A Brief History of Life (And Other Mistakes)

They say it all started with a "Big Bang." I wasn’t there, but apparently, a speck of dust from that explosion eventually evolved into a creature that spends eighteen hours a day staring at a smartphone.

The Monkey Who Stood Up Our ancestors were perfectly happy swinging from trees and eating fruit. Then, for reasons known only to God, one of our grandfathers decided to stand on two legs and declare, "I am a Man." He didn’t stop there. He rubbed two stones together, found fire, and invented "Technology"—the beginning of our misery. Cooked meat fueled our brains, and someone had the bright idea: "Why hunt? Let’s stay in one place and farm." And thus, the "Property Dispute" was born.

Born to Rule (The King Era) Soon, humans started fighting over dirt. Whoever hit the hardest got a crown, four ministers, and a horse. Poor kings—apparently, they only slept four hours a day. But they had a disease: they wanted everyone else’s gold. Someone eventually realized that if you take a boat, you can steal gold from other continents even faster. Enter Columbus and Vasco da Gama.

The Steam Engine Hustle (Industrial Revolution) While we were playing kings and queens, someone invented the Steam Engine. The white man arrived with a smirk, saying, "We are civilized; let us teach you how to dress." Then they proceeded to strip everyone else of everything they owned. Even today, some people think if a person is fair-skinned, they can't lie. If you suggest we’d be better off if the colonizers had stayed longer, I’d like to give you a reality check that leaves a mark.

The Digital Cul-de-Sac We went from swords to Atom Bombs, and then we got scared and formed a "Club" (The UN) to keep us from blowing up the playground. Now? We don’t need horses to start a fight. One Tweet is enough to set the world on fire. We fought for land, then for money; now we fight for "Data."

The monkey is now standing in line at a supermarket. Thousands of years ago, he fought for a piece of fruit in the jungle. Today, he’s fighting over the price of organic tomatoes. History changes, but our "virtue"—the urge to grab what belongs to the other guy—remains exactly the same.

The Momentum

Following the map Kaniyan drew, we cross the borders of nations; carrying the light of our mother tongue to illuminate new foundations.

Carrying the weight of the ancient thoughts,
our actions begin to unfurl;
lifting the spirit of everyone,
lifting the weight of the world.

I am not a self-made machine.
There is a force that steers my soul—
the very atoms were gifted to me
by those who made me whole.

From grandfathers to the ones before,
through the sprint of a thousand years;
this character, this steady pulse,
was forged in their triumphs and tears.

It isn’t just kin or the friends I’ve made,
who deserve the credit for the view;
it is the Master, the Teacher’s hand,

in every excellence I do. 

Love’s New Rhythm

A gift for you, a gift for me; sent through the air to set the heart free.

The world has shifted
on its axis today;
at an age where the words
usually get in the way.

My parents’ love
had a classic grace,
a quiet status
I can still trace.

That old kind of love
was a beautiful ache,
but the new generation
has a different stake.
We don’t just pine,
we don’t just brood;
we speak our minds
in a clearer mood.

Forget the confusion
of Adam and Eve—
let’s toss out the apple
they were forced to receive.
Let’s talk, let’s argue,
let’s dream out loud;
let’s speak our truths
to the sun and the cloud.

A gift for you,
a gift for me;
the poem Nature sent
is the one I set free.

The breath in our lungs?
It didn’t cost a dime.
It’s a surplus of love,
surviving through time.

Take a kiss like a bandage
to soothe the sting;
hand it to the wind,
let the atmosphere sing.

With a woman like you
to fill up my head,
what else is there
that needs to be said?

Who Do You Love?

Was it the curves of the script that bent your heart? Or the rush of the feeling as the ink began to start?

When the Soul-vowel meets
the Body-consonant,
did the rhythm break into
three beats? Or four?

You wait at the edge of the line,
holding onto a lover's quarrel
just to complete the meter.

Then comes the question, my dear:
"Is your love for me... or for the language?"

What a question to ask.

You are the one
who made words a necessity.
You are the architect
of these infinite rhythms.

In the perfect alignment
of these joining sounds—
it was you who gave me
the dream to lose myself in.

If I have grown close to this tongue,
if I have found such joy in speech,
it is only because you led me there.

Don't you see?
It is you
I am loving through them.

The Valentine Question

Hang the questions high— the ones that the tyrants could never quite look in the eye.

After the pleas, the petitions,
and the prayers offered in the dark,
hope was "reconsidered."
But the sentence remained.
The ideology was buried anyway,
stuck in a head that didn't survive.

Now, someone digs up that dirt.
They take a story of rot—
of a man erased by the soil—
and polish it into a poem.

Commerce picks it up with cold hands.
A billion-dollar contract
is signed in the name of the dead.

So tell me, Valentines:
What exactly are we celebrating?
The thing we buried?
The aesthetic of a poem written
in a month where no birds sing?

Are we honoring the ink?
The tear-stained signature
at the bottom of a cell-block letter:
“From your Valentine.”

Or are we just celebrating
the reach of the empire?
Tell me, Valentines—
What is left to toast?

எண்ணுங்கள் எண்ணங்கள்

ஓட்டத்தின் வேகம்
ஒரு பொழுதும்
உயர்த்தியதில்லை
செயல் திறனை

நிமிடத்தின் நிசப்தம்
நிகழ்த்திடுமே 
உன்னத உள்நிலை  
உயர்வு  நிலை 

நோட்டத்தில் சிந்தனை
சிதறுவதால் 
நோக்கத்தில் தடம்புரள்
நேர்ந்திடுதே

எழுதிட, படித்திட 
எழுந்திடுமே - புதிர்
முடிச்சுகள் அவிழ்க்கிற
விடைகளுமே  

பாரத்தை ஓரத்தில் 
இறக்கி வைத்தே 
நேரத்தை இன்புற 
ஓடவிட்டே 

நெஞ்சத்தில் சேர்த்திட 
நல்லவைகள் 
எண்ணத்தின் வலுவினை  
ஏற்றிடுமே 

ஆயிரம் வழியுண்டு 
வெல்வதற்கு எனில் 
அள்ளிட அத்தனை  
செய்வதுண்டோ?

செய்வது ஒன்றேனும் 
நன்று செய்ய 
சொன்னோதோர் 
அவ்வையின் பேரனன்றோ?
அதை மறந்திட 
பயணங்கள் பயனுமுண்டோ?

சொல்லுங்கள் வாலன்டைன்ஸ்

ஆணையிடுபவர்களின்
ஆணவத்தை
எதிர்கொள்ள முடியாத
கேள்விகளை தூக்கிலிடுங்கள் 

வேண்டுதல்கள்,
விண்ணப்பங்கள் பின்
பிரார்த்தனையில் நின்றபடி
பார்வையின் திசை திரும்பிய 

நம்பிக்கையின் மறுபரிசீலனையில்
இரத்து செய்யப்பட்ட
தண்டனைகளிலும்
தலை தப்பாது புதைந்த
சித்தாந்தை
எடுத்த யாரோ ஒருவன்
புதைத்து, மக்கி,
தடம் தெரியாத கதையை
கவிதையாக்குகிறான் 

வணிகம் கையிலெடுத்து
பில்லியன் டாலர்
ஒப்பந்தமிடுகிறது 

எதைக் கொண்டாடுகிறோம்?
புதைக்கப் பட்டதையா?

பறவைகள் கூடாத
மாதத்தில்
கவி வடித்த
அழகியலயா?

“From your Valentine”
கடித முடிவின்
கண்ணீர் நனைந்த
கையெழுத்தையா?

விரிந்து பரவும்
வியாபாரத்தையா?

சொல்லுங்கள் வாலன்டைன்ஸ்
எதைக் கொண்டாடுவது?