Imagining the wiki city
राह चलती सड़क एक ऊँचे आर्च से फिसल कर गायब हो जाती है, तो समझो शहर यहाँ पर ख़तम होता है. "या शुरू", और जैसे अपनी बात को सच बताने के लिए, तुम यह कहते कहते कहते तेज़ कदम पर उस गेट के पार, के आखरी टुकड़े पर जा खड़े होते हो, गेट को देखते हुए. मैं जब वहाँ पहुँचता हूँ, तुम्हें मौन पाता हूँ. तुम कुछ देर गेट ताकते रहते हो, और फिर मेरी तरफ मुड़ कर देखते हो, बच्चे की सी मुक्स्कान होंठों पर लिए हुए. फिर सर घुमा कर उस गेट को देखते हो, फिर मुझे.. चहरे पर लिखा है, तुम्हारा मन उन आँखों की चमकतीनाँव पर चढ़कर मछ्लीद्वार की उन बड़ी मच्चलियों के बीच भ्रमण करने लगा है, बुर्क़े की टोप से बाल लिए शेरो से आँख मिला रहा है, नाँव से झुककर,पत्थर के गजों की पीठ सहला रहा है.
The gates are almost forgotten structures at the end of the inner city, waiting for some restoration drive to take fancy to them, drive away the many settlers that have made homes on these margins, around them, and re gild their forms. Lions in bonnets, fish like wet eyes, and a quiet line of elephants that will not easily be metaphorised.. we both loved the animal gates we had seen. But we had come to look at other gates, in another city, where we had come to do some work to be able to earn, it was called research, but i have seen the tomes written by researchers.. the lines of books scanned by their little torchlights, i would feel shy to call the small work we managed to do, research. yet. what we had was work, and work said we had to make our way into the city, through these gates, and see which living road, led to what.. which goldsmith, took us to the tannery, which ayurvedic doctor went to church, which snake led to homeopathy. Meaning things that stood apart will yet connected often times, our neat categorisation is what had seperated them. So we started the the seperations, and then criss crossed lanes to walk from here to there, led by this or that person, and soon we were in the middest of the city.
The mechanised being, his gate
the gate to the botanical garden
the gate of those dreamers who trace, translate, repeat
footnote: a letter to italo
