नन्हे की किल्कारियों को दबा लेते हैं ये बम के धमाके,
और ध्वनि को अपने अस्तित्व पे शर्म आती है |
सृजन-देखन को तरसी ये निगाहें देखती हैं जिंदा लाशें,
और दृष्टि को अपने अस्तित्व पे शर्म आती है |
मेहेकती नालियों समीप पले-बडे तर्सते हैं फूलों की महेक को,
और गन्ध को अपने अस्तित्व पे शर्म आती है |
मधुरस को निहारती अबला बासी रोटियों से मन भरती है,
और स्वाद को अपने अस्तित्व पे शर्म आती है |
लड़ते-झगडते रहते हैं हम ज़िन्दा रहके भी जिन्दगी से,
और जिन्दगी को अपने अस्तित्व पे शर्म आती है |

Corruption

Giving 100 rupees at the traffic post,
Corruption was the parasite and I its host.
Little did I realize I was helping it breed,
And now its thriving, threatening. Country, pay heed.

Brazen irony , Gandhian calls the politician thee,
Stacked illegally is no-one but Gandhi.
Pitiful is this state where the guardian itself ransacks,
Someone please tell Digvijay, its character he lacks.

Morality's wronged when you take what’s not yours, O greedy,
Further harmed because what you take is for a needy.
What could have been a daily bread, a winter thread,
You are shamelessly multiplying in UBS; in news I read.

We have work to do, to set things right,
Non- cooperation, satyagraha whatever it takes in this fight.
Anna and Ramdev have led, we have to cope,
From this ash, a phoenix will emerge. A ray of hope.

Of anger, containment withstanding, a volcano has erupted,
To cleanse my nation which is this corrupted.




READER NOTES (to help appreciate my subtleties better )

Line 6 : 'Gandhi' refers to Indian currency notes
Line 11 : 'thread' refers to warm clothing for poor
Line 12 : UBS is Union Bank of Switzerland.

B.Tech slipping away

It’s a fine Monday morning and I am sitting here on the fourth bench in NTB-201, forced to be an audience to a cryptic monotone, when I realize that it won’t be long before NITK and I will have to part ways. 40 days more. I count and recount and well yes. Only 40 days more. How will things change? Will I change? Will they? Life seems too good now to make change sound despairing.

For starters, we wont be Bachelors any more. A teenager will have to die for the adult to take birth. Life will be anything but careless. Industry jargons will replace vernacular swearings. Idle night-outs will give way to pressing deadlines from the boss. There will not be any, “Yaar 50 rupaye de naa” and you won’t wake up to 200 familiar faces. Toothpaste will seize to be a prized possession and bathing will find a place in the daily routine. What will we crib about, if there is no ‘bad mess food’ . What will I do if my bosses reprimand me when I wish to GPL a promoted colleague? 9:30 PM will lose its value as girls won’t have any block timings to adhere to. Who will I fight with over restaurant bills? Will anyone still reason – Rs 60 for a plate of Paneer Makhanwalla makes it 12 rupees per piece of paneer? Money saving seems sweeter when it’s a 100 Rupee note secretly stashed away in the deeper crevices of my wallet than thousands in my Provident Fund.

The magnanimity of things will overshadow the smaller details we have always cared about. Rationality will cloak every crazy idea that crosses our minds. I fear reasoning. I fear being pragmatic. I fear this change. Maybe I am being too critical and melancholic, but maybe this is how things will be.