This, that, and all between.
<Orvasca subnotota> Summer moth. जनाब-ए-मोहतरम कल देर रात घर पहुंचें। रात क्या सुबह ही समझो, जहां फज्र की अज़ान हुई वहीं बैठ गए। सजदे में जैसे सर नवाया था वैसे ही पड़े हैं। हर आशिक का हश्र यहीं होता है। शमा से हुआ इश्क जान ले के ही छोड़ता है।
My mother didn’t birth me, she said.
‘I plucked you from a tree,
a Papaya tree’, she says.
‘It rained torrents that Chait* night,
a storm raged, tearing apart
all that came its way
our hut was blown, everything swept away
the tree shuddered, so did the fruits
I spent the night clinging to the scarred trunk
worried about our next meal,
a wild gale, then, bent the Papaya tree
I latched on to you while your siblings
fell apart. Bursting seedlings over my body.
With all my strength, I plucked you
the stem and branches bruised my hands and arms
streaks of blood trickled and covered your face
you had a tender, pale skin.
Can you feel the scar on your forehead ?
That’s where my silver bracelet was lodged.
You weren’t ripe, not yet.
Next morning, still trembling, I hid you
in the warmth of the last cloth on my body, thereon
you slept in my ***** till
the first rain of Baisakh**.
Your father, she said,
‘had gone seeding the fields’.
She said, ‘You are the fruit of my labour.’
रुद्रपुर जाती एक राकेट नुमा बस ने उस रोज़ हमारा काम तमाम कर दिया होता। भला हो उस रिक्शा वाले का जिसने अपने साथ हमें खींच कर बचा लिया वरना बरेली वालों को फूल ख़रीदने के पैसे और खर्च करने पड़ते । खैर, गलती थोड़ी हमारी भी थी हम जो आसमान की और देखते हुए इस “स्काईवॉक” नामक अजूबे को निहारने में मशगूल थे और ये सोच रहे थे कि इसके ऊपर पहुंचने का रास्ता कहां है। लगता है रुद्रपुर वाली बस के ड्राइवर ने उस दिन सूर्य पुत्र यम की ड्यूटी पर थे और उन्होंने कुछ ग़लत सुन लिया। आख़िर ऊपर पहुंच कर समझ आया कि तफ़रीह की जगह है। लगता है इसका नामकरण “स्काईवॉक” कुछ जल्दी में हो गया और शीशे की प्लेट लगवाने का बजट पास नहीं हुआ तो बस लोहा-लंगड़ और लकड़ी-वकड़ी से ही ठोक पीट के खुश कर दिया चौराहा अयूब खां को। प्रभात भाई (@Prabhat Singh) ने ठीक फ़रमाया स्मार्टसिटी का लोहा मनवाना था। पैर के नीचे ना सही आस-पास तो देख ही सकते हैं। कुछ भी कहो शहरियों की नज़र से दूर जवान लोग इसका खूब इस्तेमाल कर रहे हैं। वैसे चौराहे पर पटेल कुछ अकेले पड़ गए हैं। <सिर्फ़ बरेली वालों के लिए>
When time and elements sculpt or fashion what man has neglected and discarded the results are sheer beauty of raw art. Other than nature only poets find beauty in crumbling surroundings. This piece of art, a monument in itself, is on an easy stretch just as after Shahmat Ganj area of old Bareilly. Troops of monkeys rule this stretch creating trouble for shopkeepers and residents who, strangely, depend on large printed posters of langurs to keep monkeys at bay. The large stub of dried tree-trunk (right bottom) holding the brick wall together is a piece of art in itself. Despite vehicular pollution Bareilly skies are stunning blue.
<Bareilly Blues, March 2025>
This is the Eid gift I got last night, my Eidhi. As a practice Eidhi is offered by an elder to the younger lot however, this was the other way round. My daughter Chandni Arora Singh brought it for me. Proud of you that you picked it for me knowing fully well that both of us will cry for the rest of the evening reading even the first few lines. I don’t remember if we wished each other, we did hug to the brink of breaking down. Avoiding eye contact, we let the book lie on the table wrapped and sealed in its cellophane cover as if hundreds of lives were throbbing under the rubble of what were once happy warm homes. Sipping my drink and feeling uneasy at the very thought that I had still not opened it I stole glances at its cover illustrations and was traumatised by the copperish-bronze title as if souls trapped in the book were blazing a mirror in my eyes. I wanted to start reading it but didn’t have the guts to open it. I didn’t have the strength. I felt guilty, and almost responsible for the barbaric treatment to a people, to a quam over the last six months in particular and over the last seven decades. I have only managed to read the first Letter since last night. Sorry, I can’t read any to you. After this do you want me to say Eid…. Gurgaon, 31 March 2025
Ankahi. Unsaid. 
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