Angry Bird

Sometimes you talk to me like I don't have a brain,

Screeched my 5 year old after creating a slushy balcony stain,

His attempts to help,

Had my poor plant yelp,

Half its sandy home was splattered on my picture perfect balcony,

I looked at him like he had attempted a felony,

Killing plants should have tiny humans thrown in jail,

They should be kept far away from all living beings, for peace to prevail,

Always in the middle of every household chore,

And ready to go at war,

The minute an adult says no,

He creates quite a row.

Try

As I lay flat on my back,

I finally realised life's hack,

We try,

Every single day we try,

To get better, stronger, faster,

And try to master,

Better control of our body,

The walks get less wobbly,

The legs feel stronger,

The aching bits still make you falter,

But everyday,

You try, in different ways,

To get back on your feet,

And for that you deserve a treat.

Agree to Disagree

An entire month of slowing down,

Experiencing my body breaking down,

Determined to finally give up sugar and meat,

Lose the last six kilos and finally meet,

The 20 year old version of me,

And choose to agree,

That not all my feelings need to be shared,

Because no one really cares,

The world is different, people are colder,

Their hearts have been replaced with boulders,

They're not right or wrong,

I just don't have to agree or go along,

With their lack of warmth,

I'll just head north,

And continue being me.

Surgery #3

Every surgery makes you humble,

It reduces your need to grumble,

Grateful to the sweet anesthesiologist,

Who played the role of a psychologist,

He could see my petrified eyes,

And filled my ears with advise,

A constant pat on the head,

As I lay wide awake on that operating bed,

First time I've heard myself being operated upon,

It seemed like the hours dragged on and on,

I finally fell into a lull,

And began to feel dull,

As the anesthesia began to wear off,

The pain immediately threw me off,

A long sleepless night ensued,

With nurses who were rude,

As I finally left that golden cage,

I smelt the soothing sea breeze and instantly felt calm and sage.

Poop

It's all in the poop,

Never take for granted all that goop,

Poop too little,

And you might end up in a pickle,

Poop too much,

And you won't achieve a lot as such,

My most favourite hobby, has come to bite me in the ass,

At least I'm losing weight along with all that gas,

Bedridden, with a 5 year old to baby-sit me,

I'm able to see,

The world through his eyes,

Constantly subject to his baby advice,

I don't feel completely useless.

Woman Down

A whole week,

Of feeling utterly weak,

There's nothing you can do,

When your body gives up, except bid-adieu,

To the unwanted things growing inside you,

I try not to feel blue,

But the intertia of the past week,

Is making me feel bleak,

April is whizzing by in a blur of bad health,

I'm taking deep breaths,

And reassuring myself,

That I'll be back to normal,

Super soon.

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.