Friday 30 December 2022

MY HEART’S ECHO

 

MY HEART’S ECHO       

ADDRESSES

 

1.          

2.          

3.           TO MOTHER TERESA

4.          

5.           A WARM TRIBUTE TO RUPA MISHRA

6.          

7.           ON THE UNTIMELY DEMISE OF DHAN

8.           NO MORE AGAIN

9.          

10.                  O FATHER! MY FATHER!

11.                  A BIRTH DAY GIFT TO RESHMA HEGDE

 

              APPEALS

 

1.           A PRAYER TO GOD

2.           O GOD! GIVE ME STRENGTH

3.           O GOD! I SEEK THY COMPANY

4.           A REQUEST TO THE ALMIGHTY

5.           A WISH TO BE A GANDHIAN MONKEY

6.           THE MILK OF KKINDNESS

7.          

8.           TURN TO HER

9.           LET’S PAY OUR OBEISANCE TO HIM

10.                  SUCCUMB TO THE DIVINE CALL

 

              FACTS

 

1.           A BABY

2.           YES, CHILD IS THE FATHER OF MAN

3.           ROADS

4.           THEN

5.           IF PRIDE COMES

6.           THE BEST SOLUTION

7.           TIME

8.           MAN – A DUAL COMPLEMENT

9.           THINK IT OUT

10.                  ANGER

11.                  HAPINESS

12.                  POWER

MOTHER

 

1.           MY ONLY PRAYER

2.           YOUR MOTHER

3.           MOTHER’S HEART

4.           THAT’S WHY SHE IS CALLED MOTHER

 

SARCASM

 

1.           AN INDEPENDENCE DAY RESOLUTION

2.           THE REIGN OF THE BRITISH GHOSTS

3.           COMMISSION GHOSTS

4.           ON SUPERSTITION

5.           VIDHVA – AN INDIAN WOMAN

6.           NO SURPRISE

7.           ON THE MANGALORE PLANE CRASH

8.           WOULD THAT!

9.           RIGHT GUYS?

10.                  FACE VALUE

11.                  WHAT IS THEN USE?

12.                  A DYING NECESSITY!

13.                  TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

 

         

 

 

TO MOTHER TERESA

 

Yea, you sanctified the earthen mire

With your august, angelic and motherly presence

Your love, compassion and hearty care

Glorified the sacred Mother and Her quintessence.

 

You were the mother of the planet.

All the needy, the destitute and the diseased

Were your children whose sour’d fate

Your heavenly touch miraculously changed!

 

No earthly guerdon, no human encomium

Can honour an apostle of a Nurse panacean

Which will be as outlandish as watering the ocean

Or torching the Father of the Solar System!

 

Your descent to the Earth wasn’t a regular phenomenon

We can pay you nothing except our humblest salutation.

 

 

A WARM TRIBUTE TO RUPA MISHRA

Yes, I’am not less elated than thou art
To hear thy supreme success in the Civil Service Exam.
The more I plaudit the less it is to glorify thy part;
In the annals of Orissa inked a new history  thy prodigious podium.

 

What a peerless justification of one’s own name!
Henceforth thy enthralling badge will scintillate thy state
As long as history lives; thou art the rarest gem
That can ever be valued, sure to embellish Mother Utkal’s fate.

 

Great thou art, greater thy parents and greatest thy pedagogues!
All of whose endeavours fetched thee a luminous, luculent stature;
But nullify not thy magnficencence and rectitude amongst the omnivorous rogues,
As to Deepak’s presage like many of thy predecessors by lavish lucre and rampant lure.


Yes, minions like Debasish, Shivsunder and thee
Canst remove millions’ misconception in Mumbai or elsewhere
That we are Oriyas, not Bengalis outside our frontier,
Ours is a state not retral, retrograde and barren but exceptional to dree.

 

 

ON THE UNTIMELY DEMISE OF DHAN

 

Oh! What a gloomy vicissitude

That snatched you away from us

In an instant; it did intrude,

Force us to face an irreparable loss…

 

Like an innocent baby Sprite

You slept not to ever wake

To toddle, waddle and walk

And rejoice to view life’s day light!

 

How could one expect a tender pink twig to drop

Without any ill omen of cyclone or gust;

Or a boat to drown never to ever come up

Sine any augury of hurricane or tempest?

 

Your sepulture in the ninth month was a bolt from the blue

What’s use of your B.C I fortuitously procured on the same day too?

Who can be a more unfortunate to get the B.C and D.C together

And remain a baffled, buffeted and bereft begetter?

 

 

N.B:- Dhan, poet's younger daughter, breathed her last on 15th Nov.2010 at 11.45 p.m   due to pneumonia. She was born on 10th Feb. 2010

 

NO MORE AGAIN

Your Mother can no more tie

Your flocculent hair with two dangling hind locks

Suckle you no more, soft food fondling to lie!

 

Your Grandmother can no more carry you on her waist

Apply mustard oil to fortify your cells and muscles

Hand- fan you, when power is out, at ease to rest!

 

Your Papa can no more babble with you

Kiss you and tickle your face with irritating beard

Buy toys, garments and shoes glad and new!

 

Your Didi, being young too, can no more envy

That you are prettier and loved more by all,

Take fondly your snaps in mobile or show you T.V!

 

Nothing can the forlorn bereaved do for you any more

For, you left for a far off journey never to return ever….

 

N.B:- Dhan, poet's younger daughter, breathed her last on 15th Nov.2010 at 11.45 p.m   due to pneumonia. She was born on 10th Feb. 2010

 

*Tuft-having a tuft, with woolly hair

 

O  FATHER!  MY FATHER! 

 

Where is thy scintillating face

Art thy soothing, caressing words

Is thy unwavering ‘Life Race’

Art thy truth and non-violence swords?

 

Where is thy august magnitude

Thy ingenuous, infallible introspection

Thy polymorphous reason shrewd

Thy up-soaring, unfaltering resolution?

 

Where is thy enviable polymathy

Thy spontaneous, generous sympathy

Thy didactic, moral treatise

Thy inoblivious equilibrium and poise?

 

Where is thy staid and sedate stride

Art thy short, sensitive fingers

Is thy priceless warp devoid of pride

Art thy humble, humane gestures?

 

 Where is thy amicable confabulation

Thy inimitable condescension

Thy commendable inquisition

Thy inmost, recuperating inculcation?

 

Where is thy euphemistic innuendo?

Thy healing, rejuvenating touch

Thy inoffensive, godly command

Thy poignant preaching torch?

 

Where is thy slow, steady cycling

Thy patronymic sweet name

Thy panegyric struggling

Thy groovy, glorious life game?

 

I well recollect, thy painstaking spine

Thy platitude, ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’

I must endeavour to fecundate thy last dream

And flow like a sprightly, resuscitating stream.

 

What can be to thee a meet tribute

Except fulfilling thy only goal

By carrying thy noble ideals out

To please thy incorporal soul?

 

 

 

A BIRTHDAY GIFT TO RESHMA HEGDE

 

A great many returns of the day:

May thy sojourn be a hey-day,

May Goddess Fortune shower on thee proficiency,

May that be accompanied with grace, solace and service!

 

May this day teach thee to be more doing and up

 Mayest thou surmount durdles sine a hiccup

Mayest thou pluck the shining apples of the firmament

May thy life be an incarnation of lasting kconentment!

May thy life be a radiant, distinguished halo

To scorch misery and char sorrow;

May thy success torch be blest to glow

Mayt thy life’s pace never be slow….

 

May thy life be a pride of the Earth

May it ameliorate everyone’s mirth

May it become a rare, relieving example

Mayest thou leave behind for the mankind ample!

 

A PRAYER TO GOD

 

O God! How great Thou art

And greater Thy art, skill and intelligence

Behind Thy creation of air, water and land

Thy creation of million stars, suns and moons

Thy creation of living showers in the monsoons

Thy creation of springs, rivers and oceans

Thy creation of sweets, bitterness and salt

Thy creation of rocks, peaks and sand.

Thy creation of smiles, laughters and tears

Thy creation of heat, cold and fears

Thy creation of a newly wed bride’s blushes

Thy creation of thunders, lightnings and flashes

Thy creation of pious smile on a baby’s face

Thy creation of bio-abiotic kingdom and human race

Thy creation of good-bad and days –nights

Thy creation of trains, planes and kites

Thy creation of win-joy and defeat-plight

Thy creation of vice-virtue and fall-rise

Thy creation of the insane-sane and dull-wise

Thy creation of days, weeks, months, years and ages

Thy creation of saints, seers, prophets and sages

Thy creation of light-dark and dusk-dawn

Thy creation of birth-death and hell-heaven

And Thy creation of a great many innumerable others!

May I thus be blest, to reach Thy Realm, with feathers?

 

 

O GOD! GIVE ME STRENGTH

 

O God! Give me saintly strength, vigour and power

As to the roots, leaves and plants is the shower

To surmount the Everest of hurdle or tempest

To accomplish my allotted assignment best.

O God! Fill in me not the fiendish monster’s force

To torment and scare the innocent souls

To squeeze-flow the tear streams is a loathsome curse;

Ah! Death is preferable to the enjoyment of vicious goals.

O God! Replenish me with Thy Godly, Catalyst-like Energy

To feed the hungry, shower the thirsty and buttress the needy

To enlighten the insane and guide a boat tossing and unsteady

To buttress the falling, to efface poverty, homicide and lethargy.

O God! I prithee to embolden me to speak the truth

Then, 'Heaven is mine at any cost.'- is my unflinching Faith!

 

O GOD! I SEEK THY COMPANY

O God! A dusty figure I am

            A rusty bone I am

            A lusty spirit I am

            A frosty entity I am!

 

O God! An insane omnivore I am

            An unintelligible enigma I am

            An unpredictable uncertainty I am

            An utter tomfool existence I am!

 

O God! A groping wayfarer I am

            A wrecking voyager I am

            A plumeless flyer I am

            A sure to perish bubble I am!

 

O God! Whatsoever I may be

            I seek Thy Company when I die…..          

 

A REQUEST TO THE ALMIGHTY

O God!

Don't take me to such an arrogant height

Whence, to descend, there'll be no flight.

Don't replenish me with that much cursed wealth

Which will wane, in Thee, mine even an iota of faith.

 

O God! 

Don't embellish me with that much baned beauty

Which will turn me too lusty to mind my due duty.

Don't endow me with that much perverted fame

Which will seduce me to forget Thy Sublime Name.

 

O God! 

Don't lead me onto such a illusory highway

Where Satan will snatch my scruple's sway.

Don't bestow upon me that much miry mirth

Which will make futile my life's blissful birth.

 

O God! 

Do bless me with nothing but Thy Mercy Panacea

Which will redeem my Soul and slay my Divine inertia!

 

 

A WISH TO BE MORE THAN GANDHIAN MONKEYS

 

O God!

Let me see the things that are noble

Let me listen to the things that are noble

Let me utter the things that are noble

Let me do the things that are noble.

 

Ah! Kindly make me more than than Monkeys Gandhian

To have such a gift on this illusory earth is indeed Elysian!

 

THE MILK OF KKINDNESS

 

How canst thou call one kind

If fail the panacean milk in him to find?

Who wears only a hollow, jejune heart

Plays for the creation the least humane part.

 

The milk of kindness is a spontaneous spring

Flows perennially on the bed of a merciful human being,

Flows to fulfill, not to anticipate

Like a kind mother to her pet.

 

The milk of kindness is a yield of heaven

Thrives inside a bounteous heart garden

Boon’d to relent, recuperate and gladden

God incarnates are with it blest and laden!

 

Spout thus a few drops, suck not a little

Unbreakable shalt be thy life brittle!        

 

TURN TO MOTHER NATURE

 

O the ever idly busy and occupied humans!

Do stop for a while

Do wait for a while

Do watch for a while

Do enjoy for a while

When Mother Nature does merrily dance.

 

Her enchanting glance pours peace

Her enticing gait is full of bliss

Her dulcet music removes doldrum

Her vicinity becalms every material storm.

 

She drifts you away to an Elysian realm

Where pesters you none like the Pandora’s curse,

Bathe you will in a nectaric, sprightly stream

Mundane woes will evanish, heavenly gaiety will rush.

 

Why do you roam, roil, revel noisily and roister

In the rocky, turbid and spurious world,

After execrable flotsam and jetsam hanker

O man – careworn, capricious and blurred?

 

None like Her will refresh, relieve and fructify

Nowhere but in Her abode does lasting respite lie.

Turn to Her – your only refuge of rest and reprieve

Yes, She will hug you, mollify, and gladly revive!

 

Fructify - make fruitful or fertilize

Mollify - make calm; pacify

 

LET’S PAY OUR OBEISANCE TO HIM

I love this world

My country – India

My State – Orissa

My District – (Jagannath) Puri

My Panchayat – Chalishbatia

My Village – Tadas Ramahans Pur

And my Parents,

For, they have altogether given me birth

Given me strength to walk, play and perform

Given me a peaceful niche to live

Given me chances to learn fathom and earn

Given me love and affection to grow

Given me what I require as a man

Without whose contributions I would’ve been nothing.

Thus, I am indebted to all of them.

 

But, my admission would be incomplete

If I forget or ignore to mention Him – the Almighty

Who has given birth to all

Who controls all

Who is most merciful to all

Without whose contributions this Universe would be nothing

Let alone others….

Thus, I, we and all are owed to Him past description.

 

So, let’s all pay our whole-hearted obeisance to Him

To keep raining His love

Warding off all adversities

Forgiving His haughty, naughty childish children

And sustaining His unique Creation as usual forever…….

 

 

SUCCUMB TO THE DIVINE CALL

 

Succumb to provocation,

And you will be finished soon.

Succumb to lust,

And you will be soon lost.

Succumb to anger,

And you will no longer linger.

Succumb to squabble,

And you will soon woo trouble.

Succumb to pretense,

And you will soon mar your sense.

Succumb to desire

And you will soon be trapped by sorrow snare.

 

But, succumb to the Blissful, euphoric Divine Call,

And soon, will attain emancipation your blest Soul!

 

A BABY

Yes, nothing is as sweet as a baby’s smile

Nothing is as chaste as a baby’s will

Nothing is as supple as a baby’s cheeks

Nothing is as pink as a baby’s lips

Nothing is   as innocent a baby’s look

Nothing is as pitiable as its tear brook!

 

Nothing is as comely as its stuttering tongue

Alas! Nothing remains with it as it grows young.

 

 

YES, CHILD IS THE FATHER OF MAN

Look at the eyes when a child opens

How clean, peace pouring, divine they are!

Alleviate ailments, breeze bliss; what weapons,

Force and power are seen doing rare.

 

Look at the smiles of a child

You will soon blithfully realize and find

Are not as of a grown up’s objective and wild;

Seduce they not, rather move to be kind.

 

Look at the game when a child plays

You will not trace malpractice or ill influence

That comes out of the grown ups’ frays;

How serene, solacious and soothing an ambience!

 

Look at the demand when a child makes

Very unlike a grown up begs, entreats and cries,

Which relent your heart, and conscience shakes.

Thus, grant you and agree, and he wins the prize.

 

Look at a child when he submits and prays

With pursed palms and a feather-light heart,

For, he enjoys it being one of His sublime rays;

No desire, no fear, no anxiety and no dirt!

 

But, all these happen as long as he is a child alone,

Alas! Forgets he all as he switches over to a state mine own

Indulges in indecency, irrationality and indiscretion

Shuts thus he up himself the heavenly door of emancipation!       

 

ROADS

 

Roads are normally meant for destinations:

They take you through under varied recognitions,

Concrete roadways for pedestrians as well as vehicles

Waterways for sailors and boats, launches and gigantic ships

Railways for commuters, freights, posts and costly articles

Airways for the swiftest, urgent, most exalted and coziest trips!

 

There are other invisible roads too:

Some start with pleasures but end up with sorrows

Some are spurious and lead towards the gallows;

There’s still a unique path- tough, bitter and trodden by a few

That leads all towards solace, ecstasy, bliss and beatitude

But, only at the cost of carnal, mundane and miry attitude…..

 

 

THEN

THEN, who will accompany thee

To the main of pain

To the curse of hell, tell me,

To the Death's deadly den?

 

THEN, who will plead for thee

When thou art mute and pale,

Conspire, fabricate to fetch a bail

Boarding only the 'up', but no 'down' Mail?

 

Then, none and nothing can be on thy behalf

Thy virtues alone will be thy supporting staff....

 

*main-sea

 

IF PRIDE COMES

If pride of position comes

Look at the infinite sky.

If pride of success comes

Look at the humble, generous tree.

If pride of erudition comes

Look at the deep, enlightening Vedas.

If pride of Beauty comes

Look at the ever lasting Truth.

If pride of affluence comes

Look at the abundant, magnanimous Lord Kuvera.

If pride of life comes

Look at the all devouring Death.

If pride of vigour comes

Look at the decay and decadence.

If pride of devotion comes

Look at the exemplary bhakta Prahallad or Hanuman.

If pride of friendship comes

Look at Lord Krishna and Sudama.

If pride of service comes

Look at the angelic, philanthropic Mother Teresa.

If pride of borbearance comes

Look at the Great, tolerant Himalayas.

If pride of purity comes

Look at the Holy, Sacred Ganges .

If pride of kindness comes

Look at the ever bounteous Mother Earth.

If pride of generosity comes

Look at the Epic-hero Harischandra.

If pride of dedication comes

Look at your ever benevolent Parents.

Then you will see

Pride will automatically freeze into footling zero.

 

 

THE BEST SOLUTION

 

Had it not been for the coconut's hard shell

How could we relish its sweet juicy kernel

How could we extract its healing, smoothing oil

Where could we drink the nectar of the soil?

 

Had it not been for the neem's beneficial bitterness

How could we curb insects and control pests

How could we treat free of cost many an illness

How could flee the dry deserts, and rush rests?

 

Had it not been for the fire's intense heat

How could we savour mouthwatering meat

How could we prepare sumptuous dishes

And how could we enjoy Nature's cycles?

 

Yes, God's subtle mystery is past our perception

Thus, blind acceptance of Him is the best solution.

 

 

TIME

 

TIME is the Begetter

The kindest Mother

The Guide

The Torch Bearer

The cruel Master

The Deviator

The Chastiser

The best Healer

The noble Teacher

The holy Preacher

The curtain Wrapper

The hearse Carrier

The funeral Fire

The Creator, Controller and Annihilator…..

 

MAN – A DUAL COMPLEMENT

Of course, this creation

Would have been incomplete

But for man:

Not only for his noblest discretion

But also for his meanest inclination!

 

THINK IT OUT!

The gravity of thy crime

Intensifies not if with a rueful heart

Start thou to repent, and the rigid grime

To rinse away thou become soon alert.

 

If thy arrogance makes thee obstinate

Refute thou and charge and feign-

Ruin thou but thy well built ‘Fate’-

No detergent, alas, can erase thy stain!

 

Now, chant “Man-like is to rectify

Devil-like is to mar and vilify.”

 

ANGER

Oh! Anger is an iron grated furnace

More flammable than fire, more furious

Under its timorous, terrific grip

Can turn anything into pyre its awesome trip!

 

Oh! Anger is a more venomous serpent

Once stung by its fatal, lethal fang

No sorcery, incantation or medical treatment

Can rid you of the unbearable pang!

 

Oh! Anger is a winged monstrous dragon

That can fly across the globe as lightning

Cause flash floods spewing acid rain

Efface human trace with its vicious sting!

 

O Anger! Thy name is annihilation

To pacify thee is the first step to salvation.

 

HAPINESS

Present a child with a lively toy

There’ll be no limit to his joy!

Present a child with a new dress

In fathomless glee to you it’ll embrace!

Present a child with mouth-watering sweets

Oh! As glad as a bride after ages her spouse meets!

Take a child on a pleasant trip

Lo! Drops of his elation drip!

 

Send a missive of recruitment to one uneducated

Dance will his heart like a butterfly overjoyed!

Publish a verse of an anxious, restless poet

Unable will he be to express his happy state!

Inform a student with a rank he’s passed

He will skip and leap as he’d never danced!

Select an eager player in a stiff National team

Wave of joy will surge to his heart brim!

Gift a glass of luscious drink to a thirsty wayfarer

Quenched, delighted, will sing your eulogy prayer!

Serve a hungry, hollow man with voracious food

Satiated, remember he will for ever and for good!

Release a bird from a hellish, churlish iron cage

It’ll dash across the breathless sky and carol sine cease!

Tell a prolong’d, hospitalized patient about his discharge

Ah! He’ll jump, exult and engorge to the Heaven’s verge!

Convey a captive about his end of sour incarceration

Words will fail to express his oozing exhilaration!

 

Bring a lonely Mother the news of her distant children

Ah! Even in Summer at her cottage shalt happiness rain!

Bestow a Yogi with the most sought after salvation

Lo! His happiness will transcend the Pacific Ocean!

 

O Happiness! All the earthlings crave, toil and pray

To be glad, happy, pleased, contented and gay;

And be blest to be in your coveted company forever

For, your egress fetches grief, agony, tension and tear……!

             

POWER

Power is what makes one devilish and blind

Despotic, autocratic, arbitrary and unkind,

Self-centered, rapacious and gluttonous

Inhumane, insane and unscrupulous!

 

Power is what injects in one intoxication

Of malice, hatred, umbrage and perversion,

Arrogance, pretense, hypocrisy and cruelty,

Snatches away one’s precious rationality!

 

Power is what deprives one of costly reason

Justice, law, forbearance and decent margin,

Peace, purity, piety and mental equilibrium,

Makes his mind a mussy, dirty and slutty slum!

 

Power is what an ignoble curse in disguise

Accumulates sorrow, suffering and despise,

Bags people’s reluctant, requited praises

Is preferr’d by demons, not by sensible sages.

 

So, O sane humans, abstain from the atrocious Power,

Walk the path – unblemished, virtuous and pure

By and by you’ll be more amicable and soar higher

And be blest with a Heaven’s Pass at length sure!

 

  AH! MOTHER

 

Oops! How much feral and rabid I was to yell at you

With the combustible words alive burn you

With the scissors of opprobrium rive your heart

With the rasping sledges of wrath do smart!

 

Where were my etiquette and courtesy left?

If while dealing with you, stolen by theft

Who could be more insolent than a perfidious scion than I’m?

The depth for containing my tears should be shallow a dam.

 

By piquing you on a trifle even before own spouse

Was nothing but sucking, pestering thru an ignoble louse.

It was indeed an indelible blunder to last up to the last breath

No longer should I deserve a berth in the realm of Your love and faith.

 

Hence, for this uncondonable goof O God crucify me here.

And beget not a boorish, snobbish son like me: ‘My Only Prayer.’

 

MOTHER

What can melt faster than wax?

The heart of your Mother.

What is as genuine as a copy fax?

The love of your Mother.

 

What is the supplest abode on earth?

The lap of your Mother.

What is the softest corner on earth?

The heart of your Mother.

 

Who can suck venom and suckle you the nectar,

Who can't ever accurse

Even though you smash him/her inside a mortar?

Who can be your kindest nurse

Who can soak sorrows yours

Who can exchange for an instant his/her years....?

 

MOTHER’S HEART

Oh! Mother’s heart-

It’s not merely a blood and flesh part

Like many of us retain;

It is really unique! Away from stain.

 

Can you roam across the world to find anything

More genial, more pristine, nobler and greater?

Captivating and covetous may be they more

Suckle none you; though to suck all do cling!

 

Yes, the world is a swarm of hoggish, piggish fleas

But, Her heart is a bounteous, lush, succulent and safe hive:

The former drones around you to sting and seize

But, the latter starves toils, sweats and prays for you to thrive.

 

Yes, none can replace Her next to the Almighty

So far as Her unanticipatory, magnanimous sacrifice is concerned.

None can surpass Her in Her pious inner Beauty,

For, She curses or retaliates you never, albeit betrayed and burned!

 

Let’s thus bow and prostrate before Her divine Idol,

Hurt not Her heart ever with our shirking or misdemeanour;

Then, at length, can rest in peace our subtle soul

Or, accurse will He us with an abominable hell to rut forever.

 

 

THAT’S WHY SHE IS CALLED MOTHER

 

 

When you do lose your temper

With or without reason on other,

Must not he appreciate but shower

On you hot, volcanic, boiling water.

 

But, entirely exceptional is your Mother:

Instead of being furious and vicious rather

She will humbly absorb, evaporate and cower,

Persuade you to please and placate further.

 

No one can so much patience gather

No one can so much pure Love render

No one can, in virtues, excel Her

No one can be so therapeutic, vulnerable and dear.

 

That is why She is called ‘Mother’ – 

Made up of a Divine stuff, uncommon and rare!

 

AN INDEPENDENCE DAY RESOLUTION

Let’s not celebrate It as a mere flatulent, flamboyant formality

Let’s not proclaim the hollow, parched and clichéd assurances

Of socio-economic justice, indiscrimination and equality

And hoodwink the hapless, credulous and gullible masses.

 

Let’s not misconceive the nuances of Freedom

In the sense of only political sovereignty:

It’s being free from moral depravity

Being away from self senses’ serfdom

Eradicating illiteracy, ignorance and vulgarity

Curing the plagues of hunger, thirst and poverty

Keeping intoxication and addiction at bay

Not coming under falsehood’s sway

Not defiling honesty, loyalty and chastity

Not sowing the seeds of envy, hatred and cruelty

Not planting the saplings of malice, acrimony and communalism

Not stifling humanism, nationalism, rationalism and Eartheism.

 

Unless we practise this sacred, solemn and valuable Resolution

What’s then the sense of a shallow, sham and pseudo ‘celebration’?

 

A  SONNET ON THE REIGN OF THE BRITISH GHOSTS

 

Who dare say the Britishers did leave us for ever

Putting an end to their long, oppressive exploitive tenure

Endowing upon us our freedom so ardently sought after

Sprinkling liberation joy in every Indian nook and corner?

 

Can’t you feel their ghosts still here repulsively reigning

Under the skin of their white and black representatives dwelling?

They are the most devoted demons of their foreign forefathers

Their sun never rises without obediently abiding them

Their day never proceeds without their being treacherous

Their night never falls without their meanest grabbing game

Their appetites ne’r get lost without their being the chameleons

Their lives turn uneventful without duping the helpless millions?

 

Alas! The victims relish freedom only after their chronic tortured death

Then, how can we claim to have a free, sovereign and republic state?

 

 

COMMISSION GHOSTS

A rustic reached a cosmopolitan city

Together with his family and young children

Brimmed with hopes and curiosity:

A new life, a new occupation and a new den!

 

First he met a traffic police man

Who told to board a more convenient van.

Then he turned to a person for a quick solution

To locate a more affordable accommodation.

 

Approached he then a job provider

Welcomed who with his arms wider.

Being appointed within an instant

Joys inside started to be rampant.

 

Glad to find the pseudo god-incarnates

He asked his neighbour for a better tuition

Where his children could top the institution;

Gladder to help, he too arranged for his monthly ration

Introduced him with a soft speaking family (physician) leech

For cheaper treatments, commissioned tests and easier reach!

 

How fortunate and rapturous he was there!

How, like Ben Adhem, the species were rare!

Alas! Until himself obsessed by the same Commission Ghost

He remembered them with an indebted, submissive respect utmost.  

 

ON SUPERSTITION

Father used to perform Shradha annually

To pay to ancestors a token of love, respect and homage

With all prescribed rites and solemnity.

He would fail never to cover up cats the unruly

Lest they should profane the offerings causing impurity.

Alas! The son was least aware of the cats’ episode at early age.

 

After father’s demise as he grew up to practise the same

The most abiding son left no stone unturned

But, alas! Now there were no cats, and what a shame!

He urged his wife and kids ignorant and unlearned:

Go out and fetch the complements to be baskets under

Else, I’ll shirk, Shradha will be incomplete and sin I’ll incur!

 

VIDHVA – AN INDIAN WIDOW

Ah! After being bereaved of her husband

A woman is robbed of many an irretrievable possession:

Her forehead never ever glows with dazzling vermillion

The sprightly, jingling bangles and her hands become aliens

Gorgeous, embroidered costumes turn untouchables on land

Ornaments and she are twonever meeting parallel river brinks

Between much sought-after happiness and her have now no links

An erstwhile Angel is now a quasi-dead, pale, dungy, discarded lot

Smeared with inauspicious, unwanted and ostracized stains

Accursed, fettered and destined till last breath, only to rot…….!

 

 

NO SURPRISE

“Sweat on a gaudily garment
Tastes not salty” – is today’s argument.

Though a spot on a royal hat
Is an upgraded, unique style,
At a poor man’s death laments not a cat
On a rich scar wakes to deplore the Nile!

 

A little frayed drape of a poverty stricken child
Is a stuff of everyone's jeer, sneer and derision,
For many though an opulent damsel’s shoddy, wild
Apparel fetches pats, money, shower and felicitation!

Lo! All these happen, and absorb thou wilt
Or, kneaded thou art upon unheeded when thou dost tilt;
As triumphs here today glorious, fashion guilt
Upon the tomb of the downtrodden, rich enclaves are built!

 

ON THE BANGALORE PLANE CRASH

What wilt thou call it?

The curse of science

The lacuna of technology

The loophole of engineering

The rash planning of the planners

The recklessness of the pilot

The device of the devilish Doom

Or, the helplessness of the churlish challenger of God?

 

WOULD THAT!

 

Ah! For God’s sake

Would that all the preachers could practise

What they preach!

Would that all the teachers could practise

What they teach!

 

Would that all the listeners could practise

What they listen!

Would that all the viewers could practise

What they’re shown!

 

Would that all the readers could practise

What they’re taught!

Reign would here inexhaustible joy and peace

And, how different would be the Earth’s lot!

 

SOMETIMES, IT ALSO DOES HAPPEN IN SOME CASES

 

Now, very often you may either read or hear:

I love you….

I miss you….

I kiss you….

I think of you….

I dream you….

There’re very few like you….

You are, and will be ever for me new…

Oh! I can’t live without you….

 

Please give me a missed call….

Please don’t disconnect my call…

But, why?

To give……?

To take……?

To reciprocate……?

Or, sometimes, to use the free smses

And unlimited night calls……?

 

N.B:  When this poem had been written years back, there were no free smses or unlimited phone calls.

 

 

 

FACE VALUE

 

Since time immemorial

Indulgence to the ‘Face Value’ has been in vogue

It is omnipresent; we have been adoring this ‘Rogue.’ –

May it be in the families, the villages

The world, the countries, the states, or the cities

Academies, politics, sports or many other stages

Individuals, communities, races or societies

It is sown, grown, nourished and given care Imperial…..

 

No one has ever diagnosed and remedied this malady rampant

Nor can any of us, the helpless twigs, has been a triumphant;

For, ‘To survive is to sew up lips and suppress inner voice’

Or else, we’ll be uprooted like wild weeds useless;

Dumped like left over food in the stinky garbage bins

Or trampled upon like, tarred stone chips or green beans

Under the giant, merciless and rash wheels: the demolishers

Of the blind, mighty and biased rollers like rulers!          

 

WHAT IS THEN USE ?

 

What is then use of immeasurable treasure

If life runs without eternal pleasure?

What is then use of a mountain of money

If life runs without salvation honey?

What is then use of precious gems

If life welcomes slanders and blames?

What is then use of being famous India Miss

If life fails to sprinkle or derive divine peace?

What is then use of all conquering power

If, in the life’s struggle one does ever cower?

What is then use of the oceans of wisdom

If it is applied in one’s life seldom?

What is then use of being a witty lawyer

If life misuses learning enigmatic humano jure?

What is then use of being an enlightening teacher

If the least impact does bear his lecture?

What is then use of being a god-incarnate doctor

If he exploits the patients under the garb of cure?

What is then use of democracy or monarchy

If there prevail maladministration and anarchy?

What is then use of being a rare species called man

If one acts more ignobly than a contemptible demon?

 

 

N.B:  Jure humano is a Latin term, means by human Law. Here, enigmatic humano jure is in inversion. Its meaning is ‘by enigmatic human Law.’

 

 

A DYING NECESSITY!

 

It is a dying necessity

To throw dust in one’s gullible eyes

To gag one’s credulous tongue

To strangle one’s guiltless breath

To parch one’s thirsty throat

To kick at one’s hungry stomach

To drag one’s helpless, staggering feet and trip

To trample upon one’s wounded bosom

To drain one’s living blood

To massacre one’s unalloyed emotions

To blast one’s ultimate dreams to get our own base wants fulfilled!

 

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

 

Ah! With the arrival of T. F .C

Growth is manifold that we see

The standard of living is getting higher

Facilities, amenities and opportunities flying skier

Life has turned to be a boon

Every night blooms the Full Moon

Man has conquered water, land and space

Oh! He braces to defy and rout Him in the last Race.

 

Alas! All is well about his oofy, sordid, material boom

But have you peeped at his befogged, calumnious gloom?

All is but a rank mangrove canopy illusive

Grown on a creek oozy, rotted, stingy and repulsive

Flourished at the cost of the pearly human values!

What’s life if devoid of that? It’s to you to muse….

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be at least beings human.

 

[Based on the uncharacteristic teachers at Kalba Devi branch CCCPL, Bombay , 2002]

 

2. TIPS FOR THEE TO BE TOP

 

Try and dost incessantly try

Sine bidding it good-bye;

Thou canst soar high in the sky

Or, like pebbles wilt dormant lie.

 

None hath touched the peak

Being sluggish, lethargic and sick;

Be ever inquisitive to pick

To make thee a renowned Greek.

 

Grasp thy rein of self-restraint

Make thy feats rare, resplendent,

Vigil, nothing compels thee to have a dent

Or pricks thee from respiring salubrious scent.

 

Thou hast to march now many a mile

Thou hast to overcome many a stile;

Preserve thy patience, and energy pile

To blossom on thy lips a sweet smile.

 

[On the students of Vile Parle Branch, CCCPL, 2003]

 

3. FARE YOU WELL

 

Fare you well, fare you well,

Dear my students, and colleagues as well.

May it be the alma mater or it be the office

Learn much, churn so well as to earn lavish.

 

Know we all the universal phenomenon ‘rise and fall’

Depend on how we defend and maul

On the life’s crease the challenge ball,

How much patient not to succumb to the ruinous lull.

 

Don’t ever for being victorious stray, sabotage and swell

Nor for being tamed, be crooked, cantankerous and cruel,

Or will burn instantly to carbon as the combustible fuel

In the fire of fair-play where the Mirror does dwell.

 

Save you none, of course, nothing can

Except yourself respective cultivated actions

A very goodbye! Fare you well again and again

To alight smoothly and safely at your destined stations.

 

4. EXAMINATION

 

This is the examination

That arouses fear and tension

Remains in the womb uncertain

And assesses the standard and position.

 

This is the examination

That breeds joy and exultation

Brings bitter taste to the failure

And sweet relish to the victor.

 

This is the examination

That is the root of promotion

The branch of acceleration

And the fruit of satisfaction.

 

Thus, desert not but greet examination

Discard, if anyone has, clumsy notion

With a chaste chest and warm salutation

To get the key to ecstatic emancipation.

 

 

5. READ, REMEMBER AND REVIVE

 

Still you failed to instill peace,

Kept my expectation scattered apiece;

Still, I am sanguine, you will lead the rest

If try to exert your utmost and best.

 

The only thing is to keep your cool

Be unruffled and tranquil as a deep pool.

By sharpening your talent, the infallible tool

Undoubtedly you’ll one day be the one to rule.

 

Lounge then you not bewailing over the past

Garner the atoms to be powerful enough to blast.

To dispel your ignorance and irradiate to last

Not only dreams, but dashing determination

Consistent manoeuvre and ceaseless action

Will fetch you tribute and congratulation.

 

[Based on the performance of ‘Shikha’, a bright student, std. X, Vile Parle Branch, CCCPL, 2003]

 

6. A WISH FOR THEE

 

What can I pray for thee

Except thy full-fledged development?

What can I cry for thee

Except thy candid, copious contentment?

 

What can I wish for thee

Except His Shower of Benevolence?

What can I hope for thee

Except being a being of sweet sense?

 

What can I crave for thee

Except being surpassed in the stiff run?

What can I expect from thee

Except enumerating many an adept Arjun?

 

What can I look for thee

Except a distinguished direction?

What can I present thee

Except my unanticipatory dedication?

 

[On the students of Vile Parle Branch, CCCPL, 2003

 

 

7. ADIEU

 

May the Theo bestow on thee benediction

Of success, luxury and amelioration,

Steer thee on the path of integrity

Cleanse thy spectacles soiled and dirty!

 

Save may He thee not to repent later

More excruciating than the war is to falter

In vain then to grumble, moan and mutter

Debacle’s taste does excel even the stinky gutter.

 

Huddle when none to induce, seduce and chatter

Nothing is then left to blame except doom’s matter;

Lo! Nothing than thy duty on earth is greater

Adieu! My children, never misconceive of the Stater.

 

Mayest not thou now, but must consent in future

How hygienic and nourishing was the fruit truth bitter!

 

[Based upon the unruly and disobedient students

of Kalba Devi Branch,CCCPL, 2002]

 

8. WHAT IS GRAMMAR?

 

The Knowledge of grammar

Removes all sorts of errors

Wards off our inexpressible fear

Ramifies our communication spheres.

 

Oh! In the absence of grammar:

Error devil does sentences’ charm mar

Spoil the sense of the speaker

Turn the writer and the reader weaker.

 

Yes, it is the sap of a tree

The lap of the Nature

The salt of the curry;

Then hurry up it to nurture!

 

9. TO BOOKS: MY REAL FRIENDS

 

To speak in the truest sense of the term, as thou art

No one else under the heaven so helpful has been to me,

So generous a stream to quench my unceasing thirst!

So selfless a Milch Cow to bless me with thy knowledge cream!

 

Thou art my weapon to ward off ignorance dark

In my desert mind thou art an oasis-like park,

I inhale the fragrance of the lotus from thee

Thou art the root of this poor human tree!

 

The company of thine is as sweet as vine

Ah! Thou art to me as sacred as a shrine

Thou art to me indeed an Egyptian Nile

Severance from thee does ever me rile.

 

Thou art verily an incarnation of God

Thou art the root and I am the bud

Thou art the Sun and I am the moon

Thou art to me is really a priceless boon!

 

You are the sensitive saplings in a teacher’s orchard

To grow you to smile and bloom is his greatest reward!

 

10. A SONG OF A TEACHER

 

Raw, delicate and tender clay lumps you are,

To give you proper shapes is our prime care.

Only putting you on the mould will not suffice,

Which is like sine lighting dreaming milling rice!

 

Rough, twisted and strange sawed wood logs you are,

Task is ours to cut you proper, polish and shapes prepare.

Only rowing you inside the carpenter’s shed will not suffice,

Which is like going on a pilgrimage sine casting off the vice!

 

Cute, innocent and helpless saplings you are,

To rear you to flourish and flower is duty solemn our.

Only planting you sine affinity, responsibility and dedication

Is like willing to win the Marathon sine a drop of perspiration!

 

11. SOME TIPS TO BE AN IDEAL TEACHER

 

Yeah, education is a garden of enlightenment

Where grow the student saplings into full-fledged human tress

Being nourished, cherished and guided by the teacher gardeners ardent

Who instill knowledge sustenance, basic human values into them breeze.

 

A true teacher is he who like an efficient physician

Detects the grasping, assimilating periphery of the pupils

Renouncing his ego climbs down to their levels of perception

Like the bounteous Nature dispels doubts, requirements fulfills.

 

A teacher’s solemn duty is to energize, invigorate and elevate

The students to the apex by sharing his hard hoarded acquisition,

Transform an average student to one extremely bright

And a bright learner to a brilliant one by selfless dedication.

 

Mustering mastery over own subject, maintaining self discipline

A teacher can surely be ideal, unique, and finally gladden.

 

12. A TRIBUTE TO A TRUE TEACHER

 

Thou art the Gleaming Glitter of the earth

The Bright Dispeller of the dark, ignorant path;

The Sun illuminates us with His sheer coruscation

Thou dost enlighten with Thy rare, reviving erudition.

 

Thou art the Generator of all noble thoughts

The Equator of all of our guileless guts,

The Anchor sheet of every success

The Catalyst of the global race.

The Harbinger of the perennial peace

The Endower of the perpetual Bliss

The Redeemer of all of us

Beside God Thou art in the slash!

 

To glorify Thee who render us unpayable betters

In my mundane lexicon prevails an acute paucity of letters!

 

 

13. A GRATITUDE TO LINGARAJ SIR

 

After the daybreak

Emerged an effulgent Star

In the Eastern Horizon

And scintillated the global cosmos!

 

It was the fluke of a gander

Like me to have Thy soothing, reviving rays

Ah! That helped the dormant wretch to resuscitate;

Imbued in the fraught quandary

Of the sterile tree an efficacious, pollinating seed

Which brandished to be gravid

In Thy tactile coruscation!

 

Even the most luxuriant guerdon

And coveted laurel will be scanty

And no tongue can plaudit

Thy healing, magnanimous grandeur.

Nothing can be galore befitting a recompense

For Thy bewitching feat in converting

A wild bramble into an aromatic primrose!

 

[The then English HOD, Shah College, Puri, Orissa , India ]

 

 

[ABOUT THE METAPHYSICAL WORLD]

 

14. OM

 

O God! When one is under Thy auspicious auspice

No ominous auguries can dare to come,

No audacity to approach the obnoxious vice,

No force is powerful to subdue ‘ Om ’.

 

Millions of universes dwell in the Omnipotent and purgative ‘ Om ’.

It’s panacean, Elysian, redemptive, platonic and dinkum

Within a trillionth split of a second

All can recondition the tonal and aural ‘ Om ’, all can mend

 

The spell of ‘ Om ’ is cryptic to the toffee-nosed desperadoes and crass, cocky atheists

Rebounds Its resonance even from their demurred, carnal auricles.

Its indefinable mysteries, magic and miracles

Are conceivable and pregnable only to the devout, disillusioned theists

 

15. TO LORD JAGGNNATH

 

Yea’ Thou art in the light ascending vapours

In the life rendering waters

In the dancing waves of the Seas

In the mellow melodies of the bees!

 

Yea’ Thou art in the bright blinks of the stars

In the mocking mystery of the Mars,

In the serene face of the Moon

In the healing Beauties of the boon!

 

Yea’ Thou art in the green vernal woods

In the life sustaining foods,

In the dulcet chirrups of the birds

In the imminent birth of the buds!

 

Yea’ Thou art in the sweet fragrance of the flowers

In the soothing magic of the showers

In the crimson dawn of the day

In the immaculate child’s say!

 

 Yea’ Thou art in the shyness of the bride

In the triumphant’s humble stride,

In the stainless smiles of the babes

In the flashing feats of the brave’s

 

Yea’ Thou art in the immortal graves of the Martyrs

In the self-charged human brain batteries,

In the honest sweats of the toilers

In the just, righteous rulers!

 

Yea’ Thou art in the sincere prayers of the reasonable

In the decent demeanours of the humble,

In the sublime missions of the noble

Really in every creation subtle!

 

16. GOD

 

O’ God!

Thou art invisible

Thy art is inscrutable

Thy glory is indescribable

Thy patience is inexpressible

Thy beauty is incomparable

Thy power is incalculable

Thy strength is infallible

Thy pain is unbearable

Thy love is unfathomable

Thy mercy is unpurchasable

Thy bounty is incredible

Thy erudition is inconceivable

Thy fame is unattainable

Thy magnitude is immeasurable

Thy horizon is insurmountable

Thy bliss is inexplicable

Thy creation is unimaginable

Thy mystery is imperceptible

Thy judgement is irrefutable

Thy abode is so peaceful!

 

17. O’ GOD! MY GOD!

 

O’ God! The entire Universe is yours

But Thou enjoyest no resource,

Everybody is conferred his due share in right course

Where acts neither flattery nor force.

 

O’ God!

Thou art inscrutably, unmistakably watchful

Thou art past the reach of the worldly fool.

However mighty one is under Thy control

Miraculous, of course, is Thy invisible Role!

 

Pardon us O’ God!

Thy children childish

Gluttonous, guilty, selfish

Make us trim, decent and fresh

Help us to get though this limitless Race.

 

18. A TRIBUTE

 

Oh’ God!

Thou art to us a source of light

Thou art to us a source of delight

Thou art to us a source might

Thou art to us a source to remove plight!

 

Oh’ God!

Thou art so great

The mightiest Potentate

Everywhere Thou dost dominate

Dost make or mar every fate!

 

Oh’ God!

Thou art not partial

Thou art to us so rational

Thou maketh us social

So, we pay Thee ‘A Tribute’ special.

 

19. A TRUE TIE

 

Any other tie seems however strong initially

Except Mother-child bond

Is based upon reciprocity

And lasts to be

As long as mutual understanding is sound

Or else will be as brittle as a pair of spectacles!

 

No bond across the glove has proved ever

To be surpassing it in purity and perpetuity.

All except it are ready made

All except it are motive made

All except it are to fade up one day or the other.

But it alone stands out unique

As an isthmus between the heaven and the earth!

 

 

20. ON RAKSHABANDHAN

 

Yes, it is not the few of the mortal thread strings

That cements ties between you and me,

Rather a fathomless affinity of spotless love that brings

Us peace that flourishes like an unstunted tree…….

 

It has been rolling as old as Time

As silent as Nature’s pantomime.

As white and pure as stainless lime

As openly as Her bliss pouring rhyme.

 

Yes, the ties of ours is past deterioration

Whose value excels any material reciprocation,

Vivacity imperceptible to the corporal vision

And vitality shines like the Sun’s eternal coruscation……

 

Thus, let’s pray to God and prostrate before Him

To make our ties as sprightly as a perennial stream…..

 

[To my sister-in laws on the 1st Rakshabanhan after marriage in ‘03]

 

21. A BLISSFUL RIDE

 

Shun, shun thy mundane fun

Chant, chant only Hare Krishna.

Cast off thy mire part

Fathom fairly His Rare Art.

 

Prostrate, prostrate at His Lotus Feet

Loiter not in the spurious street,

All that thou meetest here

Sheer sorcery of the Great Conjurer!

 

Burn thy wrath, cleanse thy heart

Give up intoxication, gambling, sense gratification,

Reduce thyself to zero, learn to forgive, smart

Carnality and pursue in His Holy injunction.

 

Be not hypnotized, nor be snared

A loyal vassal of the Curly Haired.

Kill thy ego, assassinate thy pride

Stifle thy passion for a blissful ride.

 

 

22. DIVINE CRAZE

 

As a small patch of cloud devours

Easily the grotesque, glazing Sun

Reducing His ardent light, pilfers life rendering powers

Making Him dull, drab and invisible sans precaution;

Yields a millions of eclipses, darker than clouds

A divine defiance, rushes ruins, progress shrouds!

 

O’ God how much may one have affluence

But for Thy divine, efficacious Grace

Lives in penury, scarcity and indigence

However worldly erudite actually a bolder dash!

 

Hence, O’ God! Please coagulate my beliefs in Thee

More than grasps a tree firmly to the soil.

Grant me joy, peace and relishment ineffably

Come may storms or quakes, unflappably Thou wilt foil!

 

 

23. DIWALI

 

Comes Diwali every year accompanied by light

Reminds all Sri Ram’s return triumphing Lanka fight!

 

Smiles blossom on every lip

Grown ups gambol, children skip;

Flowers dance, leaves pipe

Meadows wear a golden stripe;

Students go on pleasant trips

Lo! Joys stored are in heaps.

 

Mother prepares delicious dishes

We gulp sweets, wear new dresses.

Light on diyas, burst crackers

Inscrutable mystery is all the Maker’s

Soon, alas! Bids Diwali us goodbye

Teaches to illuminate and to die!

 

24. THE DIAGNOSIS

 

O’ God, the Almighty! After much speculation

Thou didst create a unique species man

Wise, reasonable and a sensible one,

But to the utter disappointment, against Thy expectation

Casting its proper path of life aside

From cradle to the crematorium after objectivity it ran

Saddled with the swift horse of pride;

Unequal more than a million times to a nucleus particle

Of Thine; the shameless brags, even trample Thee can!

 

For own gain audacious to review Thy Constitutional Article

Instead of oxygen inhales it self-centred air

Exhales carbon dioxide of hatred and mire

Intent on drinking not water but blood

To devour flesh, conquer soil, flows artillery flood!

 

So what is the diagnosis of this healthy patient?

--Perdition investment and blissful Moksha divestment.

 

25. LEGACY VS CELIBACY

 

You meet today everyone----

Struggling tooth and nail for the procurement of legacy

May be the P.M, may be us like common man

A rarest is lamenting for not maintaining celibacy!

 

The former one brings mundane pleasure

Only for a limited span making the course stiff;

The latter on the contrary an invaluable treasure

Rains ecstasy immortalising this life brief!

 

But the approach and outcome of the two

Are diametrically different!

The spurious one, deceives and entangles you,

Liberates you celibacy, is day like transparent.

 

Then, it is upto you to choose any one:

The first friend is treacherous,

Thwarts pain unseen; supra-mundane

Is the second, makes spiritually prosperous!

 

26. DO IDENTITIES REALLY MATTER?

 

When I was born

I was for my parents a son,

For my elder brothers and sisters, a younger brother

For my uncles and aunties a nephew or a cousin, and names many other.

 

 

I was also a grandson for my grandparents

When I went to school, I was one of the students

Whom my teacher loved, guided and taught

When my college studies were over, to be a good teacher I fought.

First, I was a tutor, then a lecturer, now a Classes teacher,

For a few and myself hitherto a petty poet in Oriya, Hindi and English,

When I married, I became a husband to my wife, my picture

Was addressed in many different names then since.

 

When comes down my descendant

A father will be called I

When he or she marries, a father-in-law they will chant

For the child of the child, a grandfather, if be under the sky.

Though from the cradle to the crematorium a great many names I take,

My extraneous identity varies from time to time but the Self is not fake;

It takes its forms corresponding to its past, present actions,

Thus, whatever they call me, I should try to jump off the mundane junctions.

 

27. THE CONCEPT OF A NEW YEAR

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Only a step amongst many a stair;

Approaches itself to be trodden with dauntless dare

Preaches to preserve prowess and forgo fatigue, fear.

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Only one of the hairs on a hard dark skull;

Comes to flourish like the compatriots other

And return to the abode as the former unnoticed fall.

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Only one of the mickle, swelling surges

Determinate to counter current to touch the shore

Before in the abysmal masses mingles and merges.

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Only a leaf from the book of the unrotten Time;

Exposed naked before to read and remember

Venomous is vice; vital, virtuous is Veracity’s regime.

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Only amongst innumerable stars a Sun;

Teaches all of us to scorch the sullen sin

And gleam the gloomy globe of the guilty own.

 

What do you mean by a new year?

Is naught except a concept of the mind;

Is past the tinge of old and new, hence swear

To utilize every second alike an upward lift to find.

 

[ABOUT NATURE’S PHENOMENA]

 

 

28. TO THE SHIULI

 

How soft thou art

How sweet thy smell

How sublime thy part

How placidly thou dost dwell!

 

O’ the Beauty of the dawn!

Thou art scared of the scorching Sun.

When lain on the cool, emerald lawn

Eyes toward thee get soon drawn!

 

Thou dost descend for a while

Yet ceasest not thy pearly smile!

Dost teach facts to one and all

“To be great need not be tall,

Immortality requires not longevity

Deeds, not days, last up to Eternity.”

 

29. TO THE FLOWERS

 

You flaunt your ceaseless sweet fragrance

Wherever and whenever you are

You change the entire ambience;

Except you, changed all are!

 

You adorn gods and goddesses

On auspicious moments you are the ‘starters’

You salute the heroes and the martyrs

You embellish the feminine charms and graces!

 

Discrimination and you are outright strangers

Please all with your unswerving favours

Anticipate nothing in return for your service

The bounteous saviours of the insects and the bees!

 

The Earth would’ve been lifeless but for you

O’ the terrestrial Stars, who can pay your due?

 

 

 

 

30. TO THE CUCKOO

 

O’ the Spring’s hidden Jewel!

Dost not be for us so relentlessly cruel.

Nor dost add to fire more inflammable fuel

Sing kindly, where dost thou dwell?

 

What can be the richer treasure

Than Spring’s eternal, ethereal pleasure

From the light to the dark, dilutes mental torture

In this terrestrial cosmos of sledge and mire?

 

All that I try goes in vain

Though, Thy lushly tune assuages my pain

Stirs me to squander time and again

And my desirous quest swells exhilaration.

 

The dulcet music of Thine

Streams to me oceans of glee

Thou goest on and on in the Vernal wood

Can one will to flee listening to Thee sine?

 

O’ the darling Queen of the Spring!

Excels Thy comely mesmerizing singing

Than others’ commonplace twittering

The Earth’s glued to Thy harmonious string!

 

31. TO THE CROW

 

O’ the ever alert Crow!

Alas! Nobody ever fathoms thy sorrow

Thou never dost cease to caw

The selfless volunteer of every morrow!

 

What an unprecedented devoted servant!

Thou ever dost migrate

The stingy odour is thy aroma fragrant

Thy physique still glistens like black velvet!

 

O’ the sheer innocuous, unique bird!

No one is to us so familiar.

Thou dost attend every feast sine a card

Thou art of the least ambiguity spectacular.

 

Thou dost ever teach morals to the world.

Thy race doth maintain a rocky unity

Thou art at no time a coward

And art endowed with the deepest sanity.

 

What we emit as excrement

Thou takest that as fit diet!

No other bird canst excel thy sublimity

Thou dost retain a paradoxical vitality.

 

Thou dost ever know no rest

The ever unsolicited guest

By thee the Koyels are blest

How heart is thy chaste!

 

Some think thou dost puzzle

When thou shrillest with thy muzzle.

Mean and ingrate are our people

To loathe thee and ominous label.

 

Thou dwellest in a realm utopia

Thou dostn’t have myopia

As soon as thou dost detect a dead corpse

Thou dost rush inviting uncle vultures.

 

Thy unbroken genuine mutual intimacy

Doth ever throw an edifying ray

“The triumph of virtue over vice

And a sleeping lion never snatches a prey.”

 

Please wait a while my dear

Thy golden time is approaching near,

Thou wilt be eulogized and paid sure

Thy service wilt be acknowledged everywhere.

 

32. SOIL

 

Had it not been for the soil

Who could dream about the Earth

Who could build mansions, stadia and huts

Who could dig out coal, stones and oil?

 

 

Had it not been for the soil

Who could grow the life rendering corn

Who could sit sleep, stand, walk and run

Who could differentiate a pool and a canal?

 

Had it not been for the soil

Who could skip, jump and leap

How could the creepers slowly creep

How could fetch fruits and flowers toil?

 

Had it not been for the soil

Who could make gardens, orchards and lawns

How could exist the moors, meadows and lands

Where could graze the cattle, deer and fawns?

 

Had it not been for the soil

How could sing the cuckoo, and dance the peacock

How could hop the springs, and flow the rivers

How could lamb bleat, calves mew and frogs croak?

 

Yea’ nothing could survive here but for Thee

Only over Thy benevolence prevails unfetchable glee!

 

  33.  TO THE LAKE

 

O’ Lake ! Thou art unlike the mortal human

Never ever fulsome, fleeting or fake

Two contrasting qualities between thee and us:

We live at the cost of the Earth, Thou for its sake!

 

How transparent Thou art, how opaque we are!

How impartial Thou art, how partial we are!

How veracious Thou art, how mendacious we are!

How pristine Thou art, how adulterous we are!

 

Thou art the haven for the birds, we the hell

Thou art the repository for the aquatic treasure

We, the poachers and predators of their peace and pleasure

Thus, Thou passest to enter the Paradise , alas! We do fail.

 

34. RIVERS

 

The rivers along with their clans

March ever ahead unceasingly

To mingle with the Super souls

And very unlike our races

They succeed in the long run….!

 

Unmindful of the most coveted temptations

Those welcome them on the zigzag paths……..

The stumbling blocks in disguise

Can never pose as much to them a threat

As they do to snare our susceptive races……!

 

The lone difference between us:

An unflinching conviction guides them

And us an impulse- the master of chameleon

They themselves endeavour to reach their goals

Alas! We bribe others to fetch us the ‘heaven’!

 

35. NIGHT

 

With the exit of the golden blazing Ball

Sneaks quietly into the Sky She

Accompanied by a coarse black canopy

Converts the Earth into a gloomy hall.

 

She is greeted by the nocturnal beings

The diurnal ones keep to the indoors

The miscreants revel with the loathsome colours

Spread malaria the venomous mosquito stings.

 

The Earth becomes heavier at Her arrival thus

And lighter to see Her depart

A curse for some a boon for the others

A necessary  Evil, yet can’t be kept apart.!

 

36. WHEN RAIN COMES

 

Soon after the sweltering summer

Comes flying the monsoon shower

Infuses life in trees and grass

The jolly children do merrily splash!

 

The dry arid Nature costumes green

As soon as descends the soothing rain,

Ah! Creatures do forget their thirst pains

Overflow pools, ponds, rivers and drains.

 

Smile floats on every peasant’s face

All put on water-proof dress.

All become alert about weather forecast

Thatch leakages are patched in haste.

 

Nature enjoys frogs’ recitations

Peacocks dance with the symphony of rain.

We observe many festive celebrations

Oh! Heavy shower washes away earth’s stain.

 

Old and new pupils start for school

Some with reluctance; some with glee full

For, some of them think It a Temple ; some, a jail

And the homesick ones watch out for the over bell.

 

Mushrooms bloom over human heads

Water soaks through poor sheds

Greens and vegetables plentily avail

All over the earth joy does prevail.

 

Sometimes Lord Indra’s missiles

Breed fright and cause untold havoc

Floods, storms and cyclones snatch away smiles

Life turns dolorous in this bivouac!

 

Nevertheless rain is never ever unwelcome

Albeit a combination of terror and charm.

Life hinges on it; earth survives

Its bounty is unpayable a price!

 

37. O’ RAIN, WHAT ARE YOU?

 

Some say that you patter

Some say that you chatter

Some say that you clatter

Some blame that you batter.

 

Some say that you potter

Some say that you mutter

Some say that you twitter

Some blame that you embitter.

 

Some say that you grumble

Some say that you rumble

Some say that you gambol

Some blame that you entangle.

 

Some say that you stutter

Some say that you sputter

Some say that you squatter

Some blame that you bring jitter.

 

Some say that you stumble

Some say that you fumble

Some say that you mumble

But, to me you’re noble and humble.

 

Whatever may some say

You heed them no pay

You abide by the Nature

Your spirit all should nurture!

 

38. THE RAIN INTERVAL

 

The Sun, like the sniffling burrow’d rodent;

Peeps in the gay interval of the torrent

Unburdening the thick, black swissing carpet,

Smiles in the fields, roofs and markets.

 

The gentle warm ray the Hope seeds sows:

Skips the children, unpack the footpath vendors

The cultivators sing, fishermen start the trawlers

Wet clothes, boil’d paddy are dried outdoors in rows.

 

Still throbbing anxiety and fear grip every heart and mind

For, who knows when the unreliable interval does wind?

 

39. TO THE FIRST RAIN OF 2003

 

Thank thee, o’ the long awaited monsoon rains

For, the singeing earth was shrieking and cringing in pains

Thy healing touch will quench the homes, domes and dens

Will bring in greenery washing away the soiled stains

Now Nature will dance in greenish, garnish gown

None can be scared of the ardent Sun’s frown

Peace will prevail in the country, city and town

As to sway thy term thou didst descend adorning thy rain crown.

 

 

But, alas! Is it thy own crime

That the soothing showers of thine

Can hardly pacify the intense flames of mine?

For which I can neither reconcile nor whine

For which I have been long since pining like a swine,

For, I have to respect what they say the behest of Time.

 

 

 

 

 

40. RAINDROPS- A BLESSING OR CURSE?

 

What should I call these raindrops?

Sometimes they cascade like their bosom’s bliss

As bounteous as a suckling Mother’s

To satiate the hungry, like life to fish!

 

But at other times they gush like spitting their curse

As intense as a volcano blind and baneful

As ferocious as a savage lion’s roars

As scaring a snake’s fang as spiteful!

[Here life means water.]

 

 

 

 

Inside a contentious installation.

 

Thou maketh us social

So, we pay Thee ‘A Tribute’ special.

 

19. A TRUE TIE

 

Any other tie seems however strong initially

Except Mother-child bond

Is based upon reciprocity

And lasts to be

As long as mutual understanding is sound

Or else will be as brittle as a pair of spectacles!

 

No bond across the glove has proved ever

To be surpassing it in purity and perpetuity.

All except it are ready made

All except it are motive made

All except it are to fade up one day or the other.

But it alone stands out unique

As an isthmus between the heaven and the earth!

 

 

20. ON RAKSHABANDHAN

 

Yes, it is not the few of the mortal thread strings

That cements ties between you and me,

Rather a fathomless affinity of spotless love that brings

Us peace that flourishes like an unstunted tree…….

 

It has been rolling as old as Time

As silent as Nature’s pantomime.

As white and pure as stainless lime

As openly as Her bliss pouring rhyme.

 

Yes, the ties of ours is past deterioration

Whose value excels any material reciprocation,

Vivacity imperceptible to the corporal vision

And vitality shines like the Sun’s eternal coruscation……

 

Thus, let’s pray to God and prostrate before Him

To make our ties as sprightly as a perennial stream…..

 

[To my sister-in laws on the 1st Rakshabanhan after marriage in ‘03]

 

21. A BLISSFUL RIDE

 

Shun, shun thy mundane fun

Chant, chant only Hare Krishna.

Cast off thy mire part

Fathom fairly His Rare Art.

 

Prostrate, prostrate at His Lotus Feet

Loiter not in the spurious street,

All that thou meetest here

Sheer sorcery of the Great Conjurer!

 

Burn thy wrath, cleanse thy heart

Give up intoxication, gambling, sense gratification,

Reduce thyself to zero, learn to forgive, smart

Carnality and pursue in His Holy injunction.

 

Be not hypnotized, nor be snared

A loyal vassal of the Curly Haired.

Kill thy ego, assassinate thy pride

Stifle thy passion for a blissful ride.

 

 

22. DIVINE CRAZE

 

As a small patch of cloud devours

Easily the grotesque, glazing Sun

Reducing His ardent light, pilfers life rendering powers

Making Him dull, drab and invisible sans precaution;

Yields a millions of eclipses, darker than clouds

A divine defiance, rushes ruins, progress shrouds!

 

O’ God how much may one have affluence

But for Thy divine, efficacious Grace

Lives in penury, scarcity and indigence

However worldly erudite actually a bolder dash!

 

Hence, O’ God! Please coagulate my beliefs in Thee

More than grasps a tree firmly to the soil.

Grant me joy, peace and relishment ineffably

Come may storms or quakes, unflappably Thou wilt foil!

 

 

23. DIWALI

 

Comes Diwali every year accompanied by light

Reminds all Sri Ram’s return triumphing Lanka fight!

 

Smiles blossom on every lip

Grown ups gambol, children skip;

Flowers dance, leaves pipe

Meadows wear a golden stripe;

Students go on pleasant trips

Lo! Joys stored are in heaps.

 

Mother prepares delicious dishes

We gulp sweets, wear new dresses.

Light on diyas, burst crackers

Inscrutable mystery is all the Maker’s

Soon, alas! Bids Diwali us goodbye

Teaches to illuminate and to die!

 

24. THE DIAGNOSIS

 

O’ God, the Almighty! After much speculation

Thou didst create a unique species man

Wise, reasonable and a sensible one,

But to the utter disappointment, against Thy expectation

Casting its proper path of life aside

From cradle to the crematorium after objectivity it ran

Saddled with the swift horse of pride;

Unequal more than a million times to a nucleus particle

Of Thine; the shameless brags, even trample Thee can!

 

For own gain audacious to review Thy Constitutional Article

Instead of oxygen inhales it self-centred air

Exhales carbon dioxide of hatred and mire

Intent on drinking not water but blood

To devour flesh, conquer soil, flows artillery flood!

 

So what is the diagnosis of this healthy patient?

--Perdition investment and blissful Moksha divestment.<