saancha

saancha
pata nahi
woh kaun sa saancha hai
jismein
pighal kar
simat kar
yaad ki shakl paate hain ye pal

dee helped me translate this.

yesterday was good. went to the book fair at last. met dee. and dee’s two friends. i’ll call them amrak and shrey.

amrak is a typical delhi street food speciality. more tangy even then the imli (tamarind). its a parrot green fruit normally sold outside girl’s schools and in busy marketplaces frequented by the fairer sex. i’d it once and it brought tears to my eyes. i can handle tamarind but this was beyond me. dee’s friend was like that. cheerful, bubbly but kinda full of tears. bilkul amrak jaisi. full of life and a joy to be with.

shrey is the more sedate, simmering kind of guy. i dont know what boils within, but he well qualifies to be a comrade anyday. with a gifted voice and many of the same favourites as me, he’s good company. neighbour he already is, i discovered.

dee. hmmm. was good as always. infact better then ever. me n dee pooled our money and bought lots of books. major emphasis being on shayari, poetry & kavita. hmmm. let me list whom we invited home.

bashir badr, janisar akhtar, ghalib, zafar, mahadevi verma, jayshankar prasad, parveen shakir, adolf hitler, swami vivekanand, swami ramsukhdas ji, goswami tulsidas, shivaji sawant, dushyant kumar, shaharyar, poddar ji (of geetapress), kaifi aazmi, nida fajli, some british poetry, nagrjun… hope i’m not missing someone here.

and how the arms n feet ache, this morning.

it was a good day. spent or earned should i say, in the company of words n women. hmmm. what more could i wish for.

mold

don’t know
what mold it is
where in
the moments melt
gather
and take shape of memories

hmmm. some days are like that. where moments turn into delicate souveniers of memory. isn’t it?

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