The House in Pudukkottai That Woke Up at 5AM

Image
By 5AM, the house in Pudukkottai was already awake. The old tape recorder would be blaring Pithukuli Murugados songs somewhere inside, and above everything else you could hear the steady creak of the wooden swing moving back and forth. My athai paati — my grandfather’s sister — would often be on that swing, singing “Gopala Krishna Swamy Gokulathiley,” a soft Krishna lullaby . She had been widowed young and lived the rest of her life in that house, and to me she always felt like someone straight out of an RK Narayan story. For us, summer meant Pudukkottai and Gobichettipalayam. A couple of days after the final exam, we would take the overnight Trichy Express from Bangalore, then a bus onward, and by the next morning we would be inside that long, bustling house full of cousins, relatives, and noise. Athai Paati with the kids on the swing The house itself stretched from one street to another, a lon...
1 comment

Today!

In deep retrospection or rather introspection, I had a flurry of thoughts hitting me. This was just the right time to translate my thoughts to words!


It was the time of kings,
When there weren't many a thing,
A life full of joy and peace,
Every reason to feel at ease!

Today, the days of democracy,
Where life is getting crazy,
Many a people in the race,
To run the country through a maze!

In the darbar, subjects and ministers,
Many a talks, but none sinister,
A clear solution fell in place,
There was a feeling of solace!

Today, a mess of all sorts,
Leading a life full of torts,
Everyone fighting for fame,
But none to share the blame!

Those were the days,
When law had its say,
Morals and values formed the core,
People followed it without a sore!

Today, people have no time,
Anything other than a dime is a crime,
Morals and values today a sore,
Dime, dime and dime form the core!

True values have lost its meaning,
It is upto us to relive the feelings,
Of honesty, trust and mutual respect
Before it is wiped out; the last speck;

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 8, 2005 at 9:51 PM

    good one...but i like the dimes:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 9, 2005 at 12:45 AM

    Nice one ! food for thought...

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 9, 2005 at 8:31 AM

    Good one :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 11, 2005 at 12:45 AM

    had not read any of your poems before. u are pretty good at this man! and it was certainly an interesting poem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 14, 2005 at 8:02 AM

    "Those were the days..." - hello?! aint u just 23 out in the big bad world for the first time? :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2009 at 1:38 AM

    Good one and really creative one

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment