THE SONG OF THE ROAD

Usually i love this time of the year. It somehow fills me with good cheer and this hope that good things are on their way.

But right now, it's annoying me. Why, you wonder? Well, because it's still making me feel the same. But unfortunately, reality, that bitch, has twisted its dagger deep in, the tip being coated with an overdose of realization, that's spreading through every bit of my body.

And you know what it's saying to me? It says,

                               "Welcome to the world of grown ups! I hope you have bid goodbye

to those days of childhood, where whims and fancies and hopes and wishes
all co existed? If not yet, then please do. Here, in our world, you are only allowed to do

and concentrate on what is required and expected of you. Once the choice is made, it can't be unmade.

No more will anyone laugh at your whims and wishes, or pass off your idealistic talks as harmless jabber, with that good natured shake of the head. No more will you be permitted to get distracted, without being considered directionless and wayward. The consequence and the price of detours is indeed heavy here. There's no going back without losing your way. Just keep walking straight, without any hope for respite.

The path might be monotonous, annoying, dreary, tiring and painful. It might periodically wear you down.

But you would be a fool to let yourself be bogged down by any of this. 

For when you do successfully walk down this road, the results shall be tremendous.

So think only of those."

I don't like this weather anymore. Where once it made me happy, now it suffocates me. Now it makes me feel as if my happiness is conditional to the successful walk down this road. Without completing it, i will always be stranded somewhere in the middle, always made to feel guilty for those little joys and stolen laughs...

MARINA

What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
What water lapping the bow
And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog
What images return
O my daughter.

Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning
Death
Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning
Death
Those who sit in the sty of contentment, meaning
Death
Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning
Death

Are become insubstantial, reduced by a wind,
A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog
By this grace dissolved in place

What is this face, less clear and clearer
The pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger—
Given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye
Whispers and small laughter between leaves and hurrying feet
Under sleep, where all the waters meet.

Bowsprit cracked with ice and paint cracked with heat.
I made this, I have forgotten
And remember.
The rigging weak and the canvas rotten
Between one June and another September.
Made this unknowing, half conscious, unknown, my own.
The garboard strake leaks, the seams need caulking.
This form, this face, this life
Living to live in a world of time beyond me; let me
Resign my life for this life, my speech for that unspoken,
The awakened, lips parted, the hope, the new ships.

What seas what shores what granite islands towards my timbers
And woodthrush calling through the fog
My daughter.

- T. S. Eliot

MY LIFE, A (FAIRY ??) TALE

Sometimes it seems like life is an ongoing novel. One that never seems to end. At times, it's a  pacey page turner. At others, it's a dreary old song. Unfortunately, unlike a paperback (or a hardbound book for that matter), you can't skip pages. You have to sit through the interesting and not so interesting bits. And have the patience to go through it, page by page. Patience.. Oh God, the patience!

It's a story, a narrative, a history, being written or narrated every second of the day. It's a play, being performed day after day, everyday. But.... without a script, without a cue card, without a director, without a backspace/delete key.

Some might argue there is The Almighty, directing us all. Others might say there IS no God. Whether He exists or not, it's a no brainer. We do. We breathe, we eat, we sleep, we walk, we run, we laugh, we cry, we love, we give, we take, we hurt..............

And then, the page turns, the day ends... and the plot changes once again.

But have any of you ever wondered how sometimes, JUST SOMETIMES, our own lives take a 360 degree turn. That the script, though it remains the same, the characters suddenly change. It's the same story, the same theme, the same script, the same lines.... But the characters reverse, their dialogues get exchanged, what they are required to emote, gets exchanged.

THE STORM

There's a dark solitary road infront of her,
Lined with huge dense trees on either side,
Partly illuminated by the light of the crescent moon that shines from behind grey clouds,
Towering giants, standing on either side, caging her, intimidating her.
She has been running, long and hard.
She is out of breath and thirsty, tired and hungry.
But none of this registers right now, now of that matters right now.
Her little body is writhing with pain, shaking with sobs.
There's a dread setting in, a fear, that's terrifying her.
She can't breathe, she can't think.
All she wants, is to get back to her home, where she feels safe.
But she is lost.
When she started off, she was confident she could make it.
But for the dreaded storm this night...
It made her run for cover, anywhere that she could go.
Now, she is directionless once more, lost once again...

RISHTON KI PAHELI

कुछ लोग पीछे छूट जाते हैं
यादें वोह अपनी छोड़ जाते हैं
उन्ही यादों के बारे में सोचो
तो कुछ पुराने किस्से याद आ जाते हैं
उन पुराने किस्सों की थी अपनी कहानी
जो हमने लिखी थी अपनी ज़ुबानी
उन दिनों की बात कुछ और थी
जब ज़िन्दगी न सिर्फ एक दौड़ थी|

अपने से लोग, अपने से चेहरे
वोह सीधे से सुलझे से सपने
जब किसी मुखोटे पर न शक था
जब एक हसीं और आंसूं के बीच
सिर्फ एक मिनट का फरक था |

माना यह सब पुरानी बातें हैं
मगर कभी कभी ये याद आ जाती हैं
जब तुम अपने बारे में सोचते हो
जब तुम उन लोगों के बारे में सोचते हो
जो कभी तुम्हारे साथ हर पल थे
लेकिन आज कोई इधर कोई उधर है
उन चेहरों की कहानी है तो पुरानी
मगर लगती है अकेले पल में सुहानी|

वोह अपने से लोग, अपने से चेहरे
जो अब हो गए हैं थोड़े धुंधले |

मगर पुराने लम्हों के बीच,
उनके साथ धुंधले चेहरों के बीच,
मायूसी और मीठी यादों के बीच,
पता भी ना चला और नए रिश्ते बनते गए
शायद यही दस्तूर है, और ज़िन्दगी इसी का नाम है
इनमे से कुछ रिश्ते कल जीर्ण हो जायेंगे
कुछ खट्टी कुछ मीठी, माला में यादों की कुछ और मोती पिरोये जायेंगे

इन्हीं पुराने और नयी बनती यादों की थपेड़ में
आज के भागते ज़िन्दगी की दौड़ में
जब सोचने या तसल्ली से महसूस करने का वक़्त नहीं होता, फिर भी
हर नए रिश्तों के साथ एक आँस होती है
कभी सवाल और कभी खिलवाड़ी मन की जाँच होती है ,
और परखते-परखते, हम यह खुद से पुच बैठते हैं
के कबतक इस रिश्ते का साथ रहेगा,
क्या सिर्फ चार दिन की चांदनी रहेगी, या बसंत पूरे साल रहेगा
पर जो भी हो, एक अनकही तलाश और बेखबर इंतज़ार ज़ारी रहता है
जब तलक इस बात का यकीन ना हो जाये के इस बार की बसंत हमेशा के लिए आयी है.

(The last 2 verses have been added to This Poem, by Alok Raj Gupta :))

...

HER- I am tired and scared.
HIM- I know...
HER- These stairs are steep and they never seem to end.
HIM- So what? I'll help you stand and teach you how to fly.

YOU

There's always something in the way
There's always something getting through
But its not me
Its you
Its you

Sometimes ignorance rings true
But hope is not in what I know
Its not in me
Its in you

Its all I know

I find peace when I'm confused
And I find hope when I'm let down
Not in me, me
In you
Its in you

I hope to lose myself for good
I hope to find it in the end
But not in me, me
In you
In you

Its all I know

CANNONBALL

There's a man all alone
Telling me his friends are gone
That they've died and flown away
So I told him he was wrong
That you friends are never gone
If you look to the sky and pray

- Brandi Carlile

...CAUSE THERE IS A LIGHT, IN YOUR EYES

Breathe in, breathe out,
Tell me all of your doubts,
& Everybody bleeds this way,
Just the same.

Breathe in, breathe out,
Move on and break down,
If everyone goes away i will stay.

We push and pull,
& I fall down sometimes,
I'm not letting go,
You hold the other line.

Cause there is a light in your eyes, in your eyes.

Hold on hold tight,
From out of your sight,
If everything keeps moving on, moving on,
Hold on hold tight,
Make it through another night,
& everyday there comes a song with the dawn,
We push and pull and I fall down sometimes,
I'm not letting go,
You hold the other line.

Cause there is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.

Breathe in, and breathe out.
Breathe in, and breathe out.

Look left look right,
To the moon in the night.
& everything under the stars is in your arms.

Cause there is a light, in your eyes in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.

I'M COMING HOME...

I’m coming home
I’m coming home
Tell the World I’m coming home
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
Tell the World that I’m coming.. home.

करत करत अभ्यास के, जड़मति होत सुजान
रसरी आवत जात ते, सिल पर परत निसान

 translation:

with honest efforts, persistence and hard work, the biggest of fools and the most simple headed of persons can become intelligent,

just as by repeatedly passing to and fro over a stone, even a rope leaves an indelible mark on the stone.