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

Fragrance of love

They were strewn down the stairs, vulnerable to the crushing by the feet of fate.

Yet they happily adorned the stairs with a smile, fearless of tomorrow, living their moment.

In those flowers, I smelt the fragrance of unending care.

It was sheer instinct that made me pick one up - a flower so tender, a flower so fragrant with love.

She smiled when I offered it to her. The smile of the flower faded in compare.

As the fingers that received it wrapped gently around its bruised petals, I felt the gentle touch of care.

Summer and spring are stepping down and the gentle zephyr of autumn is doing it rounds, leaving the tree threadbare before the reality of winter stings with its cruel chill.

The fragrance of her smile lingers… beyond this life... and the tree awaits another summer and spring to smile in the fragrance of a flower.

A kiss before I live

As I fade into oblivion, just one gift do I seek
A wish to be born, as I dream to live on
As I turn comfortably numb, just one gift do I seek
A kiss from my love, just to make me re-born.

Just to soar into the open skies, on the tattered wings of a dream
Hoping to keep afloat, on the softly blowing breeze of love
If not, to plummet to the ground of reality
And breath my last as the breeze of love kisses me - just so we will be re-born

Mask of Life

The rain drops slithered and slided down the window pane.
What I saw leaning against the glass, reflected my life.
Just short of insanity, yet so full of meaning.
Just blurred and hazy, yet so clear and pristine.
I slowly peeled the mask off my face. The mask of life.
Everything that was meaningless to that very moment, now seemed to have a meaning. However the meaning wouldn't be revealed so easily. There was a clause to it.
The distant star of love needed to take off her mask as well.
Until then, it would all be a dream. A prayer.
A pain that would carve into our heart, cutting us without bleeding.
Hurting us without paining.

"Put the mask back and you will be just fine" So said the voices from around.

A moment in thought and then I threw off the mask from my hand.
It pained as the droplets of rain ran down the past, into an unknown future.
There I stood alone... but all I cared for was that smile I could see in a distance.
My star, no longer mine, smiling for me.

This was the paradox of life opening its door to me.

Broken piece of smile

A broken piece of rainbow, just beyond my reach,
Just a broken piece of mirth, so lost amongst dark clouds
Painting through her sorrows, a sky in seven hues,
Just beyond my reach, to wipe that painted tear

If only I could fly, and reach the sky so high
Ride Pegasus with his roaring reins, spread lightning in the stride
If only I could smile, and get lost within her eyes
Together ride the lightning to eternal, endless times

Even with Gods

Even Gods are confounded by the question of life
Compounded by the what’s, astounded by the why’s
Can Immortals comprehend an ephemeral life?
A race against death, though we all ride to death

Even Gods do realize, folly with their creation
Lowly mortals wage war, barrels blazing and swords flashing
Why do we not awaken to the drizzle of pure wisdom?
That we slaughter our soul, when we murder another

Even Gods do shed tears perched in Their high heavens
Mumble, rumble and grumble in the sniffle of a thunder
Wonder how we get caught in that tingling light drizzle
Drenched in thoughts raining down jumbled minds in a hustle

Even Gods laugh in colours, when they see mortals stutter,
Stranded and drenched in Their tears from yesterday
Wonder how we survive, battling frowns with sweet smiles,
Vivid as the rainbow, a bright bridge over our troubles

__________________________________________________________________
The irony of life is that the rainbow that arises from Gods laughing at our misery is the very bridge that helps us cross our troubles…An inverted smile filled with the colour and essence of life!!!
___________________________________________________________________

Free Hug

GO AWAY!!! GO AWAY!!! She shouted.
If only he could hear the anguish in her tone, he would have fled. Nature had made him deaf.
If only he could see the hatred in her eyes, he would have left. Nature had made him almost blind.
Situations had made him what he was. It was never a choice left to him.
I would never know whether it was anger or love or desperation or expectation that I saw in his eyes. Two cold blue marbles staring through vacant street corner as the woman he approached for alms paced across the street to a perceived distance of safety.
That was when the old woman walked to him. She gave him a note and just hugged him.
As the old woman continued her walk down the street, I thought I heard a subtle sound, but couldn’t place whether it was from a silent sob or a smile from within.
One thing was for sure as I walked up to that man and hugged him. I was in need of the hug as much as him.

Do You?

Then she asked him in a whisper “Do you love me?” and there was a stunned silence.
She looked into his eyes again, and before he could answer, asked “Do you love me?”
This time louder, and the silence loomed larger and lasted longer.
The silence lasted for what seemed to her like an eternity.
Her clear blue eyes locked in his dark brown eyes, and she was about to ask again.
The same old question she had asked a million times for gazillion years.
Before she could reply, he said “I Love You” just once, but so loud that the entire world around them echoed it.
There was that stunning silence again, and then they embraced. The waves and the rocks, their saga of love continued for an eternity it still does.

Strangers we meet, strangers we part.Yet......

The mercury was in its early teens and the cold breeze blowing harshly on my face made me flinch.
Hands dug deeper into the coat pockets, and the feet increased pace.
I entered the hall and could feel the warmth return. As I slowly walked to the escalator, I passed the flower shop right underneath it. There she sat, surrounded by flowers and smiling as if one amongst them.
The fragrance around was intoxicating, and the only thing that prevented me from lingering more was the hefty price tags attached to each of those flower baskets.
There was an ease and charm about her – probably the result of being in the midst of all the wonderful flowers. Red roses, violets, daisies, chrysanthemums, lilies and then there was her.
Her eyes were fixed in a distance, and there was a serene calmness about her face. She imprisoned a smile that was yearning to break free from her lips.
So many people would have bought flowers from her. So many hearts would have spoken ‘I Love You’, ‘I Miss You’, and ‘I Care for You’ through her flowers.
What was she thinking seated amidst this abundance of flowing emotions? Was she thinking ‘When would someone gift me flowers?” Was she thinking “When would someone say ‘I care for you”?
I was watching her even as the escalator took me up and afar, pulling my mind distant from that of the stranger, like a mother pulling a child away from his favourite toy.

“Jason. Nooo” The young mother’s voice was too late. The toddler was already a fair ten pace ahead of his mom and before anything, had plucked a bright red rose from one of the flower baskets. I stood and watched as the mother came running to admonish her young. Little Jason looked puzzled and startled and what he did next was something out of the blue.
He walked to the flower lady, looked up at her and gifted a beautiful smile. Then he gave her that rose, just as if to say – I care.
The lady gave him a pat on his head, gave the flower back to him and guided him to his mom.
Seated in her wheelchair, the flower lady waved goodbye to the little boy. Little Jason was waving and jumping in joy as he walked away with his mom – the bright red rose in his hand.
There was a fragrance in the air. I didn’t know if it were from the flowers or from the joy around.

I slowly walked off to my apartment all the while thinking - Strangers we meet, strangers we part, and in between we enjoy it all - spring, summer, fall, winter and spring.
The night sky was getting colder, but nothing could steal the warmth from my heart. The warmth of what I had seen. The warmth of love unfold.

Bedtime Story

Mist arose from her watery abode, and slowly weaved a blanket in the air around. The blanket was a protection against the prying human eyes, as she treaded on air, to visit her lover – the Moon.
Mist, the daughter of the Night and mother Earth glowed in anticipation, as the rays of the Moon touched her gentle skin. Silver fingers reached down to hold his love as they lost themselves in each others eye.
No whispering of sweet nothings.
No loud promises of eternal love.
Just the two of them, shivering in the moment of a cold embrace
The mischievous Breeze whistled as he passed by, but ‘Mist and Moon’ were in a world of their own.
An occasional Cloud tried to prevent the son of Sky love the daughter of Earth, but the night Wind shooed them away.
They remained lost in their love, until dawn broke, heralding the rise of emperor Sun, master and commander of the morning sky.
Moon and Mist hung on as much as they could, and silently bid goodbye for the while.
As Sun spread his warmth and authority around, Moon faded in compare.
Mist wilted in the heat, her blanket of protection slowly falling apart.
Her tears of separation rolled down to cling on to the leaf blades around and glowed like pearls before being consumed by the Sun.

Far away, in some distant corner of Earth, the Mist arose yet again from her watery abode…. Moon was waiting …

Beginning of the end

Frozen in a moment, wondering if we could ever work back the heavy arms of time.

Stopped for a moment, wondering if we could ever comprehend what we label as fate.
Puppets we are, with the strings being pulled by unknown arms.

Singing, dancing, laughing, crying, and acting our life to an unknown script.
As mysteriously as it all started, it ends...

A cruel world that makes us smile when in tears, and drops us into a black hole of sorrow when we feel things couldn't be any better.
Another scene from the act of life. Another role in the scheme of things, and we wait for our chance to roll the dice... and we wait for our chance to roll the dice

The colourful bridge of unending hope

The mercury was dipping fast.The dark sky and a chilling breeze added a sprint to the pace of the pedestrians. The maple leaves had started withering, heralding yet another undressing by autumn. As more of dark clouds invaded the noon day sky, things were starting to get darker by the second.

Floating in time, like another leaf in the breeze I sat there wondering if there could be ever be a more dull day in life.

Don't know when I dozed off on the sofa, lost in thoughts.

Don't know who or what woke me up.

Don't know what made me look out through the window on that dull afternoon.

All I know is that it happened, and it changed my perspective.

Smiling at me from the dull gray sky was an arch in seven colours.

A rainbow of hope proclaiming aloud that the sun shines after every rain, that a smile wipes out every tear, that love wins over every hatred.

It shone in its brilliance for a while, telling human kind that it is the bridge to climb if you ever wished to reach for the skies. The colourful bridge of unending hope.

Reassurance

Just to hold her hand, like a child, his fingers entwined with his moms
And sleep in the peaceful reassurance of her eternal presence.

Just to be lost in her eyes, like a traveller back in the lane of time
And walk in the reassurance of her presence, all the way I walk my thoughts.

Just to drown in the silence of her smile, as it infectiously seeps through me
And smile in the reassurance, of passing it back when she has an inverted smile.

Just to rest my head on her lap, as her motherly fingers run through my hair
And turn comfortably numb, in the reassurance of being born together again