Nihon/Nippon

The break of a new dawn. 

Gently obscured by the clouds— 

A sun rises. 

Light filtering through, elongating 

From a muffled ball in the sky, 

To a shimmering line in the sea, 

Through the tinted glass of the 

All Nippon Airways, 

We see each other. 

Mighty mountains (or are they hills?), 

It is hard to tell from here. 

Arranged haphazardly behind each other 

Extending from the water, 

Till the eyes can discern them 

Ultimately getting mixed with the mist, 

Each one, sun-kissed on its back. 

Exposing ridges looking like the sleeping 

Monster, that may at any given time, 

Awaken and let out a roar, 

Announcing to the world and to us, 

Watching from above, 

“Welcome! To the land of the rising sun!” 

As the earth around it erupts and 

And shatters the thin fabric of our universe, 

Just as quickly though, slumbering and 

Settling down in its rightful place, 

Leaving us with a magical feeling 

Wondering what we saw really existed, 

Or was it just a fantastic dream? 

It’s all the same, you know. 

Written on 25 May 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.

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Matheran

01/01/2021

Lost just before the footsteps,

reached the layered paths

snaking and swirling upwards

between a thicket of mildly

dense almost-forest

leading up to the FAR-cottage.

Red clay dust combined with

often stale and sometimes fresh

mounds of horse manure

with rounded rocks from years

of treading, lining the roads.

This time, some smog fogging

up the winter sky blocking

our view from the little chowk,

Jack the dog looking smugly

satisfied after tricking us into

feeding him Parle-G’s after

leading our way for three kilometers.

Guess he earned it. Yet when

he looked back after having

trotted a little too far ahead,

as we darted for home,

closing the gate behind us, I

could see in his eyes – they

felt betrayed.

The sun sets on our first day

of the new year amidst

the quiet chirping of crickets

and the hustle bustle of our

gang, we settle together for dinner

with Uncle Farhad,

chatting about what went before

with hopes for whats to come

after.

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Prayer Flags

Gentle winds make them fly,

Colourful prayer flags across

The deep blue sky.

As the sprawling mountain peaks

of Ladakh

Stand tall in the background,

The barren landscape speaks

Of a history millions of years

in the past;

As a vast piece of land collided with another

And gave birth to these

Majestic rocks that rose out of the depths of the ocean,

To rise and cut into the atmosphere

As if to say, “I’m here.”

A challenge to mere mortals

Who dare to conquer these beasts and their inner fear.

To liberate them with an eternal peace

In a cold desert of rarefied air,

Where life itself struggles to live.

Yet in the valleys under these cold formations,

With jagged edges and icy tops,

The poplar trees, like the colourful prayer flags,

Will forever continue to fly across deep blue sky.

– A.J. , 2/06/2018

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The moon asks why?

The moon asks why.

Why does everyone want

To see the sun shine in the sky?

And admire the beautiful sunset.

Why doesn’t anyone

Want to see my shining white?

And the Sun grins and says,

‘Because Son,

You’re shining in my light!’

 

(Poem written on a sunny morning in Oia, Santorini, Greece)

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Ma’s 50th Birthday

Mother, Mummy, Ma,

We even call you Kakisa,

Ever since the beginning,

You put a hold on your ambitions,

And taught us how to do the winning.

 

That proud and knowing smile

you would get

when you saw us do our best;

Made us go even further

 

We grew up and left the nest

Although for you,

It was a tough test,

Even brought you to tears,

But you wanted what was good for us,

that was clear.

 

Now you’re a mother to many more,

Educating young minds

And bringing them to the fore,

All we can say is we’re lucky and proud,

that we got a mother, who

made us stand out from the crowd.

 

And for the years to come,

We’ll keep climbing further and higher

All that to see your proud smile,

And bring in your 50th with style!

Happy birthday Maa! We love you!

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Poem For Amoli

Written on Amoli’s Birthday on the 14th of June 2015

Even if Lamps were to turn to shades,

I’d be Frank and say

It would be wrong

to give an Oscar

to every Will.i.an song,

 

There’s a Costa around every corner these days,

But we all have our own goals to chase,

Life’s a catch ’22’ situation sometimes;

Like A Terry slip on a wet field

Giving you pain

But also the Drogba comeback-

So you can be a champion again.

 

Even though it may not be the case anymore,

I remember the time when yellow was still

your favourite colour,

When we were at war and I was the bad guy,

Used to tickle you till you would cry.

 

Be that as it may,

I would Hazard a guess and say,

That there aren’t many things constant

But you will always have from me

these two:

Bad puns and my love for you.

So Happy Birthday lil Sis,

You’ll always be

Carefree since ’93.

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Bullshit

This poem was written in my 11th standard (2008) when i was bored and disillusioned with life and was given to Prashant Arya as a  gift . On the eve of his birthday I’m putting it up . Happy Birthday Prashant ! Here’s to life and happy times ahead. Cheers . 🙂 oh.. and its titled bullshit. excuse the language.

Inspiration is hard to find.

Writing about

Shades of brilliant colours

of the trees, the earth,

the sky.

After the rain,

the green is greener,

the blue is bluer.

That would make a nice poem.

Currently, im not interested.

Exam time-totally stressed;

The common room shelters

papers,textbooks, notebooks,

dictionaries,ink bottles,sugar,

murku, school bags, and

to add to the beauty-

The sixth edition of

Halliday-Resnick-Walker

Fundamentals of Physics.

My body needs sleep

But i cant.

What would lighten up my mood?

The sun is unwilling.

Can someone tell him there’s no point

playing hide and seek.

Blast the damn world.

Its full of selfish sadists.

But being cynical doesnt help

Cuz you have to live with it.

Death doesnt seem too bad an option.

But we’re too scared to try it;

there’s no second chance.

Can we have an unclustered society?

Open minds, freedom-

no conditions, no conditioners

just you and your 65 years or

whatever of life.

Do what the hell you want with it;

as long you dont cut anyone else’s short.

We’re forever behind bars.

Im looking at myself,

my place here,

my existence,

I dont know whats the purpose.

Dont want to find out.

I want to do what I think

is best….not to waste anytime.

Should start now, But

currently, im not interested.

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