Who knows how life is lived

Is there a formula?

A perfect concoction, proportion?

Who tells you the amount of hard work, luck or contentment needed?

How many ounces of patience?

How do you know when to fight and when to let go?

What is sacrifice and what is sacrilege?

Who dictates what’s a line and when it gets crossed 

When does happiness become selfish 

Do you build a home or rent a house 

Make your own dreams or borrow from someone 

Should you walk the line or end it 

Should you explain or believe that it’s not needed

Pious and pure or more and more? 

If you don’t ask you won’t receive

But dont you deserve?

Who decides how much do you need 

How do you source, how you proceed ?

If not enough, where does it lead

If silence is a language is it understood ?

Is understanding enough ?

Does it need to scream 

How many tears, how many sorrows 

Do they push you over

Or some more time you borrow 

Who teaches life’s lessons, who appoints the teachers 

Can a journey be taught or are they mere preachers ?

An era gone by...

you are my madness

you are my sanity

you are my soul

you are my vanity

i learnt who i was

i learnt what is grey

i learnt i could be saved,

for me you'd pray

in depths of despair

your hand i held

in my own twisted way

happiness you spelled

the fate that i fought,

you taught me how to

its your smile i smile

in the bluest of blues

the long winding road,

the one that we took

it doesn't have an end

but pretty it looks

an era gone by,

another one I await

i know you will  be there

when i open that gate

its not a goodbye,

the one that I wave

it means that i love you

and i am trying to be brave

A Better Tomorrow...

I have crossed many a rivers
Braved many a deserts
I can now laugh at my own sorrow

Will you take me to a better tomorrow?

Struggles won't go unnoticed
Questions will be answered
Your today I will borrow
Will you take me to a better tomorrow?

I no more depend on the world
My own flag I now unfurl
The roar of the lion and song of the sparrow
Will you take me to a better tomorrow?

Losers

Let the worlds collide

you have nothing to lose
When you gave up
you were let off the noose

The war within

is for those who fight
who still believe in life
believe in all things bright

You and me,

we are the wiser lot
we know how it works
hence we gave up the thought

we dont let life ruin us

but we dont run it either
We watch the occasional show
we are mere bystanders

Right Behind me..

I manage to find you wherever I go
In the folds of the sheets, Under my pillow

Always there, you never leave my side
Like a shadow in morning, noon or night

In the books that I read like an old dried flower,
yet the fragrance so fresh like mid summer rain shower

In clothes that smell just like you,
in your favourite mug of your favourite brew

In the songs that we sang,
in the chessboard black and white,

In the manic laughter
In dead of the night

You live in my closet you breathe in my car,
inside the kitchen in the empty coffee jar

Even though you are not around, in me you shall be,
when I look in the mirror right behind me..

Soul Mates

The moon was out after ages
After ages the night was bright
sitting together under the stars
glowing in each other's light

It had been a long time
since they poured their hearts out
The words sounded like music
like rains pouring after drought

they are souls bound by grief
floating around in parched lands
always looking for a drop to drink
in the merciless sea of sand

standing at opposite ends
locked in an invisible embrace
always craving for each other
yet leaving without a trace

Years spent in waiting
the souls continue to bleed
continue to nurture the hope
continue to water the seed

they have travelled far and wide
unknown waters and lands
to each other they come back
quietly holding hands

You are destiny's children
god often tells them
going through heaven and hell
but will be together seldom

Even though you are chained
that touch will always elude you
Always drinking off each other
the monsoon showers are not for you

One wakes up at the others dream
each other's pain you brave
Even though you are soul mates
you are also your fate's slave

An ode to my childhood hangout

My memories were a little rusted
I couldnt recall a lot of that
but when I walk those bylanes
it all comes rushing back

the pavements and pillars
now scrubed and painted bright
but in my meomory its different
always the customary white

the floor that you walk on
shiny marble and granite
was a drab grey back then
for common and elite

a charming haven
for young and old
welcoming all strangers
to hold and behold

an organised chaos
of cars and people
of click clocking heels
food and lovelorn couples

a shoppers paradise
a foodies delight
a student's hangout
a party heaven
on new years night

its nothing of what it was
old world grandeur
a bustling marketplace
amidst trappings of yesteryears

today ofcourse its diferent
but it still is my favourite place
its called rajiv chowk
that was once connaught place