Cheers!

Cheers!

I would try not to take part in pressure,
Lest I’d miss ‘le non-dit’ of a pleasure,
My peers are a kind urging to react;
With words that are said for a response so warm,
The play wouldn’t wind nor will the act,
Being in the game in the world full of charm!
 
Peers are all good wouldn’t mind them succeed,
I will find it through my own little deed,
I know I cannot rule for I cannot talk;
Let me serve the speech and let me just work,
We may not be the same sing the same melody,
For some may be crowned in silent symphony!

Taking off

Taking off

Throughout my line I was fooled and ridiculed,
It wouldn't even dawn it was because of me,
When I saw the sordid dude,
In the mirror clearly.

In declining real time,
I haven’t even thought to look at me with pride,
Words insipid, full of curse and crime,
Wherever I went I couldn't ever hide.

Am happy that it’s now coming to a pause;
Left a shadow bit to fly without a cause. 

Here's to night

Here's to night

Day breaks night unites,
With light, we see and sense difference;
In darkness, trees, meadows and seas and borders
Appear just the same without fear, shame and disorders.

Night covers, comforts and blends,
At night, we seldom fight
Need to wait until comes the light;
White clouds do not rain.

Our mind is so set against black,
More often than not we seem to lack
The vision of the color that takes its form,
When all colors converge absorbs to reform
The mind that perhaps needs to check,
That all nights make the days that break.


Influenced by the eminent writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi's talk on TED Conversations: The danger of a single story

Ode to Martin Luther King Jr. - I have a dream

Ode to Martin Luther King Jr. - I have a dream

Fifty years ago on this very special day,
You shared your dream; you had your say;
The two colorful worlds stood and listened to you,
Your speech of love and peace had blended them anew;
The bond was always there you tapped them on the spot,
With ‘humanhood’ that flew from the heart of your thought;
We are done with it, that meaningless dissent,
Black and white came close to every word you meant.

Down the time pipeline the issues though have changed,
People tired fight they are not engaged,
I’m hopeful men women, if the color magic worked,
Fifty years hence we’d have a peaceful world.

For this to be true, we need the August man,
To unite the world into a happy caravan.


Written on the 50th anniversary of MLK's famous speech: I have a dream

Life unbound

Life unbound

This is life dudes!
Come on face it, embrace it,
Flow with it before it deludes,
Race with it all the way,
It’s not here to stay;
Fight it with your zeal!
Through the way you’ll heal,
Otherwise it’ll hurt,
Will have your fingers burnt,
Turn it all the way;
With so much wealth around,
Catch it if you may,
Your fists are strong and sound!

This is life dudes!
Mighty it includes,
You might have a laugh,
Know it’s worthy enough,
If you’re rough and tough,
Whenever you can,
Help a sad human;
The weak needs your strength,
To walk along at length,
With so much wealth around,
Kindness needs no ground,
Give it if you may,
Your wrists are strong and sound!

Love as much as you can,
From your caravan,
Life is like a sea,
Helping us to see,
It’s also the sky,
Letting us to fly,
Fire it is in turn,
Helping us to burn,
Know it’s now your chance,
To sing and play and dance;
With so much wealth around,
Your charm that knows no bound,
Your trysts are here to found! 

Known stranger

Known stranger

We've been together for quite some time, 
It seems as if it’s a little while; 
You came unto me to write an old rhyme, 
With your big eyes and angelic smile. 
  
Been through our bit to compose our song, 
The story that had its own right and wrong; 
‘twas real for sure, so sweet and sound, 
We walked along we danced around. 
  
The days like these sailed by and by, 
I became old you remained so young; 
Left me behind I couldn’t fly, 
To traverse the sea so vast and long. 
  
Here’s to past our good old days, 
The key to the room with so many tales; 
Has many more bits that could have been told, 
Together with us that weren’t so cold. 
  
I bid you a bye I haven’t a way, 
To ask you to be and beg you to stay; 
Now if you meet me anywhere, 
Smile at least to this known stranger. 

Familiar

Familiar

Five hundred thousand years ago, 
I would be strong, bold, replete with ego. 
Would kill and rule the weak, 
Snatch, rob, plunder and steal, 
From the pipe my strength would leak, 
Reproduce a monster refusing to feel. 
  
Even today I do so much the same, 
In a different court with some other name, 
I don’t realize I didn’t an inch change, 
And it’s all okay with nothing so strange. 
Five hundred thousand years ago, 
I would be just as strong, bold, replete with ego. 

Learning space

Learning space

I have got a place from where
I weave my world of fun sans despair;
You came unto me when the sun was gone,
I embraced you with my arms forlorn.

My arms are mine but they are not me
I learnt from you with ecstasy;
If they are depressed I can change their esprit,
By humming with my lips under the black warm tree.

The space I left just a little while ago
Is children’s den who refuse to grow;
I love them all with all my heart,
If only they could see their juvenile art.

I’m not done have to learn a lot
To tailor the whole with a winsome knot;
Those kids have eyes and ears like me,
Who am I to teach first let me be free.

For days and nights I shall learn to weave
At my own man’s pace without a single grimace; 
Learn from you until the night I leave,
To know who I am in this human’s race.

What a call!

Between me and Sarmila, it has been a friendship of more than thirty years. I know her parents, her relatives, and her family as closely as she knows mine. We grew up in Kolkata. Now she is in Delhi and I in Hyderabad. Back in Kolkata, every year our birthdays on 15^th June and 18^th August would be celebrated in Kowloon, our most favorite restaurant in New Alipore. Birthdays were always very special to us. Even today, we don’t miss each other's birthdays. But mine this year was very special because of what she said on the eve of my birthday, on 17^th August:

 -  Sorry, I didn't call you for about a month because I was frightfully busy with my mom.  Just listen. On 16^th of July, I was chatting up with my neighbor in their flat. Suddenly, with the weather beginning to change, slightly overcast. I remembered I had left the windows open and that my mom was alone in the flat. She had not been keeping well for quite some time you know that. 
- Yes, I do.
- By the time I could enter my flat, it started pouring. I rushed in and was shocked to find my mother lying flat in the living room bleeding profusely from the head. Not knowing what to do, I shouted Ma, ma please don’t die, please be alive, and kept on closing the windows to stop the rains gushing in. I called my neighbor, called the emergency, called Amit (her husband) who was in office, Nipa (her sister in Navi Mumbai) and asked them to come asap. When we admitted her to FORTIS Noida, the doctors informed that due to high BP, she fell on the ground and had a brain hemorrhage! By then, Amit was there, I called Argha (her son) from Pune, and Nipa was with me with Arka and Titli (Nipa's two children). Will never forget that fateful night Unto (my pet name). We said no to surgery simply because of her age. However, they tried hard to see what could be done and after four days in ICU, the neurosurgeons gave up all hopes and said it was just a matter of some few hours. When I asked how few it was, they said three to four. It was on Saturday 20^th July I came to know that ma was leaving us. You know we had a gurubaba who used to rescue us from all difficult situations? 
- Yes I know!
- He had given us a mala with his mantra and had asked us to apply during bad times. I remembered that and had it brought from home and touched that on my mom’s broken head, wished she left us without pain. Doctors had asked us to give her ‘ganga jal’ (water of the Ganges) per our ritual. Amit went to gangotri few days ago, and brought water from the gangotri. We gave her that, though she wasn't able to take that in. It was flowing from her stiff mouth. We started calling up people, and was deciding on which cremation ground to take her to. The next morning we got a call from the hospital and believe you me, we learnt that she was convalescing! Imagine brain hemorrhage! Amit and Nipa were awake the whole night at the hospital. I rushed in to know that although she was recovering she'd gone into coma. Doctors said it might take months for her to come out of it. After about an hour or so, Argha shouted in her ears, O dida! Dida! Cholo bari jabo (Hello Granny, come, let’s go home!)…and the miracle which had begun continued...within a minute my mom’s right eye opened for a second and closed. Vigilant doctors were surprised with literally eggs on their faces. They said they had never witnessed something as strange as this before! What they did after that was remarkable and unheard of Unto! They got an ear phone and asked Argha, Arka, and Titli to call out Dida, dida, and only dida as loudly as they could! Desperate grand-children did a pretty good job Unto!

-  So what happened?

-  Well, well, well, within a couple of hours she recovered and we brought her home…and now she’s up and about! That’s what happened. Doctors say it’s a miracle. Though she has a huge mark in her head…that will take time to heal, but she’s here with us!

-   Did you tell Mashima (that’s how bongs call their friends’ moms) you guys gave her gangajal?

-   No, are you mad? Anyway, happy birthday Unto!

-   Thank you for this wonderful birthday wish. You take care!

-  You too. 

word to word

word to word

Values, beliefs, ethics, principles are words,

Breathing through the nerves, hitting it round and again

For growth, profit, and bargain;

Of profiles and professions, of assets and possessions,

What travels commonly through the veins is grief.

Wonderful as the tailored flower, fruit and littlest leaf,

When two selves meet in a palace or on street

Fresh as the sweat drools for a treat;

Same is the lust and same the relief,

Then what is the seed, is it the diamond or the rice?

To those who are unlike we have ceased to be nice,

To clear it away all price is less

It has no brains, needs a heart without mess;

For us it is to search as we grow in our worlds,

Feelings warm that hide behind those frozen words!