to stay away from gadgets
but I will ask them to
never make them a habit.

I will never ask them
to chant their books
but I will ask them to
worship the places they took.

(full piece in caption)

-

They say.
But don't you believe.

// caption //

-

The stories I used to weave in those
red threads of the woolen frock
are now worn by my daughter.
You don't find any trouble in this?

Oh! fellow readers,

She has started inking
those stories for you to read.
Are you still unable to see any trouble?
The trouble is, my stories start
from my experiences, but
her stories start from
my conclusions.

-

If I were a memory
I'd be the day when
maa taught me how to close
the lid of a pressure cooker.
How she told me that
I must not get frustated and
gently twist & then turn the lid
until it fits the periphery of the cooker.
A memory of how she inadvertently
taught me that I'd not fit into
those new people if I haste,
so I'd have to identify their edges,
gradually try to fit in and
then make myself belong there.

A memory of how maa was
always with me like a memory.

-

-

He read my poems
to me when I was
unable to write him.

-

Freedom was traded with expectations
while disappointments
made love bankrupt

-

Everything in this universe
is running behind
something or the other.
A mother behind her child.
Butterflies behind nectar.
Mankind behind money.
A lover behind his love.
Poets behind life.

And life behind death.

-

-

• Home •

You abandoned me
from the places I fought my
battles, where I could
carry my blessings and wear
my wounds as a aureole.

I sheltered you in
the places I could worship
your secrets, undress
your armour, where I could wear
your flaws and call it our home.

-