An old notebook

We had our room re-painted last weekend. As it happens on such occasions, many old stuffs were uncovered from beneath our bed-boxes, almirahs and wardrobes. Out of that heap, my wife pulled out an old notebook, from my school days.

Showcasing my school's emblem it has the stamp of the book seller from whom we had to purchase our books each year, "Chawla Book Depot". The outer cover is almost gone now, but the cardboard binding is still intact. I used to use this notebook for penning my poetic stuff.

On flipping over pages, I recall how I would pick up my pen for almost any thought or aspect that would impact me and inspire me to write a poem. I glance over the many drafts that I would write and cut-off since they did not meet my expectations. I also see some poems that made it through our school magazine for the last two years of my schooling. I recall the system that I had developed to number my poems, as I have never titled my poems, except one.

Then there is a vast amount of "ghazals" that I had penned in Hindi. The double-quotes is because technically they are not ghazals. Back then though I was aware of the Kafiya, Radif theory, I had no knowledge of the beher (the meter structure) in Urdu poetry. Reading some of them are well... hilarious. And some of them are good though immature in their presentation.

I have a habit of using the rear pages of a notebook simultaneously. Usually it allows me to divide the content into logical sections. This notebook has many ghazals that I used to "copy-down" while listening to them over the radio. I almost remember all of them by heart even today!

My wife urges me to "correct" these ghazals and re-pen them. Let us see...