मेरी ख़ामोशी

खामोश लफ्ज़ हुए मेरे यूँ बेवजह नहीं ,

चुप हर वो शख्स है जिस्से मैं गुफ्तगू करता।

किसी में दुनिया नहीं रहती, कोई दुनिया में नहीं रहता !

'Business As Usual' - short story

Oh damn! Is he coming here?


Looks like he is!

Run behind, let’s hide into the corner! Let that fatso go first, she has been eating and crying all day!

You bet! But what if he picks one of us or both?

Hmm it’s scary! But I would prefer that to happen than just sitting and waiting here for the dreadful moment to come.

Well, you are actually right – we sit here lame and helpless, hearing our peers cry loud before the eternal silence and then secretly thank God that it wasn’t us this time! Well aware of the inevitable, we still hope for the impossible! I think we are already dead in our spirit!

Yeah! Why not change this monotonous routine of waiting and crying?

What do you have in mind?

Well, I still remember some old songs, the ones my mom used to sing when we could actually watch the sun rise from the hut I was born in. Lets sing a few of them and make better use of whatever little time we have!

Not to mention – I have a pathetic voice, but who cares? Let’s Sing!!

The environment inside the coop changed from gloomy to gay in moments! The bleary eyed group of birds looked at these crazy stupid duo.

One of the big mouths yelled what shame! Who sings at place of death? Times have changed. Others agreed in unison and frowned at the madness of two.

Suddenly the ruckus calms down. All eyes turn towards the pathway. A pot-bellied man wearing a light blue vest and a checkered lungi walks in.

‘Babu Kasaai is here!!!’ screams the youngest of the lot.

‘Who is the guy next to him?’ quips an observant fellow.

‘How does it matter? They are all the same.’ comments an understandably resigned soul.

However, the singing duo seems to be least bothered! They continue to chirp, jump, singing aloud! Sharing smiles, dancing together, a peck here and a dig there – they looked like the happiest souls on the planet at this very moment!

Unaware of this foreign sets of feelings, language and society, two humans walk in and stand next to the coop.

‘Kaun si de doon saab?’ (Which one shall I pick for you, master?) , asks Babu.

‘Zara dekhne to do Babu bhai! Jaldi kya hai?’ (Let me have a look Babu, what’s the rush?) replies Chandru, the first time customer of Babu.

Chandru runs his eyes around the coop, watching each of the hens with his eager eyes. Like an X-ray machine, he would measure the amount of ‘flesh’ each of these would fetch him at his dinner plate. When he is done with his round of short-listing he turns towards Babu, points his finger and says –

‘Ye do murgiyaan nikaal do, taazi lag rahi hain! Kaafi fudak rahi hain!’

(Pick these two dancing ones; they seem to be quite healthy!)

Babu dutifully obeys – gets his hand into the coop and lifts the dancing duos by their legs. Hanging upside down, the duo is still unfazed by the now-visible death. Their song keeps echoing along the hall, then fading through the walkway as Babu and Chandru walk away from the coop into a separate room. The coop in its usual reaction, turns to a place of mourning but cannot ignore the songs reaching their ears, until they hear two continuous slices of the thick-edged knife. It’s business as usual for the coop. Just a little ripple of change brought about by two mavericks, nothing more nothing less.

‘Achha Babu bhai, chalte hain!’ ( Okay Babu, see you later! ), Chandru walks away with a bag full of chopped meat whistling away a song he heard long time back, sometime during the sunrise in his backyard.

तजुर्बा

न जाने खुद से रोज़ लड़ के वो क्या पाता है?

आदमी चंद लकीरों से मात खाता है.

तमाम किस्म के रंजों से नवाज़ा है मुझे,

उस खुदा से मेरा बरसों पुराना नाता है.

कभी बेजाँ, कभी दबा रहे पैरों के तले,

वही पत्थर भी कभी चाँद बन इतराता है.

ज़िन्दगी सोच के मानिंद कब हुई है जनाब,

ये बादशाह तुघलकी फरमान ही सुनाता है.

ग़म से दोस्ती करना ही अब मुनासिब है,

ज़िद्दी मेहमान है, बिन बुलाए चला आता है!