Ode to Stingy Jack of the Lantern

On a happy Tuesday, I asked the Devil if he'd like a drink,

He chose to have a rare wine, colored salmon pink,

When time came to pay, I turned to him for coin,

And trapped him in my pocket because I was a swine,

The Devil remembered me deception and he in turn,

Banished me from his kingdom where the Hellfire burns

Wandering the Earth, I came upon our good Lord,

Who refused me the time of day, let alone the Word,

And so I wander the earth today, going door to door,

In the company of witches, warlocks and the Horsemen 4,

They called me Stingy Jack and I am the Pumpkin King,

Beware tonight; I might your bell ring

The Bilge Master

Katie

I had an imaginary friend called Katie,

Who helped me make Earl Grey tea,

Which we drank out of plastic cups,

On the drawing room settee,

She was a quirky girl, was Katie,

And she believed aliens existed,

And told me of worlds where green men and red women,

Mutually co-existed,

Then they told me,

There’s no such thing as Katie,

And I wept for I missed my oldest friend,

Until they made me read of stars and galaxies,

And quasars in Physics and Chemistry,

And I set out to explore Mars, on a craft with astronauts three,

Me, my co-worker and my dearest friend Katie

The Bilge Master 

Goodbye 20!

This is the last day I’ll be twenty. This is the same feeling as last year when I was kissing my teenage years goodbye. But, if I might share a little secret with you, I am glad that this year is over.

This year has seen my family relocate to Asansol. It’s been a year that we’ve been here but the town has grown on us. In spite of that, sometimes it’s difficult being away from home in a shoddy flat in Dum Dum. That being said I have two amazing roomies who make sure I study and party with the same enthusiasm.

But, see the thing is. The thing is, my twentieth year has brought with it a lot of darkness. It’s pushed me into depression twice. It’s made me move houses twice. It’s also made me lose two of my well wishers; one of whom loved me as if I were her own son. I’ve also lost both my cousins. Somehow we don’t communicate anymore.  All the damage seems to have been done 2.0 times this year.

I end this post with a firm look at what’s ahead. I bid my twentieth year bye bye with a song in my heart.

Hello 21!

The Bilge Master

PS. Two good things did happen to come out of this year. One I met my cousins in Bombay and two I have epic juniors in college!

Time and Linkin Park

Sometimes I need reminding that I am a nineties kid. Unfortunately I don't have too many nineties things left with me to remind me of that. My Pokemon card and tazo collection has been given to a kid somewhere down the line. My shorts from that era have been outgrown. My milk teeth fell out and my Batman figures are lost.

However, fast forward a decade and we hit the 00’s. Things start to look up and suddenly I start to listen to Linkin Park. I discover Batman and Robin. I make friends with a kid (literally) who has a guitar.

And the party begins. No stress about marks or college or jobs and CV’s. We are just a bunch of idiotically pimpled kids hanging out on the stairs, despite being told not to loiter in the corridors or stairs.

Alcohol is almost a light year away,  girlfriends are a vague mystery and unity is in our diversity. He comes from Howrah, she from Behala and that duo from Rajarhat. But who cares? The only thing we cared about was whose mom made the best tiffin.

It’s funny how listening to “In the End” by Linkin Park sent me far back to my schooldays. It’s funny how much I miss being told to get out of the class. It’s funny that all my school friends are either in college or worse, jobs!

It’s funny how Time can fly, but then again if there were no Time, there would be no memories or dreams would there?

The Bilge Master

Moving Forward

It has been a long time since I wrote anything. To be honest it is because I was sort of living in the past. I was re living moments that had passed a long time ago and as a result, I was getting nightmares and feeling like crap.

Until I had a talk with my father today and he pointed out the very simple truth that these things are behind me. They cannot hurt me ever again; unless I let them. That’s the key see? What I do to myself is what affects how my condition and my mood stay.

It’s kind of like Green Day’s song 21 Guns. The part where Billie Joe says

“One, 21 guns

Throw up your arms into the sky”

I need to lay my past to rest. I need to move on. I will. From right this moment.

Okay so dad might have snapped at me in anger once. He has been my anchor for the past twenty one years.

The important things in my life are my friends. My happiness and my future.

The important things in my life are not my past, my bygones and who said what to me when.

I think it’s about time I stopped being a royal ass and started to laugh again!

The Bilge Master

The Phoenix

The little boy had gone to the old story teller on the hill again. He loved the stories the old man had to say. Sometimes he would tell of wars fought, sometimes he would speak of the adventures of the Greeks.

But, the boy’s favourite story was the one about the Phoenix

The Phoenix was a bird of splendid beauty, and it was also magical. It had the power to heal people with its tears. It could transport you easily across time and space. The phoenix was the bird of the nobles and the aristocrats. People were in awe of the bird. It’s most important trait was that it was immortal and would burn in a bright flame when the time for it’s death came; and be reborn from the ashes.

Thus, spoke the old man of the Phoenix.

Here below, I have constructed a diorama of what the boy thought the story actually meant. It is the boy’s opinion that the Phoenix teaches us something. It burns up in flame, but always rises from it’s ashes. Maybe the burning is synonymous with the hardships life has thrown at us and the rising from the ashes in nothing but our strength egging us on to master the difficulties. Perhaps what the phoenix means is “never give up, no matter what happens”.

I liked what the boy said. And you, dear reader?  

The Bilge Master

On the Edge of a Rainbow

There was once a girl. She was in her teens. She liked to draw. She also liked graffiti a lot. She always had doodles in her mind and in her notebook. She’d draw Disney characters or comic book characters. Sometimes she would draw herself, either standing or sitting, surrounded by graffiti lettering.

The girl lived in a small town on the outskirts of New Jersey. The town boasted a library, a medicine shop, a small cafe and a bookstore. The girl used to go to the local community school there. Whenever she got a chance, she would graffiti in her school. She used felt tip markers to doodle, so they were removable. The entire building was her canvas, and bit by bit, her art got better and better.

She started to move out of the school building and paint on the walls of the bookstore. She would draw Hemingway, or a scene from a Batman comic or she would use bright colors to initial the walls.

Our artist had soon painted the entire town with some graffiti or the other. Her drawings ranged from lettering, to pictures of the President and scenes from movies were also thrown in for good measure.

In this way, the teenaged girl passed out of high school and went on to study art in Chicago. Seven years passed. Four years of college and three years at an art gallery. She didn’t think of going back. Until one day, her father sent her an email saying that her mother had fallen sick. She took the first train out.

Upon seeing her, her mother was overwhelmed and insisted on talking with her about her new life and how college was. Slowly bit by bit and brick by brick, her mother got better.

Meanwhile, the girl carried on doodling in an exercise book. One day she went out. She went to the bookstore. On her way out, she saw the graffiti she had painted still on the wall she had painted it on. It seemed to have been cared for. It had not faded or been blemished. It had lasted seven years.

The girl felt immensely happy that the town had kept these graffiti decoration she had drawn so well. She also felt at home again in her little town. It was like a trip down memory lane. She was the girl standing on the edge of the rainbow once again; just as she had drawn herself seven years ago.

The Bilge Master