Her music surrounds me…
Like a gentle wave
She whispers her secrets in my ear
If only reluctantly.

She screams usually…
A cry of pain and fury
She tells me she weeps too
But only to herself.

She holds me close…
Wrapped in her arms; lost in her reality
I come one step closer each day
If only I could hear her heart beat.

8th April, 2009

Today, I called you

and told you that I knew all along.

Today, I smiled for her even though I never do.

And today, I laughed back at numbers and finally jumped into the battlefield.

A Tree burns in the Light of the street
Saffron; its leaves ablaze

Tomorrow, when the Sun wipes away all the color
Who will next claim it as their Canvas?

It’s is one of those beautiful sunny winter days. The sky, evenly painted blue. The grass, gleaming, almost translucent. Flowers, delightfully colorful. Bees, birds, butterflies, boredom.

Perfect.

Am I in a novel? Is Lawrence writing it?

Moments like these are always cinematic. Shilpa Rao’s mysterious voice fills the air with music and I can only go wah wah re wah wah. With my face in the grass, and Mr. Wind running past, I feel like a kite. No strings attached.

Unke lafz hawa mein bikhar gaye

Woh jaane kya keh gaye

Jo kabhi na kahi tu ne

Hum to teri us nazm ko taras gaye....

Woh qissa fursat ki us raat ka

Woh qissa furqat ki us baat ka

Tere in fasaanon mein...

Hum apne hi aks ko dhoondte rahe....

She decided to paint one day.
She got all that was necessary. Paints, canvas, brushes, oil… She picked up a pencil and thought about what she wanted to draw. A tree? The night sky? A river perhaps...
Indeed, she was only pretending.
She in fact, knew exactly what she wanted to draw. She didn’t even have to close her eyes to imagine it.
She had always wondered… wondered whether she could ever create something so powerful and beautiful, that it might shock her own soul. She had dreamt of that perfection… planned her movements in much detail… observed her own body move as if it was no longer her own…

The picture was clear in her head. She had spoken of that image countless times.

In that moment, she could feel the colors rush through her blood.

There was nothing left to do now, but to put it out on paper.

“But, What if it’s not spectacular enough?”

You could live in a city for years and still not make it your own. Merely time and a permanent address can’t define this relationship. The city; with its streets, lanes, trees, people, buildings... challenges you everyday.... It dares you to Explore. And Imagine- it’s present, past and future.
It challenges you, for it knows; only the truly curious ones would dare.

For years, I hid… tranquilized in a life that centered on television…
Worse still, I traveled with the windows rolled up…

The rain pulled me out…
And I decided to walk…