In the land of possibilities

Long long time ago
When Vietnam in America meant Vietnam
I landed in the cradle of possibilities

I came from a land
Where every thing was defined
Which hand to use for writing
Which hand to use to eat
And who is senior and
Who can have a future and
Who will be servant for ever.
Every thing decided by birth and Karma

Every thing was already defined
The pencil was brown
The chalk was white
The car was Ambassador
Dinner and lunch were rice and curry
And the newspaper was Samaj
And dance was Odissi.

Every thing in life was already defined
I go to school, then to college
Then get a safe government job with extras,
Get married to one I don’t know
And have kids immediately
Raise the kids and then retire
Read Geeta for my salvation

Now
In the land of possibilities.
Any thing was possible
With no particular sequence bracketing what I can do
I can have kids before marriage
Have no kid after marriage
I can go to school after retiring
And I can dive into myriads of possibilities
What to do in life to actualize

In the land of possibilities
The limit is my imagination
What to do in life
Where to shop and what camera to buy
What to eat for lunch and dinner.
To whom to be friend with
and what to do for pleasure.

The world inside me shudders
At the chance of exposing myself
To myriad chances
To be some one great in life
Or lose it all and be a homeless
In the land of possibilities.