The Black Sheep

He loomed large over me
Since childhood; the black
Sheep in the family.

‘He looks exactly like ………,
Look at his nose, eyes…’
They used to say, the women
From the neighbourhood
Causing greater worries
To mother and aunt which
Subsequently changed
To anxious stares, filling
Me with tremendous guilt.

I loathed the said similarities
And did everything I could
To overcome his shadow.
I picked up habits which he
Didn’t seem to have and
Groomed myself as different
As possible trying to shun
Even a distant possible similarity.

But I found him the other day,
The black sheep in the family
In the mirror, giving me a cold stare
Goosebumps and a sense of futility.

Memories

They act like
Crabs in the bucket,
Holding me back
Every time I try
To make a way out;
Memories.

Tour

With whom you go
Is as important as
Where you go.

A silly poem on people in particular and life in general

Some people tend to believe that
Life is all about; ‘sorry’, ‘thank you’,
‘Excuse me’, ‘nice to meet you’…

Let me tell you that it’s also about ‘f**k off’.
Just f**k off.

Survival

I’m no longer afraid of losing my humaneness.
I’m afraid that I’ve lost my animal instincts, to survive.

The Joke

‘I wouldn’t like
To call you even
When I’m on my
Death bed’, thus beeped
Your ultimatum in the middle
Of the night, waking me up.

The morbid tone upset me,
And as you expected, I gave in.
But now I wonder why didn’t
It strike me then, that I wouldn’t
Be there for you to call when you
Lie there, on your death bed,
Surrounded with children,
Grandchildren and great grandchildren
At the age of 115, wrinkled like a salted mango.

The Mousetrap(s)

You’re a rat.
It doesn’t mean
That I’m not one.
In fact, we are all rats.
Ah! The sense of unity,
No, the knowledge that all
Are equally distressed.
Nothing comforts like that.

By the way, it’s not about
Reveling in universal brotherhood
Or sisterhood. (You know, I don’t want
To make anybody feel left out.)
It’s about mousetrap, mousetraps to
Be precise; each outgrowing the other
Or belittling. Now, don’t rush for my
Jugular; it’s relative and is about attitude.
I mean what to call it; outgrowing or belittling.
Excuse me once again for beating around the bush.
See, I’m not focused. My Maths teacher used to say that.

Anyway, let’s come to the point. We are all trapped.
There are mousetraps of various sizes. We move from
One to the other. We are always excited to move, from one
To the other. But then, gradually we feel the confinement.
Then, it’s time to move to a bigger one. Now, you know why
We always feel bored at each stage and wait for the new ones.
Don’t you? You rat.