What have we become?

As I stood at the bakery savouring the cake and cold drink a woman came and silently  requested the shopkeeper for some tea. My eyes went towards a frail figure and I could see a not so aged woman in shabby clothes with a shaved head, almost heartbroken as the shopkeeper inhumanly signaled her for money. She begged again and he denied again. The expression on her face was something even a thousand words cant explain and her silence spoke loudly of rejection...rejection by family,by loved ones, by society. She silently turned back leaving me with a thousand questions running through my mind. Why couldn't I go ahead and pay for her tea when I really wanted to do so...what stopped me? Suddenly the cake seemed tasteless..I could feel her hunger and still worse I could feel the pain of her helplessness...it hurt...badly. But even then why couldn't I just extend a caring hand? Why did I think so much rather than just tell the guy to hand over a glass of tea to her and that I would pay for it? Who was more inhuman, the shopkeeper who wanted money from someone who didn't have or I who had but still couldn't give?
I come to realise that in this race of reaching the top of the ladder, somewhere down there we are becoming less and less human. We have reached a phase where we think a thousand time before giving but not once before expecting or asking. We have come to a phase where we "educated lot" fail to read faces. We have come to a phase where we analyze but fail to understand and empathize.
 I asked the shopkeeper about the lady and he said she is mentally challenged. The "mentally challenged lady" then just silently walked around and out of some sense of humanity started picking up all the cigarette packets and waste papers lying around and put them in the waste bin. To my astonishment the area around the shop was lot cleaner than the rest of the area nearby since this so called "mentally challenged" lady does her bit of picking up the litter created by the same people who reject her everyday and disposes it off  in the waste bin ... and to think that the shopkeeper called her "mad" !!!
   I was almost in tears as I walked out of the shop, determined to do my bit...for the lady at-least ... at-least till I could. We are lucky to have had lot more that what we need, its time we understood that.
 Question is who is the one who needs help? Is it her or us? The answer is both need help. She needs our help...people like her need at least a feeding hand if not a caring hand. And we need a guiding hand...a hand to take us back to our human roots...to remind us of the pleasure in giving...to grow as humans...
       May god give me the strength to hold a hand that needs support, to give a smile to a face that has forgotten to smile, to heal a heart wounded with time, to stand by a lonely soul to give company.May we grow into a world where we would be proud of what we have become and not where we would have to sadly question "What have we become?".

Me

For some a sweetheart, for some a heartbreak,

for some the best friend, for some the fiercest foe,

for some I am the dusk, for some the welcome dawn break;

for some I am a sweet dream n for some a nightmare I know.

I stand tall, I am proud;

but am no one so different, for I am also the crowd.

I am a rebel, I love to oppose,

so I give not one, but a hundred thoughts each time I propose.

I am a fighter, am born to fight,

but i shall l drop my weapons and hold high the beacons,

even if it’s my enemy in darkness, in search of some light.

They believed in adages n set a thief to catch me,

but I can pick the pocket of a pickpocket

and steal the gem from a thief’s own locket,

and the poor fellas had to bite the dust, for that’s what was destined to be.

I’ll wipe your tears and fight your fears,

I’ll stitch your heart every time it tears;

I’ll be there with you when the days are dark

and walk away silently when the time doth nears.

I believe in more of we and less of I,

but I’ll loose not my identity even after I die.

I aint afraid of falling ,I keep falling often,

but each time I fall I’ll take flight and again shall I fly;

for never shall I allow the world to trample on me and pass by.

I love to remain quite, I love the sound of silence,

but I won’t allow thee to silence me by raising thy voice;

for if I am silent, I am also the black noise.

Am used to wearing masks, though I love being myself,

I give hope to the world, though I keep none for myself;

that’s what I am, that’s me, that’s my self...

Hope

Alone I stand in this dark full moon night,

looking aghast at the dreadful sight;

not a bird, not a tree

not a living being i see.

For the innocent paid,

for the guilty’s guilt;

and man destroyed the world,

which he had never built.

For ages he has fought,

mercilessly with each other;

friend killing friend,

brother killing brother.

He fought through the day,

didn’t spare even the night;

he fought till his death,

asif born only to fight.

He has made the earth bleed,

and made the sky cry with ire;

and such is man’s greed,

that even water was on fire.

I raise my weary eyes for a glimpse of the moon,

just to realise in pain;

that moonlight was blurred by clouds so dense,

clouds that shall shower blood as rain.

Is it the silence after a storm or the one that preceeds it,

the answer no-one knows;

war after war man fought till his death,

still then hatred grows.

The dusts of a storm had not even settled,

when he raised another one;

and even now he realises not,

what a blunder he has done!

As gust of wind makes a melancholy strain,

with sounds of brutality and notes of pain;

not once did man think even,

“what shall I gain?”

The creator is repenting,

on his botched up creation;

and man thinks to his contentment,

that he is undergoing evolution.

A distinctive cry breaks,

the eerie silence of the graves;

a cry than can melt the heart,

of bravest of the braves.

A woman comes from under the ground,

a baby suckling on her breasts;

a tender heart has entered this world,

where evil never rests.

The clouds have parted,

making way for the silver rays;

maybe someday man will realize his folly,

and make way for happy days.

Someday hatred will bow down,

and there shall be eternal peace.

Someday evil will slow down,

and the world of men shall rest at ease.

The baby bathes in the moonrays white,

Look yonder in its eyes a twinkle so bright;

a pristine smile that needs no dope,

a worn out heart is assured,

There’s hope, there’s hope, there’s hope…

HOPE IS ONE OF THE PILLARS ON WHICH THIS WORLD STANDS.LETS HOPE SOMEDAY MANKIND STRIVES TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS EARTH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE IN…

Icarus

So what, if with wings of wax,
I tried to reach, the mighty sun;
I might have fallen to my death,
but atleast I got to have all the fun.
And I proved you wrong,
all those who said I couldn’t fly;
cause I lay in peace now knowing,
that even till death I did try.
My last smile might haunt you for life,
but I just want you to know;
That I faced my failures with a smile,
And that’s what gave me strength to grow
and pulled me through that last one mile....