It's dark

Speak, slowly, it’s dark,
candle, fire, a little spark,
a step, walk, you stumble,
leaf, falls, a crumble.

A shadow falls, ov’r the sky,
the day dies, without a cry,
the dog barks, the hen sleeps,
dead leaves, the widow sweeps.

Dawns the dark on the night,
voices sleep whispering bright.
I come n’ sit, on the chair,
watching the floor, barely fair.

The cold came whispering me tales,
of dead birds, n’ silent wails,
of drowning men, n’ fallen kings,
of crying girls, n’ empty swings.

The blinds were dull,
the air was a lull,
The eyes were sleep,
a distant weep.

I clutched, the wood,
I slowly stood,
One hand had the flicker,
the other, the liquor.

The wail had its prey,
it started its say,
“The moon may shine,
tonight won’t be fine,
the candles will die,
as the bats will fly,
your eyes will talk to dust,
behind pages, spies will rust
you are watched by dark,
surrounded by the bark,
the dark will reveal,
the devil’s own deal
but you’ll fail to see,
as you struggle with glee,
thus you are my prey,
as night lives its day.”

Silence, drowned, the place,
extinguished dark, with grace,
stunned, I stared,
into the hollow,
empty, nothing, to follow.

It felt strange, dying,
like a laughter crying,
my soul, wandered, lost,
cold, still, like frost,

I slumped, and fell,
bliss, engulfed with a swell,
the dark showed me life,
accompanied by a heart’s strife.

I may have been a prey,
beyond black, lied my grey,
the dark showed me all,
from big, wrong, right to small.

A smile etched, I blinked,
died, as the cups broke and clinked.

From Amrikka, with love

And now the U.S. president will address the parliament.

Mr. Vice President, Madame Speaker, Mr. Prime Minister, Members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and most of all, the very useful people of India.

I thank you for the great honor of addressing the very opportunistic representatives of more than one billion blind Indians and the world's largest opportunity err I mean democracy. I bring the greetings, friendship, and a few goodies of the world's oldest dominating democracy-the USA, including nearly three million marginalized and patriotic Americans Indians.

I am a man of few words, because I don’t know many.
Over the past two days, me and my wife had the opportunity to witness schoolchildren who are being taught very nicely to work in and for our country, and also the innovators who are fuelling USA’s economic rise more than India’s. At every stop, we have been welcomed with hospitality for which the honible Indians are known for. The dreams in their eyes, to work in the microsofts, and googles of USA. Some will succeed, for others we have our hygienic grocery shops.
I am not the first president, nor the last president to visit this charming country. But yes, I am the president who has brought the highest number of opportunities for the classes, not the masses.
After witnessing the rise of India, I believe that the relationship between USA and India will be one of the defining relationships in this century. From a country of snake charmers, it has become a land of big industrialists and rich farmers. Thus I believe that India is our bandwagon for the further development of our country, and thus I am here to book as many opportunities as I can for my country.
I am here to tell you that India and USA are like brothers, USA being the elder one. As an elder brother, we will take adequate care of you, though sometimes we may snatch your lollipops but that is to ensure that you people ever get pampered.
Maybe we don’t share common values, but yes you people are catching up. I can see your clothes getting shorter by the day. Your people now have an accent which resembles ours. And now the sophistication is pretty clear in your eyes. Only today I was talking to the young entrepreneurs of your country, how individualistic, ambitious, and power hungry they have become. They just need a direction. We will show them the way. We have the executive positions for you, the laboratories are ready for you, the call centers are empty, just for you. We believe that no matter where you live-whether a village in Punjab or the bylanes of Chandni Chowk…an old section of Kolkata or a new high-rise in Bangalore-every person deserves the same chance to have the opportunity to work, earn, and live under us. That is why, this time I have brought more corporate minds than beaurocrats . We really want to stamp our presence in your markets. After all our macdonalds feed your mouths. I am here for strong business, which will be good for me, and good for you my audience. The United States remains-and will continue to remain-one of the most open economies in the world. And we want to open your economy, I hope you understand what I mean.
We are ready to share our nuke secrets with you, but that comes at a cost. You may call it freedom, and have some complains. But trust me it is worth it. And anyways you haven’t a done a good with your freedom till now. And about the permanent seat in UNSC, we are ready to vouch for you. But again, we don’t want you getting mushy with iran then. We don’t want you to pursue foreign policies that may hurt your elder brother, the USA. You may call this curtailment of sovereignty, but then who will put you on the right track if not your elder brother. Talking about the Pakistan problem, and the terrorism that affects your dinner table, I just have a sentence to say. Millions die of diseases in your country due to diseases every year, so why such a hue and cry about a few hundred who die at the hands of your neighbor?
To sum up this short speech, I really want to say that you are our partner in Asia, because China is too strong to be made one. We will always give you opportunities to speak when we want you to. We are committed to see that you don’t develop too much, that it may hurt us in the end. And yes, we take the credit and responsibility of indirectly shortening your population. To speak out a manipulated quotation from your oh so wonderful panchatantra – “That one is mine and the other a stranger is the concept of little minds. But to the large-hearted, the world itself is itself is a bag full of opportunities and booty.”

Thank you, Jai Hind!, and long live the relationship between India and the United States. The relationship of money or morals, is our discretion.

The Morgue

The door creaked, and the gap opened,
voices boomed, and boots were heard,
the wind was very still, the air was full of death,
you are in the morgue my friend, the world of dead men.

"Welcome, welcome" sang every dead,
"welcome to your cold hot bed",
"now you are us, for all your death",
"you'll survive heartless breathing without a breath."

The dead hummed as they greeted the new,
they swayed slowly as their white cloth flew,
Their eyes were black, and the skin was blue,
the scars were there, and the blood was true.

"We sleep all day, we sleep all night",
"with eternal dark around, we wake at innocent bright",
"we sing for new, we sing for old",
"If not a life, we have a soul to hold".

The cold steel was clear, the cold was gray,
containing the glorious dead who would never pray,
the moon shone the floor, the panes shadowed the blurred,
none saw inside, nor inside saw the world.

"here no one comes, and no one goes"
"some died of life, some died of blows"
"the corridors are blue with our eerie cold"
"no one bought us, nor we got sold"

The body in jewels laid down along the one in rags,
after dying they were brought in the same plastic bags,
the cruel morgue puts dead men together,
every proud, arrogant, humble under the same feather.

Not a living came to visit or see a dead one,
after being silenced they never felt the love nor the sun.
the remains lay in cold, devoid of any belief,
the morgue killed every joy, and buried any grief.

Blind eyed men

A knife with a blunt edge,
a pen made a blurred sketch.
a leaf that broke away,
a child that went to pray.

I stand here with a cup in hand,
one foot on in mud, one in sand.
I lost my eyes when pecked by a hen,
to live in a world of blind men.

The wind sways under clouds,
the crows call out to their kin,
I stand here with a cup in hand,
as blind as a barbed pin.

The dust settles, and it rains,
men work, and their children play.
I stand here with a cup in hand,
on me creep up the dogs stray.

The sound of the water,
and the beautiful fish that swim,
I stand here with a cup in hand,
as the day ends with the light dim.

The moon comes up to fly,
the black sky celebrated by the stars,
I stand here with a cup in hand,
as small girls dance around with flowers.

The fragrance of something that bakes,
the voice of the wives over the shops,
I stand here with a cup in hand,
as the world buys, sells, and robs.

The night ends to draw a new day,
if the previous was black, this is as grey.
The days end and end as leaves brake,
men are too busy to take a notice fake.

I am strong enough to stand here with a cup in hand,
notice the world with feet on hot sand,
I maybe a blind beggar standing with a cup in hand,
but I can still see and celebrate my land.

I am a blind beggar who can pen,
standing in a world of blind men.

The Cruise

Due to the inert happiness, I was bored and down,
I wore my shoes, and decided to go round the town.

I unbolted and opened the house gate,
feeling the cold metal which my hand ate.

The air was cool, the sky wasn't clear,
The dark clouds pretended to be far, in fact they were near.

I started walking on the road, kicking the lumps of mud,
watched laborers working, mixing water with their blood.

And their children lying naked under the heat,
deprived of food, dying bodies with dirty feet.

Rubbing my shoes on the gravel, I moved ahead,
Met a fruitseller selling apples green n' grapes red.

Fruits he never ate, he offered with grace,
owned trembling hands with a pleading face.

I looked up to see the blue sky,
saw rich men sitting in a vehicle pretty high.

I looked down to see the seller again,
smiled at him, and understood his pain.

Clothing my hands with pockets I went ahead,
to find beggars asking for bread.

Some were one eyed n' others had two to see,
sitting along the walls where men usually pee.

A big structure stood on the other side of the road,
decorated by a great honoured politician hanging on a board.

The public servant who served the ones who could give him back,
and did charity to himself by filling his sack.

A little ahead came restaurants with huge yellow smiles,
preparing food they were to throw at night in piles.

Suddenly I ran, moved my feet to escape,
leaving human bodies behind to stare and gape.

And I reached a tree brilliantly huge and strong,
with yellow leaves, and branches in directions wrong.

I touched the roots, and felt the wind across my face,
putting my hair right across the wrong place.

Opened my arms to call out for rain,
standing in the world so just and sane.

Incidentally the god heard, and rain did start,
I started the run, shirt tugged to the heart.

The big houses went, and the flair passed,
there were servants in them, brilliantly grassed.

The shanties came, flowing with the water,
a thin father running after his daughter.

The canal came, with boat in it,
a sailor directing it with his dying grit.

An old man struggled with the umbrella and the stick,
as the water around him made him pretty sick.

Atlast the home reached my shoes,
as I ended my silent cruise.

I jumped on, on my bed,
laughed, cried, cursed, and said

"Life is so weird, a god with a beard.
He never shows his face, never gives everyone a good place.
He makes one a king, the other one to sing,
but all the others get struggle on which to cling.
A god he with a beard, he never shows face.
If he ever does, I am sure that many will take his case."

Bodhki Ram Buddhu

Any god who may read,
The post office of heaven,
The sky.

Date : 3rd of august on earth.

Subject : Too light for the intellectual god

Dear God,
I dearly hope that this letter finds you as soon as it reaches the heaven. I hope you won’t be out on an inspection session in hell, because I don’t want any sub ordinates of yours to read this very private letter.

God, I have been surrounded by intellectual people all over. The simple problem I have is that I am finding it very hard to survive among such people. The way they talk, their mannerisms, the way they eat, the way they use their genitals, the way wipe their butts after using the washroom, and the way they show me down, and make me feel like an outcast. I am really miserable god. When my friends in the classroom raise their hands, and answer to the teachers, I feel stupid. Leave the answers, I am unable to understand the questions for starters. These intellectual people talk in hushed tones, and look at me in bewilderment when I shout or stand up on benches or break plastic scales on someone’s head for just a bit of fun. They make my life boring, and the fact that my parents want me to be one of them kills me every night when I go to piss in my garden. My parents want me to comb my hair, wear the tie with a perfect knot, talk in a sophisticated manner, and act sensible, and I don’t even know the meaning of sensible. Those big books with more than a hundred pages fail to hold my interest, until and unless they don’t have monkeys and donkeys illustrated on their pages. I have been flunking all my exams except the drawing one because the drawing teacher declined to give me grades after she saw what I drew. The only solace is when I go to play in the playground. But then, even there the games they play have so many rules. There is this game of a stick and a round ball they play in which there is a boundary of limitation, and so many men standing surrounding the man with the stick, and surprisingly the man with the stick never hits them. I fail to understand their rules god, I prefer kicking stones, and digging holes in the playground, and occasionally I get kicked for it by the other people in the ground. And then in class, most of the people wear these round rimmed things with glasses fitted in them on their eyes. It makes them look ugly, and when I ask them the reason of wearing it, they tell me that it makes them read better, and obviously make them more intellectual. You should listen to their jokes god. You have to think about the joke four times, and then you get it, and then you laugh on it. There was this joke I overheard once in the afternoon, and I started laughing at midnight when I atlast got it, and I was sleeping between my parents, and got a spanking from them for being uncivilized, and unsophisticated. What an unfortunate, and sad a joke, it was for me.
I won’t blame you for not making me intellectual. But I beg you to place me somewhere on earth, where the people aren’t so intellectual. When I see the dumb people of my class, I find peace and solace in them. They are the ones who never answer, have the most sleep, the largest of the yawns, the loudest of the burps, and the farts, and the most fun. Their jokes evoke laughter from within. And they have such innocent smiles. Please put such people along with me in some lonely deserted land, and I promise that we will do good enough deeds to qualify for heaven, and make you proud.

cigars,
Your seven year old kid,
Bodhki Ram Buddhu

Good Night

go go go go go
run run run
to the shadows under the blanket,
to a life warm,
and a sleep calm.

a sweet an air that will run over you,
and the eyebrows that will move when you dream,
a pretty face smiling with a beam.

the soft eyes won't move anymore,
you will turn red as you sleep,
as black will turn more dark and very deep.

hours will pass over you,
and you will run through it,
because you have to wake up and sit.

go go go go go
run run run
today's work is done,
tomorrow is waiting with a grunt,
and another happiness you will have to hunt.

Morning Mile

A ray wakes me up out of a dream,
To be treated with milk with cream.

A yawn I possess as I drink,
Shying from the bright I blink.

Slowly I tilt towards the window,
to find a sparrow and a crow.

A smile on my face spreads,
As I sway pulling threads.

I jump across to stand,
To stretch I raise my hand.

Cleaning my teeth I think about last,
Throwing yesterday into my past.

The cold floor feeling my warm feet,
As I brush my teeth clean and neat.

Then the soap so soft washes me nice,
I fill the bucket less than twice.

Out of the tile room I run to dress,
White shirt, blue pants are a bless.

The blue tie with a permanent knot,
The badge I lost and yesterday bought.

The shoes dusty I wear without polishing,
As my mother shouts I softly sing.

And I see to my left to find my strong bag,
With seventeen books I was to drag.

The mirror comes to me for my hair,
Thinking today I won’t emulate the mare.

Smiling and laughing I run away from it,
But father combs my hair after making me sit.

The bread in my mouth and the one in my box,
So much stuff in the mouth turns me red like a fox.

A good child in me turns into a student,
To the school I have to be sent.

Like a leaf without a tree,
My childhood I see

A south Indian

As i write this, my hand is shivering. Maybe I am just too confused to keep it still. One month in the law university, and sentiments are back after the initial excitement and anxiety of a new place.

I reached here to find a big south indian as my room mate, and a silent south indian at that. I guess he didn't want to trust the north indian sitting in the room. The days started, and I used his laptop to chat with my friends at night. I asked him to talk, and he did with an ease which looked like he always used to talk. The legal studies on, classes on. I, the sleeper in the room was woken by him everyday at seven, after a lot of effort of course(which included messages, calls, and surely names). A four o' clock waker, I found a lot of innocent manliness in him. I did ask him a lot of questions about himself, he gave me a lot of answers about himself, the thing ended there. He used to listen to our vulgar language and used to ask the meaning. Thus our Bala is the man -

(a) who rarely speaks, but when he does beats all in humour and vulgar.
(b) the man, who when asked by seniors to call himself 'babba' (due to his big size), spoke his full name clearly, and trust me no senior was ready to force him to say babba.
(c) the guy who has been most effective in waking me up in the morning till now in my hostel life.
(d) the guy who can blush more than any girl.
(e) the guy who even with a fracture can still walk up and down the staircase ten times a day.
(f) the guy who had the guts to wear what he wanted to without submission.
(g) the student who got us all the internet safeguards, the downloads and proxies available, and saved our computer.
(h) the student with whom the whole pressure of studies amounted to nothing, and the discussions were too sharp to be slow.
(i) the roommate whose acer aspire 1 saved my relationship and destroyed one relationship (aayush's)
(j) the person who is intellectual as high as he is fat. Maybe more.
(k) the mate who cared about me, and vinaya.
(l) the boy who used to stand silently while I used to blabber about my perspective.
(m) the human being I am sure will be something very big in his life. And very means more than very.

I remember thinking this when I just sat in my new room on the first day of hostel life here - After five years, when I will leave this university, I will miss all my friends like hell. Like hell and like hell. But just after 25 days, when this guy is leaving the university, for he cleared the best law university in India, I am having the same feeling. I am shivering.

A friend of 25 days, and I know I always fall in love with south Indians.

To this south indian, from chunni (aayush) and sleepy (me), tata bye bye.

P.S. - We will miss watching you snore at 3 in the night.