SEMMOZHI PARK - CHENNAI

Time spent with wife and kids

No peak hour traffic, deadlines or late hours

Watch my two-year-old

move around like a clockwork doll

Present her a flower and leaf

and revel in her wonder

Throw ball to little fella

He falls flat on his face and pretends to sleep

Wife points to the trees -

to racing squirrels.

Hold hands and walk around the pond

Little ones run in front

Twilight hours

The lights go on....

Thank you Chennai!

 

don’t we all know 

how to live in a shell -

secretly alive...

 

THERAPY

Let me put you on the slope of a hill..

Green Grass Meadow

Buttercups and Daisies

Dewdrops shining like diamonds -

sparkling in morning Sunshine before

smilingly fading away with a promise to be back...

You lie there on your back,

looking at the Blue Sky,

the Sun is high

White clouds float by

and you think -

I can never ever be unhappy

among Buttercups and Daisies

in a Green Grass Meadow.

 

GHOSTLY LOVE SONG

 

Skeletal trees reach out to stars this cold, autumn night

Birds wake up startled by the owl’s sudden nocturnal flight

the wind whispers “you’re mine!” a wailing dismal strain—

and I walk the Earth through vales and hills once again!

Craving eyes seek the scent of a loved one in despair!

Down a trail of tangled webs leading nowhere!

Here! and here! and here! Oh we were everywhere!

Was I the one who did not see the abyss that was there?

Now that I’m gone, do you grieve me alone through the cold, dark night?

Or have you found someone else and moved towards the light?

Should you walk these paths again and hear a dismal moan,

please know ‘tis I who weeps and groans, my dirge sung all alone.

Should we meet once again on the same page, you and I,

then my love, I’ll tell you how our love can never die.

BREAKDOWN

confusion in my head

systems going haywire

or maybe you're throwing in ideas too fast!

tangled up and knotted

sprouting up in branches

come on let's go!

a moment more and

haywire

is a heart attack!

REMEMBER THE TIME?

Remember the time

I shared with you my fascination

for ancient civilizations

Those broken mud pots

Their funny weapons

Their quaint paintings

Their lifestyle so different

from ours

But the sky was the same then too

The Moon shone just as bright

There was then too a Bloody Moon

The Venus still spoke Love

And Saturn buzzed with so many rings!

Remember the time

I said I wish we were in a time machine

Or moved far away and flowed with the river

Moved back in time or forward

Now just part of a landscape

encompassing a Universe?

I LOST MY VOICE

Somewhere in the innumerous rituals that surrounded your death

and the selfish demands of the living

and in the midst of the abuse

and in the lack of light in your eyes and your perfunctory nods that reiterated your indifference again and again...

while they lit up with animation when my brother so much as came into the room

Somewhere amidst the rules of behavior that children must be seen not heard, that your opinions don't matter, so do as you're told

and the 'isn't it time you started working, you lazy so and so'

and the 'you're in your mid-20s, it's time you got married (even though you're...)'

and in the time that I laughed with the boss at his stupid, senseless jokes, and did his dirty work for him that he so diligently delegated while my promotion dangled in his hands like a knife on a thin thread..

Somewhere about the time I came home to a spouse who found fault with everything I did, nothing is right

whose love swayed with the amount of money I earned

Somewhere amidst the lack of friends who had all got married and disappeared

Somewhere...when I had no say when the 500 Rs notes in my purse turned to mere papers in a moment

and the movie ticket I bought to spend a little quality time with my family doubled overnight making it an unaffordable luxury

Some time when no matter how much I achieved, I couldn't make it to 'first grade' because that's reserved for a certain skin type, for the insider, for the right caste...

Somewhere when I was told that some section was imposed that could take away my living in the wink of an eye and leave me and my family stranded on a road to nowhere...

Somewhere amidst it all....

I lost my voice.