Goddess

 

The Goddess

 

The little candle

Burnt bright

Through the night

And cast Its soothing light,

Filling up The dark room

Making it dim

And lighting the portrait

Of the Goddess.

 

The family goddess

Takes great care

Of the members

Of the family.

 

For any trouble

Faced by the family

She is there to dispel

That trouble,

And destroy

The worst fear.

 

The Goddess resides

In the home

Of every family

And the members

Of that family

Do the regular Nived

And worship her

And remember her.

 

And she is there To protect,

And she is there To defend,

And she is there To guard,

The family.

 

She is the ultimate;

She is the kuldevi

She is Kali

And she is Amba

She is Chandi

And she is Chamunda

She is Durga

Who guards every family.

 

 

Woman - The Shakti

Woman – The Shakti

 

A man may give up his desires

And live like a recluse

Keeping simple and plain

Minimum things he would use.

 

A woman however would differ,

Having a lot to offer,

She would try and fulfill

All her desires

And would run around

Performing all the tasks

Keeping things neat and clean.

 

She would look after her house

Gladly drawing work from her servants

And carrying out all the necessary stunts

And when she goes out to work

She is a lioness on the prowl.

 

She is capable of multi-tasking

At which a man may seemingly lack,

She is capable of sacrificing

And secretly basking In the glory of her man.

 

Yet her role would be incomplete

Without her becoming a mother

For, with love and care she is replete

So she needs an outlet

To foster her care on her little one.

 

It is said very often

That each one has 5 mothers:

The mother of the body

The cow or the gaumata

And the country

Better known as the motherland

The mother earth

And the vedas or the vedamata.

 

 

The Mumbai Local (From VT to Kalyan)

The Mumbai Local (From VT to Kalyan)

 

The hustle and bustle of crowd
With its noise very loud
Is evident at the station of VT
The normal way of life in the city.

 

At the next halt at Masjid Bunder,
My mind is still filled with wonder
At the rush of people here and there
Getting in and out of train everywhere.

 

The train then arrives at Sandhurst Road
But it is moving on tracks and not on road
Though the station is known so
With people all moving to and fro.

 

The train then chugs along to Byculla,
The station names are on no stela
But a pillar with white board
Painted Red and Black and Blue
As people try to get aboard.

 

The next station, I read, is Chinchpokli,
As a passenger turns the pages
Of Accomodation Times, a newspaper that is weekly
In the train compartments that resemble cages.

 

The next is Currey Road
When the passenger gives a smile broad
As his newspaper I try to move
From over my nose I try to remove.

 

The train reaches Parel
Inside the local, the life is hell.
And then it moves to Dadar
The change takes place here
At these 2 stations.

 

Not very far is Matunga
As the train reaches;
A behra and a gunga
Enter, and the behra preaches
Asking for alms and donation.

 

When the train reaches Sion,
My shirt I find crumpled,
Though I remember using the iron
And all my clothes rumpled.

 

From Sion the train moves to Kurla,
The compartment is now jam packed,
Difficult to identify a man from a gorilla
That is how they breathe and push
Without a place to stand, which is a fact.

 

With people all falling over each other
We move slowly to Vidya Vihar;
With Ghatkopar not very far
The people survive by pushing one another
As few will get down here.

 

Many get down at Ghatkopar
At the station it is quite a stir
With the next being Vikhroli,
A family gets down with heavy bags
To be carried without a trolley.

 

The train moves forward
And halts at Kanjur Marg,
As we can hear the different raag
Of the Bhajan Mandli
That has been in the train since VT.

 

The train marches on to Nahur,
A new station in the making,
So a surprise for someone on tour
Of the city of Mumbai
And who has been before to Mumbai.

 

The train then proceeds to Mulund,
Thane not very far from Mulund
As people jostle to get in and get out
With a scream or a shout.

 

The local train then chugs to Thane,
A man who sells peanuts enters the train
With his precious peanuts dane,
There are many platforms here in Thane
More than in other stations gone by.

 

Thane is gone and the train goes to Kalwa,
A common sight in trains
Is of people chewing tobacco
And spitting out of windows, their saliva.

 

Next is the station of Mumbra
A group of four are busy with cards,
While another sleeps on his seat
Meant for six but are seated eight.

 

As the train moves to Diva
It reminds the pious of the diya,
The halt of few seconds
Is enough for people to get in and out.

 

Next is Dombivili
Followed by Thakurli
On a journey
That has been long and tiring
To reach Kalyan.

 

At Kalyan, getting up from the seat
Is the first real pleasure
A chance to stretch out the legs and feet
That had been constrained
By other legs and feet.

 

 

Guest

Learnt from our elders
Atithi Devo Bhava;
Guest is a form of God
And

Imprint

Publisher: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Text: Apurva Gaglani
Publication Date: 01-26-2014
ISBN: 978-3-7309-7838-2

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This ebook is dedicated to my teacher, Mr. Otto De Costa, who coached me and taught me to write poems at school. It has been a long time since then, and I remember him and offer him my thanks and gratitude today.