Kaghazi Phool !

Yeh loag pathar kay dil hain jin kay
Numaish-e-rang mein hain dubay

Yeh kaghazi phool jaisay chahray mazaaq uraate hain aadmi ka
Inhay kaash koi yeh bata day maqam ooncha hai saadgi ka

Inhain bhala zakham ki khabar kiya-Teer chaltay hoyee nahi dekha
Udaas aankho mein arzoo-Kaa khol zaltay hoye nah dekha

Andhera chaya hooa hai in kay aage haseen ghaflat ki roshnee ka

Yeh gulshan mein jab gaye hain bahar hi lootne gaye hain
Jahan gaye hain yeh do dilon ka karar hi lootne gaye hain

Hai dil dukhana hi in ka shaiwa inhe na ahsas ab hai kisi ka

Mein jhoot ki jagmaati mehfil mein aaj sach boolne laga hoon
Mein ho kay majboor apne geeton mein zehr phir gholnay laga hoon

Yeh zehr phir mita day nasha gharoor mein doobi zindagi kaa

Yeh kaghazi phool jaisay chahray mazaaq uraate hain aadmi ka
Inhay kaash koi yeh bata day maqam ooncha hai saadgi ka


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There is nothing quite as painful as going to a holiday party full of five hundred people dressed in aptly stiff suits and grand clothes.

I saw them and talked with them and they responded to and in turn asked questions.

So they seemed like they were human.

They breathed...hmmm

They ate....hmmm

And I assume they had pulses...too...

But beyond their trite quips…intellectual banter and plastered smiles….

I wondered…was there anything more?

Were they really human?

It was amazing.

These "people" "Kaghazi phool" they were completely hollow.

Empty walking things that appeared to be humans...but were in fact not.

Is this what greed…lying…cheating and disloyalty did to a person?

Suck their souls and leave only a collection of self-important anecdotes in the husk of their former selves?

In one of the more interesting five-second conversations…one of the seemingly human things shook my hand and asked…"What may I ask is your name?"

"HR" I replied…forcing a smile.

"Ah HR" she replied,

"What a remarkable name!"

"hmm....thanks," I replied...thinking it was quite unremarkable.

I looked around the lawn and realized the gray-haired woman probably never encountered HR before otherwise she must have long ago moved forward.

After five or six-hundred of these short conversations…I realized my initial conclusions were correct.

But I became even more curious.

How did they do it?

Were they really this vapid….through-and-through?

Were they at one point…real humans who became the un-dead?

Or were these real humans posing as the un-dead posing as humans to blend in with the un-dead?

Soon…the mind-numbing effect of the party coupled with the numbing loud music gave way to a headache.

I was feeling pain -- this meant I was alive.

This meant I was at least human....ohh....how can I prevent myself to become "kaghazi phool"???