educated married young woman

her eyes plead
“please do not ask
don’t say anything”,
as we look at
all the signs of
severe battering.

suddenly
it pours out
“i can’t go back to my parents
i can not add to their burden
they are old and retired
i can not let them see this.”

friends try to intervene
counsel all the parties.
one day she is found
hanging
from the noose
of her sari.

tycoon

tycoon’s daughter.
naturally
a young, suave, charming
tycoon was found.

lavish wedding
elegant home.
after a while
the gold faded.

he could still charm
but there were times…
she had to move out
kids were growing up.

now she tries to
build their kids’ lives
while he tries to
finish his fortune.

they have
built a

WALL OF SILENCE

between them.

slow…ly
over the
years…

brick by
transparent
brick.

bricks of
hurts
doubts
mistrust
suspicion
unsaid words
unnamed accusations
fears of what may emerge
imagining other wishes ill.

now
with their
backs
against the

WALL

they watch
each other
through the
backs of
their heads.

Beyond

there are moments
beyond now, then and will be

there are places
beyond here, there and hereafter

beyond everything
beyond joy, sorrow and ennui

beyond thought, emotion, action
beyond birth, death and living

i skip beyond infinity
as i move beyond Beyond

BUDDHA

Something really weird, something really strange.
Sometimes into the depths of the ocean,
sometimes onto the mighty range.
As smooth as fresh air or as coarse as pain.
………………………………………………………
………………………………..is what ?
is ur life…….is my life.

Pale with shadows of grey and white,
Or colours so colourful and joys of pride.
With happenings and mishappenings went ahead my life,
Yet was there a gap to be filled,
Un known to me yet it killed.

An unknown desire or an alien fear.
Tension of marks or some unseen failure.
A new good girlfriend or careers with more lucre.
Papa’s scoldings ,mum’s expectations.

Rotations, revolutions went through this small brain of mine.
Thoughts, swirling from here to there like a wild swine.

………………………ah who is it”, I asked, but no one replied.
Whose un readable palms above my eyes.
A second grew into a year long pause.
No thoughts, no breath, no beating of heart.
No bother of the world running out of my claws.
A feeling free from the reach of vocabulary,
A joy free from the material periphery
ran through my hollow veins.
Half closed eyes and an eclipsing smile
Appeared and then disappeared.

Another tick of the clock perforated the silence.
My soul came back but with a majestic violence.
A teacher, a friend and a guide,
To talk to, to fight and argue with’
And to listen to my cries.
That eclipsing smile and those half closed eyes.


© Shobhit kaushal

bodies

bodies in
dirty white
chequered black
indeterminate brown

all along the pavement
like copses in a war.