Shanta bai...

This comes from deep within my heart..

A letter to my Shanta bai...

Every evening back from work

The dry stinky dishes and bad bins

Remind me of who ? Can you guess why ?

Yep you're right, my darling Shanta bai....

The detergent's over and the clothes still sweaty

You were the only in the house who was witty

To get 3 cans all at once of washing soap

While I was sleeping you dried my clothes on that rope

Over my head when the water dripped

I yelled and screamed and pulled the clothes clipped

You still wouldn't listen and the water went all over the floor

As soon as I woke up, there I slipped.

You laughed then and there was no other war

That I longed to fight, but with you

I felt like punching your nose

Sometimes, I considered even killing you.

Jhaadu and Pohcha and the fan got shut

in that hot and humid weather, my room felt like a hut

I loved the dust and I hated you so much

You complained to mom, I wished I could hit you as such.

But now every night when I do the dishes 

When Vaccuming sucks, there are no more wishes

No one cooks and I eat rotis frozen 

I've got your trait, I get them in a dozen

When the body aches call for iodex

That bad sprain that I get in my neck

When I bend down and back up my oh my

Do I miss you or what, Shanta bai !

Arz hai....

 

Huzoor ne daad naa di toh kya

Fir bhi arz hai...

Aap ko lubhaana

Toh aaj kal humaara farz hai...

 

Toh Aap par Arz hai.....

 

Roz roz yun elevator mein aya na karo

Fir paanchve maale pe yun darwaaze se bahar jaaya na karo

Aap ko roz dekhna ek aisa karz hai

Ki Arz hai....

 

Is duniya ki khoobsurati pe chaar chaand lag jaayenge

Kabhi ruk gaye aap ek floor aur

Naa ruke toh bhi kya

Fir se chale jaane ke liye aaya karo

Ki is dil ke register mein woh floor number yun darj hai

Ki Arz hai....

 

Aapke office ke floor pe joh kitchen hai

Wahan roz roz aakar ek hi aarzoo karte hain hum

Aap kahin mil jaaye kabhi

Naa mile fir bhi, kya harj hai

Toh bus yuhin Arz hai....

 

Aap ko bhulana aaj kal raaton ko

Ho raha hai thoda sa mushkil zaroor

Kabhi mudkar sapne mein toh dekhiye is taraf

Bas ho na jaayiye is tarah magroor

Aap ko sochna toh ab humara farz hai

Toh bas yuhin keh diya humne.....

Aadab Arz hai....

Aur ek dhun..

ek dhun
ek saaz
har pal
ek awaaz

ek ehsaas
Aur ek saans
us saans mein
teri aas

Ek dhadkan
Ek dil
Har ghadi mein
Tu mil

Aa paas
Aur ek baar
Na ho fir
Koi daraar

Ek takraar
Na le jaaye fir
Ek jhoke mein
Na jaaye gir

Meri dhun
Mera geet
Meri preet
Aur ek meet

Yeh vaqt ruke
Toh sar jhuke
Tere aage aye humnawaaz
Yeh pyaar na reh jaaye
bas banke ek awaaz.

....Urf......ek dhun.

Us saaz ki tarah
Jab bijli kadakti hai
Meri rooh ke har pehlu main
Khushboo kuch yuh mehekti hai

Jaisi khule neele aasmaan mein
Naachte hue taare
Is jahan ke har tarane ko lekar
Yuhin bas jhoom uthte hain

Tere pyaar ka sangeet
Jab mann mein teher jaata hain
Us alfaaz ka har pal
Meri saason mein bas jaata hain

Jaise ek khilti hui kali kaa mann
Chup chup kar, tu bhi sun
Is kaaynaat mein bajti hui
Har Shahnaayi...urf...ek dhun.

Ek cup chai.....!

When it rained after college

And the lectures were called off

When we didnt have an umbrella

Drenched then with a cold and a cough

Thats what helped

The smell of the wet soil

Those onion pakoda's

soaked in a plate of oil.

Chotu was wet with water dripping hair

Running all around, the only guy there

Ek plate kaanda bhajji, my oh my !

Hot hot served with ek cup chai .. !

What fun that was...

The Chai hardly had a taste

The pakoda's were funky

But nothing was a waste

That wooden broken bench 

With broken feet all four

Somehow took all of us

We'd push, just one more.

The leaking ceiling up above

Where the rain dripped from 

Over on the table, right onto my palm

Holy Moly, that made me feel so calm

There's no rain now but oh there's snow 

No Chotu here, no one who I know

Shapeless Pakoda's replaced with Onion rings round

Wet fragrant mitti replaced with white white ground.

No college now, I am still in 'school'

School at 25 ? Am I a fool ?

That broken bench's gone, I now have a desk

No open air, am I in a grotesque ?

Its raining today and Starbucks is all

that I have around, why would I lie ?

Oh those steamy little shapeless things

Oh God and I crave for Ek cup chai....!!

Unbated Abyss

Will it alter my life ?
I feel like it already did
Though I did the same things I do everyday
This thought is new and I just cant get rid.

If we consummate our assignation
It will irrevocably shake me up
My desires will screenplay the future
My eyes will sum it up.

I have a feeling what if
I am left alone in this culmination
At the end of the war of love
Is it going to be a rejuvenation ?

My wish is the villain
In this depth bottomless
Its hard to fall in love with a stranger
Am I scared if its meaningless ?

stranger oh you stranger
why did you take my heart away once again
Once again, at the end of five years
Once again, will everything end ?

A coupla friends walked a coupla blocks.

A coupla friends walked a coupla blocks
Talked and strolled and sang along
Stopped by the Peet's coffee shop
Wrote down what was right and wrong

In their book of friendship forever
In the walk they knew would end never
Promises and trust touched the top
Fate and paths would not change ever

The couple blocks ended then
The talk and walk ended when
Promises still remained though
Time got knead tough as a dough

The clock ticked and it was a year over
Talks and the walks both were slower
Both had missions at a challenge
The shelf carrying their picture got lower and lower

Time ticked again, and it was a decade gone
Missions were over but they were all alone
The ropes were pulled oh so apart
The knots were broken and the book was torn

A thought flew across one of the minds
My friend oh my friend got lost somewhere
I wished I cared and waited there
That coffee shop, those couple blocks
Friendship forever we had written where

Now I have no one to talk and walk
Now I have no one that I wish I can lock
In the moments that I lived then
In the promises that I made when

But this world is small and round and round
Somewhere on this scented ground
I'll draw the arc that reaches my friend
the book that was torn, again we'll mend.