Mehfil-e-Khaas

"Gulon mein rang bhare" ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Faiz Ahmad Faiz Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-nau-bahaar chale chale bhi aao ki gulshan ka karobar chale Qafas udaas hai yaaron saba se kuchh to kaho kahin to bahr-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale Kabhi to subah tire kunj-e-lab se ho aaghaz kabhi to shab sar-e-kakul se mushk-baar chale Bada hai dard ka rishta yeh dil gharib sahi tumhare naam pe aayenge gham-o-saar chale Jo hum pe guzri so guzri magar shab--e-hijraan humare ashk teri aqibat sanvaar chale Huzur-e-yaar huyi daftar-junun ki talab girah mein le ke garebaan ka taar taar chale Maqam 'faiz' koi raah mein jacha hi nahi jo ku-e-yaar se nikle to su-e-daar chale ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Ghazal: Faiz Ahmad Faiz " Hum Dekhenge " Lazim hai ke hum bhi dekhenge wo din ke jiska wada hai Jo lauh-e-azl mein likha hai "Hum Dekhenge" Jab Zulm-o-sitam ke koh-e-garan rooi ki tarah udd jayenge hum mehkumon ke ...

A Poem For Grandmother ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ A Poem by Ranjit Hoskote A door. A stair. And two steps inside that dark, the straight-backed chair my grandmother sat in, a lace net draped across its mahogany arm. And on the table, a volume of stories open at the flyleaf, its tissue quill-scarred. The photographs seal her in a shell of relations: the sepia corset would have her no more than an empress delegating domestic chores; in this room, imagine her gravely accepting tributes of porcelain and sparkling brass or setting tiger lilies afloat in bowls, or stocking pots of pickled mango in the attic of summer. But the wrong word kills, and empress is wrong, an acrid graft on a delicate stock. Empire was never her creed: grandmother had to learn the principles of governance from practised hands. She had to whet the brusque words of command on waspish crones in the inner courtyard, had to tame the peacocks in the garden and dry the raisins of tact with...

Sweet Sixteen ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ A poem By  Eunice de Souza Well, you can’t say they didn’t try. Mamas never mentioned menses. A nun screamed: You vulgar girl don’t say brassieres say bracelets. She pinned paper sleeves onto our sleeveless dresses. The preacher thundered: Never go with a man alone Never alone and even if you’re engaged only passionless kisses. At sixteen, Phoebe asked me: Can’t it happen when you’re in a dance hall I mean, you know what, getting preggers and all that, when you’re dancing? I, sixteen, assured her you could. ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Poem By: Eunice de Souza

Ms.Militancy ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ A poem By Meena Kandasamy She thought she was dying—ants crawled under her flaking skin, migraines visited her at mealtimes, her tender-as-tomato breasts bruised to touch, her heart forgot its steady beat. Floundering at forty, she twisted safety pins into spirals, chewed on pencil-ends, tore down calendars, became a hurricane about the house. That wetness, with its lunar reek, never came. Her monthly drip had disappeared. Her no-money man was back home by then— ditched and duped by his dancer mistress. She forgave that bitch, buried the bad blood between, gave him her anklet of rubies to sell and begin some business with. He went. A week later, she received his body bag With the executioner's seal on the toe tag. She stormed the palace, flung her other anklet at the bloody throne. The royals too saw the red. The king died of shame, the queen died of shock. On the edge, Ms. Militancy bayed for more blood. Ve...

A poem ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Softly, first, over egg bhurji and juice— this country is losing her soul, because a man in a wheelchair is beaten for not standing to the national anthem, because breakfast was once a noble affair, not this litany of selfies. I know it’s ridiculous to think countries have souls, that this one could be feminine. I know I should have faith in happiness and child wonders, who will rid plastic from the earth. Oh yes, I know the possibility of a person coming to their knees at an airport, crying, Who am I, is high, and most people will walk by because time is always calling. We must believe everything will be all right because people are still having babies and taking them to the sea. So what if a man is slaughtered and set alight for love, for a slab of dead cow, for reasons sacred? So what if the waters are rising, and those seas will soon be upon us? We must live in the moments we’re given. Louder now, in the lobby...

Bharat ka yeh reshmi nagar ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Bharat dhoolon se bhara, aansuon se geela, bhaarat ab bhi vipatti ke ghere mein, Dilli mein to hai khoob jyoti ki chehel pehel, par, bhatak raha hai sara desh andhere mein, reshmi kalam se bhaagya-lekh likhnewaalon, tum bhi abhaav se kabhi grast ho roye ho? beemaar kisi bacche ki dawa jutaane mein, tum bhi kya ghar bhar pet baandhkar soye ho? asahaay kisaano ki kismat ko kheton mein, kya jal mein bah jaate dekha hai? kya khayenge? yeh soch niraash se paagal, bechaaron ki nirav rah jate dekha hai? dekha hai graamon ki anek rambhaavon ko, jinki aabha par dhool abhi tak chhayi hai? reshmi deh par jin abhaaginon ki ab tak resham kya? saadi sahi nahi chadh payi hai, par tum nagaron ke laal, ameeron ke putle, kyon vyatha bhagyheeno ki man mein laaoge? jalta ho saara desh, kintu, hokar adheer tum daud-daudkar kyon yeh aag bujhaaoge? chinta ho bhi kyon tumhe, gaon ke jalne se, dilli mein to rotiyan kam nahi hoti hai...

Jaago fir ek baar ↞↜⇜⥳⬲⥵⇝↝↠ Jaago fir ek baar pyar jagaate huye haare sab taare tumhe arun-pankh tarun-kiran khadi kholti hai duwaar jaago fir ek baar Aankhen aliyon si kis madhu ki galiyon mein fansi, band kar paakhen pi rahi hai madhu maun athva soyi kamal-korakon mein? band ho raha gunjaar jaago fir ek baar Astaachal chale ravi, shashi-chhavi vibhaavari mein chitrit huyi hai dekh yaminigandha jagi, ektak chakor-kor darshan-priya, aashaaon bhari maun bhasa bahu bhavmayi gher raha chandra ko chaav se shishir-bhaar-vyaakul kul khule phool jhuke huye, aaya kaliyon mein madhur mad-ur-yauvan ubhaar jaago fir ek baar pioo-rav papihe priya bol rahe, sej par virah-vidagdha vadhu yaad kar beeti baatein, raatein man-milan ki moond rahi palke chaaru nayan jal dhal gaye laghutar kar vyatha-bhaar jaago fir ek baar sa-hriday sameer jaise ponchhon priya, nayan neer shayan-shithil baahein bhar svapnil aavesh mein, aat...