Seasonal Hearts

That spring
Hearts were laden with love
And red blooms
Covered the ground we walked on
Promises filled the air.
Then winter came
And took life away
The tree is snow-laden forever
Hearts are frozen
Promises have turned to despair.

Heartbreak

When you find a love so perfect -
one that you're sure is meant to be,
one that fills up all your senses
and makes you feel complete,
one that brings contentment,
peace, and hope too -
how do you say goodbye
to the other half of you?
When you find a love so beautiful -
one that awakens all your dreams,
one that brings such happiness
that you burst at the seams -
how do you find the strength
to simply let it go?
How do you say goodbye
to the essence of your soul?

The Moon In my Sky

It comes in waves -
the grief of You.
how the heart craves
the smell too.
Some days are lighter
the mind is numb
some nights are brighter
as You shine above
a platinum disc of unblemished light.
I imagine You - me on your mind
the heart grows tight
with un-shed tears,
broken promises
and lonely years.
Most days go by
heavy as rock
the breath is a burden
and living is a shock.
You are a sliver in the sky tonight,
a faraway crescent
of quicksilver light -
now here, now gone
hiding behind clouds
teary and torn
trying your best to be rid of me
while I hold dear
every memory.
You crushed my soul
and my heart did die
but every single night
You are the Moon in my sky.

Burnt Alive

No lilies in my garden this year
no smile, no colour
no rain tinkling on the roof
no relief, no succour.
The world has burned to ashes
my heart - up in flames
streets strewn with broken promises,
shattered dreams, empty claims.
A hundred places where I fear to go
so with your memory they brim.
They said time would ease the pain
but its only death that'll dim
this bleeding of the soul
this tearing of the sky.
Until then the truth remains -
for you it was all a lie.

Akshaya Tritiya - the path to prosperity

Every page I turn, there is a pretty lady, heavily adorned, prompting and tempting me to buy jewellery - a gold neckpiece, gold bangles, earrings, diamond-studded rings, atleast a gold coin! My eyes linger at the designs..contemporary yet traditional, stunning pieces. The papers are full of them these last few days. Akshaya Tritiya is round the corner (May 13th this year), and according to them, its THE time to spend all our money on buying these lavish pieces of metal in order to become more prosperous.

I want to pose a question though : how many of us know the names of all the lunar months in the Hindu calender, or how many phases are there in a Hindu lunar month and what are they called? How many of us will be able to recite the "tithi" from one to thirty off the top of our heads? And what is a "tithi" ?

Not many of us know what Akshaya Tritiya is, do we? Till I sat and thought about it, and then read about it, all I knew was that its a very auspicious day and has something to do with Aishwarya Rai's wedding. Inspiring, no? So here's a summary of what I found out.

Akshaya Tritiya falls on the third day (tritiya, teej) of "shukla paksha" or the moon's waxing phase of the Hindu month "Vaishakh", which is late April or early May in the English calender. According to our ancient scriptures, it is one of the four most auspicious days in the year along with Vijay Dashmi, Chaitra Purnima and Kartik Purnima. Scientifically speaking, the Sun, Moon and Jupiter are so placed on this day as to shine their brightest.

Historically, Akshaya Tritiya was the day of many beginnings. Lord Vishnu was born as Parashuram on this day, hence its also called Parashuram Jayanti. It was on this day that Maharishi Ved Vyas started dictating the Mahabharat to Lord Ganesh. And on this very day the mighty Ganga came down to the earth from the heaven. Its considered the first day of the Treta Yug, so is also called the Yugadi Tithi. Its Goddess Annapurna's birthday too. It was on this day that Sudama visited Krishna with a gift of puffed rice, and on his return, found that he had acquired unlimited (Akshaya) wealth and his hut had been transformed into a palace. On this day Yudhishthir received the Akshaya Patra, a utensil with neverending amounts of food, which he used to feed all the people of his kingdom. It was also on this day that Draupadi found herself being unveiled by Dushasana, and prayed to Krishna, who then turned her sari into an unending (Akshaya) piece of cloth.

The vedic scriptures tell us that Akshaya Tritiya is the most auspicious day to perform "Punya karma" or meritorius deeds like "Japa" - recitations, "Tapa" - penance, "Daan" - donations, "Havan" - sacrifices. Knowledge gained or charity done on this day is very fruitful and is said to fill our lives with "Akshaya" prosperity.

The emphasis is more on giving and doing, rather than buying! Its charity and austerity that brings neverending happiness and prosperity to our lives, and not that new piece of gold jewellery. This Akshaya Tritiya, let us all pledge to give unlimited love, happiness, kindness, care, understanding and time to those who need it most, and then let us all see our lives become epitomes of Akshaya Samriddhi.

HOPE

Mangled Heart -
beating still.
Tomorrow seems
a task uphill.
Tears soak
through every layer
of plastic smiles
worn with care.
She holds herself
in the dark of night ,
stark embrace :
lonely pride
waiting for
the morning light
to chase away
ghosts of past,
to sweep aside
shadows cast.
As first light dawns,
a glimmer of hope
slowly shows
her how to cope
with memories of
hurtful strife
and move on
to a promising life.
Beating still
this bruised heart.
Step by step
to a brand new start!

Truth

Sunrise...

in your eyes

pools of liquid amber

like dawn's golden water

shimmering with

the un-shed,

sparkling with

the unsaid

promise of our youth,

my life's

sacred truth.