Why Let The Winners Have All The Fun?

Fifty pages of cursive writing for all to fill,

but most medico prescriptions are illegible still.

Like parrots singing rhymes all the same way

stuck with homework, and no time to play.

Right from the ill fated tenth year of life,

swings in a big schoolbag, like a butcher's knife

I must work hard,regardless of night or day

as my neighbor Sharmaji's daughter scores better they say.

I remember how neatly three columns i drew

past, present, future all tenses i knew,

The language rattles only in temples today

and I don't understand a word they say.

A system that is as ancient as the language i rote,

of fantasies, from the path of truth remote,

Two hundred words essay on the Gandhian dream

all flushed away..all now is clean.

I must not bend too low,for what will they say,

slightly low and hastily up, all the way,

pretending to casually smoothen my hair

not noticing my grandpa's despair.

There are many traditions, which are so uncool,

they never taught the meaning of national anthem in school.

all they taught me, that at the first beat,

the full song in a flow,i must repeat.

And hence today, i puff my chest with pride,

standing straight, hands by my side.

While i use only an imported device,

only when back stabbed today,do i pay the price.

As i was told to color within the lines,

on the already made designs,

So the only drawing that i did paint,

was a river and sky too blue, with two crows a little faint.

So when today i proudly beam,

my degree in my hand, true a dream.

It seems abroad better opportunities lie,

less scope for research,far away i must fly.

So while my parents silently age,

i must mint money, earn a handsome wage.

My education system has made me such, 

create i can't, but copy i can too much.

So i learn all their fancy ways,

while my tradition slowly decays.

But when i return to my country for a holiday,

What the hell! tourists greet me with a namaste !!!

When parts of my country, struggle today,

some are so dirty, a survey does say,

I shrug my shoulders,in the list my city is high,

after all I was taught only "Myself, Me and I".

There are only good old beliefs that i must obey,

Out of all rituals, few have been chosen to stay.

In a small town, in an ancient temple today

sits a goddess,on a white cloth her idol lay.

every month the cloth turns red,

wondrous she bleeds, all bow their head.

In the same country, and even today,

On certain days in a temple ,i must not pray

For even the gods might whisper far away,

They may forget they only created me this way.

As the stress builds up way too high,

no time to lie, to watch the starry sky.

I had a talent but I threw it away,

only because it dint fetch a good pay.

When everyday u go to work, daily on the side,

dogs bark loud, running side by side.

U don't pay attention, you don't ask them why

then why dint you today,the same apply?

I have lost my face, i never had a spine,
so whenever things are not fine,
I fall victim to peer pressure fast,
to pleasures which would not always last.


Its easy to just plug off the light,

leaving others behind to deal with the sorrowful night.

one would realize only when its too late

the drowning man clutches at weeds, but known is his fate.

For the life that you so casually throw,

there are so many the price who know

ask the children on dusty roads, at the traffic lights

trying to sell something, through day and nights.

Our country is free, and yet in chains

for what had our leaders taken so many pains?

It is time for a change, in our mind, in our ways

every little talent deserves a praise.

So unpredictable is the game of life

At least pick up and roll the dice

And if i have to run a race,
let others not slow down my pace
 A pair of blinders surround my eyes
my limit be way beyond the skies.

Where there is one,

there has to be a two and a three

So today i celebrate just being me.

Forget the trophy...just enjoy the run 

Why let the winners have all the fun? ;)

                                                                         
                                                                                                                                  - Niharika Prasad