वो शाम

ठंड से काँपता सूरज आज
अपने घोंसले में नही आया
गर्म भावनाओं के ईंटो से बने घर
जाने क्यों उतरा चला गया
लगता था
उसका इंतज़ार हो रहा था बेसब्री से..
तभी छत दरवाजा खुला भी रखा था
बेचारा हल्के नारंगी रंग से बंधा हुआ
चुपचाप..काँपता हुआ सा..
खुले दरवाजे को खटखटाता रहा
कुछ देर में एक अनोखी सी आवाज़ सुनी
अन्दर गया तो देखा कुछ जलते से कडाहे
एक आग की भट्टी भी साथ लगा रखी थी
वही अनोखी आवाज़ कहे जा रहे थी
क्या मानोगे मेरी बात
आज जो गरमी है थोडी बहुत है तुम्हारे पास
दे दो उधर...
हम पिघलाकर निखार देंगे तुम्हे
डरता सूरज....उसने भरोसा किया
हामी भी भर दी
और गुलाबी सा उजियारा फ़ैल गया
शाम का नाम जिसे दिया ..

सीलन

बस एक ही सुर में, एक ही लय पे सुब्ह से देख

देख कैसे बरस रहा है उदास पानी

फुवार के मलमलीं दुपट्टे से उड़ रहे हैं

तमाम मौसम टपक रहा है

पलक पलक रिस रही है ये काएनात सारी

हर एक शय भीग भीग कर देख कैसी बोझल सी हो गई है

दिमाग़ की गीली गीली सोचों से

भीगी भीगी उदास यादें टपक रही हैं

थके थके से बदन में बस धीरे धीरे

साँसों का गर्म डूबानजल रहा है

-- गुलज़ार

----------------------------------------------------

A Day in Kitten's Life

I am a kitten and this is my story.
I stay on the ground floor of a tall building with my Mumma.
I can't see how tall is the building but Mumma is aware of all the floors.
She hops and jumps into the houses to bring me food everyday.
I am blessed.

Today she has gone to bring food but didn't return.
I am worried for my Mumma. I am hungry too.
I am stepping out to reach into the park. I see few children are playing.
They are coming near me and have started to tickle me.
They are touching my fur and are cuddling me.
I am flattered.

For a brief moment, I forget my hunger and start playing with them.
One of them is touching into my nostril.
I bite him with my small teeth.
He runs to complain to his Mumma.
I see Mumma parent coming towards me with a large stick in hand.
I am scared. 

I run outside of the gated compound.
Suddenly, I realize I am on the road,
Where my Mumma has instructed never to go alone.
I am now sweating and want to return into the gated community.
As soon as I reach the entrance, security personal hits me with a stone.
I am pained.

Sitting outside the gate, I wait for my Mumma.
I am hungry and thirsty.
I start eating soil, grass and leftovers outside the building.
None of them tastes as good as milk which my Mumma gives everyday.
I start missing her even more.
I am nervous.

Its getting darker and colder here.
I don't see Mumma around. I start howling.
I see a lady coming towards me.
She picks up a fight with security to take me inside.
I am relieved to come inside. She drops me near my ground floor home.
She gives a bowl of warm milk too.I won't drink it.
I save it for my Mumma.
I am satisfied.

I am sleepy due to sadness.
Suddenly I hear my Mumma's voice.
Mumma tells me that she is sorry for coming late.
She has got biscuits for me to eat.
I show her the bowl of milk and tell her entire story.
Mumma is very happy that I remembered her instructions.
We start playing, forgetting that its midnight!
I am loved.

IF By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream- -and not make dreams your master;
If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! '

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- -nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And- -which is more- -you'll be a Man, my son!