Asian Literary Society

In the peaceful stillness of the night Tranquility draws me closer to mystical moonlight Gazing at the vast Shimmering sky looking bright Delicate winds sing the serene tune with delight Old trees nearby share their wisdom with might Stars describe their magnificent glorious right Spending nights with glow worms listening to their plight Memories spin under spindles of happiness serene Assuring to erase miseries which were solely mine Tranquil showers Wash over my melancholy divine Removing my stress by gently wiping it through calm sublimity In the tumultuous sphere ignoring away torments by integrity Raindrops like the enlightened genuine healer Gift me a soulful harmonious day like a protector Nature tenderly cocoons eternal love Paying the visit to me from all above Providing peace in the plentiful bounty The poignant poise of sympathy which nature shows in its county Around them, in placid Ness, the tranquil feeling grows Which cradles delight of immortality L

It happens to her many times, roaming down the memory lane wrapping a scarf of fragrance around her senses. Sometimes the smell of a new lipstick glides her back to the childhood days. When her year-long wait used to end at the Durga Puja days by her mother, opening the cap of a little cylinder and sticking a dash of color in her tiny lips. Or sometimes a handful of jasmine reminding her of the younger version of her mom dwelling around their house with a wreath pinned in her hair. The sweet smell used to coddle her little nose all through the evening as she used to babble around with Mom holding the edge of her saree. The fragrance has this quality of creating a rainbow of reminiscence inside the mind. A coffee, a talcum powder, a voluptuous bindweed of red and pink Rangoon creeper, a soap wrapper anything can have a story entangled with your past that occasionally puts a flashlight on your memories.    Yesterday Tuhina bought a packet of the joystick. She lit one in front of the

Every time my giggles were silenced - "they didn't behove of a girl", I grew up to hate myself, within a shell I began to curl, Every time they showed impatience - my words cut short,  I grew up not knowing, whether to speak up or not. Every time I was conditioned by society's patrons with their regulation, I grew up to chain my free spirit, subject to manipulation. Every time my desires were pronounced boldly, I grew up to lock them in, as I was thought of lowly. Every time I questioned  actions and unjust ways, I grew up to know people don't mean, what he or she says.  Every time a headline flashed,  of a girl - fatalistic, I grew up to understand I may be,  just another statistic.  Every time they wiped off my dreams and stomped upon, I grew up with my will to live them all, dawn after dawn; Every time they told growing up comprised of compromise, I grew up promising to never, to stay and watch the

Frisking with the rabbits Fluttering with the birds Vying with the butterflies To reach the beautiful flowers. Up with sunrise To catch the dew That was my childhood Do believe me please do. 'And I grew up' only to find My dreams shattered I learned that the real world  was not happiness in a platter. The real world was full of  Hatred and treachery. The real world was full of Sadness and depravity. I put my dreams aside  I took a deep breath and sighed I pulled up myself and said  Don't just sigh and pretend.  Work for the betterment of humanity The whole world is a family.  When these thoughts crossed my mind  They gave a purpose to my life "And I grew up" again.

I was born into a dream world. There were lights, love, beauty, and smiles. A child in me plucked a flower and smelt it. When it dried up, I grew. When I was denied sweets and told  That bitter medicines were my cure, I grew. When I had to pay for the love I received, I grew. When lights changed into embers, I grew. The more my dreams broke The more I grew And the time came When I learned The difference between our dreams and reality The difference between a mirage and oasis, The difference between love and lust, and the difference between  Truth and lie, I was relieved  I painted myself with the colors of the world. My perspectives changed and I grew up.

Sound waves traveled magically creating music in a box, Fascination was a fairy tale when the unknown stayed under locks, Someone had to end that story with frequency, valves, and bands, And I grew up. Epic stories spooled ribbons of fantasies, Serpents swallowed the sun and the moon in galaxies, My physics teacher had to shred the myth where the light was a protagonist, And I grew up with umbras and penumbras, eclipse in a fist. Cricket was a sport when a pocket transistor stayed glued, My ears the receptacle in class until my teacher got rude, The players played the game in the spirit of an honest sportsman, Till match-fixing happened and I grew up and stopped watching the sport of a gentleman. I thought all love stories came with a song, Till life opened up and salaries didn’t let romance last long, I saw families clinging on to their purses cementing their family, The song ended fading away till I grew up feeling silly. Today I refuse to st

My body being smirched, yet quite happier at the heart's core Blaming none, swelling sprightly like a balloon for an unabated fly An aim to mingle with eternity yet life's surreality loomed large My inner zeal enlivening my numb vein to a greater degree And I grew up amidst rigors and raptures of my strife-torn life My self-effacing silence searched a small smile of sunshine Counted each hour of a day, full of eerie odds and ends The morning turned mellow depicting the last night's dream Far stretch of alpine pasture and silent valley of an isolated hill The tranquil sea and wilder woods stirred my restive soul The natural specks crept up to the veneers of my meandering mind Unfettered to farrago, my go of life synced with the high held goal Far from busy hum, inherently I longed for some seconds of silence In the crosscurrents of time, I steered with a wave of elation The splendor of life dawned dashingly like new leaves of spring At the crossroads, I was guided

  Strict adherence to ethics was the watchword of the past.    Ethics that stood,  the tests of the past.    I searched for a meaning of life, but all I experienced was strife.   Yet I was passive and at all times submissive.   I was trained all my life, never to be aggressive.   Despite the limitations, I learned to be progressive.   And I grew up, I knew, that no force could shake me up.   And I grew up, I was certain, I could carry myself up.   And I grew up, at times, on the sly, for the morales expected were high.   I grew up when my parents were in slumber.   I grew up, so as not to put their dreams asunder.   I grew up, lending credence to their allegiance.   For it was a test of endurance, trained to have forbearance.   I was resigned to my lot, all my luxuries forgot.   At times, I sincerely wish that I had fought.   But my inner voice told me I had better not.   I now stand lost and forlorn, my heart pierced with a thorn.   But consoled I can say, for I was trained that way.