BLACK ROSE

Taking my face in your palm,
you whispered my name and love.
The scent of your breathe,
the whisper of your voice
and the velvet of your tongue
reminded me of the rose.
You were my black rose
the rarest of the rare.
Strange and irreplaceable.
Unreachable, yet I was
lying in your arms.
What a thorny embrace it was.
You were my black rose,
with your brooding black eyes,
whispers, delicate touch, musky smell,
and the satiny lips caressing
every pore of my body.
But you were the black rose,
thorny, cruel and black.
And as the rose withers
so did you.
Going far, far away,
making me fade into oblivion.

Silence

Yesterday while cleaning my cupboard I found my old diary. I had forgotten about it's existence. The cover has faded and it smells like dust. The writing inside has faded a little but I could still read it. I found a bundle of your photographs stacked inside. All the memories came rushing back. I was wondering what you look like now. I t has been a long time since I saw you.
I don't know whether you are dating someone. I wonder whether our relation meant anything to you or did it just turn into random Skype sessions with a girl you had met on the bus.
I still wear the nose stud you liked so much. I still tie my hair the way you liked. I still can't walk past Gloria Jeans coffee shop without thinking about you. I always see us sitting on that same table drinking cappuccino and eating blueberry muffins, looking out of the glass at the passing traffic.
The color navy blue reminds me of you.
I have always liked long distance relationships. I know you don't. You never asked why I liked them. Trust is the foundation of a relationship. If you can trust a person who lives thousands of miles away, then that's beautiful. Yes, we never got to kiss and hug a lot but we did get to talk, see and hear each other several times. It was amazing when we met each other. We fought less and laughed more. It was beautiful.
I respect anyone who is in a long distance relationship. They are harder than a lot of things but they are worth it in the end.
I kept all your secrets and I still think you are hot even if you haven't got those six pack abs.
I think about the bus journey, Limca, the sugar packets, the coffee, your smile, the hug, the silence and you.
When I run into you someday can I ask why we stopped talking?

Without You

One you said, "you are my world".
And I replied, "I am only a part of your world".
Today when I remember it, I realize
how right you were........
for without you I am left without  a world..

A Requiem

How indifferent we are today!
That a day we were one,
seems to be a dream.
I colored myself in your like,
you took on the colors of my imagination.
Now with a shroud on me I lie
in the coffin of our heart.

The Khan Khan Dance

The other day I going through the newspaper with my usual evening cuppa when I came across a news about our King Khan. SRK was detained at the White Plains airport, near New York was almost 2 hours. He had been invited by the Yale University to deliver a lecture and had arrived by a private plane with Neeta Ambani on Thursday. Ambani and the others got immediate clearance but Khan was detained for 2 hours. He was later freed after the Yale University officials contacted the homeland security and the custom officials. The detention obviously sparked of an angry reaction. "The US should stop this policy of detention and apology", said an angry SM Krishna. The External Affairs minister asked ambassador Nirupama Rao to talk to the highest US authorities. The diplomat from the US embassy also apologised. In short it was a big fuss.


While reading the report and the reaction of our government I experienced irritation about the whole fuss. Its annoying to read how our celebrities go abroad and throw tantrums when they are questioned by the security agencies. What is more irritating is the reaction of our government. The alacrity with which the government reacts and the way politicians express their indignation at the insult to our celebrity and by extension to our great democracy is simply stupid


Shah Rukh Khan was detained for 2 hours and let off. Big Deal! Whats all the fuss about? It happens to many people all the time. USA is a nation which has faced a major terror attack and it is very strict about security. If they have a name on their list which matches the name of our superstar, they would do their job. I think we should be grateful about this as they are doing it for the security of millions of people. This has become a part and parcel of International travelling and there are many stories about various celebrities being detained and questioned at length. How often have you heard of any such stories about these celebrities and their countries reacting angrily and making a fuss out of the whole thing?


SRK is neither Abdul Kalam or any top government official who is travelling abroad on the behalf of our country. No doubt he is a superstar but unfortunately the US officials are not going to fawn over him like people here in India do. If he is interrogated, he has to fight it, which I believe he did and once they were convinced he is no ordinary Indian after having heard from the Yale University guys that he is indeed a famous Indian personality, they let him go, with an apology. What’s wrong? Why does the government have to jump and demand an explanation? Where was the need for the Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna to ask the ambassador to the US to take it up with the authorities? Doesn't he have more important matters to attend to?


In the recent IPL game in Jaipur SRK walked into the stadium, with his pack of cigarettes and smoked openly, in full view of public and was shown live on TV. Why didn’t the govt act with the same alacrity then and haul him up?

After reaching Yale University, Shah Rukh said "Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom”. Wouldn’t it have been great if the security men in Jaipur too had kicked the ‘star out of stardom’? Wonder how the government would have reacted then! 
Our government should get a life and concentrated more on public welfare issues and the eradication of corruption rather than these mundane things.

A Reverie

What is Present?

It is just an oppurtunity bestowed on us to recall the past and plan the future. This oppurtunity due to this presence of the past and the future deprives us from realising and enjoying the present. It is only after the present becomes stale that we take interest in it to interpret what had once happened in our life. But at this juncture we interpret everything that has happened in a subective manner. It is through our personal perspective that the past evolves. Unfortunately it is not to understand the past properly that we interpret past, moreover we intrepret past to justify our own behaviour or as an evidence of what we have gone through. Then what happens to the truth that has been revealed itself at that time? As usual it gets buried deep down waiting to be explored . How tragic that truth has to live such a prolonged life and how tragic will this human life will be which is asked to remain close to the truth. 

Simplicity At Its Best

I love reading. I read when I am alone, I read when I am sad, I read when I am happy. It gives me a strange pleasure to open a book and read what the author wants to say. It lightens my heart and cheers me up. I do not restrict myself to a particular genre because then I feel I am being unfair to myself, that I am denying myself so much wisdom. Therefore, I have treated myself to a plethora of different genres. Currently, I am reading a short story collection of Ruskin Bond named "The Night Train at Deoli and other stories".

The book contains some 30 short stories. All these stories are set in the beautiful valley of Uttarkhand, where Ruskin Bond has made his home. This is one of the main reasons why I am enjoying this book. I have an unexplained affinity and love for the hills. One can learn a lot from them. The Hills teach one to remain firm and face all obstacles and challenges in life. One experiences a calmness of the mind by just looking at the hills. The stories in this book give a warm and intimate portrait of life in the Himalayan foothills. The book portrays delightful satires about village officials and small-town braggarts. One of the best features about this book is that Ruskin Bond writes about people who unconsciously or discerningly need each other: people in love or in need of love, the timid lover and the lonely adult. There are stories which mourn the dissapearing beauty of the mountians and the people who live in them. There are stories about love, loss, regret and lonelinesss.

I experience a refreshing change while reading this book. For a change it is not about pychopathic killers, impotent war-heroes, emotionally tortured film stars or some secret agent. This short story collection is about people one confronts in daily life, it is about places where has gone or where one longs to go. The stories talk about, love, longing, about something left behind but still close to the heart. There is a good deal of romance in these stories which makes the reader connect to the theme. I always think that one can't really write unless one is in love with the subject. The romance in this book is associated with trains. People are always travelling in trains and going places, but just occasionally two people meet and their paths cross and they become one or they might part but their lifes have been changed in some unexplained way.


The Night Train at Deoli is my favourite story in the collection. It is a beautiful story of unrequited love which I am sure all of us have experienced at some point of time and I am no exception. Its a poignant story which touched my heart. The story is narrated in the first person by a college boy. The boy is travelling by train to Dehra Dun to spend his vacations at his grandmother's house. On its journey up the hills, the train stops at Deoli, a lonely station.'Why it stopped at Deoli I don't know. Nothing ever happened there. Nobody got off the train and nobody got in. There were never any coolies on the platform. But the train would halt there a full ten minutes, and a bell would sound, the guard would blow his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten', a simple yet beautiful description of Deoli.
There the boy meets a girl selling baskets and is smitten by her. He cannot forget her and looks out for her during the return journey. He is thrilled to see her and she is happy that he remembered her. But now it is time for the lovers to part.'I felt the impulse to put her on the train there and then..I caught her hand and held it.."I have to go to Delhi", I said...she nodded , "I do not have to go anywhere"..the guard blew his whislte..and how I hated the guard for doing that...poignant and touching line. It is my favourite because the story is about longing. A longing for someone who is out of reach. The longing after something lost.

The tales in this book have given me a new perspective. They help me to understand people around me and they accompany me sometimes when I wish to go back to my soliterary moments of lonliness.