Empty classrooms & wooden benches

Empty classrooms and wooden benches,

Echoes of the busy college days.

Assignments, Internals and Lunch Boxes,

Never ending lectures and seemingly ceasing clocks,

Best friends, discipline and the beautiful hills,

The lunch breaks, broken hearts and exam days,

Football matches, cheering and winning days,

Ethnic day, saree and dhoti woes,

Competitions, dance and sport,

Attendance, funny accents and teaching flaws,

Sleepy eyes, wandering thoughts and big ears in the same line,

Projects, travelling and principal's room,

Pending work, lazy nights and a cosy mood,

Blossoming love, teasing friends and  shy feelings,

Teens to adults, topsy turvy phases,

Dreams to fulfill and career to follow,

Determination, destiny and evaluation shocks,

Away from home, friends cum family,

Late nite horror stories and a cup of coffee,

Sleeping in friend's room and a scared heart,

Room mate fights and early morning maggies,

Engineering degree and distinction,

Steel like will and emotion strays,

Empty classrooms and wooden benches,

Echoes of the busy college days.

Stuck admist the chicaneries of life,
trying to get a hold of myself,
I wish to look beyond the trivial woes,
I wish to recognise and embrace,
the bigger picture, the bigger Plan.

Bheeg gaya mora mann..

Taptapaati dhoop ke baad ki yeh baarish,
Kori dharti ko bheegoti hui yeh bunde,
Sune ped ki daaliyon par khilti hui pattiyaan,
Geeli mitti ki sondhi khushbu,
Baadalo ke peeche se jhankta hua suraj,
Satrangi doriyon ki sunder maala,
Aakash ka badalta hua rukh,
Tumhari muskurahaat..!

Ek din maine khuda se pucha,
 " kaun hai aapko zyaada pyaari, suraj ki roshni ya chaand ki chaandni?"
Khuda bole,
" kya kahun kaun hai muje zyaada pyaari,
                     ek hai Kaanha ki Radha aur duji Mira..Prem Deewani!" 

White birds flying back during sunset..

I had been to my favourite place for boating. Its a small lake. On one side of it, there is a walk way and the other side are lil houses slightly covered by the growing grass. It reminds me of my cherished dream of buying a house at the sea shore. There is something about water bodies that I love. The depth, the calm, the serenity, the ripples, the smell of moisture, the waves and their continuity, their sound. This place starts looking beautiful as the sun starts setting and  sky is covered by the pastel shades of orange, pink and purple.The diminishing peach coloured pie, the spreading colours of blush, the birds flying back, the fading light, the approaching darkness and the glittering moonlight. There seems to be a mystifying pattern in all of these.

The lil white birds flying in the sky look like pearls against the hues of the sky. I find a strange solace in seeing them. It makes me think that no matter where we are or what we are throughout the day, as the day comes to an end, our heart seeks a return to itself, to its origin, to its home. The return may vary in its context, it may be a return to one's own self- one's soulmate, one's betterhalf, to one's home where a mother eagerly awaits her lil ones, where a wife awaits her consort (or vive versa is possible too!!), return to a state, where one's true soul awaits freedom- freedom from the seriousness of work, freedom from the diplomacies of the world, politics, hypocrisy and responsibilities.  It may be a return to one's country where old parents curiously wait for their NRI kids..a return to our own land, our roots. The amazing way the birds coordinate their aerial movements to maintain the V shape making  it easier for the fellow birds to fly long distances easily, reminds me of the role of our loved ones in helping keep in  our V shape- mental, emotional as well as physical ( size zero inspires??)!!. Their help to keep us grounded, to keep us motivated, to keep us going, to keep us  in "Living" mode. Their efforts in our flight, their efforts in giving us our sky. Isn't it a wonderful pattern that we humans follow too! The perfect V shaped formation in our lives would be but incomplete without the sync between us and our loved ones..

I think now I know why I feel that "peace" when I see the lovely birds flying back. I love it because I can relate to them in many ways, because I love my sky, I love my flight, I love going back to myself after a day's work, I love my family and my loved ones who keep me in shape..I love it because I am a flying bird at heart!

My room

In the darkness of this passing night and the nostalgic dim light in my room,
here I sit surrounded by relics of different phases of my life..
My engineering books,
My poetry book with my teenage love poems,
A recipe book,
My favourite red bangles,
My dictionary,
My latest study material,
Floral pink and purple pencils,
My coloured hair bands mostly pink,
My old cell phone,
My new cell phone,
My old goals chart which stands still on the wall,
Winnie the pooh on my cupboard,
News paper marked for home search,
My Teddy bears,
The decoration ribbons on the walls of my room,
My laptop bag,
Old pink curtains and
Nostalgia..

This room has been my incubator..its here that I have slept with a glad smile on my face, its here that I have cried off to sleep, its here that we as a family have had the best of times, my birthday celebrations, late night talks, sleep overs with my best friends at home, my late night studies for the exams, exam nite phone calls, cramming, agony-sharing,  giggling, dancing, candle light moments, crazy dancing with my lil bro, my trasnformations, my encounters with life's bitter and sweetest truths, sibling sharing, moms lullabies, sleeping next to mom when unwell, my messy table, my greeting cards in the butterfly bag, my windchime...just everything..about it forms the sweetest treasure of memories..!
Love it and will miss it after I leave this home..and forever..