‘Dil hai chhota sa….chhoti si asha’
Now those of you who belong to Roja’s time, most probably you will start humming along with the first line, unless of course, you are a total Scrooge!
Whom do I write my letter today? I asked myself and threw the ask back to the old city down below, slowly waking up from last night’s sleep like an old python after a good catch.
He answered, the city! He takes time but he always responds. The music drifted form one of the verandahs above or down. Who cares from where it came as long as it reached me.
‘Masti bhari mann mein…bholi si asha’
Dil hai chhota sa!
Oh the poor heart and the burden of long list of wishes it has to carry. So instead of a letter, thought of making a wish-list today! Random, wild, unnecessary and a bit selfish wishes.
The wishes which we say out loud are mostly stained by pretensions. We know deep down someone is listening to it and judging.
So we wish for,
A better world!
Food for all!
No child is left behind!
Bull shit!!
They sound more like everyday-morning-boring-school-prayers. Chanted together with the fear of the first period being the Math class lurking behind!
But those wishes which we hide deep in the dark crevices of our mind, are truly honest and naïve! They are like your own body odour, not the perfumes which float around a SRK or a Deepika.
They are sometimes timid and shy and hesitate to reveal but having the softest hue of purple, emits a light on your face when you quietly wish for. And those unbounded and galloping, reigning your heart beats, end up bringing a tinge of crimson on the soft tip of your nose. They are warmly powerful and yet remain unuttered always and often unfulfilled.
Like the grasshopper’s wings, some wishes are translucent, faintly green, vaguely turquoise. When you wish, you yourself are not even sure about them. They are beauties – fragile and subtle ones. They flutter and swing and make you fly only to camouflage in the green grass and vanish. Those wishes still have a possibility to become a dream.
The darker ones smell of vengeance and are kept hidden to reveal and twinkle in the eyes. Like two fires and a dark cumulus cloud they roll and rumble deep down. None can hear them! None but you!
But the one that has the wings of Pegasus, the white winged stallion, only resides in the young heart. The hearts which are free spirits and hardly care what the entire world thinks about them. The brave souls bearing the strength of Happy Prince.
‘Chand taaron ko…chhoone ki asha….dil hai chhota sa…chhoti si asha’
Well, if you are waiting still to read my wish-list, then you should know by now, like yours, mine are all hidden as well, coaxed and kept inside like gold coins in the treasure box, which remains mysterious till someone ruins it by finding it!!
(Artwork: Piu Mahapatra)
