Notion Press
Old No. 38, New No. 6
McNichols Road, Chetpet
Chennai - 600 031
First Published by Notion Press 2017
Copyright © Tanisha Kothari 2017
All Rights Reserved.
eISBN 978-1-948032-66-7
This book has been published with all reasonable efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. No part of this book shall be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The Author of this book is solely responsible and liable for its content including but not limited to the views, representations, descriptions, statements, information, opinions and references [“Content”]. The Content of this book shall not constitute or be construed or deemed to reflect the opinion or expression of the Publisher or Editor. Neither the Publisher nor Editor endorse or approve the Content of this book or guarantee the reliability, accuracy or completeness of the Content published herein and do not make any representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose. The Publisher and Editor shall not be liable whatsoever for any errors, omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause or claims for loss or damages of any kind, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising out of use, inability to use, or about the reliability, accuracy or sufficiency of the information contained in this book.
“For all those who have lost hope in life,
Let’s live life once again!”
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Start of the Ride
Dreams of the Day
Words
The Precious Pearl
My Visible God
Success
Corruption
Courage
The Brave One
Forgive and Forget
Blind
The Best Person
I Don’t Want to Grow
Thief
Uttarakhand, We Are with You
Where There Is a Will
United Nations
Don’t Give Up
An Orphan’s Voice
Food
Where?
I Am Not Alone
Care
Leader or Boss?
Child Labour
Make Her Smile
Time
Losing
Trust
Pollution
Drinking
City
Home Sweet Home
It
A Smile
Colours
Loneliness
Loving Yourself
The Most Important Person
India
A Mom Wrote to Her Son
I Want to Be
Family
Anger
Smoking
A Girl to Her Dad
There Is Always Good for Bad
Small Things
The Best Day of My Life
In Heaven, They Talk...
It Was My Fault
Night’s Grudges
They Never Returned
Foreword
Dear Friends,
This book, these poems are an amalgamation of my imagination and my hard-work. At the end of this struggle, you are the true judge of this book. You may like some poems and dislike others, but I’m sure you will learn something from all of them. All these rhymes speak of the good in people and inspire you to be a good person. I am just a small poet, and I write what my heart speaks. This book has poems that may make you cry and many which make you smile. These poems are not just lines; they are truths. They are truths about different aspects of our daily life which we try to ignore. Now, turn the page, and breeze through the poems.
Acknowledgements
When you write a book, it is you who is doing the actual writing but there are so many people who contribute till the final result comes out. Without them, the whole writing process would not have been so fluent.
I would like to thank my mom, Mona Kothari, for encouraging me to write this book and for always being there to listen to me when I’m not making any sense.
Next, I would like to thank my dad, Sandeep Kothari. You were there to encourage me and help build up my confidence. Thanks for always listening and for being straightforward in your evaluation of my work.
I would also like to thank all my friends who read these poems and gave their stamp of approval. Thank you for giving me your support and encouraging me in every way possible.
The people because of whom and for whom I’ve written these poems need to be thanked. People with big hearts, but small houses. Knowledgeable people without a formal education. People that manage to remain happy despite having innumerable problems. They have shown me that it doesn’t matter how many times we fall, we should get up and try once again.
I would also extend a note of thanks to the people who are going to read my poems and make this journey a success.
THANK YOU
Start of the Ride
You won’t be able to stop if you start,
Just read all the poems with your beautiful heart.
You’ll repeatedly have a look,
And willingly wait for the next book.
Dreams of the Day
Dreams are the thoughts which we can’t say,
They are in our heart and a new destiny for the day.
Some want to be an athlete, a footballer,
or good at chess,
Nobody’s dreams mean more or mean less.
Some dreams don’t let us sleep,
Because of them, many times, we weep.
They can’t be seen while sleeping at night,
We see them better in the light.
But sitting and thinking won’t only work,
We need practice and hard-work.
Goals encourage us in moving forward,
Becoming strong and not being a coward.
Some fulfil them, some don’t,
But will they give up? No, they won’t.
All these goals give us a purpose to live and love,
And when they are reached, the limit is the sky above.
Ambitions are very vital to human life,
They make us feel confident and alive.
So, hold on to your dreams, for if dreams die,
Life is like a broken-winged bird which cannot fly.
Words
Some terms are long, while some are short,
Some are easy to speak, while some hurt a lot.
If you hit a person, it won’t tear him apart,
But if you say something wrong, it reaches the heart.
The first words you say to someone is your identification,
The last words you say will make people judge you as a person.
Some promises you keep may kill you with a knife,
Some undertakings can change your life.
Kind and good phrases are easy to say,
Their effects last for aeons, not just a day.
Messages can motivate, they make you strong,
Don’t doubt them, they’ll last you long.
When you win, congratulations’ is the word,
When you lose, ‘try next time’ is heard.
When you cry, ‘sorry’ is what they say,
And ‘good morning’ for the start of the day.
Words are very important, always speak good,
“They can’t change my life,” you say, I say “maybe they could.”
The P
recious Pearl
The most precious diamond in the world,
It’s nothing else but a girl.
She knows how to cook, sweep, and stitch,
She knows the meaning of trust, she can never ditch.
She was lacking a normal life from the beginning,
Nobody revolted, everyone was only seeing.
When her husband died, even she had to die,
Did anyone help her when she would cry?
The moment a girl was born, she was killed,
Nobody cared about what was in her heart filled.
She had so much to do in the name of house work,
Even when she did nothing wrong, she had to go through the disrespectful quirks.
But I think today is worse than before,
The crimes against girls are much more.
She can’t wear dresses and can’t open her hair,
She can’t go alone anywhere.
It’s because of the people who can’t respect,
And to the people who it doesn’t affect.
“Save her”, cries the mother,
“Please don’t,” requests the brother.
The place we are living on is also called Mother Earth,
So, don’t you think, by disrespecting her, she’s getting hurt.
We forget that if we’re living, it’s because of her,
It’s we who have to save her from this torture.
Don’t refuse to fight for the world’s beauty,
To save her is not only her mother’s or brother’s duty.
My Visible God
How should I tell you what makes a dad?
He’s the only listener to your day; good or bad.
He will always make you laugh, he hates seeing you cry,
He will know the truth even when you lie.
He will work through the longest day and the darkest night,
Only to make your coming days seem bright.
When he hugs you during bad times, the whole world seems nice,
When in trouble, he can give you the best advice.
He will fall in shame so that you can keep your head high,
He will stay on the ground because he wants you to reach the sky.
He would waste his money on your most stupid class,
He will have faith in you when you think you won’t last.
The ones who don’t have one, would die to get a dad,
They don’t have anyone to keep them like their best lad.
They don’t have anyone to tell them that they are sweet,
They don’t have anyone to give them a ‘Father’s Day’ treat.
Always love your dad because he can give his life for you,
Tell me, for him, what can you do?
Success
Tick-tock tick-tock, the clock runs,
Life is not all about eating buns.
It is about failures and success,
And don’t ever give up if you make a mess.
Try and try your best to reach your goal,
Because one day you’ll fight the powerful soul.
There’s no defeat except in no longer trying,
Then there’s no point in sitting and crying.
Many fail, but they try again,
Because to life, there is no end.
Failures are the pillars of success,
Have faith in yourself, and even God will bless.
When you finally win after practising so much,
That’s the greatest moment of your life you keep in touch.
You won’t believe that it was you,
You won’t believe, your dream coming true.
Dreams are just imaginations without success,
Because to win, you have to give your best.
You get to live just one time,
Try to be in the famous names line.
Corruption
Where is the humanity we are searching for?
There is only corruption, more and more.
The ministers are buying people with money,
And continuing their Lokpal journey.
The police officers are being given bribes,
And there are no forests left for the tribes.
Hunters have no mercy for animals,
For money, they are killing and selling the helpless creature’s fur.
The builders take the maximum time to build the roads,
And the money, they want it in crores.
For no reason, so many people sit on strikes,
And others break the rules with their bikes.
There is no place for the lower classes,
And no one cares for the poor masses.
Did Mahatma Gandhi see this future for India?
Or did Bhagat Singh want corruption everywhere?
Where is the faith gone?
Where is the ‘Golden Bird’ that once brightly shone?
Why don’t we stand up and fight?
For freedom, dignity, and for our right.
Courage
Look at the courage it takes to fight,
To leave the past and stand alright.
The blind that see without their eyes,
They have faced the truth in their lives.
The deaf man who hears without his ears,
But of the world, he never fears.
The ones without legs are still walking,
And the ones without tongues are still talking.
These people show that life doesn’t end here,
They fight till the end without shedding a tear.
They are still living without their heart,
Because years before, their dreams were torn apart.
But they stood up with courage,
And faced the world by stepping out of their cage.
They show that, to life, there is no end,
You should be brave enough to live again.
Let’s pray for those who never said no,
And the way they just let their lives go.
I salute these people wherever they are,
They make humanity fly higher and afar.
The Brave One
If instead of I, you say YOU,
If instead of MONEY, you believe in the TRUTH.
If instead of your RELIGION, you say your COUNTRY’S name,
If you treat ALL people the same.
If instead of a MAN, you say a WOMAN,
If you choose PEACE instead of a GUN.
If instead of the POWERFUL one, you are on the RIGHT one’s side,
If you make LESS MONEY but still say no to BRIBE.
If instead of your MOUTH, you use your ARM,
If you are hurt, but the others you don’t harm.
If instead of choosing yourself, you save others,
If instead of saving your family, you save other mothers.
You know you won’t live, but you still do your duty,
If you are not scared to leave the world’s beauty.
If solely for your own life, you don’t run,
Only then you will be called as ‘The Brave One’.
Forgive and Forget
A mistake can be made even by a king,
But asking for forgiveness is doing the right thing.
Saying sorry won’t make you appear big or small,
It doesn’t matter if you’re short or tall.
Asking for leniency can make an enemy a friend,
It won’t affect your back if a little you bend.
Mistakes can make relations tear,
But asking for mercy can repair.
Saying sorry is hard, but absolution can’t be done with ease,
You think whether to say “It’s okay” or “ Just go please.”
But remember, giving is the biggest joy,
Whether it’s amnesty or a toy.
For your biggest crime, a chance who gives,
Even in his bad times, if he forgives.
Then he is none other than God,
But after given an opportunity, if the same blunder is done,
Then everybody knows it is only for fun.
If given some luck, don’t prove that person wrong,
Because gaining trust again can take too long.
Blind
The world is so beautiful to see,
But some are not as lucky as are we.
It’s so nice to see the lovely places,
But there are some who can’t even see their own faces.
Some become blind later in life, while some are from birth,
Some observe the beauty while some don’t see the Earth.
Especially the children who can’t afford to go to blind schools,
Because of this dissimilarity, their whole lives they are considered fools.
They try to be happy, and they even talk,
Giving support to each other while they walk.
Some stand up, those ones are brave,
But some of them are still in the dark cave.
Just sitting and pitying them won’t make their eyes improve,
If you want to help, you’ll have to make a concrete move.
Help them cross the road,
Sometimes help in lifting their load.
We all should do something for their lives,
So, when you die, please donate your eyes.
The Best Person
The best person I’ve ever met,
Talking to him, I’ll never regret.
I stood near him for a while,
I don’t know what happened, I could just smile.
I started by saying, “What has man done to this place?”
He has made life nothing but a long race.
Where if something is important it’s only first,
And everything else is just the worst.”
“Look at the buildings and the malls he is creating,
But nature and animals, he is hating.”
Then I had nothing to say, so I stopped,
And from his mouth, these words popped.
“Yes I agree, man is being wild,
But you are only half right, my child.
Have you done anything to save this Earth?
Did you revolt when the forests were turned into a desert?”
“So, don’t blame others, but yourself, and only you,
My Heart Speaks Page 1