This, that, and all between.
It is pouring hard in Gurgaon. Don’t ask me what the raindrops are singing but there is a rhyme and rhythm to it. In case you didn’t know, winter rains in north India are called Mahawat (महावट) and these are good for crops of Rabi season. This rain is brought in by strong south-west breezes (like this evening) these winds are also called ‘western disturbances’. You may be cold but this is the night to sing a song to your love and blow a kiss barkha. Step out, do it now.
All those who have been complaining about the last stretch of winters, the cold and the rain should be ready to forgo their right to spring, the colours that follow this period, the flowers, the bees, honey, the Valentine’s, phool walon ki sair, a visit to the Rose Garden in Rashtrapati Bhavan, a stroll with your beloved in the scented lanes of purani Dili or the mushy corner in Lodhi Garden, most of all our jhoom ke basant songs. Come on cheer up, have fun. Soggy soil apart the walk was amazing. 23 Jan 2022
‘Verses from the Valley’ is our tribute to the revered poets from Kashmir and their celebrated poetry. Ishtihaar Calendar for 2022 is a small collection of select verses by mystics, sufi saints, social reformers and poets of this incredibly beautiful place, rightly called Firdaus or Paradise.
A dialogue from the popular film ‘Dead Poets Society‘ reminds us “Medicine, law, engineering… are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life, but poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for…” Indeed, poetry and beauty is what we live for; poetry is what inspires generations to voice their aspirations. So here is something to cheer about in corona times.
(… wherever we went) we found a spiky creeper. It grows along the walls that surround public buildings and private homes; it is curled around schools, mosques, abandoned temples, half-asleep hotels. Concertina wire is the most widespread form of vegetation in Kashmir today. It grows everywhere, even in the mind.- Ranjit Hoskote in his Introduction to his translation of 14th Century Kashmiri mystic and poet Lal Ded‘s poems “I, LAILA”.
(… wherever we went) we found a spiky creeper. It grows along the walls that surround public buildings and private homes; it is curled around schools, mosques, abandoned temples, half-asleep hotels. Concertina wire is the most widespread form of vegetation in Kashmir today.
It grows everywhere, even in the mind.
– Ranjit Hoskote in his Introduction to his translation of 14th Century Kashmiri mystic and poet Lal Ded’s poems "I, LAILA".
Ankahi. Unsaid. 
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