Expectations

I rejoiced when your ideals tumbled
From the impossibly high ledge you'd placed them on
Your expectations of people would fall with them, i figured
And help me rise in your eyes

But you held on to them, expectations
Like nature, you abhorred vacuum
So every time an ideal fell
I was to rush to take his place instead

I wonder

(This is what a gtalk status message grew into.
Gtalk status - my twitter cum FB cum "shouting from rooftops")

What is it with songs that make you want to dance?
Even though you cant
Not with a gun to your head
Not even when no one's watching

What is it with books that make you want to lose yourself in them?
Become a ghost
Live between the words
Trapped and yet free

What is it about characters that brings them to life?
Touch, see, feel what they feel
The imaginary becomes real
As the world fades to black

How is it some people never really go away?
A hi five is all it takes
Time, space
and distance turn fake

Questions

(Something i wrote very long ago. Since i seem to be in the mood to flush out stuff...)

Why me
Why you
Why square peg
Why round hole

Why me
Why you
Why us
In this whole wide world

When it is answers i seek
Why questions

The other side

Hard-hearted I may be
But silver tongued I am not
What you see is what you get
I beard the burden of destroyed lives
Of destroyed hope I can not.

Hard-hearted I may be
But with a silver tongue that heals
Telling you what you want to hear
So however deep the cut may be
Its my conscience that bleeds.

Untitled

Like a rock she stands
Firm, unyielding
Throwing back whatever the world throws at her.

Oh why not be a lake instead?
Unprotesting, but unchanging
Swallowing whatever the world throws at you
With only a burp of a ripple to show for it.

About a ball...

You might call it a ball, but that would be like calling Azim Permji a dalda maker. Those of you fortunate enough to have experienced its magic will understand. It came into my life about a year ago, and well, what can i say, life was never the same again.

Happy birthday, Yellow Smiley!

How many times I had seen you around
But not really cared to look
All i had to do was to hold you once
And i knew, i just knew, i was hooked

How many times did we play in my room
Before we ventured out
And how long did it take for you to become
The thing i didn't leave without

How many times did I greet fellow mates
By aiming you at their head
And how many times did miss completely
And hit a professor instead

How many times did i whip you out
Just to fiddle around
And how long would it take for the mad ones to join
And no one working could be found

How many times have I chased people down
To get you back, cos your mine
And how many wars have i started and won
By throwing you across the border line

How many times have I held you close
Before you were licked by a dog
And how many times since have i refused
To allow you to be washed

The answer, alas,
Is lost in my past
The answer is lost in my past.

A nursery rhyme with inappropriate words

99 red balloons
Released into the summer sky
See how they stick together
Looks like they are a little shy
The brave ones float apart
Experiencing what it is to fly
Soon the others follow
Grinning, shouting, all eager to try!

99 red balloons
Spread out in the open sky
Each leaving the other behind
In a race to a new high
And when one red balloon
Bumps into another flying by
They rub a little off each other
And go their way with a merry cry!

(What? Big words are inappropriate for a nursery rhyme. Something tells me I will do well in journalistic position with TOI.)

Who am I?

Am I a log floating in the river
Flowing where the water flows
Going where the wind blows
Convinced that higher powers are on my side
Content to sit back and enjoy the ride
Knowing but not caring that one day I will end up in the sea?

or

Am I a fighter with an axe
Making my way as I go
Meeting everything that comes with a blow
Getting bruised along the way
Hurt and hurting because that is the game
Knowing but not caring that I my end before the fight does?

To fly or not to fly

I sat down to write something but then remembered this poem we were taught as kids that says it so much better than I ever could.

What does little birdie say
In her nest at peep of day?
Let me fly, says little birdie,
Mother, let me fly away.
Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till thy little wings are stronger.
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away.

How do you know you are strong enough?

There is a war out there
They fight cause its right
They fight cause its wrong
It goes on
Battle for battle, stroke for stroke
The moment one wins, its all a joke.

There is a war in here
Me against myself
For control of the boat
It goes on
Battle for battle, stroke for stroke
Only, whoever wins, I get hurt

Three pairs of specs, too good to be true!
One crushed in a Basky match,
And then there were two.

Two pairs of specs, oh what fun!
A frame split for no reason,
And then there was one.

One pair of specs, now that's a laugh!
A temple broke while wrestling
And then there was half.

Half a pair of specs, ever got that done?
Soon joined the other half,
And then there were none!

(Managed to salvage two complete pairs of specs out of the wreckage. A big thanks to my caretaker mom and my anna's anna for helping me through my blindness)

Door se dekha to chand dikh raha tha
Door se hi nihara aur nikal gaya
Paas jaane ki tammana thi na aarzoo
Jab bhi paas gaya hoon, bas daag hi dikhe hain

What happened to me???

If you are what you eat, i am a boiled potato
If you are what you wear, i don't decide who i am
If you are what your thoughts are, i am confusion
If you are what you read, i am still a teenager
How I wish it could be
If you are what you can be, i am me!

Not awake and yet not asleep
In a world where reality is a dream and dream reality
I suddenly hear voices that don't belong
Startled, afraid,
Strangers in my home!

Takes an eternal instant
For reality to become itself
For me to realize
That I am the stranger in someone else's home.

Prologue:
I've always wanted to write a verse. Something a little more abstract than what i generally write. What follows is an attempt at the above. The only thing that gives me the confidence to post this, well, there are two things. One is that most of the current audience of my blog are my friends. And they can't stop reading just because i write unreadable stuff :) I mean, thats what friends are for. The other of course is the "Delete" option in blogger.


Small things
and yet, they bind you
don't let you fly away

You dream
dream of a day
a day when nothing holds you
a day you fly away

And then, bright and new
comes a day
a day when the small things that hold you
the things that bind you are gone !
Nothing stops you from flying away

And then you see
small things
small things you hadn't seen before
and you know you'll never fly away

But, cold and clear
will come a day
A day when the small things that no longer bind will seem bigger than the small things that do
And you'll feel that much closer to flying away.