Kidney Stones

Scan centers and doctor's clinics,

Enter only to exit as a relic,

The waiting period is tediously long,

And you realise all your calculations have gone wrong,

 

Are you from Chennai? Did you work abroad? Is that a cross tattooed on your arm? And what is your job? 

Were just some of the questions thrown my way, by the scan doctor's assistant,

The more I chuckled, the more he got persistent,

So I gave in to his curious questioning,

And suddenly realised how I must be threatening,

Blissfully quiet folks,

Who refuse to give me responses or laugh at any of my jokes,

Now my arm hurts,

So I'm just going to give into sleep, before it gets worse.

Summers

The Chennai summers have claimed it's first victim,

One week since my tum has been throwing a tantrum,

So I ran to the doctor, only to learn,

Good health has to be earned,

Not enough fibre, not enough water,

What in God's name are you eating, she made me ponder,

Chicken puffs from hot breads,

And steaming hot gaajar halwa to keep a cool head,

Not good enough apparently,

Summers are for clean eating and improving your tum's warranty,

I'm still down and out,

Nursing my painful tum with a pout.

Chilli Chicken

Broken soul, broken heart, broken bones,

Chilli chicken can solve all your groans,

This deep fried delight,

Has always helped me rewrite,

My mood in a jiff,

I just have to catch a whiff,

Of this childhood nostalgia drowning in soya sauce,

My mind instantly takes a pause,

I suddenly have the strength to conquer the world,

And handle anything that is hurled,

From unpleasant to disgusting,

I find myself readjusting,

My expectations of everything,

And suddenly I'm no longer carrying,

The weight of the world on my shoulders.

Devyani

Devyani and I, 

Could have married each other, in the blink of an eye,

She's sweet and romantic,

Thoughtful and empathetic,

We even look alike,

So do our kids, who look at each other with delight,

I eat her brain,

And she mine, come rain,

Or shine,

There's no one in the world, I'd rather go and whine,

We can talk for hours, on the same topic,

We look at it from every angle - philosophic and microscopic,

At the end of our banter,

We have no real answers, except that she understands me and I, her,

That's what  girlfriends are for,

Their emotional bandwith is stronger than Thor. 

Vacuum

An empty house,

A life without a spouse,

It's a hollow feeling,

Yet I'm a master at concealing,

My true feelings,

I numbed it out, for the longest time, under the pretext of healing,

Truth be told,

I'm completely sold,

On the concept of love,

For I experience it everyday, right here and from up above,

What's the point in living,

Without wholeheartedly giving,

I have another adventure left in me,

And hopefully I'll find a love, as breathtaking as the sea.

Hospitals

An assortment of people,

Couples, the elderly and little people,

The little ones show obvious resistance,

The elderly oblige as per their doctor's insistence,

You're always called an entire hour early,

Ensuring that by the time you leave, you're crabby and surly,

The steady buzz of conversation flows,

Whether you're feeling high or low,

I've thankfully had good doctors,

You could call them amusing talkers,

I just find the waiting ghastly,

And well past me.

Early Morning Dips

An hour long dip,

Is quite a trip,

Provided you don't have a whole day of work,

I'd rather lurk,

Under my bedcovers,

Than stare at my work leftovers, 

Super sleepy,

And trying not to be weepy,

As my Teams messenger goes ping, ping, ping,

I want to mute out the dings,

And bury myself in bed,

Nighty nighty says my head.

Strange World

It's a strange world we live in,

We're encouraged to keep our feelings buried deep in,

Open up a little,

And you're belittled,

We're expected to feel less,

And speak less,

Open up your heart,

And you're considered less smart,

I don't recognise this world,

For I'm from an older world,

My heart will always be big,

Not fickle like a helpless twig,

I'll fall down and rise up,

I'll always be a storm in a cup,

All heart, 

Right from the start.

Bye Bye Baby

Missing my little boy already,

I'm not sure if I'm ready,

To live in an eerily quiet house,

Without a tiny person asking me a million doubts,

Why, why and why,

Twenty four hours just fly,

Answering his endless questions,

And listening to his old man suggestions,

No clay dough boxes to trip over,

No one to ask me, if my work is over,

No one to read bed time stories to,

Who knew,

I was going to miss the chaos this much,

Suddenly, everything in the house yearns 

for my baby's touch.

Ticking Timebomb

You know what's worse than vomiting,

Projectile vomiting,

And my son is quite an expert in the act,

He can keep at it, until he's completely smacked,

He has zero immunity,

We're at the hospital at every given opportunity,

He's tired of looking at his doctor's face,

And she's all too familiar with his case,

Picky eater, lots of chatter,

An aggressive diary and sugar whacker,

Raising a toddler is hardwork,

Only 20 years to go and hopefully life will be less berserk.

My Little Squirt

Just when I think I'll miss my little squirt,

He lets out oceans of puke, that luckily splattered far away from my flowery skirt,

I was gloomy just a second ago,

Wondering how I'll live in an empty house, with no toddlers to show,

As I started cleaning up the contents of his tum,

I began to feel less and less glum,

Maybe this time off, is not a bad idea after all,

An occasional call,

Just to see his toothless smile,

From a few thousand miles,

Might just be the break that I deserve,

Let him drive other people nuts and get on their nerves,

I'm happy to be temporarily relieved from mommy duties.

Grief

What grief did to me,

Was set me free,

I no longer want to be polite,

Or put up a fight, 

For pretences,

You live and you die, on the very same day, I wonder why this isn't common sense,

My grief heightened my senses,

I began to wear different lenses,

There are moments when I feel completely alone,

And I try my best not to groan,

Things could have been worse,

My life is not such a curse,

One day, I'll be completely happy,

Until then, I'll try not to be snappy.

Opinions

Opinions are like farts,

You must part,

With them, the minute something unpleasant is said,

Give it zero space in your head,

Lest you drive yourself mad,

Forget about it and you will be glad,

No one's opinion should matter to you,

Except yours,

Slipknot did say people = shit,

Now you know why, some days you take a hit,

Others, you fly by,

So don't bother asking why,

When stupid opinions are passed,

Allow it to leave your mind fast. 

Ada Pradhaman

Childhood in a bowl,

This milky dessert has captured my soul,

Milk, sugar and ada,

You can't look at it and say, you'll have nada,

My first slurp of this heavenly delight,

Was on a sadhya leaf, when the tum was far from light,

My heart was a goner in the first lick,

My mouth was quick,

To ask for a second, third and fourth serving,

By now, the tum was working overtime and churning,

The already existing contents of the sadya,

That's the whole point of sadyas,

You eat and overeat, from start to finish,

So that the rest of the day you can diminish,

By eating, sleeping and farting, in no particular order.

Home Alone

Home alone for the next three weeks,

Without my hyperactive bundle, has my heart in erratic beats,

No 25,000 calls a day from my parents,

Bang in the middle of my busiest and most tense moments,

The thought of being left alone,

For the next three entire weeks, is leaving me forlorn,

Nothing to look forward to at the end of a work day,

They'd be close to 5000 miles away, 

What am I supposed to do,

Except feel blue,

All alone, so alone,

In a big empty house, I'll be home alone. 

Life

Drowning myself in work,

Seemed like the only way to make my hellish life work,

Slowly and steadily, the pain eased,

Yet, there are moments when I feel my heart being squeezed,

I am me, yet not fully me,

I will never be free,

From the memories of the past,

Which were both beautiful and vast,

I found love and peace,

It was brutally brief,

Before I could grapple with what went down,

I felt myself going down,

Drowning in sorrow,

Hardly a person, completely hollow,

But the laughter of the boy who once lived,

Egged me on to live,

Perhaps it is his love,

From up above,

That has propelled me on,

The darkness quickly gave way to dawn,

I am still me,

With a range of emotions, as chaotic as the sea.