The closing ceremony of 2008...

It has been long, since you came new,
Bundled with blessings for a countable few
As you depart tonight with the year's last dew
Up comes the morning Sun, with hopes and dreams anew..

.....And as the horizon juggles between sunset and sunrise, night and morning, 2008 and 2009, we refuse to be harsh to the year bidding goodbye. Save for the handful of smiles and blessings it has bestowed, on this last night of its stay with us, we readily fail to notice the blues through which it has made us suffer, the tears it has brought about within us. Though the apprehension over mass killings at random corners of the country fails to get blurred by a coveted mission to the moon, a 50,000 pound valued booker couldn't help the global market crashdown and the first gold medal couldn't moderate our grief over losing Dada, still we owe our bags full of gratitude to the year bygone for the tad bit of goodness it has done for us...a booker prize, an Olympic gold medal, victory of the Democrats...and yet a few unnoticed fleeting smiles it fruitfully brought about for a while or two among us.

On a personal note, it has been less of flower beds and more of thorns, being the most challenging year in my girlhood of eighteen years.
And despite taking him miles away from me, it eventually kept bringing us together.

And as 2008 wraps itself up...we, in our own accord, spare another hope and tear for Mumbai, Guwahati, Delhi, Agartala, Ahmedabad...and unconditionally thank all the Abhinav Bindras and Aravind Adigas around the world who, amidst all this, made an exchange of smiles possible between us.

P.S.- Happy New Year to everyone out there. Have a great year ahead.

Christmas hues...And Us

Its us who fight through the nights and days. And leave the damp blankets and pillows to rot.

Its us who bring about those undue tussles. And cry out an entire night.

Its us who make those innumerable promises. And break them now and then.

Yet its us, again us, to make those same old vows.

Its us who spoil each other's day. And walk off our own ways.

Its us who blame each other for all. And feel guilty for the same.

Its us who make the other one cry. And cry ourselves no less.

Yet its us, again us, who wait for each other, for days on end.

Its us who fret over the distance between us. And strive on killing it through love.

Its us who wait for the rains to arrive. And share the same umbrella despite having two.

Its us who reach out to each other for help. And hold hands at vulnerable crossroads.

Its us who await the winters through the year. And cling close to keep the warmth alive.

Its us who yearn to see the colours of sunset.

And us, who paint the world green during fall.

Its us who celebrate the essence of winter.

And us, who incessantly pray for it all.

Its us who hold breath for another Christmas,

With the bliss with which it last year came..

And its Christmas which brings back all those together

On another celebration in our name.

Its for Us. And for all those shuffled colours and muffled delight we've brought into each other's lives.

P.S.- Merry Christmas to you. And Us.

In Your spirits...

I woke up with Your age-old spirit

As You broke the night into dawn

Amidst jingling bells and mingling prayers

You re-wore Your thorny crown.

With the break of another winter sunrise

You brought back Your fragrance and hues

And the livened up bells and re-bloomed roses

Marked another Christmas anew.

I waited awake throughout last night

To hear Your bells being rung

In the dead hour of another midnight

I heard Your carols sung.

I longed to see Your eyes before mine

I lit up my candle for You

I yearned to touch Your worshipped divinity

To know what's strong, pure and true..

You have perceived us through the last year long

Through times of green and blue

You have guided us through vicious waters

As You captained our crew.

Its another Christmas in Your name

Another toast, and a treat

For when the rejoicing world forgets the same,

I thank You for this Yuletide spirit.

P.S.- Merry Christmas to all of you..

Failure..

Words have kept twittering inside,
clinging onto crutches, of my feeble kind
until another day, they stumbled upon
the baffling maze engraved upon my mind.

They couldn't trace their way out;
perplexed and captivated, as curses unwind
Crying for another life, another dream, another light..
They were left to rot in the shambles of a mind.

Words kept betraying at bedside,
when incessant tears dampened my pillow
as I rummaged through some darkened alleys
Groping for words, that abandoned me hollow..

Last night I treaded the lanes and bylanes of hope
Revisiting every dream you taught me to see
And goes with me the hollow you left
On a holiday with failure by the side of the sea...