My College Days

Those were the best days of my life,

When fun and frolic was rife.

A refreshing realm of knowledge,

That was my college.

Funny friends and loving lecturers,

Freaky fundas and flexible study hours.

Riddles and rumours, gossips and giggles-umpteen,

Added spice to the junk I hogged at the college canteen.

I majored in English Literature,

And the subject suited my sensitive nature.

I was initiated into the world of stories, poems and plays,

Each lecture set my imagination ablaze.

My college was a literary paradise,

Where I learnt to critically analyze,

Every text that came my way,

Be it poetry, prose or play.

Free from the fetters of school,

I willingly jumped into the knowledge pool.

Where education was mixed with entertainment,

At college learning was never a punishment.

Mother Nature

Spare some time to praise Mother Nature,
And she will ensure that you have a happy future.
Remember, she loves to avenge her ill-treatment,
Earthquakes and eruptions, floods and forest-fires are but shades of her temperament.

So plant more herbs, shrubs and trees,
Clean the rivers, lakes and the seas.
Conserve water and electricity,
Reduce the pollution in your city.

For an animal its natural habitat is the ideal,
Life in a cage is nothing but an ordeal.
Hunting and poaching laws must be revised,
Those who use animals for entertainment should be penalized.

Plants, animals and human beings are the fruits of God’s imagination,
Their harmonious co-existence gives him immense satisfaction.
You have a duty towards posterity,
So preserve nature with all your dexterity.

An Ode to Shakespeare

If of English Literature, you are a connoisseur.
It is impossible to overlook the works of ‘William Shakespeare’,
Through poetry and drama, he earned his high repute,
The dead bard still reigns the literary world, without dispute.

‘Revenge’ is the underlying theme of ‘Othello’ and ‘Hamlet’,
A tribute to ‘Love’ is ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
His works depict a variety of human emotions,
After analyzing them, people express different views and notions.

Many say that he never wrote his plays,
His works remain exemplary no matter what the jealous cynic says.
Even though his life was short and strenuous,
No mortal can match his literary genius.

They say that good literature mirrors the contemporary world,
It reveals truths that are generally never told.
Shakespeare’s understanding of the world around him was astute,
Thus, of the literary world he still is the monarch, absolute.

Human-fox (A Poem For Children)

It was a bright sunny day,
After all it was the month of May.
My friend and I stopped by a mill,
Everything out there was so still.

The mill was near the seashore,
We both wanted to stay there for sure.
We had stolen money from Mr. Smith’s chest,
And seeing this abandoned place, we decided to rest.

Mr. Smith’s house was beside a huge rock,
So we fancied that no one had noticed us when we broke the lock.
However, a concerned neighbour had come enquiring,
While we were busy counting.

To prevent him from revealing that we had a role,
We gagged him and tied him up, against a pole.
We crammed all the money in a box made of wood,
And ran as fast as we could.

The abandoned mill, seemed just right,
For it was surrounded by trees and plants which didn’t allow much light.
I asked my friend to take out the wooden box,
But suddenly I realized that my darling friend was actually a human-fox.

He took out a knife,
And I submitted, in order to avoid a strife.
He ran away with all the money,
And I stood there like a loony.

The human-fox turned back and gave me a nasty glare,
And I realized that true friends are but rare.

Woman of Rural India

Woman of rural India courteous and dutiful,
Victim of Patriarchy, but Oh! So beautiful.

When she is born, her mother is called a sinner,
But her gender is ignored when she becomes a bread winner.
She serves her parents to become an 'ideal' daughter,
But loses her childhood in the barter.

Then comes the most important phase of her life,
This is when she becomes a slave-wife.
Soon she is instructed to multiply,
And Oh! she has more beings to satisfy.

She endures her domestic and maternal drudgery,
As if she was born to bear this overdose of misery.
But, what else can she do?
Education cannot come to her rescue.

A symbol of strength and perseverance,
Few admire her power of endurance.
Woman of rural India, courteous and dutiful,
Victim of Patriarchy, but Oh! so beautiful.