What is this Time - Javed Akhtar (yeh waqt kya hai?)

yeh kya hain aakhir ki joh
musalsal guzar raha hain
yeh jab na gujara thaa,
tab kahan tha?
kahin to hoga...
gujara gaya hain
to ab kahan hain
kahi to hoga
kahan se aaya kidhar gaya hain
yeh kab se kab tak ka silsila hain
yeh waqt kya hain?



What is this time?
What is this thing that goes on without pause?
If it did not pass,
Then where could it have been?
It must have been somewhere.
It has passed.
So where is it now?
It must be somewhere.
Where did it come from? Where did it go?
Where did the process start? Where will it end?
What is time?


yeh vaakye (Ghatnao),
hadse (aksmato)
tasaadum (takrav),
har ek gamor
har ek masrat (khushi)
har ek aziyat (taklif)
har ek lajjat (aanand)
har ek tabssum (smit)
har ek aansu,
har ek nagmahar
ek khushbu
woh jakhm ka dard ho
ki wo lams (sparsh) ka jaadu
khud apni aavaz ho
ki mahol ki sadayen
yeh jahannm main banti aur
bigadti hui fizaye
wo fikr main aaye zalzale (earthquake) ho
ki dil ki halchal
tamaam ahesaas, sare jazbeye
jaise patte hain
bahte paani ki satah par
jaise tairte hain
abhi yahan hain,
abhi vahan hain
aur ab hain auzal
dikhai de te nahi hain lekin
ye kuchh to hain
jo ki bah raha hain
ye kaisa dariya hain
kin pahado se aa raha hain
ye kis samandar ko jaa raha hain
yeh waqt kya hain?



These events
Incidents
Conflicts
Every grief
Every joy
Every torment
Every pleasure
Every smile
Every tear
Every song
Every scent,
It may be the pain of a wound
Or the magic of a tender touch,
Or lonely voice or cries around;
Success and failures assailing the mind;
The upheavals of care, the tumult of the heart.
All feelings
All emotions
Are like leaves
Floating on the surface of the water.
As they swim along
Now here,
Now there,
And now they disappear,
Gone from site, but
There must be something
Flowing along.
What is this river?
What hills has it come from?
To what sea is it going?
What is time?

kabhi kabhi main ye sochta hoon,
ki chalti gaadi se ped dekho
to eisa lagta hai
doosri samt (disha) ja rahe hain
magar haqikat main
ped apni jagah khade hain
to kya yeh mumkin hain
saari sadiya
katar andar katar
apni jagah khadi ho
yeh waqt sakit (sthir) ho
aur hum hi gujar rahe ho
is ek lamhe main saare lamhe
tamam sadiya chhupi hui ho
na ko aainda (future),
na gujishta (past)
jo ho chuka hain
woh ho raha hain
jo hone vaala hain
ho raha hain
main sochta hoon
ki kya ye mumkin hain
such ye ho
ki safar mein hum hain
gujarate hum hain
jise samajte hain hum gujarata hain
woh thama hain
gujara hain ya thama hua hain
ikai hain ya banta hua hain
hai mujmind (freezy)
ya pighal raha hain
kise khabar hain,
kise pata hainye waqt kya hain


Sometimes I think
When I see trees from a moving train,
It seems
They go in the opposite way.
But in reality
The trees are standing still.
So can it be
That all our centuries,
Row upon row, are standing still?
Can it be that time is fixed,
And we alone are in motion?
Can it be that in this one moment
All moments,
All centuries are hidden?
No future
No past.
What has gone by
Is happening now.
I think -
Can it be possible
That this is true,
That we are in motion?
We pass by,
And what we imagine
Is moving
Is really motionless.
Moving, not moving?
Whole or divided?
Is it frozen,
Or is it melting?
Who knows?
Who can guess?
What is time?

ye kainaate azim (vishal brahmand)
lagta hain aapni ajmat (greatness) se
aaj bhi mutmain (satisfy) nahi hain
ki lamha lamha
vasiitar aur vasietar (vishal)
hoti jaa rahi hain
yeh apni baahen pasarti hain
ye kehkashao (aakashgangao) ki
ungliyon se
naye khalao (antriksho) ko
chhu rahi hain
agar ye such hain
to har tasvvur (kalpana) ki
had se bahar
magar kahi par
yakinan eisa koi khala hain
ki jis ko in kehkashao ki
ungliyo ne
ab tak chua nahi hain
khala, jahan kuch hua nahI hain
khala ki jisne kisi se bhi
'kun' (shrushti rachvano ishvariy aadesh)
nahi suna hain
jahan abhi tak khuda nahi hain
vahain koi waqt bhi na ho
gaye kainaate azim ek din
chuyegi us unchhue khalako
aur apne saare vajood se
jab pukaregi 'kun
'to waqt ko bhi janm milega
agar jamam hain to maut bhi hain
main sochta hoon,
ye such nahi hai
ki waqt ki koi ibtida (aadi) hain
n intaha (aant) hain
ye dor lambhi bahut hain lekin
kahi to is dor ka sira hain
abhi ye insanulaz raha hain
ki waqt ke is kafs (cage) main
paida hua
yahi voh pala badha hai
magar uses elm (bhaan) ho gaya hain
ki waqt ke is kaft ke bahar bhi
ek fiza hain
to sochta hain,
puchhta hain
yeh waqt kya hain?


This glorious universe
It seems
Even today is not content
With all its glory.
At every moment
It becomes wider and more vast.
It stretches out its arms
And with its fingers like galaxies
Touches other parts of space.
If this is true,
Outside the bounds of all we can imagine
Somewhere there will certainly be a part of space,
Which
So far it has not touched
With its fingers like galaxies,
Where nothing has happened.
A part of space,
Which has not heard the Creator's command,
'Be!'
Where God does not yet exist.
And in that place
There will be no time
One day
This glorious universe will reach
This untouched part of space.
And then with its whole existence
It will cry:
'Be!'
Time will be born there also.
If there is birth, then there is death.
I think
It is not true
That time has no end and no beginning.
The thread is very long
But
Somewhere the thread will have an end.
Now mankind is confused
Because it was born in this cage of time.
It was brought up and raised here.
But now man has discovered
That outside the cage of time
There lies another part of space.
So he thinks,
He asks,
What is time?