Minakhi Misra

Author: Minakhi Misra

  • Excuse for Solitude

    Take me not for a slight recluse,
    When I spend my time locked in a room,
    Alone with none but my choicest books,
    Take not that I spend my days in gloom.

    Oh Love, I enjoy, your company much,
    Alike in breaking bread and sweat.
    Only know that from the company of books
    I derive as much as from you I get.

    For then I travel with the thoughts of those
    Whose words are known to blaze new trails,
    Whose philosophy withstands all hosts
    Of waves and flames and gusts and gales.

    I discover then, what shapes my mind,
    What desires blossom in my heart,
    What joys flood matters grey and white,
    And what shatters my blood chambers apart.

    Pardon me if I lose myself in dreams,
    When I should with you spend the day.
    If I choose the Owl and the nocturnal beings,
    Over you and the sun, your forgiveness I pray.

    Take not that I love you less,
    For that will be an untruth said,
    Except that Solitude I love the best
    Walking alone on paths only I can tread.

    Originally shared with a friend in the Summer of 2012

  • A Beggar’s Prayer

    Walking down this path is already so trying,
    When so many more have given up in crying.
    Don’t know what’s next in store.
    Can’t take the burden anymore.
    So, let me see the Beaconlight,
    that will guide me on my way.
    Oh, let me be the Fireknight,
    who will all my troubles slay.
    Give me please, the Godsmight
    to bear this laboring load.
    Give me please, the Eaglesight
    for the Fork in the Road…

    For the Fork in the Road.

    I know that one path will ease my life till my dying,
    I know that the other will be all the more dignifying.
    But I don’t know what path to choose,
    I have too much that I can lose,
    So let me bathe in the Wisdom Stream,
    to learn the truth today.
    Oh, let me take in the Oracle Dream,
    to see the Future’s play.
    Give me please, the Crystal Beam,
    to find the Mother Lode.
    Give me please, the Self-Esteem
    for the Fork in the Road…

    For the Fork in the Road

    Originally shared with a friend in the Summer of 2012

  • Beware the Moment of Clarity

    Beware the moment that inspires clarity, my friend,
    For clarity of objects near, occludes focus on subjects afar.
    And so forebodes, by courtesy of things overlooked, the end
    That instigates between you and yourself a civil war
    Of love-hate and caution-risk, casualties both sides alike
    Driving a blade of guilt deliberately through your conscience.
    Finally beat of all your strength, you try with difficulty to psych
    For a moral defeat, only to learn of life’s ephemeral transience.
    Therefore, once more ignoring my original advice, you take
    Another chance to chance upon the object so close at hand.
    Its clarity captivating you to have you your foresight forsake
    Again, the hourglass of doubt turned to release its sand.
    Trust not then that which presents itself fully transparent,
    Look for those ghosts in the dark, not so readily apparent.

    Originally shared with a friend in the Summer of 2012

  • Green India == Growing India?

    Green Today?

    A serious dichotomy envelops the global economic circles today: the gradual enrichment of poor and developing countries.  This means that there will be more parties in the not-so-distant future with coffers large enough to afford those economic luxuries that were once reserved for the elite. Inspiring as it might be from the moral vantage, the fact that cannot be ignored is that the environment is already under strain and its capacity to accommodate such large scale economic activity in the future is, at best, doubtful. Ironically, the possible solutions to this dichotomy are numerous, but the task of directing the agreements of all involved parties to one single solution is not very promising. In such a scenario, India finds herself juggling three pins: creating jobs for the unemployed and supplying food to its burgeoning population, while always keeping the horizon green for sustainable growth.

    Is ecotechnology the answer?

    (more…)

  • Spilling blood into the seas

    Spilling blood into the bosom of the seas,
    Anchored into drowning, holding its breath,
    Melts slowly into an ocean of disease.
    If the Sun cannot escape this cycle of death:
    Kaleidoscope of Nature’s murders,
    Say how do I live knowing I would someday
    Heave myself in fits and shudders
    Yawping and pleading to Death to let me stay?
    Answer in earnest, what you think of the Sun,
    Mirrored in the waters, when the day is done.
    Either you perceive a moment inspired,
    Heart-filling with touches of warmth, or
    Expiring, notwithstanding the soul full fired,
    Rested in darkness: a corpse to be sorry for.

    Originally shared privately with a friend in the summer of 2011

  • Shamefully aware of your accusations

    Shamefully aware of your accusations,
    Arrested in time, I bid my head to bow.
    Meeting your eye is a labour so large that
    Infinity itself will stand ashamed, as I do now.
    Kafkaesque, is how I have become, with
    Shadows shadowing me through my dreams,
    Haunting me with my own guilt and draining
    Youthful lustre as blood, amidst my screams.
    Atonement I seek: only a chance to chance upon you,
    Melting in your solar warmth as once I was wont to.
    Ebullience I seek again: freedom to laugh and cry with you.
    Heavenly Heavens! Deliver me from this cruel fate of doom
    Ere it consumes me whole, leaving a ghost who walks,
    Reminding the world of sinners of their imminent gloom.

    Originally shared privately with a friend in the summer of 2011

  • The Doomsday Conundrum

    It was one of those conversations in which one finds oneself faced with that philosophical question – What is the motivation behind any particular action? It had started as one that is quite common among friends –we exchanged pleasantries, asked of each other how life was going on, and slowly drifted to more personal matters. At no point was there any indication that the conversation would take such a turn. I am pretty confident she blames me for starting it; I would have done the same, were I in her place.

    (more…)

  • Serenity is all I seek

    Serenity is all I seek
    Amidst this turbulence of desire;
    Mediocre though my thoughts may be
    Introspection does set the mind afire.
    “Keep Faith”, you say aplomb, yet
    Shameless, I renounce the world entire,
    Hoping, rejected by Heaven and You alike,
    Your memory would assuage Hell’s Purgatory Pyre.
    Apprehension ails me still, forever a
    Memento of Recollection’s Murderous Mire,
    Expectations bore through the linen still, that
    Hallows the aura of my Angel’s Attire.
    Eventuality forever scares me; now
    Ruthless Reminiscence only does it ever Inspire.

    Originally shared privately with a friend in the summer of 2011

  • The Battle of Saraighat – Part 2

    Read Part 1

    January, 1670
    Council of the Lords, Royal Palace
    Garhgaon (Capital of the Ahom Kingdom)

    Atan Burhagohain waited for the Lords to reach a conclusion. He had spent the last three hours trying to sway the opinion of the Lords.

    The Lords had been eager to concede to Ram Singh’s diplomatic initiatives. They wanted no more bloodshed. Their king had just died of grief and the new King had trusted their opinion on how to best continue this row with the Mughals. Ram Singh had offered a Mughal payment of 300,000 rupees in return for an Ahomi evacuation of Guwahati. It was a generous option that the Rajput King had opened. However, they could not set aside the warnings of Atan Burhagohain.

    (more…)

  • The Battle of Saraighat – Part 1

    February, 1669
    Base Camp, Mughal Army
    Rangamati (in present day Bangladesh)

    Raja Ram Singh of Amber had only one thing in mind: to live up to his father’s name, Mirza Raja Sawai Jai Singh. Shahenshah Aurangzeb has commissioned him to retake Guwahati into the mighty Mughal Empire. The loss of Guwahati to the Ahoms was something the Emperor had not liked. Ram Singh had vowed to himself that he will not fail the Emperor, not with the army he commands.

    (more…)