A purposeless visit

I went to the neighborhood
where I grew up, just to
see if the condition of the
house where I lived, the field
where I played with friends,
the forbidden place beside
the ganges where I smoked
my first cigarette.

Everything about the locality
had changed, I felt like a stranger
there, I was kind of expecting a
familiar face, I found none.
I was also worried about the
small talks of the big people,
what to say if I met anyone,
why was I there, what would
be the credible purpose! 

But I walked past many times,
felt like running but my knees
didn't permit; the open field,
transformed into a multi-storied
choked me completely, I was
wiping my tears, thought would
have come with a makeup,
but no one could recognize
the weeping child wiping the
moist eyes in front of a high rise.

I didn't realize that my age
was my natural disguise. 

Some small poems

Waves...
caressing the beach
album of memories

Sky...
holding the clouds
moist eyes

Autumn...
falling leaves
heaps of stories

Morning sun
on my plate
beside slices of bread

Crickets, fireflies
jungle speaks
bedtime stories

Blue sky
twinkling stars
an owl eyes a frog

Alas!

In a world full of wonders,
twinkling stars, singing birds, 
wandering rivers, bountiful
seas, oceans, mysterious
forests, majestic mountains,
in the midst of all the 
mesmerizing, nature-abiding
sentient beings, only the
supreme of all is accursed. 

Alas! Alas! Alas! 

If any spell could deliver
me from this shame and guilt, 
I'd turn into a rat or a bat, 
an ant or an elephant, or into
any other being beneath the 
patient, priceless, paradise, 
I'd live merrily here before 
I fell prey to hunger or greed
or simply died on the earth
where I could breathe and breed. 

Ashamed to death

I'm ashamed to be born
as a human being, 
doubly ashamed to be born
as a man, I wouldn't choose
to end my life, 
but I'm waiting to die. 

A welcome decision

The day is not far away

happiness is here to stay! 

Leaders decided to stop fighting, 

to the world they'd do justice;

as protectors of all sentient beings, 

they'll no longer die for power

they'll work together to live for peace.

A coping mechanism

Why do I still weep

like a child at the

outcry of wars, I 

should've been used

to it by now. 

I should've known

by now that it's okay

to kill your neighbours

who are, mostly, your

enemies.

I've learned it at every

step of my life;

it's read, heard, tested, 

no matter how high

you fly, like an eagle, 

keep looking for the weak

prey, kill and survive. 

It'd be strange if I thought 

it was a poor example

of an innocent hungry bird

looking for food, to be abused

as an excuse to rage

war, be condemned to it

for ever and for good? 

How did civilization invent 

this mechanical game as

a coping mechanism I wonder, 

it destroys not only the stage

but all the actors in the play

dying for power. To discover

peace, wouldn't it been easier? 

We breed wars perhaps

because abortion is not okay. 

Why then when I see the stillborn

I cannot help crying. I should've

been used to it by now, as a 

coping mechanism. 

মায়ের কবিতা

এই ত সেদিন হলি, 

আমার কোল আলো 

করে, কখন তুই এত্তো 

বড় হয়ে গেলি রে 

মানিক? যে আজ তোর

বিয়ে হচ্ছে! 

ভালো থাকিস, সুখে থাকিস

বাবু আমার। 

তুইও তোর জীবন দিয়ে

আমারই মত অবাক হয়ে

একদিন এই একই কবিতা লিখিস।

ভালো থাকিস সোনা আমার

সুখে শান্তিতে থাকিস। 

Price of anger

I am one of the Kauravas*;
indulged in conceit and caprice,
I died in the field of Kurukshetra*
and was thus absolved of my sins;
I am now a resident of heaven;
but the Pandavas* were, despite fighting 
the holy war, unable to forgive 
us, the Kauravas; this sin was 
the sole cause of their fate, they were
debarred at the gate of heaven; even 
after thirty-six years of ruling Hastinapura*, 
they are seen taking their tour in hell; 
anger will flare up the air for long, 
with many such stories to tell.

 

Note

Kauravas - Kaurava is a Sanskrit term for the descendants of King Kuru (or simply Kurava in Tamil), a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata. Kauravas are a hundred sons and one daughter of the blind king of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra, and the queen Gandhari. The well-known Kauravas are Duryodhana, Dushasana, Vikarna, and Dussala.

Kurukshetra - According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is a region named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas, as depicted in epic Mahabharata. The importance of the place is attributed to the fact that the Kurukshetra War of the Mahabharata is said to have taken place here. According to the epic, The Mahabharata, the sacred ‘Bhagavat Gita’ scripture was first delivered here by Krishna.

Pandavas - The Pandavas refers to the five brothers namely, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. They are the main characters in the epic Mahabharata. They were the sons of Pandu, the king of Hastinapura, and his two wives Kunti and Madri. The five brothers shared a wife, Draupadi.

Hastinapura - In the Mahabharata, Hastinapur is portrayed as the capital of the Kuru Kingdom of the Kauravas. Many incidents in the Mahabharata were set in the city of Hastinapur. According to the Mahabharata, the 100 Kaurava brothers were born in this city to their mother, Queen Gandhari, the wife of King Dhritarashtra. On the bank of the Budhi Ganga, two places near Hastinapur (Draupadi Ghat and Karna Ghat) reference Mahabharata personages. The first reference to Hastinapur in the Puranas presents the city as the capital of Emperor Bharata's kingdom. King Samprati (also referred to as Samrat Samprati), the grandson of the emperor Asoka the Great of the Mauryan Empire, built many temples here during his reign. During British India, Hastinapur was ruled by Raja Nain Singh Nagar, who built many Hindu temples in and around Hastinapura.

The odd one is out

I find myself like a stranger
in the midst of people who 
look, eat, and talk like me; 
they also have two hands, a pair
of eyes and ears, a nose, a tongue,
a pair of flexible knees, a pair of feet;
yet, I cannot think like them,
especially in matters of 
entertainment, some sport, 
and some game.

Horror, terror, war, bloodshed
are a matter of amusement;
with popcorns and cokes,
similar-looking folks are thrilled,
they want to watch them
over and over again;
in some sport, violence brings fame,
players openly hit and hurt their opponents;
they have to bleed, break their bones
in the middle of a captive audience,
like those slaves of the yore, thrown
within the walls to fight against the
hungry lions, the outcome of the huddle
was all so known, either the animal
would live or would breathe the
likes of Spartacus.

What is most sad is that we don’t
understand what is so wrong,
only strangers and weirdos
like me find such display of
wasted strength, rather weak
than strong.

অন্তর্দর্শন

প্রতিনিয়ত যদি অতীতের
চিন্তা করি, কে কি করেছে
বা করেনি, বলেছে বা বলেনি,
কি হয়েছে, বা হয়নি, এই
আবর্জনায় যদি পচে মরি,
অনুক্ষণ, যদি এই কারাগারে 
প্রতিমুহূর্ত হয় বৃথা অতিবাহিত 
তাহলে হে বর্তমান, হে ভগবান
হে ঈশ্বর, হে অনুপম, ওহে পরম 
পবিত্র স্পন্দন, তোমার আরাধনা 
করবো কখন?

জীবনের উষ্ণ আলিঙ্গন কবে
করবো অনুভব, হে সুদর্শন
তোমার আলোর নৃত্যে কবেই
বা হবে উপলব্ধি আমার
একান্ত অন্তর্দর্শন।