Joie de vivre May 3, 2009

 

 

Smile!

 

Send to me again,

the fragrance of the earth;

Fill my ears again

with the music of the rain;

Sing to me again

the joys of the rainbow;

Plant in me again

the magic of a smile;

Flow unto me again

the waters of the stream;

Light in me again

the glow of a dream;

Come unto me again,

Life, with all your whims…

… April 28, 2009

Stillness and calm-the

infinity of silence

Not what is, but not…

ஆசை April 18, 2009

இன்று என்னுள் ஓர் ஆசை

புயலின் வேகம் கொண்டு செல்ல

அனலின் சிவப்பை பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள

மலரின் தேனை குடித்துச் செல்ல

பூமியின் வண்ணம் பூசிக் கொள்ள

 

இன்று என்னுள் ஓர் ஆசை

அச்சமின்றி போர் செய்ய

கூச்சமின்றி காதல் செய்ய

வெட்கமின்றி மெய் பேச

தூக்கமின்றி வினை செய்ய

 

இன்று என்னுள் ஓர் ஆசை

பாதை மாறி நடந்து போக

முறைகள் சாத்திரம் நீங்கிப் போக

தோற்றமில்லா அகம் வளர்க்க

ஆம்! நானும் ஒரு பெண் தான்…

Longing… April 16, 2009

This evening, at the temple fair,

I wanted you to notice, my love,

the beads of sweat trickling 

down my stomach and the kohl-smeared

blackness of my eyes, caught unawares

As I bargained for a trinket.

 

I wondered if your arms smelled

like the land you tilled, fragrant in its fullness,

your smile made my heart beat faster, enraptured.

My feet, covered with dust, scurried along-

Wanting to touch yours, toe to toe.

 

My skin, brown like the face of the earth,

throbbed like the barren one, dearest,

waiting for the rain; my bosom heaving

to the pulse of the breeze; so now I ask 

shamelessly onto your face, my love…

 

Will you be my rain?

Would your love engulf my body even as your eyes do my soul?

Answer me, Don’t my lips speak desire?

Orphaned.. April 5, 2009

Sullied by the ocean,

The oyster redeems its glory

In the white of the pearl;

 

The pearl, pure and transparent,

innocently adorns grimy necks,

Unable to name the oyster its own

Summer Showers March 26, 2009

 

When the artist dropped his palette,

I gathered his mixed-up colours ..

No form nor meaning, 

the colours drench my mind

In joyful sorrow…

                                                 

The raindrop finds a home in earth’s womb

and grows and blossoms..

I am learning from her-I await the raindrop,

hasn’t it always been mine?

                                                               

I am not subject to the sculptor’s tool- chiselled and carved;

I am the ridge in the river’s soul, living and eternal.

 

When the moon rises today, keep a song for me , on the clouds…

Perhaps my soul would reach it, across the breeze of day.

I remember… March 12, 2009

I remember when I fell off my tricycle and broke my arm.

I remember when I gave a school crush a dead cockroach for a gift.

I remember when my drawing teacher slapped me hard for colouring a flower wrong.

I remember Mowgli, Potli Baba and Pingu.

I remember Kya banoge Munna on DD  and morning-school breakfasts of curd rice and mango thokku.

I remember the kachoriwaala outside college.

I remember Nithya and our long talks on the porch behind chem lab. 

I remember my first kiss, on the steps leading to a lily pond, with the geese cackling.

I remember summer nights of mango ‘kuchi’ ice.

I remember the day it rained ice and I ate most of it, even as lightning and thunder threatened to scare me.

I remember my brother’s opinion on horoscopes.

I remember how my kindergarten teacher made me spell my name ” Vaidevi”. 

I remember all the stories of my sister’s crushes and all her pains of growing up.

I remember the first wine I tasted.

I remember sprinting across the Besant Nagar beach, oblivious to the onlookers.

I remember wanting to look like Nandita Das.

I remember Armageddon, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Maine Pyar Kiya.

I remember the ‘idly’ tank at Kilpauk Reserve Bank Colony. 

I remember a certain roti-gajar halwa lunch at the zoo.

I remember my baby, Uma. And many other babies of mine, some not human. 

I remember my tree back home and how she always made me feel better. 

And how if she had been, this post would not have.

And how I do not understand her anymore.

How we now speak different languages.

[ Idea of " I remember" inspired by a book : " Je me souviens" by Georges Perec. ]

Flowers and Kites January 2, 2009

 

 

 

Dewdrops on the morn

Soft, crystal footsteps,

Treading over yesterday’s dreams…

 

The kite fluttered with the leaves,

unaware of  the skies ; when autumn came,

the leaves died and the kite soared-

A fresh lease of life…

 

 

 

 

The many coloured mirror October 15, 2008

One drop

that eluded his touch;

A kaleidoscope

that changed with his mind;

A tune

that hummed without him.

Are you the ethereal beauty that torments my mind? Or the nagging truth that glares into my eye? Where is your home? And where do you go?

Down the ages is where I live. Do you not see my sack, full of leaves that once were? I gather your moments, your smiles, your tears. Touch me once and I will move on.

Come closer, let me take your hands in mine. Are these the windows to the world of yonder? Rainbow-tinted glass and shimmering showers? But wait, why do I see myself… there that drop, falling softly over your translucent cheek, It is me rolling down.

I hold the drop, the hue and the leaf. I was, I am and I will be. Do you still not know who I am?

One drop

that eluded his touch;

A kaleidoscope

that changed with his mind;

A tune

that hummed without him.

Pablo Neruda March 28, 2008

Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twig
and lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:
maybe it was the voice of the rain crying,
a cracked bell, or a torn heart.

Something from far off it seemed
deep and secret to me, hidden by the earth,
a shout muffled by huge autumns,
by the moist half-open darkness of the leaves.

Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig
sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance
climbed up through my conscious mind

as if suddenly the roots I had left behind
cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood—
and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent.