What of you?

Life took form , a child who cried for breath!

Before they asked how healthy the baby was,

They asked - is it a boy or a girl?

The child wondered - what does it matter!

The child it grew, he played with a doll

Even as he cried out loud, someone snatched it away

They said, dolls are for girls

The child wondered - what does it matter!

The boy went to school, was happy he got a good friend

He told his folks about the friend, and they asked

Is he dark or is he white? 

The boy wondered- what does it matter!

The boy went through his teens, was happy he met this girl

He talked of her to his folks, and they asked

What caste is she? 

The boy wondered- what does it matter!

The boy grew to be a man, was happy to get a job

He gave the news to his folks, and they asked 

Do you earn more than your friends?

The man wondered- what does it matter!

Life took form yet again, the man became a dad

Before his folks could say anything, he said

I don’t care if its a boy or a girl 

Doesn’t matter if its black or white

All I want is just a healthy smile,

And uncoloured eyes that do not judge!

Song of the elements

At times, we feel alienated, lonely and left out...We feel that even the elements are against our very being, leave alone those whom we hold dear...

We feel strange, yet not strange enough to be straight-jacketed :)

And the mind sings this tune...

What be breeze, were it not to gently blow away our troubles

What be fire, were it not to spread its warmth to a cold and frozen mind

What be rain, were it not to drench our soul and sooth our parched life

What be love, if not to hold on to, this life and for ever more…

Happy Sad Smile...

On my way to work yesterday, the train was crowded as usual.

First things first, find a good seat. If none exists, find a seat. Having found one, drown myself in yet another new-found mobile game…

The same old path… same old scenes… another summer in Sydney, although after 3 long years!

‘Is that your son Ma'am?’

The burly voice shook me awake from my cocoon. Having stopped blasting enemies and collecting goodies in my mobile, I returned to normalcy and the buzzing world around me.

‘Is that your son Ma'am?’ A man in his late forties asked again to a lady accompanying a 7 year old boy.

The lady said ‘Yes’.

The man nodded with a smile, and I noticed how similar the mother and son looked. It wasn't too difficult to tell.

The man kept on smiling – a strangely cute smile for such a burly big man – spoke my stupid mind.

“Next stop…” as the voice boomed over the public announcement system in the train, the man got up, took a step close to the young boy and said “Young man, remember this when you grow up… Take good care of your mamma”.

The boy nodded, puzzled yet smiling… The mommy beamed, and nodded thanks…

I don’t know what went through the mind of that man when he spoke – I’ll never know.

All I noticed was that as he got out of the train and walked, he was wiping his eyes, and I think I saw a glimpse of happy-sad memories…

Fragrant smile

A fragrance within – that’s how I took birth
Blooming in the wake of a fine morning sun.
Honeyed rays caressing me, and smile did I in crimson red.
Sweet fragrance that wafted with each blooming smile,
Stolen by a breeze into the twilight of love
A love so eternal that I smiled all I could.

Each passing day the sun burned high,
Yet smile did I in sprightly bloom
Somewhere in time, I lost that smile
With the faded fragrance or first petal to fall.
Sweet breeze it did call on for more
As twilight did droop to a bespangled night.

Then one last time, the sun did shine,
Soft zephyr came seeking my sweet fragrant smile
Amongst the red petals strewn on the ground.
Fragrance that died and my faded red smile,
And all this while, special I thought was I !

The perfect frame

Sometimes an artist paints a beautiful picture, only to find that there is one element that is not quite needed in the frame.

It could be a bird, a face, an object… It is very much a part of the creation but is not quite required… a misfit…
What urged the creation in the first place?

Even the creator would not have an answer to it.

Such is life for some… a misfit in the frame of life…
An ugly child in a family of beautiful and handsome…
A dimwit in a class full of brilliants…
An unwanted ‘thing’ in the frame…
Yes it is very much a part of the picture… very much a part of you…but what if it is growing into you more than yourself?
Medical science refers to it as a cancer….
We could call this a mental cancer...
It needs removal… radiation and chemotherapy… a battle against our very own…
We would want to ensure that not a single cell remains lest it manifests into a greater cancer at a later point.
We try and we try and then one day we die… and that part of us we fought… we don’t know if it still is a part…

I would rather not fight it… I shall embrace it…I am this mental cancer and I can’t be different from it…bring it on – the pang of realization and the pain of separation… I’ll embrace it with a smile…its been what I am from creation…

He chanted at the skies…and the Gods had no answer… People who walked past stared at times...Those who were used to him, just walked their merry path...

The misfit rambled on, even as the silence of Gods manifested into a drizzle that drenched his body, but not his thoughts…
The misfit rambled on, embracing the frames he is already a part of…walking on to be part of more frames that he has not planned to be part of…
The Gods had no answer to his questions...neither in the delicate peal of a thunder, nor in the silent brillance of a lightning. They all had a knowing smile. They were too experienced to bother and worry about the misfit and his complaints. There sure was another misfit awaiting him somewhere in this whole wide beauty called creation… The other part that would make his picture perfect

Sometimes....

Sometimes the love we hold so dear to our heart fades away into the night, like soft mist into think air.
Time stealing our precious laughs and drying our silent tears, as we stare into the unknown.
Little do we know what went wrong !

Technicolor dreams fading into black and white...
And we, left clueless...not knowing what went wrong !

Metamorphosis of a dream

Into a self imposed exile...

Away from the din of reality...

Away from the rat race of life...

Away from the elements that stole our dreams...our smile...

Into a self imposed exile...

Into a cocoon...before we can fly on the wings of a colourful dream...

A beautiful smile spreading the nectar of cheer from flower to flower...

Entwined in the ecstasy of love on the wings of a zephyr...

And then we find our ephemeral selves back in the warmth of a cocoon...

Waiting to fly again into a burst of smiling colours...

Thus evolves the saga of life and beyond... a dream and its metamorphosis...

A smile in time

Thrown back into time…
thrown into the back of a truck of memories and driven back into time…

I see a child in time, unknown of his purpose in life – happy nevertheless, smiling at the world around and planting his fair share of joy.

The child grows on the wings of expectation – never entirely his own...
His friends, his family, his society … all have their fair say in it, but then it is ‘his life’.

Time rambles along, and so does his life…
No longer a child in time, still pretty unknown is his purpose in life – not as happy as he were before…his heart doesn't smile anymore…

Oh take me back wheels of time… take me back…a child in time - just so I can smile