Wherever I am..

I see sometimes,
All of a sudden a river,
An empty boat strikes against the shore,
A sound next to wild silence,
An unseen life, next to my own.

Wherever I am..

I sit for a while,
Often, a trodden path beckons me,
With my own own footprints and shadows.
Glimmering like images carved in dust,
And my own sight veils my eyes.

Wherever I am..

I feel at times,
The moonlight webs a dream in my eyes,
And within every dream lies another,
Between a web of anxieties, I dream and wake,
Alone, in time of personal despair.

Wherever I am..

I move from there,
A loneliness turns into a journey,
My heart urges me to take a new road,
And within the heart of every road I chose,
Lies the urge to lose direction…

An old writing.. Raghu asked for this one. why not!!!after-all its a blog.


Lips are like scarlet ribbons parting.
Those two lips, when half open,
Are dark, as a nest, where the heart,
Hatching its thoughts to be spoken,
Unhurriedly lets them depart…

When your lips feel tired and weak,
Make them open again,
Like a flock of birds,
Send your words winging high for all.
When your lips have once freed them,
Let those words sweep the skies just like birds.

Women hear words unspoken,
From trembling lips, in a silence unbroken.
Lips can hurl words,
Like a bolt from the clouds.
They need the sweetness of the blue sky,
And conversations as well.

Lips can be like rainbow arcs, bends,
Through the sky of a beautiful face.
In a joyful and ardent embrace,
Lips fuse in a kiss never ending,
Filled with passion, till flowers ignite,
Their warm essence diffusing,
Richly red in the shadows of the night.

When a new day is dawning,
And the birds make the lucent air sing,
You whistle to welcome the morning,
And with the birds your lips sing,
Fresh and bright as the wind,
You sing the song you have heard,
Songs that are soft and have no words,
Songs that linger on cool scarlet lips,
For heaven and joys ever longing…those lips.

There was a time when poetry in indian film songs, hindi especially, had reached the pinnacle.Sublime. there were highly talented writers, who embellished the music with sheer brilliance. it was a Golden age, for poetry..ofcourse, none would dispute that it was the same for music too.almost every famous writer had loads of talent, expressive and striking. my own favourites are many.
Mehboob Khan's films had two standard cues. Naushad's music and shakeel Badayuni's poetry, both of them going hand-in-hand. Shakeel Badayuni was traditionalist, while Majrooh touched all forms. Sahir and Kaifi Azmi had brilliant touch , in everything, but most importantly on issues(for they were communists).Shailendra was another genius. Rajinder kishen adorned some great music. It was indeed a Golden age. little known is the fact that some non-lyricists too, tried their hand at writing and did some remarkable work. like Naushad's ghazals, which he released later during 90s or kishore kumar's common-man lyrics in Jhumroo. Salil Chowdhary is regarded as one of the greatest writers in bengali literature.
the lyrics during 50s-60s were more or less similar, in quality. be it Mughal-e-Azam or Dil Ek mandir, they oozed out melody, through words. how else can one explain "zakhmon se bhara hain kisi majboor ka seena" , in mughal-e-azam.Majrooh on the other hand , adapted himself to all levels of poetry..from highly artistic ones to commercial ones. way back in 50s, he came up with :

hamare baad ab mehfil mein afsaane bayaan honge,
bahaarein humko dhoondenge na jaane hum kahan honge..

isi andaaz se jhoomega mausam..gaayegi duniya.
mohabbat phir haseen hogee, nazaaare phir jawaan honge..
bahaarein humko dhoondenge na jaane hum kahan honge..


madan mohan composed the music for those lines, with ever-lasting melody and lata, as usual, excelled. today i cant figure out the inspiration behind those lyrics. was it madan? or lata? well, the lines befit Majrooh himself.

instead of sticking to romantica, they reflected the times too. Sahir's Pyaasa or Kaifi Azmi's Kaagaz Ke Phool (both guru-dutt-s.d.burman combinations) had some brilliant lines. and they are still remembered today. but way back in 50s, Raj Kapoor's Boot Polish had lyrics like " teher zaraa oh jaanewaale..babu mister gore kaale..kab se baithe aas lagaake..hum matwaale..polishwaale", with kids singing this song. one particuklar line, in this song goes like "you pay a temple-priest more, when he chants some sacred chants..and pay us a mere trifle when we polish your shoes". though i didnt watch this film, believed to be a classic by raj kapoor, the moment i heard/understood these lines, for the 1st time ever in my life, i sat there in silence. i had to clap for Raj Kapoor( and the lyricist ofcourse) for the nth time. much before that, many songs from Raj Kapoor songs did impress me. in jis desh mein ganga behthee hai, the song "aa ab laut chale" had lines:
"aankh hamari manzil par hain..
dil mein khushi ki mast leher hain..
laakh lubhaaye mahal paraye..
apna ghar phir..apna ghar hain.."

they touch a different chord. take sahir's strong rebuke at mohd iqbal's "saare jahaan se achcha..hindustan hamara" song, by writing "chino arab hamara..hindustan hamara..rehne ko ghar nahi hai..saara jahaan hamara..footpath pe so rahe hain..har naujawaan hamara", in the film "phir subah hogi".Ofcourse, his Pyaasa stands tall.Guru Dutt got some brilliant lyrics for his films.

some small-time lyricists too, like Neeraj did remarkable work, perhaps to compete with the giants. When Prithvi Raj Kapoor disapproved raj kapoor's romance with nargis, Hasrat Jaipuri wrote "kisi nargisi nazar ko dil dhenge hum" for one of raj kapoor films, to tease him. and still, raj kapoor didnt change the lyrics.
The only lyricist , from the later generation who managed to achieve some quality happens to be Gulzar. in many ways, he broke the barriers and brought in non-poetic expressions to adorn his nuggets.having started out with "mora gora ang laile" in Bandini, he wrote many songs for hemant kumar during late 60s, like "tum pukaar lo..tumhaari intezaar hain" or "hawaaon pe likhdho..hawaaon ka naam". some classic expressions he used are unmatchable like in :

"humne dekhi hain..un aankhon ki mehekthi khusboo..
haath se chuke ise rishthon ka ilzaam na do...
sirf ehsaas hain yeh..rooh se mehsoos karo..
pyar ko pyaar hi rehne do..koi naam na do".

the quality of lyrics did come down a lot , during the 80s era. perhaps only a Javed Akhtar managed to maintain some quality in the lyrics. In many ways, he is a traditionalist too, because his lyrics profuse flowery metaphors. post Akhtar, none of the contemporary lyricists really made mark, as lyrics became monotonous. and highly crass. Sameer, one of the leading lyricist today, once went to Majrooh and showed him his lyrics so that he can try his luck in films. Majrooh , after reading few, threw the pages out of his balcony. The same lyrics were later used in a film and sameer shot into fame. That reflects the declined standards.
S.D.Burman and Majrooh were apprehensive about the lyrics of "chod do aanchal zamana kya kahega", for they felt that people would find it vulgar. today the song is a classic.fast-forward to 90s, we had contemporary lyricists writing "meri choli choti hogayi".

well, giving one example after another(there are 1000s..), i think i can write a book instead of a small blog. Also, i am already expected the ire of some readers, who might carp about the size of this blog.so, i have to end somewhere. but let me finally disclose what prompted me to write this blog. It is here below : a Classic song from film "didi"(1959), sung by suman kalyanpur and Mukesh.

Female:

tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao..to yeh haq hain tumko..
meri baat aur hain..maine to mohabbat kee hain...

mere dil ki meri jazbaat ki keemat kya hai..
uljhe uljhe se khayaalaat ke keemat kya hai..
maine kyon pyar kiya..tumne na kyon pyar kiya..
in pareshaan sawaalon ki keemat kya hai..

mujhko yeh bhi na bataao..to yeh haq hai tumko..
meri baat aur hain..maine to mohabbat kee hain...

Male:

zindagi sirf mohabbat nahi..kuch aur bhi hain..
zulf-o-rukhsar ki jannath nahi..kuch aur bhi hain..
bhook aur pyaas ki maaree hui is duniya mein..
ishq hee ek haqeeqat nahi..kuch aur bhi hain..

tum agar aankh churaao to yeh haq hain tumko..
maine tumse hi nahi..sabse mohabbat kee hain..

Female:

tumko duniya ki gham-e-dard se phursat na sahi,
sabse se ulfat se hi..mujhse bhi mohabbat na sahi..
main tumhari hoon yehi..mere liye kya kam hain..
tum mere hoke raho...yeh meri kismat na sahi..

aur bhi dil ko jalaao..to yeh haq hain tumko..
meri baat aur hain..maine to mohabbat kee hain..
tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao..to yeh haq hain tumko.

this is what i call...sheer poetry.when i ask myself where are lyricits like these today? Kaifi Azmi reminds me, "bichde sabhi..baari baari".

friendlessly, i spent the entire day,
at times like a stranger to everyone,
and sometimes,like a stranger to my own self.
when the day anchored itself,
on the dark banks of the night,
i walked past the deserted bylanes,
with weary steps, into my room.

the lazy tide of evening breeze,
kissed the silence dangling in my room,
and ruffled the pages of my note-book.
those fluttering echos which asked,
"do you still remember me my friend?"

today, again the arena of the dusk is red
orange rays oozing from the wounded sun.
the sky reveals a lot of blood-shed
though the battle today has just begun.

the day has given up its weapons blazing,
for the powerful night has besieged it again.
my shadow too, which was courageously razing,
now gave up the fight and vanished in vain.

amidst the lucent flowers of triumphant stars
look! the night has hoisted the flag of the moon alight.
like it did in many previous wars,
the day conceded again, to the victory of the night.

getting back to something which you've left long ago isn't easy.and when it comes to writing, it is really similar to herculean task..though it is far-fetched to use that phrase. but sizing down the laziness and oiling the mind to re-produce the same quality/genre of work is really a demanding task.

we all are inveterate bloggers.every human being is. only few dare to chronicle them in note-books while others taste the blog in their minds and forget it.thinking itself is blogging, perhaps in its primitive form..yet, evolved.the only asset of blogging is that the thought lies in front of you. it separates the entities. you look at yourself when you read your own blog. the you is observer..of the character "yourself".thoughts caged in mind, on the other hand, follow a different pattern altogether.they are like threads..one thought leading to another..and before you realize..a train of thoughts collectively describe/define your state of mind at that particular stage. well, this is definitely not a page ripped off from the upcoming journal of a psychoanalyst but i am just trying my hand..or say..my mind...at differentiating between thinking and blogging. the latter is termed as the new fad, a revolution in the world wide web. thats true.the internet, today, is an anarchic place where you can put up anything.

but what is it which made it a fad? the primitive version of blogging did have its intermdeiate version too..writing..and when i say writing, i mean penning down of thoughts in a note book. people could have always used their moments of solitude to pen down their thoughts, just as they blog now. but writing was never a fad, only because it is/was more personal..or private. no one read them..even if the writer wanted it to be public. and somewhere down the journey, people wanted to break loose...they wanted to bare their thoughts, genuine,pseudo, hypocritic or even careless..whatever kind they may be of..and derived some sort of primal pleasure..whatever, for creative guys, internet-blogging came as a boon..and for non-creative guys..it served as a good tool...to hone their communication abilities..

sometimes i wonder if pages of a note-book of a blogger and his blog do have the same content...also, i strongly feel that something essential lacks in a blog. perhaps the human mind becomes more conscious when keying in a blog.but still, i must accept that blogging did seduce people..much more than writing did.it opened doors. it built mirrors..in which a writer could see himself. and knowing people with/through the pattern of their thought processes came as an added incentive. finally one might wonder, who has time for all this? may be..but many do.probably they prefer to invest their solitude in blogging but i still feel, writing stands in a different plane. the best analogy i can draw to justify : writing is similar to a hand-written letter while blogging is similar to e-mail.

but think of it, isn it ironical that i am putting this on a blog rather than in my note book. thats another advantage of blogging : you can be your hypocritical-self..to the best.