A FREE KICK TO FAME AND PENALTY

Soccer, the greatest field game ever played, since its conception,

Sans doubt, its roots are so deep, no country likes  an exception,

Those ninety minutes of  war keeps, everyone guessing in frenzy,

Driving players and fans to greater heights of duels and ecstasy.

 

Such is the passion for the game, stars do emerge now and then,

Lightening speeds, the quick  reflexes stand them apart in a win ,

Magic of the great Pele and  his feats in Brazil do reign even now,

A lad  in Argentina  in late seventies on the horizon was on view.

 

This boy, poverty stricken did  practice soccer too, time and again,

Rolling the ball onto the head, the rare dribbles seen  quite often,

 No wonder this boy was squeezed into the state team at sixteen,

Rules denied a berth for Junior team, age  withholding his sheen.

  

Became the youngest prodigy  to wear the coveted junior mantle,

Nation rejoiced and crowned  as it won the Junior World Cup title,

He had in wait for  blue and white colors, still immature age wise,                                                      

His skills in ball possession, swift moves and dribs were his forte.

Soon the  Blue and white jersey did inspire him to greater heights,

 Excelled in midfield outwitting and bewildering all the opponents, 

 Whole world saw the golden era of soccer under his golden feet,

 English team and  fans all  awestruck with his speed and his fleet.

 

Soon he hoisted the Gold cup, transformed the entire soccer world,

His fame leapfrogged, nicknamed as the “Magician” on the field, 

So too, all the bad habits masqueraded him on and off the field,

Drugs ruining both, succeeding world cups and his fans worldwide.

 

Rest of his life witnessed many a comeback, alas! not  for his gain,

Expectations were high, he failed to repeat the same magic again, 

Ailing body suffered too many penalty kicks of such  goalless affair.

God’s hands reclaimed his skills,bemusing  us in a goalless despair.                                                         

 A BLIND SPOT TRAGEDY 

 A tearful homage to the unfortunate souls 

[This portrait is made of photos of all the 

 doctors and nurses in the world  who lost their 

lives during the pandemic period

Many castles we build in air, during our entire life,

 Its a humane and natural instinct, not for fame,

 Impossible and the easier ones for that matter,

  Yet, they will crumble at one time or the other.

 We can digest all this, dismissing them as destiny,

 Barring the accidents, manmade or disharmony,

 Barring the diseases that our lifestyle oft invites,

 Still cherish to live enough to build more castles.

 

 Nature too at times, do play havoc with disasters,

 Cyclone, Tsunami, Monsoon and torrid summers,

 They’ve played their roles with perfection so far,

 Trimming at will, the population explosion at par.  

 Microorganisms oft, do hold a Damocles sword, 

 Bacteria and viruses too, do work overboard, 

 Quell and suppress the hapless denizens at will,

 Sweeping them off the floor at regular interval.  

                                                                  

Unyielding Corona is threatening, still on the air,

Born in China this year, now a worldwide affair,                                                                 

Captivating and crushing with relentless march, 

Killing at will, instilling insecurity beyond match.   

                                                                      

More than a crore worldwide, is feeling its pinch,

One in twenty already perished under its clutch,

Social distancing denying a final farewell hugs,

 A decent burial denied for these hapless souls.  

                                                                                

Worse is in store for the hapless medical fraternity,

Sworn by the Hippocratic oath, to treat the needy, 

 Fifty scores of doctors, an equal number of nurses,  

Had sacrificed their lives, all in their prime careers.                                                                

Masking the masquerading virus, not a remedy, 

Much awaited vaccine, not yet out of the kitty, 

The search is on, the drugs on trail and on trial,

Sense of fear growing, enveloping us without fail.  

Masks do cover one’s mouth, can’t seal it forever,

Many die every day, our eyes quiver with fear,

Youths die in plenty jolting a nation’s progress,

 Problems aplenty, triggering an economic crisis.

War is not over, the battle field strewn with corpses

Counts by the minute, suspecting our own senses,

None is immune at present, not even thy shadow, 

Our blind spot looms large, warning a foreshadow

 

The Poet who breathed in and out for women and nature

Linguistics may differ, our  imaginations oft  take wild wings, 

Emotions  are the same everywhere, their expression swings 

Some are born  genius, some  become one  by their doings, 

Some  do remain anonymous, their  sheer dedication  springs.

An octogenarian poetess who breathed  her entire lifespan, 

Upholding  vernacular uplift  of Malayalam for official clan,                                       

Spent her entire life for the beleaguered  women with elan,                                             

A down to earth,  who lived and  preached  with a mission.

For many  a distraught, outcast woman, She was the asylum,                                    

Fought by words and deeds for their cause  and their freedom,                                  

Loved the nature, a life led by example, shunning the stardom,                                        

No farewell for her demise, wishing a seedling as martyrdom.

 

True love of the nature for future, was viewed with skepticism,

Calling a spade, a spade, sometimes invited  many a criticism,                                              

Yet she undauntedly fought with her unbridled enthusiasm                                         

She, undeterred  by all these, strode  nonchalantly for feminism.

Words, her awards  can’t speak  her greatness  or her acumen.

Her verses speak volumes of  great love of nature and women.                        

Sincerely  crossing all the linguistic barriers, we all pray heaven,                             

Wish the same poetess  to be with us for another lease again

 

THE GREATEST  TEACHING EXPERIENCE

SARVAPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN    

[Teacher’s day special]  ..a tribute

Teacher, this word surely cheers up each and every cell of our frame,

 Best teachers, for  every human being in this universe  are the same,

Father, mother, teacher and the nature, form the formidable team,

 We all learn everything from them, from our day one, with esteem.

 

Basics from our parents, from then, we all  learn from our alma mater,

We worship all our  teachers at any level, anywhere for that matter,

They cement  the base with  reasoning  in a way, we can never forget,

 Such is the power, a teacher  imparts to every pupil ,none will reject.

 

One such great teacher, non pareil, we all worship, admire, and adore,

Our  president and the first vice president of  our motherland for sure,

Academician, a great Philosopher, and above all, a wonderful teacher,

Spalding Professor at the Oxford, pars excellence and a  great master.

President  receiving  a nominal fee, an eye opener to the working force,

Donated the entire Templeton prize money to the Oxford, as  a gesture

A Scholar, par excellence, he authored four scores of books in free time,

Rightly a model teacher for everyone, our Nation did proclaim it on time.

 

September five , every year, our Nation do celebrate it as  Teacher’s  day,

This noble teacher was born on that day, he  had brought laurels to stay,

 We  all salute him, cherish his teachings in our hearts and minds forever.

We attribute this as the jewel in the crowning glory in his  literary career.

                                            

 THROUGH THE PUPIL

English,the more, one dwells within, 

the more one gathers in  a swell,                                                                                          You can drive in parkways 

yet park in driveways as well.                                                                                               One such word puzzled me, forced me to browse it very well,                                                 Pupil, the word oft  familiar to the oculist, helping  me to dwell.

                                                                                                                                                      Heard  every morn, the headcounts loudly spell this as a whole                                              Besides the student, it conveys the novice or the follower’s role,                                          All living things under the sky enjoy their sight  on the whole,                                                Iris of the eye also permits the light through this central hole,

                                                                                                 

This hiatus in iris, the most looked by clinicians on the whole,                                                The size, the shape or its color or its occlusion spells its role,                                                  Ability or inability to conduct light spreads bloom or gloom,             

Usually one in each eye, rarely two, a conduit for light or sight,  

                                                                             

Physician’s  diagnostic aid, when the patient is in bad plight.                                                  Drugs, poisons, head injury or eye disease all show up in daylight,                                      In a coma state, the surgeons and physicians’ lead kindly to light.                                      Living with bloom or lying in state, the pupil decides the state.

Responds to  light in life ,to go dilated and fixed, decides the fate .                              Oculist’s bread and butter, lunch or supper, the pupil is the decider,                                Optic nerve in health or disease, also the evidence of a brain teaser                                  Fluid pressure of brain and eye, pupils show, to lead the bandwagon.

Non reacting  partner oft reveals  the flamed  sight in inflammation.                          Medical Jargon adds  surnames to pinpoint the disease in question,                      ,            Assess the state of brain or eyes aiding the treatment in precision,                             Marcus Gunn pupil, Adie’s and Horner’s and the pin point pupil                                         Like a novice medico  in darkness, it’s ever a  rigmarole pupil  

 

 

       BLEED  BY WILL, BREED THE FEEL IN SWELL

THEME ‘’Give blood and keep the world beating”.

An urgent call from the maternal ward fifty years back                                                                                            A medico on emergency duty, aiming a sprint as quick                                                                                            An young lady, just delivered a baby, was in shock                                                                                                  Uterus failed to shrink, profuse in bleed, in a deadlock.

Needed fresh blood, alternate medicine  gave no  hope,                                                                                          Were all willing to donate, Alas! she fell in a rare group,                                                                                          Facts regarding the blood, its groups was in the gossip ,                                                                                        Groups, four plus the positive and negative fell in a heap. 

    

The poor lady was AB negative, the rarest one even now,                                                                                       Frenetic search saved her life, gave me  a lesson and how?,                                                                            Blood can be donated at will, stored and used as and now,                                                                            Saves a life as the supply is short and in an  urgent show.

My message is, donate twice yearly, and to those in need,                                                                                          Serves two purposes, saves a life or for a humanity  bleed,                                                                                        Nature sometimes play hide and seek in times of need ,                                                                                            Corona virus  one such, took the world by a storm indeed.

Need of the hour, monoclonal antibodies to save the sick,                                                                                          Convalescent  patients have them in stock after an attack,                                                                                     Lasting for a few months, helps and serves a noble break.                                                                                       Synthetic ones cost much, only reachable for the freak

A humble request to those who never had donated,                                                                                                    We get back the donated blood in few months  time,                                                                                                   A dying person will remember your service forever,                                                                                                  Give blood and keep the world beating forever

 FUSED BULBS AND DEFUSED DESIRES 

Darkness everywhere, caught unawares, heavy rains made me sweat instead

Suddenly, the thought, just a momentary darkness provoked me to  ponder,

Three centuries before, our ancestors had not seen the nights so illuminated, 

 As we see today, Edison’s invention had brought meanings to our life so far. 

The carbon filament under extreme heat, overcame its resistance to glow long

This invention changed the entire values of a night, adding the life an ambition,

 Vacuum inside the glass made its life easier giving a long lease but less strong, 

Tungsten replaced the carbon, argon gas filled the space for a quick ignition.

   

 Incandescent bulbs lost its way in the modern era, durability decided its destiny,

 Mercury, phosphorus stole the show, credibility overpowered the poorer cousin, 

 Filaments, like human life die after sometime, we call them fused not as dead, 

 Some get fused soon, others last long, a la human life, teach us a lesson or two. 

Our sojourn here somewhat similar, we all are born with a purpose so unaware,

What we become in our life varies, we should never think one is superior or inferior

Here was an officer just retired from an influential post loitering lonely in the park,

 Restless, having no company, unaware of the surround and in a pensive mood. 

 

There were few old men moving at will chatting and rejoicing in the evening sun.

 Suddenly an old man came in to accompany this officer and were soon in chat,

 The old man queried about the whereabouts of the officer and the posts he held,

 Officer eloquently loathed about the posts he held and the status he enjoyed.

  

 Old man quietly heard all his story fully, then stated the high position he held once

 What more, he singled out each one of the oldies in the park, narrating their status,

 Their retirements, named the high offices they held, to the dismay of the officer,

 Bringing down the officer’s pride to touch the earth, downsizing his bloated ego.

Gave the officer the much needed advice ,to level him and also for the world alike,

Our life should have a meaning, our jobs are for our livelihood, so too others jobs,

Till then we’re like a glowing bulb, depending upon thy watts to enlighten the show, 

Once retired, we are like fused bulbs, all burnt out, however powerful the bulb was.