रात्र

दूरात चंद्रमाचा मधुरम्यसा महाल
फिरती सभोवताली तारांगणे विशाल
निष्पाप कोवळ्या ह्या गोष्टीत दंगलेली
चैतन्य शैशवाचे उधळीत रात्र आली ...

तो स्पर्श पावसाळी तो चिंब देह ओला
तो केवडा सुगंधी केसात माळलेला
तो मोरपीस वेडा भिरभीर होय गाली
हळुवार मालवूनी नक्षत्र, रात्र आली ...

स्वप्नील लोचनात साचून चंद्रतारे
गगनात घे भरारी, जिंकून घे दिशा रे
तारुण्य ध्येयवेडे लेवून आज भाळी
वाटा नव्या यशाच्या शोधीत रात्र आली ...

थकल्या सुन्या दिशा ह्या अन वाट संपलेली
आता छटा सुखाची अंतात गुंफलेली
अंकूरण्या नव्याने झडुदेत जीर्ण वेली
चाहूल शेवटाची मिरवीत रात्र आली...

© अदिती जोशी

The Rose

I was the song without a rhyme..A tale without a twist
Amidst the world of winsomeness, I was the perilous beast

I was a cold and distant star, devoid of human touch
I was a night without a hope.. A hold without a clutch..

I was an ugly roadside bud, unfragrant and pale
I was a tedious, unread part of a twisted, lengthy tale

Bewitched with your spells of charm and curve beneath your nose
..and tinges of your blush around, I bloomed into a rose..

© Aditee Joshi

The Forgotten..

Dear Friend,

As I go through the treasured reminiscences of our past, the letters, the cards that we shared, I smile, one of the rarest things I do these days...! Yes, you still make me smile! Like you did back then, when life seemed to be more colourful and vibrant...

As facebook notifies me a 6 year old memory with you, I come across all the crazy things that we did together.. the way we managed to find a few moments away from the rat race and relax in the endless vastness of life.. the way we tried to hide the traces of our craziness from the seemingly normal world... wasn't that fun?

Do you remember us having vowed to be with each other through every thick and thin..? I don't.. We apparently never did. But we did vow to stay in touch on moving apart.. didn't we?

As I browse the pages of old letter that you had left for me, a sudden sense of loss strikes me from within. Yes, somewhere between keeping pace with changing things and failing to maintain contact with you, I lost you... Somewhere between being a functional adult and holding my crazy urges back, I lost you.. Somewhere between sparkly beach sand and my sparkling career goals, I lost you.. Somewhere around the end of teenage and beginning of adulthood, I lost you...

As I laugh over a silly joke written by you on a goodbye card, I realise that the things now, are not the same between us. The vast ocean that we loved visiting to, once upon a time, is now apparently lying between you and me.. I am on the beach and you,at the horizon! Difficult, almost impossible to chase.

I don't know if the distances killed our friendship or we did, but as I put our treasured memories back to the envelope, I feel something tearing apart, deep inside. As I close my eyes to let the agony pass, I see the bits of our torn friendship lying all over..

I don't know if you still care, but I miss you... a lot!

Love,

Aditee

Womanhood

Elated she was, with the new world set afront... she rejoiced as her heart gained beats, her cells divided and the organs formed... she floated elegantly in the ocean of her dreams.. "It's the baby girl again" she stopped as she heard a sigh... her newly gained beats did not last long....

He ardently worshipped Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge.
"Remember you are a girl. Learning is not your cup of tea. It's better that you quit school and get involved in domestic chores instead." He said when his daughter asked him for her school fees.

"Behave yourself", her mother told her, when her dupatta slipped off her shoulder. Women should look decent in the public."
Meanwhile, her brother blew whistles and passed ugly comments on a group of girls at the bus stop.

"A girl should be two things... who and what she wants." He quoted on his facebook wall. "Why did you have to wear a short skirt at the party? Did you purposely want those scumbags to drool over your bare legs?" He bashed at his wife later.

While he sang praises of Ma Durga at the temple, his own mother lay abandoned in an old age home, counting her last breaths.

And while the society held a candle march to preach feminism, she burned herself like a candle...Raped. Groped in public. A subject to constant judgements. Tied with the invisible chains of slavery... and still managed to give away the light...and then she gradually faded off, highlighting the essence of womanhood...

© Aditee Joshi

माझीच मी

शुभ्र कोऱ्या चांदव्याशी हासले माझीच मी
धुंद हळव्या शब्दगंधी गुंतले माझीच मी..

लाख स्वप्ने गुंफुनी मी बांधली तारांगणे
उसवता अलवार टाका उसवले माझीच मी

सौख्यसमयी भोवताली लाख होते सोबती
आणि दु:खाच्या घडीला सोबती माझीच मी

हाय तू तुडवून जाता दूर प्रीतीची फुले
त्या फुलांच्या अत्तरासम बहरले माझीच मी

मतलबी सारेच येथे, नाहि कोणाचे कुणी
मुखवटे नुसते सभोती, शेवटी माझीच मी!

© अदिती

The Betterhalf

I stepped the room with racing heart. The weight of my saree, the jwellery that i had been carrying the whole day, had now become unbearable. The room was all decorated, petals of roses lying on the bed. A scent of fresh roses lingered all over. The room was dimly lit, the bedside antique lamp being the only source of light. I felt incomplete.. as if I had left the other half of mine back at home… I was stuck with the sense of incoherence.

The sound of door from behind brought chills down my spine. I was terrified thinking about things that would follow… Being the first night after marriage, this was supposed to be the most special moment of all for me. I was struck with terror instead. I was not prepared for this relationship… I was only 18.. too young to be a part of it.

It had come up to me as a surprise, and a mere notion of marrying a stranger had given me goosebumps. I come from the family who considers a girl being friends with guys wrong. I was more than surprised when my parents, the same ones who had almost disowned me once, for only talking to my guy classmate after school hours, had insisted me on marrying this stranger.

My heart started thumping as he approached me. He was strong and dark and wore a light blue shaded kurta. He looked too mature for a 25 year old. I thought of my mother… of all the things she had advised for tonight… I felt uneasy. I closed both my eyes tight… A storm of negativities started evading my mind… All I wanted to do was sleep peacefully and wait for the storm to pass..

"You look beautiful"

Coming back to my senses, I looked at him. He was smiling. Not knowing how to react, I stood still.

"I had always been wondering how it would be like, the two of us, living together. I had been living alone for over a decade."

I repelled as he came closer.

"…and we are finally married… this is the most beautiful moment of my life… what do you think…? "

he came even closer... 'NO...' my mind shouted… 'I don't want this to happen…'
He turned my face towards his… and smiled… I wanted to run away…

"Well… I admire your skills… the way you manage to spread terror with these eyes… You so much look like a ghost that you almost scared me."

He started laughing. I looked at him.. clueless…

He took a picture of me on his phone…

"Take a look", he said..

My eyeliner had smudged all over my face… and with the gloomy expression, I quite resembled a ghost from bollywood movies. I couldn't help but laugh at myself… and we laughed together… till our stomachs ached.


"So let's talk",he said..

"Talk?" I asked, surprised. This was surely not supposed to happen tonight.

"Yes, like friends do… at the sleepovers… stay up all night and talk."

"Friends?"

"I want our relationship to initiate with friendship… I want us to share our likes, dislikes, passions, dreams with each other… I want our relationship to bloom, from friendship, to whatever it is desired to be… have you ever seen the rising sun…? let our relationship gradually rise like the sun… let's illuminate each others lives… all other things will happen when they have to. Let's be friends first…"

I looked at him. He was looking straight into my kohl smudged eyes. I found his eyes assuring. The restlessness storming over my mind had faded away with that assurance…

"Friends…?" I repeated, dumbfounded.

"Yes dear friends. Would you like to be my friend?"

…and then, the unexpected happened… we talked throughout the night… shared our dreams, passions… he promised to fulfil all my dreams… and then we watched the sunrise together. The radiance in his eyes quite resembled the radiance of the rising sun. It was then, that I found the lost half of mine… although, this was not the one that I had left back at home… this was even better…better than my old shattered half. This was my Betterhalf…

©Aditee Joshi

ती सर ओघळता...

ती सर ओघळता सोबतीस मी झरतो
तो मेघ झुरावा तैसा मीही झुरतो
आपुलेच काही तुटुन ओघळून जावे
खेदात तशा मी कणा कणाने विरतो...

ती सर ओघळता विझती स्वप्नदिवेही
अन दिवसासंगे विझून जातो मीही
अन लख्ख काजळी गगनी दाटून येता
मी आशेचे कण शोधित भिरभिर फिरतो

ती ओघळता मी सुना एकटा पक्षी
पंखांच्या जागी असाह्यतेची नक्षी
शेवटास मीही काव्यपंख लेवून
आठवांभोवती तिच्या नित्य भिरभिरतो

ती सर ओघळता उरे न काही बाकी
सहवास सरे अन अंती मी एकाकी
ती सरीसारखी चंचल आर्त प्रवाही
तिज धरू पाहता मीच दिवाणा ठरतो

©अदिती जोशी