Dear friends, these are the personal reflections of a senior septuagenarian as this year draws to an end. The poem is dedicated to my contemporary John Stevens of Chicago and all my friends, with Best Wishes For the New Year 2022, – Raj Nandy, 30 Dec 2021, New Delhi.

    MY LIFE’S TRIAL BALANCE SHEET
During the *** end of my life, after collecting
data from the General Ledger of those years
gone by, I now find, -
The Debit side has overtaken the Credit side,
In the balance sheet of my life!
Here I am not speaking of those earthly treasures
which moth and dust doth corrupt,
Where thieves break through and steal!  @ (NOTES)
But of those treasures laid up in Heaven which
remain immune from such earthly contaminations.
Even though these treasures have provided me
with short- lived comfort and satisfaction!

I now speak of people who have loved and cared
for me,
Of all those whose love I had failed to reciprocate
and return.
I speak here of unrequited love!
These regrets shall forever remain, since all
our earthly possessions are finally left behind;
And in the final balance sheet of life,
Only memories of people whose love I had
taken for granted,
Now show up on my Debit side!
But within this limited time frame, gaining
‘moksh’ has become my earnest quest,
Through good actions and deeds and also  
to be blessed.
I now recall what our great teachers and
philosophers have often said,
That a wise man does not seek the treasures
of this earth,
But freedom from the eternal cycle of birth,
death, and rebirth!
                                    -Raj Nandy, New Delhi.
NOTES: @ Reference is made to the gospel of Matthew chapter 6,
verses 19-20 of the New Testament.

Friends, this is a short poem about naming of the mutated forms of Corona virus. So far the names of the variants ‘Delta’ and‘Omicron’ have been taken from the Greek Alphabets which are 24 in number. But the Chinese who gifted the World this deadly Corona virus, have around 20,000 charters for their use. Therefore, they have a wider option to choose from for naming the virus when it mutates  in China in the future. With Prayers For a Corona Free World, - Raj Nandy, New Delhi, 09 JAN. 2022

+NAMING THE CORONA VIRUS VARIANTS +

MY FRIEND ASKED ME ONLY THE OTHER DAY,
DO YOU KNOW THAT OMICORN VIRUS IS ALSO
SHOWING FLASHES OF DELTA VIRUS THESE
DAYS?
I TOLD HIM I ONLY KNOW THAT THE WORD
‘CORONA’ HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM THE
LATIN WORD FOR CROWN WHICH IS ‘CORONAM’,
AND THAT ON 11 FEB 2020 W.H.O. NAMED THIS
NEW DISEASE AS ‘COVID-19’, WHICH IS SAME
AS ‘CORONAM’.
IN THAT CASE HOW ABOUT THIS ‘DELTA’ AND
‘OMICRON’ MY FRIEND HAD ENQUIRED.
I TOLD HIM THAT THEY ARE MUTATED VARIANTS
OF CORONA, USING THE TWO LETTERS OF THE
GREEK ALPHABETS BETWEEN ALPHA AND OMEGA.
NOW MY FRIEND WAS AWARE THAT THERE ARE
24 LETTERS IN THE GREEK ALPHABETS.
SO 22 LETTERS ARE STILL LEFT TO CHOOSE FROM, -
AT A FUTURE DATE;
LETTERS LIKE BETA , GAMA, LAMDA, MU, SIGMA AND
UPSILON, AND SO ON.
BUT THIS VIRUS SHOULD DIE DOWN BY THAT TIME
I HAD HOPEFULLY REPLIED.
BETWEEN ALPHA AND OMEGA THERE WOULD BE
SUFFICIENT  TIME!

BUT IN CHINA THINGS ARE NOW GETTING
OUT OF CONTROL I HAVE HEARD.
EVEN FRUITS THERE ARE GETTING CONTAMINATED
WITH THEIR HOME- MADE VIRUS!
FOR THAT YOU NEED NOT WORRY AT ALL MY LEARNED
FRIEND HAD CONFIDENTLY REPLIED.
THE CHINESE HAVE MORE THAN 20,000 CHARACTERS
INSTEAD OF ALPHABETS, - ON THEIR SIDE!
BUT THE CHINESE HAVE TO KNOW ONLY BETWEEN
3000 AND 4000 CHARATERS FOR THEIR DAILY USAGE.
WITH ENOUGH CHARACTERS TO **** THEM SEVERAL
TIMES OVER, SHOULD THE VIRUS CONTINUE TO
MUTATE AND SPREAD!

WHILE I PRAYED FOR THIS CORONA VIRUS TO
DIE DOWN AND FADE,
WHICH HAS BADLY SHAKEN UP OUR WORLD
AS ON DATE;
BUT AS A POET I ALSO SEEKS ‘POETIC JUSTICE’
FROM THE GODS OVERHEAD, -
TO PUNISH THE COUNTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR
ITS INITIAL SPREAD!  AMEN!
                                    -RAJ NANDY, NEW DELHI.

Call me using  your name as my own.
did you call me today Jan 16? 2022?
I see a most magnificent table.
Plates and utensils are all in gold.
Our eight treasures siting
to be served are our children;
Our offspring our family.
Our second table sits to serve
our thirty two grandkids.
There are bouquets of red roses
along the tables.
The joy is inexplicably sweet
yet bittersweet feelings
engolf me so deep tears choke me.
ON WAKING UP,!
All I suddenly see now
are white lilies over such mystery
tables along with red and white roses.
God help me with such regret
*** i miss you true love.
and I always truly loved you
all you had to do is not walk away
I had escaped hellenic hell
and had amnesia typical of ptsd
I adored you then and worship
you now till the end of time.
Gratitude beauty perfection
heavenly grace is your other name
at the gates of the heaven
your heart of gold showed
my only jewels are my three kids
Patricia, Josephine Rose
and Joella middle names
are rddbba last name is
Cun&ham in your world
Naturally!
but in our unreal world
we got unreal names!
why use real names
in an unreal world!!
need you call me
~~~~~~~
Karijinbba.