Samata - Part One

Even her shadow could pollute the water.  Samata woke everyday while the stars still sparkled over the open fields and the moon smiled over her mud hut.  She walked 30 minutes to a designated well and as she returned with arms lugging two buckets full of water, the sun usually winked at her and welcomed her to a new day.  Each day she balanced the buckets and put one determined foot in front of another, welcoming the freshness of the earth, the clarity of the sky, the golden smile of the sun while her low caste followed her limply in the shadows.

She worked in the fields tilling, toiling, sowing or harvesting shoulder to shoulder with her husband and his family.  The overseers and the landowners ordered with obscenities, pushed her frail body to its limits and insulted their low status every hour, but she trudged with her veiled head and back bent low.  Her eyes focused on the task, reminding her soul of her humanity and dreaming of a golden future.

Illiterate and scorned, she woke everyday with renewed determination.  Saving every paisa from the fieldwork or even skipping meals she insisted her children attend school.  Months evolved to years, her bent back stayed low in pain, her thick dark hair boasted white strands as her children graduated first from school, then college until securing respectable office jobs.

Landlords in the field continued to discriminate with constant reminders of her low caste but she turned a deaf ear to them.  Her simple life continued until one day, her daughter ran into the hut with tear streaked red cheeks, bruises on her body and tears in her sari.

To be continued….

CHANGE

Change is inevitable

Why?
Evolution
Seasons
Cycle of life

Change starts with a day
From sleep to awake
From night to day
From owl hoots to bird songs
 
Change starts with a life
From conception to birth
From youth to adult
From child to parent
 
Change starts with a generation
From notepads to laptops
From phones to internet
From community to self
 
Change begins with experiences
From innocence to wisdom
From student to citizen
From love to duty
 
Change begins with migration
From homeland to distant
From mixed cultures to divided nations
From submission to freedom
 
Change is inevitable
Else,
We won’t be humans
Falls won’t be colorful
Generations won’t progress
 
Transformations in our daily lives or lifetime
It’s elementary and essential.

No Title contributed by a friend

In your head to change your interpretation

To want, is it a set back for opportunity from mental freedom.

Are you really thirsty to drink the elixir that has been poured in a glass and sits peacefully at the table, while you wait

Deceived, gullible, parched

You remain, whilst under the carpet through the cracks of your broken mirrors and destroyed ties, all those perfectly placed lies, that sweat you dry

It drips

And still you sit cold restless

like a blank post card that waits to be mailed, you count minutes into shadows

Static time place thought

Everything lays soft under your feet waiting to be discovered

A HAIKU contributed by a friend

The lonely butterfly

Today, on my window wall

You see the world I see?

Heavenly Auto Ride - contributed by a friend

One moment is all it would have taken
And what was her would have to be carefully collected.
Where has that voice gone?
The radio is still on and drowning it maybe
 
And is she still clutching on to her dreams ...
Of her children finding happiness and peace
Of her home a garden of flowers, music, and togetherness
Of her love always beside her.
 
Did all her thoughts get scattered?
Like scrabble tiles waiting to be picked
L for life
S for soul
S for search
A Blank tile for what follows after...
 
The pain out there so intense and palpable
In her heart full of memories ...
Memories
Of lost loved ones
Memories never to be
Left behind with loved ones.
 
The color faded slowly
A rainbow of desires, attachments, expectations ...

And years and layers of experiences built as life

Just vanishing with the soul

Will the soul be able to carry the burden?

Or will it find a weightless peace?

And what about the auto-driver?

Wings!

She sleeps soundly,

her eyelids soft and tender
open eyes alert and knowing.
She is innocent no more!

She speaks sparingly,

her lips shapely and delicate
moving mouth smart and mature.
She is child no more!

She skips seldomly,

her legs strong and long
determined steps dogged and decided.
She is naïve no more!

She loves wholeheartedly,

her heart large and solid
clear cause noble and selfless
She is fragile no more!

She dresses tastefully,

her clothes stylish and sophisticated
elegant form formidable and classy.
She is uncertain no more!

She appreciates flavors,

her taste cultured and complex
distinguished palate distinct and decisive.
She is whiner no more!

My baby’s all grown up,

my pride and remorse torturous
desire to hold on or let go.
She is bird in her nest no more!

Ceasing

Wind whispers in my ear….whirl

a chickadee calls…sing

an ant marches…reach

a butterfly flitters…fly

I look up to the sky.

Water swishes from my stream…steer

a frog croaks…click

a grasshopper leaps …reap

a bee buzzes…seize

I gaze into the horizon.

Snowflakes pirouette with a smile …dance

a red leaf falls …live

a cricket hops …hope

a squirrel scurries…stop

I look down to the ground.

The wind whispers in my ear…bliss

 

I close my eyes and breathe.

LOST - Final

WARNING: READS PARTS ONE, TWO AND THREE FIRST

The woman looked on as the man struggled to remove his gold band.  After a few minutes of watching him grapple, she raised a hand and dismissed him.  He stepped out onto empty streets, groping for a glimmer of light in his dark state.  His legs took him towards the tallest building as images began to appear in his head as in clips from an old movie - a scene from the beachside of two young children in the sand, with a beautiful woman with blue eyes watching over them.  Another clip from a different era, a bubbly young woman with round cheeks and laughing eyes in a gorgeous wedding dress beside him as he walked her down the aisle.

Lost in his memory flashes he did not see two policemen approach him with caution.  Before he realized, he found himself in the back of the police car.  At the station he sat on a hard bench running his hands through his thinning gray hair.  He noticed the digital clock on a desk flip over to 2am, 3am and an hour after that he was escorted to a small room.  As he sat in an uncomfortable chair behind a squeaky table, a tall officer began his barrage of questions.   But he had no answers to give.  Sweat ran down his temples in the tiny stuffy room intermingling with his desperate tears.  His left knee shook uncontrollably while he tried to steady himself by setting his elbows on the table.  He shook his head and repeatedly asked for his wife until his head collapsed down into his hands.

After a few silent moments with just the rustle of papers the officer leafed through, he asked the man to remove the gold band from his finger.  The man looked up confused , then threw his hand in the air and stood up.  He tried to oblige but, just as before, the ring refused to slip out.  Several minutes passed as the policeman left the room and returned with a bottle of petroleum jelly.  With greasy hands, the ring slipped out easily and the officer examined it, finding the initials of the man reported missing.

As a new day began with the radiant sunlight bathing the city with its warmth, the man stepped out into the light.  He stood on top of the stairs and watched a woman with blue eyes climb up with speed.  He opened his arms and she fell into them as his head buried in her white hair.  With muffled cries he exclaimed, “Lost no more”.

The End