can you vish?

A lazy Sunday, well past noon Wearing a smile, waving your hands. You tell them you do great. Ask them how they are And as they lie back, on Skype. The machine says enough!  Gives up on you. The screen goes blank! The distance feels so real. Your shouts turn hysterical. You wail now in pain Your prayers are in vain For nothing, you could do When the screen goes blank – black! The busiest subway station At the heart of civilization People keep pouring in From pubs, parks, and parlors. A dozen trains come at once And you’ve no clue which one. A hundred screens flash lights In a bid to guide you home You follow their commands Find your order in the chaos And then boom they go The power lines are now snapped The chaos grows wild and wild As the screens now go blank – black! Exhausted! You get home The day’s dealings drained you down In the make world of gaming console You find some respite for your soul Choosing your c...

Twenty-second of July ended my dance with Thiruvananthapuram, at least temporarily. How weird is it to begin writing something by describing the end!  you might ask. It gives some context, doesn't it? It tells you that something has happened. For, something has to happen before it can end. It began in 2016, my tryst with the state capital. I still remember my former self, distressed about leaving my college before the course actually ended in order to sign up for my first job. Beware!  they said. The people at Trivandrum are the worst!  they said. Communities tend to get meaner as we go down south!  they said. They didn't tell me how stupid it is to go with hearsay and shun a people just like that, even without actually interacting with them. Sigh! A wannabe city that refuses to give up on its traditional roots. If someone asks me to describe the city in one sentence, this could be how I would do it. If they ask me to describe it in a group ...

So tell me why we live longer, Yet the things we do got shorter. Why does it feel like someone taped Your life and put it on fast forward? Hour long recipes have gone instant. Vast courses could now be crashed. The game that we played for five days? Well, five hours now feels a long phase. And don't get me started on relations. From waiting for days for that letter, No reply for minutes leave us in jitter. Our movies got short, Our poems went haiku. From the tales of two cities, We switched to tales terribly tiny. When all we do gets shorter, And we do breathe far longer Wonder what would we do With all the time that's left. Would we look back at things that passed? Or get back and do them all over again?

Just some hot buns,  straight from the oven I was looking, for fresh lettuce Peel the onions, grate the garlic Don't wanna leave the ketchup behind Not a sandwich, not a hotdog Beat the egg, grate the cheese Have a great dip of mayo, take a patty I was making the hamburger Burger, burger Burger, burg, burger Burg-burg-burger, burger, burger Burger, burg, burger Burg-burg-burger, burger, burger Burger, eat the burger French fries and the burger Burger, eat the burger French fries and the burger Kids were eating in the cafes While I was cooking for the masses Who do you think you are? Dreaming 'bout being a big chef They say it's junk food, they say you're cheesy Always ordering egg and cheese Now I'm smiling from the wok while You were paying. Next order, please Burger, burger Burger, burg, burger Burg-burg-burger, burger, burger Burger, burg, burger Burg-burg-burger, burger, burger Burger, eat t...

1331 Soaring above the clouds, Touching the skies. Raising against the odds, Kissing the winds. Never in the sidelines, Always in the spotlight. Voyaging beyond the string tugging her tight. Higher she flies, Higher she flies. Leaving the onlookers Dazed and confused, Leaving her mark Wherever she chooses. In a field full of hoppers, She jumps and she dances. She looks down at the clouds As she shoots for the stars. Merriment fills their eyes As they look up with dropped jaws The string tugs at her as she strays too far She nods her head and never loses sight Higher she flies, Higher she flies. Spreading joy unbounded Into the skies.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing. and right-doing there is a field. I'll meet you there.” - Jalal Ad-Din Rumi To travel beyond the borders drawn out by men has always been a desire. It’s not easy. You need time. You need good company. You also need money, and not peanuts. I was at my workplace, in the interlude between the coding phases when Vignesh pinged me. ‘We are going to Thailand! Are you coming?’ Wow. For someone whose previous trips were to Goa and Gokarna, the charm that Thailand offered was too hot to decline. ‘Cool. When are we going?’ ‘The second week of April. There are public holidays coming so we could save our leaves.’ I checked the calendar. No, there was no way I could do it. For, one of the public holidays was Vishu, which is a very important family time. I could not be away from home during Vishu. ‘No. I am not coming.’ The decision was made fast. However, second thoughts lingered. I explained the situation at home...