Saaye Mei.n Dhoop - III

Earlier posts on this collection of ghazals are here and here.
And now time for some more ...

*** *** ***

Gazab hai sach ko sach kahte nahi.n wo
Kuran-o-upnishad khole hue hai.n

Mazaaro.n se duaaei.n maangte ho
Akiide kis kadar pole hus hai.n

It is surprising that they do not speak the truth
Though they have Koran and Upnishads opened in front

You seek blessings from the tomb
How hollow has the faith become

Koran is the religious book of Muslim
Upnishads are Hindu's religious texts

*** *** ***

Bhookh hai to sabra kar, roTi nahi.n to kya hua
Aajkal Dilli mei.m hai zere-bahas ye mudd'aa

Is shahar mei.n woh koii baaraat ho ya vaardaat
Ab kisi bhi baat par khulti nahi.n hai.n khidkiiyaa.n

Bear your hunger, so what if you don't have any bread
The matter is under discussion these days in Delhi

In this city, whether a procession takes place or an incident
Nothing bothers people to open their windows and look out

Delhi - the national capital - represents the government

*** *** ***

Khade hus the alaavo.n ki aa.nch lene ko
Sab apni hatheli jala kar baith gaye

Yeh soch kar ki darakhto.n mei.n chaa.nv hoti hai
Yahaa.n babool ke saaye mei.n aake baith gaye

Everyone stood to get some heat from the bonfire
And burning their palms, they sat back down

Thinking that trees offer shade in the sun
I sat down under a Babool tree

Babool is thorny tree with few leaves, and doesn't really offer a shade [don't know it's name in english]

*** *** ***

Chale hawaa to kivaaDo.n ko band kar lena
Yeh garm raakh sharaaro.n mei.n dhal na jaaye kahii.n

Tamaam raat tere maikade mei.m mai pi hai
Tamaam umra nashe mei.n nikal na jaaye kahii.n

Yeh log hom-o-havan mei.n yaqiin rakhte hai.n
Chalo yahaa.n se chalei.n haath jal na jaaye kahii.n

Close the doors, if a breeze starts blowing
Else the warm ashes might turn into a spark

Entire night, I drank wine in your tavern
Now my entire life may pass in a drunken stupor

Here people believe in fire-worship
Lets us leave here, else we might burn our hands

I do not know the exact equivalent of hom-o-havan, so used fire-worship. Any better suggestion?

*** *** ***

Mai.n bhi to apni baat likhoo.n apne haath se
Mere safe par chod de thoda sa haashiyaa

Allow me to write my feelings in my own hand
On my page, leave a little margin

*** *** ***

Ab ri.nd bach rahe hai.n zara tej raks ho
Mehfil se uth liye hai.n namaazi to lijiye

Now the true admirers are left, let the pace of dance be faster
Those with religious beliefs are leaving the gathering

Namaazi - people who offer prayers five times a day, according to strict Islamic convention
Dance is considered as something evil by those with strict religious beliefs
Ri.nd - someone who truly appreciates dance [as an art]

*** *** ***

Tumhe bhi is bahaane yaad kar lenge
Idhar do-chaar pathhar phe.nk do tum bhi

I'll have an excuse of remembering you too
You also throw a few stones to my side

*** *** ***

Farewell song

People join and leave the companies, but the imminent departure of one of my ex-managers is leaving me rather saddened. It is not as if I share a deep bond with him, but I still feel rather sad. I have not worked with him now for almost twice the time that I did, but I still share a great rapport with him. When I first joined the company, he was the one who inducted me, he was my team lead for some time, and then my manager. He was the one I could take real "bugs" to.
Even though I am no longer reporting to him, I still work quite closely with his current team. The team started preparations for his farewell few days back [in my workplace, a person who has worked for that long usually gets a grand farewell, perhaps owing to the large number of people s/he has worked with, and the kind of relationship s/he shares with those around , obviously always matter]. Owing to my association with him, I am also involved in these preparations. He loves to crack jokes, quite often at himself, and his jovial nature is widely admired. I am rather known for my poetic inclinations, so I was entrusted with the responsibility of writing a poem for him, with a touch of humor. But humorous poetry is not my forte at the best of times [although people think otherwise, me having participated in a few hasya kavi sammelans on Holi]; and at this time, I do not feel like cracking a joke on him, about him or with him, though I have done it hundreds of times earlier. So, I am writing that farewell poem, and well, I am going to try keep it on the lighter side.

Saaye Mei.n Dhoop - II

Here are some more excerpts from the collection.

The first 'sher' was posted earlier, but adding again for the sake of context for another 'sher' from the same 'ghazal' :-)

*** *** *** ***

Yahaa.n darakhto.n ke saaye mei.n dhoop lagti hai
Chalo yahaa.n se chalei.n umra bhar ke liye

Ve mutmain hai.n ki patthar pighal nahi.n sakta
Mai.n bekaraar hoo.n aawaaz mei.n asar ke liye

Here, the sun scorches in the shade of trees
Let us leave this place for ever

They are convinced that stone cannot melt away
I am seeking an impact in my voice

The second sher here always brings to my mind this line from one of Ghalib's ghazls -
Aah ko chahiye ek umra asar hone tak!

*** *** *** ***

Yeh saaraa jism bojh se jhuk kar dohra hua hoga
Main sajde mei.n nahi.n tha, aapko dhokha hua hoga

My entire being was bent double with heavy load
You must've been mistaken that I bowed in prayer

*** *** *** ***

Is nadi ki dhaar mei.n thandi hawa aati to hai
Naav jarjar hi sahi lehro.n se takrati to hai

Ek chingari kahi.n se dhoondh laao dosto.n
Is diye mei.n tel se bheegi hui baati to hai

Dukh nahi.n koii ki ab upalbdhiyo.n ke naam par
Aur kuch ho ya na ho, aakaash si chhaati to hai

The flow of this river brings a cool breeze with it
The boat though decayed, still struggles against the waves

Friends! find and bring a spark from somewhere
An oil-soaked wick is ready in the lamp

I've no sorrows now, as, for my achievements
If nothing else to show, I have a vast chest like the sky

*** *** *** ***

Mere chaman mei.n koii nasheman nahi.n rahaa
Ya yu.n kaho ki barq ki dahshat nahi.n rahii

Kuch dosto.n se waise maraasim nahi.n rahe
Kuch dushmano.n se waisi adaavat nahin rahii

Himmat se sach kaho to bura maante hai.n log
Ro ro ke baat kahne ki aadat nahi.n rahii

No nest remains in this garden now
Or, you can put it that there is no more fear of lightning

The close relationship no longer exists with some friends
The intense hatred does not exist against some foes

If I dare to speak the truth, people are offended
And I am not used to pleading any more

*** *** *** ***

The translation, as usual, is mine. Though I feel this is my weakest attempt so far - I managed to get an almost literal translation, but it is not able to convey the sensitivities expressed in the original hindi version. I am not able to put into words the feeling of loss, of hope, of helplessness, of determination, that the poet did.

That brings to me a thought - can one individual really understand the feelings and emotion of another? When one says to another, "I understand what you are feeling (or, going through right now)", is he or she actually capable of it? On my part, if I have had a setback, and someone tells me that s/he understands, perhaps my reaction would be that of resentment. I might be more at peace if s/he tells me that s/he is sorry to learn of the loss.
With something as abstract as an emotion, how can you establish an equivalence?

Law abets law-breaking

My enthusiasm at having clicked a "breaking-news" kind of pic was kind of dampened - all of the people to whom I showed this pic told me as a matter-of-fact that this was no big deal!!

The dining experience

... Or the lack of it!

Last Sunday, we went to one of the"decent" restaurants in town [Moti Mahal at Shipra mall, in case anyone wants to be warned]. And we had an experience we are not likely to forget any soon.

There was an extremely noisy live program [hosted by some store to mark its inaugration] going on at the lower ground floor [we were at the third], which certainly did nothing to enhance the "dining experience". We placed our order for the starters, and deliberated over the main course. The starters arrived after some time. The usual practice is to place one or two pieces, and set the serving plate on the side. But the waiter seemed to be in a real hurry - he served the entire contents at once, but he hurried to take back the plate (along with the salad), so we had to ask him to leave the plate on the table. As if irritated, he dumped the whole of the salad in one of the plates. Despite the bad service, we proceeded to eat, when we realized we were one fork short, and had no knives at all. We called out the waiter, who was too busy finding out what was happening on the ground floor, to listen to us. This stretched our patience, and when he finally turned up, we asked him to call the manager. Instead of doing so, he proceeded to another table to take their order. I got up finally to look for the manager, and described the scenario to him. Instead of being apologetic in the least, he calmly informed us he will get the cutlery. And when he did, we still had one knife less! We asked the waiter to get another one, and told him that we want to cancel the rest of the order, but the manager displayed no signs of remorse even at this stage! This was when we paid our bill and walked out. We didn't need to cancel the order, because the waiter had never bothered to take it!!

Whose loss was it ? Ours [it spoiled our dinner], the restaurant's [we are not going to go back, and advise our friends to do the same], the manager's [if everyone faces similar situations, the restaurant is not going to last long, and his job would be at stake] or the waiter's [he lost his tip, and stands to lose the job if the place goes down hill].

I have recounted one of the experience, but this post is not about just one experience. There have been incidents in past, when the poor quality of service in some of the better known restaurants gave a lot of disappointment. It gives me an impression that though these kind of places compete with the best in terms of pricelist, they have no stand whatsoever when it comes to service and/or taste. And then there are the gaffes which can only be considered as faux pas of fine dining.
Televisions may be acceptable in crowded food courts, or in McD, but in a restaurant? Do you want to enjoy the food [which you are paying a good amount of sum for], or do you want to watch TV, which you do anyway daily at home? The place mentioned above had a seating for two, right under a 30-inch flat screen! Perhaps they wanted to give the rest of the diners an option to watch the TV, or the couple, whichever they found more interesting?
And the music? Music might enhance your dining experience, but I think that implies soft music, preferably instrumental. What are restaurant managements thinking of, when they play rock music or local FM channels on full blast, so you have to shout to hear yourself? Or even popular music, or piano tunes of old hindi films, for that matter? Are they trying to distract you from the food? The lesser attention you pay, the lesser the amount of competence required on their part ??

The basic question is, why is there an absolute lack of attention to make dining an "experience"? Is it a perceived lack of expectation on the part of the diners, or an indifference or perhaps ignorance, on the part of the restaurants?

The effect of company

One of the comments on one of my recent posts reminded me of this sher [came across it on the net, with no credits].

It describes the effect of posting policemen on security duty in kavi-sammelan's [poetry recitals]:

Rafta rafta har police-wale ko shayar kar diya
Mehfil-e-sher-o-sukhan mei.n bhej kar sarkaar ne
Ek kaidi subah ko faansi lagaa kar mar gayaa
Raat bhar ghazalei.n sunaayi.n usko thaanedaar ne

[Gradually every policeman became a poet
by getting posted at poetry recitals
A prisoner committed suicide in the morning
The sentry recited poems to him the entire night]

Flower Fest - R for Rose

I made my debut at flower fest with Pansies and Petunias. I do not know of any flower names that start with Q, but I am going back for R.

I posted this one long time back on my travel blog


But what can one about a rose?
A rose is a rose is a rose ...

Then there are Ranunculus.


Ranunculus, pronounced as ran-UN-kew-lus, is a latin word meaning "little frog". It has its origins in the middle east, hence it is also called as Turban Butercup.

Ranunculus belong to the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and is the cultured cousin of the Marsh Marigold.

It has bright, rounded flowers atop dense green parsley-like foliage. It comes in a wonderful array of colors, with shades of red, purple, yellow, white, pink, and orange. You can even find copper ranunculus flowers and also ranunculus flowers with dark and yellow circles

Yaadei.n (ek baar phir)

Memories -

An endless flow
Like water in the rivers
Waves of thoughts
Ripples of faded pictures

Like a cloud in the hills
A wisp of smoke that lingers
Drifts away on closing the palms
Floats from between the fingers

Yaadei.n -

Jaise ek nadi ka paani
Jaldhaaraa bahati anant si
Khayaalaat ki chanchal laharei.n
Dhundhle drishyo.n ki ek tarang si

Parvato.n mei.n Thahre baadal
Dhuei.n ki lakir se
Ungliyo.n se fisal jaate hai.n
Band hatheli ke beech se

Not-so-Great Expectations

Do not expect anything from anyone - this is a golden rule that I have followed for many years now. It saves one from a lot of pain and hurt sentiments. You expect something from other people - and when they fail to fulfil it, intentionally or unintentionally, you get hurt. No amount of words or self-consolation can soothe the pain that you have thus inflicted upon yourself. So, the best possible way is not to have expectations of anyone else.

Keeping this in mind, I have not kept any expectations when providing help to people, even though going out of my way at times. Many of them were very friendly while they were in the need of my help. As their need reduced and finally ended, so did the amiability. I felt good earlier, and now I feel sad, about the state of things.
This is undoubtedly a very natural process. With the fast-paced lifestyles and ambitious gaols, people do not have much time to socialize without a purpose. Since I realize this, my state of mind causes me to seek an answer.

Am I expecting something that I consciously do not realize?
What was it that I felt happy about earlier? Was it the peace of mind induced by a harmonious existence with your fellow beings and camaraderie brought about by exchange of friendly banter? Was it the feeling of confidence or self-importance arising from "being able" to help?
And what makes me unhappy now? Is it the loss of camaraderie [can perhaps be viewed as a limited case of a "broken relationship"?] Is it a feeling of having been manipulated?

Bringing these thoughts from the sub-conscious to the conscious mind was not an easy task. It was still difficult to put them in words. And it is going to be further difficult, if not impossible, to find the right answer.