it has been a minute

it has been a minute since the last few people that understood were in the room since the laughters that filled echoed off the walls in my afternoons since the moments of enlightenment tore away the gloom since i was in between maybe & soon. it has been a minute since the team of dozen […]

we; this generation

we are the generation that was promised that will hold our neighbours hands and break bread empower women and redefine the archaic & inane definitions/restrictions of identity & categorisation eschew preaching of tradition & culture that exploits our heartstrings at the price of our rationality & thought burn the books that have discriminated & pitted […]

mujh se hi

mujh me na bachcha mujhsa hi na laut paa raha mujh me hi khaamoshiyon ka sama chalta raha jalta raha khud me hi sulagti ja rahi intezaar ki aag dhua dhua hua mujh sa hi na dilasa, na panah, na jannat, na jahan tanha me bhi, tujh sa hi muqamal na ho jo vo khwahish […]

monsoon

i travelled beyond time saw the day rome crumbled saw the flying cars and men reading thoughts the dinosaurs, the skyscrapers, the plastic, the jungle. i travelled both beyond and through time each memory revisited, each desire resigned i forget the faces but not how they made me feel i left them all behind, giving […]

the chase

raised fists believing in change the dawn of a new world order beaten up and chained bars till older the obliterating catastrophe is the journey to find peace the final conquering is the quest to tame the mind those dancing to a song others can’t hear are insane when thought of like this, lovers and […]

reminder

what i say is new because it is my unique story start writing your own story.

underneath/ over it

a few days have made me older i don’t recognise this place and the nights keep getting colder i do not remember your face stories of how it used to be are told while we lie cold on the grass bleeding they take time to process how it goes the pretenders just watch seething lets […]

h.

raakh ka ubaal hun me vish bimisaal hun me peeth par prahaar hun sher ki dahaad hun shaitaan ki me chaal hun me zindagi ka saar hun. jo ant se bhi dar gaya vo jeete jee hi mar gaya suraj uska dhal gaya chitta sa vo jal gaya vo haarke hi ghar gaya mera ant […]

roads

days (years), events, tears, have buried you silence & finding meaning your home and i will not come to give you a shoulder for we are all on the same ship, soldier. you do not need me anymore just wanting to be heard but not finding the words lost at parties, bored at book clubs […]

no god/all good

once in my mind and on the road, i came across a person (a man!), the story told. he told me to believe and renounce disbelief and take every word he said as truth. first he told how he is actually thirty three described in four books written by deities. it does teach to discriminate […]

imbroglio

expected of the night to play these tricks with me i try to not react and let it be but the night lets everything fall and before i know it the evil stands tall the reality that i can’t save all starts taking a toll and i, i try to fight with all my might […]

love happened

when we lie shattered in and within ourselves and the silence speaks more words than words ever can can i keep hugging you till sleep takes over? can i turn you into a bead string that i can keep counting? a meditation; a devotion. a childhood’s memory that i am living now. this soft addiction […]

maybe

we are on this swindling terrain created on a perceived facade dancing in defiance of the dark counting those long lost stars trying to understand, waiting to be loved dying away our lives silent to the words melting each day on the candle wax, bright and alone at night rising and falling like waves, broken […]

couplets

mile na mile kya farq hai; anjaan tab the, ajaan ab hai. ranjh-o-gam ki deevare uchchi kar do; javani ki ruhaniyat har manzar mar rahi hai. puchcha jab usne ashiyan kaisa hota hai; le kar usse aine ke saamne dhar diya. maza to talabh ka hai, pyaar to tab hai jab haasil me bhi maza […]

paakiza

ilaaj asaan tha haal puchna tha dil to nadaan tha izhaar sochna tha mehfilen toh aati jaati rahengi dil-e-nakar anjaam sochna tha paani ki chah hi sirf pyaar nahi tha mera pyaar ka guldaston nahi, baag banana tha kitni mohbbat ho gayi thi tumse chila chila kar duniya ko jatana tha sirf paana maqsad nahi […]

The Crowd

Though the long gone ghosts are still fighting for their kings Going out on a limb, cutting through the smoke & finding nothing Their belief in their false gods have not yet died They still have hope inside They keep the weapons high To somehow feel that their deaths mattered They feel alone, all the […]

Quote the Raven,”Nevermore”

When it is time for the world to see Will you come over & be with me? Will your long hair fall on mine as we lie down to sleep? Will your lips taste the same, will your eyes stay petite? Will your cheeks still remind me of the monsoon glow? The dawn of time, […]

One Day

If you try to find hate in the oppressed; Even with words & abuses hurled at the oppressive; You will find an absence of hate. The hate stems from being hated on, The anguish of feeling inferior for variables beyond their control. Variables that were created by the oppressive to stay in the position of […]

The Jungle

Darkness. No sun rays on the ground. Blood. Carcass. Teeth. Sounds. Birds. Jackals. Hunger. Trees. Rain. Gorillas. Sun. Seeds. Survival is the only solution. No handouts, no absolutions “Feeling”, is a concept that does not exist. Raw. Uncensored. Relentless. Raised fists. You eat what you hunt, no knives no guns. It is not about the […]

I am You

Will there be keen ears to hear the lessons by the hair turned grey? The burning candle flickering through & beyond the pages of yesterday. Will my dear wait & anticipate another prose about her lovely smile? Or the kids rejoice to hear my stance on the historical political demise? Will the people hear about […]

9-5

“Kill your masters & run away”, Said the farmer to the slave. “Run, run till your soles cannot anymore Make, make that necessary escape. They will kill you for their empire Till you are a walking corpse, Then feast on your body till dawn, And not pay you what you are worth, exploit you like […]

HR 12

Bring me back to life to those summer times I still live here; in your head These recent times might have made me soft But I ain’t dead. When we ran on those lanes where we belonged And fell together and bled When the coffee tasted sweeter & the movies more intriguing Where waters ran […]

Sidhu Moose Wala

My thoughts I know that burn a hole Through the pages of the time And innocence can’t comprehend The dying of the light All escape to serenade The preachers of the dawn While you sit to wait and contemplate The meaning of the songs By singers long dead and gone While their echoes are still […]

When did we?

All crave & pray to the same evil That will take away their life Conqueror of thought & views Demon of the night All of us will die away Repeat the same mistakes History revisited, no rectification. Same results, same commotion. While the dead wither away from disease & hunger. The prime leader grows in […]

Do you know?

Do you know the peace when love is happy & true? Do you know when you smile at night the moonlight becomes you. The chaos, the disaster, the havoc, the wreck; All in the rear view mirror, forgotten and dead. The only moving parts are the road we are on, our lips when they meet […]

The Driver

A survey was conducted by the Central govt. of India regarding the condition of roads, with emphasis on the National and State highways, and the sample consisted of truck drivers, known to commute & shift load from one state to another. One question stated: “Which road/highway do you consider to be the best?”; this is […]

Teri wafa me daga thi

Teri wafa me daga thi jaan-e-jaan Kyu ki agar kaatil zamaana tha To bhi ishq to nibhana tha Agar nibhaati to ye bagairat zamana na hota Aur tere aashiq ka pata maikhana na hota Teri wafa me daga thi jaan-e-jaan. Kyu ki agar ishq ka paimana tha To abba kya kahenge to bahana tha Abba […]

I spoke? Naught.

I saw the burning houses on the second cross street. I heard the charred women screaming for their charred babies. I smelled the burning mortar on the road fresh beyond its melting point. I spoke? Naught. I saw the mob running to kill the distinct. I heard the scream of the pain while the clubs […]

The Drunkard’s Day

Each morning I wake to the sound and grace Of the birds chirping away innumerable days With their sound giving rise to light While the coffee simmers in the boiling pot And the aroma creates words that guide Till the day brings the gloom, usually by afternoon Pealing away the smiles & shining the pain […]

The bullets

In the eyes of the shadow of times Reflecting on the nights of contradiction Burning bright like the candle alight Partial truth, partial fiction. No one was there to take the fall I guess we had to commit after all The bombs were heard all over the city Blinding lights, flashing fire, really pretty. Maybe […]

Blue

Echoes, wails, tears, screams. A painter’s canvas, a writer’s ink, a director’s camera and a woman’s reality. If the machine is the factories’, the money is the bosses’, the land is the governments’; What do I own? The wind, the sea, the breeze? Dreams, faith, belief, trial. A young man’s doubts, an adult man’s struggles, […]

‘MURICA

It is hysterical that a criminal is a vestibule to the inner demons of a bloody afternoon that was created long back by a road map of kidnap of chance to those that worked hard & maintained patience by men … that will condone a woman not being able to choose whether she wants a […]

Must be her

What abysmal plot is this devious life? Lovers by day, strangers by night. Masquerade, facade & charade. Laughter, kisses, smiles & wait. Drifting words with coffee on an afternoon. Petrichor on the first day of monsoon. Eyes, scent, embrace & wait. Days going slow, but years running late. Through the cracks of the draught of […]

some other day

Hello, my dear old friend. I hope we can go back to how it began. Beyond the screens, the chimneys & the steam. Before the gourmet, buffets & ice cream. Beyond the clouds of smoke & the slavery of nine to five To a place where the only worry is that play ground with the […]

Children’s kites

On the confession stand, I ain’t the true man. Do you forgive the sins when I stagger back drunk again? Shining through the still road, comes a bike from far away. Burning the street & burning the light, he plans to not stay On the brink of utter destruction, he will fight them all. Even […]

The harmonica

Somewhere in the distance, the man in the shadows holds a play There is no depth to the circus, the old men say On their knees, arms folded, they get together & pray Sight charred, broken arms, waiting for the new day. Let it be stated & confessed, every hour is a punishment Crowded to […]

again

the society swallows the reality in gossip truth disappears like tears in rain. nothing hurts, everyone goes about their day no thoughts, no feelings, no pain. the silence swallows what could have been. the truth slips away like sand from the hand. with each unsaid word, a new beginning dies i ask you to believe […]

Gone By Dawn

So stereotypical of the night to play these tricks again Bullies & their targets mix again Attempting to sabotage, whatever rationality is left about With enough sentences phrased to leave no room for doubt. And the prisoners are asking him to stop. To view smoke and hear cough Deranged by the blocks, that are closing […]