The Two Faces of a Mirror

Mein tab chaar saal ka thaa, bhari jawani , aadha bachpan,
Mere bahar aangan mein ek tuti kursi padi thi ,
Ek sukha gamla , ek ukhra paththar
Kai saal dekhe the maine , kai partein ukhri , kai dali
Peeche gali ka paani mere kapdon ka dushman tha,
Kuch nahi mein tab bhi khush tha
Aaj dekha to aaine bhara padose hai
Aur baraah manjil ka bacha.
Mein kahan dekhoon un khalihanon ki haalat ,
Kahan rahi ab us bargad ki chahat
Ab baajaaron mein paththar nahi bikta
Sheesha sheesha mera aangan
Sheesha sheesha aadha jag.
Sunta hoon ,to rukta hoon
Kehte hain mein boodha hoon, kehte hain mein purana hoon.
Ab kahan mandir milte hain,
Mein bhi to andhe aainon se ghira hoon.
Mein ab bhi chaar saal ka hoon, bhari jawani , aadha bachpan.


Author’s Note: This poem is narrated by a building. The building tells about the past and the present comparing the two scenarios. When it was four years old it was in its adult stage but still it had memories of its construction. The broken chair, the dry pot and the upturned stone relates the scenario of an inhabited building which is left recently. The water in the backyard seeps into the walls but the building was still happy. Now in the present scenario the neighborhood is mostly glass which resembles to a room full of mirrors and in the front there’s a newly constructed twelve storey building. The tree and the fields actually are the symbols of a rural pattern of buildings and the importance of shade and green in neighborhood. The markets now don’t sell stone , instead the whole façade is of glass and half the world looks like its of glass because of the reflections of the sky and the earth. There was a time when a house was equivalent to a temple but now everywhere reality is standing with its eyes shut and surrounding each building with a question mark of its existence. In the last line the building tells that its still four years old because its destroyed and the memories are still with it.