Sunday, March 27, 2016

Music Of The Cosmos



I have been to the moon
where ducks still quack
the music of the cosmos
adorn my rack
galaxies collide
and stars do crack
this music of the cosmos
our ears now lack

waves meet the skies
and sun runs back
the music of the cosmos
higher up the stack
dreamers will dream
and chasers have the knack
this music of the cosmos
adorn my rack


This Poem is shared with





Friday, March 18, 2016

Torn In Half

(Image Source: http://www.hercampus.com)


"have you lost your mind"
she threw away the roses
his heart torn in half


This Haiku is shared with




Saturday, March 12, 2016

Thus, I Kiss Your Letter



I will kiss your letter
and post it in the box
then wait for it to come back
and re-read on the rocks

the pen that you once held
to script a fairy tale
now lies dumped somewhere
love, we simply failed

I was once your queen of hearts
you bestowed on me gifts galore
was that night our swansong
morning you left me far ashore

how could I leave you thus
your fragrance on my lips
am I wrong to think this way
you sealed betrayal with a kiss

no more letters from you
nor any words of hope
I now treasure the words of yore
those mails, my only dope

and thus, I kiss your letter
and post it in the box
then wait for it to come back
and re-read on the rocks


This Poem is shared with




Friday, March 11, 2016

Share The Load! Today! Now!

I have known families, happy families, where love and care exist. I have come across families, again, happy ones, where every member pays respect to the other. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, joint families and nuclear families, it’s always great to see the bond strengthening between all the members with the passage of time. And when we belong to a happy family like this, we feel blessed, disregarding the one small point that we have learnt to ignore all our lives – gender prejudices, which is gradually overpowering the sense and sensibilities of the future generations.

If cooking was just a woman’s job, every chef in the world would have been ladies. Talking of chefs, the first name that sprouts in every Indian’s mind is that of Sanjeev Kapoor. What if he too, like so many others, had considered cooking not to be a man’s job?

Prejudices are like dry cough. They may seem trivial at first, but once they infest your chest, imbibing deep within you, you realize the seriousness of it all. You need a doctor if you let the cough breed inside you. Who will rescue you if you are struck by this sickness of banal prejudices?

Another major role that is entrusted to the women is laundry. Keep the dirty clothes aside, the ladies of the house will wash it – that’s the general perception of most households. No one bats an eyelid, the reason being that it is considered as an undeclared rule.  Cleaning clothes and other household chores are mainly reserved for mothers, sisters and wives. No, they never complain, and it’s not that they feel bad about it, which again attributes to the fact that we have taken it all for granted since time immemorial. However, work is work, and they too feel the load of it, even though they never say anything, and always fulfil the tasks of the home with a smile.

But what if men start sharing the load? What if household chores are no longer a woman’s responsibility, but every member of the family does his and her bit? What if we learn to shed our prejudices, and stop labelling work in terms of gender?

I have seen my parents perform several household chores together, whether it is cooking, or laundry, or anything else that pertains to the well being of our family. I would say I am fortunate enough to have witnessed something like this from my childhood, instilling a belief naturally in me that the men and women of the house should equally divide the work among them. Laundry is by no means an easy job. Whether you are washing the clothes by hand, or through a washing machine, you have to invest a lot of energy and time. The post-washing activity of putting the clothes to dry is also tiring. And then, don’t forget the ironing part.

We need change, not drastic, but impactful. We, the men, have to learn to not just #ShareTheLoad, but also feel mighty proud about it. Only then can Gen Next move to a progressive level of maturity, getting rid of faulty preconceived notions and steer towards a better tomorrow. If women today are performing every task in the world, irrespective of their gender, then why are household chores still tagged to them?

It’s time to alter our thoughts. This is the time to #ShareTheLoad. Today. Now.





I am joining the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign at BlogAdda and blogging about the prejudice related to household chores being passed on to the next generation.



Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Onion

(Image Source: http://www.pitara.com)


even Hercules
would have wept and cried, peeling
a red onion


This Haiku is shared with




Sunday, March 06, 2016

That Vacation

Distance makes love stronger, and comes with its share of memories.

We met each other, and something clicked the instant we started our formal conversation of ‘what are your hobbies’ and the likes. Soon after, we were engaged to live forever, and eventually married. However, the distance remained. While I was residing in Gurgaon, she still had to get transfer from her job in her hometown, Bhagalpur, and thus we counted days, hours, months.

Phone-calls started growing longer, and also the urge to see each other again. We were together for about a couple of weeks after our marriage, before we said goodbye to join our respective workplaces. While I was fumbling among the codes in my IT job, missing her every moment, she was counting cash in her bank, waiting for time to pass quickly.

And in times like this, what kept us going were our memories – the beautiful week we had spent in Kerala right after our marriage, our honeymoon and our first holiday together.

There are few things in life that can be compared to the joy of your first holiday with your beloved. Far away from the mad hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we had decided to spend our honeymoon in the relaxing ambiance of Kerala. We swirled through the city of Kochi, lost ourselves in the green mountains of Munnar, and discovered eternal bliss in the serene backwaters of Alleppey.

We visited beautiful locales in the mornings, savouring the fresh aroma of the places. We went to flower gardens, amusement parks, and also enjoyed camel and elephant rides. We tried out different dishes, from the ethnic Kerala delicacies to the other culinary delights that we could find in restaurants, and had our tummies and hearts full. We talked, and laughed, and had the best of times.

On evenings, we used to sit in our hotel balcony, and watch the orange sun slowly going down behind the greenish mountains of Munnar. It was a sight to behold, an experience that we can never forget. However, it was soon time for our return, and the impending distance that would once again crop between us due to our jobs in different cities. We knew that this separation would be just for a short period of time, and within a few months she would get her transfer and join me. Until then, we relished the memories, going back to the wonderful holiday we had, and the amazing time we spent with each other, cherishing each moment of our love vacation.

Thanks to HDFC Life for helping me in creating a scrapbook with memories of my holidays with my beloved: https://memories.hdfclife.com/message/OF1jYAwL7MSMbsEVWnflQQ==


Share your #MemoriesForLife like I’ve done at BlogAdda for HDFC Life.






Thursday, March 03, 2016

Secrets The Ocean Hides

(Image Source: http://www.adashofsunny.com)





she had been to the ocean once
to shed her tears and cry
the goodbye was as bad as 'Bad'
oh why did he leave her, why?

his birthday just a week away
she gifted him sole betrayal
this ocean did drown him in lies
he lost himself being loyal


This Poem is shared with