Mean Streak

It was upto Saad to discover the 'mean streak' in me. :)

'There is a mean streak in anyone who will destroy another's faith.'

[Quoted in a letter to Einstein]

Labyrinth of Love

Drawn by Saad Javed

Is my love life really so complicated? Hmm... that's not so complicated! :D

The Duo

Awais and Saad

'... one tall and slender, the other short and fat. The reflections of the same soul in the cosmic house of mirrors, or uncanny coincidence?'

Mohsin Hamid, Moth Smoke

Through the Onion Glass

* "This was what we Japanese called the 'onion life' -- peeling away a layer at a time and crying all the while." Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

* And some days back, Saad smsed me, "Sigh. This is an Onion era. Layers upon layers of selfishness and stupidity. And very unpleasant to see it."

Missing

Once upon a time...

X: Did you miss me?
Y: I am not sure what 'missing' means, but yeah, i did think a lot about you.

Relationships

I had a glass of 7up in my hand and i was staring at the bubbles popping up on the surface, and it occured to me that:

Some relationships are like carbonated drinks (7up, Pepsi etc). After a while, the gas escapes and the relationship loses its "tingle" and excitement.

Some relationships are like wine. The older it is, the more intoxicating it gets.

And some relationships are like water. Nothing fancy like 7up/wine, but it is something you can drink anytime and it's the best thing for thirst. :)

Moments of Transcendence

There often come in life certain moments which i call 'moments of transcendence', in which an event or a person gives you a jolt that sends you on a short flight above the normal plane of your existence, and you get to have a view of your own life from an altitude, and many things about your ownself which you had previously thought that you perfectly understood, you see them in a new light... after a while, you fall back down to the your everyday plane of existence, but the memory of that brief transcendental view of life lingers and gives you an added insight. And you realize that something has now changed in you... something has shattered, but something new has also emerged.

Shameless

"Poets act shamelessly towards their experiences: they exploit them," i hear the wise Nietzsche say, and my gaze falls down; i don't have any answer. "What are you trying to prove?" someone asks me, and the question echoes and re-echoes in my mind. Indeed, what am i trying to prove with my blatant poems? Trying to prove how skillfully i can transform my capricious emotions into poetic expressions? That i am daring enough to speak the unspeakable? That i am subtle enough to leak out secrets in unsuspecting, innocent words? That the guise of a poet has rendered me insensitive to the limitations of other people? There she stands in the corner of my mind, her finger pointed at me, and the word 'Shameless' resonates mercilessly and endlessly in my soul, until it becomes the stinging salt in my eyes, and trickles down on my cheek...

Mistakes

I don't know why i am used to making these stupid impulsive mistakes that throw a completely stable situation out of balance! Ah, what a clumsy person i am!
I am grateful to Saad for his kind words in this regard:

"Ahahahaha. Yaar, things like these remind me that you are still mundane/mortal/normal enough!"

Yeah, as if i am in danger of becoming an all-too-perfect demi-god, if i don't make these blunders. :P
Sigh. What a life, man, what a life!