Sab Kuch

 Tujhe chahne ko sochta hun main waqt saara,

Guzar jaane ke baad din sochta hun jhootha main saara

Bhaagta hun kabhi khud se kabhi khud ke khayalon se,

Kya kar raha hun main laane ko jawaab tere sawalon ke

Din mahine guzare jaa rahe hain saal,

Kya meri khaami hi hai zimmedaar tere haal

Jab paata hun khud ko tujhe khush karne mein nakamyab,

Sochta hun main haara par jeeta kaun iss hisaab

Badlenge mausam aur zamaane,

Na jaane kitne aur thokar hai tune aur maine khaane

Tu hansta hai toh lagta hai sab ho jaayega theek,

Thode khushi toh bhagwaan bhi de dega bheek

Kal uthunga fir aur ladunga ek aur baar,

Tu bas kariyo vishvaas, himmat mujhpe na jaaiyo haar

Unbreak my heart

 I call out your name, 
Yet you stay the same

I yell out a hello!
Wishing you would return a bellow

I look into your eyes,
Trying to find the recognition of my tries

You laugh, jump, shout and carry on
I stay behind, recollect myself to try again

Everyone around seems to know that all shall be fine
I wish I could remember that that all day and night

I wake up everyday, feeling blessed to have all that we do
I fail to sleep, not knowing if I did enough that I could do

I feel if I cry, I won't know when to stop
In this facade of maturity, I find myself lost

I don't wish for anyone to empathise or cry
This pain is mine, so are you until I die 

I feel its the misfortune of my deeds that you suffer
I fail to be the human being that I endeavour

Having doubted God and his blessings for so many years
I feel empty turning to him and begging to allay my fears

Do remember that I will love you always
No matter what you do or say

You're the mini me with whom I identify
You will be a better me for you know what to rectify

Maa

The ever smiling face of yours is a reminder each day,

Life can be lived in your own way

Far from the materialistic pleasures of life, 

A doting mother, a loving wife

Theres' so much to thank you for, that words dont suffice

You are the true embodiment of selfless sacrifice

A childhood full of fun and pleasure

Growing up we had so much to treasure

You gave up on your dreams to give us wings, 

Taught us everything from academics to swings

A stern no would turn into a smiling yes,

The moment our faces would turn into a mess

A simple please was enough to make you melt

You never gave us a hint of the hardships you felt

We grew up watching you take care of one and all

You were always there to take blame for each fall

You would give away what you like the best

For its the receiver's happiness that you hold dear above the rest

I wish we could learn if only this from you

A happy family is worth more than anything in lieu

Maa, wish you the happiest of days, and months and years

May you continue to spread joy and cheers

Love you loads and loads

Excited!

I used to believe excitement was positivity personified

So the more I wanted something, the more excited I tried

Growing up made me realise

Decisions I regret wore a disguise

Had I seen through the veil

Many a times I wouldnt be a fail

The Greek said make haste slowly

How I wish to imbibe that solely

Looking beyond the need to appease

A calm mind would have made it all a breeze

So much doubt in the moments of peace

The hurry to fill it all would seize

Bring me back those times, 

Those moments to decide

Give me the courage to take my time

Sans the pressure that delay be a crime

Not every truth need be said

Not every lie need be thread

Let the rivers flow their course

Let the moments pass without remorse

Bare the happiness from the excited 

A smile be enough for the enlighted

For no one gave a damn when I tried

Excited as a fool I cried...I cried

A New Beginning

Here goes, another attempt to the new self
Kinda like the dusting and renovating an old shelf

Wondering what to fill
Unsure about what to let spill

This whole business about turning a new leaf
Makes me wonder my core belief

If this is what got me so far
Why not let it run the course at par

And then realisation strikes
My highs were hardly spikes

There is so much more to achieve
There is so little time to grieve

So much to cherish from the past
So much to improve from the cast

Learning to lie a little low
Speaking a little slow

To not expose your real emotion
To value those with devotion

Let go the ego and the entitlement
Embrace the respect and the sentiment

Look at the bigger picture, feet on the ground
Appreciate the smaller joys, wherever be found

So much to be done, so little time
Wonder when being satisfied became a crime

On a lighter note, lets begin
With hope and a hearty grin

Fatherhood

Six months and the count goes on

Oh! What a ride since you've been born

Tv shows, books and surrogacy 

Nothing had us prepared for our legacy

To hold you in our arms

To be flattered by your charms 

To see the world lit by your smile 

As you hold all with your guile

How you've wrapped us all around 

And made us live and die with your sound

Can't imagine a day without 

Seems a lifetime ago when you weren't around 

Wonder how you'll remember us as time goes by

How you'll judge us for how we tried 

If you'll hold us to ransom at your beck and call

Or you'll treasure and treat us like we belong 

Alas! Maybe thinking far ahead

While you still figure out how to stop wetting the bed

Still time for you to even learn to crawl

Wonder how we'd ever in the middle put a wall

Child's Play

One of these days, I heard someone's advice
If you wish to live, live life child like

A child who knows no more than his next goal
A child who is always on the roll

Like the child who chuckles aloud
Like the child who enjoys the 'rowd'

The child who'd do anything to get you on his side
The child who'd give two hoots that to do so he lied

The child who enamors you with his smile
The child who manipulates you with his guile

Be the child that runs all day round
Be the child that sleeps sound

You could be the child who the world loves above all else
You could be the child who thinks about no one else

You must be the child who'll do what you want
You must be the child who then knows how to get more of what he wants

You surely need to be the child who wakes up to a new day
You surely need to be the child who grasps the lessons of each day

You dream to be the child who is praised by all
You dream to be the child who dusts off each fall

While a lot of us wish we could go back to being a child
We all must wish to grow while we continue to be a child

The Complete Picture

Times when you want the routine to stop
Times when you want the regulars to flop

Moments when you feel you have had enough
Moments when you feel like holding the scruff

How you wish for something to take your mind away
Something to make your thoughts sway

Would distraction still be bad
Or would you be glad

How easy if that distraction was productive too
What if it wasnt, wouldnt you still do

For some its a sport, a little chit chat, a little music in the ear
For some a little read, a little me time and a walk down the pier

While some get these opportunities in forms undesired
Others still need to push themselves to get fired

While not many would think alike
Neither their affirmation would make me psyched

How you need to zone out to focus again
How you need to step back to look at the whole frame

For its easy to lose focus when you wouldnt wish to
And not regain even when you try to

Yet, if you take time to look at the complete picture
You will find, you are always at the right fixture!!

The ideal life

Ever wonder what you want from life
Ever wonder what keeps away the drive

Hunting through the journals of idols
We search for the secret of ideals

How are we to describe the peak
Where do we to start the trek

Where are we to find the answers
While we fumble with the questions

True there are many a guide
Many in whom you can confide

None however can fill your shoes
Only help with whatever you choose

The hunger, the thirst and the fire within
Keep on playing hide and seek without a win

The impatience that rules it all
I want this and that, all big and small

We seek answers in stories of glory
Step back when it starts to get gory

There is time and reason to change and rise
There is an opportunity to be wise

To agree to not relive and repeat the wrong
To learn and to preach, to teach and to be strong


We are the torchbearers of our own path
Every step shall redefine our start!

Procastinating LIFE!

Whoever saw procrastination as a crime
Didn't quite notice the weekenders in prime

The new buzz word on the block
For those slogging round the 5 day clock

Dividing the week into the two
One to live and other to rue

From the scornful Monday morning blues
To the Ripley's believe it or not TGIF rules

Intimidated at first, imitating at next
I wondered if the lifestyle suited me to the best

Claimed to be meaningless work life was to be strived for
And then the rewards were to be gulped down to drown the uproar

Those that seek comfort in the knowledge of the known
I wonder if later would find it was better to leave it to the unknown

The idea of living life in phases
Striking the keyboard hard with Saturday night in gazes

In the search for the genesis of this time-tabled chain of routine
Amazed me how much of it was to keep away the introspection of The Dream

The herd mentality had ruled,
Yet you were the only one it fooled

Looking back at the timelines, the collages were drawn
Complaining the blur, hardly realising the life of a pawn

Learning it the hard way, in the most interesting company to keep,
If only you could plan it all, i would only sow what i wished to reap..

Search for Passion!

If you love what you do it ain't work,
Well what if you didn't, were you condemned to be a jerk ?

Trying to fault the system around
There were hardly any answers I found

What was it that I was searching for,
If stumbled upon, to hold on to it would I have the power ?

What was it that made the ideals the people they were,
The money, the idea, the execution or just passion so pure

How was I to find my elixir,
Would the impatience and irritation finally have a fix

With expectations so high from a solution so unknown,
I began introspection of what seeds of passion in me were sown

More than the exercise I am enjoying the dialogue with the wise,
Maybe the journey will take its time, for now I atleast I knw what lies ahead in prize.

Growing up

"Life's eventually going to be real fun"
Was all an evil pun

"This is the time to be serious"
Was ofcourse sarcasm too delirious

"These are the defining years"
Sweetie say bye bye to the partying peers

Wondering how many times was I at the hearing end
To be reminded that I was close to going off the bend

The passing years made me realise
Each previous life shattering trouble now seemed like an innocuous sneer in disguise

Ridiculing the past yet learning from none
I continued to grind waiting for the fun

Only to be told at the gates of joy, my friend u turn ahoy
You have come to the end of the road, from here mundaneness aboard

I tried to wake up from this bad dream called reality,
Only to realise that my right to dream had been exchanged for maturity

Maturity itself was no present from above anyhow
Am still unwrapping the layers and surviving with practicality for now

I fail at no opportunity to shout out to the young ones around
There are only so many years of life to be found

That's before you begin to live the life of a hound
And that's even before your better half gets your troubles to compound

Gazing at the time, i ponder how long will these mindless jibes entertain the mind,
When will there be an opportunity next for life to find

Growing up is hardly an option I seem to enjoy
Ageing however is the just another semantic decoy!!

Walk the talk!

Bemused I looked upon the sky
And questioned why on earth! why

Was it so hard to walk thy line
If yes, then why mutter the divine

The merriment from the verbose appeal
Faded too soon from the inaction so real

How often was I to fall for it
If you were never to do your bit

Naive I feel for expecting the strife
Who was I to demand such way of life

When was one taught to segregate
Among those who used the semantics as bait

How was one to identify the saner lot
How was it possible to put everyone through the testing pot

The findings themselves made one question the circumstantial tests,
Who were we to identify the ideal crests

Yet, I wondered how I would have fared
Gave me a fair insight into how the rest cared

And slowly the realisation began to dawn anew
Walk the talk had followers afew!!

Judgement Day

I argued forever that nothing changed
Events in life only tested how strong relationships were made

Futile, I realised were my attempts of denial
Childish, were my claims of revival

Not only had opinions altered
Somewhere along the line the connections had faltered

I smiled in vain trying to recollect
Smiled more thinking if I would ever be their new version of correct

Voices inside me prompted personal jibes
How was it that we were now different tribes

Judgement Day had dawned on them anew
Dazed I mulled over the rulings that they threw

Stepping back I wondered how wisdom continued to elude me
As my elementary emotions couldn't fathom thee

Will I become the ones I now fear
When the wheel of life in the next step shall have me steer

Hung up!

Sometimes i sit and wonder how life plays you around
how the scars of your past seem to always hover around

no matter how long lost and how far back
they appear out of hiding without losing track

they are like those permanent open wounds unwilling to heal
although how many of them you carry is largely how strongly you feel

they define how emotionally damaged you are
no matter how much you challenge the spar

everyone i see around carries these ghosts of the past
its like a live trigger to be used at will for all known to the cast

its amazing though how often you face these questions you avoid
as if there was nothing else to fill that time and space void

its like murphy follows you around to have some fun
soon enough you searching everywhere for the pun

they see these marks define the person you are and you'd go on to become
i wish i could stay forever a clean slate to even repeat the same mistakes at the risk of being a bum!

A goalless dream

what if you didnt set any goals
what if you didnt fit the social roles

what if you had simple dreams
what if they didnt follow the streams

would there be enough drive
would that let you thrive

what if there were material pleasures such
what if there absence didnt hurt that much

was it ill fated to be satisfied
was it dated that you wish to forever have smiled

how would you know you had achieved it all
when you werent prepared to make a call

what was this balance you ached for
why is it that whatever it was, it always seemed far

it feels like walking in the middle of a blurring crowd
they are all there, but under a different shroud

would you be ever able to make out your way
would you be forever condemned to stay.....

Someday...

Someday I would love to stare without blinking

Someday I would love to hear without interrupting

Someday I would love to smell without exhaling

Someday I would love to talk without thinking

Someday I would love to touch without withdrawing

Someday I would grow comfortable with silence in every sphere

For that day I would have learnt to appreciate when something did appear

An ode to Dadu

He always said that his life would make an interesting story,
It's hard to wonder how would one fit so many memories

For someone who started out small
Who took stride with every fall

From barefoot scorching walks
To cycling cargo round the clock

Having to endure washing others clothes
Having to survive on hardly a loaf

Climbing up the ladder with your head held high
Oh the pain you suffered, still makes us cry

Bringing up a family build on principles
Holding your own in the face of obstacles

Encouraging your children to march ahead on their own
While you watched their backs for demons untold

Praying for the health and wealth of close ones
Not asking for self, making the single wish for your son

Setting examples of hard work and grit for young ones to follow
You made sure that we all learned that life wasn't hollow

We miss you and remember you with each breath
We shall honour and respect you for life unto death

My way or better still my way!

what good are you,
if you cant make the world dance to your tune

one always thought that was the rule,
and spent a signficant time following it like a fool

me, myself and ego were to be crowned,
any alteration upon was to be frowned

perfection was a god gifted guarantee,
ofcourse there was no change to be made for free

yet when it came to messing with other people's lives,
hypocrisy taking over, came as no surprise

as long as the pieces fit the puzzle i intended to solve,
they were termed as worthy to evolve

else they were to be tampered and twisted like pieces of clay,
few fragile emotions wrecked were considered the price to pay

when results were off the mark,
the twisted ones were to hear the bark

as if almighty had wrested all his powers in one to dictate,
if not my way, there couldnt be a better fate

ofcourse it is the easier said than done,
a little more introspection could have made it a bit more fun

controlling oneself is certainly not the simpler of tasks,
but it could help take away the superficial empathy masks

the exceeding gap of expectations would no longer be a worrying figure,
although the peace wouldnt come without its own share of rigour

for it is easier to inflict discipline and order,
yet when it comes to self, habits are blamed for the disorder

nonetheless if the search was to find happiness after all,
what better way than listen to the inner call!

Beauty lies underneath!

sometimes it makes me wonder,
if beauty does lie down under

cuz if that were the case
why would there be the cosmetic chase

why were protagonists so attractive in looks,
wasnt an engaging character enough to keep the audience on the hooks

if the book wasnt to be judged by its cover
and if all that glittered wasn't gold,
shouldnt they spend more time teaching mannerisms to kids
than on dressing them up for the world

why are beauty contests associated with blonde bimbettes,
if beauty was within, shouldn't catwalks be replaced by test of wits

was the facade just a move to keep the ugly ducklings in control,
or is reality a way of giving the pretty ones a role

whatever it is, the definition and application are misguided for sure,
when an alluring exterior is held synonymous with a soul so pure

its not that the two are isolated for always,
yet to substitute one with the other doesnt seem to be the right way