Nikhil Parekh - Indian Poet


When I was a child I thought of devouring immaculate chunks of white butter, 


Today I contemplated the price before purchasing monetary gifts for pleasure. 


 


When I was a child I clambered up tall trees; to pluck nutritious fruit, 


Today I pondered on the various ramifications; which could possibly occur when the farmer caught me red handed. 


 


When I was a child I played vociferously in mud; making inarticulate cakes of cow dung plaster, 


Today I refrained from going near wet land; on the flimsy grounds of having my trousers coated with obnoxious dirt. 


 


When I was a child I got up early in the morning; relishing cool air while walking towards school, 


Today I woke up with startled jerks; with darkness fully camouflaged in the sun; to rush in a jiffy towards office. 


 


When I was a child I played for incessant hours in the evening with my cluster of friends, Today I retired in front of the television screen; with a glass of cold beverage; at the onset of twilight. 


 


When I was a child I demonstrated a plethora of emotions when profoundly agitated, Today I had risen to holistic degrees of self control; scrutinizing my mistakes before I cried. 


 


When I was a child I took the supreme liberty of hiding amongst a fleet of guests arriving at our dwelling, 


Today I audaciously shook hands with the same; conversed for indefatigable hours with them on matters of common parlance. 


 


When I was a child I voraciously read a battalion of thrilling mysteries, 


Today I completely engulfed myself in deciphering; intricate quotes of the stock market. 


 


When I was a child I listened to my elders with rapt attention and intense enthusiasm, 


Today I chalked policies of my own; implementing them with loads of fortified conviction. 


 


When I was a child; beads of sweat dribbled down my nape after witnessing a ghastly scene from the movie, 


Today I didn't budge an inch from my seat; after sighting the same; as I knew it was fictitious. 


 


When I was a child I had no hesitation asking for money from my ancestors, 


Today I felt thoroughly abashed; asking them to gratify my distinctly penurious state. 


 


When I was a child I chortled into pools of uninhibited laughter; at someone awkwardly dressed, 


Today I emitted out sly smiles; in order that the individual didn't feel humiliating and bad. 


 


When I was a child I hardly had time to think about the vagaries of mystical world, Today I spent hours pondering on a jugglery of consequences that would unleash; if I wasn't careful. 


 


When I was a child I thought the most onerous thing existing was to study, 


Today I felt that it was the process of earning; that was the most cumbersome of them all. 


 


When I was a child; those were the times I was oblivious to reality; solely living in a world of tailor made fantasy, 


While today I had crossed the realms of maturity; acclimatized to the harsh reality; and desperately wished I was that unscrupulous child once again.



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When I Was A Child

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