Sep 24, 2014

'It'

Burning there day & night
Filled in every breath I take,
still it eludes me!

Lines on my hand scream
Screeching sounds all I hear
no music no notes no harmony
still it eludes me!

Heart pounding each single day
shouting fighting with it 
is my own friend, my brain
still it eludes me!

Passionate longing it stays
touch of a romantic it seems like
drinking within me, in my every pore
still it eludes me!

Words phrases combinations
praising defying like HIM
poetry of mine it gives birth to
still it eludes me!

Order chaos rules warnings
Showing boards red and yellow
defining my each entry & exit
still it eludes me!

Fate destiny, I refer to it sometimes as
so enigmatic, so puzzling
so my own residing within me
still it eludes me!

Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and poet said, "You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star". The chaos is the order that brings dreams to reality. With a bit of turbulence, this poem refers to this fire inside me which burns me, keeps me alive and still eludes me, keeping me far far away from what I dream to achieve. Life, a series of challenges and mine at present is to retain this fire and keep my chaos to bring life to order.  

The Phoenix!


However I try to hide
the more my words scream,
naked and bereft my soul stands
singing to the tunes of cold sorrow,
Waiting for the phoenix to rise
with a new ray of life!


This poem to me represents a new start. I do not know but I am curious is the Phoenix ever lived? Whatever is the myth or the belief the "phoenix" word has always attracted me and I wanted to write something that talks about it. This poem is my answer to that curiosity. A new life and a hope even after difficulties is what is phoenix to me. While searching for a image that best resonates this poem of mine, I came across pictures of the Phoenix rising (as in the poem), new buds and plants coming to life, and the one you see above. This image by Stefano Bonazzi felt perfect for this poem, because it portrays a new life. 

Image Courtesy- Google, Stefano Bonazzi

Sep 18, 2014

यादों के फूल


आकाश से गिरता पानी
कैसे खेत की मेढ़ों
में भर,
देता जीवन आने वाली फसलों को…
यहाँ भी
गिरती बारिश की बूँदें
गीला कर रही मन की जमीं को
और मैं इस आस में
भीगती हर ओर
खिलेंगे जीवन बेली में
तुम्हारी "यादों के फूल" ....

Sep 17, 2014

When A Note Ends A Marriage!

The pressure on young women to get married – never end a marriage – has dire consequences for some marriages, and lives.
Hailing from a country which heavily breathes on mostly one relationship between men and women, i.e. the fatal attraction, it is not uncommon to find parents searching for an appropriate life partner for their daughter. The times have still not changed in most parts of India, where, as a girl turns 18-23, the pressure gets more and more intense for her to be wed.
No doubt, the metros see a sea change with increasing number of live-in relationships but it’s a fact that this number is not huge. Many a girl is raised with the thought that she have to beautify someone else’s life, primarily her future husband’s. How often are parents seen teaching their girls about their own happiness, about their own peace, let alone the comfort of having sex as per their wishes and agreement?
Next, the wedding is a huge affair. Pomp and show, give and take, the forms of ostentation are numerous. Less are the objections to this style of wedding, and more the cases where the money spent sweeps the floor under the bride’s family. Parents save all their life to have a great wedding for their daughter. Mothers often are seen collecting gold, little by little for their girls. The bride’s dress, the jewelry, the beauty, the sanskaar (values) have to be impeccable but who questions the bridegroom! Just the fact he is a boy spares him of all the horror of evaluation and embarrassment.
Once happily wed, what is the proportion of ‘happily ever after’? How happy a girl now the daughter-in-law is, is measured by her husband’s love for her, the degree of comfort she finds in her new home. But, it is not hard to find as well as not much easier to believe, that a girl raised to be a future daughter-in-law can have her own personality.
How often does she feels betrayed by just the upbringing, the norms of society, the laws of the world, God’s categorization of man and woman….but whom can she question? One day, she just quits or exits the worldly affairs with a note full of questions and the ink reeks of the stench of the life she lived!

Just a note

Do I belong in your arms
Or in the solace of my being?
Hard to answer
Easy at first it may seem.
Outside the window
the trees stand naked
I wonder if they knew
the green is going to betray them?
Life’s a jungle
Dense, dark and cold
You don’t stand unique
For life to rain dark clouds on.
I wonder every now and then,
If I ask a valid question?
Harsh to predict
How innocuous that may look,
In the lines of her hand
She scratches a name
I wonder if she knew
If the henna colours-on or the future bleeds?
Where do I belong?
Immaterial, trivial, senseless-
A question it may seem
To a whole lot,
‘Cos they often think
Etched in the numerous moments
Your name and my being
Aren’t they one?
Endless trials to find
The answer
Yet standing empty-handed
With a heart hollow of love
I decide to take matters
In my custody and
I quit!

*This post was originally published at Women's Web: http://www.womensweb.in/2014/05/end-a-marriage/