Bombay Zine Fest 2021

on Political Economy

On Writing

It's ironic that a forum on writing is one in which we all are compelled to talk, for as a writer, one's recluse has primarily been the space of the text where you don't have to face an audience. The difference between speaking and writing, if one may draw attention to, is precisely that (or analogical to) between theatre and cinema or live singing and playback. The writing desk essentially allows you to take retakes, it allows you multiple rehearsals. This stage is for speaking - and speaking the right things at once - and it thus puts you in a pressure to be alert at every moment. The piece of writing has the luxury of being on the wrong side, circulating within in circles, accumulating soft criticisms (or criticisms softly), contemplate, meditate on them and keep building up ideas. To speak is not the same.


Writing is also a work, an exercise in organising thoughts, particularly of a scattered of a mind that is distracting itself in multiple directions due to the open field of referents it is invariably suspended in. Writing is a task in putting order to seemingly stray array of thoughts that are produced as well as consumed, and weaving these into some kind of story to bring a coherence for the sake of meaning, or to create a meaningful world that could be inhabited or make one's place in an open undisposed field.

More discussion here with Nisha Nair Gupta 

on 5th September 2021, which was also Teachers' Day in India.

Drawings

 

The Kitchen Ballet

 

The Kitchen Ballet

JIIA Issue (1960s)

borrowed from Sonal Sunderrajan's blog.

Temple

Kaju Pada, Borivli E, Mumbai

Received couplets

Voh mujh se poochh raha hai ke tera haal hai kya
Batao inn dinon yeh bhi koi sawal hai kya

- Javed Akhtar (?)

Nikaal laya hoon eik pinjare se ik parinda
ab iss parinde ke dil se pinjara nikaalna hai.
- Umair Najmi

ik raat vo gayā thā jahāñ baat rok ke
ab tak rukā huā huuñ vahīñ raat rok ke

- Farhat Ehsas

Jo chahte ho so kehte ho chup rehne ki lazzat kya jaano,

Yeh raaz-e-mohabbat hai pyare tum raaz-e-mohabbat kya jaano

Alfaaz kahan se laaoon main chhale ki tapak samjhane ko,

Izhaar-e-mohabbat karte ho ehsaas-e-mohabbat kya jaano

Hai farq badaa ai jaan-e-Raza dil dene mein dil lene mein,

Ulfat ka ta'alluq jante ho rishte ki nazakat kya jaano

Aal-e-Raza Raza

हताशा से एक व्यक्ति बैठ गया था 

व्यक्ति को मैं नहीं जानता था हताशा को जानता था 

इसलिए मैं उस व्यक्ति के पास गया 

मैंने हाथ बढ़ाया मेरा हाथ पकड़कर वह खड़ा हुआ 

मुझे वह नहीं जानता था मेरे हाथ बढ़ाने को जानता था 

हम दोनों साथ चले दोनों एक दूसरे को नहीं जानते थे 

साथ चलने को जानते थे

--

मैं इसलिए भी वतन लौट कर नहीं जाता,

कि मुझ गरीब की इज़्ज़त यहां ज़्यादा है

--

main sochta hoon bahut zindagi ke baare mein,

ye zindagi bhi mujhe soch kar na rah jaae

- Abhishek Shukla

--

जो स्वप्न मुझे नहीं आते थे 

वे कहाँ जाते थे?

- रुस्तम 

hamesha der kar deta hun

hamesha der kar detā huuñ maiñ har kaam karne meñ 

zarūrī baat kahnī ho koī va.ada nibhānā ho 

use āvāz denī ho use vāpas bulānā ho 

hamesha der kar detā huuñ maiñ 

madad karnī ho us kī yaar kī Dhāras bañdhānā ho 

bahut derīna rastoñ par kisī se milne jaanā ho 

hamesha der kar detā huuñ maiñ 

badalte mausamoñ kī sair meñ dil ko lagānā ho 

kisī ko yaad rakhnā ho kisī ko bhuul jaanā ho 

hamesha der kar detā huuñ maiñ 

kisī ko maut se pahle kisī ġham se bachānā ho 

haqīqat aur thī kuchh us ko jā ke ye batānā ho 

hamesha der kar detā huuñ maiñ har kaam karne meñ.....

MUNEER NIYAZI

Kaat lo zuban, aasuon se gaaunga

Gaad do beej hoon main, ped ban hi jaunga

Sunn rahe jo mujhko beshumar pyar unse,

Banata geet main Par main khud bana hoon tumse

- Gully Boys

"In matters between people, there will be no closure, there can be no closure. We are always in the middle of things, and that is how we will leave—in the middle of things. Life has no neat balance sheets. Some get away with more than the rest. And that is alright. "

- Manu Joseph

देता फिरता सफ़ाई किस-किसको, 

मुस्कुराना ही मैंने छोड़ दिया

नयी लाशें बिछाने के लिए ही गड़े मुर्दे उखाड़े जा रहे हैं ...

शाम को मिलते हैं पैरों से लिपट कर बच्चे, 

बस यही रहती है दिन भर की कमाई मेरी

Shabe furkat ka jaaga hoon farishton ab to sone do, 

kabhi fursat se kar lena hisaab, ahista ahista

जिन्दगी की दौड़ में,

तजुर्बा कच्चा ही रह गया...

हम सीख न पाये 'फरेब'

और दिल बच्चा ही रह गया...

बचपन में जहां चाहा हँस लेते थे,

जहां चाहा रो लेते थे...

पर अब मुस्कान को तमीज़ चाहिए,

और आंसुओ को तन्हाई..

हम भी मुस्कराते थे कभी बेपरवाह, अन्दाज़ से..."

देखा है आज खुद को कुछ पुरानी तस्वीरों में ..

चलो मुस्कुराने की वजह ढूंढते हैं...

तुम हमें ढूंढो... हम तुम्हे ढूंढते हैं...!

- गुलज़ार

अधूरा आगे है, मुकम्मिल माज़ी है 

लगा दे दाँव पे दिल, अगर दिल राज़ी है।

- गुलज़ार

मुनाफ़ा छोड़िये लागत ही मिल जाय, 

हमें शोहरत नहीं इज़्ज़त ही मिल जाय

--

कौन ज़ालिम है यहां, ज़ुल्म हुआ है किस पर, 

क्या ख़बर आएगी अख़बार को तय करना है....

--

आँख में पानी रखो होंटों पे चिंगारी रखो, 

ज़िंदा रहना है तो तरकीबें बहुत सारी रखो

--

जवानियों में जवानी को धूल करते हैं, 

जो लोग भूल नहीं करते, भूल करते हैं

--

स्वभावाला औषध नाही

There is no medicine to remedy one's nature.

-Marathi Saying

अपनी गर्दन पे किसी और का सर लगता है, 

ऐसा लगना तो नहीं चाहिए पर लगता है

"On one level, wisdom is nothing more profound than an ability to follow one's own advice."

baat ultī vo samajhte haiñ jo kuchh kahtā huuñ 

ab ke pūchhā to ye kah dūñgā ki haal achchhā hai

Goregaon Lanes

Worli

Insomnia

Tonight I have a kind of sleeplessness that occurs no due to enough rest, but due to being overworked. Imagine a machine that has run continuously for hours, more than it could, being productive, and ended gaining so much momentum that it begins to resist it's own retirement. It is that kind of sleeplessness that I am experiencing tonight. A mind that has suddenly become physically restless because of the mental activity. It is some sort of impregnation, like a consuming thought that continues to grow once it has taken to inception. 

I feel tonight the push from my mind to work out the thought through the body which is tired to an extent that while it appreciates the mind's work, it doesn't want to move itself physically. How do you think an active mind and a worked up body coexist with each other? That is the kind of sleeplessness I feel tonight.