1. Hate Speech
I used to be a
non-vegetarian;
Now, I am
anti-vegetarian.
I was a non-drinker,
a non-smoker;
I have to be
anti-prohibition.
I was clueless about
history;
I am
anti-revisionists.
I was apolitical;
I have no choice but
to be anti-establishment.
I was agnostic or
whatever;
Definitely
anti-fundamentalist now.
Anti-nationalist,
anti-regional, anti-caste,
Anti- those fools out
to correct
Neighbour's kids
before their own.
Anti-idiots,
anti-every-bloody-thing.
I know some wise guy
will joke,
'Oye Uncle, aren't
you too old to be Aunty?'
Yeah, I get the
operative word, old.
Yeah, too old to
fight, maybe.
But too young not to
be free,
Always, too young not
to be free.
2. On Those Teenage
Years
‘What did you do when
you were a teen?’ they asked.
‘Nothing much,’ I
said, ‘I was quite an adult then.’
I searched for that
cassette on my CD rack.
I wanted all that I
got as a kid; they said, ‘You are not a kid.’
As for the rest of my
wants, they said, ‘You are not an adult.’
I led a double life.
The one they saw,
they saw nothing.
The other, they are
lucky to know not.
Ok, I am adding
drama, I admit.
It was just a seven
year itch.
Quite literally,
After washing own
clothes;
Quite torrid,
After meeting Love
and Lust;
(Bloody hell, both
were simply Sex,
Life was in perfect
‘hormone-y’.)
Quite miserably,
When a friend met
Death
And the first adult
thought,
‘Better you than me.’
It was fun, when boys
were boys, and stuck together.
Running after girls,
their dads scowling, those imps laughing;
At 11 pm, outside her
house, shouting, ‘I love you, Tina.’
And the best friend
asking, ‘Are you sure it is Tina?’
‘Can never be sure
with girls,’ wisdom oozing,
Scooting as the first
light came on.
The fun ended, when
boys met girls, double-crossed;
It was never the same
ever again.
Those days of
schizophrenic multiple personality;
The moms and dads,
they expected Che
Of the previous
night, and got a spooky Goth at dawn;
They did not panic,
‘You are getting there,’
They said, ‘nearly ready
to be the lifelong chameleon.’
(to be
continued…)
