Cemetery - Haiku

bridge of hope it once was

love, dreams and happiness

blossomed on its path

blossomed on its path

brought togetherness to life

new moon day it was

new moon day it was

she never knew, that its light

would drain, drop by drop

would drain, drop by drop

leaving traces of darkness

below her cold feet

below her cold feet

turns that bridge

into cemetery of feelings

Written for Carpe Diem # 555 - CEMETERY

Drive - Haiku

striving I have been

to drive myself away, from

your numerous thoughts

your numerous thoughts

clinging tight under my skin

not letting me breathe

not letting me breathe

I choke on our memories

they refuse to fade

they refuse to fade

and you cascade inside me

wounding me again

wounding me again

yet, it's driving me nearer

to my past in you

Written for Haiku Horizons Prompt # 21 – DRIVE

Friday Fictioneers - Clouds

Beautiful dark clouds cover the sky. Such a welcome change after summers! What a wonderful romantic evening it is! When Pranay comes home, we would go on a long drive just like old days. It’s been so.. And suddenly the words ‘old days’ echo in my mind and twinge of sadness rises inside me.

I don’t even remember the last time we did something romantic. I never thought that those amazing courtship days would vanish in thin air after getting married. I feel tears rolling down thinking about the beautiful past and a bland present I share with the same man.      

Written for Friday Fictioneers Photo prompt. 

A Special Bond

Our flight has been delayed by three hours and we are stuck at Mumbai airport. How strange it feels calling him and me as ‘we’. He has dozed off at the nearby seat. I stare at his face for a long time. Never have I stared at him for so long, so closely. Never had I in my wildest dreams thought that I would be married to him. Not when I had met him briefly five years ago, not while on that trip with the group, not while talking to him on phone when he was crying on the other end and neither while sobbing profusely when he was consoling me.

But nobody ever said life would be predictable. And thus, we are a married couple now. A newly married couple. An inter-caste marriage for which we fought with our parents and coaxed them for months until we were finally successful. But you know what’s strange? That I convinced my parents to allow me to get married to a guy I do not love. Yes, I do not love him. And I know that he doesn’t either.

You would be wondering that if we didn’t love each other, then why on earth were we married. And it was not the typical arranged marriage. We had fought for being with each other. Yes, I would prefer calling it ‘being with each other’ rather than ‘love’.

Because ‘love’ was a feeling that I felt for just one person! The only person who I still call ‘mine’! The only person whose name still brings smile to my lips! Piyush. The person who taught me what love meant. But Piyush is no longer with me today. Though his memories are still afresh as dew within me! We were together for five years. Five blissful years! It was probably during our third year of togetherness that I came to know about Vikram, the person who I now call my husband. But at that time, he dated my best friend Riddhima. He stayed in another city and I heard of him briefly from Riddhima. We also had a couple of meetings formally where I met him along with Piyush.

A few twists and turns later, both of us had been torn apart from our respective lovers – first it was Vikram because Riddima’s parents didn’t approve of him, and then me. And I don’t even know till date why Piyush broke up with me.

Both of us knew about the times we were going through and called each other up a few times. Especially, when we were tired of holding ourselves in front of the world and needed a place where we didn’t have to pretend to have moved on, when we needed a place where we could cry for hours at a stretch cursing life for taking away the persons we loved so dearly from our lives. We talked and talked, each narrating his/her love story to the other. We told each other how much we loved and how badly we missed the love of our lives. We shared the happiest moments about our love lives, or rather our past love lives. We sometimes fought about whose love had been greater. Silly us! We shared similar thoughts about our inability to fall in love with anybody else ever again. Both of us knew we would never be able to love our future partners the way we loved our past.

It was during one such conversation where I cursed societal pressure of getting married, that he suggested about getting married to each other. 'Atleast that way, we wouldn’t have to bear the pressure of cheating our future partners or of trying to fake our love for somebody' - he had said. I laughed at the suggestion at that time. But somewhere it struck a chord within me.

I talked to Vikram later asking if he was serious. He was. We gave it a thought for few more days. And we found that it was the best possible alternative for our aching hearts. We could speak to each other for hours about our pasts because both of us knew that the other person would listen and comfort rather than judge. We knew that none of us needed love of any other person because we were happy reveling in the love and time we spent with our past. And that was the reason why we married each other.

My bag today still carries all the photographs, gifts and memorabilia from Piyush and Vikram still has everything he shared with Riddhima.

It’s been almost a year since we have been talking to each other. And during this entire year, there hasn’t been a day when our aching hearts have stopped aching or our memories have stranded us of our past. We have taken the constant hollow pain, that emptiness as a part of ourselves now.

The only comfort for both of us is that there is one more person who is sharing this void and that’s what makes this bond special. A bond of sharing emptiness, broken hearts and bleeding tears, a bond of cursing fates and hating society and a bond tied to pasts and uncaring of futures!

Written for Write...Edit...Publish. Theme of the month - Romance

Unexpected : 100 words

Insomnia made him do things he usually didn’t do. Like visiting a chat site to talk to strangers. One night, he chatted with somebody called ‘simple_girl’. They chatted for hours together about life including their past relationship failure. Both of them gave each other reasons why their relationship had failed and what they had learnt out of the failure. 

At the end of it, he wanted to know her in real. He asked her name or atleast her facebook account information. After much denial, she agreed. What she typed next, was totally unexpected. He had been chatting with his ex-girlfriend.

This post is written as a part of April A to Z Challenge 2014 under Non-Themed category. I am doing two posts for this Challenge and Themed posts can be found here.

Nostalgically Neglected

Nostalgic

places, smells

takes you to heavens, even hell

time travel guaranteed

Neglected

middle child me

not old enough, neither too young

unnoticed by all

This post is written as a part of April A to Z Challenge 2014. I am doing two posts for every alphabet. The Non-themed posts can be found here.

Grudges

a simmering thought

held on for too long

unnecessarily brooded upon

born on discords

thrives on egos

burning the edges of personas

a cloudy mist

blocking the thoughts

condensing into invisible walls

deeper cracks

sneaking within, straining

the feelings, resentment reeling

bumpy life

jolts away peace

happiness slowly tumbling

But

how long, do you

hold on to those grudges

and let annoyance grow upon

how long, do you

be blinded of the efforts

getting not pacified at all

how long, do you

not clean the wounds

you’ve given or taken on

how long, do you

writhe and let writhe

ignore aching soul’s calls

how long ??

This post is written as a part of April A to Z Challenge 2014 under Non-Themed category. I am doing two posts for this Challenge and Themed posts can be found here.

To Beautiful New Beginnings !!

Yes, the first post of 2014 it is ! *Happy Dance* The moment the dreary old clock on the drawing room wall showed 12 am on 31^st December last year (ah, the happiness of writing 2013 as last year) blaring music all around reached a crescendo, firecrackers lit up chilly December sky, greetings flew down from all corners, telephone networks jammed, Facebook walls flooded with New year wishes, Whatsapp continually buzzed, that very moment, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘To Beautiful New Beginnings’.

Image Source: Google

Yes, the optimist in me was at her highest high totally drunk on the idea of Hope. Yes, Hope that the upcoming year would usher in happiness and its fleet within my life. I did write about how my last year fared here and yet my dear Hope doesn’t seem to leave its premises within my heart. It has found a permanent residence inside me. I too let her be, let her occupy a rent free space inside me. 

We have become kinda best friends - not leaving each other in any circumstances, she always riding on my mind guiding me with her teeny weeny torch through thicker times and me always holding her hand in small and big occasions of life.

As everybody wished me a Happy New Year and I reciprocated with mutual warmth, I asked myself what did I wish for myself this New Year. And this is the answer my heart (which now totally speaks to the tunes of Hope) gave me.

It is the Passion that keeps you burning

May you keep it alive and continue the learning

May of big Dreams your eyes be the carrier

But you reel out efforts to achieve even Bigger

May you meet some amazing People this year

But may you keep the current best ones even more near

May you read some great authors

But may you be able to Pen yourself even better

May your materialistic wishes this year come true

But, may you Grow as an individual in spirituality too

May happiness in your Family ensue

And may you be one the reasons of their happiness too

May within your soul Happiness be found

But may you also spread a lot of Cheer around

May the negativity within you subside

But may you be able to remove fears from other’s insides

  

Life always smooth, may you find

But if it gets stormy, may you find Faith to withstand and fight

May every passing day Outshine the earlier

May this year you be nothing but all the more happier

And now, I would end this post with an ‘Amen’ for all of the above. J J  Happy New Year Friends. By the way, what did your heart wish for?

As the year goes by !!

Image Source: Obviously Google ;)

As the last few evenings of this year pass by

Reels of the past year swim through my eyes

The year that began with promises and new hope

The ones that I made when high on hope’s dope

Life swinging between extremes

Averageness, my life’s this year didn’t see

Lurking between bests and the worsts

There were some sad lasts and a few newborn firsts

Resolutions half done

Achieved a few, forgotten some

Nights when I cried myself to sleep

Attempts to understand life, oh so deep

Philosophers I could put to shame,

What mattered, who didn’t, for my miseries who was to be blamed

Writing journey this year I began

Shedding inhibitions, making blogger friends

Support in this new endeavor pouring from all ends

Health scares waking me up one fine day

Importance of it understood the harder way

When professional life seemed to be messy

There were friends who stood by like life’s blessings

Lost a best friend for life

Misunderstandings cutting relationships slowly like a blunt knife

Unnecessary Ego went for a toss

But not before creating a huge void, a magnanimous loss

Maturity I think, seeped my head a little

Breaking some notions, oh so brittle

Futile attempts to save a few close relations

The ones that made life come almost to stagnation

A handful of new friends garnered on the way

That made life bearable on harsh sunny days

Tried to be a better daughter, sister and human being

But couldn’t match the standards I set in the beginning

As another year goes by

Life slips like sand, unstoppable, however hard you try

So much had to be done

So much to be achieved, so much to be won

Regrets, Remorse of things undone

Sprinkled with a few happy moments in the year long run

As this year closes its shop

I stand again looking at horizon

Holding hope’s little fingers again

2014 - You better be a happy one

My Friendship Diary

Nostalgia today I feel

Thinking how were we, how have we been?

Down the memory lane let me take you

Recounting all those times which are afresh as dew

Remember the day we met

Not even knowing what friendship meant

In nursery school with cute little uniforms

So unaware we were about worldly norms

Pink lunch boxes matched

Who thought that warm friendship it would hatch

Together we played

Together we stayed

Alphabets we learned

For meeting each other, at homes we yearned

So fond of each other we grew

Do you remember, we talked to others so very few

Dance we learned as seven year olds

Our bond shinning like pure gold

Mom’s lipsticks we applied at ten

Yes, hiding inside our secret little den

Remember, that brat of the colony we fought

For pushing you, lesson he was taught

Conjoined twins we were called at school

Oh, wasn’t that so cool?

Algebra, me you taught

Remember, how it made me fraught

History you never remembered

New ways of memorizing it, we found together

As the sweetness of sixteen arrived

Gazing at those boys, plans we devised

Nervous as wreck, on the first date you went

My short black dress to you I had lent

Butterflies in stomachs collective we dealt

Mushiness of first love together we felt

Cried my eyes out together with you

The day that jerk broke your heart leaving you blue

You never know but I went and punched his face

How funny he looked with his jaw displaced

Clearing board exams, together we burned midnight oils

To memorize the answers, remember how hard we toiled

How could I forget on my fewer marks more than me you had cried

In those dark days, you were always by my side

You gave up the best college for me

So that together we could be

The college wouldn’t have been so much fun

Without you and your humorous puns

Elocutions, debates, and plays we took part

Always a team, never ever apart

I know you pushed me towards that college hunk

Making me meet him and letting lectures bunk

Proxy on my behalf you signed

Remember, when caught, how you were fined

Chocolates we hogged the day before

Preparing for interview, weren’t our eyes so sore

Nervousness on the day of placement results

How panicky we were, not at all behaving like adults

Happy tears brimmed seeing you bag the best job

But it pained to think that a new city you would now hop

Entire station saw when we hugged and cried

I felt as if from me you were being untied

Phone bills increased as we talked into the night

From jobs, to bosses to beautiful city lights

The joy of our first salaries, together we celebrated

But not being with each other made this joy a little abated

Remember the time I visited you

And there we went again sticking to each other like glue

Poor your boyfriend feeling so lost without you

Years it’s been since this city you left

But living without each other is an art we shall never be adept

Our friendship and bond grows stronger every day

I hope, I pray we continue to be together life’s every single day

Sometimes I think, is there a name to this bond

How can we be each other so very fond

Ah, yes I know what is it called

It’s two bodies and one soul

Image Source: Google

This post is written for Dove Guessing Game with my friend! Contest held by Dove in association with Indiblogger.in 

My Dear CC

My Dear CC,

I somehow feel very nostalgic today. It’s been years since we have been together and you know we have been sticking to each other like conjoined twins. Never letting go off each other, enjoying each other’s company and loving each other like truest of lovers.  

Do you remember the year 2009, CC? Ah, how would you? You were not in my life then. But let me tell you a little story. Year 2009 spelled doom for financial sectors across the world. And why just financial sector, it spelled doom for countries, leave aside a particular sector. Two years before that, a starry-eyed girl topping the entrance test tried to catch hold of her post graduate degree dreams.

Little did she know, that by the time she would be about to get hold of her management degree, the universe would have conspired against her dreams of strutting around in business suits with crisp make up, holding interesting meetings with clients, knocking down strategies of competitors, having business lunches and flying to different cities cracking deals for her multinational. Lest she knew, that two years down the line, she would be wearing some of the most humble attires, having conversations with fed up clients, getting knocked down by bosses, having lunch with same old colleagues and most of all, hopping from one city to another every single day but not by some comfortable airline but inside a jam packed, worn out state transport buses.

Yes, the year 2009 gave a 360⁰ turn to my life made a sarkari babu (government officer) out of me with the office located in another city so far away that the most convenient way to reach there was in those buses (no matter how uncomfortable they were).

The hardest part of the travel ranged from being bored to death during the one and half hours long journey, the damage to my eardrums from the noise of those worn out buses, the headache caused because of the constant chatter of passengers around and not to forget the trouble to my legs due to lack of seats.

Three months into my job, I came home complaining my tiresome journey every day. I don’t know whether it was my cribbing or something else but one fine tiring and boring journey later when I reached home, you awaited me. Yes, CC, you came into my life then. My parents made me meet you. I fell in love with you the very instant. I know you did too.

From that day onwards, you became my Constant Companion, my CC. The bored-to-death syndrome was replaced with entertained-to-the-hilt syndrome every single day. With you, I would either be finding out how Ted Mosby’s children got to know about their father’s rather loongggg love story of finding their Mother or I would be lost in the craziness of Chandler Bing and gang.

And CC, don’t you remember, the times when I had exhausted my quota for these shows, some or the other e-book would have found its way with us. Isn’t it? If I was not in a mood to have a book date, I would relieve my stress of going to work everyday by killing some goons in the game of FLV Commando or Crushing some candies :P:P Yeah, yeah I know it was too much for you.

CC, do you remember how proud I was to have you when I showed you around in my bus. Yes, the so called bus that we took everyday brimmed with employees whose average age surpassed forties and whose only form of entertainment was gossiping and poking noses in somebody else’s business which included some very grave concerns about how much I earned, details about my family, why wasn’t I married yet, where did I get my new kurti from and why did I get down at a stop earlier than my usual. The never-be-rude syndrome in me made me answer those uncomfortable questions cringingly. But that was before you.

You came to my rescue like a knight in shining armor protecting me from the volley of those uncomfortable questions making me oblivious to my over friendly passengers.

I know CC, I am somewhat forgetful. Being a writer, it makes things even worse. Coz I used to constantly observe and write things in my head; whilst forgetting half of them while they actually got implemented on paper. But that was also before you CC. You understood this facet of mine and that’s why you were always there with me. You became the place where I poured my thoughts just as they came about in my head; which not only included the time while I traveled but also my office desk, my actual writing table and most importantly near my pillow at night.

Do you know CC that the times have changed so much and sarkari naukri (government job) no longer means aaram ki jindagi. (comfortable life) Which meant more work and more deadlines. (Yes, I know it’s kind of an earth shattering truth but it is) Do you remember, those hard times when I read those long and arduous agreements while I traveled. You wouldn’t believe but I made some gruesome notes and presentations with you in those ghastly buses.

I am getting emotional now CC. You have been truly been my constant companion helping me tread through thick and thin. Whether it was by keeping me entertained or by allowing me follow my passion and even letting me work. You were truly a soul mate, CC.

But CC, today we need to talk. I know it would be hard for you to listen what I am about to say now. But CC, I don’t have a choice. Times change and so do people. I have changed too. My needs have changed too. You were there with me CC, but I need more now. Yes, call me selfish, but I can’t help it.

You have grown old dear. You don’t look as stunning as you looked earlier. You have been hanging up on me quite a few times recently and I just can’t take it anymore, love. And besides, my needs, well, they are increasing CC. I need more out of you which you haven’t been able to give off late. Its hard for me to say this love, but I will have to let go off you dear.

Oh, I know you might be thinking if I have somebody else in my life. I have to confess CC. Yes, I have found somebody else. Yes, I am swallowing hard while I say this but she is better, much better than you.

Now don’t weep CC. You had your days. My new one, oh, she is stunning. Sleek and beautiful. And do you know the best thing about her. She is multi-mode.  

With her around, I know I would be able to read so many books and browse those wonderful blogs with so much ease. You know why CC? That’s because it can eliminate twisting force and create comfortable one-handed holding with its unique battery cylinder. And do you remember how crazy I am about having video chats with my little niece Tyra, I would be able to do that so more often with its unique kickstand which would let me enjoy the comfort of a hands-free viewing experience. And how can I forget my passion for writing. I know I would be able to do that easily now since its battery cylinder provides the perfect angle for touch interaction.

So CC, I guess that’s the end of our relationship. Yes, I have my eyes on somebody else. Ah, how brilliant she is. Oh, I know you would want to know her name. So here it is. She is the Lenovo YOGA Tablet. Wish me a happy life with her.

Once yours, now hers,

Ardent Tablet Lover

This post is written for Lenovo Yoga Tablet - A Better Way in association with IndiBlogger]