When life began to ebb
And death was finally born
When the silent screech
Pierced the sky at dawn

When the two end points
Ultimately gained salience
When permanence faded
To yield ground to transience

When creation began to flow
Through this journey called life
When humans began to evolve
One small step at a time

It was at that point
That a sense of philosophy emerged
It was at that juncture
Contemplation became an urge

It was at that point
That homo sapiens became aware
Of the cyclicality of existence
Of birth and death beyond compare

It was at that point
That nature appeared boundless
Where homo sapiens may be limited
But their spirit truly limitless

Subir Chakraborty / 23rd Sept 2018

We undertake, we exploit
We extract from this earth
Its waters, its minerals, treasures
What do we give back
Do we ever ponder

Does the earth belong to us
Or do we belong to this earth
The sun, the moon, the stars
The galaxies
The entire universe

We buy and own lands
But can we ever own
The sweetness of this earth
The gurgling of the streams
The singing of the birds

The air which we breathe
The freshness of the leaves
The fragrance of the flowers
The liberation of dawn
The solitude of dusk

What right do we have then
To debase and to defile
What we do not own
What we have inherited as legacy
With only temporary tenancy

Do we ever pause
Do we ever contemplate
What we shall be leaving behind
For the next generation to savour
And to ponder

Subir Chakraborty / 19th Oct 2018

जीवन में वक़्त एक ऐसा आया
कि वक़्त को ढूँढने निकल पड़ा
वक़्त के आगे, वक़्त के पीछे
वक़्त के बीच मंडराने लगा

किसने देखा इस वक़्त का चेहरा
जो किसी के लिए रूकता नहीं
आगे की दिशा में चलता है
किसी के सामने झुकता नहीं

फिर भी साहस इकट्ठा कर
वक़्त से पूछा एक सवाल
कैसे चलते रहते हो रात दिन
कैसे करते हो ये कमाल

वक़्त ने कहा ज़रा सा हंसकर
ज़रा सा आकर पास
कानों में स्पष्ट सुनाई दिया
उसकी गूँजती हुई आवाज़

ज़िंदगी को खुलकर जियो
अपने दोस्त परिजनों के साथ
हर पल को दिल से सँवारों
हर क्षण से करो प्यार

और बाकि बची, खुशी, ग़म
जो आएँगी घूम फिर के बार बार
न खुशी से फूलो , न ग़म से डरो
ये तो सिर्फ़, वक़्त वक़्त की बात

सुबीर चक्रवर्ती / २७ फरवरी २०१९

अब किस किस से समझौता करूँ
अपने काम से, अपनी परिस्थितियों से
अपने परिवार से, ख़ुद से
अब थोड़ी सी थकान महसूस होती है
अब दिल और ही कुछ चाहने लगा है

सोचता हूँ
क्या होगा इस उम्र में, अगर
मैं सिर्फ़ ख़ुद के लिए ही सोचूँ
दूसरों से नाता तोड़कर
प्रकृति से जोड़ूँ

प्रकृति की सौंदरता को क़रीब से परखूँ
पक्षियों के सरगम को ज़रिया बनाकर
उनके मधुर स्वरों में विलीन हो जाऊँ
ऊँचे आसमान को साक्षी मानकर
नील गगन में खो जाऊँ

अब दिल चाहता है
कि मैं खुली हवा में साँस लूँ, और
दिल की धड़कनों के साथ धड़कता रहूँ
अब दिल चाहता है
कि मैं समझौता से समझौता करूँ

सुबीर चक्रवर्ती / २४ फरवरी २०१९

Riches come to the rich
Poverty to the indigent
Knowledge to the educated
Ignorance to the ignorant

A vicious cycle
Where imaginary barriers exist
To deny any real mobility
To the status quo which persists

Even the fortunate few
Who have escaped the trap
And dared to break the barrier
With a feather in their cap

Even they tend to harbour
The very same prejudices
And from a rung above
Curse the dirty ditches

Is the concept of social hierarchy
Embedded in the human genome
For us to derive a sense of comfort
And treat as a natural phenomenon

Do we need rigid stratification
In order to make the next leap
Or is it just a matter of convenience
For those at the top of the heap

Even if all else dissolves one day
The hierarchy of gender may remain
The final curse written on stone
The barrier yet to be broken

Subir Chakraborty / 28th Nov 2018

Why should I feel the horror
Why should I bother for Pulwama
Why should I agitate my conscience
Why should I disturb the indifference

Why should I feel it is my problem
Why should I feel any pain
Why should I care to pause
Why should I pause to care

Why should I look beyond myself
Why should I think about the sacrifice
Why should I think about the families
Why should I internalise the suffering

Why should I spoil my sleep
Why should I wreck my mood
Why should I alter my position
Why should I call myself human

Subir Chakraborty / 17th Feb 2019

Tossing and turning on the bed
I think of you
Your magic touch, your whispering eyes
Your loving smile

Together, we step out and travel far
Beyond the boundaries of this earth
Beyond the deep blue horizon
Much beyond our own imagination

To the fabled land
Where no one else exists
Deep in the silence of our being
In the bosom of pristine beauty

We hold hands and look into each other’s eyes
Falling in love
To unmeasured depths
Rising, only to fall again

Till eternity seeks us out
And nudges us back to earthly existence
Retracing the steps
To the frontiers of daily persistence

Subir Chakraborty / 30th Nov 2018

When the shadow of anonymity
Begins to take finite shape
When a half blurred face
Begins to find its place

When I paint the vacant spaces
And begin to trace the fine contours
With my ever fertile imagination
And my ego that matters

The shape that emerges
Is the one with which I’m familiar
And yet when I scrutinise closely
It appears oddly unfamiliar

The reality in broad daylight
Jolts me beyond compare
In spite of all my embellishments
The face looks bare

So I take to rainbowing the edges
All over again
Accentuating my make-believe world
With the colours of heaven

I cannot stop
Till the image fits my estimate
Of the way I should project myself
Maintaining the minimum etiquette

Does not really matter
If it suffers from lack of credibility
For in this age of superficiality
Perception is the sole reality

Subir Chakraborty / 7th Sept 2018

Between one event and another
Between the horizon and your landscape
Between your wisps of loneliness
Between your moments of aloneness

Between your waves of emotions
Between the gushing showers of closeness
Between the dreams in your unconscious
Between your barren layers of aloofness

Between the fickle sheets of secrecy
Between the soft tiptoeing of pillow talk
Between the leaping flames of hurt
Between the times you are curt

Between each period of waiting
Between your coffee and tea
Between your longing and madness
Between your you and me

Where exactly do I really exist
Which I can call my very own
Everything else becoming invisible
Where I can be with you and you alone

Subir Chakraborty / 26th Jan 2019

The forbidden fruit enticed man
When god was for a while away
From the paradisical Garden of Eden
Where his rule held total sway

That was supposedly the first sin
Committed by man
Egged on by his accomplice
The very first woman

Do we ever realise
The enormity of this decision
When man for the first time
Stood up to be a real man

To be able to jointly act
Along with Eve as collaborator
To decide on their fate
Without god as the mentor

For the very first time
Ignoring divine instructions
They chose to give character
To the future of Homo sapiens

Little did they know
At that point in time
That their own descendants
Would lack the same spine

Preferring to ignore
This daring legacy
Choosing to be ever mired
In religious controversy

Subir Chakraborty / 24th Oct 2018