Thursday, March 31, 2011

Woman of few words, silence is her language
But she can touch you because she can talk with her eyes...

A smile so radiant, it lit up the world
Of those around her; She loved giving it away
To those around her; For she received it back
And received much more; The joy that emanates
From the center of the heart, it then swims through out
Bringing peace and love; And this in turn she would give away
All over again...

She promised she'd be there forever and a day
And she will keep her promise come what may
Even if she would have to leave 'tween the journey to home
She'd come back like an angel; And you would know when you sense her scent so sweet
The scent that wafted from behind your neck as she sat holding you tight when you'd meet
So you'll know she is around and you'll wish that you could touch her one last time
And feel her so that you could tell her how much you love her; Something you didn't do
When the bond you shared with her was in its prime...

Listen to what she has to say, you can listen with your eyes
While she talks with hers; She smiles with her eyes
When she wants to tell you; She wants you to know, just how much you mean
To her; There are many like her that you may have met
At least that is what she believes, but you know she is wrong
She also believes that there is just one like you in her universe
And there shall always be just one like you...



Unfinished ideas weaving in my mind
Like a half done web that is washed by the rain
The ideas don't manifest themselves in the real world
A mirage of sorts they remain
I try to touch them but in vain...
******
I didn't walk towards you to walk away from you
I'm standing where I always did and I shall always
It is you who chose to retreat, move back a step or two
The blue planet, it revolves around the hot ball of fire
We, on it, believe that the sun rises and falls
It's not the sun after all, but it's us on the go
It's not me after all, its you, you should know...
******
Unfinished bounds, I see them on my shelf
The characters, still vivid, they move in my mind
How it ends for them, I do not know, though I'd like to and so they remain
On my shelf; though how it began is now a puff of smoke
I refuse to go back and begin all over
But the lack of awareness of the end, it haunts me
And thus the fate of the bounds is decided, on my shelfs forever they shall be...
******
In the silence of the morning and the darkness of the day just begun
I sip my cup of cafeh, lost in thought
That is exactly how it'd look like to the spectator
Ironically, the only spectator around is the one that I chat with
And He knows, that lost I am not
He knows that I meet Him over a cuppa each morning
And yes, a lot does happen over cafeh...
******
Inspiration can't be forced, one has to wait for it to do one a favour
O come to me from above, come and blow upon me the wisdom of Him who formed you
For if I'm not breathed upon by you, the divinity, it doesn't flow out of me,
The divinity of art; And thus I remain restless and toss, 
And I turn until I am fatigued and can fight no more.
But when you come to me in your fullness
The words they just flow, the thoughts they just form, 
An ocean of turquoise water, drop by drop
A poetry filled with emotion, thought by thought...
******
I was sand on the shore, so soft and so weak
I built my dreams and they fell like sandcastles on the shore
Then I gathered myself, grain by grain
I evolved into rock, immovable and stable
Nothing could shake me, nothing could topple me
Until you came, the sea with her waves, you with new dreams
And you made me dream till it became a habit, the sea hit the rock till she moved it
And now I long to dream again; The rock, it longs to be hit by the waves again
The waves have a freshness and spontaneity that stability doesn't have
But the sea, she has retreated, but you have retreated
Oh, you're a habit that I just don't want to break...
******
It looked so real, I could almost touch it
So perfect it was that sometimes I doubted its very existence
For perfection, it doesn't manifest itself in reality
It's like the fog that one can see but never touch
I saw the fog, it was celestial and pure
But before I could try and touch it, it disappeared
And now there is no sun, there is no fog either
But the dew drops, in my eyes, are a sign of hope that good weather shall return...




Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A hand shake to the hand that rocks the cradle- Happy Woman's Day!



My sincere apologies to all Venusians but I can't really grasp the ballyhoo around 8th of March. It's international woman's day, a day dedicated to women around the world. I agree that it's a privilege, one that our beloved Martians don't enjoy but that's where it ends for me. 

******
The good old stone age is a witness to how wonderfully we transformed caves of stone into homes, full of love. Evolution had its way and women came to be the official nurturers and caretakers. We perform our task very dutifully even today. The catch though lies in how we have managed not only to excel at our job but to also pull off activities that come under the Martian domain. They were meant to be providers and protectors and verily they are. But there isn't the slightest doubt about how well women have worn both hats and worn them well. A daring Barkha Dutt, a strategic Indra Nooyi, an intelligent Chanda Kocchar, an ambitious Saina Nehwal  et al are classic examples to amply prove the above hypothesis.

We multi task, juggling pots and knives, 
We're responsible mothers and caring wives;
We neglect ourselves for we're busy nurturing you,
The more you deny it the more you know it's true.

******
We live in a patriarchal society. Many daughters wish they could change this hard fact. Especially those tiny ones who weren't, aren't and won't be lucky enough to vocally express just how much they wished things would be different. Female foeticide is a crime not just against women but humanity as a whole. Alarming sex ratios indicate a scope for imbalance thus rendering females a prospective endangered specie. We're  throwing balls at nature, play with her alright, but we need to remind ourselves that it is not  balls that we're volleying but a boomerang that will sooner than we expect hit us and hit us hard. 

Talking of the right balance, many organizations today aim at maintaining organizational diversity with respect to gender. But how many of them actually take the required steps to ensure the retention of female employees. Organizations in India offer women who work for them a paid maternity leave of only 12 weeks as opposed to the whooping 47 weeks offered to their Swedish counterparts. Owing to this  most women are forced to make a choice between the personal and the professional, in the bargain giving up on their careers. Working women are active contributors to our GDP (that stay at home mom's also are is a story for another day). An understanding towards their predicament and a provision of alternatives is thus essential in order to encourage them to continue working.

******
All of us dream. But it's different when I say, girls dream. It's different because little girls grow up very fast and as they grow up they dream of the perfect husband, the perfect house, the perfect parents in law, the perfect wedding and the perfect everything. Most women realize that there is no such thing as perfect only when they find themselves being burned down to ash. Dowry related deaths are common not just among the uneducated but also the literate. In a lot of cases women themselves are involved in driving another woman onto the pyre. Is it morally and logically correct that some self described superiors of society get to decide if a few pieces of green paper are more valuable than someone's life is?

******
Indian's greet one another with the word Namaste which means 'I salute the divinity in you'. Christians regard the human body to be the temple of God. Is this body, the sanctum sanctorum of the Almighty, viewed respectfully by all. The answer is a resounding 'No'. 

Womens' bodies are irreverently portrayed, thanks to commercialization. This is common place in the media industry. A few barbarians in society take this irreverence a step further with rape and other sexual crimes. A woman is a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a friend and much more. Every time he rapes a woman he rapes his mother, his sister, his daughter, his wife, his friend and the sacredness of womanhood itself.

******

To every homemaker, to every bread winner, to every innocent unborn life, to every burned bride, to every woman stripped off her dignity;
Here's wishing you A very Happy Woman's Day!

Then the man said, 
"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken."





Sunday, March 6, 2011

Strolling with the Saviour



You walked on water, now walk with me on sand
side by side, so close together, now walk with me hand in hand...

I walk on the shore, listening to the sea sing its song to me
I hum back and a duet ensues;
The wind whispers sweet nothings to me
And so I know You're around;
The sunshine it caresses my face
And so I know You're around.

It's a solitary walk, all think it is,
What they don't see, I sense;
I can almost feel You walking by my side
I can hear You smiling beside me;
What else could explain the peace amidst the anxiety
Like the sea, waves lashing against rock, so much unrest
But yet it looks so calm and peaceful, because You are around.

Let's create footprints, You and I, on wet sand
Let's create a bond that no one can see
For the sea will come and wash the evidence of it- our love
Let's fall in love, just You and me.

Castles in the sand, they are weak and topple
But Your home in my heart is strong
Make it stronger each day, stronger than castles of clay
Lets build it brick by brick, together.

Seagulls flying back home, returning to their abode
I long to return to mine
So call me each day, into your loving arms
A pinch of your love a day keeps me fine.