Saudebaazi

Us Meherbaa sham ko kya yaad karein,
Us dilkash kadardaan ko kya yaad karein.

Jin aankhon me doob kar hum jee gaye,
Un aankhon ki maikashi ko kya yaad karein.

Jis hasee ke kaayal ho hum fanaa ho gaye,
Us hasee ki mausiki  ko kya yaad karein.

Wo shaam kya le ke gayi, kya de ke gayi,
Us khoobsurat saudebaazi ko kya yaad karein.

Paigaam

In fiazaaon ka rang badla sa kyu hai?
Kya unki khushboo ka qalaam mil gaya?

In charaagon ke ujaale  behke se kyu hai?
Kya unki rangat ka saamaan mil gaya?

Ye hawaaein kyu lehraa rahi hain jhoom ke aakhir?
Kya unke aane ka paigaam mil Gaya?

Majboori

Takalluf ki majboori jo na hoti,
To deedaar-e-husn bhi ho jata.

Wo nazrein jo sharm se jhuk jati,
To khursheed bhi abr me chup jata.

Aur un lafzo ko kya ilzaam doon,
Jo mere hottho se dafatan fisal jate hain,
Kafir bhi keh na saka, Del-a-man me kohram mach jata.

The God's gift

She came in like the first ray of morning,
Like a white cloud with a silver lining.

Undettered like a fresh gust of wind,
She thursted into my life as if destined.

She inspires me with learnings truly rife,
The laughter that adds to the life,
The giggle that can diffuse any strife.

The voice that puts you in bind,
The words that cast a spell on the mind.

Everything about her makes me entwined,
A step closer to have her enshrined.

Today was a day among the rare few,
When the God smiled and gifted me, you.

Survive? Why Just Survive?

They say I'm weak and out of place.
Just like my luck, my life's on a dive.
But I'm gonna push my elbows hard and thrive.
I'll show them all, that I'll survive.

They take a jibe at me,
Make fun of me calling me naive.
They don't know they are up for a surprise,
I'll show them all, that i'll survive.

They write me off in one voice,
To prove their point they even contrive.
Would they be perplexed when they see I  still jive?
I'll show them all, that I'll survive.

But why should I 'just' survive?
I feel much more than alive.

And why do I need someone to attest,
Don't I know I'm better than the best.

I believe I have it in me and I believe it all,
You'd see me standing tall,
When they all crumble and fall.

The River's Flow

Ever tried to hear what the river had to say?
In the calm of night, not in the cacophony of day.

If you ever did, you would know.
The river loves and hates the flow.
Amusing as it is, but is true.
She has both, cheer of red and gloom of blue.

The river yearns for calm, beneath the layer.
She falls in love with a forest here, a mountain there.
She wants to hold hands and some times hug a tree,
Often she wants the flow to set her free.

The flow unperturbed, never seems to care,
For he has a bigger purpose, never laid it bare.
The flow gives a reason to the wandering river,
Of 'change being the constant', he is an unwavering believer.

The river may be impulsive but she knows better.
What the flow does today, will help her later.
She looks at the last jungle, with her eyes full and mind with daze,
And then embraces the flow, to move on, towards her new phase.

The 'Thought' and the 'Dream'

The Thought and the Dream tussled hard,
"Who is more dear, who is closer to the heart?"

The thought derided the dream as a dole.
"A mind's senseless wander to a black hole,
A dream is nothing but a hopeless rigmarole"

"You don't have a beginning, the end is unknown,
Your hocus-pocus self, has no reign of its own"

"You just get lucky, you are not a conscious instance,
In my world you would be jeered at for self-indulgence"

The dream stood firm, unperturbed by the thought's sound.
Ethereal as it may be, it held its belief and itself to the ground.

The dream smiled at the thought,
"I respect  you and  your  thought, the thought.
But let's look at it differently".
"While you restrict one's imagination,
I prefer breaking the boundaries bluntly"

"Prejudiced to core, you consciously ignore some bit,
Fortunately i am not blacked out by such an erroneous wit"

"And truly while you encourage the mind to ponder,
I enliven it beyond it's grasp, to imagine much grander"

"Finally, a thought may be much dearer to the mind,
Only because a dream can never be entwined"

Daughters and 'Hope'

They didn't want her to be born, she would be a burden, But she triumphed.

They didn't teach her to walk, where does she have to go?, But she wanted to fly.
They didn't send her to school, it's not for girls, but she craved for books.

They made her do the chores, a girl is born to do that, But she loved it outside.
They got her married, whats wrong with that?, But she was barely 15.

Thrown out by her in-laws, it can't be condoned they said, How can she not bear a child.

She didn't go back, But held herself, with her grit she strived and thrived.

She thanked her past, she had to, it made her strong and persistent.

She broke taboos, won over people, and challenged the 'normal',
Made a life she had dreamt of but never believed she can really have.

Her parents stay with her now, poor thing her brothers, couldn't decide who would keep them and how, a decision really so difficult to take.

She adopted a baby girl and named her 'hope', welcomed her home, taught her to walk, sent her to school and held her high on her shoulders to see the world.

Her parents now a smiling lot, can't be more proud, on their daughter and 'her' 'hope', for them and for the world

86,400 seconds

And I lost a day,
24 hours wandered away,
1,440 minutes of utter dismay,
86,400 seconds in  idiotic disarray.

Still wondering how to measure the foregone emotion,
What is the unit of devotion?

How to quantify the loss I bore,
When you were far ashore,

A metric that can tell me to point,
Why does your absence leave me so disjoint?

The wiser her

The wiser her looks back in disbelief,
Of all the times she felt stupid,
Of all that she thought caused her grief.

The wiser her held her head in lampoon,
That once she counted stars,
And recited poems to the moon!

The wiser her rebuked herself in snot,
"What a dim-wit I was,
Fell in love without much thought"

The wiser her tusseled with her heart,
"Why did she love him and took care,
When he left the vulnerable her bare.

The wiser her left her overwrought,
"Holding hands while walking,
Looking into eyes, what a waste of lot?"

"Can she go back to time and change it?", she pondered.
Take away the tears and pain,
And may be go back and be more sane?

As if it was possible, she closed her eyes,
To erase the insane in her life and be only wise,

And then she realised, still with closed eyes,
If none of that had happened, would she still be wise?

Lets play a dare!

They say it all ends the same way,
Sooner than later,
It will be broken hearts, tearful eyes and utter dismay.

They say the passion will die down,
Sooner than later,
Blushes will be replaced by frown.

They say with time the mistrust gets dense,
Sooner than later,
Endless chatters are replaced with painful silence,

They say hedonic it is, not stable,
Happiness and love,
They are notorious for being ephemeral,

But what is Stable? Constant?  Unchanged?

Neither the day, nor the night,
Neither the dark, nor the sight.

The mighty sun sets every day,
The moon every morning goes astray.

The clouds never find their home,
The rivers must imagine times bygone.

No one knows what brings tomorrow,
We may be happy or filled with sorrow.

But for one, the sun doesn't stop shining,
The moon looks beautiful after every confining.
The clouds don't stop floating,
The past doesn't stop rivers from bloating.

Let's not measure everything,
Don't predict the future, let it be in hiding.

Let the butterflies in stomach be there,
Let us hope it's beautiful, let us lay us bare.

Let us look again into eyes, let's play a dare.
Let's fall in love as if it is the first time ever.

She might soon snap!

It goes on and the wait never ends,
Human as she is, it shakes her confidence

But it's his memory that can never fade,
Well ensuring her belief doesn't jade.

A battle of mind and heart, even if bona fide,
Her senses act numb to not take any side.

How long can she endure and play to the trap
Human as she is, she might soon snap

Imtehaan Intehaan ka

Mohabbat ki intehaan ka,
Yoon imtihaan na lijiye.

Ke intehaan ke imtihaan me,
Mohabbat hi naakaam ho jaye.

Fikra Kam Hasi Zyada

Aaj ye ilm hua, bade din guzar gaye khul ke hase hue.
Ek arsa beet gaya, zindagi me fase hue

Wo  tthahake wali hasi kahi gum ho gayi,
Aur beparwaah seerat bhi sunn ho gayi

Aaj ek bachhe ko bekhauf haste dekha bazaar me,
To yaad aaya, ek ummra nikal gayi dozaar me

Ab khud se ek vaada kar ke lauta hoon seher me,
Thodi fikr kam thodi hasi zyada hogi mere ghar me

Magic!

Not sure it was the sun or your thought,
That brought me the morning today.

Though the morning was brighter than ever,
The chirps were louder and clear,
The breeze as cool as it was never,
Something was amiss however.

'Magic' as it is, a little bird flew in from nowhere,
Sat on my window and sang as if it didn't care,
With every moment my morning turned more charming,
That smoky voice is still in my head, is that alarming?

Salvage my Dream

To my fears unspoken of, sharp as baleen,
And tears that weren't allowed to be seen.

To the self-denial and missing belief,
And a cringing mind so short of relief.

To the thousand excuses I wanted to make,
And the darkness where I wanted to wean,

To the glaring doubts casted on me,
And a wavering courage with lost sheen,

To all those who wrote me off,
I make a promise to myself so dear,
I shall raise the pedestal and rise over my fear.

I am not perturbed by your condescending smirk,
My mind gets stronger with each new dirk,

Like the last spark of a dousing fire, I shall preserve my being,
Not to put you down, but to salvage my dream.

The eyes that can truly speak

The eyes which can truly speak,
Pearls which can have the stones bespeak.

They have stories in there a million,
And each one with emotions gazillion.

Deeper they are than the seven seas,
Eyes that can bring you hope and peace.

The charming bright twinkles in those eyes,
Light up several worlds at rise,

In a world left with few emotions and compassion so bleak,
What it needs today is eyes which can speak.

The Shrouded Moment

It was the moment of truth, but too long lost,
Desires had to be expressed,but at what cost?

Brave eyes fought hard but the lips gave in,
Pounding heart flew high, sad the mind caved in.

The thought of the sin they said was heavy to endure,
Held the words tight, overcoming the allure.

The feet as if glued, tried to warn,
Between the heart and the mind, the soul felt torn,

Chained to the fears of past, the present was clouded,
The fear for uncertain won, and the moment was shrouded.

"Hey!"

An innocuous shrug was all it took to shake my world.

In a good way or worst, my mind is still rambling to find out. And the heart?

Predictably irrational! Never knew a storm can start with such brevity.

Who knew a wildfire will set off with a benign combination of three letters and an exclamation. "Hey!"

What a bright day it has been!

Is it easy to let go if you love as they say?
Without a gorgeous night what will be a day?

"We are so different", said the night composed,
The day was lost in her but couldn't disclose.
We are shores and times apart, pressed the night,
The day knew in his heart she was right.

It's only pain and emotions trampled on this path, she affirmed.
The day could feel his heart sink as her words firmed.

The soul that she was, could see on his face the rue,
Sincerely she said, "I am worried for you"
And he knew it was time to let her go off the rim,
He wanted to say so much but the words betrayed him.

As the night shrunk and the day embraced the being,
The world rejoiced the light and sadly ignored the night fleeing.

The day followed her till the last dot of dusk, unaware of its own sheen,
Shone brighter than ever so that his tears can't be seen.

And the world exclaimed -
" What a bright day it has been"

The Unending Wait

It goes on and the wait never ends,
Human as she is, it shakes her confidence

But it's his memory that can never fade,
Well ensuring her belief doesn't jade.

A battle of mind and heart, even if bona fide,
Her senses act numb to not take any side.

How long can she endure and play to the trap
Human as she is, she might soon snap

They Demand I Walk Away

They demand I walk away,
Farther from the sun as it closes the day.

My courage wavering, I take the step one,
Looking in their eyes to see a hint of pun.

Their pupils dilated with rage and disdain,
The fire undettered even by the great rain.

And I wonder up in my head,
"What brought to this?
Why is the hatred won't relent,
All this for me being different ?"

And I turn around to cover the distance,
My head still clouded, too weak to take a stance.

Prepared to walk away, from 'them', 'that' and 'theirs',
Towards me and mine, joy or tears.

Teri Gair-moujoudagi

Teri gairmoujoudagi ki aadat yoon hui,
Ke teri moujudagi se darr lagne laga

Ujale ne aisa saath chhoda mera,
Ke andhera apna sa lagne laga

The dream was over

When you see and you know,
Its time for you to go.

When the day begins and the dream has to end,
And you know the unwanted is impend,

You fight with the mind and keep your eyes shut,
To not let the dream end and push to rut.

You squeeze the last of your thoughts into the dream,
An awaken mind and forced shut eyes try to redeem.

But the mind behaves like a rover,
And you know the dream is over.

A daughter is born

The heavens rejoiced and the Gods were elated,
A daughter was born overcoming the hatred.
And then came some voices, "Its a girl, may be next time"
Sometimes voices were replaced by mime.
But daddy was lost in his precious pearl,
He would waste his time for nothing in the world.
And when she held his finger in her tiny hand,
The daddy made a promise for life to withstand.
"I knew in my heart when I saw you first,
You will stand by your daddy in his worst.
So here I make you a promise my little girl,
I will let you fly and show it to the world,
That you are not scared of those who doubt,
Your dreams and thoughts are free to sprout.
Show them all that you don't twirl,
Let them know you are Daddy's girl"

Dekho Diwali aayi hai

Nanhe haatho se gubbare bech te hue,
Har Raahgeer se darkhaast karte hue,
Chand rupaye kamane ki ladaayi hai,
Dekho fir se Diwali aayi hai.

Sapne hain par zimmedari badi hai,
Ek kone me choti behen taktaki lagaye khadi hai,
Use pet bhar khana khilane ki ladaayi hai,
Dekho fir se Diwali aayi hai

Ek pal ruk kar jalte fataake dekh kar,
Aankho ki chamak aur chehre ki hasi bator kar,
Fir se daud pada thoda sa bachpan nichod kar,
Kuch sikke ghar le jane ki ladaayi hai,
Dekho fir se Diwali aayi hai

She wasn't the one

She opened her heart to him,
Putting her hopes on his whim.

She knew it in her mind,
But her heart gave in to the pined.

She felt it in her sense,
But the desire was dense.

Her heart never got over the dun,
She couldn't believe she wasn't the one.

I walk away

They demand I walk away,
Farther from the sun as it closes the day.

My courage wavering, I take the step one,
Looking in their eyes to see a hint of pun.

Their pupils dilated with rage and disdain,
The fire undettered even by the great rain.

And I wonder up in my head,
"What brought me to this?

Why is the hatred won't relent,
All this for me being different ?

And I turn around to cover the distance,
My head still clouded, too weak to take a stance.

Prepared to walk away, from 'them', 'that' and 'theirs',
Towards me and mine, joy or tears.

Mumkin se yakeen tak

Raat aaj ek gamgeen sI seerat oodhe aayi hai,
Fiza bhi baazar me, nayi ek sargoshi layi hai,
Jane kyu palko par fir se aaj ous si chhai hai,
Mumkin hai, aaj ek baar fir uski yaad aayi hai.

Ek ummra kat gayi tagaaful me apni,
Na wo, na uska diid na hi uski khabar tak aayi hai,
Mere khaak me milne se pehle ki ruswaaii hai,
Yakeenan, aaj ek baar fir uski yaad aayi hai.

Not the last time

And I walked past her,
May be for the the last time.

Overpowering the watery eyes,
With a fake smile that decries.

The clouded mind didn't know,
To hold her tight or let her go.

And the wind blew as if conspired,
Asking for a moment to be transpired.

Off her hair, dark but beautiful as night,
Her resplendent face was now in sight.

My fingers brushed through her hair,
And eyes laid my emotions for her bare,

She smiled as if it was an abet,
May be it wasn't the last time as yet.