अब क्या पूछूँ...? (what shall I ask...?)

“Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs.” ― Oliver Goldsmith

Well, I am still confused, whether I should ask or not, the feeling is strange. One moment it pushes me to take a step forward and ask him, the next moment it says to Stop. I sometimes feel there is so much inside each one of us to ask, to seek, to entreat, to call....there is so much but then I decide to step back.

“To ask why we fall in love is like asking why the leaves fall..."

Love is like a seed, it grows from within, from darkness to light, one simply starts liking someone and gradually start loving, without even knowing the reasons. We all fall in love, sometimes we realize, sometimes we are confused and sometimes we just slip it away from us....we let it go.

But one should ask, one should know, so here I go. "Why don't you pretend that I asked, now answer the question... :-) 

Image courtesy: you know :-) Location: Delhi

 

 

 

"कभी पूछा

कौन हो तुम

कभी पूछा

मेरे कौन हो तुम

कभी, कहाँ हो तुम

और कभी,

क्या अनजान हो तुम

साया लगे कभी

कभी हमसाया लगे तुम

जीवन की उहापोह में भी

रोज़ याद आ जाते हो तुम

मेरी तन्हाईयाँ भी

तन्हा नहीं अब तो

मेरे अधूरे ख्वाबों को

क्यों सजा जाते हो तुम

हर धड़कन मेरी

बंधी है तुमसे

अपनी एक झलक से

मुझे आज़ाद

करा जाते हो तुम,

कितने सवाल हैं

अनगिनत से

पर अब क्या पूछूँ तुमसे

अपने मौन से

हर सवाल का

जवाब दे जाते हो तुम

अब क्या पूछूँ तुमसे??

Translatio

"Sometimes, I asked

Who are you?

and sometimes

Who are you to me?

Sometimes, where were you

and Sometimes

Unknown, are you?

You were like a shadow

and sometimes like

my own shadow

In the ups & down

of life too

Daily, I remember you

My loneliness is

also not lonely now

Why do you

dress up and decorate

my incomplete dreams

Each breath of mine

is tied with you

You set me free

With a glance of you

How many questions I have

Umpteen & countless

But what should I ask you,

You, answer each of them

With your silence

What else should I ask now?

ग़ालिब की किताब हो क्या (Are you a book of Ghalib?)

 Almost two decades....alas, it's year 2020, I have known you for such a long period and still I ask, where are you? I am here, still waiting, waiting for that one moment, moment of completeness, moment of happiness, moment of being with you, moment of taking the final nap, Moment of purpose ,moment of love.

Purposelessness is lifelessness..."

Where were you when I sip my coffee alone? Where were you when I tell the tales of my day? Where were you when I recited love poems, as I lay? Where were you?

To be honest, I would say, "You are exactly where you need to be and me, I also am precisely where I need to be.....but I still ask, Where were you?"

Location: At home (this is year 2020), Image courtesy: Junior

"वजह बेवजह अक्सर

जो भी मिलता है मुझसे

वही पूछ लेता है

कहाँ हो तुम ?

ढूंढती रहती हूँ

शायद मिल जाओ कभी

फ़कीर की दुआओं में तुम

दरगाहों पर बंधे 

धागों में तुम

मंदिर के शंखनाद में तुम

बचपन की मासूमियत में तुम

अब कहाँ ढूँढ़ूँ तुम्हें

बताओ ना

कहाँ हो तुम?

कभी ढूँढा तुम्हें

चाय की चुस्कियों में

और कभी

कविता की हर कल्पना में

पर मिले नहीं कहीं तुम

बताओ ना

कहाँ हो तुम?

कभी पढ़ नहीं पाती तुम्हें

समझ भी नहीं आते तुम

कोई ग़ालिब की किताब हो क्या?

पूरा नहीं होता जो कभी

वो अधूरा सा ख्वाब हो क्या?

बताओ ना...."

 

Translation:

 

"For reasons or needless often

whoever meets me

asks me often about you

where are you?

I look for you

Hoping to meet someday

may be in prayers of hermit

or may be in red threads

tied around shrines

In sound of conch shells

or may be in innocence of childhood

Where all shall I search for you?

Tell me,

Where were you?

I looked for you

In a cup of tea

And sometimes

in the imagination of my poems

But couldn't find you

Tell me

Where were you?

I couldn't ever read you

You are beyond understanding too

Are you a book of Ghalib?

Are you like a dream

which never fulfills?

Tell me...."

 

मेरे कौन हो तुम? (#whoyouaretome ?)

I always wondered, #whoyouaretome ?  Like star is to night, melody is to rhythm, birds is to sky, wave is to sea, who you are to me. I believe that each one of us, at least once in a lifetime comes across that one special person who makes a world seem to be a better place to live in. Whether you get lucky enough to spend your lifetime with that one person or not, but love remains till the last breath.

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it's an ever fixed mark, That looks o tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to ever wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, Although his height be taken - William Shakespeare 

Your smile can take me miles, your eyes shine like a brightest star in the night, when I see the first message you send me in the morning it lights up my day, you constantly live in my heart, in my mind, there is never a dull moment in my life because I know you are with me, but then again I still want to know, who you are to me?

Keep searching, keep loving.....miles to go!!

Image courtesy: Man in life, Location: Manali, Himachal Pradesh

कई सवाल हैं मन में 

पूछना चाहती हूँ तुमसे 

क्या बता पाओगे मुझ को 

कि मेरे कौन हो तुम?

तपती दोपहरी में 

घने पेड़ की छाँव हो तुम 

सर्दी की रातों में 

गर्म आग हो तुम 

पर मेरे कौन हो तुम?

रोज़ रात को 

मेरी नींदों में चले आते हो 

रोज़ एक कच्चा घरौंदा बनाते हो 

आँख खुलते ही

छोड़ देते हो साथ मेरा,

फिर कहाँ चले जाते हो तुम? 

दिल की सूखी धरती पर 

सावन की पहली फुहार तुम 

मेरी आँखों का इंतज़ार तुम 

मेरी दुआ, मेरा काश तुम 

मेरी अधूरी कहानी का 

सबसे अहम् किरदार तुम 

पर ये तो कहो 

कि मेरे कौन हो तुम?

"thousand questions 

I want to ask you

Will you be able to answer

who you are to me?

You are like a tree

in sweltering afternoons

You are like a fire 

In cold winter nights,

But, who are you to me?

You visit me each night

In my sleep

you built a mud house each night

When I wake up

you leave me alone

Where do you go then?

You are like a first drizzle 

In my dried heart

These eyes awaits for you

You are my wish, my hope

You are the soul

Of my incomplete love story

But do tell me

Who are you to me?