Khud se ek mulaqat

dil ki gehrai mein,
andheri khaai mein,
khudse ladaai mein,

lamhe khaas milenge,
raaz milenge,
zakhm naraaz milenge,

dhundh mein apni sirat se saamna hoga,
bachke nikalna asaan na hoga,
dhadkano ko halki pareshaani hogi,

is mulaqat ki hogi itni ki kahaani,
kuch gehri saansein aur aakhon se behta paani.

Her story

I saw my poetry sink in bathtub, she was rehearsing for her coffin it seems,
swinging between nightmares and dreams,
she wanted to give up her reality.

Draped in white,
tired of chasing colors 
where being with blue meant being on the wrong side of yellow.

Expressionless, 
tired of breeding salt in eyes
where people come to enjoy the shores but never embrace the waves

Random

Sugar coated pepper, 
rolling sweetly on tongue, screeching bitter down the throat.

Salt immersed tears, 
holding onto blink, 
sinking every boat.

Coconut trees

Choked

Tongue runs cold
words freeze on its tip,
neither melting their way back to heart,
nor diving off the lip,
voice rises retreats like an impatient wave beneath the throat.

There is another world around the clavicle,
a volcano desperate to erupt,
throw up all the lava,
crushing the icebergs,
before diving of the lips,
dragging a scream along.

And the moment passes…

All the lava drowns in my veins,
burning the heart,
smoking the lungs.
My eyes go blank after the calamity inside,
and just then someone asks
“what happened?”
i say, “nothing, just choked..”

Love is blind

We don't take a dip in love,
we drown in it,
air of reality tries to reach us,
as waves of emotion keeps pushing us to the depth.

We don't look around in love,
it blinds us,
we chase shadows to avoid being sun-kissed,
only to be fascinated by stolen light of a full moon.

Ateet

Haan ateet apne vartamaaan mein itna sundar nahi hota,
uski sundarta beet te waqt ke saath badhti hai.

Ateet ek jagah hai mere liye,
jaha mein baar baar jata hun,
kyunki woh meri zindagi ki haqeeqat thi kisi waqt,
toh ekdum yathaarth bhi nahi hai.

Waha jaakar lagta hai
jaise kisine vartamaan ka bojh aur pareshaani niche rakh dene ka mauka diya ho,
thik usi tarah jis tarah school mein kisi period mein daant padi ho,
par recess ka maza phir bhi aa raha ho.

Safar

Lehro ka safar jaari hai,
Kal dariya tha, 
Aaj talaab ki baari hai...

Sheher

Unchaai se nazar aata sheher,
ya gehrayee se katraata sheher,

Roshni ko bikherta sheher,
ya andhero ko chhupata sheher,

Rango ko nikhaarta sheher,
ya dhue se kaala hota sheher,

Sapno ko asmaan deta sheher,
ya chhote kamro mein ghunt ta sheher,

Gairon mein apnapan dhundhta sheher,
ya apno se door le aata sheher,

Zindagi

Zindagi mushkil hai, 
tum asaan hoke dekho.

Zindagi jasbaat-e-dil hai, 
tum khayaal banke dekho. 

Zindagi kadmo ke nishaan chhodne ki justju hai,
tum udaan bharke dekho.

Zindagi ek sire se shuru aur doosre par khatm hai,
tum unke darmiyan ek yaadgar musafir banke dekho