A Dreamer's Destination

Photo by  Álvaro Serrano  on  Unsplash One, You should try writing a love letter to yourself, I have written one to myself, it took me 17 years to complete it, that's also how long it took  for me to decide  if I loved myself. Two, I believe that the heart is flat  in our minds, that's why it is so easy to  rekindle a wound and also why  everything is just a finger's distance from healing. Three, I forgot my own phone number at a cafe coffee day counter, she kept repeating  the first few numbers that I had uttered without giving me space to think, maybe we are all her  when it comes to counting our mistakes. Four, I have a thing for languages, both for those I understand and those that I don't,  I would listen to hours and hours of urdu poetry  without knowing what it meant, maybe that is also one kind of silence. Five, I have thought too often about  what I would name myself  if not for what I have been named, everytime I think I might be close to an answer, amma calls

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash What If poems read each other, would they fall in love with each other, or their poets or would they elope in search of the long lost lovers these poets barely take the name of but have a minimum of 15 lines, a winter and an unanswering sky  in their poems? (C) Vasanthi

Photo by  Drew Colins  on  Unsplash    In 6th grade, a group of girls  refused to take me in  for an intra-school group dance competition, some thought I didn't look good enough to be on stage, some thought I didn't dance well enough to be on stage, they danced for Aaja Nachle, the irony of it all. I have no hatred for any of those girls, I don't even remember most of them, they did only what they knew, the problem with that incident  especially at the age of 11 or 12, is that I was never angry with them  as much as I was with myself  for not being good enough. Today is international dance day, so much has changed since then, dance has meant a lot of things over the years to me, so this is to remind you  that the stage will never define what it is to move your body to the rhythm of your soul, to feel sweat dripping down your elbows, so this is for you  who dances in the shower, who dances in your bedroom, who dances on a friday night with a closed of group of friends, who c