For Haniya

Was it Chal Diye or Paimona? I cannot remember, but as I listened to the song, the driver decided to reverse on a highway, and I remember the truck behind filling up the back windowshield and then all I remember is looking down at the shattered glass crystals on my lap.

After that accident, for awhile, I would skip those two songs whenever I traveled. Maybe a year went past. Maybe two. Once, as the bus trudged through Uttarahalli, I thought why not, and played the two songs and as we waded through the traffic sludge, with every stop, the bus ride aligned my playlist back into its original shape.

We travel together, Zeb, Haniya, and I. They sing, the bus trundles, the scenery whizzes past the train window, and the traffic sits unmoving alongside the car. In a way, I never travel alone.

I don’t think it has sunk in yet. Haniya.

मुठी में तुम भींच लाना सावन हरा
एक धनक तुम भी तोड़ लाना फलक से ज़रा
मुठी मुठी बाँट लेंगे किरणों का कतरा
इक सिक्का धुप हमसे लेना गर कम लगा

बेतुक ही बेमतलब हंस ले हम
क्यूँ ना इस लम्हें में, हाँ, जी लें हम

चलो बाँट लें हम ज़िन्दगी
ज़रा आज यूँ कर लें
कहो क्या खयाल है

Abandoning reason, let us laugh,

And just in this moment, let us live.

Chalo, let’s share life,

Just today, let us,

Tell, what do you think?