Love of Liver

How much alcohol and

How much pentobarbital

He has detoxified

Despite all this

Someone else

A mere blood pump

Gets all the credit and sympathy

Of broken love stories

People take him for granted

He will regenerate

If broken or torn

Just to teach them a lesson

He wish to get a tumor

Chocolate Agar

She can’t grow without

The Chocolate agar

And she’s not going to ask me

Even if she has to die

I know for sure that

All my boxes of Chocolate agar

Will go waste

Yet I fail to understand

The fine line between
Giving up and letting go

Fish Curry of A Relationship

Has she turned into something else

Or she is still a chameleon

How her face color will change

When I appear in front of her

Out of blue

I still wonder at my question:

What unique Chromatophores

She has acquired in my absence

And how colorful she will look

In sudden bright sunlight of 

My presence

If she had been a fish

I could have bought

And left the fish 

At the door of someone

Who loved fish curry

Mental Massacre

Thoughts rush to my head

Like vehicles on a busy road

One after another

Spewing darkness in the air

My constant obsession on thoughts

Is actually worse than the primary insult

My primary goal with this exercise

Is not to gain anything but losing

That one thought which

Kick-started this mental massacre

Snippets of days gone by

The bike like a breeze passes you by

As usual

If you want to see death

See the dirty uncut nails

You visit an art museum

Searching

If you just want to see hunger

See a sick mother feeding her child

Someone blows himself up

And kill others

If you are angry at humanity

See the beggar counting coins

Someone breaks your heart

On your birthday

If you want to heal your soul

Hear the laughter of a child

Allergy Hypothesis

A girl who wore white shirt and grey pant like boys

Threw my life was thrown upside down

First I loved her sparkling white teeth and bobcut hairs

Then I complained how egoistic and stubborn she was

Love or whatever was there between us disappeared

Yet some dampness remained and fungus grew

Spores which floated in the air  

Make me sneeze to this day

Doctor says “Don’t worry. It’s just allergy.”

Tea shop she has become

The tea shop starts to open up late

For next couple of days customers wait

Before moving on to next tea shop

She keeps losing money

Not selling the tea is one thing

But also wasting the milk to prepare tea

She curses the temple in front

For not letting her close in time

By keeping her awake all night

Because of all those festivities

How can one close a running shop?

Who know what happens tomorrow

These night time customers 

May not be there tomorrow

Or may not be inclined to spend

It’s about time to cash into their addiction

She choose compulsion over discipline

Knowing well that

Temple festivities happen twice a month

Night time customers who share 

Few minutes for tea and cigarette

How long can this relationship last?

How long she can keep going like this? 

She has become a tea shop of this type

Maternity leave Redefined

Maternity

Has become a sort of endemic

For your owner

How could I afford maternity

Leave for all the ladies

Who join here to get pregnant

And a demand furlough of three months

he says

You think

Soon he will put

An advertisement that will say

Female staff required

Unmarried or married

As long as they aren’t pregnant

And don’t wish to be pregnant

In future

Pain of an Obstinate Mind

Limited by your experience

You think something just can’t be right

You should have understood

Your body, your system by now

Or you are repeat offender

It’s like hitting your head against the wall

You can crush your ego to find a door

But not all the lessons can be learnt

By reading books and suggestions of others

Sometime blood is needed

It doesn’t matter

Whether bleeding is internal or external

Unnamed Meetings Adults Attend

Walking behind him and a smile on her face

Anyone could tell he was the one for her

Sweating and scratching his forehead

He was faced with the same question as before

How this meeting would end?

Her smile was midway between laugh and cry

He coughed before, during, and after drinking water

She gave a detailed account of coffee she ordered

He ordered a brown cupcake and bit into it

She loved to do things that he was unsure could be loved

He thought to go out for a fake call and never to return

That would be too obvious, he realized

Golden rule: I had a meeting with a close friend around 7 pm

Otherwise I would love to have a dinner with you

She looked at him and smiled when her phone rang

Are you lying? She told someone over the phone

Next half an hour was the torture

Like forced meditation or yoga

And waiter, the God of unfortunate times,

Carried the key of our release 

Arjuna's dilemma

Arjuna doesn't have a friend like Krishna

To teach him about right and wrong

While fighting the battle with loved ones

His own Kurukshetra

Blood oozes from the cuts

Wounds suppurate on the skin

Memories of slaughter taxes his brain

How can they not understand a simple thing?

They can also be wrong

Guilt-ridden Arjuna wonders

Why he keep seeing his own faults? 

Noble Gas

He tried very hard to live the life of imposter

Always living with the fear of being exposed

He wished to be like other gases

Which were free to interact with others

Once he was sidelined in the periodic table

Due to lack of free electrons in his outer orbit

He knew he was destined for great things

His inertness was his curse and his boon

Struggle

What should I say to them?

How can I make them understand?

Whether age and senility has some connection?

Sometime it’s tough to know

Not only they drive you crazy

But leave you guilty when you

Respond to your craving of thrashing them

Parents and students have so much in common

What had happened to daughter?

In this college

They talked about

Father or Brother

Mother or Sister

Rarely did we hear about daughter

Where had daughter disappeared?

Female foeticide

Rapes

Honor-killings

Sacrificed for brothers

Or the conversion of daughter to sister or mother

Was too fast that we didn’t even to notice it

Religion 101

They are no doubt good people

Actually saccharine people

Always optimistic

One day they draw you inside of their homes

Bewildered by possible opportunities

You choose their offer

You choose to become one of them

Next couple of weeks

Gratitude and good wishes flood you

 “Soon you will know what you had been missing for so long.

Leave everything to Him. He will take care of everything.”

Not a bad thing to listen

You take that in your stride

Slowly their words changed in questions

What you are doing for you and for us?

How are you contributing?

Don’t you wish to change this world for good?

We have told you the way

There is one way

Only one way

You disagree

But you are not confrontational type

They visit your home 

On the festival of your previous religion

Just to check on you that you aren’t celebrating

Or not hooking up with the same girl

We have so many beautiful girls in our religion

Why do you want to go back?

That is even after He had saved you

And gave you the bounty of His love

Different faith friends of yours invite you

Next day everyone look at you

As if you have killed someone

You should wear your beard distinctly

It’s an order from high commission  

And where is your talisman

Without which how can one know you are one of us

You know you are special

Just because you are one of us

You were nothing until you met us

Why hasn’t your family and relative joined you yet?

Can’t they see how you have grown?

Why are you unable to convince them?

Or are they deaf and blind.

We want results

If you don’t increase our family

How can we trust you that you really belong to us?

Yes, they have helped you in landing a job

Because of them, you met some bigwigs in the business

Your home loan was easily sanctioned

As you are intelligent you are also promised

A minority ticket in upcoming elections

Heck! They even taught you to drive

A month later, after much contemplation,

You invite them to your home

To tell them about your new job in faraway city

No need to go there!

How can you go there?

They ask as if you are abandoning them

We’ll get you the same job here in this city

Or in neighboring city

Wishing them well

You tell them you will miss them all

Do inform me when you visit the city

There are tears in their eyes yet

Their words feel like you were abandoning them

Some six month later, they leave you a message

They all are attending a religious conference

And they would love you to go with them

“It’s in your city, Hurray!”

You make excuse of work

You get together for dinner at a restaurant

As usual, they got up to chant that very song

Before dinner

You should be thankful for what He had done for you

You sat there, drinking the soup

And looking at most beautiful girl on next table

God and Dog

Ecstatic I was to see Him

So when I found God wandering

I followed Him

He was so much like us

Except for monkey face prosthetic

And cheap flashy yellow clothes

Also, he wielded a mace made of plastic

Elders passed him by unconcerned

Girls looked at him in suspicion

Knocking at the every door

He smiled with eyes

For the fear of dropping prosthetic

Or character

Household owners shooed him away

Though children watched at Him in awe

Wondering whether all of their bedtime stories

Could turn out to be true

The one who was called ‘Problem-Solver’

Had no solution for chasing dog

Somehow saving Himself from chasing dog

He sat next to me on the chair in the cafe

Removing His face prosthetic

He asked for a hot tea

And fried bread stuffed with potatoes

“Silly people!”

God mumbled staring at people flocking His temple

Destroy Yourself

I cry like horse in sadness

What else should I do?

So many times I have killed myself

Yet I resurrect from ashes of humiliation

Like a phoenix

The bird that I don’t like

How can one live the life of immortal?

Ask Ashwatthama

Neither have I attacked in the night

Nor I cut the head of innocent children

I’m a living proof of sweet revenge

Black Hole of Love

Before you open up your heart

Understand it’s bound to be broken

You will tell the story

Hidden inside of you like a jewel

And that one person you trust

Will run away with the jewel

Worse even

The person will tell others

How horrible your childhood has been?

Why nobody should fall for you

For you are a black hole

Craving for energy and love

One could have

Heartbroken for few days

You later realize that the person

Has done you a favor of telling you

The definition of black hole

You will be wary of them in future

Unanswered Questions from a Temple Stampede

God never said that

The temple visit will be good for business

And will cure Chicken Pox

Also never told them to walk on the burning coal

And left them scarred them for life

Then, who did?

In-laws who connected business success with temple visits

Siblings who believed in treatment without medicine

Priest who lead them on the burning coal or

Burn treatment hospitals opened recently in neighborhood

Song of Adultery

Ankle bracelets you wore

And your giggle

Rings in my earphone

Leaves me on a high

All day long

As if I’m on cocaine

Still yearning for the wine

Made from your wheat colored skin

And rose water from your lips

And to steal kohl from your eyes

Reeks of longing

What else? You ask

Your sedate question

A bite of rabid dog

Lost & Found *

I’m trying to be myself

By myself

For myself

By breaking apart

By stitching together

By losing in crowd

By finding me

By nursing wounds of soul

By keeping what’s mine

By being there for others

By identifying true me

By speaking about grave injustices

By curbing judgmental voices

By making enemies with vices

By friendshiping with virtues

By vomiting the emotional poison

By committing to an idea

By burning comfortable bridges

By walking on unpaved paths

By hating whatever makes me bad

By loving myself for me

I’m practicing

I’m becoming something

It’s like a strange democracy

I live in

*inspired by

A T-shirt quote

I am working

On myself

For myself

By myself

Sentence of a Sentence

Remembering what I just said to her

I feel like a broken glass

Suddenly i wish to become a kid

I want to make the mistakes

Which should be forgiven

Burns some green plants

Eat some dirt

Walk around naked

Throw sand in potable water

Steal the butter

Ride my tricycle

Remember the stitches

Kick the glass of milk

Throw the burnt corner of chapatis

To see 

Mother face alternate in anger and joy

Above all

I wish to drift in air like a feather

Destined for your feet

Seeking forgiveness for a sentence

How you have felt?

At the time when I said it

I wonder

Mulakkaram/Breast Tax

Impatient tax collectors

Called out for Nangeli,

The Beautiful one,

She invited them into her hut

Neighboring women with covered breast

Who had paid their taxes  

Flocked around her hut peeking in

Tax has been taxing on her soul

Since she paid it for the first time

When tax collectors stood inside

She laid a green plantain leaf on the floor

As if she’s readying for lunch

Lit a lamp and prayed for a while

Before the tax collectors could

Ponder over correlation

Between prayer and tax money

She took out the knife

Made it red-hot with flame

Sliced her breasts one by one

And offered her inverted cups

To the tax collectors on the plantain leaves

So that she won’t have to pay the breast tax

Imposed by King of Travancore

On women to cover their breasts

With cloth in public

The tax collectors puked and ran away

Afterwards she bled to death

Before the arrival of her husband

Who made his way into her funeral pyre

Aftermath of a Loss

Wounds you have left are of unique kind

Invisible ones hurt me in silence

I spring up in the middle of night

Imagining your touch

My psyche feed on your smell

And dreams fuels my illusion

Though your body has left me long ago

Still I hold tight to that black shirt of yours

Of Affairs and Quotations

Some affairs are destined for quotations

Like a girl who lives in one bed room

Apartment but rarely sleeps alone

Or a boy who doesn’t even own a room

Slips in with someone every night

Their friends warn them about

Dangers of such a lifestyle

Yet scared of divulging the details

Of heartbreaks, pain, and shame

In a way paving the way for their

Friends to experience the same

Then, one day, at coffee shop or in a bar

At her or his vulnerability they will nod

Just then, they happen to read

Someone’s T-shirt

A low percentage of lovers

Becomes life partners

Rest live as secret passwords

An Affair of Lifetime

a.

Seeing the apartment's billboard

Akutagawa’s life springs in my mind

We shouldn’t have moved here

Suicide is not an option

b.

She used to laugh about it

That if we don’t end up

Getting married

That option is still viable

I got angry at her

Why she didn’t believe in me

She kissed me to tell

You must learn to be practical

I told her we shouldn’t spoil

The life of others

Who said we?

I probably won’t get married

The way she said it

I wondered whether she passed

Civics during her school years

c.

When I told her about

What she said years before

She winks

I’m addicted to her

Like a cigarette

I smell of mint and vanilla

Once I meet her

d. 

Couple of months later

Adrenaline rush of meeting her

Was gone

Same old story of meeting her

Taking off clothes and 

Putting on clothes

Scared of getting caught

It's an adventure

Mental and physical

To meet someone else wife

At the same time lying to my wife

I could see the smoke coming out

Of kitchen

One cigarette had burnt my home

e.

A husband sits in the parks drinking

And spewing expletives without name

I want to tell him

Addictions are easy to get

But tough to get rid 

But how can I ?

I am responsible

f.

I tell to my sobbing wife

You choose to move in

These apartments

Which are entitled:

An Affair of Lifetime

Why blame me?

I am an emotional fool

You know

Pickle Loving Girl

Dogs of your lane

Are so protective of you

Bark at me day or night

The lady with papaya face

Throws waste water from

Her house window

Whenever I happen to cross

An old aunty peels green mangoes

Left to dry for pickle

Mango pickle - you loved so much

The police constable

Twirls his moustaches

Whenever I walk past his home

To sit on the wooden bench

Of a tea shop owner

At your corner

He knows me by face

And offers me tea

Even when I miss my wallet

People at tea shop

Upon learning that

I am looking for pickle loving girl

Discourage me not to pursue

Telling me that some pickle-seller

May trap, if not already, her for life

The papaya face lady, i haven't 

Seen in a while

Old lady coughs inside her home

I steal a piece of dried green mango

The police constable catches me

And quizzes me on my constant 

Presence in your neighborhood

It’s not tough to convince him

A 20 rupees note disappears from

My pocket

This is high time

Please!

You should come out

At least once

Now

Now when dogs of your lane

Have stopped barking at me

Simple Disagreement

Lovers love a private place

For their secret meetings

After a while things start to sour

Friendly microbes in armpits

Are at risk

Perfume not only kills them

Also hides the smell of death

If death has a smell

Guests sneeze on their arrival

On wedding house

Too much perfume

Yet putrefaction is tough to cover up

Love proteins, probably, has turned into toxin

The lover dead body lay on the balcony

On his wedding night

Why didn’t she agree?

They would have done a great job

Distributing his wedding cards

Freedom from Personified Darkness

Olive eyes of yours

Wheatish complexion of your skin

Slender fingers with no rings

Curves of your body

Shrouded in pitch darkness

In broad daylight

Soars a painter imagination

You should never forget

Whether they allow you or not

To shed the darkness

That you are a star so bright

Dadhichi

As he lay dying

God didn’t come to him

To seek help 

Yet he considers everyone God

His mind lay quiet in upper half

Barely attached to lower half

Severed precisely by tires

Of a misguided truck

Demand of survival fading

In passing seconds spend on

Cry of help, shock, and fear

He shakes his head in digust

An auto driver approaches

As if beckoned

Unsure to carry him in his auto

Ringed for an ambulance

And sat next to him

Repulsed and worried

Seeing helplessness in eyes of

Auto driver, he dreams the dream

When he saved gods from demons

He must sacrifice again for passersby gods

Vertebral column has already gone

How can they make Vajra from his bones?

So whatever is left

Eyes, liver, kidneys, heart

Is up for donation

He tells to the auto driver