The Jhoolam Verandah

I have taken the pen-name of Firdaus for this book as the world is a paradise and even during the hardest of times as it is now I have a belief that a cosmic energy is working silently yet relentlessly to bring about tranquility and peace for all.  Firdaus has no one religion or character – he is simply “neither”. The title of his life’s story - the “o-daimoku” of his karma - might go un-remembered and be re-told by none. They are the titles of the many stories poems sketches and meandering thoughts from the tiny view of his windowpane or the balcony. The title of this book was possibly coined subconsciously drawing inspiration from the hymns of “o-daimoku”. In fact “o-daimoku” has inspired many movies songs music and poetry. The mantra was recited during a scene of the outbreak of cholera in an American romantic film called “The Barbarian and the Geisha”. Another fictitious religious drama called the “Human Revolution” set in the backdrop of a raging World War also used these chants. As I write this book in the midst of a pandemic that has brought the world to a standstill: with many lives shattered and depression all around me – music poetry books and chants have been my medium of meditation amid the many faint voices sights of incomplete high-rise buildings and a couple of families next door managing their daily chores amidst all chaos.