The Bracelet

Beads of her bracelet with 

rifts of a paused heartbeat;

Caress did she their edges,

lost in memories obsolete.

Outside the cold rain did soothe,

the parched left out window sill;

So did the trickling tear drop

scurrying across her cheeks downhill.

Will there be a day

as bright as a stack of flaming hay?

with ardent winds pulling at the clouds

shaking the heavy grey away?

Then will the stream giggle again,

with the rainbow seeping colors form the sun;

Then will the nascent stalks raise their heads

To be called forest, to be among them one.

Till then the fingers will fail to sense

everything else but the cold it feels,

Till then will the eyes strain across

eagerly anticipating a trace of wheels.

Oh! Calcutta!

Heavy with the first ray of the mellow sun,

Mist settles against the walls of a lone glass

Slides along the crevices of a jogger's foot

To melt into the arms of a trampled grass.

Witness to the headlines of the day

As the cup of tea exhales a deep sigh,

The directionless traffic on streets

Promise presence at towers high.

The sultry day beating down,

Against the collar of a white shirt;

As the drudgery continues 

 for the dreams of a solemn heart.

Mauve dusk settles against houses,

The winds soothing the scorched flyover;

As tired steps walk towards homes, envying,

the fresh legs that around a football do hover.

Flickering lights and bleak dreams

Stretched across the other side of the river;

The grey road submitting into the horizon

Its raw pulse throbbing forever.

There exists a World..

Her dress rustled along the flight of stairs. She scurried down, glancing at both her sides for brief moments, and then looking down again. Her heart thudding violently against her ribs, her breath caught in her throat. She looked back to the wide expanse of the high-way that she was climbing down from, the lights seemed to be dwindling with each step, the clock ticking with the pace of vehicles, some time lost with their exhaust fumes. The familiar tinge of river breeze hit her face, she was almost there. She looked down and continued to climb down the forlorn stairs that lead to the river bed.


She took off her heels before stepping down from the last pair of stairs. Her feet dug into the cool sand, they left smudged impressions as unsure as her steps were. She could see his silhouette, his frame quite prominent against the dark moonless sky, the simmering water beyond blurring his edges. He was one with the horizon,

where the charcoal sky met the blue waters, where her eyes edged to peek into beyond, which steps away with every step forward of her. She stood there still, wishing to melt away into the still night that fell upon them.


He turned around, his dark eye-lashes mirroring the sky behind him, his eyes almost the shade of the water, he looked away again but waiting for her to join him at the edge of the water. As if being summoned by a beckoning halo, as strong a tug as some magnetic pull, she felt herself walking towards him. She stopped shortly behind him. This was the best part of her day. It's been like this for a while. After sprinting with the revolving world around her everyday, she runs away from it every night, abandoning it, to take a breath, to stand and stare. To look at her world, to live in it.


It was astonishing how it all bewitched her, transfixed her but never touched her. It was like she was in this bubble. The ripple of the water, it caressing the boulders, the dull roar of vehicles somewhere far off, the stifled moan of the winds and him. All of it she could see and hear. But muffled. Like there were forces that worked towards keeping her away from all of it. A veil that she could never shake off. Not voluntarily. It happened when it had to. She stood there like always, inhaling deep, closing her eyes.


A sudden chill caught her. It was too sharp, not like everything else she felt, subdued. She opened her eyes to close them again. This was happening again. The part which she did not like at all. The sight before her was too brilliant for her eyes to take them. She opened them again. Everything around her illuminated with a new light, every color intensified, all sounds distinct. The bubble had burst again. Everything was the same as it felt from inside, everything but him. He was not there. He was gone.


She stood there. Her shoulders drooping. Suddenly all the weight tumbling around her, crashing against her. She took a deep breath and started walking towards the stairs again. Time to embrace the world again. She reached the stairs and looked back at the edge of the water again. Was he there? Or was it the horizon, where both the worlds meet?