Daily Thought #16

A Journey Through School

From day one till the last day,

The School taught me how to overcome dismay,

“Continue the struggle till you reach your bay,

Never stop in the course of your way.”

This is what I heard others say.

  

Learning and playing shall always prevail,

But subjects like Mathematics made me feel frail,

My initial targets remained never to fail,

For, I could continue to successfully sail.

Friendship is what binds one with others,

Chatting, mocking and laughing is what adds to the colors,

And mutual help sprinkles salt in  the friendship’s flavors,

Because it’s the goodness which is remembered forever!

It is not just the school to miss,

But people who made school-life bliss,

A wonderful fourteen-year journey was this,

Nevertheless, it shall be remembered as it is..!!

                                                            

                                                           -Tanmay Kumar

Tomb's Of The Unknown

LIFE OF A CENTURY, FOR THE WARS OF THRONE,
IN ASHES AND DUST, WE’RE MERE TOMBS UNKNOWN.

Of all great things we wish we had, only some are “granted” to us. For everything else we have crawled, fallen, scratched a knee, broken an arm, tumbled a government, started a revolution and some probably even died. The idea of achievement is a mere silhouette shadowed by a darker companion I struggle. But, what after it’s all done? Is it really important to live a life that gives us a name worthy enough to be etched in white marble with emeralds and golden borders?

I was fourteen when my aunt shifted to a small town in Bihar. As a kid, I used to visit the place to meet my cousins in the summers and just the usual holiday a kid spends with extended family. Scorching days and humid nights would summarize the weather reports, if there were any, for the place. The damp air would revel with the chatter of the bazaar every evening as the adults would sit in the verandah for some cool air to comfort the hide, and chat about the regrets of past and expectations of the future, while the kids would run through the narrow streets yelling out of joy as they outrun the thoughts of the truncating future. By nightfall, a vivid canvas of twinkling lights of yellow bulbs and flickering lanterns would come up as if challenging their monstrous counterparts across the dark horizons. When we were visiting my aunt, after dinner every night, I would sit with my father in the verandah , and while the bazaar’s revel slowly faded away into a comfortable silence, I would look across the grills of the verandah onto the dome of a wearing structure,  with falling bricks, rusted crests, a shaky spire, patches of fungus and a million stories, as if struggling to breathe.

One morning, my father took me through a cluster of huts and crowded streets full of people busy with their mundane, blinded runs towards “something big”. A rush to make it; nobody knew what “it” was to be, but they believed that when they got there they would probably be a little less blinded and little closer to their names in the marble. After a walk of about 10 minutes, we reached the stairs of a mosque-ish structure – dilapidated to ruins – with the names of lovers who wished relationships were as easy as lines carved in stone,  some hopefuls who wished their names would remain alive in the slowly breathing walls and those of a few straggling souls, carved into the stones of this ruin. According to the locals and a few old men sitting around the central enclosure, which could not have been more than a 7 ft. by 7 ft. room with a stone tomb in its centre, the structure was present from times well before their great-grea grandfathers were born, and the remains buried under this magnificent architecture were of someone who could have been a Sufi saint, a local hero, a respected elder, a Mughal ambassador, a local chieftain or just anyone with evidently no more renown than an emperor, yet no less than a commoner, for amongst a million little bodies there was only one lying under a dome, with his tombstone still intact and a name still echoed while every visitor tried his wits at reading the inscription in Urdu on a couple of hundred years old piece of stone. But what’s a name that doesn’t carry a reputation? He must have been a person of immense potential. Yet, today he lies equal to any other being with time eroding the letters of his story with every passing tick of the clock.

The sun was overhead, and after a little waving to my aunt standing on the verandah, barely visible, it was time to head home for lunch. While we walked home, my father asked me if I liked visiting the place. A kid who was a reader (nerd), I absolutely loved it. So, I hopped with joy at the question and told him I loved it, while we walked back home humming songs to forget the hassles of the path. Fast forward to today, I have pondered upon it in a corner of my head. Every one of us is blinded, running crazy in a crowd of 7 billion others for thrones that can only seat one at a time, and have no more worth than a few decades of luxury. We condone our “now” for a tomb that will be dilapidated for a kid to visit, who will know no more than the story that once there was a throne.

The crowns that we wish to adorn for our kingdoms in time, know qualifications in our passion for today, and just hopes for tomorrow. These crowns have just one jewel – sitting firm under them – and those crowned have but one scepter: their present. I’m sure the one lying under the tomb doesn’t worry about how many know his name. I’m sure he didn’t even see himself being buried in a lavish room of royal dispensations and lengthy prayers. Yet, I am sure he saw himself rising in the strata of those watching him struggle for some imbecility that others considered an effort in vain. Yet, I am sure he was born the same as any. He was as able as any one of us. Yet, I’m sure, on his deathbed, he didn’t see any maze or blinded runs through them. He might have seen an unpleasant present in demise, but he closed eyes blinded to a calm past, which he had enjoyed and relished, irrespective of whether he was destined to a tomb with a corona of studded diamonds or just an earthen spot. He lived himself no more than a commoner, yet no less than an emperor, for I was just another failed visitor who tried to read his name carved on a stone that was laid a couple of hundred years ago, still eroding, and a watch forbye it, still ticking and humming the song of the journey and forgetting the roar of the destination.

IF THERE WERE A MULTITUDE, IMPATIENT TO BEHOLD,

I'D RATHER HAVE MY STORY, THAN A NAME TO BE TOLD.

                                                                                   -The quater master

Just you

Out of all the Men's
Your my one& only one
Ain't nobody in the odyssey today,
Of all the stars, you make me shine as if there were ours
Ain't nobody in the world but You.

Out of all the pain, I suffered
You are my one and only one
Ain't nobody in the world could eradicate all the suffrage and tears,
It's only you standing beside always.

Your absence is like that deadly knife
Embedded in my heart neither it gets inside nor comes outside
Ain't nobody in the world but you.

                                       
                                            -Nidhi Rane

Unwind

Wake up dear, the sun's out there, Waiting for you to see it's glare, Forget what happened yesterday, because it's gone, Leave your sorrows behind with the dawn, Bloom like a flower this morning, Flow like a river that's adoring, Plan for tomorrow??..... No, you have ample time for that, Live for today and let the sun rays enter through the slat, Move out of your room and greet your parents with a sweet smile, With their blessings, you can cover miles and miles, Get ready for the work, because you have dreams to achieve, Don't think about what you don't have, as you have no time to grieve, Look at the merry children playing, Look at the elderly people praying, Looking at their innocent face, Observe their beauty and grace, Start your day on a positive note, Do whatever floats your boat
Sun starts setting in the west, The day was spent with great zest, Back to home, fatigued by work, All you wish now is to lurk, Sit with your parents, tell them about your day, The magic of the conversation will remove your strain, The moon in the sky looks so serene, Stars spread over causing the night to sheen, Plan your tomorrow now, In a hope to make it a wow, Now it's time to have a good sleep, Let's enter our world of fantasy in deep. -Sonali Juyal

Doodle By Trisha Gupta

Daily Thought #14

The First

The first day at school,
saw her at the back of the classroom,
playing with her hair.
seizing the moment I knew,
angels got to be true.

A little over few feet,
had to learn A, B, C;
Having no idea whether heart was in left or right,
lost it before I realized,
never felt so light,
may be it was love at first sight.


It had to be real
because my attendance was pretty high
weekends made me cry,
maybe it was the sun or her smile
but Mondays were so bright.


I was always shy,
never got the courage to walk up to her and say hi,
fooled around to get her attention,
resulted in my detention,
I was fine standing out of the class,
at-least made her laugh. 

Years passed had no chance,
was about to be a teen,
thought it was never meant to be,
but suddenly one day.
things turned my way
couldn't be more please
 it was the best treat
when she came and sat next to me.

Soul uplifted but frozen,
 had a mind full of questions but none to speak, 
it was so hard to breathe
finally, let go all my fears
asked what's written on the board it's not clear,
faking a poor sight,
it's the first bench she replied,
but helped me write,
she was so kind and near,
I was about to shed a tear;
The bell rang it was lunch time,
we shared a bite, an absolute delight
by the day end, we were friends.

I am twenty-one and a little over now

she is still a friend and way closer somehow

haven't yet told her how I feel,

it's been too long I have to speak

look her into the eyes and make her believe,

that all this is fine,

but she has to be mine.

                                            
                    -Himanshu Narang

Daily Thought #13

Did I say I need you ?

Hey, I'll talk to you later, I'm busy right now; I'll promise to keep you happy and talk to you, But it's something my conscience just won't allow. I don't have time for you, But, I'll keep you hoping and believing otherwise; Try questioning me why I'm never there, And I'll be prepared with my bag full of alibis. I'll still keep you around, For when I'm really bored; It's cute you believed me when I apologized, For every time I ignored. No, I'm not really busy, I just don't have time for you; As soon as I see you're of no use to me anymore, I won't waste a single second to bid adieu.

-Rohan Mishra