Keep Smiling and Drive People Mad
The world is full of troubles and problems
People running after prosperity and pleasure
Majority finding but mere crumbs of those
And despairing to no end about their ill luck
No one to console, no one to complain to
At the tether’s end having just about had it
With life and its mindless chores and travails
In such a world if one sees someone smiling
It can freak you out to exclaim, “What the hell!”
Budaapa Dekh Kar Nahi Royaa
[With due apologies to two people in my life who keep heckling me to STOP writing poetry in Hindi 🙂]
Mahsoos kartha hoon ki
Budaapa ke oar mere kadam chal pade
Hana ki ghutnomay dard abhi nahi hai
Aur kamar bhi koi taqleef nahi derahi hai
Kabhie kabhie naam jaldi yaad nahi aatey
Baal tho kabhi ka rang badal chukey
Mere aisi baaton se thode buzurg
Naaraaz hotay hai
Unhe lagta hai jub tak woh pachattar ke na ho
Woh jawaan hai
Lekin woh toh unki veham hai
Aur uske zyaada kya saboot chahiye
Ki unke sonch toda theda hai
Abh meri umr ki charcha chalti hai
Bina jijak se main kahtha hoon
Mai lagh bagh saat saal ka hoon
Lekin meri budapa tho sirf solvaan saal may shuroo hui
Jab maine thai kiya tha ki
Kunwara rahoonga aur jeevan ki raaz khojoongaa
Waise tho pottyon ke peeche nahi pada
Paranthu ek do ladkiyo ne
Mere dil pe chaa gayi
Lekin unke khayaalon mein zyaada nahi kho gaya
Aur doondthe doonthe jeevan ka raaz tho khoj hee liya
Abh dekhna hai ki jub dharthi ko chodne ka waqt aathi hai
Kis oar mereko mudaaye jaayega – svargh ya narak
Jo bhi ho mujhe manzoor hai
Aur chund din wahaan bithaane ke baad
Agar phir dharthi ko laut na padtha hai
Thoda aur sukoon se zindagi bithaa paaoonga
Kyonki main zindagi ke kitaab ke
Saare panne pud chuka hoon.
A Critique of Plato’s Conception of the Intellectual Life
It would seem to me a despicable thing
To aim to be an Oligarch
Despised though did Plato the democrat
Who am I to set myself apart
From the man on the street
And there is an aesthetic pursuit
That includes in its ambit pleasure, too,
Which the religious man so disdains
But how can one disdain something
That is also a part of God’s creation
And yet call oneself oh so religious
Only he who treads ever so lightly
Amidst pleasures and pains all around
Can ever hope to glimpse the Truth
For that Truth that does not encompass
Everything, be it even pleasure
How can it lay claim to being the Truth.
The Way Things Are
Look, Sam, underlying the flower
Is so much symmetry and order
Underlying the flower’s fragrance
Are the laws governing the winds
See how entwined is everything
Admixing both the fragile and rigid
Maybe that is how things should be
Nothing in this universe exists alone
Into one another everything flows
Don’t be misled by words that split.
Neither Expressing Nor Bottling Up
Sometimes you do not know
What to do with the feelings
That spring up in your heart
From time to time
Except let them be
And die a natural death
After some time.
God Looks, Talks, and Listens
God looks at me
Through the poor man’s eyes
God looks at me
Through the terrorist’s eyes
God looks at me
Through the woman’s eyes
God talks to me
Through the priest’s sermon
God talks to me
Through the Dalit’s book
God talks to me
Through the Upanishads
God listens to me
Through my friend’s consoling
God listens to me
Through my mother’s tears
God listens to me
Through my child’s hand on mine.
Nothing to Life
Why do I banter more these days
Someone asks in all seriousness
I smile and laugh and reply
Because life is absurd.
The Hot Sun
Dearly beloved life
I await thy departure
Don’t come looking for me
I want to be gone forever
I don’t much like thy company
You promised much at dawn
Now that dusk is falling
All I remember now
Is how hot the sun was.
The Superfluity of Life
My mood goes up and down
A bit like the Sensex index
Now I smile, now I frown
Life can please, life can vex.
Some direction I’m being driven
With my emotions like a yo-yo
Uncertainty makes me riven
Kept wondering if truth I’ll know.
Khuda Ki Duniya
Ye Khuda ki duniya ke baare mein
Abh mai kya boloo, shayad bas itna
Ki isay khoob racha hai
Kitna bhi jeeye iss zindagi ko
Lagta hai aur thoda jeeye
Aur kabh kisko kis par dil aaye
Kuch batha nahi sakthe
Aur uske zariye Khuda chalatha hai
Iss duniya ko chup chaap.
Apna Dor Khuda ke Haath Mein
Sammy boy, abh bas bhi kar
Ye chakkar apne aap ko bachane ki
Kab tak baagho ge apne taqdir se dhoor
Jo hona hai ho hoke rahega
Chahe woh apne aap ko bebas
Aur laachar kyo na rahna ho.
This Is Who I Am
I keep asking “who am I?”
Whatever that I is now referring to
Clearly not body-mind
Clearly not thoughts and emotions
That are strung on body-mind
Yet I am that I
Who has to live in this contradiction
Thinking there’s another I
With greater truth, the true I
Many have become mad
In coming to terms with this
But, to not go mad
I take refuge in that sane stance
That I am under no obligation
To be logical all the time
And, if you object to that
That is another challenge for me
And so I live this life
Forever an I that is unsure
Of what it is.
Who the Fuck Am I?
I who keep asking time and again
Pretty annoyingly at times it’d seem
Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?
And then claim authorship to it
That it is I who ask that question
Pretty confusing, ain’t it my bro
But what to do, caught in words
We find it well and nigh impossible
To just keep silent, else how to live
Without even asking for a cup of tea
When there’s a nip in the air like now.
Know Thyself 