A Portrait

Shomir Dos the photographer
Is not a happy man
The shadows under his droopy eyes
Sag with the sands of time
They moisten as he steps back
And tells me of highs and lows
Bemoaning the fate of Calcutta
The city of old
His own fate was chained
Without a doubt
To that of his beloved city
He ranted and raved
And cursed the Gods
Politicians and pot smoking cops
I could only offer my sympathy
With intermittent grave nods
I really felt for Mr.Dos
For his moist, droopy eyes
I wanted to take his picture
"Why, Shomir Das is dead!"
He relented to stand with his creations
Those beautiful black & whites
They peered over his shoulder
As I peered through the lens
Mr.Dos smiled as I showed him the screen
"You digital fellows, don't know how it feels"
He turned on his heel
And dusted off a photo
"A rare statue of Lord Vishnu, it'll bring you luck"
I felt my eyes clouding over
And said a hasty goodbye
I'll never forget you Mr.Shomir Das
I hope you find your smile.

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Wipe those tears, Ma
I'm not hungry anymore
The food has paused my begging bowl
For this moment I'm free

We're watching our little sister
Our mum is nearby
Over there selling peanuts
And bhel puri
See, there

These robes of silk
Are all I own
And a cup for some tea
Someone gave me a blanket
It gets cold at night, you see
Oh, I sleep down here
In the basement between the cars
My children?
I haven't seen them in years
Since they abandoned me

The Council

Behold, the council of trees
Nested atop the verdant slope
Surveying the vales
For the the western wind

The knights, they protect the king and queen
Royal bark oozing amber
We feel their gaze
On our rain swept backs
Piercing the returning mist

Lancelot stands proud
With weapons of wood
Brandishing and blazing
Towering and swaying

They murmur to one another
Telling secrets of old
Wondering if we'll leave
Before we're told

Silence
Deathly still
A moment to ponder
Then
Whistling through the willows
Shrieking through the trees
The gale returns
To greet the dales


Shiver, shiver, blink, blink
Its time to go
Over the brink
So we bid adieu
To our woody friends
And leave the council of trees.

Thirsty?

Darkness their veil
The thirst their bane
Shadows and silhouettes
Murmurs of regret
For shunning death
A taste of immortality
Is all it takes
To grab the chalice
Of ruby red
And drink
Insatiable.

Watch your thoughts
Keep sharp your eyes
As the shadow draws near
You won't know what hit you
Or whence it came
Greedy glint from the darkness
Then the pain
Sharp, then dull
Until the realisation
That it won't come again
Then you'll pray
For death
The release
From this curse
Until the smell of blood
Crosses your nostrils again.

Pasha

Pasha the autodriver
Moonlighting for a few rupees more
Toils through light and dark
To keep hunger at bay
For him and his parivaar
Who came with him in fright
From the masjid at Babri
Where they witnessed the fight
That took the life of his father
Who was trying to make peace
Between his brother and a Hindu
As they came to blows
His intention was misunderstood
The fray enveloped him
And cast him aside
Pasha, then a lad
Ran, crying to his side
But his abba had a bleeding head
And death close by
Those days are hard forgotten
Pasha still motors
At night in the auto
Lifting sacks as the day blazes on
I'm told the story
With a pithy little end
Pasha says, 'All men are men first
And humans in the end'.

Sunflower Daze

Golden rays
Through swaying petals
Soaking in the Saturday sun
The shade is our mecca
Calming respite
In a yellow lake
With green jostling for space
Pride of place
Their heads are all turned away
Chiding the ball of fire
Blazing faces
Look at us
As we laze
Ah! That glorious sunflower daze.

Still Waters, speed of thought

Swirling clouds of hazy thought
Wisp away into the passing breeze
The memory remains, to haunt, to tease
The sinking begins
Rapid eye movement but I'm wide awake
Images filter through cotton ball exsistence
Appear likes scenes from the silver screen
The dancing themes, the clear voices
Strike like hooded cobras at hapless prey
Growing, expanding, bursting
A light mining through darkness
The third eye opens
Glory to all
The sinking is complete.

Timeless Conversations

Timeless conversations
On ageless stairs
A lane bustles by
Bullock and beggars jostle each other
As the urchins run and squeal
Charlatans tell fortunes
To the gullible at will
And then sell them trinkets
With panaceas inbuilt
Vegetable sellers and peddler pushers
Screaming and whispering they were
And the colours bathed together
In the clamour of lights
You could buy anything here
Even a Gandalf shaped bong
Or intestines of a goat
An ice cream float
But none of that mattered
To the two old men
Worn and battered
They met here each day
And spoke of times lost
Their failing memories
Hanging by a filament at best
They were here before the bustle
Before the bricks were laid
When there were meadows
And tress for shade
The river that flowed pure and strong
Was a trusty retreat
But now there was crumbling mortar
Bits of pavement chipped away
The air is dank, smoke and odours
Replacing the cool drinkable breeze
A once brilliant sunset
Is sucked of its glory by steel
The mountain view is now a building
Faded black by exhaust fumes
Still the old men sit and talk
Still waiting for the world to change
Till then they tell their grandchildren
And each other again and again
Of times when there were meadows
And trees for shade.

Couple

The bottle dangles in my lifeless fingers
Explaining my prone form
Some look
Some smile
Some laugh all the while
But I still lie there
Stupor man
Lost to the world
Lost in my mind
Sun and rain, day and night
The poison owns me
And my kind
I try to purge
I try to repent
I try to try to try to stop
But it never works
And then I drop
Down on my knees
At first
Then in my eyesI drop down low
When will I ever be awake?
No one knows.

I once was young
With a degree to show
I thought I'd move mountains
And molehills would run
The very skies would open

To shower their love
I thought I could do anything
And then do some more
Money, its a crime
It made me dream
It made me hope
But then it sent me crashing down
Far below
Roped in
Reigned
To a horse and carriage
And I couldn't shout
I wanted to scream
I even tried
But I knew the owner
Would throw me out
Then the streets would call my name
I could never live through that shame
So I take them for rides
Children and lovers
Families and firangs
All sit behind me
And hear my tale
Until I hasten
There's money to be made.

Balloony

Smile for me, little balloon girl
Let your dimples shine
The night has settled on these Mumbai streets
And you haven't made a dime

For rations you ask a few rupees
So that your family can eat
And still you smile all the while
Day and night on your feat

Will you ever play with a balloon?
Like other children, happy and free
From the drudgery of life
Will you be?

How can I refuse when you smile again
And touch my heart of hearts
I reach in and the first note I find
Is pressed in your little palm, stretched out

While in a cubicle far from your world
Another girl giggles out
This girl she needs no rations
This time she has no doubt

That her balloons will cause mirth
And laughter in their wake
I laughed too and laughed some more
Until my mind went back

To that little balloon girl
With dimples that shine
Through the Mumbai night.

man made monster made man made monster

Can you kill?
Can you maim?
Can you rape?
Can you monger war?
Can you think?
Can you gain?
Can you destroy it all?
Can you hate?
Can you arm children?
Can you push the button?
Can you drop the bomb?
Can you care?
Can you spread fear?
Can you embrace the darkness?
Can you ignore famine?
Can you ignore pain?
Can you ignore disease?
Can you ignore the screams?
Can you tear a nation apart?
Can you watch them squirm?
Can you live with yourself?
You self satisfied worm.

The Battle of Pelannor Fields

With the new Rays the Riders came
Gazing down at the turmoil
Theoden gave the call
The horn of Rohann sang
And a thousand hooves roared

Like a flanking scythe
They Cut through the vile hordes
Screeching orcs, screaming men
No one surrendering, in the fields of glory
On the plains of death

From the south, the oliphonts
With mercineries from lands unknown
Crushing all in their path
With tusks a-barbed and eyes alight
Scourge of the battlefield

In the sky the Nazgul flew
Swooping down in unearthly wails
The stukas of Tolkien's world
Spreading cold hard fear
Among the mortals below

The elven archer and axe-weilding dwarf
Arrived in disarray
Talies a-rising, steel a-glint
With crimson pouring forth
They lept

No man shall kill him and that made him strong
As the king of the Nazgul
Feared by All
Slain by fair hands and raven locks
By the sword of Lady Eowyn

Tattered sails and creaking wood
Disturbed the still waters
In lieu of pirates,friends to Mordor
Emerged the spirits of a thousand undead
Spreading like a virulent foe

The spectres stole the creature's souls
And washed the evil away
In return their freedom earned
For the king of men
Did pardon them
And to their ancestors they returned

The battle was won
The castle of Minas Tirith kept
Women and children safe
Our heroes take a breath
Only one
For the the lord of Mordor lurks
Keeping an eye on Middle Earth
For all that it is worth
To the eye they must go
And end this once and for all
Till then the swords are sheathed
And the tatters out to boil.

There are only two places that have conjured up the grandeur, wonder and unadulterated magic that the worlds of Lord Of The Rings managed - Kodaikanal and Himachal Pradesh (Naggar, particular where the photo was taken).

Two Samorai

Two samorai
Two swords
Two glints
And a story told

In the valiant vales of valhallah
On the plains of destiny
In their mind's eyes
The fight began
Until there was no end

Honour was their creedo
Death but a joke
Not for a mere spar did they meet
The two samorai of yore

Steel to steel
Eye to eye
The clash of titans
Sparks reflecting the sun

The two samorai fought on
Beyond the night and dawn

Time came and time went
And time ceased to exist

Only space they saw
Instincts sharp
Avoiding the blades they swayed
Like dancers, like swans, like grace herself
The samorai battled on

Their battle rocked the heavens
Their battle shook the earth
Their battle led some to wonder
What all of this was worth

But the samorai didn't wonder
They didn't care
In their world was one other
One other in their gaze

The fight went on for eternity
And then some more they say
For each samorai wasn't fighting another
But something in himself
That day.

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Languishing in fields of green
Mind bending daze
Ripples of thought ebb away
Gentle sounds, harsh thoughts
Scatter remembrances across the blue
An overwhelming glow encompasses all
Like the arms of a mother
Warm, comforting, wordless
The Kaleidoscope unfolds
The rainbow is free
Sensuousness of body, of soul
The beauty is blinding
Shielding reality
The awakening inevitable but slow
And then suddenly
There's nowhere to go.

Waiting for the boatman

The river stretched lazily, far and wide,
Not a ripple in sight
I gazed, nay squinted
Through the blackness
Inky and Bleak

The finger shone
White as the pale face
Of Death beckoning, beckoning
Eyes transfixedI went
Into the arms of darkness
With purpose With intent
On board!
The wooden serpent
Slithered through the waves
But still no ripples

The boatman stood
On the bough
Lantern lit
Stick clenched
His robes flapping
Like the wings of a bat
Tattered but strong
Never did he look back
Nor did I mind

The journey had begun
And rightly so
For it surely was
Time to go
Time came
Time went

Towards forever
We trudged
Towards eternity
Wearily but never tired

At last the end was near
The boat docked
At the pier
To let its passengers off

I followed the boatman
And his light
As it swung
To create shadows
In the blackness
In the night

And as it swung
A light I did see
It sent shivers
Through my spine and me

For the sign was old
With the light on it I knew
From where we had come
And where must I go

The sign it pointed
To the darkness
From which I came
And its letters spelt
S-T-Y-X
Birth
Life
Death
Here I come

From the murky past

Death come and claim me
Before I die inside
There is nothing left to live for
Reality is a lie

No one to turn to
No need to cross
Live alone
Until the grim reaper calls
Then I will embrace him

And leave this twisted world
Ne'er to return Ne'er to be heard
To change, perchance to dream
There's the rub, my friend
With change comes turmoil
With turmoil loss

Loss there has been
Loss there will be
Of heart, mind and soul
Until there's nothing to lose
To choose
To lose.

Child In Time

Let me be a child again
And taste that sweet innocent glee
Let me be a child again
With a wide wondrous gaze
Let me be a child again
With simplicity as my decree
Let me be a child again
Running amuck and free
Let me be a child again
On the first day of a summer holiday
Let me be a child again
When all money meant was sweets and toys
Let me be a child again
Inhaling freedom with every step
Let me be a child again
And bask in my mother's lap
Let me be a child again
And play cricket with a plastic bat
Let me be a child again
Belly laughs and unstiffled giggles
Oh, Let me be a child again
Let the child be me

P.S. The adorable muchkin is Mira, my niece, from my sister of another mother. Huggies baby!!*muah*

Masque

Where's your mask
Put it on quick
Don't let them know
Don't let them in

The glorious charade
Has begun my friend
The end is ne'er near
Put it on again

Hide behind the other face
The whole world does
Frilly perks and lace
Put it on again

Wear Maya's goggles
Look through those bleary eyes
What you see isn't what you get
Go on, put it on again

I wear the masque
I wear it well
I wear it to my grave
Another lifetime wasted
A hundred more to save

the clowns are here

The clowns are here
Cheer is here
Can you hear
Their pantomime
Can you see
Their smudgy tears
Can you smell the sawdust
Coughing through the aisles


The clowns are here
The careless laugh of every child
Infects every adult
Too stoic to see
Madness and mayhem
With a message in between
The child is within you
Set it free


The clowns are here
And every frown will flee
Every cobweb is banished
Even reality is real
The clowns are here
The clowns are here
The clowns are here
And I'm grinning with glee

P.S. I had a bit of an off day behind the lens. Duende got some kick ass photos though, perched on his high vantage point. Hopefully they'll be up soon. :)

The Lone Stranger

Solitary spectre standing tall
Channeling clouds of thought
Watts and wheres and hows cast aside
The tower of defiance
The spiral of shame
The gridlock of desire
The release of pain

A breath of fresh air
And a day begun anew
There are mind paths to traverse
Places to go

The spectre remains still
Letting the vagaries wash by
Another day done
And then we will fly