To Sampooran Singh Kalra

Dear Sampooran Singh Kalraji,

Sat Sri Akal!

Nobody has got any problem with why you have changed your name or why you are always seen in a white kurta-pajama only or why you don’t appear as the judge in reality shows or why you are so bad at socializing or why you have not changed with time (and that means not having “commercialized” your writings to the demands).

The problem is with what you write. I mean why can’t you write in simple language using simple words? When others say “chaand ki choodiya” then you say “chaand ka gubbara”, when others say “baag mein ek phool khila hai” then you say “chaddi pahen ke phool khila hai”, when others say “zameen par kadamo ke nishaan” then you say “main hawa pe dhoondho uske nishan” and many more examples are there which I cant include in my tiny blog. And by the way, is it possible to say to any girl that “teri kamar ke bal se, nadi muda karti hai”? Any girl with an iota of self-esteem will slap her lover thinking that he believes that she’s so gigantic that she can even guide the river path!

Why it always has to be so abstract that people have to listen carefully at least 3-4 times before they understand what is written. Only if they understand. And what’s with this excessive love for moon that people have started calling you “Moon man”? Every other song you write has a direct or indirect reference to moon. Yeah we know that moon traditionally has a big role in romantic Indian tales but wouldn’t it be simpler to tell a girl that you look like a “chaand ka tukda” rather than saying something that you have to spend next 10 minutes explaining the meaning of?

Indians can boast of having read/heard great poets from Kabir to the recent crop of “commercial” writers. Many poets here started with a great promise but later succumbed to the demands of producer/director and ended making themselves a poor shadow of their past. But from “Mora gora ang le le” to “Dil to bachcha hai jee”, you have been able to hold on to signature style. You think you are so brave. Don’t you?

I think you should have been banned just after your first few writings only so that the next generations would have been spared from the unnecessary mental exercise. Your poetry starts with a liking and then become an obsession that makes people to refuse to accept anything lesser than your standards. And then there are people like me who say that we like your poetry so that we would sound offbeat and the ones who have a liking for something really different and incomprehensible for common man. The other reason is to impress the girls who think that we are so sensitive and as you know, poetry is one of the ways to win that special one!

Gulzar sa’ab, I just have one request. Please keep writing. And one wish. Would like to have a drink with you someday.

This one is from your self-confessed “chela” and my senior:

Zarre-zarre mein usi ka noor hai,
Jhaank khud mein, wo na tujhse door hai,
Ishq hai uss se toh sab se ishq kar,
Iss ibaadat ka yahi dastoor hai,
Isme-usme aur usme hai wahi,
Yaar mera har taraf bharpoor hai

Jiya Jale-Jaan Jale

Well, Gulzar sa’ab wrote these lines to evoke some other emotions in us but I’m using this title because I’m evoked by the weather to write this blog. The mercury has gone north wildly making life really terrible!
The last time I spent summer in my hometown was way back in 1997 when I’d just given the exams of my 10th grade. And I must say that was the last time I enjoyed the summer.
Then….
Morning: The day started at 5 when we used to wake up without any alarm to go to cricket ground. Playing 3-4 matches and sweating around was our way of saying good morning to the world. And yes, none of us has eaten anything yet.
Late morning to Noon: After 3 hours of cricket, a glass of milk to soothe the anger of my mom. It was now time for some swimming in Narmada for 3-4 hours. There was a special way in which we used to swim. We would go 150-200 meters upstream through the sidewalk and then jump from there and swim downstream with the flow. We would do this for at least 8-10 times!
Afternoon: There was a very beautiful park in our colony that was the ideal place for spending the whole afternoon. Carom and cards were the games, which we played in the park which involved heated discussions over the strategies for the inter-colony cricket match in the evening. Juices, sodas and ice creams were so much fun during the afternoons.
Evening: Again, 2-2.5 hours of cricket. But the evening cricket was competitive and it involved money. One match could have anything between 20 to 100 Rs riding on it. And if we won, we would go for “pani-puris” and “bhel-puris” to celebrate our victory!
Night to midnight: It was the badminton time in the night. And this was something about which every guy used to think the whole day in the back of his mind as this was that part of the day which involved spending time with gals;) Its so funny that we thought that a perfect back-hand shot would impress the gals! And hey, it sure did most of the times;)
From 5 in the morning to midnight, those were the days when we didn’t even know the word “exhaustion”. And this was the routine for more than 2 months.
And now…
I wake up every morning at 7 not because I’ve something to do or somewhere to go but because its time for scheduled power cut and I can’t sleep anymore. Then I spend next few hours deciding whether to go to Narmada for swimming or not. I go for swimming anyway, once or twice a week. I spend whole afternoon watching movies or IMT videos or FRIENDS on my Macbook . If someone’s keeping the score, I just completed all 10 seasons of Friends again (even I don’t remember the number of times I’ve watched it completely and of course Chandler is my favorite). I don’t even step out of my home the whole day. It’s only in newspaper that I read how hot it was yesterday. Only worthy thing I do in whole day is the after dinner walk with Tanu (my childhood buddy). And what’s amazing is that I don’t think even once about my new job and the new place I’m going to in few weeks! I anyway go to a new place to restart everything every two years.
Aren’t our days supposed to be more productive and meaningful, as we grow older? But it’s the other way round for me. And I’m sure it is not this way only for me but for many of us. Not only just summers but everything was different during our childhood. The “Jiya Jale, Jaan Jale” is not only because of weather. It’s also because of the way the whole meaning of summer has got changed. It used to be my favorite season once but now I wish everyday that Sun god get some beating from rain god soon.
Anyway, I got a chance to make my summer memorable but that was not to be that way and now I’ll surely make my winter memorable.

PS- Barely 4 months back, I was enjoying the snowfall in Manali and now I'm enjoying(?) summers! But the following video always comes to my rescue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFc6krPl7o