A Tribute to Those Who Died in the 26/11 Terrorist Attacks

There is an unknown grief that dwells in my heart

Even though this isn't something of which I have been part

I yearn for those who have been killed for, in the holy misnomer, causes of economic gain.

I am certain I pity those who do these deeds and seek their paradise in the innocent’s pain.

For its they who are ignorant of the impact of their misdeeds

As their foster fathers have used them to fill their filthy treasures.

In lieu for these harmless souls from whom God's goodness bleeds.

These foolish souls who have been promised angels in Heaven while actually they rot in hell.

While the scoundrels enjoy their earthly pleasures and swell.

Cherries Aren't Red - ELEMENTS

 I need all the luck and blessings I can gather to tread on this new path and make my way... As I present to you– Cherries Aren’t Red – ELEMENTS – my first novel, today.

Now, in Bangalore, available offline at 
Reliance TimeOut outlets

GANGARAMS, MG Road,

Variety Book House, near K.C. Das, St. Mark's Road,

Magazine, beneath United Colors Of Benetton, Church Street

Puliani Book House, near Kamat Yatrinivas, Gandhinagar
 Strand Book Stall, Manipal Centre & Strand Book Fair, Wesley Church Hall near Garuda Mall, Bangalore till 16th November 2011, Strand Book Stall, Fort area, Mumbai.

Blossom Book House, Church Street.
Higgin Bothams, MG Road,
Chaitra Book House, Gandhinagar, near Kamat Yatrinivas...


Now available in all Sapna Book House branches and also on their online store. 
Link for Sapna Online store:
http://www.sapnaonline.com/index.php?option=com_books&view=product&productID=EBK0295420&product=cherries-arent-red-elements

Available Online: 
Crossword.in: http://www.crossword.in/books/cherries-arent-red-elements/p-books-9788184658804.html

Flipkart: http://www.flipkart.com/books/818465880x?_l=BeFSI0lZqBC4MJ94PL7coA--&amp%3B_r=8PeE24ehGkjoGPUCaYSRrQ--&amp%3Bref=37274803-a490-4af6-89dd-688859f81bd7

Pothi.com (ships across the globe):http://pothi.com/pothi/book/neha-agarwal-cherries-arent-red-elements

Infibeam: http://www.infibeam.com/Books/cherries-arent-red-elements-neha-agarwal/9788184658804.html

Indiaplaza: http://www.indiaplaza.com/search.aspx?storename=Books&srchkey=isbn&srchVal=9788184658804

Please visit:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cherries-Arent-Red/292927370740719

For trade queries please mail to: na.mindmines@gmail.com

HumANimal –III

One evening, across my bus stand, in the field, I saw a goat graze.

Beside her stood a small boy who was beholding her.

He'd fetch her water, give her kisses and wipe her fur.

This went on for several days.

They were like best friends out every evening to play

Then one evening I saw the boy urging and pushing his furry friend to run away

I was surprised with his disposition

So I walked up to him and asked gently...

''Why are you shooing off your friend?''

''So that father does not find and kill her brutally.''

As if reading my mind, he continued answering my question...

''He is a butcher... He won’t her find her now... Hope she'll be safe and tame...

I know when he knows he'll beat me with a cane.''

His was almost in tears but smiled at the end.

On Children’s Day, dedicated to the innocence and goodness a child has within him or her.

Winter's Warmth

When on a cold winter morning the sun shines...

The chill of the winter wind and the warmth of the winter sun combines

And then sunny cold days adorn

And the pleasantness of this season is born

As we dress up warmly to combat the cold

And prepare ourselves to welcome the festive season

The anticipation of being with our family is enough reason

To warmly enable this cold season unfold

It's in winter that most people show how much they actually care

Some distribute sweets, some give away clothes while some generously share

As the New Year approaches its shore

Everyone's happier, joyous and enjoying even more

As a season, winter may appear cold, but it sure warms up everyone's soul

The celebrations, the fun, the cold and its cosiness are all a part of winter’s role.

Enemies Within

Be it summer, autumn, winter or spring

They fight relentlessly… out of their skin

Protecting our motherland is all they care for

In the process they lose their family, their life and much more

Upholding her honour, dignity and pride is their only aim

They fight till their last breath in her name

So many lives are lost every year in battle

War seems extremely futile

Are the enemies really outside our nation?

Or is it just our politically fuelled imagination?

Isn't their situation just like ours?

Where corruption is scot free and justice is behind bars...

No matter what, killing a soldier, who is his own reflection, has to be tough

No matter how many reasons are given to his conscience they just aren't enough

The blood shed on our borders seems like an unnecessary unforgivable sin

The fact is our mother is most threatened by enemies within

As every soldier fighting for his country loses his life

Her unworthy rulers continue to ruin her and thrive

All these lives are sacrificed in sheer vain

Wars look like the wounded facades of an internal selfish gain

Wet Pillows

Sometimes for a broken heart

Sometimes for dreams that tore apart

When emotions were played with and feelings were tossed

When hatred was triumphant and love had lost

My pillow was the shoulder I cried on

Some days when things were too tough

Some days when twenty four hours weren’t just enough

When a futile attempt to freeze the fleeting time was wasted

When the bitterness of defeat was tasted

My pillow was where my tears had dried on

Sometimes when I slept in despair

Some days I woke up to a situation beyond repair

When the hours and time seemed unceasingly seamless

When all seemed useless and needless

Wet pillows were all I had

They rested my head when I was sad

Suicidal Retreat

When no one is there to call your own

When you feel you are God's orphan, left alone

To say you have a family who’ll take care

But they seem like they aren't there

You wish to walk on a path from where you don't return

You believe that your fate won't ever turn

You seek someone to love all the way

But for that you must love yourself more each day

For if you are as empty as you seem

You can't fulfil anyone else's dream

When you aren’t sure if you are worth your own tomorrow

While you continue to be so engrossed in today’s pain and sorrow

You want to give it all up and go and die

Listen carefully as the angels tell you to live, love or at least try

And when you will look into their innocent eyes

Every tear in yours dries

You will feel alive again

At least for them you will feel like forgetting all your pain

Then thank God for filling your life's core

And thank them for bringing you back to your shore.

Just a Thought…

On one hand we say that today is better than yesterday

And now the world is a better place to live in

Ask yourself if this is true

Where being in love is a sin

Where innocent people disappear without a clue

Where criminals are tilled

Where women are raped and daughters are killed

Where those who raise their voice for justice are brutally silenced forever

While those who violate justice casually walk away

Where most people live in the fear of terror

While those who cause it augment by the day

Where people with aspirations and dreams die

While those with destructive minds rise high

Where blood is shed without regret and with ease

While more is spent on war than on peace

Where protectors become contractors of human modesty

While lies cover up all honesty

Where life gets undone before it has even begun

While we propagate and claim (all in vain) that the world is one

A Tribute to Jessica, Nitish, Pratibha, Aman, Aarushi, Reuben, Keenan and all those innocent people who lost their lives because someone else erred.

Hang On!

There's isn't a nice word spoken

What more can be wrecked in a heart that's broken

You may not be afraid of a lonely tomorrow

You’re worried about today's sorrow

To say you have a roof on top and a home to stay

But you haven't and won't be more lonely than you’re today

So what's the fuss all about?

What is the essence of all relationships, you doubt.

Who can change the ones for whom you dearly care?

How can you trust the future when today’s in despair?

You ask yourself – is this a reality or a nightmare?

How long will it stay?

Because you can't endure it for another day.

A new direction is all you seek

A new dimension to reach the peak

Too much has occurred too soon

It’s hard to keep up with time's loom

But that's no excuse to be in despair

No matter what, you must reach there

Even though opportunities have come and gone

All you have to do is still hang on

For you know you are, for your fate, suited best

All you have to do is prove it by passing the test

And then life will taste sweetly of success

And time will improve as you progress

It’s Gone…

The shadows of your morbid past may be here to stay

But the future will unfold with its relentless possibilities anyway

All said and done yesterday did pass

And when yesterday was an unwanted today you said alas!

All said and done today did come

And when it’s here you remarked ‘what is done is done’

Whether love or hatred, peace or war

It has been washed away from your life’s shore

So why brood over what has gone by

Why cry today because of yesterday’s sigh

Why believe that every day will be an offspring of the last

Why not leave behind painful matters of the past

Just take a lesson or two

And go on to do what you ought to do

You need to weave yourself for it is today that matters

Especially if yesterday has left you hungry, in despair or in tatters

‘Move on’ they say

From where? Yesterday?

No don’t take anything from there… just forget the day

Just move away

Life gives you a new chance everyday

Make the most of it in everyway

Today is all yours

Tomorrow isn’t yet and any hurtful yesterday never was.

A Sex Worker's Tale

It wasn't my choice... I was a normal girl from a poor family…I was always silent as though I had no voice.

When the bearded uncle came, at the age of nine, my parents' sent me away…of decency and will, that was my last day.

For five grams of gold I was sold ''Don't worry... She will work in a decent household!'' is what my parents were told.

They were happy and I was too… my five brothers & two younger sisters wept but I smiled for the last time and left.

The uncle was nice to me but there was something wrong in his eyes, I didn't know then but it was guilt that had built because of all his lies

He put me in a big house where they were many girls like me,.. They taught me well and fed me well till I reached maturity

Then in the mornings I began sleeping more because my nights were spent with strange men

In the beginning I felt violated but gradually got used to it then.

Some were gentle… some were rough, but none had feelings for me or any love

Months became years and I grew old… now I had a pot of my own gold.

I had the power and the luxury to do as I please, so when I would see any girl fluttering like a caged bird I would ensure her release

I had learnt my parents were dead and my siblings had chosen to forget me, so I took this life to be my destiny

Some days I would dream that my womb would bear a child from a man who loved me, but it was just a dream which never came true... Thankfully such dreams were few.

I spent my old age mainly in a nursing home – I had complicated diseases from the unknown.

One day a stranger came along and thanked me out of the blue and said a strange thing that for the first time gave my life a meaning so true...

''It's because of people like you that lesser women are raped in the world. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your pain…'' As a sex worker that was my life's only gain.

A Woman’s Day tribute to the woman who go through Hell so that most of us can live in Heaven.

When She Left…

When our first child left our home

The unfamiliar became familiar for her

And for us the known became unknown

Nothing was like ere

She made the empty walls of her flat come alive

While the one's she left behind became bare

As she put her soul into a new hive

A part of ours too began living there

While she was here

Her dependence on us we did fear

While she left to stay independent and away

Our fear grew in another way

While she was here our apprehensions were soaring

Now that she's gone our loneliness is roaring

A strange parody in life has begun

We miss the other when we don't choose it over the chosen one.

HumANimal – II

Hundreds are killed everyday

And many more left to die

In a world that belongs to them as well

While we laugh they cry

Some of their skin is used as leather

Some of them are killed for human pleasure

Some are eaten as meat

Some are used as a sporty feat

Some are experimented with for selfish reasons

Some are hunted across seasons

It’s them we kill, eat and wear

Do we really have a soul... Is really our conscience there?

Let's try to indeed be human from today.

Eat vegetarian, don't wear animals and shelter a stray.

Save the Earth and its true inhabitants in every possible way.