Zafar Khurshid

Zafar Khurshid

Zafar Khurshid  //  

Sep 29 / 11:42pm

24

Twenty four years ago I was born,
I came in to this world,
My heart beat for the first time outside my mother's womb,
My lungs aflame with their first breaths...

I grew,
Sheltered by my mother's embrace,
And my father's shadow,
I lived...

And though my mortal form has not long walked the ground,
I have seen much in life,
Been enriched by many wonders,
And hardened by many harshnesses...

And in twenty four years,
I have learned an unexpected fact,
One spark of wisdom,
That some may never fully appreciate...

You may not believe at first,
Search for yourself,
Look to answer this riddle,
But ultimately you will accept this truth...

Nothing rhymes with Orange...
Filed under  //  24   Life   Orange   Poetry   Twenty Four  
Jul 13 / 1:56am

Don't say I never wrote a Song about you

Every night when I go to sleep
There's one thought,
I my mind it creeps
Every time I close my eyes,
Its a picture of you,
That I spy

I miss you,
Tonite,
Oh what can I say,
I miss you,
With all my might

I miss you

I stare at a torn photograph,
And all I hear,
Is the sound of your laugh
My memories tear at the seams,
But its only you,
That's in my dreams

I miss you,
Tonite,
Oh what can I say
Wanna kiss you,
Tonight,
Hold you every day

I miss you

Yes I miss you,
Every night, All I want is to say
Is I miss you,
All night,
And my only thought

Is I've missed you...
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Filed under  //  Poetry   nostalgia  
Apr 4 / 2:46am

2003

This is a Knife,
This is a Palm
This is a burn,
Gone is the balm

This is a wound,
Raw as can be
This is a smile,
In Two Thousand Three

This is her face,
And his, his, and hers
This is them smiling,
Smiling like curs

I can't let go,
The hatred too strong
I cannot stop,
Inspiration has waited too long

Someone need comment,
Oh comment I beg
I am barely awake,
So desperately I beg

I can't take no more,
No Caulfied am I,
To gin a body catch a body
Comin' through the rye

Someone please stop
The madness that does abound

Does no one know,

How to end this monologue tragedy bound? 

 

Filed under  //  Poetry   love   pain  
Apr 4 / 2:24am

Aicha

So soft spoken,
Though you always had dad's ear
So beautiful,
Though every brother would sneer

So kind
Though we never did find,
So always

Always on my mind 


I love you beyond words,
And every day
I wish you were here,
Those words to hear me say

Aicha,
I love you always
Every year,
This day my heart breaks

No one knows,
They never will see
Aicha every day,
This pain I feel

Aicha,
Aicha
Passing me by...
Aicha
Aicha...

Filed under  //  Loss   Poetry   love   pain  
Apr 4 / 2:13am

Coward of the County

A coward, A coward

A coward is he?

Who so in pain,

Doth not the silent killer seek? 

 

Is valiant, so valiant

This Knight you speak?

So mirrored by all,

In Admiration is he?

 

So forgotten, not gotten

So left aside is he?

Who so desperately,

Sought some comfort did he...

 

Some pillow or shoulder,

Or arm did he seek,

That in the cold did his hand,

In the fog blindly wish to meet

 

Some friendly face

Or smile did assure,

He is not yet redundant

Though this new one did soar

 

Oh so blindly,

And emptily did he pray

And if they ask did tomorrow,

Nothing shall he say...

 

She is gone, so is he

And they have no more,

Sides have been chosen,

And they Have No More

 

Filed under  //  love   pain  
Mar 3 / 3:14pm

The Unwritten Chapter (Lazarus Continued)

She is the unwritten chapter,
The blank pages of the book
Staring back at me,
With a great promise of a future old and yellow and wrinkled
The story of great romance,
Hidden in its plain bosom

The back pages are stained,
With the memories and battle scars of the past
Rushing blue like the rushing waters of a river of dreams,
Ebbing red like blood let drop by drop
Running through the tome,
Like a tapestry of pathos and ethos

Each day the words come more into focus,
Closer to being etched unto antiquity
Chronicling warmth and clarity,
And the evolution of a human soul
Preserved as a foundation,
Upon which new chapters may yet be built

She is the unwritten chapter,
The untold story
Nor oracle nor providence can yet contemplate,
The wonders or hurdles that lie ahead
For she is the unwritten chapter,
Still forming in my head

Filed under  //  Poetry   love  
Mar 3 / 3:12pm

Lazarus Reborn

A young boy scours a crowd of faces with eager anticipation,
Awaiting the bright smile of a childhood crush
Sharing stolen moments,
And a lack of apprehension
She was the one that opened the lock,
And let the flood gates start
The one that came first,
And for long haunted his heart

A teenager exploring,
Finds new meaning in the closest of friends
Apprehensive of his limits,
And frightened by where possibility ends
He discovers new things in the world,
And many too in himself
He leaves behind a rocky path,
And many lessons unlearned on the shelf

A young man looking to find himself,
Losing his heart in the most random of meetings
Doomed by his immaturity,
And plagued by his fantasy of eros fleeting
In the right place,
At the wrong time
He played the clown,
But turned into a mime

A momentarily serendipitous mating of souls,
In a passion that burns him hot
Covered in the ash that remains,
His heart fused like wrought
Blackened and villainised,
A fall from grace
Surrounded by chiding reminders,
Of his "rightful" place

A man sitting on a bench,
Staring ahead at a path unseen
Feeling the inviting breeze,
From a yet undiscovered scene
Content in his present,
Ever mindful of his past
He knows not how much longer,
This great weather will last

But he remains there yet,
Not begrudging a soul
Not the rocky crag that led him here,
Not the valley that burnt his soles
There was but one path to take,
That could lead him to this place
Where he stops and stares a while,
At the beauty of her face

Filed under  //  Poetry   love  
Nov 12 / 1:26pm

Can't See Straight

My eyes can't focus
My patience wears paper thin
And the lack of depth perception
Is really getting under my skin

Every expert disagrees
With what the last one said
All I want to do Is bash in my own head

Trying to keep calm
So much easier said than done
Sitting trying to study
In the park under the sun

I'm driving myself crazy
Hell its what I do best
"Maybe you're going cock-eyed"
Someone said to me in jest

So much pressure, so much stress
All I want is peace of mind
Is something wrong with me?
Or am I just losing my mind? 

Filed under  //  Poetry   confusion  
Nov 7 / 4:03pm

Reach Out

What is it about the night? 

That makes us long so 

For things the day did not give us 

For hopes dashed, promises unfulfilled

What is it about the moon’s last shadow?

As it falls upon the eye for the last time

That makes us long            

For things that lie beyond our grasp

  

As I lie in my bed

The stars blinking above

I reach out one last time

My fingers running swiftly from key to key

Forming the words before I can even think of them

Till there it lies before me

A message, a plea, a bid for redemption

 

In that moment a hundred thoughts fly through my head

Shall I send forth my creation?

Will it warrant reciprocated emotion?

Or will it bring only more pain?

And as I think I drift into slumber

Awaiting a response

That shall never come

 

Filed under  //  Poetry  
Nov 3 / 9:00pm

What A 1st! Part II

So where was I? Oh yeah!

So after I finished my lunch meeting I had an hour or so to kill before heading off to Garden of Five Senses so I decided to head home. It was about then that my friend Noor called and said that my other friend Shriya, who was also supposed to be coming, was burnt out from a long day so she was out of the plan. Seeing as it wasn't really her bag to begin with, Noor bailed too. So I found myself with two extra passes and 800 rupees outta pocket. I ofcourse attempted to sell thos etwo passes to some friend swho I met there, but since they came with Gaurav (who had performed the day before) they got in for free. So I was 6 free beers up and 800 rupees down. But, I'm happy to say, that was the only disappointing thing about the night.

The most suprsing part I'd say was running into some old friends, people I hadn;t seen in ages (including a friend from school who used to carpool with me to Tae-Kwon-Do classes). It was fun shooting the shit with a bunch of college friends, the members of Lazy River (my juniors from St. Stephen's), Adhir and Shiv (former Silhouette team members and members of Five8) and ofcourse the usual suspects that show up at gigi in Delhi. And though I found no dearth of company there, I still couldn't help but miss my mates (idiots that they were to ditch me, humph!) and ofcourse it was torture being there on my anniversary without Pattie. Just wasn't the same shouting "We love you Adhir!" and "Look at me Chayan!" without her : (

The evening was truly exceptional. Each successive band managed to draw the audiences out of their seats more and more (though I'm sure the increasing consumption of Kingfisher every hour also contributed) and as the sun set the stage truly came alive with lights and energy. And the highlight for quite a few  I'm sure was during TAAQ's set when Kingfiser declared open bar. After about a minute of applause and slow "just for show" hesitance there was a stampede people rushing to the two Kingfisher stands and walking away with 2-3 pints each. What a sight I swear! We Indians love free stuff, and if its alchohol? Forget about it!

The line up was pretty damn good too- Blank Noise - Lazy River - Five8 - Advaita - Thermal And A Quarter.
The first of these I had never heard before and even though my friends didn't think too much of them, I thought they were some pretty talented kids. The vocalist sang in both Hindi and English, which alone is difficult, and some of the guitar solos were pretty sweet. They need some work I'd say before they're really tight, but all-in-all enjoyable.

Lazy River played some nice tracks, but their particular style is not really much my style. They got a pretty decent reception from the crowd though and the lighting looked pretty kick ass by that point because it had finally gotten dark enough.
Five8 really kicked ass though. Their music was high-energy and me and the other Five8 groupies section were hooting and applauding throughout. Best part was they played their two signature songs - Away and Wake Me Up When It's Tomorrow (not an attempt to categorise them ofcourse, just my favourite two tracks) which they couldn't lay down during their gig at Turquoise Cottage in the Great Indian Rock pre-show.
The girls went crazy when Advaita came on. There were three exceptionally drunk girls (and one guy) who were screaming Chayan's name throughout their set. They didn't play Durga, which I was bummed about, but all-in-all they did such an amazing job.
Last, but definitely not least, Thermal And A Quarter was the bomb. They sounded just as sweet as I remember them when I came for my very first concert at India Habitat Centre. They sounded tight and everyone was just swaying and singing along. A beautiful finish to a beautiful night.