“What is this life if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare, No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows.” How do I describe the influence of the two great loves of my life? It is akin to the stirring I felt when I truly comprehended my first poem — ‘Leisure’ by the Welsh poet WH Davies. Suddenly I could smell the wet grass, feel the texture of those wooden boughs and actually feel life slipping by. Davies’ idea struck me like the gong of a school bell that shatters the studious silence of midday. I feel that only poetry can aptly capture the effect ‘Television’ and the magic of words had on a mere child that I was. Television gave me my first ever real ambition in life. I aspired, as only a little girl can, to become a police inspector, like the little village girl in red-ribboned plaits in the Doordarshan serial titled ‘Udaan’, the first of many successful serials to come in Indian television. Television, which was in its infancy ...
The tiger awaits me In long and short green curtains, Painstakingly ...it collects me In scents, sounds and the length of my shadows my feet, my heart beat- my sweat in this mofussil heat~ pruning away references, scheming behind boulders in the wild My life on his borrowed time Ever vigilante - it casts an eye on my steps, mapped by his dancing whiskers Even as I send out daunting whispers Soon enough the tiger sprang up - in the darkest kingdom inside of me! - Lakshmi Ajay
Rather than simmer and fade away~ a slow death Let our knowledge of each other spark treason and drive us apart- Rather than make unwieldy choices to live with, Let's learn to live without - Our questions. Let your fears be gentle on you, at nights, you will remember me by, And let my fables be drowned in silences as I put away the books t...
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