October 13, 2008
Grim darkness cloaking her life
Compressing the space inside
Her breath stifled in the heavy air
She closes her eyes in despair
Quietly in her mind, she prays at the altar
Prays for a tear… a tiny drop of water
That will ease the oppressing weight
Settled in her breast like a deadweight
As she prays, her eyes settle upon
The cherubic face that looks on
Dark eyes looking at her gravely
Saying, His world depends on her sanity
She drinks back the tiny salty drops
Clinging to the edge, about to fall
And prays for time when the tears can fall
And then off her shoulders the weight will fall
~Anamika
© 2008 Anamika
Prayer for a tear by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Image source: www.allposters.com
October 5, 2008
Still hurting inside, shivering violently in the sun
She reaches out to touch someone… anyone
To her horror she merely gropes an empty space
All her ‘friends’ had busily moved on, along the way
While she had withdrawn into her shell to fight her battles
The world outside moved on, as she quietly tested her mettle
Finally triumphant as she walks out of the deep abyss
The vast empty space around her makes her heart twist
She sighs, and starts putting one step ahead of another
Alone but still moving, she hopes to acquire fellow travellers
By the mere action of putting one step ahead of another
As she walks, deep in her chest a butterfly’s wings flutter
She looks out into the empty space and the settling dust
Unsure of her future, she quietly walks into the fading dusk
~Anamika
© 2008 Anamika
She walks onby Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Image source: www.allposters.com
September 30, 2008
We go to sleep with the news of yet more bombs exploding in Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra. We wake up to the first day of Navratri (A religious festival celebrated across India) to the news of more than 100 people dying in a stampede at a temple in Rajasthan.
Oh God! Human life is losing its value. Bombs that could have been avoided with better policing; a stampede that could again have been avoided with simple management. But these incidents were not avoided. These incidents happened. Resulting in senseless and unnecessary loss of life.
I weep for the families of the innocent who have lost their loved ones…
An excerpt from Times Of India files…
There are places in India which handle much more devotees with better planning. A good study of crowd management at Tirupati would have definitely told the Himachal cops that raining lathis on hapless bunch of people is not the right way of managing a crowd.
The management of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, which gets the largest number of devotees in the country, is an ideal example of how to manage the crowd and prevent stampedes. Some 60,000 people visit the abode of Lord Venkateshwara everyday, but there hasn’t been a major disaster there ever. The TTD has evolved a sound method of crowd control. Normally, a serpentine queue forms for the darshan. En route, there are two herding spots. Whenever the numbers become unmanagable, the crowd is segregated in these two spots and let out only when the situation eases. And, to avoid any mishap on the hill, the TTD employs a large numbers of managers, volunteers and cops to streamline the vehicular traffic up and down the hill.
Another good example of crowd management is Amritsar’s Golden Temple which receives close to 1 lakh people daily. Amazingly such a mammoth rush of devotees is controlled by only about two dozen ’sewadars’ employed by the temple.
There are some other places of worship in the country which have been following similar ways of crowd control. A look at the crowd management at the Kamakhya temple in Assam, Somnath and Dwarka in Gujarat and Ajmersharif in Rajasthan reveals a few effective ways: trained cops and volunteers along the pilgrim path; people staggered through phases to avoid crowding, separate queues for men and women; control rooms with CCTVs; and separate gates for entry and exit.
A few lessons from these could have saved many lives at Naina Devi. But, it’s too never too late. They can start right now.
September 23, 2008
She chooses to write cryptic lines
Telling a story of emotions, lost in time
Fleetingly, a glimpse of a heart shows through
Disappearing in absence of a context to hold onto
She hides the pain behind the mysterious folds
And that is why she chooses poetry over prose
~Anamika
© 2008 Anamika
Poetry over prose by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Image source: www.allposters.com
September 7, 2008
The brown dust slowly settles down
Gradually she feels the lull after the storm
She looks around, beyond the receding tornado
Her life changed forever, an empty hollow
A calmness settles on everything as far as her sight goes
The calm that means she doesn’t need to fight anymore
No battles that don’t allow her a moment’s rest
Taking away any excuse to keep her tears suppressed
In the clarity of the dawn after the storm
She sees her new world… emerge around
Alone standing at the end of the vast desert
She contemplates the time lying ahead
She heaves, breathing in the hot air stream
And she being she… picks up another impossible dream
No, not a battle in its truest sense, but a struggle nonetheless
Slowly a smile forms on her lips … she is on her way again
~Anamika
© 2008 Anamika
She is on her way again by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Image Source: www.allposters.com
September 2, 2008
Sometimes up sometimes down
Life’s roller coaster goes on
And her sole anchor stands tall
Unhindered, smiling benignly above it all
Even if HE don’t answer always
Even if she doesn’t understand HIS ways
Support and help comes and leaves
Of its own accord, as another sigh she heaves
But HE is always her silent supporter,
Silently fighting her battles with her
Through thick and thin, as the world takes another turn
HE takes time to think about someone as small as her
Thank you GOD for being my life anchor
YOU make me believe that I am special
Thank you GOD for being YOU
~Anamika
© 2008 Anamika
Thank you GOD! by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Image Source: www.allposters.com
August 29, 2008
An immature and childish thinking
And the power to decide one’s life’s course
A lethal combination….
August 23, 2008
I am going back, back to my city
Where winters are harsh, and summers are harsher
A city that is hard, fast, ugly and uncaring
Where I learned all that life could teach me
A city where my childhood chortled
Where I fell in love, and my heart blossomed
Where I saw betrayal and pain
Where my dreams were shattered
I ran away from the city, and ran hard
Away from a bitter sweet past
From memories lurking in every nook and cranny
But all that I left behind me was the city
I ran to the beautiful cities of the world
New York, Hong Kong, London
But still my heart craved for what I left behind
My city, my home, my love, my pain
Now I am going back, to perhaps start again
Or maybe carry on where I had left off…
I am going back to the only place
Where my life is, to perhaps live again…..
~Anamika
© 2007 Anamika
I am going back by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
This poem was first published in my blogspot blog here on 10/12/2007
August 23, 2008
Big chocolaty eyes filled with wonder
Dark curls flying around his head
A smile… mischievous, trusting, angelic
Her beautiful, beautiful boy…
Every night as the boy goes to sleep
A contented smile plays on his lips
Happy and safe in his mother’s arms
Her beautiful, beautiful boy…
And she weeps, of the time to come
When her embrace will not be enough
She weeps for the day he will grow up
Her beautiful, beautiful boy…
When reality will rear its ugly head
The wonder will disappear from his eyes
The smile replaced by hurt and confusion
Her beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy…
~Anamika
© 2007 Anamika
A beautiful boy by Anamika is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
This poem was first published at my blogspot blog here on 10/07/2007
