Human

On an aimless walk one day,
I saw a statue midway.
So serene and calm it stood there,
Undazed by noon's sun glare.

I was jealous for a while,
How peaceful it stood in turmoil.
Untouched by all human miseries,
No heart breaks and no maladies.

So much like us still so unique,
Carved by a master as a lovely piece.
Same eyes, same features as humans share,
but no heart, and no life breathes there.

In almost a whisper then I said,
I wish I stood there instead.
Away from life which drives me mad
And so often makes me sad.

I was amazed at the reply ,
which the statue made with a tender sigh.
"Do not bother, just a little wait
and you'll be granted the wish you made.

You always thought it's complete life you live
but ever growing up, parts of it you give,
Every time you suffer a pain
and then when you bear it again.

At last when you've had enough
You've gone through all phases tough
You give up all your human part
And stand like me a world apart.

Same eyes, same features as humans share
but no heart, and no life breathes there.
Such are found faces galore
Human in form, human no more!

Life's return

What will I get out of life?
A simple smile or a tear for a while?
A lonely place, a friendly face?
A blissful end or endless strife?

The person in me,
will it survive?
It's killed each day,
wears away each night.

I am no more what I was,
Is life just it's own cause?
Falter, stumble, get up and walk,
Just move on, know not for what

Is it just a matter of give and take?
Each one of us is just a bait?
No sway do we have on our fate,
All we have is all on stake.

I know not why I carry on,
No reason to tempt me along.
I am a wave in an angry tide,
Will hit the shore and shatter all might!

Milestone

I thought you were my destination
But may be you were just a milestone

Just can’t live with what has passed
Have got to move ahead at last
Life is never fully lived
There is always more to it
So I go with a gleam of hopes
And sever what’s gone like binding ropes
It’s like a fresh canvas again
I have my freedom with brush and paints
When I think one painting’s done
Just then the idea of another begins
I go on improving phase by phase
And thus slip away the passing days
In every work there’s some touch that lacks
I find that on looking back
So I desire more from each dawn
And that’s how the journey goes on

I thought you were my destination
But may be you were just a milestone
There is limitless sky and limitless land
There’s more to come and more I demand
But the journey is long and when I’ll want to be home
What will help me trace back will be milestones!

Face to Face

Who am I?
The woman of today
Master of my destiny
Not a weak prey.

Are you sure?
Is that true?
Or is it just a dreamy
Castle in the blues?

Who says that?
Tell me why?
I am my master
This world is mine.

Are you free from domestic walls?
Do you never face a fall?
Is your life shackle free?
Don’t you feel like an autumn tree?

I am learned
I am brave
I am able
Why should I crave?

It’s true you’ve won
The world outside
But what about those
With whom you reside?

Do not confuse
Tell me clear
How am I burdened?
What do I bear?

The men in your house
The women there in
Still guide your world
And you do give in.

It’s not that I am beaten
It’s not that I have lost
They’ve given me a lot
I pay a little cost.

But it’s your life
Why should you care?
Be a daughter, a mother or a wife
You have enough dare.

Dare is not always
What shows outside
It’s what shines within
And keeps the hopes bright

And what about you
The being within?
What about your happiness
Made of small little things?

It is in giving
That I have got
Will never complain of my lot
Only if they understood this thought!

19.07.06

Idle

I’ve got at hand some idle days
That’s why always my mind sways
At times I pick a brush to paint
Often a book or sometimes a game
Go to kitchen, try something new
Though such occasions are really few
Go and turn the television on
This process starts right from the dawn
But before that go for a jog down the lane
Unless hindered by a welcome rain
That day just keep sleeping late
Unless mom yells, ‘it’s already eight’.
Tune into radio daily once
While I spend these few months
This is carefree life at present
When nothing bothers at any end
Time for myself, time to pay heed
Who am I and what I need?
01.07.06

A passing thought

O my friends be there
When I need you with care
Thinking of days gone by
I often miss you and cry
Hope to see you someday
Please do have things to say
New people will be there
But do save my share
Your memories still lighten my heart
No way can I tell them to part
I do not ask for a lot
Just at times give me a passing thought!

Simply Unbeaten

Despite all attempts, irrespective of cause
Life remains unbeaten, never gives a pause

When I am at ease, find it under control
It suddenly disturbs and takes a heavy toll
In attempt to match its pace, never did I rest
In the end it offered me another quest

It allures me to carry on
Yet reminds me where I am from
Just when I think I’ve found the track
It pulls out surprises from its bag

What an irony, isn’t it not?
Everyone is trying to open this knot
We don’t know why, don’t know where
Whether to leave it or should we care?

However much I try, however much I dare
It always proves, it surpasses all flair
However much lived through generations
Life remains simply unbeaten!

She calls me

What do I head to?
I don’t seem to know
I just know that life is fading
And I must not let it go

What lies beyond I often wonder
What happened, I don’t have time to care
I am running behind some unknown charms
I know not what will be my share

I wish I had some time to stop
I hope I had some time to seek
What I want and to be sure
That this is it and this is me

Where I am going and where I am from
What is it that drives me on?
But wishes aren’t granted and this isn’t true
If I want I can pause but why I don’t I have no clue

This is not the life I want
This is not the way to live
It’s just that I want to be free
Let me be unstrained to take and give

Let me know not how to bother
Let me know not how to care
Let me have my own ways
Let me spend at my will all my days

There’s a person in me getting strangled
Only if I could give her voice
I would say this is life
And I would say I have made a choice

It is life worth living
If I could do all what I feel
It’s no use sloughing on
When she calls me and I pay no heed!

24.05.04

She

Among all the hardships of life
I always see her smile
She has three siblings, a poor family
And at young age is a drunkard’s wife

She cleans the utensils at my door
Draped in rags lies her son on floor
Sometimes she brings her little sister along
While she works, she sings to him a song

She has many stories to narrate
But often they are discarded as prate
She goes from door to door to earn a living
Manages a bare existence with no saving

She utters words with no emotion
Never wonders why strivings fall in her portion
Yet she accepts it as her fate
With seemingly no regrets and no complaints

Among all the hardships of life
I always see her smile
Maybe I would see her sorrow
If I stopped for a while

I think she has two faces
And always tries to hide it
One that she shows the world
And another when she fights it

One she bears while dreaming big for her son
While my mother offers her extra tea or melon
Another that she evades
When she returns after being absent for days



One that she puts on when she stays late
Just to chat and stands holding the gate
Another when she knows it’s hard to earn bread
And at times remembers her mother dead

Yet among all the hardships of life
I still see her smile!

22.05.06

Remembering Naani

In the silence of night with no lullaby being sung
I recall the time when we sisters were young
And our brother a little boy
I flash upon fondly on days gone by

Every summer we would go
For many days in a row
To our naani’s place in village
And felt as if let loose for an age

All cousins and we would
Collect as many children as we could
Then we simply stormed the house
And played all day long like cat and mouse

We would climb mango trees
Swing on branches in gentle breeze
It was more fun to fight for mangoes than to eat
And played hide and seek while noon was at its peak

Aunts were called upon to sort disputes
While we blabbered and none kept mute
Then we were sent to bathe at the well
Where we would set things into pell-mell

Come evening and ladies thronged the courtyard
We would turn on the radio and play cards
Sometimes we would climb up the roof
And there would be chatter in our world aloof

In kitchen there would be a pot on the ‘chullah’
That food had its own charisma
We ate sitting together on floor
And just kept asking for more



At night we shared cot
There were no fans but it never felt hot
We fell asleep pretty soon
Watching silently sailing moon

Now when I visit the same place
Time seems to move at slower pace
This time when I come I am alone
Ma, brother and sis haven’t come along

We have grown up, some cousins are married
Playmates are gone just memories I have carried
The family there is divided manifold
And other stories of misery are better untold

No flocking in courtyards
No session of cards
No fighting among children
No radio sounds at dusk or dawn

As I lie alone on cot gazing at stars
One among them must be Naani, dead and gone.


26.05.06