The Dream

 Long ago she made a promise to herself, to never show her soft soul to the world. 
Every day she would get up and put her poker face on, the one that does not understand any emotions, that would not cry no matter what, that should not show that she too can melt like a stick of butter in the warmth of love.

She faked it for so long that she began forgetting her true self, even with her own people her loved ones, her friends, her family she would never let the real her be seen through the mask.

Inside though, she would suffocate and cry to breathe in her own skin. But wearing her emotions on her sleeve was too big of a risk!
What if someone touches the string of her heart? She would fall in love with the harmony this touch would create? What if she would get lost in that rhythm and forget her real goal? No! She must never reveal the real her.

Facing the real world with a poker face was like climbing 100 stairs everyday catching up to her breath, with every step, but there was a world beyond, where no one judges her, where she could be the person she really wants to be.

The coziness and warmth of her bed, her little pillow cloud had some magic. Her dreamland became her real world.  She can cuddle her mom and cry a river for the failures in life. It felt so easy to just accept that  she too feels fear, sorrow and love. Here she can have that sparkling eyes filled with love.

Her big feminist ego would not restrict her to imagine her head resting on a man's shoulder, her head calm composed, as if everything is going to be all right.

Amused with the other side of her, she would always smile like a sleeping beauty while asleep. Ticked with the imagination, she would cuddle her pillow tight and let her dream world take over.

Everyday was a challenge but dreams were, what gave her the inspiration to move ahead.  

Time flew fast and there came the day she had worked so hard for, and it almost felt complete. Almost. That was it. Where to go next? She had had no clue. All she ever wanted was right in front of her, a career, name, respect, everything! Everything, but the dream that always made her smile.

It was time! The air around her got warmer, her shoulders felt so light, like she had shed tons of weight off them, the wrinkles on her forehead faded, her eyebrows were soft.

She closed her eyes and there it was, her head resting on a broad shoulder....

 It felt like a dream, she opened her twinkling eyes to meet the man in the eye and leaned back on his shoulder again.
She can take all the time in the world to enjoy the moment... he is not going anywhere, and it is not a dream anymore, that would fade away next morning. 

Ek Baat ..

 उलझी उलझी सी क्यों रहती हो आजकल


 इन लटों को सुलझाओ तो कोई बात कहूं 




बुनती रहती  हो जो ख्यालो के जाल दिनभर


उन सपनो से बाहर  आओ तो बात कहूं




कुरेदती हो छुपे दबे ज़ख्मो को अक्सर


उन पर मिटटी  डाल पाओ तो बात कहूं




जो अमीट सी आग जलाए रहती हो भीतर


संतोष की शीत से बुझाओ तो बात कहूं




खुशिया खोजते गुज़र जाती है ज़िन्दगी कई


ख़ुशी मैं भी तू खुश न रह पाए तो क्या बात कहूं