Man in the Mirror
I look in the mirror and try to place the face I see Is this the man that ten year old wanted to be Years have passed, time enough to have all the boxes ticked I remember the ten year old had a list The face in mirror has a dismissive look I gave it a shot and all that it took I did some of that and even more This ship has sailed now to many a shore I sense your pride said the boy You have the riches but where's the joy Happiness now is a mere pretence Blissful seems a life of ignorance You will learn in time about the rat race Have to give up a lot to find your place Gave up a dream or may be two What could've been no time to rue One last thing the boy said What I see now I don't look forward to When I am older I won't be you With those words the mirror cracked Suddenly I had a hundred me s Not one of them who I wanted to be I don't remember when or where the boy got lost I have to find him at any cost
An Imperfect World
Someone once pointed out There are no straight lines in nature No perfect circles without doubt Why in life then do we seek A straight path leading to the peak A shower made of perfect spherical drops Guarantees not a bountiful crop When rivers flow they bend and wind Don't they know The shortest route between two points is a straight line We only think of stemming the flow Tis us who builds dams and dykes Seeking logic and reason we pretend That we were here by design not accident This human urge to achieve perfection Is what causes grief and gives us strife Pray someone tell me is it really worth the sacrifice As utopian as it may sound If this race to be the best didn’t exist If good were really good enough If greys were accepted not just black and white Would it not be a simpler world An imperfect one but rather nice
Alive
I remember my first outing as a child Vivid memories of riding pony on my father's back I remember getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar Or how I howled on my first day at school And getting a whack for my constant chatter My bloodied lips and black eye My victory marks from a back alley fight Pining to sit next to the prettiest girl Shared lunches and shattered crushes The first kiss and the heart break Being lost when asked to make a career choice The pain of failing to make the cut Not giving up despite the hurt Dusting myself to fight again Finding love and a friend for life Losing buddies along the way The twinkle in my first-born's eye The littlest tightest grip of my second one Barely a score in a four decade life Picture frames on my memory wall Good and bad bitter and sweet Fleeting moments frozen till eternity Each one telling me life is alive Now I can worry about what's in store Or just step out today and create one more
Count on You
You know you cannot do it all In a journey of a million steps There's ample scope for one To stumble and fall What good is pride When you're running scared Looking for a place to hide Why wait till you're on your knees Unable to grovel or crawl A helping hand takes nothing away When you're in your element walking tall Between friends there's no place for shame So whenever you're in trouble Just call out my name Because when dark clouds gather And the sun isn't shining through To tide me through my worst times I know that I can always count on you
The Tempest
I wake up to a beautiful dawn The birds are chirping signaling morn The wispy clouds floating in the sky Give no clues of the night that went by Innocuously they had gathered Getting darker by the day The quiet before passed unnoticed Before long it started to pour The winds roared and howled all night As the clouds spat venom with all their might Trees uprooted the rivers broke bank Entire settlements without trace they sank Oh! What a tumult it caused The destruction that it left in its wake The tempest has now blown over It's time to pick up the pieces And salvage what you can Rebuild things make them better This time stronger than when we began Got to keep moving forward Ups and downs are all part of the big plan The choice is ours and so is the lesson to learn We can keep looking at the strewn leaves Or decide on which leaf to turn
Moonlit Heart
The Moon hung low last night The gentle blowing breeze The melodic sound of bristling leaves Pushed a poets heart was under a spotlight Melancholic as the setting was My moonlit heart strummed a forgotten yet familiar tune Vivid memories filled the spaces in between Of a love long lost never to be seen The moon with its blemishes and all Stood testament That nothing in this world is perfect at all For in love you are destined The higher you soar the harder you fall Love sent a message through the receeding moon though It won't be long before I go around and am back again I'll fade out of your sight Sure enough I'll be back full and bright Strange is the power love yields Can cast as a spell of magic Or drive you to the depths of misery Inexplicable, inescapble as it is The low hanging moon had thrown a curve ball Reminding me of a time gone by And telling me Its better to have loved and lost Than to have never loved at all
Since You’ve Been Gone
Since you’ve been gone Been trying each day To find the strength Pick up the pieces And somehow move on Days run into days Years into years Time has tried to be a friend But the heartache won’t mend There’s no easy way I look around I see the world I’ve built The life I live There’s an emptiness Despite the happiness I found Maybe it’s not going to change The way I feel Guess it’s meant to be The emptiness is you driving me It’s destiny even if it’s strange Since you’ve been gone Keep trying each day To make you my strength Make meaning of these pieces Put on a smile and brave on
एक ऐसा यार
Art: Rachel Coles न पूछे क्यों न सोचे कभी दो बार लड़ जाए भिड़ जाए सुन के बस एक पुकार रब करे सबको मिले बस एक ऐसा यार खाए जो बड़ी क़समें उठाए जो नख़रे हज़ार निभाए सारी वो रस्में झेलकर भी सितम करे प्यार दुआ है संग सदा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार पूरी करे जो तलब कश हो या जाम मिले तैयार महूरत मान ले फ़रमाइश को न दिन देखे न देखे वार जब मिले तेरे सा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार
The Value of One
Someone very dear became a statistic For the world a number got added to a count What the number had added to our lives Could never possibly be expressed and quantified The value of one is just so misrepresented Never fully understood till a life has ended What has perhaps been unleashed upon humanity Is an irrefutable, irreparable, surely irreverent curse One where a loved one who’s sick cannot be tended to Left with a gut wrenching feeling of sheer helplessness No conversations, no get well soon s, no visiting hours No pallbearers, no reassuring hugs, no shoulder to cry on The wise shall always say that this too shall pass Nothing good nor for that matter anything bad ever lasts Wisdom of the world sadly doesn’t help fill the void There’s a vacuum sans emotions, no release, no closure A father, a husband, a brother, a friend to some is gone forever Those who are left behind living, live on knowing the infinite value of one
Kuch Kahaniyan – Ep5 The Final Take
OK here is a different take on growing up. One that does not involve alcohol. Well, after all its not just alcohol that makes people do silly things…. right?
Yes, this one is about Love and to some measure about Sex and Dhoka as well 😉6
The late 80’s and the early 90’s had lots of stuff happening for, around and to us…Trysts with alcohol, Driving Licenses, Rock Music and Girls!!!!
We were in our mid-teens and the other gender had started making its presence or need felt amongst us. Believe me, for those of us who spent long years in Boys Only schools they had a lot more importance a helluva lot more early!!
My final take is actually about 2 different takes on what the protagonists thought was “First Love” and the instances that made their way to for lack of a better term “friendship-lore”. So brace yourself for a longish read.
6.1 Love
Mr. Fool for Love (FfL) was an average student. He was an average looking guy too. But…the young man had a phenomenal voice. Not the singing kinds though; it was one of those deep throaty voices that were tailor-made for voice overs.
Staying with our theme….Our man had the hots for this rather petite looking girl (for the sake of this story we will refer to her as Ms.G) who stayed 2 blocks away in the same residential complex as FfL. This tale is about the lengths that FfL would go to just to get a glimpse of Ms.G.
FfL had decided that he was in love. He had also decided that it was time to announce it to the rest of the world (i.e. classmates at the Deprived Boys School or DBS).
One fateful day he did just that. The close friends were promised what was called an “Intro” during those days with Ms.G and who knows a possible intro with ahem..Ms. G’s school mates. The final bell was eagerly awaited and a bunch of us were outside in a jiffy. Meeting Ms.G had its share of logistical challenges as well. It meant we had to go all the way to FfLs house and then home. Now cycling the additional distance just to meet Ms.G was not exactly an appealing thought for the rest. FfL quickly sensed this and a deal was worked out. We were to leave our bi-cycles in school, FfL would sponsor return auto-fare (the equivalent of which in current day terms would be someone sponsoring a stretch limousine with booze and blonde’s thrown in)
We piled into the auto and reached the rendezvous Ms.G’s bus stop and waited. FfL had ensured we were well in time and Thums Up was promptly thrown in to prevent anyone of us from complaining about waiting. A rickety DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation for the unaware) school bus pulled up and a flurry of students Ms.G amongst them got off. FfL marshaled all of us and we were hot in pursuit when we finally got in-step with Ms.G.
“Hello G, how are you?” said a visibly excited FfL. “These are my friends from DBS.”
“Hello guys” was Ms.G’s reply and even before one of us could put his hand out for a shake, FfL nodded in the other direction hinting/pleading for us to vamoose. While FfL walked 10 more steps with Ms.G till her doorstep.
“What? No Intro?? What about meeting Girls???” said one us grudgingly promptly being hushed by the others and making the disappointed and oddly silent ride back in the auto.
That examination year, FfL took a major chance as a proclamation of his love and memorised only 1 Sanskrit essay that had Ms.G’s name in it. He got Lucky!
Last heard, FfL got another opportunity to walk with Ms.G. He did not invite his friends this time.
6.2 Sex aur Dhoka
It was the first winter in college (grad-school). Mr.High on Hormones (HoH) had now been dating Ms.Aphrodite (Ms.A) for over a year now.
The passing out of school and entry into college had brought along with it a new found freedom. Freedom from wearing uniforms, having to attend lectures or classes continuously and freedom to spend more time with a certain “special friend”.
HoH and A would invariably bunk a lecture or two and make sure they got “Quality” time together. A day spent scouring the streets of Delhi on foot, sitting and talking endlessly in a favourite joint or sometimes cosying up at one or the others homes.
It was one such occasion HoH and A made their way back from their respective colleges to A’s place. A’s mother was out of station and her dad was driving to the next city for a meeting and was expected back only late that evening. This meant a lot more “Quality Time” for A and HoH.
They got back ordered some take-out and settled down to watch a movie (that was, at least, the stated intent). Some way into the movie the door-bell rang. A and HoH froze, they’d already received the take away!! A tip toed to the door and peered through drawn up curtains.
She came back running and uttered “Its Dad!!! Hurry Up!!! Hide!!!”
Those are not exactly the words one is waiting to hear while cosying up.
“Whoa!!! Where???” HoH sprang up. “I don’t know… anywhere” said A, almost bursting into this rather rare tearful anger. HoH promptly slid under the bed.
From underneath HoH could hear A’s Dad narrate how he had got a flat tyre someway out and had rescheduled his meeting for later. Having done that he thought of returning home and changing into a fresh suit!!!
Well it was a rather interesting view from the “spot” that HoH found himself in.
I am sure all of us know it was not really A’s Dad that HoH had hoped to see undress!!!
To officially bring to close this series that occupied my mind-space for over a year some lines from a song which sums it up for me.
Love, love is strange
As made popular by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
Lots of people take it for a game
Once you get it you never wanna quit
After you’ve had it you’re in a awful fix ….