Duet 5

Real

Dark yet shining

Grim yet beautiful

Chill hearts are warm

looks tough but kind..

Picture courtesy: Amit Agarwal 

Duet 4

Wicked n wise

I have a world of my own

That I've made for myself

Somewhere between the rust and comfort

A hideout to treasure my laughter. 

Picture courtesy: Amit Agarwal

Duet 3

Lonely Universe

Entangled, entwined

Watching life from far

Fighting against chances and choices to reach it

The souls who found beauty in their own self

Being is fine, mingling is tough

Lest we lose the charming spark that we cherish in us..

Loners are fortunate

They wouldn't have lost them in the life's sea

But they are the ones who saw the whole universe in them..

Picture courtesy: Amit Agarwal

Duet 2

Pilgrims

I sprayed the dark sky with million stars, for you..

And found you scared in the dim light of an old lantern..

A prisoner to your own thoughts

Stuck in a space of emptiness..

Picture courtesy: Amit Agarwal

Duet 1

       Alive

    My branches dropped its green

    And dryness gripped its bones

    A skeleton of horror I was

    Glory lost..forgotten..

    Still strong for a lonely bird

    Or a reflection of a passerby

Picture courtesy: Amit Agarwal

Losing battle

A few years back one of my friends lost her mom. As we went to her house my friend repeatedly said 'My mom looked like Goddess Lakshmi, but see how she looks like now.' I looked at the lifeless body..there was nothing so attractive on her face to be 'good looking'. Rather I thought that she could never look like Goddess Lakshmi.
Perhaps my friend knew that her words were not enough to convince us. She went inside and brought a photograph of her Mom and with a loud cry, she handed it over to us. We passed it among us and when it came to my hand, I swallowed my shock. My friend was right. She looked like a Goddess. With her long hair and beautiful face, she looked stunning. I looked again to the lifeless body..the face was swollen and disfigured...there wasn't any hair on her head..As I stood in total disbelief, I had to accept the effect of cancer on a human being. No..I don't want to go to any detail of that sight as I can't even imagine the pain and agony caused when a human being suffers to the extend of losing everything that 'used to be' his or hers. There I saw the cruel face of cancer that disfigures a human face.
Last week I saw another lifeless body of another friend's mom. I heard my friend say how hard working and sacrificing her mom was and how she used to cook for everyone and took care of her children and grand children. Also that she was a great cook and how she used to bake cakes and that this was the only Christmas with no cakes.
I looked at the frail body wrapped in a silk sari. She was just 75, not the age to wither away into a thin being. I heard it again. She had cancer in the spine. Thank God she didn't lose her hair as she didn't undergo the procedure called chemotherapy. I felt so sad for her; a Mom who lived for her family, serving them happily till the end.
The best that I heard that day was this. Two of her children stay abroad. My friend asked her if she would like to see them, she answered after a pause 'No, I will see them in Heaven'
Too much pain for a losing battle!!