The Girl In The Metro

In those thighs so round as melons

Inviting;

In the bosom full like the mangoes in spring

I could rest my heart to 

peaceful sleep

Her arms could hold me tight enough

The nails digging into my back

While we spent ourselves till no more

In the face chubby as a newborn spake of innocence

And in those eyes, silent, seducing

I found my woman of beauty

Aafreen

As the veil was lifted

And the eye-lids raised

A manifestation of the heavens above

stood before him

So intricately crafted by the One himself

He shuddered to face such immortal beauty

As if the One himself, faced him from those eyes

No lips did move

No eyes did blink

Yet he struggled

Struggled against the shots of silent questions

Struggled for answers never sought

The eyes that looked up to its Creator in prayer

The eyes that looked down to the earth as they blushed

Those eyes that inspire poetry

Those eyes that render wordsmiths speechless

As those eyes continued to look through him

Those big round eyes on the silent face

He felt them penetrate

Penetrate every hidden secret in his head

Every muffled scream in his throat

Every curbed pain in his heart

And all he could, but stand

As those eyes just sat there silently

Probing him, passively

While he confided, like a lamb

He gazed into those pools of black

Deep, solemn and tranquil, 

the new moon night

Outlined in black with kohl

Like a meticulous painting

He stood there

Shivered

Struggled

Admiring the beauty that faced him

Wondering if He was a painter, 

or a poet

And no more than a word escaped his lips

Aafreen

Memories on Sand

She took a bite of her burger and continued gazing at the table accross her. The little girl with frizzy hair sat on the table itself while the boy was seated on the chair, none of whom looked any older than three. The girl sat clueless, staring out from those big round eyes, while a young man wiped the ketchup off the her lips and hands with some tissues. Ms. Frizzy Hair, however was sure this man in front of her would never leave her side.

Looking at the little girl, she lost herself in a maze of thoughts. Her mind drifted off to an old man who had tended to her in exactly the same way while she held out her face and hands for him to clean. 

The man, who was her hero, and to whom she was the darling baby, his warrior princess. 

The man, whose tummy was her favorite bed 

He who believed in her when no one did

He who drank from her tiny tea sets only to share her excitement

The man, she knew, would stand by her no matter what befell her

The man who led her by her tiny hands wrapped around his finger, and raised her to fight the world

The man for whom she never grew up ever since he held her in his own two palms. 

The man who loved her like no one could, cherished her and took pride in her, no matter what. 

The man, who lived only to see her little girl smile, and cackle.

The man who will always be the only hero she ever had

A single drop of water escaped her eyes

I miss you dad..

She said to herself

Farewell

I look into your eyes

You who sit here in anticipation

The big dark eyes

Those, i've come to love, over time

The gleam is back in your eyes

The chirp, in your voice

Things I longed to see, longed to hear

Things i asked for you, everytime i prayed

However transitory..

But today

I have nothing to offer but superficial silence

Observing you, fluttering around

Smiling, after what seems to be eternity

As i hold myself from breaking it to you

Waiting for the right moment

There shall be none, i realise

In what went from disgust to inexplicable love

I found you, the extension of myself

Some five hundred miles past home

A book of fables, myths, mysteries 

Slyly disguised behind concrete professionalism

Waiting to lure me into a world i always knew, i belonged to

Your world

The world of chivalry, humility, beauty

Your wait has been tough Your journey, painful

I missed you no less, you've always known

And here i stand

At another cruel bend in the road

Waiting for my chance to say

I depart, never to return..

In the flow of things I blurt it out..

You have only one thing to ask

Where?

Some place too far to come back

Take care

The smile is transitory, yet warm

I have nothing to add

No apologies, no answers

I get up and turn around

Battling the pain, battling the guilt

As i walk away thinking

You should've been in my life, a bit longer

Almost Euphoric

And it rained

Rained like it never had before

Rained like it never will again

As he sat in his balcony

In his cosy lil small town

Looking out into nothing

This was it, his town, his very moment

The chirpings of the swallows flying home

Had failed to romance him today

The chill in the breeze, made him shiver

But he stayed

Waiting for the moment to rid him of the pain

The showers intensified unannounced

But nothing changed

As he sat there

Recalling all that he had lost

Reminiscing the women he had loved

Unstoppably, uncontrollably, irrevocably

A torrential downpour

The woman who taught him to smile

And the one who taught him the beauty of tears wept in love

She, to whom he meant the world

And she to whom he meant nothing at all

She, who taught him what it meant to be loved

And she who taught him eternal pain and longing

The woman who might have fought for him

And the woman he wanted to fight the world for

And years later

All he sat today with, was empty hands

Empty yet painful life

A few smiles, umpteen emotions

Countless tears

Pondering over love he had lost

Braving the chill on his bare flesh

The grey twilight turned deeper

The amber street lights made the raindrops gleam

The rain continued unabated

The downpour of emotions went unceased

Breeze after breeze

The chill reminded him 

How cold the world had really turned

Not that it had been any different

But he had allowed himself some happy illusions

Homeless

How different are you from these homeless of delhi

I ask myself

They who roam about the roads all alone

So do you

With nothing on their body but for tattered rags

While you wear shamelessly, your tattered ego

Smoking the cheapest filth they happen to get

Quite like you, getting high on whatever grains of love drop your way

Intoxication, their only escape from the harsh reality

So be it with you

Alienated, disowned by the world they belong to

I still dont see a difference

Begging for alms at the crack of dawn

Gathering what the rich discard

As You with the bowls of your eyes loiter begging for her sight

How different really? 

I ask myself

No, not a lot

Wo Kehte Hain

Wo kehte hain wo dost hain

Magar unki nazar kuch aur kehti hai

Kuch unki ada kuch wo lafz

Kuch aur daastaa byaan karte hain

Kuch wo taaron si timtimaati aankhein

Kuch wo jhukti haya bhari aankhein

Un jhuki palko me qaid wo tamaam raaz

Un aankhon ki haya kuch aur kehti hai

Wo kehte hain wo dost hain 

magar unki nazar kuch aur kehti hai

Labo ke jharokhe se jhaankti wo dheemi si muskaan

Har inkaar me ikraar ka paigaam

Aur unka rukh, jis par allah paak bhi Aafreen farma jaayein

Puri kaaynaat ki khoobsoorati khud me samaaye

Wo kehte hain wo dost hain

Aur hum naadaan,

Baghawat bhi karein to kya

Kuch door saath chale 

Aur keh gaye hum humsafar nahi

Phir kyu har ghadi unka ehsaas hai

Wo kehte rahe hum dost hain tumhare

Par wo nazar, wo muskaan wo dil

Kuch aur hi daastaan byaan karti gayi

Paradise

She walked silently by the street

Hands tucked in her pheran

Arms crossed around her torso

In the valley ruled by perrenial winters 

This evening was unusually cold

The sun had just gone down behind the hills

Giving the dusk sky a mystic shade of blue

The shade that got darker every five minutes

The silhouette of the lush green mountains now loomed large around her, 

changing colors in line with those of the sky

Greens to greys

Her hair neatly tied behind her head

Covered in a pink dupatta

The big almond eyes on a snowy complexion

Only 17 yet, she was often complimented for her looks

Abu had been planning to get her married after 18

She always blushed at the thought of her marriage

As she crossed the the little wooden bridge over the stream

Soaking in the sound of the water gushing by

Rustling and roaring in the little stream 

The sound of the azaan filled the air

Rendering the entire scene divine, exotic, mesmerizing

If not this what else must paradise be

Abu would have set off for the mosque she thought

Ammi would be helping little shahid with his english primer

And she lost herself to her thoughts

Turning to the road that led to her home

A one room house in a tiny cozy village in the valley

School had been fun today

Rafia had told her a juicy bit about shehnaz

They had giggled over it in the math class

Like any 17 year old girl, she kept pictures of Ranbir Kapoor in her bag

As she walked

The streets today were unusually deserted

Zaroon chacha's shop of daily essentials was closed too

Highly unusual, she thought to herself

There had been talks of an alert back at the school

And then she heard an explosion

Louder than she had ever heard

It took her a moment to figure out what it was

What followed were rapid gunshots coming  from two different directions

Before she could think or act She felt a bullet go through her stomach

Her insides burned as the gunpowder mixed immediately into her blood

As she collapsed dizzy

Blurry scenes of abu ammi and shahid flashed by her eyes

Just then, another tiny bullet of burning gunpowder went through her forehead

17 years of existence in the paradise

And a befitting silent nameless unceremonious death

The soldier who died with her got a honorary funeral

She became a headline in the newspaper

"Tensions up at Jammu and Kashmir border as teenage girl, soldier killed"

This was it, the end to her story

The cost of living in a paradise..