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Featured Guest - Debaleena Mukherjee

Debaleena is a homemaker who also reads and writes. Reading isn’t about “making time to read”. She reads wherever, whatever, whenever. Writing is her articulation of all the incoherence in her head. She lives in Bangalore. She needs books, coffee and cake, a reading-light and her recliner.

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Ink-Smudged Dreams- by the Reading Light

Coffee, Smiles & Tears: by Starlight

'Ink-Smudged Dreams- by the Reading Light’ is a collection of poems. Poems that reflect the many facets of my life: maybe any woman’s life. Certain moments, fleeting experiences, lasting impressions, unknown anxieties, silly apprehensions, humble realization, intense joys and every hurt felt; these are the poems’ moods . And above all a growing perception that life is not about tomorrow: it is about today. But all these are not my consciously addressed ideas. Each day, they have gently enfolded me. Then in the quiet of the night, I would sit down and pour my heart out on paper. Drowsy, blurred, and very close to my heart. These are those ink-smudged dreams by the reading light.

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'Coffee, Smiles & Tears: by Starlight'; is a collection of short stories. These are vignettes and miniatures. They are the doll’s- house in my heart. These tales are of fleeting moments in which we live a lifetime of emotions. These are my ‘Wonders’ and ‘Closures’ in life. I emerged from the cocoon;I found my wings. Here are stories of “Life” that never ceases to surprise me. As with my collection of poems, so with these stories, this is “Life” as I see it. They are ramblings, musings. I claim no definition, because, for me life does not come with tags. It enfolds you every which way. Being a coffee lover, I believe in dipping every nuance of my life in coffee, especially late into the night. I love looking at the night sky and gazing at the stars. They know of my tears and smiles. So that’s my time to watch the starlight blend into my coffee.

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Feature Presentation

Carpe Diem Cupboard

 

I opened the cupboard of my life.
The hinges were oiled and smooth with use.
The shelves were piled high and fine,
All was in place, hangers, holders in a line.

Then I rummaged through the shelves,
Thrust into the corners and dug and delved.
I reached up to the topmost one,
It all came pell- mell tumbling down.

The topmost shelf was confused and messed,
With bittersweet thoughts, one  cracked bling necklace .
With faded clothes and choices misplaced ;
Mildewed, musty prejudices filled all the space.

My cupboard needs an airing,
My cupboard needs to be opened.
The shelves need to be searched
For long neglected joys of living.

I took down the crayons of my imagination;
From the top shelf, where they lay broken.
I found the faded yellowed letter of appreciation;
That I had written to myself; it fluttered all forgotten.

There are mismatched socks and broken dreams.
I will knit more socks, and mend the dreams with glitter glue.
There are too tight jeans and too tight rules.
I’ll cut the knots of “do and don’t”: I’ll elasticise those jeans.

There is paper in the cupboard, and some old pens:
I’ll write myself a new letter about how; now I think.
With those crayon stubs; I’ll rediscover and reimagine,
I’ll plan new dreams with the faded pens and ink.

I have to declutter this cupboard,
I have to break into that hoard.
I have to let go of  bundled sorrows,
I have to discard all the toxic, fungus mold .

This is the one cupboard of my life
Where I can stash and shove and store.
This is the cupboard that’s my own:
Its doors are mine to open and close.

Let me keep my cupboard clean and bright,
Uncluttered with trash and bitter fights.
With old favourites, choices new I’ll keep;
All arranged to find whenever I need.

We all have a cupboard that we own:
It’s wooden and sturdy, yet quite frail.
There are glassware dreams and iron thoughts,
All stored side by side, or in a strange jumble.

Arrange your stuff; crooked and quirky,
Or in neatly matched and folded rows.
Keep the stationery of your duty,
And the sewing kit of your hopes.

One life: one cupboard :
That’s what had been allotted.
I will keep my cupboard fixed
With glue, varnish, determination and faith.

(c) Debaleena Mukherjee

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Vatsala Upadhyay

    How wonderfully visualized that we have one life and one cupboard and it is up yo us to declutter and arrange it from time to time with beautiful memories and memoirs. Beautiful thought beautifully written ♥️ Just loved it!!!

  2. Asha Wadhwa

    Love reading everything you write 💖
    Love it even more when you read it out loud

  3. Sudeshna Bhattacharya

    Beautiful! Can so relate to this.

  4. Asha Wadhwa

    I just love everything you write. ❤️
    I love it even more when you read it out loud ❤️❤️

  5. Deepa

    As usual very well written. Loved reading the poem. So meaningful.

  6. Florence Joseph

    I love to look at the world through your eyes dear Debo. Thank you my friend for using your gift of articulation so beautifully, bringing out the nuances of mundane and ‘taken for granted’ things of life!! Continue to make the world smile……

  7. Pubali

    Just loved it. Very much relatable to our life, wonderful.