Why did I ?

Last Act

                   

I wait for the curtains to come down..

Have told the director about my last act.

I do not need direction,I can not act!

Act hungry -I am not.

Act needy -Never was.

Act like somebody,

I can never be.

Give the teleprompter a break

Prompt me not, cues you forget.

Now I mouth my own lines,

Glad I pen those just great!

When I am the spot beneath the light,

I fail to see you my audience.

I back my steps  into the dark,

for that is my spot and I see you stark!

No longer can wait, with a painted face 

In the green room ,for my turn on stage

To remove the mask,to end the role play,

I have to move now,I have to act !

                                   ~Sharmila~

PARIJAT

              

Tiny Parijat blooms in the dark

Heady fragrance wafts through the air

Greens huddle to cling on to the blooms

Much like frail lashes 

Hiding, holding welled up tears  

Orange bright, holding a whorl white,

Delicate Parijat waits for the dawn,

to kiss the earth and mat the brown.

All it takes is a hint of wind ,a tug at heart

and shed they do..

Tell tale tears and tiny Parijat .

                          ~Sharmila~

सब वही है

रहगुज़र हुए ज़माना बीता 

उस वक़्त जो चल पड़े 

थमें ना तलक आज 

न वक़्त ,न सहूलियत ही रही,

मुड़ के देखे जो छोड़ आए पीछे 

गली के छोर पर बौना मकान 

वक़्त से झूझती, बेहाल,

टूटे आइने में झुर्रियाँ निहारती 

बूढ़ी काकी, सफ़ेद बाल ।

बिन ब्याही बुआ ,आस बांधे 

के कब कोई करे रुख़्सत 

इस घर से ,जहाँ जनी, पली

पर जो कभी उसका ना था 

क्या जाने वो कि उस जैसी 

लड़कियों के अपने घर नहीं होते 

अधपकी दाढ़ी के पीछे काइयाँ सी हँसी 

इधर आना बेटा कह कर पीठ सहलाते 

फिर राह भटकते उसके खुरदरे बदसूरत हाथ

चेहरे पर टिकी, तौलती भूखी आँखें 

एक पिता ताउम्र साबित करता हुआ 

कभी शब्दों की ,कभी लातो की बातों से 

अपनी मालकियत ,अपने परिवार पर 

बचपन से ग्रसित भावनाओं का ग़ुलाम 

वक़्त बदलने की आस में ज़िंदा 

इंसान तब भी था ,आज भी है 

गर्दन घूमते ही लगा कि सब वही है ,सब यहीं है 

क्या था ऐसा पीछे जो अब नहीं है ।

सिरहाने

Collection Of Chaos - Book Review.

                                                                   

                                                                                 

Blurb:

(From the foreword by Kris Saknussemm) As with all the poets I most admire, words are living things for Tikuli. But as you will come to discover, they are never deployed for their own sake. She uses them to tell stories. The images, scenes, characters and fragments of visionary empathy that you will find in this book are all rooted in her native India-and yet they reach out far beyond national and cultural boundaries. They do so because they have an interior cohesion of spirit. Her subjects are often the dispossessed, the lost...the abused. There are undercurrents of sorrow and anger. And yet love shines through, even when it seems to be fading away. Above all, there's a powerful sense of hope at work-a conviction in the redemptive strength of poetry.

Buy this book from:

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Book Depository 

                                             
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

                                                                               

                         
Brought up in Delhi in a family of liberal educationists Tikuli is a mother of two sons. She is also a blogger and author. Some of her short stories and poems have appeared in print and in online journals and literary magazines including Le Zaparougue, MiCROW 8, Troubadour21, The Smoking Book (Poets Wear Prada Press, US), The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Mnemosyne Literary Journal, Women's Web.

Some of her print publications include poems in Guntur National Poetry Festival Anthology and much acclaimed Chicken Soup For The Indian Romantic Soul(Westland). Her work has also been featured on websites related to gender issues and child sexual abuse. She blogs at 

http://tikulicious.wordpress.com/

                                                                   
                                                                    Stalk her @
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 MY REVIEW
When I picked up Tikuli's Collection of Chaos,the first thing that struck me was the ability of the poems to cast an emotional effect on the reader the way music would on a listener.Her poetry is not merely a sequence of words expressing emotions.The poems turn anecdotal at times and dramatic at other.

What her poetry really expresses is the mind’s apprehension of itself. All the ingredients of her poetry stand out individually but the real essence is their cohesiveness. Her chiseled phrases stroke the reader’s appetite and never fail to tickle his imagination. The descriptions are vivid, lifelike even as many of her poems deal with harsh realities of life .The feelings are myriad, expressions overwhelming and yet the words used very simple and effective.

 As I immersed myself in the lines and turned the pages, I felt that the poet was becoming more and more aware of herself and the world around her. She has used effects and descriptions to create linguistic images . The narration at times has powerful emotions and at other times there is tranquility in her presentation.

    ....Her elegant frame silhouetted in the moonlight
 Her intense eyes,
        Brimming with grief and pain
 Her gaze penetrating into the quiet abyss
        The maelstrom inside her resounding
in the stillness of the night
         Nothing is moving,not even the
 dewdrops hanging from the leaves....

 The complete absence of titles in this collection of poems confused me at first but as I began reading further, I went with the flow and the experience of not having a beginning and an end worked for me. There is an underlying pattern in each individual poem and the commemorative effect reflects the poet’s state of mind. She tells stories, short ones, in simple words. Her words flow effortlessly, her lines come across as merely spoken and then improvised on the spot to give it an aesthetic poetic form.

 There are moments, luckily not many, where description of the mundane causes the collection to lose ground but immediately the poet succeeds in re engaging the reader. Far from stagnant, Tikuli’s work is over all engaging and leaves me with a lingering impression that this collection is going to meet the expectation of a reader who is used to contemporary poetic literature.

 The fact that the beautifully crafted lines come across as raw and unpolished when it comes to emotions, may prove to be the collection’s strength.Collection of chaos by Tikuli makes a truly satisfying read.   

                         

                                                THIS TOUR IS HOSTED BY:
                                                                       

                     
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BREAK THE WALL OF SILENCE…

Anju is a certified sex educator from the Indian Institute of Human Technology.She regularly conducts puberty,safety and sex education workshops for children and teenagers in Mumbai.A double graduate in law and Mass Communication,she has also worked as a journalist and copywriter for twenty years.She has authored two books and is currently writing a series of books on sex education for children and adults.She is also working on a sex education video for children.

She writes a guest post today, on my blog, about breaking that wall of silence at home.

                                                        

                                                           

The shocking rape of a 6 year old at a reputed Bangalore school recently, sent shivers down parents back. This was way too close for comfort. Most of us believe that these things can’t happen to our kids…kids of upper middle class families, studying in top of the line schools. Welcome to reality!

According to a shocking report by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, over 50% of children in India are sexually abused at some point in their growing up years. This means that every second child is abused. Now that’s something to be really worried about!

Instead, we in India worry about our society and culture, which does not encourage these kinds of talks with children.Our culture supposedly stops us from talking to our kids, but why doesn’t the same culture stop people from raping their own daughters? We are the second most populated country in the world, yet we don’t talk about sex…we just indulge in it aplenty!!

Every second day, there is a newspaper headline screaming ‘Rape’ & ‘Child sexual abuse’ in some part of the country. But are we really listening? We momentarily feel bad, shake our heads in horror and resignation before turning the page, secure in our belief that it cannot happen to us!

Wake up! Child sexual abuse (CSA) happens across all segments of society and both boys and girls fall prey to it. And most of the time the perpetrator of the act is a person known to the child and family – a family friend, a neighbour, an uncle, a domestic helper…people who are a part of the child’s life- someone a child would normally trust.

Sexual abuse is not the only issue we need to speak about with kids. Growing up, changing bodies, changing feelings, sexual feelings, sex, sexuality and safety are important issues to be discussed with growing children. Sex education is as important as learning to read and write.

The word ‘Sex education’ is actually very misleading. It immediately conjures images of the sexual act. Well, talking about the sexual act is just a very small part of sex education – there is so much more to it than that. Infact, at times the sexual act is not even spoken about. So when you are talking to the children about the good touch- bad touch, there is no mention about the sexual act. When you are talking to kids about puberty, there is no mention about the sexual act. It is just in our minds that we have conjured up this big bad image of ‘Sex education’. Maybe, we just need to coin a new term to make it more acceptable.

Is it too early? Will it put thoughts in my child’s mind? My child is too innocent…I don’t want to corrupt him….these are just some of the excuses we come up with to avoid the talk.

All research on the subject conducted by various agencies all over the world repeatedly say that Sex Education does not lead to an increase in sexual activity…infact it leads to more responsible sexual behavior, delayed experimentation and more positive interactions with the opposite sex.

There is no right or wrong age to start talking to your child about growing up, changing bodies, unsafe touch, sex etc. It is the language you use that makes a difference. The way the information is presented to kids can be positive or negative and not the information by itself. Again, research studies say that the child will only retain what they understand and the rest of the information will be filtered off. It’s better to talk to them a year earlier than a minute later.

Having hesitations to broach the subject are fine and also natural because most of us were not spoken to as kids and we are clueless about the right way and time to broach the subject.

A growing set of parents want to talk to their kids, but don’t know what to say, how much to say and importantly when to say what! Fair enough, but don’t let these hesitations or limitations come in the way of speaking with your child. Find a way or devise a way because exposure levels of kids are high and the silence levels at home are shattering!

If you don’t talk to your child, google uncle will do the needful -giving them uncensored and age inappropriate information at the click of a button, causing a lot of harm. According to a survey by Times of India, the average age for viewing porn on the internet is 11! In this scenario,having that all important ‘chat’ with children and keeping the doors of communication open becomes very important.           

The key thing to remember is that your child is your responsibility, your most treasured possession (if they can be called that!) Then how can you fail to protect them or fail to give them the information and skills required to protect themselves?Don’t let our so called cultural taboo take predominance over the child?

                                           

                                 Break that wall of silence at home!

                                                      Anju  Kishinchandani                                                                                                               Sex Educationist

                                                            Out of the Box

                                                           anjukish@hotmail.com