Courtesy, a true blue nostalgic Bhopali, who love’s John Denver’s soulful lyrics and shoots photos at the drop of a hat -

All my bags are packed I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There’s so many times I’ve let you down
So many times I’ve played around
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing
Every place I go, I’ll think of you
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for you
When I come back, I’ll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go …

- John Denver

…and if you have not already heard this song, you can catch it on YouTube.

Well, I am still packing my bags, but the time to leave is not so distant. I’ll leave for Stanford on morning of (not so spooky) Saturday the 13th. I still got to buy my $$$$ and wind-up my act here. Ever heard of being happy and sad at the same time…?

PS: Above lonesome, melancholic and romantic photo is a continuation of the “parting-shots” series of Upper Lake, Bhopal that were taken by me on August 31, 2008. I have a few more of them coming up..

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

- Edgar Allan Poe

I have witnessed some of the most beautiful mornings, days, evenings and nights in this city. Its lush green, especially in the areas I have lived in. Its adorned with many lakes, Upper Lake (Bada Taalab), Lower Lake, Shahpura, Kaliasot Dam.. which are great places to hang out and make Bhopal a paradise for morning walkers. I can not count the number of times, I have just went to any of the above lakes, just to hang out with friends, for morning walks, for being alone, or with someone special. This is where I bought my first bike (A blue 150cc Bajaj Pulsar – motorcycle), and drove it on the perfect curves and open roads in pure bliss. This is the place I’ll always root for. Bhopal.. the city of my dreams.

PS: Above photo is of Upper Lake, Bhopal and was taken by me on August 31, 2008. I’ll be posting more from the same day in coming posts.

Sometimes, words really do weave magic and are enough to transform how you were feeling upto a point completely. Here’s a sweet romantic Urdu poem (Gazhal) by Jan Nissar Akhtar -

Mauj-e-gul, mauj-e-sabaa, mauj-e-sahar lagti hai
sar se paoon tak vo samaan hai ki nazar lagti hai

Humne har ghum sajdon e jalaaye hain chiraag
ab teri rehguzaar rehguzaar lagti hai

Lamhe lamhe mein basi hai teri yaadon ki mahak,
Aaj ki raat to khushbu ka safar lagti hai…

Jal gaya apna nasheman to koi baat nahi
dekhanaa yeh hai ki ab aag kidhar lagti hai

Saari duniyaa mein Garibon ka lahu bahataa hai
har zamin mujhko mere Khuun se tar lagti hai

Vaqyaa shehar mein kal to koi aisa na hua
yeh to “Akhtar” ke daftar ki Khabar lagti hai

Thanks to this particularly romantic & nostalgic entry “Yaad” on Rachna’s blog Bitter Chocolate for pointing out the above beautiful gazhal.

Explore (especially the forums) -

• Urdu Poet – www.urdupoet.net
• Shayri – www.shayri.com

I have recently started reading good poetry, partly because I was searching for something good to write in my farewell letter, and partly because of some other reasons. So, I came across this beautiful poem recently, and I can only wish that someday I will be able to write something even remotely as good as this -

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Want more ? Here ya go -

• Top 50 Poems – Famous Poets & Poems
• Top Favorite Poems List
• Plagiarist.com’s Top 50 Most Viewed Poems
• Top 40 Poems at American Poems

I plan to post more of my favourite poems here, so keep watching!