While roaming around Austin one day, I took a photo of the clear sky. A few white clouds were lazily wandering about the azure blue. My frame also captured a flying bird by accident and a few buildings and light posts underneath. I am attaching the photo with this post so that my dear MS friends can have a glimpse. Little did I think while clicking this photo. Little did I know what will follow.
I was just attracted by the clear sky and thought it would be a good frame. I liked the clouds, and they reminded me of a line from the poem "Abani, baari achho?" (Abani, are you home?) by the coveted Bengali poet Shakti Chattopadhyay. The line went like this - "Brishti pore ekhane baaro maas, ekhane megh gabhi-r moto chore, paranmukh sabuj nali ghaas, duaar chepe dhore." (Here it rains all twelve months, here the clouds roam around like cowherds, here the green grass holds on tightly to the doors.)
When I shared the photo with my friends, one of them commented, "This makes me wonder, the sky is the same everywhere. It's the city underneath which makes all the difference." Her comment made me think, made me wonder. I looked at the photo once more, this time more minutely, more carefully.
Suddenly, a few lines cropped up in my mind. And to my wonder they were in Hindi. What resulted is a Hindi poem. And it seemed apt for me, someone away from home, to come up with it. Here I quote it for you all to enjoy:
Aasmaan ek hai aur badalein bhi,
Insaan aur imaratein badal jaate hain.
Jo dur hai apne mitti se,
Unhe woh mitti bahut yaad aati hai.
Yeh yaadein hi to hai kambakht -
Jo humesha humein satati hai,
Jo humesha humein rulati hai,
Yeh yaadein bahoot yaad aati hai.
The sky is the same, and the clouds too; people and buildings keep on changing. The memories of the soil keep haunting the one who is away. Memory is a wicked thing, it troubles us always. It makes us cry, and keeps coming back to our hearts.
How is it friends?
