Monday Musings

 I have a folder full of grading to do. Just the grading. Put a number against the white, no evaluation required. I am paid for my signature, not my opinion. I have four different excel sheets to fill up and I can’t bring myself to open my laptop. I keep wondering when you reach the breaking point. I keep wondering what tells the straw it’s the last one. What if the camel’s back gets so used to the pain it doesn’t realize when it finally breaks? Maybe it broke years ago and we just carry on out of habit like the coyote chasing the roadrunner across the air before it remembers to look down?


So anyway, as an act of rebellion, I have been holding off listening to those voice messages and reading poetry instead. And there are words so simple, so casually written that shake you up. Like, how could they know? These strangers? And why couldn’t I write it? Or maybe we all wrote our poems and wove them into our collective dreams. And who knows,  maybe someone has read them too. And one day, they will let us know.

So anyway, if you like the words I write here, maybe you will like the ones I turn into songs. Take my hand, stand by me, hear my song, isn’t that all we ask for?

(Timeline: EP by Ruchira Mandal is now streaming on all digital platforms. Links here. )



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