Monday, October 14, 2013

A New Place


I wish I could make some space
That could be your own special place!
Where each moment, you could just be
Find everything just as you want to see!!

A place for you to find
The beauty in the thoughts of your mind!
Where you could play all day in the sunlight
Where you arent judged for wrong or right!!

A place that lets you be the child
Where problems don't get piled!
A place to hide you in warm embrace
That opens up new & exiciting ways!!

A place to see that you're fragile
A place to make you smile!
Where there's plenty to love and care
Where someone is always there!!

Then I thought, "Wait I may know such place!"
One that's all yours each one of the days
It's yours in wholeness not just a part
It's the place that lies right in the depth of my heart!!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

I'm afraid!

I’m afraid to tell you what bothers me,
I’m afraid to admit that I do not see!
The logic and all the myriad sense,
The very emphasis on intelligence!!

I’m afraid to tell you I do not know,
I’m afraid to listen to ‘I-told-you-so!’
The rational and everything that’s ‘right,’
What you have come to term - foresight!!

I’m afraid of being scorned or judged,
I’m afraid, to a side, being nudged!
Amidst all logic and perfect sense,
Would I be termed an irrelevance?

I’m afraid of listening to silence
I’m afraid of watching bloodless violence
It all rings of a deafening disquiet
Like a unsettling and quelling riot

I’m afraid that this is not my place
I’m afraid of the emptiness of space
Which end of the road do I follow?
For each only seems to end in a hollow!

I’m afraid because I feel alone,
I’m afraid for its all unknown!
There’s a whole world and its populace,
And yet I feel, am an alien race!!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

I'd Miss You Much!!

At the crack of dawn when I rose
Time still felt stuck & froze
I wished for night to come soon
With the twinkling stars & moon
The rays of the sun, oblong
The birds of the air, in song
Almost everything around me such
Told me, how I missed you much!

After a while I took the road
Thoughts wandering; feet strode
Walked, I did not know where
My vision squinted from the sun’s glare
The blue of the endless sky
The horizon that seemed so nigh
Thoughts from my deepest hutch
Told me, how I missed you much!

Then the dusk came up at last
Much later than it did in past
Into the farthest I’d stare
While the breeze ruffled my hair
The setting sun into the twilight
And the dark of the impending night
The gathering clouds & the thundering Thorr
Everything told me, I’d miss you more!!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Cheated of our Unity and Oneness!

“A divorce is like an amputation: you survive it, but there's less of you!”

Creation of Telangana: We haven’t created a state but a farce!

I hate to be a party-spoiler but what exactly are my Telangana friends celebrating? Being cheated into a false new dawn?

At a time when we need to stand more united than ever, we fight and kill – each other. It would be the stupidity of those who celebrate because this decision is not made for its right but it is made because it serves the complicit interests of some. The government has blatantly pulled wool over the eyes of the people – diverting attention and dangling carrots of fake hope.

Those who sought the division of the state did so for selfish interests and the ‘masses’ who supported it did so out of sheer ignorance. The culmination of all of this is today’s ‘decision’ – that smacks of highhandedness and cheating. There have been media reports crying their lungs horse that the decision is being taken to shore up Congress’ electoral gains, are the pro-Telangana folks to desperate that they couldn’t care less whatever the costs?

And what about those of your own brethren who are opposed to the division of the state? Not those from Andhra but the very natives of Telangana? Are you too selfish to ignore even those – if so, what is so kosher about the very sentiment you claim to stand for? As a child, each morning I pledged that each of our fellow countrymen were brothers and sisters! Guess that is just a good line to utter, in the adult world there is no place for fraternal sentiments if they were to come in the way of petty political gains!

A country, a government and its leadership is defined by doing things right. A state is far greater than the individuals and those in power must rise above selfish motives. And time after time after time, our country has been treated quite to the contrary!

To the commoner that I am, on the face of it, the division of the state or otherwise makes no difference in the real world! I will still have the same routine, same joys and same challenges. And yet in the deep of my heart, I have been torn right down the middle! The joy of being one nation, one state, the very essence of oneness being wilted away by senseless politicians. 

The only gains from this would be made by a few who will claim power, to the rest of us who are commoners (both who celebrate today and those who don't) nothing will have changed tomorrow - the challenges of each day will remain the same, and yet the joy of unity will have been torn apart! How ironical, that both classes elected the same government to do the exact opposite! 

Those of us, who believe this is a victory, please think again! Yes, it’s a victory for those who fool us time and again and continue to fill their coffers while we put in the hard yards!

If indeed the demand for Telangana is so widespread, I welcome the decision, but alas, we all know it wasn’t – it was at the heart of it a selfish, self-centered call! We’ve just been cheated out of our wits one more time, and some of us sadly don’t see it! I would welcome the decision if it were to have been made with the right intent, desire and the right objective – sadly, none of it even crossed our political folk!!

So, here we are then, as in the words of Canadian poet Margaret Eleanor Atwood, each one of us will survive this division/amputation but we will soon figure that there's is now a little less of us than before!!


PS: There’s still a long way to go for the actual division, I would hope there’s still chance for us to call quits to this farce!!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Drops of Rain On My Window Pane

Drops of rain on my window pane,
Take me back by the memory lane! 
The giggles and the paper boat, 
In the puddles we'd make them float!! 

The gust of wind in my face,
Takes me back to the holidays!
Carefree, we'd play all day long, 
Life was all a lovely song!!

Shadows cast by the summer Sun,
All our endless plays and mazy run!
Laughter from then still rings my ear,
Our mischief knew no bounds or fear!! 

In the cold of the night, by the Christmas tree
Festivities, friends & family!
Flashes from childhood as good as gold,
Just like Christmas they're never too old!!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

There's still time to grow!


There are paths unexplored
Wood that are yet unseen
Lands to which I haven't been!!

Creases on my brow too few
The world still feels so new!
Seas so many to cross
Rivers I'm yet to come across!!

Scenes I'm yet to savor
Of myriad colors, hues & flavor!
There are promises I am to keep
Fruits I'm yet to reap!!

There are ways much unknown
And emotions yet unfelt
Prayers for which I haven't knelt!!

There even promises to claim
I'm yet to make a name!
So much I'm yet to give
A few, I'm yet to forgive!!

There are those I'm to go back to
And there are things I still wish to!
Many I'm yet to meet anew
Forever with me, will remain a few!!

There are territories uncharted
And places I'm yet unaware
Feelings those still feel rare!!

Plenty years ahead to grow old
Stories aplenty to unfold!
Love that I haven't fallen into
So much yet under 'to do'!!

I'm fine that I'm yet a child
May be untamed, even wild!
So much more yet to know
For there's still time to grow !!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Only by You were truly made whole!


Said it was that you were made out of a rib,
But more likely it was from the soul!
Else how would it be that the entire creation,
Only by You were truly made whole!!

-------
                
Along with each Woman’s Day comes the sometimes cynical, at times snide and often a light-hearted query – why only a Woman’s Day when there’s none for the men folk?

Now there could be plenty ways to answer it but often its best left alone, but then again I wondered myself why? 

Going back into time to the second chapter of Genesis, where the Bible describes the creation of a woman and there I see this verse

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

Sure, it’s pretty straightforward and may be most of us hardly see anything wrong. But the lines preceding this one say that it was God Himself who identified the need for a man to have a companion, a helper and therefore made someone to fit this role.

While God made this person with a role in mind and yet the man named her out of the process she came from – he said she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.

Indeed, God placed the onus of naming all creatures on Adam’s shoulders and he did carry that out, and while I wonder what rationale he used to name all others… clearly in case of his companion I trust he could have been a little more fair.

And thus we men carry on the thinking of our greatest grand dad’s and take women to be inferior specie because we take it that she was derived out of a man, she was not the first to be created and etc etc etc.

In reality though, nothing could be further from the truth! The lady was meant to be the final piece of the zig-saw called Creation! It was the pinnacle of God’s imagination and above all, she had a definite role in the universe.

To be really fair, man was only the second last item to have been created, the best as we often say is left for the last which in the creationist scheme of things happens to be, yes a woman! The story of creation is incomplete, and so is the case in the life of a man - but for the existence of a woman.

Take for instance a 100m race, you could run the first ninety-nine but if you fail to run the last one all else is immaterial. No, I’m not saying that the first ninety-nine are not important; its just that when you get to the end, the last one becomes as relevant and important as all others.

Going back to the zig-saw, while you may have all the pieces the picture is still incomplete and dare I say – not so pretty – without the last one.

God in His infinite wisdom identified the incompleteness and loneliness of a man and God’s best solution was a woman. The Bible beautifully illustrates that God found no suitable companion for the man in all of His creation.

And to put that into context, one must factor in that at the end of each day, God looked at all his creation and Himself remarked – ‘It is Good!”

Beyond all that was created so beautifully, a person had to be custom-made to complete God’s creation and man’s life! God Himself had to think better than his own creativity to come up with a woman!

And yet father Adam chose to think of her solely as someone who came ‘out of him’ … rather as ‘out for him.’

A woman surely came as a consequence to the man but did so only to make him whole!

Never mind that she can be comparatively weaker in physical terms, but everything she is, is geared towards helping her fulfill the role that was identified before she was created.

And therefore, as we realize her right place in the universe and the perfection she brings, we celebrate not just the day but the person that a woman truly is - Only by Her we're made whole!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Wasn't meant to be!!


For love was in the air,
And it seemed so everywhere!
Oh how I could have missed?
Couldn't even if I wished!!

And so I fall in love,
It seemed sent from above!
Oh how I tried with my heart,
To keep together not apart?

Soon the magic evaporates,
And the feeling dissipates!
Oh how I stayed steadfast,
Yet the dye was already cast!! 

Without you it felt so alone,
No messages await on my phone!
Oh how it all fell apart,
And I knew I had played my part!!

Looking back it all seems fine,
This love story wasn't quite mine!
Oh how much it had taken me,
To know it wasn't meant to be!!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Unknown Hero, Unwanted Eulogy!!


Do not stand by my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints upon the snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain and
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am that swift uplifting rush,
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

-       Author Unknown!

She’s termed a ‘brave-heart’ and an example to every young Indian - eulogy well said and even well intentioned and yet to the one for whom we sing all this might sound rather too grandeur, alien even! She was a normal young woman, with simple dreams and a simpler life. She hadn’t aspired for masses rooting for her in life, let alone death.

She sought a life – of her own, safety – that she deserved and dignity – that was promised!

Close to four decades since the fundamental duty to protect the dignity of a woman was inserted into the very constitution that we hold sacred and stand by, where is that dignity? And if we find no trace of it what are we protesting today? What are we mourning today?

The young woman was no martyr – she never chose to be, she was cannibalized by the demons we have perpetrated in our society. For decades, if not centuries, we have killed, hunted and raped – may be with lesser force and intent – but with just as similar consequences!

What gives us the right as a society today to become so self-righteous and demand death for just those six who were involved in this very incident – why let every sanctimonious man and woman scot free who is as much a part and perpetrators of this system.

Do these protests, and so called justice, in the name of that nameless, make any difference to her? Why are we hell bent on giving her something she never wanted when we have conveniently denied to her everything that she did?

Every day, almost every woman in this country puts up with abuse – great or small – what have we done to eliminate that?

Are we to punish these six men on the gallows, or castrate them and feel we’ve atoned for everything? And will lustful men stop just because the media goes hammer and tongs on one case?

We just don’t need more laws and better implementation, we need a societal change!

The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT Act) was enacted back in 1994 and the success rate if not pitiable is surely laughable! In two decades of this existence it has resulted in meagre two convictions with a combined penalty of less than Rs 4500 … I know, exactly, I am going the same – Are you freaking kidding me!!!

We kill girls before they are born, we abandon after they are, and if we don’t either of those then some son-of-a-gun would have molested the rest of those before they blossom into the beautiful people that God intended them to be.

The fault lies, not just with those who indulge in these heinous acts, it is all of us – equally and squarely. We are the society that breeds and tolerates this menace, we allow it to happen, we turn a blind eye, a deaf ear and a hollow conscience.

And one fine morning, when a young one, who never wanted to die in the first place – actually does – we cry our throats horse, in eulogy, in cries for justice – as though it’s our one symbolic act of redemption.

As the sun comes up tomorrow, nothing will change, because we have never wanted asked for change, we’ve only gone jingoistic for justice that will never be meted to the girl gone and past. We never looked in the mirror and said I need to change; of course, we’ve been busy ‘cleansing’ ourselves by singing eulogies and seeking justice!

Tomorrow – we’ll be the same, and so will the scores of those who’ll do the same to other woman -  we’ll never know who it is until much later when we decide that as a society we need a fresh round of conscience cleansing.

The one who left us, will never be affected by anything we do now – let us not aspire to give her what she never sought. We may be better of channelling our energies into allowing these little buds to blossom, have their normal lives, be the simple people they wish to be!

They don’t want to be heroes, or martyrs or brave-hearts – let’s not kill them first and sing them eulogies later!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

On the other side of morrow!!

It might be a lonely road,
And rather heavy feels the load!
Yes indeed you must be weary,
Nights so long and days dreary!!
Souls that feel frozen in cold,
Troubles seemingly unheard or told!
Sure it seems an unbearable test,
Troubled times of unrest!!
You gain not what you sought,
You win not for what you fought!
Indeed, it feels down in the dump,
Throat choked in many a lump!
Like the darkest hour before sunrise,
Toughest test before the prize!!
Surely a bottom to the cycle of sorrow,
Hope lies on the other side of morrow!!