Yearning to Fall

What is that strange light in the end?
Luring you in like a moth to a flame?
Filled with tantalising promises 
Promises of glory, brilliance and fantasy

And yet something sane holds you back
Keeps you from burning up like Icarus
Side to side oscillating like a pendulum
You are forever left standing on that ledge

It's that spark slyly reflected back to you in the mirror
It's those dreams calling out to you mid-sleep
It's those emotions rearing for you to take leaps of faith
It's that understanding that you are leading only a half life

So would you go fulfill this crazy urge?
Would you dare to take that adventurous trip into the unknown?
Or do you keep it locked in?
Forever looking down into the abyss, yearning to fall in?

Fly on the Wall

Felt like a spectator all my life
From the outside looking in
Watching from afar as histories made and lives lived
Witnessing my stead both joy and grief

Attempts made to mingle alon
Laughing when I was dying inside
Sober as laughter threatened to rip through
This game I played, for far too much time

Mask upon mask I wore with time
Played my roles to the T
All the while wondering inside
Is there any point to such play acting?

Crowded rooms stifling me throughout
The me inside me reduced to an amorphous blob
Every atom in me torn to bits
Shaken and stirred like an incongruent cocktail

And as I painstakingly put the pieces back
With the knowledge of a thousand lives lived
All those games and all those lies
Pointing me towards an undeniable truth

That maybe this insane desire to fit in
Was a rite of passage perhaps?
An attempt to help me value my singularity?
To be the spectator and not the player

To be that speck invisible yet present in the moment
Armed with the power to be circumspect
Watching silently as secrets unveiled and truths revealed
Quietly being that fly on the wall.... 

Looking for Safe Spots...

Looking for the yellow, red or black boxes
For what has been convenient,
What has been advised
Always looking for these boxes to tick,
Spaces to fill..
Mindless representations and mindless decisions.
When has it ever been for sheer honesty?
As clear as the water in a spring brook,
Or as clear as the touch of a guileless puppy?
Where, you do not lie to yourself?
Or tell yourself, all is well!!
Where you do not fear the wrath of power and consequences?
Spots of all colors are available for your choice.
Blue, yellow, green, red and orange.
Square of self imposition and self importance.
When are you to be the wave on the water?
The color outside lines?
Fluid, boundless and limitless,
Flowing as you deem fit?
When the grasp for free air?
Gasp!!
And when the feeling of owing noone for what's right?
What's right?
Is it like waves on the water with unseen whirlpools?
Or something familiar and something safe?

Jungles so Grey!!

Where dinos roamed
And elephants gallivanted,
New giants have emerged,
Of nuts and bolts, of glass and steel.

High rises standing straight,
Protect us better than trees, from rain and shine.
Cement droppings and sewage puddles,
Lie about in lieu of meadows and streams.

Monster trucks romp about.
So do potholes, dust and exhaust fumes.
These are the predators of a new age.
Covert & overt, they lurk around.

In search of disappearing habitats,
Bees and birds find comfort in concrete
As is the case with pests and pets!
Is nature taking over?

Once where colours appeared through prism of rainbows,
Now you see them brightly reflected in oil spills.
Once where animals were adorned by feathers and horns,
Comes new fangled fashion of plastic chokers and metal piercings!!

Who said that jungles are disappearing?
They have just changed form!!

Left Behind

Leaves they shed as seasons go by
Countless layers with flying time
Peeling each one back, I see
The ravages of time or an improvement perhaps.

Yesterday plays a beautiful lullaby
Beckoning me forth to the warm cocoon of nostalgia
While today sways from good to bad
Maybe the morro holds true hope?

What I was to what I will be
A timeline marked by endless moments
Moments, always holding court
Taking me further away from reality, the now!

My mirror from past paints a picture
Hurriedly I rub the dirt away
Worried that dirt's all that survived
That the chinks shine through all the glow

Today calls me silly
Silly since I am already a pretty picture
I could try harder
But I will be what I am, what I was

To make peace is a dream
Acceptance is likely the path
Seasons it's taken for truth to emerge
All the leaves, the mulch and dirt gets left behind.

Cattle Goes Moo.... That is all it does!

Indians have been a servile lot from the medieval times, always looking upto a leader to guide them to 'Ramarajya'. While many of these iconic leaders have gone down in history as the people who changed the face of Bharat, we the current movers and shakers of Indian sub-continent need to ask this to ourselves, 'Why do we allow ourselves to be led like cattle from time to time?'

After centuries of subjugation, a few free thinkers gifted us the idea of democracy through a Constitution, by, for and of the people. We got gifted the concept of free and fair elections. Adult suffrage and equality to all irrespective of caste, religion and gender were envisaged. Do not get me wrong, plenty has changed and I feel blessed to be the citizen of a free India. Yet here we are again in midst of another monarchy called the 'Modi sarkar'. Majority of Indians now look upto this one man show to solve all their problems. Be it caste based or religious discrimination, women safety, poverty, environmental degradation, agrarian crisis or any other trouble that plagues us, we expect PM Modi to be our saviour. We constantly keep forgetting to look within ourselves to find solutions and then blame the government alias Modiji for not figuring things out.

One year into the Modi sarkar, what are we seeing? Executive, legislative and judicial independence shot to hell, setting of political agendas opposed to public interest, lack of succor for victims of agrarian crisis, environmental concerns being thrown out of the window for the sake of soulless corporations, the list of failings may go on. Not much has changed and yet we the people refuse to use the gifts of democracy bestowed on us. Public debates, RTIs and writs remain the weapon of choice for a few conscientious individuals and the civil society which is sad considering that India is the second most populated country in the world.

Quoting an article I read in The Hindu today, 'The problem is not created by an individual politician like Mr Modi; it is a reflection of the consistent infantilisation of citizens in these democracies, which have eviscerated their power. What is more concerning than the dumbing down of political discourse is the public's response.'

And until people rise upto the occasion, all the cattle can do is to 'moo' away. 

Conscience?! Nonsense!!

I do not like me.

You should not like you.

You who tots a weapon with glee,

Me with my misplaced sense of justice.

Rearing ambitions and raging hormones,

Contributing to this sad plight called earth.

A race defined by its so called conscience,

Laying waste to this planet.

Are we better or those instinctual dumb brutes?

Right and wrong displaced with grey areas.

And karma shot to hell.

Where does this journey lead?

What legacy do we leave behind?