The Travel Through Time

Nida Fazli once said

बहुत मुश्किल है बंजारा मिज़ाजी, सलीका चाहिए आवारगी में!

I decided to go on a journey on that path. 

Tending to randomness. Tending to insanity. Tending to the within. 

From catching a rare event of lights at Shaniwada fort to taking a lift to cross a lake, on an unusual vehicle. 

From meeting a fortune teller / face reader to some kind hearted truck drivers. 

From having breakfast at a road side taphri at 6 in the morning to being invited to the native's place for evening tea.

A journey with no plans. 

Just Ideas. Old Friends. New People.

A journey to within.

A travel through time.

तलाश

उड़ तो मैं चला हूँ

ना जाने किस मंजिल की उर

ना जाने किस रह पे हूँ मैं

कई चेहरे मिले

और कई और नामों से मुलाक़ात हुई

पर तलाश है अभी भी

निकल तो पड़ा हूँ मैं

छोड़ कर अपना घर

छोड़ कर यारों की महफ़िल

कई अपने मिले

और कई और पराये भी

पर तलाश है अभी भी

तलाशता हूँ एक ख्वाब

तलाशता हूँ वह मंज़र

तलाशता हु वह साहिल

उस इन्द्रधनुष को पा लू तो सही

और मिल जाये तो कह सकूँ

यार! तलाश है अभी भी

Anyone knows the story of the Dog which never ceased to chase the rainbow? He travelled fathomless oceans and the sailed into the uncharted skies. With just one thing on his mind: The rainbow. It was like a crazy itch that he had to scratch. Just was not able to reach it. He travelled all across the universe to find a way to fulfil this dream. A cure for the Itch. Consulted many Saints and Sinner in the process.

Impressed by his audacity, the universe granted him a magical wish which would enable him to touch the rainbow.

This disheartened him. And shunning everything he set sail to chase another dream.

In my journeys, I have come across few such individuals who carry this itch.

But they are not looking for the cure.

और मिल जाये तो कह सकूँ

यार! तलाश है अभी भी

Like the dog who never ceased to chase the rainbow

यार! तलाश है मुझे अभी भी...

Ek Kathputli

बुढ़ा सा एक शक्श
आखों में लगे थे चश्मे
सर पर एक सफ़ेद सी टोपी
और लिपटी हुई थी एक मफलर गले से
झोला टंगा था एक काँधे से
और हात में थे हम

हम
काठ के कुछ पुतले
रोते बिलकते हम
उसकी पोटली भर दुनिया में
दुनियादारी करते हम
लड़ते झगड़ते हम

अचानक एक छोटे बच्चे ने उसका रस्ता रोक लिया
और पुतले की तरफ इशारा करते हुए पुचा
"अंकल, कितने की है ये कटपुतली?"

जवाब आज भी याद है मुझे
"तुम्हारी एक मुस्कान से महेंगी नहीं है ये कटपुतली!"

A few weeks back, on one of my trips in pursuit of the time travellers, I had an opportune meeting with the Puppet Master. With a bag full of puppets, he was selling happiness, at a mere price of a smile. Strange these time travellers are. Give life a new meaning each time I meet them.

Dreams and a Diary

 

Over the past few weeks, I have been travelling, meeting a lot of new people...time travellers, as I like to call them. Different people. Different Stories. A story of a person waiting to meet his daughter after a long gap of 7 years. While another of an airport worker with gleaming eyes planning to make it big on the silver screen.

A boy, selling soap bubbles. Blowing bubbles in the wind. Creating a bollywood styled dream sequence right on the beach. He had come to the town with a dream in his eyes and a diary in his hands. A diary of songs he was penned down. And a dream to become the next Gulzar. You ask him his name and gives you a reply in the form of a verse. And again goes back to job of creating a dream on the beach. People can't help but smile.

This reminds me of the beautiful nazm by Gulzar!

आदमी बुलबुला है पानी का
और पानी की बहती सतह पर

टूटता भी है, डूबता भी है
फिर उभरता है, फिर से बहता है

ना समंदर निगल सका इसको
ना तारीख़ तोर पायी है

वक़्त की मौज पर सदा बहता
आदमी बुलबुला है पानी का

We are like these bubbles of water, dissolving just to emerge again. Neither the world nor time as been able to stop us. 

We have been travelling through time with dreams in our eyes and the verse of our lives on our lips.

We. The time travellers.

Time Travel

Churchgate to Grant Road
Bandra to Juhu
Andheri to Dadar
Park Street to Rabindra Sadan
Writer's Building to Bow Bazaar

I walk. I see places. I see people. I see faces.
My new passion. Capturing all these. Etching them on my memories.
As I start this new series, naming it Time Travel, I put before you the time that passed by my eyes. Expressing time with pictures and a thousand words. Words. Giving the time its words.
I put before you the stories of the time travelers.

Bon Voyage.