Hollow

Let mists settle.
Settle old scores.

A zillion particles screech all around me
Tonight.
Their happiness bursts into contagious brown flames
Eating up my night sky.

Neon lights,
Fake lights,
Vaporous and dumb
My abode of knotted
desires.
Where are you?

This alien land of
Rude joy
Plucks out my peace.
Always.
This distance of a thousand miles
Scourges my mind
Incessantly.

And while the mists settle
Old Scores.
I fade away
Across the burning universe
Wistful
Eating White
Coldly.

On a morning...

Behind the temple spire
Birds flew.
Chased by the early Sun
The Birds flew.
The City was still yawning,
Misty naked lanes,
The moon pale blue.

The immense drunk river
Faded boats and old crows,
Grim gods and
Bathing pujaris
He knew them
She knew.

February Sun on
Their heads
In their fists
The icy breeze
The earthen cups
The molten tea,
The nervous vapours
They knew.

Lame rickshaws
Her playful dupatta
His lanes and his smile
Their nascent dawn
Bleary-eyed
The Ganges gulped
before they knew.

Atoms

I stare at You

Mute

For words pleasant

Unpleasant

Believing they would

Live in my skin

Forever.

Like the air full of your 

Smell

The atoms of your presence

After you've left.

City You...

Yes I know. Novelty puts me at unease. And you do not need to tell me that. I am  not those ready to ride, chirpy souls. I am not madly nomadic. I am me.

Give me time. And I shall open up to the scent of the new atmosphere. I will love the aromas of your city and I shall miss its sky and its distinct sound.

I have begun to feel love for this place. Pure love that comes with pure faith and intimacy. Without the romance of false hopes and  the noise of loud interlocutors. I have moved away from days that saw me searching for familiarity. Days when I compared lanes and markets to those back home in Calcutta. I am awake now. To the grey charms and lazy nothings of these wide frank roads. To the bitter pangs of the May sun, to the chills of November showers, to the fogs of September. 

There are rocks awaiting all over. Boulders waiting acknowledgment and glory. The fading silhouettes of royal arches, the curves of wise domes. The smell of grandeur travelling with food, the trails of memory stuck to reckless, dreamy, auto-rides.

I shall miss you. I shall find reasons to be with you all over again.

Nostalgia already at my doorstep. And its not even time yet to bid Adieu!