तुम जो नहीं.

ज़िंदगी का सफ़्हा
फिर एक बार
पलटने को है.
अध्याय एक नया
प्रारम्भ -
होने को है.

ज़ुदा होंगे फिर जिन्होंने,
साथ होने का भ्रम दिया था.
आयेंगे नये लोग –
औ’ संग उनके फिर से
साथ होने का छल भी
पुन: आयेगा.

ताज़ा होंगी सूरतें –
इसमें कहीं कोई शक़ नहीं.
मगर उन ताज़ा सूरतों के पीछे छुपा आदमी भी
क्या नया होगा?

कि –
सीरतें भी होंगी नई
इसपर,
अब ऐतबार करने का
दु:साहस नहीं होता.

क्रमश: पुरानी पड़ती किताबों के सफ़्हे
बिखर ना जाएँ कहीं.
आवश्यक है कि
उनको सहेजने-सम्भालने वाली ज़िल्द
पुख्ताहाल रहे.

कहीं अंदर, भीतर
सिहरता बहुत हूँ माँ.
डरता हूँ किसी मोड़ पर
बिखर ना जाएँ पन्ने
ज़िंदगी के.

तुम जो नहीं.

Why Take All This Pain?

One doesn’t really need a place –

Calm, quiet and nice.

To contemplate

(And think over the meaninglessness of everything around.)

Even a metropolis city-bus-stop –

Would – in fact – for that purpose suffice.

In the hustle and bustle of the crowd.

Everybody is running around.

Where to, why and for whom –

Aren’t such questions left better untried? 

For isn’t life ultimately an exercise futile?

A journey that starts from shunya.

And –

Must one day end up in the same!

Why then keep on going in circles all along?

If there is nothing really beyond;

Why after-all take all this pain?

What after-all,

O fool!

You are looking for in this gutter?

Being restless –

By its impermanent, materialistic

And hollow glitter.

Let us suppose –

The day comes when you –

Back into the elements get disintegrate.

As it happen must!

Either go up in smoke.

Or –

Just get swallowed by the soil –

And get reduced to dust.

Let there be no illusion,

O dear!

For even then –

Nothing will really change

Over here. 

As it does today –

The world will still be running along.

May be a few days of ‘invented formalities’,

And then even from the memories –

You will be gone.

Weird indeed are the ways of this place.

For in the memory of the selfish race –

One does not really ultimately matter.

Whether he be you, me –

Or for that case,

Even giants like

Gandhi and Hitler.

कुत्ता / आदमी

ज़ुबाँ क्या पा ली आदमी ने
खुद को
बावज़ूद अपनी तमाम खामियों के 
इंसान का दर्ज़ा
दे डाला.

बे-ज़ुबाँ कुत्ता बेचारा
विरोध अपना दर्ज़ न करा पाया
औ'
बावज़ूद अपनी तमाम अच्छाइयों के
रह गया
एक अपशब्द-मात्र बनकर.

Show me my path, O Swami.

At a time when there is no sun,
And life seems to be all rain;
I pray to you, O Swami,
Come -
Show me the right path once again.

Life has been confusing
For eight long years now;
I hope sincerely -
You will come;
And with your blessings
Me bestow.

Sometimes I feel like running away
From all my present and all my past.
Go into a Journey to the Unknown
And in spite of all the adversities -
Last.

Attract me immensely the Two,
Who went all the way to Tibet from Germany.
And witnessed the fall of the humble-most people,
In the onslaught of the Chinese tyranny.

No, try I as much as I may,
I am unable to recollect their name(s),
But didn't you say that for me,
(The inheritor of the longest surviving civilization on Earth),
The name doesn't matter,
Neither does fame?

On the Roof Top of the World,
For seven long years they stayed;
Saddened at the pains of the locals,
They cried with them,
When tears they shed.

I want to travel all the way to Dharamshala,
And meet His Holiness
The Great Dalai Lama.

Carries he still a smile so genuine,
Despite knowing that his motherland is
Going not to be free
By whatsoever mean(s).
I wonder what makes him
Keep himself so serene.

Then there was this man Rahul Sankrityayan,
Whom I have been reading of late.
Ran away from his home he did
In the search of real wisdom
And in the company of Sadhus,
Turned himself into a scholar great.

There have always been journeys to make
And there have been people who know
Exactly what they need to do.
Be he Gandhi, Hitler, Laden
Or be he You.

I am ready to walk my path,
Only the direction remains elusive,
Which I cannot see.
Surrender so I myself to you, O Swami,
Come and show me my path Thee.

वापस क्यों नहीं आ जाती तुम?

सामान सारे आज भी पड़े हैं
ठीक उसी जगह
जहाँ वो ढाई साल पहले पड़े थे.
बस उनके इस्तेमाल होने का
तरीका है बदल गया.

कम हो गए हैं बर्तन रसोई में; 
और कुकर है कि
ना जाने कितने दिनों से एक कोने में
गुमसुम पड़ा है.

कोई अब नहीं जाता
सुबह सवेरे उठकर बाड़ी में
यह देखने को
कि कितने निम्बू हैं पके हुए
निम्बू के पेड़ में.
या फिर कि वह छोटा पौधा पपीते का
जिसे देखा था कल
एकदम नया-नन्हा सा
वो आज भी ज़िंदा है क्या?

सूख गयी है तुलसी भी तुम्हारी अब तो 
तुम्हारी याद में.

क्या तुम्हें अंदाज़ है जरा भी
कि तुम्हारे जाने से
लावारिस हो गया है एक पूरा संसार? 

माँ -
क्या तुम्हें नहीं लगता कि
तुम्हारा इस कदर
गैर वक़्त चले जाना
नाजायज़ था?

वापस -
क्यों नहीं आ जाती तुम?