Monday, November 26, 2007

Cafeteria Culture

Clear hollow spheres climb up success
And what becomes of them?
The cold green veil makes its person look green too.
The specks of red have become one in this sticky paste which has spurted like blood
10 sets of 4
One green slab in the center
One of them holds the clear hollow spheres and also 1 empty green veil
Green blinds
Colour of abundance
Present here in abundance
Abundance also in the rotten smell of the fresh eggs
2 sets of 3 wings give each other company with 1 set of 4
The long wire makes a trap
It waits eagerly at the door step
Gharrrgharrranggghrrrram becomes one with the equally annoying place
The place is still except the figure in the dress of the west
4 drab virgin buttons look eagerly at the shining whores
The tiny transparent balls play under the green veil which hides nothing
One of them starts to slip from the tip of the transporter
Slow. Picks up speed as others join in
The vertebral gets disturbed and the olfactory devices get connected to the lips
The ends of the lips point towards the equator
Tut tut tut chuk chuk
Chhsh chhsh Chhsh chhsh Chhsh chhsh
Sound of the greasy biryani
The tiny, white, wriggly, curly being falls out of the sound and struggles to be alive
While the light comes from various unreachable sources, some warm green looks nosily at me and the holed gray
Tiny screeches of being molested
The hand and the tiny screeches in harmony
The holder is displaced and the second set of three asked to go to sleep
The person in the veil dies slowly
The red blood still sits there shamelessly
Green is home
Spit. Spill. Sit. Spread the smell around.
The incandescent form reflects in the cracked glass, the veil of glass that covers/uncovers the territory of the green.
Comfort
Amidst the artificial smell of the biryani there is a transcend to a hospital room
The white lump warms the green under it
The rest of the green remains unused
The black clot plastered on its forehead
Bindi from India
The pattern on its dusty black leg moves and falls still.

Teen Bachchey Lahore Ke


Thursday, November 8, 2007

Diwali ki Shubhkamnayen!

Jagmagaata hua din, jhilmilati hui shaam
Kuchh puraane diye
Packet waala tel

Safed mombattiyan
Paak
November ki thand main lau ki garmi

Kheer poori ki daawat
Kheer: safed
Ghar ki yaad
Sheher Lahore

Rangi hui skirt
Safed kurti
Sajne ka intezaar

Nariyal ke laddoo
Meethe aur narm
Bhurbhuri sookhi khol
Safed

Naye yantro par milte sandesh
Rati-ratayin shubhkaamnayen
RangHeen
Safed

Garmi, raunak, rang, khushi
Sab kuchh sametne ki chaah
Kolahal ke beech sannata
Safed.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Sakuntala

Lemonade expanse
Slim, modern. Fresh!!
Hands quivering under the weight of the tangy wrap
Fingers press the buttons that are the color of the sky
White not blue
Rococo curls rest and listen to the mesmerizing voice of
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
The tummy rests too, after being subject to the endless jokes about it holding a baby.
A white flower peeps from behind her shoulder.
A similar one rests on the other bed with its face away, referring to the unexciting company
Jugalbandi of the feet
Strange! Looks dead to the world!
YES YES YES. No disturbance
Figure performs a Baroque on the pink bed
Marylyn’s eye winks from the left breast
Lips are potted in perfection, ready to be glossed
Few words of consent take a trip
Neoclassic folds
Olympia
White folds of the Greek sculptures.
The candle, the doll, the bottle, the fan, the leaves; in tough competition
Kingdom of The Sleeping Beauty
The thumb rests in the middle of the index finger.
All fingers stare and glance away
Gaze conscious
The hands shape a V ready to spell some name
Stringy innumerable lines of the forehead invite attention
Cavity in the sour bed sheet is seen
The cavity leads to the corner of the bed. The wall is white with one little dent
Butool’s masterpiece has left 10 marks of it’s descend
Wait to fetch sympathy and the memories
Tête-à-tête of the pink laced white and the dark, handsome shadow of the vast green minus blue
Love is happening
Perky, dizzy, thoughtless, idle
Love nevertheless, with unkempt eyebrows and dark elbows
Slumber of the tiny mole beneath the gloom of the frail lashes
Deceit with the lemonade bed sheet
Affair with the ebony under it















All of a Sudden


Kal ka din aur dino jaisa hi tha. Humne The Last Emperor aur Farewell My Concubine dekhi. Julia hume Hsin Kuang lunch ke liye le gayi theen. As usual people ordered for manchurian and American chopsuey. Thank God Julia completely rejected the idea of American Chopsuey in a Chinese restaurant. Anyways we ordered for some shrimps with mushrooms and vegetables(my choice and I ended up eating it the most). Rest of the food was as per what everybody else wanted. Some really Gory vermilion sauce which was thick with the kilos of cornflour in it. Well I cleverly ate what I ordered for.
I had a late evening and was hoping for my plans to go buy a dress for Diwali do not get ruined again. As I was getting own from the rickshaw, guard chacha told the driver chacha that emergency has been declared. I was scared and confused and lost apart from being upset about being unaware of what was happening around me. what does that mean. what will happen in an emergency. I saw Suraiya sitting the in the warden's room. That meant that there was something serious happening.
In a few minutes I got ready to go to the market and as I stepped out of the room Noor forbidded me to step out of the hostel, though she was getting ready to go to a party. I wondered why. I was relly scared by now. suddenly some girl announced that the news channels have been cut and the internet and phone lines will be soon cut too. I had by this time somehow managed to convinve Azra to come with me to the market. I tried to show that I was not scared. I sent a mail to Ali, Ma and Papa informing that I was safe and sound.
We stepped out, me scared but not showing and Azra scared but comforting me that nothing will happen.
We walked till the market and what do we see? There was no difference. I was hoping to see the fear on people's faces but everybody appeared as if nothing had happened. In a minute I also forgot that there was something like this that happened. After succeeding in what I had come here for and making note of the palcement of shops, we hurried back to the hotel. We didn't want to miss dinner.
Th warden was serious and told us not to step out just like that. The lost fear was suddenly found. I called up papa and pap toild me to do what salima hasmi would ask us to do. He also asked me to keep my baggage ready, just in case they asked us to leave the country.
I was a reality blow. Could that really happen? I even dreamt later that night that I had been sent back to Bangelore. Luckily for me it was only a dream.

I was still in Lahore and I still am.
Allah ka shukr hai!