Dr. Kusumita Mukherjee is a teacher, a passionate short story writer. Her stories have been published in The Times of India and in the e-journal Muse India. Her Ph. D. thesis is titled “Negotiating Postmodernity: the Novelistics of Walker, Morrison, Naylor and Shange”. Her Ph. D. was awarded in March 2017 under Rabindra Bharati University. As a teacher of English at the undergraduate level she has earned over nine years experience teaching at Kalyani Mahavidyala. She is also academic counselor at IGNOU’s Kanchrapara Study Center.
Monsoon Poems
When Rains Seem to Conspire
Oh no! This cannot be happening
I had to be on time
And now I am muddy all over.
How will I ever make it?
People are ever on the look out
Waiting for that one opportunity
To snatch the limelight from me
And be at its center instead.
Rain has no sense of time at all
I have already got an overdose of problems
Now rain had to play havoc too.
My schedule just goes haywire.
The roads will be waterlogged indefinitely
Traffic will come to a standstill
Any bird would be confused with the view below
Multicoloured metallic snakes conjoining at their heads.
I could never tolerate the monsoons
Now it seems even more obnoxious
Adding up to my woes
Couldn’t it have been a little more sympathetic?
When Rains Seem a Blessing
Afternoon rain—-
It has to be nature’s way of relaxing careworn people.
The food is cooked and eaten
Clothes are almost dry
The child is back from school
The husband yet to return
In short, the rush hour is over.
Nap does not seem necessary
The sound of the showers is refreshing enough
My insight into the ‘Rhythm Divine’
The tickled heads of plants
A balm for the eyes.
Who knows when again my soul will luxuriate?
My moments in this afternoon rain
Unplanned nameless bliss
Impeccably delicious.
I am beyond joy when it pours
The wet laundry can go to hell
I immerse my senses in the cool air
Let the roads be waterlogged till doomsday, what do I care?
I have my window all to myself
To curl up and just watch
Soak in the festival of greenery
Forget just for a while how difficult life is otherwise.
Felicity is GST Free
It’s easy to be happy
In your heart you know that even the worst day will be over
There will be many others instead
They might not be idyllic at least not be unsavory either.
The maddening routine of life
Barely lets us breathe
Let alone have time to reflect
Have hopes for a better tomorrow.
So laugh whenever you can
Smile when you see a puppy roll on the grass;
Warm your heart in sync with the warm glow of sunrise;
Cool your overworked brain when you see water beads lining a leaf.
You cannot predict your pleasures
No matter how much you labour.
It’s the knottiest mystery
Hidden in the coils of time.
So let your soul flutter
Do not bypass a single opportunity to have felicity
Sense the mindless joys that God has scattered all around
None bearing price tags.