life's a kick

You brought me books of poets and lovers of wind earth and sky and all that it covers you brought me thoughts from the lands of war stories of love and loss from territories within and far your brought me wonders as simple thoughtful gifts how easily you understood me an old book as one sifts you brought me expressions of what love can endure of longing's heartfelt cry of tears deep and pure you brought me a person unbiased and true love, romance and friendship unexpected, out-of-blue above all you brought me love - full and free your acceptance of me complete you brought me me.

There’s a new product in the market. Quco. It makes your hair smell good enough to make men consider you f$*ckable. The advertisement doing rounds for Quco is incredibly insane. A diffident young girl walks down the corridors of her college with diminishing confidence as boys (and girls) remark disdainfully on her face: ‘Isko pata nahin hai’. Moved to the point of tears, the near-harassed girl beg...ins to wonder what’s so monstrously wrong with her. She hesitantly begins her own inspection by smelling her armpits, when suddenly, the crusader-of-solutions, the harbinger-of-hope, the seller-of-love, the buyer-of-freedom…the super advertisor asks her to STOP! “The smell is not there baby”, he reassures her. It’s your hair – he points out. Once the girl gets to know the secret of lubricating male gonads, she is seen happily (and guess what, even confidently) strolling arms in arms with a guy. The mission of her life accomplished. In normal circumstances, and not in a marketing/ adver...

There is a huge House (read organisation). Different people in the House are responsible for different functions. Someone takes care of cleaning and hygiene, another person looks after all the purchases, a third is responsible for maintaining the kitchen and taking care of the nourishment of its residents, another one tends to the garden and sells its produce, someone for upkeep of library…and so on and so forth. There are way too many people in the House. To accommodate them, apparently gainfully, each person is headed by a series of bosses. The work is still done by the same person to who the job is assigned, but added to her burden of work, is the pain of reporting to and acquiescing with the whims of her seniors. More often than not, it involves writing lengthy reports, making powerpoint presentations, and creating complicated excel charts for most commonsensical things. After all, the seniors and the seniors of seniors need to do something! Alienated with the real taste of f...

It was the second time I felt it of late. That four letter word. Fear. I was reading Disgrace by JM Coetzee. All I knew that it was well past 11. I know this because I was quite sleepy, but determined nevertheless, to finish off the last few pages. Absorbed in the scene where Lurie is injecting deadly needles in the veins of hapless animals…I first felt it was some sort of a stir within my mind. That’s when I heard the bed (on which I was sitting) thudder against the floor. Damn it. It was an earthquake. I immediately stood up, a little unsteady. Sounds from kitchen, clink-clank of steel utensils shifting to find a new balance, corroborated my fear. My first instinct was to run and wake up my parents. Save them. The blood in my legs curdled. They felt like trunks too heavy to move…no longer a voluntary body part…oppressingly adamant. In the few seconds that the quake lasted, I imagined waking up my parents and rushing them downstairs to the open park in our society. As if I was th...

दिल्ली में बारिश मज़ाक सा लगता है... ठीक वैसा, जैसा कभी तुमने मेरे साथ किया था आए थे, तो सिर्फ जाने के लिए मिले थे, जैसे एहसान जताने के लिए जितना सुकून दे न गए उससे कहीं अधिक बेचैनी बढ़ा गए तन तो गीला कर गए पर मन सूखा छोड़ गए बिन मौसम आए बिन मौसम बरसे पर जब मन से पुकारा, जब दिल से आह भरी, जब हाथ जोड़ कर बिनती की, जब आँसू तक राह देखते थक गए, तब तब ज़ालिम तब तुम न आए दिल्लगी करने के लिए कुछ और न मिला था क्या... जो मेरी तमन्नाओं के साथ खेलते रहे? तुम्हारा मज़ाक दिल दुखाने वाला मज़ाक ठीक दिल्ली की बारिश जैसा लगता है...

There's a shiver in my spine something slips in my chest my mouth is going dry i can't relax or rest my knees are a lil wobbly & my stomach is making sounds all i see is blur n haze is it something i lost, or something i found? i've always been impatient to hide you in my soul & now that you'll be here i seem to have lost control! thrill grips my limbs as i hear the coming of my mate toughest, maddest, longest are the last few hours of wait.

Allow me to be your child and roll into your arms allow me to be your pupil and drink from your palms allow me to be your heroine and cavort around you allow me to be your lover and kiss you red n blue allow me to be your mentor and show you the source of light allow me to be your friend and paint your world bright allow me to be your parent and pour my soul into you allow me to be just anyone who can help you to be true allow me my friend to partner you forever to fight for you, stand up for you and desert you just never.

तुम साथ रहती हो, तो हवाएँ हँसती हैं दीवारें खिलखिलाकर पूछती हैं मुझसे 'तो मिल आई सखी से?' साथ चलती सड़कें पलटकर खड़ी हो जाती हैं और गुदगुदाकर कहती हैं, 'बड़ी रौंद है आज तेरे कदमों में... वैंडी से मिली थी क्या?' कॉफी शॉप का तो पूछो ही मत उनकी आत्मा तो जैसे मेरे पैरों में गिड़गिड़ाती हैं फिर ऑर्डर करती हैं, 'जा, माना ला उसे, ज़रूर तूने मायूस किस होगा' बाकी सब दुकानें बगावत में साथ हो जाती हैं, फिर धमकी देती हैं, 'सोच ले, तेरे बिस्कुट-चॉकलेट सब धरे के धरे रह जाएँगे' तितलियाँ भी न जाने कहाँ से आ गालों पर नाचती हैं जब जब तुमसे मिलके दो-चार बेदिमाग बातें करके कई और भले बुरे ताने सुनके कभी सद के, तो कभी लड़ के पर हमेशा प्यार से जब वापस घर जाती हूँ तो वो पीली तितलियाँ भूल से मुझे फूल समझ बैठती हैं गर दिन में तुम न मिली, तो शाम मज़ाक करती है उपहास में कहती है, 'मूड क्यों ऑफ है तेरा?' रात भी उंगली करती है 'बात कर ले वरना नींद नहीं आएगी' ये सब - ये दीवारें, ये सड़कें ये दुकाने, ये चौराहे ये तितली ये जुगनू सब जलत...

Scores of people i could meet entire world i could roam but return to you i must for you are my only home your arms are pillars i need to hold on to when weak your chest is the pillow i use to dig in my face and sleep in the pool of your eyes i jump for some frolic and fun in the small of your back i hide when for solace i run i drink the elixir of your lips you are my nourishing food you're also the kitchen in binge in to kill my bad mood to cry and crib in peace i get cocooned in your embrace your face mirrors my heart it's my living room, my own place my sanctum sanctorum is your body my room for love and prayer i cleanse n confess myself there derive strength, love and care pain, tiredness & boredom you absorb them in like a foam you're the only place in the world the place i call my Home.

Skies, don't rain. no no no don't you show me the color of darkening heavens don't spurt the smell of earth that leavens don't rain, oh! please don't for rain reverses the scene wounds that time had dried rain opens them green it's not that time ever healed it just hid behind the crust the pain the longing the love moving on is time's lust all is well, I've taken it accepted that flowers won't bloom that land of my heart will be barren that silence will ache in gloom so don't rain, oh! cruel you don't show the possibility of hope Rejection - I've handled so often that Love - I won't be able to cope I wanna tear apart, you clouds! I wanna howl and shout in your face I'm creature of the wilderness don't need your rain and grace Hardened thickened scarred i can play with degrees of pain my edifice shatters, my base is bored when falls the first drop of rain lemme live, lemme survive oh! do...

You wanted to know how i feel for you so lemme show you things lemme prove it to you your finger in my hand, run with me to skies unknown, clear and blue don't you read it on the wind, written in bold that i'm your fan, that i'm mad about you? arm in arm, let's stand in the rain face up the sky, the lash of pearl don't you hear the drops, sing out aloud that i'm your lover, that i'm your girl? in the thick of night, let's go to the woods feel the sway of trees, hear every sound don't you see them paint, through shadows of life that forever i'll be, that i'll stick around? shut out the world, dig your face in my chest bind my soul to yours, with an intangible chord don't you feel my body, whisper in your palms that i love you like life, that you are my god? you wanted to know how i feel for you... don't you hear the world talking? don't you feel it in the sky? don't you taste it in the air? don...

When you're dished out by life a shoddy deal or people cause bruises that do not heal when life's in a mess and you see no end i'll hold you back from falling & i'll be your FRIEND where neighbors are nasty and colleagues scheming when your eyes grow tired and they stop dreaming i'll teach you lil tricks i'll make you a pro i'll cheer from the audience & i'll be your BRO when choices confuse you and you need a second view i'll fish out the best that suits right on you and when you get decked up i'll plant you a huge kiss i'll be your best fan & i'll be your SIS wronged by your weakness if you get bitter and hurt i'll scratch and see the reason as to why you are curt i'll know the words to speak and where to get them from i'll understand your silences & i'll be your MOM lost, if you ever are and you need a hand to hold shaking, if your heart feels and you need to get it...

i long for your eyes on my face i long for your hand around my waist i long for our shared little laughter i long for your passionate embrace i long to drink from your lips i long to lock my finger with yours i long to touch you with my hair i long to absorb you in my pores i long to talk out my soul i long to show you my dance i long to see all your colours i long for naughty play and prance i long to capture you for me i long to have you at leisure i long to walk the path with you i long for your pain and your pleasure

Transfixed by cruel twists of time i stood like a picture in a sepia frame when slowly, things came alive flowers bloomed, and then you came vagrant by nature, bohemian by calling mine was a soul i was trying to tame till it found a string too good to be true faith took a flight, and then you came. hope had gone extinct, excuses were galore powerless before fate, reasons went lame but where people are good, chances come to roost chances brought me here, and then you came running for a cover, i sobbed in my hands tears of love, and tears of shame gained my own ground, loved back myself took rein of my life, and then you came

Woke up to a misty morning. Got lovely dovey with ma. Went for a dip. Swam for over an hour. Came back. For the tenth day in a row, gyrated the hoola hoop in the hope to master it someday. Could manage only 7 hoops at max. The same as yesterday. But I remain stubborn. As if trying to make my Sunday, the weather gods decided to rain! Aah...rain for me...like dope for an addict. Inevitably, got drenched again :) After the rain, went for a pleasure stroll with ma. Hand in hand on the wet roads of Dwarka. Ended up buying veggies and milk...anything for that walk with ma. Took out my cycle for repair. Gladly parted with Rs 20, the cost of fixing tyre puncture. Tried to remember which part of my car costs as less as that? Couldn’t recall any. Went for a leisurely cycle ride. Something was wrong with Delhi weather on this Sunday. It was unimaginably good. Kept reminding me of Bokaro. Came back home, and put the CD player on full volume like a brat! From kailash kher’s soul stirrin...

“It took my sister-in-law nearly 12 years of backbreaking service, of relentless forbearance, of putting up with all kinds of humiliation, of disproportionate sacrifices of her desires and personality...to finally get her in-laws’ mellowed down. In all this while, she did not raise her voice even once. She bore their atrocities with a straight face. In the end, she won them with love”. Said one friend of mine. An unmistakable hint of pride in her voice. The conversation started with the lachrymose context of TV soaps and saas-bahu serials. Meeting this friend after quite some time, we talked about the weather, regular office work, interesting holiday options, Cricket World Cup, and finally, movies and serials. Being daily subjected to the saas-bahu drama in my home TV (my granny has the remote), I had a clue of how these serials worked. A mere glimpse at the characters of these serials and earful of lines, and you could figure out the entire context. Women are shown to exist on the...

talking after ages don't you feel at home instantly don't you feel at ease doesn't it feel very right doesn't it leaven and please? tell me baby, don't you belong to me the way i belong to you... the way i belong to we... sitting by the setting sun don't you reminisce our times don't you feel my presence don't you crave for my body don't i echo in your silence? tell me baby, don't you belong to me the way i belong to you... the way i belong to we... watching a story unfold don't your thoughts wander past times, spaces, things we touched doesn't your heart brim over your eyes for love intact, but for dreams crushed tell me baby, don't you belong to me the way i belong to you... the way i belong to we... mere thought of someone else doesn't it bode something ill and wrong doesn't it it send a chill through doesn't it lead you into a closed nest shut out from the rest - only me and you? tell me baby, don't you belong to m...

तुम जो दिल लगाकर चले गए तुमसे बस यही है गिला कसौटियों को इतनी ऊंची कर गए तुम्हारे बाद, फिर कोई न मिला

Flowers are back on the branches fragrance is back in the air back is the spring in your garden back are your memories but you are still not there...

Streets go empty excitement in the air Pak versus India the World Cup is here will India make it to the finals the men in the house worry women worry for feeding those men hot chapatis and curry he stops all work, is glued to the TV bites his nail and perspires for the game her day unchanged, she cuts cleans and cooks her routine of drudgery, all the same home-maker she could be, or a coporate lass but it's on her the responsibility rests of keeping the house clean, supplying nourishing food and children's school work and tests men remain engrossed, in tall wordly matters at leisure and convenience, they indulge the kids women remain absorbed, in zillion homely work and when their baby craps, men don't clean the shit he gets the car serviced, he even buys his clothes for such little work, he praises his own knack the wife has no time, from his socks undies and ilk she toils through out the day, almost breaking her back freedom has brought her, car and communication now adde...

The road from sector 6 to sector 4 market in Dwarka, New Delhi, like most Delhi roads, is wide and smooth. That is, for the cars. For the pedestrians, it is, what you can call as an ‘olfactory nightmare’. In between the two markets runs the famous ‘naala’ of west delhi, an age-old landmark occupying a prominent guiding position in Eicher maps and Google Earth. For the uninitiated, the far-reaching smell is indicative enough. The naala oozes with gut turning muck in the middle of towering concrete structures. Nature’s way of saying – the shit has hit the fan. Offering a passage above this naala (no matter how nose-burning) is a short bridge. Almost every evening, I cross this stretch on foot to reach home. Day before yesterday, I risked an unusual response to a usual phenomenon in this part of the world. I saw him from far and close enough to figure that he was peeing. With men, the pose tells it all, actually. What angered me was that he was pissing bang in the centre of that cruelly n...

They stood there wearing cool black t-shirts and red mini skirts. A picture of the modern disdainful beauty – thin figure, out-of-bed hairstyle, kohl lined eyes and sulking demeanour. They were what they call in the PR/ Advertising/ Event Management lingo as the ‘Usher Girls’. Dissatisfied as they always are with the outsourcing agencies, the only one thing that the entire Client side agreed to, was the fact that these girls did everything but ‘usher’ the guests in! Why? I keep wondering (I also wonder why I ask so many whys?). What’s the need of these usher girls? As a concept, per se, it makes sense for lean organisations to hire temporary manpower for one-off events to do the sundry jobs. The entire outsourcing business owes its origins to this reason. But only because most of the world is going for outsourcing, does it become obligatory on big organisations, with more than enough (and potentially good but abominably underused) manpower to get into the same rut? All said and done, e...

Everywhere I go everywhere I prevail a silence leads a silence trails I do what I love I dance and read and write I sing I play I travel with silence as my guide my friends are my darlings and family my resort but silence is what stays in my actions and my thoughts I shrug it off in music in things that make me proud but it returns with a vengeance a silence – clear and loud silence flies all day in nights it comes to brood my mind is its nest my heart is its food it’s found a hole in me it lingers near and close it resides in the vacuum in just the place that was yours.

अबकी सावन फिर आया है, बताना उन्हें दिखाना उन्हें, वो सड़कें जो पत्तों से ढकी हुई हैं वो टहनियाँ जो फूलों से लदी हुई हैं वो सुबह-सुबह कोयल का गाना वो भीनी सी खुशबू का हर पल आना वो झरने की रिमझिम तरंग वो दिल का उछलता पतंग वो प्रेमी जोड़ियों का मुग्ध संग वो प्रेम के धागों से जुड़े हुए अंग वो दिन की ज़रा-ज़रा से धूप वो धरा का खिला खिला रूप... अबकी सावन फिर आया है, बतान उन्हें। एक और गर्मी बीत गयी, उनके पसीने की ठंडक को छूए बिना एक और बरसात टल गयी, उनके जिस्म को आप में घोले बिना एक और पतझड़ चला गया, उनके साथ एक लंबी सैर किए बिना एक और सर्दी पार हुई, उनके बाहों में सिकुड़कर सोए बिना... अबकी सावन फिर आया है, बताना उन्हें याद दिलाना उन्हें, कि मैं आज भी जीती हूँ उनसे दूर बिताए लम्हों को, उँगलियों पर गिनती हूँ...

RED was the colour of seduction. of sizing you up with dark eyes provoking you with casual lies of inciting you with clever tricks of love that fights, bounces and kicks… GREEN was the colour of envy. when you spoke of another woman with praise I’d clutch on to you my heart ablaze… BLUE was for our after-fight mood. lying on the same bed apart and aloof waiting for another to make the first move and as we got a chance which we just wouldn’t miss we’d put our heart and soul in a mighty giddy kiss… WHITE was the colour of peace. holding hands on a busy road snoring and sleeping in your arms gazing at your face- wordless & quiet soaking in love and its charms… PINK was the colour of joy. joy to love you joy to tease you joy to take you for granted and then, joy to appease you… ORANGE was the colour of our dreams. the flame that glowed behind us that guided and held us that found and smelled us that inspired and charmed us that strengthened and armed us… PURPLE was the colour of o...

Today is my day and I will have you at my sway I will thrash you with love and soak you in passion tingle you with words in an all new fashion I will singe your fingers with delicious little flames and play with your ears defeat you at your games I will bring you to your knees make you do as I order I will serve me on a platter your delectable fodder I will intoxicate with my lips as I wear down your patience suffocate you with my body merrily destroy your balance I will drench you with desire trap you in my snare I will slip out of your arms till you beg me to be there I'll mush you I'll crush you and I'll bring you alive your goddess and your bitch your slave and your wife!

there's nothing, no sweet no honey like you there's nothing, no richness no money like you. there's nothing, no fun no play like you there's nothing, no hope no prayer like you. there's nothing, no song no pleasure like you there's nothing, no catch no treasure like you. there's nothing, no time no hour like you there's nothing, no possession no power like you. what i am, i derive from you from you i'm born, i die for you you're the one, and you shall remain for there's nothing, no love... no life like you.

im young, im fresh, im untouched i love you im young, im hurt, im learning i love you im young, im crying, im missing i love you im young, im battered, im broken i love you im not-so-young, im grieving, im waiting i love you im not young, im starved, im lost i love you im greying, im numb, im knowing i love you im old, im seasoned, im so much above you and yet, and still, my love i love you

i talk to you everyday i do it's not so much to update you as it is about keeping myself pure and living honest and true strange it may sound but it's true all the same if i don't talk to you i'll become insane you are an anchor you see me to the end you save me from tripping you make me me, my friend :)

पता नही क्यों, एक नयी सुबह को दिल तरसता है... पता नहीं क्यों, ये जगह ये घर ये चेहरे ये दफ्तर सब एक सन्नाटे में धुँधलाते जाते हैं उस दूर दुनिया की ओर जहां सिर्फ मैं हूँ एक बार फिर बच्ची-सी जहां न तुम न तुम्हारे प्यार का हारा ये दिल न माँ-बाप की किच-किच न दोस्तों की सलाह न रास्तों की बंदिश न यादों की चिता न पैसा न कौड़ी न कुछ जहां सिर्फ मैं हूँ और मेरा बचपन हँसता खिलखिलाता अटखेलियाँ करता एक नयी सुबह में

she meets the world with elan she stands out from the crowd she makes hearts flutter oh! she makes me so proud she walks with long steps befriends in an easy way she does what she believes she's no doll who'll sway her words could crown and throne for the true, kind and just the wrong, foul and shadey she turns them into dust she's pretty as a picture a thing she hardly cares she's busy honing her mind her talent, hobbies and flair her confidence is as startling as contagious are her smiles her maturity of one aged her gaitey of a child her dance is silent poetry her voice rings like metal her talent too many to count she's a woman of some mettle she's got a thing for perfection she leaves no dirty ends quality is her benchmark there, she doesn't bend she showers her love on me a melting wax in my arms she shows me how to live she inspires, oh! she charms so, heads turn to see her - a marvel in the crowd it doesn't make me jealous but very very proud!!

जीवन के रोज़मर्रे से थोड़ा वक़्त निकाल बैठ खुद के साथ आज कर खुद पर खयाल कब था वो आखिरी समय जब हँसते-हँसते भर आई थी आँख कब लगाया था एक दोस्त को गले कब उड़ाई थीं मस्तियाँ लाख? बैठा है तू जिसके इंतज़ार में वो सही समय एक धोखा है कहता है तू मजबूरी जिसे उसी ज़ंजीर ने तुझे रोका है क्यों मन इतना उदास है तेरा क्यों हैं तेरे गाल गीले? पुकार रहा है तक़दीर तेरा मौका मिला है, जी ले किस डर के बोझ में झुका है तू सपने क्यों पड़ गए हैं पीले? देख आइने में प्यार से खुद को मुस्कुरा, और जी ले तान के सीना चेहरा उठा दिन ढले जब कंधे थे ढीले नज़र गड़ा मंज़िल पर और बढ़ा कदम-कदम जी ले ये करारे दिन ज़िंदगी के हैं इससे पहले की सीलें रख दिल पर हाथ, उड़ान भर लम्हों में सदियाँ जी ले