Month: April 2020

Himalayas turns alive
seen from Jalandhar
hundred miles away.

The Ganges flows gentle
carries no waste, dead bodies
water becomes fit for drinking.

The residents of Delhi
feel free to breathe,
the sky looks clear.

Roads in Mumbai
resume their stateliness
the city is back to glory.

So does Chennai
its beach restores the
lost grace.

The garden city
Bangalore smiles
through the fresh blossom.

Historic cities, Mysore
and Madurai remain calm
without celebrations.

India’s bustle has subsided.
The teeming population
stays home.

Nothing could have
brought such regimental
order other than the virus.

A renewed India
will emerge, an enchanting
resplendence would enliven,

It is graceful to witness
the marriage of two
individuals. A milestone
in their life, one of rejoice.

Weddings expose a glamour
The talk focuses not on the merits
but revolves on how many gathered?
how were the arrangements?

which goes on for days
the feelings of the wedded
remain unseen, the event
is eulogized.

The ostentation robs
the sanctity. How many
in the crowd have a good
heart? Difficult to answer.

A display of wealth a
show of status
marks the occasion. Weddings
turn a disenchanted illusion.

(The seventh one on “Social Distancing” )

Call it not discrimination
the distance between the genders
maintained with a strictness,
how we were brought up way back
in the early sixties.

Never it was gender bias, a feeling
lenience can bring chaos.
Boys and girls received
equal opportunities. Most
made the best use of them.

Challenges were met with caliber
Girls turned to be diligent, boys,
boisterous as they are, worked
with less interest. In the final
rounds both vied with each other.

The distinction took an exit
when the matured players
exchanged views,worked
united. One perceives
wisdom in the brought up.

There was no messing.
Everything was clear.
Discipline was precise,
comprehension was ultimate,
the extensions led to success.

Sixth in the series ” Social Distancing”

Flying to places,
turns a social symbol.

choosing a place for honeymoon
where it is all exotic,

another one for holidays,
a region with attractions,

pursuing higher studies
in reputed universities,

settling down with jobs
highly remunerative,

frequency of visits
for commercial transactions.

the stay in hotels,
spending time in pools,

partaking unfamiliar food,
delicacies of those places,

a put up with weather,
mercury at the peak,

else temperature below freezing,
unknowingly casts an affliction,

more or less life threatening,
an epidemic or pandemic spreads,

Most succumb to this extravagance,
heralding a disaster

that of an unknown morbidity
leading to mortality.

( Fifth one in the series ” Social Distancing”)

With folded hands
held near the heart, I greet
those who come home.
A gesture where warmth,
love and respect exude.

I offer a glass of plain water,
notifying the guess their presence
has a special significance, one
as essential as water, significant
of honour.

Engaging in conversation,
in between the discussion
I serve the visitors
with snacks and beverages
an act of hospitality.

Such is my tendency,
where physical contact
hand shake, embrace, hug
find no place. To me
solicitations are akin to worship.

( The fourth one in the series ” Social Distancing”)

The entrances to an house,
big or small being from all directions,
the one in the porch with platforms
on either side, a place of reception,
opens out for men.

The women go through
the side which is as big
as the main, with a patio,
in the chambers they enjoy their privacy
meet the relations and friends.

The back door serves as a way
to the cooks, maids, staff
who engage in chores,converse,
rest after work.The other doorway
remains closed most of the time .

This exit opens during celebrations
and other engagements, a procedure
one of a taciturn understanding
followed with discipline.
Emphasizing social distancing
self enforced limitation.

( The third in the series of Social Distancing)

on ten acres
has a sprawling garden
with lawns punctuated
by flower beds, variety of trees
from coconut to neem,
mango to gooseberry,
hundreds of species
birds, rodents, co exist
with Sharada’s family.

It is like a mini kingdom
dark and deep in places,
bright and sunny in the remaining
the singing of birds invigorates,
the chatter of the monkeys enlivens,
the squeak of the rodents enthuses
an orchestral abundance
rhythmic to the lovers of Nature,
discordant to others uninterested.

This house gives way
to the modern concepts
high rise buildings, commercial
and residential come up. An artificial
scenario usurps, Nature recedes.
The serenity turns into a buzz,
transactions hitherto unknown
spread their wings, isolation
becomes a congestion.

( Second in the series ” Social Distancing”)

Saroja knocks the backdoor.
early in the morning,

With a vegetable basket
in her head

greets with a smile,
I help her to unload.

Small sized brinjals,
long snake gourd,

glittering green spinach,
tender lady’s finger,

robust carrots, dark beetroots,
slices of pumpkins,yellow capsicums.

she picks the best from the market,
from them she offers the better

gulps the hot coffee I give,
shoves the money into her pouch

walks fast to meet the next customer
with the same liveliness.

The familiarity which we both have
does not stop there,

goes beyond, a bondage
I am unable to explain.

It is a kind of purchase
we adopted some 40 years back,

a reliance, a friendliness,
simple and intimate.

distancing ourselves from the crowd.
promoting entrepreneurship.

( A poem recalling how things were four decades ago. This is the first

of the many poems in this series of “Social Distancing”, an epithet heard every day in recent times)

The sky is clear,
air is free,
rivers are blue,
earth is still
animals roam
birds chirp,
man is scared.

A drive not too far
turns bumpy.

The potholes, the turns,
make it cumbersome.

The toss on the speed breakers
the jolt near the barricades

cause muscular spasm
and abdominal discomfort,

the short one, a few hundred miles
filled with ups and downs,

makes one exhausted
expecting the destination,

that of life comprising a span
of less than hundred years

we go through pangs
of pleasant and terrible

experiences unnerving
our spirit.

World goes on without
any pause.