Old wine... etc and a new cocktail

Like so many others I love Faiz's 'raat yun khoyee...’ glides off the tongue beautifully… but something makes me uneasy about it and I did not know what, till I put it down. Here’s the original followed by my take…

Raat yuun dil men teree khoyee huee yaad aayee
Jaise veeraane men chupke se bahaar aa jaaye
Jaise sehraaon men haulay se chale baad-e-naseem
Jaise beemaar ko be-vajha qaraar aa jaaye


Raat yuun khoyee huee teree yaad aayee
Jaise dariya me chupke se lage khaamosh si aag
Jaise pinjre se parinde ko mile falak ki jhalak
Jaise mushkil se jude dil mein daraar aa jaaye


And a recent something…


Hamse kuch kaha nahi, koi gale mila nahi
Yun ho gaya hai sab yahaan, ke apna mamla nahi

Tarq-e-mohabat kyon hua, khuloos jab qayam raha
Daayaron mein jawab ho ye aisa silsila nahi

Kis ne kis se kya kaha, kahan se tha jad-e-fasaad
In sab ka ab hai kya garaz, jab koi gila nahi

Taaron ki taab mein aasmaan tak badte the haath
Jab jab magar mutti khuli, us mein kuch mila nahi

Sab ne mujh se ye kaha asvi tum bhi chale chalo
Par ghar to bahati ret hai unka kaarvan nahi

Potential – and realizing it

I’ve been thinking about this today. (I am amazed that I live one of those happy lives that can actually afford to have a single thought a day) It’s not a new theme. It is one that I always think I’ve thrashed out satisfactorily, but which resurfaces with irritating periodicity and always with a new twist.
I am familiar enough with my thoughts and they soon start eddying around in my head. That’s when I look for 'signs' from which to string my answers.
I found these.
Some random browsing brought me to this quote: a web page with just this, no links no nothing.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us...You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Nelson Mandela


Then I woke up with this ‘matla’ fully formed on my lips, semi drugged from my siesta. These things have happened before but never so completely and in the alpha state and all! And of course I am terribly fond of attributing this stuff to mysterious sources….

Rok lo mujhe rok lo mein kahin duaa na maang loon
Ek chote se khuda se mein kuch bada na maang loon

And if you have a radeef-khafiya dropped in your lap the least you can do is finish the ghazal. Even if the radeef is majorly comprimised. So that got written. Here goes…

Beech bhanwar mein jab kabhi doobne lagoon kahein
Khokle tinke to tab mere khuda na sang loon

Duniya ki shor se katrake chala houn aaj tak,
Khouf-e sannate se ab apni sadaa na rang loon

Ik ajeeb nishan ko khojte jo har ek raah chod doon
Asvi tere is zid me koi raasta na tang loon

How often I get the feeling that they’ve got the wrong person….
Not this, not her - not me
Can you be too good an actor?
So good that you can’t turn it off?
So involved that you can’t hear the call
Never see the curtain fall
The stage is a maze, all acts set on a single plane
It’s dark and you have to feel your way through,
But the lines never get mixed up, never.
Yet there are others to come, a new act - a different character and no protagonist
Where is she? Who is she?
The role’s not scripted.
She has to find herself between the lines, and maybe define an identity.
Or perhaps, Stupid! the point is to be not.