SANTOSH BAKAYA

 

SANTOSH BAKAYA

Trickster Twilight 

The twilight crept softly, stealthily. Silently. 

I saw a window. Ancient, wooden, and weathered. 

Framed in the window was an old woman wrinkled and wary. She stood peering outside, miming a query with her right hand. The window seemed to beckon me, so did the eyes of the woman. 

The scene changed. I was inside a loudly vibrating helicopter, sipping coffee from a coffee mug. But the woman’s eyes continued to follow me. 

Was it a dream I was in the middle of?

Or maybe the edges of the dream had merged with reality? But I have never travelled in a helicopter! I suddenly realised.

My eyes flew open to hear a bunch of sparrows chirping. 

The nocturnal dream was over! Another dream had begun, where saplings swayed in the air, squirrels hopped gleefully and peacocks preened on the green grass.

But I happened to see the woman extending a gnarled hand towards me, the window rattling. Then her fingers traced patterns in the air. On one of the patterns sat an exquisite bird, crooning. The dream and reality had merged. 

A Masquerade

 

Where do dreams begin? Where does reality end? Isn’t this life all a masquerade where the edges of dreams blur with reality? I see a house; not just any house. My ancestral house- bruised, battered and bludgeoned! Memories peep from cracks, juvenile laughter flows out from windows, the hinges and bolts of which are rusted with a long - forgotten life. A life full of pranks, mischief, games and more laughter. Stories are etched on the walls, snippets and escapades speak of a bygone era. 

I sit in fretful silence, waiting for the night to throw more chunks and slivers at me! Chunks that reappear in dreams, leaving lingering sighs in its wake. 

   

SANTOSH BAKAYA

SANTOSH BAKAYA: Winner of International Reuel Award for literature for Oh Hark, 2014, The Universal Inspirational Poet Award [Pentasi B Friendship Poetry and Ghana Government, 2016,] Bharat Nirman Award for literary Excellence, 2017, Setu Award, 2018, [Pittsburgh, USA] for ‘stellar contribution to world literature.’ Keshav Malik Award, 2019, for ‘staggeringly prolific and quality conscious oeuvre’.Chankaya Award  [Best Poet of the Year, 2022, Public Relations Council of India,], Eunice Dsouza Award 2023, for ‘rich and diverse contribution to poetry, literature and learning’,[Instituted  by WE Literary Community]  poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, TEDx speaker, creative writing mentor, Santosh Bakaya, Ph.D has been acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu [Vitasta, 2015], her poems have been translated into many languages, and short stories have won many awards, both national and international. She writes a popular weekly column, Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity. Com. Her twenty- three books cover different genres; her latest being, What is the Metre of The Dictionary?