माळ

आलात कोठून दारी
गेलात गाऊन सारी
सहज गावची माझ्या
गाणी ती ओळखणारी

ती मधाळ मंजूळ वाणी
सांगते सुरेल कहाणी
घर, दार, पार, त्या चिंचा
ती वाट, घाट, ते पाणी

वेली या फुलल्या आधी
की किलबिल झाली आधी
गाण्यावर डोले जाई
गंधात सूर त्याआधी

शिंपिला घाम मी माझा
अर्पिला देह मी माझा
तो गाव राहिला मागे
हा माळ जाहला माझा

पांथस्थ नभीचे कोणी
ओळखती खूण पुराणी
हा असाच अंथरलेला
गालिचा, नि अत्तरदाणी

सांगून घराची वार्ता
भिजवून लोचने जाता
जाताना म्हणता, गाऊ
तुमच्या कष्टांची गाथा

आंब्यावर वसंतकाळी
त्या गंधस्वरांच्या ओळी
बुंध्याला ओळखणारा
मी तो कृतार्थ माळी

धुआँ

धुआँ धुआँ धुआँ...

अंधेरी रातों से उठता
बादलों मे यूँ घुलता
माहताब इसमे खोता...

रात गहरी सोती इसमे
बात गहरी होती इसमे
साँस गहरी चलती जिसमे...

खामोशी का रंग ये कैसा
जलसे बुझते शोलों जैसा
जिनसे मचता शोर हो ऐसा...
धुआँ धुआँ धुआँ...

15 Park Avenue

(Note: Watching the movie 15 Park Avenue is a prerequisite. If you have not watched and may watch in the future, then do not read this post, as I may have detailed its suspense. If you are not going to watch it ever, for its too old now, then no harm reading ahead...but no guarantee that you will appreciate what I have written.)

The quest for something virtual – virtual objects, virtual places, virtual people...everything virtual. But, the quest – that is real – absolutely real. Everyone is looking for something, isn’t it? Something that they really want. But does something that you really want must also be real? If not, then does that search for something virtual is also virtual? Or just because you are searching something that exists makes your quest a real one?...

The list of questions goes on...I see the random blogs about this movie…People try to find answers…convert questions into suspense stories and try to decipher their farfetched observations and meaningless conclusions…I remember this dialogue from the movie:

Joydeep:… “She is looking for something, she can never find.”

Joydeep’s wife: “Aren’t we all?”

I smile…

Reality is always relative. We define something as real, if most of us feel the same – quite justified. But, should not we be sensitive enough to accept the fact that for someone that may not be real. What they are searching for might not be real with respect to the defined notions of reality but, that in no way makes their journey in their world less real.

Seeing Saddam hanged on television, surely disturbed me. I surely felt it was a political and legal murder. But, Mithi reacted like losing someone from her family. His silence used to talk to her…and for someone with no trustworthy person around, that must have been surely a hope. She lost her hope and reacted wildly. When it was evident that a person has been victimized and killed politically, wasn’t her reaction of being so helpless the most apt one? And then doesn’t that take her closer to reality than us? Again a list of questions…

End: Mithi finds 15 Park Avenue. She has found what she was looking for…for years. Her sister, her fiancée, her doctor are trying to find her. They are now asking people, “Do you know where 15 Park Avenue is?”

Now, why are these normal people searching for something they always knew was virtual? Or, just because someone else found it, made them think that it may not be virtual? So whose quest finally succeeded…Mithi – who found her virtual world or others – who were living in the so called real world? And why these normal folks suddenly lost all the sense of reality and started searching for something that never existed? Questions with in built answers!And practically where did Mithi go? Or, would she be spotted one day somewhere roaming around like that mentally challenged woman outside their house? Does she also have a tragic story like Mithi?

I stop thinking, afraid to think more about real questions. I click on the Real player icon on desktop...play an old classic…Asha’s voice …as melodious as always…and Saahir at his best…I start humming…

"...जो खत्म हो किसी जगह, ये ऐसा सिलसिला नही..."