The earth quakes in Manipur

We are but specks on this earth
Cowering from fear that the earth would give
 away and swallow us up
We live in the shadow of despair
That you have given us such beauty
Only to take it back
We only wish you to spare us
Your unpredictability, your arbitrariness
Tell us how we have sinned
We will try to make amends
We stand humbled before you
Please don't disrupt our insignificant lives
Leave us to our devices, our human loves
Let our mortal lives take its course

You were Dodo when I was Pepe

You were Dodo when I was Pepe
And you used to pull my hair
And I used to stamp on your foot
And we used to lie around in your mother's garden
You, me and Deb
We had strange nicknames growing up
Whoever gave them to us?
But they stuck nonetheless
So much so that I never found out
Bung's real name and then he moved away
Our real names were like the fancy purple frilly frock
I rarely wore unless on birthdays or parties
And we grew up
God knows why, God knows how
And boys would go past my house and shout "I love you"
We outgrew our petnames,
You grew into Chingkham
I began to answer to Pianu
We moved away, went to college
And many years later at Deb's wedding
I saw you with your little girl who answered to Pepe.