Cheers, To Kolkata.

"You don’t realize what you have till you lose it."

They’re not memories and it’s not like I just realized something new. But its there on every face, on every street corner and every mirror. I just started to get to know you, to really appreciate what you really are, the depth, and the urge to understand you. I’ve taken you for granted for eighteen years now, and I really just want to be your friend, someone who understands your jokes with, just a glance. I wanted to walk down every lane, discover your secrets and live to tell the tale. Stories etched into bricks the lives that you shelter. I shall definitely miss you. Goodbye.

Two years old. A rooftop. Blue tricycle and me. Under your watchful eye I rode my tricycle and fell, so many times over, I’ll never forget. It was from your streets I met my first friend, a silhouette in a dark lane, I forget his name and his face but I’ll never forget you. A guava seller used to sit opposite the front door. He doesn’t remember me but he still sits there, in the same place, with guavas, under your watchful eye. A window, grills. Cars, so many cars, I’ve lost count, but I hadn’t that day. I don’t know who you are man in the blue Maruti 800 but I counted you as well. I spent a year staring at ‘Birla Mandir’ but I’ve never been inside. Footpaths, lanes, streets, roads so many I forget the names, forget me not.

Three. I started school that year. First school friend, I don’t remember his name where he lived or his face. He had a green Maruti 800. He sat in that car and drove away forever. We’ve grown up for too long, goodbye. I moved from Ballygaunge to Alipore. So much, so long ago. Trees and gardens everywhere. But there was never a field. I’ll miss the roads the gardens the trees the mangoes and the ditch in the back where I’d caught so many tadpoles, every year.
"Looking back on boyhood years.
Even unhappiness acquired a certain glow."

Tree on the divider I don’t know you more than as a tree. I’ll miss you. I would like to know your name in three different languages one day but I guess that’ll have to wait. Face in the crowd. You could have been my best friend, my brother or my lover but I’ll never know you more than a face and I shall miss you too. Goodbye.

Wish list.

Every year I make a wish list.
It used to have toys on which I’d insist,
But it’s changed through the years,
Now full of my dreams, desires and fears.

I wish I didn't always shout,
I wish I knew what I talked about.
I wish I didn't have to apologize so many times,
I wish I could win you back with my rhymes.
I wish I could hold you once more,
I wish I was more mature.
I wish I’d thought before doing what I did,
I wish I didn't act like such a kid.
I wish we could make amends,
I wish we could still be friends.
I wish I didn't talk so much bull,
But I also wish I wasn't so wishful.