The many face of human race.....

To my fellow humans of Iraq....I cannot wipe away your suffering, I cannot kiss your wounds, I cannot taste the salt of your tears....all I have are empty words!

Tennyson had written....'There's not to reason why? there's but to do and die';
I refute!do you know why?
One who dares dictate to give up our lives,
has he ever touched a bee hive?
While he enjoys the sweet nectarine of honey,
Stashing slaves with the power of money.

While the unsung hero quietly undertakes his last journey,
The pangs of those sting, the hapless took,
No one cared a second look,
The lord master aimed a name in books.

Wake up brethren! do not follow;
Blindly do not march to the gallow.
Raise your voice, say enough!
Try!at least try for your own sake, to be tough.

There is only one Allah, he is the same God,with many names;
Listen to him, do not let these Shylock play dirty games.
We are all equal in this universe,
The only people to decide our fate, will be us.
Only us!

Ho Ho Ho!

The Santa and his Reindeer team.....

Mr Santa is getting ready,
What a long way he has to go,
But Rudolf has ran away with his lady,
Santa is fuming, Oh no!

The other 8 are on a strike,
They disliked Rudolph, who acted the hero,
Vixen who hated him most, took the mike,
Calling Rudolf a big zero!

Cupid was heart broken,
Because he loved the same lady,
But since he was so soft spoken,
He lost to Rudolf, who was speedy.

The happiest of the lot, Dasher and Dancer,
went back to make merry,
Joining them Comet and Prancer
All ate away Santa's cherry.

Standing next to Santa, Donner and Blitzen,
worked out strategies,
These two were only good citizen,
Who kept all their energies.

They formed a search party to look,
For the missing reindeer,
They wrote in the complaint book,
about Rudolf the red nosed and big ears.

Suddenly Rudolf realized his mistake,
this is no time to be here,
He rushed back to partake,
To spread the Christmas cheers!

Its all in the mind.....

What is happiness?asked the king,
Poets, bards, day and night,
took upon this task to find,
searched and fraught for the definition, right.

The king ordered the soldiers to march,
lands and sea near and far.....
To reward his majesty, with the correct answer!
It was like fighting the toughest war!

The nobles and mighty, the wise and fool,
all thought how to impress the king?
Each one spoke of riches and power,
but all had a very hollow ring.......

Finally each one resigned to a futile chase,
hung thier head in shame,
But quietly an old lady bent with age,
walked toward the alter, with answer to proclaim!

Oblivious to people around her,
whose jeers and snub she ignored,
She bore a look of content and cheer,
Stood sublime as the King roared!

''So you think you have the answer, my dame?
When all my mighty men failed?
Tell me what is happiness to you,
Or else the guards I hail.........

She gently raised her frail limb,
her voice was a quiver and grind,
Yet with utmost confidence, she voiced her words
''Happiness is just a state of mind!'' 12:23 pm (9 hours ago)

Pearls in a string........

Where was I when the walls around,
came crashing?I stood astound!
In the middle of tranquility,
died my humanity,
I stood dumb found,
looked at hands that were bound.

I was the puppet, who the puppet master,
used to the hilt and trashed in the cannister.
I had vision which lost the sight,
it was in a gory plight,
I realized how futile I was to administer.

Was that me who learned to speak,
the right from wrong, to stand by the weak?
Then why my voice feels strangulated?
My conscience so rusticated!
I succumb to Satan, in meek.

But as I sank and sank, I felt latent.
Suddenly the small child in me rose in potent;
Ready to shake me, make me rumble....
I solemnly vowed, refusing to tumble,
Standing sublime to equate the quotient.

I am ready to abide,
I am ready to stride,
I want to bring the heaven on earth!
Where there is no tear,
where rightful souls know not fear,
Where every mortal is surrounded with mirth.


We often miss the bus.....

One day I saw a new face in the crowd,
There was something in those eyes, that made me spell bound;
It was the 9 o clock local that every day I took,
She would be in the same train, reading her book.

Days passed with no exchange between us,
We got off the train and took different bus.
All of a sudden one fine day,
I did not see her in the usual way.

I waited and waited but time flew by,
I realized I missed her, I wondered why?
The regret of not making an effort to know,
Who is she, where she lives, where did she go?

Finally as time erases, I too forgot her,
I moved on in life and went away too far.
One fateful day, the headlines screamed of cowerdice,
It was the insane act of terror that the wayward human strike.

The innocent victims lay in pile, someone taking names,
There were waste of human life, what an act of shame.
Amisdt the list of lives, who will not breath ever,
I froze! it was the name less bright eyed girl, gone forever.......

Nandigram.......postmortem!

This is dedicated to those who showed spurious humanity over the RED Atrocity in the hapless Nandigram.

I leave this space blank,
come!I beseech you to fill up the emptiness,
Write down the crimes in order of rank,
Dont forget to mention who reaped the largess?

Was it the red green or blue,
how does it matter they all are hue.
Yes I want to ask you,
All of you who are who's who!!

Has the marching led you to the place,
where the sufferers seeking solace?
Do you know whats their need?
I wish you found out indeed!

Nandigram.....My placid feelings.

Funny that Iskinder Mirza the trampled to death president of Pakistan had made the statement: "Democracy without education is hypocracy without limitation." Somehow this statement has taunted my sensibilities quite often. When I think of this, alongside vacillates another original quote from the deceased Mr Clean Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He said we may have literates but not enough educated.
How ironically these statements applies to certain section of people. Particularly of Bengal, who loves to be political for the heck of it. Every Mashima, kakababu, Laltu and Jyotsna consider themselves qualified enough to use expletives against their choicest political leader.
Aristotle Rousseu Voltaire or even Marx or Lenin may turn in their graves if their wandering spirits get caught in the storm raised by these people,over tea cups!
I have often wondered about my political inclination towards the left.....other than my elective of political science, I consider myself pretty ignorant to talk about 'ISMS'. However after analysing the principles and doctrines the political parties in India follows, I kind of decided to cast my vote to those who took up the cause affecting the exploited people.
In my formative years when I visited my maternal relatives in the then Calcutta, I use to feel sad that a city of such grandoise was declining toward decadence.....I silently heard the Calcuttan relatives hurling abuse toward the legendery politico duo Promod Dasgupta and the then CM Mr Jyoti Basu. I tried more and more to find out about them.
Its at that juncture. I came to know how news are made and sold!! It saddened me a lot to know that scribes who are exponent of the proverb 'pen is mightier than sword' caboodled the herd mentality populace, who read whatever was fed to them. Freedom of press was nothing but a misused medium.
The so called public swallowed what was served them on a platter...........(this tradition is still continuing)
The most recent case is this burning Nandigram. Suddenly a section of the society woke up to the atrocities of the ruling party, which begun almost a year ago.
Everyone is desecrating the soft spoken suave CM, whose emotions are conspicuously known to be above his politics. The All India press calls him 'Bhadrolok' for nothing.
If he is the perpetrater of the heinous crime, how many are aware of the initiator? Everyone is suppossedly equal in the eyes of law........but here the lawmaker is non other than the jaundiced press. So CPM and Budhdho Babu is receiving the flak. My question to all those intellectuals who are enlightening the mass with their provocative opinions, have they personally visited the gory fields of Nandigram to enquire the root cause of their predicament?
Its often said no one is indispensible.........but right now I am sure Budhdhodeb is missing the Chanakya of his team. Had the cool and composed Mr Anil Biswas been alive, Nandigram would never ever had become a political pawn. My heart goes out to the poor poor victims who helplessly got ensnared in a political mesh. What has happened cannot be undone. Buddhodeb has a mammoth task of scouring the blood stains on his spotless white 'Dhuti Punjabi'....
But most importantly the troubled people of Nandigram would replay the lines for the coming days...........''Aadim hingosro manobothar aami jodi keu hoi,
sojon harano chithaye aami tader tulboi''.

My silent tribute to the sufferers.

The psychological isolation......

The world around me is getting wierder. I am not denying that my views often have shades of cynicism. But you can blame this cause of weakness, due to the coffee cup philosopher, I love to be.
This is chapter two of the Multifarious Desis.
Over the following months, there began an influx of Indians who buzzed around the campus.
From the foothills of Jammu to the Malabar coast....there's a perfect representation of the son of these soils in the mighty America.
Now adaptibility is highly relative and very very individualistic. Some tried very hard(totally uncalled for)to adapt the Yankee accent, and where?In their answering machine!!
Its a different story that these guys ended up pronuncing Jalapenos literraly instead of silently replacing the J with Y!!
Now the good samaritan may raise their voice against me about the Queen's lingo and the disadvantaged vernacular medium educated Indians.....agreed, but why the pretence?
The Mexican populace here do not unabashedly ape to converse in English. They are proud of their Spanish tongue. So much so that now the Americans have started honing their skill over this language nationwide.
So coming back to the country cousins........speak the language as you know. The chances of being laughed upon will be far less than an unnecessary pretence.
The second eye sore is the sense of dressing. Thankfully this scanty clothed country is completely bohemian as far as style and fashion goes. But coming from the country that boasts of world's most beautiful women(Aishwariya, Sushmita, Priyanka, Lara etc)they can score slighty better. But no! Shapeless Tees, pitless Bottoms......what more? The 'bindi'!! As if thats the only proof these 'sisters' have to show their love and devotion to their lord husband!
Give me a break.
While I am no HOTBOD beauty contest winner myself, but atleast I ensure that I am not accused of committing a fashion harakiri!
Then there are those lords and ladies who go all out to over take the other in the rat race of ''talking'' of dollar squandering. You will find them hoarding the WALMART grocery bag, but they love to talk about their frequent visits to TARGET or KROGER.
Ofcourse there are outright honest humans too who never shied of stating that they are here to accumulate as much dollar and sacrificed all their cravings of wining dining or fine clothing.
This honesty is laudable.
Now the problem is that I am completely trapped in a gyre of confusion.
Psychologically I am vascillating between the two poles. I like to dine and follow the fashion fiesta and do not shy from throwing caution to the wind as far as spending goes. But when I hear about the thrifties enmassing their welth back home, I vow to live the life of ragbag!
But ofcourse there is not a single frugal bone in me, so dollars go back to where they belong. Back to the American stores.

To be continued.........

The Black Diamond......

Everwhere the commercials scream
'Diamonds are girls best friends.......'
The rich people have their own choice of stones,
The long list never ends!

Somelikes it white, some likes red,
Each one begs to differ.....
Each one argues over the glitz,
of ruby, emerald and sapphire.

The rich and famous and now even middle class,
in parties, at work, they donne.
Each shows off their largess,
by flaunting these dazzly stones!

But down the mines, those ragged limbs,
toll day and night
The glitzy stones to them is fantasy,
which shines in distant bright.

The heat burns their boney torsos,
sweat washes their spine,
The incessant digging fraught with risk,
What a hard life? oh God divine?

But when the winter drops it curtain,
of white and wetty snow,
rich, poor all alike,
takes the savage blow.

Whats the use of fancy diamonds,
which leaves their purses toll
My poor miners are better off,
they have the warmth of coal.

While these burdened soul may not,
ever afford diamnond half or whole,
But they have the blessed black diamond,
the mineral named coal!!

The unseen friend.

I had to write about this.........even before I completed my story about the country cousins(The Multifarious Desis).

I met her virtually.......in the cyberworld. She hails from a small town with royal bearing; The slightly remote part of Bengal. But its also the hometown of Princess May, now the Queen Mother of another royal city, where my prince hails.
Now, in my literal melodrama, I was almost swaying from the subject. This is the story about a friend and no royalties blah blah!
Bantering with words, we quite accidentally met, I think its me who made the first move. But before the moon completed all its phases, I developed an affinity, followed by fondness. I realized, I looked forward to chat with her, exchange itsy bitsy daily happennings, and most importantly she could wipe my blues away.
I discovered her talents......her academic achievements, her brilliance with needle and thread, her art with the wax and her passion for poetry.
Now its the last one that deserves a special mentioning.........what began as a sport, opened a new vista!
She coaxed me to contribute in her new sport of rhyming and I begged my disability in that field.
She persisted in her quiet manner and I thought what the heck, its just a game. There's not to reason why not?? I took the plunge quite playfully. It almost consumed me. So much so that I
pushed aside my chores and donned my thinking cap and started scribbling on any bits of paper floating across the house.
The first poem that I wrote is laced with privacy. So its safe only on the sheet of paper which has scribbles of crayons, my son's artwork and few hasty scribbles of telephone numbers beside some tea stains.
Its the second one which is ordinary in literary sense, but the feelings behind is very very deep.
Its a double tribute.......the 1st one to my friend who inspired me and the second one to the subject itself. Having grown up in the mining town of Dhanbad, the city has a very special place in my heart. It always will be.
But most importantly my friend you have carved an extra special place in my heart!
Until we meet......
Till then,
with much love,
Yours truly!

PS:CIRCA 2008(MARCH)
The new year brought dramatic revelation.It rewrote the definition of friendship.
But amidst the poignancy, I would like to quote from my favorite, Kahlil Gibran...."And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't,they never were."

The multifarious desis!

India Rising, India Shining! The rise and shine effect have reached the various shores across the globe where technology is The mantra.....Starting with the US which has always been the Eldorado for not only the browns, blacks, yellow but whites too.

Setting sail in one such boat, we reached Uncle Sam's country and witnessed the very own Indian rising shining effect.....when I reached the apartment which my husband had tastefully done up waiting for me to step in, it was the spring season.

Allergens awaited us, a state of silence (all through day and night)welcomed me. The best was yet to come.The shock! Not having a maid to wait upon!

The biggest luxury back home is a maid who depending upon your contract does practically everything that you want her to do!Something that an average American can never imagine!!

Notwithstanding all the cons, I tried hard to highlight the 'pros'to myself !

I searched for the browns......readers dont jump to conclusions about my color fictation! I am sure every human in an alien environment undergoes the same syndrome.

A couple of browns occassionally bumped upon brought a radiant smile on my forlorn face. But what did I get in return? disdainful looks.....a look which said oh no one more!!

In contrast the other colors were friendly!

By the end of spring, there were an influx of various shades of brown. The day of that discovery is so vivid in my mind. A new chapter began.........that what was to tutor me about my compatriots in literal sense.

The Downpour

When the heart is tumultuous, its always best to open the floodgates. I never shy from doing this;and where? To the only person who absorbs it all. Mother.
Often we wonder what is God's greatest creation? Of late I narrowed it down to two. One parents, two children.
While weighing the two I have arrived at my very own inference.....it is the Parents. They win handsdown.
And yet how much do we value this priceless possessions? Now readers of this post have I opened another floodgate?
The weather outside is a reflection of my present mind. The flash of lightening represents hope.
The thunders are announcing the pile of work thats awating .......its a jolt.
The downpour is symbolic to the washing that is much needed......its washing the dishes, self, heart and soul........

In continuation..........

Today he and I had a healthy arguement.....on what?
About serendipity!!Ahem! For a change it was an arguement about intellect and not the mundane daily life.
I was in favor of the motion........stating that our life together has been serendipitious. He couldn't agree less!!
Before I could validate my statement, with the facts, our son dampened the fire!It was time to attend to his demands of searching his much needed car of the moment. After I thought I complied to his demand, was just about to resume the arguement, a second demand arose.....the second car of the moment!
Serendipity remained burried in the hearts.

The dark side of diaspora

Well, like the proverbial pendulam, I or rather my ''mood'' swung and I erased the work of wisdom.....those were the testing times where turbulence engulfed me. So the writings on the blog were my brooding thoughts. So when sanity returned, I wiped them out and now I regret!
Who can say that someday it would not have taken me to the podium where I would read out the innumerable thankyous while being bestowed some literary award?
So Soma.........you are back to the life of being the faceless nameless!
Duh!!