Shauq-e-safar

I think I‘ve mentioned this in another form, but apart from all the usual reasons, there is another very good reason I love travel. Every time I return home, there is a certain feeling that comes, which would make it all worth it even if it hadn’t been all that much fun in the first place. I suppose I would have to call this feeling contentment (because I can’t think of anything else that fits) but it is more a certain certainty of being in exactly the right place, at the right time and doing the right things. A fleeting Zeness settles.
Baths assume ceremonial importance on days like these. Travel leaves many kinds of stains; it feels good to clear them.
I have a hierarchy of choice for my bathroom singing playlist and really special moods usually get “kaise chupaoon raaz-e-gham” the way it was sung by the King. My theory is that if I sing it a thousand times I may learn to infuse about a thousandth of the Ruh of his singing.
Well, I was singing it today and I found myself singing a new sher, and I discovered that it was on the lines of my favourite sher of the ghazal.
Here’s them both-

Gum ka na ho koi asar, vasl ki shab ho yun guzar
Sab ye qabool hai magar kauf-e-saher ka kya karoon


Iske sivah na koi ghar, tera hi rukh dekhoon jidhar
Teri talaash mein magar, shauq-e-safar ka kya karoon