उस दीवार के पीछे...

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कुछ लोग रहते है उस दीवार के पीछे

होते है मेरी ही तरह बने हुए,

करता है शिरकत लाल ही खून उनकी रगों में,

बसते है ख्वाब भी उनकी आँखों में,

होते है उनके भी कुछ दुःख दर्द, आंसूँ और गम,

हाँ! कुछ लोग रहते है उस दीवार के पीछे

होते है मेरी ही तरह बने हुए.

है वो भी किसी राखी का रेशम,

किसी घर का सुनहरा दीपक

किसी के दिल का आराम होते है वो भी

पर मालूम न चल सका क्यों दी बंदूके उन्हें?

चाहते तो थे वे भी इक मिला जुला संसार

फिर क्यों?

आखिर क्यूँ बदल दिया उनका रास्ता चल पड़ने के पहले ही?

हाँ! कुछ लोग रहते है उस दीवार के पीछे

होते है मेरी ही तरह बने हुए.

'उन' पीछे वालों को थमा तो दी विनाश-सामग्री 

पर न सोचा क्या उन्होंने न गाया कोई सुखी गान?

क्या नहीं स्वर दिया विश्व एकता के भावों को?

नहीं हुई तमन्ना फूलों और भवरों की उन्हें?

फिर क्यों?

आखिर क्यूँ बदल दिया उनका रास्ता चल पड़ने के पहले ही?

हाँ! कुछ लोग रहते है उस दीवार के पीछे

होते है मेरी ही तरह बने हुए.

Those eyes...

Photo by Ed Ross

Ah! There she is

How gorgeous beauty!

With roses pinned in her tresses

Fragrance has a new name today.

Her lips so full

Colored in blood, all inviting

Many a men set out to play

This game of flesh & desire.

Her body all adorned

Prepared she is, as a martyr

Every moment she is killed

By her acts sensuous & seductive.

Hungry eyes gnawing at her

Every inch scanned n lusted for

Who remembers if she has a soul

All she remains, a pretty object.

For once peek in the eyes

Screaming they will be, begging 

Leave me alone, let me go

For once let me smell

The fragrance of those roses in my hair!

P.S.: Loved writing this for Magpie-Tales #301

The Body, the Excess Baggage and 2016!

Yay! This New Year post was written for Blogadda's #TalesOf2015! activity and scored a place in the top 20 entries. Here is the list. 

Time is the only eternal change in universe. It never stops changing. The moment which we call present will become past in blink of an eye. Months, weeks and days become memories with each breath we take. Yes, like every other year, 2015 has also bid adieu and we welcomed 2016 with hopes and aspirations anew. Changing years mark not only change in calendar but provide us with a new beginning. Sometimes, I wonder if these are meant to give us fresh perspective in the monotony of life and everyday struggles.

I love new years because this is my shot at change. It’s a standard day to look back, a day to smile and learn. The biggest smile that 2015 brought to me was when I became a mom (again). Believe me, it’s so much harder to be mothering more than one. I am growing everyday as a person. Every day I am learning to be a mother, all over again. To understand and tend to the needs of two children, one being a baby who can’t speak and the other one, all expressive and letting you know she requires attention like before! Oh! It’s like walking on a tightrope and you can’t fall. But the runs between Ballet classes to diaper changes, the clock ticking with feeding times to early morning school preparations, this adrenalin rush brings a bliss of its own kind and will give birth to a lifetime of memories. Amen!

With this expected joy came lot of unexpected events. All related to my physical being! I never imagined this would affect my family in ways I never knew. This included my own expectations from myself, as a new mother. It was no less than an encounter with the End and yes, the saying, ‘health is wealth’, for the very first time in my left made sense. It’s so important to be healthy. Lying helplessly on the hospital bed, I was only thinking of myself, my body. It is all what matters in the end- the physical presence. Till Oxygen reaches your lung and you exhale Carbon-Dioxide, you are very much alive and yes, we are responsible to keep doing this beautifully for as long as possible. In those unhealthy moments, days and weeks, I took a solemn pledge to earn as much as wealth of health as possible, each day of my life now onwards. So, 2016 is all about the physical body because everything else just follows.

Like every year, I am not going to make a book full of resolutions. I think a lot of us do that and then after a few enthusiastic days, we shrink back in our efforts. 2016, this year, it will be something good, something healthy, at least one minute a day. In one of the books I read last year, they gave this amazing power of one-minute in my hands. Yes, this one-minute everyday will gradually bring us countless minutes without sulking, getting demotivated or just plain lazy. We all do that at some point.

For this, I am going to do as much as with my power, and all that which is in my power. Starting with, 2016, I am just going to let go of the 'excess baggage'! All the excess baggage that has cluttered my being has to go away this year (with a hope to learn to minimize accumulation of this clutter the rest of my life). As human beings we are hoarders. We hoard material things, abstract ideas, dead relationships and tons of memories. We as human beings can achieve so much, only if we find our inner symmetry. The perfect symmetry of the body with the mind. Starting with my physical body, I am going to reach to my mastermind. I am glad 2015 hit me hard and posed before me a few very basic yet very big questions-

Do I know how to breathe?

Google Image 

We all breathe to live. Have you ever thought to live to breathe? A few of us who practice various breathing exercises or those who practice meditation through breathing right knows the bliss in प्राण वायु ('praan vayu', the oxygen that keeps us kicking and writing). 2016 I am going to let go of all the unforgiving air my lungs receive. Yes, breathing right is an art, and this year I want to learn it from scratch, unlearning everything unnecessary. I am going to reward my lungs by opening them fully, breathing the essence of human existence. Easy it may seem to read but very difficult to achieve it if you have been doing it wrong all your lives. The trick is to learn it mindfully, not to lose hope and practice everyday. 

Is my mind free from fear?

There is a certain fear in my mind that may not make sense to a lot of you. Imagine a dangerous situation and you have to run for life. The only problem is I can't run! 2016 I am going to let go of the fear of being unable to run. Yes, unbelievable it may seem but I am bad at running. I gasp for air after a few minutes. Yes, I need to work on my breathing but I also need stamina. 2016 I am going to let go of the excess flab I have accumulated without being in need of it. I am not a polar bear who eats and hibernates. I am just storing, not even hibernating. I dream of fitting in my old clothes. My old pictures haunt me. To achieve these wishes, I have decided to lock horns with my weakness and signed up for a 5K run. I am practicing every day with a professional plan. Oh boy! it's hard to run for 1 minute for me and 5K is a 30-minute estimate. The trick is not to give up, let the oxygen in and keep running.

Do I have endless disk space?

Equally important for physical well being is to declutter those memoirs, endless burdening emotions and people/acquaintances/so-called friends which do not provide any life-juice. Our heads often are filled with lots of old memories that wrap us tight and make it impossible to make new beginnings. We consicously and unconsciously make comparisons, become envious, nag and whine. This all takes away many useful moments from our life, which can be creative and productive as well as helpful for others. 2016 I am going to let go of unnecessary burden from my mind and heart. This is in the form of emotional baggage. By making space in my heart, I am going to value the valuables, save time for tasks that will let me grow as a person and I will show gratitude to at least one thing/person every day. Decluttering may be hard but so important.

Do I need everything that I own?

To further let go of the excess baggage, I am planning to target to lighten my house. Giving away the

From Google Images

gently used clothes to the needy and homeless, the books read over and over again would be donated to the local library, thus spreading the love of reading. Toys would go to a orphanage and many other accumulated material things would have to go away this year. 2016 I am going to let go of everything material I am not using, and can be reused by someone in need.

As I list all my let-go(s) of 2016, I am starting to visualize how much light my body and my mind would be feeling. I just can't wait to actually make it happen. I know I am dreaming big but 2015 taught me the importance of right things, and 2016 will see the body changing and the excess baggage exiting my being. Amen!

This was my world in a recap and a glimpse of my dreams and goals for 2016. Enjoy, if you want a recap of our world in the year just went by-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEzyex2HvqA

P.S.-“I’m sharing my #TalesOf2015 with BlogAdda.”

Love, I Ran After...

Charing Cross Road, 1937 by Wolfgang Suschitzky

Is it all we had?

Affection, love, joy

Where is it now we that shared?

Eyes as big as yours

Remember, I wanted to drown in

Dive in the love I called 'first',

Talks as sweet as yours

Intoxicated I was at every syllable

I wonder it was the love-nectar.

We held hands often

Clenched each other's emotions

Stole a touch, here & there

Hallucinating was the love

I, hypnotized to a world

Completely different, completely new.

Today, It's as if I woke up

The world once again, completely new,

A world devoid of you,

Unbearable, unfathomable

Excruciating desperateness 

A pain so dark, inside me .

Yet, I wonder

What goes inside you

Your eyes notice any of it!

Or, was I just a ripple in the rain

in a world grey and black

Was I the one running blindly

on a road slippery!

Whatever it was,

"It" stays in my heart

Imprinted on my soul

To go away with my ashes....

P.S.: Penned for the image prompt provided by Magpie tales, Mag 300. 

"Be Yourself"

A closed box

Stifled breaths

Grabbing holds

A very restless mind...

Lock it someday

Drop it from the highest peak.

You were once a swimmer newborn

dive deep in the soothing turquoise,

Quench the child in you

blow the dandelion,

Immerse in the melody of nature

stomp on the fall-leaves,

Move the inflexible do the difficult

dance on your favorite tune,

Throw away the glooms

dress up in Saffron-Orange,

Let the Earth be your piano

wear the symphony of anklets,

Dry the tears in your eyes

Adorn them with the deep of kohl.

...Yes, for once "Be Yourself"

Today, let the mask drop

let the truth reign

let the soul be free!

This poem is written for the Poets on the Page's first prompt-January 2016. It was to explore yourself, un-become what you are not, drop everything that isn't you and embrace the real you.

गुजरता वक्त...

वक्त के साये में

सदा ही रहते हम,

लगता हमें कभी है काबू

और कभी बेकाबू

बस इसी जद्दोजहद में

जीते हम लोग। 

किसने क्या पाया

क्या अधूरा सा रह गया

जा रहा साल कराता ये हिसाब,

नहीं कभी कोई रहता हर पल 

होना ही है फ़ना एक दिन सभी को 

इंसान या वक्त। 

विदा हुआ वर्ष जो कल तक था 

हमारा अपना 

आज बाहें फैलाए हम मचलते 

नव वर्ष के लिए,

क्या नहीं तड़पता जूना वर्ष 

छोड़ उसे दिया हमने बस घड़ी की इक सूई पर। 

नहीं नहीं! वक्त नहीं रुकता कहीं पर 

हम भी साथ चले तो पाएंगे स्वप्न,

जो खड़े ताकते रहे

रह जायेंगे हो कर बदलते वर्षों का शिकार 

आओ, करे ये वर्ष अपने नाम

सिर्फ अपने ही नाम!

छोड़ सब व्यर्थ के बोझों को 

ले अपने कंधे पर स्वयं का सार्थक बोझ 

बुने नए स्वप्न,नई अभिलाषाएं

जोड़ कर हाथ ले ईश्वर का साथ 

और मिला कर हाथ करें जी-तोड़ मेहनत 

बस फिर हर वर्ष खुशियों के नाम 

हमारे और हमारे अपनों के नाम!

Wishing all my readers and visitors a very happy 2016. Dream big and work hard.

Image Source: Google Images

Yay! Good start of the New Year...This poem was selected by Blog Adda as one of the best for Tangy Tuesday Picks, edition dated January 05, 2015.!