CBSE Affiliation No. 1030239 Jhalaria Campus North Campus
CBSE Affiliation No. 1030239

Why Can’t I Time Travel?

Why can’t I time travel,

Decades before, to venture?

When people got to feel

The stronger magic of nature.

Why can’t I time travel,

To the time of British rule?

When wars occurred, and the soldiers,

Used guns and armours as tools.

Why can’t I time travel

When lived Ashoka the Great?

I wonder if even an advanced machine

Could let me go till that date.

Why can’t I time travel

When the Earth wasn’t even made?

It is such a wonderful thought

If I could, it would be so great!

Why can’t I time travel

When the gods and rakshasas were fighting?

Well, this is going too far

Still, it is fun dreaming!

Innocuous Universe, Where Do I Find You?

Somewhere amidst the cosmic drama,

There are parallels (stupefying mirrors),

That reflect (mock) our own lives,

Plain grasslands and horrifyingly lucid skies (banal like an everyday occurence),

Deities roam (they destroy Earths like our own).

 

God sits perched upon (not a throne),

A tree of time (it never withers),

A casual flick of his hand (unknowing; don’t blame him),

Sends thousands of galaxies into existential crisis (the human civilisation on the brink of collapse),

(Is this ignorance?).

 

God stands and the tiny ants (they are building greatness),

Tremble and break and die out like flames (they can only blame fate),

Their souls will curse the unfolding of their trivial lives (they don’t know it’s the same God they worship),

The footfalls of the deity echo as he turns to flicker the lights on,

He brushes his hand across a spiderweb on the light switch (he accidentally breaks the celestial bonds of time)

(That the spiders spent aeons making).

 

God looks up at the sky (he is a dreamer, too?),

And closes his eyes (eternal peace, frigid peace, ending another universe?),

He looks back upon his life (he is a monster just like his creation, indulging in ignorance),

He tries to find something to reason with (he is trying to fill the constant inner void).

 

(He wonders of all the destruction, his feigned guilt)

(How innocent, he understands the parallel)

(His life is merely an imitation, there is a greater power above him)

 

(Because he is a human, swept between fate and prayer).

The Crisis that will Later Reveal

The sight of rivers dried

Narrow forests, and roads wide

The weight of twigs broken

The burden of warnings unspoken

The Earth’s silent appeal

To stop the crisis that will later reveal

Full of plastic, polluted seas

Buildings towering higher than trees

Step forward, and peak through the gates

Outside, destruction awaits

Hear the Earth, and seal the deal

To stop the crisis that will later reveal.

Feathers from the Nest

सच्चे आंसू

चिड़िया की चहचहाहट के साथ वह गांव जगा, पर रामलाल की झोपडी में आज न धुए की रेखा थी, न खांसी की खनक। चौराहे का भिखारी माने जाने वाले रामलाल को सब पागल कहते थे – बिखरे बाल, फटे कपडे और आँखों में अलग-अजीब चमक। लेकिन केवल एक बच्चा था, जो रोज उसके पास आता था, राज।
“बाबा, ये तुम्हारे लिए रोटी लाया हूँ । पता है आज स्कूल में मेरे लिए ताली बजी ।” राजू चहकते हुए झोपडी में घुसा, पर रामलाल अब शून्य में विलीन हो चुके थे। राजू की चीख सुनकर पूरा गांव उमड़ पड़ा।
“पागल था, आखिर चला गया!” कोई बोला।
सरपंच ने हंसते हुए कहा,” चलो अच्छा हुआ, एक बोझ कम हुआ गांव से।”
यह सब सुनकर राजू का खून खौल उठा और वह गुस्से से बोला, “पागल नहीं थे, उन्होंने ही मुझे पढ़ाया, मां जैसी लोरी सुनाई और पिता जैसा हाथ थामा।” गांव सन्न रह गया और सभी के सिर शर्म से झुक गए। उस दिन गांव ने सीखा की रक्त के नहीं, संवेदना और करुणा के रिश्ते अमर होते हैं। और आंसू वही सच्चे होते हैं जो दिल से बहकर आत्मा को भिगा दें ।

 

Feathers from the Nest

She watches from the porch — a breath in bloom,

As twilight spills its honey through her room.

The kettle hums like lullabies once sung,

Now echoes soft where once a cradle swung.

 

Her daughter, fire in sneakers, storm in grace,

Rushes past time with wind upon her face.

The world spins fast beneath her eager feet,

A carousel of dreams in every street.

 

Her laugh is lightning skipping down the lane,

Each spark a triumph, tinged with quiet pain.

The mother smiles, stitched with threads of ache,

A garden’s joy that knows what it must break.

 

She moves like tidewater in a sunless bay,

Slow with the weight of all she’s given away.

The clock inside her ticks with gentle dread,

While hers now flies, where her own once led.

 

The house—once riotous with scattered toys—

Now breathes in silence, missing all that noise.

Curtains sway like ghosts of long-gone days,

And walls wear scribbles like old hymns of praise.

 

She holds her spiced tea like a fragile wing,

Recalling how she taught her girl to sing.

To tie her shoes, to stand, to speak, to dare—

To be a storm, and yet still learn to care.

 

She built her sky from bricks and lullabies,

And now must watch as that same sky flies.

And oh, how proud—how proud the ache can be,

To raise a soul, then set that soul free.

 

But still—some nights, she walks the hall alone,

Each shadow shaped like laughter overgrown.

She does not clip, but oh, grips the thread,

Between the life she gave… and what lies ahead.

 

So here she stands, a willow in the gale,

Bent not by time, but love that will not pale.

And whispers softly, every time she sees—

“My darling, chase your storms—but don’t forget your trees.”

 

An Ode to the Moon

An Ode to the Moon

 

For everyone who thinks they are not enough.

 

What if the moon believed that it wasn’t complete

Just because someone else saw it when it was crescent?

What if it felt worthless

Because it wasn’t a part of someone else’s sky?

And for a change…

What if it starts believing that

It’s complete,

It’s enough,

Enough to control the oceans might

Enough to brighten up someone’s darkest night

Enough to be the metaphor for a pretty face

To be in verses of songs about love, beauty and grace,

Enough to be the spark in a child’s eye

To be the diamond of the sky

To be celebrated in all its phases

To be crescent and still have a festival that awaits its sight

To only show a sliver of itself and still be loved right?

 

The World Leaders Shake Hands as the Global Order Remains Shaken up…

Every time an innocent civilian is killed

Humanity dies a million deaths…

To think of how unsettling it is when

On an unsuspecting sunlit morning

Into two buildings that touched the sky

With no hint, with no warning

An aircraft with the intention to destruct can simply fly

And it did so taking lives

With huge clouds of dust, debris and smoke

The buildings collapse and the terror thrives

Glass shards went flying and held humanity in a choke

And years have passed ever since, yet today we see

On the pitch black fabric of the infinite sky

The blinding missiles blare the sounds of a white lie

As a mother consoles her child’s desperate cry

Her tear filled eyes only ask the question-“why?”

 

It truly is unsettling that

A war is inflicted by someone suited up in his chair

Someone who has a gun in one hand and a silver spoon in the other.

The bloodshed, sorrow and despair however, the civilians bear

And children crying from hunger can no longer be consoled by their mother.

The leaders create front page headlines

As the population bleeds to statistics

Wars end with ceasefires, pacts and signs

But a war doesn’t just destroy concrete and bricks.

And for each drop of innocent blood

Humanity cries already at the cusp of a flood.

 

The Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

Such a tale, time and time again the world seeks,

One like when it had seen

A love so strong it made the nether hold its fiery breath

And stronger still, it stood in the face of death

With its soft music it pierced through the guards of hell

The strings of his lyre Orpheus strummed, and hypnotised Cereberus fell.

With his song, he sang a story in the palace of the underworld’s king and queen

In the boundless darkness, ignified traces of love he’d seen.

He sang of his yearning for Eurydice, and the rulers of the underworld sat still

Reminiscent of their very own love, Orpheus’ desire they’d meant to fulfill.

They warned him, however, that he’d have to lead her out.

Eurydice would follow, and he couldn’t afford to doubt.

To turn to check would mean to lose her forever

By shifting his glance back, all ties to another chance he’d sever.

His long grieving heart was brimming with restlessness.

Eurydice patiently waited for his caress.

With each step the tension grew,

Yet he did what he had to do.

At the threshold of the two worlds, that of the dead and the alive

He stepped out first and turned back before she could arrive.

His ecstasy had now sunk into an all-consuming deep void within.

The world he saw felt meaningless, and his strength wore thin.

The immense love he held was the bane of its own fate.

The tragedy now painfully intertwined with what could’ve been an ending so great.

His grief only grew and poured out in his songs

As he sat mourning all his wrongs.

From then on, his grieving never ceased

But through his mourning, his emotions were released.

And the world around him paused to grieve too

While his heavy heart was still laden with rue.

Trees descended from mountain tops to hear his tune

While people across the world travelled to hear him soon.

And in his ballads resided his very own love

And immortal became Eurydice, in his realm and above.

Such a tale, time and time again the world seeks

And yet it pauses to listen, when their music speaks.

 

What Hope Truly Feels Like…

 

Hope isn’t a ray of light.

It’s a flickering flame.

An anxious anticipation for better

When fate takes the blame

To acceptance – it’s a fetter.

And it’s everything but bright.

Hope isn’t the silver lining of grey clouds.

It’s the excruciating interlude for the clouds to clear out.

The result is all that matters.

It’s the fingers crossed in doubt,

The heart like glass- it breaks and shatters.

Hope is exhausted, settled like a sediment in the heart.

Only to be stirred again and then completely torn apart.

However, hope is pretty, it’s true.

Though not like sunshine or bands of colour across the sky.

Not like clouds edged with pouring light

But it’s pretty like a delicate chandelier hung up high.

Easy to shatter, away at a great height

Like a dandelion, wistful and trampled on the ground

But ever staying, never vanishing, like a lingering sound.

Pesky, Nasty Mosquitoes

Pesky, nasty mosquitoes. 

They always bite us. 

They always fight us. 

Pesky, nasty mosquitoes. 

 

They fly there and come again.

This is the reason we all complain.

Why are they so hungry?

Making us more angry.

 

Their annoying behaviour 

drives us mad. 

They are always ready

to make us sad.

 

Pesky, nasty mosquitoes. 

They always bite us. 

They always fight us. 

Pesky, nasty mosquitoes.

 

A version of me, left by the sea

A version of me, left by the sea

 

I used to sit on a bench, 

Where the ocean ends, 

And the sky begins. 

 

Watching the waves write stories, 

Only the ancient brown sand could read.

 

The wind spoke with salt and hush,

Thoughts slipping from my pocket, 

Some, I wasn’t sure the shore could hold.

 

Shells giggled like old friends,

Softened by time,

Yet strong, not fragile.

 

And in that hush between wind and beach,

I left behind a version of me,

Washed clean, unafraid,

Leaping to begin once more.

 

A house with no doors

 

Beside the old oak tree stands a house with no doors.

A house not broken by burden of expectations, 

Nor ruined by the fear of judgement.

 

A house where each window, 

Each brick held a breath. 

A house with walls of sighs.

A house that stood still.

Stood still amid all chaos and turmoil.

 

A house not waiting, not inviting, 

Just existing.

With windows that dance in light, doors that taunt the rain,

And a floor that screams nostalgia with every touch.

 

And if you listen even closely, 

You might hear the noise of parties unthrown, 

The hush of secrets untold, 

And the laughter that once filled up the room, screaming like it’s trying to come back home.

 

A house with no doors to knock, 

No bell to ring and no welcome to expect. 

A door having cracks like my grandma’s wrinkled skin, 

A door old, not devastated.

Maybe one that’s placed not to be open.

 

A door that hums the pain inside it when wind’s at its footstep, 

A door that listens, but never speaks. 

A door that creaks, squeaks, and groans, yet never settles in place.

 

A house with a living room filled with tons of silence, 

Silence that’s heavier than the sound of fireworks,

Maybe lighter than the sound of snores.

 

A house with a small mirror hanging in the courtyard, 

A mirror that observes, but never reveals.

Not judging, not staring.

Just watching.

 

Some might even say it wasn’t built.

It wasn’t built, 

It was cherished, it was remembered 

And lastly, it was dreamt.

Life

1. Birth: A new Life

When I’m born don’t call the gods,

Call the demons of lords.

When I’m born don’t call my friends,

Call the people that I shall hate.

When I’m born don’t call my loved ones,

Call the very, who made me done.

When I’m born,

I shall really be dead.

Somewhere in the sky,

Where birds fly,

An angel I seek,

To take me back from where I leap.

 

2. Friend’s Eternal Flame

Don’t let the fire in you,

Burn the future’s sky blue.

Be the best version of the blossom springs,

Bring about the bestest of the best wings.

Aaradhya my buddy,

Let’s be the version of our friendship, that’s the most,

STURDY.

 

3. Life’s Grace

Life is too short to only study,

Oh! my buddy,

Why are you so distressed?

Life’s rainbow shall again be graced.

Embrace the clouds of one’s tale,

Let your hair breeze through life’s gale.

A speck of dust,

Like an achiever’s lust.

The depths of the ocean I see,

Let’s not decide why to flee.

The studies are a part of your story,

Why make it the curse of your glory?

Enjoy the process,

Let your mind run its prowess.

 

4. My Mother

(This poem is a little abstract. It touches upon the feelings of a new born child. He/She has lost their father. Due to the innocence of a child, they believe their mother to perform the role of a father as well. In some sense, the mother has taken this dual responsibility.)

 

Where are you?

Who are you?

Is you, him?

Him is her.

Are you, my father?

 

5. Friends that Go

A time comes,

That a person never wishes to see.

Life takes a sharp turn,

Making your head burn.

A friend goes,

As time shall never have the pity to plead.

New friends, who dig your gold,

Replace the old ones who made you diamonds so pure.

 

But new hearts also turn cold,

Old was my rainbow VIBGYOR.

That face that smiled at them,

Now stands alone, faded at them.

Awaiting a simple gesture,

“Hey!”

God changes our fate,

But lord, why do you take away our mate?

Tears of salt, drop from the sky,

Time shall fly,

While I shall cry,

While I shall cry.

 

6. In my Mirror

In the abyss of the mirror I see,

A figure I wanted to flee.

Society questions his looks,

They ask, do you only like books?

Standing tall but lean,

I forgot when my mind was clean.

Through the chambers of my heart,

Strikes a poisoned dart.

Parents are the boon of God’s grace,

Who seem to fade the trace,

I wonder where I lost my laughing father’s face.

Teen life is a labyrinth of a maze,

It makes one forget the wants of his craze.

O, Almighty! How shall I overcome this feeling?

When the only man I see is me flawed and falling.

 

7. Sapphire

You’re throwing your hearts,

like they are fragments of sapphire.

Shaping the people like darts,

Or burning them like your hand’s on fire.

 

A moment on still,

Enough to sink the boat of life.

One wrong dart and the hole is on the hill,

Though, you can always dive.

 

To see the people you meet

Going around without you hurts the greet.

Awaiting that signal, that God said,

Never did the goodbye a bade.

The Mysterious One

The Mysterious One

I deem mysterious ones as mystifying;

enigmatism is a dagger they use,

fortifying their hearts of hope and desire. 

An interminable tunnel of contemplation;

each moment spared to discover anew.

What an utter thrill to hunt for the keys to heart;

It’s a venture to start.

Hunt them well, 

You shall fathom the refined gallery of

adept art, oceanic thoughts and statues.

It’s the enthralling collection far beyond dust;

in an exclusive museum;

For few eyes to seek.

With each pace, they move deeper into the abyss,

Realizing how gracefully the plain white light is

borne with radiant spectrum.

That’s why the flowers in their garth stay pungent;

That’s why the jewels stay ablaze;

That’s why the lamp never dies;

That’s why and that’s them. 

 

   Wonderland 

Note from the poet: Along with the many interpretations of this poem, it also reveals how Amanda, the central character from Robin Klein’s poem ‘Amanda’, feels deeply, with extreme emotions, as a young teenager.

All they do is frown their brows

And shout themselves to drown me in their thousand words.

They have no care of how I feel;

Or how my heart drenched in my own bloody tears.

My peace is lone while I am surrounded by creatures;

When all they desire is to hold me so dear;

 I suffocate.

But time begone;

I lost will to struggle;

I close my eyes.

Now I simply stand still and silent;

My thoughts to myself.

Everytime you cage me in your thousand loving arms;

 I escape to my wonderland,

Far away in a thousand miles;

 where I alone am the master,

The land where I live o’ so free and happy.

I drift off to the heaven in my eyes;

While they bleed me in loving hell.

The Art of Being Misunderstood

I’m stuck in a bubble of misunderstanding and mistrust

Because of some rumours that burst to the crust

The lava is burning the entire ground

I’m stuck amidst the smoke, clarity nowhere to be found.

Am I the one at fault, am I the one in the wrong

My hopes crushing away the dreams that I longed.

Hard as a rock but being shattered on the inside.

Do I keep hiding in the shadows or trying to shower light

Surrounded by eyes that are constantly on the watch?

Yet I’m yearning to be seen, little steps, hopscotch.

Sympathy and compassion, together with trust

Strong as iron, ferric oxide, is it starting to rust?

This web of confusion entangles me, I’m stuck in twilight.

How does it benefit me? Why would I lie?

When the world’s black or white, I’m stuck in shades of grey

No one around me, all alone, I’m left astray.

Our bonds, covalent to hydrogen, from strongest to weakest

They aren’t doing anything wrong but why do I feel cheated?

Do I surrender it all, consider it my faith

It’s gonna have an impact till 2028.

I’m going to stick to my ground, I can’t be misunderstood

All the clarification didn’t do any good.

Guess this rumour is something that you all abide.

Oh I guess I’ll step back, coz I have my pride.

All this chaos coz of one misunderstanding.

A flight needs to take off before the landing.

I really tried to do everything I could.

But that’s just the art of being misunderstood.