My Literary Indulgences...

An enviable fortune it’d be, If only all those questions, Those dramatic exclamations, About my age, came with a penny! This repute, not just on actions, But is founded on my playlist, Filled with “Oldies” to say the least; Justified then seems their reactions. However this I now make clear, It’s not just the soft melodies, Jubilant thoughts, poignant tragedies, But their first memories, that are dear. A boyhood spent in ghazals, Lazy Sundays on father’s lap, When innocence wasn’t entrapped, And life was free from troubles. Hence, “Main zindagi..” when Rafi says, It reminds me of father’s advice, Of the strength to fight life’s vice, And of the promise of good in coming days. Sure, Netflix now rules my Sundays, However, just one note, word, rhyme, Cues nostalgia of a long lost time, Of ageless songs and my golden days!

A solitary existence, diminishing, Slumped on an isle, woefully eyeing, The shore whence it all began - A solo sailing for soul searching, Respite from all voices but my own. Meddled by currents, winds, tides, Deserting light, fate beyond reckoning; Perpetrators they were in my wrecking, But innocent they’re in my current plight; 'Tis not for want of favorable winds, Currents, tides or stars, that I’m marooned; 'Tis for a line that I yearn, to pull me in. Rowing, swimming, I may brave the gap, However, the last league will defeat me. 'Tis then when I need a lifeline to hold, But who stands ashore to cast it? One fights her own battles, too weary; One so noble, who’d risk everything, Knowing well, of lacking strength; I see them, and would rather stay Than trouble them to bail me out. Others? Those who took affront to my sojourn, Mistaking my respite for desertion, Proclaiming hence all relations broken? I’d take my chances h...