Posts tagged ‘Life’
Dear Jungle Jalebi
Tears fall with you
As you fell
Last night
In winds that revved
Up a mighty squall
Your roots uprooted
From the earth
Your branches entangled
In electric wires
Bit by bit you
Are dismantled
From all that upon
Which you rest
Your weary limbs
And taken away
The cat runs up your
Huge, sloping trunk
One last time
To flex his muscles
On Nature’s post
The parrots busy
Gobbling your summer-ripened
Red fruit – so much you
Showered this year….
You enriched my life
By your presence,
Doing nothing,
And yet so much
And soon I will have
To learn to live in your
Absence
This time there is no sorrow
Only acceptance of
Nature and her forces
Yes, my friend,
I will miss you
And so will the cats
And squirrels
And birds and all
Those who came
And sat in your shade
And tasted your beauty
New Delhi
May 15th 2013
The dear, old Jungle Jalebi had probably been around for over 50 years. Our house was built around it. Like a friend that must go, it went. Funnily enough, it is still lives on…
a tree never leaves you…
Is
A movement
of images
A dance
of words
A ballet
of feelings
A kaleidoscope
of impressions
A cloudburst
of emotions
My naked
thoughts
in party attire
To delight
Amuse
Surprise
and render
speechless sometimes
A few words written
without music
Yet in tune
and always
an offering
April 14th 2011
(By the sheer Grace of my Teachers)
What a hullabaloo we make of everything in our lives,
All God’s creatures live frugally and wise.
Sprawled on the road I saw her, lifeless she lay,
Emerging from class late evening on a Monday.
A striped tabby so beautiful and white,
Fur glinting in the night’s lamp-post light.
Hit in all probability by a speeding car,
Its occupant not bothering to look very far.
I didn’t know this beauty one bit,
Just couldn’t bear to call her an ‘it’.
So gave her the gender feminine,
In keeping with elegant looks so fine.
Were nearby gardens her little home?
Now this dark street was her last tomb.
Did she play with friends or frolic for fun?
Laze and bask in the afternoon sun?
Was she mother or father to any at all?
What did it matter, who cared to recall?
Was she loved and would she be missed?
Was she ever picked up and tenderly kissed?
My eyeballs swam in tears so hot,
I longed to revive the life thus lost.
Life snuffed out so cruel and fine,
Her only fault lay in crossing at the wrong time.
Stepping over quickly I got in to drive
To home and people who knew I’d arrive.
Wishing I’d held her and placed her aside to rest
Not left her there so alone and undressed.
How Pompous our lives, so frail and so small?
Look at Nature’s creatures, so Grand and so Tall.
3rd March 2011
Falling
Falling
Falling
Fallen Leaves
In all hues
Mostly yellow
Ochre, dull gold, brown, yellow again
Not a place where a fallen leaf has not
Fallen
Dropping
Shedding
Replacing
Piled high on street corners
In parks and on side-walks
Under-foot and in my face
Rustle
Rustle
Rustle
Tender Crumpled Delicate
Each different from its sibling
The building blocks of forests
The laboratory of trees
Houses, furniture
Books, comforts
Conveniences
Built by leaves
Now falling
Falling
Fallen
Have you ever lain on a bed of fallen leaves?
April 12th 2011
A true friendship allows many things. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be true. It allows camaraderie without having to try to fit in; it allows listening and sharing when the going gets tough; it allows asking, knowing you will receive (hopefully most of the times); it allows the silence of unspoken words; it allows you to just be. My friend, Nita, has the most amazing laugh. The sound of her laughter attracts you to her immediately. The laugh begins somewhere in her belly, moves slowly up her throat, gathers momentum and gurgles out musically, reminding you of the tinkling of many bells. I wish I could laugh like that.I tease Nita about her weight.
She nods and teases me about mine. It is a two-way circus.
We struggle with middle-age flab, or is it late-age cellulite? I vow to lose the extra fat, promise to diet, and endeavour in whatever way possible to shed the excess load. I gently and firmly remind her to off-load hers too. Encouraged she embarks on a plan that shows results. Secretly, I do the same. We share tips and smile at the pants that now fit. But have we really conquered the fight with the flab? We enjoy luncheons together at interesting places that cater fat-free-food. Read more
Women are not inferior or superior to men,
They are only different from them.
They speak out and put up a fight,
For what they know to be just and right.
Women can cook, clean, earn and invent,
Run a marathon, a country, a home and parliament.
For centuries oppressed, suppressed, depressed and confined,
Today acknowledge their freedom and strength of mind.
Women need to be heard in global society,
Releasing them from being just a sexual minority.
Women walk the tight rope with efficient ease,
Balancing career, family, finance or disease.
For pleasure let their bodies not be abused,
Instead allow their intelligence and compassion to be used.
Daughter, sister, wife, lawyer, writer, activist, artist,
Homemaker, lover, sportsperson, politician or friend –
Applaud them all, bringing social injustice to an end.
Include them in decision-making, in negotiations, and empower
For an equitable society and world to flower.
September 2010, Singapore
She lies on her bed in deep repose
Flat on her back, straight till her toes
Opening her eyes to acknowledge and see
A smile and squeeze of hand is rendered to me
The world, like a carousel, spins so bright
And I, the foolish idiot, grins in its light
Round and round it happens to twirl
Faster and faster it seems to whirl
“There is almost an enchantment of unbelievable magic in the method of communication adopted by nature in guiding seekers.” Swami Chinmayananda
The Heavens burst open at the fading light
With an invitation to a dance tonight.
Venue being the Pastoral Green –
Dress-code is – ‘Come as you preen!’
The sky changes its clothes from blue to grey –
Mrs Squirrel dashes off to close down for the day.
The Tree lived in a corner of the garden,
Roots firm and steady, into the ground,
Trunk solid and upright, into the sky,
Branches fanning out, replete with leaves,
Boughs laden with fruit, heavy and green,
The Quiet Sky 