POEM_: An Arrival

And lo!
It is India
My long awaited, long lost India.
India, in rains.

Far from the dust and sand
the burning sun, the scorched earth
the dead land
I come back to you
My everloving India.
In rains.

Life I see
in every breath of the monsoon,
in every gust of the cool fresh wind,
in every blade of glistening grass.

Life I see
in the grey muddy slums of Bombay,
in the shoves and the jostles at the VT,
in the speeding and the stalled locals
which acquire a certain elegance
with the ground wet under them;
even in the sulky faces
of the Indian Airlines hostesses
who are either incapable of joy
or short of the glue
that makes the plastic smiles stick.

And life I see
in the gay frolics
of the young and not-so-young boys
naked on the Chowpatty beach,
celebrating the youth, not just their own,
but of their earth too.

Life I see in everything
for I am in love
with India,
in rains.

- owais

--
This was first published in the book, 'Love?'.

POEMT: ...Worth Having

Love of Knowledge,
and Knowledge of Love:
those are the only two things
worth having.

- owais

--
This is first being published on this page.

POEM_: Ab thak chala hoon main / अब थक चला हूँ मैं

Ab thak chala hoon main
mere maalik
apni maangon se, aur
teri daya se.

Ab agar tujhe
kuch dena hai to bas…
ya de mujhe
apna pyaar
ya de
itna sabr
ki mujhe
koi chahat
hi na rahe.

- owais

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अब थक चला हूँ मैं
मेरे मालिक
अपनी माँगों से, और
तेरी दया से ।

अब अगर तुझे
कुछ देना है तो बस…
या दे मुझे
अपना प्यार
या दे
इतना सब्र
कि मुझे
कोई चाहत
ही न रहे ।


- उवैस

--

This is first being published on this page

POEM_: Doctrinaire Mindfulness?

Is it merely that
I am a little brat
inside this middle-aged exterior,
a little fool
who never grew up,
who will not accept
any authority?
Or is it that,
I am a mindful enough
human being
who rejects, being directed
by a doctrine,
no matter which?

Why do I reject
the demand of doctrinaire Islam,
which asks me to keep
a beard-length, of a fist and a half,
and condemn, some tasteless
cartoons, printed
half the world away?

Or of doctrinaire Nationalism,
that asks me to watch
a mindless game of cricket, and find it
more important
than the suffering
all around me?

And equally, the demand of doctrinaire
Mammonism, which asks me to
(shave every day, and)
find ways of exploiting
all
in order to gain more wealth,
the only acceptable end
for all,
Mammonites,
and otherwise?

- owais

--
This is first being published on this page.

POEM_: Just OK

One day,
I figured out
that I care about
other people
more than, they care about me.
I was heart-broken. And sad.

Then,
another day,
I figured out
that these ‘other’ people
also included those
that I considered
my immediate family.
I was heart-broken.

Yet another day,
today,
I find that
I care about other people
even more than they
care about themselves.

Evidently,
the problem,
is with me.
Not with the world
(as always).
And so,
now,
I am not heart-broken,
nor sad.

Just…
…OK.

- owais

--
This is first being published on this page.

POEM_: Aap hi badh ke karo / आप ही बढ़ के करो

Aap ke karo un ko naman ho ke na ho
Aap hi kijiyega un ko dafan ho ke na ho

Mujh se kya poochhte ho mere batan ki halat
Khar bahar bhi hain andar bhi chaman ho ke na ho

Jis ja baithoon main faqat tujh ko taka karta hoon
Tere jeevan se mera aaj gaman ho ke na ho

Tujh se milne ko chaloon saath mein kuch to rakh loon
Jaan bhi nikle to tere paas kafan ho ke na ho

- owais

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आप ही बढ़ के करो उन को नमन हो के न हो
आप ही कीजियेगा उन को दफ़न हो के न हो ।

मुझ से क्या पूछते हो मेरे बतन की हालत
ख़ार बाहर भी हैं अन्दर भी चमन हो के न हो ।

जिस जा बैठूं मैं फ़क़त तुझ को तका करता हूँ
तेरे जीवन से मेरा आज गमन हो के न हो ।

तुझ से मिलने को चलूँ साथ में कुछ तो रख लूँ
जाँ भी निकले तो तेरे पास कफ़न हो के न हो ।

- उवैस

--
This is first being published on this page.

POEM_: Kiska main? / किसका मैं?

Mera apna
hai kya? Tum they
ya shayad
nahin they mere…
…par ab to
yakinan nahin ho.

Aur jisko bhi
jab bhi
main ne kaha apna-
usne khud,
ya kisi aur ne
mujhe yaad dilaya
…ki na mera koi,
na kuchh hai…
na main kisi ka.

Jis se
cheezen bhi door bhagen
uska hai kya
usoolon ke siva?

To phir
tum hi kaho
main unhen bhi
kaise chhod doon?

- owais

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मेरा अपना
है क्या? तुम थे
या शायद
नहीं थे मेरे…
…पर अब तो
यकीनन नहीं हो।

और जिसको भी
जब भी
मैं ने कहा अपना-
उसने ख़ुद,
या किसी और ने
मुझे याद दिलाया
…कि न मेरा कोई,
न कुछ है…
न मैं किसी का.

जिस से
चीज़ें भी दूर भागें
उसका है क्या
उसूलों के सिवा?

तो फिर
तुम ही कहो
मैं उन्हें भी
कैसे छोड़ दूं?

- उवैस

--

This is first being published on this page.