tum baithe ho...

Last week, on youtube, one discovered the simple pleasure of good poetry in Jagjeet Singh's voice.. soothing, and just the kind of thing that makes one smile in the middle of the workday...

There are 2 that were fresh, but this one is beautiful: (my fave lines are in bold)
तुम बैठे हो, लेकिन जाते देख रहा हूँ,
मैं तनहाई के दिन आते देख रहा हूँ...

आने वाले लम्हे से दिल सहमा है,
तुमको भी डरते घबराते देख रहा हूँ।

कब यादों का ज़ख्म भरे, कब दाग मिटे,
कितने दिन लगते हैं भुलाते देख रहा हूँ॥ :-)

उसकी आँखों में भी काजल फैला है,
मैं भी मुढ के जाते जाते देख रहा हूँ॥
- जावेद अख्तर

Rough Translation:
You are here, but I can already see you going..
And the days of loneliness are on their way..

I am scared of the days that are to come..
and so are you..

When will the hurt of memories heal,
How long will the scars last,
Am waiting to see how long it takes..

Her eyes are smudged with all the crying,
And i turn back, again and again, for one(more) last look..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZPwpeuvOK0

To Rocket Singh

This post will only make sense if you have seen the film Rocket Singh. In the movie, at one point, Rocket Singh is jailed. his grandfather bails him out and brings him home. Ranbir turns towards his grandfather and says "Agar aap ne jhooth bolna sikhaya hota to aaj ye din nahi dekhna padta." (i would not have had to see this day if only you'd taught me to lie.)
(* ref to context: Rocket Singh got into trouble in office because he could not offer the mandatory bribes required to secure orders, and reported a customer asking for bribe. * )

That was a Whoa! moment for me. Why do we insist on truth over everything else, and me means EVERYTHING else. We could kill, but we could not lie. Having grown up like that, one sooo identified with that dialogue, and yes, i have been thinking of this all these months. It was an internal conflict that refused to end.

Then it hit. When Ranbir is trying to start his own business, he asks his first vendor - a man he has known for barely 5 minutes, to give him his first order on credit. The guy hesitates, then says "जा ले जा। वैसे भी मैंने किसी सरदार को कभी चोरी करते नहीं देखा। " (Take it. Anyway i have never seen a Sikh steal.)

Answer to Rocket Singh: बेटा, अगर दादाजी ने झूठ बोलना सिखाया होता, तो वो दिन भी देखने को नहीं मिलता।
(Son, if your family had taught you to lie, you would not have been able to see that day either.)

Faith in truth restored. Ishaan, watch out.

kis ka sher hai pata nahi..

Kirdaar se banaiye maiyar-e-zindagi,
Mahaul se hayaat ka sauda na kijiye..

Translation of sorts:
Let your character be the creator of your standards,
Don't pawn your life to your circumstances..

Note to self: Remember this...
Note to Mampi: Thank you for the sher...

The Five Women Tag

Think of 5 women who are, or have been important to you. Write about them. Wish them Happy Womens Day. Chances are, they have no idea they mean so much to you! Imagine making it to the Top 5. And here is the best part - you may be pleasantly surprised at the list too!! Go ahead... do it.... please!!

Happy Women's Day

Every year, on this day (and on many others), i think of the poem "Every Woman Should Have" (google and you can read it). I love this poem. Its inspirational almost, and very soothing.

But this year, i bumped into another list , which is hilarious and... well, novel.. so here then is the list, copy pasted from here.

1. Hard-boil an egg (Earlier this year, my sister asked me how, but I’ll cut her some slack; she was only 25.)
2. Diplomatically tell Mom to butt out
3. Ace a job interview
4. Ask a man out
5. Send a thoughtful thank-you note
6. Listen to a friend in need
7. Ask for help
8. Effectively end an unhealthy relationship (romantic or platonic in nature)
9. Beautifully wrap a gift
10. Say “no” gracefully
11. Whip up a great dinner with the five items in her fridge
12. Forget pleasing him, by 30 a woman should be able to tell her man exactly how to please her
13. Sew a button
14. Mix a kick-ass cocktail
15. Take off her bra without removing her shirt
16. Apply lip gloss in the dark
17. Balance her checkbook
18. Create a budget
19. Find the best deal
20. Negotiate a salary and/or pay raise
21. Read a map
22. Hail a cab
23. Say something in French just for the hell of it
24. Apologize when she’s wrong
25. Dress for her body type
26. Change a flat (or know whom to call to come change it)
27. Spot a fake (handbag, diamond, potential friend …)
28. Feign interest
29. Know what to tip on a $25 dinner bill
30. Hold a baby (Hey, someone you know is bound to have one sooner or later.)

What's your score? (How many of these skills can u say Aye to?) Mine is 20. :-(

Havent u learnt yet
that that rules of the game
are absolutely cast in stone?

If you break the rules
The rulers
will break you.
It is not acceptable
to break the carefully constructed
house of cards
standing so proud
and tall
without a foundation
but the books say
the foundation is a million years deep
and everyone
living in the house
believes it too.

The truth is,
its not the foundation.
Its the roots
that the cards grew
over the years.
This house was built
without a foundation.
On a clean slate.

And that,
was the last clean slate
that the world has seen.

Citizenship

some days,
i love all the disguises loneliness wears..
like an illegal immigrant,
it always gets in...

like a legal citizen,
it rarely leaves...

The world
is not a sphere.
The world
is an amoeba.

More Kahlil Gibran...

Now let us play hide and seek. Should you hide in my heart it would not be difficult to find you. But should you hide behind your own shell, then it would be useless for anyone to seek you.

A woman may veil her face with a smile.

Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness.

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.

The song that lies silent in the heart of a mother sings upon the lips of her child.

No longing remains unfulfilled.

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.

And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

The difference between the richest man and the poorest is but a day of hunger and an hour of thirst.