Friday, January 20, 2006

Tum to nahin ho?

Sun li jo khudaa ne woh duaa, tum to nahin ho?
darwazey pe dastak ki sada, tum to nahin ho?

Simti hui, sharmai hui, raat ki raani
soi hui kaliyon ki hayaa, tum to nahin ho?

Mehsoos kiya tum ko to, geeli hui palkein,
bheegey huey mosam ki ada, tum to nahi ho?

In ajnabi rahon mein nahin koi bhi mera,
kis ne mujhey yun apna kaha tum to nahi ho?

Duniyaa ko baharhal , giley shikvey rahenge,
duniyaa ki tarah mujhse khafaa, tum to nahin ho?


~ From "Tum to nahin ho" (Jagjit Singh)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Sabse peechhe hum khade...

Zara nazar uttha ke dekho
Baitthe hain hum yahin
bekhabar mujhse kyun ho
Itne bure bhi hum nahin ...

Zamane ki baaton mein uljho na
Hai yeh aasan jan-na
khud se jo agar tum poochho
Hai hum tumhare key nahin

Teri aankhon ka jaadooo
poori duniyaa pe hai
duniyaa ki is bheed mein
sabse peechhe hum khade

Mehfilein aayiin aur gayiin
log aaye or gaye
tum jo aaj aaye ho
dil mein ho bas gaye

Muskura ke baat taalo na
fir miloge jo kahin
dekhna yahi kahoge
itne bure tthey hum nahin

Teri aankhon ka jaadoo
poori duniyaa pe hai
duniyaa ki is bheed mein
sabse peechhe hum khade...


~Silk Route

Lilting tune ... Mohit Chauhan's voice ... magical words ... B-L-I-S-S ...

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Kabhi yuun bhii to ho

Kabhi yuun bhii to ho,
dariyaa kaa saahil ho,
poore chaand ki raat ho,
aur tum aao...

kabhi yuun bhii to ho,
pariyon ki mahfil ho,
koi tumhaari baat ho,
aur tum aao...

kabhi yuun bhii to ho,
ye narm mulaayam thhandi havaayein,
jab ghar se tumhare guzrein tumhaari,
khushboo churaayein mere ghar le aayein,

kabhi yuun bhii to ho,
sooni har manzil ho,
koi naa mere saath ho,
aur tum aao,

kabhi yuun bhii to ho,
ye baadal aise toot ke barse,
mere dil kii tarah milne ko,
tumhaaraa dil bhii tarase,
tum niklo ghar se,

kabhii yuun bhii to ho,
tanhaai ho, dil ho boondein ho,
barasaat ho,
aur tum aao,

kabhii yuun bhii to ho...


~Javed Akhtar


Heard this beautiful song on a lonely, balmy night on radio, while still in college and yet again found myself ensconced in the warmth of Jagjit Singh's voice. Finding a favourite song on air, made me feel as if I have yet again met myself ...

Monday, January 09, 2006

A house for Mr. Singh (With apologies to Mr. Biswas)

"Kya baataan karte miyan tum? logaan 25-25 mein mehndipatnam le jaate"
.
"Unke saath kyon nai jaate to?"
..
"tees mein chalte kya?"
..
"baithho"
.
.
.
And so I boarded the auto(rickshaw), and thus started my wild goose chase for the elusive apartment of mine, upon which I have built countless castles (castle over apartment??!!!). Castles of cane chairs, a low slung bed, hanging lamp shades, of guitar evenings in the balcony and my own golden retriever. And I hadn't ever thought this will turn out to be one of the greatest struggles and a learning experience too of a city caught in a time warp. A bastard born out of consummation of cultures.
Hyderabad is growing like a cancerous tumour, riding of course on the much hyped IT wave. Adding to my woes, was my fake hyderabadi accent, the autowallahs looked straight through it. From crampy ghettos, allegedly being rented as "apartments" to plush De-luxe apartments, I have had a look at all of them, muttering to myself how Noida was gazillions of realtorical galaxies ahead of Hyderabad. The ultimate goal of course is to find a satisfactory balance of commuting distance, bathrooms (I am at my finickiest best, when it comes to loos!), and the moolah that I'll shell out as rent, the entire course of optimization theory I took, seems to be going down the drain.
But foraging through the city , I see a city, living, kicking, smiling, shuffling ... a city haggling for rickshaw fares, a city seated in air conditioned Accords, a city hanging from ramshackle buses, a city celebrating "Pravasi Diwas", a city holding hands vying for their share of privacy, a city clad in the hijaab, a city savouring "haleem" , a city revelling at Abid's .... and countless other cities packed in the lanes and the sprawling IT campuses. Which of these cities am I looking a house in? And will the house ever be home?....

kahin chhat thii deevaar-o-dar thhe kahin,
milaa mujhko ghar kaa pataa der se,
diyaa to bahut zindagi ne mujhe,
magar jo diyaa vo diyaa der se ...

... still wondering, how long my golden retriever will have to wait?

Friday, January 06, 2006

Rendezvous!

Shivika .... All the 13 years spent growing up together rolled past my eyes, right from the first day I stepped into school to the last day I left it. Who would have known that we would meet after all these years and that too in Infy. She is as graceful as she used to be. One of the nicest and best women I've known. Well, the world is indeed a small place.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Baat

Faqat ik baat hai...
boldene ko kuchch khaas nahin...
sunne ko kuchch nahin...
farmaane ko aaj nahin...
lamhein fursat ke dhoonte hain,
aap aur hum...
din-o-din bahut hai jeene ke liye...
baithh kar magar gungunaane ko kuchch aaj nahin...

~Rohini Mehra

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

I am leavin' on a jet plane.


All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say Goodbye
But the dawn is breaking it's early morn
The taxi's waiting his blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'cause I'm leaving on a Jet Plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now they don't mean a thing
Everyplace I go I'll think of you
Every song I sing I'll sing for you

Well now the time has come to leave you
One more time please let me kiss you
Then close your eyes and I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave you alone
About the times I won't have to say Goodbye...


~John Denver

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Tao Wa!


Name : Ding Defen, Nickname : DingDing , English Name : Jessica! And she is one of my sweetest friends that I met in Infy. We met amidst a lot of confusion and due to a strange situation that arose, reaffirming my faith on the the dictum that you meet the best people/friends in the strangest of situations. We hit it off like a house on fire, and the endless chats peppered with food both Indian and Chinese were always the highlights of our rendezvous. Inanities and banters reached the summit of course, when we had Zhu "the rabbit" with us, our common friend. We are each other's windows to our respective countries and cultures for each other, and probably that's why we gifted each others' snapshots of our cultures. She gifted me a "Tao Wa" and me a "Ganesha" figurine to her. A "Tao Wa" is what a nested doll is called in chinese. "Tao" means "nested" and "Wa" means "Doll". Like layers pf people, whom who get to know with time, layer by layer.Unlike these dolls though, you never get to reach the "core" of a person. You never stop discovering people, even those whom you think you have "known" for years. That can be the worst and the best part of them as well.
Adding to all the confusion is the fact that, it's not important how long have you known somebody, but how that person has made you feel for the time that you have been together. Ding now is in a different city and soon I'll be going further away from her, and I don't know whether we'll ever see each other again. But as they say, life is too big a journey and the world too small a place to live in. Amen!