Sunday, September 06, 2009

I?

I am son.

I am father.

Brother. Uncle. Nephew.

Husband.

Lover. Former lover.

Spurned lover.

Lover-in-waiting (eternally?).

I am haste. And patience personified.

I am friend. And foe.

Shishya. And guru.

Boss. And beer-sharing colleague.

I am jester. Shoulder. Weeper, too.

Agony, I am. And ecstasy too.

I am all this. And more.

But I am not me.

Am I?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

15 Today

He would've been 15 today... and stressed about things like Class 10 exams. Is he better off not being in this world of ours any longer? I'd like to know when I meet him, wherever he is... I'm sorry but the day did get me down.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My apologies...

Don't think I'll ever be able to write like this even though the thoughts match completely :-(

Under a Certain Little Star
(sometimes titled 'Under One Small Star' in some translations)
by Wislawa Szymborska
Translated by Joanna Trzeciak


My apologies to chance for calling it necessity.
My apologies to necessity in case I'm mistaken.
Don't be angry, happiness, that I take you for my own.
May the dead forgive me that their memory's but a flicker.
My apologies to time for the quantity of world overlooked per second.
My apologies to an old love for treating a new one as the first.
Forgive me, far-off wars, for carrying my flowers home.
Forgive me, open wounds, for pricking my finger.
My apologies for the minuet record, to those calling out from the abyss.
My apologies to those in train stations for sleeping soundly at five in the morning.
Pardon me, hounded hope, for laughing sometimes.
Pardon me, deserts, for not rushing in with a spoonful of water.
And you, O hawk, the same bird for years in the same cage,
staring, motionless, always at the same spot,
absolve me even if you happen to be stuffed.
My apologies to the tree felled for four table legs.
My apologies to large questions for small answers.
Truth, do not pay me too much attention.
Solemnity, be magnanimous toward me.
Bear with me, O mystery of being, for pulling threads from your veil.
Soul, don't blame me that I've got you so seldom.
My apologies to everything that I can't be everywhere.
My apologies to all for not knowing how to be every man and woman.
I know that as long as I live nothing can excuse me,
since I am my own obstacle.
Do not hold it against me, O speech, that I borrow weighty words,
and then labor to make them light

If you like this, you'll probably love these...

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Clothes

By Gulzar... also available translated into brilliant English by Pavan K. Varma

मेरे कपडों में टंगा है तेरा खुशरंग लिबास
घर पे धोता हूँ मैं हर बार उसे, और सुखा के फिर से,
अपने हाथों से उसे इस्त्री करता हूँ मगर,
इस्त्री करने से जाती नहीं शिकनें (creases) उसकी,
और धोने से गिले-शिकवों के चकतें (blotches) नहीं मिटते!

ज़िन्दगी किस क़दर आसां होती
रिश्ते गर होते लिबास -
और (हम) बदल लेते कमीजों की तरह!