Author: serenediva (Sonia)

A Thoughtful Observer

A Mother Never Dies

A Mother Never Dies

 

Close Up of Leaf

 

She only leaves the mortal body

to go to the heavenly abode

She only shifts from here to there

But it is true that a mother never dies …

 

You have seen the pyre

You have felt the numb coldness

You have done the rituals

You have heard the puraan

But it is true that a mother never dies …

 

Because the next day you wake up

You go to her room as all the other days

You see the empty bed, then you look at her photo on the wall

Her smile in the photo makes you smile

As it is true that a mother never dies …

 

Because after a few days while cleaning a shelf

You find a letter she wrote much ago to ask “Are you fine?”

You mumbles gently, “Ya, I am doing fine”

You heave a deep sigh, clutches the letter tight and smile

As it is true that a mother never dies …

 

Because after a few months while rummaging an old drawer

You find the red bangles she gave you on your first Karvachauth

You sit there for a while caressing those memories in your hand

You wear those bangles once again and smile

As it is true that a mother never dies …

 

Because after a few years while resetting an old cupboard

You find your first silk saree that she bought for you

You admire that saree once again and wrap it around you

You get lost in the memory lane and smile

As it is true that a mother never dies …

 

Because after a few decades while visiting your daughter’s house

Your daughter looks at you lovingly

Hugs you tightly and whispers in your ears

“Mamma, you resemble grandmaa so much!”

Her words make you smile

As it is true a mother never dies …

 

Moreover …

Many times when life becomes tough

And treats you rough

You can’t take it anymore and cry

Sad and shattered, you look at the night sky

A star shines on you, and twinkles a lil more

In those moments you are sure

That it is true …

A mother never dies …

 

P.S. – For all who lost their mother.

******************************************************************************

 

The Visit

via Daily Prompt: Trill

Trill

Image result for orphanage clipart

 

The trill of their voices still on my mind

Though I had left them a fortnight behind.

Neatly combed and properly tied-up laces,

Taught to be quiet, those dressed up faces.

But those eyes …

Those eyes I can’t forget.

Emptiness and longing in there

I think is beyond repair.

Today in the cold morning holding each other’s hands

Tied by many unseen strands.

Once Abandoned and deserted on garbage loads

Born behind closed doors then left to die on roads.

Curiosity flickered in their eyes for a while

Two or three in fact happened to smile

A few tried to break the monotony of standing in a line

When I extended the gifts in a pile.

They are the ones who know how to survive

Even in utter dejection and incessant strife

Some of them,  I BELIEVE, will eventually shine,

Will rise above the stigma, their lives almost fine

This sums up my visit to an orphanage

But …

What remains …

The echo of trilling and tweeting in the haze?

Ode to Parkinson’s

 Parkinson's

I got the shock of my life last night

When my mother saw me but failed to recognize.

Once strong like a mountain, now she is ill and fragile

Parkinson’s has taken a toll on her ability to survive.

Oh! What have you done to the woman who used to thrive with life?

 

Her once capable hands shake continuously

Making her unable and reliant; and this perturbs her profusely.

Her once high and proud head is now drooped habitually.

Her once unwavering and kind eyes are now all vague and lost strangely.

Oh! What have you done to the woman who faced every odd so bravely?

 

When I called her “Mamma,” she turned her face to me in vain

And tried to grope in the dark to get a signal from her brain.

I heard the angry pitter patter on the window pane of cold winter rain

I felt the cruelty of old age and tried to hide a tear of pain

Oh! What have you done to the woman who taught me not to feign?

 

Oh! Dear God! Something changed in those senile but still beautiful eyes

My mother narrowed her gaze on me, it felt like getting the most coveted prize.

“Don’t cry, don’t be afraid, my dear,” she repeated her old advice

Her words broken and unclear but still so wise.

Oh! See this woman who never fails to rise and shine!

 

You can take away everything from a MOTHER, You shoddy,

But not the MOTHERHOOD, embedded in every particle of her body.

 

Elegy to Srinivas

Elegy to Srinivas

He went to the Promised Land, he thought he was wise and skilled

What was so wrong in that, that he got killed?

AMERICA is a land of opportunities, he was told early in his age

He never knew that he would be murdered there in fit of a rage.

 

His wife cried in surprise and pain

What is the motive and what is the gain?

AMERICA: established as the UTOPIA and the Brave New Land

What happened? Where is the Promise? When it turned so ugly and bad?

 

His mother must have cursed the day, when she packed his bags

Crisp shirts and jeans in neat rows, And in one corner the home-made snacks

His father wondered while settling his body lovingly and carefully at the pyre,

Is this the end of his life-long wish and desire?

 

A hate crime and a young man left the world in his prime

A young man brutally slayed by one, while the other tried to save,

I remember what Abraham Lincoln said: ‘for every Scoundrel there is a Hero’

May be there is a need of a superhero before hope become dismal and ZERO

 

Anyhow I think this should stop

The whimsical disgusting behavior cascading from the TOP.

PS: Srinivas an Indian engineer (32) was killed by a fifty-one year old American, Adam Purinton in a Kansas City bar on 22 Feb, 2017 while another American, Ian Grillot (24) tried to save him.

Baby: A Game Changer

via Daily Prompt: Baby
Baby

Life changes the moment the news is confirmed that you are going to enter the next stage of life i.e. Parenthood. Your mind becomes a battlefield of opposite thoughts. If you are the gonna-be-mother, then even your body becomes strange to you. You feel happy as well as quirky. The thought that somebody is inside your body and that is not going to stop there as it will soon start moving and kicking inside you scares you. When you are hungry, you can’t eat; when you eat you want to puke. If you are the gonna-be-father you feel even worse. The first thought comes to your mind is: Will you be able to pick up the baby in your arms without hurting it; and uncomfortable, sleepless nights is the other thought that troubles you. As the times passes, you wonder, though you don’t want to, whether your spouse/girlfriend would ever be in the same perfect ten shape again.

Finally the bundle of joy arrives after lots of screaming, bloodshed and anxiety. If I dare to speak the truth: the truth is that for first few days you really don’t know what you should do with this bundle of joy. It’s not that you don’t love your baby but because you feel that your baby is totally unpredictable ( in fact it means that your baby is quite normal). Somehow days become weeks and weeks become months. You don’t even change the page of the calendar on the side table. Sometimes you can’t even see it as its hidden somewhere under the heap of the nappies and diapers. Already as a couple you have had a few serious fights and sweet patch-ups as you know that the new mother is experiencing the postpartam depression (though it is not grave) and the new father, though he is trying to play the Knight in the shining Armour, is entirely clueless what to do.

One evening when the baby is around three months old, the still-new-father hears a loud shriek while he is enjoying his evening snack trying to understand the dialogues spoken by the hero of his favourite action movie (No. He has not become deaf after the child-birth. In fact, the volume of the T V is very low as the baby is sleeping in the other room). He runs to the bedroom thinking that something has happened to the baby; but sees that baby is sleeping and the still-new-mother is standing in front of the mirror staring at her reflection and crying.  The still-new-father holds the still-new-mother in his arms tightly and try to console her and tells her that she would get her figure, hair and swollen eyes back to normal again. The wife smiles after a few minutes and they remember the time when they met each other for the first time. They realize that life will not be the same again as it is going to be a more beautiful and thrilling roller-coaster ride with the baby held tightly in their arms right there where the heart beats. They have heard their hearts beating together and now as parents they can hear their hearts singing in unison, wishing ‘the wonder they created together’ a happy life. Suddenly, they come out of their sweet moment as they feel that their is a foul smell lurking in the air and they know that it is time to change the diaper. First they look at each other and then at the baby and laugh loudly (their first laugh together in last one year) and they wonder again at the capabilities of the little Game Changer.

“Child Is the Father of Man”: wrote Wordsworth centuries ago, but it holds true even today as some truths never change.His implications were philosophical. However, even in today’s scenario a baby changes the game of life altogether as it gives new meanings to the life of the parents and teaches the mankind the true meaning of pain, patience and happiness.

The Eternal Dilemma

The Eternal Dilemma

Today we have so many choices and options available in all the fields of life that it becomes very difficult to make the right choice. We seldom come across saying: ye hi hai right choice, baby. Moreover, the moment we finalize on something be it a new relationship or a new object; the next moment we become doubtful regarding our decision or, in other words, regarding the worth of our possession. And even worse is that nobody is there to support you and tell you that you have made a right decision as your friend/relative/spouse, whosoever has helped you to take the decision, is confused now about the suggestion s/he has given to you. The availability of too many alternatives makes us anxious and nervous. We are incessantly dissatisfied. We feel miserable. Thus joy of novelty and joy of ownership is marred by the confusion caused by ‘the other possibilities’. And we are never able to experience the moment of true happiness. Now when I am talking about true happiness, I don’t want to divert your attention towards something spiritual (or utterly carnal) as that is not the point of discussion here. Besides, I fully support consumerism but I wish it would be a little less complicated. We all know that the world is too much with us as expressed by William Wordsworth, and we all have become entirely materialistic. In fact, we have accepted materialism as an eternal truth of today’s life but the availability of so many options is posing a fresh threat to us. See, how it shakes our decision-making ability and, in the long run, our self-esteem and confidence. Moreover, we are becoming insatiably greedy. And our common sense tells us that if being an epicurean is bad, being a glutton is even worse.

Anyhow, pertaining to the sadness and dissatisfaction caused by our recent possession we have an easy solution and again consumerism only comes to our rescue by providing us some consolation that there is an easy and lucrative way of getting rid of our newly-owned-but-already-hated possession in the form of ‘Click, Post and Sell’ the things we are fed up with. A few decades back people used to think that the problem was with ‘the use and throw culture’ but now I think ‘the use and sell culture’ is posing an even greater threat to society. The on-going trend is even more dangerous as it makes you expect good money in return of your used things. Just visit any App or website dedicated to selling and purchasing of old items, you will find people selling all kind of stuff – from used cars to used furniture to used toys. (TOYS…. GIVE ME A BREAK. Better you donate them to an orphanage) Anyway, It’s your personal choice that you want to sell your kid’s first soft toy, first birthday dress, first story book, etc. or you want to keep and cherish these things as sweet memories and important milestones of your kiddo’s life.

To cut it short, the point I want to bring home here is that save yourself from this eternal dilemma and try to appreciate the newness before junking it aside, first mentally and then literally, for the next in-thing in the market. Be a little philosophical and think about the famous phrase Carpe Diem that means seize the day. Happiness is right there in your present gadget, present smart-phone, present car, present couch; and going a little above-board, in your present spouse.