Seas sans salt

 

Don't cry on the greens,

Cry on the seas,

Salt will meld with salt.

Many have cried before,

Therefore the seas.

Some old seas have even gone

And have left behind deserts.

Only some oases remain there,

A reminder of the seas sans salt.

Tomorrow doesn't come everyday

 

Tomorrow doesn't come everyday,

It doesn't come when the night is long,

It comes when the stream whispers your name,

And the wind sings your song,

When your feet splashes the morning dew,

When the world is only about you.

Right to repair

 

Per a new law, you have the right to repair your heart. You could get it repaired from a third party. Warranties on the heart remain even with third party repair. Don't settle for a broken heart.

Shooting star

 

I had a burnout,

As I hurtled across

The night sky,

And gathered wishes.

Folks looked at me

With wonder,

With prayer,

With wishes,

Some even with anger.

Some wishes were impossible,

Even for me to settle.

Turning back the clock

Of the unloved

To a new beginning:

This wish often came

Thick and fast.

Still I tried hard and fast

To settle,

And had a burnout.

Which corner of the world is mine?

 

Which corner of the world is mine?

Which corner of your world is mine?

You are my world.

And then there was you

 

The other night,

Heavens came down to earth,

And the moon floated by,

The stars twinkled mischiveously,

And angels were everywhere.

The scent of music wafted languidly,

And then there was you.

पर यह सोचता हूँ, कहाँ तुझसे जुदा हूँ मैं?

 

With apologies to Qateel Shifai and Jagjit Singh

Soul speak:

सदमा न है तुझे भी, कि मुझसे जुदा है तू,

पर यह सोचता हूँ, कहाँ तुझसे जुदा हूँ  मैं?

*You are in pain, that I am away from you,

   Yet I reflect, never am I away from you.

Blissfully unaware

 

When I moved forward,

What doors opened for me,

I did not notice.

That it rained over my house,

When the forest was on fire,

I did not notice.

I noticed not the wonderful breath,

I breathed every minute.

And, I completed my journey,

Blissfully unaware.

'Tis the time of the moon

The sunbeam can't get away,

For the moon is in the way,

There is darkness at noon,

'Tis the time of the moon. 

I've stopped counting the stars

 

The cat must know how to count.

Else, how does she tell others

How many kittens she has?

The duck must know how to count.

Else, how does she tell others

How many ducklings she has?

Some don't care about counting:

The tree doesn't care

How many leaves it shed;

Nor does the shore care

How many waves lapped its feet;

How many nights I've stopped,

Counting the stars;

Long I have stopped

Counting the tears shed.

I just count my blessings.

Lies were untrue

 

What exactly is the meaning of this?

Did the hosts of the country’s most popular cable news network know that Trump’s lies about the election were untrue?

Does it mean that Trump's truths were true?

Your flight is cancelled due to operational reasons

 

The other day I got this text message:

IndiGo: Dear flyer, your flight 6EXXXX for PNR XXXX from BLR to KNU on XXApr2023 is cancelled due to operational reasons. Please click here https://bit.ly/xxxxx to get a refund. For any queries, ask Dottie https://bit.ly/xxxxx. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused. Regards, IndiGo.

I had booked two tickets for my NRI relatives. I was in panic because I had booked the tickets about 4 months before to ensure no hiccups in their journey. I immediately went to the airlines' site and tried to rebook another flight. Fortunately, I was able to secure two tickets, albeit at a much a higher price.

Then I proceeded to get my refund from the airlines. This is how the conversation proceeded:

Customer support: Good morning, I'm XXXX, how can I help you?

Me: Good morning, I wanted to get a refund for a cancelled flight.

Customer support: Can I get your PNR?

Me: XXXX

Customer support: Give me a minute. Sir, you have a balance of Rs 300/- to be paid for the meal you had ordered in the flight.

Me: Sir, the flight is cancelled. What are you talking about?

Customer support: Sir, the flight isn't cancelled. It has been assigned a new flight number.

Me: But your text message doesn't say that at all. It says, '...is cancelled due to operational reasons. Please click here https://bit.ly/xxxxx to get a refund.'

Customer support: Sir, there are 200 passengers in that flight. We can't write 200 different messages and text them separately.

Me: Are you kidding me? Just because there are 200 passengers you will send whatever message that you want?

Customer support: No sir. That's not what I meant.

Me: That is exactly what you meant.

Customer support: Sorry for the inconvenience sir. So, you want to cancel your ticket, do you?

Me: Yes. I have already purchased two fresh tickets because of your text message.

Customer support: Okay sir. There are two passengers in that PNR number. Do you want to cancel both the passenger tickets?

Me: The flight is cancelled for God's sake! What good will it do to me if I cancel only one ticket?

Customer support: Why I am saying this is because some of our customers want only part cancellation.

Me: Please cancel both the tickets! I say again, both the tickets!

Customer support: I got it. Give me a minute.

A pause of about 3 minutes.

Customer support: Sir, congratulations your tickets have been cancelled. You will get a full refund within the next 7 working days. Can I help you with anything else?

Me: No. Thank you.

Customer support: Have a good day!

Me: You too!

Aside to myself: Mine is ruined in any case.

The wound has run very deep

 

The wound has run very deep,

Some say to the soul itself.

Will her gossamer touch then heal?

Will he ever feel that touch

Before he goes to sleep?

The wound has run very deep.

Memory melts

Memory melts

Like the heart entangled in nostalgia,

Lke the mind entangled in Alzheimer's,

Like the hands entangled in planting seeds,

Like the feet entangled in a lonely furrow,

Like the stars spangled in the void. 

Baisakhi comes close

 

Gurugyan on guruwaar:

There will never be a time,

When everything will be fine,

But, Baisakhi comes close.

Happy Baisakhi!

My soul is a loose kind

My heart is loose,

The soul, a loose kind. 

So, I lose my head,

I lose my mind.

Using love and courage interchanageably

Some folks use love and courage

Interchangeably,

But my love grows beyond

My courage,

And that's made all the difference

To reach you. 

Did you forget my birthday?

 

There was always a rush of good wishes

In the morning,

But today the wishes had clogged

All her devices,

For it was her birthday today.

Per her morning ritual,

She marked all messages as read

En bloc.

Buried in that mountain of wishes,

Was his wish too.

And, it got read without reading.

Still, he waited with thin hope,

And turned in just before midnight.

Till an unknown number rang and said,

'Did you forget my birthday?'

And then his crying wouldn't stop.

The promise of the road

 

She has been waiting for him,

At this turn for so long

That the grass that was drenched

With her tears

Has turned blue in pain.

She perhaps doesn't know

That he took the other turn,

Many light years back.

It was perhaps a turn of no return.

It is not the promise of the road

To make her meet him.

The road knows not what turns

Fork out from its elbows.

It knows not what heartbreaks

Visit the travellers.

Teacher's message to 12th Graders

 

A teacher's message to 12th Graders on their Graduation:

Touch a heart, wherever you go,

Let your heartfelt touch go viral,

You are the wavelet of new thoughts and deeds,

Let the waves go tidal.

If your eyes mist a bit,

For the good times at school,

Take a deep breath, but, believe us, do:

Just this once when you're leaving school,

It's cool to be a sentimental fool.