Ode To A Soul Sister

Bundle of exuberance, oodles of energy
She never exhibits a bit of lethargy
Genuine, affectionate, with talents so rare
She is a magician, selfless extraordinaire

A soul sister whom I acquainted late
Will miss her terribly when I leave the state!

Lyrics Of My Life

"Teachers leave the kids alone!"
My mind mumbled when entering the class
"I want to break free" was the chant
All through my growing up years
With a twinkle in his eyes, he whispered
"Everything I do, I do it for you"
Only to be beleaguered by my question
"Have you really ever loved a woman?"
While choosing to remain a "Bachelor Boy"
"Sometimes I feel like my only friend is the city I live in"
Death being just "Two steps behind"
I live my life with "I don't want to miss a thing" zest

PS: Challenge was to write a poem about your life taking lines from your favorite music album/artist

 

Clear Night

Defeaning silence caught her ears
As she took over the duty
As birds happily called it a day
She wondered "How are they under sunray?"

Her companions had given it a miss
For she shared sparkling banters with them
Clouds, that always shrouded her light
Didn't turn up for the night!

"I feel so lonely out here!" she lamented
Shredding few drops of tears, at a farther distance, she saw
As an inmate was capturing her beauty, she blushed like a bride
"Thank God! It's a clear night!!" she said with a sense of pride

As Pink as it gets!

It was the last week in college. All were signing autographs and filling in the slam book. The college magazine will be handed over in two days’ time. There was a section in there where we had to fill some trivial questions about ourselves like your favorite film, favorite quote, favorite song, so on and so forth. I was the last one to submit the questionnaire for I had difficulty in figuring out my favorite song. I started thinking how the entire process went.

 “Will anyone really care about others’ likes and dislikes? It was easy to fill in details about the film, quote etc but what about the song?” I wondered.  

I shrouded off “It’s me being typical.”

I made a quick glance through my music collection, all the downloaded and copied songs. It had taken lots of efforts to have that kind of collection. Thankfully I had it i.e patience.

“I like all of them, that is why I listen to them. Now which one to pick?” I contemplated.

“Everything I do, I do it for you by Bryan Adams. Should I pick that one? Nooo … People will judge me as a hopelessly romantic person when I have always been portrayed as this studious kind.  There was one person besides me in the class who liked that song. If he suggests the same, everything will be out there in the open.” I wondered.

The following night, I saw Armageddon. More than the film, I loved the soundtrack “I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.” I had it in the music collection but never knew it was from this film.

I realized that the entire western collection was from a friend. To be precise, he was my senior in school. We had never exchanged pleasantries in school.  Our friendship started because we were doing courses from the same university, he was doing his masters and I was doing bachelors, both in computers. We had the same books and similar topics. We were introduced by a mutual friend, who was my senior and his junior.

Apart from exchanging books, we started exchanging movies, songs etc. He introduced me to the world of western music. Earlier, my western music was limited to one and only, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  Apart from being a good singer, he was a prolific musician. Few times, he did perform “Hotel California”, “Lady in Red” for me within the closed doors of his home. I had heard him take the name of Steven Taylor too.

After watching Armageddon, I decided to hear the songs from Aerosmith from my collection, this time very attentively.  I was immediately addicted to the song “Pink”.

“Pink is not only my favorite crayon, it’s favorite song too!” I thought as I happily filled in the questionnaire.

By the end of the week, we received the college magazine.

He asked “Pink? Is there any song by that name?”

 “Of course. You will get it today. Wait for my email.” I chuckled.

We left college. He moved on, I moved on. We were never meant to be together.

I was dating a guy who was not from my region, who didn’t understand my language or my culture. All we knew was that we could tolerate each other and there was a comfort level.

We were invited by a friend for a Karaoke night. I was super excited when my turn came. Without any second thoughts, I declared “Pink is my favorite crayon and my favorite song.”

Clamors were replaced by deafening silence.  I flustered. I was never used to this kind of appalling attention. I looked at him, his face had turned red.

“What is happening? Is he, all right? Why does he look mortified?” I wondered.

That didn’t deter me. I sang my heart out.

We left the place in a hurry. All through the trip back home, he was all grumpy.

After few heated exchanges, he said “Do you know the lyrics of the song? Do you understand its meaning?”

“Of course, I do. It’s about color Pink. So well written!” I said.

“Are you sure? If you had known, you would have never declared it as your favorite song! Go and do some research. One more thing, please don’t embarrass me next time with your acts.” he said angrily.

That night, we never exchanged our custom good nights and sweet nothings. My ego was hurt, so was his.

I started doing my research. As I discovered the hidden meaning of the song, I was really amazed by the clever craft of words. My respect for Steven Taylor increased in multifold.

“There is nothing condescending in the lyrics. You need to grow up!” I texted him.

“Ok.” He replied. That was the last time I heard from him.

Bleeding Blue

As they descend the ground
Clad in blue
The cheers and shouts grow louder
Welcoming the heroes of their country!

The toss plays the crucial role
So does the pitch
Does it favors batting or bowling
Wonder the boys in blue

Each ball hit outside the boundary line
Each wicket falling in quick succession
Crowd goes berserk in this commotion
While the nation bleeds in blue

Rage of this sport in the country
Surpasses the interest for its national game
For the boys in blue have tremendous respect
For they unite the nation in every aspect!

PS:The challenge was to write a poem on a color and the color should appear at least once in every stanza

Humor Unfolded

Last week I was handling high priority customer issue.

I was coughing badly. Customer in a concerned tone, asked: "Do you have a tissue?"

I replied, "What is the new issue?"

The customer said "Issue? Did you find any new one? By the way, you are coughing badly. Take some medicine."

Realizing my mistake, I said "Sorry! My bad. My ears now listen to words that my head is accustomed to!"

**********************************************************************************

I said "I need to get going. Will meet you at night."

Bed said "Baby, I need you. Don't leave me and go."

Finally, I listened to the bed. I didn't want to disappoint anyone.

Unborn Tomorrow

“It’s 9 pm, hand over the remote” she said. Curiosity was killing her. The whole day, she was thinking about it, venomously cursing all the characters who could possibly be the perpetrator. All the while, he has been noticing her. Her zaniness brought a smile on his face. “Mom, it is just a TV show. They can change the storyline anytime. Why do you suffer so much?” he asked amusingly. “You do not know the ordeals women have to go through. It’s always been a man’s world even though the world is said to have progressed” she said dishearteningly.

There was an unwritten pact between him and her. He got to watch television till 9 pm, after which she takes over.  She watches three shows back to back. In the morning while doing her chores, she thinks about the characters and how the stories will move forward. During lunch, when she discusses with him, he has seen her messing up the storyline and the characters. Correcting her, he said “Mom, you have got it wrong. Don’t you know that this character is not a part of the show which you are talking about? He is the part of the next show”. Immediately, he chuckled “What is wrong with me? I am following these unrealistic TV shows. I need to find ways not to waste my time watching them with her”.

However, he always enjoyed watching the shows with her. She cursed, she cried, she laughed along with the characters. “She is such a pure, innocent soul” he thought. Once she is done with the shows, she goes to the kitchen to make sure that it is clean and the new day can be welcomed with a hot, strong tea. After that, while she calls it a day, he continues to watch television.

“Didn’t I tell you? He was always mean to her. He deserved the punishment. It is called Karma” she said beamingly. “Mom, this is insanely crazy. The fictional show makes you so happy!” he said.  “Here is the remote. Tomorrow, we will come to know how the story will unfold from now. Let me go to bed” she said. “Have you already done with your kitchen chores?” he asked. “Yes, I did. I am feeling little tired. I have been anxious all the while. Now I can sleep peacefully.” she chuckled.  

The next day morning when he got up, he saw her sleeping peacefully from a distance. “Why hasn’t she woken up? These shows are really ruining her health. Let me make the tea and then wake her up” he thought. The kitchen was pristine clean. “It’s been ages since I made tea for her. I need to do it more often” he thought.  He went near her and saw a hidden smile on her face. When he touched to wake her up, she was all cold and numb!

Unwarranted Expectation

Two decades back they had met each other at college. Within no time, they became the closest of friends. She liked his humor and his general attitude towards life. “Everything seems so simple for him. He never cribbed anything about life. He took each day as it comes.” she signed.  She was very aloof, extremely diligent and studious. Her seriousness towards life and her dedication to whatever things she awed him. “Within that diffident, reticent girl lives another fun-loving woman. “he thought.

They left college, got busy with their respective lives. Like any relationship, they had their share of ups and downs. But every time they got back together within no time. They were not regularly in touch, however, whenever they talked, they could start from wherever they left previously.

He met the girl of his dreams and decided to take his relationship to the next level.  She came to know about it through another friend of theirs. She felt miserable. She thought “Why didn’t he tell me? It’s an important decision in his life and all the while during our conversations, he kept it hidden from me.” She expressed her displeasure to him. He said “I was about to say to you. It was not intentional.”  That was all she needed, no other explanations or arguments after that.

Days passed, years passed. She frequented him and his family whenever possible. The warmth they shared, transpired to his family as well. More good things happened to his life. In some instances, she came to know about them through their friends or through his wife. She wondered “Why didn’t he tell me? Does he even value me?” She confronted him but he had reasons for everything. He had no issues with her, whatsoever. 

There came a day when his hard work was recognized by his fraternity. The news was broken to her by his wife. Instead of being happy for success, she got upset and dialed his wife. She told her “Why is that I am always the last person to know about him.” Before his wife could answer her, she hung up. After a while, when everything had settled, she thought “What did I just do? I feel ashamed of myself. How can I face her? She always has been the peacemaker. Also, he has been consistently inconsistent. I should have just accepted him the way he is. Sometimes we create our own heartbreaks through expectation!”  She texted his wife an apology.

Work Nirvana

At work, she opened her inbox. She was flabbergasted to see several emails that were generated in the last fifty minutes. She never felt so important at her workplace. Chat messages popped up on her system asking her to join the ongoing escalation call. She had seen this issue earlier and had reported it. “No one took any actions then. Work in my office gets done only during escalations.” she sighed.

When the customer escalated it as a service impacting issue, he needed someone to bear the brunt. He had seen her email earlier, he handpicked her to face the heat. “She had raised this issue, why didn’t she fix it?” he thought.  All he wanted was a cover up for his negligence and due diligence. He overlooked her statements in the emails that she had written asking for help.

She joined the call, everyone was taking her name. “Who are they? Why do they keep asking me the status? I know the issue but I don’t know the fix” she thought.  Every two minutes, they were asking her for updates. She pinged him, he never responded. She was on the call throughout the day, with absolute no progress. She needed help but no one seems to understand her predicament.

By late evening, he joined the call. He pinged her on her messenger stating that the issue has been escalated to CEO and he will join the call. She replied, “It's good, the more, the merrier!” He was taken aback by her response. She chuckled “All the while he was blind, deaf and mute to my request. It doesn’t matter whoever joins the call. If I don’t know, I don’t know.”

 

Poem Sans Letter E

A trip, waiting for so long
Days will pass, nothing will go wrong
Good food, charming hosts and brilliant stay
Amidst folks I know, I will pass my days