The Life-River

     

‘Kaimal Sir' – everyone called him so. That name carried sure respect from villagers. Mohana Kaimal is a known figure with a helping attitude, and he has scored some grades in his behaviour collection. If any financial crunch occurred for anyone in the village, he/she would approach Kaimal Sir and return with a gratitude-filled heart. If any fair or festival takes place in that village, Kaimal Sir will be there in the forefront, giving cash and kinds. The villagers keep a special chair for him in their hearts. Approval is his watchword, as he listens to words spoken by even an ordinary man.  

Prakash Kaimal is regular in going to the office. He attends domestic needs; he is a loving father and a faithful husband for his spouse. And he takes leave regularly every month for his official tour on a regular basis.The third week of every month he has to go  to the Chennai branch of his company. Mostly on returning from Chennai, his bag carries toys for children and garments for his spouse. He creates a lovely atmosphere for his parents too. The life-river in that residence was flowing smoothly. 

Holidays: the kids eagerly wait for him to go to the park and for movies intermittently. They have sumptuous food of their choice. He is a person who possesses no shady side in the character.

One day, a phone call from Chennai alerted Kaimal’s father, "Hello, where are you speaking from?”

“from Kerala."

“I am from the Tamil Nadu police. Here is an accident: I found your number in a phone I found here.”

“God! It is my son’s number. What happened?”

A car with four members had a collision with a lorry. Immediately we took them to the hospital.  

His father, Bhaskara Kaimal with his brother reached the hospital. Prakash Kaimal has a family hiding in Chennai. He is the father of  two toddlers there. His Chennai visit is to stay with his family covertly.  All four fainted in the car. The timely action of the police and the dearest kin of Kaimal rendered to them brought back them to sense; they underwent troubles a lot, though. 

None looked at him through doubtful glasses.

 

 

A Sacred Gift of God

 

 

'Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful' and sitting in the shade. ' Rudyard Kipling.

(A free verse on the basis of the aforesaid piece)

 

Gardens, the family of lovely plants, are

the sacred gifts of God, the abode of beauty.

How arid will our mother Earth look,

had she been barren with no green offspring?

Bald-headed, with injuries by flying dust,

and torrential rains, carting her parted parts away.

The sun on his oven cooks her figure,

burning hard, all that bears life.

Gardens fill the hearts of all beings,

providing food, shelter, and shade.

Orchards, the heavens of birds and animals,

bees and winged beings, how lovely!

The friend, Breeze, shakes hands with twigs.

The wind cuddles wildly, giving a subtle twist.

But though our gardens sedate our eyes,

with their beauty, they cannot enchant us,

unless we grow them joyfully, with pampering,

cooling baths, feeding manure, and grooming to look cute.

Yes, life is a symbiosis, holding hands hand in hand.

 

 

 

 

April Last Year and April Now!

April last year and April this year

 

April is heat-bitten, with no lovable warmth and chill,

full of anguish and agony and anxiety;

war, a word, spreading ruins and evils only,

 is the commander and ruler of the time.

Wickedness of all kinds, fury, scares,

ill-omen, murders, cruelty, with no droplets of

sympathy, empathy or clemency, fills

each letter’s core with mock at the loss of beings.

 

Barefoot are now the inmates of mansions,

empty-bellied, thirst-attacked, having no roof to protect,

from the rage of calamities and axes of 

two-legged beasts, may have sense.

Nature gave words of sense to man

who often gets dipped in dirt,

tearing apart the glory that cheers lives,

turning useless, wicked and harmful

causing utter chaos all around.

Little silky legs run on hard spheres;

tender mouths lament pop and mom,

 food, water, cloth and shelter.

 

The humanity, possessing a mother’s heart,

creates a flood in its owners' eyes and

cannot bear this hapless, helpless stage of

mourning by the innocent faces,

demise and deformity triumph

And the escaping ones be orphans; no aid.

 

April was hot last year, warm and chill;

minds found connections and affections,

enjoying travels and laughter,

friendships with less foes, adding spice to life.

This vast world keeps paths open abundant for

journeys through peace and love, 

and let us pray for the nations to shake hands, 

 and let the avoidance of enmity be the word of the day.

 

At the Get-go!

 

 

At the get-go, am I to get into

the new abode,

swinging between two brothers,

with each other shortly, part the siblings,

on the elder’s completion of his life.

Performed his duties with skill and smartness

though witnessed in abundance our mishaps.

Destiny drove us to the torrents

taking away many lives of the ill-fated,

he eyed the wars between people and people

and nation and nation; terror,  humanity nil

and found in killings thrill.

 

The younger but in new garb will loom afresh;

smile on the face and hands, cheerful

to cuddle us, bringing the honey of comfort

to sweeten the days, it will carry, giving

a smooth go for the world to plan its future,

filling hope in anxious hearts, holding our hands

to light a wick in the dark and guide us.

The year in hand at bidding bye

waves his hand to his brother, offering his throne.

Forgetting the bygone occurrences,

fulfil our resolutions for the period waiting,

and may a good spirit of feeling be our pal of pick.

 

 

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING JOY TO ALL.

 

 

 

പുഞ്ചിരി തൂകുന്ന പൊന്മുഖം!

  

(വൃത്തം- മാരകാകളി)

പുഞ്ചിരി  തൂകുന്ന  പൊന്മുഖം  പേറി നീ 

പൃഥ്‌വിയേ  തലോടി നീ നിൽപ്പൂ.

ഒന്നു  ചിന്തിച്ചാൽ ദിനങ്ങളെ  പോറ്റുവാൻ,

ഓമനിക്കാനും നീയെത്തും .

ഭൂമിയാം പെണ്ണിനെ  കാക്കുന്നു   നാഥനായ്,

സാമോദമായ്  തീർ‍ക്കും മയ്യൽ.

ജീവികൾക്കൊക്കെയും  മിത്രമാകുന്നു  നീ

ആവുമ്പോലാഹ്‌ളാദ മേകും.

ചെയ്യുവാൻ പാചകം സസ്യങ്ങൾ നോക്കുമ്പോൾ 

ആയാസം  മാറ്റാൻ നീയൂർജ്ജമേകും.

ധ്യാനത്തിൽ നിൽക്കുന്നു  പദ്മമാം കന്യയ്ക്കു 

 നാണം വരും നിന്നെക്കണ്ടാൽ.

ആഷാഢവർഷത്തിൻ തുള്ളികൾ ചായത്താൽ 

ഭേഷായ് പൂശും സപ്തവർണ്ണം.

മേഘങ്ങൾ പർദ്ദയാൽ  നിന്നെ മറയ്ക്കുമ്പോൾ

 സൂര്യാംശുവെത്തീടും  കീറാൻ.

ചെങ്കോൽ കൈയിലേന്തി  ആഭിജാത്യപൂർവ്വം 

ഹുങ്കു  നരൻറെ  കുറയ്ക്കും.

പൊൻവെയിൽ വസ്ത്രങ്ങൾ പങ്കം പറ്റാതെ നീ 

വൻവൃഷ്ടിയാലേ  കഴുകും.

സുന്ദരി ശ്യാമയും നിന്നെ ഭയക്കുന്നു,

നിൻ വെളിച്ചത്താലൊളിക്കും.

എന്നാലഖിലാണ്ഡ മന്നനായ്  വാണു നീ-

യൊന്നുപോലെല്ലാം  കരുതും.

ലോകോപകാരിയായ് സർവ്വദാ  ഭൂമിയേ -

രക്ഷിക്കുവാനായ്   നിലവും,

ഭാനുവേ! നിന്നുടെ കാരുണ്യസാഗരേ 

നീന്തും ഞങ്ങൾക്കു നീ  കാവൽ.

(വൃത്തം- മാരകാകളി)

 

 

 

 

 

Youths and Drugs!

  

 

Umesh was an officer in the District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force Department.

He was on leave for one day because he had to attend the wedding reception of his friend’s son. When a traffic jam entangled him, he saw a couple of youngsters in a car who showed signs of unrest at the Traffic Jam. His suspicious mind led him to their vehicle. As soon as he opened the car, the boys took to their heels, and they disappeared within no time. The traffickers' capability in racing didn’t enable the officer to capture them. The bag with the loot in it, he transferred from the other car to his vehicle and gave it a safe residence there. The bag escaped tactically from the other’s notice. He drove his car to the side to park and made arrangements for the traffickers’ car to be under surveillance.

   At home, he thought of informing his higher authority, but his second thought asked him to wait and think. At first, though his mind was on tracing the culprits and bringing them under legal procedures, the thought that no one had noticed his act carried him on another track. He planned to sell the booty to the black market because he was ambitious of seeing a stethoscope on his son, Vijay’s neck. Vijay and his parents were in utter distress as the NEET exam did not include the boy’s name in the merit list.

“Shall we send him to some other country?”Mom, Shalini’s apprehension verbalised the words.

“ No, let him repeat the coaching,” Umesh replied.    

They chose an expensive coaching institution, running at the forefront of repeating the trials. So an easy but a bit risky means of meeting the outlay was the captured item, and more, it would become the answer too for Shalini’s question.  Night sleep was reluctant to lie with him; his mind travelled on the path of pondering over the dos and don'ts, and eventually, the dos pushed down the don’ts.

The time was four a.m. Some sound, not the strikes of the bell, but a few knocks at the door, not strong hits but mild taps, awoke the couple downstairs.

To their dismay, there stood a boy of Vijay’s image and age, failing to control his tears.

“Who are you? Why here?” Harsh was the officer’s voice.

The boy, Sangeet was one of the culprits; he and his friend skillfully vacated their selves from the vehicle. His tongue poured out his melancholy, weeping and sobbing supported his words, “I am in search of some money. I am a twelfth-grade student.”

“Who was with you then?”

“ The other one a financier. I was following him for money. ”

A good amount of money he needed to discharge his recovered sister from a private hospital, which was expensive, highly expensive.

 A stark pain had attacked the little girl in her stomach. The pain-stricken wailing of the innocent girl led her to that hospital. Sangeet, whose father was no more, was the decision-maker for an illiterate family. Appendicitis mercilessly had disturbed the little dear. Sangeet had no other go but to take her to a hospital. No better a Government hospital is, it is the one that gives prescriptions for medicines to be bought from outside.

And now the reality stares at him; money, the luxury of some people and the deficiency of some others, goes on hurting the latter. Sangeet was in chaos, how to and where to find the amount, the amount to bring back his loving sibling home.

 The officer’s inner voice spoke thus, “ Had it been your son, what would you do? Be away from all evils.” After all, Umesh was not miserly, not devilish, so, he decided not to arrest  Sangeet, he instead extended his helping hand for his hospital purpose. Yes, he took a vow in mind that he would sincerely work for his department and would try to save the teens and youths from the fangs of drugs. He presented the pillage to the authority and washed his mind and hands with the pure water of right ideas.

Your Imagination!

 

 

 

A palatial domicile, you had dreamed of,

in your compound trees, ornate

with pretty swaying twigs, full of greens,

the dawn sun in its glow of saffron,

chirping and singing birds having wings

of varying hues as a palatal feast for the eyes.

 

A happy home was in your imagination,

 affectionate home mates, tangy food,

clothing of your liking, travel style of your choice

sizable rooms, costly seating in the sitting,cosy beds,

A.C.to keep your body driving away the hot feeling,

a loving partner, adjusting and bearing your ire.

 

But ifs and buts rule your physique and psyche,

if your grey matter revolves in the orbit of gloom,

if desires wear the coat of irk and distress and

if your pals, partners or progeny build an invisible

fencing around you, you will repel them

covertly, then gloom will be your mind’s emperor.

 

So, be in love with the stars blinking at you,

 with the grin of the moon,the lovely birds, 

 the beautiful blooms, the glassy pond-liquid, 

lotuses and lilies in friendship, the swimming Pisces,

and make such things your worries’ erasers,

all pull your minds to reside with them.