Old Monks

Served chilled in sparkling glasses
Questions, answers and impasses
Time stands still, runs backwards awhile
Where friends speak a word, walk a mile
Drown out the noise, the pride
Make sense of a journey, at the crossroads decide.
Drink the poison, roll the dice
Memories linger beyond the clinks of ice.
When the darkness ends
The dreamy fabric rends
Drudgery, once more it mounts
The old monk's confession no longer counts.

Two storeys!

Two storeyed lights
On calm windless lakes,
A two storeyed Buddha
With wax-doll fakes.
Two storeyed dreams
In traffic forever.
A two storeyed heart
Trying to be braver.
A two storeyed leap
That never was
And two stories merged
Without a pause.

Yaadein hai kuch un dino ki...

Yaadein hai kuch un dino ki -
Motorcycle tez chalana aur achanak brake lagana,
Darr ke mujhse tumhara lipat jaana aur jhoothmooth ka ruthna.
Tumhe manane ke liye mera gaana gaana aur
Besuri shaam se bachne ke liye tumhara turant maan jaana.
Raat ki kaali chaadar par jadi chandni booti ginana
Aur jugnoo-on ke desh ka raaz khojna!
Raat bhar tumhari aawaz sunane ke liye jagna,
Subah tumhare chehre ko hothon pe sajake sona.

Kuch jyada badle to nahi hai aaj din
Bas,
Un dino aankhon ka rang thoda halka tha apna,
Kuch safed khwabon ki shayad milavat thi unme.

Deja vu

My mom is a great cook and I know many a satiated stomach that would vouch for it. I remember a time as a kid, when she made vada-pav or pav bhaji or pani puri or samosas at home. My dad would rave about them, compare them with the ones you got in hotels and how these tasted better, were healthier and eventually cheaper too, although he never failed to acknowledge the effort my mother put into making them. I, on the other hand, loved them but somehow always felt that there was something extra to the food we got outside (my father always said the 'extra' was the grime and sweat from the vendor's fingers).

A lot of river has become the sea since and I have spent a lot of that time eating in various places all around the globe. And when the other day my wife and me decided to bake some pizzas at home and then finish off the weekend with some homemade salami and sausage cheeseburgers, I was astounded by my words that accompanied those burgers. My wife smiled as I told her how we should henceforth only eat pizzas and burgers made at home, as they were so much tastier, so much healthier and so so much cheaper. It did take a little bit of effort but it was worth it. My 9 month old kept staring at me as I spoke. I don't figure he was having the same thoughts I used to have all those years ago, but I wonder how long before he will!