वो बेवज़ा सी मुस्कान

सर्दी  की धूप थी  …

हवाएं अंगड़ाई ले रहीं थीं  …

पतझड़ का मौसम था,

सूखे पत्ते गिर रहे थे,

मानो पत्ते नहीं बारिश की बूँदें थीं …

ठंडी हवा गुजरती थी , और कानों   में कुछ कहजाती  थी ।

चिड़ियों के गाने गूँज रहे थे,

राहें धुंद की रजाई हलके से खोलीं थीं ,

दिन की गरमाहट के तरफ़ धीरे से बढ़ रहीं थीं ,

और हम   …

चुपके से चले जा रहे थे ,

न जाने क्या सोच रहे थे ,

न जाने किस बात पे उदास थे ।

अचानक सर उठाके देखा

नज़र आया एक प्यारा सा चेहरा

वोह था नहीं अनजाना  …

पर ना ही था कोई अपना  …

एक बेवज़ा सी मुस्कान खिल उठी उसपे ,

और छलक गयी एक बेवज़ा सी ख़ुशी ।

दिल की सारी उलझनें  जैसे धुल गयीं …

गुम हो गयीं उस मुस्कान की रौशनी में …

हम फिर चलदिये उसी तरह उसी राह पे,

पर इस बार हमारे चेहरे पे था एक ज़ेवर  …

मुस्कान का ज़ेवर ,

उस बेवज़ा सी मुस्कान का ज़ेवर ।

होगी वो एक मामूली सी मुस्कान किसीके लिए,

बेवाज़ा जो थी   …

पर इस दिल के लिए वो थी  अनमोल ।

क्यूंकि उसमे छुपी थी उम्मीद ...

दिन की गरमाहट को गले लगाने की.…

रात की ठण्ड में सिमट जाने की । 

(wrote on 26 Jan 2013, for all those people who make my day with their smile :) )

The Grand Old Man!

I was traveling from Bangalore to Hyderabad. I boarded the less crowded Yeshwantpur station which vaguely reminded me of my favorite place Phulbani. As soon as I sat in the train, I repented for not bringing any novels to read and pass time. Few minutes after the train left the station, it took a halt near a small station and stayed there for  a while. The scene in this sketch was the view from the window next to me. So, I greedily grabbed the opportunity, pulled out my notebook and started sketching. It was a huge tree and a goods train was standing next to it.  I could only finish the outline and a few of the detailing within that time. I tried to capture as much important detailing as possible so that I can use the pattern to go on and finish it later.  When the train started from that station, I was half-done. Rest of the part I finished on my own. I took a picture from my cellphone camera, but surprisingly that did not help much. I then realised the brilliance of nature and the capabilities of our eyes. Even though an entire area was visible to me, I could focus only on the area that I was interested in and could ignore the rest. It was like a virtual zoom. When I sketched it, it was the same way I focused. That was something amazing. Any ways, I felt I improved in capturing the depth of the scene with this sketch.

As I was looking at the huge old tree and sketching it, I felt very curious. What if trees had a soul? What if they could feel and experience things like humans do? What if this tree was like that? I could imagine myself sitting on it and watching the world around me... I know this is a mad quality of me, but I love it. This tree must have been at least 200 to 300 years old. And world has changed so much since then! That place probably would have been a jungle hundred years back! From no machines to monster trains, from dhoti clad men and saaree clad women to trousers, jeans and salwars, from pot water to tap waters, from serene calm environment to a noisy one, it would have seen so many changes! If I could relate that tree to a human, a grand old man was the closest I could. The imaginary me that was sitting on its branches went through a rapid and vivid change as if I was watching some time lapse video or something... More than the sketch,  this experience was more enriching and satisfying to me.

And thus I had a nice journey! :) 

Passing Time

These are some of the sketches I did on my notebook at different points of time, when I did not have much to do.  I met a lecturer who was doing her PhD in painting and I showed her my sketches and asked her advice. And she asked me to watch people and start sketching away...  So here they are, some random sketches, not too thorough, but helped me enjoy my time! Any way, let me tell you the story behind each of them...

The picture to the left is of a friend, who is a brilliant guitarist and often gets lost in music while playing. He was playing one evening, n I did not have much to do other than listening to his music. So I pulled out my notebook, scribbled his silhouette.  I could sketch it alright, everybody who saw the sketch could recognize the guy :)

The top one is out of my imagination. I was travelling in train at that time. So I created this imaginary person and tried sketching him... Well, the flaws in his shoulder and unrealistic look on his face clearly tell that its out of the mind of a novice. :P

I think, I sketched the lower picture on the same day, when my fellow passenger was not looking towards me. All the time, I was acting like a thief trying my best to not to let him know ... and I succeeded. :)

The one to the right is the most recent one, again on train. I was getting bored as I did not have anything at all to do to pass time, and then I found my subjects... I thoroughly enjoyed sketching the mother and her daughter... Yeah... It took me a while to come to the conclusion that the lady is actually her mother, she looked very young but at the same time, very tough too.   The funny thing was that the kid could guess that I was doing something... She kept looking back at me wondering why I was looking at her all the time and I kept smiling at her playfully... I enjoyed myself thoroughly on that day :)

Truely, the amount of fun one can have in sleeper compartment of Indian railways, that goes totally missing in AC compartments.  With this, I am looking forward to do more such rough, on-the-spot sketches.

the blend of moods

These are the few sketches I did at different point of times when I was in a bad mood, just to lighten myself up. The first two were done using oil pastels and the last two using sketch pens. I loved the way the pastel colours blended with each other smoothly and softly allowing me to experiment with variety of strokes. The sketch pens let me make textures and sharp points. Well, as I said earlier, each of them managed to magically lighten up my mood :) When I shared them with my friends, I got some amazing comments that surprised me and made me look at them again.

the stressbuster

It was a stressful night. I was finding it tough to handle myself. But didn't want to spend the rest of the night brooding over my issue. So, I picked a paper and started scratching arcs randomly. By the time I filled the sheet with arcs, I could gain my calm and was tired too... did not have the energy or idea to do more. So I decided to do the rest next day. Again, I planned this whole sketch and succeeded in implementing it :) I decided to decorate one set of arcs every day and not more than that. But there is something else I want to mention here too... Until I finished it, or... lets put it this way, until I was satisfied that I do not want/need to do more scribbles, I was constantly thinking what more can I add to it? How should I add such that it will look elegant, not messy.  That made me feel good :)

When I was done with this one, I told to myself, "No matter where I go, no matter what I do, what I become, with which people I will live with, this is one thing that will never leave my side."

Don't mess with me.

This picture of the actor Vidya Balan is a screenshot of Hindi movie Ishqiya. Although I have not watched the movie, I love its songs (Listen to Dil to baccha hai ji by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan)and love the expressions of Vidya that are so natural and makes us connect to the emotion instantly.  So on one irritable moment, I decided to sketch this portrait of hers. Liked the tough yet gentle look on her face. It was a difficult task and required a whole day and not to mention, lot of patience. Hmm...so I decided to do a particular portion everyday and won't spend more than half-an hour to complete that portion. The entire plan was clear in my head, where to start, where to end, how much time which portion will take...everything. And I completed the portrait on time! I wish, I could do such meticulous and spontaneous planning for my work... The portrait looked lady like and real, but not like Vidya Balan...Many could guess it though...but, yeah...I need to work more on facial features...