Coming Back To Life

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Simply J

I met her on the stairway to heaven

And thought that I’ve already reached

And there began

My descent to Hell.

I loved her from the bottom of my heart

And she became the reason of my life

And there began

My march to Death.

I saw her everywhere, in my thoughts, in my dreams

And in the air I breathed, the food I ate

And there beagn

My insomniac Dyspepsia.

I bought a vial of cyanide

And ~~her love~~ my love no longer holds her captive

And here begins

My road to Freedom.

How Dark is Dark Enough?

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Simply J

How dark is dark enough?
Dark like your kohl lined eyes
Or dark like the clouds on a rainy night
For both have the power to save lives
Both can cause havoc with all their might

How dark is dark enough?
Dark like the echoing wails of a raped woman
Or dark like the scurrilous yelps of the culprit
For both have lost the essence of being human
Both in a renewed search, of a slut, a slit.

How dark is dark enough?
Dark like the ideas in my impious brain
Or Dark like the sea nine fathom deep
For both lay dormant, unexplored, behind a curtain
Both can bring a tsunami as you lay asleep

How dark is dark enough?
Dark like the tears of a martyr’s mother
Or dark like the first drops of rain
For both will bring momentary joy to other
Both will be lost in the deluge, pain

How dark is dark enough?
Dark like the hour just before the dawn
Or dark like the first hours of the night
(Perhaps there is no answer)
For both miss the Sun by just a whisker
None is never dark enough to nibble the light.

P.S. Special thanks to Kriti for the last two stanza and in general, as well. 😛

छोटा सा कदम…

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Simply J

आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है
नन्हीं आँखों ने एक सपना नया सजाया है
उस मंजिल को हमदम अपना बनाया है
आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है

माँ कहती है, छोटे कदमों की पहुँच बड़ी होती है
क़दमों की लम्बाई नहीं, इंसान की सोच बड़ी होती है
बड़े क़दमों ने तो अक्सर रौंदा है यह जहां
छोटे छोटे कदम मिला ही बनता है कारवां

आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है
आँगन की मिट्टी से एक कच्चा पक्का गुल्लक बनाया है
उस गुल्लक को अपने सपनों के रंगों से सजाया है
आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है

माँ कहती है, गरीबी एक अभिशाप है
सब गुण निगल जाए, ऐसा भयानक सांप है
माँ, मगर सपने तो सब देखते होंगे
शायद गरीबों के सपने थोड़े मैले-कुचले होंगे

हमारे सपनों में ice-cream, chocolates होती है जहां
उनके सपनो में शायद रुखी सुखी सी रोटी हो वहां
माँ कहती है, अपने सपनों के पीछे तो भागते हैं सभी
किसी दूसरे के सपनें पूरे करो, सच्ची ख़ुशी मिलती है तभी

इसीलिए आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है
रोज़ गुल्लक में एक का सिक्का डालने का नियम बनाया है
प्रिया दीदी से एक साल का हिसाब लगवाया है
आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है

माँ कहती है, भूखे को खाना नहीं काम देना चाहिए
एक दिन का नहीं, रोज़ का इंतज़ाम देना चाहिये
३५० रुपये का आता है बूट पालिश का डब्बा
अगली दिवाली किसी को काली स्याही से रोशनी का ईनाम देना चाहिए

आज एक छोटा सा कदम बढ़ाया है
अपनी पुरानी किताबों पर जिल्द नया चढ़ाया है
अपने ड्राईवर के बेटे को २ का पहाड़ा पढ़ाया है
नन्हीं आँखों ने एक सपना नया सजाया है
आज एक छोटा सा कदम……..

Barren.

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Simply J

Desiccated.*
Maybe that’s too strong a word.
Let me start again.
My life was a barren piece of land
You came in it like the rain.

The cracks started to fill in
Your soft touch healed all my pain.
I drank to my health
From your youth’s musical fountain.
The seeds of love were sown
And the desert now looked like a plain.

But then one day
You came with an axe
Saying I was encroaching upon your domain.
But sweetheart, you didn’t really need to cut me down
Cuz I died in the first drizzle of your words’ acid rain.

And the land is barren again
Maybe that’s too weak a word
(And you said that nothing that’s weak ever remains
Perhaps the only true statement you ever made)
So, let me rephrase this sixain
I feel Desiccated, Desecrated, Debased.

P.S. * Spelling corrected. Thanks to V. 🙂

yaadein….

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Simply J

शायद भूल जाऊं वो शिव में मेरा पहला दिन
जब आया था मैं यहाँ, किसी भी दोस्त के बिन
कुछ नया सा जहाँ था, कुछ अलग ही समाँ था
कुछ मेरा दिल जवान था, कुछ seniors का दिल शैतान था

पर भूल ना पाउँगा उसके बाद बीता हर एक पल
जो बीता यहाँ यार दोस्तों के संग
शायद भूल जाए तू भी मुझको कल
पर तेरी याद रहेगी हमेशा मेरे संग.

शायद भूल जाऊं वो ragging का डर
आँखें नीची कर seniors को कहना sir
Hostel gate पर वो रोज़ खाना अंडे
पर भूल ना पाऊंगा वो seniors के funde.

शायद भूल जाऊं 75% attendance की fight
शायद भूल जाऊं वो socials की night
ODC पर ढूंढ CS की assignments टेपना
पर भूल ना पाऊंगा night-out मार CS खेलना

P.S. I wrote parts of this poem when I was in first year…and five years later, it still stands true. And btw, as always this poem is not yet complete.

Shaadi.com

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Simply J

So, the final Major exam of my IIT life is over. And it was much more fun than any other exam I have written in the last five years. Perhaps cuz I didn’t give a damn about how much I would score today. Anyway, we were supposed to write one limerick (five line witty poem with the rhyming scheme ‘aabba’) on any one of the five given topics. I started writing and got such a kick out of it that I ended up writing over 15 lines and completely screwed the other two questions.

Bored at home, I logged onto Shaadi.com
To find a man who will fly me to Rome
There was a forty year old divorcee and a 25 something fatty
A balding young man, whose family was all catty
Looking at them, I think am better alone at home.

Oh God only knows why I logged onto Shaadi.com
Where all my dreams evaporated like bubbles of foam
Black like charcoal, looking for a fair bride
Robert Mugabe, imagining Aishwarya by his side
I think I will rather commit suicide in my dome

At long length, I did find my perfect mate
So, I invited him for a casual date
He looked rich and handsome, going by his profile
Smartly dressed up, holding a latest mobile.
But alas! in my anxiety I got a little late.

—–(added after coming back)—–

I finally found him sitting by the lake
Just to realize that the e-profile was all a fake
He had the smile of a crocodile, and teeth of a dragon
And when he spoke, he sounded like a rail wagon
I think I will rather marry a snake (or drown myself in the lake).

The Elephant Kingdom

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Simply J

So, I have been making a lot of fuss about my Creative writing classes in the last few posts. CREATIVE WRITING…..sounds so sophisticated as if we were doing something very special and exceptional. Well, you decide for yourself.

We were given a small replica of an elephant in the minor exam and were supposed to describe it. I couldn’t find anything striking enough in my elephant except his raised trunk…..so, here it goes

Swinging his trunk
As if drunk
He walks down the road
Bearing a heavy load

He sees a banana tree
And starts on an eating spree
Only to be beaten by his ‘mahaout’
Whom he completely loathe

So, he raises his trunk in anger
Making the mahout fall down
And runs away from him
Causing rampage in the town

A young boy finds him
And pat him with love
Again he raises his trunk
But this time peacefully like a dove.
Lol.

Yeah, the ‘Lol’ formed a part of the answer. Lol.
Though it’s not a great ‘poem’ by any stretch of imagination, but given that I had just over four minutes, I guess I can be excused. Also realized how difficult it can be to write a nursery rhyme….Kudos Charlie(Two and a Half Men).

What d’ya think?

An Introduction (v 2.0)

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Simply J

I often wonder

Who am I?
Am I the messiah born of Virgin Mary
The promised one, or ‘kalki’ if u may
The prophetic Harry Potter with the scar
Or just another idiot born under the Taurean star

An endless circle without a start
Lost on the stage, searching for his part
A hollow shell, blowing its own trumpet
Or merely fate’s another unfateful puppet.

What am I?

A philosopher, thinker, a radical extremist
A rebel, reformist or just an escapist
Engaged in an embittered battle with self
Overbrooding pessimist, acting like a skelf.

A spiritual atheist
A hypocritical philanthropist
A liberal fundamentalist
A ‘feministic’ misogynist

What am I doing here?

Entangled in a never-ending web of predicaments
Experiencing life as a series of serendipitous accidents.
Puzzled, bamboozled, Schemozzled
Bewildered, bedazzled as if sozzled.

Integrating life from zilch to infinity
Differentiating self to achieve divinity.
Plotting God on an imaginary axis
Defining emptiness with the entire lexis.

But then I also wonder

If I am actually that complicated
Or am I just stating things a little too exaggerated
Am I any different from the boy next door
Am I not another drop in an ocean of hundred crore.

Am I not another one caught in the vicious circle of life
Looking for some money and a beautiful pretty wife
Am I not just the same as you
Am I not just another isotope of you.

No, I am not.
I am what I am
I am ME
Even the man in the mirror is a different he.

Now that before thou
I have bared my life like a reality show
I wish myself a lot of success
So that this introduction of mine further grow.

Khwaabo ke pankh…

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Simply J

ख़्वाबों के पंख होते होंगे बेशक
मंजिलें मगर एक एक कदम बढाने से मिलती हैं .
राहू केतु शनि , मानते होंगे पोंगे पंडित
हाथों की लकीरें तो अपनी मेहनत से बनती हैं .

हजारों गहनों से लदी हो वो बेशक
दुल्हन की शोभा मगर सिन्दूर से बनती है
दिल हथेली पर लिए फिरते हैं दीवाने हज़ार
सच्ची मोहब्बत मगर किस्मत से मिलती है

चरस , शराब , सिगार , सब करके देखा हमने
दो पल चैन की नींद मगर माँ की गोद में ही मिलती है
कई बार देख उसकी तरक्की , मन ही मन जले हैं हम
मगर हर किसी को अपने हिस्से की ही ख़ुशी मिलती है .

ख़्वाबों के पंख होते होंगे बेशक
मंजिलें मगर एक एक कदम बढाने से मिलती हैं …..

Just a few lines….

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Simply J

Just a collection of random lines I write* now and then…

बहुत दूर से चले आ रहे थे साथ हम
क्या पता था आखिरी मोड़ पर रास्ते बदल जायेंगे,
हजारों मील की दूरी में भी न पड़ सकी जो दरारें
क्या पता था एक ही शहर में यूँ फासले बढ़ जायेंगे.

बारिशों की राह देखते रहे हम
न जाने कब सैलाब सब कुछ बहा कर ले गया,
इन्द्रधनुष के रंगों में कुछ ऐसे उलझे हम
न जाने कब हमारी ज़िन्दगी का रंग भी उड़ा कर ले गया.

ज़िन्दगी के इम्तेहाँ अकेले दें हम कब तलक
काश कोई हमसफ़र होता तो cheating कर लेते ….

And here are a few lines from a very beautiful song from the movie Maachis(1996). Do listen to the female rendering of the song. It’s beautiful….

तुम गए सब गया , तुम गए सब गया
कोई अपनी ही मिट्टी तले दब गया
कोई आया था कुछ   देर पहले यहाँ
लेके मिट्टी से लेप हुआ आसमान
अब्र पर डालकर वो   गया , कब गया
तुम गए सब गया , तुम गए सब गया
हाथों पैरों में तन्हाइयां चलती हैं
मेरी आँखों में परछाइयां चलती हैं
एक सैलाब था सारा घर   बह गया
फिर भी जीने का थोडा सा डर रह गया
ज़ख्म जीने के क्यूं दे गया , जब गया
तुम गए सब गया , तुम गए सब गया