Valentine’s Day

The fanatical, orthodox and conservative trafficker and the bootleggerGo about seling her.Just like a green and pink-necked parrot,The astrologer goes about using the birdAs for picking the zodaic cards of fateAs to prophesize.The same middle men, astrological men, as per oraclesDemanded the first girl issuesTo be given to the templesTo be devadasis and nautch girls.But…

The journey from modernism to post-modernism,One who had been modern will be mod, modernistic, stylish-listic, manneristic,Post-modern,Transgressing it, traversing the domains and territories of modernismAnd it will be a return back or a step forward.

Going to assembly.

Poor and love-lorn,Broken and tornAnd here lie I aching with the pain of mine,Whom to say to,All about love,The heart of a loverly manAnd it goes aching and aching and I in searchOf finding some hemlockBy putting the palm on the heartTrying to console and bandage my broken self.

Extremism,Loot, plunder, firing, setting ablazeCannot solve it allAnd if you want to finish as thus,You may,If you want to put an end to,You may,The option is yours,Choose you in between.

Rahat Indori Saheb,Mai apnei baap-dado ka diyaJamin ka naksha-parch aanwata hunAur panch-parmeshwar bulaa kahalwata hun.Aankh mitaka kar kucch kahana,Eshara karna aur chutki lenaAccha lagaa,Bahut accha lagaa, Indori Saheb,Shukriya!Hindustan is but not somebody’s father’s property,Yeah, it is my father’s,Rahat Indori Saheb,I am making them bring patriarchalNotes and drafts, wills and documents of land deedsAnd also calling…

Into a reclined stateOf reflection or delvingAnd dwelling ti farMakes it a philosopher,Gives the pose of a philosopherIn a mood of philosophizing.

Big and small, small and bigJumping,Sitting on the roads,Crossing byIn groups,Hanging onto rooftops,The branches of trees,Plucking fruits,Leaves,Asking for foodOr snatching from the handsIf seen with,Looking with awe, suspense,Ogling,Gnashing the teeth.

Then a poet in English too,An editor of Byword,A diplomat, a soldier, a traveller,He is a retired colonel as well as an embassy-man,Who had been to various parts of the worldAs per his assignment.As a poet, one of Zero Hour,1986 and Crossroads,1991,Published from Writers Workshop, Calcutta,He tells of his sense of beauty,Tours and visits,Representation of…

Where, my friend,Where?Stand you,Stand!Has your tipsy,Tipsy come down,Are you feeling well,Well?Will you,Will you be ableTo walk?Or,Or, should I take you,You to your home,Friend,My friend?But you still,Still with the bottleOf wineTrying to stand along withClutching it by your side!

Keep the lips sealedOtherwise face the wrath and ire,You will be called in the evening to the party officeTo settle scores.Their suppression and repression famous world-wide,How do they torture the non-communists,How do they crush the democracy movements,How do they suppress people’s protests for relaxation,How do they censure the press,The high-handed handling of the tougher law-makers,The…

Its heritage and continuity,Long-standing tradition and sustenance,Invincibility of spirit,Indefatigable and indelibleContinuing from times immemorialTo till now,How to negate it.The varying traditions,Customs and sects,Beliefs and faithsAligning in the end,Corroborative ofLeading to the same,The tales of the rivers, mountains,How to undo itIf the geographical mapping and cartographyWe feel it not,Take it notThe variations in thought, idea and…

For studiesAnd if you are a Hindustani,Go not to,Liver you in EnglandBut change you notThe culture of England.

As poetry is poetry,Written words,Spoken words.Only poetry is not it all,As the poets create it not all,Poetry is photography,The poet sees them and borrows fromAnd the mason too not less than the poets,The architects and sculptors.To me, the little-little temples, the terracotta templesAre themselves the great works of art and architecture,The old-old temples,Centuries-old, made from…

Of a mythical baseDrawing from Celtic legends,Occult andOriental mysteries.

The impact of the words,Who was he,Who, who?Who this Allen Ginsberg,A foreigner tourist,A traveler touristerOr a gipsyWandering?Or a hippie,A beat poetOr a psychiatric patientRecuperatingAt a rehabilitation centre?Who, who this Allen Ginsberg,A poet or an artistOr a traveler,A touristTouring?

And so furious?Is it the innocence stateFelt within?

Yea, they do not let me sleepSimilarly as the memories of yours,Your and my loves talking together with and going.I see the nights, the milky white sheets spread over,Strolling withe the sweet thoughts of yoursAnd your memories calling me from behind.Your love I have not forgotten, your smiules I still remember themWhen it shines the…

How did they calculateWithout telescopes?But miscalculated they tooIn saying about the sun and the earth,But we should not mix jyotirvigyanWith astrology and palmistryAnd if you give a chance,The Acharya Brahmins will earn from.

And feel about their journeyFrom Nagaland to Prayag.

Engineering and construction,Roads and links,Bridges and dams,Electricity and housing,Post offices and telegraphs.The modern ageOf the radio, the cinema,The theatre and cosmetics,The television,The telephone,The wireless handset,The textiles.Had the food been notIn the belly,Had clothing been not,Good houses to dwell in,Could we have been modern,Had we not gone to schools,Had there been not courts and police stations?

This looters brigade,The rowdy and unruly elementsAnd anti-socialsAlways in hunt for something,To make out from thisVandalism,The chaos and crisis,The pandemonium and hullabaloo,The rogues and thieves.To protest is not to politicize it,Improvise the situationTo be benefitted from,To give it a political colour,To protest is not to break,Loot and to be thugs,Destroy business,Now say you,When will this…

And stylistic and linguisticAnd literary and lyrical.

Made from small bricks and lime clay,The temples with the terracotta platesWith the drawings and carvingsFrom the Ramayana and the MahabharataOr those in sadhna, love or relationship,Erotic and bulgingWith the pillars big-bigAnd the roof wooden and plastered,The old-old temples of ChandrakonaWhich once adorned the areaWith so many temples,Reminding us of King Chandraketu.

At the middleThe sunflower,The sunflowerBig and bulgingCast towards the sun,The rising sun,The strong sunThe yellow, yellowViolet crowned sunflowers.

Thought ofGiving,GivingYour thought,Mind and ideaIn thinking about,About the doctors and medical staffFighting, struggling to treatThe corona influxIn ItalianAnd Spanish hospitalsDying,Suffering,Giving treatmentTo the much neededIn the times of stress and strainUnder the troubled timesOf sufferingBearing it allIn the lack of resourcesAnd patients aplenty?

Stalking overThe marshy plotsAnd deep into water bodiesCatching fish.

I too could not value youAnd now at the time of departure am feeling it,What did I do really?

On Facebook, Twitter,People uploading poems,Posting on websites,Making blogs.

With regard to healthy life and living,The art of living,Walking and jogging,Yoga and meditational benefits.The grand old man of India,Sardarji,Telling of recipes,What to eat, what not,During the winter and the summer,What to wear and what not.When the cold winter wind blows it,The chill taking a toll over,How to save us,Warming by the earthen oven,After sitting…

See youMan blanketing the dead,Rolling over to burn the deadNear the hilly rivuletAnd you sitting on a rock,By the old peepul or banyan tree,Marking them burn,Hang down the asthi-kalasha,Doing panda-dana thereafter.How, how long,Will you keep doing as thus,O, how, how long,Will you go burning the dead?Kalpurusha, may I ask,Ask,Why, why are you so hard of…

The day I saw you after.Now God knows it how long am I here in this world,As my longing turning tinto the restlessness of mineAnd you going,Passing by as the heartthrob of mine.I saw her and took too the pains, just saw and fell to her,Just saw her and pained it the heart of mine,Ached,…

Om-Om,Hari-Hari,Hari Om,Hari-Hari.Hari om,Hari-Hari,Om-Om,Hari-Hari,Om Hari, Om Hari,Hari-Hari.I in search of Hari,Hari-Hari,Hari Om,Hari-Hari,Om-Om, Hari-Hari.

Intensive heat is fallingAnd there is no respite from this summerIn ruffle,When the winds keep blowing,Making restelss,Sizzling heat claim upon.The wasteland, wasteland,Hey, into the wasteland are you,Living to be deadUntimely,Destined to decay, doom and devastation,As the deadmen walking youAnd the shadows followingAs spectres, genii.This devastation is your ownAs you have turned intoThrough your tussle for…

Without the post-officeAnd the shops,Sleeping by nightfall,Getting darker and solitary,Without the lights,Just the wicked earthen lamp burningWith the oil burning somewhereWith insufficient lightAnd that too not everywhere.The village boys and girls half-fed and half-clothedTelling of a poor India,Clumsy and poorly dressed,The hair of the girl without oil and lousyAnd the boy if with the shortsBut…

And the Bosnians quarreled,Was it the controversy of religion,Was it the ethnic problem,Was it an inner rivalry?Why did Yugoslavia disintegrate,What were the causes responsible forIts disintegration,The Serbian cause,The Muslim problem and foreign instigation,Who were responsible for?To read Peter Handke is to remember aboutCommunist Yugoslavia,The ethnic states of the confederationAnd also about its fall and disintegration,The…

The day I saw you after.Now God knows it how long am I here in this world,As my longing turning tinto the restlessness of mineAnd you going,Passing by as the heartthrob of mine.I saw her and took too the pains, just saw and fell to her,Just saw her and pained it the heart of mine,Ached,…

I mean the learners,Dressed and made upAnd after seeing them, forget I my poetryAnd start thinking about their performing art,Trough dancingThey saying it allWith their poses and postures in movement,Expressions of sorrow and happiness,Expressing through signs and symbols,Rhythmic movement and break-up of limbs.Just like puppets, the old puppet dances of IndiaAnd the artistes making it…

The awkward fellows, the rustic ministers,Those who knew not how to talk,How to speak and how to behaveToo turned into our M.Ps. and M.L.As.Ministers and leaders?J.P., whatever call they or think you yourself,You did not do the right thingFor the nation in painsAs they improvised their poor performanceTo the division of the mother India,Between the…

In a tell-tale story formThe matter of debateYears afterWhen you are no moreYour Padmavat,PadmawatDealing withRani Padmavati, Alauddin Khilji and Ratan Singha.A Rajput queen,A Muslim invaderAnd a yearning so different.How to tell,Tell it,Jayasi?Rani Padmavati a Rajput princessOf the kattar RajputsWhile on the other Alauddin a Muhammadan invaderAfter Padmavati?How can it be, how can it be,Jayasi,Return you…

Unite you the body with the mind & the soul.World Yoga Day not of yoga mastersBut of yoga with body and soulAnd mind and true spirit.

Hanging near the near.A small earthenware urnWith the ashesAnd the unburnt navel of hers,But covered with clay,I found it hangingNear my gate,My last hope of getting solace from,But it too remained it not for a long time.The asthi-kalasha of my fatherLay it hanging from the stem of the old peepul treeStanding on the river-bankOf my…

You ask me not,How much do I love you?I love you, I love you,you ask me not,How much do you love me?I love you, I love youSince the day I have seen,Seen you.

An Indian girl fromThe metropolitan towns and mega citiesEnacting the drama in EnglishTo the foreign audience.Shakuntala,Bengali Shakuntala,Tamil Shakuntala,Punjabi Shakuntala,Manipuri Shakuntala.

Where live IThere is my home.

Driving in drunkennessRecklessly, staggeringly?

See the face-cutting.

Their cigarsMake me smoke,The trails of smokeTwirling up above,The cigar held in betweenThe fingers,Puffed with style,Embers blazing,Ashes shaken off.On seeing themI too want to smoke,Smoke a cigar.

Talk to me,The wayfarersFrom far-off lands,The aliensWith the UFOsComing toAnd when interceptedMutter theyThe aliensThe travellersFrom far,Far off lands.

The Sino-Indian relations,The PLO and the Indian ArmyClashed theyWith Red imperialistic aspirationsAnd patriotic fervourResulting into the death ofThe army menFrom both the sides.

In the praise of Ganesha,Lord GaneshaWith the hands foldedAt the temple entranceOffering water and flower petalsJust before the start of my worshipAnd olden artistic statues dancing,dancing before the eyesMade in different styles,From different objectsRock-cut, made from clay,Wooden and painted,Ganesha aschildOf Shiva-Parvati,Ganesha as dearer to Parvati,Ganesha in an elephantine faceLooking so bizarre and grotesqueBut blissful blessingWith…

Indian mind and thinking,But thought an outcome of thinking,Indian cultureOne of samskara and gharana,What manners, courtesy, submissiveness,Politeness, erudition and scholarshipOne has from his family,Inherited it.Indian thought Indian idea and imagery,Mood, mind and mentalityAnd reflection,Indian thought,But Indian culture,The tradition of the Ganga-Yamuna-SaraswatiTaking to Mansarover, Kailash,Himalayan wisdom and knowledge.

Dwelling within the heart.

How far Leh Ladakh?How the placesLeh and Ladakh,How the people of,How the climate, food habit,Costume and cultureOf the people,Local hilly people?If somebody could tell meHow far Leh Ladakh,How the place,The sights and scenery of it,The panorama of Nature?I knowI shall not be able to visitThose fringes,The far off Himalayan sectorTouching Tibet, China and far,Had I…