Savor Life!

It was a cold, blustery December evening; the year was 2007 I think. Me and few of my colleagues occupied doing something so usual; squashing breasts and breaking legs at some local roadside (dhaba) restaurant, mapping grandeur of our futuristic but nonexistent start-ups. Slightly irrational, majorly unrefined and completely unconventional.. everything appeared so normal. And then, we felt one baba standing at some distance from us. He was in his advanced age. Short, ragged and severely unprotected, perhaps unfed for at least a couple of days. Soon we realized that he wasn't really a beggar, as his pushcart was parked a couple of meters away from his place. Calm and quiet, we didn't know for how long he had been here watching us without uttering a single word.

Friend: "Jii baba, kuch chahiye?"

Baba without saying anything singled 'one' with his finger

My friend read his clue and offered one naan to him

At that very moment, one middle age woman equally ragged came rushing towards us and stopped right next to baba. This usually happens that when you try to help someone poor, the others (either really deprived or mere impostors) who always have their eyes in, sprint towards you to try out their chances. I won't call it a business but this can be one way of living. And something similar had happened here..

Woman: "Beta, kuch roti dila do, ghar pe bachey bhukey hain.."

My friend looked at us and smiled.. "Lo bhaiye.. aik aur.. Jao amma maaf kero!"

What happened then came crashing on us, trouncing our intellectually inflated minds, humbling us to our deepest core..

That baba who appeared so helpless, who quite evidently seemed starving, who himself had asked us for food, tore into two that single piece of bread we had offered him and extended it to that woman. It was stunning, I can not explain the sheer power of that moment. He smiled at her, kept his half bread in his handbag and walked away..

---------

Nature has its own ways to reveal magnanimity.. Life is not just a cluster of meek, cagey familiarities.. Greatness comes in all form..

I

Have

Learned

So much from God

That I can no longer

Call

Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,

a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself

With me

That I can no longer call myself

A man, a woman, an angel,

Or even a pure

Soul.

Love has

Befriended Hafiz so completely

It has turned to ash

And freed

Me

Of every concept and image

my mind has ever known.

- Hafiz

Colored Toys

When I bring to you colored toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds, on water,
and why flowers are painted in tints
When I sing to make you dance
I truly know why there is music in leaves,
and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands
I know why there is honey in the cup of the flowers
and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice
When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling,
I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light,
and what delight that is which the summer breeze brings to my body
when I kiss you to make you smile.

- Tagore

Husn e Haqiqi - Beauty of Truth

Ai husne haqiqi noor e azal	O' Beauty of Truth, the Eternal Light!
Tenu waajib te imkaan kahun	Do I call you necessity and possibility,
Tenu khalik zaat qadeem kahun	Do I call you the ancient divinity,
Tenu haadis khalq jahan kahun	The One, creation and the world,
Tenu mutlaq mehez wajood kahun	Do I call you free and pure Being,
Tenu almiya ayaan kahun	Or the apparent lord of all,
Arvaah nafoos aqool kahun	Do I call you the souls, the egos and the intellects,
Ashbaa iyaan nehaan kahun	The imbued manifest, and the imbued hidden,
Tenu ain haqeeqat maahiyat	The actual reality, the substance,
Tenu arz sifat te shaan kahun	The word, the attribute and dignity,
Anvaah kahun auzaah kahun	Do I call you the variety, and the circumstance,
Atvaar kahun auzaan kahun	The demeanor, and the measure,
Tenu arsh kahun aflaak kahun	Do I call you the throne and the firmament,
Tenu naaz naeem janaan kahun	And the demurring delights of Paradise,
Tenu tat jamaad nabaat kahun	Do I call you mineral and vegetable,
Haivaan kahun insaan kahun	Animal and human,
Tenu masjid mandir dair kahun	Do I call you the mosque, the temple, the monastery,
Tenu pothi te quran kahun	The scriptures, the Quran,
Tasbeeh kahun zunnaar kahun	The rosary, the girdle,
Tenu kufr kahun imaan kahun	Godlessness, and faith,
Tenu baadal barkha gaaj kahun	Do I call you the clouds, the flash, the thunder,
Tenu bijli te baraan kahun	Lightning and the downpour,
Tenu aab kahun kahun tenu khaak kahun	Water and earth,
Tenu baad kahun neeraan kahun	The gust and the inferno,
Tenu dasrat lichman raam kahun	Do I call you Lakshmi, and Ram,
Tenu sita ji janaan kahun	and the lovely Sita
Baldev jasuda nand kahun	Baldev, Shiv, Nand, and Krishna,
Tenu kishan kanhaya kaan kahun	kishan, kanhaiyaa and kaan
Tenu barhma bishan ganesh kahun	Brahma, Vishnu and Ganesh,
Mahadev kahun bhagvaan kahun	Mahadev and Bhagvaan,
Teni geet granth te bed kahun	Do I call you the Gita, the Granth, and the Ved,
Tenu gyaan kahun agyaan kahun	Knowledge and the unknowable,
Tenu ibrahim hawa shees kahun	Do I call you Abraham, Eve and Seth,
Tenu nooh kahun tufaan kahun	Noah and the deluge,
Tenu ibrahim khaleel kahun	Abraham the friend,
Tenu musa bin imran kahun	and Moses son of Amran,
Tenu har dil da dildaar kahun	darling of every heart
Tenu ahmad aalishaan kahun	And Ahmad the glorious
Tenu shaahid malk hijaaz kahun	Do I call you the witness, the Lord, or Hejaz,
Tenu baais kaun makaan kahun	The awakener, existence, or the point,
Tenu naaz kahun andaaz kahun	Do I call you admiration or prognosis,
Tenu hoor pari ghilmaan kahun	Nymph, fairy, and the young lad,
Tenu nouk kahun tenu ttouk kahun	The tip and the nip,
Tenu surkhi beerha paan kahun	And the redness of betel leaves,
Tenu tabla te tamboor kahun	The Tabla and Tanpura,
Tenu dholak surr te taan kahun	The drum, the notes and the improvisation,
Tenu husn te haar singhaar kahun	Do I call you beauty and the fragrant flower,
Tenu ashwa ghamza aan kahun	Coyness and that amorous glance,
Tenu ishq kahun tenu ilm kahun	Do I call you Love and knowledge,
Tenu vehem yaqeen gumaan kahun	Superstition, belief, and conjecture,
Tenu husn kavi idraak kahun	The beauty of power, and conception,
Tenu zauk kahun wajdaan kahun	Aptitude and ecstasy,
Tenu sakar kahun sakraan kahun	Do I call you intoxication and the drunk,
Tenu hairat te hairaan kahun	Amazement and the amazed,
Tasleem kahun talveen kahun	Submission and the connection,
Tamkeen kahun irfaan kahun	Compliance and Gnosticism,
Tenu sumbal sosan sarv kahun	Do I call you the Hyacinth, the Lilly, and the Cypress,
Tenu nargis nafarmaan kahun	And the rebellious Narcissus,
Tenu laale daagh te baagh kahun	The bereaved Tulip,
Gulzaar kahun bustaan kahun	the Rose garden, and the orchard,
Tenu khanjar teer tufang kahun	Do I call you the dagger, the lance, and the rifle,
Tenu barcha bank sanaan kahun	The hail, the bullet, the spear,
Tenu teer khidang kamaan kahun	The arrows made of white poplar, and the bow,
Soofaar kahun peekaan kahun	The arrow-notch, and the arrowhead,
Berang kahun bemisal kahun	Do I call you colorless, and unparalleled,
Besoorat har har aan kahun	Formless in every instant,
Subooh kahun qudoos kahun	Glory and holiness,
Rehman kahun subhaan kahun	Most glorious and most compassionate,
Kar taubaa tart Fareed sada	Repent now Farid forever!
Har sheh nu par nuksaan kahun	For whatever I may say is less,
Tenu paak alakh be aib kahun	Do I call you the pure and the humane,
Tenu haq be naam nishaan kahun	The Truth without trace or name.