Hua tha kuch kal

Aankh khuli toh dustak par akhbar roll hua pada tha

Utha kar dekha

bayaan-e-haal kuch ajeeb hi lag raha tha

Meri kachchi neend ke sapne, 
surkhiyon ki tarah pehle panne pe bikhre thay..

Halki halki si hawa kati ghaas se khelti, 
thand ka aaghas kar rahi thi

Pichli raat ki baarish ki narmi
abhi bhi akhbar ke panno mein mehsus ho rahi 

Yeh bhari sardi mein bhi baarish hoti hai bhala?

Panne palte, chai chadhai

Raat ki bchi aadhi cigarette ash tray se utha kar

Stove ki daabi aanch se jala hi raha tha

Ki nazar 4th page ke gumshuda column pe chapi meri photo par gai..

Abhi toh nahi mra hoon main yaar..

Ek kash liya,

Hawa mei dhuien se bante shape ko dekh hi raha tha

Ki yaad aaya..

Kuch hua tha kal raat ko shaayad..

Patthar chale thay chowk pe

Saham gaya tha sabb kuch minto ke liye

Jaise pata nahi kitne barson ki aag chupa kar rakhi ho

Aur taash ki ek chaal ki tarah,

kisi ne ek hi baar mei saara daanv chal diya ho

Hua tha kuch kal shaayad
aag bhadki dono taraf se
humle hue, ghar toode
raakh ka dhuan baadal ki tarah chaa raha tha.. 

Tasveerien dhundli dhundli si hain

Ek badnaseeb patthar ka impression abhi bhi hai sir parr..

Uffff...

Pata nahi kya hua tha

Kisne kiya tha..

Humein kya pata..

Yeh sapne aur reality ke beech banta mera never-ending illusion..

Oh Kanpur!

"Yahan sab maalik hai bhaiya, 

apni marzi ke maalik"

"Sholay picture mein asli maut kiski hui thi?

Ek cheeti ki, gabbar kuchle thee usko"

"Woh nahi khaali chillum, 

usmein toh kapde ka sauda hai 

yahan toh.."

It's these ambiguous bizarre conversations, that would make up the most of my time in Kanpur. As time passes by, and I'm no more living there for most part of the year, it's these remaining-faded conversations in my head that make up my my relationship with my city. Even after spending hours talking about Kanpur with friends and folks from the city, I still struggle to make some definitive sense of the place. But I tend to enjoy that. I can get up and think of it as the financial capital of the most fucked up Indian state or on some days the most underrated Indian city or if nothing, definitely the maddest North Indian city, but well mostly, Kanpur feels like a live movie, where I'm a part of it too, playing my own character everyday. And the movie keeps evolving! Abnormal becomes normal, or maybe it's just me, looking for these things. A struggling city post the closing down of textile mills or a city post the economic and telecom revolution, from scores of out of work mill workers to a maggi-wala playing angry birds on his tab. You can look for your Kanpur depending on your ease. It might seem like any other mid size city, where collective dreams are more than collective resources, a deficit that will never cease to exist. But beyond the industrial, political or even the foodie Kanpur, there exists another Kanpur. A city with all its eccentricities, its pride, its norms, its failures, its patriarchies, its divide, way more loving - way more absurd!

Just for fun!