ChirpyQuill

 She was a sight to behold, a lovely story to be told, She was a moment frozen in time, as my arms kept her in their hold. Her lips like petals of lotus , her hair covering her face like a flower in the mist’s fold, Eyes those shine like stars , her skin like a tapestry woven in gold. A touch that makes you feel alive , a kiss that freezes time,  An embrace that feel like a crisp fall day and sound of a distant wind chime  A story that will never end , a moment that will last a lifetime,  She was beautiful, she was surreal, she was sublime.

 Itni jaldi bhi kya thi dost, kuch der aur to rukta  Yun to baat karne ko to kuch khaas nahin hota Par agar tu hota to tere na hone ka ehsaas nahin hota Itni bhi kya jaldi thi dost …. Rah bhi nahi badlegi aur Zindagi usi raftaar se chalegi Safar mein saath hota to khoob jamti , rahon mein teri kami zaroor khalegi Itni bhi kya jaldi thi dost….  Kuch aur khaniyan likhte zindagi ki kitaab mein, Kuch aur saal jud jaate dosti ke hisaab mein , Itni bhi kya jaldi thi dost… Alvida to kehna hee tha ek din par, Itni bhi kya jaldi thi dost …

मंज़िल न तो मिली और ना ही मिलने का कोई सबब हुआ क्या करते , मंज़िल से ना सही तो हमने राहों से प्यार कर लिया, छु सकते थे उसे, मह्सूस भी किया पर पाने का कोई रास्ता नहीं था,  क्या करते, नज़दीकियां ना मिली तो दूरियों से इकरार कर लिया,  क़दमों ने भी वह राह चीनी के मंज़िल हमें ता उम्र तलाश करती रही,  क्या कहते दिल को जब दिमाग ने मज़बूरियों का इज़हार कर लिया, इतनी बिसात नहीं के दिल-ो-दिमाग की क़शमक़श में पड़ते हम,  क्या करते, इस क़शमक़श को ख़त्म ना कर सके तो इसी से क़रार कर लिया,  यह कोई ज़रूरी नहीं के दिल और ज़िन्दगी की मंज़िल एक ही हो,  क्या करते, ज़िन्दगी ने अपना और दिल ने अपना रास्ता इख्तियार कर लिया ,  किसी का हासिल हो जाना ही नहीं इश्क़ की मंज़िल, हर सफ़ीने को किनारा नसीब नहीं,  क्या करते, यही सोच के दिल को समझाया और आँखों को ज़ार ज़ार कर लिया

The chair lies vacant  The sweet sound in deep silence  The glasses forlorn stands still  The smiling face transported  From depths of reality  to the multitude of eternity  Rests silently in pristine regale  Perched up from the wall above  Smiling down upon the loved ones  Beseeched by trails and tribulations  With days spent contemplating  And Nights in loving remembrance  Does ever Time stand still?  To savor the moments spent  And capture the feelings felt  Value the kindred souls healed Bottle up the laughter & smiles  And remember the hard feelings  So hear Ye brethren one and all  To never wallow over the past  Or make grand plans for future  But to live in the present       Squeeze each minute        As if it is you last  Treasure trove of memories  As these will live for eternity  And make life meaningful  Filling our lives ultimate dash             

We all know about it. It’s our song, lying unsung somewhere in the recesses of our being. It stretches, it convulses, wanting to find expression in our daily lives, and when it does, we feel it in our bones. The fulfilment, the feeling of being aligned with our very grain, the satisfaction of living our life to its highest potential. All the feelings we seek to experience. Sadly most of us rarely do. Even if we do, it is in spurts and starts if we are lucky. Even more sad is the fact that most of us, in-spite of being well aware of it, never will quite give it a fair try. The question is, why won’t we? The answers may vary from person to person, and the easiest slot to fall into is to judge other people on why they are choosing lives less lived, less fulfilling. How about we think about our own circumstance and at-least seek to understand our own behavior. Why are we choosing to let our song die on the vine, or have choosen to live sub-optimally in the context of our own potential. We

Untether from the flesh; the indents of those fingerprints Untether from the heart; the broken arrows and their splints Untether from the mind; the alleys of visited places Untether from the eyes; the kodachromatic traces Untether from the soul; the song that has been followed Untether from the voice; the silence that has been swallowed Sacred is your heart that bears witness To the thousand petal lotus as it bellows and recesses The rhythm of your breath; that creates bridges in time To that which magnifies in resonance; not that which will decline   Arise, reclaim like the phoenix from the ashes  Afresh, anew the surf after it crashes For that which has paved the way is the way For that which has paved the way is the way For how else could there be this moment  For how else could this door sway  Head the call of that song that has yet to be sung; the beat that is waiting to be drummed The strings of your heart pluck for you, listen The music is here waiting in silence The moment is h

  कसक काश   तू   एक   प्याला   होती पिघल   के   तुझ   में   भर   जाता   मैं वहीं   काट   देता   ज़िंदगी तुझ   में ,  तेरे   अंदर सिंह या   एक   ऊँचा   सा   पेड़ तेरी   जड़ों   सी   लेकर   टहनियों   तक फिरता   रहता   तेरे   अंदर प्यासा   सा   पानी   बन   कर या   काश ,  तू   स्याही   होती काली ,  नीली   या   लाल तेरा   रंग   बनकर   तुझ   से   लिपटा   रहता   जब   तक   तू ,  तभी   तक   मैं   भी   होता या   फिर … तू   एक   कोयल   होती तेरी   मीठी   आवाज़   हो   कर तेरी   पहचान   बन   जाता   मैं या   घने   बादल ,  जिन   में   बारिश   बन   कर   रहता या   बिजली   जिस   की   रोशनी   होता   मैं लेकिन   तू   और   मैं ,  सिर्फ़   इंसान   है कितना   भी   चाहें   एक   दूसरे   में   उतरना थोड़ा   सा बच   जाते   हैं बस   यही   एक   गुनाह   है हमारा Kasak kash tu ek pyala hoti pighal ke tujh mein bhar jata mein vahin kaat deta zindagi tujh mein, tere andar ya ek ooncha sa ped teri jadon se tehnion tak phirta rehta tere andar pyaasa sa paani bankar ya kaash tu syahi hoti kaali neeli ya laal tera rang ba

Don’t miss a beat! It was a Thursday evening and I was on my weekly Skype call with my music teacher from Mysore, India. Since our last class,I had practiced the krithi I learned pretty well and I was excited to share my singing with her. As I went through reciting my krithi, my teacher didn’t seem that impressed. At the end she told me my singing and thala were not in sync. Thala also known as metronome in the music world or beat/rhythm in common language. To learn Carnatic singing is a hard task in itself but making sure it follows the predetermined thala is whole another story. It’s a framework under which the song has to be performed, a time stamp for every phrase, note and verse.  So I asked my teacher naively why is it so important for my singing to follow the “thala”? She patiently explained metronome keeps you from running fast, or dragging at certain places or getting caught up in the composition itself. It’s like having a guru with you at all times.  As a runner, I

  It is a typical January morning. I look up and out the window after collapsing a digital one. The sky is gray, the street bare as are the branches. Nothing seems to have shifted in the outer environment.   I was feeling good after a very productive class I just finished. It was the last class in a series of 7 I had signed up for. The information provided by the teacher, the sharing by participants and the a-ha’s I experienced from being in that container had the potential to be truly transformative.  As I sat reflecting, I became aware of this feeling that I can best describe as a resistance; a non-readiness to fuse or integrate with what I had learnt in such earnest. I felt a sense of separation from all of that great information that I seemed to connect with so much ease on a mental level. I was able to consume it all intellectually, but there was something lacking in the full integration of it which is required to power any meaningful transformation.  A connection is not a one way

  Lonely Planet  There is a documentary called “Lonely Planet”, that I have enjoyed watching on an off. It is about unique places to visit around the globe, which are many. For a docu-series that extols the diversity of and uniqueness life’s richness on Planet Earth, I found the title a bit of a misnomer. That is, unless you see it in context of the known Universe and how lifeless it is. Then you appreciate how indeed we are a Lonely Planet in all of the heavens.  American society is a bit like that I think. Relatively speaking, it is brimming with material riches which an individual has access to, but at the human level the individual is rather lonely. The society seems to systematically isolate individuals from the fabric of the “whole” and render them alone. While many of us are blessed to have found ways around it, I speak of the structure of the social contract we seem to have created amongst ourselves. The work culture, the privacy each household cultivates and breeds, the “indep