A Walk

A walk going rebellious

With each steps
Taking us
Towards almighty


Beyond the eyes
Beyond the ears
Beyond the time
A walk

Beyond the rejections
Beyond the tortures
Beyond the slanders
A Walk

Listen, the laugh of vultures, which eat
The beating heart, brain and eyes
And the jackals, which siphon off hot blood.
Together, let us walk fast
Together, let us walk fast


The sky, the sun, the clouds, the trees are ours too,
Let every raindrops come to our lips
As the kiss of almighty
Let us walk together


The valley of sacrifice,
Ka-aba,
The mount Golgotha
Beckon us

Souls together, we go on.
Lusty eyes,
The pygmies whose spring gone by,
Remember...
The souls weren’t murdered


A walk going rebellious
With each steps
Taking us
To the almighty


Beyond rejections
Beyond tortures
Beyond slanders
A walk


 

Ashq aur Jam

Ashq aur Jam have a magic mix, when it comes to Ghazals!!!

A couple of years before, I had happend to sit with a singer freind, who was my neibhour in south-west Delhi, where I used to stay then.

His favourite shers were this...

mein nazar se pi raha hoon

ye zama badal na jaaye

na jhukavo.. tum nighahe

kahi raat dhal na jaye...mein nazar se...

He went on to sing the below shers as well...

mere ashq bhi he is mein
ye sharab ubal na jaaye

mere jam jhoone wale
tere haath jal na jaaye...me nazar se..

Ashq (tears), when fallen in Jam (Glass-refered to galss filled with wine) gives a magical effect in this ghazal.

Once, I realised that tears were falling from my eyes while legendary singer Gulam Ali rendered these lines, in an evening of ghazals at Purana Quila, Delhi. Surprisingly, I have seen many, wiping their wet eyes, during Ali's soul-stiring performance on the day.

I was remembering the friend whom I met while I was staying in south-west Delhi when I heard it in Ali's voice on that day.

And the friend, who used to sing this sher used to say, "Ashq and Jam" as the two things that he can't leave. Once I asked him about the reason behind his love for Ashq and Jam. He replied, "Ashq is shed for my death, Jam is to console me". "I have no one else left with me to shed tears or to console me,"he replied.

But my other friends, celebrated his love for Ashq and Jam as he used to render quite a few similar shers with amazing emotional touch. He used to fill our post dinner sessions with nasha. 

But  he could not go on with his Ashq and Jam for many days. One day, I saw him wandering in the street, with dirty, torned cloths. Soon, he stoped going to his job in a shop near by our place in south-west Delhi. He had to leave his little room for not paying rent. The land lord who searched for his belongings found only empty bottles and broken glasses in the room.

We, those who enjoyed his Ashq n Jam, collected money and arranged a train ticket for him so that he can go back to Kerala. But he never reached his home in Kerala ...

Sometimes, I doubted that he had some deep pains, which kept his heart bleeding every time. Once, I tried to console him, but he replied me with  a sher by Ahmad Faraz...

Shola sa jal bujha hai
Hawayein mujhe na do...

Mein kab ka ja chuka ho
Sadayen mujhe na do.....


Many years after, yesterday, his face came to my mind...
I wish he will be enjoying Ashq n Jam, by sitting somewhere in this world!!!!!