Emperor Akbar was the greatest Moghul to have ever ruled over India. The only one who made a real effort to combine the best of Hinduism and Islaam into what he  called,  DEEN-E-ILAHEE  a world religion of sorts. One of his famous sayings was  Bazaar se guzra hoonh kharidar nahin hoonh  . I am merely a window shopper, passing through this market of life, I do not intend to buy or possess anything from this market. He was a saint, a detatched saint, one of the best Emperors that India ever had, that India could ever have  He was very human too – as the anecdote of Anarkali the dancing girl and her unrequited love affair with Akbar’s son – Jehangir goes in India!

I dedicate this poem to Shahanshah (Jahanpanah) Akbar, also spelled Aqbar!



Dazzling neons, flashing signs
enticing, tantalizing, luring
promising pleasures beyond imagination
promising levels unreachable, and
intoxicating tunes of what seems like love

My feverish brain, forlorn and  thirsty
and my heart, wish I could even reach it
so far from my soul has it gone this time.

Temptations that beckon at me enticingly,
waving their beautifully manicured hands
tickling my desires and touching my fancies
calling deploringly, to the brink of my disaster.
I fumble helplessly, as demons of desires
grab and clutch at my struggling soul
and pull yearningly at my willling heart.

Anchors I look for but hooks are all I find
as longings of lifetimes, rear their hungry heads
and greed surrounding my soul
reaches an all time high.

Love, She assures me, but is that what this is?
Why then do I feel?
This agonizing pain of loneliness?
Why does it feel so empty when the shops now are all closed
Why do I writhe and pine so,
till 'tis opening time again, tomorrow?

Would I ever get through,
this market of emptiness,
where dazzling packages hold
just the venom of isolation?
Why must I go through this again – and again?
Wasn't I just here before?
Is this a final test or,
merely the beginning, of it all, yet again??

What lies at the end of all this, If knew only I that,
perhaps it could have been easy,
to hold on to the loftiness
when karma makes me look again
into this chasm of despair, I never could leave

{update 2004-08-08)

October 6, 1993