SANTOSH BAKAYA

SANTOSH BAKAYA

THE HALCYON TIME

Eliot showed us fear in a handful of dust

But why do we still keep seeing it in every dust mote?

There is fear in kids’ eyes,

And in mothers’ sighs.

This deficit of trust, and rancour

And this canker

Of untruth, so uncouth.

Let me hoe my garden.

But lo! The soil I now pick

Contains shreds  of the prematurely dead.

Corpses of promises of decades gone by

Still red-eyed with shock .

Let me plant a saplings few

And create a garden new

Where drooping flowers no longer droop

And cheerful kids still twirl the hula-hoop.

Petrified doves no longer take sudden flight

From grimy window sills.

As Neanderthal folks, smack their lips and go for kills.

Let us create an overarching love paradigm

To mime the halcyon time

When winter kept us warm

In maternal hugs and cuddles,

And none was embroiled in messy muddles.

THE PROGRESS OF THE PILGRIM

The pilgrim ploughs on the rocky terrain

Clinging to a ghost of a hope

Unfazed by his tattered sole

Yearning, once again to be whole.

Sometimes crawling like a haggard dream

And then bursting forth like a throttled scream.

Groping the way along

On cracked lips, an unsung song.

Undeterred by clouds resounding with volcanic wrath

Like ogres baleful

Like mastodons of the primeval world.

The yesterdays merge into todays

The pilgrim no longer in a daze, emerges from the maze.

Blowing away that soupcon of regret

Rising above the cacophonous throng

Once again hums that soulful song.

WHY HATE ?

Hate is so rampant – why?

Sigh,

Why this orphaned feeling?

Why is my head reeling?

Ah, a blaze of sunshine bright

The glory of midsummer, the tints of autumn

Fragments of colorful life peeping through trees,

Hanging from wisps of crisp breeze

Shimmering in sparkling waters

Chunks of beauty clinging to the hills

In bounteous frills.

The gay garrulity of gregarious birds

Why hate, when there is so much to love

yes, why indeed!

Ah, a blaze of sunlight

Yes, yes, I see the flying skirts of the night

In flight.

Look, the Eastern sun shines with all its might

But so did the night sky shimmer

With its starry might.

SANTOSH BAKAYA

Country of origin : India

My mother tongue : HINDI

Nationality:  Indian

Place Of Living :JAIPUR , RAJASTHAN , INDIA

Dr SANTOSH BAKAYA: Although she has a doctorate in modern political theory , Dr Santosh Bakaya has always been Intensely passionate about Literature.   An academician, critic - poet -essayist - novelist , she has made her mark both in prose and poetry. Her three mystery novels, [The mystery of the Relic, The mystery of the Jhalana fort and The mystery of the Pine cottage] for young adults were very well received in the late 1990s . Flights from my terrace, her e-book of 58 essays,  published on Smashwords in October 2014, now has a printed version, published by Authorspress , India . Ballad of Bapu, a poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, published by Vitasta publishers, Delhi in 2015, is also being acclaimed internationally. Her essays on Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.have been published in Gandhi Marg, a quarterly journal of GANDHI PEACE FOUNDATION. She has also been published and interviewed in Cafe Dissensus and  has contributed in national and international anthologies, like those published by Poets, artists Unplugged [Colours of Refuge and Resonance] many of them having figured in the highly commendable category in Destiny Poets, a U. K based poetry website. Her poetry has also appeared in Learning and Creativity- Silhouette magazine, in Incredible women of India, in an Australia based e-zine, Mind Creative, In Brian Wrixon’s anthology and the online magazine Episteme, published from Mumbai. She has co-edited UMBILICAL CHORDS: AN ANTHOLOGY ON PARENTS REMEMBERED, published by Global Fraternity of Poets, Gurgaon, Haryana. Where are the lilacs? [A compilation of her 111 peace poems] was launched in 2016 and is getting rave reviews.  Under the apple boughs , her second compilation of poems will soon hit the stands . She has also been a featured poet in Pentasi B World Friendship poetry and was conferred with the Universal Inspirational Poet Award jointly by Pentasi B and the Ghana Government in May 2016. She received the International Reuel Award for writing and literature 2014, for her long poem OH HARK!, which now forms part of THE SIGNIFICANT ANTHOLOGY and  also  the INCREDIBLE WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2015 award instituted by The Incredible women of India blog. The Poet Laureate award instituted by Poetry Society of India was conferred on her for her book Ballad of Bapu recently. She also received   the AAGMAN TEJASWANI AWARD 2017 , instituted by the AAGMAN GROUP , India ,  on International Women's day in Delhi . Although hailing from Kashmir, India, she stays in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India with her husband and university going daughter.