As a very young child, I would try to run and chase the clouds, trying to win in vain against it. My motley of friends and I would run up towards a nearby empty field which had an abandoned flour mill, and conjure our stories about that mill, the ghosts that haunted.We would roll, laugh, push each other, till it would be evening and our mom's would come looking for us...so many many nights and days later, I still want to relish that spirit which I had as a child.We may grow old, but there are some memories which have the magical power of taking us back to the time of innocence...



Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Love story

Back in 1992
In a playground
A boy meets a girl
Unknown to each other
Amidst a crowd
They fall in love

Heartaches soon follow
Captured in the travails of love
Its twists and turns
With weeping hearts
They fall apart
Only to find love again


Yes love they found
In troubled times
Turbulent as it can be
Defying norms and certainties
Together they dreamt
Of a life unknown

Their spirits soar
Like an unicorn
As they look back today
Glimpses of past
Protected in an enveloping mist

This Love story of 1992
Saw many a winter pass by
And monsoon rain
Yet it stood like the lone leaf in a tree
Withstanding time and eternity

Back in 1992
In a playground
A boy meets a girl
Unknown to each other
Amidst a crowd
They fall in love

A child's tale

Mother, I am afraid of the dark
Afraid of these dirty hands that touch me
Afraid of these  preying, piercing eyes
Afraid of this  life thats mine
Be brave my child, be brave!
You are my beautiful flower
My  own universe
You are your mother's daughter
Your siblings  hope

Mother, I am defiled
The scars are burning
Bathe me in your fragrant love
Remove this stench of my putrid soul
Please, put me to sleep

Hush my child, hush!
You are my shining star
My rose, my darling angel
Come, I will sing you life's lullaby
And kiss away your wounds
Have faith, your pain is also mine

Mother, I am afraid of the mirror
Of the light that shows my ugliness
Of  the pain that will never heal
Of the tree that will never bloom 
Please hold me in your eternal embrace 
I am just a child


P.S: This poem is a catharsis to my interaction with young girls who have been victim of human trafficking and subsequent abuse. I had the unhappy experience of documenting their story and was really taken aback at the enormity of this inhuman crime.

Nothing matters

Take away your first look
Take away the first rain
Take away your first kiss
Take away our first ride together
Leave me nothing
But you can’t take away the love

I won’t wait
I won’t cry
I won’t call you hundred times
I won’t forgive nor forget
But I will let you go

Call it my ego
Call it my love
Call it all names
Call it my selfishness
I will cry but all alone


Take away all those memories
Take away all those longings
Take away all the laughter
Take away our first night together
Take away those letters
Leave me nothing
But you can’t take away the love 

Journey

A blue scarved sky
And a glistening sun
Followed the journey
Of four souls
The car raced with the wind
As they rode
In different chords
The voices of four sang ‘hosanna oh oh’

Music, action and camera
Laughter, sneer and jokes
Filled the whistling woods
As they took the beaten roads
In different chords
The voices of four sang ‘welcome to the hotel california’

Cow laden meadows
Tall, leafless trees
A silent valley
Gazed at the four
With not a care on their minds
In different chords
The voices of four sang ‘stuck in a moment’

Memories they will be
Sweet endearing ones
Of a year gone by
Of a year yet to come
In different chords
The voices of four sang ‘’Here I am, this is me’
Happy to be lost in a neverland 
 Nemesis

Who sits there? 
In the dark webbed corner
Looks like my insolent wife
But why is she draped in all white
You, old childless hag
How dare you not put my colour
On the shriveled parting of your hair

Your unbearable smell
Your impaled hair
Your heavy shapeless shadow
Even shrouds the moon
  
I ache, for that golden one’s
Pink, jasmine scented chiseled bosom
Those glorious rose lips
That gives me life

My lord, for 15 years, yes 15 years
I honeyed my pain
My youth fed your hunger
My body was your bonded slave
I laced your life with my smell
Sheltered your empty lustful seeds

After those, 15 years, yes 15 years
You gifted marks on my body
Like a beast you trashed me
Our bedroom became a whore’s house
And my ears rocked with her moans
I sat in that dark webbed corner
Waiting to be called

Like a withered tree
I was left to rot
I shrunk and died that very day
Yes sir, in this dark webbed corner
I was born again into a glistening light
Now you dare to claim your right
I don’t need a wimp to colour my hair
I have lit the pyres and mourned your death

30 April 2011
Prologue

Donning the olive green
Lines running deep in pride
Those steely eyes
Hiding a thousand stories

Riding the grey beast
Burden of losses and joy
Those steady hands
Hoarding a million memories

Striding  the vast mountains
Breaths of unknown wonder
Those half smiles
Yearning for a forlorn life

Traversing many a roles
A son, a husband, a father
Those boyish grins
Masking the forgotten ache

Thursday, February 18, 2016


Soar


Take out those wings
and dust off the rust
Let loose the sneers
 Fly, fly, fly high!


Look at the memories
Pain, joy, happiness
 Passion, power, fulfilment
Fly, fly, fly high!


Look at the fading beauty
Weakening pride, meaningless smiles
Intoxicating ego, sore love
Fly, fly, fly high!

Look at the milestones
Muted voice,broken heart
Dark hands, mysterious shadows
Fly, fly, fly high!