Mile Na Phool To...

मिले न फूल तो काटों से दोस्ती कर ली

मिले न फूल तो काटों से दोस्ती कर ली
इसी तरह से बसर हम ने ज़िन्दगी कर ली
मिले न फूल

अब आगे जो भी हो अंजाम देखा जाएगा

अब आगे जो भी हो अंजाम देखा जाएगा
खुदा तराश लिया और बंदगी कर ली

मिले न फूल तो काटों से दोस्ती कर ली

नज़र मिली भी न थी और उन को देख लिया

नज़र मिली भी न थी और उन को देख लिया
जुबान खुली भी न थी और बात भी कर ली

वो जिन को प्यार है चांदी से इश्क सोने से
वो ही कहेंगे कभी
वो ही कहेंगे कभी हम ने ख़ुद खुशी कर ली

मिले न फूल तो काटों से दोस्ती कर ली
इसी तरह से बसर हम ने ज़िन्दगी कर ली

मिले न फूल

Penned by Kaifi Azmi, this song from the 1968 movie Anokhi Raat goes much deeper than just being about lost love!

Rather than being sad I see this as an expression of rebellious, ‘will do no matter what’ attitude of the poet. Specially the line ‘khuda tarash liya’ which I very pitifully translate into – I sculpted my own god and I now pray to him only! Kaifi here is working on at least two levels that I can discern, the first being that man can create or man is his own god. The second level is a bit more complex/religious – Islam forbids praying to or in front of an idol and deems it a pagan practice, he thus implies I give a damn about your religion!

Choosing a Direction

Choosing a Direction
We all are in the continuous process of finding the correct directions in life. Even before our birth, our parents were worried about our future. Since the day of our coming into existence, an infinite ocean of learning's stared engulfing us. Firstly it was a language of touch, Sign, Eyes. Then to words. A parrot training and then from Play schools to formal school education.

It was our parents who gave us the directions initially. A direction to School. A direction to the school bus. A direction to playing lawn. A direction to the food,clothes etc.

Then the teachers start directing us. Direction to class. Direction to the desk. Direction to the text on book. etc.

Then comes direction to the marks, direction to the highest marks(scored by someone else).

By this time we are so much direction-aliased that we ourselves start finding directions. Direction to the board exams. Direction to Science\Commerce\Arts. Then Direction to dream about IIT\CPMT. Direction to coaching classes.

Making fancies about the directional curves of newly grown up beauties. In this entire episode we tend to forget the direction of home and end up being directionless.

Direction towards college. Direction towards stream(ECE|CSE). Direction to semester exams. Direction to beer bottles.

After these glorious years of direction playing, its direction to worries. Direction to campus. Direction to job. Direction to earn.

After the passage of time we find ourselves fed up with the system and wants a change. Then we opt for the direction of job change.Direction of higher studies. Direction to CAT.

And in the process we chase all those directions which we have left a long back.
Direction of love.Direction of lost love.

Life is an endless journey of taking the right direction. No path is 100% fulfilling. We achieve something in bargain to giving something.

Its all up to us what we want to keep ourselves with, what all we want to leave in lieu to getting something else. A small regret remains always. Its just to keep moving.

As said by Martin Luther King-"If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means keep moving..."

These words are the essence of life. If we are educated we have to move. we have to choose our direction form endless paths ahead. And whatever we choose we'll get to the goal, the goal is the outcome of journey we travel.