Nest .

(By Shakira Humayun Kabeer, Member Parappanad Citizens Forum)

To dine and sleep

A motel is enough

For my dreams

To touch the heavens

And wander in the skies

Escalator of a sky scrapper is enough

A secret  dungeon in a resort

With choosy drinks is enough,

For me to spend with my girl friend

To part ways with her

a “Miss” call  is enough

To weep and laugh

An Idiot box is enough

 As a  companion  of my old age

An old age home is enough

To rest in peace in death

An, hospital my birth place, is enough

Then why asks my architect friend,

You need a home of your own?

I too ponder a lot

Why do I need a house?

When, whatever I need in life and death

Is there at my beck and call

On a lonely evening

in the drizzling rain

While waiting on the road side

For a bus which may never came

I dreamt of a nest of my own

In that vision I saw my dad

Anxiously waiting for me in the portico

And reprimanding for my negligence

to  carry and umbrella

I saw my mom rushing

Down to wipe water off my body

And my spouse with a smiling face

Holding for me a cup of hot tea

Lovely kids who call me dad

Rushing down and hugging my drenched cloths

My pet cat circling my legs

Expressing love in abundance

Yes, I now yearn

That I should have nest of my own

A calm and quite and serene nest

Having all  the love that a home needs.

Of course a house devoid of

Modular kitchen and electric oven

After all why do I need a house

To have peace of mind and solace

For which any shelter is not enough