Everyday Phenomenal

Life in Lucknow to me seems like a grand event all the time, attended by almost every important person of my personal life and career. There are celebrated authors, inspiring writers, and other famous artists. I fail to understand when people of my age say – What’s there in Lucknow – it’s a slow city.  It was earlier known as Awadh,  a city famous for its ‘tehzeeb’,  it has often been referred to as the “City of Pehle Aap. However,  in these modern times, “Pehle Aap” has almost lost its meaning and ‘Pehle Mai’ or ‘Pehle Hum’ appears to make more sense. To me, it seems like a movie where every second there is some action, some drama, lot of audiences, the crew, the stars dazzling the location. It is no less than a huge dreamlike set for me. Reporters from the media and flashbulbs go pop every second. Living anywhere in India, I feel one can instantly recognize if a person belongs to Lucknow or its surrounding culture since we use plural words such as ‘...

https://www.facebook.com/LucknowLiteratureCarnival Lucknow Literature Carnival was a grand event, attended by almost every important person in our city. There were celebrated authors, inspiring writers, and other famous artists. It seemed like a movie where every second there was some action, some drama, a lot of audiences, the crew, the stars dazzling the location. The whole thing was no less than a huge dreamlike set for me. There were reporters from the media and flashbulbs went pop every second. It was for the first time in my life that I was facing a crowd of at least 3000 people. Standing on the stage there, addressing them, with the spotlight on me, it all felt very surreal. I was nervous and my palms were slightly cold, but I managed to deliver my short, not rehearsed speeches with glitches only known to me and my team. Sometimes I just stood there in the auditorium, clad in a saree, feeling foolish, ill-prepared and very small. At times I stammered and mutt...

This morning, when I got up,  I wanted to write. I wanted to speak out loud all that happened to me this year and to this world like many others. A poem, a report, a story,  something that would tell this world that even though at times nothing has been great, but days have been kind ever since this year started.Days that I was busy with office, days that I stayed back at home, days that I went for a coffee, days that I decided to frown and cry, days that I fought with people and parted ways, days that I spent dancing in weddings, days that I dined out,  days that I met new people and did new projects, and then those days when I just wasted days over posting Instagram stories.  December is coming to an end and I still can't find words to express my inner craziness. While I flip the pages of my book and keeping an eye on my phone notification, curled up in my bed, I just wish the coming year  stays kind to me if not more, then equally kind as this year. ...

मेरे चेहरे की लकीरें पढ़ने की आदत है तुम्हे , दिल के अंदर झांक के देखा होता तो बात ही कुछ और होती। .... इन होठों की हरकतों पे तो गौर किया तुमने , निगाहों की गहराईयों को समझा होता तोह बात ही कुछ और होती। …  हाल चाल तो रोज़ ही पूछ लिया करते हो तुम , कुछ दिल की बात बताने का मौका दिया होता तो बात ही कुछ और होती। ....  दोस्ती निभाना इतना आसान नहीं मेरे दोस्त , ये एक खूबसूरत एहसास है , इस एहसास को महसूस किया होता तो बात ही कुछ और होती। …  फूलों जैसा रिश्ता हमारा , कुछ काँटों का भी ख्याल किया होता तो बात ही कुछ और होती। …। 

मेरी तन्हाइयाँ ....  मेरी तन्हाइयाँ  चुप रहती हैं  फ़िर भी न जाने क्यूँ मुझे लगता है  जैसे ये मुझसे कुछ कहती हैं ....  छलछलाती नदियाँ जैसे ,शांत है सागर ऐसे ही मेरी तन्हैयाँ मेरे मन में बहती हैं  काश मै समझ पाती क्या ये मुझसे कहती हैं ! हर पल ,हर वक़्त ,ये मेरी आँखों में बस्ती हैं  हर ख़ुशी,जीवन का हर दुःख ये मेरे साथ ही सहती हैं  चुप रहती हैं फिर भी मेरी तन्हाइयाँ  मुझसे कुछ कहती हैं.…।  हर चाहतें ,हर तमन्नाएँ लगता है जैसे पूरी हो गयीं  या कि मेरे मन में चुप चाप ही कहीं सो गयीं  मेरे मन में अब भी कोरी आशाएँ बहती हैं  चुप रहती हैं फिर भी मेरी तन्हाइयाँ,  मुझसे कुछ कहती हैं। 

It's not just meeting friends, but being a part of the Alumni association motivates us to pay back our alma mater.   “A smile, a tear, a hug, a cheer, little conversations, and the associations, it’s the best way of giving back to the school and your teachers who shaped your life,” With the complexities of life catching up with everyone at some stage, with all the pressure and numerous expectations, everyone wants to go down the memory lane and recall school and college days where life was pure bliss. There, friends were just friends and life was more beautiful than the best of present luxuries. As I sit down to write about our First ever official Study Hall Alumni Meet -June 2013, the first thing that I would like to pen down is my thanks to our Dear Urvashi aunty, for providing us this opportunity, Shalini Aunty and Meenakshi aunty for their great support, Suparna aunty and Anuradha aunty for their belief in us and the council. How can I miss my teammates, the co...

“Sometimes it gets difficult to get there, to reach till the end while there are some who have no problems in abandoning a book halfway through” I couldn’t agree more when Seema Goswami quoted this somewhere. Like her, I also belong to the    “I’ve started so I’ll finish” group of readers taking every book I read as a journey that I have to complete from the start till the end. Like the seven colors of the rainbow, every book adds more shades to my life and to my words. Of late, someone suggested me to read Fifty Shades of Grey, By E L James. The book had its own fan following and the buzz I could hear from everywhere. I thought it could be interesting and I wanted to know what all the hype was about. So I started reading it. The plot seemed intriguing and I was happy that I will have a comfortable journey till the end. Classified as erotic fiction, the book was written by British author, with characters Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele is written in three parts and was pu...