Kumaon Sojourn & Psychic Travelogue ...

Been some time I wanted to upgrade my Camera and the impulsive person I am, waiting for someone to come from US to get it for me was absolutely a no-deal. So while the new camera is again a point & Shoot one, it suffices my requirement of playing around with scenes and colors ... 

One reason of why I love my organization (alas ... will be qualified for gratuity next April) is the concept of 10 working days' compulsory stack-leave which translates into minimum 16 days of off-days. This means I can play around with any new vocation while at it. This time around it was a trip back home coupled with a road trip through Kumaon Garhwal. 

Ok. I have no qualm in admitting that Tihri & Pauri are way much more beautiful and absolutely breathtaking but then even this trip wasnt too bad. Infact it allowed me to step back and contemplate, slowly-rejuvenate and above all facilitated connection with the self;if I may say so. Strangely it wasnt very satiating for someone who has walked all the way to Gomukh during one cold October. But never mind. Every place is distinct in its own way. Thats what my sojourns have taught me.

Birds of Feather !

A drive past Haridwar provokes senses like nothing. Watching migratory birds sitting on rotting tree trunks was a catalyst in my perpetually oozing thought process;the most prominent being why I moved from Delhi to Mumbai. Something that I still need to find answer to. Was it all worth it ? Maybe for someone who believes in the eventual good in all instances still needs to see the merit that has gotten accrued. 

Choices !!!

And then life is all about the turns we take;the choices we make. There are times when I wonder if life would have had been different if my choices were based on different stances and the answer is vehemently affirmative,always. And I am not talking about professional choices here. I am talking about the psychic and personal choices. I am not being judgmental thus would refrain from drilling further but thats' my strongest learning over the past few years.

Ekla Chalo !

Then there is the innate fun of treading unknowns, alone. I mean yes I am absolutely social but then serenity,peace of mind is something that I can only experience when I am on my own. So,when I am high or low or whatever phase,all I need is to be alone. During engg it used to be closing myself down in my room and reading/writing poems; It was in MBA I discovered the soothing effects that walking has on me. Something I love till today wherein a daily walk of 6-7 kms is an everyday ritual. Alone... Even today I travel only during off seasons to all tourist places. Somehow cannot survive too much of activity. Get tired,phased out.

Doors to Heavens

The most irritating habit of mine then (for my closed ones ofc). I just am not religious. I just cant stand overt display of religion. Ok,to clear the air it doesn't mean that I am anti-religion or sort. I am absolutely Ok with it but then unfortunately I cannot connect with One supreme being. I somehow see Him in so many things. There are times when I cross my heart at a milestone or a beggar on street and then there are instances wherein I have traveled all the way to Yamunotri & Gangotri and haven't even stepped inside the revered shrines. This particular mosque at Nainital drew me,aesthetically.

Focus !!!

Focus. Believe that is something that had remained my core strength all those years,till MBA happened. I know.Strange but that is how it is. Admittedly, today but for a few brilliantly loving relationship(s) I got out of my B-school, there is nothing that matches the overall development of my tenacity and robustness at Engineering college. It was at Engg that I learnt to value the most obvious chords of life - Friends for that matter and Focusing on the priority items. This pic strangely reminded me of me-then. Giving even a damn to the environment and only looking forward. Today its just so different.

Beauty lies 'within' the Beholder

Finding beauty in everything we do. How often do we make an attempt at peeping through the wall and throw an appreciative glance at the fiercest of our competitors ? This pic... This pic is nothing but a calibration that came out of continuously hitting auto-correct in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Before that it was a very very ordinary pic. How many of us hit self-correct options with this kind of vengenace and more than that accept the need to hit that button in the first place. Strange. Life is the simplest riddle of all. Provided we are simple and grounded enough.

I realize that I started with a very different notation of putting up this post but then no point going back and making amendments. It has gone into an entirely different dimension of my least favorite subject - Philosophy ... But then it happens all the time. And at least for a change let me accept it gracefully :-)

So long ...

The missing strands from yesteryears !

आया है मुझे फिर याद ओ जालिम, गुजरा ज़माना बचपन का,
हाय ! रे अकेले छोड़ के जाना, और ना आना बचपन का...
(- देवर/आनंद बक्शी/रफ़ी)

All of us at some point of time get reminiscent about our yesteryears and the connecting threads to those beautifully naive days. Dont we? Typically the existence amidst bare essentials and still an eruptive self confidence & heart at peace. Or may be this was the very reason of having such strong bond with those days. I mean the joy of getting my new car never matched the joy of getting my first second hand bicycle. The freedom of getting any amount of pocket money I want from our already restrained monthly budget was umpteen times more liberating (and satiating) than splurging on the latest point & shoot from my own salary. The fun of going to relatives' places during summer vacations was much more rejuvenating than traversing exotic places that I visit now,every year... 

1989-90 : A typical family sized vacation cum post b'day cool-off

Why is it so ? What is that one strand that I am missing ? What is that single chord that needs to be reset again as to render that ol' perfect harmony ? What is the missing component that is facilitating the staggered disintegration of my innate capability of drawing pleasure from smallest of the joys ? 

Or are these things not specific to me ??? Are you too also one of those who when get a chance to contemplate,get surprised by how much you have changed in past 1 decade ? Affirmative ?

 Genesis : Was watching Rangoli after so many years, the only streaming connection remaining from those days till today. Was reliving the joy of Sunday @ 8am till power went off.

कुन फाया !!! An attempt at translation/interpretation !

To admit on a cursive note, I am not at all a music buff (or Soofi :-) and there are just two criteria for me to love any composition ; 1) It got to be hummable with unique notes & 2) Lyrics ... In exactly reverse order of priority ... 

So even though Rockstar didn't click the way I expected it to; Irshaad Kaamil is now the new someone in my life, purely in terms of writing ...  Been a long time I came across deep poetry .to say the least ...  This leads me to the reason behind this post. Putting down below कुन फाया ... song from the same movie, as highlighted /Philosophized by Priyanka and interpreted by me ... Beautiful Song, Zillions interpretations. Regret any unwarranted anomaly to the one that you may have referred to ... 

Happy Sailing through ...

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रंगरेज़ा, रंगरेज़ा …

(O Dyer! We dye in your color – Referring to God who colors everyone in his own color; each one in his own and HIS own  )

कुन फाया कुन ...

(Be & It is ~ As per Quran - Sura Al-Baqrah Verse 117, when God as originator of Heavens and Earth wanted to create both the worlds He decrees – BE and as they are created He says – IT IS )

जब कहीं पे कुछ नहीं भी नहीं था, वो ही था  ...

(One of the most soulful lines in the entire piece. Carefully reading, it says, When in the World even ‘nothing’ was not there, He was present!)

वो जो मुझ में समाया, वो जो तुझ में समाया ... मौला वही, वही माया ...

(He, who is now in My soul & He who is now even in Your soul; He is the God; He is the ultimate mystery)

रंगरेज़ा रंग मेरा तन मेरा मन , ले-ले रंगाई चाहे तन चाहे मन …

(O Dyer – The God, color my body, my soul with Your color; As the fee for coloring, take whichever you like – My Body or My Soul)

सजदा सवेरा मेरे तन बरसे ... कजरा अन्धेरा तेरी जान की लौ ... कतरा मिला जो तेरे दर बरसे , ओ मौला ...

(The morning showers its blessings on me when I pray …  and the darkness of my soul is enlightened … When I get even a small bit of You from Your abode )

कुन फाया कुन ...

हो मुझ पे करम सरकार तेरा , अरज तुझसे करदे मुझे, मुझसे ही रिहा,

(It would be your generosity on me O My Lord, I pray thee to free me from my own self)
अब मुझको भी हो दीदार मेरा, करदे मुझे मुझसे ही रिहा,

(Grant me vision of my own real self, O Lord, free me from my own self)

मन के मेरे ये भ्रम , कच्चे मेरे ये करम ... लेके चले हैं कहाँ, में तो जानूं ही ना ...

(These illusions, vanities and these misdeeds of mine … They are taking me to the unknown places. )

तू है मुझ में समाया , कहाँ लेके मुझे आया ... में हूँ तुझ में समाया, तेरे पीछे चला आया ... तेरा ही मैं एक साया ...

(You reside within me and see where have you brought me O Lord … And I am residing within You, thus perpetually following You, because I am Your shadow and nothing else)

तुने मुझको बनाया , मैं तो जग को ना भाया ... तुने गले से लगाया ... हक तू ही तय खुदाया ... सच तू ही है खुदाया...

(You created me and I was never suited to the worldly ways … You embraced me … You have my true ownership and only You are the truth …)

कुन फाया कुन ...
  

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Adieu to the maestro !!!

A truly sad day for someone who hated Ghazals to the hilt till he discovered Marasim and Jagjit Singh and then got captivated by the sheer brilliance of this bagpiper... Still am. 

I, who claims vehemently of being a no-regret persoon hereby declares that the only regret I will always have will be to never been able to attend any of his live concert.

Here is to the maestro who may have departed but his voice and his songs will always remain immortal for generations to come.

हाथ छूटें भी तो रिश्ते नहीं छोड़ा करते ...
वक़्त की शाख से लम्हें नहीं तोड़ा करते ...

मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है ...

मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है...  

(This particular line is inspired from here) 

मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है...

तीन पत्ती के खेल जैसी, खुद पर दाँव खेलती जिंदगी,
घर-सफ़र-काम की बिसात में उलझा है हर आदमी,
उधार बनिस्पत साँसों में यहाँ पर, सूद ज्यादा असल कम है ..
मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है...

व्यक्तिगत प्रलोभनों से सरोकार बस सबको है यहाँ,
स्व-विवेक है बिन मोल , महत्वाकान्छाओं का कारोबार यहाँ,
मिटटी के मोल मिल भी जाए एक बार को जिंदगी,
मोल दे के भी न मिले , सच्चे पतित जज़बात यहाँ,
बिखरे सपने, थके इरादे, आँखें सूखीं और दिल नम हैं... 

मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है...

 

संस्कृति के शहर में हर आदमी है अजनबी,
जाने यहाँ क्यं आगे नहीं, ऊपर बढ़ना है लाजमी,
अपनी ख़ुशी खुद तक रखने को नाम देते हैं सादगी,
पैसा खुदा और बस इस खुदा की करते हैं सब बंदगी,
जाने यहाँ की मृगत्रिष्णा है, या बस मेरा मतिभ्रम है ...
मुंबई शहर में बस एक गम है , हर घर में एक कमरा कम है...

The Rule of 21 and other random gyaan !

The Rule of 21 !!! That's been my Gtalk status for quite some time and many of the folks around found it quite intriguing ... As in, what exactly is this strange rule and how does it find place on my gtalk ... So here it goes, for all those who think its worth an explanation.

The rule of 21, as per Robin Sharma (Oh yes the left handed 40 something young chap who was known to leg sweep balls hitting out of his off stump. Huh ... Get a life ... That was Robin Singh) the author of The monk who sold his Ferrari and couple of thousand similar titles ; says that any conduct or practice if repeated for 21 days transforms into a Habit ... Very useful info for those who can count the days that lapse between 3 consecutive weekends ... So that's what is there to talk about The Rule of 21 ...

So? As in what so? Oh, you mean so how does it land onto my gtalk status. Yeah, I kinda' alarmingly needed this kind of a rule for something that was very difficult to shrug off or rather put off ... Very very adhesive inherently ... Not something that's bad or addictive ... Or maybe I can retain addictive .. Take off bad ... Addictive it was ... So, that's what I do ... Once resolved, I just clinged to this rule and trust me, it kind of works ... Not only with substance, material et al but also emotive disorders of first kind ... Observation !!!

So, if you are like say addicted to alcohol, try this. Wanna quit smoking. Give it a shot . Want to move on over someone or maybe recover your self-respect,identity, try it once, desperately intend to fall in love, ahem ... Ok not sure but what harm in trying anyways ... 

In fact, as I write, I also realise that I always had this inbuilt mechanism to apply Rule of 21 since ever. Even before I read Robin Singh's book. Ok,cut Singh,replace with Sharma. Just that I always called it as will power ... So, 10 years on, I still dont eat Rajma, salt over cooked food, spilling abuses ... See... It works ...

So,this is how it found its way onto my status and sat pretty till this new Marasim thing replaced it :-) Gulzar above all ...

But nothing above self-identity and self-respect ... Guess so ...

Highpoints of this random thing called life ...

Like always a very random vibe coupled with strange thoughts that are always cross crossing my all-so-amoebic mind.

 

Hypothetically assuming that having lived beautifully well for say over 80 years of an enriching lifetime, wondering, if on your deathbed, whether any of the following items/instances/days will picture as your lasting memory of the world you lived in for say 80 odd years.

• The days when you stayed late at work to finish off that one mailer and the night you burnt the mid night oil just to get oh-so-awesome ratings during your appraisal.
• The days when you sat for 10 hours continuously on your chair lapping up your system but on reaching home got irritated when your kid demanded just 10 min of undivided attention
• The day when you were called on stage and applauded for your undying efforts. Undying is the operative word here.
• The day when you were promoted beyond your own expectations and more so beyond everybody else's as well. Could this be better ?
• The day you received a bonus that was roughly equivalent to your annual salary.
• The day you got a brilliant job in an even more brilliant (erstwhile reference) organization with an amazing paycheck and promising future
• The afternoons when you were bestowed with sumptuous sponsored luncheons and cocktail late night parties,courtesy your work profile
• The instance when that one project plan you prepared for a new initiative was so successful that it was replicated all across the organization.

Or will they somehow fall into following;

• When you took that long walk with your spouse, under the rains nibbling on corn
• When you took your parents for a holiday or dinner or even small-time shopping after getting your first job,as a genuine thanks.
• When you took your kid in your arms for the first time and she smiled,toothlessly.
• When you noticed a kid begging at a traffic intersection, decided to do something for her and got her admission in a school and ensured a future for her.
• When you took your kids to her first trip to an amusement park and could not take your gaze off her, while she was running all over the place.
• When your teacher came up to you and said you have been a good human being and you could actually see their eyes getting moistened during your farewell.
• When you traveled across half of the world just to be on the side of your best friend when he/she was getting married and he/she couldn't resist his/her tears.

Wondering if most of the things we would want to keep as cherished memories forever are not those which usually always come at a price that you can easily afford and most often are for free. Just wondering.

The Art of Giving and not feeling stupid ...

If you are someone who is even remotely like me when it comes to extending alms to the street urchins then you are a person who always gets into a fix (read freeze) whenever at an intersection an unidentified face glues onto to the car window asking for money or forces his/her services by cleaning windshield with a sandpaper like piece of cloth. Its a terrible feeling and yeah I run into frantic bouts of dilemma at many such occasions. Its a conflict of third order. As like all my other conflicts this also is naive, stupid to the core but conflict it is. There is a background to this because of my past experiences but that bit some other time. 

I have till date always refrained from letting my conscience fall into the trap and have always managed to divert my attention from the subject because I don't approve of professional urchinism... Don't trust me on that??? Cool... Remember CWG Delhi? 6 months before CWG,at a location near Rohini Delhi,there was being conducted a structured classroom training progg for the beggars deployed on the CWG routes. To get trained in mannerism, languages - German, French, English, Spanish et al... You call that availing best means to earn livelihood,I call it professional urchinism ... And not to my liking.

Anyways,so,that's how I usually have always been taking it. Not partaking of even a single rupee when it comes to beggars,principally. But then this is an extreme and at times unjust as well. I remember writing a poem on this (Click here to go to that in case this link thing works) long back just to get some perspective. Dint get it though eventually but still the thought was there. 

Last week was at home when mom came up with this thought and I indeed found it simplistic and easy to take up. Its about the old clothes everyone got at home. Its about keeping some of such cloths in your car whenever you go out and its about letting your heart decide whom to give those clothes at the signals you cross. So,you may choose to give clothes of your kid to a pretty child you find,begging or your clothes to a person who may seem to be in need. Its all about just taking a call. So,its not money so it doesn't promote those traits which drag us off charity and its simplistic so easy to execute.

Ok,you may find this very childish and rightly so but believe that's how it is supposed to be. Isn't it.

Think through or just let it pass. Random thoughts ... Yet again ...

रामलीला मैदान में बैठी थी संसद, और संसद में रामलीला...

६४६४ 

६४ साल का शिथिल युवक ये, घुटनों के बल चलता है ..
बीच-बीच में सहम-सहज के, उखड़ी सांसें भरता है...
दोनों पक्ष दानव हैं जिसके, ऐसा सागर मंथन है..
सुविचार नहीं बस चीत्कार है, कैसा दृश्य विहंगम है ...
वो कहते हैं प्रगतीशील भारत है भाई, मुझको जाने क्यूँ लगता बस दंभ गर्वीला..
रामलीला मैदान में बैठी थी संसद, और संसद में रामलीला...

१२ दिनका अनशन हो या, १५४ सालकी अनवरत लड़ाई ...
थका है वृद्ध, थका है बचपन, अब तो थक सी गयी है तरूणाई ...
महंगाई है चिरायु प्रियतमा, प्रियतम भ्रष्टाचार अजर-अमर...
देश है मेरा एक चिर-विधवा, न ससुराल में ठौर ना अपना पीहर ..
स्वेद-अश्रु-रक्त से लथपथ, जो था कभी सुनहरा - सजीला...
रामलीला मैदान में बैठी थी संसद, और संसद में रामलीला...

चाहिए परिवर्तन की आंधी, तो पहले झांको स्वयं के भीतर...
ये युद्ध नहीं है शत्रु से, ये तो है अन्तःसमर ...
खुद के अन्दर की आंधी को रुख दो बाहर के नीरव में...
कोलाहल भी मधुर है होता, भेदों इस व्यवस्था को अपने कोलाहल से ...
क्रांति का उद्गम है अंतर , और ध्येय एक देश, सुदृढ़ , सजीला ..
रामलीला मैदान में बैठी थी संसद, और संसद में रामलीला...

(नीरव से कोलाहल तक का सफ़र, अथक, अनवरत  ...)

Random plight of a below average Random Indian ...

Democracy is the most vulnerable form of governance if not the weakest of all ... 

I vividly remember researching on Subhash Bose during my teenage years, contemplating wide eyed on the broader sense of all that he said or did ... ''You give me blood,I will give you freedom'' ... ''Chalo dilli'' ... And then there were Red Fort trials, Rani Lakshmibai Brigade, Swadesh-Swaraj et al. But what my mind most clearly captured even then was what he once remarked to the utter annoyance of Congressmen. He said that this nation even when liberated shouldnot resort to democracy immediately. There should be an autocracy/dictatorship for atleast first 10 years of sovereign else the roots of corruption and inefficiencies will dig so deep into the construct that it will then be utterly impossible for any mean to refine the governance.' It made lots of sense to me then ... It makes a lot of sense to me now ... Immensely futuristic ... 

Corruption. Black Money. Undeclared assets. Ain't these the ailments that are corroding our very enterprise today. And fight we are putting in now,ain't we ... Gandhism ... That's one ideology I have always detested. Not for anything except for it being the most passive and pro-indirect action. Its an ideology of indecisiveness according to me. It transpired into our taking several years more to get independence and in today's context I believe its doing the same,yet again. Herd following someone remarked ??? Cool !!!

How many of us actually read about Lokpal before joining in the movement ? How many of us  really understand the bill the way it is? Dont like it the way it is put across to you. Neat. How many of you are actually going to 'in-principle' stop paying bribes/commissions/passback/payoffs (did I miss any. Not wanting to let you have an exit route)... I would love to know it because as they say charity begins at home, honesty begins at thy own heart . My problem lies in the basic understanding of the entire corruption stuff ... More or less I guess ...

And then is the issue of the draft itself. I have huge respect for Kejriwal (apologies but cant say the same for Anna. Proof Proof anyone ... ) and am very sure that his intellect goes beyond the draft design per se but is this really a draft that needs to be pushed to form. Is it not too kiddish, fundamentally weak, immature. Did it entail enough discussions with stakeholders prior to putting forth to government ? Are we again making someone superhuman just because we want a superhuman icon all the time ? Wish had answers ...

Its a brilliant idea and an apt time to ideate as well but with this kind of draft ? Am sorry ? Am not appealed by draft though am thoroughly appealed by the vision per se. Vision of an honest nation where I dont have to worry about somebody trampling over me by paying Cash for Rights ... Plain simple one point agenda ... 

And how can this post end without putting a few word for Man(!) Mohan Singh. 7 years back  when I remarked that this chap is toothless-spineless and faced such an opposition that I felt as if he is Amitabh Bachhan himself. News News - He is still the same toothless - spineless - backburnered - good for no use gentlemanly chap ... You like him ??? Please make him an Finance Minister again but give me a Bajpai anyday ... 

Too much of caustic remarks,enough to last for the duration of Anna Anshan ... More when there is further mockery in this context at parliament ... Signing off ...

The Whirlpool; The Tree & The Roots !!!!

Life, of all the things is the strangest!!! When u want the world, it takes you to the road that leads to the acrimonious dead-end and when you desperately seek the end of all your thought-trails the road just keeps taking turns like a spiral across a mountain, scale of which has no end.

My life has been such a whirlpool in past few years. Whirlpool not because of any struggle I have been through but because like a whirlpool its center of leverage has been fixed while its surfacial edge roams freely, swallowing all the physical/metaphysical objects in the vicinity. This helps the whirl grow in size, may be also grow in prospects but then since its stuck to one particular spot on the ground due to affinity it shares, it can just not move. Lets speak of a tree else should the whirlpool be making your head whirl. Like all trees, if I may call myself that, I have lots of love and compassion for my root which is far off from the spread of my broad branches and it is such an integral part of my existence that it is an exercise difficult to contemplate. A tree, however hard it tries, cannot slash down its own roots. You may have heard of Trishanku, the mythological king who hung between heaven & earth because his credits were so. A similar situation it leads to wherein the tree just stands suspended in the amoebic universe. Strange, tough and difficult however it is to push the heart just too far and too hard only to see that some of the tendons are still stuck which with every inch of movement away are conserving the potential energy. Now the options are just two.

One, just give that one last thrust and suspend itself fully, completely forever. The risk is that the conserved energy will propel it to undestined landscapes and it may realize that this is not what its life was meant to be. The other option is to let loose, freely. Easy and straight an option but worth rendering every bit of thought on repercussions that may get accrued. Repercussions due to the pull with which you will collapse back to the roots. The collapse may result into collateral damage to the tree or it may just become one big mass and travel in some random direction, generally in the direction of the pull.

Having said all of the above my current state of mind is much relaxed as compared to what it was till sometime back. Not that there is something significant that has happened in my life or that now I feel like a newly liberated dove. May be that is because I am back to Mumbai, the place where I always felt as an inmate in a prison but still calm at heart. Try putting yourself into shoes of a tree (for whatever it means!!!) which after several years of dependence and coexistence sees that it has to move to a different root altogether, a new city infact. Situation leaves it flummoxed, caught-in-between. But then you cant blame the root also, can u??? Did you match its expectation of being its tree for all your life? I hereby don't intend to portray that I am dependent on a thing moreso a city. It is just that there are places where you feel positive about things, life. Mumbai has always been one such place for me. This is one thought I have reiterated at all instances wherein there were comparisons drawn between Delhi & Mumbai. And with conviction indeed. May be it was this conviction that always intrigued my new branches, so much that they always wanted to be here, despite of having never been here. New branches did I mention???

It is imperative to understand that any tree gets it nutrition from the firmly placed roots. With years, while I was away, I have added a couple of more branches, couple of more leaves and with my entire entourage this time around I have landed back to this city of maxim pain and maxim relief. That my love, empathy, nutrition comes from these new additions and the root is something that needs to be affirmed and delved deep. Sounds illogical??? That it is but then since when love was a logical bet. Was it???

With that, I would like to tell my root and my new branches that my existence is null without them and whichever way plausible, they got to keep giving nourishment to me. Some love-rich words, some warm hugs, lots of illogical questions and undeterring confidence. That’s all!!!

Hoping for the high fly!!!

Back to the roots!!! Back to the warmth!!!

होठों से हँसते होंगे देव वो आँखों से मुस्काती है ...

चंद अनकहे लफ्जों में कहकर, या लम्बे अल्फाजों में छुपकर,
चार कदम यूं पीछे हटकर, कुछ लम्बी साँसों में बसकर,
वो बंद नयनों की सुप्त छाँव में,
सुप्रभात सी मीठी अंगडाई ले अलसाती है,
होठों से हँसते होंगे देव,वो आँखों से मुस्काती है ...

बात बात पर होंठ दबाकर, बिन -बात मुझको धमकाकर,
कड़ी धूप से आँख मिलाकर, या मंद छाँव में  भी सकुचा कर,
छोटी-छोटी अठखेली से,
मुझको स्तब्ध कर जाती है ...
होठों से हँसते होंगे देव वो आँखों से मुस्काती है ...

बस मस्तक की रेखा का खेल है सारा,
कभी इक पल को मानुष तरसे कभी जग है तुम्हारा,
मुस्काकर हाथ फिर हौले से माथे पर रख ,
वो जैसे हर वासुकी-चिन्ह को मिटाती है,
होठों से हँसते होंगे देव वो आँखों से मुस्काती है ...