Its either “I don’t do it because I can’t ”…
Or “I can do it, but I choose not to”

Woman

Watch her
Woman
Stumbling along
See the child
Held tight in her arms
Hark that desperate look in her eyes
That haggard face
Clothes cloaked in grime

Hatless
Shoeless
Begging for food
Homeless
Friendless
Banished for good
Disowned by the family
Surviving on dog-scraps
In an alien land

At night when the moonshine
Blankets the trees
She lies on the roadside
Uncovered
Trying not to freeze

Close to her breast then
She holds her bastard child
The baby unknowing
Hungry and crying.

Hope

The tunnel may seem long
The darkness overpowering
The road beneath your feet
Rough and jagged, scarring
Your weary feet
Your tired head
Your eyes a mist of tears

But somewhere not too far
A skylight’s waiting for you
All you have to do
Is live to see it

Glamour

Screaming, squalling,
Breathless abandon
Pounding, hurtling,
Jumping, crying,

People thronging,
Feeling, dying
Rolling in the dust
In sickly pallor

Breathing for a glimpse
A minute
From the squalor
To touch the hem
Of the skirts of glamour

A sequined façade
A painted mask
To hide the truth
Behind the cast

The work, the hours
The tattered lives
The broken homes
The cold franchise

The sleepless nights
The failed records
The pain the hurt
The desertion and grime

Hidden behind a cloak of smiles
Dentist’s teeth and golden lies
A mask so fine, intricate and real
Specially designed for the public ear

Crafted in platinum,
Tailored in silk
Blue gauze and flowers
Lily scent and mink

Stitched to perfection
With careful delicate hands
Striving to keep the impression
To hold still those adoring eyes…

Two worlds

Caught between two worlds
One of dreams, one real
One more pleasant than the other
More attractive, beckoning nearer…

Coloured masks of different sizes
Shapes and contours,
Both mild and decisive
Hooting, shrieking, laughing at me,

As I stand
Upon my blue fence
Thinking, crying, happy, trying
To strike a balance,
Between the worlds
That threaten to tear me apart…

My sunset

I once saw a beautiful sunset, five years ago in Hyderabad. We sat in a boat on a lake, the name of which i cannot remember. They blared film music and switched on gaudy disco lights. My classmates danced around like victims of n electricity shock. And i shut my mind to this madness as i always do. I sat on the right hand side of the boat with my elbow resting on the bar.
D would come by every now and then, talk to me for two seconds and then jump away again.
Evening began to grow into dusk. To the left of the boat, the sky was a milky blue, with flecks of pure cream. No bird marred its soft surface. But to the right, the sky had turned a blushing pinky orange. The boat was roofed and so it seemed as if the sky had been sliced in half and painted different colours. On my right, drops of blood spread, giving it a peachy glow.
The air was cool. A slight breeze ruffled my hair. In that wide empty expanse that held my gaze i noticed something black in the North-east horizon. My eyes strained to give some shape to that whirling mass. Slowly, they came closer. Black Birds. Flying to form a perfect whirlpool. Swirling in the shape of a drill. It was a wonder they kept from getting dizzy! Suddenly, everything seemed to grow darker. The sun was now only a golden speck in the distance. In the blink of an eyelid, they (the birds) spread in all directions, like the rays of the sun. A string of black birds. And then they were gone. Not one remained. The sky was a piece of blank parchment. As night spread her black and purple gown, the colours changed and i was surrounded in blackness..
My wall crumbled, the other world was gone. I could hear people screeching, noisy hindi film music, flashing disco lights, plump dancing bodies.......