Stefan, I and A Few Others

I dedicate this work to my PhD adviser, Prof. Stefan H. Bossmann.

Under the lull of a purple town,

a brilliance touched by eccentricity

incites motivation, weaved in freedom of thought.

A glorious rainbow rises in the dark rooms of sweat and sweet.

Every cyanine lights up my mind infinite;

I would hold a candle to those cells on the horizon.

Dreams and dreams, your loudest song alive!

Multitude of parachutes migrate in bright and blue

in the deepest darkness of the ocean bed.

As power of imagination charges,

bio-luminescence makes a leap from the ocean to CB 344.

Step by step, a party of molecules starts in a round bottom flask.

Fire, Fire! set alight those cells;
let them die and us live for a while.

A touch insanity flirting with risk, your grandest show!

.................................................................

Cyanine: A range of dyes that we synthesized in lab in order to image tumor

Parachutes: a metaphor for jelly fish whose luminescence is being used for radiation therapy

those cells: cancer cells

CB344: synthesis lab

An Evening With Dostoyevsky

On a low light evening, I went to an underground Moscow bar.
There, I met with a filthy, ruffled face in a dark corner.
A drunk gambler, but, what an amazing charisma!
I sat opposite to his table and an obnoxious smell welcome me.
I saw Russian damsels hovering around his prodigy. 
He murmured an introduction to a revolutionary manifesto.
It was about blue and white collar,
less oligarchy and more happiness.
He declared Putin a Rasputin, a failed "Superman".
"Keeping fellow men impoverished is crime,
that deserves punishment."
His murmur became thunderous, almost epileptic!
Next, a few concubines offered him their ample thirst.
Nothing distracted him at that point and he went on aloud.

I asked if we would become evil as we plotted against devil.
"greater good would follow", he thundered.
I shared with him my trajectory of "greater good"
by the length of mighty Brahmaputra river.
Two decades of deception and wile,
two decades of lost childhood!
There was prevarication of ideology and ideals. 
"Red October promise was a facade of socialism.
It was an orgy of oligarchy;
every gulab became gulag."

I asked,"Why is Pussy Riot Karamazov being punished?
A blasphemy or a veiled avenge of Rasputin?"
"Only a benevolent 'idiot' can save us.
Now, we wait for His arrival to wipe out our days of sin."
I said, "He may have already returned, but, He is crucified by-
Government, organized religions, liberals and conservatives."
Fanatics!

To A Secret Lover (Illusion)

"The very essence of romance is uncertainty." Oscar Wilde

Red roses and dark chocolates will surprise you this morning.
You will ask if anyone saw me leaving a part of adoration on your door.
Few names will cross your mind, but, you will still be wondering.
Dark chocolates will melt my infatuation into your revelry.
Every cocoa bit will make you wonder if love is a dark inebriety.
Then, you look keen and you will see my dreams on the velvet petals.
Some will be brilliant like your red hot blouse.
Some will be cold, February cold of our frozen inhibitions.
Some dreams are lofty hopes, to see you every Wednesday and
to run to the summer rain beyond scarlet celebration.
Some dreams are pure pale, your hidden treasures deserve my expedition.
You will know me in those screaming dreams of yellow morning.

Epilogue (Reality)

Dear Fab,
               When I wrote "To A Secret Lover", I was thinking about you. Not knowing too well was compensated by the power of imagination. Why should you know this? Because a) you are the protagonist in the poem, b) when my biography will be written someday, the posterity must know who the secret lover was and c) I have always adored you. Only cardinal sin I have committed is that I painted you in red; it probably should have been white which is your favorite color. Do not say anything now, your silence is my imagination.

Mausam,
              Wow. I did not expect such a message. It was nice, but also made me uncomfortable, especially since I am engaged. I am sure the posterity will remember you for something else than any inspiration I had.