Summer Encounters

                  -1-                                                                      
 I was returning and I noticed him carrying a bundle of cabbage leaves on a bicycle. The bundle was huge enough to attract attention. People collect such discarded items for their cattle...I thought and pushed forward. The heat was too much. After turning the corner that leads to my house, I noticed the same man again. This time he was trying to hang the huge bundle from the cycle handle with little success. He was old. May be nearing sixty. The labour caused his shoulder and back muscles to pull and tear at places. He was making hard effort. Suddenly I was reminded of the way I walk every weekend carrying heavy bags on both sides. It hurts and there is nobody to share the burden.

I could not have gone and helped him.  The idea looked odd somehow .He was in a lungi and crumpled shirt . I only stood at the gate and watched, until he had been able to complete his task. He went away satisfied. I came away satisfied that I lent my spirit to him during the process of lifting. 

                                    -2-

Travelling by bus in summer can be both pleasant and unpleasant. With foolishly romantic people like me, the hot air entering through the gaping windows of an ordinary bus opens up pages from the long lost years, childhood, some villages and mad escapades with neighbourhood friends and the seeming discomfort turns into a strange comfort which is inexplicable. 

The bus I got into was fifteen minutes due to leave for my hometown. The vehicle was rather empty except back seat passengers. A little later a thin fair girl with a sharp yet pleasant face entered. "Is it already time for the bus to leave?" , she asked. I nodded in affirmative and wanted to know if she wanted something. She wanted to get down and buy cold drinks but chose otherwise when the driver appeared in his seat. I took out my water bottle and offered her which she returned after almost emptying. Just then a lady, probably in her fifties, entered and stood near us. We were comfortably seated and the window seat was vacant. She made no effort to reach that seat and kept looking at us. She had a fair and pretty face. "Will you push to that side a little?" She asked. "I have to get down on the way."I said. I had no intention of getting up from that seat. First of all, I enjoyed sitting close to the entrance with the plenty of light and the breeze getting in. Besides, I had to get down half way through the route of the bus and I knew how uncomfortable it was to push past passengers and come out when the stoppage was reached. The lady was quite healthy and she had no reason to expect our seat wnd salhen she had arrived late. She looked confused and unhappy and looked at the thin girl. " Move a little",she told her in a rueful voice. The girl looked at her for a while and got up to the window seat. The lady looked more disappointed and pushed by my side to settle down. She was clutching at her bag and polythene. 

"Shall I put your bag in the overhead luggage space? You will feel comfortable. " I asked sensing her discomfort. " No, no, I am okay, you sit comfortably. " she told in an angry voice. I understood that she had wanted to take my seat. I fell silent. Three miles into the outskirts of the city, vendors entered the bus when it stopped to pick up stray passengers. I bought peeled and spiced cucumbers. Four were there in the polythene. Whenever I buy such things, I offer to fellow passengers as I cannot eat four of them alone. When I offered the lady one, she furiously protested and refused. When I offered the girl one, she readily took the smallest one and went back to the song playing in her smartphone. I offered the lady a second time. This time, she hesitated for a moment and picked up one. I  finished mine while watching them eat from the corner of my eye and sat back relieved. The lady looked calm now. 

The conductor stretched his hand to take the empty polythene and offered me water to wash my hands. I sat back and closed my eyes.

Love is the solution to all sorts of discontentment. The warm wind whispered beating against my face . I hated myself  for feeling self-satisfied. When will I learn to be purely selfless and modest? I reprimanded myself. All was well with the world while the sun burned with its innate fury outside.

PK and Other Such Stories

Happened to watch Amir Khan's latest fil PK at home. The movie is different. Intelligently written, it tried to expose the hypocrisy behind using religion as a tool to exploit god-fearing Indian mass.The film is not only enjoyable but also comes with a strong message. 

Films like Happy New Year, Action Jackson and Happy ending etc entertain the mass without having any touch with reality and logic. Intelligent thinking takes a back seat. Mindless stories and melodrama are the highlights with sex and violence thrown in according to requirement. They carry the young mass to a world of fantasy and often misguide them.

Amir khan films are way apart in screenplay and treatment.  Watch Tare Zameen Per. It propels you to think and keeps haunting the mind for a good number of days. Not only that, it finds a way to deal with a problem or an issue that affects the mass. A film replete with sex, violence, music and dance may humour people for a few hours, but a film addressing a real problem is a path-breaker. 
The directors, the producers and the actors who join hands to churn out such a product that makes us sit and think, stirs our hearts and brings tears to our eyes is a service to mankind. God bless such daredevil souls who take a risk and stand for a cause.

Play and Replay

An uneasy silence
inches forward, with advancing claws,
towards the afternoons, mornings and nights,
The music is withdrawing the season of  flowers
from the breast of the long hours.

Familiar streets had become 
bouncing spring paths,
they will turn familiar again,
who knows,
The heat will burn the back and 
friendly voices will not be able to give a shade.

These deaths are familiar
but dying is a new pain,
The darkness that it brings will last till next rains,
or next summer
when again the eyes will look into the pit of the long day
and would see from a distance
and mumble,
one day the whole unfolding again and again,
will end,
and with it, the births and the deaths.
Till the days linger 
and drag around incomprehensible truths
and unwinding webs of events
slow and exhausting, 
Go and sit by the water hole, 
and look at the reflection of the floating clouds
and hear the meaningless yet engaging cacophony 
of birds.

Earth, our Mother, a Safer Place in to be

                                                       

The clouds had appeared

and we waited for rain, but not a drop fell,

The shoot and dust on the leaves

grew thicker and the air heavier

with emissions.

They cut the beautiful Neem tree the other day

Where the man in a soiled turban sold

sugar cane juice and chit-chatted with

the boy with a cartful of bananas.

The roads are wider now and smoother

The sun’s rays fall and bounce back to the lives

that move or run on them.

The trees are gone, all of them, with nowhere to stand

and to wait for departures and arrivals.

The other day, the hills in my city were in blaze

Some men started a fire for something,

and it killed so many trees and animals

and spoiled the homes of the birds and

the smaller beings.

The river in your village is running dry,

But in rain also we caught wrappers, bottles,

Plastic and dead fish in those dark and dirty waters

And choked on the thick effluents

That the plant nearby put into it

day after day.

The papers are telling

that we will start dying sooner

Or be diseased of this air, this heat,

this water and these poisons we let

into all the good things God had made.

Should we not then

Be done with ruining things!

And make as many trees from earth,

As much water from rain

And put the plastics into recycle bin?

Sure it makes us stronger,

Can’t we walk to the nearby shop

and cycle down the road to school?

With the breeze singing in our wings

and our hearts on a roll?

Let’s make the trees invite rain

And the blades of grass dream of dew drops

Let the green hills block the path of clouds

And let the rivers carry pure water

and make the good crops.

Let our skies be free of spirals

Of smoke our air poison free

Let’s make our earth, our mother

A safer place in to be.

 

Darkness and Light

Eyes fell on the huge building,
abandoned , dark and deserted,
I was reminded that it was just like my inside, 
empty and lonesome,
dark with pain,

contemplating apparent departures

self-imposed loneliness,
and the after-life in that hitherto 
brightly lit chamber,
vacated by someone dear,

As I looked at the coconut trees beyond 
green and swaying,
I realized that I will have to 
open the doors and windows and welcome 
the sun,
instead of dying of imaginary loss.
Someone has recently taught me to smile
and I will have to give it back 
until I am spent.

I will have to hold onto truths besides,
and wade in the restless waters
until the lies lose their shimmer and
vanish into the murky depths of the parallel 
world, of age-old lies and
handfuls of dirt. 

The Last Retreat

How many deaths are needed 
for a distraught heart to give in at last
and give up.
Only this time the songs will be  allowed to play.

Later they will 
fill the air of the brightly or softly lit room
The sound waves
bouncing around without expecting any
arrivals or departures.

Songs have their own existence,
Don't they?

Everytime the bricks were pushed 
right into their place,
A reverse wind displaced some,
The wall could never be built,
despite the sweat and the turmoil.

Wall are needed
to be dimounted later,
so that the moonlight will fall
and will carry the contended souls on its wings,
to the purple paradise 
of eternal mirth.

This is the last time
Someone stands under the canopy of trees
and waits for a call,
to hold an outstretched hand,
Until night deepens, the eyes will search 
through the leaves,
waiting for a distant glimmer,
Then the waiting feet will
retreat, into the old haven, to fall asleep
until the new sun rose
and new wings opened.

 

 

Eternal Rain

It's already so dark outside
I think you have come down heavily,
I can hear your coarse voice
A chorus of the earth and the heaven.

Wait a while,
I have not yet pulled out the clothes from the line,
Not given medicine to father
Not finished cooking,
The dogs stand close to the wall
Waiting for their quota 
Of chapatis.

I will take sometime
to be with you,
But I am full of your fragrance,
Your music
While running errands.

Bouncing feet moves to your pace,
Inside the walls, the closed eyes
Could still see your splendour,
and smell your presence.

You live in me forever,
Coming out on and off in the
Season and  when the Earth's 
breath is shallow
and the sea goes insane.

Wait a while only,
I will find a place close enough
to embrace you,
and drape your fall all over me
and be one
with you, the breeze and 
the earth.