Counter Strike
My take on the things and events in the world.

Dua

Monday, October 20, 2008
The actual meaning of Dua is prayer. But I tend to think of it as just a wish. Being a non-believer that's the only way I can explain this poem of mine. I haven't prayed to God for years now and neither do I have any intentions to do so in the foreseeable future. But as they say, there is a God-shaped hole in all of us and sometime or the other we try to fill this God-shaped hole with something similar to it. This was probably my time to do it. To add to the rarity of the situation I wrote it to wish someone happy birthday. I normally don't remember anniversaries let alone making sure to wish even my near and dear ones. I even don't like to celebrate my own birthday and find it a little embarrassing when people wish me or make me blow the candles or cut the cake. Anyhow, I wrote it. So this long preface is a kind of confession made to those who would find this poem very unlike-me. Also, I wanted to write a congratulatory poem but that's all I could write:

Kya dua doon tumhe main aaj yahi sochta hoon
Har dua lagta hai ki khud ko hi de raha hoon main

Gar kahoon khush raho, muskuraao, sadaa abaad raho
Muskurate ho tum, tabhi to has raha hoon main

Jo kahoon umr-e-daraaz pao tum hazaar baras
Dekh kar tumko hi toh duniya mein jee raha hoon main

Kya dua doon tumhe main aaj yahi sochta hoon
Har dua lagta hai ki khud ko hi de raha hoon main...
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If You Could Read My Mind...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
It has been quite some time now since I last updated my blog. It isn't that I have been too busy to write or didn't find any topic worth a post. In fact there are a lots of issues that wanted to write about. A lot has been happening on the political front and in my personal life. I hate to admit this but I just couldn't get my act together. It was pure laziness in most cases. Also, somehow I am unable to complete any artistic work in last 3-4 months. Even if I leave alone my unfinished portrait, the only poem I could finish in this time was about someone very close to me. And even that person didn't like it. Hooo... So here I am, writing about a song that deeply touched my heart. It was written by Gordon Lightfoot at a time when he was going though a divorce with his first wife. I was listening to it almost daily. And guess what, I just got inspired and decided to wave a poem around the thoughts that this amazing work invoked. But now, I don't think I would be able to finish it either. But I can obviously share something that someone else was able to finish:

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see.

If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take!

I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let's be real;
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feeling's gone
And I just can't get it back.

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong.
With chains upon my feet.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back!

(Source: http://gordonlightfoot.com/ifyoucouldreadmymind.shtml)

Here is the man himself singing it live.



And a more recent adaptation.



Its amazing! Isn't it? The lines that bowled me over:

Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take!

And if you read between the lines,
You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back!

I have made a fresh start now. Lets hope I am able to get it back. I would really like to keep publishing my thoughts regularly.
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