“Another Day”

‘I think there are more notebooks,

that I have kept track of,

in my house that I reside in,’never touched once after,

buying & bringing them home.

but I know this…

every inch of my body does,

every bit of my heart does,

that one fine day,

I’d turn to them,

broken in pieces,

inside my gut feelings,

deep inside my mind,

thinking,

‘God!

How could I just leave these like this?

How pretty these little things are!’

Smiling to myself,

then, writing my own name on one of them,

only to leave them all over again,

scattered across the house.

To live another day ahead,

and another one like that,

Someday again,

if not soon after!”

©Nisha

‘मुलाक़ात’ (Meeting)

“कभी आओगे न तुम मिलने मुझसे?

तो ख़ाली हाथ ही आना,

कुछ काग़ज़ मैं लाऊँगी,

एक पेन….

तुम अपनी शर्ट-पाकेट में रख लाना,

मिलकर ढेरों बातें करेंगे,

हंसेंगे और थोड़ा घूमेंगे,

तुम बताना…

क़िस्से मुझे अपने आफिस के,

मैं भी तुम्हें…

कहानियाँ कुछ सुनाऊँगी,

शाम को अलविदा लेने से पहले…

मत भूलना तुम…

अपना पेन मेरे हवाले करना,

मैं याद रखूँगी वो मुलाक़ात,

काग़ज़ में लिखकर फिर…

पते पर तुम्हारे?

सब कुरियर कराऊँगी,

सुनो?

मिलने आओगे न तुम मुझसे?”

(ख़याल: मुलाकात)

© निशा मिश्रा

‘No matter what’

“No matter what!
That’s the problem, right? With everything, or say, in everything. You decide something, and then you absorb yourself in it. Inside out, you keep moving ahead, telling yourself, reminding yourself that very thing.
No matter what!
I have to do it. I have to get there, no matter what. And that is it.
That reminder keeps swirling inside, and pounds all over. You try to shove it down but it slips and scatters, in you, around you and everywhere possible.
Isn’t it strange?
That reminder?
Isn’t that the actual reason?
For everything?
For every effort one puts in to live, love?
For every step that is taken?
For every decision made and yet to be made?
For everything felt, yet to be felt?
For everything that happens?
For everything? EVERY SINGLE THING? True.
Strange. Very strange indeed.
‘No matter what’. Well played!”

© Nisha Mishra