tribute to mumbai

SADIYON SE MAUN HOON MIEN KHADA
ANTARNAD KI AWAAZ AAJ TUM TAK PAHUNCHE
AAVASHAKTA HAIN AAN PADI
PANNE AAJ HAI JO TUMHARE ITIHAAS KE
THE WOH PANNE MERE ASTITIVA KE


SRAJAN HUA THA MERA
BADE ABHIMAAN SE
AA RAHA THA BRITISH SARKAR
KE RAJA AUR RANI
BADE SHAAN SE


JHOOM RAHI THI JAB YEH MAHAL,
GOONJ RAHI THI SADAKON PEIN NAARE
CHAARON ORE THA YEH SHOR
VANDE MATARAM,ANGREZ BHARAT CHODO VA KAI AUR

VAKTH BADLA,TAKTH BADLA
RAJ BADLA,TAJ BADLA
HUA YESH DESH HAMARA,RAJYA HAMARA,RAJ HAMARA

SAMAY KI NADI BEHTI GAYI
ZINDAGI NE RAFTAR PAKDI
NAYE BHARAT KI SHAAN HAI AB MUMBAI
YAHAAN REHTE HAR INSAAN KI JAAN HAI MUMBAI.

MUMBAI KI IS SAFAR MEIN
SAATHI HAI JO YEH KAMAAL
KAHAAN MILENGE LOG
AISE DHAMAAL

PEECHE MERE SAGAR KE LEHREN,
SAMNE HAIN JAWAN MUMBAI KE CHEHRE
RANGEEN CINEMA DIKHAYE SAPNE,
IN SAPNON KO LEKE BADE MASTI KE SAATH
COLLEGE KE YEH LADKE LADKIYAN APNE


SHAHR HAIN YEH KAAM KARNE WALON KA,
NA DIN NA RAAT JAANE YEH
PATRI PE CHALTI HAIN ROZ DIN
IS MAHAAN DESH KA KHARCHA SAMBHALTI HAIN

HAADSA JAB AISA KUCH HOTA HAIN,
RUK JAATI HAI ZINDAGI KI GATI,
SOHTA HOON MAIN PAL PAL
KYA HAIN YAHAAN KA ANEWALA KAL?

KYA MERE PANNON PE BAHEGA SIRF KHOON?
KYA AAJ KA YEH ASTITVA BANEGA IN BACHHON KA ITIHAS?
KYA YEH KLESH,YEH RAKHT,YEH BARBADI
BAN JAYEGI IN KI ZINDAGI KI SACHAI?

After twenty years

Ek sham woh tha jab bichade the kai dost banke ajnabi.......
Ek sham yeh tha jab bhichade the kai ajnabi banke dost...................
What is it that drives a bunch of people to travel all across the globe to meet each other after being perfect strangers for almost two decades? What is it that brings people who hardly knew each other when they were in school to almost create new ties? There is something that defies all logic here. There is something that seems to work beyond comprehension.
And that is the magic of the Class of 89 that defies logic.
When destiny sent us separate ways I never thought I would meet my classmates like this. The chances of meeting them seemed bleak and I didn’t care any less. It hardly made a difference if I knew what had happened to any one of them as my life didn’t seem to have any place for them.
But then again on the 7th of August 2010 destiny ensured that some of these people resurfaced in my life.
As I reached the school, I felt my heart skip a beat. Here I had travelled all the way to meet a group of strangers. Would I recognise them? Would they recollect me? Well some did, some did not but once the old photographs in our minds were distorted to fit in the new images, the class of 89 took no time to warm itself up.
Time seemed to have just vanished into obscurity. As the day progressed and as the ‘class’ went through the various activities, the 20 years had melted away. No one even felt it existed in our lives. As we caught up with each other’s lives, we discussed husbands, wives, babies and jobs. Each one of us unravelled the timelines of everyone else’s lives.
But then all that didn’t seem to matter anymore. What mattered was that at the Taj, on the 7th of august i was just myself, I was not the daughter, not the the daughter-in-law, not the wife, not the mother, not the teacher, I was just me........as it had been 20 years ago.
Going through the various roles in life( none of which I would want to change) I realised that ‘ME’ had been pushed into the background and today ‘I,me,Myself’ had resurrected over 20 years.
As the day progressed the more I got connected to someone who I had forgotten in the daily humdrum of life, to someone who was hidden so deep within that even if she screamed aloud, I never heard. But today she was laughing, and relaxing, being just herself, letting herself be..Just be
I had no ‘role’ to play; I was not slotted to be anyone I just grew up to be. I was just me.
It was a day destined for me to fly; destined to feel free, destined to occur just to reconnect
Reconnect not with just people who went out of my lives 20 years ago, but also to the one little girl who got engulfed within my soul!!!!!!!!!
Agar doston se bichde the bees saal pehle,to unke saath kahin humne apne aap ko bhi ghuma diya tha.....
Agar doston se mile hain ab bees saal baad, to unke saath humne apne aap ko bhi paa liya tha.......

Then and now

Then you were in my life,oh so small and fragile.
Then you were in my life,making me want to smile and smile.
Then you were in my life,looking at me with those wide eyes.
Then you were in my life, gurgling ,gushing and giving out the loudest sighs.
Then you were in my life,dressed all in pinks and frill.
Then you were in my life, where each day was a drill yet with a thrill.
Time passed...
Now you are in my life,standing on the threshold of your life.
Now you are in my life,growing up so fast.
Now you are in my life,the baby days all so well in the past.
Now you are in my life,laughing and loving
Now you are in my life,looking ahead expectantly.
Now you are in my life,waiting to grow into your own life........

main aur meri double chin

ME:..................
main aur meri double chin
aksar yeh baatein karte hain
tum na hoti to kaise hota
tum kuch na kehti ,koi kuch na kehta
Koi is baat pe hairaan nahin hota
Koi is baat pe mujhpe nahin hansta
tum na hoti to aisa hota,
tum na hoti to vaisa hota...
MY DOUBLE CHIN:..............
Yeh kahaan aa gaye hum yuhi saath chalte chalte
Tere chehre pe o janam mere jisme jaan pighlate.....
Yeh Kahaan aa gaye hum yuhi saath saath chalte

ME :..............
yeh mera chehra hai ya tumse mere wazan ka takaza
yeh mera chehra hai ya badti umar ka aghaaz.....
MY DOUBLE CHIN:........................................
Tu badan hain main hoon chaaya
tu na ho to main kahan hoon
tu jahaan hain main wahan hoon
Humein milna hi tha humdum is raah pe nikalte..................................

the mind that matters over the matters of the heart.....

Confusion abounds,chaos reigns,
the heart cannot hear what the mind wants to say.
As it lies bleeding upon the thorns of self made misery, the mind rattles advice,
matters of the mind do not matter to it.
it weeps in desolation,it weeps in failure,
it lacks the courage ,it lacks the conviction,it lacks the charm ,it lacks the confidence,
it sheds tears of agony,of conflict and of guilt.
the mind is chattering above all this,the pragmatic mind,the unfeeling mind,
the practical mind,the rational mind,
it sees no chaos,it sees no confusion,it only sees a new path,a path now that has to be taken,
a path that the heart does not want to see....the path that brings the heart face to face with its failure....
the failure that sleeps now,but still bleeds,the failure that is quiet now tumultuously.......

The old man and the auto

Sunday evening..just finished shopping at the santacruz market. The usual evening mania..no autorickshaw driver wants to go east.East in Mumbai especially Kalina is like poison.After the floods in Mumbai Kalina is perpetually flooded for these guys.Half an agitated hour later we got one old man in his auto.Very gracefully he asked my huge hubby darling to shift to the right side of the vehicle as the left tyre did not have much air in it!!!!As we began the journey the old man began small talk..where in Kalina do you want to go? Did you always stay where you are staying now?Kadamwadi,responded hubby dear,and no we stayed behind 'King of fashion and Queen of Fashion'(Landmarks once upon a time..now hardly anyone notices it!!!) So there they got talking about how Kalina can never lose its charm and how once a Kalinian always a Kalinian!!!
Then the old Man asked him do you have an elder balding brother.....Yes hubby replied!!!! then Said the old man from 1973 to 76 I have delivered milk in your house!!!! Boy o Boy ,I was a little boy then replied my hubby!!!
The whole incident got me thinking.People come in and go out of our lives with a purpose.The old man had come back with just a little purpose of rekindling some old memories in my hubby,just with the purpose of showing us that the old order that valued the place once was now slowly loosing out to the sheer commercial world where we don't know each other.......

keep smiling in life

A Friday morning.I was on my way to the office.My friend had given me a lift and so the two of us were in her car,giggling and laughing,gossiping and generally being opiniated about the world in general and no one in particular.Traffic was heavy( as it always is in Mumbai) .Radio Mirchi was full of music and masti. Both of us were having a good start to the day.We paused at a signal.The young book boys(boys who sell pirated editions of latest best sellers at the cheapest prices possible) swarmed into the halted traffic.A little fellow with a spark in his eye stopped near my window.Madam ji dekho..and showed me The Lost symbol. Something told me to respond to him.Yeh to maine padh liya hai,I said.To in me se kuch dekh lo ..he said showing me the tall tower of books that he was carrying.Yeh saare maine padh liye hain,I quipped.theek hai to yeh le lijiye...aapke kaam ayega...and he strongly recommended "Loose your weight ,not your mind by Rujuta Divekar!!! thoda weight bhi kam ho jayega( did he mean his own ..the weight of his life ) or mine???? I burst out laughing!!!! No dear mujhe yeh nahin chaiye.... theek hai he said,aap apne doston se bolna mere hi signal par se books kharide...Saying this he gave a mischievous little wink and ran to the next halted car.
He didn't sell his book to me but he sold his enthusiasm and his spirit to keep smiling in life !!!!