Ivan . . .

The school was on the top of the mountain
There was a disciplined silence prevailing in the class
Then there was this teacher and the student

‘What is your name?’,
asked the teacher.

The student just blinked.

‘What is your father?’,
came the next question.

He blinked twice this time.

‘Can’t you speak the truth?’,
an unnecessary advice filled the gap.

The whole class remained silent
and was waiting for the sermon.

‘It’s too much now,
why can’t you answer these simple questions?’
yelled the teacher.

‘No sir, I am just wondering
at all the possible answers
for your simple questions!’
he responded quietly.

‘This is complete indiscipline’

‘No sir, back home we call this
complete non-discipline’

‘Where is your home?’

He pointed towards the valley
and all the students just rushed out of the class
climbed down the mountain
spread all over the valley with immense joy.

,..

timed out . . .

'Does time fly?', asked my friend,
the other day.

'It does, but by stealing our wings',
answered a passerby.

,..

distanced . . .

Once there met two people
on the peripheries of a
destroyed town.
One, an accidental scientist
and another, an accidental philosopher.

"When there is stillness,
there is still
a movement", said one.

"It is the other way around
my dear friend.
When there is a movement
there is still
a stillness", said the other.

Those who were listening
were all destined
to reach their destinations.
One among them screamed,
"What if there is
neither stillness nor any movement
but only a distant destination?"

,..

shadowed cat

alone is the cat
so is the
shadow behind

,..

a dialogue . . .

Though they were strangers to each other,
he once travelled with her to a faraway place.
Reaching the centre of that hamlet,
he finally asked her
“Where do you belong to?”

“Here”, she told.

He got excited and said,
“This place is so beautiful.
As you belong to this place,
you will be able to connect to its beauty
more than me,
isn’t it?”

“Yes” she nodded.

They then travelled together
not as strangers
to another faraway place.
Reaching the periphery of that village,
they met with another traveller,
who asked her ‘his’ question
“Where do you belong to?”

“Here” she smiled.

“This is a wonderful place.
As you belong to this place,
you should be feeling its greatness
more than me”,
said the other traveller.

“Yes” she accepted.

Little confused,
he but continued to travel with her
again as a stranger.

This time reaching a really faraway desert
he asked her,
“Where do you really belong to?”

“Here”, she looked all around
and then at him.

Immensely perplexed, he screamed
“How’s that possible?
Do you mean to say that
you belong to everywhere
because you are traveling around
all the time?”

“No”

“Then?”

“I am not travelling from or to anywhere
I am not moving at all
I am just here
It is the earth beneath me
moving all the time”

,..

a prologue . . .

Amidst all the gasping gaps

and escaping sighs,

we reached the peak

where only one could stay.

I then swayed my white flag

and offered to jump off the peak.

You but had a spacious smile

and accommodated me inside the

milky white sheet,

which made us one.

‘I feel that we should be stopping this game

at any point from now’, you said.

‘mm..?’, I queried.

‘Just that every act of your entering in

throws me off my own self’,

your eyes were wide open then.

,..

new year wish

i need to master
the art
of not being excessive

,..