $299 and with the $200 off I got it for $99!! You can't beat that!

Well, I got that on Tuesday and it was an unexpected purchase. I asked the person at the store how much the HDMI cable would be so that I can hook it up as soon as I get home. He said, it's a Monster Cable and it costs $124.99! Whoa! I went up to the shelf and saw the sticker that said $124.99 on it and on the sticker it said "Financing Available"! What?! I'm not going to pay more for the cable than I did for the DVD player! These guys are crazy!

I told the guy "You are nuts if you think I'm going to pay that amount" and I logged onto Amazon and purchased this HDMI cable I'm doing the review for. I paid, with shipping, less than $9 for it. I was a little worried about it though - I'm sure that there must be a difference between the $124.99 cable and the $9 cable. So, I took the test. I went and purchased the $124.99 cable (mostly because I was too anxious to try out the new HD DVD player and couldn't wait for it to arrive). I plugged it in and of course the HD DVD I played looked absolutely amazing! The very next day I got the $9 cable (pretty fast shipping by these guys by the way) and I hooked it up. I was worried what I would find but when I started watching the same HD DVD that I watched the night before on the $124.99 cable I could notice NO DIFFERNCE WHATSOEVER between the two cables' results. So I returned the $124.99 cable.

You will not be sorry if you purchase this cable over the other ones in the major retailers. Don't let them tell you "it's a better quality cable" or anything like that. This cable is built very well - you can just tell when you hold it in your hand that it was made well. You don't get the fancy plastic packaging that you have to tear into with a knife and cut your fingers on though (oh what a bummer!). Get this cable. It's great!

The only thing you will want to research is that I have seen in some literature that there are two different kinds of cables. I think there is a special one for 1080p DVD players (dont' quote me on this). So do your research before purchasing just to make sure that this is the correct "type". As far as build quality - picture quality, for use with an upconverting DVD player as well as the Toshiba HDA2 HD DVD player, it's an absolute steal.

Price performer! 

"HDMI is a digital signal. That means it's all or nothing--not like analog where you may have degradation due to signal loss, crosstalk, radio frequency interference, etc. As long as you have a decent HDMI cable to transmit the digital bitstream from point A to point B, you're set. I just purchased the new Sony Bravia S-series 32 inch LCD TV. To go with it, I trashed my old Apex with the missing remote and got a deal on a Sony DVP-NS70H upconverting DVD player that can synthesize "extra" lines of resolution. The player can send 720p or 1080i signal to the TV. (Current DVDs are 480p; that standard will change eventually with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.) I knew that the upconversion feature only works through a digital connection, so I'd need to get an HDMI cable. Started checking prices and, no surprise, they were all over the place. Some were in the $100 range. Despite mild skepticism, I decided to try the cheapest one. This little beauty arrived in 3 days in a plain brown wrapper and a clear plastic bag. The cable is surprisingly robust, with nice build quality, supple insulation, and good connectors. I started to feel vindicated. So I plugged it in, put Harry Potter in the DVD player and WOW!! The DVD player and TV did their magic. Spellbindingly great picture and sound. I haven't tried a component analog connection--those cables are REALLY expensive and quality matters more there--so I can't compare component versus HDMI. Bottom line: this is an unbeatable price performer for around $10 incuding shipping. And no, this is not an April Fools joke."

These two customer reviews need no elaboration.

Buying and shopping on the internet is also not free from con-men. There is an interesting read of the UK police website, how this can happen and why you need to be alert in order to avoid falling into the trap. 

There is a second category of people who are vulnerable to the con-man. The people who are greedy and fall for 'get rich quick schemes'.

Remember the emails in which you won a lottery (without buying a ticket); the mails that required you to be able to help a Nigerian or some other individual who has inherited millions of dollars or gold and she needs your help to get the money out of the country; a rich widow who liked your profile; the girls from Russia or Ukraine seeking husbands outside their country, because the men in their own country are like sloth bears; donations for charity - maybe small amounts multiplied by millions of recipients; websites conning fans in 2010 World Cup ticket fraud; bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays; telemarketing sales; identity theft; fake job offers; phishing mails and web sites. A good suggested read is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud, and the various links from there. The internet and mass mailing software has made this very easy and you have to be doubly vigilant. Of course, you must not forget the god men who are still conning the entire gullible mankind in the name of a non-existing god and religion that is meant to exploit by trying to book a seat for them in the imaginary heaven or afterlife.

(The various built link links in this article can be useful if you wish to explore and know more)

It is the greed and the desire of the individuals for the get rich schemes that generally makes a person susceptible to the con-men.

Remember, there are no free lunches.

There is a Poet in You - Random Thoughts # 5

Pondering over the process of growing up – every person seems to have gone through a phase when he (or she) has dabbled in writing poetry. Almost like music - its in everyone's blood; some sing, others hum, some just love to listen or just tap to its rhythm OR some even sing in the bathroom. I have yet to meet a person who never hummed or whistled a song or indulged in some form of music.

Most folks do it, ie., dabble in poetry, early in life; sometimes in the form of riddles or puzzles or even limericks, the more desi ones in sher'o shayari (Urdu couplets) or Hindi poetry. There is no language bar - every language under the sun has its share of poets and poetry.

I remember in my early school days in South Point, Calcutta; after I became a little proficient in the English language (as a shift from my Hindi background), I started writing simple riddles with rhyme e.g.:

"My first is in cover but not in page

My second is in sulk but not in rage

My third is in colour and also in yellow

My fourth is in sick but not in mellow
My last is in seek but not in see,

My whole keeps you as busy as a bee."
(Its obviously a 5 letter word. What am I?)

Then the growing up years introduced me to “Limericks”, they are those short and sweet 5 line poems where the 1st, 2nd and 5th lines rhyme; the 3rd and 4th lines rhyme. There are more rules regarding limericks pertaining to the lengths of the lines, syllables etc.; I shall not be delving into them here – the vast internet and google search shall provide the answers if you really want to know. A common example of a limerick:

Come on everyone let's play holi,
It's great fun if you are in a toli,
Colours and sweets and lots of fun,
Running around is great if in the sun,
Then to conclude have some bhaang ki goli.

(Author Varsha U Nagpal from the webpage "LIMERICKS & TRIVIA (Humour) Unlimited", this limerick has a few Hindi words thrown in holi - Indian Festival of colour, toli - group, bhang ki goli - a tablet of an intoxicant and a psychotropic substances) 

The third phase in the adolescent/teenage stage – when the person becomes a romantic. He may not write poetry – but he lives poetry. His prose also becomes poetic. This is more pronounced if the person falls in love. And that is inevitable. By 'love' I do not mean girl/boy love, it just means falling in love with anybody or anything – maybe a puppy, your garden, the river nearby, the hills or just rain... He could land up writing sonnets, they are those 14 line love poems. If you really want to know more about sonnets, the Wikipedia gives a lot of interesting information.

I have noticed the youngsters who end up writing sonnets or poems at this stage of life – often retain the interest of writing poetry for the rest of their lives.

What is so fascinating in poetry that prose does not have? There is a beautiful quotation by a Chinese philosopher:

"When you write in prose, you cook the rice. When you write poetry, you turn rice into rice wine. Cooked rice doesn't change its shape, but rice wine changes both in quality and shape. Cooked rice makes one full so one can live out one's life span . . . wine, on the other hand, makes one drunk, makes the sad happy, and the happy sad. Its effect is sublimely beyond explanation." - Wu Qiao.

Poetry is fascinating to the mind as well as to the ear, it is said that reading poems can exercise your brain in the same way that playing sport exercises your body.

Currently poetry has widened its horizons to such an extent that a beautiful artistic movie is referred to as “poetry on celluloid”.

Even if you have never written poetry but are fascinated by it – here is a simple guide (courtesy BBC.co.uk), give it a shot – you have nothing to lose; its a win-win situation:

Use your imagination. Add to what you know by making things up. How do you think Roald Dahl could write about living inside a peach, or William Gibson write about being in 'cyberspace', or Tolkien describe a hobbit or an orc? That's the power of a writer's imagination!

Write poem after poem. Often people feel their words have to flow and sound right as soon as they hit the page. If all writers did this nothing would ever get published.

Don't wait for the words and the lines to shape themselves perfectly in your head before you start writing. You can shape your ideas once they are on the paper. The important thing is to get started and keep going.

Think of yourself as a sculptor. You need a vision but you also need something to sculpt with. If you don't get something down on paper then you haven't got any raw materials to work with.

Use a dictionary and thesaurus. They help you make sure your writing is accurate and clear. They can also help spark your imagination - discovering a new word could be the beginning of a new stanza or poem.

Don't let your ideas get away. The best ideas can sneak up on you in the strangest places and at the most awkward times - on the toilet, in the bath, in dreams. Always carry something you can use to record your ideas - a notebook, a dictaphone, an envelope to hold scraps of paper.

Get feedback. Ask people to read your work and learn from their comments. Ask yourself: What can I do to improve my work?


Remember all the English grammar rules can also be ALMOST thrown to the winds in poetry and you will not only be forgiven, but also appreciated - as long as you can make it beautiful. Computers have made this so much simpler.

And most important, remember that a poem does not necessarily mean that you have to look for rhyming words – “free verse” is the current trend and today very beautiful poems are in free verse. Here is one in free verse, for the record:

You are you

And I am I,

The fond 'we'

Fashioned of you and me;

Has gone away,

And with it is gone

The mystic bond

Between you and me.

Now you are you

And I am I.

(Author - KP Varma; Book – Thirty Leaves)

Now is that not a beautiful short and meaningful poetry?

Just pick up your pen, open a notepad and start writing....