Millions of breaths since birth,
the one habit which doesn't await setting
time or space for practice.
The breath at times plunges
into an abyss of amnesia
venom spewing negativity of media
criticisms and judgemental behaviour
of loved ones sucking the air we all need.
Gasping for that one lightning to
strike and erase the dark cynicism
the parched lungs sway wildly
each breath drenches in happiness
happy to become normal again.
Shush, I tell her, she refuses churning out one after another
her pace faster than my groggy walk in the woods
My eyes still not completely awake from slumber
She transports me across time zones, across generations
I am not interested to travel back and forth
I want to be here, in the now
Five decades passed
and yet she rules me
I wish to be unshackled
Each second, each minute
just soak in the moment
not get entangled like the bushes above
yet thoughts do not leave me
and I walk back the trail
thoughts settled like the morning mist.
Aims, goals, plans, timetables
every word of purpose rooted
in every nook of my maternal house.
Childhood broom sweeps
but they come crawling back
to my beaming parents who
navigate them to me and my sibling.
Teen years slammed many a door
at those disgusting words then
yet they found their resting cot.
Youth conquered me
and slid them farther away
Every tiny achievement then
was a new wrapper for my ego.
Evading immigrations
my goals sneaked into
my dwelling in this country.
My occasional grey sprouting
hair do not miss
their conscious stare.
On days when my moods swing me
a friendly tug of goals whispers
"It's all right, you can do it again."
My present goals are only for my eyes
Tiny pleasures, whenever achieved
A treat, I strive to earn each day.
Shalini, a name synonymous with courtesy and modesty
She, a true depiction of unassuming simplicity
Hasn't even been a year since l met
yet feel her radiating warmth every time
she is around.
Avneesh, the other name of Lord Ganesh
or earth's caretaker
With open doors he welcomes
be it new year's eve or Holi.
His eternal hospitality is what
we all vouch for.
Both wedded into a
harmonious blend of bliss and joy.
Privileged are those children
born to such beautiful parents,
blessed are those friends
who found their companionship
fortunate are we all to be a part of
this beautiful day of their lives.
A lovely pair who illuminated
all of our lives
his poems and affectionate smile,
her mouth sacking dishes and self
determination to be on her own.
Wonder what other treasures
will the intellectual duo
unravel on a sojourn
we passengers wish to travel
on their journey of a life time.
No wonder their lives are
so intertwined,
His name ending in
the same syllable to begin hers,
Avneeshalini.
The tinge of rainbow colours on faces
still poignant, scrubbing hard to scrape away each hue
matching the setting sunrays on a cold Holi evening.
An invisible attire of deep coloured love
splashed on milky white dresses
a colour no designer can create
an apparel no brand can put a tag on.
The privileged washbasin mingled
with colours of grey smiles and bear hugs,
The bathroom mirror envying the
plastered smiles.
Blended in each Indian's heart
the pink giggles, the green grins
pavements soaked in shades of yellow
drains spilling of red and pink
the wafting aromas and
the dripping white laughter.
Colours do not brighten our lives
but love sprayed on near and dear ones.
Let us wish to be that bright pigment
and lather away mankind's bleak stain of sorrows.
Rumi ~ "Not the ones speaking the same language, but the ones sharing the same feeling, understand each other.
Every mother craves for the first utterance of her offspring,
at crawling pace words multiply, vocabularies enrich,
sentences get knotted to convey racing thoughts.
Then every emotion, every object gallops
for a label in not one but myriads of languages.
Yet every one feels capsized in the flood of alphabet
eyes incessantly foraging for lifelines
to spill the feelings of the heart.
Languages mount on us stooping our backs
we crouch yearning for the song of silence
groping for the sharing neigh that soothes our souls.
Is it a co-homosapien who soaked in dialects
and languages offers us a caring ear,
or the four legged animals some,
whom we tame for our companionship,
or the birds who perch on the sill
or the all pervading nature?
Usually a sheer spousal nod tranquilizes my aching feelings,
the warm clasp of friends an assuring comfort at times
but many a time my agitated nerves crave for
a feel which is tender and
where language becomes obscure.
