The never fading smile

Dear Reader

My next poem "The never fading smile" is dedicated to my brother who I lost just a few months back to cancer.

My brother Savney was a fighter right from the beginning. He was a born champion always eager to win. He was a perfectionist, he excelled at whatever he did by sheer hard work and dedication. By all his hard work and discipline he earned the back belt in karate. He published his own book; a collection of poems. He had his own blog and many other medals to his belt – a young achiever. Most of all he was selected as the best NCC cadet all over India and made us all proud. But the most priced procession of all was his smile which lightened his face and which melted our hearts. Why a young man of this caliber had to suffer under the such a deadly disease is the question which I have no answers to.

Even when he was suffering from cancer he was a brave man, like a brave soldier he fought the disease. No matter how much pain he suffered no matter how much medication and tests he had to go through he stood up bravely against all odds and faced with with a broad smile.

 Alas they day came when he had to leave us. Alas I could not do anything to save him. But even when he last spoke to me and waved me goodbye on his deathbed, he had that smile on his face.

We’ll miss you Savney, wish you could read this.

The never fading smile

That broad smile of yours

Painted to perfection

Flashing from ear to ear

Drawing our affection

Ambitions high at the peaks

Hoisting the colours of pride

Ready to brave the odds

Ready to fight the tide

Cuts and wounds you never cared

Always striving hard for excellence

Always flew with victory, coz

Best you where at what you did

We danced to the life’s music

Stepping to its melody, happily

But fate chose differently, trying

To fade your smile forever

Challenges thrown you braved them

Pains suffered; not complaining

Focused your thoughts to one thing

Patiently waiting for the cure

The day came when the smile faded,

But not yours but of us

For years as we keep you alive,

Your smile will remain with us.

-Sydney B. Monteiro

Button Pressing Robots

 

Eyes gently closed, engrossed in a dreamless night

Opened at the devil staring at our faces.

Legs begging for rest at the endless queues

As money turned into mere paper pieces.

 

They died protecting us from the enemy without,

Enemy that entered the nation right under their noses.

Yet they shout and praise at their hollow promises and

At his unbeaten 56 inch chest, we bow and sing praises.

 

We were told mushrooms were the secret of his energy

While the common man couldn’t lay his hands on rotis.

That he loved mangoes; the ripe ones right from the trees.

While we burnt the dried wood unfreezing our bodies.

 

We danced beating drums as places of worships were built,

As metals were melted, forming sky touching statutes.

While Gods laughed at us within our heart as we fought

And The Iron Man turned away within his quite grave.

 

Without second thought, were beaten black and blue,

As activists, farmers, students spoke for their rights

We were branded as we spoke of thoughts rational

As rice bag converts and anti-nationals

 

Every moment you spoke to us, we heard you eagerly

Waiting for our new task with diyas, plates and taalis.

We followed every directive, every order without fail

We even sang “Go Corona Go” welcoming the second wave.

 

A mud bath, a conch, a papad will keep it away

Yes we agreed and danced to the tunes of death.

Hugged the virus shunning the only lifelines we had;

Social distance, a hand wash and a mask.

 

We danced we rejoiced we bathed in your victories

As crematoriums lined up with cold dead bodies.

Gasping for colorless air, for that precious oxygen

Mere numbers on the graphs piling up the mountain.

 

And yet blind we are to all this with blurry vision

Right under our big black eyeballs as all this unfolds.

As programmed, we will press your buttons and

Fret not, for we will forget this all very soon.

 

-Sydney Billford Monteiro

Gasp

 

Labored is my breath as I gasp

I gasp for a mouthful

With every wheeze I feel in my lungs

I gasp for a mouthful

 

Little did I know that I would some day

Heave at the colorless air

Little did I know that someday I would

Gasp for a mouthful

 

It was better to breathe a little air

Under the safety of my mask

But I shunned it breathing in the virus

Alas today I gasp for a mouthful.

 

Every breath burns my nostrils, as

Every time I push myself for precious air

Every gasp flames my windpipe

But still I gasp for a mouthful.

 

-Sydney Billford Monteiro

 

What Does The Nation Really Wants To Know?

“The nation wants to know” has become a household slogan of the modern age. As our eyes are glued to the television screens at the prime time, our ears are bombarded with this slogan by an angry looking, screaming news anchor who blabber these words incessantly.

So what does the nation wants to know? Does it really want to know which celebrity indulges himself in drug abuse? Does it really wants to know when my religion will win over others? Does it really wants to know when will we annihilate our enemy nations? Does it really wants to know what the leaders of the opposition are doing? Does it really want to know what our supreme leader ate last night? Does it really want to know who is eating the wrong kind of meat because a section of people are being offended? Does it really wants to know… Oh my, the list goes on. Well my answer to this is “no”; the nation doesn't want to know about all this. The nation doesn't give a rat’s ass about these issues. Well if you still think that I am wrong then you need to change your glasses buddy or simply switch to a different news channel if that helps.

Today when you look at the social media sites it might feel that the nation indeed wants to know about the above mentioned issues. Well to put it more bluntly that’s because the nation is fooled; as simple as that. There’s no nicer way to put it. 

So what does the nation really wants to know? Okay for starters the nation really wants to know if we will get a plateful of rice tonight. It wants to know if our jobs are safe during this pandemic. It wants to know if we will receive full salaries at the end of the month as was promised by our employers. It wants to know if its safe for our women to walk alone on the streets. It wants to know if we will get true justice against the atrocities we have suffered under the people in power. It wants to know what we can do about the farmers committing suicide. It wants to know whether the vaccine against the Corona-virus is safe and without any side-effects. It wants to know if the air we breath is safe for our kids. It wants to know if our wildlife is safe from extinction. It wants to know if our youth will end up getting the right job after completion of their studies. The nation wants to know what can be done to avoid floods. It wants to know if road accidents can be avoided. It wants to know if traffic problems can be resolved. The nation wants to know if we have enough beds and oxygen cylinders in our hospitals. The nation wants to know if its okay to eat this, wear that, make a joke, watch it, hold his hand and go out with him to a pub, without being lynched or arrested and locked up for an indefinite period of time? Phew, the list goes on… do you want me to continue? I hope not, my fingers are tired typing what the nation really wants to know. You better ask yourself, knocking at your conscience and I hope you will get the right answer (hmm, well that depends on whether your conscience is still intact).

So basically what I want to say is that the nation already knows what it wants to know. But some people are making a fool out of the nation and misguiding it. They are simply painting their dark views over the true colors of the real issues for which the people of this nation want answers.

It is said that if you already know what you want you will start acting on it. But rarely are we taught to rake our brains to find out what we really want. I hope that one day we will realize what the nation really wants to know. Till then sit back and lets enjoy the show.

-Sydney Billford Monteiro.