Forgiveness

One Idyllic afternoon,
an assembly of assorted
roses, lillies and other magicians
tried many a trick on me,
to convince.

I sat there unmoved.

A flash of nonchalant glance;
I saw them plotting in a huddle.
When the gentle rain,
seated on affable breeze
(unleashed by them)
decended on my face,
I couldnt help, but,
forgive this world of all its sins.

Being a leader.....

This is the era of employee empowerment.

One day all top guys in my company got together and decided to empower us. You know only too well that these are the same guys who have been sleeping on the concept of succession planning (literally) for over a decade. The youngest of the senior lot has spent two years in the company post retirement thanks to extensions. These extensions have been nicknamed “service unto death” pacts.

So, one day I found myself travelling to Hotel Sea princess to attend a training programme on Leadership. I had told myself that if the program was going to chew on the dead rubber well masticated spit of a topic “Difference between Leadership and Management” (that I had to put up with many times during such occasions earlier) I’d throw something at the faculty. Her lucky day that it turned out to be, she escaped unhurt.

I initially was active hungrily pouncing on conceptual errors in their presentation but soon gave up. I was then settling comfortably into a trance (lectures always do that to me) that carried my mind beautifully over the well recorded and often accessed memories of my darling’s nautankies when Mr.Pandey* suddenly raised his tightly clenched fist and announced, “I have the power”. The lady who had been eloquently lecturing us on leadership was stunned by the intervention and another faculty who had thus far been a quiet observer erupted into loud laughter but quickly stifled it. But the lecturing lady quickly gathered herself to follow the training protocol, clause 1 of which reads that if someone acted silly or oversmart, he has to be encouraged. This incident left others wondering if they should do something as nauseatingly pretentious and earn brownie points.

See, I don’t really mind becoming a leader. Just don’t put me in the company of such people!

*Names haven’t been changed to intrude privacy.

Nostalgia

Dated Albums
are reminders;
of our perpertual divergence
from happiness.

Ripples

Sometimes,
talking to you
is like throwing stones
into a still pond
and watching the ripples
in me.

A Flashback

Now and then, I take her
on a walk back in time,
holding her velvet hands.
As the gears move the reel
of my life, she chooses an
age, quite distant.

The day he learnt butterflies
were to be held gently and
the captured ones, tightly
held on to small stones.
All the jars in the shelf
had been explored, his tongue
had taken tamarind’s brown.
As it grew dark, the full moon
had left fewer than hundred stars,
each one was touched and counted.
Then, slumber had swallowed curiosity.

Now, as she presses his
sprouting fingers to her lips,
she strokes his unkempt hair,
he curls up in her lap,
trousers wet.

P.S: Happy Anniversary, dear. Many more happy ones to follow.

Tremors

Of late, calamities
mark my day.

An avalanche of cheer
wakes me up.
I get washed ashore,
now and then
by a deluge of delirium.
Or a whirlwind of euphoria
toys with me.

But, I’ll remember
that day for the tremors
she brought.

You belong to me

I have said enough.
Now, my dignified silence
will keep us company.
So, a fleeting glance,
most endearing,
or a tentative touch
(followed by an unfelt apology)
should mean,
I love you most.