Silent Night

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!!

Prison

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?

Possibilities

It is difficult to be optimistic

Some always see

half glass empty

Because it is empty

Emptiness is overwhelming

And it consists of suffering

And all kinds of lacks

A cruel void

But it also presents

Immense possibilities

There is a space to fill

There is a space that can change

However grim realities are

Change is always a possibility

It just happened in Hungary

Before it came to Nepal, Bangladesh

Common young people turned up

In streets and in polling booths

They did not stare at the void

And the status quo

They decided to upturn the glass

That’s the tipping point

One country at a time is reaching

Rekindling hope against all hope

For possibilities against

What seems impossible

History shows tyrants were defeated

There is an overwhelming evidence

We know the half empty glass

Can be filled with hope

And unknown possibilities

We need courage to

Keep trudging

To live with and without

To believe

And to simply show up

When possibilities emerge!!

Ceasefire

As the whole world holds its breath

As the threat of annihilation looms large

As brave people brace themselves

For the final showdown with death itself

Bunch of men proclaim

“Ceasefire!!!”

Such an easy convenient word

Why did it take so long?

One just has to cease

And step back

No one needs to call off the war

This game is paused for the next level

After all it increases views, stocks and profits

And weapons industry sells quite well

The biggest reality show of current times

Boom!! Just after ceasefire

There was much fire elsewhere

While the negotiations were still being read

There has to be a twist in the war drama

Well, the whole bloody drama is twisted!!

No one knows who is winning or losing

I guess it doesn’t matter anymore

Let the game go on…

While the desolate moon, sun

And a bunch of astronauts

Behold the beautiful Earth

Blue and white…pristine marble

Moving in the dark empty space

Silently miles miles away

Human life does seem a miracle

Till it turns itself into a curse!!