Best Subcontinent Poems

When tongue is silent, but muse is chanting - that's poetry.
When we write what the heart has been asking - that's poetry.

As dawn's hues glisten golden rays, in blue, bronze, orange skies,
musings mirror daydreams, so enchanting - that's poetry.

Butterflies smooch cosmos, as bees sip on...

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Where black-necked cranes come to chat with me
In the company of wine and deep brown honey
Flowing from apple twigs in the heavenly valley
Of Bumthang , carved into the sublime Himalayas
By glacial melt and monsoon rains in collaboration
Giving rise to lovely landscapes offering relaxation
In Buddha’s silence,...

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This is my translation of Rabindranath Tagore's famous poem "Nidrita". Rabindranath Tagore (1861- 1941) was a Bengali poet, writer, music composer, and painter from Indian subcontinent. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, and Indian art as well. He was the first non-European to receive Nobel...

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"Heart"  

Deep fissures formed
in the cracks of 
the nowhere place
where time leeched
bleeding claret 
through the green 
veined blues

protean bit by bit
the flesh disappears
prematurely 6ft under
mulch for rebirth
the subcontinent
conscientious conscience 
inward reaching

the divine central tableau 
revels in its simple existing 
the complexity suspended baulks
at the...

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Decorating homes and workplaces
Illuminating with diyas and rangoli for five days
Worship ceremonies of Lakshmi, goddess of properity
As mentioned in early Sanskrit texts
Light over darkness
Indian subcontinent origins

written November 4, 2021...

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someone always told me this with tears in her eyes...


(for Lata Sethi's late-mother, who was my mother’s ‘sister’ and who took us all into her heart, and for Lata and Ravi Sethi of Defence Colony, New Delhi)


a wife left South Africa in the 1960’s to...

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Between the Indian plains and the hills of Burma.
Protected by the affection of its three guardians, 
The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna.
From there - this story began.
 
On a grassland full of hopes and dreams. 
Right at the edges of Brahmaputra river.
Lying there without any wheezes,
A...

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You were an Afghan, Farid Khan by name,
A name less known to the world today.
You ran away from home,
Because your own step-mother plotted against you.
Now you were runaway-Khan!

You chose to be a knight-errant,
Soon became a military commander in Bihar,
Was renamed Sher Khan, a title awarded...

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I am the country ,
the country of variations,
the country of god 
and his beautiful creations .

I am the mother ,
the mother of billions of lads ,
the mother of cultures
and religious fads.

but i am sorry ,
sorry for those ,
who feel ashamed 
of being under my nose.

I...

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Sweet Diwali, hymns we offer to you 	
Clothe us with fresh sari , draping our souls 
Through purest  grace of lotus we renew 
Blossoms of hope, this jubilee  consoles

Clothe us with fresh sari , draping our souls 
Grant us brocade of peace when...

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The peacock with spread-out plume,
Dances to Nature's tune,
The sun's fadeless glow,
The monsoon's rainbow, 
Isn't our Nature,
Very spectacular?

The preaches of the priests,
They themselves don't practice! 
The teachers teach, 
A mere printed speech!
Mother Nature expresses,
What she really is! 

Nature is wiser than the wisest----
Of  the Nobel-laureates.
Read...

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Spring blossom’s fine and fine’s monsoon season,
But summertime love’s like a passing shower,
E’en autumn, if my heart’s free from frisson,
No, summertime love’s not my fond flower;
Wearing the least or flimsiest of dress,
It’s like setting the salty sea aflame,
Not my scene oh, a damp flesh to...

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I come to bury Gandhi,
Bury him deep,
Not to praise him.
It is fashionable nowadays—to decry him
As a racist, as a casteist. 
Accuse him of discriminatory practices.
No one will challenge me.

Perhaps I may add that
He often fasted 
Because he had constipation!
All that he did was to lie,
(Though...

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Sprawling green gardens super 
Brilliant, breezy cool weather 
Bustling busy night life 
Clubbing culture that does strike 
Thriving tech talent pool 
With culture uniquely cool 
Fastest growing tech hub 
City of many clubs and pub 
Millennial-friendly city rocks 
A magnificent megacity just laughs 
City of...

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As early as C.629 a Chinese monk Xuanzang of Jingtu temple 
Motivated by the poor quality of translations of Buddhist scripture
Undertook a hazardous journey to bring the original from India
Despite the border being closed at the time due to a war.

He travelled through Gansu, Qinghai...

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