Ode to Altman - Act 2 Scene 3 reminiscence

 Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Altman, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Altman. The noble Lavanya

Hath told you Altman was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Altman answer’d it.

Here, under leave of Lavanya and the rest–

For Lavanya is an honourable woman;

So are they all, all honourable men & women –

Come I to speak in Altman's funeral.

He was my enemy, immoral and unethical to all:

And Lavanya says he was ambitious;

And Lavanya is an honourable woman.

He hath stolen many copyrights home for OpenAI

Whose data did the chatgpt weights fill:

Did this in Altman seem ambitious?

When that the VCs have cried, Altman hath sinned:

Ambition should be made of honest stuff:

Yet Lavanya says he is ambitious.

And Lavanya is an honourable woman.

You all did see that on the emails

I thrice presented him the CEO crown,

Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

Yet Lavanya says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an ambitious man.

I speak not to disprove what Lavanya spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did hate him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then, to curse him?

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Altman,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

I remember so well
The day that you came into my life
You asked for my name
You had the most beautiful smile

My life started to change
I'd wake up each day feeling alright
With you right by my side
Makes me feel things will work out just fine

How did you know
I needed someone like you in my life
That there's an empty space in my heart
You came at the right time in my life

I'll never forget
How you brought the sun to shine in my life
And took all the worries and fears that I had
I guess what I'm really trying to say
It's not everyday that someone like you comes my way
No words can express how much I love you

"The VC's Creed"

In towers tall with concrete, glass and steel,
They plot and plan the next profit wheel.
No dreams too small, no soul too dear
They buy your hope, and sell you fear.

They approach with smiles, with funds in hand,
To stake their claim on houses of sand.
But once you sign, your voice is gone,
Your vision traded for their dawn.

They mine your data, track your steps,
Your clicks, your thoughts, your words galore.
Each byte a coin, each scroll a trade,
Your life reduced to fund their bunker holds.

They watch you sleep; they watch you wake,
They know each move before you make.
Your secrets stored in giga-sized vaults,
Then sold in bulk, just like co-opted open source.

Your images scanned, your IPs prescribed,
Your golden profile logged, your moods described.
They say it's “just to serve you best”,
But really, it’s an unregulated data quest.

Consent is buried, fine print deep,
In the lands where algorithms never sleep.
They shape your world, your thoughts, your mind,
And leave personal choices far behind.

They preach of “singularity”, “free knowledge”, “abundance”,
But strip the world till none is there.
A future forged in quarterly goals,
Where humans serve as data scrolls.

They’ll fund your dream, then change the rules,
Replace your values with newer sins.
And when the metrics start to slide,
They’ll ghost you fast, with no family, no wins.

So, guard yourself, protect your name,
Don’t play their soul-scorching game.
For once they’ve bought your guiding star,
You’ll find your freedoms not too far.

Tu mera khuda

Teri god me sar rakhke dil kehta baar baar
Tu saamne hai mere ye kaise karoon aitbaar

Tu hi jaan tu jahan dil tujhpe jaa ni saar

 

Teri hi baatein teri hi yaadein

Mere jahan haiin ye mulaaqatein

Paake tujhe main uljha gaya hoon

Raahon pe teri tham sa gaya hoon

 

An encounter with love

It was like looking at a stranger. I tried my best to map the person standing in front of me to the person I once knew years back. The face of the person I knew always had a sheepish smile pasted on it, it now seemed etched with lines of worries. They had similar eyes, but the eyes that were once bright and full of laughter, looked tired. Lonely and tired.

After what seemed like a lifetime, I mustered up enough courage to go and say hello. I would have gone the moment that I saw him, but something stopped me. It wasn't as if he would really recognize me. And even if he did, what would I say? I questioned myself if it alright for me to have come here. If it was alright to bring back memories from the past. But I had to meet him just this once. Just once so I could finally bring a closure to that incomplete story from many year back.

............

I cant reflect whats on my mind
These pools of choices aren't so kind
With thymes and roses and tulips and lilies
The bouquet of love presents the cases..
I walk, I climb, I fly, I strive
I push all the limits, I want to dive
Bondage of hearts prevents the move
I see the edge, who am I to prove..
The bondage turns into shackles
I falter, I fall, I see the maple
Reflects in my eyes m y own, my dream
The choice is so hard, I need to scream..
My voice I find no one can hear
I find my love brings me to tears
I swim, I drown, I disappear
My choices stem from my own fears
The sky has turned crimson, I feel red here
I see dragonflies moving everywhere
Crying out so loud is a sound from hill
How can I prevent my heart to hear.
The feelings, emotions, my soul is bare
I want to see the same old care
I plead, I pause, I stop to sing
My turn is done, your turn begins...

Words...

I went on walking on the empty road
My mind full of questions, full of unrequited love
Feel like drowning in the deep sea of trust
But somehow I stopped, stopping is a must...

He held my hand and conquered the rest
Yet his unspoken thoughts boggled me the most
I forgot to see the irony in all that
Hence began slowly my easy downfall...

Alas! if I would have waited some more
If only I wasnt freaked with the glamour
Maybe my heart would still be here
With you really close, really very near...

A child learns lessons, an adult pays for mistakes
But what about the child-woman that I was
I learnt all the lessons that were to be learnt
I paid for all my mistakes, my fingers burnt...

These days when I turn and look back
I can only see the tears that went unshed
Was it his silence or was it people's words
That all my dreams are shattered, my soul dead...

Words make a person believe in love
Words have the power to heal all the wounds
So tell me my beloved, tell me my dear
Words maketh a person, can your words be my elixir....