Monday, September 15, 2008

Winning a Genie

After winning the genie
by breaking a bottle
it became my habit
to break and search.
Words ,hearts,moments
everything was broken
in search of another genie.
After becoming a failure
I found the broken bottle
and read the contest rule.
"winners should never compete again"

68 comments:

Anonymous said...

There was a definite lure to break the bottle,but the ecstasy of breaking and finding something becomes a habbit in itself to be reflected in most other things, as you put it. Still,such habbits can be broken by reality(if we dare to look it in its face).
Winners must never compete again? Ah...but they do...its only that as time advances,for them,the attributes (here:of breaking n finding) keeps changing.
And that is why, I feel,the innovative mind always wins.
Not even those who copy them can break them apart,for they alone have got the intelligence to break through every problem.

Mampi said...

Ohh,
But what is Man without the quest,
to win over and over again.
Perhaps in breaking lies the re-building, perhaps that is creativity. For what is construction without destruction?

Si_Lee said...

You know this piece can interpreted on very different planes (reason,emotion,idealism,pragmatism..etc etc) and still it would convey a sensible meaning ...
yet again .. short but powerful piece of writing .. maybe you should title your blog .." who says size does matter???"
congo... :)

Fantasies of a Lifetime said...

Great post as always :D . . .Its human nature to always want more. .A boon for some , and a failure for some.

Jahnabi Roy said...

so not true...i mean its a great write up but if you don't compete again in the fear that you will lose then i guess you were never sure of yourself...maybe the previous victory was a fluke... and in this world you gotta get out there and prove yourself again and again... otherwise you'd be outta sight outta mind...and isnt that again failure in itself???

aria said...

sigh .. its so true.. sometimes winning is worse than losing and after a broken bottle.. all we are left with .. is subtle ringing clinks..

its an abstruse poem .. and thats the beauty of your writing ..

Rakesh said...

nice thought

Anu said...

MIP,
I really liked this one. Humans will keep breaking their bottles because even if get a genie, two of them is always better, and after that three, and so on and so forth...

Nefariousoutlook said...

nice thought ..but isnt the lure of finding another genie overpowering..i believe that the person who would stop would generally do so cause he would be afraid of failure to find anything

man in painting said...

@ayushi..
Winning is an idea.we always keep loosing unless we break or crack the secret behind that idea.Power rules our lifes,all of our relations.Idea of winning has created wars..and it will continue..Our analytical and intelligent minds can seldon sense danger instantaneously..we analyse danger after the damage is done..
May be our habits for having slave monsters drive us to all these..
thanks a lot ayushi..
MIP

man in painting said...

@mampi..
'winning over what?'is the disturbing question..If we have truly 'won' will we ever compete again.Will a true winner ever compete?(lao tzu).Break and search is our way of looking in to things.."the scientific way"We can find trillions for an experiment but still cannot find solutions for a few million people dying because of the lack of resourses just because they lack the aggression to win..
Darwin taught us this habit. We are happy to be trapped in the idea of being 'civilized apes'..
I agree with the spirit of survival and search you mentioned but shall we not search for new ways for that?
thank you mampi
MIP

man in painting said...

@descrying the shadows.
The dimension I focussed was power..
yes, it can be read in many ways..
lol
"small is beautiful"
MIP

Sushant said...

You said a lot..simply a lot mate..!!

deepsat said...

some winning is achieved through loosing all. and that winning is so futile. strangely, the realization dawns only too late!!

;-))

Vinz said...

greed, leads to failure..!!

Si_Lee said...

he he .. yeah small is beautiful .. sometimes :P

man in painting said...

@nm
Thank you
@fantasies
yes..
@everything burns
If you have really won,who needs to compete again..All our wins are winning without awareness..which leads to more cravings..
but your point is also valid , in some other dimension..
thank you..
MIP

man in painting said...

@aria
thanks a lot
happy you liked the theme...

man in painting said...

@rakesh
Thank you..
@anu
it is a chain reaction..
very true..
@nefarious outlook
Ideas...both are just ideas..
ideas are always representations..
we live in a world of ideas but reactions happen in the real world..Our physical existence has to tolerate our idealist shadow halves..
we all live chasing shadows..
liked your thought too..
MIp

man in painting said...

@sushanth
Thank you..
@satish
you said it..
thank you..
@vinu
true...
thank you..

Shruti said...

I am in love with this one..the theme..the words...the flow..everything...
Specially the use of the broken word..
Amazing..I bow down with due respect!!

man in painting said...

@shruthi
thanks a lot
how was exams..
hope you are doing well
wishes..
MIP

Rakesh Vanamali said...

After having won a gazillion times, one does feel like a loser! Thats because, as quality appreciating human beings, we tend to raise the bar within ourselves and commit ourselves to adhere better standards.

Its one thing to keep winning and quite another to abstain from competition knowing that the end result would be in one's favour....
I'm sure you'll agree with me when i say that the latter requires a certain degree of courage and sacrifice!

But does the winner always think that he / she is assisted to win?
Now, thats a lot of modesty, isn't it?

man in painting said...

Hai rajesh
I try to know power and its role in all our lives..Winning is an unconscious way to overpower something.Focussing and knowing that ida is important..If one is aware enough when undergoing the process of "being successful" or "winning" do we need to repeat it..We are governed by ideas..
Freeing ourselves from ideas is very very important..
without freedom do we ever feel what is to live real
thanks a lot for your thoughts..
MIP

Sashu... said...

Absolutely brilliant! sheer profundity thru such a simple verse!! hats off!:)

gypsy said...

to win over and over again without a hint of failure wud be too boring too...

:)

Priya said...

Lessons of life is learnt only through many rounds huh..

Keshi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Keshi said...

profound!


**Words ,hearts,moments
everything was broken
in search of another genie

wow I love that! To really win, u must lose a little.


I'm Broken's personification.


Keshi.

Usha Pisharody said...

Thought-provoking verse. The wanting to win will never but never leave one alone, no matter that one meets enough failure too! Even if it is renunciation that one goes after, it's still a sort of tussle to let go, isn't it?

And total surrender, sadly, is still an alien phenomenon, except to the Enlightened ones!

On a lighter note, it brings to mind my son's squadron motto, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!" . Lol!

man in painting said...

@sashu
thank you..
@d gypsy
both are ideas..
freeing ourselves from ideas is important.
to do that there is only one way..
live all of those ideas with awareness...
MIP

man in painting said...

@priya
that is true..
@keshi
ideas..
win over them...

man in painting said...

@usha ji
We live our lifes triggered by stimuli created because of pattern of impulses created inside our CNS..We call them ideas...We are trapped inside them.But it is possible to get ourselves freed from this"network of thought".Slowness is important.Having ample time is important.Knowing our needs and desires is important..
Winning is just an idea..
getting ruled over by ideas is a secondary mediocre life..
second hand experience..
will we ever reach the 'real'?
MIP

Old Monk said...

Desire to win is fine,but being greedy and going on to conquer without thinking of anything else is a curse and will surely lead to destruction. Nice work with so many dimensions.

man in painting said...

@sajiganesh..
Thank you...

Anonymous said...

Thats great ,all winners should know that.I always used 2 think that y winners shud compete like greedy dogs
eventhough God hz given them many.The shud think abt others & give a chance
4 others who hav never gt a chance.

Comfortably Numb said...

Ummm...I don't agree as far as the rules of the contest(life/success) is concerned.
Seek what you want and life shall give it to you. Doesn't matter if you've got that before.


Cheers!!

Unknown said...

hehe it actually brought a smile to my face.. hehe
really nice one.. hehe sometimes winning is not everything..
u need to win to prove something.. but then that shouldn't over ride all ur other passions in life.. or rather become the only passion in your life..

Debasish Patra said...

smart again !

Nikkita mathur said...

wow...MIP..i must say dude..weneva u rite..u make everything fall in the rite place...there are no more ifs- n - buts...left..it feels as if this can not be any better than this....kudos..yaar!!teach me a little...
bTW updated my space..
check out...

\,,/ rock on..
cheerz!!
lv:nickku

Salil said...

MIP,
You addict, how many times have I told you not to break bottles? Now who will pay for the broken bottles?
You know my comprehension levels - after all, as you said, common sense is not ....
Keep them coming buddy.
Cheers,
Salil

AshenGlow said...

Yeah. which jughead would want the joyride to stop at three wishes? The first wish itself should have been a hundred more genies for yourself! Heh!

happyz said...

Winners are always insecured and your thoughts proved that once more... once a winner you want to secure your place @ the top ;)

man in painting said...

@creator of cremations..
Winner will never think of it...
Thank you..
@comfortabily numb
It is actually not about winning..It is always about break and search..The way we like to win..
Thank you buddy...

man in painting said...

@debu..
Thank you..
@ani
happy you liked it..
@nikkita
Thank you...thank you..
@Salil
lol buddy...don't you remember it was you who broke the bottle...It was me who had to pay the bills..
thanks for the cerebellar kick!

man in painting said...

@ashenglow..
lol
thank you..
@

man in painting said...

@happyz
it is always good to doubt and question our own ways..Winning as an idea too has to be examined...

Heart'n'Soul said...

How do u do it man
so much u say in such lil wrds... neway, come collect ur award

Roopa said...

How come I missed this post for so long!! Guess I was ensconced in my own little bottle. I don't want to win or lose, I want to be the genie and make all wishes come true.

man in painting said...

@Roopa
Thank you
@mini mouse
Thanks for the surprise gift
That was wonderful!
liked it a lot..
MIP

Solitaire said...

Very sad!! Portrays a lot of emotions in a very short verse. Splendid.

Chaggoholic.... said...

This truly is Size doesnt matter types.Amazin amount of things said in the shortest and tiniest ways....

man in painting said...

@solitare
happy you are safe and fine...
take care..
@chaggaholic
In my opinin they should be evn more small..
the less the burden of thoughts and burdens the better they convey the feel...
Thank you..

Akshaya Kamalnath said...

Do you need to brak the bottle to win? The way I read it in the beginning was that the end doesn't justify the means. But after reading the whole thing, I thought you were hitting at taking things for granted. But reading the many interpretations ur readers have giver and your own, its really one of those lovely pieces where what the reader makes of it depends the reader itself.
Enjoyed reading it.

My Unfinished Life said...

sometimes winning becomes an obsession...

Trinaa said...

awesome....!! loved it.. :))

P said...

I love the way your thoughts enfold...especially towards the end...

Rajesh said...

Haa...haa...a goodd one...I accept...winning is not everything...its just 1 part of many...and so yeah....well said..

P.S:My 25th post on blogger s awaiting MIP's visit :)

Anonymous said...

A restless mind,
A thirst that can never be quenched.
Is it the thirst that drives it?
Or is it the quest to end the thirst?

man in painting said...

@akshaya..
After writing it is never ours..reader decides...
all writings are just sparks for dialoues..which is the only important thing..
@shooting stars..
all obsessions are dangerous..

man in painting said...

@trinaa
Thank you
@priya
Thank you..
@rajesh..
thank you..
will visit.. definitely..
@justpathe..
nice..
thank you..
MIP

Chronicler said...

dont want to sound cliched... brilliant piece of work like always.. old habits die hard as they, especially those which give us some kind of a sadistic pleasure...

Jayashree and Just Jay said...

"Its like Big things comes in small packages".. Very nice, small but very powerful arrangements of words. Keep up the good work.

Cheers!

Arthur Dent said...

And since when has man realised where to draw the line? Satiation is something that is very personal and it is person who decides what all he can "break" without being affected while pursuing his quest....

PS:- finally a job,so hope to be regular here :D

man in painting said...

@swayam
It was a different angle...
loved the way you saw it...
Thanks
MIP

man in painting said...

@inspiration
Thank you
@Paritosh
So happy to see you back
Baby B was missing you..
Congrats too...!
MIP

Devika Jyothi said...

On contest rules, the Chinese saying you said sometime before holds more true perhaps-- One who knows to win never competes.

But then, isn't winning itself a hope, a feeling -- very illusive of its kind? making you break words, hearts, moments time and again..only to realise your own failings...

arunima said...

now thats a thought