ANALOGY

It always happens:
Feed the pigeons
And they will shit your windows.

The crumbs of love
Eyes and tears:
It always happens

FORGETTING AND BERNOULLI'S THEOREM

How do you fall in Love? or
What do you love
When you love someone:

You love her hands

Those feathery hands

Casually hanging by your shoulder

When you experienced

The first throes of intimacy

Those little hands 

Containing the enormity of world

Those lines flowing like rivers 

The continents in-between

You could spend eternity there, or

That bright forehead 

You kissed with your fingers

And found your lips 

Hanging by the knots of her hair, and

In a mystical ascent 

Your body attained a different meaning:

Your fingertips have lips now

And your lips eyes.

We love like mountaineering
Climbing each part with courage
And dedication
For that view
At the top.

How do you forget someone? or
What do you forget
When you forget someone:
No! It doesn't happen part by part.
The mountain vanishes.
The view falls.
We miss the whole being of someone.
That someone, who was there
And now isn't.
The total absence of a presence.

That someone is now an eternal memory
Passing before you at high speed
And you're so close to it
That a feathery remembrance
Can suck you in.

HEGEMONY

Meeting you by the oceans of time
I realized
Anger
Was a mere shenanigan
You still rule my heart
With slightly different pronunciation -
What we called hɪˈdʒɛməni
You now call hɪˈɡɛməni

DON QUIXOTE OF LOVE

When love finally blessed me
And asked me to embrace the world,
The world had changed
And love was
Heart shaped neon sign
Outside shops.
It had acquired the status of
A transaction
Of Yes or No.
It circulated like TV shows
Meant to be ended in fixed time slots.
Like cheap Bollywood movies
It was commercial success.
Love was no longer
Labouring
No longer waiting.

So when you said,
I have closed the chapter,
I didn't understand.
(Trust me
You were explaining sexuality
To a two year old child)
Love for me
Was a Barthesian text
And you like Aristotle
Wanted some poetics.

Maybe I am Don Quixote of love
Waiting for my Sancho.
Till then,
Let me romance windmills.

TO MY MUSTARD YELLOW GIRL (The Last One)

Even paper boats carrying
Love
Are not meant to
Capsize

Lovers are meant to be
Stupid
Not love.

KHUSFEHMIYAN

Tumhe Choomne ki Shararat Mein
Us Nakaam Sargoshi Mein
Jo Jhumka Hila Tha...
Tumhari Saanson ki Hararat Mein
Ab Bhi Hil Raha Hoga

Tumhare Dupatte Ki Qasam
Mujhe Ab Bhi Lagta Hai
Sarfarosh Hawaein
Usey Uda Rahi Hongi
Kisi Khudaar Mulk Kay Parcham Ki Tarah

HAUNTING

Yaad Hai Woh Shaam...
Jab, Ghar Kay Liye Tumhe
Buhut Dair Hogai Thi -
Us Shaam ka Chaand
Kitna Bada Laga Tha Hume,
Khaufnaak Aur Thanda Bhi!
Yaqeen Jano,
Tumhare Jaane Kay Baad
Meri Amaawas Zindagi Mein
Wohi Chaand Aaveizan Hai

DILLI

Yeh Kab Hua
Ki Tumhara Dil
Purane aur Naye Dil Mein Bat Gaya?

Aur Kab
Tumhari Rooh Mein
Tehzeeb Se Zyada
Raaste Ki Gard Simat Aayi,
Mujhe Khabar Na Hui

Aey Dilli!
Kab Tumne
Apni Udti Zulfon Mein
Hawai Jahaz Baandh Liye
Aur Kab
Traffic Ki Qataron Ko
Apni Saanson Mein Bhar Liya,
Mujhe Khabar Na Hui

Aey Dilli!
Suna Hai Tu Beemar Bahut Hai
Kai Dino Se
Tere Dil Mein
Gubaar Bahut Hai

Tera Ilaaj Kya Hai
Mai Nahi Jaanta

Magar Mai Jaanta Hoon
Tu Dilli Hai !

Teri Shah-Rag Kay Qareeb
Ghalib Ne Nashe Mein Raqs Kiya Hai
Meer Kay Qagaz Ki Nami
Majaz Kay Toote Dil Ki Kirchiyan
Tere Jism Mein Mehfooz Hai

Tere Seene Mein
Khusroo Ki Raagein
Aur Tujh Mein Paiwast Hain
Nizamuddin Ki Qawwaliyan

Zouq Ki Yeh Galiyan
Beemar Tou Buhut Hain
Magar Murda Nahi

Tu Dilli Hai
Apne Naam Ki Tarah

TO MY MUSTARD YELLOW GIRL (II)

What if,
There are hundred other ways to love
Than you are taught
In the commercial school of love.
And what if I have loved you
In all those hundred ways
And you couldn't see.
What if lending you a book
And deliberately forgetting to take it back
(So that it sleeps in your crowded shelf
Along with your gloss and glasses)
Was one of the way.
What if you are as confused about love
As I was between Yellow and Mustard.

DUAL/DUEL (For Baudrillard and You)

Love, we can never meet.
We: the Me and the You
(Duality is the magic)
Love is a duel,
A divine Mobius strip.
Ghalib knew it -
The duel of life and death
And the being of beloved.
Let's not become one
Under some romantic mystical spell;
Let's be two as in a duel.
Let's kill each other so that we could live:
I will be Vogel, you be von Kleist.
If that's too brutal,
Let's be 23rd April
In some part of Spain.
You search a rose for me
I will search a book
And we will meet
Under dilapidated statue of Sant Jordi.