fledgling

The fresh sunshine of the coast Awakening the damp sand Tenderly kissed by the morning waves The golden drop, slowly trickling upward The ocean air, heavy with salt The sticky breeze in tropic heat The delightful spray of new life The cry of the seagulls awakens the fisherman His coarse hands The fruit of his early toil Sculpted over the ocean of time And sets foot in the damp soil Lovingly pecked by the froth of the waters The vermilion sun in the tan sky His arms, brawn and built The son of the ocean in slaving Let the chains immerse themselves And hush the throb of a tiny sprouting heart To let four more hum in peace The calm waters, washing ashore poetry Some, of joy and mirth Some, of pain and tears Carrying dissolved voices of hope and life And yet an ocean of smothered cries.    

The still air, ever so calm The blossoms, hushing their graceful waltz The rustling leaves, as if to quietly watch For my pursed lips to spill the words The raging torrents, now a calm ripple To quench the fire devouring the remains Of my broken shards of my hope The roasting sun a mere glow To melt my tears contained in my eyes And let the sounds of despair escape my lips To tear through the frozen cacophony Swaying on the creaking bough Lost in the ocean of thought Will there ever be a hand To grab me out of these murky waters? Engulfing me in the dark clutches of confusion Strangling my last gasp of air Oh, the ocean of my own tears The seething rays in the heat of fury Melting the sticky embrace of my own tears And let the strangling stalks of weed wilt The swirling gushes of wind Hushed to an innocent breeze Tenderly stroking my hair with love To soothe the raging storm in my chest Fanning my wet cheeks The cool waters kissing my toes Washing the tw...

Throughout almost two years of Fledgling, you might have read about several people and places. This is my story. Since childhood, I have always been an ambitious child who yearned and burned with the passion to create an identity for myself. I was a sensitive child too, often bullied for my complexion. Though academic life was always a breeze, my social life has always struggled for stability and it still does. My conversations are rarely with people and my peers have always been in the form of a paper and pen. I needed something. My only comfort was music and literature. I delved deep into the literary universe and soon found myself intoxicated with the solace it gave me. Immersing myself in books and listening to other stories did help me take the weight off my mind, but these emotions, filled with inferiority, often overwhelmed my tiny brain and pushed them out in tears. It threatened to dangerously gnaw away at my confidence, which I could not afford to do at any cost. ...

Good morning! It is Day 3! What's up? We are already preparing to leave the hotel. It is around 7:30 in the morning and we will be checking out within half an hour and embark on the last leg of our journey. I took one last stroll around the vertical garden, the room and my favorite spots. I was leaving with a heavy heart, I knew. This was our last day at this beautiful place and today will write my final memories in this place. And? We boarded the cab to spend our day seeing the last few attractions saved for the last of our trip. Our first spot was quite far away - about 35 kilometres away from our hotel. We were headed towards Poombarai, a beautiful hamlet in the outskirts of Kodaikanal. This wasn't just a spot - it was once home to the notorious Seevalaperi Pandi, a Tirunelveli goon who once was the king of headlines in the 1980s.  This hamlet had a lot in store for us - beautiful carrot and garlic plantations dotting the borders of the hills. The villages...

Why did you? Was the raw flesh of your own child The only answer to your monstrous hunger? Why did you crave for The blood of your own child? The thin ray of sunlight That melted the darkness of his mother's womb Just moments ago Now evaporated The darkness gripping him tight yet again This time, in fear and fright Is this just a nightmare? Will the stifling darkness melt away Will the warmth of hope Ever kiss this child of yours again? Even before the child Could grow its own wings You snipped and tore his future And killed the robust young man of tomorrow You crushed its dreams under your feet Though the innocent child clung onto you You buried the poor soul deeper The one that breathes life into farmer's fruit Has shattered the lives of not one, but two Let him sleep in his mother's lap The creator beneath the soil Her arms hugging him tight amid tears His own mother's plea To hold her son tight, like she would As the heat drains...

Curled tight in slumber Wading in a pool of tears The grey waters, solemn and lifeless The clouds, grim and forlorn To stop the sultry rays From thawing the frozen happiness To let the grief melt away The burnt wax of twilight The acrid stench of the teary midnight oil My body like sloshed mushy noodles Still struggling in the darkness of dusk Thrown far away from daylight Where dreams and fantasies dance merrily in your eyes Than being shattered into a million fragments Wailing my lost victory and purpose The swirling colours, like my fragrant dreams Dancing and flowing in the skies Slowly melt and burn in acid In the scalding heat of the sun  The soaked pillow Hugging several sorrowful oceans of yesterday The salty stench of my past A fresh pang of agony and guilt Swirling in my stomach and intestines Where I yearned to walk my dreams Yet the bridge between remained broken The crashing cymbals in my eardrums Painfully tearing through my ears Li...

Good morning! It is Day 2! What happened? Last night was the hardest part we survived through in this trip. The temperature went below expected and we were left shivering and hungry. Three out of four of us have fallen sick. I am the only healthy and energetic one, out of the four of us. Last night turned out to be quite a turmoil for all of us. And? Anyways, this morning was indeed a happy one. Just as I had expected, the sunshine and birds were here yet again to wake me up. I started today with a snippet of wisdom from the book Most and More by Mahatria, a book I depend on for my morning motivation. After a short read, I took a short stroll outside in my dad's company, still wrapped up in a warm blanket. We chatted about deep realizations as well as daily trivia. We walked through the tiny vertical garden, admiring the flowers and plants. After a pleasant chat, we began getting ready for today's adventure. What's next? Just like last night, today...