Time betrays
People betray
Family betrays
Life betrays
You betray yourself too
The true story
Isn’t the words said
The true story
Is never what is seen
It lies in what stays
Unsaid and unnoticed
And in life unlived!!
What betrays silence
Is the word
& what betrays the words
Is the silence
Between said and unsaid
There is a pause
A void so dense
Yet so empty
Bereft of trust and emotions
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!!
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…
Some blame it on nature
The sun’s activity cycles
Some blame it on human activities
Unprecedented cutting of trees
And encroachment of lakes and forests
So I guess Earth is playing it fair
It blows too hot, dry or humid
And just when humans start complaining
It blows hailstorms, cyclones and rains
With water water everywhere
And nowhere for it to go!!
My house help lamented the other day
That I was spending a lot on house plants
She hinted jokingly that money could help poor
Ah!! The fallacy of existence
I could only smile back and say
They were my buddies who gave me free oxygen and beautiful flowers for free
We take the oxygen we breathe much for granted
Just like the clean water we drink
And the gravity and the magnetic field
And also the sun and the moon
And of course our sole planet earth
While we spend billions to find exoplanets
With a hint of the existence of life
Perhaps, we deserve this wrath of nature
To reset our perspectives and context
Nothing is unlimited and forever
And everything follows
The law of reciprocity
Hate begets hate and Love begets love
Eye for an eye has blinded the humanity
Yet we refuse to learn
We make it all about profits and money
Climate chaos will be good for climate insurance
Rich will get richer and poor will become poorer
Except for the few who will be paraded as hope
The model examples of rags to riches tale
The dream after all needs to be sold
To keep nightmare going!!!
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!!
Success is a mirage
A beautiful illusion
That everyone chases
It is intangible
But yet always measured
In tangible terms
Of money or assets
Or fame or infamy
Success is a strange mirage
It doesn’t guarantee
Happiness, peace or safety
Yet it is one of the most
Powerful driving forces
Driven strongly by
By the societal constructs
Or cultural norms
World’s most famous
Writers, poets, singers and artists
Who died dirt poor as failures
Are often remembered
Oxymoronically
As successful failures or vice versa
Success is a strange mirage
A milestone some never aspire to reach
Yet they remain successful
By defying all norms and constructs!!
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 