Love is not grand gestures - for me it is "I know how you like your coffee or tea/ Did you eat?/ I made your favourite breakfast/ let's go on a beach to watch the sunset/ I'm listening to you/ looking at you across the room/ putting the blanket over you while you're asleep/ randomly holding hands while walking/ playing and singing your favourite song/ hugs out of the blue/ keeping the meds on the table so you won't forget/ sticking cute love notes to make you smile/ watching you sleep like a baby/ hearing you rant about anything and everything/ making you laugh till your stomach hurts/ holding you while everything seems to fall apart/ writing letters/ sending 'i miss you' text on a random afternoon/ buying and gifting the things you've got on your list/ letting you take the window seat/ losing the game to see that twinkle in your eyes/ cooking together/ dancing together even when we don't know the steps/appreciating and celebrating each others existence.
Mohabbat koi mushkil amal nahi- mere liye mohabbat ye hai k- "mujhe pata hai aapko chai ya coffee kaisi pasand hai/ aapne kuch khaaye?/ Aapka manpasand naashta bana hai/ samandar kinaare chal k suraj ko gurub hotey hue dekhne chalein/ jii sunn rahe hai aapki baatein/ aapko kamre k kinaare se dekhna/ aap jab sorahe ho toh aap pe blanket odh jaana/ achanak haath thaam lena/ aapka mann pasand geet lagana aur gunguna na/ bas yunhei galey se lagana/ aapki dawayi table pe rakhna k kahin aap bhool naa jayein/ aapko kisi bacche ki tarah sotey hue dekhna/ aapke dil ki har baat sunn na/ aapko hasana/ jab sab galat horaha ho toh aapko thaamey rakhna/ chiththiyaan likhna/ "aapki yaad aarahi hai" waala message kisi dopaher yuhi bhejna/ aapko vo saari cheezein tohfe mei dena Jo aap lena chahrahe ho/ aapko khidki waali jagah dena/ har baazi haar jaana, aapki muskaan k khaatir/ saath milkar kuch khaana bana lena/ ekdusre k hone ka shukr karna aur ekdusre ki qadr karna.
Wo kehty hain mard ko janam dena ummed hai or aurat ko janam dena mayoosi. Jab ke har mard ka khwab aurat hai or har aurat ki mayoosi mard hai.
They say that giving birth to a man is hope and giving birth to a woman is disappointment. Although, every man's dream is a woman and every woman's disappointment is a man.
American philosopher Ralph Emerson once asked a heart-wrenching question:
"How much of human life is lost in waiting?"
And the stalwarts of Urdu poetry Jaun Elia, Parveen Shakir and Faiz Ahmed Faiz expressed the agonizing feeling of waiting for someone who is never coming back through their poetry:
Jaun Elia wrote:
Woh jo na aane waala hai na us se mujh ko matlab tha aane waalo se kya matlab aate hai aate honge.
Parveen Shakir Wrote:
Woh na aayega hame malum tha is sham bhi Intezaar uska magar kuch soch kar karte rahe.
And Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote:
Na jaane kis liye ummeedwaar baitha hu Ek aisi raah per jo teri rahguzar bhi nahi.
And I felt like being stuck in time where every moment feels long filled with some hope and the worry that the person I'm waiting for may never return.