Mettlesome

I turn around.

Wrinkled face,

Back bent,

Short baby steps

And knitted scarf on her head.

Gran!

Instinctively,

As if she hears me.

She looks up.

I am disappointed,

Hold back my tears,

And

Busy myself on mobile.

Before stealing a look at her again.

Somebody spares a seat for her.

She hesitates,

Like

Her eyes seeking permission

From all of us standing,

Like

Apologizing,

For being favored.

I steal a look again,

Seated,

Singing to herself perhaps,

Looking out of window,

Like a young tiddler,

Awed by the

Whole metro-paraphernalia.

And then

The bus rings with

His insistent cries

Growing louder by the minute.

The crowd encouraged

His harried father

To take the seat.

I looked back

At the commotion,

Only to see that Gran

Had spared her seat

For the father-son duo

And joined the

Standing milieu.

Proudly.

She stood

Close enough

That

I could breathe

Her grimed shawl.

She turned to me,

Her voice

Just an audible whisper

“The child was crying”.

Currents well up inside me.

A schoolgirl

Offers her seat.

Gran is seated now,

Again singing to herself,

Awed by

Sights beyond the window.

Awed myself,

I look-on

Until it’s time,

For me to de-board.

Linking with Trifecta : Week 108 : Father

Innocence uprooted

Gorgeous green patch,

Sometimes barren brown,

Or even the rooftops,

All alive with

Glimpse of childhood

Scuttling away,

On tiny feet.

Innocent banter,

Soccer and rumpus,

A catch here,

A goal there,

One life down,

Two more to spare,

Soaring kites,

Scaling skies,

Evening gathered,

And so did life

In these little niches

Now remembered

With fervor

And

Even a tinge of gratitude.

The patches stand silent today,

Forgotten, blanked out.

Favored

Only by flocks

Of thoroughbreds of air.

Nonage now prefers

Sophisticated gadgetry

To bruised knees.

Who ever thought

That

Technology

Would come to

Pluck out

The very childhood.

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : 100 words : Glimpse

Linking with Write on Edge : Write at the Merge, week 48

Linking with Trifecta : Week 105

Linking with Picture it & Write 

Linking with Five Minute Friday : Fly

Stay analysis

Stay!

The thought struggled.

And stayed;

Never expressed.

Stay!

Prompted in psychology experiment.

The most charming word

In a friend’s vocabulary.

Stay!

Easier said than done.

Out of sight is out of mind.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Ninety-Five

Azure skies can wait

Once in a purple moon,

The God retires.

Takes a break,

And goes on vacation.

The prayers go unanswered.

Dreams fade.

Miracles become bedtime stories.

And then,

When you walk on wet sands

You don’t look up to the azure skies.

The extraordinary does not happen.

Or perhaps it does;

Given that He has His share of oddities.

Its just that

We fail to comprehend

What he is up-to.

Good thing is that

His establishment

Doesn’t sanction His LFC all that often.

Oh but when it does,

Well!

Happy Holidays, God!

Azure skies shall have to wait

For

Your return.

Linking with Velvet Verbosity - 100 Words - Sands

Linking with Alphabe-Thursday - Letter A

Linking with Picture it and write

Companion Thought

Living evermore

Until

Its

Icy hands

Begin to probe,

Find flaws

And break us.

Reverent,

Bowed,

Awed,

By this hide and seek

Of

Comrades.

Death

Strikes

Companion

Thought

On life.

And

Vice versa.

Linking with Trifecta : Week 104

Hungry Soul

Tattered clothes;

Thin wrinkled skin,

Wrapped around bones;

Shaking hands;

Torn slippers;

I reach your door.

I am shunned;

Ostracized;

And hungry.

I knock your door.

For care and courtesy.

I am God.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Ninety-Three

Rush Hour

Bread toast for breakfast.

My regular menu.

The watch ticks 9.

Plan to leave the meal unfinished.

The hurried gulping

Not helped by horlicks-laden milk shake.

9:15.

A panicking look at watch.

I should be out on road.

Right now.

An urge to leave utensils unwashed.

The cockroaches scurrying across,

The remnants of someone’s dinner,

Strongly deter.

The dress all stained with water,

The dish washing done,

I run a comb through hair,

Not stopping to look

At the volume of tangled mess in comb,

Done, all done.

As I change my shoes.

Wait, wait, wait!

The bed-spread creased

And wrinkled.

Can’t leave it like that.

So smoothed and stretched,

Oh! I spread it again.

Not daring to look

At the watch,

I pick up my bag

And am out of the door,

Out on the road.

Finally.

And by estimate

I am a good fifteen minute late.

Unusually

I hail a rickshaw.

20 bucks!

For a small stretch

That I would have walked

Had I not been running late

And had I not been gripped

With this sudden atrophy

After an hour of running around.

Boo.

Say I.

And begin to walk,

Strenghtlessly;

And surprisingly,

The rickshaw turns around

And looks at me encouragingly

Agrees to my price

And drops me in time.

And the moment I pay him,

My regular bus

Arrives

Like it was waiting for me.

It is all vacant.

I am the first person in.

15 bucks for my destination.

I have either 20 or 10.

Boo!

Say I again.

He’ll settle for 20 and

There goes my 5 bucks.

This happens quite often.

It will happen again.

Thinks the now drained me.

Only not today.

For he hands me a crisp 10.

You paid me extra last time.

Says he.

God bless you!

Says I.

And finally I dare

To look at the watch.

Its ok.

I am right on time.

I smile.

People smile back at me.

Unknown,

Unrecognized faces.

Today’s gonna be sunny.

Splendid and superb.

Linking with Trifecta : Week 101

A place for demons

Why do you

Stay away from

The empty plots

Littered with garbage?

Demons

Don’t live there.

Except for folklores

And

Scary stories.

They live closer than that.

Much closer:

In

Our

Hollow hearts.

Linking with Write on Edge - Weekend Linkup

Beast-time

Two little hands

Out of nowhere

Going round

My neck

Slimy.

Gooey.

Soppy.

Wake up affrighted.

The clock ticks 3.

A.M.

Scared to

Close the eyes.

Lest the beast

Cuts across

My captain-bed.

Linking with Trifextra: Week Ninety-One

Some life

Sleeping off her mornings,

For this bachelor girl

Doesn’t have to

Send people

To schools or offices.

And when she faces the sun,

Hurries with hair and care.

A slice of bread

Perhaps two

And rarely three

Downed with milk,

Not often though.

And then off to office.

Steps outrunning others,

To make it on time.

Motivation?

Her ever-growing list

Of stuff for guys back home.

Steps outrunning shadows,

Mind planning

Some mix-n-match cooking

Towards evening.

Then some aimless browsing,

Poem or two.

The day’s all-done.

Trying to sleep

With an

Aching thought.

‘tis not my home-roof.

Unfaltering routine.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Ninety-Nine

A passing thought

Someday I’ll fade.

Dust in dust.

Air in air.

Elements in elements.

And

Name in names.

Till then I’m busy scribbling,

On these walls.

To be read later.

Both,

With love and contempt.

Linking up with Trifextra - Week Eighty-Nine

Linking up with Write on Edge - Weekend Linkup

O for twilight

Blinding, baking, burning,

Merciless gold ball,

Strong as ever,

It holds the fort,

Guarding dusty dry days.

O for twilight, wait these eyes,

When the silver sliver smiles

And down rains the poetry

Linking with Five Minutes Friday - Mercy

Linking with Trifextra: Week Eighty-Five

On her way

Rear aisle seat,

Not her preference.

A kiddo with his mother

Seated to her left,

The welcome-safety speech

Lost to their fuss.

While the child was deciding

If eagles would fly higher than plane,

She fell asleep.

She woke up;

To tilting wings,

To dropping height,

And panicking faces.

Faith plummeted.

Prayers rose.

Her father waited at arrival.

Muffled voices over hysteria

Pleaded calm;

Went unheard.

Hands struggled

To release the mask.

She watched

Dream-like;

Too numb.

The reality didn’t register.

For a-minute-and-a-half.

And then it was calm.

Relief flooded her eyes

As she made her way

To the arrival.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Ninety-Four

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : 100 Words : Faith

Linking with Saturday Centus : Salvation

For love

Resplendent gems of loft,

Thee make my spirit glow.

Thee crown my being with bliss,

And quench my thirsty soul.

Thy shadow all I seek,

For love,

You tether joys to my heart.

Linking with Trifextra: Week Eighty-Four

Size Perfect

She climbed the stairs

Two at a time,

The shortest road to

Possibly a shortest queue,

Attempting to avoid the eyes

That would look

At little beyond

Her hourglass figure

And chiseled face.

Eyes still turned.

Deriding

Her attempt

Of visiting

The sanctuary,

Desecrating it

Frivolously.

“Please go through the tests first”

She joined the queue.

Moving with finesse,

Traversing thin crowd

With effortless grace,

Eyes burning her back

And her cheeks.

“Your weight, pale skin,

Please don’t participate”

Her hemo-count ok.

Her weight not-so-ok.

She walked out,

A laughingstock.

She couldn’t be the donor.

Just a size perfect.

Linking with : Trifecta: Week Ninety-Three
Linking with : Velvet Verbosity: 100 Words - Road

Haiku - Lonesome

Damp winds ruffle my soul.

A rainy august evening snatched her away,

Forever. Cold clammy fathoms stare.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Eighty-three - Haiku

The prey

“Let me bag a turkey

And then,

I promise we’ll leave”.

The minutes ticked away,

The crowds thinned.

The turkey eluded.

Despite incessant attempts.

At last, he gave up.

Had to give up.

They were about to shut for the night.

Or whatever slices remained of it.

Their footsteps echoed in the parking.

She hustled close to him,

Clinging on to his arm like a lifeline.

Scared of some unseen, unknown waif,

Lurking in the lonely, isolated car park.

Scared of two green eyes,

Blinking in some crevice,

Watching their steps,

Waiting to hunt.

The newspapers were screaming precautions.

To avoid wee hours of morning

Waning hours of night,

Lonely lanes, abandoned areas

So on, so forth.

“ Take it easy honey”.

He comforted her.

Maybe he was still contemplating

That elusive turkey.

She hoped she had

Her pepper spray handy.

A puma bag on her desk

Some twenty kilometers away was er….

Focus. Breathe. Brave.

The car took eternity

To spring to life

Another eternity

Maneuvering turns for exit.

Back to lights and life

Of metropolitan road

Glistening in rainy days.

She breathed.

Relief.

But perhaps a little too soon.

The hunter was still on prowl.

‘twas night still ...

Linking with Trifecta : Week Ninety-Two

Hard came the fall

One little bird

Two little necks;

One little stomach

Two little pecks;

One found nectar,

Drank it all;

The other sought venom

In greedy call;

In went the beak,

Hard came the fall.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Eighty-Two

Perspective

Granny often sat

By the small window

Admiring

What I thought was

Just a lonesome bunch,

Now green, now graying,

Now glistening with raindrops,

She, however,

Saw

Life dancing in every single leaf.

Picture courtesy Trifextra - Trifecta Writing Challenge

Linking with Trifextra : Week Eighty-One

Touchwood!

The innocent babbling

Some that I can comprehend

Some that I fail to grasp;

Tiny little hands

Falling in

A comforting grasp;

The infectious smile

That holds me captive;

The naïve games

Those keep us involved;

And his antics

Keeping us on toes;

The learning to speak,

To walk, play, read and color;

The learning to live;

The curious eyes

Following us through;

The curiosity

To see him evolve;

The urge to grasp in

More hours, minutes and seconds;

For days fall seemingly short

And no time is ever enough,

To bask in blessed company of a child.

Touchwood.

Linking with Trifecta: Week Ninety

Cutting t(r)ooth

His first smile,

His first murmur,

His tiny feet

Measuring the corridor

In baby-steps,

His cutting tooth,

Pre-nursery school,

Bedtime stories,

I feel it was yesterday.

He is 7 now.

And growing fast.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Eighty

Abstract answer to abstract question

Your silence

Forwards

Your argument;

Putting into words

The tender,

Weak and fragile

Sentiments;

Speak it does

Loud and clear;

Voicing

The unheard

Yet seen and felt;

No, you don’t hate me.

You lied to me the other day.

Words, you could fake;

Words, I could believe;

But

For this silence,

Potent,

Perfect,

And

Promising;

I know you were lying

And

I relish

Knowing this;

Am almost

Basking

In my

Secret serendipity;

Whatever it is

That you feel

Whatever it is

That we share

It borders

On what they call

The essence of living;

It gives me

Reason to

Live.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty-Nine - Weak

Linking with Woven Dreams : Serendipity

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : Speak

Linking with Ermiliablog : Picture it and Write

Shadow-dance

Life:

A dance of shadows;

Momentary flickers

Saltating

And

Then

Fading

Into

The backstage;

The characters

Flitting

In and out

Of plot

At

Just

The right time;

The story

Woven

Worth

The applause.

Linking with Trifextra: Week Seventy-Nine

Thank you, my friend

The hearty cacophony

A pleasant welcome

In the otherwise

Silent, serene seclusion.

A cup of coffee

On

A cozy couch

Served hot

With

Friendly banter,

Spiced with

Silly squabbles,

Sugared with

Picture perfect

Moments of

Relieving

And

Reliving

Life,

(As we know it,

As we knew it,

And

As we shall know it)

Sipping the heavenly

Bliss of being able

To band together.

Nothing beats that.

Linking with Trifecta: Week Eighty-Eight 

Color of broken heart

You’re asking me

The color

Of

A broken heart?

I’d say

It’s still red

That is

Minus

The

Ebullience,

Vibrancy

And

Exuberance;

Dull

Dead red,

Like

Boring,

Drying

And

Caking

Bricks

In sun.

Linking with Trifextra: Week Seventy-Eight

Linking with Five minute friday - Broken

Babbling about balloons

Balloons

Big and small

And

Lots of them

In

Bright beautiful hues.

Birthdays

Bring back

Memories from

Baby days

When

Balloons

Used to be

Big time thing

For me.

Right from the ones

That I could dribble

To the ones

Filled with helium

Or perhaps hydrogen

That would waft away

At the first instant of carelessness

And how can I forget

The water balloons

Bought

Basically

For savoring

The burst-splash.

When we were babies

We didn’t need billions

To be happy;

Balloons sufficed.

And today with all

Those trips

To Baskin Robbins,

And

Barista

Something’s amiss.

Baby days,

I want you back.

Linking with ABC Wednesday - Letter B

Ex Parte

The glitter

Got to her eyes

And

Spread

Itself into

A million dollar smile.

The sparkling

Splendor

Dazzled her.

The

Perfect size

Made her

Heart leap.

Like a wild horse.

This minute

She was in Tiffany’s

In faded jeans;

That minute

She had imagined

Her whole life

With him.

Things could be perfect.

Between

The two of them.

She had just reached

The foot of the altar

When she looked up in anticipation

“ She’s a childhood friend.

I’m sure you’ll love her.”

He spoke as a matter-of-factly.

She just wished

He had let

The charm

Work a little longer.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty-Seven: Charm

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : 100 words: Wild horse

Linking with Picture it and write : Ermiliablog

Surmise

Like a stone

Tossed away

On aqueous stage;

Dreams wasted.

Like

Expanding ring

Of ripples

Synchronous stir

Spreading slowly;

The pain of loss.

Fading away

Into

Those unfathomable

Depths of water;

My being.

Linking with Trifextra : Week Seventy-Seven : 33 words including Ring, water, stage

ABC Wednesday - A - Archer's flight

And away! Far away! Far far away!

Archer knew this

Monologue

Almost by heart now.

After witnessing 21 fledgling flights,

Anybody would have.

So when it was his turn,

He stood erect,

Flapped his wings …

And jumped.

All before

That away, far far away wisdom.

And then it happened.

First the fall,

The sink,

The struggle

With air, assistance

And then lack of it.

Teacher’s voice

Became a background.

After seemingly long few seconds

And seemingly some more futile flapping

Archer found his bearing.

The proud teacher looked on

As another one flew

Away, far away, far far away.

Linking with ABC Wednesday - A

Linking with Velvet Verbosity - 100 words - Flapped

A thin hairline crack

It all starts

But

With a thin hairline crack.

And the next thing

You know is

That the dam has burst.

And that

There is absolutely

No stopping it.

Its like a whisper

That grows and grows

And grows

Until

It becomes loud enough

To be heard

Over the blaring din

Of surrounding minds and hearts.

Like a ripple

That strengthens to

A fierce storm.

And despite

The rush,

The flood,

The force,

One can feel

Absolute joy,

Pure, sheer bliss,

A sort of calm and peace

That is unbound,

Unparalleled,

And equally inexplicable.

But

And there is always this but

That makes things complicated.

But,

Like all exciting things,

Like playing with fire,

And not knowing if

It will warm or burn;

Like dancing on shards of glass,

Balancing precariously lest they pierce;

It comes with its risks too.

Risky – but worth the temptation.

And trust me.

You can’t go looking for it.

It comes to you – at the right time.

And when it does,

It will begin with

A thin hairline crack.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty-six: Crack

Linking with Woven dreams : Whisper

Linking with Picture it and write : Ermiliablog

Some Rusty View

The rusting doors

Creaked

As his hands

Pushed against

Years of inertia,

Encountering

Familiarity

In atoms

Of

Stale air;

Tiny little feet

Wobbling in and out;

Balancing precariously

On parental love.

Carefree running

Of growing feet;

Away from

Fussing mother

And

Piling homework.

Lanky strides

Of

Teenage dilemmas;

Pandora’s boxes

Sealed with

Job, career,

Crushes, infatuations,

Lipstick and perfume.

And finally

The confident steps

Of maturity,

Closing

The not so rusty door

Behind

And walking out

Onsite;

Planning

For three months,

Extending

To three years

And now maybe

This whole lifetime.

The disconnect,

The void,

Spreading,

Deepening,

And

Strengthening,

Everyday.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty-three

Linking with Woven Dreams : Perfume

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : 100 words : Disconnect

Sum-time

The relentless sun

Burning and scathing;

A drop of

Chilled lemonade,

For parched throat;

Or may be

Cumin, mint and yogurt smoothie,

The elixir

Downed in a gulp;

The relief

Overwhelming

But

Shortlived;

Linking with Trifextra: Week Seventy-two: 33 words to describe summer

The light

By and by

The light flickered;

Dusk lingered,

(A waning spirit)

And finally,

The sinister night

Claimed

The vast expanse

With

Sudden, swift

Descent of clouds.

Words of

Her sainted nanny

Rained down,

“Don’t you be forgetting

Your umbrella”

As she kept moving

Homewards,

Tired and exhausted.

War had taught her

To feel the rain.

To toil.

For survival.

To Fight back.

Just like the

Rays of dawn.

To wear

The

Battered

And

Soiled

Hem of

Her dress

With pride.

And to bury

The dead memories.

War had taught her

That

Life

Goes on.

Despite

The

Bruises,

Scars

And

Wounds.

Picture courtesy - Ermiliablog - Picture it and write prompt

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty-one : Light

Linking with Ermiliablog : Picture it and write

Linking with Velvet Verbosity : 100 words - Sainted

Linking with Woven Dreams - Prompt #18 - Memories

The last minute

I fall, struggle a little, sink, some bubbles, some ripples and then it’s over, she thought.

She toyed with the idea for a while, took a deep sigh, threw back her shoulders and walked away from the bridge.

December night was catching on and the water would be freezing.

Linking with Trifextra - Week Seventy-One - Three sentence story

Linking with Five Minute Friday - Fall

Junostalgia

“Hey Freak!

How’s you?”

Some greeting

For me

(Oh of course,

This and

The bear-hugs

Of my cousins

That completely

Swallowed me)

As

We arrived

In the

Sweltering,

Scorching

Indian plains,

After

Eight hours

In a

Creaking bus,

With

Dust, sweat,

Grime,

And

Anticipation

Of fun,

And frolic,

Written large

In our

Colgate smiles,

Days

Passed in

Sheer bliss;

Nights

Filled with

Insomnia,

Unending

Chat sessions,

Scary stories,

Dusky rendezvous

With

Fleeting friendships,

Cycling competitions,

Cool showers

For twilight,

Bedtime praying.

Of course,

We were freaks!

To be

Spending

Our summers

Away from

Our little

Cool and refreshing

Hilly hamlet.

Linking with Trifecta : Week Eighty - Freak

Linking with Velvet Verbosity - 100 words - Dusky

Linking with Woven Dreams - Prompt #17 - Insomnia