Heartbeat

There was a certain beauty in the forests. The rustling of leaves. The birds are chirping. The moon shone in its crescent shape, and the stars were slowly becoming visible as the sky grew a shade darker. She parted the curtains of the caravan. The light of a torch was visible at a distance. The dusk had just set in, and they were almost there. Or so she was told. On any other normal day, she would have noticed the rustling of leaves or admired a bird's song. But today was not any other day. Rumours were flying. She was summoned immediately to this hideout after ten days of the war and waiting. She had travelled alone, leaving the family behind in the Bhil village where they had set up camp. Her heart beat increased. Was it bad news? She said a soft prayer as the caravan stopped. Ranima." She heard her son outside the curtains. Come with me".

The curtain parted, and her teary eyes met his disappointed face. "Where is he?" He had barely managed to point at the cave when she ran inside. A sign of relief swept across her face as the chiefs lowered their heads and left their king in privacy. With bruises and bandages all over his hand, body, and head, he was half seated upon the mattress and managed an assuring nod as she rushed to his side.

They said they... They killed..."

Ajabdeh," he smiled faintly. I'm here." She had hugged him in an impulse. Like her whole world was restored to existence. He could feel her hiding her fears as she shivered a little in his arms. He smiled and held her closer. Some battles were lost. But some losses gave such precious moments that made him stronger. He held her hand as if she gave him all the strength he needed.

"I have come to stay with you. I am not going back to the hideouts. I will be safe wherever you are, there to protect me."

"So you knew I was fine?" He asked, surprised. Always," she wiped away the coming tears.

"How?" He helped her with the smudged Kohl.

"Because my heart is still beating." She smiled, leaving Mewar's bravest speechless.

© Suranya

Time Machine

 I walk through the busiest parts of Purani Dilli, 

Where Chandi Chowk meets the Qila across the street. 

I stand in the crowd, wondering what it was like 

When horses and elephants paraded by it.

I walk through the old Calcutta lanes,

Where once was a canal of British reign. 

A ditch to lay off Marathas was built, 

And then there are places where elephants took over the streets. 

Imagine for once in your mind's eye 

What it was like when Siraj's troops went by.

I zoom past Haldighati in a car, 

Wondering how fast Chetak was 

As he led Pratap to safety; 

Or how narrow the pass had been 

Suitable for war in climates extreme.

My heart pounds on significant days and times, 

For the writer in me believes in another world 

Parallel to mine. 

A world that is alive in the past still 

Where time is repeated in loops therein.

Sometime somewhere in that world 

Perhaps, like a dream, we often call the past 

Someone is fighting a war, someone is shedding tears. 

Someone is dying nameless, and others are immortal.

Stories are being woven, legends are being written 

Every single moment of breath is sealed by fate 

And here I am, 

Using my imagination as a time machine.

© Suranya

Purpose

 I see night break 

Into dawn every day, 

The shadows disappear into light. 

I lose my grip on dreams again, 

Intoxicated in the reality of life. 

The blue Illusion appears clearer 

Till the sun burns into moonlight tonight.

Yet my thirst for love remains 

To meet Your soul somewhere divine. 

My soul burnt in flames of Love, 

Tonight, I smile in peace.

I choose to give my love a name. 

I dare to call it Devotion; 

I vow to wait like a queen does for her king 

Endless days and nights.

The wind doesn't whisper your stories anymore, 

Decades have turned to eras, 

Your name has faded in the oasis far away 

Yet I waited to hear, 

Hoping for You to show the way 

To help my soul grow to reach Yours.

Oh, where have You gone? 

Hidden yourself from me? 

Why do you not see me burn 

In the trance of Your Elixir of Love?

After decades of unfulfilled desires and suffering, 

I give my love a purpose, 

I guide my pen to stories of love, 

And through them, I seek meaning every day 

Almost like a prayer escaping my lips 

Hoping to find You.

© Suranya

Star Crossed Lovers

 Beyond the crowd 

Of civilisation's woe 

Stories of immortality 

Of fondness grows; 

Of star-crossed lovers 

Divided by fate 

Society repeating 

The same mistakes.

© Suranya

Sound of Music

Have you ever heard the music each place creates at night? The winter night is long and silent. From behind the closed doors and windows, we can occasionally hear the otherwise inaudible trains chugging by the station a few kilometres away, or the hooting of the owl that flies by close in a chaotic rhythm. Once or twice, a puppy squeaks in the chill or two cats sound like a baby wailing, like a musical background score of a haunting movie. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of the breeze against the windowpanes. And breaking the otherwise quiet that the night wears is the sound of an ambulance winding through the road at a distance. You figure out from which direction it comes and where it travels. Then there is the sound of dry leaves rustling and the occasional footsteps of people walking on them. Does this city ever fall silent? Probably not. Because even silence has a sound. Perhaps of your own breath or heartbeat. All making music, all that can be heard in separate musical rhythms. And then one by one the stars disappear as the crow's call wakes the chirping birds way before dawn. The tinkling bells of the cycles of the milkman and paper boy can be heard. Once again, the music turns into noise.

© Suranya

Different

 The family sat on the darkest branch, 

Of the neem tree beside the pond. 

The Owl warned her Owlets right, 

"Be careful, dear children, 

Do not venture into the light; 

It is a blinding, scary illusion 

Not worth your innocent intuitions."

"But why, mother? 

I want to see the morning sky.

I heard it is blue. Is that true? 

I heard there are birds exactly like us 

Oh, won't they love to be my friend?" 

"Silly boy, what a fool you are, 

Yes, they look the same but are very different. 

Their thought and life, their clear blue sky 

All are but a distant story, untrue, unreal 

As we are, the creatures of the darkness for them."

The Owlets listened with open ears, 

Twisting their heads, eyes wide and eager. 

The smallest one was perhaps the bravest 

Or the foolest, depends on who narrated.

He stepped out one morning when the sun shone bright, 

He was blinded by the power of the light.

He flapped his wings, ready to make new friends 

Wanted to see their world and experiment.

At first, the crow came flying down, 

"My my, what is this thing sitting alone?"

His eager voice crowed aloud.

"Why, I am a bird!" 

Smiled the Owlet, excited.

The crow shrieked at its mates, intimidated.

"Come here, take a look at this 

Such a ghastly beast claiming to be 

One of us, it seems."

"Oh, we aren't this scary, nor our claws so sharp 

A flock of black gathered around the Owlet. 

Eager, scared, shrieking, yet afar from 

The strange thing they encountered. 

A Bulbul asked what was going on, 

Seeing the beast, it gasped and made a song.

His family joined in, shouting at the beast, 

"Go back home, you evil creep."

The Sparrows gathered, so did the Kites, 

The Seven Sisters and the Cuckoos in sight.

A Kingfisher perched itself on the high branch.

"Pray, what the hell is going on?"

"Oh, we found a beast!" 

Laughed the excited Magpie.

The kingfisher flew with the news far and wide.

"Its claws can kill, and it disguises itself like us."

"Oh, what a sight, I shiver to wonder."

"Its head cracks and twists, its cars like bats."

"Have you seen the beak? Attack from afar."

"It can change form. Such was the rumour.

The birds alerted the humans around.

They gathered beneath the tree in a crowd.

None could go near the little owlet, 

Traumatised by the flocks of "playmates".

"Such stupid birds. It's one of you."

'Stop your noise, it's a baby, not harmful."

"Can't you see it's just like you?

Two eyes, two wings, two claws and a beak, 

Haven't you seen two?"

The humans laughed at the foolish birds.

The dusk had set in, slowly in pink, 

The birds were tired of screaming. 

"We'd better get home, it is dark. 

We hear evil gets powerful thereafter!" 

"Oh, it can vanish in the dark!" 

"Evils have such power indeed." 

It was once again the grapevine lead. 

The blinding light gave way to darkness, 

The Owlet could now see the way back to its nest. 

It flapped its wings, scaring away the remaining birds, 

Never again did it try to be friends with those, 

Who saw him apart.

© Suranya

New Life

 The call of the universe is surreal, 

The time has come to feel 

The joys of a new life.

But the path leading to light 

It is suffocating and dark 

For in every bend fear larks 

I must not give up, 

I must not lose hope. 

For once, I get through these difficult days, 

It is only the journey that stays 

While I spread my wings and fly, 

Away from the cocoon of chaos 

Into a world unexplored; 

From the darkness that should not fear 

Even if I feel my end is near 

Because from this very nothingness 

Comes the light of a renewed life that awaits.

© Suranya

Naive

 I walked past a stranger today, 

On my way down memory lane.

She smiled at me faintly, 

I wanted to hug away her pain.

Until I touched the mirror, 

Realised she looked exactly the same, 

Only my thoughts were clearer, soul wiser 

While she was still lost in her innocence.

© Suranya