Saturday, May 4, 2019

Many words have been written now for the past few years , mostly in the form of poetry and short prose. Thoughts have been poured looking for rhyming words constricted by the length of the poetry form. The pen has been active - lately more than ever. The place has been same, may be the same desk but the air has been different, I guess a bit more polluted more dusty certainly. New lines peeping on the dermis of  my face, call it experience, term it as age. It may not be the same though. Age doesn't ensure experience, after all our opposition leader is in his late forties!

Back to the changes since my last outpouring of thoughts on this blog a few years. There is a certainly a new addition apart from the all the kilograms gained - the shiny greys - those which would be in majority in the years to come. So, are they to be hidden under layers of burgundy and dark brown. Nah! I am definitely too lazy for that. The time spent could churn a few lines - I would value and remember that more. What if the mirror may not remain by friend for long. After all...

आईना आज भी देखे है गौर से..
जैसे फिर से पहचान मुझसे बनानी हो नयी
पूछता है नासमझ
वक़्त ने तुमको बदल दिया है
फिर आईना क्यों देखते हो तुम फिर वही...

I have never felt time to be so loud, banging my ear drums that it is passing by. The clocks are all silent though - but its the mind that hammers counting every second that slips by. Where was the counter when we are in out twenties? It was as if time would remain same forever and as if the mirror would see exactly the same face forever. And then one fine day for a decade or two - the hammering starts. Now you are busy trying to catch the moment a little too feverishly for comfort and then one fine day (I am sure of this!), the acceptance will dawn. The time will run past, but we have to be still, still so that we can feel life not bound by time. It's difficult but that feeling will come and the hammering will transform into humming. The mind will hum the music of life - and that will infact be niravana!!!
कमबख्त खवाइश इम्तेहान लेती है
 हर वक़्त
 मंजिल रूबरू हो चाहे
कदमों को खिंचती है ये दर बदर 

Saturday, March 23, 2019

The cup

The cup hisses silently
I, on the sofa,
With my feet up, drawn...
Don't wanna move an inch
Till the sight of the next dawn

The sun had set long ago
Dinner's finished
Beds spread, Days done
But the evening ...
not wanting to go.... yet.

I whiff the familiar smell
Too known to ignore
It's just a few steps...
to the kitchen table,
next to the door

Fresh to my taste
May be the flavour which I like best
Or the one which I like a bit less
Too tempting to resist
It's time to arise, walk a few steps

But, seconds have passed,
The flavour may have left
Like the smell of just wet ground
Gone after a shower of rain,
Do I go the distance
May be all in vain ?

A few still moments
Then a familiar voice
Of footsteps....
And the cup
Of my favourite brew
As I grab for that sip
What more could I ask
Than a wish come true!







Thursday, March 14, 2019

Summer sun

Steps hesitate
As the skin feels the wrath
The wrath of the sun
on the concrete path..

I try to fit in my shadow
Hoping for shade

Eyes squint,
As I wait on the street
For the cool of the bus
Dreaming of the back seat

A long road ahead
A few mirages teasing my patience
Gust of hot wind
Hurting with the summer fragrance

Drops of water on my forehead
get wasted as sweat
An overused handkerchief,
dying to be thrown
in that bucket of water back at my home

A pair of parched lips,
As I quiver with thirst
The last drop from my bottle
To my despair
escaping into the dust

Breathe in the hot air
filling my lungs
Burning fire inside me
Like the burning hot sun

Oh..I miss the trees
That once lined the street
Soft shades of different shapes
Like a mother's assuring embrace

They stayed beside me
As I enjoyed this street
Making me forget..
there was a summer sun indeed..

A summer sun indeed
Waiting to devour
Whatever walked in this heat!!!!





Wednesday, March 13, 2019

आसमान ने शिकायत की ,
फिर हवाओं की मुझसे
मेरे बादलों को बेघर कर देती हैं
ना जाने किस की चाह है इन्हें

कल ही समेटा था नहरों से पानी
ख्वाब चमकती बूंदों के देखे थे
कैसे मानुष को अचंभित करेंगे
जब एकाएक बादलो से बरसेगी रवानी

हवा तू रुख क्यों नही बदलती अपना
अब जाड़े में आना इस ओर
जब रुई की तरह होंगे ये मेघ
ना बरसने की ललक ना गर्जन का शोर

अभी तो धरा बैचैन है भीगने को
सन्नाटा लपेटे सूर्य की किरणें ,
पढ़ती हैं जब इसपे
और जलती है रूह इसकी ध्वस्त

एक आशाहीन अभिलाषा लिए
करती है वो निरंतर आह्वान
रोक ले हवाओं का ये हाहाकार
ऐ, आसमान, अब तो अपना धन बरसा
अब तो बूंदो की मुझे झलक दे







Monday, March 11, 2019

मुसर्रत की बात ना कह
वो तो दुश्मन की कश्ती में भी है गुलशन
बस ज़मीन-ए-वतन का खयाल रहे जेहन में 


फक्र की बात ना कह
वो तो लहु से सरोबर लिबास में भी है रौशन
बस सदक़ा-ए-वतन का कफन लिपटे बदन पे

तेरे मन में क्यों शिक़वा है ऐ दोस्त
शहर की हवा में भी रश्क़ तू ढूंढे

मेरी कहानी में तो गिरह न कोई
बस हवा में हो वतन की खुशबू 
चाहे फिर किसी भी दर पे ठिकाना रहे