The Secret Society of Surreal Socks

Macho men with their mustaches
Burly brutes with their beards
Lovely lasses with their lashes
And wiry wizards very weird

Nagging nannies with nincompoops
Perfect professionals with papers
Surly sous chefs with steamy soups
And sorry slaves in skyscrapers

They all share a secret spirit
Hidden away from prying eyes
Beneath the layers of drab outfit
Smile gleeful socks in disguise!

Gaping from a tweed pant leg
Peeping from a pastel skirt
Glancing through plaid and rag
And from under hems with dirt

Surreal socks of all sizes!
Popping up in pretty pinks
Ravishing reds, purple prizes
Bustling about in blue blinks!

Yodeling in yolk yellows
Grinning in green glimmers
Blowing by like burgundy bellows
And sashaying in scarlet shimmers

Spreading joy in secret splashes
Warming feet and hearts
Is the Society of Surreal Socks
As Secret as silent farts!

Outside The Cocoon (the series)

Fear protects you from loss
and prevents gains from you.

***

The sooner learnt the better:
Life is unfair and the world owes you nothing.

***

We receive what we need
So we can work towards what we want.

***

The rich having found their power in sophistication

And the poor in their obscenity

I find that I have nowhere to go

***

When a crowd of 'otherwise respectable' men

join in when urged by a spineless pervert

To drag and beat a girl, and grope her and almost strip

And the crowd refuses to intervene

While a journalist calls cameras instead of police

Reuben Fernandez and Keenan Santos,

...you are sorely missed!

***

One day as I sat flipping the channels

I learnt something from "Big Boss" astonishing rather

While watching Aseem Trivedi and Sampat Pal bicker

That there are different kinds of courage

And each may not necessarily understand the other

***

I understand why Tharoor

wants to name and honor the girl

but sir, kindly refrain!

For this nation of don't-cares will stand up only when

they see that this brutal treatment

could be meted out to their own daughter

and not just another "name"...

***

Dear young woman from a small town,

How come if I happen to judge you on your lesser

educational qualifications (which I don't)

then I'm considered selfish, snobbish, and arrogant...

And if you judge me on my lesser kitchen prowess (which you did)

then you're a proud, self-assured, and a confident woman?

***

Friendships that are abound with extreme mutual respect

and the unsaid promise of having each other's back

Are the ones that are forged while struggling through

government officials, procedures, red tape, and paperwork!

***

Subject to updates.

Chained

Each day is pain, every breath in vain
The turning of boons into an aching bane
Falling deeper into a daily desperation
Thrashing around to flee this suffocation

What do you do when physically trapped
In a space where you just can't be
In a sheath of anguish wrapped
And a hopelessness that you can't flee

When every venture fails
And every corner leads to an end
When life turns into a labyrinth
And a monster waits at every bend

Love was supposed to converge
To be the end to all means
And while the world struggles for riches
My lifelong struggle is you, it seems