PEACE?

I’d always been in denial of it, no more shall I lie.
These lines I speak are more than a mere outcry.
Looked up ahead always to what is to be,
But a part of me still craves for what has been.

The mirror rightly says, objects appear closer than they are.
Its only until you look back, you see that you’ve driven up ahead pretty far.

Miss those days of innocent smiles,
The world around was just a beautiful paradise.
The laughter, the careless abandon back in the days of yore.
Reveled in each moment, life embraced you each day when you walked out that door.
When the world of reality was just as virtuous as the books had portrayed.
The dreams would resonate the songs to which you had swayed.

Have never really cared about the miles I’ve run or the people I’ve outrun.
Neither the milestones achieved nor the plants that could’ve sprouted from the seeds.

But tonight I’ve pulled over and have walked back.
It calls out to me so I holler back.

I wish to go back to the days,
Back to the days when it had all began.
Or I just wish for the days ahead
To be the kinds I would want to go back to again.

“I’m glad you came”

Red Or Green?

The light turned red giving me time to stop and look out through my window. I chuckled about the impervious luxury I enjoyed within my glass windows. The temperature inside was a cool 24 degrees on this May evening and my favourite tracks were lined up on the playlist – I really had nothing to complain about. I saw anguished, tired even fatigued and frustrated faces struggling to get their respective fair’s worth of foot-space with alert eyes scanning the slightest movement made by a comfortably seated co-passenger. They were all waiting impatiently – either to get off the god damned over crowded bus or to get the next available seat – whichever would come sooner. Horns blared around suddenly breaking my thoughts. I delicately released the clutch and I eased ahead. The sight of the bus in my rear view mirror and the thought of the people on it were almost instantly pushed back into oblivion. Two cars had already crossed over and as I passed the signal, it finally turned green.

The red lights put me to a halt once more. This time it was a huge glass building I saw to my left. The ten storied structure looked so alive; more so because each of its very well illuminated floors, with people’s fast-paced trots on each of them, were so clearly visible even from a distance. It stood out flamboyantly against lackluster backdrop of the dusk; so much so that it was almost wickedly inviting. I have always been intrigued by the sheer charm and beauty these modern-day architectural innovation, so to speak, possess. I feel that they unashamedly and yet very convincingly deceive an innocent curious onlooker. It’s a mere facade for the innumerable faceless people coming into that building day in and day out .The poor onlooker might never know that there’s more to it all than meets the eyes until he too gets to step into one of those flashy buildings. I knew what those fast-paced feet were running towards – either to get onto one of those buses or to get in the driving seats of their cars. And I chuckled again, this time for having raced past the bus and the two cars that had got ahead of me and also for the good fortune that at least for that day I wasn’t stuck in one of those glass buildings while the rest of the world seemed to be having a merry time heading home. The signal turned green again and I pushed off.

Just as I was about to change gears, I had to slow down and scornfully put the car to rest again at the red. The same bus lined up next to me as did the two cars I had raced past. This time I chuckled with a little resentment at the dawn of this tiny little realization. That unknown person in that glass building, the people aboard the bus along with its driver, the two cars that I noticed and the many others that I didn’t – we were all just dodging the red light to get past the next green one! The string puller above was probably mockingly laughing at this nonsensical race that we’d got ourselves into – inadvertently or out of choice.

Did I hit the red next or the green? Oh! What the Heck?! Does it really matter now?

“Where are you headed, by the way?”

To YOU!

It's in her eyes and she knows its true,
No one could ever make her feel, the way that you do.
Why then does she hide it and denies?
Why the resistance, why all the lies,
When he can see the truth speaking through her eyes?

He fears to admit it but he knows it too,
He doesn't want to live without her, he dreads the thought of having to.
It's beyond his naive mind to understand,
Why he felt so complete the day he had held her hand.
Why then does he not let it take control?
Why not give it a chance and let it flow?

Its incomprehensible, this power of love.
Maybe that is why its called the gift from up above?
Don't they just not want to see?
Them being together is just meant to be?

A ray of light is just all it takes,
To tell the real apart from all the fakes.
Its probably still dark, the dawn is yet to arrive,
Till then they must bear it, they must struggle to survive.

The darkest cloud also flees at sunrise,
The shining glow, upto then remains in disguise.
This serene morning they too would wake up to and see,
Then they'd realize that fairy-tales are for real - they just have to believe.

Years later when they'd look back and see,
They'd know it'd all happened for a reason; some call it destiny.
A new page gets written every night and day,
This book thus read tells us that life works out in mysterious ways.


"And so you know"

So I heard...

Probably there came a time in his life when EVERYTHING fell apart! He lost his sense of direction, where he’d go and what he’d do. He just couldn’t go on believing in all that was good and beautiful! The smile he’d flash was just a mock, the laughter of people around; a guffaw at his misery, and that reflection in the mirror – just doesn’t recognize the face it knew before. Sick, as it may all feel, that was the ground reality. Rock-bottom, and hit so hard on the spine, that the tiny little hole way up there, scintillating just about enough sunlight to catch the eye could very much be a mere illusion. Burnt, bruised, hurt and pained, the god damned breath pumping through the lungs became a curse, disallowing him to meet his fate, ridiculing the vision of his eyes with the little dash of that remote sunlight. He just lay – motionless, caring pittance for anything..everything...
Probably, he’d never want to get back up again..but then probably he just TRIED to.

For every wrong, there’s got to be a right.
For every silent prayer, there’s got to shine the Heavenly Light.
For a remorseful past, a future to reveal the futility of grief over what’s been done.
For every moment of loneliness, a tight hug for each from a beloved someone.

For every moment of pain, deliverance to finally come through.
For what's been lost, the joy of finding something new.
For every time that your faiths faltered, the Holy Cross making itself show.
For every failure, a lesson to learn, just so that you must know!

For all the sleepless nights, a day to finally revel in bliss.
For all the hate that’s been fostered, the heart to find love and be at peace.
For every broken heart, a love so great, for it to rise above all the pain.
For all the worries, an answer to say that the worries were all in vain.

For what is yours, can never be lost,
For, in life, hope is all you’ve got.
Come around the circle, come home to yourself,
The journey may be long, but in the end, it’ all worth it, I guess….

“YES?”

P A T I E N C E

So, what is it about patience that is so irritatingly optimistic? Why does she have to so convincingly say: Keep patience, the fruits it’ll bear will be sweet. Why do the lessons learnt about it the past twenty five years keep getting revised every year and the marks to pass that exam higher?


PATIENCE!!! Lately, I’ve been bumping into this word a lot, especially since the past six months. So much so, that I have come to believe that I am in a live-in relationship with it! The exasperating truth it bares - so obvious for you to see, the wretched wait in disdain and despair and finally when you are bereft of the hope of ever seeing the daylight again that you’d so desperately been waiting to see, the sun slowly shines through from behind the darkest of the clouds. It’s like the endless wait of the woman for her man at the station who’s been away for months fighting at the war. And finally when the day comes that he is to arrive, she puts on the brightest of her floral dresses, wears the most fragrant perfume and turns up at the station hours before the train is to arrive. But alas! She doesn’t see him getting off; pained to know that he may not show up in that train that day. She begins walking away; all her wait in vain. And then ever so slowly, advancing towards her, she sees him at the door of the train. As if it’d all been planned all along, as he’d been on his way back the moment he’d left!


It should really take some mettle to live and bear with this word. There should really be some magical charm about it. For, from the many stories told, from the many lessons learnt, you just have to wait for Deliverance to be delivered to your door!


And you know what? When the right time comes and the truth be revealed, you’d know that in the end, it was all worth that wait! :)

“Hey, the clock’s still ticking man!
Ahhh, that’s a good sign – the countdown’s begun!”

On a Thursday Morning....

When the future seems blight, and hopes turn bleak,
When there’s despair all around, and respite is only what you seek.

What would you do? What then would you do?

Would you hold on patiently ‘til deliverance came your way?
Would you still believe that redemption awaits, let this haze of mist be blown away?

Or would you take charge of it all and choose a different trail?
Believe in yourself over your destiny, albeit taking a different course, to let the ship sail!

You could walk either ways, you are eventually to get only where you are supposed to be,
I don’t know if grass is greener on either side, but what you choose makes your destiny.

"And So, It Shall Be!"

This too shall pass….

So, I completed FIVE MONTHS yesterday living away from HOME in this “quaint little town” as I like to call it. FIVE MONTHS!!! I didn’t really know what to expect when I got here. It was a mere coincidence that I thought I’d get a whiff of what it is to be on the “other side”. ;) And there is no checklist or scorecard I’m carrying to conclude how I’ve fared in these past few months! It’s an experience – you cry, you crib and cringe and complain, you laugh, you enjoy, you get frustrated, you get bored of boredom, you amaze your ownself, you love it and you hate it at the same time, you realize and value things you had and yeah, you do smile, a smile that can be understood only by you! :) You go through it all and you pass through it ahead, to take on new ones!!

What really did matter through it all? Infact what really did ever matter in all the experiences that you’ve ever had so far? For looking back to them, I just do see them as a part of my memory, mere impressions on my heart! For it all is no longer there! All of it, all through it, it’s just the experience of things that’s come along with you – nothing more!!

I now admire the discovery and the realization that mankind had – Earth is round. So, what is seen from a distance as the end of the road, was nothing more than the bend in the road! And like ever before, the “end” or rather the “bend” too did pass…..and so now you know… :)

So, hold the head up high, let your shoulders have their space!
Walk through, walk past, with your chin up, and wear the smile on that face!

“Manzil mil hi jaayegi, chahe bhatak kar hi sahi,
Gumraah toh vo hai, jo ghar se nikle hi nahi”