Dashapushpangal (The Ten Flowers)

01. KARUKA

02. CHERULA

03. MUKKUTTI

04. MOCHAMI

05. NILAPANA

06. KAYYUNNI

07. VISHNUKRANTHI (KRISHNAKRANTHI)

08. POOVANKURUNNILA

09. UZHINJA

10. THIRUTHALI

(A post dedicated to the festival of Onam. The 'ten flowers' that are sacred according to Malayalam tradition. Although a misnomer, as some of them do not bear flowers, these are made to a garland to decorate the long hair of ladies on special occasions.)

My dear Keralam

Dawn of Vishu

{Happy Vishu}
Be born in whatever foreign imagination
Spend life in whatever mechanized world
Keep inside light, fragrance and affection-
Of the village, and some Konna flowers.

Bloodstained Footprints

I had gone to sell my tears and nightmares
At the gates of the minaret in her palace
She came running with money in her purse
She thought I was that bald bangle-seller.

Life was just like dew on a rose bud for her
For me it was a burning grain of desert sand.
Stars for her were flowers to decorate love
For me they were the tears of dark clouds.

The final scene of the romantic play is over
The stage is empty, audience has gone home
The foolish actor who had forgotten to sing-
Is searching for his flute buried in the earth.

Swimming in the ocean of tears, drowning
Dear lover has disappeared in far darkness
In this lonely graveyard of wasteful dreams
I stay amidst the fire to keep myself warm.

Gandhi, My Teacher

The entire world at large was dear home for him
All the grass, plants and worms formed his family
Sacrifice was gain, modesty his distinct hallmark.
Give him a garland, cover his body with dirty mud
With neither union nor rift, he would treat it same
His broad mind was as indifferent as the vast sky.
A treasure which need no protection from snakes
A cool moonlight which produced no sad shadow.

The innate habit of renunciation of Jesus Christ,
The calm righteous dutifulness of Lord Krishna,
Nonviolence of Buddha, intelligence of Sankara,
Truth of Harishchandra, generosity of Randidev,
Hard rock like constancy of Prophet Mohammed,
You would have seen all these virtues in one man
If you had the great fortune to meet my teacher
Or you will find yourself if you read his history.

The birthplace of Gita alone could conceive such-
A unique sage who acted out Karma all his life,
Only in the country of Himalayas, could be seen
Such a lion who has made peace his watchword,
Only in the land on the shores of Ganges will grow-
Such a wish-fulfilling divine and ever fruitful tree.
Let me bow before you, bold and irresistible one
My salutations to that great teacher to this world.

Social Hyenas

The brotherhood they preach is false
They keep it like their chewing gum-
In their mouth for a while, then spit
To each others faces and laughs loud
Crying aloud saying they are all one.
Another day they go together to loot
They need no mask of night to steal
They cheat one and all in daylight.
They consume the breath and sweat-
Of believers, they have no shame-
To give interpretations to scriptures
In the way they prefer, act by that.
They argue that light and darkness-
Are parts of a straight line of thread,
Fight over it, and hang our corpses.
They are the rulers of today’s world
No lions, these mean social hyenas.

Divine Mischief

You woke me up from the long dark sleep
Gave my life, those vibrant colours to keep
You gave a vast sky for my wings to spread
Took a pearl from deep my mind's lake bed.

On the branches of dreams you saw unaware,
Without your permission, I built a nest there.
When the river of your life flows drop by drop
Where does it fill other than my ocean of hope?

Other than the soft breeze that take my sigh
Or other than my heart that you keep on deny,
Other than the small flower inside my trance
Where else you can find your own fragrance?

When the nightingale sings a melancholy tone
When lack of mercy turns a sugar-candy to stone
When the lake gets tired of singing a berceuse
By there in search of you, I anchor my cruise.

I cannot think of detaching from your heart
Even if any other heaven try to tear me apart;
There lies my paradise, even if I end up whole
When I melt down into the depths of your soul.

Forced Veil of Insanity

There are no breeding worms in my blood vessels

My eyes are not blinded by the poison of grudge

Deep inside the fireplace of my glowing heart

The naked nightmarish lust is completely absent.

Where the gates of truth are widely shut

Where sparing shadows give out sighs

Where virtue dissolves in meditation

In that forest fire, I am a laid off flame-

That never gets burnt amidst the smoke.

I am that foolishness which is silent-

In the deafening noise of false affection;

I am that madness searching true love.

Let it be in the heights of mountains

Where not even words take birth,

Let it be in the plains forming garments-

Decorated by rich borders being rivers,

Let it be in the vital depths of darkness-

Or in the blinding flares of lots of light,

Let it be in the shallow ponds of religion

Where whirlpools of caste swiftly turn,

We are born and given to diverse hands

Being taught to forget our brotherhood

We are groomed saying we are special,

Sole and superior over all the others,

Is it better to be orphaned in childhood?

Rather than spoilt in the creed’s apparatus

Rather than fed by the poison of resent

With all selfish nursery rhymes recited,

In my bosom, black spots of fear came

Seeing mother earth’s eyes full of tears,

When graveyard formed a shaky cradle

Instead of being deadpan and tranquil,

My mind started to cry and laugh aloud

I sang out loud to the souls who wander

A song proclaiming all are born equal,

My dear mates branded me as a lunatic.

I hear the scream of gods when every child cries

I see the despair of divine in every dying flame

The throne checks the lineage of every bud-

That pleads for the fragrance of knowledge.

The judge looks the horoscope of the dove-

That begs for mercy in the laws of life.

The hands that should feed the hungry

Enquire about the colour of their belief.

In that burning oil of distressed saliva

When thirst alone remains in this earth,

One desire grew unaware in my mind,

That a day will come again in future

When my funeral fire rise and expand-

To consume all these selfish grounds,

To give birth to a new era of honesty

A land where everyone love one another

When my hope lives in that holy land

You will call them dreams of an insane.

Having believed a wealth of inspired lies

You will call me a liar when I say the truth.

For drifting in the clouds of imagination

You will put a jester’s hat over my head.

For being a minstrel of universal love

You will denounce me as a mad man.