The eternal flame

 

 

He rushes amidst wild tempest

To ignite upon every wick

A spark in the diminishing light

The ones already lit save a breath

And He lights the blind ones instead

For sometimes His breath is a tempest !

Now some tug at His strings to assist

And retard His endeavor instead

For the oil is different from wax indeed

Sometimes my feeble flame flickers

Whereas your's is ablaze with vigor

If only we could assist in the yawning dark

By lighting some in their own fashion

The brightest ones though strangely

Follow not the fuel but the light

And know not that they burn bright

 

Delhi

28.11.23

2104

00.22 hrs

The lady in a rainy dusk

 

Like a  lightning flashes with thunder 

To reassure against the gloomy grey

Her frail frame supports oversized garb

As if the overstretched penumbra 

Cloaks the feebleness with his pretence

It is a rainy dusk on her return from work

An eager ear wary of tip toe from corners

And an eye on lurking shadow of the day

The wick smolders from an unfinished day

The smoke is yet to enter the exhaust 

For the dawn will now unwrap itself 

And interrogate the missing hands of clock

With a smaller foot stretched to hold the shoe

She stomps assuringly on the pot holes 

Then the smile that awaits her with open arms

Erases the grey of the vibrant day.

Delhi

22.52 hrs

2103

27.11.23

 

मेरे अश्क़ से लिखे जो ख़त थे

वो हर दफ़न आह में लापता हुए

गुम है वो लहर जिसको तकता साहिल

कई दिन हुए कोई हमसे खता हुए

Commenced at terminus

 

 

The ship that was capsized

With complete crew within

That was only me with festoons

Those now rot and bask on shore

For the voyage never commenced

And the world overturned on sand

My sweat now rolls down the brow

The people somehow sing praises this hour

Till now they knew not of their ignorance

The sun turns sublime below the blue

As the ocean covers the graying sky

The throngs melt into a fading world

As you appear closer than ever before

Still raw like you always had been

Only our horizons never touched

Now the sea pours his drops in your eyes

Your ravine hair blows like a sky bound tide

Neither a word till now was said ever

Nor a word is needed anymore

The capsized ship has found the destination

For the voyage commences at terminus

If it’s a topsy-turvy world

It is upright to me ..

 

Delhi

23.20 hrs

31.10.23

2102

The Key to an imaginary lock

 

There is a traffic signal where your  expensive car comes to a halt late night.  You are busy on a phone call from other stake holders and there is a terrible escalation in office. Noting that there are 180 seconds to the  green signal , you open the lunch pack to avoid resentment at home . As you respond to allegations on phone , the morsel gets struck in the windpipe and you start to cough. You open the water bottle and it spills over you. Then you realize there is also a constant tapping on your windscreen and a few poor children are begging, expecting a good contribution from the expensive car. Struck amidst all this,  you throw the food out and curse your situation driving car home. The children are jubilant while they pick the feast . The same food that irritated you . 

What has changed the situation?  Only the state of mind . One man’s trash is treasure for another.

How do we keep ourselves happy ? Someone responded that as expectations cause disappointment  which ultimately causes sorrow, we must lower our expectations.  But by doing so, most often we feel being let down by ourselves or compromising on life . Our ancient thought is also not to bother about the result and to just concentrate towards discharge of our duty . This appears to be too perfect and ideal to follow ..

How do we manage this critical piece in the modern and practical world ? This needs some basic discussion first.

So to begin with , what is happiness ? Happiness is a state of mind . If we can manage to keep our mind out of bother and in good shape , troubles will fail to have any impact on our happiness .Sometimes we admit that a particular person makes us lose our cool. So in one way, we have handed over the keys of our mental state to the particular person. Then he enjoys taking us for a ride while we suffer at our plight. Should we not be the chauffer of our mind ? So we will have to take our own responsibility and respond with prudence , which is more critical than proving others wrong. We will not bang our car on another being driven in a wrong lane only to prove our point. Our first aim is to keep our car safe. That is precisely what it implies to keep our calm amidst all turmoil and provocation. 

Finally, happiness is like the equilibrium of a balanced body.  To maintain the equilibrium,  the centre of gravity must be the lowest possible.  Same stands for mental equilibrium.  The happiness must flow from lowest and not highest point. For us , if a small own home meant happiness years bqck , then a larger one followed by a bungalow,  now we find that  happiness erodes. However, the pettier the pre condition to be happy is, the easier it is to be happy. It is like dancing , you do not bother how your moves appear , and if you really enjoy your dance the outcome will also be enchanting . The cause will bring about the effect and not vice versa. So I will be happy with being alive itself. That is in fact the lowest denominator wherein the resultant value of fraction will be higher . So, in a prefect situation if the denominator is next to nil, our happiness will be infinite.  

So the next time we feel sad, be thankful for your breath that is still up and running! There is no misery in the real world, we fabricate it by altering our prefect state of mind..that begins with childhood which also incidentally remain the best days of our life . This is the Key to a non existent and imaginary lock.

The brass plated razor

 

It was my 20^th birthday when I was a nobody graduating from Arts in a college which was a haven for folks who were not doing much in life. It was literally a refuge , like a deserted port one could barely shore up to in a storm. Such a port has no facilities  it is a mere space to live , that’s all. Nor do the “refugees” have the privilege to complain, for as it is there is a storm that keeps them away from the sea. So they compromise with life and survive with their mediocrity.

 

Coming back to my birthday,  one of my close friends gifted me with a razor. It was really rather a piece that was too good for me to use. I mean, it was an expensive razor with certain parts plated with brass. I kept  treasured it and kept it safely till the day I felt it was truly deserved for shaving myself. Two years later, I eventually landed on a job just after completion of graduation.  But it was “ just a clerk trainee “ that I was in a Pvt Bank , so the razor remained like an unused treasure. Within a month I had cleared another competition as an all India topper but still it was “just an executive assistant “ in an NBFC. So I was still not worthy , so it seemed .

As I had appeared in several competitive exams after graduating, their results had started to trickle. Finally the big day arrived after 5 months. I had cleared Bank PO in my first attempt and now I had arrived finally . During my next trip to home I excitedly dug into my treasure and unpacked the razor .

To my shock, the non plated parts of the razor had crumbled out of non use . I could not muster courage to throw it in garbage . This event had taught me a good lesson on life. Our life is a gift , just unwrap it and enjoy ! That one day of having sufficient time, perfect circumstances,  less stress etc will perhaps never come . So let’s enjoy life as a gift of God.

Found in the crowd

The crowd finds itself 

When lots of people 

Are lost in the hustle bustle 

Or smudged by common color

Of emotion or purpose 

Someone always follows the other

Till the crowd gains a momentum

The hissing serpent expands 

Stretches towards  a destination 

And the summation of many mes

Those who are lost in the throng 

For when it is everyone 

It actually implies no one in particular 

The easiest place to hide 

Is the limelight of a crowd 

Out in the open 

With thumping chests 

Weilding candles 

Cracking the masks 

For there is an open garb 

That covers the lost ones 

Who are found in a crowd. 

2101

20.08 hrs

Delhi

10.10.23