Fate, Coincidence, and Whatnot
There’s always a lot of ways to explain life as we know it. And I do not mean it in the metaphysical sense of the bigger why questions. Douglas Adams answered the biggest ‘why’ questions extremely succinctly when he asked back, ‘why not?’ I meant the banal, everyday hand of cards that we are all dealt. There’s fate, there’s coincidence, there’s luck, there’s chance: these are the standard fallback to explain what happens to us day-to-day. We came up with horoscopes to blame it all on stars and planets that are reasonably far out and are not going to come in and lodge a complaint anytime soon for slander. In India, they look at the lines on a person’s palms and predict what fate has in store for them. And there are people who believe what gets prophesied this way. I think there’s always been a market for fortune tellers and soothsayers in the society. Now that I’m thinking about it, I believe this is primarily because we want to be told by someone other than us that it will all be alright. Probably, we all want to be placated as we try and wade through the tides of life.
I am of the opinion that the whole thing is hogwash. Fates should not be written: while written, stories can be beautiful, they are essentially bound in that prison. They can only mean just that for the rest of times. (Thus, in the same line of thought, a dictionary is one of the worst prisons for words ever created). There are lots of way I think the fates work, one of them is this. Out there somewhere, is an ocean of thoughts. All thoughts that can be head, are thus, random sips of that same ocean. All we do in living is drink at random from this sea of occurrences, that puts us onto the paths that gets one to the forked roads where we get to decide which path to take.
Thus, all a man is, are his circumstances and his choices.
The poem this time is not as heady as the write up here. I heard it on the radio, and wrote it down. I cannot seem to find the poet for this one, so if anybody knows let me know. The poet takes about an incident, and I love the portrayal of that incident. It changed everything for him, as he later tells. Maybe they crossed while walking, and exchanged a glance. What I like about this poem is the emotion that he manages to carry in a small incident. Probably tells me there’s still hope. But who am I kidding here? Hope you enjoy.
Original [Devanagari Script]
यूँ ज़िंदगी की राह में टकरा गया कोई,
इक रोशनी अंधेरों में बिखरा गया कोई |
वो हादसा वो पहली मुलाकात क्या कहूँ !
इतनी अजब थी सूरत हालत क्या कहूँ !
वो कहर, वो ग़ज़ब, वो जफ़ा मुझको याद है,
वो उसकी बेरूख़ी की अदा मुझको याद है |
मिटता नहीं है ज़हन पे यूँ छा गया कोई,
यूँ ज़िंदगी की राह मे टकरा गया कोई |
पहले मुझे वो देखके बर्हम सी हो गयी,
फिर अपने ही हसी खयालो मे खो गयी |
बेचारगी पे मेरी उसे रहम आ गया,
शायद मेरे तड़पने का अंदाज़ भा गया |
सांसों से भी करीब मेरे आ गया कोई,
यूँ ज़िंदगी की राह मे टकरा गया कोई |
यूँ उसने प्यार से मेरी बाहो को छू लिया,
मंज़िल ने जैसे शाख के राहों को छू लिया |
इक पल मे दिल पे कैसे क़यामत गुज़र गयी,
रग रग में उसके हुस्न की खुश्बू बिखर गयी |
ज़ुल्फो को मेरे शान पे लहरा गया कोई,
यूँ ज़िंदगी की राह मे टकरा गया कोई |
अब इस दिल-ए-तबाह की हालत ना पूछिए,
बेनाम आरज़ू की लज़्ज़त ना पूछिए |
इक अजनबी था रूह का अरमान बन गया,
इक हादसा था प्यार का उनवान बन गया|
मंज़िल का रास्ता मुझे दिखला गया कोई,
यूँ ज़िंदगी की राह मे टकरा गया कोई|
Transliteration
And thus, on the walks of life, I bumped into someone,
As if, on darkness, light was sprinkled on by someone.
What do I say of the incidence of our first meeting,
What do I say of the strange conditions I was in,
I still remember that awe, that trepidation, that calamity,
I still remember the ease of her indifference.
Someone took over my senses in a way that I cannot rub off,
And thus, on the walks of life, I bumped into someone.
First, when she saw me, she was a bit shocked,
Then, lost herself in her own pretty thoughts.
She felt pity at my disarrayed state,
Probably, she liked the way in which I was bearing pain,
Someone, came closer to me than my own breaths,
And thus, on the walks of life, I bumped into someone.
And thus, lovingly, she caressed my arms,
Like destinations bowing and touching the roads themselves,
A moment, it felt, as if it were the day of reckoning,
Every vein in my body felt suddenly alive with her fragrance,
Someone, so cascaded, their tresses over my face,
And thus, on the walks of life, I bumped into someone.
Now, ask not, the state of my bereft heart,
Do not ask what happened to the unnamed desire,
A stranger had become the desire of my soul,
An accident had become the first letters of this song,
Someone showed me the roads to that one destination.
And thus, on the walks of life, I bumped into someone.
