Saturday, April 27, 2013

Vincent

I think I finally understand why Van Gogh is who he is. It was strange but i had tears running down my eyes when I was looking at his paintings. Then I saw one of my Bangladeshi photojournalist friends had gone off to a corner
and he was actually crying. I think Vincent's work runs on two levels. For many he's just the bright shades and bold strokes. For the others, he's the place we call soul. It almost feels like he'd ripped his soul
open for us to see and when we didn't see what he had to offer, he decided to call it the end. It's the most powerful experience I have ever felt in an art museum. I mean, I have seen English painters' works in
the UK you know. But this was a completely different feeling. It made you want to weep for this man as you looked at all the colours, shapes and contours he had captured while he was bleeding within.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

a day of doing nothing

streets stretch before me 
like they would take me 
anywhere i want to go

When little ones leave

Dear Kali,

I lost one of your little ones today to a reckless truck driver. Life for puppies in this country never goes beyond a few months. Especially, for those left on the streets to battle every little thing humans throw their way. I don't know what might have given your little pup a better life. I don't know if he would have been happier in this neighbourhood with his brother. But I'd like to think he was happy in this brief life in Chitwan, chasing after the birds, making friends with other dogs in the neighbourhood and never experiencing the chains. I hope he had a short and happy life, if there is a thing like that.

I have never been able to forget how you looked into my eyes, when KAT center was taking you away. We both knew you were dying. When I heard about your little one today, I hoped he had been reunited with you.

Rest in peace, you two.

P 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lazimpat memories

i do not have a memory of your face anymore.
but i do remember the time 
we said goodbye
-my tea only half finished
my nose
stuffed and eyes running
and you walking away,
shoulders hunched 

Monday, March 11, 2013

To your friendship

When summer stumbles
out of my closet
and winter finds a corner
to tuck itself in

you peep at me in bold prints,
bright shades
of skirts and t-shirts,
and in the form of a scarf
stowed away in the shelf
to re-appear
the day my slumping shoulders
need some warmth

what will be these roads
with the heartbeats
leading us to where the miles run off?

-we will think of
our tears mingling
and soaking into
one another's chest
-we will dream
of laughter
that spilled
out of souls
that will never be afraid to love
and perhaps hurt


what will these days be
without or without,
when we've already found
a place
in each other,
to stay?

Monday, February 25, 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

reprieve

someday 
we shall follow
the lining of the clouds
with eyes that dream of rain

and know that absences are not about the sky
but the things that scatter over it
always fetching
little moments to the memory

Zuberi and I

I asked: Do heartbreaks hurt less as we age?  You said: I think as you get older - the current heartbreak is not as intense, but the collect...