Journey of life

Life is a journey and not a destination…..
Walking along, faces cross you….
You remember some, forget some
Some get etched in your soul

Roads wind in strange patterns before you
Making you think before choosing
Lives get messed up in the final choice
In the end, success comes to clarity of thought

The map for you has been drawn out
The sails have been hoisted
The seas maybe rough, but you are brave
To weather the storm and make the voyage

The land of opportunity awaits you
Waiting for you to lay down the anchor
Ahoy! Captain! All aboard for the trip
The journey has just started……

Be Counted

Stand up and be counted, forget the past
Seize the day, now, as it is not gonna last
It is time to pick up the pace, the race is fast
Pack your bags, buckle up, for the final blast

Nobody would be concerned about your defeats
Nor would they care for your present feats
Go on and someone will fill the empty seats
It is time now, to follow the heart beats

Failures will not be forgotten, old triumphs aid,
With time, the anger, the worry, will fade,
The wide open road has been laid,
For you, to reach out, the horizon has been made

Buckle up my friend, it is not yet late,
Dont curse your fate, Forget the hate,
Standing and staring on, at the big old gate,
Push it open and walk on, do not wait

Agasthya

Oh Agasthya! You fill my entire view;
In all respect and devotion, I bow to you,
The swirling cold lusty breeze
Adds on to the dance of the trees.

Mist covering your majestic peak,
An eternal joy, it helps me seek.
Green carpet spread out on land,
Sky spinning up a heavenly strand.

Dancing and quarrelling moves the clouds,
An exotic pleasure, in my heart it moulds.
Comes morning and sun with its ray of light,
But, still you stand with all your might.

Clouds, the warriors, protect the port,
Refusing sunrays, entry into the fort.
Breeze, the maid, massages you,
Bringing mist and covering you from view.

Trees all around you, happily grow,
Your importance, they sure do know.
Birds awakened by the morning light,
Chirping and chattering starts it’s flight.

Animals set out on their daily prowls,
And the forest is filled with occasional growls.
The river gurgles and flows on and on,
With the advent of the sensuous dawn.

How melodious is the bird’s call,
It is enjoyable for one and all.
Come night and the vibrant moon,
Lighting up the place very soon.

Birds have gone on a sleep very full,
The forest singing them a melodious lull.
Life forms are asleep, whatever it takes,
In my mind, happiness sure it makes.

Your peak is sparkling with moonlight,
It sure adds on to the exotic sight.
Darkness and mysticism bring fear,
But, some love can also be found here.

Looking at your peak in the night,
I suddenly realized the eternal right.
Nothing ever has been so beautiful,
Nothing ever gives happiness so full.

I made a walk to your greeny summit,
With love and calmness, like a hermit.
Reaching the site, I was spellbound,
Was this heaven in all universe around?

Suddenly, my vision was gone,
I found mist, thick and dull, spreading on.
Bringing with it, a light rain,
Relieving me of all the pain.

People say, “I came, I saw, I conquered”,
I feel, “I came, I saw, I surrendered”.
But, sad o sad, what happens today?
People forgetting nature day by day.

Trees are being cut down,
Forests are being burnt down.
Rivers ringing with extensive pollution,
Leaving us with no practical solution.

Water in rivers, so crystal clear,
The flowing sound, a pleasure to hear.
Lying in water, itself a pleasure,
Amount of which is difficult to measure.

Surprising; with your peak so tall,
Human beings are made to feel so small.
Life forms view you with utmost devotion,
But, we view you as an object of exploitation.

It is indeed very sad,
That we have become so mad.
Isn’t it nothing but pure insanity?
Destroying something so full of divinity.

Oh Agasthya! Here I make a vow,
Your greatness, I will let others know.
Your role as a living being,
I realize as a natural human being.

When I start your climb down,
Into the hear of the maddening town.
A town full of sorrows and troubles,
You give me will to break them like bubbles.

Oh Agasthya! You fill my entire view,
In all respect and devotion, I bow to you!!!

Born to Die?

Enclosed within natural walls, in near darkness

Drifting within the womb, without direction

The unborn baby trains his eyes,

Ready to step out and face the light.

Half shut eyes, flicker at the warm rays,

The first feel of the outside world.

Colours emerge, figures take shape,

On a quest, to see more, know more.

Looking around, crying out loud,

It’s the sound of life, the voice within,

Announcing his arrival to the world,

The baby is initiated into a world of chaos.

The eyes strain to focus and perceive,

Only to be blinded by the hypocritic light

The ears open up for the experience of sound

Only to be deafened by mad shouts and shrill lies.

Twisting and turning, inside the cage of care,

Disturbed in senses, he gets the first taste of life

His mother’s womb, though dark, was secure,

Now, in open light, the baby feels lonely.

There was little he could do, to change,

It was his time to break out of natural captivity,

Walk out into the world, into freedom,

Walk on, with a free body, yet a captive spirit.

Festivities all around, celebrating his birth

Crowd of onlookers, looking at him in awe

Even though he is the cynosure of attention,

The baby feels himself pushed into a corner.

The prying eyes, the hollow smiles

Makes him confused, makes him wonder,

“Should I laugh? Should I cry?,

Wish I could laugh at their false faces!”

Burdened by worldly confusion and chaos,

The baby closes his eyes, on an effort to sleep,

Sleep on, to peace, sleep to shut himself off,

To forget the world, to live in his own dreams.

Born with no choice, he does not feel alive,

Hesitating, he looks back at his mother’s womb,

Shifting his gaze, to her loving eyes, he asks,

“Can you take me back into you, if I choose to return?”

The Shadow

Light plays havoc, with me, my self

Laying out, my dark side, on the ground

The black alter-ego looms large with time

Before disappearing silently, into the dark night

The silent observer, the passive friend

Lurking around me, marking my presence

Cooling the earth with my caricature

He outlines my figure, with a virtual ink

Born of light, drawn off my lanky frame

The earth is a canvas, for the art in monotone

Seldom appreciated, the artist hides among clouds

Seldom noticed, the art sprawls over mother earth

Convulsing and changing, with the passing time

Sans expression, sans emotions, he exists

Reminds me of my life, on a topsy-turvy ride

In a world, sans expression, sans emotions

With each passing day, he is becoming more of me

Or am I becoming more of him?

I pray to the source, “Let there be no light”

Let me feel myself, let me be myself!!!

For Retaliation...

Dullness all around, even the wind has a smirk,
Nothing but a graveyard, has been the place I work,
I killed my self and I bury myself each day
They still know not that they kill me every day!!!

Born on chance, lived on like a rock
Until now, when they take their chance to mock
Storm of rebukes, Oh! It weakens my soul
The lesser mortals, fulfill their petty role!!!

Purpose of life, the urge to live, seems to be lost,
Can’t take it, need to retrieve it at all cost
Isn’t it time yet for you, to stand up and fight back?
Asks my soul, don’t you see me getting a crack?

Confused, delirious, my mind wanders,
To unknown lands, my thought meanders,
Lonely and angry, my being pushes on
Is it for this plight, that me, the human, was born?

Enough of this, my soul rises to stand tall
No more of this, I am not going to fall
Time to open my eyes, face the world
The flag of retaliation, has finally been unfurled!

Dark Knight

A small intro for the unfortunate readers, who get a chance to view my dark side. These 16 lines slashed down below, were penned down in 4 sets during a casual online conversation with my good friend, Sonu Sudhakaran. He wanted me to call it Black Poetry...but, the term is used for African American poetry. So, I am gonna give this one to be added to the annals of Dark Poetry!!! Let this one be splashed across the chaotic pages of dark poetry!!!

Life starts in wombs, in darkness
Grows up, in slow steps, with firmness,
Words of thought, in all grimness,
Makes me shout out loud, in all frankness!!!


The Devil comes out from the bowels of hell,
Night awakens with the ringing of the eternal bell,
Mere mortals, by my sword, along the way fell,
When I chose earth to be my place to dwell!!!

Knighted by the blinding light,
On a ghostly and dark night,
On a crusade to kill with might,
Giving none, a chance to fight!!!

Walking along the lines of fire,
At this moment, I vow, never to tire,
I will prepare my foe's funeral pyre
For this world is gonna be my mire!!!

Phoenix has risen from the ashes!!!

The keys on my keyboard have not worn out!!! My fingers have not lost their sensory powers!!! My brain certainly has not succumbed to an eternal coma!!! So, then what was the reason for the absence? Interesting question! But, even I am searching for the answer. For me, I am a person who takes pride in my writing and believes that it makes complete. My thoughts are my best friends and my writings, my way of expressing myself. If I chose to put them aside for sometime, it should imply that I had forsaken myself for a while. The Phoenix did not die, it was murdered by the hypocritic society and the hollowness of human relations. Well, death is only for a moment. When the breath runs out and you feel life being drained from you, when the heart stops breathing and you become motionless, you are pronounced to be dead. But, the soul still lives. I believe in the eternal nature of the human soul.

Now, you might be wondering why I am speaking about the immortal soul? To speak about a mighty tree, it is important to speak about the soil, as the roots which hold the tree depend on it . Anyway, there is signifance to the statements that came earlier and it was a prelude to what I was about to deliver. In a death, the physical state dies and the spiritual state is liberated. For me, it has been a converse process for some time. The physical state was active, while the spiritual state was dead. It was a self induced coma, that kept me relaxed and in a dormant state. The time has come for the phoenix to rise from the ashes. Yes, I am back with my limitless deliverances of the innermost thoughts of my chaotic and confused mind.

WHEN THE WORLD BECOMES HELL, I NEED TO BE THE DEVIL TO TAKE CONTROL OF IT!!! HELL HAS OPENED ITS GATES!!! BEWARE MORTALS!!!!

The Stranger

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. When Keats made this statement, he must have had a beautiful woman in sight because few sights can match the beauty of a lady's smile. The observing skill of Keats was justified by her charm and she was indeed a sight to behold. Bonita was her name and her presence brought out longing sighs, from young and old alike. The shining diamond studded wedding ring and the conservative Indian attire covered up the wild side in her. For the normal breathing blobs of human flesh, she was just a stylish cat, all cuddly and cute. But, deep down in her mind, she understood her true self and the fierce tigress she really was, but tranquilized by social constraints. It had always been a self conflict – her against her – to be the ideal wife catering to the family needs and adhering to the social norms or to be the real woman, doing full justice to her conscience. It was a fight where she did not want to win or lose. She preferred to call it a draw. At the end of the ordeal, she decided to adorn the virtual garment of the social woman and submitted to her destiny in the form of marriage.

"What is the reason behind my existence? Am I alive?" thought Bonita. The lecherous look in the eyes of the strangers in the crowd was not really intruding into her thoughts. They resembled a pack of hungry wolves checking out their prey. Given a chance, they would have shed their moral values and social constraints and become animals to devour her blood. A flood of sympathy washed over her mind, as she felt that the eyes of lust might be so due to their incomplete married lives. She decided to do them a small favor and flashed one of her most charming smiles. Apart from that single gesture, she was feeling totally uncomfortable. Alex, her husband was nowhere to be seen and her eyes searched for him between the largest collection of strangers she had seen in a while. She spotted him cracking jokes with his friends, totally oblivious to his wife's mental trauma. He was proud to have such a beautiful wife and did not really mind people admiring her charms. Bonita cursed the moment she decided to tag along with him for the event.

Having time at her mercy and little else to do, she took a path down memory lane. She could see her younger self, totally in love with this handsome and daring young man, who was her husband now. The wild and carefree nature had bowled her over in their first acquaintance. She could meekly nod her head in approval, when he went on his knees and proposed to her. Time flew by and gradually, she realized that the wild side was just a mask he chose to wear to gain acceptance in an exclusive college gang. Tampering with the age old saying, he was more or less, a sheep in wolf's clothing. Marriage to him was virtually the final nail on the coffin of her true self and the tigress was laid to rest. At times, she blamed her naivety during her college days, as she failed to see through Alex's mask. "Ladies and gentlemen….." The host's voice boomed over the microphone and pushed her back into the harsh reality of her present.

Whispers floated around her as her husbands colleagues walked past her. "Alex's wife is really beautiful. He is a lucky guy!" She could make out bits and pieces of such comments and it did not really help in her situation. It seemed like a majority of the guys in the crowd preferred to walk past her to get one thing or the other, even if there were shorter routes available. She longed for a real man to show up and strike a conversation with her. Personal silence in a chaotic environment can be nerve wrecking. Bonita was so immersed in her dream world that she did not realize the appearance of a well built individual in front of her. "Hi!" the strong voice made her jump in her seat. She looked up to face the source of the voice that had disturbed her thoughts. "You must be Bonita, Alex's wife. I am Aditya, Alex's team mate." For a moment, Bonita was contemplating the reality aspect to the situation. A few moments ago, she had sincerely hoped in her mind that someone would turn up to make her evening interesting and Aditya suddenly appeared like Prince Charming for her. Bonita's eyes scanned the handsome and energetic intruder from head to toe. She felt that he did justice to the most talked about male requirement sought by a female….he was tall, dark and handsome. He was blessed with one of the most charming smiles she had seen on a masculine face. "Not bad!" exclaimed Bonita in her mind.

Aditya had pulled up a chair and seated himself in front of her in the meantime. "Black signifies death and you could be a serial killer because you can kill someone with your charms draped in this elegant black saree. Can I take the liberty of calling you the black bird?" asked Aditya. The frankness in his words and the freshness in his approach impressed Bonita. She could only nod her head with a smile on her lips. The conservative wife in her was beginning to enjoy the advances of the young guy. Her wild instincts which had been dormant for some time now, had been given a rude awakening by the stranger. She stared into his twinkling eyes, which felt so peaceful and seemed to carry a myriad of emotions in them.   "Am I falling for this strange handsome guy?" she asked herself. Social ethics took a back seat, as the woman in her was aroused. Aditya was smooth in his conversation and was casting a spell on her with his masculine charm. Gradually, he moved closer to her during the course of the conversation and even placed his hand over hers. But, Bonita was in a world of her own to notice his advances and his voice had drifted off for her to make out the words. The party and the people had vanished into thin air and she just wanted to relish every moment spent in the physical proximity of this young man.

"Hi Adi! I see that you have met my wife." Alex's voice brought Bonita back to the real world. Suddenly, Alex was an intruder in her private moment with Aditya and she did not really appreciate it. However, she chose to remain quiet and Alex settled down on the table with the food. Bonita shifted her eyes to Aditya and his persistent and piercing gaze made her blush. She was reminded of a sentence she had read somewhere. "The soul that can speak through the eyes, can also kiss with a gaze".

"Time to dance my friends!!!" the voice of the DJ boomed over the speakers. The bright lights were switched off and the colorful and dim disco lights took their place. A few couples had moved onto the dance floor, which looked very inviting and exciting. Bonita could even see some of the couples get intimate on the dance floor, as the dim lights and the groovy music created a very romantic setting. She longed to be in the strong hands of Aditya and swing to the music. As if sensing her need, Aditya broke the ice and exclaimed "Alex, do you mind if I borrow your lovely wife for a dance? It is not everyday that I get to dance with a beautiful woman!" Alex was too busy with the food and nodded in approval. Moreover, Aditya was known as a perfect gentleman in the office and Alex felt at ease in allowing his wife to enjoy the party with him. Infact, Alex felt that he had to let her have a good time at the event. Husbands can be possessive but not obsessed with their partners that they don't allow them the space to have some time of their own.

Aditya stood up, went down on one knee and invited Bonita for the dance in a formal manner. The dim lights added to the effect and she was captivated by his sparkling eyes and the elegant demeanor. "Would you mind making my evening a memorable one by letting your beauty accompany me on the dance floor, my lady? If you do so, I will be honoured, Queen of the night!" Bonita was only happy to oblige this novel proposal and took his hand to proceed to the dance floor. Walking close to each other, his muscular shoulders rubbing against her skin was sending shivers down her body. The dance floor was set up a bit away from the dining area in order to avoid disturbing the gourmets.   She knew that Alex would not be able to see her without straining quite a bit. The wild woman in her fought hard with the puritan housewife and finally, the wife was knocked out cold. Bonita knew that it was now or maybe never and decided to enjoy this moment as long as it lasts. The moment they stepped into the dance floor, Aditya boldly put his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She put her head on his chest and they floated across the dance floor in tandem with the flowing music. The men's perfume that he used, made him all the more desirable. It is said that women have a much stronger sense of smell than men and Bonita was really skilled with her olfactory powers. She opened her nostrils wide and took a strong whiff of the masculine scent. Minutes seemed like hours and she just longed to be lost in his arms and dance onto eternity. She felt a sense of liberation and was feeling totally relaxed, after a pretty long time. Aditya was whispering sweet nothings in her ears and was slightly kissing her ear lobes.

"Thanks folks for your participation and we wish you a great time at the party! Enjoy!" the DJ announced the closure of the dance floor for the night. The disco lights were switched off for allowing the transition to the normal lighting. As Bonita strained her eyes to get accustomed to the pitch darkness, she felt Aditya's strong hands pulling her closer to him again. His fingers traced her lips in the dark and in a flash, the dry fingers were replaced with his wet lips. It happened so suddenly that she was surprised. But, the excitement was so overwhelming and she melted in this daring guy's arms and reciprocated with passion. The lights came back on and they had to separate unwillingly. Slowly, they returned to their seat, walking hand in hand, to join Alex. Bonita was blushing like a newly wed bride, but Alex was busy conversing with Aditya to notice it. Bonita took one of the napkins and jotted down in her characteristic handwriting, her mobile number on it.

"Hey sweety! I guess it is time for us to leave. Aditya, I will see you tomorrow in office., remarked Alex. Before they left, Bonita shook hands with Aditya and in the process, passed the folded napkin into his hands. As his hand accepted it, she noticed a naughty smile spread across his lips. As she walked back to their car with Alex, Bonita could not help turning back and have one final gaze at the stranger who made her feel like a woman after a long time. Aditya was expecting it and gave her a flying kiss, causing her to blush even more. As the car drove them back to their home, Bonita's mobile beeped, indicating the arrival of a new message in her inbox. The message was from an unknown number and said, "Check your handbag!" She understood it was from Aditya and hurriedly opened her handbag. Inside the handbag, was a neatly folded napkin. She opened it with trembling hands and read the message. "Call me, my black bird @ 9895…." She kept the napkin safely in her purse with a smile. Bonita realized that her life was going to change and that it was just one of the many meetings that she was about to have with this handsome stranger. Well, he was no longer a stranger!!! 

A Pen for Chaos...

Wandering expressions, sitting in a curve
Open ears, struggling to hear the voice
Stressed, confused, my pen goes on a journey
Without direction, on the white road of paper

The thin cylinder with colored fluid
Scribbling on, chaos in words
Thoughts wander off, somewhere
Where it is me, with myself

A world created from dreams
Reality? A strange term to me
Written words become friends
The pen becomes my accomplice

Is it a crime? Is it a mistake?
That I finally chose to be alone!!!