Inspired

Sitting at the beach

looking at people

Trying to absorb some happiness

Trying to look for some inspiration

It seems to be all around

but still trying to evade me

Earlier I used to come here with a smile

A smile for the kids playing

A smile for the hawkers

A smile for the love struck ones

A smile for the sand

But now the water does not speak to me

The way it used to

Do not know what is amiss

Everything still seems the same

The sand the sea the people

Probably I am looking at the wrong place

Probably am looking through the wrong lens

She is calling me to sing to her

The sea is calling me to capture, frame her

And again I walk on the sand

with a lens in my hand

A picture in my eyes 

A thought so pristine

And a dream so grand

ऐक जवाब

अकसर जब कोई सवाल सताता है
मैं समरदार की ओर चल पड़ता हूँ
शायद सोचकर मेरे सवालों के जवाब देंगी ये लहरें
या कोई तोह रह दिखा देंगी ये लहरें
असल में कभी गौर ही नहीं किया

पर पिछले हफ्ते यूँ ही निकल पड़ा इन लहरों की ओर
सवाल उलझे हुए थे कुछ
लहरों के शोर में ऐक जवाब खोज रहा था
कोशिश तो बहुत कर रही थीं वह लहरें कुछ कहने को
पर मैं ही उनकी डोर नहीं पकड़ पा रहा था
चल तो रहा था पर बस पैरों के निशान दिख रहे थे
जवाब नहीं मिल रहा था

बहुत देर रहा बहुत दूर चला मैं
अब पांव भी कह रहे थे की लौट पड़ो तुम
पीछे मुदा तो देखा
लहरों ने सारे निशान मिटा दिए थे
और कोरा रेत साफ़ चमक रहा था
शायद मुझे जवाब मिल चूका था

लोग अक्सर आते हैं यहाँ अपनी उलझनें लेकर
पर देखो, समंदर की ऐक लहर काफी होती है
उनके पैरों के निशाँ मिटा देने के लिए 

The story of Colours

One evening at the beach I saw

Swirling in the wind
Like butterflies
A million pieces of paper
Each narrating a story

The blue one spoke of the clear skies
Where one would just fly away
Without a care in the world
Where one would be bound just by the imagination
Without the fear of the unknown

The red one spoke of courage
Where one would walk with one's head held high
In a world of freedom
Where one would not be afraid to fight for the light
In a world of darkness

The colour Yellow brightened up in the sunlight
Spreading the warmth and joy all around
Embracing the present
Illuminating the future
With rays of Hope cutting through the suffering

Green spake of growth
Making a new start when all had been lost
Of life in an otherwise barren land
In a world with no looking back
Of a beginning from a dismal end

Orange made me a promise
Of another sunny day
To come back again
After the ephemeral sunset

As I buried my fingers in the sand
And looked out to the horizon
I could see the vanes
Swirling in the wind
Mixing the colours of life in a single palette

I see them now
Bleeding into my life.
In an otherwise black and white life.

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.