Met a cow on my way to office

Where is she going ?

 Met a cow on my way to office
...going somewhere
the question came up - where?

I tried asking her, she doesn't understand me
still walking
head jerked to left, tail to right
tail to left, head to right
walking straight in the line, eyes down, on the road

Does she know where the road leads to
No
What if she forgets the way back
Probably there is no home,
no stuff in there
and no need of way back

Is she going to meet someone
Is she going shopping
No
Is she going to find something to eat, or drink
She doesn't know, but going she is.

Not that she is going no where
Somewhere she is going
I wonder - is here, there and where same for her as for us
And I realise that she is not going anywhere
She is just leaving there
And she just keeps leaving there step by step
Unless she gets to a better 'there'

- Manish Joshi, Sep 2015

Bulbul 1, Bulbul 2, Bulbul 3 - had a baby

Bulbul 1, Bulbul 2, Bulbul 3
had a baby
teaching it to fly high up
finding it to crashing down
chirps go shrill, its a matter of prey now
as it jumps on the ground
dad put it in a plastic bowl, on the branches, in the tree
it moves out to perch on tip of the branch
.....flutters bravely

Bulbul 1, Bulbul 2, Bulbul 3
had a baby

Next morning
chirps go shrill again
Rufous makes a dive
in Bulbul's Ashoka tree
the three Bulbuls
chase Rufous away - or try to
Maina joins them too
while Robin remains watchful

And then I see - the baby
sitting on the ground
ducking inside under open sky
And I see Rufous spotted it too
I leaped towards it, and Rufous dived
A few leaps here, a big sweep there
the baby is gone
some feathers in the air
some noise
Robin flies away
Maina gone too
Bulbuls are nowhere to be seen
........quietude

Bulbul 1, Bulbul 2, Bulbul 3
had a baby
.





(Dedicated to nature's commotion: to the Bulbuls, to the Ashoka tree where they live, to the baby - that lived, to Maina who joined other birds in fighting the predator, to black and white Oriental Magpie Robin who whistles beautifully, to rightfully merciless Rufous Treepie who produces so many kinds of sounds, to noise and to absence of it, and to birth and to death.)

मैं

Doston, have decided to publish my collection of poems here...starting with my favorite ' मैं '

so here we go...

मैं
अभी भी मैं ही हूँ
पर अब मैं वो मैं नहीं जो मैं था

मुझमे वो सब अब नहीं जीसकी वजह से मैं मैं था
पर जो कुछ भी मुझमे है, हूँ अभी भी मैं मैं ही
और मैं चाहता हूँ की लोग मुझे मैं ही समझें

पर यह कैसे हो सकता है
मैं तो बस मेरे लीये ही मैं हूँ
बाकीयों के लीये तो मैं - वो से वो हो गया हूँ