75-25-75
This man with a job from nine to five,
Earned hundred, saved seventy-five,
And spent on his small family of five
His remaining salary of twenty-five.
Thus, went on his straight-jacketed life,
With its share of challenges and strife,
But thanks to his ever-supportive wife,
His future seemed with possibilities rife.
Children, well educated, left one by one,
In search of their own day under the sun.
Thanks to parents, they had worries none;
They were ready for the life’s race to run.
With all their responsibilities fulfilled,
The man and wife were hugely thrilled;
They now had lots of time to be killed –
No worries of what they could be billed!
They were required to spend seventy-five,
To remain from age-related illnesses alive,
With no job or pension of even twenty-five
And children busy in their professional hive!
This is often the case with the middle class
That struggles in their initial years to cope
With no opportunities to any wealth amass
And daily life was often a walk on tight rope
Some Memories…
Some memories
Bring on a smile
Some memories
Trigger a bile
Some Memories
Keep haunting
Some memories
Keep taunting
Some memories
Seem wrong
Some memories
Seem life-long
Some memories
We relive
Some memories
We outlive
Most memories
Linger a while
And later become
A part of the pile
My memories –
A riot of hues
Are a reverie
In which I fuse
Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy, is the Literary Convenor, ISISAR, Kolkata, and Editorial Counselor-India, International Writers’ Journal, USA. Her maiden poetry collection ‘P-En-Chants’ has been recognized as a Unique Record of Excellence by the India Book of Records for its never-before-attempted movie reviews and management topics in rhyming poetry. Paddy has compiled and edited 6 international multilingual poetry anthologies of which ‘Amaravati Poetic Prism’ 2016 to 2019 have been recognized by the Limca Book of Records as “Poetry Anthology in Most Languages”. She is the Guest Editor of Setu, the Pittsburgh-based e-zine, for their women-focussed March editions since 2019. Paddy’s poems (translated into several languages), articles and short stories, some of them prize winners, have been published in many anthologies, print journals, e-zines and newspapers. A recipient of several awards, Paddy is a regularly invited to litfests in India and overseas, to present her poems.