Two worlds...

...I live in
in which i see same things
in different ways;
one eery, one sane,
one true, one fake,
thin lines of wet sand separating the two,
as I slip over from belief to its antonym,
back and forth
as if on an automatic see-saw
in an old garden.

Enough,
I think and fight hard,
to wake up, out of the miserable sleep
- wild goriness in broad daylight -
from nightmare to reality,
only to discover -
the former as real
and the latter, as a cold, harsh hallucination
called
life!

PS - Aaj peene de aur peene de, aaj peene de aur peene de,
Kal karenge, hisab, aye saaki...dhal gaya aaftaab aye saaqi! :)

Screen layers!

“Bom Bom Bom Bom!” she typed

“Hmmmm,” he thought. “Andaz apna apna?”

“Nahi,” she rejoiced. “Dil toh pagal hai!”

“La la la la la”

“Amitabh Bachchan wala?” he was excited. “Mere angane mey…woh gaana?”

“Nahi…tu tu hai wohi…lol”

“Hmmmm!” he smiled “:)”

There’s something about games played remotely. Yeah well, in ways more than one. One, they’re way too dependent on the single most powerful human emotion. Two, they’re elusive. Three, there’re no right answers. Four, they’re poor reminders once there is an irreparable, inevitable tiff. Five, they ignore the world outside of them.

Six, they’re unreal! Ha!

PS - Yeh kya baat hai aaj ki chandni mey!

Onlookers!

She waited at the parking lot, the standard rendezvous spot. It was a trying time for her at work. Lotsa stuff to grapple with – new people, new things, new connections and an aging physical self – that sucked time, energy, breath and more.

Dry breeze caressed her neck and climbed up like little ants uphill on the anthill. Nature does find a way of offering its condolences. Sunlight after an earthquake, rains after a deathly drought or even crazy lulls after mighty storms. She ignored signs of any temporary relief; her eyes drooped, heavy and strained. She looked up at the skies, her vision piercing stars and clouds and dark skies, in search of her god. I need you now! Are you really watching? She closed her eyes.

He came there just in time. Is it? He looked at his watch. How late can I be when its this late already? He was vexed too with different things as he frowned at the parking lot. There she is! She turned to him, moist eyes back after lightyears of journey. He forgot. He thought nothing. He watched.

“Let’s go?” he asked. “Come!” he reached out and held her hand.

She pulled it back and squealed, “Everyone’s watching!”

“Oops!” he smiled and held his ears “I’m sorry!”

PS - Yehi lagan rahi toh aye dil-e-jawaan...asar bhi ho rahega iss haseen pe!

Mayajaal!

Is that real,
the bunch of sweet nothings
freely exchanged?

Like a quick magic trick
it appears and disappears
before I know;
but they know,
they believe,
why reality is such a wonder-bird -

it gives you wings
it touches unknown winds
it sings a popular song,
covers up stealthy bygones
its cooks up a lucrative dish
from ‘hunts & kills’ of small fish

its not for no reason that they call it indispensable,
somewhere, that ‘real’ is really in-credible!

That ghost!

I watch the lights
bright eeriness
that unfolds
her.
She stands like a smoky figurine in its whiteness.

I look away
sight fixated
on the floor
that un-buries
her.
She grows into her full self like a brown creature with white teeth.

I twitch my brows
and gaze straight;
at the farthest wall
that un-carves
her.
She is the white sculpted curve staring into me.

I close my eyes,
wash my insides,
that fluid-ify
her.
She is the cast that embodies the petrified, closed-eyed, free flowing mystique!

One-Another!

A lil something that most things contain
in parts that seem
off
and on
or
on
and off;

growing ends
expansive peripheries
extending territories
moving around
myself
around things that are me
- for a long while -

on a dotted line
non linear
between the leap and the pause
the jump and the stop
somethings change
and somethings, wired, stay!

PS - Woh jo ruki si, chaah baaki hai!

Time (II)

What is god?
Too many forms, some bygone?
An invisible intolerant world code
gone horribly wrong?
They asked.

I thought in time,
of time -
time that runs
time that stops
time that screams
time that gleams
time that climbs
time that times
time that simply refuses to flow
time that eventually lets go
time that talks
time that sings
time that seals
time that steals
time like the moving joy of love
time like the tearing grief of pain
time like a flurry of hope
time when you desperately cling to scope
time that holds
time that rolls
time that stabs
time that wraps
time that drills
and time that kills
time that kneels
and time that heals.

Like time,
I said,
that exists,

somewhere...everywhere!

(PS - Works best when read aloud!)

Summary!

Take
------sugar
and taste it,
------some spice
and swallow it,
------a pinch of salt, quietly,
and polish the mouth,
------some freshly cut chillies
and lay them on your tongue;

when someone stares with weight,
for a quick summary and no time to wait,
dont think, dont look around, mate,
simply shrug, recapitulate and state,
"Oh! I just ate, ate, ate and ate!"

PS - I guess the problem with getting to the point is that you kinda miss several 'pointless' points that might very well be the real points! :P

Time (I)...

is a walkie talkie
between points of age
and like invisible threads of soft connection,

it transmits
transports
transcends
bouts of you
about you
in orbits that are
shapeless,
seamless,
shadeless,
speedless,

silently, soundlessly, sheepishly seeking the timeless!

PS -
aani jaani, hai kahaani, bulbuley si zindgani, banti kabhi bigadti, tez hawa se ladti bhidti...

When...

"when does it happen,
that the you and me phenomenon
that always sat discretely on the couch,
separate backsides backing each other
like blooming flowers stemming from a vertex,
transforms itself into a we form?"

i thought of my posture
right there,
looked around between
air and airlessness,
breath and breathlessness,

"when smells smell each other and start seeing each other!"