Monday, September 10, 2018

Lease of Life



I was going through a really dry spell with my writing. It became non existent. 2017 was extremely rewarding year for me. I started my Ashtanga Practise, made new friends in class including the celebrated travel writer / journalist Bishwanath Ghosh. It is solely on his encouragement to revisit my writing, and to drop my fixation with rhyming verses, that I have genuinely had a poetic harvest in the last week - yes WEEK.

I hope this is not a Gemini thing, churning out a storm only to have a drought for the next few years....


The Has Been

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Ask the man who,
Was once a hearthrob
What hurts more?
Having been loved?
Not being loved at all
Out of work
Out of love
No faith in himself 
He shares the fate
Of the bankrupt man
He once called producer 


The (Fading) Star



He sees himself 
His many versions 
Multiple times a day
Romancing different women
So beautiful like gleaming jewels
Fighting frightful villains
Menacing, vengeful, intolerable
He lives many lives 
Many more roles
Has died many deaths
Soon will be a had been
The money has been made
The fans have been birthed
The star that shone brightly
It's soon to fall on earth

Story Teller

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The lists lie unticked
Breakfast remains uneaten
Chai gone cold
Me, you and the stories you spin
Are all that remain

The Writer

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The gentle breeze 
On the nape of my neck
The coolness of the sheets
On my resting belly
I gazed at my companion lovingly
Unable to peel my eyes away
Immersing my soul 
Into his very being 
Unable to turn away 
To rest, to eat, to leave 
His side, his story, his book 

This happens every time I read.... the world around me stops existing

Tick Tock

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The clockwork didn't impress
Neither did the Lego like buildings
Nor well oiled mechanised life
To be alive amidst the dead
Only filled my spirit with dread....

In Another World

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Where gardens are sprawling
Groves are abundant
Glistening streams gurgle 
The sun shines just enough
The breeze blows gently 
Time stands still
And this place is reality
There is no money to be made
No deals to be cut
Life is leisure
Poetry is survival

Envy

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She reared its ugly head out
Seeking the umpteen faults
So minute as the braces she wore
In that bright smile of hers
Staring at her face
Shining with youthful cheer
Her hands trembled with anger
Itching to shred the picture 
She held of her younger version




An emotion so strong sometimes we feel it towards ourselves 

Writers Block (again)

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Like the crumpled papers
Strewn around me 
Crumpled I lay on my desk
Hoping my words will unfold...

Family

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Mother, father, 
Brother, sister
Add to it marriage 
And it's baggage
Of a menagerie
Delicate it is
Complex it is
Thriving yes


In its own chaos

Mosquitoes

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They followed me 
Wherever I went
My feet moving
They moved faster
Nothing stopped them
Relentless souls 
These fearless fellows
Swarming in hundreds
Swelling my dancing feet

Compromise

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It's all for the best
You will see for yourself
A little adjustment
Goes a long way
In earnest love
You said to me once
Little did we realise
I will never be me again

Being

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Same, same 
Different different 
With each other 
With ourselves 
Common status
In love 

this came about a day before the supreme court did away with article 377.... poetic justice indeed!

Gratitude

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He sees in me 
What I can never see
I am someone else 
Unknown to me 
But much better

Dedicated to my dear friend BG, for helping me come out of my dry spell... 



Pick Up Time

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Wide eyed, dirty faces
Sweaty brows, toothy grins
Relief written all over 
Pleasures of pick up time

Something I look forward to every single day. 

The Times We Live In

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He frolicked in the bathtub
Tap spewing nice fresh water 
How cute, what fun, innocent
They couldn't stop admiring 
His chubby toddling form
When in the kitchen
As she washed vessels 
Unable to bear her own stink
She wondered if her own 
Would see such a day? 

Yoga Teacher

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Upturned, twisted, bound
Flat, contorted, face down
His gentle touch and words
Unleash my soul into being

Dedicated to my yoga teacher, who just has to be present for the toughest asana to achieve sthiram and sukham

Attraction (again)

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Between the jaalis and rails
Walls that separated us
Clearly it didn't take much
For attraction to follow....

Daughter

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Do you love me
She asks me
A hundred times
If only she knew
That's all I know....

Oh L, if only you knew baccha...

Social Media Life

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Photos, holidays, occasions
Practised smiles, matching clothes
Profile poses, thumbs ups, peace signs
Our soulful gazes 
Against stunning views
A hundred comments
Two hundred likes
Our life approved!

Life as we see it..... on social media

Strange Notions

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Is there beauty in sorrow
She wondered in disbelief
When she woke up alive
After her comatose sleep

Impressions

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The sparkle of the diamond,
Resting on the dusky nose
Seemed to pale, when
Our eyes met, and 
I went blind in love

Impressions .... What we notice first and what leaves us speechless.... 

Attraction

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 I spilt my thoughts out loud
As if by deliberate accident
It did the required damage
He turned and looked at me
A smile spread on his face
As if knowing my intention

Imagination

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It is in words like this 
A life is lived
That which is not destined 
But which is desired ....

The luxury of imagination

Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Feeling of Awesome!

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I am trying to put a finger at what exactly awesome feels like. These are the feelings I have loved and enjoyed at those particular moments. I think they come close to being awesome - a word that people now use a bit too much that it is scary to describe something genuinely awesome as awesome. Its almost become a cute!

The feeling of touch down when I was moving back home
The feeling I experienced walking the streets of Rome
The excitement of being a soon to become bride
Enjoying the Indian Ocean during low tide
Each time my daughter makes a funny face
Each moment when I revel in my silent silent space ( a rarity)
The mornings after a good night's sleep
Striking a bargain for a bauble that's steep!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

This Morning

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I wake up when its still dark
There is silence all around me
Except for an occasional doggy bark
It is so still that I feel what it is to just be
I sometimes lie awake reveling in this quietness
Like a comforting blanket, familiar, I rely on
I know it will be there daily, it is endless
even if tomorrow you and I are forever gone
It waits, it stays, it turns up day after day
the same silent, beautiful, comforting, promising
to a hundred dreams from night she makes way
my eternal friend this early morning......

I love waking up early in the morning when it is still so dark..... I feel so alive then!







Sunday, January 25, 2015

Working Progress

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Should I write because it's the only craft I know?
Should I write every time I feel high or low?
Should I take every single emerging thought
design it prettily and with a pen soon jot?
Should I be inspired by everything I see?
Should everything mean the world to me?
That more poems like these I write away?!
Oh much better and less contrived I pray!

...... after a long hiatus..... I hope to write more often..... Poetry gives me something that nothing else and no one else gives me.... an ability to make myself happy...... but does that mean I should always write?

Where inspiration I find
My words I somehow lose
I also sometimes lose my mind
A situation that never ceases to amuse
I tear up my numerous digital pages
And save many drafts
Poems in many stages
trial and errors of my craft!

there we go two in one. Ek ke saath ek mufth mufth mufth!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Guessing Game

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Whats this burning need to know
what is to come later but right now
the gender of my baby in my womb
through a hundred old wives tales I comb
I caress my belly by calling out names
judging the response hard and lame
I think the gentle nudge for a girl
but definitely boy for the resounding hurl
I finally hope, pray and think it's best
to leave the result to time's ultimate test!

Cannot believe its three plus years since I blogged a poem. Obviously much has happened since :-) A small musing over the pleasant memory of spending many lovely afternoons at my parent's house, marveling at the wonder inside my tummy, hoping it's a girl, but never too sure. :-)

Monday, December 06, 2010

They

He - he was so smart
he had a brain in place of his heart
She - she was so kind
she had a heart in place of a mind
and They- they were perfect
one made up for the other's defect

Was telling S he was born with two brains and no heart and I was born with no brains and two hearts, and thus on a rainy Monday, we made this song together :-) The first of many to come

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Summing it up

It isn't about what's not spoken
It isn't about what's not done
It's in the promises not broken
and abundant love filled fun

.... Yes that's pretty much how I describe it!