The Meltdown
21:28 - Posted by Shilpa K - 0 comments

It stood on the mantle, Trim and neat
It’s body a slender lilac
With white rose buds at its feet
An essence of violets dipped in dew
Coiled with ribbons in silver and blue
A wick so fragile in pale off-white
A figurine on the left
A medal to the right
Jeweled pride…
Crowned splendor…
Jeweled elegance…
Crowned beauty…
On the strike of a matchstick a spark ignites
Obnoxious fumes stifle the lilac air
The brilliant little flame
Embraces the off-white wick
Too reluctant to glow
At the hands of an ugly stick
With a black bead now ablaze
The fire gradually reaching the tail
Charring and drooping the body frail
Jeweled humility…
Crowned life…
Jeweled duty…
Crowned death…
A burning soul, a scorching life
Slowly melting to meet the dust
The agonies of a conceited queen
Growing from worse to worst
Uneven trickles with ungraceful gait
Smeared the slender sides to settle in blobs
Blistered shapeless remains of a beauty that was
Smoldered pride…
Thawed splendor…
 Smoldered elegance…
Thawed beauty…
The soft radiance of the flickering flame
The ribbons dazzled in the incandescent light
Even as they mourned the flawless beauty’s sad demise
As it continued to radiate the wrath around
Light everywhere but a dark shadow underneath
To which her life’s earnings she had to bequeath
And when the last bit of her went up in a spaghetti smoke
Her last remains were scrapped with the burnt stick that broke
And together they were returned to from where they came
Dust to dust and ashes of the flame
Smoldered pretences…
 Thawed masquerades…
Smoldered veils…
Thawed masks…


Closest to Heaven
21:52 - Posted by Shilpa K - 1 comments

Closest to Heaven is where I chose to be
So there I was between two palm trees
On a hammock swinging to the music of the wind
The breeze playing with my brunette tresses
And the palm leaves naughtily joining in
Now shadow, now light
In solitude I took delight
As the white sand stretched
As far as my eyes could see
The beauty untouched and as pristine as it could be
Footprints in sand nowhere to be seen
I wonder if so close to Heaven someone had ever been?

The stony gray rocks overshadowed the lazy lagoon
A slice of rapture to devour on a warm sunny afternoon
With a cocktail of ecstasy, mirth and bliss by my side
Raised a toast to the blushing bride
The fair sand as it stood in its white wedding gown
Pearls from the ocean
Confetti from the skies
Champagne from the sea
Music from the waves
A shock of fuchsia orchids amidst the bushes of green
A plumage of prismatic colors to crown an altar so serene
I wonder if so close to Heaven someone had ever been?

The emerald green waters and the clear blue skies
Met at the margin of the bay that my eyes defined
Where the pearl-white flock of birds with ruby-red beaks
Cried and leapt at the sun, warmed with its streaks
Ripples of water shimmering like the facets cut on a crystal
The school of fishes - a splash of colors spilled in the sea
The waters as clear and as virgin as they can be
The corals on the floor like a splatter of paint from His palette
The oysters in the sea like cherries on a charlotte
A place of which the poets sang and the lovers dreamt
But not a soul to be heard, not a face to be seen
I wonder if so close to Heaven someone had ever been?


The uncommon Common Life
15:40 - Posted by Shilpa K - 0 comments

The alarm crowed. A lusty king of the farmyard cock-a-doodle-do. He shut the mobile up. One hour and five minutes was all he had before his day began. He would steal five minutes from that. Look the other way he told that frowning creature in his soul. I do it all the time- a little corruption, a little bribery. I negotiate with the world 24/7. So why not an extra 5 minutes of sleep, he told himself and buried his head under the pillow. And so began another day in the life of an Indian…

Life lately had been very melodramatic for this thirty something with a hairline that seemed to recede at a rate more alarming than that of his stocks- a life more mediocre than his job, a job more demanding than his wife, a wife more cranky than his kids, his kids more ill-mannered than the dog next door, the dog more ill-tempered than his mistress and it’s mistress…Love thy neighbor!

Today’s date was suggestive of something that was as difficult to recollect as the last time he had had a breakfast on the table. So off he rushed, tucking the newspaper under his arm, a slice of bread in his mouth as if to assure the canine next door of brotherhood in the neighborhood, polishing his shoes by brushing them against his trousers, as his mobile guffawed at him with attractive alerts about tarots and hitting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow amidst a host of reminders, meetings, memos and anniversaries. And what he had been trying to recollect for so long suddenly mushroomed in his mind that was fertile with a thousand unwanted, undesired but nevertheless unavoidable thoughts – It was time he bought a new season ticket for his daily commute! The penguin on his happy feet was close enough not to be evaded and though our hero’s scruples warned him, his hand involuntarily reached out for a crisp note as the paragon of truth smiled almost ironically on it and it was slipped with great dexterity and ease to the right person to instigate a nod of acceptance.

The other three quarters of the hour were peaceful amidst the gang enjoying over their daily game of cards, in dire straits dealing the deck with the forlorn hope that the tables would turn one day, the peeking toms, the zealots who tried to bridge the gap between the Heaven and earth with their operatic performances as pleasant as rubbing your nails against the blackboard, the blind man crying his wares, the ragged urchins with their delicate dirty hands tapping feebly only to be offered a deaf ear, blind eye, a scorn or worse - apathy, the white-collared people juggling their business papers and their phone calls, the college goers- the grown-up kids, people who haven’t met before and will probably never see each other again but still have more in common in that half an hour jaunt than any propinquity could boast of, with the railways bringing people closer literally, as they elbow, push, hustle and bustle their way, discussing why things are the way they are, with a feeling of being in the middle of every controversy strongly rooted in their guts, of being a victim of crimes they haven’t done and living a life they don’t deserve…a motif of variegated thoughts, beliefs and conversations to serve as an excess baggage to his workplace.

You have 13 unread messages…that is how he’s greeted there! He quickly scans his inbox to find a mail from a dear friend, who’d left in search of greener pastures. It speaks of missing the life he’d once run away from, of wanting to have conversations beyond the rigmaroles of the e-mail, with people you can accidentally bump into while strolling on the road, of wanting his kids to imbibe values that cannot be taught, of wanting to curse the system and yet be completely in love with it, to feel rejuvenated by the glow of the sweat on sultry days, to be at a place called home and feel at home for home is where the heart is! Our hero silently accepted the fact that you never know what you’ve got until it’s missing…so much so about a day in the life of India!


The year that was...2006
03:16 - Posted by Shilpa K - 1 comments

The best time machine one can own is one’s self. It conjures up eclectic images from days of yore to make a collage so pristine, transcending the traveler above the joy of witnessing the reality while cruising through the lanes of nostalgia with it’s twist and turns on a magic carpet of memories. And when one whole year has gone by, you’ve seen much, witnessed another chunk of life, introspected on another dimension, known more than you think you know, touched many a hearts and lives without the slightest clues and been affirmed that we all are children in God’s garden, the musings that come along as the year wraps up embracing me in a blanket woven with warmth as the warp and bliss as the woof, it’s time to put it in words as the weather outside - the mentos cool breeze, the virginity of a brand new year in the air and the splendor of id ka chaand - only accentuates the fact that life is beautiful!

The year, as I see it through the rose tinted glasses, has been in one word - ‘more than fulfilling!’ There I go! Each passing moment adding a new hue to my personality, coloring me with all shades of emotions, sketching timeless memories that would last a lifetime and to crown it all, painting in myriad colors lessons about living without regrets, a chapter of 365 pages is now closed and all that is left are glances into it’s fluttering pages.

This was the year that tossed the pleasure of exploring new lands in my basket of joy, of visiting exotic locations and discovering patches of paradise, of how we are all the same and yet so different and you are what you choose to be, of realizing that what you hate back here is what you miss the most. A year that gave plenty of room to grow on a personal front, to hone skills I never knew I possessed, to cross the fine line that separates being afraid from being proactive, to learn to live with people of all temperaments and knowing that there exists a good and positive side to all, to know that there would be times that hit you hard on your face but the only way out is through it, to know that nothing can be more tranquil than being in harmony with yourself by at times letting the heart rule over the brain.

It has proved that nothing can be as eternal as trust and friendship and that it’s difficult telling them apart, that distance can strengthen relationships and make them fonder, that there would be these angels without wings who would glide you through the darkest hours, whom you can call up for no reason and have the best conversation ever, that everybody has secrets no matter how silly, that people would always remember how special you made them feel, that one day people would recognize you for what you were to them and not how you seemed to be, that actions speak louder than words, that miracles can happen on wishing upon the shooting star of faith and desire, that you get the most when you expect the least, that it is an amazing feeling to be appreciated for the little nothings, that you can give unconditionally and feel not a wee bit of loss, that you can be happy for others, that truth still triumphs, that you would be contented in the corners of your heart for being a nice person or for someone thinking so, that there’s only one thing other than crystal that grows more precious as it get clearer and it is your conscience and all it takes is confiding in your loved ones.

What's more, it has awakened the nocturnal beast in me, made me join communities that promise to connect me to millions of ‘friends’ (if only they could redefine that overused word), seen me being successful on my first ever attempt to cook something which is both edible and palatable at the same time, made me host my very first blog (oh! Do you know about it? Here’s the link http://shilpakendre.blogspot.com/), had my very first night out, was offered my very first job, …okay coming to what you probably must be wanting to spot on this ‘very-first’ list … sorry, no love at ‘very-first’ sight!

The hourglass has been turned for 2007; the dune at the bottom is a day old. The yester year ended on a positive and sanguine note to fuel yet another free trip around the sun for all! So here’s my little prayer to the giftie to grant more peace, bestow more love and make understand the meaning of universal brotherhood, to provide societies with the magic wand of education, to reduce nature’s fury, to make everybody feel less miserable, to teach everyone to be more forgiving, to make people more proactive, to bless them with tons of well being, to keep the mood cheerful so as to be able to ponder back a year hence and know that life just kept getting twice as much better with each passing day and that wishing that there were more than one 1st of Jan every year to ring out the old and ring in the new! (Swoosh...there goes a silly one...as they say, "Many people look forward to the new year for a fresh start to old habits!")