Wednesday, 18 December 2013

You

You fool
You hope!

So many turns around the sun
You ought to know better
So simple and mediocre
What will it take for you to turn bitter.

Are you anesthetised?
Your insides should explode.
So many plans on paper
You ought to be extremely bored.

If you can love
Trust me, you can hate.
Meaning has no meaning
You should drink yourself to death.

Keep digging within
Bury deep that comet,
And please don't swallow
What you ought to vomit.

Punchline

I didn't want to write a poem
I just wanted to pen a refrain
Each line a mere chore
Staking in to a stanza
For obscure ideas
I racked my brain
And then I didn't say them, like I should have.
I twisted and meandered and complicated plain crap.

In the end I realised, it was
A great find...
This, my friends, this is my punchline.

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Dark times.

Rotten intestines pulsate like strings of a harp,
As the sky vomits amidst thunderous applause.

Each star is a day in the past,
The moon a dented future.

As blue in the river turns black,
The sewers are now free,
They have fought for long, a most chess like battle.
Sense that lay trapped in an ancient tree
Has too been chopped open free.

We are free
To hate
To cheat
To betray
We are free
From this cyclic pretense of nature.

Raising her own hands to her neck,
She chokes out all air
And does not let go till she is sure,
Hope was once there.

We are Sisyphus with boils on our feet and ulcers in our stomach.
Little fish nibble away, as pus from them peeps.
We are Sisyphus in his steepest, darkest descent.
We are two faced,
Sissy
And
Pus
And we sure as hell, fester.

We are only clay, water and air.
Only that.
Have we ever been human?

Has there been a single day when justice wasn't denied?

It is time
To finally kick our souls
To the very center of the earth's molten core.

No revolution has ever seen a logical end
A time to sew is past
It is now a time to rend.

But wait!
This is not what I intended to say
My pen too is wanton
And has its way.
Perhaps it is fine to be cynical and whine,
But there is more to this emotion.
Where am I ?
This is not the world to which I had opened my eyes.
Though still, I felt all this while,
Deeply and strongly as I was shred to pieces,
I felt it is just alright,
Hell! It is in fact fine, to feel what I felt,
Even if I only felt nauseatingly disgusted all this while.

Friday, 29 November 2013

Meri Subah

Meri subah ke haath jo zakhm zakhm hain
wo shaam aaney tak sookh jaate hain
raat aati hai akeli
chand ke sikke se saji hui uski hatheli

akhri paher mein shor sa machta hai
diwaaron pe patakhti hai raat
khaali wo hatheli

zakhm jo sookh hi jaaney hain
shaam ke aaney tak
meri subah ke haathon mein hote hain.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Old Poem

I search for myself in old poems
old poems that I once wrote.

How much information can a fossil give?
Bring down books with a thousand pages,
line up the test tubes,
fill them with colored liquid.
The chemical reaction is a recipe
follow it carefully.
and if the dust permits,
you will know the age of the dead specie.

The flickering screens will come to life,
fingers will animate,
and kids will clap,
We know how it moved, ate, mate and slept.
We will feel satisfied.

If the past is gone,
present still taking form,
and the future a dependent cripple.
What exactly is mine then,
what exactly is me?

Lets start spitting to make a pool,
one day it will flow,
it will move like the river does,
and meet the sea eventually.

Lights Camera Action
Sense will find us on its own,
an explanation will grow.

 
 

Chitr

Door pahadon ko dekhti hui ek ladki, hawa mein uska aanchal ud raha hai
kamre ki khidki se wo aata hua nazar araha hai
subha ke kohre mein koi purane ped kaat raha hai
do premi gali ki deewar se lage pehli baar ek dusre ko lipte hain, aati jaati gaadiyon ki roshni mein unke chehre ke badalte rang dikh rahe hain.
baarish ho rahi hai, kachi zameen pe gir rahi hai, keechad karti hui, aur wo abhi naha kar nikli hai, kiwaad pherne, daudkar aangan mein jaati hai, phir apne geele baal jhatakti hai.


Mita do...



Chand jaaley hain deewaron pe
Hata do aakey
Kuch aansun hain safar mein
Poch do aagey badhke
Ek jumla hai puri nazam mein
Mita do hath badha ke.

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Laazim hai


Mausam ka badalna laazim hai
Naak ka behna – unfortunate
Dil ka tootna laazim hai
Na jud pana – bad luck
Raat se din hojana laazim hai
Neend ajana – bad routine
Saans aana laazim hai
Ruk jaana – bhi laazim hai

Friday, 18 October 2013

SKETCHING IN THE DARK

Will you meet me today?
I will come riding on a bicycle.
The clouds are gathering for a conference,
they are too full
dark and noisy
there is much to discuss...
Will you clutch the wind for a bit longer?

I will walk out of my house
to the street
then the road
I will collect the small round pebbles for you
only if they are not covered in wet dirt.

Before I leave I have to go running up the stairs,
they have released balloons in the parade,
and fighter jets crossed too.

In the night,
I will switch off the light and light a candle,
read a book for you.
no poems only melancholic stories.
or we can look at old pictures,
of the times we never want to go back to.

Lets sit naked,
I promise I will not touch you.
It wont take much, only time,
I promise you will stop feeling whatever you do.

Do you remember that story about the kids who fell in love.
They had a lifetime to turn bitter.
years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds
We only have a few.

I will unwrap the toffees for you,
open up the peanuts,
pick out the red dots from pomegranates
and also hunt down the fish bones.

give me your hand
let me bite your fingers
and spit out half eaten nails on your palm.

Drink some water,
before you leave.
and when you leave,
go quietly,
my beloved cat sleeps.

Saturday, 28 September 2013

ABHI...


Abhi dikha tha saahil
Abhi thaama tha tumhara haath
Abhi mudke dekha tha tumne mujhe
Abhi baadal garje the
Bas abhi
Kisi khayal mein doob gayi main phir
Tumhari kashti nazar ki hadh pe mit rahi hai
Aur mere haathon mein ek safed seep hai
Abhi thamayi thi tumne mujhe
Bas abhi hi to...

Friday, 27 September 2013

PLOP


The mountain peaks are frosted
The lake placid
The ripples lick the skin right below my breasts
I stand in the water with my hair let loose
The wild wind washes its woes wearily
The water top is glass like
The weeds rising till my thighs
A small fish as big as my thumb swims around me
It enters my belly button
Plop
It’s out again
Plop
Around me in a swish
And plop
In it goes again
And plop
As the fish labours on
Quicker and quicker
It feels like something felt before
Or a line that I once read
“maut kehlo jo mohabbat nahin kahne paa'o”
“name it death if you can’t call it love” (Meena Kumari)

Friday, 20 September 2013

kabhi kabhi kisi raat aisa hota hai...

Roz raat hota hai
padosiyon ka murgha rota hai,
chota bhai mera, sabko sulane ke bad hi sota hai,
din ka bulb jalne wala hai
fajir mein ailaan hota hai
aur ek buddha bila-nagha
"ghaflat ki neend mat so, neend se behtar hai namaz, namaz padho..."
chillata hua gasht pe hota hai,

par kabhi kabhi kisi raat aisa hota hai
ke Sahu puri raat kavitayein padhta hai
subha tak phir kuch aisa aalam hota hai
ke jo likha hai, likh rahi hun, likhne wali hun,
sab saala phaad ke phek dun!


Tuesday, 10 September 2013

KUCH ANDHERE

Humsaayon ki munder pe sawar hain
saaye jo maazi ki dhul se nikal aaye hain.

Na aakhein hain inki aur na kaan naak,
ek mun hai phata hua,
jismein shor karte bhanwar samaye hain.

Har ek ke kaandhe pe chand baitha hai,
jiske daagh inhone noch khaye hain.

Aaj ki raat, kaala aasman rota hai,
siyah ghubaar se chaley kuch taare,
zameen ko chukar adna si chingari ban jaate hain.

Halaq mein ek dusre ke muthhiyan ghusaye hain,
sach bolne waley jaaney kiski zabaan kheech laaye hain.

samundar ke kinare pe logon ka hujoom hai,
badhte badhte apna jism utaar dete hain,
sulagti hui maachis jo paani ko chuley
aisi awaz ke sath bujh rahe hain
kuch andhere jo jalte hue aaye hain.

Sunday, 1 September 2013

NeverMind!!!

In my thoughts we have walked a few miles.
On a sunny morning we shared our first cup of tea,
and while you lay sleeping next to me, I kissed your uneven eyes.
In my thoughts we smiled and then we laughed, till tears rolled down our eyes.
In my thoughts I know how the bones in your chest feel
and I know the face you make before you sneeze.
In my thoughts you walk in to the balcony whenever I am standing alone,
and hold me from behind.
In my thoughts we have danced on a starry night,
feet on feet, you carried me around.
In my thoughts I know now the sound of your footsteps
and how your presence feels.
In my thoughts, we are in love...
In reality...
NeverMind!!!

Friday, 30 August 2013

Kabhi Kabhi

kabhi kabhi hi hota hai aisa
aakhon ki udaasi padh leta hai koi

ye uske samajhne ka hunar hai
ya mere chupane ki kami

samajhey jaaney ka bhi ek ehsaas hai
raahat si hai par dar mein lipti hui

kisine jhaank liya akeli si rooh mein meri
tanhayi aur gehri, aur siyah hone lagi...


Saturday, 17 August 2013

Kuch Nazmein meri...



Kuch nazmein hain jo nasur ban gayi hain
Yaad ka wo adhera kona jahan se sadne ki boo aati hai

Kuch nazmon mein meri mawaad pad gaya hai
Itni paki hui hain ke khoon bhi sookh chuka hai

Kuch nazmon ne meri khudkhushi karli hai
Be maiyene hojana har kisi ke bas ki nahin

Kuch nazmein meri, safon ke beech dabi hain
sookh chuki hain, bhoole hue sookhe phoolon ki tarah