My extinction
is your biggest
misapprehension
Liquid rage crackles like
the snores of an inferno
slumbering deep within
Do you want to
pelt another stone,
drill another hole?
But then,
you'd best run home
and run for your life
for I shall emerge
from dormancy
to bring forth hot tears
across your cheeks

So halt your assault
Cease your trials
The fire burns
too close to my skin
I feel my restraint rapidly diminish -
it is the last wall
that stands in between

Mirrors reflect the truth
sans embellishment
Built with fragile glass
So easily shunned,
so easily shattered

A lone mirror
hung up on a wall
to serve the pleasures of the vain
But when two
face each other
and manage to hit the right angle
Limitless images are formed
Miracle and magic! alone no more

We are happy to chirrup with the others
but would the peacocks dance with us?
Our coats not exotic but shabby and plain
And we like being in places close to our nests
We love the sky and to breathe the clean air
But do not aspire to go where eagles dare
Do not pity us, oh great birds of pride
Our songs are sweeter- never mind our size
For vanity and attention is not why they are sung
But to plug the holes you skewered in our hearts

I am usually an amnesiac
Which is why there is always
cheap stationery in my pockets

- "An inexpensive set from Faber-Castell"

I look to my scribbles when I'm lost
unless an unexpected shower
has been tasked to ruin them

- "Pages stuck together, smudged and stained"


Three monsoons have come and went
I don't carry an umbrella or run for cover anymore
I stand in the middle of the downpour, drenched
But I guess some inks are just too hard to wash away

A fork
we came across
and you said
this is where
our journey ends
for we must walk our separate ways

Why assume
that I would not
have shattered the Earth
to carve our own road?
Why so callous
in the manner you let me go?

My heart was your dominion,
oh Empress
And I put all my faith in you,
oh Faithless

Heart:
Wise one! Hearken to me,
for I need enlightening
-there stands a tree
in a part of me
once where flowers of love blossomed
and sparrows used to sing
to the mornings of eternal spring
Now the flowers have wilted
the birds have flown from their nests
yet the branches continue to grow
and the roots still run deep
I have not the courage
to task myself with its rearing
My memories of springtime
are still fresh, still endearing

Mind:
I'm afraid there is
but one cure for this disease
Along with the soil
that so graciously hosts it,
You must uproot this tree
and spend the rest of your life
as an amputee

Her bright red sweater
surrounded by the yellow of the sunflowers
Captured is the heart
it seems - though the lens has failed to focus

The bend took me away.
- Snap!

No need to knock
I don't mind
But I request you not to
carry the lantern inside

For I am afraid of the light
and this is the only place left to hide

My sleeves unfolded
Do you mind?
To conceal the cuts on my skin
and the stench of necrosis alkaline

Yes I am afraid of the light
and this is the only place left to hide

If you seek welcome
in my mind
your heart must bleed darkness
and restless should be your eyes

Are you afraid of the light?
Come, friend - this is our place to hide

Dear Granny,

I saw someone
a week ago,
In the streets
on my way back home..

Her wrinkled skin burnt by the Sun
Her attire frayed and patched with dust
An empty oil can of crumpled tin
A humble sum peeks shyly from within
Her hand stretched, a cup formed from her palms
It shakes too furiously to beg for alms
She speaks a language alien to me
Yet her eyes tell me a universal story
A tale of a debt that was never paid
Kindness was dealt a hand of apathy instead
And the care with which a seedling grows
Was not returned as winter crept close
Because fall came and went, and the old leaves are spent
Shed across the city streets, with none to speak for the dead

Like the world around me I know not
why I should care
Her face is that of a stranger to me
Yet I keep waking up
on account of these dreams
A similar picture, a similar scene
And at the heart of it
The face is yours,
Granny.

Love,
Soham

Love is a phenomenon
Not dissimilar to gravity
Like an ignoramus
The stoic heart denies it

Until it falls.

Colour me in your mind
Am I vermillion red
or prussian blue?
Maybe a mix of the two?
Or just a hue
Of simple forest green
No wait, aquamarine
like an underwater scene
Deep and darkness within
Yet maybe you enjoy shades
that are bright
and they look so
under the sunlight
But true colours show
only under the grayest skies
to the most observant eyes

Lend an ear,
hear me whisper -
all I wanted you to do

If I still felt
that you had ever cared,
I would probably ask you..

Did I deserve
to be terrorized
by your spiteful eyes?

When you said,
"Your secret is safe",
Vulnerable
is how I felt.

है अयसे ये लब्ज़ जो उनसे में केह नहीं सकता
फिर किस लिए ये खामोशी में सेह नहीं सकता

You were fire
I was ice
You thought
you'd melt me down
Melt I did
Turned to water
and put you out
Till there was nothing left
of both of us but
Smoke and ashes

What is home?
Welcome steps?
Mother's love?
Father's hate?

What is home?
Is it even a place?
Is it like Heaven?
Or is it another Hell?

What is home?
Is it a someone
who believes in you
when others say you're done?

What is home?
Is it a thought
that shelters your memories
when you're distraught?

What is home?
Is it the place
I'm searching for
or the one that I left?

Mind:
Why must you always reconcile?
Do you not have a sense of self-respect?

Heart:
You see, wise one,
I used to believe that
I'm not the only one who cared.

Crescent moon on a summer night
You remind me how beautiful
it is to smile

Hello there, stranger.
Come for a little darkness, have you?
Trade me a cigarette,
and I'll dive into the depths of time
to conjure some horrors true,
Scars old and wounds anew

You may think
I'm the monster
It is just the skin I wear
Warm to myself but
Intended to scare
The real ones out there

আঁধারে দুর দিগন্তের কোমল আলো তুমি
ভূবনের অন্ধকারে আশার প্রদীপ জ্বালো তুমি

গ্রীষ্মকালে দুরন্ত স্রোতের কালবৈশাখী তুমি
মধুর চেয়েও মধুর কণ্ঠের কোকিল পাখি তুমি

প্রথম বর্ষায় রাঙা মাটির ভেজা গন্ধ তুমি
আমার মনের সংগীতের সুর ও ছন্দ তুমি

ভোরের বেলায় কানের পর্দায় কলরব তুমি
একঘেয় দিনের অন্তরালে উৎসব তুমি

বরফ মাখা কাঞ্চনজঙ্ঘার সোনালী ভোর তুমি
বঙ্গোপসাগরে ঢেউয়ের কোলে কল্লোল তুমি


এ কি অদ্ভূত খেলা, চেতনা আর নেই এ মনে
খুঁজে পেলাম না, হারিয়ে গেলে যে হৃদয়ের কোণে

We are all misunderstood
The only thing that changed
is that I care
no more to explain myself
I'd rather remain misjudged
And far, far away.

When you tinker with broken glass
You must not complain for getting hurt
For so mercilessly,
so delicately it cuts

Tell me oh fleeting cloud
Tell me oh passing breeze
Is my suffering in vain, or
Does she ever think of me

One question
to ruin my sleep
to shatter my dreams
to derail my life

Just what am I to you?

I see letters float before my eyes, form words when I struggle to get them out
Little and a lot, millions of worlds form in my mind
Worlds with knights and dragons, ones with spaceships and lightsabers
And those where a hand reaches out to meet mine

I dare not shut my eyes, even as torpor sets in to counsel
A mosaic of bittersweet memories decorate my delirious porch
Heat courses through my blood, away from my heart
The sweat on my forehead feels like a familiar touch

My fantasies are real as long as I endure this stupor
Imagined reality is what I should live for
Love for
Because there, we're together.

I know today the world celebrates you
But in my heart, your festival plays all season
To craft songs in your praise is honour
And this wordsmith is honorable aplenty

I know I'll never know the pain
The way societies have pushed you when
You blinded them with your radiance
Now enlightened they can only apologise

Justice is the cry!
Tell me it is not my lone heart
I do not strive to appease,
it is just what every woman deserves
Even if I lend my hand to
just the ones close to my heart
They say intelligence comes from one's experience,
and wisdom from those of others'
Wise I have become,
so I pledge to be better than my fathers

Furnished rooms, refined cooling
An angry Sun, a helpless ozone layer
Lavish resorts, palatial homes
The Ents are silent in their prayers
Roaring turbines, whirring motors
****** waters, crying to be set free
Clicks and clacks, a touch and a swipe
Birds fall to the alien magnetic field
Travel the world, not fast enough
Dig and mine, crashing harbour wave
Fossils spent, air wears the smoke
Dinner is served on the tectonic plates

Every day the water becomes a little fuller to the brim
Every day the air becomes a little less thin
Every day the world becomes a little too big
Every day the land becomes a little less green

I say,
if you have hate in your gut
Set it free
Make me the outlet
for I have the depths
of the sea
And the little drops
of venom
won't matter to me

Your God, my wishes, never came true
Would He mind, if instead, I prayed to you?

The heart failed to reason, so the mind has to.

Wait not for dawn
Wait not for the first bird's song
Wait not for the trees and their leaves
Wait not for the dew on their skin
Wait not for the rays of the Sun
Wait not for them to kiss the Earth
Wait not for the woken faces
Wait not for their curious gazes

Honor the wishes of a dying night,
and a dying heart,
and retreat
For ever were you
another species
Conciliation was
never meant to be..

..easy

क्या कहूं उनके हुस्न के बारे में
क्या तारीफ करू उनके आंखो की
क्या तौसीफ करू उनके जुल्फों की

हसीन तो उनकी बातें है
हसीन तो उनकी यादें है
जिनकी वजह से ना गुजरते ये रातें है

Yesterday,
You were the glacier
that fed the rivers in my eyes
Today,
You are the sea -
kissing the horizon with guile
Tomorrow,
You'll be nothing more
than a speck in the sky

Sufficiently suffocated,
Do we abound in blood?

Reason abandoned, our
masters have merchandised war

Irrationality the only currency
The penniless to the churn

Look, there's a trail of fire
across my gray wall
The scent of honey
within concrete and dust

The minutest of creatures
march on with impeccable conduct

I admit
I made
a mistake
But the only one I owe
an apology to
is myself
So there's no reason
for you
to wait
If I said
I'm sorry
that's not how I felt

I thought
I needed a break
From you
What I needed
Was a vacation
From my mind

I'm not heartless
Just choose when to
use my heart less

Those who tried to claim me
Were unable to tame me
They stopped to blame me
Then started to maim me
Ever caught the wind, have you?

I care not for our defaults
I care not for societal norms
I wouldn't dabble in white lies
But take the bull by its horns
Did I break your rules, too?

A free soul cannot be caged so easily
They say I'm alone, but
I know there are more of me
Our love of freedom unites us
Soul siblings from green Mother Earth
They are too set in their own ways
To observe the world as I do
They desire a mirror, and me a window

All I wanted was a piece of your soul
My beating heart the bargaining chip
Expecting no guarantees of reciprocity
But for your own promises

Your scales deemed my currency weak
The bid defeated, picking up my coin naked
To your deception of camaraderie
I may have lost some pieces..


...forever