Love in all shapes

"Hello Miss Round!!"
Said a sonorous sound.
I spun around
At the Dolby surround.

"Hello mister..ermm??"
"Ob is the name" he said.
"Is that name not made?
Pray tell me the real name instead."

"Obtuse is the name,my dear lady.
I hate the name as it makes me look shady.
So for a date are u ready?
I will take you on slow and steady."

Laughed out loud at his gumption,
Held my sides lest they burst of vibration.
He held her hand with his wittiest presentation.
Thus Ob and Ro started their conversation.

Ro looked at the tall man with awe.
Felt conscious of her beauty raw.
"Why wasn't I like the hourglass I saw.
Ugly things like me should be hidden by law."

"I am in love with the shape of you!" said Ob.
"From where did these lines you rob?"
"It's my original for you." he said with a feigned sob.
Cheeks blushed with an unwarranted throb.

Minutes passed into hours,
Hours passed into day afters.
Making memories of laughters with no bars,
And promises of no scars.

Alone, Ro looked at the mirror.
Ob was great but won't miss her ever.
Why did she meet him with so much fervour!
"It will hurt badly.", she thought with a tremor.

Ob had his own stress.
Felt he failed to impress.
Staring in the eyes of the princess,
He had missed his beats more not less.

Ro picked up the phone.
It was Ob's name she wanted to moan.
Sun will set one day and that's known,
Why to sulk alone and forlorn.

Just then the doorbell rang loud.
Opened to see Ob's smile broad.
"Without promises of being forever around,
Will you be mine, my Miss Round?"

With smiles and tears making a strange symphony,
Ro pointed out the differences which were many.
Ob held her close and kissed on her nose shiny,
"Look at the similar lines we have you granny."

"You and me have a great rapport you see,
But you and me are scared to be.
We are child at heart and free.
Future is unknown to you and me.
Let's just smile and make love with glee,
You and me together will make the sadness flee!!"

Thus the lives of two shapes blend,
I don't know whether they remain till the end.
Ro-Ob is a story that I send,
For all that are at life's strange bend.
Take a plunge into life my friend,
Maybe you will have broken hearts to mend,
But with life's rainbows kenned and penned!

A Trembling Heart

The city lights make me think of you.
It was not like this before you brought in new hues.
What is this magic that you do?
I feel scared and it's true.
I feel scared that we are so different.
The world we belong to will never melt.
Yet your voice I crave,
And that mischievous smile is my fave.

Gratitude

"Just a little more and
The balcony with the  sunset view would've been mine",
Murmuring in irritation on life I walked down the lane.
Heard a small voice telling his mother
"Ma, today I learnt about sunset at the sea.
It is beautiful they said.
I told them about the poetry on the lovely moon shining,
On the river in front of our house"!
Ma hugged him tightly
With love of the fairyland!
I stared at the gutter
At the door of his house,
A room filled with filth and poverty
But fragrant with love, dreams and poetry.
The balcony I got seemed heaven.
Thanked God for being a true maven.

With paper in front and cup of coffee in hand,
The news of the rape of a young child
Brought back memories from a distant land.
That day the call of azaan
Saved an innocent heart,
And the voice of a mother
Brought tears with mirth.
You are the saviour, you are the friend
You are there when all lights end.

Life as it may seem is not the end.
It has lot of reels to play, lot of souls to blend.
Each phase has its own beauty,
Don't lose hope but count your bounty.
And one day when you look back,
Other's misfortunes won't make you feel blessed,
But being the answer to someone's prayers will.
Then know that the Almighty has been kind all along.

Strings

Standing on my weary legs,
Reaching out to the sky,
I thought,
"When will my time come, Ye Almighty.
When will I rest on the ground?"

Just then a pair of soft hands touched me.
Heard a whisper in my ears,
"Make my papa come back to me,
I will not cry for Barbie."
Gingerly she tied a moist string
On my hand, matured with age.

"Ye Almighty,
Give me strength to stand for another day.
Let this prayer reach you
And then I will say 'Nay.'!"

Almighty laughed and said,
"Look at yourself,
Adorned with strings of hope and prayers!
To fall you need to stop blooming.
But you breathe and you thrive.
You keep their hopes alive,
Wishing that one day they will come
And kiss you with fulfilled tears,
Making you smile with yet another flower.
I am there to take care of your smile.
You be and stand strong."

As I watched this dialogue
Between the Maker and His creation,
I prayed silently,
With the clouds covering,
And the waves soothing me,
" Hey Allah, make me someone's string of prayer,
Make me someone's smile."

A love story

A love story at the sea,
Between the rock and the water free.

The water travels far and wide,
Leaving the rock with kisses' spree.
She collects whispers from the horizon,
Gushes at the exciting stories that the sea gulls own.
Ebullient with joy from the sea's vault,
Makes its way to its beloved with the tide.

With the afternoon sun shining high,
Sparkling, it reaches the rock's nigh.
Frolicking and dancing out of bliss,
Rock regales in the beauty of his effervescent miss.
She mesmerises rock with tales of the sea,
Paints the dreams as there he can't be.
He is stable love, for which she prays,
Being there for her no matter where she strays.
Water showers into pieces of ecstasy,
As they make love with the wind's symphony.
The love story grows stronger with every tide,
Every parting brings craving to be on each other's side!

The Jingle

Mother whispered,
"She is our daughter.
How can you be so hard?"
The owner shouted,
"My daughter is my seed,
Sown to take care of our feed.
Son will learn and grow
He will take care and show.
Let her do her job,
Let her go."

I heard the jingle.

City lights welcomed me.
Crushed my innocence with a sadistic glee.
I hear the jingle every night,
It is the music which dims the light.

One such night, I met love.
Promised to be my Prince Charming.
Escaped the curtains of darkness,
Hand in hand,
Only to be cheated at the station grand,
By talks of a louder jingle.

Disillusioned, I escaped life.
Jumped on the tracks to end the strife.
Opened my eyes in heaven,
On a soft bed,
And a caring hand on my head.
Shocked at the strangeness of God's abode,
Sat straight and looked around.
An old lady sat at my bedside,
"Daughter, take rest. All will be ok."
She said.
The love in her voice made me shiver,
With doubts raising their fangs.
"What is this place with the strange jingle ? I asked.
Money doesn't sound thus."
"This is the sound of music,
Which soothes our pain,
It is the rhythm of dance
Through which healing we gain.
Join us in our journey.
You will find yourself again."

As the curtains were drawn,
Lights filled the darkness.
Claps drowned the jingle,
Smiles greeted me as I mingled.
I started afresh to be only mine.

5 am thoughts

Today morning as I was praying, I realized something. Allah is who has created us. It is He who has given us life. We are there to serve him, to thank him for all the bounties. Yet we falter in that one thing expected of us. However, have you felt Him leaving your side? Never! As soon as you take a moment and call Him strumming the right chords of your heart, He is there. Sometimes, we don’t realise but He sails us through many tough situations .And we say, ”Thank God!!” as a reflex action rather than by deliberate intent. Many times we get hurt, we fail and we make mistakes. We also complain, ”Why me?”! We think that if God truly loved us, then He wouldn’t have made us go through this! Then after the storm passes and the worst is over, our vision clears and we feel the strength within us. We realise then what we didn’t earlier. We look back and see how the heat, the fire made us stronger, made us shine! The experiences we gather become like the alloys which make gold stand the test of time and therefore valuable.

I realised Allah is like a true leader. He has a destination ready for you. He knows where you will reach but He doesn’t tell you. He guides you, mentors you but never hand holds you. He lets you fail but does not abandon you. He waits patiently to watch you get up, gather your wits and again start the climb. He waits for you to ask for help and when it is asked he delivers the same. However, He may not deliver the solutions on a plate as we may like but He hides it in signs which we must decipher on our own.  Inspite of everything when we fail, He has our back. He carries us and takes care of us. I remember Miss Nandita Bir at this point. She was one of the beautiful teachers who took our value education classes in school. One of the things that she mentioned resonates in my mind even today. God is not someone to be scared of, He loves us. Our actions should be a result of our love for Him and not because of the consequences that we may face. Once that realization is in place, we will never falter and never fail our leader.

As an afterthought, I pondered as to why I equated Allah as a leader and not as parents! After all they love us the most. Yes, they love us blindly, unconditionally. They love us to a point where they will take the heat of the fire instead of us getting scorched. They will bleed if we get wounded. Our parents are a gift to us by God to pat us on our back, to ruffle the hair on our head and embrace us in love when we fall and tell us, “Its ok beta, try again later. Now eat and take rest.” And for some who are unfortunate to have no parents, He is there in some form or the other.

So, I will draw an end here. Couldn’t stop but pen my thoughts down and share with you. These are my personal reflections seen through the mirror which I see. The light reaching you may not be the same and therefore you may have a different perception. It is okay! Different colours make the rainbow and create a beautiful vision. Therefore, go ahead and express what you feel in a positive way and make the world a better place!

(Note: All pictures courtesy Google image)

The stairs

I shifted into our new house on the 5th floor. It was quite an ascent considering the 1st floor that I was residing on till now.There was a small cosy little elevator. Its yellow paint had yellowed with age. However, it was as efficient as new. As soon as you press the desired level..whhooshh..voila..you reach your destination. To keep you company during this comfortable ride is your reflection in the big mirror. I was quite delighted at finding the mirror there on my first visit. You could give yourself a final thumbs up before leaving home for the day!
One day after returning from office I was shocked to see the elevator under breakdown. "Poor me!". I thought and took a deep breath before embarking on the difficult climb ahead.
It was the first time after shifting to my new place that I was taking the stairs. After reaching the first floor, I realised that not every one had the privilege of open spaces on their landing as we had. One of the doors to the flats was open. I could see an armchair lying lazily in the balcony. The balcony was covered with green grass and the gulmohar tree branches were almost making themselves comfortable in that space This picture brought back in a flash a childhood memory of me sitting at the feet of my grand father, pleading him to tell a new story. He regaled my ever greedy mind with stories from far-off lands, of fairy tales, of characters I can meet only in my dreams, of movies and of personalities that I can aspire to be. Feeling light with that bubble from the past and with a smile, I continued my journey upwards.



As I reached the 2nd floor, a door caught my eyes.On it was the scribbled out-pour of love of an innocent mind eager to let her parents know how much she loved them.The stairs seemed to become a journey into the memories stored somewhere deep within. I remembered how as a child I used to feel unworthy of my parents love and that made me go into a shell laced with self pity and low confidence. My eyes started to well up at the thought of the pain that I inflicted on myself by feeling unloved. I wish I had just expressed myself like the little girl here. Life goes on though and I am still learning-learning to be less self critical and to accept myself as the imperfectly perfect human being that I am. I counted my blessings in the form of family, siblings, friends and strangers who had the patience to be with me as I evolved.




On the 3rd floor there was nothing remarkable. It was a very ordinary looking floor with domesticated look of flats beautified by the beautiful rangolis outside the doors and the corridor filled with aroma of home cooked food. This unremarkable floor made me crave for the ordinary, the relaxed, the lazy feeling of being at home waiting for the deceptively simple dal chawal served with fried potatoes and coriander chutney.
Feeling hungry, I hurried up to the 4th floor. I had to literally dodge the children running about playing chor-police. We are so controlled in our behaviour nowadays that its been ages that I have really screamed with joy like these kids. It is a bliss to be able to laugh with abandon and not to care.

I ran up the stairs leading to my floor. Running out of breath by now, I stood at the window near the stairs. The view in front of me literally took the remainder of my breath away. The cool breeze and clear blue sky uninterrupted by the terraces of the adjacent buildings was a welcome relief.

Happy, I moved to my floor and opened the door to be welcomed by the rustling of the leaves in the balcony and the curtains dancing in glee.

Taking the stairs today taught me an important lesson in life. Elevator was easy and comfortable.You meet new people in there if they come in at the same time that you are in them. Otherwise it is you and your reflection. It is the kind of modern life that we are leading now-closed, restricted, mechanical, suffocating and unhealthy.



Stairs are challenging. It is like learning the basics and strengthening the core..It is difficult and you may need help but at least you will be at a place where you will meet people to reach out to and not fall into darkness alone. It is like taking the untrodden path and being ready for surprises to shower you with experiences and new relationships. It throws at you the simple things of life which are beautiful yet forgotten because of our routine like existence. Let us take the stairs, write a new story and never stop the journey to experience something new.