Long Rupees Poems

This is the second part of Rabindranath Tagore's Narrative poem - Phanki (Deception). The first part has been already posted. 




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A shameful act in this world we live today
surely an educated mind can clearly see the truth behind a mask
Ignorance is the hardness of heart manifests in such violence 
The horrors and inhumanity of it...

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Tribute to The Street Kids of Mumbai Documentary  


I  used to pick pockets
And steal tomato at the market place
I beg on the streets of Mumbai, India’s largest city
I stop drivers and ask for...

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Thanks to Muhammad Imtiaz for allowing me to work with him to create this piece. I added a bit of fantasy to his real life experience. He was moved by seeing poverty up close in...

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It’s that time of the year when,
 celebration calls, time & again.
This year needs special mention,
As you turn thirteen and seek attention!

The years seemed to pass in a flash,
As it were, a hundred-meter dash.
From the...

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Let me tell you a story on a midnight journey,
To a crematorium, through an undergrowth ferny; 
At my age between sixteen to seventeen,
In nineteen seventy eight; with a dusky scene; 
A time, when, young and...

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We are the children of time 
That big round clock 
Arms like arrows 
Not a minute to be wasted 
In this precious cycle 
Of ambition 
We succeed 
While hearts bleed
Yet we go on and on....

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Blind-
Help me son, help me daughter, help this old beggar,
Give a coin, give some water, help this blind creature.
Help this aged, come to aid, help this downcast blind,
Draw your hands, off you pockets, mix your...

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FARMER’S SON

There’s the sky, look at it
Giggling with the high-mast light
Twinkling not with the stars, but with rays of illumination
Coming from the back windows of a thirty storey mansion, 
There stands in the balcony, like...

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"Tangled Web of Love: A Broken Trust Unveiled"

In the realm of shattered hearts and broken trust,
A tale unfolds, emotions 
turned to dust.
A man named  Singh  once filled with love,
Now stands deceived, like a...

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Meera counts the money.... just one hundred and fifty rupees. Still to pay to the grocer and the electric bill. The guests will come and to greet on the Diwali and Happy New year, some...

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His two years old son
Needed treatment for stomach pain
But he had no money
His wife needed to pursue
Her BA course
He couldn't afford to
I can't help he would say
I must be happy with what I have
He would...

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I beheld them on the hottest summer of May,                     Are they bonded labours who lived...

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Man wants life, too easy, as sweet as honey
But for that needs money.

Money he may though have
But not sufficient for him to behave.

Not sufficient for his needs and deeds
Like uncountable rosary beads.

For his satisfaction of...

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Once glorious, but now rusting buildings, lined every dusty road.
Somehow everywhere clung the smell of cow dung.
My heavy bag, a giant rucksack,
Most of it I shipped right back.
I thought there wasn't much glitz or glamour,
And...

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When hundred's one hell of a count, 
To reckon crore, a long sentence, 
And five times that a long penance,
Almost a live tiger to mount, 
Wonder, many a dot must make a crore, 
A mouthful...

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Jack of All

I have been a horse of my wife, always she directs me, as a pub boy
Come here, go there, this should be done, now, that can be done later awhile
In returning evening, don’t...

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She was very frightened,
And scared in a corner,
Why did you steal my money?
Believe me by God I no nothing.

He beaten badly to his wife,
Suddenly he saw his utensil cleaner,
Eh, why did you steal my money?
He...

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When elections come round the corner…………

When elections come round the corner, our politicians are awake up with their lies and with their dirty tricks also. Often their dream lost by a theft or beaten up....

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At this trembling staggering age,
Dear deprived mother of, 
I don't know whom,
Struggling to survive,
And might be survival of, 
Someone, older than you…
Vending toys, ball-pens, 
Sun-screens and all and sundry,
Carrying all on your 
Worn out shoulders...

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I returned home, weary from the day,
The beggar girl was at the gate again.
Her father works the land, yet poverty remains,
She asks for five rupees, quiet in her pain.

My son, just her age, once asked...

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STARVATION


                              WE WASTE OUR FOOD AND...

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Onions You are better than the invisible God
You’re visible and helping us to eat
You’re cheaper to have 
than my worships and rituals
Oh Onions !
We have created you and harvested you
You gave better result to our...

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Walking, walking, walking!
Impossibly long stretches of walk,
Miles and  miles of uncertain journey,
In blazing sun, in sweltering heat,
Tranquil villages with shady trees,
Home, the destination!

Thirsty, hungry, bleeding, exhausted!
With fatigued wives and starving barefoot children they trudge,
Little...

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The sun rose gently, soft and warm,
But the house feels quiet, missing her charm.
Eid mornings filled with light and grace,
Now hold echoes of her smiling face.

She'd sit by the door, hands soft and old,
A shawl...

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