India - My country

India my beautiful country,

like a rainbow, filled with colorful bounty,

a complete mix, of color, race, and creed

India, eaten up by its people's greed.

India, where we still have power cuts,

India, where you get help without ifs and buts,

India, where you have taxis and autos

India, where people still live in ghettos.

India, where there is a festival for every season,

India, where we celebrate without any reason.

India, of the Hindu, the Muslim, the Sikh,

India, of the Christian, the Buddhist, the Jain - have your pick

A middle-aged mother, worried and harried,

by her own son's and daughter's, who are married

to the thought of robbing her grace,

her honor, integrity and wipe democracy off its face.

A land of culture soon to be lost

A land of love soon to be turned to frost

A land where the love of art

still beats in every heart.

India, my country, my dearest little country,

A torn and patched up piece of saaree,

India, for which I still have hope

for a better destiny, is it hoping against hope?

India, filled with many tongues,

to convey the same word we have many dhangs

India my home, my nest, my grave

India, one I hope to save.

One day India will be free,

that day will come, you shall soon see,

when it is free of the fight between mosque and temple,

one day it will be free, of its own people.

I don't care anymore

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THEY - Epilogue

I held her close. She wouldn't make it, I knew that. The wound was too deep. I could see the moonlight in her tears. She tried to smile and with a great effort said, “I love you. Embrace me. Take me away.”

And then she was still. Mine for all eternity

.....and very still.

HE

It’s been a year. How I hate her, all this time I thought we loved each other.

Fool! She never had love for you! It’s time to act! If she is not yours, she can’t be anybody else’s.

I will extinguish her tonight. I won’t suffer more.

I don’t care anymore.

SHE

How foolish I was to leave him. How much he loved me. Always gentle, always caring. How did I ever dream of being away from him? A year since I last saw him, I must go to him.

Here I come my love.

I love you. Embrace me. Take me away.

I don’t care anymore.

No More.....

I have walked long enough brother
i can carry further no more,
i have had much on my shoulder
and on my heart even more,

i am tired now and wish to rest,
awake me not from this slumber brother,
for i wish to wake not, never, forever,
i am tired and can carry no more.

even my breathing is a noise,
the rustle of wind a thunder,
these whispers are too loud for my taste
and this feather is like a boulder.

i have walked long enough brother,
put me out of my misery,
i give up, i quit, bring another,
in my stance and give me my finery.

cover me with this shroud,
and let me rest mine eyes,
let me hide away from this crowd,
help me, cross over the skies.

Taxi Cab Cabbie

"Damn! I hate to be late!",

Memories unforgettable and unforgotten

Chased by ghosts past,
O soul when will thou breathe thy last?
When will these phantoms stop chasing,
you in your dreams un-phasing?
When will these specters of old,
stop appearing before your eyes tired and cold?
Will there be no respite? Will there be no relief?
Will there be no relief for thy unshakable belief?
When will these hurtful memories cease to affect?
When will this burden lighten my chest?
O sinful soul! When shall thee breathe,
the clean fresh air and not let the wreathe
of some memory coming back to haunt thee?
When will this be? Pray I, please tell me.

Life

Life aint a bed 'o roses,but it aint a thorn bush neither
Life sure ain't sweet, but it ain't bitter either
There may be love, there may be lust
But sure as hell you will be dust
So live your life full while you must
For its not about what you lost but that you lost all and still trust.

Dear Parents

Dear parents I am lucky to have thee
Dear parents I am lucky to be me
Dear parents I am lucky to say WE
Dear parents I am lucky to be free.

Father! O Father! How is it that you?
Have a son like me, so bad and so untrue.
Mother! O Mother! I am not a proper heir
To represent you both, so honored and fair.

It must pain you, father, to see how I turned out
It must pain you, mother, to know how I fail
It must pain you both, to see my clout
It must pain you a lot, to see me frail.

All my life I fear,
To open my eyes and not find you near,
All my life I was scared,
That I would not have one who cared.

I fear, dear parents, that I may lose you,
I fear dear parents, that I have disappointed you,
But above all I fear, to see in you
Tears of sorrow, to speak your emotions true.

Before its too late let me swear an oath,
To be a son, to make proud you both,
Before its too late let me hug you once more,
So I may not lament it, when you are no more.

The weight of time is heavy upon mine shoulder
The cold of night grows even colder,
For I sense an end edging ever nearer,
Try as I might, I see it closer and clearer.

Dear mother, I want to apologize,
That I never could clean the room,
Nor could I ever water the plants.
Dear mother I am sorry, to disregard when you criticize.

Dear father, how can I say?
That I am sorry for not being up with the first ray?
Dear dad, I tear my hair,
For not appreciating how much you care.


All your comforts and all your dreams,
All your pleasures and even your seams,
You sacrificed for me, and I,
Couldn’t even for you kill a fly.

Oh this sorrow, oh this agony,
Oh these gloom, oh this monotony.
Too late, 'tis too late,
Nothing remains now, tis too late

Bored

Bored to death, even death is bored,
Tried to sleep but loudly snored,
Awoken by the neighbor on phone,
Glared at him to leave me alone.

Silence at last, just the a/c humming,
Wait for the sleep, but sleep is not coming,
Look at the watch it doesn’t seem to work,
For seemingly an hour now, the minute's hand doesn’t jerk.

Open the communicator to see who is online,
Just the team lead, who was here at nine,
Click close the window and push myself into the screen,
Trying to make sense, of these programs long and mean.

Another error, severe this time,
Makes me worried, as if a heinous crime,
Look for the geek to come and resolve,
But in the hour of need he did dissolve.

Back to the communicator, searching for friends,
With similar predicament at their ends,
Found one, then one too many,
All seem to have this boredom, very funny.

All have tried, as I find out,
To sleep, to relax but ended up wound out,
Bye byes shared, ended the talk,
Looked grudgingly back at the clock.

Hurray! Time for lunch!
Jump out of the seat and off to the café to munch,
On salty cake and bland curry,
On moist rice, made in a hurry.

Back to desk, back to the hell,
Must grind again, without talk or tell,
Check the pay slip for the umpteenth time,
It’s still the same, hasn’t even gone up a dime.

Pulled out of my reverie by the Lead,
Demanding the work status, (as per their creed),
DB2 down, Loadlib invalid,
I try to lie, keeping my face placid.

That has done the trick, and he is back,
To his seat, sitting with a slack,
He has no work, still makes 6.5 lac,
How he must spend, hard to keep track.

Boiling in envy, roiling in boredom,
I look back to the screen,
Not to work but to know the time, I mean,
Blank it has become, stupid screen saver unclean.

Time is now 4,
Excitement to the core,
Time for snooker, time for fun,
Turn to run but stare at a gun.

Lead is back, saying “DB2 is up!”
“Until you get the result, don’t get up!”
***** I mutter, and sit back down,
Bang my head on the desk and frown.

Try to work, but the clock stares at me,
It is now 6, time to leave, finally!
Guilty I look at the code,
“Will look at it tomorrow”, so thinking I leave for the abode.

The next day I come late,
By 30 minutes, a record unbroken till date,
Grudgingly I take my seat and open the code stored,
Only to realize that I am bored to death, even death is bored.