What I do these days….

What I do these days….

'What d'you do these days?’ query they
Shadows from the past undone
Me? ‘I seize nature grey and green, yea
Gaining moments dull and gay’

‘You, an artist’ ‘Or a painter?’ wary they
Bothering with my choices unsure
Me? ‘My eyes can’t bear an extra lens, nay
My hands know not to hold a brush’

What d'you do these days? query they
Visitors from the lane across
Me? ‘I make future hale and happy, yea
Urging humans near and far'

‘You a Preacher?’ ‘Or a teacher? wary they
Venturing with my powers unclear
Me? ‘My mind can’t take a longer view, nay
My heart knows not to read a beat’

‘What d'you do these days?’ query they
Phantoms from the future shore
Me? ‘I build castles high in sky, yea
Guarding man in game and pain’

‘You a builder?’ ‘Or a planner? wary they
Bartering with my skills unveiled
Me?, ‘my tools can’t close an open space, nay
My brain knows not to scheme a plan’

‘What d'you do these days?’ query they
Commons from the days that pass
Me? ‘I live life in utter vain, yea
Marking flinty thoughts that bear’

'You a writer?' 'Or a Poet?' wary they
Guessing with my words unsaid
Me? ‘My sense can’t carve a perfect verse, nay
My soul knows not to sing a song’

‘I just do now what I know
Dream and dream and,
Dream and dream…

Yet, I venture in my small ways
Hoping that my dream comes true!
Hoping that my dream comes true!!

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Photo CC: Sprungli's photostream@ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sprungli/2561376386/

August 17, Delhi

A splinter of moon wanes quiet against the hazy blue
Dumping ash over a still shining star

A streak of cloud leans soft upon the distant skies
Merging grey along a glowing cerulean arc

A string of leaves titters wild with a passing wind,
Shaking off many a bird lull in sleep

A night heron cuts the air scrapping its half-done prey
Hanging helpless, on the electric line

A slice of sun burns white through the curtains
Splashing red across a closing lid,

Again.

A sin relived, a dream half lost.
I lay in sheer lethargy.

On the Female-Trio in a Man’s Life

‘A man needs a female-trio to succeed in life’ – a friend of mine said recently, in a casual talk.

Even as my blood boiled at the chauvinism in the statement, I preserved my calm as I asked him to clarify the trio –roles for women to perform their ‘ordained’ duty of making a man successful.

Yeah, perhaps all men and the discerning women got it already – A wife, a trusted friend and a lover. To be more eloquent:

A committed wife to care
A trusted friend to share
An approving lover to cheer!

The comment and clarification raised several questions from a feministic, humanistic, moralistic and many other obscure perspectives that infuriated me at the first instant –What justifies a man’s privilege to have all three in chorus, even as women struggle to have one aspect of a man in full for her just to live on?

I know my unassuming friend wouldn’t have sensed the serious implications underlying his statement. His is plain and simple, and so I think it proper not to delve into those aspects, which he never meant.

Yet, my mind declines to leave; I am inclined to read the subtexts.

The wife – committed as she is traditionally trained, assumes her role on the belief that she is the sole prop for her man; that she, and only she, should be the cause and reason for his success. Though shaky at times, with that belief she toils all day to make her home, thinking all the while about what she could do to make her man stay interested. There is never a ‘No’ in her life to her man. A poor dumb!

The friend or confidante – Mostly she is a colleague or a regular fellow traveller. Trusted she is for being a sympathetic listener to the unending mundane issues of his family and personal life; the infinite tensions he handles in his professional life, and of his incessant craving for the real love of his life. She is to listen, to accept what he says, to sympathise with him…and then to occasionally hear him say to his other friends: ‘Hey, she is ‘just’ a friend!’

The lover – By all means she is to satisfy his ego – whatever it takes! And keep her coy!!

The trio-roles seem absolutely made-to-order to make a man successful.

But do women of today fit the roles? I doubt.

You -- A Collage

‘You don’t know me’ you said.
‘They are aspects you never knew.’
‘Yes,’ I was inclined to agree fast.

Looking back, I did feel
We never knew each other
And never bothered of it
All the while,
Loving just ourselves, not each other

Now, far off in time and space
I try, to figure your face
I get a collage, bits and pieces of many

Eyes and glance: (I get hooked up there)
Takes the poise of those of the young man
Who walked past the busy street

Lips and smile: (I get enticed there)
Takes the twist of those of the gentleman
Who sat across in the crowded bus,

Nose and nothing: (To me it’s inarticulate)
Takes a slant, I can’t make out
Of some corporate geek,

And,
As I match the pieces
On a blank scape, again
A wind from nowhere blows across!