Category: Come sit with me…musings

Curtains

  
About the poet – I found this and a few other poems in the diary of an 18-year old girl a couple of years ago.  She would rather remain anonymous. Actually, she can’t remember writing them in the first place and thinks they are rather inane. So when I thought they should be recorded somewhere – whatever their worth – she reluctantly gave me  permission to share them here, albeit in my name.

About the poem – She was obviously a fan of ‘Gone With the Wind’.

About the photograph – Credit all mine! Taken on a trip to Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, India. 

यादों के पार

  
हम मिलें हैं क्या?
बंद दरवाज़ों के आर पार कभी?
एक ख़्वाब में, जो शायद 
कभी देखा ही नहीं?
या ग़ज़ल में किसी
जो अभी कहनी बाक़ी है?

उस लफ़्ज़ में जो, अनबोला,
मेरे होंठों पे बैठा है उदास
या अनपढ़ा, पड़ा 
इंतज़ार में 
इक किताब में?
हम मिलें हैं कभी?

धुएँ में उस आग के
जो सुलगी ही नहीं?
या फिर क़दमों की आहट में
जो थे, 
पर थे तो नहीं! 
शायद वहीं कहीं?

  
  


एक ख़ुशबू , जो 
मुझ तक पहुँचने से पहले
खो गयी थी कहीं।
एक नाज़ुक एहसास की गरमी
जो दिल के पास सिहरी शायद।
कहीं वहीं तो नहीं?


इक बादल था, जो अनदेखा
गुज़र गया आकाश में।
एक आह थी, 
कि कभी, कहीं, काश में …
क्या वहीं, उस उम्र में 
जो जिये ही नहीं?
यक़ीनन तो वहीं?
हम मिलें हैं क्या?

(भानगढ़, फ़रवरी २०१६)

नोट – कोई कोई स्थान ऐसे होते हैं जो दिल में हज़ार प्रश्न जगा जाते हैं! एक अजीब सा एहसास, एक बिसरी हुई याद, एक अनकही, अनजानी दास्तान…

ऐसी ही जगह है अलवर का भानगढ़, जो रातों रात ऐसा वीरान हुआ कि 250 वर्षों में फिर न बसा। आज वहाँ केवल भूत घूमते हैं !

(यह कविता अंग्रेज़ी में भी कही गयी है।)
     

Yaadon ke paar 

Hum mile hain kya?
Band darwaazon ke aar paar kabhi?
Ek khwaab mein,
Jo shaayad kabhi dekha hi nahin?
Ya ghazal mein kisi
Jo abhi kahi hi nahi? 

Us lafz mein jo unbola
Mere hothon pe baitha hai, udaas
Ya unpadha pada 
Intezaar mein
Ik kitaab mein?
Hum mile hain kabhi?

Dhuen mein us aag ke
Jo sulagi hi nahin?
Ya phir kadamon ki aahat mein
Jo the, 
Par the to nahin!
Shaayad wahin kaheen?

Ek khushboo, jo
Mujh tak pahunhne se pehle
Kho gayi thi kahin.
Ek nazuk ehsaas ki garmi,
Jo dil ke paas sihari shaayad.
Kaheen wahin to nahi?

Ik baadal jo undekha
Guzar gaya aakash mein.
Ek aah thi ki
Kabhi, kaheen kaash mein…
Kya wahin, us umra mein
Jo jiye hi nahi,
Yaqinan to waheen?
Hum mile hain kya?

(Bhangarh, February 2016)

Note: There is something hauntingly romantic about old ruins. And when these are situated in a village which is supposed to be the ‘most haunted place in India’, one’s imagination runs wild. A memory – glimpse of a veil, a whiff of a scent, a touch of the breeze – the birth of a poem, dedicated to Bhangarh, a small village in Alwar District in Rajasthan.

(I like to write my poems in Hindi as well as English, to reach out to both the audiences! )

  

Step(Well) into the Past – Chand Baori

A couple of months ago,  I visited a stunning architectural wonder, Chand Baori, an ancient step well from the 9th century. This is situated in Abhaneri village in Alwar District of Rajasthan, India, about 100 kilometers from Jaipur.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about it –

Chand Baori is one of the oldest and most attractive landmarks in Rajasthan. It was built by King Chanda of the Nikumbha Dynasty between 800 and 900 AD and was dedicated to Hashat Mata, Goddess of Joy and Happiness upon completion.

The state of Rajasthan is extremely arid, and the design and final structure of Chand Baori was intended to conserve as much water as possible. At the bottom of the well, the air remains 5-6 degrees cooler than at the surface, and Chand Baori was used as a community gathering place for locals during periods of intense heat. One side of the well has a pavilion and resting room for the royals.

 

Glowing in the evening sun…


The royal pavillions

 

The water collected during the monsoons became accessible, however low the level, because of the steps.

 

There are 13 storeys of steps. the gallery on the top ( ground) level is being developed into a museum to store all the sculptures from the nearby Harshat Mata temple, which is falling into ruins.

 

 

Such construction projects were usually taken up as drought relief measures, to provide employment to the farmer subjects when the crops failed.

 

I took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous sculptures in the nearby Harshat Mata temple too. Watch out for the post!

A Milestone of Sorts!

I am going to get more than just a bit boastful today! My blog just reached 100000 all-time views from 35000 visitors from around 110 countries, a few of which I barely knew even existed! 

When this blog started off four years ago,  I did not know if anyone was going to read it. It had no agenda, except a need to share with the world my thoughts and musings and the things I enjoy doing. At that time, that included poetry, painting, embroidery and quilting, in no particular order. I am being told now to make an exclusively quilting blog, but I am not so sure. Agreed, in these years, quilting has taken over much of my life and the blog has come to reflect more and more of this. Yet, it remains to me a medium of sharing with you all that I create –  ‘This and That…Some Rhyme, Not All Reason’!

May I thank all of you who visit my blog and stay awhile, perhaps just to look around or download a few patterns which you like! Nothing gives me a greater high than seeing how you interpreted my designs. So, I would love it if you also shared your thoughts with me here and pictures of what you make using these patterns on my facebook page. 

So, good morning from India, may you have a wonderful day! 

A Memory Unlived

 

A tinkle of an anklet?

 

Haven’t I met you before,

From across a closed door?

In a dream,

Kind of forgotten?

In a verse still to be written?

In a note

Not yet sung?

In a word that hung

On my lips, unsaid

Or patiently sat

In a book I haven’t read?

In the footsteps

That tread

In a memory unlived?

In the smoke of a fire

Which never was lit?

In a scent that faded

Ere I even smelt it?

In a touch so soft

Only my heart

Ever felt it?

In a cloud

That sailed unseen?

In a sigh, unsighed

Of what-could-have-been?

I haven’t met you, are you sure?

In a life never lived before?

 

Note: There is something hauntingly romantic about old ruins. And when these are situated in a village which is supposed to be the ‘most haunted place in India’, one’s imagination runs wild. A memory – glimpse of a veil, a whiff of a scent, a touch of the breeze – the birth of a poem, dedicated to Bhangarh, a small village in Alwar District in Rajasthan.