Ae Zindagi

ज़िंदगी तुझ से न कम मिला न ही ज़्यादा पाया
खुशियाँ मिली तो गमों का भी दौर आया
मिली दीवाली सी रोशनी तो कभी दिया तले अंधेरा पाया
तूने जब दी तनहाई मुड़ के देखा तो साथ कारवाँ पाया

क्यों करें शोक हम तेरी किसी बात का
क्यों ज़ाया करें अभी तुझ पे जस्बात
तू जो भी दे मज़ा तो हम पूरा लूटेंगे
गिरें गर कभी तो फिर उठ खड़े होंगे

इंतेज़ार है उस दिंन का जब होंगे तेरे सामने
तेरी हर एक देन को "once more" कहेंगे
तब तक किसी चीज़ से शिकवा है न किसी से मलाल
तू जो भी दे मंज़ूर है गवारा है हर हाल

Ek re-take milega kya?

Yesterday was a very dear friends birthday.
Yesterday was also a day spent reminiscing.
Yesterday was a day spent wondering what it would have been like.

How many times have you come across people with the capability to live in the moment...no matter what..?More often than not these people have the capability to inject that bit of enthusiasm into dullards like yours truly.

The words "Chal, kuch kartein hain..." (come,let's do something) keep ringing in my ears time and again. How do you not think about a person who has pretty much been a part of the start of everything in your life...sport, eating out, partying, rock music....love. The chal kuch kartein hain has been responsible for many a thing and more often than not getting us into trouble!!

Shakespeare famously said and I quote
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages..."

Feel as though the script went horribly wrong somewhere. The curtains came down much earlier.
Just one thought though..."Ek re-take milega kya??"

Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi...

How many times do you rue your own fickle mind?

Does real life have Arjuns who just aim for the eye and see nothing else. Did the Tendulkar's,the Kishore Kumar's and the Bachchan's of the world not think, dream or desire anything else?

We all journey through life in phases. The circumstances, the aspirations and more importantly our capabilities; for better or for worse, keep changing. Is it then possible to have such single mindedness? Or is there the possiblity of this over-arching desire that pales all else?

They say life is all about making choices. How often has life presented you with choices that have been Black & White? Often it is about Like More vs. Like less and more often it is about Dislike More vs. Dislike Less. Some might say that it is a very pessimistic way of looking at things and might be right, but this is a view all the same.

Coming back to the seed of this blog.. an extremely popular sher (couplet) by Mirza Ghalib.

हज़ारों ख्ह्वाहिशें ऐसी की हर ख्ह्वाइश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अर्मां लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

My translation of the couplet (a literal one)

Thousands of desires each worth dying for...

Many of my aspirations were fulfilled, yet they were too few...

Have heard this couplet many a time but have really been thinking about what Ghalib meant for over a week trying to interpret it and keyed in through this piece are my thoughts .

(The context also had a Hinglish movie by the same name directed by Sudhir Mishra starring Shiney Ahuja, KayKay Menon and Chitrangda Singh)

The play on words by Ghalib is interesting. The first part of the couplet talks about "Khwaishein" or Desires whereas the second talks of "Armaan" or Yearning/Aspiration and in my translation lies my intrepretation of this couplet.

Is there a distinction between Desire and Aspiration? Is there despair inspite of accomplishments?

Perhaps. Should we then realise these desires or be satisfied with aspirations that are fulfilled? Well, if there are thousand such desires and each one of them is worth dying for..I guess there is merit in punting on one. Either realising it in the long run or die trying. All other accomplishments/achievements are incidental, by-products at best, not the end product. That is the choice we need to make.

So here's to life, to desires, dreams and aspirations.