Tag: Art

To Create

Alfa M. ShakyaLeave a comment

I’d get back after school, finish all my homework, do all my readings and wait to watch the animated X-Men on TV. The very classy Jean Grey, the serious looking but good natured Professor X, the charming Cyclopes and the sweet Kitty. If I could be a character, I’d be a mix of Kitty and Jean, I thought. I’d never miss a single episode. Seeing the X-Men save the day meant a lot. It meant good prevailed over evil.

I didn’t read the comics, but rather watched the TV shows based on the comics which was broadcasted by the local TV. I’d often wonder how it’d be if I could be a character among these characters, zooming in left and right, flying and saving the world. My childish brain would brew up its own story and I’d make myself a character among these and imagine saving the world. I’d bestow myself superpowers. How easy it was, perhaps it still is.

While I sure didn’t know who Stan Lee was back then, I grew up with his creations, with the X-Men, with Spiderman, with Fantastic Four. Someone created those characters. Someone envisioned them and didn’t let them die out on the desk.

I can only thank Lee for not locking Jean Grey on his drawer and not summoning her in reality.

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.” – Stan Lee

Perhaps it’s time, it’s always time to set the characters in the drawer free.
Let Lee’s life inspire us to create – something that we truly madly deeply love.

Hope and Prepare | A Conversation

Alfa M. ShakyaLeave a comment

‘How does one hope for the best and prepare for the worst, Lord Vayu?’ princess Valli asked the Guardian of the Wind.

‘I am not sure, but it is quite an impossible feat I must say.’

‘To be hopeful of the great and still be ready to face the worst, a sting of irony,’ the princess added.

Vayu nodded his head.

‘To be hopeful would mean to let the heart float among the clouds,’ he said as the sky danced in shades of pink. The sun was setting. They were atop a high hill that overlooked the entire valley. ‘And to prepare for the worst would mean to fall straight unto the ground from the clouds.’

‘How can one imagine the two together. To hope for one and to prepare for another?’ Valli questioned as the wind blew her scarf. ‘Doesn’t one prepare for what one hopes?’

‘Indeed,’ replied Vayu. ‘The human life is bogged with the eternal ironies, to have day and night, shadow and light. To have the wind to breathe and to have the same win uproot homes as hurricanes.’

‘Wouldn’t it be better to be able to fly like the birds instead? To soar in the clouds and not have to worry of falling?’ Valli added.

‘But even the birds fear the fall.’

‘Perhaps, they do. And we do too.’

I Think of Summer

Alfa M. ShakyaLeave a comment

I think of summer
as autumn moves away
opening the doors to winter.

Strong gust of November winds
blow past my shell
ripping apart my safe house
just at the start of the cold.

Summer has ended,
a season gone
but work still remains to be done.

I’ve been lazy
dancing under the sun,
now I’ll shiver and run
at the sight of the beacon,
nature’s sign of change.

I think of summer,
but summer’s gone.
I think of the next summer.

I will always think of summer.

Festival of Lights | A Prose

Alfa M. ShakyaLeave a comment

As I stand on the terrace, chilly November wind brushes past the tip of my nose. I might catch a cold, there’s a 150% chance and I still stand there.

There are lights everywhere, mostly bright blue and green, dangling from houses in vertical lines. They used to be milder and warmer before, but still beautiful they are.

I can smell the fresh marigold all around, blooming in flower pots or hanging as garlands. Their bright yellow color reminds me of warmer days, of summer, of the sun, of the light. Incense sticks burn somewhere behind, it’s smell reminds me of the time I am in.

The city is a jewel in the dark night, devoid of the moon. The night is quiet and yet playful, it shines in colors of all kinds, in its own kind. But this night must end too, like all other nights. And yet I’d pray for time to slow down a little, if not much, for my senses to take hold of the beautiful moment that was, that is and that will be.

When I was a kid these lights could slow time down, filling my heart with the joy of just what it was – lights. I could then just say, ‘There’s still three days before school starts. I should enjoy these three days to the fullest.’ I didn’t know how long 24 hours would take. I’d just remain awake for a long time, believing I had slowed time down. These lights still fill my heart with joy of all that it is, but time seems to be always in a rush, or perhaps I’ve lost the magic keys that could slow it down. Maybe there still are three days before school starts and maybe I should still enjoy them. There are still 24 hours in a day.

The lights will return, perhaps in different shades the next year, but the oil lamps will always burn, radiating the rays of the sun.