To Alexander Blok

Your lonely apartment by the canal
Carries images of a bygone age
Age before the torment began
And the thugs took over
Your peace, your poetry, your life
(and with you, of your generation).

You rightly said Blok-
'Night, a street, a lamp, a drugstore, a senseless wan light.
 Live another quarter of a century- all will be the same.
There is no way out.'
Yet my spirit craves for change
A human family, a planet as home.

Long live verses, beauty fades!

A poet lived here,
On the banks of the river Moika
With his young wife Natalia
Who had two sisters and four kids
The poet had fallen in love
With the young damsel of sixteen
Who never understood the depth of his love.

She loved balls and social status,
So the poet brought her to St. Petersburg
The Imperial Capital
He rented eleven rooms apartment with servants for her for five years
But he could only live here for four months
Before he was killed in a duel.

The poet was provoked by a young officer
Who has noticed Natalia at the balls
The poet had to save his honour
So he challenged the young officer for a duel
Though the poet always knew
He was not good with guns.

How could the poet have kept mum,
Natalia was young and beautiful
The poet did, all he could,
For the happines of his love,
Today the poet is still alive but the beauty is dead
Long live poet's verses while beauty fades.

The Hermitage

On Sundays or Saturdays
Or whenever I can
I rush to the Hermitage
For a rendevous with my loves
Those hang on the walls
Danaes, Floras, Madonnas, Venuses, Psyches...
Compete for my attention...
And wow what I see...
The menacing cupid, untying the girdle of Venus
Tahiti girl with her tropical fruit,
The woman with the wild flower,
Judith trampling over the evil,
Mary Magadelene lying in the grotto,
Zeus, the bull taking away lovely Europa,
St. Cecilia playing music  for dying Cleopatra
Or perhaps for the broken hearted lute player?
The dance of the veils on the banks of the Neva
The saviour of the treasures of civilizations-
Pharao's tombs, gold and diamond treasures,
But above them the Onessa petroglyphs,
Hermitage, you are the only one!
And, I'll rush to you,
From far corners of the Earth,
For a rendevous with my loves,
That hang on your walls.

Milky Way

Milky Way, Milky Way
Like four armed Swastika
How many stars have you got?

Sun and the planets, one out of billions
Making a circle in 250 million years
What was it like in the beginning of last Sun year?

You have all the secrets,
You have all the answers,
Tell us, how many more years are left ahead?

Milky Way, Milky Way
Drifting slowly in the vast Universe
When will you merge with Great Attraction?

The planet will be the same

Air will change,
Water will change,
Climate will change,
People will change,
Country will change,
My friends say,
Hearing the news,
That I have to leave.


Dear friends, I say,
Air will change
Water will change,
Climate will change,
People will change,
Country will change,
But, planet will be the same.

Delhi

I loved when it rained in JNU,

I went around riding my bike

Along the ring path, through the divine greens,

And I loved India-gate at nights

And let a few balloons loose in the Delhi sky

I loved the tombs and temples

Those scatter around the ancient landscape

And the black ‘Jamuns’ ripened by

The summer heat of the ancient civilization

Adorned all over the roads of the Lutyen’s Delhi

Spreading their woody fragrance

I loved those green & yellow auto-rickshaws

Available around the corner of every street

Making their way through the busy traffic

Taking me across the city; DU to JNU and JNU to DU

I loved the pristine Lodi garden

Where I jogged with my father every morning

And gave food to the birds, ants and squirrels with my mother

And the unforgettable ‘Khan Market’

Where I spent many evenings with my friends at the ‘Barista’ café

And the ‘Cannought Place’, the heart of New Delhi

Where we went for pilgrimage,

Every year after our College exams got over

The D’ School and the Delhi University garden

Walking through St. Stephen and the Kamla Nagar

The weekend movies at ‘Shakuntalam’ ‘Priya’ & PVR

Dear Delhi, how much I miss you

You are one beloved with many lovers

Nevertheless, I have loved you with all my heart

And I’ll return to you, with the waves of time.

Blessed

Pic. by Abhay K.

Blessed are the ones, who live immersed in beauty,

Blessed are you, with earth-blue eyes,

Your golden locks made of the shooting stars,

Glowing as the full moon in the dark starry nights,

The epitome of unearthly beauty-eternal, impersonal,

Blessed! Beyond desires.

Blessed is the earth! Blessed is the Milky Way! Blessed is the Universe!

Blessed is the billion years journey since the Big Bang

You were the meaning, you were the purpose,

Something that Philosophers would never understand.

A rendezvous with the Divine

It was a cloudy white night,

It was still bright over the horizons

And the cold breeze blew into my face

After the storms and rains;

The green pine trees stood silent

And the half moon smiled over the green grass carpet,

The whitish Seren flowers were in full bloom

And I strolled overwhelmed that night

Among the pine trees, Seren flowers, half-moon, rains and storms

That night eternity embraced me gently; and

It was a rendezvous with the Divine.

For more pics please visit PICTURESQUE

Light

Hard to delete the impressions,
They are going to last long;
That moment your light struck my soul,
The deep impact ,
The lasting images,
Your thoughts,
Restlessness to see,
Your light again and again!

Your perfumed presence!

Your perfumed presence,
your polite ways,
your perfect smile,
draw a rainbow in my eyes!
Your soft voice,
your moonlit face,
your open heart,
the way you dress
the way you walk!
What a joy
to have you in my life!

Let's light a candle

Pic by the author

Fellow rafters
in the rocky waters,
We should row on
however rocky be the path;

Let's light a candle,
Because a candle in the darkness
is a good thing;

And things will be on track,
And we'll reach the destination
though it will take some time.

How many hearts broken?!

How many hearts broken
How many lives shaken
How many tear drops fell?
From those tender eyes;
How many curses bespoken
For his pig-headedness
For the pursuit of happiness
For living up to one’s dreams
For his sins…

He didn’t break any hearts
He didn’t shake any lives
He didn’t cause tear-drops fall
He just moved on …
He the flow of life
Pursuit of happiness is what he lives for
Living up to one’s dreams does no harm…

With our meeting

Pic by the author; for more please visit Picturesque

The distances have been bridged,


New ideas have taken wings


With our meetings


Exactly the way


A new story begins


History is made


and destinies change!

To the dreamland and back

'To the dreamland and back' is dedicated to all those who are ready to give up all they have to travel to their dream lands and make money without being fully aware of what the dreamland has in store for them. This poem is an attempt to throw some light on the grim realities of international migration for the young people with little or moderate skills, without their families, friends, familiar culture and food in a foreign land. I hope that young people will invest their energies in building their villages and towns and making them better places to live and work.

Thirteen souls
left their homes,
left their villages to make their dreams come true
They gathered at the ‘Railway station’
They sat in the Bogey no.13
with dreams in their heads
and hopes in their hearts;
and travelled two nights
thinking of the bright days in El Dorado ;
Finally they arrived in New Delhi
Where they met another thirteen
At Paharganj
Brought from the villages of the north
By the scheming agents-
The dream-merchants ;
They ate , the played cards
And nursed their dreams
While visas were arranged;
The agents took their time
Ran here & there and everywhere
While the 26 nursed their dreams;
Finally visas were ready
Air-tickets were booked
There was joy among the dreamers
But now they had different routes;
The routes to Europe
The land of prosperity
The land of opportunity
Passed through different lands
Delhi-Uzbekistan-Russia-Finland
Delhi-Kiev-Germany and so on;
The agent had assured them all
Employment with thousand bucks per month
In restaurants run by his friends;
But immigration was tight
And plans went wrong;
The agent was at loss
And fled with their air tickets and cash
They were left at large
In a dark hole in the city of white nights
With nothing to eat, nothing to drink
And with no money to buy anything;
They found they had not paid the rent
When the young land lady with a bottle of beer
Knocked at their door, shouting…
‘pay me rentttt…, renttttttttt…pay me zenigi...zenigi...’
Or else my boys will tear you tomorrow;
They were scared and terrified
They called for help
Searched for the disappeared agent
In the babble of drowning voices
But help was far…
The night fell
And the her boys arrived
‘Boys with vodka’
They drank and enjoyed
And she screamed with wild joys;
Then the fell upon the ‘dreamers’
Like hungry wild panthers
Bled them one by one…
Their violent screams filled the black space
But help was far
Hopes were shattered,
Dreams ruined
And they could not even go back home
Without ‘exit visas’
They had overstayed
They had broken the law of the land
And they awaited deportation;
A good Samaritan,
A fellow countryman
Came out with help
Offered them rice and breads
Offered them a place to live
Gave them dignity;
A fellow countryman
A good Samaritan
Helped them with exit visas and deportation;
A month passed by
They returned home
With mental scars
Hopes dashed
Hearts broken
Dreams shattered
Debts to be paid;
But they returned home
With steely determination
To build their lives,
Build villages,
And to build a new India
The India of their dreams.

For more pics you may visit PICTURESQUE

The First Century

Black, brown, white and yellow,
Different colours but one truth-
We are all humans
And the whole earth is our home;
A new millennium is beckoning us
At its dawn
And we must listen to
Its clarion call-
“All for one and one for all”;
Let’s make twenty first, the first
Century of ‘one earth, one humanity’
A century of peace & prosperity
A century to transcend all the barriers of the past
A century with a new beginning, a brand new start;
Let’s make twenty first, the first
The first century of humane-nity.

Ganga and Volga

Ganga and Volga
Lifelines of two mother civilizations
Flowing in silence since centuries
Without a word
on making and unmaking of humanity
Whispering to each other
Go on, go on, go on!
Wash away the sins of your children,
Purify them once again,
Give them life
Bring them wealth
Bless them again and again ;
Ganga and Volga
Two sister with different destinies
Flowing in silence since centuries

Wishing a bend!

Tied to a pole
That stands still
In stagnant waters
Looking at the river
That flows by
With noise and roar ;
Wishing a bend could appear
In the river of life
And the strength of its streams
Wash away the years of stale
That’s suffocating the soul...

Moments of Eternity!

The waves of time
Brought you to me;
The waves of time
took you away;
I know…
I’ll never see you again;
But let me thank you
For the few moments of eternity!

Tilting at Time

O' Time, stop for a while

Let me absorb the fullness of the moment

It's richness,

It's all hues and colors,

Stand still!

Don't move!

You rush too fast...

I can't catch up with your pace,

Slow down!

Wait a little!

Let me move on...

A Beautiful Truth?

I know
it's not for ever
it comes from nothing
and goes to nothing
I know the perfect truth,
the ultimate reality
But could it be a little
soft, serene, mild?
A beautiful truth?
The ultimate reality?