Thunderbolt

Out of the blue it struck

Electrified a heart so cold

There was nothing left but longing

A desire too brash, too bold

Never knew I could feel

Something like this again

Elation, anxiety, longing, despair,

The joy and the pain

This raven-haired beauty

Left me dumbstruck

Her charm offensive

And suddenly I am in luck

I know not what to do

These emotions don’t seem mine

Feel like a whole new man

And somehow, it does feel fine

I wish to possess you, make you mine

But vulgar is the thought

To the delicate senses that suddenly

Seemed to have sprung about

And now I know how Michael felt

When he gazed upon sweet Appolonia

But I am no Godfather or his son

I am struck by the Thunderbolt and I am a goner

Raj and The Arajya

In the month of February, for a period of almost 10 days, Maharashtra, and especially Mumbai, was living with the Sword of Damocles hanging over its mighty head. It was an irony that the Sword was wielded by one of its self-proclaimed ‘Son of the Soil’, one Mr. Raj Thackeray. And once again the reason being the age-old ‘Sons of the Soil vs. The Outsiders’ issue; the Outsiders this time being North Indians.

It transported me back to a day and age when the mighty Hitler had called for an ethnic cleansing of ‘The Fatherland’ Germany, by asking his Nazis to destroy and exterminate the Jews in Germany. To call for a ban or an excommunication on a certain section of society based on their regional ancestry, caste, culture or creed reeks of an uncivilized & barbarian mentality. A mentality in which there is no place for the ideals of brotherhood, humanity, & justice and which views the world in an almost animalistic fear because you feel that even your neighbor possesses the same mentality.