Whispers and Words of M R Maiti

The tale of the hare and the tortoise is as old as time. Everyone knows the tale and the moral associated with it. Slow and steady wins the race. But there is a side of the story that nobody delves into. Let me be the one to enlighten you. It's as if I was there. I was the hare. I reached the finishing line with reckless abandon, only to find my pity for the poor tortoise turn into utter disappointment for myself. The tortoise had won the race. I was in a state of shock until I received a smack on the back of my head. I turned around to find my friend bearing a judgmental look. "There's no way a tortoise can beat even the slowest of us in a race. You slept on the way, didn't you?" I nodded, then bowed my head in shame. My friend continued, "You lazy, good-for-nothing, arrogant rascal. You have disgraced our entire community. They'll make an example out of you, talk about this for centuries to come, make a moral out of an isolated event." I said nothi...

*** There it was, At the far end Of my wardrobe, Clean and ironed, But collecting dust, The new shirt I wore only once On my first date with her. There it was, In the private safe Of my device gallery, Nervous and excited, I was standing beside her In the picture the waiter took of us On my first date with her. The shirt I never wore, I sent to the laundry. The picture I never visited, I permanently deleted. Still, I couldn't forget the moment Our shoulders brushed lightly On my first date with her. *** Liked what you read? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

*** Living in the moment, You failed to notice how Days, months and then The years passed by. And suddenly, You became someone Who cannot let go Of the past. Living on autopilot, It skips your notice now When the future waves at you In broad daylight. *** Did you like what I was trying to convey?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Happy Children's Day!!

*** The Sea Was feeling blue; And for that, It blamed The Sky. *** Normally, I don't explain my poems, but mostly to serve as a note to myself, here it goes... It is a common misconception among people that the sea is blue because it reflects the blue sky. If that were true, the sea's colour would change to grey on a cloudy day. That doesn't happen. The sky appears blue because, out of the constituent colours of the sunlight, blue light waves are comparatively shorter and scatter more easily in all directions by the tiny air molecules. The sea appears blue because the water absorbs the longer wavelengths of sunlight, like red and orange, but reflects the blue. Moving on from the science part... Quite often, the state of sadness or melancholy (feeling blue) of a person magnifies when he is in the physical or emotional proximity of another person with a positive outlook or optimism (blue sky), even though both of them are on their own individual journey of feelings and emotio...

*** The minaret aspires To fly away. The airplane longs To stay put. Acquaintances at best, The two can Never become friends. *** The above poem was inspired by a recent visit to IIFT campus with two of my batchmates. We were on one of the top floors of the old college hostel, admiring the distant view of Qutub Minar emerging out of the dense Sanjay Van, when an airplane on its way, popped into view. For a moment, it was just above the minaret, but by the time I took out my smartphone to capture the image, it had moved a bit towards the right. Just like the airplane passing over the minaret, a moment of wonderment passed over me. A few years ago, during my college days, I was like the minaret, confined to a place but aspiring to fly away into a world of opportunities. And now, I am like the airplane going about its daily routine, always on the go in that world of opportunities, but carrying within myself a longing to just stay in one place, surrounded by the best of friends. Like the a...

*** When it rains, It pours. Pain, pain, Go away. Come again When I'm stronger, One day. *** Written at home on a rainy day in Aug 2025, when the pouring rain cancelled all my plans of going out, and the familiar rhyme from the childhood days came to mind, only this time I was a grown-up. Do you share my feelings?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.