Manan Sheel's Blog

People often become unable to get the pleasure of a lot many things because they define things beforehand. It starts with the kids. Little boys start saying that this thing or that is meant for girls and vice versa. This habit grows and people cannot experience a lot many beautiful things, and in many cases, they are unable to fall in love. Adults say that this book is meant for children, why should they read them? They draw strict lines inside their mind that divide their minds into different, unmergeable sections. Don’t you think they live a limited life by doing this? Life is everything all at once. How can one separate things? I love to read The Jungle book and I don’t think it is written only for kids. Have adults committed any crime that they should be left out of such a wonderful experience? I love reading Heidi by Johanna Spyri and watching its wonderful animation. Why do people say it is only for girls? Isn’t a little femininity essential for everyone? Isn’t all that is beautiful in this world a little feminine? Don’t define things beforehand. Dare to take the pleasure in a lot many things. In many, many things. Your mind must be a spectrum of wondrous colors. It must have infinite dimensions. Don’t live a limited life. You were given this life to experience. Anything beautiful coming your way must be accepted. It is there only and only for you.

-Manan sheel.

Books and Fruits
I am glad that I could read these novels in the year 2016. Through each of these books I sucked life. These are the books whose juices nourished me. Each one with its own flavour, was like a fruit. Some of them were like apples – sober and always sweet and tasty. Some were like oranges or pineapples – sweet and tantalizingly sour at times with lots of chatakas. Some were like mangoes – the epic books that rule. Some were feel good books like bananas. And there were also some, which were like an unknown fruit that crosses all limits of being delicious…These were the hidden, unpopular books that were real gems…
So, I give my list of books that I have read…Which I am glad, that I have read and the fruit whose taste can best be matched with the book – 
1. The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes) – Apples, maybe2. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl) – Oranges, I think3. And the mountains echoed (Khaled Hosseini) – Mangoes with bananas?4. The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie) – All the chatpata chataka fruits eaten together in a bowl with lots of pepper and black salt…5. Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka) – A rare dragon fruit with awe inspiring structure and a different taste6. The Grass is Singing (Doris Lessing) – Apples, yes?7. The Little Prince – Strawberries with cream, right?8. No one writes to the colonel (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) – A mango eaten with fork9. The Death of Ivan Illych (Leo Tolstoy) – Imli (Tamarind) with churan and karela (bitter gourd)10. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) – A heavenly life saving fruit, available rarely11. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) – Dussheri and chausa mangoes eaten with bare hands…12. Half A life (V.S. Naipaul) – Jamuns?? Feels tasty but leaves the mouth with a chiklik taste…13. The Golden Gate (Vikram Seth) – Oh the sweetest of the sugarcanes…extremely excessively diabetically sweet….

      Manan sheel (2016 Books)

Music!

Music is soul. Without music, there is nothing. Music made this world, this universe. Music takes the mind from theories to life. Who will be there sans music? Music is a colourful orgasm. Music is ecstasy. Music eases, music dances, music creates joy, music destroys wastes.Music is a live fire. Music is the waves of the sea. Music is silence, the surprise after silence. Music is life. Music decorates, music disrobes reality, magical reality. Music is comfort, yet beautifully anxious. Music is not you, it is deeper than the words ‘you’ and ‘i’. Music is your homeland. Music is a bond with god, music is eternity, God is music, music is madness, music is an oasis for the deserted soul, music is surprise, music includes all. Music is a writer with magical madness, music is a painter with magical colors in his palettes.
Manan sheel.
(I heart-stormed for half an hour and this ecstatic piece on music is the result!This is unedited, raw in its ways)

I see a beautiful thing. I write a poem. I made the thing intimately mine. The next time I see it, my heart meets a beloved. This is why I write poems!
I see a beautiful thing. My heart wants to look at it often. I paint the thing. Now, just behind the curtains in my chest, is a window to that thing. I just have to move the curtains a bit, and Tada! I can look at the lovely thing, mixed with my living hormones. This is why I paint!
What is the use of all this, you ask?I will tell you. All this brings richness. A little taste of timelessness. You get filled up with colors. You almost drown in a river of music and colors. You can create a heaven for yourself at any place, whenever you want.
Manan sheel.
Writing 1 for 17th January, 2017.