like that

he's like that,
she's like that.
they'r like that,
we'r like that.

break like that,
make like that,
mettle like that,
resolve like that.

quiet like that,
chatty like that,
annoy like that,
touch like that.

think like that,
blank like that,
live like that,
n shut like that.

dreams like that,
discontent like that.
luck's like that,
life's like that.

don't get me like that,
takes time like that,
abandon like that,
n come back like that.

scribble like that,
act like that,
weird like that,
just like that!

i'm scared

during my primary school days, we used to witness communal riots in our area, in bombay.. it used to happen all of a sudden, and people ran helter-skelter first, and then locked themselves in their houses..

i remember, i was 10-11 yrs old, driving a small bicycle in a local scool ground, a few meters away from my home..

my brother was also playing around..

and then, suddenly i heard the rushes.. a bunch of people running madly, warning everyone to get back to their houses.. it is as if you could feel the fear in the air..

at that point of time, everything around me froze, blinded.. i threw the cycle away and ran for my home with my brother by my side..

the cycle lay with the wheels whirring,

how far I threw it, fearful strength, I don’t know;

my heart was pounding, my hands shivering..

reflexes or by fear, the legs motored, I don’t know.

I ran and the few meters were gone,

as fast as they can, I knew scampering scurrying;

it was sunset time, the light was also gone;

the gloom and timid fear added to the hurrying.

‘mother, where are you?’ probably my thought

‘mother, why do they do this?’ my reasoning;

‘mother, when does all this end?’ I tried to agitate

‘mother, they keep scaring me?’ I was weakening.

midway, I found light in that, I saw my mother,

why nothing else mattered than that sight, I don’t know;

she took us inside, now seemed nothing to bother,

locking ourselves, I gasped, looked at a picture, I don’t know.

the rustling outside I heard, a lot blood I did not see,

yet the moment, like a black smoke, fiercely wrapped around;

the senses were rivaled, as the pounding continue;

‘this will pass’, i heard within me, hoping to never come around.

‘mother, I’m scared’ I garbled in the real nightmare,

‘mother, I feel alone and lost.’ beginning to understand;

and then she hugged me, wrapped me around her, all in a hug;

and she told me, 'there is nothing to fear ever in life.. only to face.'

and then i knew, 'the sky will look like falling, every once in a while.'

and then I knew, ‘my sky will never fall, all one ever needs is that hug.’

we, the morons

Present here, for you to say 'on an average',

Exist below, and above you gain the leverage;

Lost, in directions and sense, we, the morons,

Muck up, the glitching sheep, in all the plans.

Plethora, of jokes for you to source from us,

Handsome, he seems, but it's really 'coz of us;

Unreliable, when you think, it just defines us,

Shoddy, thats not an off day, it's just so us.

Last nod, we are a 'Joey', but only in senses,

No reaction, unless someones pinches n says;

Mars, we give a bad name to you, well worse;

Happy, its us, so we lost to cats and bears.

No poet, we don't abuse the weather and Suns,

Again, and again, all the cliched natural lines;

Tree, we need to be, to scribble about a tree,

Imagination, lack of it, and you'r talking we.

Dates, now some can't complain, it's all we,

Nook, that's the only place we all like to be;

Losers, we are affectionately called by thee,

Post-nominal letters JH, JackHoles, thats we.

Balance, we rise, when you think of them and we,

Choices, we are to be ruled out, help you see;

Simple, we make your decisions easy and free;

Reason, on the face you have to say/act to we.

Right there, we'll amuse you when you'r down;

Drift, what we do when you are on your own;

Smile, thats how far apart, you'r for us to bow;

Empty, mind with a hole, whatever we've gotta do!

Best Man, thats a safe bet, we the scapegoats;

Non-compete, thats we offer to fellow foxes;

Elite, many on this planet, we own the success;

Plenty, like me, always trust 'we the morons'.

Fade, when the smart and righteous and jolly;

Dim-witted, when that's all what attributed us;

Smile, one in that thought is what we stood for,

Unaware, yet that we have inherited the Earth.

kid and the puppy

this was on my mind for a good amount of time.. yesterday was an outstanding day with a chilled climate. as good as what, imagine a feeling when you are reminded of all your friends, childhood memories, mischiefs, romantic moments, nostalgia, those flashing highlights of your life... ok too much..

basically, an extremely subjective pleasant day..

i jumped around a lot, hopped around a lot, kept nodding my head all day in sheer mirth...

i checked.. i was sane.. basically a good day..

i came home yesterday after a dinner, and wrote this.... to maintain the law of averages.. so that i don't piss off the universe..

a small kid and a puppy sit about,

with swinging legs on top of a bed;

flapping its ears, it whines about,

outside window, a sun shines atop.

what's the thing now we should do,

pour in some ideas as you would do;

stretching your mouth is all you do,

cut the posture and say what we do.

food's not it, a moment like this,

songs no, for a silence like this;

games, i wish, but you say please,

what's new and i'll let go of these..

sleep-sits on his lap, rolling eyes

fm keeps reminding me of the same,

i break off my thoughts, 'n you say

me doing all the talking, 'n you say!

it got up, peeked at the grass lawn,

looked away, at a window of the car;

an ace to jack, glanced at the cards,

turned to see the reclining couchs.

tapped its claws/paws, not too tense,

yet reminded of an yearning to play;

surrounded in mirth n joy n smiles,

'l be singing like a humming replay.

as they sit about, deja' vu hits me,

the humming fades, n' this must be it;

how it feels after the jolly circling,

a form, a silhoutte, 'n the thoughts!

am i supposed to look for it, ponder;

wait, go, move on! pretend, accept;

sit n gaze at the same sun, timed out;

the quiet puppy, in thoughts i wonder!

the swing

a Sunday evening words of an outstanding saturday...

i went to a park on a short drive, with my friend.. we sat on a swing (for kids) for 10-15 minutes, strode a little bit..didn’t talk as much, as we do.... the swing was good, it’s been a while since I was in one..

in fact, a couple weeks back, I had been to the same park with another friend, and that was an altogether different day of fun.. but no swing..

as for this saturday, the only way I can dampen the thoughts is by scribbling some words on those.. here goes nothing..

i watched, the rear view mirror, empty road,

as we pulled over against the park and shore;

the lake waved at us, forever it is lashing out,

hands in my pocket, steps, I merely shrugged!

I stood there like everyone else, so alone in it,

never gone was the world around me, it lived;

but it was wrapped, outside of this envelope,

and only if I allowed to, it could break my calm.

outstretched hands, the water flowed in mind,

so aloof, the blanket caught my thoughts fond;

so still, it kept them, I shrugged, looked at her;

a book and a joke, I am lost in my silent star!

I swung slow, I swung low, rigid on the chain,

then the shoulders, legs relax, relax relaxed;

I waved back at the lake n earth and the sky,

upward arc, blue to blue, vast transparent sky.

what I would give for a word, but I am lost,

the chords in me never play, they are quiet;

twenty minutes, end as I swung and swung,

sometimes that’s all there is to the swing!

nothing to write home I think, I let it go;

distorted memories wobble on my way;

I forget and move on, like a while ago!

S.O.B

since this will sound like a real story, let me use phoney person names. this way, after a point of time, i’ll be confused myself, who's who! and i am sure, you really don’t care, if i used phoney or real person names.. it’s all the same for you..

fictitiously, this goes back to approximately 7 years ago.

jack was glancing at some printouts, smiling, and listening to the ‘Nothing Else Matters’ song by Metallica..

Never cared for things they say

Never cared for games they play

i never cared for what they do

i never cared for what they know

and i know, yeah yeah yeah

tom and kate, hustled into the room. kate looked tense, but she was very methodical, and that’s how she apparently looked when preparing for an event. it was the ‘college – technical paper presentation’ event. tom was a flamboyant fellow and unreliable to the core. one moment, you could trust him with getting a business deal out of Bill Gates, and the next moment, wanting to watch a ‘Scooby-Doo’ cartoon, before the deal.

kate handed over some printouts to jack, and said, ‘who takes printouts of song lyrics.. and at this time’ rehearse your part now, we should sound contiguous in logic and flow.

jack replied, ‘this paper presentation is a mockery of the actual one.. all we do is steal content (or aggregate as it is called), compress it to get it to our understanding, and present it. we have no idea, what the technology really offers in depth. kate was getting annoyed, ‘don’t be a pioneer now. let’s just do it. in any case, it is a matter of who does the best stealing, compressing and pretentious but ignorant presentation.’ tom was playing with his new gadget phone..

they reached the presentation hall, where one of the other teams from another division, got a glimpse of them.. kate went, ‘oh no, not ben again.. the fellow is a thorn in the neck…’ tom said, ‘don’t worry, i’ll handle him.’ and kate snorted out laughing. jack was looking at the time, away from this. it was to be a 12 minute presentation, 3-3-6 minute per speaker, the closure coming from the lead speaker.

ben went, ‘oh no, not jack again.. that son of a bitch irritates me.. i hate his guts. son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a bitch..’ ‘shhhhh.. ben, that is very inappropriate to say. hold your tongue.’ jule said. she knew ben was as good an orator, in all divisions, the best actually, but he could never stand jack for everything.

ben’s team finished the presentation and it was as good as one, the writers of the original paper, from which it was stolen, could have presented. ben was gifted. charismatic, concise and grasping, to add. ben had stolen the show, solo. kate’s team finished, and jack did a very neat closure, too. in the Q&A session, ben’s team fielded 4 out of 6 questions. kate’s team, had their first question and there was pin drop silence for a moment.. kate cracked her knuckles.. tom was deciding what to blabber. it looked like a lost cause.. jack replied.. and then answered to the next 5 questions, to get all 6. and they were good questions at that.. it seemed, the judges, themselved were actually working on that technology.. they had won on the Q&A basis.

kate, jack and tom were frantic. they had won the 64 team, technical paper presentation finals.

ben said to jule, ‘that’s why i hate the son of a bitch.. i knew this would happen.. that idiot just happens to be the center of such events.. i hate the..’ and some more neat words.. jule went, ‘i don’t understand how we lost on the Q&A’s alone.. anyways, don’t curse him.. you were better than him..’

‘no, that’s not true. you don’t know the thing with him.. i hate to even mention his..’ ‘then don’t’

kate wanted to congratulate ben’s team for the effort, but jack and tom were not there. ben’s team came over to congratulate kate and then, jack and tom popped in to congratulate ben’s team.

‘you were brilliant as usual, ben. you are very gifted. you’ll go places.’ jack left grabbing kate and tom. kate and tom ruffled jack’s hair. it was a very very sweet effort.

‘and that’s why, i hate the son of a bitch, more.’ said ben. jule said, ‘you are ridiculous!’