The Girl Under the Magic Moon

Under the bewildered sky enlightened by thee,
On a love draped winter evening,
I looked at thee and thou mesmerized me.
In you did poets see…
Their distant lovers,
And dedicated a million songs to thee.
In you did worshippers of Science see,
A mystery unknown ….
And they reached up to thee.
In you did I see,
The flickering lamp of Hope
Being overshadowed by despair every evening…
Until one day it is lost….
Somewhere in the ever widening abyss of darkness.
And then the next day you show the world,
You are still alive, you are always there.
Thou art the hope that keeps me alive,
Thou art the magic moon of my life!

(Dedicated to the prettiest full moon I've ever witnessed in my life time.)

Love Song of a Springtime Maiden

At times thou make me wonder,
Which song should I dedicate to thee?
I want to sing a song for thee,
A song sung from the bottom of my heart,
Which shalt bring thee very close to me.
The spring time song sung by the birds
Is way beyond my capability,
The love songs sung by generations of poets
Dedicated to star crossed lovers with tragic fates
Are replete with pain, speaking of cruel Destiny.
I am a springtime maiden, devoted to you,
My love is simple and my love is true.
My song might not be assiduous like the koel bird,
Or great enough to be epitaphed in a tragic lover's grave.
Like the first voice of a newborn child,
My song is nascent and my love is naive.
At times thou make me wonder,
Which song should I dedicate to thee?
I'll sing the song which you told me to sing,
As you held me in your arms and we watched the sea.

You Know U are in Love :)

You know you are in love,
When you can feel him in the first rays of the sun,
When you can smell him in the rains,
When you can feel his breath in the passing winds,
Occupying every corner of your brain.
You know you are in love,
When his thought brings a smile on your face,
When his sight makes you swell with desire,
When he becomes your priority,
And nothing else do you require.
You know you are in love,
When you feel something which is eternal and true.
I know I'm in love,
I am madly in love with you!

A Walk Through A Boulevard Of Memories.....

It was closing time, but dad still didn't show up. So I called his bank. A mature voice on the other end replied..."STATE BANK DE NOBILI CAMPUS..."."May I speak to Mr.A. Mukherjee please...". "JUST HOLD ON..". After about three minutes he transferred the call to dad, and dad, in his usual gruff tone, replied.."HELLO..". "Are you done baba?I am waiting..". " WAIT FOR SOME MORE TIME MAMON, I AM STUCK IN THE CASH COUNTER, WILL COME IN ABOUT 10 MINUTES..". "It's closing time baba, I am walking towards your bank....". Saying this, I disconnected the call and left the C.M.R.I office.
As I sauntered through the impeccable streets of C.M.R.I. colony, dusk had begun to prevail over the Coal Capital of India.The warmth of the day sundered into crimson fumes of the evening, as the elusive rays of the sun finally disappeared from the ephemeral horizon, engulfing me with the nerve racking winter air. The trees were filled with a cornucopia of chirping birds, who would fly every now and then in herds, and fill the sky with a plethora of happiness.As I left the main office gate, I saw something in the garrage which i hadn't seen for the past three years...my school bus! I was suddenly filled with a settling sense of confounding nostalgia. Ah....this was the way I used to pass every day in my school bus! So many dreams, emotions and unforgerttable memories engraved in the eternal epitaph of Past.I had an inexorable urge to ride into that bus again...if only the bus could take me back to my golden days. I was lost in thoughts, when a gust of wind swept past my face, pulling me out of my trance. As I continued to walk, I passed a couple of middle aged aunties gossiping about their daily lives, and a plump Punjabi girl with a long plait and snickers, jogging, with a firm determination to loose weight.
The C.M.R.I. stadium was bursting with activity as budding cricketers were undergoin rigorous training and old grand pas with specs and monkey caps performing yoga and a group of roadside romeos staring at me. Opppsite the stadium was another smaller field, which was primarily occupied with kids, which had room for less sophisticated sports such as lock and key, kit kit, kabaddi etc. I passed through a volley of staff quarters and narrow lanes untill the magenta walls of the Hanuman temple marked the end of the colony. It was time for the evening prayer and the air was reverberating with the chimes of bells and bhojpuri bhajans. And finally, I came across the attritious edifice, the abode of my dreams.The stark and austere junior block of DNS, C.M.R.I. may not be as magestic as its senior counterpart, with humble classrooms with asbestos ceilings, but it holds a very special significance in my life, as this was the place which nurtured my childhood. As I glanced through the windows, I remembered how happily I used to roam about in the corridoors. As I was passing through the windows, i stopped outside a particular window as a surge of profound emotions made my steps heavy. Ah..this was the classroom I could never forget! I first entered this classroom when I was in standard 1, and I remember how I used to impress Mrs Anand with my fluent english and by singing english songs for her...the yellow dress which I wore on my seventh birthday, the first prize which I bagged in the elocution contest and the special prize which I received from Mrs Anand for scoring a 100 in mathematics. I was once again engulfed in thoughts. A cinematic rewind swept past my mind as I recalled the last time I had entered the class room. Standard 12...Youth festival... .I had just finished anchoring the solo western singing competion...and there you were waiting...with your charizmatic smile which is enough to make my day. You congratulated me, and made me feel soooo special, as you always do. Food packets were being distributed and we both ate breakfast from the same packet. When I began to leave to wash my hands, you just held it. I could sense from your touch that you were nervous...as your show was only a couple of hours away. "What??..", I asked softly. "Nothing...", you whispered back in your soft but magnetic voice..."Just sit here..don't go anywhere today." I smiled and whispered back..." Neither do I want to leave you.." .
The horn of my dad's scooter again pulled me out of my trance. To my disappointment, I realized that the classroom was devoid of any furniture and the floor was filled with dry gulmohar leaves. The windows were broken and were housed by a plethora of termites. The walls were nested by colonies of spiders. Similar was the fate of the entire junior block as a new junior building has been erected inside the senior campus and the unforgettable junior block has simply been abandoned. Tears filled my eyes as I saw the heavenly abode of my childhood days slowly transmogrifying into a ghoulish graveyard of byegone memories.....



( P.S. Love you DNS.....MISS YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH. Thank you for grooming my personality. And thank you for gifting me with some of the most special people of my life. Oh De Nobili, HATS OFF TO THEE !!)

The Voice Of Silence.....

In the deep dark ignorance of time,

She stands unvanquished, like an iconoclast....

Her song echoes in the sultry lanes of chauvinism,

Like the sole minstrel in the vestigial patriarchial orchestra....

Her smile has the aura of eternity,

With the freshness of blooming dandelions....

Her deep dark eyes are a euphoric fiesta,

With the unique synergy of exuberance and elan.

She is the poetry of some anonymous poet,

Bringing peace and happiness to distressed minds....

She disappears in the quest for that unknown bliss,

Which we all seek but fail to find.....

She travels to mountains, she travels to plains,

She gets her soul drenched in the primordial rains...

She sways in the midst of claustrophobic storms,

Yet grounded to the earth is her elegant form....

She rules the world with the fervour of a lioness,

In the eternal horizon where dreams meet reality....

The voice of silence, long suppressed,

Has finally found word and utterence....

Take me for a ride tonight.....

Take me for a ride tonight
On your cobalt blue LML Freedom,
To the land of bliss,
To the land of stars,
Where past is elusive and future is far.....
Far away....
From the sultry lanes of human inhabitance,
To the land of blooming dandelions and moonlit skies,
Where time is loath and love never dies;
Far away.....
From the conjested world of internet and mobiles,
Where earthly distances become fade and fragile,
And can no longer prevent me and you
From confessing our love which is eternal and true...
Where conscience guides our thoughts and actions,
And not social norms and cultural bonds,
Where truth is immortal, like an iconoclast,
And eternally pervades to infinity and beyond....
To the distant land of the rising sun,
Where dreams are naive and have just begun
Their inevitable process of becoming true,
Where nothing can separate me and you....
Take me to this land tonight,
On your cobalt blue LML Freedom...

Beyond the blue horizon....

Life is like a doleful road
Starting from cradle, ending in grave,
In it I am a laconical traveller,
Walking blindly, uncertain and naive.
I don't know the language of follies and sins
Engraved in the epitaph of molested love;
I speak of fools and I speak of kings
In the earth below and the heaven above.
History whispers in my ears
Tales untold and stories unheard,
Of anonymous poets of unknown birth,
And sojourning vagabonds who aimlessly rove
For country liquor and sunburnt mirth.
They speak of religion and blasphemic love
In a sultry town draped in yore;
They speak of brothels, they speak of temples
And virgin maidens and forbidden doors.
And then one day, they all disappear,
In the distant horizon where life meets death,
And time snatches away one's last breath,
Where hope is a flickering shade of resilience,
And finally sunders into eerie fumes of silence;
Shattered is the facade of affable pretence
When reality dawns upon the dwindling oblivion,
And for the first time I hear my conscience speak
These claustrophobic words of eternal truth :
" Life is a euphemism for love and care,
There are fragments of hope in an ocean of despair,
We often ignore them in our fortune seeking dance,
And finally succumb to a materialistic trance..."