Drip. Drip. Drip. Your Energy?

Drip. Drip. Drip. That is your energy.

Exiting slowly your body.

A message for a link that you heed

Just 5 minutes is all you need.

Calls ignored, but notification registers 1,2,3...

And your friendship slogan is "Count on Me"

You call back, how can you not

In times such as these so little to give you have got.

You listen to laments and cries

You tear up but console that time flies. 

There is so much sickness all around you

You see deadlines too

You know it just writing a page or two

You know what to write and how, but do you? 

Vessels get cleaned, the floor gets wiped

Clothes get washed, the food cooked fine

The laptop blinks: just a page or two,

The calendar reminds, but where are you? 

You hold your breath, can you feel yourself? 

You inhale and exhale till you are almost senseless.

Just a page or two, just one more call, just a meeting or two

Listen, write, it is not so much to do.

You can multitask: listen as you clean, 

Write as you weep.

Drip. Drip. Drip. That is not your energy.

It is you leaving the shell of your body.

Reset. Recover. Discover, the joy in you. 

No one can help, if you do not prioritise you.

- Written on 16 May 2021. 

- Self-explanatory. 

Panic or Revel?

Those breathless moments

Soaked in desperation

Monitors and pumps

May help tide over these bumps

But the memories, oh they do so linger

Waking you up gasping in fear

A life well lived, well loved is precious

Death's calling should not make one anxious

The best keepsakes are memories of love and laughter

Bodies may die, but people in our ideals and values live forever.

So, cherish these moments of togetherness

Revel that you were blessed with such greatness.

- Written on 15 May 2021. 

- Somehow times seem to become only increasingly challenging, making me feel anxious, tense, panicky and yet knowing all the while that I am one of the blessed. 

Mother's Day - 2021

I generally write something this day.

But words seem to fail me today.

Celebrate what? Cherish whom

In this era of increasing doom?

Mothers, Migrants, the story the remains the same

We mouth words, we placate

One year has passed

Yet nothing has really changed,

Mothers still sacrificers,

Migrants still unsupported,

It is still mayhem's reign

May Day! May Day!

Happy Mother's Day in 2021!

Will in 2022 at least we have a new chapter begun? - Written on 9 May 2021.

- Self-explanatory Also - Find on Facebook

A Story of a Woman in Covid-19 Times

It was a 1 room kitchen. A small bathroom-cum-toilet where one could touch the other end of the wall with just an outstretched arm. The wall paint was peeling. The blue-grey colour was morose anyway. It perhaps was good that the white of the spackle was showing up as patches. The rooms seemed more lively thus.

She peeled vegetables for the evening dinner as she spoke into her headset. Who would believe she was in marketing and sales. She was rotating the same 3 night suits for weeks now. The internet speed could not support the video if she turned her camera on, so she did not need to dress up.

No lipstick to add colour and courage to allow her to smile. No mascara to hide the sadness in her eyes and give a sense of joy, even if false. No blush to remind her of youth and hope. Now her tear swollen eyes stared back at her accusingly. Her lips drooped south and the only colour in them came from her biting them so often to hold back her pain. Her face did have colour, but purple not pink. Her husband too knew that she could not show her face, so he no longer seemed to care where he hit her.

Oh it was not often. Generally, because of his stress. His work was high pressure. He was a nurse. He could not help but feel distressed. The number of Covid-19 cases in his hospital had put the staff under so much pressure. Plus all the deaths. He had changed. How could he not? She needed to be more understanding. She needed to find better ways he could let off steam. She had tried. It was difficult to think of ways all by herself. But whom could she ask? It was just voice raised in temper, irritability and a couple of broken plates so far. Nothing drastic. She had tried. But, oh, she was so tired as well.

He mocked her. Just a few Zoom calls or Google Meets and housework. Try doing his job. She agreed. But how she yearned to escape. To go out for a movie. To let loose with friends over some food and drinks. To even go to his parents' house. Just anything. But yes, he had it tougher. How could she complain? 

She peeled the vegetables. She answered the sales queries. She bit her lip as another executive took the turn. She wondered how long this lockdown would last for and if she would ever be able to be the person she used to be. If there could be spring in her footsteps, a buoyancy in her smile and a sparkle in her eyes even if brought about by makeup. Even if it was all for performance for others. Even if. For that had been what had made her get up. Now that motive was gone. Why did she get up, she wondered. Why should she, she pondered. Maybe tomorrow I won't, she considered. No, tomorrow she wouldn't, she decided.

But was it her decision to make? Her husband shook her up and asked for breakfast. When it was not ready on time, a slap awaited her. Some more words. She could make no sense of them. But she nodded. She then, as usual, switched on her laptop, hooked on her headset and made the calls. 

Habits were funny things. They often times overrode decisions one had made.

- Written on 26 April 2021.

- Covid-19 has made me listen so often at the other end od the phone, feeling helpless against the anguish pouring out through the speaker. Not even a hug can be given. Never realised how comforting it is to comfort. This is just my imagination, but the inspiration is sadly all too real in not the events, but the double burden borne by so many women. 

April 2021

April is here - A new season

The arrival of Spring, harken!

Many partings 

For new beginnings. 

The old still lingering

As scents, as strengths supporting

The new await to welcome

As bursts of joy, of colour, as friends bosom. 

Partings are not endings

As they lend hope and strength for fresh beginnings.

To those who left us wonderful memories

Thank you. And fare well in your new journeys. 

We are ever there to egg you on

We are ever there to rely on.

- Written on 4 April 2021. 

- Many exits in my workplace and updates of more such on LinkedIn and Facebook. Sad times can also be happy. Trying to focus on the positive. 

Happy Holi - 2021

Throw colours merrily

Revel in the camaraderie

Enemies, strangers, friends, family

Can you identify them distinctly?

Clothes, skin, hair, nothing is different

Colours have seeped our pores even

Colours show us our superficiality

Why bother with trifles? Ware all one, essentially.

It may take days to wash the colours away

But I hope the feeling of oneness remains

Till next year when we meet again

In ourselves and each other renew our faith.

Play with colours or do not

But these human bonds we to celebrate ought.

Happy Holi!

- Written on 29 March 2021. 

- Self Explanatory. 

Friends

Friends, it is difficult to define them

They come in all forms, through all means

But essentially, they make you feel at ease. 

You take from them, you may give them

But this isn't an account to tally

The giving, the receiving all makes one be at peace. 

The time spent on chatting may seem a waste

But the minutes are precious, most heartening

They bolster a spirit weakening, deadening. 

It takes will and strength to get up and meet

It feels Hereculean and yet the rewards outshine easily

Just together being, of seeing, of breathing, makes one so happy.

- Written on 24 February 2021

- A friend, PS, took me out. We talked. We drank some form of iced tea. We talked. We drove back. Precious.