Forsaken

Can You hear the nations weep? A mother is still crying for her baby that was torn away from her bosom by nature's wrath. Will You not turn Your eyes to this place? That one is a child looking for his parents while holding his lifeless brother in his arms. Those are the faces of the people who survived yet no more alive than the ones under the rubble.
Where were You when the earth went wild and ravaged the helpless? Where were Your angels when it happened? Did they stay back in the heavens and watched in silence as the earth swallowed up lives ahead of time? It rained, afterwards; did they cry for the people who died, or for the ones who are dying still? Why didn't they come? Why WON'T they come?
Has heaven closed it's doors or have we burned them down ourselves?

What Shadows Bring To Light

The leafy boughs above me,

The kind blue sky beyond webbed seams,

The pacifying humming of the bees,

The sparkling rhythm of the stream;

Gleeful hues dancing in the sunlight,

Leading a sight-line to burrowed beauty

Which shadows try to hide;

But innocence pleads guilty.

I hear wood nymphs giggling,

As they skirt along to the flirting breeze;

I am almost certain they are mocking

At the creature intoxicated with ease.

I spring, then, and waltz to the shore,

Gaze at my reflection with reluctant curiosity;

The scars that the shadows ignore

Pierce my eyes with haunting clarity.

Recipe for Joy

It's a new day; a new day to forgive, to love, to live and to hope.
Don't believe in luck for it is a faithless friend. It will draw you closer with its magic, just to destroy you right when you start to believe it is your only ally.
Be kind; to yourself and to those around you (yes, even to those who don't deserve it... Especially to them).
Love extravagantly. Even when it breaks your heart, love extravagantly. It might be the most heart-wrenching thing to do, but love is not love if it doesn't break you first. For it is when you are broken down to pieces that love rises up and fights for you. You see, love does not mend. It is not a quick fix. It does not patch up your life. Rather, it builds you anew from scratch. It actually creates something from nothing. Hence, love requires that we be broken, cheated, destroyed and reduced to nothingness.
Love fiercely and you will see it fiercely fight for you when you can't fight for yourself. Brace yourself for the pain, for the reward thereafter is exceedingly great. And you will more than have deserved it.

Memory Overflow

So this is Bangalore- where it’s tropical summer in the sun, cool spring in the shade and wintery cold in the rain. Add wind to the last equation and I’m back home in Shillong. Ah… Yes, home… Home is where the heart is, it is said, and right now my heart is nestled in the rain-laden clouds gliding over the slanting tin roofs of the urban Shillong and over the pine-abundant countryside whose woods are studded with rock shelters where the cowherds can seek shelter from the rains as they gather man and animal around an open fire. The earth echoes with the pitter-patter that falls from the skies and the whispers of the wind as it caresses the pine needles and brushes the hill tops. The mist adds a mystical touch to the scene and I am almost convinced that I‘m daydreaming if not for the fragrance that can only be equal to that of fresh earth being kissed by the rain as it falls drop by drop teasingly before releasing its torrential splendour. But reality has a way of bringing you back to your urban senses- “It’s time to get back to work, Alice in Wonderland.” So I was daydreaming after all. Fine! Back to my desk, where the closest thing to nature is my memory, where all beautiful things thrive; they remain the same, yet they change every day. The rain deprives me of my walk in the park (pun intended), but it allows me to do so much more- to walk and jog and hop and sprint and even fly in the meadows and glades of my memories; and it serves me just as well as does the therapist’s couch (or even better, I dare say). All I’m saying is the rain need not be a reason to just laze around, rather to grace your mind with calm and content you wouldn’t normally find every other day in the confines of your little cubicle.