Ursla K Le Guin

“A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt.” 
- The left hand of darkness


“Relationships formed against the negative pressure of a society are under terrible strain; they tend to become defensive, over intense, unpeaceful. They have no room to grow.”
- The matter of Seggri (The Birthday of the World)


“(Our love) did not work very well or last very long, yet it was a great liberation for both of us, our liberation from the belief that the only communication or comonality possible between us was sexual, that an adult man and woman had nothing to join them but their genitals.”
- The matter of Seggri (The birthday of the World)

Nepotism

Hate it.

Punjabi poetry

I am sitting here listening to some classics by Gurdas Mann. What is about Punjabi love songs that speaks to my soul? Gurdas Mann’s songs express the sentiments that my heart seems to have forgotten but recalls with a little nudge from him.

The longer I live, the more I realise that people seem to have forgotten the real meaning of love. That unconditional, abundant love is scarce nowadays. In a world of abundant sex, easy thrills, fast food, ever lasting love seems like a thing of the past. Why truly love when there are plenty of opportunities? When lust is being satisfied at every corner.

Perhaps I am an old soul. An old soul living in the wrong time. Perhaps what I look for never existed. It must have though because there is a human being in this world who felt what is written below. Now this is true love....

Gurdas Mann - Sajna Ve Sajna with English translation

sajna ve sajna tere shehar wali sanu ., kini sohni lagdi dupehar

Beloved, oh my beloved, the afternoon heat of your city seems so beautiful...

kini changi lagdi dupehar

I really like the afternoon heat...

fer v pata ni kaato, moh jeha aayi jande

Nevertheless, I don’t know why but I feel overwhelmed with love...

bhaave sade sar gaye ne pair, bhaave sade bhuj gaye ne pair

Even though my feet are burnt, even though my feet have been roasted (in the heat of your city)

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved.....

maa ne v rokeya, bapu ne v rokeya

Mother stopped me, Father stopped me

naa jaayi mitran de shehar

They said don’t go to your lover’s city

par sadi bhukh sagon dooni chauni hoi jaave

But my hunger to see you increased twofolds, three folds

haul painde rehan chato pair

I felt like I would faint from this hunger

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved....

tere shehar kaahi aayi mitra ve meriya

Since I have been in your city my dearest friend.

bhule sab shikve te vair

I have forgotten all bothersome things and enmities..

chit kare kakke kakke reteya nu chum lava

I feel like kissing the hot sand (on which you have walked)

lab kite sajna di pair

Only if I could find my beloved’s footprints 

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich sab apne hi vasde ne

In your city, everyone is my own

sade pind vasde ne gair

In my own village, they are all strangers

jine mile sanu sab, mile dukhk den wale

All people I have met so far have given me nothing but sadness

ik ne na pushi sadi khair

Not one asked me how I was

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich asi mangteya barobar

In your city, I am like a beggar

bhaave gurr paade, bhaave zehar

You can give me brown sugar or poison in alms

tere dar uto bhukh naina di mitaavni oye

At your door step, I am going to fullfil the hunger of my eyes

eho sade pakra di khair

This is my one wish to the saints

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

jag bhaave rus jaaye, rab bhaave rus jaaye

The world can get mad at me, God can get mad at me

sanu sade mitran di lehar

I have you (my beloved) to rely upon

maana marjaaneya ki shehar tera vekheya ooye

Maan, now that I have seen your city

saatho bhuli jandi na dupehar

I cannot forget that afternoon heat

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna 

Beloved, oh my beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

The Black Swan

Just watched “The Black Swan” with Natalie Portman. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mental stimulation. It is a psychological thriller that takes you down the road of self perfection.

Self perfection or self destruction.

Thank you God!

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou