ek katra zindagi......

न शान, न सियासत, न ओहदा, न हुकूमत ,

न चट्टानों सा वजूद, न सोने की मिलकियत,

न महलो सा आशियाँ, न बेशुमार शौहरत,

न सूरज से जलन, न चाँद की चाहत,

न धरा का विस्तार, न बिजली की ललकार,
न पहाड़ो का कद, न समंदर की हद 

न तूफ़ा की हिमाकत, न बारिश की ताकत,

न अब्र की ऊचाई, न आब की घहराई,

न अल्मास की चमक, न तारो की दमक,

न ताज, न सल्तनत, न जंग, न जीत,

न किस्से, न हिस्से, न रिवाज, न रीत

मेरी चाहतो की शक्ल अलग है

                        मेरे शौक़ की ज़ुबां कुछ और

मेरी उम्मीदों है सदियाँ जुदा
                        मेरे ख़्वाबों का कुछ और है दौर

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,
                        बच्चो की उम्मंग, फुलों का रंग,

                        परिन्दों की उड़ान, बेझिझक मुस्कान

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,
                        बुलंद हौसले, बेख़ौफ़ सफ़र,

                        मज़बूत इरादे, बेजोड़ असर,

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,
                        एक मुक्त चमन, सरहदों में अमन,

                        आँखों में मासूमियत, परिपक्व धड़कन,

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,
                        बेख़बर नींद , बेफ़िक्र उत्साह 

                        दिलचस्प राह़े, दिलेर पनाह

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,
                        एक नर्म स्पर्श, एक गर्म आग़ोश

                        रूहों की गुफ़्तगु, और नज़रो का जोश,

मेरे शौक़ अलग है, मेरी चाहते बेशुमार नहीं,

                          मुझे 'थोड़े' से इश्क है, 'ज्यादा' से प्यार नहीं,

चाहिए तो मुझे बस,

                        एक क़ाबिल नीव, एक माह़िर मकान,  

                        बस एक कतरा  ज़िन्दगी, और एक मुट्ठी आसमान ,

                        बस एक कतरा ज़िन्दगी , और एक मुट्ठी आसमान!

The Proud Kite

The proud kite
Gloating in all its glory of a mighty flight
Reveling in befuddling paths of highs and lows
Elated, Intoxicated, dazed.
Suddenly got lost in wilderment
Cutting through the wind, withstanding harsh blows
Panicked, descended, collapsed.
The naïve kite didn’t know,
It will eventually fall…..
When there is no string attached.

There I am

Shrinking further and further, wishing to disappear

Fist pressing my wonder, breath dissolved in potent fear.

Clothes are one with my skin, how abrasive, how cruel,

Night’s getting evil and somber, abandoning me to feel real.

The clouds couldn’t take it any more, frail as they are,

They broke down, they cried, asking me to run too far,

Their tears running down my elbow, disguised with mine

My lips quivering, my knees hugged, my virtue standing short and shrunk.

My arms flailing in the unknown,

My ears standing tall to recognize the unseen

My right thumb torturing my left palm in denial,

My form gasping for breath, my spirit wanting to die

My Sighs giving me hopes..........(yet another lie).

The deafening rain getting serrated,

Piercing through my illusive proud being,

The opaqueness of night making my guilt transparent,

The biting wind cutting through my delusion, my deceits, my inequity.

With each drop is falling down ...my arrogance, my sanctity.

The memories of past blinking through my eyes,

Only to keep me inert, only to leave me repentant.

My asylum, the small corner behind the wall, why so infinite?

Why can’t I run away? Where is the secret place to hide?

The threesome of rain, night and solitude, oh so evil alliance

Oh how I wish to evaporate, Oh how I wish to collapse !!!

The night seems eternal, the Stars are shamefully apart,

Oh the treacherous Sun, why don’t you have a heart?

Amid my rigid guilt, my trying absolution and all the mist

There I am….. Left soaked …….left unclaimed.

Praying for the Sun,

There I am…..Left soaked……left unclaimed.

Sure you .........

Sure you have read a thousand some books and the heaviest treasure you have is the dust on them....

Five Degrees and a diploma meticulously hung up on the wall...

Your prestigious high and mighty association....

Your rather obese pay check, a friendly reminder of your worth.....

a sip of (shaken not stirred) vodka and your complex metaphysical perspective....

Sure you have left your blood, sweat and tear at strong and vulnerable parts of life...

Sure you crack people up.........sure your heavy eyes foretell your wisdom and intellect, your presence intimidate hearts. Sure you can sing along with the radio; lyrics to lyrics; hum to hum, play a note touch a chord.

Sure you can make and break with ease and perfection.....

You have landed on significant parts of the globe, have pictures to wow friends.

Sure you can remember quotes and names; use bulls eye metaphors. Your sentence contains more than 20 words, sure your comprehension and grammatical skills are unmatched......

Sure you have gone through distinct struggle and have superior life tales to seduce minds.....

you are cerebral and cool at all times............... Sure you can manipulate views and amend decisions.

Sure you can find your ways through bewilderment, show roads to the confused......

Sure your driving skills make winds self-conscious and your affinity towards gadgetry makes Bond blush.

Sure your ego is incredible and your sarcasm..... "effective".

Sure your heart break is profound, your nerve’s tender.

Sure your hesitation is anything but ignorance, your continuity nothing but expertise.....

Sure your s p a c e is divine, your time is treasured.

Sure sporadic truth imprisons you and silence sets you free....

Sure you are the chosen warrior, cautiously reckless wanderer..

Sure you are this, that and the other.

But I can take you. Yup ( urghhh..it’s yes not yup) I can take ya. I can create life; I HAVE created life, a beautiful, innocent life. A life that would crawl from infancy to eternity. A soul that would evolve to form generation, a new voice, a new beginning. What say you? Can you match? Anything more powerful? Sure you can inflict but can you bear?

Sure you…………….

Cause.......

Combatants are invigorated,

Audacities are in place,

Virilities are acquired,

Lives have been presumed trivial,

The Journey is embarked,

All they need is a..................... “CAUSE”.

'Rain Rain Go Away'

“Rain Rain Go Away” she said.

She took a peek outside the window and curled herself inside the curtain...... A fallible, tenaciously stained, artistically repulsive piece of cloth was her secret sanctuary, her sacred alter ego, a companion older than her in age. The flowers on the curtain were the only ones who had heard all her stories. She particularly trusted Jonathan, the one with the five petals. Her sporadic tears had made the nectar of the flowers, salty.................

She felt unaligned with the world. Abnormal was her normal. She could hear the chronic cacophony of routine around her. Her dad might be surrendering himself to yet another bleak course of 24 hours, her mom would still be complacently oblivios of anything abstract, her brother was fortuitous to be just 4, and her friends……well she never really cared about Hide n Seek, so she didn’t have any friends. She could never dispose herself to hide from nothing and seek nothing……

Then she looked at the bottom of the wall on which she had scraped her initials. That’s the only way she knew to claim a territory. Well, it was either that or jumping and touching the cloud at the top of the curtain……….. She was hardboiled on establishing her authority. She was physically not tall enough (yet), but she was oddly proud of her rough nails. ..............She pulled a thread from the edge and tightly twisted it around her index finger. Crimson was her favorite color…..

At age 8 she figured out that one can not die by naturally holding the breath………….

She waited for a while and then abruptly ran down to a big chest which was the repository of her treasures. She asserted it off-limits to everyone, or so she liked to think because no one cared enough to open it. She took out her school book and opened a chapter titled ‘Season’. She carefully investigated the contents and looked back at the pouring nature. She smiled. She always knew discipline was overrated. It was mid January.

Her parents would not let her go to the school when its cats and dogs outside. But all she wanted was to go to school. She felt strangely emancipated there. It was her province of disguise. She mastered being an 8 year old for her teachers, and yet she had enough time to nurture her contrivances. It was a world of perfect harmony………

She never understood the use of the word 'rain' twice, when there were several other words to fit the rhyming meter. She was a child, only she could not think like one. But she really believed that God gives priority to the prayers that are coming from people who are less than 4 feet tall. ...........

So she knelt down and prayed again “Rain Rain Go Away................................Rain Rain Go Away"