The Traveller

I don’t know where I’m heading
Uncertainty clogs my mind
Haven’t looked up The Lonely Planet
Didn’t plan beforehand
I’m tired and rather ravenous
Giant vultures overhead
Maybe I’m exaggerating
But I can swear they look well-fed!
Flopping down to rest
I almost drown in the scorching sand
Drained of hope and bathed in dust
I look on dazedly as Colour creeps across
The cosmic canvas
The heavens are fiery with brilliance
Eccentric artist’s palette
Her cheeks are blushing furiously
In hues of gold, mauve and scarlet
Stick my fingers out
Try to touch her flushing radiance
The heavens beckon, the skies ablaze
It’s a picture postcard moment
Silhouetted against orange glory
The sun’s snoozing in the firmament
No longer in a quandary
Purpose illumines my eyes
I sling my bagpack over the shoulder
Can’t hear the vulture’s cries
Drawn towards that ethereal smoulder
Onwards will I go Happy, and blissfully content
I walk with the sky guiding my steps
For if someone asks me where I’m heading
I’ll say, ‘Towards the sunset!’

Malvika Parthasarathy

Ode to Chemistry

Bewildering hodgepodge of equations
Concocted in a hurry
Speckled with pesky formulae
I’m in an awful quandary!
Bewitching blue of Copper sulphate
Wizard’s own heady brew
That Chemistry [ugh] could produce such marvels
Was too good to be true!
But when I tried to conjure up
That shade of awesome azure
I broke a test tube, burnt my fingers
And wiped an acidic tear
Organic chemistry
I’m confused – how could it be otherwise
With so many H’s and C’s?
There’s nothing to do but weep and cry
And write bad poetry!
All the sulphates and nitrates
A most insipid melange
Play havoc with my muddled brain
Aqueous or fused
Who really cares? I for one
Am utterly and bitterly bemused
I hope I’ll be able to remember
The difference between
Iron II and Iron III
For it’s the day of my Chem exam
And I’m rather jittery
So in honour of this miserable occasion
I’ve composed
An ode to Chemistry.


By Malvika Parthasarathy