Departure

-Mradul and self

I need life like a ton of bricks
A beggar's bag of magic tricks
Where a simple sigh would suffice
I look forward to a tragic flick

A flick with an orange autumn bridge
Atop a forest, quiet and thick
and watch the birds return again
to the place they sleep, and talk and sit

I'll make a house with leaves and sticks
I never liked the smell of bricks
When I'm needed to move ahead
I'll settle down in the place I pick

In an open field i long to die
Beside some tree and maybe you
wherever i go whatever i do
this is one dream that wont get big

Hope

Trickling from a flower
An early morning rain
A spray of light mist
That makes you live again

The last thing you look for
The last place you see
A long night without rest
To a day that can't be

Sifting through the debris
Promising another chance
Forgotten adventures
A lingering romance

Aim without a target
And gather what you make
Hope is all-conquering
It'll never let you break

The Comedian Soliloquy

He struggled weakly with his opening lines
And smiled as he saw the time pass by
He counted the seconds to take his cue
His counted the audience, they were too few

He told a joke that no one laughed at
He turned to look where that girl had sat
He took a sip from his hip flask
And went on with his thankless task

He searched his pockets for lost papers
And turned to tell another comic caper
He realized he played to an empty hall
His voice reflected by bare walls

He returned home without being paid
He didn't curse or put it to fate
The Comedian for all purposes was broke
He laughed and worked it in a joke

The Last Night Of Nine

-In Milibhagat with Mradul

Where is everyone ?
When I am on the edge of time

Running in circles

Standing at the end of nine

Is it dark or has it always been like this?

Like the promise of a secret kiss

On a big red zeppelin
In a cloud I wouldn't miss

I m going to fly away tomorrow
Somewhere I don't need to go
And then come back here
Where the grass still grows

The pink reservoir is leaking
And I haven't planned an escape
Are you listening anymore?
Or have you closed your drapes

A Crayon Coloured World

She picks out her favourite blue dress
And the pink that goes on her nails
Leaves a half-read book on the table
And a collection of unread mail

The sky is a shade grey to perfection
Green life passes by her window pane
There's a tree dancing in the wind
Rejuvenated after the rain

He flips up a silver coin
On a dusty brown table it lands
He chases ephemeral worlds
The last member of a music band

He picks up a yellow piece of paper
With a tale written in black ink
He had left her a thank you note
And the poem was a tenuous link

She rides into an orange sunset
A night of violet feelings awaits
He closes the door behind him
He is already an year late

He lives in a crayon coloured world
And the outlines are all in a haze
He waits for the end of the present
It's sadly not a passing phase

Temporary Loss

I have no memory of the day that's passed
No recollection of what happened last
Each day floats away in a cloud of dust
As I idle myself in a field of rust

It's a serious flaw for someone like me
Used to living in a memory
Images floating in suspended animation
No more a cause for lost celebration

In the fight between yesterday and tomorrow
Today has lost all its meaning
The past has packed its bags and left
On an invisible wall I am leaning

I have no memory of a moment ago
Time has ceased to become slow
Another year ends full of sorrow
But leaves the hint of a better tomorrow

Transition

The line between sleep and wakefulness
Is the best hallucinogen one can get
It creates a dreary colourful world
In a time of everlasting regret

The disease comes to you for free
And stays until you go away
It hunts until the waking hours
Remorselessly searching for a pray

The value of sleep is often lost
In a world populated with weary men
It's a cost everyone willfully pays
And their eyes are left broken

Anxiously inching towards dawn
Rest comes even to wretched souls
But what of those without a chance
To fill the void, the gaping hole

The memory depends on perception
Too often it cannot work alone
A sight, a smell, a forgotten touch
Ancient pains in creaking bones

And when it partially arrives at last
It doesn't serve to wash the pain
In the world of dazed insomniacs
Only the sleeping man is insane

Brando In The Taxi Scene

I'm the Tiger in Corbett
I'm the greatest song by Jet
I'm Yossarian in mid-flight
I'm the dream in midsummer night
I'm the boat in the Life of Pi
I'm the thief who never lies
I'm the ring in The Lord of The Rings
I'm the sand that the Sandman brings

I'm the sounds of The Edge's guitar
I'm the spy of The Cold War
I'm the owner of Jurassic Park
I'm the fear in Fear of The Dark
I'm Mick Jagger of The Stones
I'm the 'i' in the iPhone
I'm Hoyt in Training Day
I'm the field of human clay

I'm Kumble's ten wicket haul
I'm the fall of the Berlin wall
I'm the answer in the wind
I'm the drummer of the drum of tin
I'm the nose of Midnight's Child
I'm McCandless into the wild
I'm a play by Badal Sircar
I'm the last film by Gulzar

I'm the hare who is late for tea
I'm the old man at the sea
I'm the hand of the Doomsday Clock
I'm the son of The Ghost who walks
I'm the man from bakers street
I'm the ground beneath her feet
I'm Samson without long hair
I'm the coin for the boatman's fare

I'm the Motel run by Bates
I'm the Piper at the gates
I'm Wooster without Jeeves
I'm the Oscar that Hanks received
I'm the boy from Neverland
I'm the first book sold at Strand
I'm the Yellow Submarine
I'm Brando in the taxi scene


PS-I am just picking up from where the guys of Divine Comedy left. The above rhyme can be sung to the tune of Gin Soaked Boy and is heavily inspired/ripped off the same song.

PPS-Prizes for listing down all the cultural references.

The Hotel At The End Of The World

(Dedicated to Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman)

Stories fly, fashion in the sky
Colours dive, drown your brown eyes
Check out time, luggage's good to go
You don't know, you have to leave soon

Oh, but you have just arrived
Too late

Your dinner's cold, over cooked
And you sold your soul, to a crook
Running fast, make this night last
The world it ends, It depends

On you, but you just arrived
Too late

Explosive rain, it won't come again
Your room is booked, air-conditioning
The guest's are ready, for the end
You turn to leave, to pretend

Oh, but you have just arrived
Too late

Take this ship, crash it in the sun
Take this sand, make your dreams fun
Take this key, cash paid upfront
Take this life, there isn't another one

I know you've just arrived but
Too late

(A Different Perception)

I fast forwarded to a time when i am already great
And it flies away quickly . like a purple butterfly
i am standing under a crisp cotton flyover
and I dream a little dream of you

Amazed to see this is the place i live
Its so silent, i tend to think of myself as a dream
I had thought it more to be a panorama of the sea
I lie on a bed in an otherwise empty room

The river however was a strange hue
The sky,the night, or even just you
Independent of the sky and midnight restlessness
I wished I could hold on to something

I proceeded to walk across it, bare feet
And felt myself sinking in the sand below me
With expensive earphones stuffed into my head
I looked at the shooting stars dancing above

I Say

-In milibhagat with Mradul

I fast forwarded to a time when i am already great
And i am standing under a crisp cotton flyover
Amazed to see this is the place i live
I had thought it more to be a panorama of the sea

The river however was a strange hue
Independent of the sky and midnight restlessness
I proceeded to walk across it, bare feet
With expensive earphones stuffed into my head

I looked at the shooting stars dancing above
And felt myself sinking in the sand below me
I wished I could hold on to something
The sky,the night, or even just you

I lie on a bed in an otherwise empty room
Its so silent, i tend to think of myself as a dream
I dream a little dream of you
And it flies away quickly . like a purple butterfly

Catharsis

S Died a simple death
He has finished the war
He waits for the next step
He has lived for hours

He came to shut the lights
Years after everyone else left
He is the first to go
They did not say goodbye

He thinks he knows it all
All the clothes he's worn
He will live a long life
S is about to be born

Exemplary Students

They took pride in their group
And the things that they did
They were supported by Strange Gods
And their believers made numbers

And most of us mostly condoned
Each act of brutality that they did
Until they crossed all limits
And ironically they still got away

'Oh but learn to look inside
Each one has a heart of Gold
And when they aren't fighting
You wouldn't find a gentler soul'

And even when they were wrong
(They were never wrong)
It must have been the victim's mistake
How dare he challenge their might

I have seen their true faces
And what they are capable of
And the thing that irks me most
The blessed people always get away

Strange Gods

I was the dot outside the circle
Still they gave me a tour of the temple
And I claim some moments of frenzy
When I revered their strange Gods

Each one of them claimed to be different
But they were all amazingly alike
The same expressions, and catch phrases
Even the same walking, talking style

They all took a dip in the fountain
which claimed to make them all different
But when they surfaced they were the same
It was hard to tell them apart

And the God that they prayed to
I confess, I too once was in awe of
And in the end I saw a difference
Their Gods too were humans

I never found anything special
Except perhaps extra-ordinary will
And a desire to be different
I could never join the ilk

I was too much of myself
I couldn't sustain on their Gods
I still tip my hat to them But I
Don't think I would enter the temple

Breaking Point

-In milibhagat with Mradul

I'll learn to drive a car
And drive at 150 per hour
Then I'll crash into a wall
Or over a bridge I would fall

I'll make the night go red
And then count from A to Z
I'll run into your head
And turn it into a brawl

I'll throw away my phone
And everything else that I own
I'll break all my bones
And there will be no one to call

The world will dazzle in my light
Without a cause I'll fight
I'll lay down and die every night
And that would end it all

The Infinite Happiness

Kohl lined eyes
While I count the bangles on her wrists
She stares blankly ahead
Across the river, and over me

Crouched lonely
And all I do is stare
At those beautiful eyes
Overlooking me

And I sense a smile
As she recollects the last time
And the time before
She buries her face in her arms

And as she gets up
She shares the smile with me
And her kohl lined eyes
They were made for murdering me

Surrogate Chocolate

I used to be the flavour of the month
Now I am just a substitute for chocolate
I had a clear vision of myself
But I can't see that well off late

What soothed you now irritates you
And you find new things in me to hate
Perhaps the line is thin after all
Or I am just surrogate chocolate

I don't wish to be dark and bitter
And this facade reveals many things
My voice has turned gravelly with time
And no idea what tomorrow would bring

I cant see myself singing now
I am losing my grip on my sanity
I dont wish to be surrogate chocolate
Mirroring dark and bitter reality

The Long Ride Home

-By Mradul and Me


The road is red
With the dust of the sunset
The cloud is dead
From an unchecked blood-let

There is no me
And today there was no you
And i am sick of all this
When there's nothing else to do

I am leaving for good
And packing my empty bag
Sorry for the rain delay
And for the space-time lag

Its the last orange day
And the breeze too says bye
The sky will talk no more
While the leaves curl up and die

Lemon Kiss

By Mradul and Pablo

In my dreams
Your kiss tasted like a lemon
And all I wanted
Was a hard love woman

but to me you are no more
i can see the sea
but there is no shore

There were fake colours in the sky
Which dripped across lazily
The morning was a wet painting
Which set me free

and the night too
wasn't much true
just my sleep fainting
and now I’m a creep

In my dreams
I tasted your warmth
I walked across the sea
And breathed in the calm

and now its the wind
rabid and bland
the tormenting summer
the desert sand

my foot prints were dry
and their outline ephimeral
it changed with the wind
and their paths converged

and there you are again
and the insanity
that umbrella rain
the same old vanity

is it you ?
or something else?
The coloured rain from the sky

Yesterday

A future we have already lived
A gift only for us to give
A torn paper stuck on the wall
A life that's mine to call
A person that I could've been
A place that I could not have seen
A comic touch, a tragic joke
A floating tail made of smoke

Yesterday
It was all here Yesterday
And I saw it all going away
Yesterday

A plastic bag in the wind
A horizon with a sepia tint
The Paper cups and vertigo
A million words that I can show
A day well passed in the life
A struggle with a shadow knife
A tale of horror and romance
A lost chance for the last dance

Yesterday
It was all here Yesterday
And I saw it all going away
Yesterday

A happy soul and no worries
And changes coming in a hurry
A cup of tea no longer warm
A memory to hold in your arms
A time to correct our lost ways
And the chance to do it was Yesterday

Yesterday
It was all here Yesterday
And I saw it all going away
Yesterday