Notice for a Missing Girl.

She is fair and tall, a little slender though but not very athletic

Extremely lazy, and slow, but drags herself in grace

She was last seen in pensive mood walking by the corridors of my dream

In a jet black gown.

She had a pair of pearls fitted over her ears-

Aptly suited by another chain of pearls around her neck.

She was seen in light make up

Looked like she knew the reach of her natural beauty.

But she seemed well conversant with the fact

That her bold eyes look deeper once highlighted.

She is missing.

Missing since I was born.

She teases me in my dreams and leaves me empty at day break.

If you see her, please let me know.

I have waited long.

Are You the Girl?

I think I saw you today

Or may be not

For I was too lost in your eyes to be seeing you

While I explored the depths of your retina

Your dark red saree was a pleasant distraction

I think you complimented it with red stoned earrings as well

The ones that hang out to reach your nimble skin covering that

Adjoining part of the collar bones

Yes, I am sure it was those earrings of yours.

I remember you had told me once that they were your favourite

Infact, you wore them the first time we met.

I can’t forget it. For I was suddenly caught by this slim figure walking past me.

When I tried hard I could only see those red earrings peeking out of your silky hair’s lairs

I still sometime dream about that moment when I rushed to the tables where they were serving the buffet.

Only to be able to stand behind you.

And may be hope to hear your voice.

Yes! Truly after being stunned by your impact on my vision

My other senses to were desperate to realise you

You were highly engrossed in your friends

You noticed me only when you looked back to pick up a fork

My heart skipped a beat while you hardly cared beyond guiding that fork to your plate.

Now it’s my skin that wants your touch.

My nostrils have already smelled your fragrance, yet they are more demanding than my eyes.

I don’t know why? But it feels like they want to smell you once more.

My eyes would not do that.

They are easily contented or may be it’s your ability to leave lasting impressions.

My eyes tell me they can live my lifetime with that single glare at you.

Old School!

Met within four walls, separated by our imagery-
Sat next to each other in an air full of camaraderie.

Friends we became, jokes we shared amateur in our hearts.
Stood together, faced the wall for wrongful homework parts.

First sip of alcohol and the first drag of smoke.
Meagre loans when one had money, the other one was broke.

Age advanced and romance was ripe,
Crushes around and a tearful wipe.

Bills worth the late night calls-
Crazy parents, for friends, with us their brawls.

Met again the next morning with a new romance in our head.
Consolations old, cheers bold “Go get her if you are my friend”!!

In solidarity with the athletes! Not the nation! Not the Media

When the International Olympic federation suspends the membership of the Indian Olympic Association, it causes a lot of botheration and pain and the least of which is the inability to play under the tricolour. More importantly the issues at hand which are being missed out by the mainstream media is the considerable decline that will be witnessed in the amount of exposure the athletes have been getting.

Let it be absolutely clear that players and athletes have seldom received significant help from the puppet organisation mostly run by the ruling party at the centre. In fact reality would suggest pretty much the other way round where athletes of great mettle have vented their anger at the associations ignorant and insult full attitude towards them. Certain pivotal examples in this regard would be P.T.Usha, Dhanraj Pillai and many more. One thing common in the solution that these greats had proposed was to keep politics and more importantly partisan politicians away from sports who rarely come with any sporting genius. And today when the inevitable happens the beauracrats, the sports minister and even the heads in the association feign in an air of complete disbelief. While the International Association clearly hints that such a drastic step have been mandated only after repeated failure to reciprocate to the warnings issued by the international body to rectify their electoral process, the Indian Netas and Babus sweat it out to blame the international body itself and goes on with the same procedure of election which saw the rise of Kalmadi who is today infamous for amassing crores of money.

The major hurdle is yet to come. While the mainstream media is busy to cover the embarrassment of the tricolour very few seems concerned about the athlete. Yes! The athlete who sweats it out for 12-14 hours a day in training even after the government fails to provide for the basic nourishment needs of the citizenry in hope that someday he/she can make it to the big stage suddenly wakes up today only to realise that his ticket to the big stage has become all the more difficult only because the babus found their asses too comfortable in the chair. Not only will they have no national coverage but also less funds out of which the cuts in the process of reaching them still remains statutory like the warning on the cigarette pack.

So today the atheletes of India not only lack an identity in the big stage but also the funds that can help him reach there. And Olympics which is supposed to be an event of sports and athletes suddenly becomes a matter of nationality while the misery of the athlete goes unnoticed and unreported only because his misery does not sell as much as the national embarrassment. 

A Change for Worse

While the people celebrated a new dawn of Bengal politics, behind the cover the smiling tyrant was assuming more power by every strike of the clock. Bengal went to assembly polls in West Bengal in the summer of 2011 in hope of a better future where she would refuse to nod at every call of the pseudo left and there petty bourgeois demands. Out of the 35 years of left rule, for most of it the tolerant Bengali had been waiting so eagerly for the Indian left to meet its promise and when they caught the catch of the these oppressors in the garb of a Marxist flag they came down to the streets and finally the left was shown the door. For quite some time the left had held to its chair by all sorts of election malpractices, the opposition to which once saw them rise to power. This was a clear case of the prophet turning the devil.

The attempt to put the “Indian Left” to sleep had been reflected in agitations since the Nandigram disaster   (where the state machinery forcefully acquired land from poor farmers to fuel them into this neo liberal hypocrisy and many farmers died) and the final nail on the CPIM coffin was hammered in the 2011 polls. But this was a time of great hope on the new government which not only started failing all aspirations of the common Bengali almost immediately after assuming power but slowly and steadily started revealing their real face which if not similar to the former regime is worse beyond any doubts. The civil society withdrew its support and then came the day when the autocratic attitude of Mamata Banerjee(Present Chief Minister)came into light when during a Television show a teenage girl asked her some very uncomfortable questions. Having no satisfactory response in her armoury she chose to brand the 19 year old a maoist and staged a walk out of the show only to avoid having to respond to the questions that every Bengali wanted to ask but this teen  girl dared to.

However such flip flops have not been new to the Mamata Banerjee genre of politics for she has been quite infamous of switching parties and changing alliances in lieu of greater political power. This sort of political brinkmanship had always been the highlight of her politics. This flip flop took a new turn when the Congress decided to enhance the anti people FDI in retail sector. In her election manifesto she had promised the same only to appeal to the corporate mafias of India and generate more funds for her election campaign. However seeing the mood of the general population and their contempt towards Foreign Direct Investment in FDI which poses survival threats on millions of retailers spread across the nation constituting the second biggest source of employment in the country, she decided to oppose the bill. To earn some legitimacy in the public eye and avoid the discomfort of having to justify her manifesto post elections; she decided to withdraw her support to the government.  She took it a step further by bringing a no-confidence motion against the government in the parliament only to add to her so called legitimacy with clear possession of the knowledge that she did not even have the requisite numbers to bring down the government. This was just a show only to brainwash the people however the people had caught her for a cheat by now and this time no other party could muster the courage to support her claim in the open parliament resulting in a situation where people displayed their no confidence to the party that was calling for no confidence against the government in the floor of the house. She garnered support from three BJD MP’s of Orrissa which is a party similarly placed with the Trinamool Congress when it comes to their political bankruptcy. 

Criticism against her was outpouring from all corners of the Indian society and Bengal had already started taking cognizance of the so called change. In a recent development otherwise known for his outrageous understanding of peoples right a former Justice of the Supreme Court of India, Markandey Katju(a former supporter) came in strong criticism of her rule. This is an astute example of how degrading the practices of Mamata Banerjee are when someone like Katju known for his pro censorship stand too can claim a higher moral ground over her. However in a bourgeois state like India, the common scene is to have people of low working class consciousness assume high offices of government, and Katju being the chairman of the Press Council of India, his comments were immediately highlighted in the Media. Katju soon shot off a letter to the West Bengal state government and when the Chief Minister was asked for her comments on the letter she first refused to acknowledge the receipt of any such letter in the signature style of denial that she is so well known for. However at the insistence of some newspapers she indirectly started hurling abuses at the members of media and Katju himself on record.

Such brazen display of power will not go well with the Bengalis a race that is well known for its contribution against the anti imperialist struggle against the British Empire. This change is of regime hardly reflects the aspirations of Bengal which are more concerned with food, shelter, and jobs. It can’t be a change for a Bengal of promise let alone be the promise of a resurgent Bengal. If anything, this rule is directly questioning whatever democratic rights that were still held by the people during the previous regime. And the people will unite to boot her out in the same fashion that they mastered during the 2011 polls against the Marxist landlords.