Mother Nature: Intriguing, Surprising, Fascinating

Oh, did you know, did you know

How beautiful Mother Nature is?

With a blue box-shaped jelly fish,

watching which, is simply a bliss?

With a mind controlling fungus

And a giant bird eating spider,

This world of wonders,

Just grew wider!

There’s also the Devil’s Worm,

That is the deepest living organism on Earth.

And the giant blue scorpion

Ready to snap at you in mirth.

Ever heard of a Night-Blooming Orchid

That works quite opposite to the sunflower?

It blooms after 10 p.m.

And closes in the wee hour!

How about the Spongebob Squarepants Mushroom

That is just so scant?

Or the beautiful Walking Cactus

And the invertebrate-eating ant?

Fascinating and intriguing,

Isn’t Mother Nature?

With so much to discover,

So much for the eye to capture!

A Penny

A penny I saw abandoned on my path,

A penny of no worth to me.

The penny I walked past without a second glance

But doubled up at a scream of glee.

I wheeled around in my spot

On hearing a little girl’s delighted cry

And my eyes were wide in surprise

For the valueless penny was the reason why.

Her eyes gleaming, her hands trembling,

She snatched it from the ground.

And, sprinted to her little brother

Teaching a lesson without uttering a sound.

Appreciate your possessions.

Trivial though they may seem.

For in the eyes of another, they are the world.

Cherish them, adore, esteem!

Appreciate.

Days become months

And months make years.

We go down memory lane

And cheeks flood with tears.

Happy days come and go

As do the sad.

Everyone has ‘em all –

The best, the meridian and bad.

Blinking tears away

As we look back now,

We wonder why we lost it all

What went wrong and how.

Never take anyone for granted

Or pay you will, one day.

You may have hundreds now.

But you’ll stand alone on D-day.

Youth: Messed up or Misunderstood?

“Aaj kal ke bachche bhi na!!”, “Kids these days, I tell you!”  And that disgusted expression.

Only the other day, I was in the supermarket quietly looking through stuff when an old man passed me, turned around to look at me as if I had sworn at him and muttered to his wife, “Kids these days are so spoilt! Their parents should be blamed for buying them such expensive cell phones while they are still in school.”

I looked up. He had noticed my cell phone. I shut my eyes tight for a nanosecond to stop myself from saying what was going through in my head and smiled pseudo-sweetly at him. Then I very politely said, “I am not a school kid, sir. I am a post-graduation ‘kid’. Also, my parents don’t spoil me by buying me things. I spoil myself because I earn. AND, I pay my own college fees.” I so wanted to mouth, “Problem?” in the end but I managed to keep it to myself. I swear I would not have retorted had he kept my parents out of it.

He stared at me as if I punched him in the face and I simply walked away with one final smile.

This is the problem everywhere and with everything we do or say. Why is the train of thought about youth today so messed up? Okay, we know how to use a cell phone at an age when you didn’t even know what a landline was. But is that really our fault? Aren’t you the ones who taught us to stay on par with the changing world? Now that we are, there’s a problem?

So what if when you were kids, you listened to your parents? We sure as hell listen to our parents too. The only difference is that we have the guts to voice our opinions. You never spoke a word in your time and that is why most of you were forced to study subjects you didn’t even like. We know what we want today and we want to pursue it. Most of you even regret not telling your elders what you want to be in life. Now is it bad that we refuse to be the same puppets? Agreed that we can be very rash at times but that does not give anyone the right to misjudge us so brutally.

Yes, I agree hands down that some of us are indeed messed up, indeed spoilt and have no values whatsoever towards elders, family and even friends. But are you telling me that your whole generation was whitewashed with purity? That none in your generation were spoilt? To which generation did Osama Bin Laden belong to again?

Most of us see our parents work in a 9 to 5 job that they absolutely hate just because they ‘respected’ their parents too much to tell them what they wanted. We don’t want to end up like that. We want to work in a profession that we love so that we don’t quietly blame our parents for ruining our lives forever. That does not mean we disrespect our parents at any level. Most couples live together today because they are married and not because they are happy. The relationship stays intact just because they are now parents and the damn society will talk in their backs. We don’t want that. We want to marry someone we love so that we live together because we want to and not because we have to. We DON’T care what the society thinks of us. Is that so bad?

We may make decisions in haste but that is why we always look for our parents’ approval. I know a big handful of people who have obediently given up on relationships because their parents did not approve of them. We know how much we respect our elders and how much we try not to hurt them. Why can’t one just PLEASE get out of the clichéd thought and see that?

We have a world of opportunities open to us and the world is no more divided into doctors and engineers. Some of us want to be photographers, some writers, some dancers and some journalists. We only believe that this is our life and we will live it the way we want to. It is up to us to make it or – spoil it.

We respect you deeply and we have all the values our parents imbibed in us. It aches that we are so widely misunderstood. Just give us one chance to prove that to you. And please don’t judge us OR our parents by the clothes we wear and the gadgets we carry.

A Boy

A boy holds a soft heart

Engulfed in a hard shell.

He smiles even if he's being ripped;

even if his heart is unwell.

You will never see him cry

but know that he's very weak.

He's ego is just a facade

behind which lies a worried child meek.

Oh, his ego is everything to him.

And thus he acts carefree.

But he is super possessive;

in seconds, high on a burning spree.

He will show loadsa attitude

but inside he's inferior.

He has doubts about himself

hidden in that coarse exterior.

All he needs is for some support,

For someone to share.

He's the guy we know to be harsh;

in reality the eden of care.

A Friend

No boundaries,

no walls.

No fake feelings,

none emotions false.

No secrets hidden,

no puzzles, no lies

Zilch sugar coated words;

Simply truth shining in his eyes.

Who'd never leave you alone,

Who'd never give in,

Yell at him you may,

Or give him a beating.

Who'd badger you endless

Until you shared.

who'd trade anything

to make you feel cared.

To keep your head high,

his, he'd bend.

And your pain he'd take as his own.

He, is a true friend.

The Bond of Love

I walk in the rain with my eyes fixed on the pavement. Each step I take makes water splash onto my already wet face. I barely notice it. My mind is plagued just like the kitchen sink back home that's currently being fixed. I wish there was something that could fix my mind too; that'd let thoughts enter and memories leave me like they used to.

 I can't think straight. Hell, I can't think at all.

My mind, body and senses are stuck at the same thing ever since you left me. That goodbye; that painful goodbye. You were leaving me. Leaving me alone. Leaving me and going away to a completely new place to make brand new friends. You'll find many, I know. But for me you were the only one - my only friend; my best friend. When you called me over, I thought we were going to have the best time ever. I didn't fathom that you were waiting for my arrival to inform me about your departure.

 "My family is shifting, Alice. We're moving to Texas.” You said in a low voice.

 You were barely moving your lips but I heard each and every word clearly like you were yelling at the top of your voice. I froze on the spot as I started having gooseflesh all over me. Family.. Shifting.. Moving.. Texas.. The words formed a sinister fence around me and my head started spinning too fast. For a moment, I went blank and when my vision came back, everything was a blur. I didn't realize it was due to my tears until they reached my lips and I tasted the cupric droplets. I blinked, trying to fight my tears to see your beautiful face. But my vision went blank again. My mind got hazy and my legs were still rooted to the spot. When my blurred vision returned, I saw your outline once again, standing there with your head hanging limp. I wanted to walk towards you in quick strides, hold you and to shake you. To make you confess that you're kidding. That it's all a joke. A part of me even wanted to slap you for playing such senseless pranks on me. But my legs were nailed to the floor. It felt like the walls were engulfing me, the darkness advancing on me at lightening fast speed from all sides to swallow me. . .

Something pricks my eyes. No, it isn't the dirty rain water. It’s something else. Something with a copper-like taste. My tears have broken free again. This time I do not try stopping them. They need an outlet. I let them pour out and drain my eyes. I can barely see anything in the rain either way and on the plus side, once I reach home mom won't have to know that I have been crying. No one can differentiate between my tears and the rain. Well, no one except you..

I choke as I think of your name and your images take over my mind completely. That; in a mere nanosecond. I shake my head vigorously trying to brush away the images, the thoughts and those memories.. those.. breath taking memories. I choke on my breath again and the lump in my throat tightens; it hurts. But this hurt I can take. The hurt I am being put through on the insides, I can't. Just as I near my place, I trip on something. A stone submerged in the rain. I feel sharp pain shoot through my foot into my whole body like electric current as I fall face first with a loud splash on to the clogged up road. As I get up, I realize I cut my toe and maybe sprained my hand. It hurt insanely and I can barely move my hand as I get back on my feet. I swear under my breath.

Yet, even this pain I can take. But not -- I stop dead, rooted on the spot, staring at the entrance of my house. I see your blurred outline standing on the second step to the right, clutching the grill with your left hand and staring back at me. But- But this can't happen! I had just bid you good bye and was returning home from the airport!

 "Move it girl! He's gone!” I yelled at myself between gasps that pierced my throat. The fall had surely addled my brains. I was seeing you everywhere now. Great. I could see how my days would be from now on. I’d be hallucinating and may be talking to those non-existent yous all life. Damn. I shake my head yet again, this time trying to see clearly or to the least, trying not to see things that are impossible.

I hang my head and start walking towards my house, expecting to walk straight into your image as I can still see it. More blurry but yes, there. But- I collide with something solid. Rock solid. Collide so hard that I'm almost thrown backwards. I brace myself for a second, this time brutal fall but the next thing I know, two hands throw themselves tightly around my waist and press me against the thing I banged into.

Then I realize it wasn't an illusion at all. It was you. It really was you! It IS you! My heart melts like butter on a hot pan as you shift my weight to one hand and bring the other forward. You wipe my cheek with your forefinger. You wipe not the rain drop. You wipe what only you can see.

You wipe my tear.


[Submitted as an entry in TYX's competition]

Somewhere in that Lane. . .

Somewhere in that lane,

Lives my childhood friend.

We’ve lost touch over the years

For we’ve our own lives to tend.

As I pass her lane quietly,

Happy memories flood in,

I want to visit her

But lack of time holds me in.

I carry on to my workplace

 mentally deciding to give her call.

But I get bewitched by life again

And eventually forget it all.

On a Sunday, cosy on the couch,

I skim through my friends’ list.

I stop at her phone number

But arrogance entraps me in a cyst.

She can call too,

I stonily mumble.

She has my number

AND my address, I grumble.

One fine day news reaches me,

“Your childhood friend lives no more.”

Of her chronic illness I learn

And the shock shakes my very core.

My stony heart now cries for her,

My cheeks burn with self hate.

When I could, I didn’t care

And now it’s too late.

Somewhere in that lane,

Lived my childhood friend.
Now I lay in remorseful darkness
with my ego to amend.

. . . Being a Child

I wanna rewind to the time

when "song" meant nursery rhyme.

when "hurt" was only a bruise on the knee,

When promises were meant to be.

When the only annoying thing was your brother.

When the safest abode was in the arms of your mother.

When the only fear was upsetting dad.

When skipping a meal was the only thing bad.

When "hate" was an unknown word,

when "music" was the singing of a bird.

When darkness was the only scare,

when your best friend was your teddy bear.

when jumping on the couch was the only thing wild...

. . . I wanna go back to being a child..

The Tech-freak Gen Z

Want to feel great about yourself? Take a look at someone from Gen X [considering we are a part of Gen Y] – they will seem way too naive and ‘backward’ if I daresay. Want to feel crappy? Turn around and take a look at the kids [Gen Z I think].

The other day I was with my friend at Croma, drooling over Macbooks when we heard a little boy scream at his mother.

“I want that!” echoed the boy’s voice.

Annoyed at who was disturbing my ‘lone time with the superb Macbooks, I looked up and saw the same expression on my friend’ face. We both then turned around to see who this person was. He was no more than 10 years old and he was creating havoc in the music players' section.

I leaned over to see what he wanted. I was shocked out of my very soul when I saw his tiny finger directly point to an iPod Touch.

I turned to my friend again for support because it felt like I was going to pass out from the shock. His eyebrows were raised so high, they threatened to disappear in his hair. I snorted and turned back to look at the kid who had drawn quite a lot of attention by now.

“No Varun! I’ll buy this one for you.” His mother tried to negotiate with him by pointing at an iPod Shuffle.

The boy glared at his mother as if she suggested that she was going to buy him an eraser in exchange of the iPod Touch.

 “No!” he screeched. “I want that! Only that! This one doesn’t have video!” and with that, thick tears rolled out of his eyes.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned back to the Macbook selection, my mind plagued. When I was ten, I didn’t even have the guts to ask daddy for a walkman. All I cared about was my little teddy bear and the only thing that bothered me was daddy scolding me for getting my hands dirty from playing in the sand. I knew no music, I knew no video. I knew nothing but playing in the sand, jumping around with my loved brother, whispering stupid secrets in my friend’s ear and giggling at the silliest jokes.

From what I heard from my dear friend who made sure he saw every bit of the drama, his mother had given in and gotten the iPod Touch. I shook my head in exasperation. Indeed we are slowly losing that innocence in kids. Indeed, those careless whispers, those childish games and those naive smiles are a thing of the past. . .

Is the tech world going to take the childishness out of the coming? I shudder and I hope not.  Because next thing you know, your five year old kid will demand ice-cream only from Creamstone and nowhere else! :D

Your Life is your Oyster

I sit by the window,

Into the night I stare.

With every element I view,

I see a secret bare.

The dark clouds in the sky

Talk about sadness and strife

But the glittering scattered stars

Give the darkness some life.

The fierce wind blowing across

Talks of the cold and difficult times

But the warm moonlight

Shows some hope in a simple mime.

The harsh rain splashing on the window

Shows how moments can cut through

But the sweet smelling mud

Shows the end is always good for you.

A melange of good and bad is life

I see through a smile and eyes with moisture.

The elements teach it at every step.

Your life is truly your oyster.