POETRY

Children's Trilogy

A delightful trilogy of poems that sparks curiosity, laughter, and imagination, taking young readers on unforgettable adventures through everyday life, whimsical worlds, and magical moments.

CHILDREN'S TRILOGY

Adventure

The Poetry Society of India, Gurugram
Published: July 2021
ISBN: 978-93-91091-14-9
50 Poems
Dedicated to youngest grandchild Viraaj.

About The Book

Adventure is the first volume in Rajiv Khandelwal’s trilogy of poems for young readers, written with his granddaughter Vanya in mind. The fifty poems here follow the rhythms of a child’s day, from waking up and getting ready for school to bath time, bedtime and the small negotiations of family life. Many poems borrow the voice and observations of children themselves, noticing things adults tend to overlook, such as why a younger sibling cannot eat what grown ups eat, or what happens when a beloved refrigerator runs away from home. A number of poems respond directly to the experience of the Covid years, addressing lockdown, school closures and the strange new rules of daily life in language a child can follow. Animal poems sit alongside these domestic scenes, giving the collection a lighter, more fantastical register, and the closing poems turn to adventure proper, with treasure maps, hunts and a girl lost in the woods. Khandelwal keeps his language simple and his rhymes close to the surface throughout, in keeping with a book meant to be read aloud.


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Five Basic Senses

Jack knows sound of flowing river.
He can hear it through his ear.
Can tell if its black or blue sky
For he can see through his eye.
Through his small nose he can smell,
Can tag stink of gas as well.
Eyes closed, he can tell, its sand
With just the touch of his hand
Can spot French fries, even in haste
For with his sharp tongue he can taste.
Five basic senses all possess,
So Jack does no magic I guess.


Adventure

Men on horses were out for hunt Hog hid behind house on lake-front, Sound clip-clop, clippity-clop came closer In lead was wicked man grocer. He had something against the deer Their meat he enjoyed with his beer To drive boars towards the hunter Ran the excited terrier. Looking for rabbit, fox or deer They ran alongside without any fear, Rode towards deserted town hall Had to kill, return by nightfall.


Will Not Lie Again

Wanted to be with mummy So faked a pain in tummy But I got myself in trouble Got bitter pills, on the double. When I said I was hungry Mom gave me farm fresh honey With idly and mint chutney Then to bed, saw dull TV. For lunch mom gave me Khichree And no play throughout the day For in bed, I had to stay. The day went bad, like boxed in a pen, I promise, I’ll not lie again.

Refrigerator

The Fridge had to work throughout the day That too without any extra pay One fine summer day it ran away Made its way towards national highway Had to go without power supply, Ice began to melt, started to cry Bacteria grew on stomach of pie. All with veggie began to complain That leaving house had brought them no gain. Said Ice-chest to Refrigerator You must go back, my mislead brother For no sense in being unemployed Or with Milk we all will be destroyed.

CHILDREN'S TRILOGY

Crazy Class

The Poetry Society of India, Gurugram
Published: July 2021
ISBN: 978-93-91091-14-9
50 Poems
Dedicated to youngest grandchild Viraaj.

About The Book

Crazy Class takes its title from the poem at its centre, in which a sleeping schoolboy dreams his classroom into chaos: a bear sweeping with a broom, a tiger at the chalkboard, a squirrel knitting beside the air cooler. That image of ordinary order tipped gently into nonsense runs through the whole collection. A rat and cat trade insults across a sofa. A toad worries about a tiger’s chances at the village fair. An ant who can carry fifty times his own weight meets an end no reader sees coming. Khandelwal moves easily between silliness and small lessons about kindness, manners, and looking after the creatures and people around us, with several poems written during the long stillness of the pandemic years and carrying its particular ache of empty streets and hungry strays. The poems keep their footing in rhyme and a light, quick rhythm throughout, built for reading aloud, for the kind of laughter that asks to be repeated.


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Crazy Class

Something is wrong with my classroom
Bear is cleaning class with a broom.
With chalk in hand stands the tiger.
While the squirrel sews a sweater
On the left side stands the air cooler
Next to the big refrigerator
From which cat took out a diet coke.
Cooler is blowing cold black smoke
Pony is flying a paper plane.
Our class view is pretty insane
I see Mickey mouse lapping the cream
Hear our class monitor, the shark, scream.
That’s when I wake up from this wild dream


Ant Named Bill

Once there lived an ant named Bill.
He lived in a large red anthill
His job was to protect the queen
And go daily to the canteen
Crawled long distances across streets
To bring short or long fragments of sweets
He could carry fifty times his weight
Moved heavy loads without losing his gait
Could live under water for fourteen days
Was an expert way finder in a maze
One day while eating a crumb of toffee
He was burnt and killed, by spilt hot coffee


Tom and the Eagle

Our craft teacher’s spool of brown wool
Rolled into the school’s swimming pool.
Tom, student from Liverpool
Was awesome and super cool
He could converse with scout bird
A secret we all had heard.
Tom was gently requested
Our appeal was accepted.
He asked a circling eagle
To swoop down to pool’s middle
At once, bring up the wet wool fibre
Before it spoils by too much water.

Situation under Corona

The lean dog named Foodie Fred
Begged for some leftover bread
Their clan had not eaten for days
Though had stood outside all cafes
For all eateries were under lock-down
All across the streets of this big town
There was no one to give them food
No person on streets could be viewed
Just no one thought of men’s-best-friends
Food packets to them, no one sends
Fred was now getting very bothered
If help to them wasn’t shortly offered
And his pack there and then not well fed
Due Corona, they will soon be dead.

CHILDREN'S TRILOGY

Magic Moments

The Poetry Society of India, Gurugram
Published: July 2021
ISBN: 978-93-91091-19-4
50 Poems
Dedicated to twin grandchild Nivritee.

About The Book

Magic Moments moves between the natural world, the domestic world, and the world of imagination. Poems address the strange suspended time of lockdown, where street dogs find themselves out of a job, shops stand empty, and a tiger contracts corona, alongside poems about the ordinary business of childhood: holidays and homework, siblings and food, the small negotiations of a day at school. The title poem finds its magic in an ordinary beach sunset, where salt air and circling gulls and a burnt-out sun dipping below the water accumulate into something worth holding. Other poems work with tight, single-sound rhyme schemes that give the collection a musical quality distinct from the first two volumes. Throughout, Khandelwal balances poems that simply observe with poems that carry a quiet lesson, and several that sit somewhere between the two, content to let children draw their own conclusions.


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Magic Moments at the Beach

With calm strength the sea was throbbing
A warm salty smell was breezing.
Careless waves were drenching the sand
Kids had washed ashore shells in hand.
Grayish sand crabs were rapping,
Some circling sea gulls were screeching,
As the burnt out sun was dipping,
These moments are pleasure giving.
It was time to let go
It was now time to go.


Difficult to Explain

I saw that thin street urchin
From dustbin, pick a muffin
Half eaten, wrapped in napkin
His face lit up with a grin,
And he beckoned his hungry twin
That it could have a toxin
Just did not flash through his brain.
Into two, he split his gain
Both ate without any strain.
It is very difficult to explain
Why the sight of their hunger gave me pain


My Favorite Season

Summer is my best season
I say this with conviction.
Schools are closed for holidays
No homework to do these days.
As playtime is much longer
Bonds with friends become stronger.
Most days we go to the mall
Get to buy books from bookstall.
Today dad gave us mom’s cell phone,
Were free to play in the game zone,
Later when dad bought honey,
We said we felt hungry,
Wanted salty, spicy Lays,
That mom denies us these days.
Summer limits mom’s daily lecture
We get time for our pleasure.

Out of Barking Job

Woof and Hau-Hau, the two street dogs,
With each other were in dialogues
Owing to Covid 19.
Folks are in self-quarantine
So Woof, who should I be guarding,
As no stranger is car parking
So no point now, in our barking.
Lockdown is now imposed
Streets are empty as shops are closed.
There is no smell of Kebab
And we are out of barking job.
So now, how shall we be fed,
Said Hau-Hau to Woof, bro we’re dead.