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On this lovely evening of spring,
I'm just waiting for the phone to ring.
To hear your sweet voice on the other side,
Asking me to go with you for a long ride.
Because you promised me it as a treat,
You, not me will be in the driver's seat.
I'll be the jester and play the song,
maybe tell a few jokes as we go along.
If you really like this idea , after all;
Just pick up your phone and give me the call.

Transient memories,
whereabouts unknown,
where have you all gone ?
Grab my hand now
and take me along,
I'm waiting for your call.

Strands of time

Those strands of time that held all of it together,
gets buried everyday by the sands of time.
Even if we try our best, still time prevails, always.
Binding us by its strands, again setting free,
taking us in its stride, throwing us away,
sometimes drowning us in its wake, in waves.
Time leaves its marks, time obliterates;
wipes all deeds to oblivion, also reminds.
Love, hate, expectations are points in time,
just milestones of our journey.
Walk along, till it lasts, and the sands of time
covers you, buries you , claims you forever .

The world is drying up.........

The world is drying up , minute by minute.
Only we don't seem to realise it,
until the rough landscape hits us.
Faltering footsteps on these brown boulders.
These are the moments of truth;
the time when the heart demands
the touch of another heart
The moistness of the eyes , the wet feeling,
the life providing drip which flows
like blood in the veins , throbbing always
to create something , to feel something
needs the reassurance of another heart.
Because the world is drying up, we need
for every heart, another heart which understands.
Life is difficult to spend  all alone,
try joining your heart, to  another heart
today before the world dries up.

Do these things

If you care to smile now,
the sky would brighten up
with the brilliance of stars;
bursting out like fireworks.

Visit the garden of my heart
sometimes again to see them,
the flowers that have bloomed
there only to welcome you.

Hold my hand when we walk
and then see how I do change,
myself and make the world
a better place to live for all.

Love me once,if you can
without me asking for it;
then feel the difference
it makes to my life and death.

Wife's petticoat

Most of the males that I know  will feel very embarrassed if found to be hanging their wife's clothes on the balcony for drying or even picking them up once dried. This I think is an universal and though many males do it regularly, most  of them loathe it and do it grudgingly and try to be as quick and stealthily as possible. But why ? 

This off course is an issue of mindset and inspite of a lot of change in the social mores, the idea of a husband washing clothes of his wife and more than that ,taking time to hang them up for drying still elcits ridicule for the husband and his wife from the neighbours and elders . It is also a matter of amusement for others.  But is it really something so amusing , as in cities and rapidly increasing smaller families many males have to help their wives in kitchen  and other houseworks. But they still wouldn't like themselves to be caught hanging the nighty of their wife on the clothesline. 

Recently in the movie Special 26, there is a scene which tries to raise some laughs on the predicament of a henpecked husband washing clothes and the mirthy response from the viewers firmly establish that this is indeed something amusing to watch others do. I am also reminded  of the comments made by an erstwhile senior officebearer of the SBI Officers Association on the VRS scheme , when it was first introduced.  The statement made by the worthy and often repeated by his lieutanants to dissuade members from opting for VRS was -  “ These people after getting VRS will be of no use and spend their time at home washing petticoats of their wives” . Naturally such revolutionary statements garnered a lot of claps from the audience but sadly felt short of stopping people from applying for VRS . But that is another story altogether. What I mean to say is that there exist, in all of us, that sense of negativeness about men doing household chores and in spite of the so called progress, which is also visible, the society is still submerged in that old mindset of compartmentalisation between male and female bastions of work.

I think a large part of responsibility for this type of mindset to prevail in the society , along with many other notions of male preogatives , squarely lie on the females. If a mother cares to get her son accustomed to household jobs right from the childhood instead of segregating them into women's chores and men's rights, they would be doing a great service to their future generations . Women nowadays are quite open and often we find them in the forefront of protests and movements in social issues. They also have been given equal rights and theoretically match their male counterparts in any sphere of activities. But whenever we come across instances of gender discrimination and atrocities on women , we blame the men for it.  It is very convenient for everyone to shift the burden of social change on the males because of their dominance, historically.

Females  or for that matter everyone who complain about oppression and discrimination from other sections of the society should first try to introspect themselves and locate their chains before blaming the existing social system or making demands of more freedom and respect. If  someone does not respect herself and conform to the social stereotype by own volition even after a reasonable education and economic independence, they are not only spoiling the life for themselves but also for the others who are not as fortunate as themselves. 

The chains which bind you , my dear female species of human beings are mostly imaginary like the clothes line that hang on your balconies. 


P.S. : I know what I have posted above may be taken as controversial. I mean no disrespect to anybody, either females of any variety or males who hang their wive's clothes at the balcony.  I invite comments from everyone within the limits of decency and ready to accept all brickbats if  I really deserve them.

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