! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Now The Waiting Is Over! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Poem by Mamta Agarwal

Now no one knocks
On the door.
The waiting is over.

Mobile and landline
Don’t make claim
On my time;
I don’t wear it anymore.

I am more tuned to
My instincts,
And find it
Exciting to guess time
By the length of shadows
And my body clock.

Complete strangers
Walk up to me and ask
In the park,
“It’s in your eyes,
Are you lonely,
Would you like to share? ”
I smile and say not me,
I like being solitary.

Hovering in that zone,
Where the sting
Has gone out of pain
And joy tickles me
Several times in a day.
I just nod at life,
As it accosts me
And tips its hat.
I raise my hand
In acknowledgement.

Now it’s silence
That braces,
Night that hugs and embraces.
I dream in colour
And wake up feeling
Full of vigour.

Sun rays light up my room,
Leisurely I watch from my cot
A tiny, colourful bird
Having a bath in water filled
Earthen pot, squeal, flutter its wings
And fly away.

I too have somewhere to go,
Another day, on my way
No hurry, no worry.
No one to ask
Where, why, how…
Now I just live in now.

Pass by a music shop;
It’s playing ‘Ekla chalo re…’
Nearby kids skip and hop;
I listen, feel silent,
Maybe since both listen and silent
Have same alphabets.
(Observed Alfred Brendel)


Ekla chalo re… song written by late Rabindranath Tagore is a part of Rabindra Sangeet. It exhorts the listener to continue his or her journey, despite abandonment, or lack of support from others.
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