GODESS OF SMALL THINGS

My love for the "GOD OF SMALL THINGS" is kind of well known among my friends..but there is a godess of small things in my house..my little furball with the ever waggy tail...

Few years back,when she was around 3-4 years,she had a cat-friend...we used to call that cat "peekkiri poocha" ..it came 2 see jaani evry morning by 11am..huddled on top of the compound walll..at a safe distance from jaani...and they used to sit there face to face peacefully...

Then there was a crow..whom i christened as "friendy kaakka" who had dis strange habit of picking up raw fish from the fisherwoman and offering it to jaani...she ofcourse ignored the fish..(she's very fussy..dat gal! ) but she waited for friendy kaakka to come evryday..

last week when i came home...amma was going on about how she is friends with a lizard..(whom i named lizzie) and oh my god..dis li'll 7 year old daschund of mine actually struck a cordial chord with a lizard..!!

may be next time i come home,it might be an ant whom i have to name...i dont mind as long as im amused by how she connects with all living organisms around her..my darling GODESS OF SMALL THINGS..!

THE GUAVA TREE

The guava tree, if one

Could remember,

Always  came with

Four skinny legs

Hanging down like

Limp tentacles

A pair, fair with

Silver anklets and

The other, dark

With painted toes

Old times,

When dreams sprang

Like tender leaves

From the tree

Soft, waxy ,fresh-green.

When all the cuisines

Of the world,

Shrank into a ball

Of soft sweet pink pulp

In a lush green coat!

When the seven

Wonders of the world,

Took the shape

Of an arm-stretched

Guava tree.

When life was

Tied around a tree, and

Went round and round

Around it, carefree and wide-eyed,

Bare-foot and sun-tanned.

Now,

When I look down,

My feet are sunk deep ,

Into the discomforts

Of a stiletto.

Just one pair of stiff legs.

I look around.

I see walls.

I walk to the window,

                                                                        Sipping the tasteless fine-blend.

                                                                       I push it open, to see

                                                                       A million more walls

                                                                       Frowning back at me.

                                                                       Shutting me out.

JUST LETTING YOU KNOW..

Know it

That the veil

You put around me ,

Does not stop the sun's rays.

That all those birds you caged,

Never forget how to fly.

That the flowers you plucked,

Never froze its fragrance.

Know it ,

That my paint boxes you threw away,

Never stopped painting frescos

On my minds ceiling.

That my words you burnt,

Never stopped being poetry

On my dream's wall.

That my dreams ,you squashed and flushed away,

Never ceased to take wings

And fly..

FALL OF THE QUEEN

Into the abyss, she fell.

The first among the six to fall.

The death knell inside her

Failed to pale her mocha skin.

Magnificence-burnt out of it

Like a fired coal.

Her droplets of sweat

Sent out the scent

Of a thousand lotus blooms

Out of her lungs,

Rushed the air of life.

A scream might capture it back,

But no-

The queen closed her eyes,

She did not want to see

Her husbands-five in number-

Treading their way to heaven.

She let her heart flip a beat

She searched,through

The pleasant patches of her mind

The holy fire from where

She rose-clinging to

Her brother’s  finger

Indeed a cynosure-she was

Proclaimed to be the queen

To be remembered,

Till the end of time.

Her butter-lipped friend,who was,

As black as she was,

With peacock feathered brow

With words of a god and

Smile of a lover

Who listened and reasoned

Jeered and praised.

The sight of the swayamvar

Where kings-noble and novel

Mighty and majestic

Came with eager eyes

On the prize,

To make her-the lustrours

Black diamond of their crowns

Her palace..

With crystal stairs and lotus ponds

Windows  which  opened

To ever  fragrant gardens

Her palace,

Where the sun rose to see

Her kohl-lined eyes open.

Where the birds sang to see

The light of her smile.

Cold chillness speared

Into her being

She could hear Bheema’s lament

“why her, brother?”

“she loved only one..

More than everyone-Arjun.”

This one-the queen laughed-is

Always full of half truths!!

“I have only loved a single soul

But it was not that warrior prince!

How could i?when I never

Got enough of myself?”

The queen’s eyes shone,

From behind her lids,

For one last time.

BLUE

The heights above and

The depths beneath

Roofing and flooring,

The chaos amidst.

Tranquil  and thoughtful,

Silent and strong.

THE JOURNEY

Life is a wagon

Slithering through two

Long rails-dreams and reality.

Too close, yet

Never do they meet.

One futile without the other.

Yet, they never

Stop to make peace.

They unfurl in front

Of you, beyond that

Whisper of fog-far away

Hiding swirls and snares

And what not on

Its never ending path.

Fate runs the wagon

Smirking at its

Clamour  and cries,

Tensions and tears,

Never glancing back at

That rare happy moment.

A lifetime torn

In between two worlds

Speeding past

In search of a point

Where they meet.

And just when that veil

Of fog falls, there,

At that point, a bit away,

You see them crossing.

Joining and smiling at you.

When you are about

To get there-

Fate pedeals the brake,

The wagon,

Comes to a screeching halt.

Then your soul-like smoke-

Rises up, wanders to that point,

And dwells there

Mocking at your

Famished self, laughing

At the mad race,

Which you are just done with.

ARE YOU AN ATHEIST

I've been asked this question for the second time this week. from two entirely different people from different age groups. "ARE YOU AN ATHEIST? "

Both the times ,the question came out of the blue, without me stating anything remotely related to atheism. But both the times, it made me think of what I believe in , have I ever tries tying my faith to anything supernatural or out of my reach ??

Well twenty-one years is not a long enough time to come to a conclusion as to what to be believed or what not to b believed

But I believe and I strongly believe in a POWER of CONNECTION (that is what I choose 2 call it) ; a really strong one which makes Jaani ( my 6 year old dachshund) wag her tail at me whenever I come home..the way we can read each others emotions from our eyes. I believe in the genuine worries of a mother who thinks her daughter is too rebellious for her own good . I believe in  the pride of a father who raised a confidant daughter. I believe in d purity of five-year-old Ibrahim's mind which found out that leaves talk in their secret language when it rains. I believe in Karthika's hugs and Farhana's dreams..I believe in their belief !

I believe there is a power of dedication in all works of art be it my amma's cooking , Neruda's poems, the innocence of Arundhati Roy's Esthappen and Rahel, the wide eyes of Disney's cartoons, Sabyachachi's sarees or Rahman's music...

But being born to non-practicing  Hindu parents -who'd be happy see me choose any religion, and raised in a Christian school for 14 years, where they taught me what is more important is being a strong individual who respects other's belief,  yet stand up for what they believe in..(my college however works on a different principle , but I never bothered to take a bit of it inside my head)  and being best friends with maybe d boldest Muslim girl ,I don't chain myself to any religious beliefs . I don't pray in front of a beautifully sculptures or stone idols or to any symbol or to any direction..BUT I respect everyone who believes in it and does it...and that exactly is my PRAYER.

Well...what is my label now? Atheist ?  Agnonist ? May be a humanist ( with a slight feministic inclination) or perhaps a religiously-unlabeled happy woman !! :-)