From The Quill of Suranya

 "Do they know how strong your Bhakti is?" Bhojraj asked as Meera looked unsure at him.  "Bhakti? I love him." She corrected.  "What is the difference?" He asked, eagerly.  "Bhakti is flawless. It puts someone in a God's pedestal. Love brings them down to earth and makes them human. Love is not flawless. I can accept ten flaws of his and love him anyway. It's a choice."  "It's love then?" He enquired. Meera smiled a little, her cheeks warm with a blush.  "I guess it is." © Suranya

I have no words to say That I miss you. Except that when I do The music starts sounding A little monotonous  The winter becomes a little More foggy and polluted. My imagination finds no words,  And life has a little less meaning,  Until I find you again. ~ Suranya

Love, I had walked to your sanctum Seeking refuge for my barren soul. Hoping to be enlightened Praying to be chosen By your grace. I encounter strangers Who promise to be you Yet, they know not what you are. I encounter promises Vague and unkept, Unlike what you vowed for. I chance upon kindness, A welcome breeze of freshness And people think it is you. I smile at naivety, The desperate search for your presence That makes them feel they will be Less lonely, less unhappy, less insecure. But you never promised to be so, isn't it? In the chase, in the expectation and idea, They have lost you somewhere A representation of you they seek outward But can't offer themselves. I walk down the road alone, Solitude is my peace, As I realise I have been looking For you at the wrong places, In people and things, But never within me. ~ Suranya

So many have come and gone, So many have not succeeded, In leaving their mark. We are broken inside out; We always were Even before we knew what it meant. We were together yet alone. It made me wonder if Love was everything I read about in books. Loneliness comes to the soul In bouts of realisation; Like waves of reality hitting On daydreams of the heart, Waking us up in jolts. And then came the gloomy days When you were absent. Days which made me realise What it truly meant To love someone, Like in the books. ~ SURANYA

The crowd parted, and I saw you again.  After how many years? I need not remember. Your hair has a hint of grey, your smile Now form lines under your eyes. You spot me, and your smile fades. What is it that I see in your eyes? Regret? Pity? Perhaps admiration. Someone introduces us again. Your job title changed,  As did my surname. He jokes that I write about lost love  Despite having everything I ever dreamt of. You look at me with a weary smile.  I pretend not to recognise you. We greet each other in single syllables. He leaves us alone in awkward silence  Amidst a crowd chattering and mingling We draw our eyes away, then stare back. ~ Suranya

Does the Earth smell the same In your corner of the world, After a scorching summer afternoon Makes way for the first rains? Does it distinctly remind you of home? Do you feel calm after a busy day When you watch the droplets Make a pattern on the window pane? Do you remember me Shuddering at the thunder While I muse on the same? . The gale roars but doesn't stop, The breeze plays on my hair As I shudder once again at the sight of lightning. The heart draws me back to you, A moment when the raindrops drenched us Yet the hearts were warm and I could wear it on my sleeves Without a worry of it shattering In your hands. ~ Suranya

Remember that rock upon the valley where we sat? Watching the day turn into dusk, the sun disappearing behind the horizon. Little by little, the stars came out, veiling the night sky like glitter on a dress. You sat half an inch away from me, carefully avoiding contact, of body and eyes. The wind whispered in silence. If not for the flow of the stream that gushed against the rocks on its bed, I would have felt my Sown breath and heart beat. Somehow, this silence was a comforting bliss. A feeling of peace. Like I belonged there, in that moment, with you. Then we walked away, back to our mundane lives, where we belong. Miles away from each other. Just a picture in the heart. The rock still sits there, however, hoping for our reunion. © Suranya

He found her twirling across the dance floor as he approached her. "I thought you said you didn't like slow dancing. She stopped, almost aware and awkward at his presence as he stepped into the spotlight from the darkness. His smile reached his eyes and twinkled. Was he amused? She had stopped trying to read people. "I don't." She smiled, "See, I was doing it alone. To warm up for practice." He stepped closer as her smile faded. "Maybe you don't like it because you never danced with someone." He gave her his hand as she looked unsure. "Come on, you can hate it after this." She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he flirting? He could read her mind as he smiled sheepishly. "This is not me trying to convince you about anything. I reassure you. She took his hand as he pulled her closer by holding her back. "You see, slow dancing is always about the rhythm and trust. Knowing each other closely and allowing a certain level of vuln...

 He lived and died in search of Love,  In love he wrote odes to the One above. She was He and He was Her  The mad man could not decipher,  Why he searched for her in vain  When she was at the tip of his pen. © Suranya

"It's just a misconception among people that just because it's rare, it's not true. Just because you didn't find one doesn't make it unreal. Some people in rare, precious ways do find the love you often call true." I looked up at the crowd. "... and that's what their love was all about." I ended my story as the crowd appreciated with smiles and claps. Some of them, I even found blushing with hopeful eyes. I nodded and thanked them. I got up to leave as someone stopped me. Newlyweds. Hand in hand. "Your stories are amazing. Write ours someday," they said. I smiled silently. "No. No. She only writes fiction." My friend dismissed them quickly. I agreed with a nod. "I only write fiction" But, do 1? I stared at the happy couple hand in hand. "Like this one. It's a fiction, right?" She smiled, adding. Was it? Someone in the crowd, perhaps, knew it wasn't. I had connected with a lot of people and relat...

I see the blue hue of endlessness,  I see You there, Adi, Ananth, Limitless.  O Blue-Necked One, Destroyer Almighty!  Tell me why You can't turn emotions into ashes!! O rattling Damroo, tied to a string of beads;  Why play like anger on His dancing grip  Why do You stir forgotten regrets  In the restless brain, breaking me to pieces? I see the grey clouds swirling in the storm,  I see the Dark One dancing in whirls.  O Cowherd, behold! Preacher of Love!  Why can't You teach to endure the pain it causes? O melancholy flute,  With a peacock feather on its tip;  Why do you play like pain on His fingertip? Why do you bring tearful memories  That strings this heart, shatters it. Does my agony amuse You?  Do my questions entertain  Do You know not answers I seek,  As I look into Your music for them? Rustling winds, playing nature's tune  Bring me Your notes in the afternoon  Pitter-patter raindrops on the mur...

In between surviving the apocalypse.  Breathing and being unable to breathe,  Living yet not being alive,  Loneliness, depression, anxiety.  Sleepless nights and unsaid words,  Happiness momentarily stops by  As I find bliss in You. You soothe the broken heart with hope,  Mend the scattered dreams to cope  Let's not fool the world, shall we?  Let's not tell them we are alone in bliss. We crave someone to stay and keep. A hand to hold, a voice to reassure. A hug so warm that worries melt. Attention, validation, momentary crushes,  Temporary things can make you happiest.  Yet you crave the fights and hurt,  Permanent tattoos in your heart.  In a world where options are plentiful  Yet distances as a compulsion,  Never could be easy! Has the heart stopped looking? Has the soul stopped calling? Pray not, it keeps the kindled spirit burning.  ~ Suranya

 Oh! As the Raag Bhairava plays,  The emotions pour on the Syahi,  The string of hearts on the Sitar,  And the voice of longing wakes the sleeping soul;  The wind sways and the branches dance,  To the magic of music all at once. Hear! As the music picks up pace  Does your heart not cry to lyrics unsaid?  Does the Alaap not make you yearn  For someone lost, somebody beyond?  The birds sing along in the morning sun,  And somewhere the Beloved is summoned. Feel! The way your body lightens  Gives up on its worldly burdens.  Your soul twirls in a Sufi Whirl  And reaches out to Him. There you find yourself in Heaven,  As the music reaches its zenith. ~ Suranya

 In between the lyrics of my favourite song  And the music that plays along.  Just when the night meets the day.  My emotions take me to places.  In the streets of Love I roam.  Looking for you in faces unknown  Beyond the ruined arches and domes  For a place to call home. Perplexed, I turn to the pole star thus  Wondering if on a night so dark  It could probably guide me through,  I didn't know why it led me to you:  At dawn among the sunflower blooms  Where our worlds synced in a tune.  As I stared at you from a distance,  Scared, I turned to what I knew best,  Thoughts unfiltered in ink, heart restless. ~ Suranya

Love comes to your life, sometimes like a storm in the summer afternoon, a relief all at once, and sometimes like a gentle breeze that fills your heart with a sense of calm. Love, just like religion, is personal in nature. Now, why do I call religion personal? Because even if you follow the same religion, your way of seeing God is always different from others. How? An atheist always believes in scientific evidence. Science is his God. Meera saw him as her soulmate and lover. To her, he was human, her husband. To most of us, they are guides, like parents, protecting us. Or perhaps an inspiration. Each person sees God in their unique way. What you feel, hope and believe looks after you is your God. None of the notions of treating God as a lover, parent, inspiration, or something that motivates can be termed wrong. Much like Love. What you feel in love with, or about it, is quite different from what another person feels. No two people feel the same about Love. No one will define love the ...

"To someone somewhere, who can look into my eyes as an endless universe of mystery and possibilities, exactly the way I will look into his, let's write a story beyond time, place and existence. Where you are you, and you are me, I am you, and I am more than me. Let's dance around in a merry loop of time travel through star dust and moon light, to tell and retell our story time and again to the world, which often forgets, History repeats itself." ~ SURANYA

Silences once spoke of magic and faith on smiling lips and sparkling eyes in daze; Under the stars, we wished upon dreams Mysteries discovered, as deep as the oceans' extreme; Lost in each other, we found a feeling must have been that truth we denied unveiling. And then almost inevitably we parted ways, Togetherness denied by the cruelty of fate; Endings are not always together forever, Soulmates live on, even in nevers. ~ Suranya

YOU ARE LIKE AN OBJECT IN MY REAR VIEW MIRROR. ALWAYS CLOSER THAN YOU APPEAR. MY HEART IS YOUR EMPTY HOME,  AND YOU ARE THE WANDERER  WHOSE RETURN IT AWAITS? ~ SURANYA

He followed her around stealthily, Almost like chasing her shadow, Ignoring her warning glances; At last she smiled turning to him, His innocent eyes in joy, beamed. "Stay" she ordered, putting the plate down,  Thanking his hooman with a woof,  He savoured, wagging at his favourite food. ~ Suranya 

 Half of her, half of you  One half feels empty,  The other half, a fool. Half a life wasted in chasing  Half a life lived without reason.  Half a heart yearning for you,  Half a story long overdue.  Half the moon embraces half a cloud  Half the night spent thinking out loud. ~ Suranya