URBAN HAIKU by Michael R Collings

Silence-- a strangled
Telephone has forgotten
that it should ring


Freeway overpass--
Blossoms in grafitti on
fog-wrapped June mornings

Pedestrians pose for a picture in the ear of a large model of Eddie Murphy's head in Times Square in New York, Thursday, July 3, 2008. The large model head of the actor was being used to promote his new movie "Meet Dave". AP/PTI

Mein tainu pher milan gi (I will meet you yet again)

I will meet you yet again
How and where? I know not.
Perhaps I will become a
figment of your imagination
and maybe, spreading myself
in a mysterious line
on your canvas,
I will keep gazing at you.

Perhaps I will become a ray
of sunshine, to be
embraced by your colours.
I will paint myself on your canvas
I know not how and where –
but I will meet you for sure.

Maybe I will turn into a spring,
and rub the foaming
drops of water on your body,
and rest my coolness on
your burning chest.
I know nothing else
but that this life
will walk along with me.

When the body perishes,
all perishes;
but the threads of memory
are woven with enduring specks.
I will pick these particles,
weave the threads,
and I will meet you yet again.

—-Amrita Pritam.

Translated by Nirupama Dutt and published in The Little Magazine

A tiger cools off in a lake to beat the heat as mercury rises in Guwahati zoo. PTI Photo

A tiger cools off in a lake to beat the heat as mercury rises in Guwahati zoo. PTI Photo

New Delhi: When I woke up it was a typical summer day. Bright sunny and warm. Around 8.40 there was a hint that it might rain as clouds had started accumulating and cutting off the harsh morning sun.

Within an hour, on my way to work, the sky was covered in a vast blanket of thick dark clouds, the pleasant and mild breeze turned stronger swaying the trees along the path. A terrible dust storm gripped the city and large droplets of rain start pattering on the windswhields.

Grins started showing on even the most sombre of faces with rear seat passengers on my charted bus behaving like teenagers. "Khan saheb hum wapas ghar jaa rahe he ya daftar ja rahe he?"

Gusts of wind swept dust off the road onto my face as I deboarded the bus and staggered across the wide road towards my office. The billowing wind threatened to sweep me off my feet. Hair streaking across my face and salwaar kameez flying, I swept into my office. Excited colleagues met me on my way upstairs and began dragging me again outside, but I declined.

Inside the office it was another world. Insulated walls and airconditioning not a hint of the chaos outside was felt inside. My excited demenour sent most collegues scampering to glimpse the scene outside.

:)

WASHINGTON : A heavily armed member of the Secret Service Emergency Response Team watches as a mother duck and her ducklings cross the driveway at the White House as heavy rain storms blanketed the Washington area, Friday, May 9, 2008. AP/PTI

MAY 10, 2008 - ROME : Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek reacts after defeating Switzerland's Roger Federer in a men's quarter-final match, at the Rome Master tennis tournament, in Rome, Friday, May 9, 2008. Stepanek won 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7). AP/PTI

College students cross a river using a rope during an adventure water sports competition organised by Barkatullah University in Bhopal on January 4, 2007. PTI Photo