The thirsty cracked grounds
Piling up of starved mounds
All yearned, their tongues out
For the taste of rain, thunderous sound

The flowers drooped sadly before this
The green grass turned yellow and crisp
All their colours were fading away
Before you drenched them with torrential rain

So beautiful how the clouds meet
with the faraway earth, watery greet
So self-sacrificing how the skies cry
To satiate their lover, the lands dry

Thus this reunion happens once more
Each other's soul these lovers restore
But are joined together only to be torn apart
Poor cursed lovers, they're nature's art

Ah what selfless love is this!
The skies die to give the lands a kiss
And though they mayn't be together anymore
Their aromas lay intertwined; petrichor

They loom in the dark with bated breadths
Burdened souls and weighted steps
As the innocence in the world slumbers away
That's when they rise, come out to play

It is supposedly a kingdom of dark
Waiting to be pierced, waiting for a spark
Shedding light like jealousy sheds love
To lurk drearily in their raw alcove

They don their darkness, adorn it with their scars
Like the many universes dotted with burning stars
And so they fight the demons of life
In slumber and wake, their war for light

They carry their shackles within themselves
Forgotten like those books on dusty shelves
Ruling and ruled upon, a twisted fight
Waiting to ambush. These Creatures of the Night

Veins of leafy plants creeping and
Peeping from the cracks in the wall of stone
As the koyal sat regally and chirped
On its wooden branch of a throne

Out in the veranda sitting
Cross legged as you tugged
My messy long tresses with coconut oil
And made that wretched braid I loathed

The smell of ripe mangoes lingered
In the summer air and starry night
As I lay on my back on the folding bed-which was as ancient as my grandma-
And tried to decipher those stars in all my childlike might

Running barefoot in the haveli corridors
Built in that old colonial style
Chasing you as you outran me in your sarree
Almost as if I was chasing my dreams

I remember the playful teasing
As you became a child with me
I also picture grandma's white haired bun
And the flyaway hair coming loose as she chased after me

I remember those lazy peaceful afternoons
When dreams exceeded reality
It was a droning hum of a life
I miss it all so dearly

So whenever I want to go back to you, mum
To visit those summer glows
I just close my eyes and think of that haveli
And once again I smell the mangoes

I desire to be loved
I desire to be held
I desire to find someone
That makes my heart melt

I desire to travel the world
I desire to wide-eyed see
Every inch of our universe
Every nook and cranny

I desire to be fire
I desire to be ice
I want to be my own yin and yang
ah I want to suffice

I desire to achieve
I desire to bring pride
For myself and my family
Only confidence in my stride

I desire to touch lives
I desire to make a difference
I desire to leave a bigger effect
To leave my own print

I desire so much
It's the magic of youth you see
Right now everything's possible
If i just allow myself to dream

So when I grow wrinkly and old
And have quenched all these fires
I hope I still have the courage
And the freedom to let myself desire

I watch beauty at its work
Watching it unfold
Like a sunrise in summer
First gentle then an explosion of gold

I watch grace as it hums
To a melody or two
Too unapologetic yet not brazen
Lost in her own blues

I watch happiness as it glides
Innocent in its strokes
It stays but for a little while
Then away it floats

I watch innocence as it melts
Like an eclectic winter snowflake
Dancing and moving like the wind
Leaving warmth in its wake

And so I watch, a mere spectator
As she, in all her glory manifests
Too spellbound by her enigmatic being
Her beauty encompassing the best

Emptiness staring back at me, not of the paper but my soul indeed.
Shaking hands try to come up with something, an idea to pen down atleast.
This vast emptiness scares me the most for, devoid of my creativity
I'm just like the others, so incomplete myself. An entirely faceless entity
I always turn to this paper and pen, in hope of letting myself flow
Because this plain God doesn't judge when I thus let myself go
When you write, you write down a part of yourself. A part you never even knew existed
And what happens when you don't know what to write of? You're limited, you're restricted
I write not to impress. For I know my musings are hardly worthy of praise.
But it's how I complete myself when I connect to the paper in such unnatural ways.
So, I write, I soar, I fly. This is how I dance
And now and then, ever so lovingly, I give my soul a glance.

Put out a crisp white sheet
On the harder mahogany desk
Keep the pen ready and
Make the light ambient
Fold your arms
And close your eyes
Sit and wait
For the ideas to strike
Hold still! Don't move
Or you'll chase them away
And be left in the dark
With darkness barely at bay
As the trickling movements
Get reduced to peaceful sleep
You'll sit on that unforgiving wooden chair
Waiting for words to come and greet
So rub those furrowed eyebrows
And coax that pensive mind
Ignore the calls your bed sounds
Keep it waiting through the night
It is then when you're ready
To almost pull your hair and scream
That the elusive minx will tiptoe up to you
And tap on your shoulders gently
Be grateful to yourself my friend
For not giving up
Because when you stain the paper it'll  be red
You'll rhyme with your blood

So many lives buzzing past us
Each lost in its own misery
****** in the oceans of doubt and despair
Drowning in others' judgemental scrutiny

Who really understands their insignificance
Too caught up in their thoughts bizarre
Too misled by their empty passions
About how minute they are

If only everyone could see
The bigger things that surround
That there's so much more than money & fame
How all around us beauty abounds

Maybe beings are ignorant on purpose
Or their visions are just clouded
By the mist of self-obsession
Or ambition & envy shrouded

There are so many lives whirring away
With you just in the background
So can't you take yourself a little less seriously
Can't you just slow down?

I dreamt and I saw the sky,
The sky above the trees
I saw the truth among the stars
The truth about you and me

I dreamt and I saw the world,
The world for what it was
I found you there in everything
The happiness and the chaos.

I dreamt and I saw from height,
A bird eye view of all
I saw you, higher, stronger and better
Than every brazen wall.

I dreamt and I saw a flower sweet,
A simple beauty alone
I felt you there, nurturing it.
Beautifying every ugly seed sown.

I dreamt and I saw a story,
A story yet untold
It was a beautiful myth, full of colors
About us, audacious and bold.

And thus I dreamt on and on,
Floating perfunctorily
I felt you there in my heart
Dreaming along with me.

The tears keep falling
drip drip drip
And they keep tearing my clothes
rip rip rip
Just take some tape and put it on my lips
Freedom of speech is an illusion as it is
They say our "culture" isn't a place for a woman
so that's why 70% of Hindu gods are male


Oh Wait
Ah well, better to be worshipped than to be whipped, I say

Oh please don't glorify me, it's not what i need
i can do without your worship, I plead
you don't have to set me up on a plank
just treat me like an equal among your ranks

Why is it becoming so hard to breathe?
It is the necklace of your fingers round my throat
Why are you choking what you claim as your own?
I'm not India's daughter, I'm India's ******

i get wet, drowning in your existence
my own, a forgotten mirage
i let go of all I own
Immersing myself in your corners and depths

I speak not of lust,
but something as fiery
something happens because
I'm a goner for you honey

My past fades away
when you come in sight
i'm all you want me to be,
everyday and every night

why do my trodden paths not matter
in the light of your own
why are women such fools in love
don't they know how it will all go

so with the pen of your wants
write down what you want me to be
I'll just dive in this ocean again
Because I'm a goner for you honey

let's go on a trip
and revisit our childhood
let's delve into our old streets
and remember those long gone moons

let's shake hands
with our enthusiastic younger self
do you see a mirror
or a stranger withing your shell?

let us laugh at the stuff
that once made us cry
let us shed a tear or two
at the happiness goneby

come let's wear the cloak
of inexperience and see
the difference in views and the difference in colors
and the difference in what could be

how different it must seem
to not carry the weight
of all our responsibilities
and freely dance again

ah let’s cut ourselves loose
from reality for minute or three
let us go meet to our childhood
and embrace those welcoming memories

Hair, head, neck, shoulders
Emerging out the window from the
Back seat of a car whizzing
Down a Mountain she fell in love with
Before knowing what love was
One arm overstretched and out as if she was
hugging the eroded Giants that towered over aged valleys
Just then a gust blows so strongly that
She sways a little, almost as if
The mountain winds were hugging her back
(She likes to think they were)
Hair billowing and whipping around;
A tumultuous halo
An unknown flutter in the Hollow
Of the centre of her chest expands
While she feels like she has shrunk
Or maybe has just realised How big the world is;
The feeling grows; Delighted, ecstatic and erratic
She shouts in her exploding happiness
Shouts the flutter from her belly
up her throat and out to the world
She makes love to the giant moss wearing rocks
Later, she sticks her head back in
(Like a touch-me-not flower shrinks back inside)
And leans back on the headrest, panting happily, eyes sparkling
And just looks in wonder as the mountains
keep on unfolding themselves to her
the car keeps going on and on and on.

When I read
The words don't come alive;
**I do.

Tired of writing the same old poem
Sick of humming the same old song
Thirst for a change of scenery
Someone pull me out of this dump

Driving in a circle
Reach right back to the start
Same old stupid ending
It's becoming too hard

Routine emotional wrecks
have lost their charm
I'm so through with all the drama
Feel like a ****** piece of art

So take those words back
Shove them right back into your mouth
Because I trust based on actions
Not what you say or how you sound

I might seem like such a fool
Because you say the same words each time
And I let you back in
But baby won't ever commit that crime

Its said that you should trust
People Based On their actions
And you'll never be fooled by the crust
Of their spoken contraptions

So open your eyes and watch me do
What I should've done a long time ago with you
Perk up your ears and listen up as I say
Welcome to solitude, Enjoy your stay.

Can taste the steel in your mouth?
As it envelops your ******* venomous embrace,
That bitter after taste, residual doubt
Still there not going away

This aftermath is so familiar,
Growing distance between me and my happy ending
Ah! Why does it always end like this?
Even though it has a glorious beginning

Everyone says “this time it will be different”
Well then why hasn’t anything changed?
It’s like a pre-decided sequence of events,
All taking place like a future already arranged

I thought you were different, I always do
But why should I make excuses for you?
It’s the anticipation, it’s the buildup really
Setting me up for disappointment so dreary

When in reality it’s the idea of you
That excites me more than you could ever do
The reality of you is just misplaced
Leaving only a bitter aftertaste

They gave me wings called integrity
But I'm still learning how to fly
It is hard to flap these wings
In the fogs of malice and avarice
Newly sprouted respect
Left my shoulders sore
It's tiring to carry a weight
That only few people adore
But I can't let growing pains stop  me from fixing my moral compass north
The cloak of honour is hard to wear
But the only way to go is forth
So I try, again and again
For nobility is a stubborn trait
I watch these wings grow
With every sincere choice made
Engulfed in moral stoicism
Learning the lows and highs
One day these wings will be strong enough
To navigate the changing skies