Tulsi Bhandari, INDIA

ASSURANCE…

A lunatic spirit moves around

Devoid of peace

Intolerant of love

Hungry for drama.

Alas! It manages to grip

Vital beings with ill-will

And casts its spell

On spineless beings.

The roll and rumble of time

Envelopes life and matter

Forcing conflicting natures to coexist

Where love is pronounced a culprit

Its language not understood

Its face scanned through lenses of conceit.

Jolted and shaken

It makes an exit

Unable to comprehend

The hue and cry.

It invokes the flame in itself

In vengeance and repose:

Sustained and strengthened

Reassured of eternal victory

Love stands tall and looks far

Waiting to greet

Universal peace and accord.

TO BE BORN A WOMAN

When she lives true to herself

For the cause she stands for

But she gets drenched

By a pricking shower

Crushingly callous.

When she simply enters

A new phase of life

With no expectations

A young and innocent bride

And faces hard indifference.

When she continues

Doing the right things

Alone

All the time

By the clock

Day and night.

When for long

She succumbs

To a loveless-wordless life

Patient and persevering

Facing the world with a smile.

And when desperation’s long trail

Enters her soul

Ready to make a nest

But she does not allow this nesting

This ruin of a beautiful

Living monument within

It is then she witnesses

The soft hue of a new dawn

More captivating than ever

It is then she understands

Grace as the truth of her life

And feels the bliss and beauty

Of being born a woman.

IGNORANCE

Ignorance became a step

Towards self-discovery:

For selfless she was

Obedient to human gods

While pain kept drilling a path

Leading to a buried shrine.

No sacrifice ever is in vain;

Precious life given away

Became a reverberation

Resonance of her being.

Dilemma’s knocks

Woke up the person within

Compelled to open the door

With wide open eyes

It stepped out

Followed by life

Together they strode on

A broad journey’s march.

Tulsi Bhandari had been a teacher, educational advisor and head of regulatory affairs of a pharmaceutical company. She has authored a collection of Hindi poems ‘Anterchetna’, two editions of poems in English ‘Towards A Touch Supreme’, a book based on Transactional analysis, Gita and Sri Aurobindo’s yoga ‘The Autonomous Adult and Karma Yoga’, and another one ‘The Yoga of the Gita for the Modern Seeker’. Her poems have appeared in many anthologies. She is widely travelled and has also contributed articles for The Indonesian Observer as a freelance writer. Her books can be viewed on amazon.in Tulsi Bhandari books. ‘The Autonomous Adult and Karma yoga’ is also available as an e-book.

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Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019