Sleepless Conversations

Shot during dusk in Kathgodam

A coughing night, and an insomniac figure

Walking by the living room, fidgeting for slumber

Moon dispensing the wit

Contending peace, tearing thunder.

Shaking the silence, I compete with the night

Cough & Kick, Cough & Kick

Rib Cage pounces in fright,

Staring in the mirror

I unbutton my shirt 

Ah, there it is, 

a bird cage ready to blurt

Heart gets noisy

Or maybe nosy?

I wondered what's in there

A dream in making or the one broken?

Hollow & devoid, I wished it stayed cosy. 

I seek another life wide awake, not too far

A tonga chimes somewhere, 

I guess door left ajar,

I tap the dead clock

And wonder what's the time?

A train makes a ruckus

Honking & chugging in rhyme.

I see stillness within the train

Figures asleep in oblivion

Heart throws a little tantrum

While train rides with no pain.

- Jheeni

Desert Rain: a barren warrior

 Dust and water,

Rafting together to slaughter

Killing time, mistaking routes

Close my eyes, water broods

Memories revamped, pals apart

Life to Colombo, heart in mart.

Casino on fire, life spins & mocks

Dwindling between the two fears

She waits at the dock

Wishes in rewind, an incomplete verse

Shivering the bones, Blues & Pinks

Aah, that blow,

Memories roll back in terse

Dust and water,

Blows with the storm,

Rebelled, compromised & caressed

Finally fall in a norm

Forming a duo,

The desert rain performs!

A Story: Take Me Home,Bounty Roads

“I was dead, then alive. 

Weeping, then laughing. 

The power of love came into me, and I became fierce like a lion, 

then tender like the evening star.”  

- Rumi

Four months at NCC Camp, was an exile chosen by her, away from home, in the freezing Delhi Military Area, turned her pale to yellow & callow life. A 13-year old: face that looked Chinese, forehead that looked like grafted from a man, she was returning home after a prideful journey of defense life. The most infamous talkative, turned silent, as if waiting for the storm. Train was rumbling faster to hit at the scheduled time, noisier to shake the anxious guts, while limbo followed everyone's faces. Her face too was getting ridiculous and threatening, as the train moved further.

The fellow cadets were hugging each other, marking sweet goodbyes, exchanging souvenirs and making promises to meet again. But she was lost in her own world, as if someone held her soul and she’s just hanging onto the clutch. She got up suddenly and walked towards the door. She seemed like she was in her deepest slumber, as she footed on the train's door. Few assumed that she'd slip, others watched out of eagerness with a fear that she'd jump. The wind moved swiftly, following and foreseeing the tracks, she stared intently at the missing poles, as if they said something, each time she passed. The train wheels switched the tracks, giving a slight goose pinch to the crowd. The fellow mates got tensed, few called out her name, though nobody dared to come close to her. The train had already entered the junction yet to slow down. The instructor, still tied up with his mind, whether, to rush or hush others, looks bewilderingly unclear. Casting the die, a moment next, avoiding the stiffened circle around him, the instructor hurried towards the door to get hold of the girl. The frantic steps froze when he realised that the girl had already jumped off the train. 

“I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?” 

The appalled faces, let out themselves from windows and doors, in fear and disgust. Few ran to the door, few screamed vaguely. Most of them looked like they lost their toes during sleep.The girl's body was loosely hanging there. She was hanging in her father’s neck, hugging and kissing him, crying and hugging back. It looked like a valley of heaven, a grandeur of love, as if they were meeting after many worlds and oceans had walked past them!

Jo bhi pyaar se mila, hum ussi ke ho liye

Karma Tonic: Chapter 9: A Morning Dream

I often get up in the morning, think of something nice and pretty, cross my fingers, clench my eyes and go back to sleep!
Why?
Mom says, 'a morning dream isn't a dream, it is a reality rain check to your future'
aye aye morning!