incomplete exercises

incomplete
exercises
in futility;)

trouble
…
and then
she acquiesced

misunderstanding
s/he did not
hear him/her
and…

eviction
he accused
grandma eve
of …

aggression
he thought
he could
but…

duplicity
he failed
so
he smiled
(05/06/14)

***

talaash
aik khuda ki talaash sa’aye ki maanind
saaNs ki saathi hay
aur khuda ka shukar hay her moR per
woh milta raha
ustaad, rehbar, saathi, mehboob aur dOst
is sheh’r maiN kabhi
oos musjid maiN, mandir, kaleesa maiN
phir jub samajh aaee
niklay woh sub khuda hum jaisay insaaN
hay jaari ab bhi
ik khudaOn kay khuda ki talaash
dekh li hay oos ki
humnay ik dilfaraib muskurahat
jub mil gaee woh
tO unqareeb woh bhi mil ja’e ga
(05/06/13)

***

AngelFace
across mind’s seven oceans
glimmers this shangri la
in harmony n happiness
coexists everyone

lives there an AngelFace
the desire and longing
to touch and hold and embrace
brings forth doubts, whims anew

as an outsider i drown
in a sea of apprehension
wave after wave of what-ifs
what-if the dreams come true?
what-if they do not come true?

interrupted, apprehensive
remains this dreaming
rusty links, cooling ashes
me AngelFace? AngelFace me?
and mired mirth of me and you
(05/06/12)

***

pari
zeh’n kay saat samandar paar
hay ik basti kay jahaaN
bachchay, jawaan aur booRhay
bastay haiN chain sukooN say

khaabON ki oos basti maiN
rehti hay ik pari bhee
jis ko paanay ki khaahish
laati hay dil maiN meray
kasak, khalish, waswisay

pardesi honay kay naatay
taaabir maiN moozmir baat say
tazabzoob maiN meh’w e ghar’q
youN maiN pata hooN khood kO
joos’tu’ joo e khaab e umar
aur paya kya hum nay
gar woh pari pari na hui
gar woh pari hee niklay
khaab ka yeh taana baana
tooTh ker raakh ho jata hay
maiN aur pari
pari aur maiN
aur maiN aur tu
(05/06/11)

***

blind spot
apple, angel, almond
bright, brave, burning
cute, cold, cutting
deep, dark, deathly

in the eyes you can
catch a glimpse of soul
an appeal for mercy
a plea for understanding
pure mother-child love and
longing, desire and lust

so much can be discovered
in the peak and vales of the eyes
that one needs many lifetimes
to comprehend all their secrets
but the favourite eyes
for this temporal are
those smiling eyes:)
(05/06/09)

***

aankhaiN
kaha oos nay ankhiOn say
is neelgooN samanadar maiN
rooh me’ri dekh sakhtay hO
oos gehri neelgooN jheel maiN
doobay nahiN kyunkay
ghota zun jO youN thay hum
kisi ki bund ankhiON maiN
(05/06/08)

***

david and goliath
unsung and unadorned
bushes and trees
withstand
george’s fiery ripples
battered, cut, unbowed
standing tall
(05/06/07)

***

delusional
in their netherworld
they dress same, think alike
there are whites, and blacks
for them but no greys
they walk and talk, but cannot laugh
have no appetite for good or bad
their netherworld sadly
exists smack in the middle of ours
and mother taught
not to speak ill of the dead
(05/06/06)

***

0
inaudible rosary
of sighs strung together
displaying garish piety
a piety irreligious
in its un-dependence
on cosmic power

other rosaries
strung with
innocence, shyness
beauty, humility
love
and conquests
display naught

and in the end
there is no end
a circle has no end
( 06/02/05)

***

lonely cloud
fight back
fight back echoes air
tinnitus or sound impaired
some move on
oblivious
cloud-like

not all battles are worth
taking up swords for
young and eager smiles
cascading from where frowns showered
pyrotechnic of sunshine and joy in the air

hay nahin koi kaam aaj mujhay
fasoordagi say, ranjishOn say
shukranay ki takrar
hay her soo’ aaj
aaj--hay jo mustaqbil ka pehla din

time to step out
a ginger step at a time
to newer smiles
on today’s faces
a vacillant step on the road
to tomorrow’s salaam,*
orig(11/13/04) revised (06/02/05)

*salaam=peace

***

house, home, happiness

my post on Immigrant by ali hashmi

(warning: am digressing)

ali:

home is in the mind...a person can be productively happy if he listens to his mind while home is just another residence to stretch the weary bones...

some of us have houses and homes
some have houses, others home only
and some have only souls, no homes or houses
(now a twist) what is happiness?
(answer: a state of mind)
and is happiness dependent or independent of a home?
answer: depends on the individual:)
a person can be happy if he wants to be happy
independent of home

more digressions:

miriam #8:

"home is where the heart is"

home? ghar kya hay? four walls and a roof? chalo baat ko aagay baRhatay hain...the four walls and a roof are anchored...this anchoring is based on both tangible and intangibles... land is foremost...no land, no home...other factors that add value and nostalgia to home are neighbours...and the intangibles...culture, aura, smell, ambience...

so it follows that to change a house in to a home we need four walls and a roof, land, neigbhours, culture, smell, aura, ambience... you get the drift?...

is there something not mentioned without which that house would never become a home? yes that is you and me...without our sweat, dreams, desires, whims, doubts a house can never become a home...

and individuals are restless...we move...politics, parents, education, career being some of the catalysts for the move...we’re strange creatures who move...ripping roots...sometimes centuries old and re-root...

what walking, living, breathing dichotomies we are...a speck of dust on the vast shoreline of history...significant (as you alluded to the other day) and insignificant ( as i mentioned earlier) simultaneously...we tear our roots to satisfy the urge to move and then grow newer roots...dichotomy did i say?...in the end...it is a state of mind...it is the mind that emits those electronic impulses that induces happiness...it is the mind that changes a house into either a hell or a home...regardless of locale;) ...

more on wistful longings to return to an(other abandoned) home...and more on us as victims of arrested development another time or another digression:)
(05/06/13)

***

k(h)akistocracy
#74 by miriamk:
Temp:
#64

I’m going to have to think about this. Does the chicken come before the egg or vice versa? I mean is the army the root of all problems or did the problems necessitate army rule? It’s a question I haven’t been able to answer yet.

I suppose in some very essential way Feudalism and the Army presence are related. They are perhaps two different sides of the same dysfunction. I don’t know if that makes sense (?). I mean, is each an enabler for the other?

miriam you have in a way answered the query yourself:)

forget the chicken-egg for a moment and think of ground reality there...army tentacles are in every aspect of life...from the legit to the grey...from the fauji foundation...(somebody mentioned it is the second largest employer in the country after the GoP) to the water tankers that supply water in DHA karachi...(now this is a good one...none of the brave investigative journalists would touch this...i have asked around and this is what i have been told...it is not that the millionaires and billionaires who live in DHA schemes have out houses or they prefer the bushes to relieve;)...or have no indoor plumbing...it is just that the city does not have water to connect to their taps...

good...

so then how do they survive? bingo...water is available for a price...you pay the water tanker driver for it...ok...where do they get their water from?...(cutting the story short)...army rangers have access to water...they sell it to truckies...who supply the water starved population of DHA schemes...the journalist do not touch the source because i suspect the profit-cuts go high and deep...and they are loathe to fight and expose the gods...

this was just one example...hence miriam forget about chicken-egg...think differently...think tough...or think small...if we hope to make a difference in our lifetimes

***

#81 by ana
Re: # 64
the problem i have with every and any ill being blamed on the occupying army is precisely that every and any ill cannot be blamed solely on the occupying army.

ana #81:

i respect your input

and miriam ... i could have added this ps: in # 82 also...fickle memory;)...khair...

"...in its hunger to grab a bigger share of power they would not hesitate to make a pact with the saint, the devil, the pariah or the powerful...and we have seen this in the past 57/ 58 years...they bring out mqm when it suits them, have pacts with mullahs when it is in their interest..."

now specifically to the point ana addressed...

india is not a glorified example of minorities right...not by far and not yet!...however...when we compare india to pakistan...it is far ahead of pakistan...(yes i will get a flack for saying this from the usual suspects...but this is the truth....despite gujrat, kashmir, christians being burned alive...forget that preacher’s name...sloan?...and all the provocation by their rss mullahs)...

why?

imho since the divide they (indians) have developed (and are developing) strong basic institutions...because of these khaki meddling in civilian affairs the divide and suspicion across all line...class, religion, caste...whatever...is exploited to the fullest...christians, hindus, ahmedis, barelvis, deobandis, sunnis shias...everybody falls victim to this divide and rule mentality ...link this with no credible institutions... the egalitarian aspects of a society are not allowed to build up...the khakhis both inculcate and exploit intolerance to the hilt...(yes, back to k(h)akisatocracy)...which is why in my humble opinion....:)
(05/06/04 )

occupying army

…give me any problem in pakistan and i will give you a two word answer…occupying army…try me :)

to blame the feudals only is beating the dead camel while pretending it is alive

over on the sajil board (incest and underage ward’s sexual abuse) romair was gingerly heading in the right direction when he mentioned that and other related issues from the perch of law and order

* the occupying army is the root of all evil in pakistan
* the occupying army is the current God, Mohammed and the Caliphs all rolled into one…ok Ram, Guru Nanak, Krishna, Budda…Jesus….did i miss anyone?...insert your favourite diety here....
* the occupying army….ok enough…some of you are irritated by repeated mention of it …so won’t mention it again in this thread …but on the odd chance that some new readers are not sure where i am coming from …( the other query ...where am going is also speculative at best) i will explain:

on the eight day…biblical reference for the unbelievers;)…He pointed at the faujis and said…you manage…

…as the world knows by now, they have made a holy mess of it!…enough is enough say foes and friends alike…send them back to barracks under full civilian control like happens in most civilized countries…(certain politicians in the beltway who have a penchant for talking about democracy but...the options are to take law into their own hands…or to approach the dons in their turf for remedial justice…the bugtis, the mqm etc. often provide justice by default to the ordinary citizens…

..and this is with the full blessings of the army raj….( i promised you i won’t use that phrase in this post)…along with these petty warlords the army also uses mafia to rule…

…if you want I can develop this even more….but i better end this here…the army has to go back to the barracks under full civilian control…and let the civilians resume their long trial and run for a viable political system beneficial for the populace without army interference
(06/03/05)

***

the following from an old interact: Sunset byRahul Malviya-November 13, 2004

Rahul:

you wrote …a few suggestions on improving my understanding of poetry…

…it is you who are very kind in seeking this small time poet’s indulgence…:)…there are books and treatises…am sure…on the subject of understanding just about everything…though am not aware of any dummies’ guide to poetry yet heck, there is a suggestion for someone;)…understanding is a loaded word when applied to any subject let alone poetry…we can spend a lifetime studying a subject and not understand even a miniscule of its potential worth and meaning…god and woman, for instance;)…

…hence i’d to stay away from applying it to an esoteric subject like poetry…would go more for appreciate…how does one appreciate poetry?…easy answer is to declare majestically… ’either one appreciates it or one doesn’t’…there!…end of discussion…but it is a cop out…the proper answer to this query might result in that book!…having led you this far i would make an attempt to give you a very subjective perception…(you are forewarned)…poetry is felt…the degree of this feeling is subjective…

…to live we eat…several times a day if the good lord provides…occasionally if the lords are unkind…but we do eat…the appreciation…the understanding of what is before us on our plate is subjective…some wolf it down, some tinker with it agonizingly, some enjoy every single morsel, some read while eating, some watch tv, concentrate on conversation, listen to music…all the while eating…some care about presentation…some don’t…some care about the right warmth, the right ingredients, the right aroma….culture and conditioning also have a lot to do with this understanding of the food we eat…hope you understand this long winded attempt at explaining…a poet might say the same thing as:

each morsel, every grain is me
or less succinctly
food is felt
or to be madisonavish
you are what you eat
and to be a bit graphic
dust to dust, morsel to morsel...

(digression! clichés are the speed-bumpers in prose and verse;))

...and then let the reader whirl his mind over the various possibilities hidden in the phrase…and then the reader’s mind, aided by experience and imagination takes flight…soaring high above…taking in all the possibilities to ascertain and evaluate the relationship between food and us…

… cannot tell you what a good poem is…but i can tell you what it should not be…but even there perhaps i’d be highly subjective…

…a good poem should be felt by the reader…this is a reverberation in a small or large sense of the feeling of a poet with that of the reader…a poet succeeds in measure when s/he is able to convey through words feelings that resonates with the experiences of the reader…the universal soul becomes one at that point…

..let me illustrate this with a short a poem of mine…Am No God…30 words…simple words used effectively…this poem came about when i was horsing around with my son one day…just like that…i scribbled these words on the back of an envelope…

…confession: later tried deliberately to write some poems in this simple way…did not work for me!…poems like these just descend…I think:)…

…now, if you are a sensible person, ignore all of above and just google "understanding english poetry" and in 0.58 seconds it will give you 2,090,000 results ...and you might find this Understanding and Explicating Poetry interesting
( 06/02/05)

***

newspaper headlines
*At least 20 dead in Afghan blast
*Six employees of KFC burnt alive in Karachi
*Sectarian riots kill 12 in Pakistan -
*Suicide bomber hits Baghdad airport
* Sixty dead in Iraq
*Twenty dead in Pindi

men of god
hum jo musalmaan haiN
shru kartay haiN her kaam
ism e aazam kay naam say*
hum jo muslamaaN haiN
holi srif khoon say khailtay haiN
humaiN pyara hay buhat
apnay bhai-beh’n ka khoon
sunni aur shia ka khoon
hum jo musalmaan haiN...
yeh jaan tay haiN kay
ba’khuda is dunya maiN
daire hay, andhaire hay buhat
magar...
hum jo musalmaan haiN
ism e aazam ka naam lay ker*
sub say pehlay apnON
hee ka bahatay haiN khoon

*(bismillah ar rehman....begin in the name of God...)
(05/06/01 )