Have you ever noticed how the environment and behavior interplay with exclusive and mutual manifestations? You are driving on a long, winding road with dense fog. There’s no sunlight and the only sign of the sun’s existence is that orb hanging over the clouds. …

When they hit him, he realized he was the enemy border in their epics of bravery. His body was the rough terrain they passionately pounded, head the broken fence they rammed hard, and his being the evil soldier from across the border, different yet alike to the one snarling at him.

A boy asks his father, ‘What’s God?’ The father, watching waves washing away everything around come what may, says that God’s the mighty brown river, thrashing away and decimating everything that comes His way. A kid asks his father, ‘What’s God?’ The father, watching everyone taken away by the thrashing…

When it happens You feel like falling into an abyss Numbness swamps you Apathy takes over Inertia charges forward And then, it all starts to change The numbness recedes And you get to taste what pain’s like There is a flood of tears, all-time ready to come out The heart feels blue any time of the day It all becomes even more confusing Since you are able to feel it this time… That’s what the ability to feel does to you,

From lollypop to orange peel I come in various objectified leads, Created from the backbone of a superior creature, I am fragile, So much so that unable to survive without the superior presence And yet, I can move the tectonic plates by wearing jeans, Live inside a stereotypical mind rent-free Rule the world and cause wars over Still, I am the fool, The weaker creed.

Now that the numbness is ebbing away, A confused being started recognizing the surroundings, Yet, the winding path’s still twisted, So much so that the next step remains unseen The destination unknown A heart that’s always welled-up A lost soul Fledgling to find its way around The tears adamant to break all barriers, Melancholy ready to hit any time Is this what grief does to you? Crushing the numbness

So, the ceasefire has been reached upon by both sides. How things will unfold over time, that’s to be decided in the coming days. But in Pakistan, Palestine was the issue where both right and left supported the same side and yet couldn’t agree or unite on it somehow. …

Once there lived a lady, Lady with a golden touch Grounds would go fertile, Bare trees green When she laid her hands on something lean. All her glory, All her splendor — She was oblivious to this perfection. The world may not greet, The foul incognizant Yet, the mosaic she rose, Ceilings she shattered, Cry of her magnificence, Preserve her impression… Written for my sister’s birthday who has set such high standards that an ordinary woman like me has to crane my neck for just getting acquainted. After her, these lines are dedicated to all the wonderful women out there who have paved the way for us to foray into the erstwhile ‘unentered’ zones, who broke the glass ceilings so hard that their echo still resonates in the air.

Some waves of laughter flow from the dam of gloom Cackles hold back a flood of tears The smiles may accompany drenched lashes Laughter is not just laughter always, Sometimes, it’s the loudest wail a person can let out…