Reflections: Notes on Soliloquy - I
Under-woven is a somewhat-patchy mural, somewhat-creased tapestry of aphorisms - a few flashes of literary embers that have sparked on and off in my chambers of mind over the years, as the date tagged to each thought shall witness; I hope that you, perchance, occasion upon some sprinkles of familiar thought, or relatable sentiment;
‘‘Sometimes,
the road with the fewest options is the one which men seeking greatness must
travel, for it is the most rewarding...
Such seeker
must happen upon path untraveled...’’
Surumani Manzi,
5:30pm - 10th Nov,
2013
‘‘For the
purpose of action, the best option is to have no option at all...’’
Surumani Manzi.
‘‘Illness makes
men, Illness unmakes men...
It brings us
closer to God; receding us from the darkness of unbelief...’’
Surumani Manzi,
28th March, 2014
[In the throes of convalescing from a terrible malaria onslaught]
‘‘A man sorely
needing a thing scarce need ask...
A deep-seated
faith is a thing of power,
Compelling that
desired, to make avail of itself...’’
Surumani Manzi,
7:40pm - 10th Nov, 2013
‘‘There is no
problem greater than the conviction that there is no problem...’’
Surumani Manzi,
12:44pm - 8th Nov, 2013
‘‘Live half your
life with the daring of a man, who’ll lose it this very day;
And the other
half with the caution of a man who’ll live forever …’’
Surumani Manzi,
7:37pm - 8th Nov, 2013
‘‘Life, I
presently see, is a constant, never ending series of births and rebirths -
We stumble upon
our genius and our follies with equally dramatic surprise, and at times,
nonchalance –
We realize we
are stubborn,
We realize we
are naive,
Then we realize
that we are altogether children,
Impressionable,
vulnerable - yet righteous...’’
Surumani Manzi.
‘‘And while
several in my knowledge have been (or claim to have been) healed of a terrible
infirmity by a one Jehovah, several others in my knowledge too have been saved
from death by a one Allah, others yet - also in my knowledge - have been given
children by Ruhanga and Were, while others more have been
granted peace by the Buddha and Lord Krishna alike -
Now, either the
Universe’s craftsman is playing a nomenclature trick on our minds ... or he’s
just so indecisive about which name to go by that this indecision has been (wrongly)
perceived by his respective followers as a signal for taking up arms one
against the other...
Or he
altogether goes not by any one of these names - and is someone/something else
we are yet to uncover...’’
Surumani Manzi.
‘‘The only way
to end, is to begin,
The sole path
to arrival is commencement...
The surest kindler of the hope to reach, is to start the journey...’’
Surumani
Manzi
*[Inspired
by Wole Soyinka’s - ''You must set forth at dawn'' -]
‘‘I think it is
just as important for us to be as close to those we love;
As it is to
create a gap of safety between ourselves and them –
For ourselves, as well as for their sake –
Where we may
allow the other person to make all the mistakes of their personal calling –
Where they may
be irresponsible and negligent –
And where we
too may spend away the stupidities in us undeserved by them...’’
Surumani Manzi,
29th March, 2014
‘‘To strike at
the root of prejudice in our world –
We must strive to be uncritical even when
criticizing criticism ...’’
Surumani Manzi,
29th March, 2014
‘‘Poetry is for
those who recognize that they possess emotions,
Not being
afraid to face them...
While death is
the cessation of emotion, of life -
Poetry is the
beginning of it...’’
Surumani
Manzi,
6:30pm - 11th November, 2013
‘‘We are all born with nothing –
All men come into this world empty-handed;
However, we all spend our lives accumulating this and that,
From experiences to expenses,
Yet the death-wish of most, down the generations,
Has been to die with light hearts, and lighter consciences,
Ask I – can there be a lighter hand than an empty one?
Surumani Manzi.
‘‘And son, if seek
keenly enough you do, find you shall;
That in the
devil himself lie the brightest of gems –
That this evil
thing, fountain of revulsion, paragon of vice -
May well be
crafter of the best poetry known to men’s hearts;
Composer of the
ears’ most ethereal musical symphonies;
Sculptor of our
yet at once most artistically imposing, at once most virtuous statuettes;
Holder of the
brush that has stroked into life our most spiritually liberating paintings...
You will find
that at the heart of the deepest darknesses,
Lie lights that glow brightest...’’
Surumani
Manzi,
24th March, 2014
‘‘The first
step -
To good writing,
to any endeavor,
Is to believe
that there are no limits to this thing;
No boundaries,
no laws to be adhered to...
That you, the
doer, are a creature with wings...
Able, free to
fly to wherever your imagination might gesture...’’
Surumani Manzi.
‘‘I want to tell the stories that are taking shape around me;
The forming of my thoughts, the resolutions of my soul; the things that
trouble my spirit.
I want to be able to contribute to the becoming of my world; as well as
that of my children.
And I have managed to convince myself; that the only sure way the world
can remake itself,
Better; over and over, is if its stories are told, and retold, in ways
that make them worth rehearing.
Don’t mistake this process as incidental in my life's trek - no, on the
contrary;
In my younger days - I fancied myself a philosopher, a thinker who could
stand at the world’s center, and with a scroll of thought long and wordy
enough, cause the world to spin on more than its axis.
But then one day, after several months of laboring away at a wall whose
constancy only lent credence to my vanity with each passing day - it all occurred
to me - the whole madness of moralizing!
I mean - the one where we stand on
a high pedestal and tell the rest of our family what should and shouldn't be;
which direction the world ought and oughtn’t to go.
Where we fix our mind upon one thought and toy with its imperfection so
long that the dust it kicks up only blinds us to the perfection of the next,
and the next.
It is from here that I decided - I wanted to write - right there lay
perhaps the greatest adventure a man could undertake –
As he shared in countless belief systems, allowed devout piety to clutch
his heart and at the same time let it float lazily and dreamily on the wafting
wings of superstition.
Growing from awe to awe in his encounters, and from strength to strength
in the richness of experience.
I continue to find that writing down these voices of community is a much
more liberating pursuit than seeking to be a philosopher - a sage on the world
and her many people and her many dimensions and many facets;
And all this must start with letting go - letting a narrow, shallow and
hollow mind go to the gallows ...’’
Surumani
Manzi,
24th
March, 2014
*Inspired by a friend’s
conviction:
‘‘All I had ever wanted to do, really, was
write …’’ – Amooti .W. Kangere
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