Photo credit: pxhere.com

(Translated from Hindi)


MORNING TEA
  Morning tea, sipped in the courtyard, listening to the chirping of birds on guava trees From the gusts of wind showers of bougainvillaea fall in streams cascading over them both. A dusty corner of the courtyard coloured in pink. They are reminded of a lovely song It had played on loop on their wedding day Baharon phool barsaao, mera mehboob aaya hai.
  ( Note: ‘O Spring, shower flowers; my beloved is here.’ A song from the Hindi film Suraj, 1966. The lyrics were written by Hasrat Jaipuri. It was sung by Mohammed Rafi and composed by Shankar Jaikishan.)
  WATCHING TRASH FILMS
  Watching trash films searching for a good paan shop munching on peanuts we will continue to live in this city. Sitting at home, my waist will widen several inches And reading proofs your eyesight will dim. Then like middle-aged couples we will reminisce our younger days. That we could never sleep without seeing the sea And so many nights were spent wandering in local buses.
  We will recall those friends, who were more interesting than even novels. We will remember Sadhana Hotel where we spent hours sipping each other while the tea went cold, lying around.
  This city will throw a wet towel on all our proactivity It will make us domesticated citizens slowly, this city.

   LIKE A FRAME ON THE WALL
  I will not stay put quietly like a frame on the wall Again and again, I will come back into your life Sometimes like the peppermint in paan, Sometimes like a grain of gravel in dal Sometimes my memory will hang from a broken button of your kurta Sometimes it will spread like ghee on round, puffed rotis.
  Whenever you look up an episode in the dusty queue of books you will find my references there. Without me, you could not even find a pen. How will you write without me?
  The way we are a part of each other’s map, nobody else can be. What all will you erase? My marks are on your life, everywhere!