SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

 

Loud Thinking

 

How do I feel? Head reeling. Stealing

precious moments from the life spread around.

The misty hills.

The robin’s trills.

The flouncy -frilled Frillback.

How I love the curls on its wings! 

 

 

My ears fixed to the tone and tenor

 of slumber’s hush.  Look, how calm it is.

No rushing.

No crushing deadlines to meet,

feet walking at a steady pace.

No hurrying.

No worrying.

No rat race.

How I love the blush on a youngster,

who feels the stirrings of love 

 

 I look at the bird in the neighbor’s cage, and explode: 

“Don’t cage me and make me survive

on a handful of seeds. That is not all that I need.

 That’s not fair. I need air. I need care.

 

I watch the neighbourhood man plucking brinjals,

 tomatoes and green chilies from his pocket- sized garden.

Then staggering towards his pocket- sized kitchen

 to rustle something to fill his stomach with.

 

 He rustles something.

 The bird tweets –“feed me- feed me

Heed me. Heed me.”  

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA PhD: Reuel International Awardee [Poetry, 2014], Setu Award for ‘stellar contribution to world literature’ [2018], Eunice Dsouza Award, 2023, [WE Literary Community], Santosh Bakaya, PhD, poet, essayist, novelist, columnist, biographer, literary critic, TEDx speaker, has written 32 books across different genres, many of her short stories and poems having won international awards. Ballad of Bapu, [A poetic Biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Vitasta Publishers] Only in Darkness can you see the Stars [Vitasta, Biography of Martin Luther King Jr] have won international recognition. Her TEDx Talk:  Myth of Writers' Block is very popular in creative writing classes. Her weekly columns, Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity. Com. Trigger that creative Spark in Kashmir Pen have a good readership. Her latest book of poems, At Thirty Minutes Past One, Authorspress,2025, has been very well- received. Her co-authored book with Ramendra Kumar Melange of Mavericks and Mutants  AuthorsPress, 2026 has also received a very good reception.The Relic, a multi- author anthology  published by Haojan Publishers,2025 and co-edited with Meenakshi Mohan has been internationally acclaimed.