After long last
The rains have come home
Sound of rains
Like music to the ears
The city roads and trees look happy
Finally a complete wash
And a chance to come clean
Washing away all the dust and grime
The cars roofs and leaves
Glistening with water droplets
Finally clouds kept their promise
They brought down water drops
To trap light and refract away
To create sparkling dots
Mini stars on the ground
Amidst all the darkness
I wonder how does love fare
In the era of dating apps
Earlier love came gate crashing into our lives
Annoyingly when we least expected it
It sat as an unwanted guest
Messing up all the time lines
It waited patiently for its turn
To unleash it’s charm
And make its way into our lives
I wonder how love copes now
In the era of dating and speed dating
Has it become impatient?
Does it move along with our swipes
Swipe right you may find it
Swipe left you may lose it or vice versa
With Apps and profiles
As the ultimate gate keepers
How will it ever get to gate-crash?
Is love at first sight even a possibility?
There are always damn screen and filters
And best edited profile pictures
And then when you personally meet
With ample room for expectations
And disdain
Does love leave the table politely?
Earlier love would linger on
And maybe even stalk
And now it ghosts
Earlier there were no promises or forever
But yet love would haunt for life
I no longer know how it works
When we lay all our cards on the table
Hoping for a fair game
But then it turns out
There are no rules of the game
Love remains a situationship
Waiting for an upgrade
It is always a clean slate
No misgivings, no messiness
Light as a butterfly
Love flutters in and out of life
No surprises anymore
No confessions either
Love in the age of AI and Apps
Has turned out to be a smart love
With racing heartbeats in rings and watches
No broken hearts, no unrequited love
Nor platonic or overtly lustful
Love itself has become a need
A box to be ticked
The more you chase it, the more it eludes
That hope – the next swipe might
Bring it to your table right?
Keep at it!!!
Knowing love, it will still turn up
To upset all your plans
Staring right at you
Sweeping you in a twister storm
And then dumping you
Totally broken but warm
It will teach you to smile and sob
Only love can teach love
It is a shape shifting algorithm
Making an absolute fool of
Even the wisest one!!
So finally here we are
Talking about the weather
The most safe topic
Not so long ago
But Alas! No longer is
Who would have imagined this day?
We are not just being
Robbed of a decent weather
But also a safe small conversation
Which now ends up in a rant
Look at the sheer number of folks
Ranting about the European heat wave?
Finally they are getting back at the whites
For not having acs which they never needed
It is equally fun to watch
Europeans learning the ‘DIY’ ways to cool off
Turning the fan away might be just the trick We Indians or rest of the world never learnt
Or putting aluminium foils on the windows
Or using other ways of coping and cooling
Or simply sprinkling water on strangers
Weather is certainly getting
Stranger and stranger
Blowing hot and cold
Bringing rains and droughts
Most of us are ending up
Under the weather
Once upon a time a lovely talking point
Now it’s best avoided
We just cope…we cut trees
We just cope
We buy more cars
We just cope
We wage wars
We just cope
We want all our luxuries
Yet we struggle to cope
We end up on a dream
Summer holidays
Only to find destinations getting hotter
Most tourist spots closed
Our list turns listless
Tired, we feel lucky to find a place
Under the shade
A stranger finally looks at you
And asks how’s the weather?
You paid for this remember?
For that hottest spot
Under the very super hot weather!!
I am not sure
What is A Closure?
Which everyone looks for?
Is it a signalling to end a phase of life?
Does life have such demarcations?
Before and after phases
Before school, after school,
Before marriage, after divorce?
After birth and before death
That’s the lifetime we get
We keep dividing into moments
Phases of growing up, coming of age
Falling in and out of love
Getting married, becoming a parent
Then the lonesome empty-nester
We keep drawing lines
Or adding chapters to our lives
While erasing the past which keeps
Receding faster, Doppler shifting away
Memories fade but hurt remains
We can’t get over traumas
Yet we call it PTSD
From the moment of birth to death
It’s just a few odd years
When we scale it
To the age of the Earth or the universe
We can’t even predict
Where the grim reaper awaits us
When we will close our eyes
The curtains will fall
And the drama will end
The drama of our life
That will be the true closure
Two dates in the bracket
Will define our lifetime
And of course
The perspectives of people
Who loved to love us
And who loved to hate us
While we were caught up
In their ideas of love and hate
The drama was never ours
We were mere characters in
Lives and dramas of others
Time does strange funny things
Somewhere in the future
One might get resurrected
In some random conversations
In another drama of not our making
A dead bright leaf also gets
A chance at immortality
When someone clicks a photo
Or paints it or turns it ornamental
In the Camus Universe
Existence has no purpose or meaning
And here we are purposefully
Decimenting and reducing each other
To almost nothing
Or whatever suits us
Then we seek a closure
Closure from hurt
Only to begin again
Another drama
Hoping for forevers
Which doesn’t exist
Soon I will be gone
And so will you be
We will be either villains or heroes
In shape, perspectives and
Narrative shifting world
How about seeking a fresh start
Maybe begin again
So where were we?
Yes…A closure…
It didn’t take long
To go solo
Be it movies
Or restaurants
Or museums
Or a bookstore
Or treks
I don’t even remember
When it began
Perhaps during my college
My long solo commute?
Every daily commuter
Is always alone
Though almost crushed
In a crowded train or bus
There is a constant
Inner talk with self
About a thing
Or millions of things
Or just an empty mind
Too fatigued to think
You don’t need people
When you grow up
So rugged
And then of course
There are betrayals
Of trust and time
Then there was beautiful phase
When my newborn boy
Became my extension
I was never alone
I was his constant
For that tiny life
I had brought forth
Into this chaotic world
I was never alone
Kids never let you be
Unless you play along
So often it would
Be the library or bookstore visits
Where I would sit solo
In line of sight of my boy
Far far away in the kids section
I don’t remember
Who exactly was I
Training to be alone ?
After the boy grew up
And flew off far far away
I made up my mind
To be the solitary reaper
Of my abandoned pursuits
I unearthed my buried self
In place of a girl in 20’s
Out came a woman in her 50’s
More calmer, confident and wiser
Much slower too
How I wish I could reach out
To that girl and tell her to go solo
The world abandons you anyways
Women are supposed to play
A second fiddle in everything
Wish I could spare her from
All the traumas and dilemmas
And of course all the tears
My dark circles are rightfully earned
But here I am in my 50’s
Carrying that abandoned
Spirit of my 20’s
I know it feels absurd
To those who never tried
(Or didn’t have to)
To stand up for oneself
And live for a while
Remember?
We have abandoned our earth too
Who moves solo in the dark space
And then there is the final solo act
When we depart solo!!
With all my courage
I try to fathom
The depth of the abyss
At the bottom
Of it are
Broken mirror pieces
Reflecting
The fractured
Fragmented world
And me
You danced & sang
And moonwalked
Your way through life
Life that wasn’t easy
Your childhood was lost
You played in gigs
While other kids went to school
You brought home animals
To talk and show love to
Because humans around you
Didn’t always show up
You lived life on your terms
You broke out of the gilded cage
Made by your father, music producers
You called out the truth and the lies
You reached heights and lows
As a black man you rose high
What a white man
could only dream of
Obviously you had to be punished
They had to make
An example out of you
So that no one else would dare
That’s how white world
Keeps things in order
And gets away with every crime
They still are vilifying you
Even after all these years
Killing you again and again
Yet they cannot dim your shine
For you were born a star
With your own stupendous
Creative energy and charm
Which no one could take away
You showed the world
Music was a universal language
That could unite and heal the planet
And just when the world
Is very badly wounded
You have made daring comeback
In your movie posthumously
To teach people to live again
To heal the planet again
To dance and moonwalk
Through tears and smiles
To the music of life!!
Night changes everything
Suddenly there is silence
Marking end of the day’s chaos
Everyone is back to their homes
Or spaces they call home
Be it a bench in the park
Or a temporary pitched tent
Outside a sprawling metropolis
All shiny businesses are shuttered down
Only a hole in the wall eating joints
Or big and small eateries are open
Night walkers are all out
In their full gear, counting steps
Migrants are on the call
With their families back home
In campuses, the hostels
Start coming alive
That’s where night owls dwell
Or the SEZ’s with grave yard shift workers
People who do multiple gigs
Begin their another shift
With sun banished
And moon with just enough light
Night comes alive
Silent night seems
Holy and peaceful
All tired souls are back
In their beds, glued to the screens
Everything seems to be
Happening elsewhere
Life also seems to be elsewhere
While dreams and nightmares
Await to come alive in REM
But sleep eludes all city folks
There is so much to take in
That little devious little device
Keeps us all hooked and awake
Will the wars end tonight?
Will the ceasefire last?
Will the tyrant be defeated?
Will the heatwave end?
How many likes will reel get?
Also there is so much gate keeping to do
While trolls are busy hate keeping
Just one night
It can change so many lives
Moreover it’s night here
And day elsewhere
We no longer know
Which time zone we belong
Night creates its own chaos
But yet it exudes a calmness
A semblance of quiet
Silent night, holy night
Where only jungles come alive
Predators and preys
Playing their end game
Which might become
Morning headlines
When yet another
Chaotic day begins
I will postpone sleeping
To another night
After all night is a promise
That day always keeps!!
What begins, always ends
And all ends have a beginning
Just like in Life
And in everything else
Life too begins
And Life ends
The journey lies in between
Suspended in memories
And disbelief!!
Democracy is imprisoned
In the name of justice
Justice is imprisoned
In the name of freedom
Freedom is imprisoned
In the name of Peace
Peace is imprisoned
In the name of War
War is shackled too
In the name of economy
Economy is prisoned too
In the name of capitalism
Capitalism is boxed too
By the markets and profits
One person’s loss is
Another one’s gain
The media is imprisoned too
In the name of propaganda
Propaganda itself is made of lies
Lies aren’t free too
They have to hide the truth
Truth is in gallows too
On non-bailable terms
Don’t ask who benefits
Everyone has lost the plot
Old money gets older
New money becomes old
Those who are poor
Remain poorer
How else will we define
The real rich?
Marginalized communities
Define the majoritarian
Who turn authoritarian
Till…till everyone loses the plot
And the script flips
Nature loves entropy
But it likes balance too…
Not everyone gets away
With it all…
Where do you stand?
Mad Decadence 