Waakiye

Tag: writers

  • Finding ourselves back into the pre-internet era

    Do you remember life before the internet?

    27/05/2026@Waakiye

    Hey..

    I hope all of you are doing well…!

    Yes I’ve been doing much better now,
    the pain in my neck and shoulder has decreased drastically thanks to the physiotherapy and a wonderful person who happily allowed me to get a session the very first day;

    Other than that life has been a smooth sail even if the weather has gotten a lot choppy;

    I mean that both by a real sense and a sense of humour too;

    The weather has taken the souls out of our body and makes us wonder what we did to deserve it,
    but,
    none of us cared when we polluted the atmosphere;
    and,
    when it’s time to face consequences for our actions, we rush to comfort ourselves in Air conditioning or buying clothes that are cool even if they are on the expensive side;

    Instead of autos we have started to take air conditioned cabs which help us fight this heat;

    And carrying a bottle of water or glucose or ORS has been a mandate,

    if we don’t want to suffer heat stroke;

    Coming back to the prompt

    A Life before the internet

    I remember,
    I really do,
    we used to play like we were animals when we were little kids without even a single thought of care in the world;

    When we used to go to our Nani’s house during summer vacation,

    we used to create so much chaos that it was impossible for our parents to control us;

    Well before internet came and made us dwell into our homes like a caged animal in the zoo,
    we used to be of free spirit,
    we used to run around, play with our friends who lived in our vicinity and return home later in the evening,
    And catch an earful from our parents to stay home and study…!

    But,

    none of that mattered to us,

    we were free from anything that bound us home;

    I remember going to cinema to watch movies which used to repeatedly be played for a span of months,

    But,

    that culture has died due to Netflix and other streaming services;

    we used to wait in lines to buy popcorn and and when it was intermission we used to buy food like burgers and a set of drinks…!

    They used to cost more back then too,
    but now they cost an arm and a leg
    maybe the whole left side of the body…! 😂

    but,
    those times are impossible to get back to..!

    Another one of the things that has changed are family dinners;

    Which something even I do;

    Earlier we used to sit together at the dining table and eat together as a family;

    But,
    that routine,
    that time,
    and,
    that moment has faded a long time ago…!

    Even I don’t sit at the dining table anymore,
    which breaks the family even more,

    We sit in our separate rooms munching on our food,
    while scrolling our phones or watching tv or these streaming sites on our laptop or tablet…!

    How far have we come from what we were,
    what was our norm,
    now, that loneliness has become our norm where we eat all alone away from people who we consider our family;

    Sometimes we don’t even have the time to check up on our loved ones…!

    I wish there was a switch that I could press and take ourselves back to the pre internet era where we lived and enjoyed each second of our life…!

    To an era of love and free will

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • You ask G0d for change in your life, But are you ready to welcome it…?

    You ask G0d for change in your life, But are you ready to welcome it…?

    But,
    Isn’t all of this pre-decided…?

    Aren’t we living in a world where each action is predetermined…?
    and it’s playing according to what is already written..!

    We ask,
    Ask that stone figurine,
    Ask that book,
    Ask prophets and religious scholars——
    His will;

    And,
    All we get in return of our questions,
    Our deep profound questions that make this life feel like a lost cause are answers that we already know——


    It’s according to their will and nothing will betray it,
    and,
    the number of breaths that are written in your fate,
    you will breathe them-
    no more than that and no less than that…!

    The more they talk about it in circles,
    the less credible they feel;
    ————
    A scenario that happened in real life


    Once a person asked me who am I to challenge the word of G0d and not believe in everything that is told to me by my elders and preachers;

    A question that has A simple answer,
    which would hurt him;

    But,
    on telling him that,
    “I’ve reached an age where I can question things and form my own thoughts and opinions about them,
    and I need no support to have my own system that helps me transverse this world;

    but,
    there are instances where I get stuck and I need answers,
    that’s why I seek these religious believers who have devoted their lives to a spiritual being,
    for these questions…!”

    What about your parents…
    Don’t they feel ashamed when you question their beliefs…?

    “Again,
    I’ve reached an age where I am able to form my own beliefs and follow what appears true to me and my conscience,
    and,
    if it doesn’t,
    no one has the right to force me into a religious practice that I don’t like…!”

    You're someone who came from Hindu parents and how can you question the religion that you came from…?

    Again,
    it was their duty to assure that I grew up strong and with a will that would help me survive this world,
    and,
    they never questioned anything that I asked them,
    even if it was something about religion;

    I came from them,
    and they happen to practice Hinduism,
    But,
    that doesn’t make me someone who would blindly trust anything that happens around us;

    That’s why I ask such questions,
    and,
    when my questions got away from their scope they told me to ask these questions to people who are at the pinnacle,
    these pandits,
    maulanas,
    paathis and father in a church-

    The questions that I might have…!
    ——

    Anger,
    now visible on their face,
    I decided to move away from them after greeting the pandit,
    and walking back home…!
    I thought to myself was  it G0d’s will that a passerby would arrive and feel anger when I questioned not him but a pandit who was answering my questions because of our he has been for the past couple of years;

    Next day on returning I found that,
    the person who got into a verbal quarrel with me over belief,
    Got into some trouble as he was cheating the customers of their money by rigging his scale and shorting their weight by a few ten grams each time;

    Until a raid was made when he was chanting mantras in a section of his workspace where he made a small temple…!

    A person bought a kilo of sugar and he told one of the employee that it feels light;

    Before he could intervene and press the switch that neutrals the scale,
    it was taken off by officers from
    the department and they found out he could change it from zero to 50 grams;
    After shifting its entire blame on a poor employee instead of him,
    He got away with a warning and the employee was taken away by the officers…!

    The next day as I came across him,
    I asked,
    how did he feel after throwing someone under the bus when he was really the mastermind behind it all…?

    On saying what are you going to do about it,
    I knew he was a person who was religious just to wash away his sins after committing them,
    and,
    didn’t ever thing about not committing them in the first place…!
    Few days later,
    the police shut down his shop,
    after that employee didn’t know how to control that machine and its tweaking;

    He was arrested for cheating numerous customers over a span of a decades and also cancelled the license of the weighing scale shop where he got it modified from…
    A tale that I tell to people who show off their religion and boast about it,
    but,
    in their shadow,
    they become someone akin to a thief,
    and cheat the same people they sit with and chant with and eat food with in the home of G0d…!

    I do have some more questions that I need to ask him,
    but,
    I’m waiting for some sort of transformation to happen on its own…!

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • what happens when your own desires try to eat you alive?

    what happens when your own desires try to eat you alive?

    You’re sitting there,
    In the comfort of your own room,
    And,
    You find your desires,
    Telling you…!

    Pushing you—
    forcing you in a direction that is opposite of what you wanted to be;

    Telling you to send another message to the person who isn’t good for you,

    Telling you to spend another hour scrolling short videos on the platform that you don’t like anymore but it still gives you dopamine,

    Telling you to go on that x rated site and watch more videos just for pleasure,

    Telling you to go out to the club and have a drink with people who are complete strangers and maybe get lucky if things go well;

    That voice warns you not to indulge in such activities and compels you to quit it and tries to push you in a right direction;

    But,
    Your overstimulated mind,
    Registers that voice as a noise;

    Cancelling it out and pushing you in a direction that is destructive,
    And makes you lose a small piece of yourself every moment you catch yourself after indulging and promise yourself that you won’t;

    The next day you break this so called promise you made to yourself;

    Until you find yourself in a pit,
    After breaking countless promises to self,
    You try and look for a way out,
    A source of light,
    But,
    There’s none to be found;

    When you’re surrounded by the choices that made you who you are,
    You look at the way you lived your life,
    Which makes you feel shame,
    sadness and anger at yourself;


    You think about,
    how you had the power to change things,
    But,
    You didn’t,
    You just went with the flow and did what people around you did;

    And,
    When you look at them,
    You feel like they aren’t affected by this;

    This consciousness that comes from within;

    And it makes you question,
    Are they conscious or still lying to themselves…?


    A dim voice answers from within-

    The facade that those people are running aren’t visible to the naked eye,
    But,
    They are dying ever so little;

    Their indulgence is killing them ever so slightly;

    Their dependence on this world and its pleasures with their constant interaction with the factors that shape their life makes them lose their sense each time they choose something that isn’t true according to their voice;


    The voice that is just,
    And seeks your wellness feels useless when your mind forces you to act against it;

    After a long time,
    The tone of the voice dims with each act that forces your conscience to die ever so little,
    Until it fades away;

    And,
    you can’t get a grasp on what is right or wrong after that,
    forcing an erratic behavior that isn’t in anyone’s control…!

    Your -self eroded by choices that are far from normal and keep you hooked on;

    Hooked on these desires that make you feel happy for short bursts then it returns to normal;
    forcing you to chase the next high…!

    Beware…!

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Ostracised out of my family because of my husband’s drinking

    Ostracised out of my family because of my husband’s drinking

    (Part-4)

    He went away for a while,
    as I sat there on the kitchen floor sobbing,
    the pain was surging yet again in my head, my right arm and calf…!

    On opening my eyes,
    I saw a bunch of long black hair with a few white streaks thrown on the floor,
    And I thought to myself,
    “Is that my…?”

    This drunk guy pulled me so hard that he uprooted my hair and threw them in the kitchen next to me..!

    I started to cry again,
    Pain increased as soon as I started to think about what he did and in what place life brought me…!

    He was back again infront of me,
    towering over me looking at me like I was his punching bag;
    and,
    he asked me in a very rough tone,
    “Where is my food…?”

    Without saying much,
    I thought,
    if I were to cry again and not reply he would surely hit me again,
    so,
    I mustered some courage and tried to stand up,
    but,
    my leg felt weak and I couldn’t put any load on my right leg where he hit me…!

    After a couple tries without taking any support,
    I grabbed the kitchen slab and stood on it putting all of my body weight on the left leg,
    After a while,
    I stood on my left feet,
    dragged myself towards the water purifier mounted on the wall,
    under it was a metal glass and I filled it with water,
    which I placed in-front of the kitchen slab where he stood,
    before I could say,
    “I will prepare the food shortly——“

    He threw that glass in the sink by literally punching it,
    and he grabbed my neck,
    and pushed me on the other side of the kitchen next to the gas stove and cabinets,
    before he could push me any further,
    I mustered the remaining strength that I had and climbed on the kitchen counter that made him lose his balance and tumble on the floor…!

    After which he passed out cold;

    I stared at him,
    stared at his body that appeared lifeless,
    He laid there on the Kitchen floor,
    Just like I did when he pulled me from the bed…!

    I stared at him,
    I wanted to kick him,
    but,
    I didn’t,
    wouldn't that make me the same as him…?
    I thought to myself…!

    As I stared at him,
    I looked at the pile of cash that was coming out of his pant pocket,
    I pulled it out and counted;

    He had used 3000/- rupees,
    drank so much alcohol that he reeked of it and didn’t eat so that he could get most out of the alcohol…!

    As I stared at him,
    I thought to myself,
    where did life bring me and what I should do next…!

    A daughter on the verge of exploding thinks what she should do as she stares at her abusive husband lay there in the kitchen passed out from drinking too much…!

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Being rich at heart…

    What is the legacy you want to leave behind?

    22/05/2026@Waakiye

    Hey…

    I hope all of you are doing well…!

    After a few rounds of physiotherapy, multivitamins and restricting my movements,
    There is some relief in the pain in my neck;

    Which will extend well into the next week and I hope by the time I’m done I can get my movement back and there is no more pain in my neck after I’m done here…!

    Other than that;

    Delhi’s heat has taken a toll on all of us here,
    You cannot think of stepping out in even as early as 11 in the morning because it gets extremely hot;

    So hot that even the cats that came to eat food at our business premises have refused to,
    even if they might have refused to come outside during the day,
    I still put food in a tray next to a small bowl of water before leaving at night…!

    And to my surprise both the bowl and tray are empty in the morning which makes me happy,
    Even if it’s the street dog that eats it;

    Maybe I’ll start putting it on the ledge where cats can sit and eat easily…!

    Something I’ll try this evening…!

    Coming back to the prompt

    Legacy I want to leave behind…

    This question right here is a broad one and in essence it asks us a simple question;

    How do you want people to remember you by…?

    I want people to think I was a good person and someone who helped everyone to the max….

    The monetary and other things come later when you skip the human nature and in essence when you overlook the type of person…!

    When you look at it from a perspective that praises money earned or the wealth collected by pushing other under the bus;

    it becomes evident that we are looking at the wrong thing and which only praises the class that a person belongs to and how much money he has…!

    Before being a person who was rich money wise;

    I’d be happy if I were a person who would be associated with a rich heart and someone who would look after others…!

    Considering the aspect of writing and bringing to all of the people the perspective that are visible yet hidden from their eyes would be something that I’d like to be associated with;

    Because this writing and thinking about things have made me who I am today and I hope I can carry this forward;

    Until I can…!

    A legacy known for helping others and bringing perspective to life that are otherwise unknown to you;

    Which helps you shape your life and spark change helping you grow…!

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Broken bones and ruptured muscles…!

    Broken bones and ruptured muscles…!

    Have you ever broken a bone?

    20/05/2026@Waakiye

    Hey…!

    I hope all of you are doing well…

    This will be a late upload,
    (Literally the next day…😅)
    but,
    A lot happened last night and I made a post about it tagged below ⬇️

    Last night I was truly alone…!

    It got late last night as I fell asleep around 1:20 in the morning after thinking and contemplating life and its aspects…!

    An empty home is a weird one,
    it makes you re-live all of the memories and experiences that you have had with the person who isn’t there anymore,
    and,
    It makes you feel weirded out,
    sad and almost on the verge of tears;

    Enough said,

    That is what I felt last night,
    and it was bad,
    because it felt like it was never going to be over,
    until I thought about it over and over and felt asleep thinking about it…!

    Coming back to the prompt…!

    Broken bones and ruptured muscles…

    If today’s prompt strictly asks about broken bones it’s something that I have faced in this life a few times,

    and if we are talking about ruptured muscles that has happened more than I can count…!

    I’ve had a hairline fracture in my fingers,
    due to sports injuries,
    which would be my ring finger of my right hand and my middle finger of my left hand…!

    A direct impact from basketball to the ring finger made a clean snap in the middle which I thought was nothing until it got swelled up and I then rushed to the doctor and got the diagnosis..!

    The other time it was a cricket ball that landed a direct hit on my middle finger and it was until much later when I was playing badminton and my friend accidentally hit it in the same spot;

    Surging the pain and making it worse Later the diagnosis confirmed the same…!

    If we are talking about ruptured muscles that happens ever more often,

    A bike accident that ruptured my muscles in thigh and knee,
    scraping my legs, hands and my elbows all at the same time…!

    Making it one of the more difficult stages in my life,

    Living and working through the constant pains.
    that took my will to live each day…!

    Other time,

    It was a slip that twisted my knee and caused a pain that lasted years,
    which still comes back every winter,
    no matter how hard I try…!

    Haven’t we all broken a bone somewhere in our lives…?

    To recovery and a life that changes drastically afterwards…!

    Hope you get well soon if you’re enduring a painful experience…!

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Last night I was truly alone…!

    Last night I was truly alone…!

    The house felt empty,
    after my sister’s marriage,
    The last person staying with us went home yesterday evening…!

    She was the source of chaos,
    that brought some noise in our otherwise silent life,
    which made me happy,
    I hope everyone happy…!

    But,
    last night staring at her empty room,
    with the door open and a single light bulb turned on,
    above her bedside table made me cherish that chaos more…!

    I FaceTimed her,
    and it was at that moment it hit me,
    when she didn’t pick my first call up,
    but,
    a few minutes later she called me back and told me that she was cleaning her bed as they were planning to sleep,
    and her phone was charging on the ground floor where her mother in law was…!

    It felt weird,
    never would I have guessed that I would get an excuse from her,
    but,
    thinking it was the reality and genuinely what happened I asked her to keep her phone nearby,
    and
    guess What she did…!

    She teased me by saying,
    that I was missing her;
    someone who I spent my lifetime with and had with me up until this point and I was missing her;

    I laughed,
    and said,
    you live a few hours of drive away,
    if I were to miss you I’d come and meet you,
    to which she laughed too…!

    Maybe it was our way of telling we missed each other,
    and,
    laughing far away on phone call was the way to go ahead…?

    But,
    I asked her about her well being and if they got a chance to get the TV hooked up how they wanted..?

    To which they said,
    they have called the company to send the guy who will do the installing,
    Which will arrive within 24-48 hours…!

    On hearing that things were going according to how they wanted,
    I was at last assured,
    and,
    asked her,
    how she was feeling in a new house,
    was she able to set herself like one of the family members…!

    To which she said,
    she is trying to put a good impression on them,
    By agreeing to what they say as they are the adults,
    She talks with her mother in law and sister in law and they can’t get enough ever…!

    Father in law and grandmother in law are still an uncharted territory because they belong to the old mindset and they force her to conform to those which she can’t…!

    All in,
    she is living a good,
    and,
    a well life…!

    Out of nowhere she started to say that she misses her sleep;
    And I was on the floor laughing,

    I used to have a few hours of sleep in the afternoon which I can’t here,
    to which I said,
    set your schedule in such a way that you don’t feel a need to sleep;

    To which she said it’s absolutely mandatory,
    the afternoon sleep;

    While talking,
    Her mother in law shouted her name from the first floor to which she said I’ll see what this is about and I’ll call you later…!

    To which I said okay and bye;

    After cutting the call,
    Everything was the same,
    empty room,
    empty hall,
    it was almost midnight and these thoughts kept me up till 1 in the morning…!

    Wondering,
    will we ever be the same…?

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Ostracised out of my family because of my husband’s drinking…!

    Ostracised out of my family because of my husband’s drinking…!

    (Part-1)

    I wish I would have known about his drinking habit——
    excessive drinking habit before we were married;

    He drinks to a point where he becomes a slop,
    and is unable to walk or even stand and that brings me immense shame,
    no matter how much I say…!

    It started from drinking only at the weekend to get rid off all the troubles and stresses that he had at work,
    later it was every other day,
    and now it has become every day…!

    It only became a bigger problem when one day he didn’t have money,
    I know there were a few days for the month to still be over,
    and,
    He asked me for some money;

    On asking him the reason why he needed the money,
    He told me that he needed to buy something and he didn’t receive his salary in full as there were some days he took off due to some health problems..
    (Throwing up after a night of drinking and not having enough energy to go to work the next day…)


    I told him that,
    I’ll buy him whatever he needs when I go to the market in the evening,
    At that time it was 1:30pm and I planned on going to market at 5 in the evening…!

    He asked me to give him some money which I refused,
    In retaliation,
    he struck me…!

    It was the very first time I was struck by his hand,
    And,
    there was shame and fear and anger mixing in my mind,
    my face was radiating heat where his palm hit my face;

    To which he only said,
    give me some money,
    I grabbed my purse and threw some money in his direction which he missed and got on all fours and picked up the notes and went outside…!

    I was there,
    left all alone,
    all alone to cope,
    to face what just happened to me,
    as I stared at my face,
    my wheatish face turned red in shame,
    and the impression of his palm on my left cheek,
    that covered the whole left side of my face…!

    I sobbed,
    those seconds,
    turned into minutes
    minutes into hours;

    and,
    I sat there sobbing,
    uncontrollably for atleast a few hours,
    before I could get a hang of the situation,
    it was 4:45 in the evening…

    I looked at my face in that broken mirror that was held together by clear tape,
    broken by him one day as he returned home and couldn’t stand and took its support which came down and broke from one of the corners pricking his shoulder and it was a bloody mess…!

    We didn’t buy a new one because we planned on changing the whole dressing table which would come with a big mirror;

    But,
    my hopes and dreams with this guy who I married washed away as I turned on the tap and watched the water go down the drain…!


    I washed my face after staring at the water,
    and it hit the left side of my face like it was pricking it…!


    I lightly tapped my face with my hands full of water and it hurt,
    it hurt more than it made me angry now,
    as I sat on the can and thought to myself,
    is this what I’m left with,
    left to be a punching bag,
    that takes all the hits and stays shut…!

    I called my mom,
    She answered my second call and before I could tell anything to her,
    she told me that someone saw Ravi(my husband);
    drinking at 12 noon,
    Outside the liquor shop;


    Another time your uncle saw him limping towards your home as he was coming to our house;


    She asked,
    He hasn’t raised his hand or anything right,
    because I don’t know what we would do then…!

    These words were enough,
    I know no one would be coming to my rescue,
    and if something were to happen to me,
    I wouldn’t have to call her…!

    I’m alright maa,
    I wanted to ask abut something,
    but I’ll call you later,
    he will be coming home soon..!

    As I controlled myself,
    I cut the call and cried,
    cried until I couldn’t…!


    ………


    After drinking a big glass of water,
    I went to our bed and fell asleep…!

    Hope no daughter has to face this day.
    but,
    In this world we live with monsters that do this on the daily,
    No daughter deserves to be treated this way…!

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Segregation amongst ourselves…!

    Segregation amongst ourselves…!

    A woman beaten just because she was taking water out of a handpump;

    A person of lower class made to drink his own urine as a form of torture;

    A person not allowed to take water from the tank that was set up by higher class;

    A person,
    just like you and I,
    denied medical treatment just because of their class;

    The same not allowed to travel in an ambulance in emergency,
    or even when taking the lifeless body…!
    The above are just the surface level things,
    and,
    you won’t believe my words if I were to dwell deeper,
    and talk about the injustices amongst women and girl child…

    The type of atrocities they face in backward areas of our own Country——
    India 🇮🇳!
    We talk about being equal,
    Talk about abolishing the rights granted to them by the government,
    But,
    We can’t seem to consider them equal to us,
    and,
    until we can’t——

    We cannot abolish the rights and reservations granted to them by court of law…!

    I know that it starts from us,
    from each one of us,
    to treat them with respect that each and every person deserve;

    No matter their social class,
    no matter where they stand,
    no matter if they come from money or not,
    They are humans and deserve a life just like us…!
    And,
    until we can’t see them as fellow beings,
    just like you and I;

    We must live in a world with reservations,
    Until segregations exist within our minds…!

    Cheers 🥂

    Love Waakiye 🤍

  • Bhakt banu ya Andhbhakt…?

    Bhakt banu ya Andhbhakt…?

    Kaha jaane lagaa mujhe bachpan se hee-
    kay jao mandir,
    Jao maatha tekne apna uss dwaar par jahaa viraajmaan hain hamare bhagwaan…

    Jee naa karne par bhee chala gaya main,
    uss din se nafrat hone lagi mujhe,
    dono uske naam se,
    aur,
    woh jis dwaar par staaphit usse bhee…

    kyaa samjhu main apne aap ko?

    Ek kaafir,
    dushman apne dharm kaa,
    kyonki,
    Sabh ho jaate dur jabh main kehta main nahi maantaa kisi khuda main,
    jo aaye kabhi iss dunya main,
    aur,
    unke naam par karobaar chalu kar diya ha ham logon ne…!

    Karobaar kaisa…?
    Pooche woh mujhse…

    Magar,
    Main apne shabd bolne se pehle chupa lu,
    aas paas ka mahaul dekh;

    Par,
    jabh gaur se dekhu main,
    dikhe mujhe kayi log,

    Ek hindu jiske hoton par saji cigarette aur kash kheeche bade woh;

    Ek panjabi jiske haath main jaam aur kuch pal baad woh phir khatam kar bhar le woh kaanch ka glaas;

    Ek musalmaan bhai mera jo waise toh manaa karta koi bhee nashe ko par aksar paau main usko chabate hue tobacco;

    Bhai bolu main sabh ko,
    par apni jagah larh rahe ha woh inse,
    har ek aeb se jo lage unko;


    Main bhee apni jagah kahaa theek?

    Mujhe bhee lagay kitne aeb,
    sharab,
    woh naa mile toh dhuaa pau apne aas paas…!

    Apni jagah main kharaab,
    par itna nahi kee main maan lu har ek baat jo mera dharm kahe mujhe…!

    Par,
    Waakiye,
    Abhi  toh tumne kahaa kee tumhara koi dharm nahi!!!

    Jee haan,
    mera koi dharm nahi,
    aur ye hee mera dharm;

    Kisi ko bure mahaul main dekh main khush ye mera dharm nahi,

    Kisi neeche ko neecha dikhana ye mera dharm nahi,

    kisi bure insaan ko bure karam karte dekh usse naa rokna—
    ye mera dharm nahi…!

    Binaa kisi kitaab ke jeena jo mujhe bataye kya sahi kyaa galat ye ha mera dharm,
    aur ye dharm,
    koi murat nahi,
    koi patthar nahi,
    koi kitaab bhee nahi;

    Ye woh ha,
    jo mere mann main,
    mere andar…!

    Mera dharm…!

    Love Waakiye 🤍

    English Translations

    Should I become a sane believer or a blind one?

    I was told since childhood,
    “Go to the temple,
    Go bow your head at that doorway where our God resides…”

    Even when I didn’t want to, I went.
    And from that very day,
    I began to hate both,
    His name,
    and the doorway where He was placed…

    What am I supposed to think of myself?

    An infidel?
    An enemy of my own religion?
    Because everyone distances themselves the moment I say
    that I do not believe in any God
    who ever came into this world,
    and that we humans have turned their names into a business…!

    “What kind of business?”
    they ask me…

    But before I can speak my thoughts aloud,
    I hide them,
    after looking at the atmosphere around me;

    Yet when I observe closely,
    I see many people——

    A Hindu, with a cigarette resting on his lips, drawing deep puffs;

    A Punjabi, with a drink in his hand, only to refill that glass again moments later;

    A Muslim brother of mine,
    who speaks against every form of intoxication,
    yet I often find him chewing tobacco;

    I call them all brothers,
    yet each of them is fighting battles within themselves,
    against every flaw that clings to them;

    And where am I right myself?

    I too carry countless flaws——
    alcohol,
    and if not that, then smoke surrounds me…!

    I am flawed in my own ways,
    but not enough to accept every single thing my religion tells me to…!

    “But, Waakiye,
    didn’t you just say you have no religion?”

    Yes,
    I have no religion,
    and that itself is my religion;

    To feel happiness seeing someone trapped in darkness—
    that is not my religion;

    To belittle someone already beneath you—
    that is not my religion;

    To watch a cruel person commit atrocious acts
    and not stop them—
    that is not my religion…!

    To live without a book telling me what is right and wrong—
    that is my religion.

    And this religion
    is not an idol,
    not a stone,
    not even a book;

    It is that
    which lives in my heart,
    within me…!

    My religion…!

    Love Waakiye 🤍