Roots

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Untitled

Last night's slumber
Clinging at corners of my eyes
The heaviness revealing
In the fullness of my lips
-
February 27, 2016
Thank you Facebook memories!

Untitled

 oh sunny days have set in....
sunrays through the window
i watch them curiosly
i know if i go out
the scorch will get my forehead
and i might look above
the yellow source of this all...
the yellow of light
of creation
of existence
oh yellow...
i might just get lost in u...
-
February 26, 2012 
Thank you Facebook memories!

Sunday, October 13, 2024

An Archetypical Burst

So much thinking, so much time away, away from writing. Thinking about writing, how I want to put it out. Thinking about writing ideas. 
And lately, "You haven't written anything in a while, Chandni." 
"Well, it makes sense, with so much practicality taking over? Haven't you been enjoying it?"

It did make sense, and I respected it. Until today. Till sometime back. A flutter in my chest. Two Bumble chats that I enjoyed. Two people. Why does it rekindle me this way? Why do I feel poetic? Existence is a mystery, components of it are, components of me are. 

A visual if I wanted to give it one: citrusy! Tiny, sparsely collected, drops of citrus on the tongue. The olfactory landscape bursts too, you see. And the tactile? Awakened. Look at the awakened tongue! A beginning of a movement. A movement into dance. Look at its feminine twirls! :)

"Did you break your hiding, Chandni? Did you give yourself up, for a moment, here?!"
"Well, let them find me."


Monday, February 12, 2024

Untitled

The moon slipped from her forehead
Slid down her hair
The sun jumped in from the window
And into her eyes
He waltzed in them
Left and right he swam
Until she had to open them
"Good morning sweet," he said
The world was a wonderous burst of warm, cream, white
Cradling a zest
Zesty like citrusy oranges
Of excitement to come and a to-do list
She smiled back sweetly and hugged the new day
-
Feb 12, 2017
(Thank you, Facebook Memories!)

Friday, October 6, 2023

नाही

काळोख असा वाकुन पडलाय
रात्र चिंब-चिंब रडत आहे

मी नाही उचलणार तुला
बिलगू देणार नाही

माझा पान्हा मी साठवत आहे
तुझ्या संगोपणाला नाहीये 
तुझ्या फाटक्या कंठानी 
रडत बस
मी पाऊल टाकलाय बाहेर
या क्षितिजातुन

दिवस कसा अनेकरंगी येतोय
मोरपिसासारखा 
कुरवाळतोय, ओठांना माझ्या
हे असे मला गुदगुल्या होतात
विसरले होते 
-
चांदणी गिरिजा
ऑक्टोबर ६, २३

छायाचित्र: अंजना सी.

Friday, September 8, 2023

I Miss the Sea

Saudade. That is what I am feeling now. A terrible yearning for the sea. The touch of soft sand. The breeze tousling my hair. The sounds! Oh! The sound of waves. Rhythmic, tumultuous, rebellious, calm. How meditative! All of this, and the horizon. I could stare and stare and stare and stare. Ha. So pleasurable! 
It's a misnomer, a transferred epithet. It is the beach that I miss, not the sea. Oh, what an ache it is!
Take me to the shore. Take me home! 


Thursday, July 6, 2023

അഗ്നിനോട്ടം

തീയിലേക്ക് നോക്കാൻ നീ 
പേടിക്കരുത് 
നിന്റെ തീ നിന്റെ സത്യമാണ് 
തീ തുപ്പാതിരുന്നാൽ മതി  
തീ വിഴുങ്ങാതിരുന്നാൽ മതി 
തീയിലേക്കു നോക്കിനില്കുമ്പോൾ 
നിന്റെ കണ്ണുകള്ക്ക് 
വല്ലാത്ത ഭംഗിയാണ് 
നിന്റെ സ്ത്രീത്ത്വത്തിനു 
അലങ്കാരമാണ് 
അഗ്നിനോട്ടം
-
ചാന്ദ്നി ഗിരിജ

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Eve's Apples

The raindrops on our naked arms
Are raucous
We are lost in the bustling
Cacophony of this city
We are two wild animals
Walking in civilised clothes
Only our raincoats are honest,
Transparent 
Our loves are impure
Our motivations muddled
We have banished sensibility
To a humble hut in the Andamans 
Our arms brush 
As we are pushed closer
By this stifling crowd of desires
We aren't good for each other's health
And yet all we want to do
Is eat each other
-
Chandni Girija

Monday, June 12, 2023

പ്രണയം

പ്രണയം വികാരമല്ല 
സ്രോതസ്സാണ് 
ജീവസ്രോതസ്സ് 
എന്റെ ചുണ്ടകളിൽ 
നാണിച്ചു വീഴുന്ന മഴതുള്ളികളെ 
ഞാൻ തിരിച്ചു ചുംബിക്കുമ്പോൾ 
എന്റെ ആയുസ്സ് 
ആ ദിവസത്തെ എന്റെ ആയുസ്സ് 
അവിടെ കൂടുകയാണ് 
-
ചാന്ദിനി ഗിരിജ 
ജൂൺ 12, 2023 

Sunday, April 30, 2023

White

I put my hand out
For some fresh air
Oh!
I have been kissed!
Tuft of soft silky white
Hair held by a seed
Oh!
Whoever thought
I did not but
I witness now
Seeds 
Seeds can fly!
Coming all this way
From miles and miles
Stopping here
To give me a kiss
Such an abundance 
Abundance of spirit
This home tree is
No, no, no, no
I am not letting
You get away
I believe now 
I deserve kisses
I will preserve now
Each and every kiss
Each and every kiss
I will plant this kiss
I will plant this seed
In my orchard
I will fashion now
A hair clip of the
Silken tuft
Such beauty, see?
Such, such, such 
Beauty, see?
It will go infinitely 
Well with my grey
And white
Grey and white
My grey and white
Peppery peppery hair
-
Chandni Girija 

On prompt, as a palinode to this poem
 
Day 30 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Maan-ga Maan-ga


1. 
Maan-ga Maan-ga is notorious 
The most sensuous of fruits
Succulent and sweet
Tell me
Tell me if you aren't ravenous
For some mango flesh, what
What are you?
A dried up morose
Moribundity?

2.
All that mango said was
"Excuse me"
And this uncouth gent went
And squeezed it
Have you lost your rubric 
Your sense of space
Respect for a fruit life? 

3.
Madam activist lady
What I did was 
My interpretation
Of the presentation
And some gestation 
In-between
Didn't you begin with
Sensuousness of fruit
And in paragraph two 
You changed like a 
Personality split into two
Take this fruit basket
Go sell twelve mangoes
For now don't throw 
Your popply fruit rights at me
-
Chandni Girija

Day 29 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

I attempted Maureen's prompt to write a two-part poem that focuses on a food or type of meal giving it at least one line of spoken dialogue and at some point describe it as if it were a specific kind of person. This poem ended up having three parts. 

*Maanga is mango. It is pronounced this way in South India. There is no letter in the English alphabet for the actual pronunciation of this 'ga.' 

Image by PDPics from Pixabay 

Friday, April 28, 2023

A Turmeric Secret

It sleeps in the morning's bosom
A turmeric secret
The dead rat has been dried 
By yesterday's sun
Today it has turned to a papad
The hungry dog sniffs at it hopefully 
The morning joggers balk 
The school traffic begins to assemble
Night is now a small dot 
On this street
The morning clutches 
The front end of its sari
And tucks it in the waist
The morning is such a boisterous lady
She sweeps away the remaining specks
Of the howling night
The weakly protesting night
-
Chandni Girija 

Day 28 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | Global/National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Why do I Write?

Why so many colours
Bursting, mixing, shading
Why so many colours
Why these tunes
Why the rhythms 
Why add the music 
Why animate the words
I think I want to paint
I think I want to sing
I think I want to dance
And all I do is write
All I can do is write 
All I can do through writing
All I can do through just writing 
Little rivers inside me
All they want is to flow
Painting rivers
Song rivers
Dance rivers
They dam against my inanimate hands
My inanimate voice 
All I do is type
All I can do is type 
Bore little holes on the dams
Channel the struggling water
Temper the flow
All the water wants is to flow
The water 
The water must flow
Must, must flow
The water must flow
-
Chandni Girija

Day 27 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Months #napowrimo


I have been asking myself why my poem posts on some mediums are in a certain way. Lately, they have been ending up on YouTube. This is a meta piece on that line of enquiry. However, the biography of the why is still incomplete, I suspect. 
This would have been a fitting last day poem. It came out today though. 🙂 This is one of those poems that requires recitation; not so much of a cerebral one. But then, again, I am trying to sing 🙂

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Chandanapottu

He hides today
Clouds, clouds are his bastion
I catch him
In glimpses and slivers
He knows I do
Today he let
A drop slip
A drop I caught 
In my palm 
A clear drop with a silver sheen  
Is it a tear drop?
Or is it his blood?
How do I ask?
Such questions are not polite
And our distance is not malleable 
I mix coarse chandanam in it
I apply the paste on my forehead
In his shape 
This is how 
I go to work today 
Chandni Girija 

Chandanam is sandalwood. Chandanapottu is the bindi ... 

Day 26 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

त्रेथा

I am the disco floor
As I am opening the door
Round colored lights in my eyes
A dominant rhythm everywhere
In my ear drums
Center of my chest 
My toes
My whole being in angling
Only for your presence
The peephole is not needed
My body has already told me
All left for you, my sweet
Is to enter
And yet 
This moment seems to stretch
Into several years
Why? 
Do you hear my breathless whisper?
Why, why, why ... 
-
Chandni Girija 

Day 25 of 30 | 30 Peoms in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo



Monday, April 24, 2023

Yawn

I am whisking this coffee,
In this this white cup, whisk
Whisking, whisking, whisk
Something is happening to 
It, its colour is changing, its
Form is changing, a smell is
Waft, waft, wafting, if I pour
Water in this, this, this, will
It become night-coloured? 
No, it becomes the dusk, and
I gulp it, gulp not sip, I gulp
This coffee-smelling sweet
Honeyed dusk, will, will, will
I wake now, will I blitz kreig,
What the word, yeah, carved 
Dime, no, will, will, will I 
I carpe diem, well, I do not, I
Still sit a pile of brood, steam
Wafting from me, upwardssss
Words up, pup, up, up weirdz
Upwardz
zzzzz
-
Chandni Girija 

Day 24 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo 

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Hunger Notes

1
Hunger pattering 
inside their bellies 
To say you are hungry 
is an embarrassment 
It is more honourable
to sleep hungry 
Than to have a full meal
at the langaar 

2
I did not wish 
upon this discovery 
To know these sides
of you unknown hitherto 
That you could be mean 
so uncouth so scheming
The full wide spectrum  
of your personality 
I did not want to know
my ability to hate 
My capacity of hate
my range of hate 

3
I did not forget
everyday the gully dog 
If nothing I spared 
a morsel for the bony thing
After everything I did
that day I gave it one meal
Its wagging greeting 
was my redemption 
A comma, a sparse checkbox
of my humanity 

4
The rains arrived 
as the flood of dead bodies
He got a job
at the cremation ground
They began eating
three square meals 
As dead flesh burnt
urgently in mass pyres
They could afford now
fowl in their food

-
Chandni Girija



I have responded to Maureen's prompt of writing a poem with numbered sections. Each section, while individual, should attempt to talk to the other sections, like a different person picking up each new verse in a continuous song. Maureen also suggested the poem be set in a specific place that I used to spend a lot of time in, but don't do so anymore. Well, this poem is situated in and around the cremation grounds. I haven't visited this place a lot. But my head was a lot in this place as thousands of Indians were cremated during the pandemic. Why would I visit it anymore? Until recently, well no, I won't relive that horror again. 
Thank you Maureen, for pointing me towards Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. I enjoyed his 'Lockdown Garden.' Also, what a shame I didn't know about him! It speaks about my very limited reading, and, perhaps, the cultural obscurity? We should keep these accomplished poets and artists, from our part of the world, alive in discussion!! 



Day 23 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo 

Eye-ly Water

This is a serious matter 
The stone has bitten the tooth
After walking this long, long noon
The face has tanned the sun 
After this long, long day
The night has skidded over the old lady
Looking at that lonely, lonely dog
The moon has barked irritatedly 
Why are you uttering such sophisticated Marathi
Sleep has tugged at the eyelids 
-
Chandni Girija


This is a translation of the Day Seven Marathi poem, Dolas Pani. One of the #NaPoWriMo participants, Paula, had asked for the text of the poem (as I had posted it as an image with artwork). Paula, apart from posting her own work, engages with that of others on the #NaPoWriMo community. She puts energy into others. May her beauty stay protected and inspire others. This is my way of thanking her. It is due to people like Paula, who give support to other artists, that art thrives. I try to do my bit, a little bit.

*The adjective of 'eyes' is not working in English; it's not present in Marathi too but the word 'dolas' is an invention [by me]. I have sometimes twisted and played with terms this way. 'Dolas Pani' - I had uttered this for the first [and probably the only time] in front of a friend. I really liked the term and wanted to document it in some way. And it happened, more than a decade later, as the title of this poem!!

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Flower-head

I know you read like gulmohars
Like little gulmohars as they fall from the sky
You comprehend in reds, yellows and oranges
What perhaps are only white jasmines
Or only black roses 
No one congratulated your sprightliness 
They are in fact wearied by it
They know you will burn too much
And too fast 
Oh
But oh
You will leave such a fragrance
Of intermingled red, yellow and orange
Jasmines and roses
When they come to your funeral 
They will hide their involuntary sniffing
In sighing and nodding 
When they will sit in the rows of chairs
They will all be antsy lines 
Of black and white
-
Chandni Girija 


Day 22 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo 

Friday, April 21, 2023

Malleable


Wooden benches do learn
The shape of your warmth
I know one that did, one I met
In a summer's little park, a man
Who would wait for his beloved
She had his heart, and every day
She gave it to him, and took it back
As she flew away, whether he came
For his heart or his beloved is fuzzy
Around the borders, but I know they 
Met like twines in a cello or twigs
In a fire, their sparks spitting out
Touching others, catching them in
Surprise, wonder and jealousy, I was
One of these, until the day she did 
Not return and his longing wailed
Silently everyday in the park, it was
An undesirable thing, this misery 
That clung to every passer-by's 
Nostrils until one day he stopped
Coming, someone told me he was
Buried without a heart, I was glad
In a way, and that evening I went
To the park bench with glee and
Popped my bum on it with great
Ceremony, I was uncomfortable as
I could ever be, I never knew that 
A park bench could be so woody
Everyday I would curse it, the park
Bench that snobbed me, until today 
When I realised it had been silently
Malleable for their love, and now 
That their love had gone, the bench
Was stuck in this lovelessness
-
 Chandni Girija

Day 21 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo

Photo by Robin McPherson