LITTLE EYES UPON YOU

There are little eyes upon you
and they're watching night and day.

There are little ears that quickly
take in every word you say.

There are little hands all eager
to do anything you do.

And a little boy who's dreaming
of the day he'll be like you.

You're the little fellow's idol,
you're the wisest of the wise.

In his little mind about you
no suspicions ever rise.

He believes in you devoutly,
holds all that you say and do.

He will say and do, in your way,
when he's grown up like you.

There's a wide-eyed little fellow
who believes you're always right.

And his eyes are always opened,
and he watches day and night.

You are setting an example
every day in all you do,
for the little boy who's waiting
to grow up to be like you.

-From The Moral Compass, edited by William J. Bermett, Simon 8 Schuster, New
York, 1995, pp. 52

Mother…child…love, care, shelter and a smile! Yeh kadamb ka ped agar maa…

Yeh kadamb ka ped agar maa hota yamuna thirey!
Mai bhi uss per baith kanhaiya banta dhirey dhirey!!

Le daiti yadi mujhe bansuri tum do paise vali!
Kisi tarhan nichey ho jaati yeh kadamb ki daali!!

Tumhe nahi kuch kehta per mai chupke-chupke aata!
Uss nichi daali se amma, unche per chad jaata!!

Vahin baith fir bade mazey se mai bansuri bajata!
Amma-amma keh vansi ke swarr se tumhe bulata!!

Sun meri bansi ko maa tum itni khush ho jaati!
Mujhe dekhne ko tum bahar kaam chhod ker aati!!

Tum ko aata daikh bansuri rakh mai chup ho jata!
Patton mai chhip ker fir dhirey se bansuri bajata!!

Bahut bulane per bhi maa jab nahi utter ke aata!
Maa, tab maa ka hriday tumhara bahut vikal ho jaata!!

Tum aanchal faila ker amma vahin ped ke nichey!
Ishwar se kuch vinti kerti baithey aankhen michey!!

Tumhe dhayan mai lagi daikh mai dhirey dhirey aata!
Aur tumhare failey aanchal ke nichey chhup jaata!!

Tum ghabrakar aankh kholti per maa khush ho jaatin!
Jab apne munne raja ko godd mai hi paatin!!

Issi tarhan kuch khela kerte hum-tum dhirey dhirey!
Yeh kadamb ka ped agar maa hota yamuna thirey!!

-By Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

“Congratulations! Things have settled, they have agreed”

“Congratulations! Things have settled, they have agreed”... my parents are more then happy. It sounds so simple. Like emancipation from an unwanted burden. Like a simple numerical equation. But it has completely left out one factor - me. And how can I, or even my parents, get right answer without that?

“No bad habits, a good career, a good family. What more do you want?”

“A man, a husband, a good companion...man who hears my voice when I speak...who understands me even when I don’t...”

But my desires are so elementary compared to ‘a good job, good family and no bad habits’ that I am ashamed to reveal them. But I have nothing to worry. No one asked me, and I am not going to tell anyone.

Until today it has always been, “they have refused”. And I had always wondered, how do they know, after seeing me for just a few minutes that I won’t do? How can they know anything about me at all?

Doubts have always plagued me- how do one look into a man or a woman in a couple of minutes? And also, that can the whole of a person be known even in entire life?

Sometimes I feel we are all destined to be strangers to one another...forever sealed in separate partitions called ‘self’.

Why am I thinking all this?
Why am I writing all this?
I don’t know.

Why had I imagined the choice was mine?
It had never been mine.

I surrender my illusions and embrace the reality...Congratulations to me! Things have settled...they have agreed.