To the unknown

Late last night the large boat came,

with the promise of adventures, I jump on it straight .

Take me here and there, take me anywhere and everywhere,

for a voyage I long for, and I like your way.

Set sail to the unknown!

The seashores are cold and the water is fierce,  

Enjoying the salt and sun,

…the warmth and green.

The boat came again, so I took it once more.

Set sail to the unknown!

The sandshoes are hot and the moisture is rare,

Adoring the bush shadow,

…the heat and the gold.

It came once more, and so I go…

Set sail to the unknown!

The green-lands are vast and rainfall is plenty,

Indulging in fog and serenity,

…the shiver and green-mock.

The trip shall continue, for it arrived as before.

Set sail to the unknown!

The buildings are high and the murmur is deafening,

Pampered in tech and living quite fast,

…the hectic, the gray.

My time has come, for it's here again.

Set sail to the unknown…

 …and at the end, please bring me home…

But where is that home you for?

 It asked on a whisper…

On the house that knows your secrets of youth?

Or with the friends that are spread from here to there?

Maybe on the pumping heart where you hold them…

Or in the endless frames that dance at night…

I am your home! …it told me…

…as I sailed to the unknown…

Hugo Cervantes

Growing up

Fish and bones

and black tar roads,

familiar faces and 

memories set in stones.

A distinct fragrance,

of palm trees tall,

swings and playground

 - my world was small.

Sea and sand,

they beckoned me - 

a wide-eyed speck

in a sky rise city.

Loss and religion,

riots and blasts,

the boy next door

 - etched the adolescent heart.

The search for a hero

brought me close to her

a peaceful home

to the heavens above.

Writer, dancer, 

actor, doctor - 

She set me free

 - to make my future.

And there I stood

a heart and a sole,

to begin my quest

for a new home.

To make friends

and write stories new,

to travel places

 - in search of you.

P.S. I have grown up (in fact still growing up) in many different places. And I have always wondered if each of these places have contributed in tweaking my personality in its own way. Would I be a different person if the order of these places in my life changed? Would I be different if instead of Mumbai, I had landed in Chennai? If instead of UK, I had chosen to go to the US? What would I be doing today? Would I be writing this article at all? Would I still be in search of a home? Would I still meet you?