She

She is the most feminine

During her loneliness

Wiping her tears off her cheeks

Casually dancing to the music of her belief

The belief to rise 

After many dungeons fall

She is herself

Only, when no one’s home

Braless, unruly hair tied in a bun

Sipping the lukewarm tea

Sighs deeply

while doing her zillion chores

She is the most womanly

during her menstrual flux

Swinging herself every month

Through the doors of fire and piety

Her emotions heightened 

Her courage daunting

When she falls 

Only to rise again…

Freedom

Freedom, it's free. Priceless. Some say it's too expensive. But is it so Freedom? 

It makes me feel strong and powerful, slow and smooth. It wooed me and proposed like the Sea to the Moon. 

Freedom, It makes you sway like a dancer, run like a sprinter. Swimming wide in the Ocean and flying high like the Eagles, I feel.

Freedom makes things easier. 

It gives you joy. You're welcome to experience it. Yes, experience. Freedom will allow you to experience myriad vulnerable yet powerful moments. 

Beautiful. Experiences. Because you're not bound to the shackles.

It is priceless. With freedom, you decide your movement. 

So, be free.

The Himalayan way of life

When observing silence dancing in and around me like a ballet performer 

When sleeping on a tune played by the raindrops at night 

When learnt to cuddle loneliness and enjoy solitude 

When panting heavily on strolls in the village and smiling at the children pass by 

When fascinatingly admiring the old wooden houses to make home someday 

When taking a nap on the terrace, looking at the magnificent waterfall and helicopters pass by 

When sleeping under the stars and watching some crazy movements at 3 AM in the sky

When cold brushing your nose gives a cheeky blush 

When feet never get warm despite of heater and double socks

When the night is gifted with a blanket of snow

Children sledge, scream and shout in the morning 

And I, make a hot cup of coffee, watch, write or rhyme at home.

Life: Act upon it now

 Life! What is it? 

For me, life is an anthology of poems.

 Some short, others long. Some simple, others complex like the episodes in our lives. 

Life! What is it?

 For me, life is a blank canvas waiting to be smeared with colours. 

It is a blank diary waiting for the writer to scribble her thoughts.

Life is an omnibus of simple stories with complex characters or complex stories lived by simple- minded people. 

Life is a play enacted by improvising actors on stage.

 It is a bowl of soup of soup you choose to keep bland or spicy. 

Life is a dark sky you choose not to see. 

It is a sunny day with orange hues entering through the glass windows. 

It is the hope I see from my window looking at the rotten apple hanging strongly on the tree. 

Life is the snowy mountains, foggy nights turning into sunny days with bright light breaking the cold days and nights. 

Life! What is it for me? It is the magnificence I see in the mountains as soon as I wake up every morning. 

It is the honey lemon water I sip while being glad and grateful for this life. 

Life! It is limitless, endless, bountiful waiting for you to take the plunge. 

Don't wait for it to happen, act upon it now. 

Listen intently to

The calm 

The cacophony 

The silence 

The roar

The music of the Wind 

The orchestra played by your soul 

Take

The pause 

The patience 

The time off 

The wait 

To accept

The impasse of life 

The disconnect of the soul 

Battle

The fight 

The struggle 

The vilification 

The rising 

To reach

The moment you 

Be you 

• Shaisology 

 

 We lose parts of ourselves in the playgrounds of childhood; friends of teenage; 

lovers of youth; 

losing is a part of finding ourselves.

We are a part of memories buried in the dungeon of our subconscious minds;

Losing is a part of gaining. 

Common

 When you feel too much, but can’t comprehend;

When you desire too much, but can’t fulfil;

When you can’t love enough, but just a little;

When you have nothing to speak, but just silence to share.

How is it going?

Poetry reading at Sunshine Cafe, Old Manali

Correct Pronunciations in less than two minutes

Hope - A Poem

The Cloud - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Hope

My Mamma says that I narrate stories well and I should write one on hope.

Yes, I have found hope during dark nights when moonlight sieved through the windows in my room;

I have found hope in the Twitter of birds and swaying trees;

I have found hope during unbearable physical pain;

I have found hope in the blind man trying to cross the road;

I have found hope in the rickshaw puller paddling to earn some more;

I have found hope in the struggle of a baby crawling on the floor;

Yes, I have found hope in the sunlight waiting to dawn upon us all;

I have found hope in the struggle people do to earn some more —— not money

but respect and love;

Yes, I have found hope and I will keep finding some ——

in every dark corner, in every difficult hour, in every melancholic moment

because I have seen many hopeless hours

but always found you —-

My dearest, Hope.

- Shaisology

You ask me,

“How is it going?”

I say,

“The days are sunny

and the nights are starry.

The cold wind and the Sun have found home during the days,

Trees bend, sway and dance,

The butterflies flutter their wings,

The bumblebees buzz all around.

The cawing of the crows,

The mooing of cows,

The bleating of sheep,

and the pigeons flapping their wings on the tin rooftops;

The pale silhouette of the Himalayas 

and I see a lonely cloud 

The children playing by,

The women chatting on the road,

Men on their way to the forest to  collect wood for the freezing Winter,

Sunbathing, meditative mornings are mine

Listening to my breath pattern 

While I close my eyes

How clear yet mysterious is this life!

Like the pine trees in the forest

Some tall others wide. - Shaista Dhanda 

There aren’t any threads to tie 

There aren’t any promises to make 

There aren’t any plans 

There is just a lot of listening 

There is just a lot of talking 

There’s no looking back once you’ve healed 

There’s just living today