Really, now,
You want Reality?
Take it.

A six year old gangraped.
A father and son shot dead.
A mother's womb slit, spilt open.
A teen with eighteen bones broken.
An old man's head sent flying.
A soldier on field left dying.

Are you kidding me?
You still want Reality?

A plane full of people lost, sunk.
A mass ****** with a mad gun.
A child killed to make a human bomb.
A daughter beheaded for marrying wrong.
A massacre followed by a public celebration.
Using religion, tradition, justice for desolation.

Are you ******' kidding me?
You still want Reality?
Here, take it.
This Is Reality.

A broken branch sways,
the only movement,
Everything else as still as a painting
My steps crush what remains.
A busy worm drills
the earth. I feel like saying,
"Stop you idiot, don't waste
the last bit of yourself"
There is nothing here except death.
I can smell it, It curls my skin
My hair stands, a chill runs down
under the cruel afternoon sun.
It dries my mouth before I open it.

It was all green, until the two-legged beasts came
They ripped apart my home, my family
And years later when I return
I realized this was no returning,
this was no coming back,
This was the End.

I am the Five

Violating myself to
bear one's labour.
Burning under
the chastity label.
Washing the woes
of newborn lives.
Blowing life into
future's flight.
Embracing clouds
that veil my being
I am the Five
that exist unseeing.

Behold the give-up generation
That's out of land to run
Fearing mental castration
Out comes the rusted guns,
Get off the cursed confessional
The needle is now spun
Having no stake, no possession,
The hunted now shall hunt

Thinking is an
overused
abused
undermined
misunderstood
under-understood
gene­ralised
washed-out
Concept.

Language has killed it,
or rather people have.
The world now goes -
"Thinking is such a waste of time"

I am now thinking
how they got there
Without wasting their time.

What a waste of time!

Ages later, in your rasping voice
Meanings will reside
Only for you and for me
Till then, let this world
Call us senseless and abhorrent.

We tripped on our words
My Lord, they can hurt
Why go the same road
For life we abhorred
We've done some wrongs
Over bars and bongs
Let's skip the routine
Of counting the falls
Go all the way off
Than be half and half.
The wounds are too deep
Our path too steep
Let's find a little shade
and nurse the scars
Let's give and take
Of what we make
No heaven, no hell
For us to wait
We live through others
In names and tongues
My love, you and I
Till we're undone.

I was sewing
With my left knee
Over my right
A song played
Behind my eyes
And words fell on
The patterns stitched.
Time is so treacherous.
Decades later I sit
Lost in your youthful face
The first time you
Looked deep within..
Time has preserved you,
Time has raced me.
My wrinkled hands shake
Remembering carefree days.
Time has held you safe
In its eternal *****.
I looked up at the clock
It's time. Time to let go
Of this pain and agony
Time to move to the next leg
Of another beautiful journey.

Today,
They create their own truths
Where peace is possible
Through weapons and wars
And sacrifices of the young...
You take pride in it.

They promise a better life
Is in cities and highrises
The price of which is future
And half your lives...
You join the line in silence.

They pick on the weak
With no paper proof
To show that they belong
And must to be heard too...
You fail to hear them.

They make you believe
You belong to a country
That is in dire need
So you ought to pay the fees...
You rush to fill those pockets.

Tomorrow,
You will be the Other
No name, nowhere to hide
They will put you as the price
So that the rest may live by
They will tighten your noose...

And the world will watch.

Some nights you are so distant
You make conversations
Cocooned in your solitude
Oblivious to gratitude
Of a chance at exploring
More than one can get
In a single lifetime.
Alas when you return
I am too far gone,
Too hopeless, too lost

Hoping this once, you
Will look into my eyes
And realize, I too
Was tired and bored of life
But had found a reason.
Only if it was merely
Something to enjoy
And not to live by.

Everyday I send a word
I'm brewing a hope of love
Send ur choicest seraphim
To burn it pure
To test it deep within
And with its triumph
Mould me anew,
A vessel unto you.

Rake my intentions
Find it chaste.
Sew up my failures.
And then with your
Archangels on my side
I shall take on this world
Under your banner, me and my love.

Been cut so clean
With words so sharp
Hanging in there
Bare threads of life
No where to turn
No where to run
The deals once done
But now just begun

What have you been fighting for...?

It will soon be morning
Amma walks the backyard
Collecting flowers
The best for the Goddess
Who does nothing but sit
At her ivory throne
Sweets and diyas around
Her face with a pasted smile
I have so wished to wipe out.

Appa's snore shake the walls
I imagine his moustache
Shivering under the onslaught
Before he's off to the stores
He would want his breakfast
With Anna on his right side
Telling Appa all about school
And his stagnant progress
While Appa nods and laughs.

And after they would leave
I will then open my books
Where wonders of world hide...
Till then, I make breakfast.

Live on
You poet's lover.
When the world dies,
You are
Immortalized.

By what decree
you took it on you
to claim me as your own?
Let this world
and its ways
not fool you into grandeur,
For if any day
I consent
It will be for me, not you.

You helped me
find myself,
You brought out
the best in me.
Now you say,
let it go.
This was never
meant to be.
How do I forget
what I know,
Or live for less
When I need more?

One step hesitant
One too bold
One too late.
As you faltered
There were hundreds
To skip a beat for you
There were crowdfulls
To extend their best hands.
Deep within i knew
You deserved them and more
I knew and I accepted
There's more that you can get
From all your admirers
Who live your beauty and youth
I knew and I accepted
We were perhaps never meant
And so, when i see million be true
I pretend that I dont care
I pretend I barely know you.

You came and then came opportunity.
You stayed and opportunity transformed.
He came with opportunity.
To slip, to hold, to let go - all my choice.
To hell with opportunity, I remain on my own.

First you smiled
Later you stared
Then you moved close
And gently caressed
You softened my skin
With slow moist breath
And brushed my lips
With a feathery touch
You left me standing
In the black night rain
I stood there waiting for
A kiss that ne'er came.

Can violence be countered
Only by violence?
To be equals, we must riot
To be just, we must fight
Why every government every state
Furthers the hate mandate
Even
To show love we must ****
Or the enemies will
We say we want justice and peace
Why, why then this malice?
Where does our heart lie
As we slaughter and die?

When did we grow too old?
Our souls and dreams now sold
Too old to laugh and smile
To go the extra mile
Too old to say 'Need a hug'
To share the tales of hurt...

When did we grow so old
Nothing ever shocks anymore
The deaths the births unplanned
Basic rights being banned
All pass by, we shrug
No question, no if, no but...

Tell me, when did we grow so old
That tears and cries became cold
From doers, we are now undone
Dreams like a drowning sun
Will there be another dawn
For our spirit to be reborn...?

What are we? 20 - somethings
Depressed and angry
Giving days of our best years
to this or that MNC
Nights, we sit with a beer
and use the dim pub lights
and noise to hide tears
That flow unchecked, without reason..
Or maybe for something that's not reason.
Moving away from those closest
to us - we don't take rejection well
So better push than get pushed.
What we will pass to our progeny
would be tales of vicious companies
That we offered our youth to,
Hoping they would value
Life more than luxury.

What happens when we talk?
I know what you want to hear
And I know what you want not
There comes a slippery *****
Words go down the drain
They evade any meaning
Yet, they sound the same...

My dearest, when we talk
To you, I open my heart
There's love, hope and joy
That every soul has sought
But these words, my lifelong bane
They evade any meaning
Yet, they sound the same...

Hear me, when we talk
My silences are wrought
To say much in less than thought
How our lives seem so choked
With words that play their game
They evade any meaning
Yet, they sound the same.

So you think you know me,
For I tell you all I feel?

Enn Omane (my dearest),
I haven't even begun to say
What I fail to feel.

What is it about this night that attracts me?
It's the same dark Indian sky - a battle-field
of grey and pink clouds, scattered stars.
A biker at my door step nodding in acknowledgement.
The next moment I am a pillion zooming past
dusty streets and honking cars - such chaos.

What is it about this night that calls me?
It's the same old destination - more trees
and lesser people. A highway as a leeway
to all perils of this hateful city.
This ride is a big U-turn and I'll be back
To the same cacophony, same city trash.

What is it about this night that strikes me?
It's the same me, wearing the same old pair of jeans,
A jacket to meet the cold, kohl in my eyes.
Same oggling at the silent, cold night
Still searching for something eventful to happen
Till the cold chills me and I wish my haven.

Not until you reached for my numb hand on my knee
And placed it on your warm, alive chest, Not until
I felt the rhythmic thud within, did I realize
What is so special - It was feeling reality and acceptance -
Life is so much more than just me. It's in the wide
night sky that cuddles me, in every person with a heart
that beats, in every moment you allow yourself to get old
and live with experiences, in places, with you.

There is no meaning
Spare the language
Books and notes
Don't  matter anymore
No reason why
We do what we do
Nothing to fight for...
They decide who we are
Who we ought to be
While they smirk
We forget smiles
A hollow mind
A hollow soul
A hole drilled through the heart
God-sent
...
We are left sprinting
weekend to weekend

The writer's table is vacant.
The Poet's papers fly amok.
The Painter's brush is stuck in hardened paint..
Pictures have been pulled down
and burnt with the fire of intolerance.
Theatres have been vandalised
and stages are silent, empty.
The jobless critic looks for a prey,
hence, there are fewer flies and mosquitoes

The point has been proved
You do we say, we say you do
for our feet are sticky with squishy remains
of pens and easels and words...
No songs will be written, no tales told
We live with fire, in fire, by fire
What else can we do but burn?
We equate Force with Peace, so,
Don't ask - where are the Artists?

The Artists are dead.

They whine and cry-
"This country is going to the dogs."
They complaint and protest-
"Down with this corrupt government."
They crib and blame-
"Pull down those lazy thieving *******."

But when it's time, on Election day
They take the day off, they holiday
The Whining Losers, they say -
"Ah, let a few Morons go and vote
I am above politics,
What matter's it to me."

Dare you not raise another finger,
Dare you not whine and complaint.
You're not a part of democracy.
You're what this country bears in vain.

The line of vehicles never end
I wonder where they're off to
All speeding, occasionally screeching
furiously honking and shouting,
I wonder where they are off to.
They come in all colours,
they go away in darkness
I sit by the window day after day
Wondering where they go off to.

It’s not been all so long, but,
Why does it seem like ages?

Only yesterday we loved, we argued.
Today we spoke again as strangers.
And later I saw you in the marketplace.
You looked perfect, you were, Always.

Not alone, were you? Your beautiful company,
I did not miss her, nor did so anybody.
Scarlet against the grey world, so charming her face
Held you in place. Does it matter? You’ve forgotten me anyways.

It’s not been all so long, but,
Why does it seem like ages?

Just now you passed me in the village fair,
You looked, turned back again and again.
Those piercing eyes following in a mad chase,
You sought me out. Remember if only, those sensuous days?

I cried the day you left.
I knew you'd never return.
I tried to strangle your memories in different ways,
But you brought them back, you and Scarlet in marketplace.

There was nothing.
Then came light.
It illuminated, but,
It also discriminated.
All that was dark was doomed.

There was nothing.
Then came life.
It prospered, but,
It also destroyed.
All that was unique was lost.

If you have never wished
that we were a little different,
Think of yourself as a waste,
In the name of all that's Human.
For by thinking, you become.

Soft, round with delicate patterns
You dance to my tunes
But beyond my sultry rules.
Hot and spicy - my tongue burns
As it takes you in deep
Each flavour separated, variegated
On my flattened leaf.
Even moments later
I want to taste again.

I see your hesitant nods
I understand your doubts
I hear your second thoughts
Believe me, they are mine too.

Not until I met you
Not until we decided the "I do's"
Not until we showed our colours true
Did there come a purpose
To take down the odds
To challenge doubtful thoughts
To take the riskier shots
To decide to be with you

But You should know, pain never comes twice
After once, it becomes experience, then habit

A person hurts someone only once
And then, becomes a sadist

A person bears the pain only once
And then, becomes Me.