I Went On A Date Today…
This is a late post (from July 2022) — putting it here so its easy for me to find, and to relive!
went on a date today.
I went on this date wrapped in a gift of love from a special, thoughtful friend.
I went on this date, encouraged by a special friend to go wrapped in this gift of love from a special friend — you HAVE to go in white, she said. His aura deserves white!
I went on this date along with two other very special friends.
I went on this very special date with a very special 87 year old man.
This very special man — Sampooran Singh Kalra started the date with a very special poem about how he got to be known as — yes — GULZAR!
This very special man spoke from his soul for two hours, showing me the lens through which he looked at life.
I could see my own life play out in the imagery of his words.
I could see the rays of sun shining through my own window,
I could see myself playing footsie with the rays hitting the floor.
I could understand what the words written for me years ago on little post it notes stuck around a fire place truly meant — to the one who wrote them.
This very special man cleansed my soul in these two hours — cleansed it of a lot of गिले शिकवे I had held for some special people, and maybe for life itself.
This very special man helped me forgive some people, including myself.
At the end of two hours — he said, come ask me anything.
I could not think of anything until the very last moment.
When I finally could think of one — he was done answering.
I went back, dismayed.
Would I ever know how he finds such beauty, such मस्ती, such meaning and such longing in something as mundane as a रज़ाई, and as traumatic as riots?
I went back as some brilliant performers sang some of his most beautiful songs — each one a lesson in itself!
In those songs, I got my answer. One particular song took me back to words he had spoken earlier in the evening.
मुझे जब चोट लगती है
एक नई नज़्म लिख के उसे ओढ़ लेता हूँ
He doesn’t “find” the beauty and the मस्ती in his pain!
He “creates” beauty and मस्ती to heal his pain, to make his mundane magical!
He made me believe I can also create this same magic — it really is a matter of perception and imagination!
Gulzar Sir! Much gratitude for the beauty, for the healing, and the मस्ती!
