कितनी बेहतर थी....

तुमने दूर जाकर ये कैसा सितम ढाया मुझपर
तुम्हारी खिच खिच की तासीर,  कितनी बेहतर थी
मैं परेशान तुम हैरान, रिश्ता फिर भी जिंदा था
साथ रहकर ज़िन्दगी की तदबीर, कितनी बेहतर थी

सोचा न था फिसल जाओगे, रेत की तरहा मेरे हाथों से
सोचा न था, यूँ दूर निकल जाओगे, दूसरी राहों से
जो बुनते थे ख्वाबों के आशियाने कितने कीमती थे
जो बनाते थे हवाओं में तस्वीर, कितनी बेहतर थी

अब यह खुली हवाएं रास नहीं आती मुझको
अब यह रंग बिरंगी फ़िजाएँ रास नहीं आती मुझको
रात भर गूंजते ये सन्नाटे कितने बदतर हैं 
तेरे बंधन, तेरी गिरफ्त, वो ज़ंजीर, कितनी बेहतर थी

क्यूँ कर है ऐसी जुस्तजू

क्यूँ कर है ऐसी जुस्तजू
जिस पर खुद मैं भी हैरान हूँ
कहते हैं की कहते क्यूँ नहीं
सोचता हूँ की कहूं तो कैसे कहूं

वो दूर दूर से ताकना कब तलक
वो झूटे भरम का रखना कब तलक
तोड़ के ये डोर, उड़ती पतंग सा फिरूं
या वही ख़ामोशी, ओड़ कर चुप ही रहूँ

जो कर दी बयां, वो चाहत कैसी
जो हो गयी अयाँ, वो इबादत कैसी
छुपा कर भी रखूँ तो क्यूँ रखूँ
चिल्ला कर भी कह दूं तो क्यूँ कहूं



   

अधूरी तस्वीर...

जो तेरे साथ रह कर न बनी, वो तस्वीर आज तक अधूरी है
जो थी दरमियान हमारे, बरकरार आज तक वो दूरी है
खींच कर ले आई ज़िन्दगी दूर तुझसे, बा-हयात
उस वक़्त वो जिद थी मेरी, और आज फ़क़त मजबूरी है

अब अश्क बहते नहीं हैं, जम से जाते हैं
लम्हें भी चलते नहीं, बस थम से जाते हैं
सुर्खियाँ चेहरे पर, अब स्याह सुफेद पड़ गयी हैं
गुज़रे वक़्त की शिनाख्त, क्यूँ लाजिमी, क्यूँ ज़रूरी है ...

लौटने की राह...और...तन्हा सफ़र

अब निकल ही आया हूँ अकेला इस राह पर

तो लौटने की राह अब क्या तलाशूँ

तन्हा सफ़र का इरादा भी मेरा था 

तन्हा सफ़र का खामियाज़ा भी मेरा है

समंदर की चाह, बहा तो लाई नदी के साथ साथ
न पतवार, न कश्ती, न अब साहिल ही है मेरे हाथ
उफ़नती लहरों में तैरने की हसरत भी मेरी थी
ठहरे पानी में डूबने का इरादा भी मेरा है 

हैरान हूँ क्या पाया ही था, जिसके खोने की उदासी है
परेशान हूँ, कुछ छिन गया, या मिलना बाकी है 
कल चौराहे पर, वो लाश भी मेरी थी
आज कंधों पर, वो जनाज़ा भी मेरा है 

 -शारिब

FACEBOOKISM – A New Religion....going full throttle

What?...you are not on FB…are you crazy…how do you manage then???

Contrary to what I thought that someone of that caliber would appreciate my non-existence on a social networking platform, which in my opinion was a complete nuisance. However, I just realized that I expressed a rather distasteful and biased opinion in front of another avid fan and follower of new religion called Facebookism…

It was a JetLite flight back to Hyderabad and seat next to me was occupied by a middle aged gentlemen who headed Southeastern Region for an IT Major.

It seems like yesterday only when Orkut was buzzword and then all of a sudden, one fine morning, it got flipped and Facebook, not only took its place, but captured the whole territory with utmost diligence, almost overshadowing every other networking platform and reducing all other opponents in the bout…to almost non-existent entity with Orkutting being reduced and referred as if belongs to stone age.

Twitter is a close competitor but after FBs decision to launch $10bn IPO, it surpassed Google and Yahoo in many aspects (capturing 16.3% ads revenue approx $7bn). The company has 850 million users, more than the combined populations of the US, Brazil and Mexico……do I need to clarify more why it is a religion in itself..

I agree to what most people appreciate that this is one of the best channel to stay connected and share your snaps, videos and even thoughts to an extent, however, the only thing that puzzles me a lot is how can anyone be so free to update their day to day activities. let me correct that...it’s not only day to day, rather in some cases…it’s done on hourly basis…people stay logged in 24X7, irrespective of whether they respond to your pings or not…the idea is to showcase that they are online as if they get points for that…

Then there comes updates like -> 'heading for the airport', 'about to reach', 'checking in', 'got the boarding pass', 'queued up for security clearance', (haven’t noticed it yet if someone went to that extent where he updated that he was asked to take his pants down for checking…..but don’t be surprised..if it is there tomorrow for anyways..this religion is still evolving). The it continues with ---- 'Taken the seat' and finally 'On the runway'....'was asked to switch off the devices..so next update on landing'…I am seriously awed at, not for the ones who love to update these kinda stuff but for those, who follow it and keep on pressing the button “LIKE”. I wonder the day will come soon when you will be able to find updates on a bad tummy and number of visits to the restrooms as well :-) and there will be folks who will continue to press “LIKE”

I tried checking with many disciplined followers and disciples, if they get some rewards point how many LIKES do they get for whatever crap they post, but, to my dismay..it wasn’t the case but I still suspect..there is something that I am missing on….

I am pretty confident about another theorem about this likes…An update from a lady (no matter what crap) will get at-least 5 times more LIKES and 2 times more comments then any nice/informative update done by any XYZ guy…and don’t ask me reason as even I am simply as clueless as you are. I have seen updates like “Oh no..s.s.” and “Eating sweets” getting 78 likes and 24 comments whereas when I tried writing something real nice, spiritual n straight from the heart…there were 4 likes and 1 and just 1, not so good comment. Someone updated that he broke off with his BF and there were 37 LIKES along with 16 new proposals including comments like “awww..poor you”, “don’t worry, I am there for you” and just like me, when another poor guy, tried imitating, he got nice feeds such as “learn to be trustworthy”, “must be your fault” and “guys are like this only”

Alright...that reminds me of one more instance … A petite looking gal posting “Missing Mom” and there were whopping 121 LIKES and 53 comments including all kinds of comforting line...”have a heart”, “me too”, “Cheer Up” and one smart lad followed the line and received responses like “rote hi rehna zindagi bhar”, “abey bada kab hoga tu” and my favourite one “mar jaa manhoos”….and guess what..those LIKES continued..unabated beat that…

Trust me…there are folks. Who are living completely in the FB world and irrespective of whether they fold their hands in front of an idol or not, these followers literally start their day visiting FB page in the morning, followed by afternoon and finally at the day end; without any fail…

Are you still contemplating why am I referring it as a NEW RELIGION??