Nine hues

White :

Grandfather's old Murphy radio

Would come alive at the crack of dawn

of Mahalaya,

Birendra Kishore would chant slokas

and we would rub our eyes 

and go to the shiuli tree

white blossoms where fell

on the dew laden grass

looking like little gems, 

sparkling fresh and fragrant.

Red :

' From the pandel we would go for a ride

down that road which had gone straight 

to the southern fringe of our town,

where white flocks of kash flowers

are still nodding their heads in this sweet autumnal breeze

by that river bank, 

won't it be lovely?'

she asked me;

Her face looked resplendent 

under the mellowed sun,

her new salwar kameez

had crumples at her arms,

I looked at her face, 

red lipstick glowing,

Invigorating, 

inviting.

Royal blue : 

You will have to climb few more stairs

Then you will reach The Feet of The Lord,

Mahadev...

The saint in saffron robe gave me instructions,

I stared at the statue of the Lord

Visible stark and strong, 

partially covered by trees and hillocks, 

How many steps I need to climb?

Twenty? Thirty? 

May be more,

I was feeling tired,

Thirsty, sleepy, 

But that blue statue of the Lord

He was calling me.

Yellow :

' Are the school hours off? ' 

The children asked their teacher;

It was 2 pm almost and 

only three days left for the durga puja to begin, 

Few yards away the bamboo poles were being put into the ground 

and the pandel was being erected, 

The teacher looked at the pandel,

he thought of his yellow joyful youth,

his bunch of crazy friends.

Green :

Last year it did not rain that much

But this year it should be different,

thought Mahesh, looking at the dark cloudy sky, 

The rains had been good so far,

the fields are turning happy, 

green and grinning.

Grey: 

The tv blared news 

of another rape 

in the heart of the city,

in borad day light,

Manisha felt highly frustrated, 

'The city had gone to dogs'

she muttered, 

as she boarded the metro;

The compartment was filled with people, 

no space proper even to stand, 

she tried to get hold of a handrail,

a hairy hand of a man touched hers,

she moved away her hand promptly, 

but that hand kept chasing hers!

She tried to find the owner of that hand,

Found it at last, 

A man with sly eyes, 

she pushed through the crowd towards the man,

' Keep your fucking hands in your pockets'

she told the man calmly,

The man looked surprised,

he moved towards the door,

the next station arrived,

the grey door opened and shut upon him.

Orange :

The hall door opened, 

the seminar ended, 

the professors rushed towards the elevators, 

The students rushed towards the cafe,

only he stood at the empty hall,

The words of the last speaker 

Rang in his ears, 

And he thought he had almost achieved what he wanted to, 

the prof had hinted at the possible solution to the problem,

And he was inching towards it, perfectly.

That gave him a sudden sense of joy.

Peacock green :

Coming out of the car dealership

Anirban felt kind of satiated, 

Long years of hardship coming to an end, 

Those years of hanging on to the footboard of filthily crowded buses would be gone forever,

finally! 

His peacock green car is getting ready,

all paper works had bern done,

he was going to take that beauty home! 

Pink: 

You would be my lotus

and I would be your ardent admirer,

Days would be passed just looking at you,

your graceful neck, your supple fruity lips, 

your bosom carrying all the nectar of the world.