Passion…unbridled

We stand on the backbones

Of thousands of women who walked alone

Carving new paths where existed none

We build on the work that has been done

By fearless women who fought

A patriarchal society that was not

Willing to let them soar high

We have borrowed their wings in order to fly

*

We soar today, higher and higher

We do not suppress my desires

We celebrate trailblazing women all around

Responsible for the freedom we’ve found

When taking the next step makes us afraid

We look up to the path they have laid

And overcome our fears as they must have done

Because even today there are battles to be won

For women to get to a level playing field

We shall get there, if our collective power we wield

Sometimes work expands to fill

Every available corner of your life, and still

Tries to stretch you out, to the maximum extent

These are times when you come to resent

The work that you otherwise love to do

Work morphs into a noose around you

That seems to tighten when you resist

It is as if work seems to insist

On squeezing every drop out of you

Leaving no choice but to power through

All your protests and tears are in vain

There is no recourse from this pain..

*

Somehow a sliver of time appears magically

And you grab that opportunity instantly

You spend minutes to hours few

Indulging in what you most like to do

Reading just a little for pleasure helps me

Get rejuvenated and reoriented entirely

*

Such stolen moments help me tremendously

In getting through a day extraordinarily busy

When there is no respite, you have to create

A circumstance that allows your stress to dissipate

(Poem imagining a Syrian refugee affected by the earthquake Feb 2023)

I had mistakenly thought a piece of earth was mine

I had deluded myself in thinking life was fine

As a refugee displaced by war, I had finally found

A roof over my head, a place safe and sound

That could house my family, my dreams and me

To some extent quench my cravings for normalcy…

I thought I could put down roots there at last

Belong to a community, belie my nomadic past

*

The ground below me shook that day

Any semblance of stability was swept away

By the horrendous earthquake that shook

The walls of my house, my life, it took

My loved ones permanently away from me

Left me alive, unmoored, this catastrophe..

*

Benumbed, the threads I try to pick up again

To rebuild my life from scratch, but in vain

Seem my efforts to claim a piece of land for me

I have reconciled with being a nomad in perpetuity

When I miss home…

*

Continents and oceans separate me

From my motherland, it’s not easy

To pack my bags and fly home at

The mere drop of Nostalgia’s hat..

*

I head to my kitchen where the pantry

Has Indian spices in plenty

I cook an aromatic meal and the fragrance

Satisfies for home a longing intense

*

To break the monotony of my attire I explore

The depths of my closet where lie ignored

Artistically woven silks, heavily embellished

Draping ornate sarees is something I relish

*

When I feel anxious or perturbed I need

A dose of spirituality from my roots indeed

I head to the shrine at home; light incense sticks

And chant holy verses, my angst gets an instant fix

*

Although music from any part of the world can heal

When I hear Indian music, I cannot help but feel

Closer to my birth country, the notes that I hear

Transport me in my mind to the land I revere

*

When nostalgia strikes and I cannot get away

I collate everything Indian to get through the day

A place is immovable, but culture can be

Transported across land and sea

No matter where I go, a way I find

To incorporate my culture and nourish my mind

There are many ideas floating in my mind

If only somehow time I could find

To catch, arrange and consolidate

Them into a meaningful coherent state

String them into words in such a way

That they reveal what I really want to say

Experience a cathartic release

Of pent-up emotions, let my vexation cease

Show the world my inner world-view

In an artfully crafted manner too

Include intricacies of language to create

A masterful treatise, a work of merit great..

*

A nebulous idea, a half-baked dream

An unachievable target this does seem

To step closer to my ultimate goal

For now I shall pour my heart and soul

Into writing something whenever I can steal

A sliver of time, put in words what I feel

Dear Lady,

Just give yourself some grace

Amid all the challenges you face

You are doing remarkably well

Pat yourself on the back, do not dwell

On things that are imperfect

Reframe to see the positive aspect

Of your life, multifaceted indeed

While juggling multiple tasks you don’t need

To be demoralized by what is not right

Let go of inconsequential things, but fight

For your principles, what you strongly believe in

For the people who support you through thick and thin

Look at the glass half full because if you see

Your glass as perpetually half empty

You would be running on empty too

And that would not be conducive for you…

*

You are winning at small battles every day

Just remember this as you navigate your way

Through a life incredibly complicated

Remind yourself when you feel aggravated

Something has changed in the world; I don’t know why

The earth has shifted underneath the sky

The pandemic is over but its aftermath is not

A better world, contrary to what we had thought

The old world order, business as it used to be

Has changed in the last three years completely

The abundance that we had for granted taken

Is no longer there, with supply chains shaken

We are increasingly growing accustomed to scarcity

Of various goods, along with a teetering economy

Inflation increasing; workforce shrinking, I shake my head

In bewilderment, unable to understand the forces that have led

To the perfect storm in which life these days

Seems more difficult in innumerable small ways

A war that I cannot wrap my head around

Disasters leading to looses profound

We were in the frying pan of a raging pandemic from where

We ‘ve landed in a cauldron of fires being stoked everywhere…

*

We knew COVID would change everything, but did not know

That the world would change in unthinkable ways so…

I received an email whose subject caught my eye

It asked “Are you stupid busy?”; and I wouldn’t lie

The verbiage of the question seemed insulting to me

Used as I was to equating busy-ness with productivity

Then I realized that there was more than a grain

Of truth in the phrase, I actually do know the pain

Of being busy all the time but never able to

Achieve much, or find time for what I really want to do..

I stay quite busy, I must be “stupid busy”

Spending time in low-value tasks blindly

Measuring my work output in terms of work hours

Filled with busy work, not realizing the power

Of using less time; focused on work of higher value

Switching to being less-busy and smart-busy is what I should do

*

Change is hard, and will happen gradually

But for now at least I have gained clarity

On how being busy all the time may not be smart

Being productive without being busy is an art

I feel overwhelmed today

With problems coming my way

From every possible direction

I have no time for reflection

On what task to prioritize

I start with one thing and then realize

That another issue is more urgent

I then leave unfinished the task current

And jump on immediately to the next one

Hoping for no interruptions until it’s done

*

It is quite exhausting indeed

To pivot repeatedly based on the need

Of the hour, or the moment

It requires focus quite intense

Amid chaotic reshuffling of priorities

Strategic thinking and actions never cease

Until tasks are completed or rescheduled

During all this, adrenaline rush keeps me fueled

As I tackle each task, alone or with my team

Each successive step easier does seem

The feeling of being overwhelmed is replaced

By calm confidence, I feel accomplished that I have aced

The challenges that were placed before me

I think it is actually a privilege to be

In a position where I am challenged like this

Feeling accomplished at the end of a day is pure bliss

If I betrayed a friend it would weigh

Heavily on my conscience every day

Even if my friendship it did not cost

My peace of mind would be lost

I would not betray a friend therefore..

Yet I betray myself repeatedly when I ignore

My intuition; my gut feeling, my inner voice

And go against it to make a choice

That relies only on external influence

Disregarding cautionary advice from my sixth sense

Whether the outcome is favorable or not

I am left with an uncomfortable thought

Of having betrayed the values that I hold dear

In my own eyes dishonest I appear

*

If I listened to my intuition, I would be

True to my self and my identity…

Do I have rose-tinted glasses on when I see

How things are in my parent country

The land I had left years ago for opportunities more

Has it acquired an aura it did not have before

Such that everything is bathed in a positive light

People exude happiness, the future looks bright

The problems that seemed gigantic previously

Do not appear as enormous any longer to me

Is it real or is it my distorted perception

Is my patriotic fervor causing deception

Or am I comparing my motherland to my adopted land

Whose strengths and weaknesses now I better understand

My outlook on where I live now is no longer rosy

The rosy hue has shifted to my parent country..

*

What is better and where is a question for which it is difficult to find

A unanimous answer, different aspects come to mind

The place that you don’t live in constantly

Is the one that with rose colored glasses you see

I tried to pretend my light was still shining bright

Long after it had faded away leading me out of sight

And out of mind of the audience that had catapulted me

To the precarious high of being a celebrity

My larger-than-life status was built on the adulation

Of people who had liked my art, my presentation

As they raised me higher I forgot it was not my talent alone

That had made me reach the exalted throne…

*

I started with some talent, and quite a bit

Of ambition, luck, determination and grit

When I received recognition I was prompted to improve

As time went on, all barriers to success were removed

Somewhere along the way it appeared that my name

Synonymous with the success of a project became

Unabashedly, at least this I can say

I brought success and wealth to many in my heyday

*

The meteoric ascent to stardom changed me

That I was special, I started believing honestly

To improve my craft, no further effort I would make

Indiscriminately new assignments I would take

Confident in my ability to make them shine

The audience loved me, I was their God in a shrine

*

No star shines forever, it had to happen

The intensity of applause from my audience did lessen

Over time, because I had gone stale and there was talent new

Success cannot ride forever on a name, it’s true

I knew my light was diminishing but my ego

Could not bear to see my decline slow

By trying to hold on to my stardom tenaciously

I tarnished my reputation irrevocably…

*

The descent was swifter than my ascent

And now I lie forgotten, to repent

The arrogance that led to my downfall

Nostalgically, the days of my stardom I recall